In the Persian history of Ctesias the narrative of the fall of Astyages

occupied more than one book. But we only know that it contradicted the

story of Herodotus, that the daughter of Astyages was not called Mandane

but Amytis, that she was married to the Median Spitamas, not to the

Persian Cambyses, and that it was not the Median Harpagus but the

Persian Oebares who was Cyrus' counsellor.[531] The loss of these books

of Ctesias is compensated by a fragment of Nicolaus of Damascus, which

seems to give the narrative in a compressed form. It is only in a few

unimportant points at the close that the fragment differs from the

excerpt of Ctesias which has come down to us.

"Astyages," so we are told in Nicolaus, "was the noblest king of the

Medes after Arbaces. In his reign occurred the great revolution by which

the dominion passed from the Medes to the Persians; and the cause was as

follows:--It was a law among the Medes that a poor man who went to a

rich man to gain a livelihood, and gave himself up to him, should be fed

and clothed and kept as a slave; if the rich man did not do his duty in

this respect, the poor man might go on to another. In this way a boy

named Cyrus, a Mardian by birth, came to the servant of the king who was

placed over the sweepers of the palace. He was the son of Atradates,

whose poverty forced him to live by plunder, and Argoste his mother

lived by keeping goats. He gave himself up to the servant for bread, and

assisted in cleaning the palace, and as he was industrious the overseer

gave him better clothing, and brought him from among those who swept

outside to those who cleaned the interior, and put him under their

overseer. This man was severe, and often whipped Cyrus. Cyrus left him,

and went to the lighter of the lamps, who showed him kindness, and

brought him nearer to the king by placing him among those who bore the

lights. As Cyrus distinguished himself there also, he came to

Artembares, the chief butler, who gave the king his wine. He gladly

received Cyrus, and allowed him to wait on those who ate at the king's

table. Ere long Astyages remarked how deftly Cyrus waited, and with what

a stately air he handed the goblets, and asked Artembares whence the

youth came who waited so well. 'O king,' he replied, 'he is thy slave, a

Persian by race, of the tribe of the Mardians, who has given himself

over to me in order to gain a livelihood.' Artembares was old, and once,

when suffering from a fever, he entreated the king to be allowed to

remain at home till he was cured; 'in my place the youth, whom thou

didst praise, will hand the wine, and if he find favour in thy eyes as

cupbearer, then will I, a eunuch, adopt him as my son.' Astyages

consented, and Artembares gave much advice to Cyrus, as if to his own

son. Cyrus now stood at the side of the king, and served him by day and

by night, and showed much good sense and skill. And Astyages allowed him

as the son of Artembares to receive his income, and gave him many gifts

in addition, and Cyrus became great, and his name was heard everywhere."

"Astyages had a very noble and beautiful daughter, whom he gave to

Spitamas the Mede, adding the whole of Media as a dowry. Then Cyrus

caused his father and mother to come from the land of the Medians, and

they rejoiced at the greatness of their son, and his mother told him the

dream which she had while he was yet an unborn child. She had fallen

asleep in the sanctuary when tending her goats, and in her dream water

flowed from her in such quantities that it became a great stream, and

inundated all Asia, and flowed down to the sea. When the father heard

this, he ordered the dream to be laid before the Chaldaeans in Babylon.

Cyrus sent for the most skilful of them and laid the dream before him.

He declared that the dream portended great good fortune for Cyrus, and

the highest place in Asia; Astyages was to know nothing of it,

'otherwise he will put you to death in some shameful manner, and me

also,' the Babylonian said. They mutually swore to impart to no one this

great and unparalleled vision. Cyrus afterwards came to yet greater

honours, and made his father satrap of Persia, and his mother one of the

first among the women in Persia in wealth and position."

"The Cadusians were at enmity with Astyages. Their leader was

Onaphernes, who was a traitor to his people in the interests of

Astyages, and he despatched a messenger saying, that he must send a

trusty person with whom to confer about the surrender. Astyages sent

Cyrus to arrange everything with Onaphernes, bidding him be back again

in Ecbatana on the fortieth day. The interpreter of dreams urged Cyrus

to go to the Cadusians, and filled him with confidence. Cyrus, who was

of a noble and ambitious nature, intended, with the help of heaven, to

bring the Persians to revolt, to attempt the overthrow of Astyages, and

place confidence in the Babylonian, who was better acquainted than

others with the will of heaven. They consulted with each other; the

Babylonian told Cyrus that it was destined that he should overthrow

Astyages and his dominion, he knew this for certain; and Cyrus promised

the Babylonian that if this turned out to be true and he became king, he

would make him a great reward. Cyrus remembered how Arbaces had

previously overthrown Sardanapalus, and obtained his dominion, and yet

the Medes, by whom he was supported, were not stronger than the

Persians. Arbaces was not stronger than himself, and to him, as to the

other, his fortune had been foretold. With such thoughts Cyrus passed

the boundaries of the land of the Cadusians. Here he was met by a man

who had been whipped, and carried dung in a basket. Cyrus took this for

a sign, and inquired of the Babylonian, who told him to ask the man who

he was and whence he came. The man replied that he was a Persian of the

name of Oebares. Then Cyrus was greatly pleased; for Oebares signifies

one who brings good news. And the Babylonian told Cyrus that the other

signs were most favourable--both that he was a countryman of Cyrus, and

that he was carrying horse-dung, which portended dominion and power.

Cyrus without delay took the man with him."

"Then he came to Onaphernes, and when the treachery had been arranged by

mutual concessions, he set out on the way back to Persia. He had given

Oebares a horse and Persian clothing, and being convinced of his

friendly disposition he often conversed with him. Once he said: 'How

hard it is to see the Persians ill-treated by the Medes, and yet they

are as good as they!' 'O Cyrus,' replied the other, 'there is no

great-hearted, high-minded man, to put an end to the dominion of the

Medes over better men than themselves.' 'Why should there not be such a

man?' asked Cyrus. 'Perhaps there is such an one,' Oebares replied, 'but

want of courage does not allow him to do it, though he could.' Cyrus

pushed his questions further: 'If such a venturesome man should appear,

how might he accomplish his aim?' 'The first step,' Oebares answered,

'would be to unite with the Cadusians, who would be willing to join him,

for they love the Persians, and hate the Medes; then he must rouse the

Persians, who are about 40,000 in number, and arm them; their treatment

by the Medes will prepare them for this. Their land also is most

suitable, being full of mountains and rocks, and even if the Medes

should invade it, they will be driven back with loss.' Then Cyrus asked:

'Suppose that this man should appear, would you join in the danger with

him?' Oebares replied: 'Most readily, if you were the man to take the

matter in hand; your father is the ruler of Persia, so that you have

the best place of refuge, and are the strongest. If not you, who is it

to be?' As Cyrus saw from this that Oebares was a cautious and brave

man, who placed all his hopes in him, he revealed his plan and consulted

him. Oebares encouraged him, and gave him good counsel to guide him. He

urged Cyrus to send to his father Atradates and entreat him to arm the

Persians, apparently to aid the king against the Cadusians, but in truth

to revolt against Astyages; then he must ask Astyages for permission to

visit Persia for some days, in order to offer the sacrifice which he had

vowed for the safety of the king, and at the same time for his father

who was sick. If he obtained his request he must set manfully to work;

when a man ventures in a great enterprise it is no hardship to venture

his life, and if need be to lose it, for this happens even to those who

do nothing. Cyrus was pleased at the man's resolute frame of mind, and

now told him his mother's dream and the interpretation of the

Babylonian. Oebares then inflamed his spirit yet more, but cunning as he

was, he bade him take care that the Babylonian did not tell the dream to

the king--'if you will not permit his death, which would be the safest

thing.' 'That be far from me,' said Cyrus. Filled with alarm that the

Babylonian would betray the dream to Astyages, Oebares gave out that

according to ancestral custom he would offer sacrifice to the goddess of

the moon at night, and obtained of Cyrus all that he required for the

purpose--incense, wine, and pillows--and arranged that Cyrus should take

no part in the sacrifice. In his tent he dug a deep trench, put thick

pillows over it, and invited the Babylonian to a banquet, and made him

intoxicated. When he sank down on the pillows, he threw him into the

trench, and his servants with him. In the morning, Oebares went quietly

on with Cyrus, who soon inquired for the Babylonian. Oebares

acknowledged what he had done; he could find no other way of escape for

Cyrus and his children. Cyrus was deeply distressed, and even more

angry, and would not see Oebares any more, but at length he again placed

his confidence in him."

"When Cyrus was again with Astyages, Oebares reminded him of his advice.

Cyrus followed it, sent to Persia, and when he found that all was ready,

asked Astyages, under the pretext that Oebares had suggested, for

permission to go to Persia. The king would not let him go. Then Cyrus

betook himself to the most trusty of the eunuchs; when a favourable

moment came, he was to obtain permission for the journey to Persia. One

day when Cyrus found the king in the best of humours and cheered with

wine, he gave the eunuch a sign, and the latter said to the king: 'Cyrus

asks to perform the sacrifice, which he has vowed for thee in Persia,

that thou mightest continue gracious to him, and for permission to visit

his sick father.' The king called for Cyrus, and with a smile, gave him

permission of absence for five months; in the sixth month he was to

return. Cyrus bowed in gratitude before the king, appointed Tiridates as

butler to the king during his absence, and early on the next morning he

set out to Persia."

"In vain had the wife of the slain Babylonian waited for his return to

Ecbatana; Oebares told her that robbers had killed him. Then she became

the wife of the brother of her husband, and when she heard that Cyrus

had gone to Persia, she remembered that her first husband had once

confided to her the dream of the mother of Cyrus, and its

interpretation. She related this to her husband, who at once went to

Astyages, told him all, and added that Cyrus had obviously gone to

Persia with a view of preparing for the execution of that which the

dream had portended. The king was seized with great anxiety, and the

Babylonian advised him to put Cyrus to death as soon as he returned.

Towards evening Astyages caused his concubines to dance and play before

him while drinking wine. One of the players sang: 'The lion has let the

boar which he had in his power go forth to the pasture. There he will

become strong and give great trouble to the lion, and at length he, the

weaker, will overcome the stronger.' Astyages applied this song to

himself and Cyrus, and on the spot sent 300 horsemen to bring him back;

if he would not obey they were to cut off his head and bring that. When

the horsemen brought to Cyrus the commands of Astyages, he answered

cunningly, perhaps on the advice of Oebares: 'Why should I not return as

my lord summons me? To-day we will feast; to-morrow morning we will set

out.' This met with their approval. After the manner of the Persians,

Cyrus caused many oxen and other animals to be slain in sacrifice,

feasted the horsemen, and made them intoxicated; at the same time he

sent a message to his father to send at once 1000 cavalry and 5000

foot-soldiers to the city of Hyrba which lay on the way, and to arm the

rest of the Persians as quickly as possible in such a way that it should

seem to be done by command of the king. His true aims he did not

communicate to him. In the night he and Oebares took horse, just as they

were, hastened to Hyrba, armed the inhabitants, and drew out those whom

Atradates had sent in order for battle. When the horsemen of Astyages

had slept off their debauch on the following morning, and found that

Cyrus had disappeared, they pursued him and came to Hyrba. Here Cyrus

first displayed his bravery, for with his Persians he slew 250 of the

horse of Astyages. The remainder escaped, and brought the news to

Astyages. 'Woe is me!' cried the king striking his thigh, 'that I, well

knowing that we should not do good to the evil, have allowed myself to

be carried away by clever speeches, and have raised up this Mardian to

be such a mischief to me. Still, he shall not succeed.' He called his

generals and bade them assemble the army, and led out against the

Persians nearly 1,000,000 foot-soldiers, 200,000 horse, and 3000

chariots."

"Meanwhile the army under Atradates, who was now fully instructed, was

collected: 300,000 infantry, 50,000 horse, and 100 chariots. Cyrus

encouraged the Persians, and Oebares seized the passes of the mountain

and the heights, built lines, and brought the people from the open

cities into such as were well fortified. Astyages burned down the

abandoned cities, summoned Atradates and Cyrus to submission, and

taunted them with their former beggary. Cyrus replied that Astyages did

not recognise the power of the gods, which forced them, goat-herds as

they were, to accomplish what was destined to be done. As he had done

them kindness, they bade him lead back the Medes, and give their freedom

to the Persians who were better than the Medes. Thus it came to a

battle. Astyages, surrounded by 20,000 of his body-guard, looked on:

among the Persians Atradates had the right, and Oebares the left, wing;

Cyrus, surrounded by the bravest warriors, was in the centre. The

Persians defended themselves bravely, and slew many of the Medes, so

that Astyages cried out on his throne: 'How bravely these

"terebinth-eaters" fight!' But at length the Persians were overpowered

by numbers, and driven into the city before which they fought. Cyrus

and Oebares advised to send the women and children to Pasargadae, which

is the loftiest mountain, and renew the battle on the next day: 'If we

are defeated we must all die, and if that must be so it is better to

fall in victory and for the freedom of our country.' Then all were

filled with hatred and anger against the Medes, and when the morning

came and the gates were opened, all marched out; Atradates alone

remained with the old men in the city to defend the walls. But while

Cyrus and Oebares were fighting in the field, Astyages caused 100,000

men to go round and attack the Persian army in the rear. The attack

succeeded. Atradates fell covered with wounds into the hands of the

Medes. Astyages said to him: 'An excellent satrap are you; is it thus

that you thank me, you and your son, for what I have done for you?'

Atradates, almost at the last gasp, replied: 'I know not, O king, what

deity has roused this frenzy in my son; put me not to the torture, I

shall soon die.' Astyages had compassion on him and said: 'I will not

put you to the torture; I know that if your son had followed your

advice, he would not have done such things.' Atradates died, and

Astyages gave him an honourable burial. Meanwhile Cyrus and Oebares

after a brave struggle had been compelled to retire to Pasargadae. The

mountain was very high and with steep sides, and the way to it led

through narrow passes, which were here and there overtopped by high

walls of rock. Oebares defended the passes with 10,000 heavy-armed men.

As it was impossible to force a way through, Astyages gave command that

100,000 men should go round the mountain, and seek for a pass there and

climb the mountain. This movement compelled Cyrus and Oebares to seek

shelter during the night on a lower hill for the army, together with

the women and children. Astyages followed quickly, and his army was

already between the two mountains, and bravely attacked that held by the

Persians, the approach to which, lying through deep gorges, thick oak

forests, and wild olive trees, was very difficult. The Persians fought

still more bravely; in one place Cyrus dashed forward, and in another

Oebares, who urged them not to let their wives, mothers, and old men be

massacred and tortured by the Medes. So they rushed down with a cry, and

when their javelins failed, they threw down stones in great numbers. The

Medes were driven back, and Cyrus chanced to come to the house in which

he once lived with his father as a boy, when he pastured goats. He

kindled a fire of cypress and laurel-wood, and offered the sacrifice of

the man who is distressed and in desperate circumstances. Then followed

thunder and lightning, and when Cyrus sank down in prayer, birds of good

omen settled on the roof, as a sign that he would again reach

Pasargadae. So the Persians remained for the night on the mountain, and

when on the following morning the Medes renewed the attack, they fought

yet more bravely, relying on the happy omens. But Astyages placed 50,000

men at the foot of the mountain behind those who were attacking, and

bade them slay all who came down. Thus pressed, the Medes fought more

zealously than on the previous day, and the Persians retired to the top

of the mountain on which were their women and children. These ran to

meet the fugitives, and cried out to them, 'Cowards, whither would ye

fly, will ye creep back into the bosoms that bore you?' Seized with

shame, the Persians turned, and in one onslaught drove the Medes down

the mountain, and slew sixty thousand of them."

"But Astyages did not retire from the siege of the mountain. Cyrus had

still need of much cunning and bravery before he succeeded in defeating

Astyages and taking the camp of the Medes. On that day, Cyrus went into

the tent of Astyages, seated himself on his throne, and took the sceptre

amid the acclamations of the Persians; and Oebares put the king's

kidaris on his head with the words: 'Thou art more worthy to bear it;

the gods give it to thee for thy virtue, and grant the Persians to rule

over the Medes.' The treasures of Astyages, which the Persians found in

the camp of the Medes, were brought to Pasargadae under the care of

Oebares; but even those which they found in the tents of the other Medes

were enormous. It was not long before the intelligence of the defeat and

flight of Astyages spread abroad, and nations as well as individuals

deserted him. First of all Artasyras, the chief of the Hyrcanians, came,

with 50,000 men, and recognised Cyrus as king; afterwards came the

chiefs of the Parthians, Sacae, Bactrians, and other nations, each

seeking to arrive before the other. Only a few faithful men remained

with Astyages, and when Cyrus marched against him he was easily

overcome. Then Cyrus gained possession of Ecbatana. There the daughter

of Astyages and her husband Spitamas were taken captive with their two

sons. But Astyages could not be found; Amytis and Spitamas had hidden

him in the palace in the woodwork of the roof. Then Cyrus commanded that

Amytis, her husband, and her children should be tortured that they might

confess where Astyages was, but he came forward of his own will to

prevent the torture. Spitamas was beheaded, because he had lied, and

said that he did not know the hiding-place of Astyages; Amytis Cyrus

took for his wife. He loosed from Astyages the heavy chains which

Oebares had put upon him, honoured him as a father, and made him satrap

of the Barcanians."[532]

According to Deinon, who wrote in the first half of the fourth century

B.C., Cyrus was first governor of the staff-bearers of Astyages, and

then of his body-guard. In a dream he had thrice seen the sun at his

feet, and thrice stretched out his arms to grasp it, and the magicians

had interpreted this dream to the effect that he would reign for thrice

ten years. When Astyages had given Cyrus leave to go to Persia, and he

had availed himself of it, the king sent for Angares, the most famous of

the Median minstrels, in order to sing before him and his company at the

banquet. After reciting the usual songs, Angares at last said: "The

great beast of prey, more mighty than a wild boar, is let loose in the

swamps; when he is master of his land, he will with ease fight against

many." And when Astyages asked, "What wild beast is this?" Angares

answered: "Cyrus the Persian." Then Astyages, regarding the suspicion as

well-founded, sent to fetch Cyrus back, but failed to recover him.[533]

The narrative of Pompeius Trogus has been preserved in excerpts only.

Astyages had a daughter, but no male heirs. From her bosom, he saw, in a

dream, a vine growing, of which the branches overshadowed all Asia. The

interpreters of dreams declared that this vision portended the greatness

of the grandson whom his daughter would bring forth, but it also

involved the loss of the empire to him. To be rid of this fear, Astyages

had not given his daughter to any eminent man, nor even to a Mede--that

there might not be rank on the father's side as well as on the mother's,

to excite the ambition of his grandson--but to Cambyses, a man of middle

station, in the then unknown nation of the Persians. Even this did not

remove the alarm of Astyages; when his daughter was pregnant he sent for

her in order to have her child put to death before his eyes. When a boy

was born he gave him to Harpagus, his trusted friend, to be put to

death. But Harpagus, fearing that the daughter of Astyages if she should

come to the throne would avenge on him the death of her son, gave the

child to the herdman of the king, and bade him expose it. The herdman

obeyed, but when his wife heard of the matter, she urged her husband to

fetch the child and show it to her. Wearied by her entreaties, the

herdman went back into the forest, and there found a dog beside the

child, suckling it, and defending it from the beasts of prey. He took it

up and carried it to his fold, while the dog followed in much distress.

When the herdman's wife took it in her arms, the child smiled on her as

though it had known her, and it was so full of life and sweet smiles

that the woman induced her husband to expose her own child in place of

the grandson of the king. After this the excerpt goes on to relate, like

Herodotus, the game of the boys, the answer of Cyrus, the revenge of

Astyages on Harpagus, the letter in the hare's belly, in which Harpagus

imparts to Cyrus his plan for the desertion of the Medes to the

Persians. When Cyrus had received and read this letter in Persepolis, a

dream also urged the enterprise upon him, but at the same time bade him

take as his associate the man whom he met first on the following day.

Next day, before dawn, Cyrus went on a journey, and met a slave of the

name of Oebares, belonging to the house of a Mede. When Cyrus found that

he was a Persian by birth, he took his chains off and turned back with

him to Persepolis. Cyrus then assembled the Persians. On the first day

he made them cut down a wood on the way, and on the second he

entertained them. Astyages sends Harpagus against them, and he passes

over to their side with the army entrusted to him. Astyages now marches

out in person, after summoning all his forces, against Persia. The

struggle was severe. Astyages placed a portion of his army in the rear

of his forces, and told the latter that they must try whether they could

not break through the ranks of the enemy in battle more easily than

through the ranks behind them in flight. The Medes attacked with great

spirit; the Persians were forced back to their wives and children, by

whom they were again driven into the battle with the cry: Would they fly

for refuge into the bosoms of their mothers and wives? They put the

Medes to flight. Here the excerpt of Justin breaks off, though he

represents Astyages as having been taken prisoner in this battle after

the rout. Cyrus merely took the government from him; he treated him as

his grandfather, and made him satrap of the Hyrcanians; Oebares he made

ruler of Persia, and gave him his sister in marriage.[534]

Polyaenus repeats the narrative of Herodotus about the manner in which

Cyrus induced the Persians to revolt. Then followed a war between the

Medes and Persians, and Cyrus was three times defeated. As the women and

children of the Persians were at Pasargadae, Cyrus was compelled to risk

another battle in the neighbourhood of this place. The Persians were

again put to flight; Oebares was retreating when the women met the

fugitives, with the cry already quoted. The Persians halted; and as the

Medes were pursuing without order, the Persians gained such a victory

that no further battle was needed to decide the question of the

throne.[535] Anaximenes of Lampsacus also relates that Cyrus had built

Pasargadae at the place where he had overcome Astyages in battle. Strabo

tells us: "Cyrus held Pasargadae in honour, for it was there that he

conquered Astyages in the final battle, and became ruler of all Asia in

his place, and he built a city and a palace in remembrance of the

victory."[536] Plutarch tells us: When Cyrus revolted from Astyages and

the Medes he was three times conquered in battle, and when the Persians

fled into the city, the enemy had almost succeeded in forcing an

entrance with them, when the women came out to meet them. The cry of the

women brought about a change in the battle, and for this reason Cyrus

made a law that as often as the king came into the city of Pasargadae,

every woman should receive a piece of gold. Ochus marched past the city

to evade the law; but Alexander twice entered Pasargadae, and gave

double to all the women that were with child.[537] In all these

narratives the land of the Persians is the scene of the decisive

conflict.

Only a few short fragments remain of the account given by Diodorus of

the overthrow of Astyages. With him Cyrus is the son of Mandane, the

daughter of Astyages, and Cambyses. His father brought him up as a king,

and inflamed him with a desire for the mightiest achievements. As a

young man he displayed a capacity in advance of his years, and clearly

showed that he would undertake the most important enterprises. He was

the first man of his time in bravery, wisdom, and all other virtues.

Another fragment obviously comes after the defeat, which, according to

Nicolaus, Astyages suffered in the final battle at Pasargadae. When

defeated, Astyages, though he had himself disgracefully turned and fled,

showed ferocious anger against his army. He deposed all the commanders

and elected others in their place. Those who were to blame for the

flight, he executed one and all, thinking that he should thus compel the

others to show themselves brave men in danger. "For he was cruel and

harsh in character. But he did not terrify the multitude by this

severity; on the other hand, by the exasperation which such violence and

caprice excited in every one, he roused them to a desire for revolution

and deposition. The troops met in their divisions; treasonable speeches

were uttered, and the majority urged each other to vengeance."[538]

Xenophon, it is true, has not written a history of Cyrus, but has given

a description of his life from his knowledge of the Persian life and

character, and the conclusions he deduced therefrom, as to the possible

origin of the empire, in order to explain and realise to the Greeks the

difficulty which they found it so hard to solve--the manner in which

great nations could form one community and be governed by one person.

With him Cyrus is the son of Cambyses, who is the king of the Persians,

and Mandane the daughter of Astyages of Media, whom Xenophon represents

as reigning before Cyaxares. When Cyrus was twelve years of age, his

mother went with him to Media, in order to show him to his grandfather,

whom the boy astonished by his apt answers. At the age of sixteen, Cyrus

performs his first deeds of arms. When Astyages died, he was succeeded

on the throne by his son Cyaxares, the brother of Mandane. He entreats

Cambyses to aid him against the Assyrians; Cambyses sends Cyrus, by

whose services the Medes are defeated. After this he conquered the

Lydians, who had come to aid the Assyrians against the Medes, and took

Babylon; and his uncle Cyaxares, whom Xenophon does not describe as a

pattern ruler, gives him his daughter in marriage, and Media as a dowry,

for he was without male children. Cambyses and Mandane assented to this

arrangement. After the death of Cambyses, Cyrus became king of Persia,

and on the death of Cyaxares, Media also became his.

The Armenians also narrate the fall of Astyages. Moses of Chorene (I.

513) tells us that he only related the stories of the Persians to please

his patron Sahak (Isaac) Bagratuni, and gave them a meaning which they

did not possess. Biurasp Asdahag lived at the time of Nimrod, and the

person whom the Persians in their stories call the child of Satan,

served him; and with regard to the dragon, or the changing of Asdahag

into a dragon, the truth was that he sacrificed men in infinite numbers

to the dragon, till the multitude grew weary, overpowered him, and threw

him into a trench filled with bitumen. Moses further tells us: The ninth

descendant of Baroir of Armenia (I. 515), King Tigran, was the

mightiest of all the princes of Armenia, and helped Cyrus to overthrow

the kingdom of the Medes. Tigran was pledged by treaties to Asdahag

(Astyages) the king of the Medians, and when he united with Cyrus,

Astyages had an evil dream. He saw a high mountain surrounded by snow

and ice, as in the land of the son of Haikhs (I. 513). On the summit of

the mountain, a woman in purple, covered with a sky-blue veil, brought

forth three heroes at once: one, carried on a lion, dashed toward the

west; the second, on a leopard, to the north; the third, on a monstrous

dragon, to Media. With this Asdahag fought in the dream: they shed a sea

of blood, and pierced each other with their lances. Asdahag explained

this dream to mean that he had to expect an attack from Tigran, the king

of Armenia. To prevent this, and secretly to destroy Tigran, Asdahag

sought Tigran's sister, Tigranuhi, in marriage, obtained her, and held

her in great honour. Then he asked for a meeting with Tigran. But

Tigranuhi had perceived the duplicity of Asdahag, and warned her

brother. He collected the best warriors of great and little Armenia, and

marched against the Medes. The war continued for four months, till

Tigran in a hand-to-hand conflict pierced the iron armour of Asdahag

with his lance. The death of Asdahag put an end to the battle and the

war, and Tigran led his sister back to Armenia, where she became the

ancestress of the race of Osdan. Anuish (Aryanis), the first wife of

Astyages, and a number of young princesses and boys, more than 10,000 in

all, Tigranes brought to Armenia, and settled there to the east of the

great mountain, towards the land of Koghten, in the plain of Ajtnayan,

as far as Nakhjevan. In the songs of the people of Koghten, the

descendants of Astyages are spoken of in an allegorical manner, as the

descendants of the dragon; for Astyages (Asdahag) in our language means

the dragon.[539] As has been shown, the Armenians were closely allied to

the people of Iran in language, character, and religious worship. It

cannot therefore astonish us that the legends of Iran are known to them.

What Moses tells us of Biurasp Asdahag and his serpents rests on the

myth in the Avesta of the serpent Azhi dahaka, the Zohak of the later

form of Iranian legend (p. 250). The epithet which Moses gives to

Asdahag, Biurasp, is also of Iranian origin; Baevaracpa means the lord

of 10,000 horses. That the descendants of Astyages are spoken of in the

national legend of Armenia as the descendants of the dragon, shows that

the Armenians had confounded Astyages of Media with Azhi dahaka or

Zohak. The Armenians can only claim as their own the legend of King

Tigran, who overcomes and slays Asdahag of Media. They ascribe to their

princes the overthrow of the Medes. As already remarked, the Armenian

legend of Tigran must come down from an early date. Xenophon makes

Tigran the son of the king of Armenia, the most faithful helper and

associate of Cyrus.[540]

Leaving out of sight the romance of Xenophon, and the Armenian

tradition, which involve special hypotheses, the accounts in the West of

the fall of Astyages go back to two distinct versions, one of which we

have in the narrative of Herodotus, the other in the narrative of

Ctesias-Nicolaus, which is presupposed in Deinon and Polyaenus. In

Trogus we have a third version, which combines the two. So far as

Justin's excerpt allows us to form an opinion, this version, and the

fragments of Diodorus, are based upon the Persian history of Deinon. The

introduction is distinguished from the account of Herodotus by the fact

that only one dream of Astyages is mentioned; that Cyrus is already

exposed, and a dog is suckling him before the herdsman's wife, whose

name was "dog," brings him up; then follows the story of Herodotus,

including the letter, which Harpagus sends to Cyrus in the hare's belly.

At this point Trogus passes into the account of Nicolaus; he represents

Cyrus as receiving in a dream the exhortation to rise against Astyages,

and to take the first man he meets as his associate. Cyrus meets

Oebares, though not, it is true, on the borders of the Cadusians. The

place of the horsemen, who in Nicolaus are first sent by Astyages, is

taken in Trogus by the march of Harpagus, and his desertion to Cyrus;

then follows the narrative of the war, which in the most essential

traits agrees with the version of Ctesias-Nicolaus. From Deinon's

fragments we shall add to the excerpt from Trogus, that Cyrus before his

rebellion had served at the court of Astyages as overseer of the

staff-bearers, and then of the body-guard; that Astyages was warned by

Angares; and, finally, the defection of the Medes after the battle of

Pasargadae, as given in the fragments of Diodorus.

The detail and liveliness of the traits in the accounts of Herodotus and

Ctesias-Nicolaus, in the fragment of Deinon, and the narrative of

Trogus--the warnings and portents--the dialogues and speeches of the

action--the letter:--all these point to poetical sources. We found that

the accounts of Ctesias of the foundation, rise, and fall of Assyria,

and of the rise of Media, were based upon poems, and here also, beyond

doubt, poetic traditions form the groundwork. Herodotus, at the

beginning of his narrative, tells us: "I write these matters from the

accounts given by some of the Persians, who do not exaggerate the life

of Cyrus, but wish to narrate the order of events; I am aware that three

other different accounts of the life of Cyrus are in existence."[541]

Xenophon tells us that Cyrus "is even now the theme of song among the

barbarians."[542] In Deinon's fragment it is Angares, the most famous of

the Median minstrels, who, while singing at the table of Astyages, warns

him in a poetical figure against Cyrus (p. 354); in the account of

Nicolaus it is one of the singing women, from whom, at the same time and

in a similar figure, this warning comes. At the court of the Sassanids

there were singing women who sang to the kings the achievements of old

days. Ibn-al-Hareth brought women of this kind from the court of Chosru

Nushirvan to the Koreishites, and they sang the deeds of Rustem.[543]

According to these statements and indications we may regard it as

certain that the elevation of Cyrus and the fall of Astyages was

celebrated in song among the Persians and Medes. In spite of the

differences between the three narratives, certain traits are common to

all. In all dreams announce the future greatness of Cyrus; in Herodotus

these appear to Astyages; in Nicolaus, to the mother of Cyrus; in Deinon

and Trogus, to Cyrus also. In Herodotus Cambyses is rich in flocks, in

Nicolaus the mother of Cyrus tends goats; in Herodotus Cambyses is of a

quiet disposition, in Nicolaus he is driven by his son to revolt, and

finally disowns the enterprise. All three narratives lay stress on the

warnings given to Astyages against Cyrus, though in different ways; all

mark strongly the early personal valour of Cyrus, which Xenophon also

celebrates. Artembares the Mede is found both in Herodotus and Nicolaus,

though in a different relation to Cyrus. In all three accounts a

counsellor--Harpagus in the one case, Oebares in the other--exercises

the greatest influence on the resolutions of Cyrus. Herodotus and

Nicolaus mark the cunning of Cyrus as opposed to Astyages; in both Cyrus

gives out that he is carrying out the king's orders in arming the

Persians. In Herodotus Cyrus tells the Persians that he does not

consider them worse men than the Medes, and they revolt "because they

have now got a leader in Cyrus." In Nicolaus Cyrus asks whether there is

not a leader who can put an end to the rule of the Medes over better men

than themselves. In both the dominion of the Medes has long been hated

by the Persians. In both before the beginning of the struggle Astyages

commands Cyrus to appear before him. In Herodotus Astyages says, when

Harpagus has passed over to Cyrus and the Median army has broken up,

that "he shall not succeed;" and in Nicolaus he uses the same words

after the first defeat of his horsemen. In Herodotus it is the cruelty

of Astyages to Harpagus, and his severity towards the Medes, which cost

him his throne; in Diodorus the army revolts, even after brave fighting,

from Astyages because he cruelly revenges upon them the defeat at

Pasargadae. In all three accounts Cyrus does no harm to Astyages after

his victory.

Let us set aside the poetical colours in the account of Herodotus in

order to test its coherence. What alarm could Astyages, who was without

male heirs, feel at the announcement that his daughter's son would one

day rule over all Asia, _i.e._ would still further extend the dominion

of the Medes? In the second dream, which portends no more than the

first, a reason is given for the alarm; the interpreters declare that

the dream signifies that Astyages will lose his throne. If Astyages had

reason to fear the yet unborn child of his daughter, the obvious remedy

was not to allow her to marry. Nevertheless she is married, not to a

Mede, but to a man of the subject races, a Persian of a good family,

_i.e._ of noble descent, wealthy, but "quiet in his disposition." This

was equivalent to taking the Persian into the royal family, giving up to

him or his son the right of succession, bringing the crown of Media into

the possession of a stranger, and allowing the kingdom to pass from the

Medes to the Persians. Even if such perversity could occur to Astyages

the Medes were not likely to permit it, when the Magians tell Astyages,

in Herodotus, how anxious they are that the dominion should not fall

into the hands of a Persian. It is true that Herodotus represents

Harpagus some twenty or thirty years later as persuading the chief

Medes, and persuading them singly, that Astyages must be overthrown, and

the Persian made king, but this is simply incredible. After this

marvellous marriage of the heiress to the throne with a Persian,

Cambyses is not brought to Ecbatana to the court, but remains in Persia,

and no harm is done to the dreaded son of the marriage, even when his

real origin has been discovered. Nay, more, the boy who at an early age

discovers high aims, and a resolute will, is not even brought to the

court to be under the eye of Astyages, but is sent back to Persia to his

father, and by his means Harpagus is able to bring Persia to revolt. The

letter hidden in the hare's belly obviously arose from an anticipation

of the supervision of the great roads which was introduced at a later

time by the Achaemenids. But what reason had Cyrus to cause the Persians

to revolt? According to Herodotus Cambyses is the son-in-law, and hence

the heir, of Astyages. Cyrus will succeed his father as heir to the

Median throne, why then should he rebel against his aged

grandfather?--why should he seek by hazard, danger, and bloodshed, a

crown which by inheritance must soon come to Cambyses or Cyrus?[544]

In the narrative of Herodotus Cyrus is no more than an instrument in the

hands of Harpagus. The crime of Astyages against Harpagus; the

well-merited punishment of this crime by his own imprisonment and loss

of empire, form the hinge of the narrative, which at the same time

brings into prominence the doctrine that no one, even though warned, can

escape his doom. It is not probable that there were songs among the

Persians or Medes, which illustrated Herodotus' view of the unavoidable

_Nemesis_ which governs the actions and fortunes of men; or that Persian

poems would represent Cyrus as the son of a Median mother. In them the

Persians merely glorified the founder of their freedom and supremacy,

of whom, as we know, they cherished the most grateful memories. But the

Medes might possess poems in which the change of empire was treated from

their point of view; they might attempt to make the loss of empire

appear less painful, the dishonour of defeat by the Persians less

degrading. To be overthrown by a man belonging to the subject race was

bitter. Hence the Medes could avail themselves of a change frequent in

the East, and represent Cyrus as a scion of their own royal house. The

Egyptians maintained that Cambyses, the son of Cyrus, who reduced them

to subjection, was the son of Cyrus and the daughter of their own

Pharaoh Hophra.[545] This was mere invention; and the Medes must have

found their version the more easy to maintain, because Cyrus spared

Astyages after the defeat, and took his daughter into his harem. And if

it was not the arms of the Persians, but rather the treachery of a

distinguished Mede, the discontent of the chiefs of Media with a cruel

king, that decided the struggle between the Persians and Medes, the

submission became thus less intolerable to the pride of the Medes. If a

distinguished Mede had been at variance with Astyages, and in the last

moment of the battle had gone over to Cyrus,--much could be made of the

desertion in Median poems. If after his victory Cyrus reposed great

confidence in an eminent Mede, this might be made a ground for previous

treachery to Astyages. A few years after his victory Cyrus entrusted to

the Mede Harpagus, the leadership of the army, the subjugation and

maintenance of far distant regions. If the legend of the Persians

represented Achaemenes, the ancestor of their princely race, as being

fed by an eagle (p. 327), their poems would speak of the founder of

their dominion as distinguished by divine honours, and surround his

birth and youth with happy omens of the future. These traits the Medes

could use for their own purposes as warnings vouchsafed to Astyages. If

the Persians represented Cyrus as suckled by a dog, the favoured

creature of Auramazda, the Medes carried the subject further, and spoke

of the exposing of Cyrus, which was then brought into combination with

the enmity of Harpagus to Astyages; the origin of this was the refusal

of Harpagus to put the Persian boy to death, which Astyages punished by

the Thyestean banquet. Thus owing to the crime of Astyages, Harpagus

their own countryman became filled with desire for vengeance; he is the

counsellor of Cyrus, the author and leader of the revolt.

Median poetry of this kind has been followed by Herodotus. He has told

us already that he would narrate the life of Cyrus as it was given by

the Persians, who had no desire to exaggerate their account, but these

Persians are undoubtedly the Medes. The Median origin of his story is

placed beyond doubt by the words which the captive Astyages addresses to

Harpagus, and by the fact that with him it is a Mede who is the decisive

counsellor and guide of Cyrus, while in the other version it is a

Persian. Beside the reason given by Herodotus himself for choosing this

version, others no doubt had influence. The Delphian oracle bade

Croesus take to flight "whenever a mule should govern the Medes."

According to the Medes Cyrus was the son of a Persian father and Median

mother. The sufferings and acts of Harpagus formed the centre of the

Median version, and he was only too well known to the Greeks on the

west coast of Asia Minor. With the warning portents, and the exposure of

Cyrus, the Median version brought Herodotus on the familiar ground of

Greek legend, in which similar oracles, futile exposing of children, and

deceptive explanations were common. Finally, the vengeance which

overtook Astyages suits the ethical feeling of Herodotus. We may assume

therefore that his narrative faithfully represents the contents of

Median poems. These could already have changed the dog which was said to

have suckled Cyrus into the herdman's wife, who was called by the name

of "dog." But inasmuch as Herodotus does not "intend to exaggerate," as

he observes that "the dog was everything in the mouth of Cyrus," and

"his parents caught this up in order to represent the preservation of

Cyrus as a work of the gods,"--as he further remarks "that Cyrus owing

to his origin was regarded as more than human,"[546]--this rationalising

turn may have proceeded from the historian himself. In the Persian

tradition Cyrus was certainly suckled and guarded by the dog, and this

trait is retained in the account of Deinon-Trogus, though united with

the story of the exposure. But Deinon has at the same time proved the

exposure impossible, for he states that Cyrus came to the throne in his

fortieth year, and lived till his seventieth.[547] If this were true,

the exposure and the command of Astyages respecting it would fall to the

ground, for Cyrus would have seen the light in the year 599 B.C., _i.e._

some years before the accession of Astyages, even if we allow the latter

the longer reign which Eusebius assigns to him.

If the story of Herodotus is governed by the conception of the

unavoidable punishment of crime, the connecting clue in the story of

Nicolaus is the rise of a beggar-boy of the lowest origin by skill and

industry, by cunning and bravery, by endurance in the greatest danger,

and final victory in the most severe struggles. Cyrus is the son of

humble parents; his father is driven by want to robbery, his mother

tends goats; they belong to the lowest tribe of the Persians, the

marauding Mardians whom we have found in the mountains of south-western

Persia (p. 323). Hunger drives the boy from the goat-pasture to

Ecbatana. Beginning as a sweeper of the palace, he works his way step by

step upwards by address and industry to the highest offices at the

court, so that he can make his father satrap of Persia and his mother

the most distinguished lady in Persia. Then the dream of his mother, and

the interpretation given of it by the Babylonian, plant ambition in his

soul, which is strengthened by the happy portent, vouchsafed to him on

his mission to the chief of the Cadusians, and the advice of Oebares. He

succeeds in persuading Astyages to grant him permission to visit his

parents in Persia; when too late, Astyages is warned by the wife of the

Babylonian, and the words of the singing-woman (Angares in Deinon). A

fierce war breaks out. The father of Cyrus is taken captive, and in his

last moments disavows the attempt of his son. Defeated again and again,

the Persians in their last refuge at Pasargadae are reduced to the

greatest distress. Then fortune turns; the Medes are driven back and

defeated in numerous engagements, and Oebares can at length place the

crown on the head of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages.

If Xenophon in his book on Cyrus sought to make it clear to the Greeks,

by what personal and material means Cyrus was able to conquer Asia,

Ctesias or Nicolaus will show pragmatically how a beggar-boy rose step

by step to be lord of the continent. He says nothing of the relationship

of Astyages and Cyrus, or of the princely origin of Cyrus, or of his

exposure, or of the dog: Cyrus owes his successes to himself and the

gods. However impossible it may be that this introduction and the whole

tendency of the narrative can be borrowed from the tradition of the

Persians; however certain that Cyrus the beggar-boy is an invention of

the Greeks, to point the contrast between beginning and end, and make

the subject more interesting; yet if only we give another turn to the

introduction, we have the Persian account before us in the narrative of

Nicolaus, as we have the Median in the account of Herodotus--and a

mixture of the two in the excerpt from Trogus. The Persian version is

from the first marked in Ctesias and Nicolaus by the fact that they do

not represent Cyrus as the descendant of Astyages. Moreover, the

parallel between the fall of the Assyrians and the fall of the Median

empire cannot be mistaken. "We must narrate the great change brought

about by the transition of the dominion to the Persians"--such is the

beginning of the account of Nicolaus. This parallel can only have arisen

from Persian minstrels. They had to show that the task of Cyrus was

great, and more difficult than that of Arbaces. They had to lay the

greatest stress on the personal excellence of Cyrus in order to raise

him above the level of Arbaces. The latter, guided by the advice of the

viceroy of Babylon and aided by the Babylonians, had proved the

conqueror. The arts of the Chaldaeans were certainly respected and used

in Iran; they must have been sought after and employed as a poetic

motive. It was to carry out the parallel that the Persian songs gave

Cyrus a Babylonian adviser; yet they represent the counsel and influence

of this Babylonian as entirely removed by a Persian of far greater

importance, and utterly thrown into the shade. The emphasis which the

Persian songs laid on the personal virtue of Cyrus misled the Greeks

into making an attempt at the biography of the beggar-boy, and so

rendered this change easier. Atradates, the name given by Nicolaus to

the father of Cyrus, is no doubt taken from an epithet of Cyrus himself.

Strabo tells us that Cyrus was originally called Atradates; the word is

the old Persian _atriyadata_, old Bactrian, _ataredata_; the Avesta

recommends the name as good and saving. The parents of Cyrus are said to

belong to the tribe of the Mardians, but later on Nicolaus himself shows

that Cyrus' ancestral home is at Pasargadae (p. 352). In contempt the

Medes might unite the whole Persian nation under the name of their

poorest tribes. "Why have I raised up these Mardians for such mischief?"

Astyages asks in Nicolaus. The goat-tending of the mother of Cyrus is

due to the same cause. In the account of Herodotus Cambyses is said to

be rich in herds; among the Persians the care of flocks occupied a large

place, and at a later time the tending and protection of the flocks was

one of the means employed for strengthening and hardening the Persian

youth. Cyrus himself, in the narrative of Nicolaus, calls himself and

his father goat-herds. When Arsaces of Armenia visited the court of the

Sassanid Shapur II. one of the first officers at the court of Shapur

insolently said: "Will the king of the goats pasture on our

slopes?"[548] Such traits as these in the Persian poems, connected with

the poverty and simplicity of the life of the "terebinth-eating"

Persians (which Nicolaus also, following the tradition, brings into such

prominence), supplied the Greek revision with the necessary support for

changing Cyrus into a Mardian goat-herd and beggar-boy. Yet the true

position of the parents of Cyrus breaks through in the statement that

the father of Cyrus was satrap of Persia, and his mother the first lady

in the land, a position which also appears in the statement in Herodotus

of the noble descent and wealth of Cambyses, and is even more plainly

marked in other passages in which the taunt is hurled at Cyrus: that the

son of Cambyses ought not to give way to a woman,--and traces the

lineage of Cyrus back to Achaemenes, though in the account of the

rebellion of Cyrus he calls his grandfather also Cyrus.

The rise of Cyrus at the court of Astyages was borrowed from another

trait in the Persian poems. The custom of the East, that the sons of

distinguished princes and nobles should perform certain courtly and

honourable services at the gate of the king, must have been current in

Media also. The Persian poems must have proudly declared how Cyrus

distinguished himself there in his youth in the duties of the court or

of arms. This description was changed into the series of stages by which

the beggar-boy rose to the highest office at the court of the king. The

Persian account is obviously preserved here in Deinon's narrative--like

the suckling and protection of Cyrus by the dog--in which Cyrus before

the rebellion is chief of the staff-bearers and the body-guard of the

king. When Cyrus had won the favour of Astyages, Nicolaus is obviously

more true to the Persian account. In old days the chaff of horses

announced his elevation to Arbaces, and to Cyrus it is announced by

horse-dung, which is carried to him by a Persian, the slave of a Mede,

who has been recently whipped; and as to Arbaces, so to Cyrus, a

Babylonian announces that the throne is destined for him. As Arbaces is

instigated and encouraged by Belesys, so is Cyrus by the interpreter of

dreams from Babylon, and Cyrus promises him great rewards if he reaches

the throne, as Arbaces had promised Belesys. The conversations of

Arbaces with Belesys correspond exactly to the conversations of Cyrus

with the Babylonian and Oebares. In Nicolaus Cyrus says, that Arbaces

who overthrew Sardanapalus was not wiser than himself, nor were the

Medes better warriors than the Persians. But if the Median empire was

founded with the help of the Babylonian, the Persian must rise without

such assistance. Arbaces had to concede to Belesys and his successors

the hereditary dominion over Babylonia; on this occasion Oebares takes

care that in the future empire of the Persians, Babylonia shall not be

in the way as an hereditary monarchy given in reward of services; he

removes the Babylonian against the wishes of Cyrus. If the Medes had

formerly been able to conquer Assyria with the aid of the Babylonians,

the Persians now defeat the Medes unaided, and if Sardanapalus was

effeminate, Astyages, according to Nicolaus, is the bravest king of the

Medes after Arbaces. To treat the struggle so briefly as Herodotus does

was impossible for Nicolaus, as the object of his narrative was to bring

out the valour of Cyrus. So we may assume that the Persian songs gave

similar prominence to the contests before Nineveh and Pasargadae. Arbaces

is thrice defeated before Nineveh, and inclined to retire. Astyages

leads against Cyrus the whole forces of his kingdom--more than a million

soldiers. In spite of the excellent arrangements of Oebares and the

utmost bravery, Cyrus is three times defeated:--he is already reduced to

extremities in the fourth conflict, when the cry of the women restores

the fight. At length Oebares is able to place the Median crown on the

head of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages. With such servants the throne and

kingdom of the Persians is more firmly established than that of the

Medes.

This inquiry enables us to reconstruct in its main outlines the

tradition of the Persians. Cambyses, the descendant of Achaemenes, was

the chief of the Persians. Before the birth of Cyrus his wife had a

dream that so much water came from her "that it was like a great river

which inundated all Asia, and flowed into the sea." We know what

reverence the Avesta pays to the dog, and the importance it ascribes to

its glance (p. 207). The suckling of the boy Cyrus by a dog is the sign

of the most bounteous favour and most secure protection on the part of

the gods. Herodotus told us above that owing to his origin Cyrus counted

himself as more than a man, and Xenophon represents him as begotten by

gods, springing from a line of kings, and practised from his youth up in

bravery and virtue.[549] In accordance with the custom of the Persians

the son of the prince grows up among the flocks. Mithradates, which

Herodotus gives as the name of the herdsman with whom the boy is brought

up, means "given by Mithra;" the favourite of the god, who increases the

flocks of the farms where men worship him, and gives victory in battles,

is the protector of Cyrus. In the game of the boys he shows by

cleverness and unbroken resolution the great destiny to which he was

called. Then he goes into service at the court of the Median king;

where the Persian poems have already shown us Parsondes at the time of

Cyaxares, who subsequently made the Cadusians enemies of the Medes.[550]

Eminent in every position, Cyrus wins the confidence of Astyages, and

becomes the chief of his bodyguard. Then according to Deinon's fragments

he sees the sun in a dream thrice inclining towards him. It was the

brilliance or majesty of the king which Cyrus is represented as

beholding. In the Avesta Thraetaona and Kerecacpa seize the majesty when

it departs from Yima, and the Turanian Franghracyan seeks thrice to

grasp the glance of the majesty.[551] Then a Persian, the slave of a

Mede, brings a new sign of good fortune to Cyrus when far from his

fatherland on the borders of the Cadusians. Oebares (Hubara, the good

bearer) is the first Persian whom Cyrus liberates from the service of

the Medes; and thus he has gained his most faithful helper. Angares the

Mede, who warns Astyages, calls Cyrus "more mighty than a wild boar."

The singing girl also calls Cyrus a "boar." We saw above that the

victorious god Verethraghna appears in the form of a boar, and in that

shape accompanies the chariot of Mithra.[552] The battle in the

mountains of Persia, as described by Nicolaus, belongs in all essential

traits to the Persian legend. It is precisely at Pasargadae, at the

house of Cyrus, _i.e._ of Achaemenes, that the fortune of arms changes.

The proclamation of Cyrus in the tent of Astyages, and his coronation by

the Persians, which first made him a free man instead of a Median slave,

is throughout in accordance with the meaning and tendency of the Persian

legend. The gentleness of Cyrus towards Astyages is the counterpart of

the generosity which the Median king who conquered Nineveh once

displayed towards Belesys. Oebares undoubtedly belongs to the Persian

Epos; he is the faithful servant who upholds the interest of the kingdom

even against the will of the king, and sacrifices himself for it. The

Persians of the best time held it a duty to sacrifice themselves for the

king.

The overthrow of the Parthian empire is explained in the same way as the

overthrow of the Medes. Papak, the prince of Fars, sees in a dream the

sun illuminating the world from the head of his herdman Sassan. His

daughter brings forth Ardeshir to Sassan; Ardeshir serves at the court

of the Parthian king Artaban, and shoots wild asses better than anyone

else. On an announcement of the interpreters of stars, Ardeshir flies

from the court and arms the Persians. Artaban abuses him as an impudent

Kurd, and sends the prince of Susiana to fetch him, but this prince, and

then Artaban himself, are overcome. Shapur, the son of Ardeshir, is

restored to life against his command, and his grandson Auharmazdi is

brought up secretly, and recognised by his conduct in the play of the

boys. In both, dreams and letters and the inborn majesty of the royal

children play their part.[553]

Astyages, who ascended the throne in the year 593 B.C., ruled over the

Median empire for more than 30 years; he had already reached a great age

when the Persians rebelled against him. Aristotle remarks that his

effeminate life and the carelessness of his government inspired Cyrus

with courage.[554] The daughter of Alyattes of Lydia, whom he had

married in his youth, had brought him no son; both the Median version of

Herodotus, and the Persian in Trogus and Ctesias, allow Astyages a

daughter only--Mandane in the one case, in the other Amytis, the name of

the sister of Astyages, whom Nebuchadnezzar married. This daughter,

according to Ctesias and Nicolaus, Astyages marries to Spitamas, the

Mede (Cpitama, _i.e._ the excellent) and at the same time gives him "all

Media as a dowry." Marriage with the heiress to the throne gave her

husband the claim and right to succession. The daughter of the king bore

two sons to Spitamas: Spitaces and Magabernes.[555] About the origin of

Cyrus there is no doubt. He was the son of Cambyses, the grandson of

Teispes, the great-grandson of Achaemenes, who united the Persian tribes

under his leadership, and recognised the sovereignty of Phraortes the

Median king. As Cyaxares and Astyages followed Phraortes on the throne

of Media, so did Teispes and Cambyses follow Achaemenes as his viceroys

or vassal kings over Persia. It may have been the case that, as already

remarked, after the consolidation of the Median empire, the sovereignty

became more oppressive for the Persians, and the links of their

dependence were drawn closer. According to the previous custom, the

viceroyalty of Persia would descend, at the death of Cambyses, to his

son Cyrus. If the custom which subsequently prevailed in the Persian

kingdom was current among the Medes, and the sons of the satraps or

princes of the subject lands had to wait at the king's gate, and perform

courtly or martial service as hostages for the fidelity of their

fathers, and at the same time to learn obedience and submission in order

to find favour with the king when in his immediate presence and covered

by the splendour of his power--Cyrus must also have served at the court

of Astyages, and may have filled the office of the staff-bearer,

body-guard, or of butler, an honourable position at the court of the

Medes and Persians. In Ecbatana he had no doubt an opportunity of

comparing the simple manners, the capacity and vigour of his Persians,

with the splendour of the court, and the luxurious life of the Median

chiefs. Moreover, the great advantage which Spitamas had gained by

marriage with the daughter of the king must have excited the jealousy

and ambition of other Medes who considered themselves to have a better

claim, or even raised their eyes to the throne. In the account of

Herodotus, Harpagus is said to be akin to the family of Astyages. It is

possible that Cyrus contemplated a breach between Persia and Media on

the death of Astyages, when he would find his opportunity in a contested

and previously disputed succession. It may be a fact that Astyages had

his suspicions, that he summoned Cyrus who had already left the court

before him, and Cyrus was thus compelled to break with him sooner than

he intended. It seems more certain that Cambyses was still alive, than

that the Persians took up arms against Astyages at the instigation of

Cyrus, who was, as we have remarked, at that time in his fortieth

year.[556]

It follows from the position of affairs that the Persians awaited the

attack of the Medes in their own country. It was only in the defence of

the passes of their mountains that they could hope to make a stand

against the overwhelming power of their enemies. In this we may put

confidence in the Persian tradition, as well as in all that it has to

say of a character unfavourable to the Persians; above all, in the fact

that the war was long and severe. As a fact the Medes appear to have

twice penetrated into the heart of the Persian land. Not only Nicolaus,

Pompeius Trogus, and Polyaenus tell us that the struggle took place at

first in Persia, and that the battle which saved the country was fought

at Pasargadae, but also an authority of importance, Anaximenes of

Lampsacus, the contemporary of Aristotle and Strabo (p. 357). "In reward

for the services which the women rendered in that battle," says

Nicolaus, "the women of Persia each received, when the king came to

Pasargadae, a gold coin of the value of twenty Attic drachmas."

Plutarch, as has been observed,[557] confirms this statement, on the

ground of the accounts of the companions of Alexander, in a very

definite way. We must assume, therefore, that Cyrus maintained the

independence of Persia in a very severe struggle. When success had been

obtained, he went on to attack Media, whether it was that he did not

consider the freedom of Persia secure without the overthrow of that

country, or that he at once formed the most ambitious designs. After a

battle in Media had given Cyrus the victory in this new war, the chiefs

of the nations subject to the Medes, the Hyrcanians, Parthians, Sacae,

and Bactrians, and finally a part of the Medes, must have abandoned

Astyages, who, after a second defeat, fell into the hands of Cyrus

either in the encounter itself or at the capture of Ecbatana. The walls

of Ecbatana and the seven rings round the citadel could not avert his

fate (558 B.C.).[558]

FOOTNOTES:

[529] Herod. 1, 98, 99.

[530] Herod. 1, 112, [Greek: pistotatous ton doryphoron], while in the

recapitulation, 1, 117, we have [Greek: pistotatous ton eunouchon].

[531] Ctesias, "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5.

[532] Nicol. Damasc. fragm. 66; Ctes. "Fragm. Pers." 2, 5; Tzetz.

"Chil." 1, 1, 82 ff.

[533] Athen. p. 633; Cic. "de Divin." 1, 23.

[534] Justin, 1, 4-7; cf. 44, 4.

[535] Polyaen. "Strat." 7, 6; 7, 45. But he also explains the change of

fortune at Pasargadae in another way. When Cyrus fled to that place

after his retreat, and many Persians deserted to the Medes, he spread

abroad a report that on the following day 100,000 enemies of the Medes

(Cadusians?) would come to his assistance; every man was to prepare a

bundle of faggots for the allies. The deserter told this to the Medes,

and when Cyrus in the night caused all the bundles to be lighted, the

Medes, thinking that the Persians had received substantial assistance,

deserted.

[536] Strabo, p. 727, 730. Steph. Byzant. [Greek: Passargadai].

[537] "De mulier. virtute," 5.

[538] Diod. "Ex. de virt. et vit." p. 552, 553 (= 9, 24); cf. 4, 30.

[539] Moses Choren. 1, 24-30, and appendix to the first book, according

to Le Vaillant's translation.

[540] The form and explanation of the legend of Asdahag in Moses, as

well as the mention of Rustem Sakjig, who has the strength of ten

elephants (2, 8), _i.e._ of Rustem of Sejestan, prove that the

East-Iranian legend, as we find it in Firdusi, must have been current in

Western Iran in the fourth century at the latest, if it came into

Armenia in the fifth century. I do not think it probable that Moses took

the legend of Tigran from Xenophon's narrative. The vision in a dream

and the duel point to Armenian tradition.

[541] 1, 95.

[542] "Cyri Instit." 1, 2, 1.

[543] J. Mohl, "Livre des rois," Introd. p. 29.

[544] It has been objected to this analysis that the marriage with the

heiress may not have conveyed the throne _ipso facto_ to the husband; it

may have been open to the chieftains to elect a king out of the members

of the royal family. This may be correct for the election of the Afghan

chiefs at the present day by the heads of the families. How the

succession to the throne was arranged among the Medes we do not know in

any detail, or whether their chiefs had any importance at all; but we do

see that the crown went from father to son from Deioces downwards. In

any case, even under that hypothesis, the husband of the heiress had a

nearer claim.

[545] Herod. 3, 2. So Deinon and Lyceas of Naucratis in Athenaeus, p.

560.

[546] Herod. 1, 207; 3, 75; 7, 11.

[547] Cicero, "de Divin." 1, 23.

[548] St. Martin on Lebeau, "Bas Empire," 2, 221.

[549] "Cyri instit." 7, 3, 24.

[550] Above, p. 299 ff.

[551] Above, p. 34, 35, 36, 256.

[552] Above, p. 110. Cf. Windischmann, "Zoroastrische Studien," s. 277.

[553] Noeldeke, "Tabari," p. 12; Karnamak, s. 68.

[554] "Politic." 5, 10, 24.

[555] If Astyages was married to the daughter of Alyattes in the year

610 B.C. he must have been 18 or 20 years old at that time; between 610

and 558 the year of his fall there are 52 years. Moreover, according to

Ctesias, Astyages outlived his fall at least ten years ("Fragm. Pers."

5). If this were the case, and Astyages did not die till 548, he cannot

well have been born before 630 B.C. In Herodotus and Pompeius Trogus it

is expressly said that Astyages had no son, and this is the motive which

induces Harpagus not to put Cyrus to death, as he would in that case

expose himself to the vengeance of the mother, the heiress to the

throne. In Nicolaus also the daughter comes distinctly forward, and in

Ctesias she is also the heiress (_e.g._ "Pers." 2); in the history of

the overthrow and the death of Astyages, we hear of her constantly. At

the death of Cyrus, her sons by the first marriage receive satrapies. In

Ctesias, it is true, a brother of Amytis is incidentally mentioned, on

the occasion of a later war of Cyrus ("Pers." 3). But as Ctesias is here

following a Median version, and after the death of Astyages the husband

of Amytis and not her supposed brother is removed out of the way, no

importance can be attached to this.

[556] Above, p. 369.

[557] Above, p. 357. Nicol. Dam. Fragm. 66; Plut "Alex." c. 69; Plut.

"De Mul. virt." 5.

[558] According to the canon of Ptolemy, Cyrus dies 529 B.C. We arrive

at the same year if we reckon back from the death of Darius. This took

place five years after the battle of Marathon (Herod. 7, 1-4), _i.e._

485 B.C. Darius reigned 36 years according to Herodotus and the canon of

Ptolemy. An Egyptian pillar gives the year 34, a demotic contract the

year 35 of his reign: he ascended the throne therefore in 521 B.C.

Before him the Magian reigned for seven months, Cambyses for seven years

and five months (Herod. 3, 66, 67). The canon of Ptolemy omits the

Magian and gives Cambyses eight years, because it reckons by complete

years; hence Cambyses ascended the throne in 529. As Cyrus, according to

Herodotus, reigned 29 years after his accession (1, 214), the beginning

of his reign over Media must be placed in 558. If Ctesias gives Cyrus a

reign of 30 years ("Pers." 8), like Deinon (p. 369), and Justin (1, 8),

and Eusebius a reign of 31 years, these statements may be reconciled by

the fact that Cyrus may have taken up arms against Media 30 or 31 years

before his death, and reigned 29 years after the overthrow of Astyages.

Diodorus puts the beginning of Cyrus: Olymp. 55, 1 = 560 B.C. Africanus

in Euseb. "Praep. Evang." 10, p. 488.

CHAPTER V.

THE RISE OF THE PERSIAN KINGDOM.

The Median empire was not of long duration. Little more than a century

had passed since Phraortes succeeded Deioces in the government of the

land of Ecbatana, little more than eighty since Phraortes had united the

tribes of the Medes under his leadership, about sixty since Cyaxares had

expelled the Scythians, and not quite fifty since Nineveh had succumbed

to the arms of the Medes and Babylonians.

In the overthrow of so mighty a power, Cyrus had achieved a great, and,

so far as we can tell, an unexpected, success. Scanty as our information

is, we can still perceive that he used the victory with circumspection

and moderation. Herodotus told us that he did no injury to the captive

Astyages, and kept him with him till his death. Ctesias relates that at

the command of Cyrus, the heavy chains, which Oebares had put on

Astyages, were quickly taken off; that he honoured him as a father; and

entrusted him with the government of the Barcanians. According to the

statement of Pompeius Trogus, Cyrus allowed him to be viceroy of the

Hyrcanians. The same nation may be meant by these two names; in the

inscriptions of Darius Hyrcania is called Varkana, in the Avesta

Vehrkana.[559] Ctesias further tells us that Cyrus put to death the

Mede Spitamas, whom Astyages had married to his daughter Amytis, and

then made his successor, and that after treating Amytis for some time as

his mother he subsequently made her his wife. No harm was done to

Megabernes and Spitaces, the sons of her marriage with Spitamas; on the

contrary, the first was placed by the wish of Cyrus in the satrapy of

the Barcanians, the second in the satrapy of the Derbiccians.

Cyrus must have made it his object to reconcile the Medes to their

defeat and loss of empire. If he could make the house of Astyages his

own, and take his daughter to wife, the edge of the change was softened,

and the more apparent it was that this marriage had the consent of

Astyages, the more legitimate would his rule be in the eyes of the

Medes, the less could they regard it as the dominion of a stranger. It

was of importance to gain the assent of the Medes to the new kingdom,

and support this if possible on the united power of Medes and Persians.

Moreover, the relations of alliance in which Astyages stood to the

princely houses of Lydia and Babylonia made it advisable to deal

carefully with Astyages and his kindred. Astyages was still alive in 549

B.C.,[560] according to Herodotus and Ctesias. Whatever may be the case

as to the connection of Cyrus with Amytis, his legitimate wife was

Cassandane, the daughter of the Persian Pharnaspes, who according to

Herodotus was an Achaemenid, and was in fact one of the six tribal

princes. Cassandane bore Cyrus two sons, Cambyses and Bardiya, whom

Herodotus calls Smerdis; Ctesias, Tanyoxarkes; and Xenophon, Tanaoxares.

The death of Cassandane was a great grief to Cyrus; he caused the whole

kingdom to go into mourning for her.[561]

With respect to the position which Cyrus took up in regard to the royal

family of Media, and Amytis more especially, Ctesias has preserved a

somewhat incredible story. This narrative, which again is obviously

taken from a poetical source, ascribes the death of Astyages to Oebares,

to whom, according to Trogus, Cyrus had given the government of Persia

and his sister in marriage, as a reward for his services, who in the

beginning of his reign had been his associate in all his dangers, and

whom, according to Ctesias, he had afterwards to thank for the capture

of Sardis. The motive of this act, according to the drift of these

poems, can only have been anxiety on the part of Oebares lest the

influence of Astyages and his friends should endanger the succession of

the house of Cyrus in the Persian kingdom and the dominion of the

Persians. Oebares had previously murdered the Babylonian who possessed

the secret which controlled the future of Persia, against the wishes and

without the knowledge of Cyrus (p. 347), and he now acts in a similar

manner towards Astyages. Cyrus, so we are told in our excerpt,[562]

after the Lydian war sent the eunuch Petesaces to bring Astyages from

the Barcanians, as both he and Amytis wished to see him. Oebares advised

Petesaces to abandon Astyages on the way in some desert place, to perish

by starvation. This was done. The crime was revealed by dreams, and

Cyrus, on the repeated entreaty of Amytis, gave Petesaces up to her for

punishment. She caused him to be blinded, flayed, and crucified.

Oebares, fearing that a similar lot was in store for him, though Cyrus

assured him that he should not permit anything of the kind, refused all

nourishment for ten days, and so put an end to his life. The corpse of

Astyages received a splendid burial. Lions had guarded it in the desert

place in which it had been abandoned, until Petesaces returned and

carried it away. In the poem in which the singing woman warns Astyages

against Cyrus he is compared to a lion (p. 349). Whether the lions

performed this service to the corpse of Astyages in the source from

which Ctesias copied--it could scarcely by such an incident exhibit him

as a man favoured by heaven--or whether the lions dealt with the corpse

in a manner more in accordance with the views of Eastern Iran, we must

leave out of the question. What is more certain is, that the most

zealous Persian could have no real reason for putting Astyages to death,

for after the Lydian war he would be in his eightieth year. The

importance ascribed to Amytis points to a Median version; the death of

Oebares is accounted for in a manner suitable to his life and his

fidelity.

In Herodotus the Persians, on the instigation of Artembares, one of

their tribesmen, say to Cyrus: "Since Zeus gives the sovereignty to the

Persians, and above all to thee, Cyrus, who hast overthrown Astyages, so

let it be thy care that we leave our land and obtain a better, for our

country is small and wild. Many better regions are close at hand, many

at a distance, and if we gain one of them, we shall be more admired in

the eyes of men. To do this is proper for men who possess the dominion,

and when can it be done better than now, when we have so many men, and

rule over all Asia?" When Cyrus heard this he expressed no astonishment,

but said simply: they might do so, but they must be prepared to be

rulers no longer, but subjects; the same land could not produce the

noblest fruits and warlike men. The Persians saw that Cyrus' view was

the better, and chose to inhabit and rule over a scanty land, rather

than be the slaves of others.[563] The distinct opposition of Cyrus and

Artembares seems to carry us back to Persian poems, otherwise the

narrative is less likely to belong to the tradition of Persia than to

arise out of the necessity which the Greeks felt for explaining how the

Persians succeeded in founding so mighty an empire from a mountain

country so moderate in extent.

In any case the Persians, after the overthrow of Media, were far from

possessing the dominion over Asia. In Nicolaus, it is true, when the

news is spread abroad that Astyages has retired from Persia and has fled

before Cyrus in the first battle in Media, the chief of the Hyrcanians

comes with 50,000 men, to pay homage to Cyrus as king; he is followed by

the chiefs of the Parthians, Sacae, and Bactrians, and then by the

remaining nations. But as a fact the course of things seems to have been

different. If the princes and natives who were subject to the Medes were

ready to throw off their dominion as soon as they were defeated by the

Persians, they were hardly inclined to recognise Cyrus as sovereign in

the room of Astyages. Herodotus tells us that Cyrus subjugated the

Bactrians and Sacae, and Upper Asia, one nation after the other, and puts

these conquests after the Lydian war.[564] Xenophon represents the

Hyrcanians as joining Cyrus at an early date, and the Cadusians follow

their example, which harmonises with the view taken in the Persian poems

of the hatred of the Cadusians to the Medes. In Xenophon and Ctesias the

Sacae are the allies of Cyrus as early as 549 B.C.[565] If Astyages

receives the satrapy of the Hyrcanians in Justin, this nation and the

Parthians, who were still nearer neighbours of Media, must have been

among those who were subject to Cyrus.

In Ctesias, Cyrus after the conquest of Astyages marches against the

Bactrians; the battle was undecided. But when they found that Astyages

was the father and Amytis the wife of Cyrus, the Bactrians voluntarily

submitted to Amytis and Cyrus. Then Cyrus conquered the Sacae, and took

their king Amorges captive. We remember that, according to Herodotus'

statement, the proper name of the Sacae was Amyrgians, and in the

inscriptions of Darius we found the Caka Humavarka. The name Amorges

seems to be borrowed from the Amyrgians. When Amorges had been defeated

and taken captive by Cyrus, his wife Sparethra, as she is called in

Ctesias, collected the Sacae and took the field with them. Zarinaea, a

princess of the Sacae, had previously fought with great bravery against

the Medes, but her achievements are far surpassed by those of Sparethra.

With 300,000 men and 200,000 armed women, she went against the Persians,

and defeated Cyrus, taking many captives, among whom were Medes of

distinction. As a ransom for these Amorges was restored to Sparethra,

and there was friendship between Cyrus and the king of the Sacae, and the

latter marched with him to the war against the Lydians. Strabo also

speaks of a battle in which Cyrus was defeated by the Sacae. Being hard

pressed on his retreat he abandoned his camp with large stores of every

kind, especially of wine. When the Sacae had enjoyed their spoil, Cyrus

fell upon them and massacred nearly all.[566]

Trogus following Deinon tells us that the nations who were subject to

the Medes did not submit to Cyrus. Hence arose many wars. The greater

part of these nations he had already overpowered, before he marched

against the Lydians, _i.e._ in the first eight years after the overthrow

of Astyages. We may assume that Cyrus, immediately after the

dethronement of Astyages, was occupied with bringing the neighbours of

Media on the east, north, and west into obedience to the new kingdom. So

long as the Parthians, Hyrcanians, Armenians, were independent or in

arms against Cyrus, the Medes must be strongly tempted to recover their

lost dominion. The Cadusians in Ghilan were subjects of Cyrus; at any

rate the name of the city Cyropolis on the Caspian Sea, on the coast of

the Cadusians, is a proof that Cyrus placed a fortress there, in order

to keep them or their neighbours in check; and under the successors of

Cyrus the Cadusians are always mentioned as subjects.[567] Then he took

the same line towards the west, on which Cyaxares of Media had advanced

sixty years previously after driving out the Scythians; he gained

Armenia and Cappadocia, and made the Halys the border of his kingdom

towards Lydia. In his narrative of the events of the year 549 B.C.,

Herodotus remarks that the Cappadocians were subject to Cyrus, having

previously been subjects of the Medes. It is clear from repeated

statements that at this time the Halys was the western border of the

empire of Cyrus.[568] Xenophon reckons the subjugation of the Armenians,

who had been subjects of the Medes, among the earliest achievements of

Cyrus; he tells the story in his own manner, and places after this the

subjection of the neighbours on the south, the Chaldaeans (Gordyaeans) who

dwelt in the mountains which separate the table-land of Armenia from the

hilly country of Assyria. The legends of the Cappadocians conceal their

subjugation to Cyrus under supposed links of alliance; Cambyses, the

father of Cyrus, had given his own sister Atossa in marriage to

Pharnaces, the king of the Cappadocians.[569] The extension of the

Persian dominion to the east over Parthia and Hyrcania, the subjugation

of the Drangians, Gedrosians, and Arachoti, must, in consideration of

the observation of Herodotus, that in 548 B.C. Cyrus was intent on

military preparations against the Bactrians and Sacae, and the urgent

difficulties which at that time summoned him to the east, be placed in

the later years of his reign; in fact, they cannot come earlier than the

second decade; which does not, however, make it impossible that Cyrus

should have fought against the Bactrians and Sacae in the first

decade.[570]

Cyrus must have arranged his court and state after the pattern of Media,

which in its turn was a copy of the court of the kings of Asshur and

Babylon. Ctesias asserts that Petesaces, the eunuch, and after his death

Bagapates, another eunuch, had great influence with Cyrus.[571] The

abode of Achaemenes, Teispes, and Carabyses, the ancient place of

assembly and metropolis of the tribe of the Pasargadae, was changed by

Cyrus into a city and fortress; there he built his palace, in which he

deposited the spoil of his wars, and collected his treasures.[572] The

new kingdom rested on the power of the Persians; they alone had to pay

no tribute to the king; they formed the nucleus of the army; the leaders

and satraps were mainly chosen from them. But Cyrus was obviously

anxious to reconcile the Medes, next to the Persians, with the change in

affairs, and win their aid. This design lay at the base of his treatment

of Astyages and the marriage with his daughter, and scarcely ten years

after the fall of the Median kingdom, we find Medes at the head of the

army of Cyrus. The clemency of Cyrus towards the other subject nations

is also extolled. Herodotus vouches for the fact that he laid no fixed

tribute upon them, but left it to themselves to fix the amount of their

yearly contributions. Of all men, Xenophon says, Cyrus made the largest

presents, and exhibited the greatest liberality towards those who had

done him good service, and in this the subsequent kings of Persia

followed his example.

According to Xenophon's description, Cyrus was of a kindly disposition,

eager to instruct himself, and so ambitious that he shrank from no

effort and no danger.[573] With the Greeks he passes not only for the

founder of the dominion of the Persians, but for the author of excellent

arrangements in the kingdom. From this point of view Xenophon wrote his

treatise on Cyrus. By his example he wished to prove to the Greeks how

the empire over nations could be gained, how a great kingdom could be

founded and maintained, how a ruler could command obedience even among

those who had never seen him and were separated by great distances. It

is a historical romance which he has written on Cyrus; but he knew the

Persian empire, and could not advance anything absolutely in

contradiction to the current opinion of the Greeks about Cyrus.

According to him the relation of Cyrus to the Persians rested on a kind

of compact. When his son had subjugated the nations far and wide,

Cambyses collected the elders of the Persians and the officers who held

the highest places, and told them the Persians had elected Cyrus to be

their general, and given him the army; Cyrus had extended their power

over Asia, and gained glory among all men; he had made the bravest men

in the army rich, and found pay and food for all the soldiers. If this

relation were maintained it would be for the advantage of both parties;

if, on the other hand, Cyrus sought to rule over the Persians with the

same caprice as over other nations, or the Persians should attempt to

take the command from him, each would do the greatest harm to the other.

Let Cyrus, therefore, undertake to protect Persia and uphold the Persian

laws, and the Persians to render Cyrus any service that he needed

against rebellion and enemies. "After me," Cambyses concludes, "Cyrus

will be king, and whenever he comes to Persia he will offer for you the

sacrifice which I am offering now. If he is in a foreign land, it will

be best for the noblest of our family to offer sacrifices to the gods."

"What Cambyses proposed was approved by Cyrus and the Persians with

invocations to the gods, and the arrangement is still observed on both

sides."[574] Plato even puts Cyrus on the same level as Lycurgus, the

founder of the constitution of Sparta. He gives Dion the choice of

rivalling the ancient Lycurgus or Cyrus, or any one else who may be

distinguished by moral excellence and political wisdom.[575] According

to the Laws, Cyrus, brought up from his youth in the camp and surrounded

by danger, became a skilful general, and as a ruler kept before his eyes

the prosperity of the state. In the same book we are told that the

monarchical form of government attained its most complete state among

the Persians, and the democratic among the Athenians. But as the Persian

state pursued absolute dominion, and the Attic uncontrolled freedom,

neither discovered the correct limit; though in ancient times they had

observed due moderation. At the time of Cyrus the Persians were midway

between slavery and freedom. At first they were free, then they became

the lords of others. But while ruling they had given the subjects a

share in freedom, and treated them on an equal footing. For this reason

the warriors were devoted to their general and ready to plunge into

danger. And if an intelligent man appeared, who could give wise counsel,

Cyrus gave him liberty to speak; and as he honoured those who knew how

to give advise, every opinion was made use of for the common good, and

the Persians of that day succeeded in everything by freedom, concord,

and common deliberation.[576]

FOOTNOTES:

[559] Ctes. "Pers. Ecl." 5; Tzetz. "Chil." 1, 1, 83; Justin, 1, 6. Yet

Diodorus mentions the Barcanians together with the Hyrcanians (2, 2);

Curtius (3, 2) represents the Barcanians as providing 12,000 men for the

last Darius; Stephanus of Byzantium ([Greek: Barkanioi]) puts them

beside the Hyrcanians. Yet all these statements may rest on the same

misconception.

[560] Herod. 1, 73; above, p. 378, _note_.

[561] Herod. 2, 1; 3, 2; 7, 11.

[562] Ctesias, "Pers." 8. The narrative of the death of Astyages follows

the narrative of the wars against the Bactrians and Sacae, and against

Croesus, and precedes the wars against the Derbiccians.

[563] Herod. 9, 122.

[564] Herod. 1, 177.

[565] "Cyri instit." 5, 3, 22.

[566] Strabo, p. 512.

[567] Ptolem. 6, 2; Ammian, 23, 6. The rebellion of the Cadusians at a

later time was mentioned by Xenoph. "Hellen." 2, 1, 13; Plut.

"Artaxerx." 24; Diod. 15, 8; Justin, 10, 3. They fought with the last

Darius at Arbela; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 11.

[568] Croesus, when he has crossed the Halys, is at once in Persian

territory; Herod. 1, 72, 73.

[569] Xenoph. "Cyri instit." 3, 1; 3, 2, 1, 2; 7, 2, 5; Diod. 31, 19.

[570] The serious difficulty of Cyrus is shown by his rapid march back

from Sardis with much the larger part of his army before the Greek

cities, the Lycians and Carians were reduced. Cp. Vol. VI. chapters 8

and 9.

[571] "Persic." 9.

[572] Strabo, p. 730; Curt. 5, 6, 10; Arrian, "Anab." 3, 16, 18. The

observation in Xenophon ("Cyri instit." 5, 2, 1), that Cyrus whenever he

trod the soil of Persia gave a piece of gold to each Persian man and

woman, may have arisen from the presents to the women of Pasargadae.

[573] "Cyri instit." 1, 2, 1.

[574] "Cyri instit." 8, 5, 21 ff.

[575] Plato, "Epp." 4, p. 320. Cf. "Menexen." p. 239.

[576] "Legg." p. 693, 694. Cicero, ("de Republ." 1, 27, 28), calls Cyrus

the most just, wise, and amiable of rulers.

END OF VOL. V.

BUNGAY: CLAY AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS.

_J. D. & Co._

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