The beginnings of ancient history too often contain a large admixture of legendary or fabulous ingredients; and the difficulty of discriminating between truth and fiction is greatly increased in those cases where the annalist derives his information from statements or documents conveyed in a language with which he is imperfectly acquainted. The critical historian is obliged to content himself with conjectures, more or less arbitrary, unless he can fall back upon authentic monumental records which he is enabled to interpret. This solid basis has at last been supplied, in the case of early Persian history, by the inscriptions which Colonel Rawlinson has deciphered and explained, and I propose in the following paper to make these memorials available for the correction of a curious tale respecting the great Darius.