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For a parallel case of punishment by Darius cf. iv. 84. Gobineau (Hist. des Perses, ii. 195) remarks that it was a Persian custom to make those one wished to preserve from harm pass between two parts of a sacrificed animal (cf. Gen. xv. 10, 17; Jer. xxxiv. 18, 19); the more valuable the victim the greater the efficacy of the charm. Thus the slaughter of the son of Pythius might be a propitiatory sacrifice for the army. But the whole story has the look of a legend.

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