1Yet this man, so cunning, was caught at the very end by the trickery of Mithridates, the son of Ariobarzanes. 1For he promised the king that he would kill him, if the king would allow him to do whatever he wished with impunity, and gave him his pledge on that matter, in the Persian manner, with his right hand. 2When he had received this pledge, sent by the king, he prepares forces and, without meeting him, makes friendship with Datames, harries the king's provinces, storms strongholds and takes great plunder, part of which he distributes among his own men and part he sends to Datames; 2in the same way he hands over several strongholds to him.
3By doing this for a long time he persuaded the man that he had undertaken an endless war against the king, while all the same, so as not to give him any suspicion of treachery, he neither sought a conference with him nor tried to come into his sight. 3So he kept up the friendship at a distance, in such a way that they seemed to be held together not by mutual kindnesses but by the common hatred which they had conceived towards the king.