thought, and summoned the same men of the Magians who had given judgment
about his dream in the manner which has been said: and when they came,
Astyages asked how they had given judgment about his vision; and they
spoke according to the same manner, saying that the child must have
become king if he had lived on and had not died before. He made answer
to them thus: "The child is alive and not dead: 129 and while he was
dwelling in the country, the boys of the village appointed him king; and
he performed completely all those things which they do who are really
kings; for he exercised rule, 130 appointed to their places spearmen
of the guard and doorkeepers and bearers of messages and all else. Now
therefore, to what does it seem to you that these things tend?" The
Magians said: "If the child is still alive and became king without any
arrangement, be thou confident concerning him and have good courage,
for he shall not be ruler again the second time; since some even of our
oracles have had but small results, 131 and that at least which has
to do with dreams comes often in the end to a feeble accomplishment."
Astyages made answer in these words: "I myself also, O Magians, am most
disposed to believe that this is so, namely that since the boy was named
king the dream has had its fulfilment and that this boy is no longer
a source of danger to me. Nevertheless give counsel to me, having well
considered what is likely to be most safe both for my house and for
you." Replying to this the Magians said: "To us also, O king, it is of
great consequence that thy rule should stand firm; for in the other
case it is transferred to strangers, coming round to this boy who is a
Persian, and we being Medes are made slaves and become of no account
in the eyes of the Persians, seeing that we are of different race; but
while thou art established as our king, who art one of our own nation,
we both have our share of rule and receive great honours from thee. Thus
then we must by all means have a care of thee and of thy rule. And now,
if we saw in this anything to cause fear, we would declare all to thee
beforehand: but as the dream has had its issue in a trifling manner,
both we ourselves are of good cheer and we exhort thee to be so
likewise: and as for this boy, send him away from before thine eyes to
the Persians and to his parents."
121. When he heard this Astyages rejoiced, and calling Cyrus spoke to
him thus: "My son, I did thee wrong by reason of a vision of a dream
which has not come to pass, but thou art yet alive by thine own destiny;
now therefore go in peace to the land of the Persians, and I will send
with thee men to conduct thee: and when thou art come thither, thou
shalt find a father and a mother not after the fashion of Mitradates the
herdsman and his wife."
122. Thus having spoken Astyages sent Cyrus away; and when he had ed and
come to the house of Cambyses, his parents received him; and after that,
when they learnt who he was, they welcomed him not a little, for they
had supposed without doubt that their son had perished straightway after
his birth; and they inquired in what manner he had survived. And he told
them, saying that before this he had not known but had been utterly in
error; on the way, however, he had learnt all his own fortunes: for
he had supposed without doubt that he was the son of the herdsman of
Astyages, but since his journey from the city began he had learnt the
whole story from those who conducted him. And he said that he had been
brought up by the wife of the herdsman, and continued to praise her
throughout, so that Kyno was the chief person in his tale. And his
parents took up this name from him, and in order that their son might
be thought by the Persians to have been preserved in a more supernatural
manner, they set on foot a report that Cyrus when he was exposed had
been reared by a bitch: 132 and from that source has come this report.
123. Then as Cyrus grew to be a man, being of all those of his age the
most courageous and the best beloved, Harpagos sought to become his
friend and sent him gifts, because he desired to take vengeance on
Astyages. For he saw not how from himself, who was in a private station,
punishment should come upon Astyages; but when he saw Cyrus growing
up, he endeavoured to make him an ally, finding a likeness between the
fortunes of Cyrus and his own. And even before that time he had
effected something: for Astyages being harsh towards the Medes, Harpagos
communicated severally with the chief men of the Medes, and persuaded
them that they must make Cyrus their leader and cause Astyages to cease
from being king. When he had effected this and when all was ready, then
Harpagos wishing to make known his design to Cyrus, who lived among the
Persians, could do it no other way, seeing that the roads were watched,
but devised a scheme as follows:—he made ready a hare, and having cut
open its belly but without pulling off any of the fur, he put into it,
just as it was, a piece of paper, having written upon it that which
he thought good; and then he sewed up again the belly of the hare, and
giving nets as if he were a hunter to that one of his servants whom he
trusted most, he sent him away to the land of the Persians, enjoining
him by word of mouth to give the hare to Cyrus, and to tell him at the
same time to open it with his own hands and let no one else be present
when he did so.
124. This then was accomplished, and Cyrus having received from him the
hare, cut it open; and having found within it the paper he took and read
it over. And the writing said this: "Son of Cambyses, over thee the gods
keep guard, for otherwise thou wouldst never have come to so much good
fortune. Do thou therefore 133 take vengeance on Astyages who is thy
murderer, for so far as his will is concerned thou art dead, but by the
care of the gods and of me thou art still alive; and this I think thou
hast long ago learnt from first to last, both how it happened about
thyself, and also what things I have suffered from Astyages, because I
did not slay thee but gave thee to the herdsman. If therefore thou wilt
be guided by me, thou shalt be ruler of all that land over which now
Astyages is ruler. Persuade the Persians to revolt, and march any army
against the Medes: and whether I shall be appointed leader of the army
against thee, or any other of the Medes who are in repute, thou hast
what thou desirest; for these will be the first to attempt to destroy
Astyages, revolting from him and coming over to thy party. Consider then
that here at least all is ready, and therefore do this and do it with
speed."
125. Cyrus having heard this began to consider in what manner he might
most skilfully persuade the Persians to revolt, and on consideration he
found that this was the most convenient way, and so in fact he did:—He
wrote first on a paper that which he desired to write, and he made an
assembly of the Persians. Then he unfolded the paper and reading from it
said that Astyages appointed him commander of the Persians; "and now, O
Persians," he continued, "I give you command to come to me each one with
a reaping-hook." Cyrus then proclaimed this command. (Now there are of
the Persians many tribes, and some of them Cyrus gathered together and
persuaded to revolt from the Medes, namely those, upon which all the
other Persians depend, the Pasargadai, the Maraphians and the Maspians,
and of these the Pasargadai are the most noble, of whom also the
Achaimenidai are a clan, whence are sprung the Perseïd 134 kings. But
other Persian tribes there are, as follows:—the Panthaliaians, the
Derusiaians and the Germanians, these are all tillers of the soil; and
the rest are nomad tribes, namely the Daoi, Mardians, Dropicans and
Sagartians.)
126. Now there was a certain region of the Persian land which was
overgrown with thorns, extending some eighteen or twenty furlongs in
each direction; and when all had come with that which they had been
before commanded to bring, Cyrus bade them clear this region for
cultivation within one day: and when the Persians had achieved the
task proposed, then he bade them come to him on the next day bathed and
clean. Meanwhile Cyrus, having gathered together in one place all the
flocks of goats and sheep and the herds of cattle belonging to his
father, slaughtered them and prepared with them to entertain the host
of the Persians, and moreover with wine and other provisions of the most
agreeable kind. So when the Persians came on the next day, he made them
recline in a meadow and feasted them. And when they had finished dinner,
Cyrus asked them whether that which they had on the former day or
that which they had now seemed to them preferable. They said that the
difference between them was great, for the former day had for them
nothing but evil, and the present day nothing but good. Taking up this
saying Cyrus proceeded to lay bare his whole design, saying: "Men of the
Persians, thus it is with you. If ye will do as I say, ye have these and
ten thousand other good things, with no servile labour; but if ye will
not do as I say, ye have labours like that of yesterday innumerable. Now
therefore do as I say and make yourselves free: for I seem to myself to
have been born by providential fortune to take these matters in hand;
and I think that ye are not worse men than the Medes, either in other
matters or in those which have to do with war. Consider then that this
is so, and make revolt from Astyages forthwith."
127. So the Persians having obtained a leader willingly attempted to set
themselves free, since they had already for a long time been indignant
to be ruled by the Medes: but when Astyages heard that Cyrus was acting
thus, he sent a messenger and summoned him; and Cyrus bade the messenger
report to Astyages that he would be with him sooner than he would
himself desire. So Astyages hearing this armed all the Medes, and
blinded by divine providence he appointed Harpagos to be the leader of
the army, forgetting what he had done to him. Then when the Medes had
marched out and began to fight with the Persians, some of them continued
the battle, namely those who had not been made partakers in the design,
while others went over to the Persians; but the greater number were
wilfully slack and fled.
128. So when the Median army had been shamefully dispersed, so soon as
Astyages heard of it he said, threatening Cyrus: "But not even so shall
Cyrus at least escape punishment." Thus having spoken he first impaled
the Magian interpreters of dreams who had persuaded him to let Cyrus go,
and then he armed those of the Medes, youths and old men, who had been
left behind in the city. These he led out and having engaged battle with
the Persians he was worsted, and Astyages himself was taken alive, and
he lost also those of the Medes whom he had led forth.
129. Then when Astyages was a prisoner, Harpagos came and stood near him
and rejoiced over him and insulted him; and besides other things which
he said to grieve him, he asked him especially how it pleased him to
be a slave instead of a king, making reference to that dinner at which
Astyages had feasted him with the flesh of his own son. 135 He looking
at him asked him in whether he claimed the work of Cyrus as his own
deed: and Harpagos said that since he had written the letter, the deed
was justly his. Then Astyages declared him to be at the same time the
most unskilful and the most unjust of men; the most unskilful because,
when it was in his power to become king (as it was, if that which had
now been done was really brought about by him), he had conferred the
chief power on another, and the most unjust, because on account of that
dinner he had reduced the Medes to slavery. For if he must needs confer
the kingdom on some other and not keep it himself, it was more just
to give this good thing to one of the Medes rather than to one of the
Persians; whereas now the Medes, who were guiltless of this, had become
slaves instead of masters, and the Persians who formerly were slaves of
the Medes had now become their masters.
130. Astyages then, having been king for five-and-thirty years, was thus
caused to cease from being king; and the Medes stooped under the yoke of
the Persians because of his cruelty, after they had ruled Asia above the
river Halys for one hundred and twenty-eight years, except during that
period for which the Scythians had rule. 136 Afterwards however it
repented them that they had done this, and they revolved from Dareios,
and having revolted they were subdued again, being conquered in a
battle. At this time then, I say, in the reign of Astyages, the Persians
with Cyrus rose up against the Medes and from that time forth were
rulers of Asia: but as for Astyages, Cyrus did no harm to him besides,
but kept him with himself until he died. Thus born and bred Cyrus became
king; and after this he subdued Croesus, who was the first to begin the
quarrel, as I have before said; and having subdued him he then became
ruler of all Asia.
131. These are the customs, so far as I know, which the Persians
practise:—Images and temples and altars they do not account it lawful
to erect, nay they even charge with folly those who do these things; and
this, as it seems to me, because they do not account the gods to be in
the likeness of men, as do the Hellenes. But it is their wont to perform
sacrifices to Zeus going up to the most lofty of the mountains, and the
whole circle of the heavens they call Zeus: and they sacrifice to the
Sun and the Moon and the Earth, to Fire and to Water and to the Winds:
these are the only gods to whom they have sacrificed ever from the
first; but they have learnt also to sacrifice to Aphrodite Urania,
having learnt it both from the Assyrians and the Arabians; and the
Assyrians call Aphrodite Mylitta, the Arabians Alitta, 13601 and the
Persians Mitra.
132. Now this is the manner of sacrifice for the gods aforesaid which
is established among the Persians:—they make no altars neither do they
kindle fire; and when they mean to sacrifice they use no libation nor
music of the pipe nor chaplets 137 nor meal for sprinkling; 138 but when
a man wishes to sacrifice to any one of the gods, he leads the animal
for sacrifice to an unpolluted place and calls upon the god, having
his tiara 13801 wreathed round generally with a branch of myrtle. For
himself alone separately the man who sacrifices may not request good
things in his prayer, but he prays that it may be well with all the
Persians and with the king; for he himself also is included of course
in the whole body of Persians. And when he has cut up the victim into
pieces and boiled the flesh, he spreads a layer of the freshest grass
and especially clover, upon which he places forthwith all the pieces of
flesh; and when he has placed them in order, a Magian man stands by them
and chants over them a theogony (for of this nature they say that their
incantation is), seeing that without a Magian it is not lawful for
them to make sacrifices. Then after waiting a short time the sacrificer
carries away the flesh and uses it for whatever purpose he pleases.
133. And of all days their wont is to honour most that on which they
were born, each one: on this they think it right to set out a feast more
liberal than on other days; and in this feast the wealthier of them set
upon the table an ox or a horse or a camel or an ass, roasted whole in
an oven, and the poor among them set out small animals in the same way.
They have few solid dishes, 139 but many served up after as dessert, and
these not in a single course; and for this reason the Persians say that
the Hellenes leave off dinner hungry, because after dinner they have
nothing worth mentioning served up as dessert, whereas if any
good dessert were served up they would not stop eating so soon. To
wine-drinking they are very much given, and it is not permitted for
a man to vomit or to make water in presence of another. Thus do they
provide against these things; and they are wont to deliberate when
drinking hard about the most important of their affairs, and whatsoever
conclusion has pleased them in their deliberation, this on the next day,
when they are sober, the master of the house in which they happen to be
when they deliberate lays before them for discussion: and if it pleases
them when they are sober also, they adopt it, but if it does not
please them, they let it go: and that on which they have had the first
deliberation when they are sober, they consider again when they are
drinking.
134. When they meet one another in the roads, by this you may discern
whether those who meet are of equal rank,—for instead of greeting by
words they kiss one another on the mouth; but if one of them is a little
inferior to the other, they kiss one another on the cheeks, and if one
is of much less noble rank than the other, he falls down before him and
does worship to him. 140 And they honour of all most after themselves
those nations which dwell nearest to them, and next those which dwell
next nearest, and so they go on giving honour in proportion to distance;
and they hold least in honour those who dwell furthest off from
themselves, esteeming themselves to be by far the best of all the human
race on every point, and thinking that others possess merit according
to the proportion which is here stated, 141 and that those who dwell
furthest from themselves are the worst. And under the supremacy of the
Medes the various nations used also to govern one another according to
the same rule as the Persians observe in giving honour, 142 the Medes
governing the whole and in particular those who dwelt nearest to
themselves, and these having rule over those who bordered upon them, and
those again over the nations that were next to them: for the race went
forward thus ever from government by themselves to government through
others.
135. The Persians more than any other men admit foreign usages; for they
both wear the Median dress judging it to be more comely than their own,
and also for fighting the Egyptian corslet: moreover they adopt all
kinds of luxuries when they hear of them, and in particular they have
learnt from the Hellenes to have commerce with boys. They marry each
one several lawful wives, and they get also a much larger number of
concubines.
136. It is established as a sign of manly excellence next after
excellence in fight, to be able to show many sons; and to those who have
most the king sends gifts every year: for they consider number to be a
source of strength. And they educate their children, beginning at five
years old and going on till twenty, in three things only, in riding, in
shooting, and in speaking the truth: but before the boy is five years
old he does not come into the presence of his father, but lives with the
women; and it is so done for this reason, that if the child should die
while he is being bred up, he may not be the cause of any grief to his
father.
137. I commend this custom of theirs, and also the one which is next
to be mentioned, namely that neither the king himself shall put any to
death for one cause alone, nor any of the other Persians for one cause
alone shall do hurt that is irremediable to any of his own servants; but
if after reckoning he finds that the wrongs done are more in number and
greater than the services rendered, 143 then only he gives vent to
his anger. Moreover they say that no one ever killed his own father or
mother, but whatever deeds have been done which seemed to be of this
nature, if examined must necessarily, they say, be found to be due
either to changelings or to children of adulterous birth; for, say they,
it is not reasonable to suppose that the true parent would be killed by
his own son.
138. Whatever things it is not lawful for them to do, these it is not
lawful for them even to speak of: and the most disgraceful thing in
their estimation is to tell an lie, and next to this to owe money, this
last for many other reasons, but especially because it is necessary,
they say, for him who owes money, also sometimes to tell lies: and
whosoever of the men of the city has leprosy or whiteness of skin, he
does not come into a city nor mingle with the other Persians; and they
say that he has these diseases because he has offended in some way
against the Sun: but a stranger who is taken by these diseases, in many
regions 144 they drive out of the country altogether, and also white
doves, alleging against them the same cause. And into a river they
neither make water nor spit, neither do they wash their hands in it,
nor allow any other to do these things, but they reverence rivers very
greatly.
139. This moreover also has chanced to them, which the Persians have
themselves failed to notice but I have not failed to do so:—their
names, which are formed to correspond with their bodily shapes or their
magnificence of station, end all with the same letter, that letter which
the Dorians call san and the Ionians sigma; with this you will find, if
you examine the matter, that all the Persian names end, not some with
this and others with other letters, but all alike.
140. So much I am able to say for certain from my own knowledge about
them: but what follows is reported about their dead as a secret mystery
and not with clearness, namely that the body of a Persian man is not
buried until it has been torn by a bird or a dog. (The Magians I know
for a certainty have this practice, for they do it openly.) However that
may be, the Persians cover the body with wax and then bury it in the
earth. Now the Magians are distinguished in many ways from other men,
as also from the priests in Egypt: for these last esteem it a matter
of purity to kill no living creature except the animals which they
sacrifice; but the Magians kill with their own hands all creatures
except dogs and men, and they even make this a great end to aim at,
killing both ants and serpents and all other creeping and flying things.
About this custom then be it as it was from the first established; and I
now to the former narrative. 145
141. The Ionians and Aiolians, as soon as the Lydians had been subdued
by the Persians, sent messengers to Cyrus at Sardis, desiring to be his
subjects on the same terms as they had been subjects of Croesus. And
when he heard that which they proposed to him, he spoke to them a fable,
saying that a certain player on the pipe saw fishes in the sea and
played on his pipe, supposing that they would come out to land; but
being deceived in his expectation, he took a casting-net and enclosed
a great multitude of the fishes and drew them forth from the water: and
when he saw them leaping about, he said to the fishes: "Stop dancing I
pray you now, seeing that ye would not come out and dance before when
I piped." Cyrus spoke this fable to the Ionians and Aiolians for this
reason, because the Ionians had refused to comply before, when Cyrus
himself by a messenger requested them to revolt from Croesus, while now
when the conquest had been made they were ready to submit to Cyrus. Thus
he said to them in anger, and the Ionians, when they heard this answer
brought back to their cities, put walls round about them severally, and
gathered together to the Panionion, all except the men of Miletos, for
with these alone Cyrus had sworn an agreement on the same terms as the
Lydians had granted. The rest of the Ionians resolved by common consent
to send messengers to Sparta, to ask the Spartans to help the Ionians.
142. These Ionians to whom belongs the Panionion had the fortune to
build their cities in the most favourable position for climate and
seasons of any men whom we know: for neither the regions above Ionia nor
those below, neither those towards the East nor those towards the West,
146 produce the same results as Ionia itself, the regions in the one
direction being oppressed by cold and moisture, and those in the other
by heat and drought. And these do not use all the same speech, but have
four different variations of language. 147 First of their cities on the
side of the South lies Miletos, and next to it Myus and Priene. These
are settlements made in Caria, and speak the same language with one
another; and the following are in Lydia,—Ephesos, Colophon, Lebedos,
Teos, Clazomenai, Phocaia: these cities resemble not at all those
mentioned before in the speech which they use, but they agree one with
another. There remain besides three Ionian cities, of which two are
established in the islands of Samos and Chios, and one is built upon the
mainland, namely Erythrai: now the men of Chios and of Erythrai use the
same form of language, but the Samians have one for themselves alone.
Thus there result four separate forms of language.
143. Of these Ionians then those of Miletos were sheltered from danger,
since they had sworn an agreement; and those of them who lived in
islands had no cause for fear, for the Phenicians were not yet subjects
of the Persians and the Persians themselves were not sea-men. Now these
148 were parted off from the other Ionians for no other reason than
this:—The whole Hellenic nation was at that time weak, but of all its
races the Ionian was much the weakest and of least account: except
Athens, indeed, it had no considerable city. Now the other Ionians, and
among them the Athenians, avoided the name, not wishing to be called
Ionians, nay even now I perceive that the greater number of them are
ashamed of the name: but these twelve cities not only prided themselves
on the name but established a temple of their own, to which they gave
the name of Panionion, and they made resolution not to grant a share in
it to any other Ionians (nor indeed did any ask to share it except those
of Smyrna);