John Trapp on Ezra 4:5

Verſe 5. And hired Counſellours againſt them] But good Counſellours would not have beene hired, either to bolſter out a bad cauſe, or to out-face a good; to juſtifie the wicked for a reward, or to take away the righteouſneſſe of the righteous from him.Spartian. There is a notable inſtance of this in Papinian a Pagan Counſellour. Thou mayeſt (ſaid he to Antoninus the fratricide,) command my neck to the block, but not my tongue to the barre. I prize not my life to the pleading of an ill cauſe. Theſe ſordida poſcinummia in the text, were none ſuch. Some think they were Courtiers and Counſellours to the King: ſuch as by whom the King was even bought and ſold, as Aurelian the good Emperour was; who might know nothing but as his Counſellours informed him. This made Alphonſus King of Arragon ſay, that Kings were herein moſt miſerable, that whereas they abounded with all things elſe, the truth of matters they could ſeldome come by.

All the dayes of Cyrus King of Perſia] Who warring abroad, committed the government of his Kingdome to his ſonne Cambyſes a light and lewd loſſel, eaſily prevailed with to hinder ſo good a work.

Even untill the reigne of Darius] i. e. Of Darius Nothus (ſay ſome) the ſonne of Artaxerxes Longimanus (named verſe 7.) the father of Artaxerxes Mnemon. Pemble. But they do better in my opinion, that underſtand the text of Darius Hiſtaſpis, who ſucceeded Cambyſes, and married his ſiſter; ſeeking to ingratiate with the people by ratifying whatſoever Cyrus had decreed, and this of the Temple among the reſt. See chap. 6.1.