Dat. 9.1At rēx, quod implācābile odium in Datamēn suscēperat, postquam bellō eum opprimī nōn posse animadvertit, īnsidiīs interficere studuit: quās ille plērāsque ēvītāvit.But the king, because he had conceived an implacable hatred for Datames, after he realised that he could not be crushed in war, sought to kill him by treachery: most of these plots he escaped. Dat. 9.2Sīcut, cum eī nūntiātum esset quōsdam sibi īnsidiārī, quī in amīcōrum erant numerō (dē quibus, quod inimīcī dētulerant, neque crēdendum neque neglegendum putāvit), experīrī voluit, vērum falsumne sibi esset relātum.For instance, when it had been reported to him that certain men who were among his friends were plotting against him (concerning whom, because his enemies had laid the information, he thought the report should be neither believed nor ignored), he wished to test whether what had been told him was true or false. Dat. 9.3Itaque eō profectus est, in quō itinere futūrās īnsidiās dīxerant.And so he set out on the road on which they had said the ambush would be. Dat. 9.3Sed ēlēgit corpore ac statūrā simillimum suī eīque vestītum suum dedit atque eō locō īre, quō ipse cōnsuērat, iussit;But he chose a man very like himself in body and stature, gave him his own clothing and ordered him to go in the place where he himself was accustomed to go; Dat. 9.3ipse autem ōrnātū vestītūque mīlitārī inter corporis custōdēs iter facere coepit.he himself, however, in a soldier's equipment and dress, began to march among the bodyguards.
Dat. 9.4At īnsidiātōrēs, postquam in eum quem īnsēderant locum agmen pervēnit, dēceptī ōrdine atque vestītū impetum in eum faciunt, quī suppositus erat.But the ambushers, when the column reached the place where they had lain in wait, deceived by the position and the dress, make an attack on the man who had been substituted. Dat. 9.4Praedīxerat autem iīs Datamēs, cum quibus iter faciēbat, ut parātī essent facere, quod ipsum vīdissent.Datames, however, had told those with whom he was marching beforehand to be ready to do whatever they saw him do. Dat. 9.5Ipse, ut concurrentēs īnsidiātōrēs animum advertit, tēla in eōs coniēcit.He himself, when he noticed the ambushers rushing in, hurled his weapons at them. Dat. 9.5Hoc idem cum ūniversī fēcissent, priusquam pervenīrent ad eum quem aggredī volēbant, cōnfīxī concidērunt.When all had done the same, the ambushers fell pierced through before they could reach the man they meant to attack.