120. Now about the time of the sickness of Cambyses it had come to pass as follows:⁠—There was one Oroites, a Persian, who had been appointed by Cyrus to be governor of the province of Sardis. 510 This man had set his desire upon an unholy thing; for though from Polycrates the Samian he had never suffered anything nor heard any offensive word nor even seen him before that time, he desired to take him and put him to death for a reason of this kind, as most who report the matter say:⁠—while Oroites and another Persian whose name was Mitrobates, ruler of the province of Daskyleion, 511 were sitting at the door of the king’s court, they came from words to strife with one another; and as they debated their several claims to excellence, Mitrobates taunting Oroites said: “Dost thou 512