 Section 27 of THE GREAT EVENTS, VOLUME I Conquest of Cyrus the Great, B.C. 538, by George Grote, Part I On the destruction of Nineveh, three great powers still stood on the stage of history, being bound together by the strong ties of a mutually supporting alliance. These were Medea, Lydia, and Babylon. The capital of Lydia was Sardis. According to Herodotus, the first king of Lydia was Manus. In the semi-mythic period of Lydia in history, rose the great dynasty of the Greek Heraclidae, which reigned for 505 years, numbering 22 kings, B.C. 1229 to B.C. 745. The Lydians are said by Herodotus to have colonized Terenia in the Italic Peninsula and to have extended their conquests into Syria, where they founded Ascalon in the territory later known as Palestine. In the reign of Gaijes, B.C. 724, they began to attack the Greek cities of Asia Minor, Melidas, Smyrna, and Prine. The glory of the Lydian Empire culminated in the reign of Greek Croesus, the fifth and last historic king, B.C. 568. The well-known story of Salon's warning to Greek Croesus was full of ominous import with regard to the ultimate downfall of the Lydian Empire. For thyself, O Croesus, said the Greek sage in answer to the question, Who is the happiest man, I see that thou art wonderfully rich, and art the Lord of many nations, but in respect to that whereon thou questionest me, I have no answer to give, until I hear that thou hast closed thy life happily. The Median Empire occupied a territory indefinitely extending over a region south of the Caspian, between the Kurdish mountains and the modern Caracin. The Median monarchy, according to Herodotus commenced B.C. 708. The Medes, which were racially akin to the Persians, had been for fifty years subject to the Assyrian monarchy when they revolted, setting up an independent empire. Putting aside the dates given by the Greek historians, we shall perhaps be correct in considering that the Great Median Kingdom was established by Syaxarus, B.C. 633, and that in B.C. 610 a great struggle of six years between Medea and Lydia was amicably ended under the terror occasioned by an eclipse by the establishment of a treaty and alliance between the contending powers. With the death of Syaxarus, B.C. 597, the glory of the Great Median Empire passed away, for under his son, Asdiages, the country was conquered by Cyrus. The rise of the Babylonian Empire seems to have originated B.C. 2234, when the Kushite inhabitants of Southern Babylonia raised a native dynasty to the throne, liberated themselves from the yoke of the Zoroastrian Medes and instituted an empire with several large capitals, where they built mighty temples and introduced the worship of the heavenly bodies in contradistinction to the elemental worship of the Median Medes. The record of Babylonian kings is full of obscurity, even in the light of recent archaeological discoveries. We can trace, however, a gradual expansion of Babylonian dominion even to the borders of Egypt. Nabo Pulaser, B.C. 625 to B.C. 604, was a great warrior, and at Karshamest defeated even the almost invincible Egyptians, B.C. 604. His successor, Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 604, immediately set about the fortification of his capital. A space of more than 130 square miles was enclosed within walls 80 feet in breadth and 300 or 400 in height, if we may believe the record. Meanwhile, with the assistance of Siaxeres, king of media, he captured Tyre in Phoenicia and Jerusalem in Syria. But 15 years after Kroses had been taken prisoner and the Persian Empire extended to the shores of the Aegean, the Empire of Babylon fell before the conquering armies of Cyrus, the Persian. The Ionic and Eolic Greeks on the Asiatic coast had been conquered and made tributary by the Lydian king Kroses. Down to that time, says Herodotus, all Greeks had been free. Their conqueror Kroses, who ascended the throne in 560 B.C., appeared to be at the summit of human prosperity and power in his unassailable capital. And with his countless treasures at Sardis, his dominions comprised nearly the whole of Asia Minor as far as the river Hollis to the east, on the other side of that river began the Median monarchy under his brother-in-law, Asciages, extending eastward to some boundary which we cannot define, but comprising in a southeastern direction, Persis, proper or farcistan, and separated from the Kisians and Assyrians on the east by the line of Mount Zagros, the present boundary line between Persia and Turkey. Babylonia, with its wondrous city between the Euphrates and the Tigris, was occupied by the Assyrians or Chaldeans under their king Labanettis, a territory populace and fertile, partly by nature, partly by prodigies of labor to a degree which makes us mistrust even an honest eyewitness who describes it afterward in its decline, but which was then in its most flourishing condition. The Chaldean dominion under Labanettis reached to the borders of Egypt, including as dependent territories both Judea and Phoenicia. In Egypt reigned the native king Amasus, powerful and affluent, sustained in his throne by a large body of Grecian mercenaries and himself favorably disposed to Grecian commerce and settlement. Both with Labanettis and with Amasus, Crocius was on terms of alliance, and as Asciages was his brother-in-law, the four kings might well be deemed out of the reach of Calamity, yet within the space of 30 years or a little more, the whole of their territories had become embodied in one vast empire under the sun of an adventurer as yet not known even by name. The rise and fall of Oriental dynasties have been in all times distinguished by the same general features, a brave and adventurous prince at the head of a population at once poor, warlike and greedy, acquires dominion, while his successors, abandoning themselves to sensuality and sloth, probably also to oppressive and arrestable dispositions, become in process of time victims to those same qualities in a stranger, which had enabled their own father to seize the throne. Cyrus, the great founder of the Persian Empire, first the subject, and afterward the dethroner of the median, Asciages, corresponds to their general description, as far at least as we can pretend to know his history, for in truth even the conquests of Cyrus after he became ruler of media are very imperfectly known, while the facts which preceded his rise up to that sovereignty cannot be said to be known at all. We have to choose between different accounts at variance with each other, and of which the most complete and detailed is stamped with all the character of romance. The Syrupedia of Xenophon is memorable and interesting, considered with reference to the Greek mind and as a philosophical novel, that it should have been quoted so largely as authority on matters of history is only one proof among many how easily authors have been satisfied as to the essentials of historical evidence. The narrative given by Herodotus of relations between Cyrus and Asciages agreeing with Xenophon in little more than the fact that it makes Cyrus son of Cambysus and Mandane and grandson of Asciages goes even beyond the story of Romulus and Remus in respect to tragical incident and contrast. Asciages, alarmed by a dream, condemns the newborn infant of his daughter Mandane to be exposed. Harpeges, to whom the order is given, delivers the child to one of the royal herdsmen who exposes it in the mountains where it is miraculously suckled by a bitch. Thus preserved and afterward brought up as the herdman's child, Cyrus manifests great superiority, both physical and mental, is chosen king in play by the boys of the village and in this capacity severely chastises the son of one of the courtiers for which offense he is carried before Asciages, who recognizes him for his grandson, but is assured by the Magi that the dream is out and that he has no further danger to apprehend from the boy and therefore permits him to live. With Harpeges, however, Asciages is extremely incensed for not having executed his orders, he causes the son of Harpeges to be slain and served up to be eaten by his unconscious father at a regal banquet. The father, apprised afterward of the fact, dissembles his feelings, but meditates a deadly vengeance against Asciages for this thiousity and meal. He persuades Cyrus, who has been sent back to his father and mother in Persia, to head a revolt of the Persians against the Medes, whilst Asciages, to fill up the Grecian conception of madness as a precursor to ruin, sends an army against the Revolters, commanded by Harpeges himself. Of course the army is defeated. Asciages, after a vain resistance, is dethroned. Cyrus becomes king in his place and Harpeges repays the outrage which he has undergone by the bitterest insults. Such are the heads of a beautiful narrative, which is given at some length in Herodotus. It will probably appear to the reader sufficiently romantic, though the historian intimates that he had heard three other narratives different from it, and that all were more full of marvels as well as in wider circulation than his own, which he had borrowed from some unusually sober-minded Persian informants. In what points the other three stories departed from it, we do not hear. To the historian of Holly Carnasus, we have to oppose Tessius, the physician of the neighboring town of Nidus, who contradicted Herodotus not without strong terms of censure on many points, and especially upon that, which is the very foundation of the early narrative respecting Cyrus, for he affirmed that Cyrus was no way related to Asciages. However indignant we may be with Tessius for the disparaging epitaphs which he presumed to apply to an historian whose work is to us in estimable, we must nevertheless admit that as surgeon in actual attendance on King Artexerxes, Naaman, and healer of the wound inflicted on that prince at Cunoxa by his brother Cyrus the Younger, he had better opportunities even than Herodotus of conversing with sober-minded Persians, and that the discrepancies between the two statements are to be taken as a proof of the prevalence of discordant yet equally accredited stories. Herodotus himself was in fact compelled to choose one out of four, so rare and late a plant is historical authenticity. That Cyrus was the first Persian conqueror, and that the space which he overran covered no less than fifty degrees of longitude from the coast of Asia Minor to the Oxus and the Indus are facts quite indisputable. But of the steps by which this was achieved we know very little. The native Persians whom he conducted to an empire so immense were an aggregate of seven agricultural and four nomadic tribes, all of them rude, hearty, and brave, dwelling in a mountainous region clothed in skins ignorant of wine or fruit or any of the commonest luxuries of life, and despising the very idea of purchase or sale. Their tribes were very unequal in point of dignity, probably also in respect to numbers and powers among one another. First in estimation among them stood the Pasargaday, and the first frottery or clan among the Pasargaday were the Alcomenidae to whom Cyrus himself belonged. Whether his relationship to the Median king whom he dethroned was a matter of fact or a political fiction we cannot well determine. But Xenophon in noticing the spacious, deserted cities Larissa and Mespila which he saw in his march with the ten thousand Greeks on the eastern side of the Tigris gives us to understand that the conquest of media by the Persians was reported to him as having been an obstinate and protracted struggle. However this may be, the preponderance of the Persians was at last complete, though the Medes always continued to be the second nation in the empire after the Persians, properly so called, and by early Greek writers the great enemy in the east is often called the Medi, as well as the Persian. The Median Egbetana II remained as one of the capital cities and the usual summer residence of the kings of Persia, Sousa on the Coaspus, on the Kisian plain farther southward, and east of the Tigris being their winter abode. The vast space of country comprised between the Indus on the east, the Oxus and Caspian Sea to the north, the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean to the south, and the line of Mount Zagros to the west appears to have been occupied in these times by a great variety of different tribes and people, yet all or most of them belonging to the religion of Zoroester and speaking dialects of the Zend language. It was known amongst its inhabitants by the common name of Iran or Aria, it is in its central parts at least, a high cold plateau, totally destitute of wood and scantily supplied with water. Much of it indeed is a salt and sandy desert, unsusceptible of culture. Parts of it are eminently fertile, where water can be procured and irrigation applied. Scattered masses of tolerably dense population thus grew up, but continuity of cultivation is not practicable, and in ancient times, as at present, a large proportion of the population of Iran seems to have consisted of wandering or nomadic tribes with their tents and cattle. The rich pastures and the freshness of the summer climate in the region of mountain and valley near Egbetana are extolled by modern travelers just as they attracted the great king in ancient times during the hot months. The more southerly province called Persis proper, Faristan, consists also in part of mountain land interspersed with valley and plain, abundantly watered and ample in pasture, sloping gradually down to low grounds on the sea coast, which are hot and dry. The care bestowed both by Medes and Persians on the breeding of their horses was remarkable. There were doubtless material differences between different parts of the population of this vast plateau of Iran, yet it seems that, along with their common language and religion, they also had something of a common character, which contrasted with the Indian population east of the Indus, the Assyrians west of Mount Zagros, and the Masagete and other nomads of the Caspian and the Sea of Oral, less brutish, restless, and bloodthirsty than the latter, more fierce, contemptuous, and extortionate, and less capable of sustained industry than the two former. There can be little doubt at the time of which we are now speaking, when the wealth and cultivation of Assyria were at their maximum, that Iran also was far better peopled than ever it has been since European observers have been able to survey it, especially the northeastern portion, Baktria and Sagdiana, so that the invasions of the nomads from Turkestan and Tartary, which have been so destructive at various intervals since the Mohammedan conquest, were before that period successfully kept back. The general analogy among the population of Iran probably enabled the Persian conqueror with comparative ease to extend his empire to the east after the conquest of Ekpatana and to become the full heir of the Median kings. If we may believe Tessius, even the distant province of Baktria had been before subject to those kings, at first it resisted Cyrus, but finding that he had become son-in-law of Osteogus, as well as master of his person, it speedily acknowledged his authority. According to the representation of Herodotus, the war between Cyrus and Croesus of Lydia began shortly after the capture of Osteogus and before the conquest of Baktria. Croesus was the assailant wishing to avenge his brother-in-law to arrest the growth of the Persian conqueror and to increase his own dominions. His more prudent counselors in vain represented to him that he had little to gain and much to lose by war with a nation alike hearty and poor. He is represented as just at that time recovering from the affliction arising out of the death of his son. To ask advice of the oracle before he took any final decision was a step which no pious king would omit, but in the present perilous question Croesus did more, he took a precaution so extreme that if his piety had not been placed beyond all doubt by his extraordinary munificence to the temples he might have drawn upon himself the suspicion of a guilty skepticism. Before he would send to ask advice respecting the project itself he resolved to test the credit of some of the chief surrounding oracles Delphi, Dodona, Brunchidae, near Militis, Amfiaris at Thebes, Trofinaeus at Labarie and Amen in Libya. His envoys started from Sardis on the same day and were all directed on the hundredth day afterward to ask at the respective oracles how Croesus was at that precise moment employed. This was a severe trial of the manner in which it was met by four out of the six oracles consulted we have no information and it rather appears that their answers were unsatisfactory. But Amfiaris maintained his credit undiminished while Apollo at Delphi, more omniscient than Apollo at Brunchidae solved the question with such unerring precision as to afford a strong additional argument against persons who might be disposed to scoff at divination. No sooner have the envoys put the question to the Delphian priestess on the day named what is Croesus now doing than she exclaimed in the accustomed hexameter verse I know the number of grains of sand and the measures of the sea I understand the dumb and I hear the man who speaks not the smell reaches me of a hard-skinned tortoise boiled in a copper with lamb's flesh copper above and copper below Croesus was awestruck on receiving this reply it described with the utmost detail that which he had been really doing so that he accounted the Delphian oracle and that of Amfiaris the only trustworthy oracles on earth following up these feelings with a holocaust of the most munificent character in order to win the favor of the Delphian god 3000 cattle were offered up and upon a vast sacrificial pile were placed the most splendid purple robes and tunics together with couches and sensors of gold and silver besides which he sent to Delphi itself the richest presence in gold and silver statues bowls jugs etc the size and weight of which we read with astonishment the more so as Herodotus himself saw them a century afterwards at Delphi nor was Croesus altogether unmindful of Amfiaris whose answer had been creditable although less triumphant than that of the pithian priestess he sent to Amfiaris a spear and shield of pure gold which were afterwards seen at Thebes by Herodotus this large donative may help the reader to conceive the immensity of those which he sent to Delphi end of section 27 section 28 of the great events volume one this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Dion Giants Salt Lake City Utah the great events by famous historians volume one edited by Charles F. Horn Rosseter Johnson and John Rudd the Conquest of Cyrus the Great bc 538 by George Grote part two the envoys who conveyed these gifts were instructed to ask at the same time whether Croesus should undertake an expedition against the Persians and if so whether he should solicit any allies to assist him in regard to the second question the answer both of Apollo and of Amfiaris was desay sieve recommending him to invite the alliance of the most powerful Greeks in regard to the first and most momentous question their answer was as remarkable for circumspection as it had been before for detective suggestive they told Croesus that if he invaded the Persians he would subvert a mighty monarchy the blindness of Croesus interpreted this declaration into an unqualified promise of success he sent further presence to the Oracle and again inquired whether his kingdom would be durable when a mule shall become king of the Medes replied the priestess then must thou run away be not ashamed more assured than ever by such an answer Croesus sent to Sparta under the kings an exandridus and a risto to tender presence and solicit their alliance his propositions were favorably entertained the more so as he had before gratuitously furnished some gold to the Lacedemonians for a statue to Apollo the alliance now formed was altogether general no express effort being as yet demanded from them though it soon came to be but the incident is to be noted as marking the first plunge of the leading grecian state into Asiatic politics and that too without any of the generous Hellenic sympathy which afterward induced Athens to send her citizens across the Aegean at this time Croesus was the master and tribute exacter of the Asiatic Greeks whose contingents seemed to have formed part of his army for the expedition now contemplated an army consisting principally not of native Lydians but of foreigners the river Halas formed the boundary at this time between the median and Lydian empires and Croesus marching across that river into the territory of the Syrians or Assyrians of Cappadocia took the city of Teria with many of its surrounding dependencies inflicting damage and destruction upon these distant subjects of Ekbotana. Cyrus lost no time in bringing an army to their defense considerably larger than that of Croesus trying at the same time though unsuccessfully to prevail on the Ionians to revolt from him a bloody battle took place between the two armies but with indecisive result after which Croesus seeing that he could not hope to accomplish more with his forces as they stood thought it wise to return to his capital and collect a larger army for the next campaign. Immediately on reaching Sardis he dispatched envoys to Labinatus king of Babylon to Amasus king of Egypt to the Lacedaemonians and to other allies calling upon all of them to send auxiliaries to Sardis during the course of the fifth month in the meantime he dismissed all the foreign troops who had followed him into Cappadocia. Had these allies appeared the war might perhaps have been prosecuted with success and on the part of the Lacedaemonians at least there was no tardiness for their ships were ready and their troops almost on board when the unexpected news reached them that Croesus was already ruined Cyrus had foreseen and forestalled the defensive plan of his enemy pushing on with his army to Sardis without delay he obliged the Lydian prince to give battle with his own unassisted subjects the open and spacious plain before that town was highly favorable to Lydian cavalry which at that time Herodotus tells us was superior to the Persian but Cyrus employing a stratagem whereby this cavalry was rendered unavailable placed in front of his line the baggage camels which the Lydian horses could not endure either to smell or to behold the horsemen of Croesus were thus obliged to dismount nevertheless they fought bravely on foot and were not driven into the town till after a synchronary combat though confined within the walls of his capital Croesus still had good reason for hoping to hold out until the arrival of his allies to whom he sent pressing envoys of acceleration for Sardis was considered impregnable and one assault had already been repulsed and the Persians would have been reduced to the slow process of blockade but on the fourteenth day of the siege accident did for the besiegers that which they could not have accomplished either by skill or force Sardis was situated on an outlying peak of the northern side of molus it was well fortified everywhere except toward the mountain and on that side the rock was so precipitous and inaccessible that fortifications were thought unnecessary nor did the inhabitants believe assault to be possible in that quarter but Hyroiades a Persian soldier having accidentally seen one of the garrison descending this precipitous rock to pick up his helmet which had rolled down watched his opportunity tried to climb up and found it not impracticable others followed his example the stronghold was thus seized first and the whole city speedily taken by storm Cyrus had given a special orders to spare the life of Croesus who was accordingly made prisoner but preparations were made for a solemn and terrible spectacle the captive king was destined to be burned in chains together with 14 Lydian youths on a vast pile of wood we are even told that the pile was already kindled and the victim beyond the reach of human aid when Apollo sent a miraculous reign to preserve him as to the general fact of supernatural interposition in one way or another Herodotus and T.C.S. both agree though they described differently the particular miracles wrought it is certain that Croesus after some time was released and well treated by his conqueror and lived to become the confidential advisor of the latter as well as of his son Cambusus T.C.S. also acquaints us that a considerable town and territory near Ekbetana called Bahrain was assigned to him according to a practice which we shall find not infrequent with the Persian kings the prudent counsel and remarks as to the relations between Persians and Lydians whereby Croesus is said by Herodotus to have first earned this favorable treatment are hardly worth repeating but the indignant remonstrance sent by Croesus to the Delphian god is too characteristic to be passed over he obtained permission from Cyrus to lay upon the holy pavement of the Delphian temple the chains with which he had at first been bound the Lydian envoys were instructed after exhibiting to the god these humiliating memorials to ask whether it was his custom to deceive his benefactors and whether he was not ashamed to have encouraged the king of Lydia in an enterprise so disastrous the god condescending to justify himself by the lips of the priestess replied not even a god can escape his destiny Croesus has suffered for the sin of his fifth ancestor Gaijes who conspiring with a woman slew his master and wrongfully seized the scepter apollo employed all his influence with the moray fates to obtain that this sin might be expiated by the children of Croesus and not by Croesus himself but the moray would grant nothing more than a postponement of the judgment for three years let Croesus know that apollo has thus procured for him a reign three years longer than his original destiny after having tried in vain to rescue him altogether moreover he sent that reign which at the critical moment extinguished the burning pile nor has Croesus any right to complain of the prophecy by which he was encouraged to enter on the war for when the god told him that he would subvert a great empire it was his duty to have again inquired which empire the god meant and if he neither understood the meaning nor chose to ask for information he was himself to blame for the result besides Croesus neglected the warning given to him about the acquisition of the median kingdom by a mule cyrus was that mule son of a median mother of royal breed by a persian father at once of different race and of lower position this triumphant justification extorted even from Croesus himself a full confession that the sin lay with him and not with the god it certainly illustrates in a remarkable manner the theological ideas of the time it shows us how much in the mind of Herodotus the facts of the centuries preceding his own unrecorded as they were by any contemporary authority tended to cast themselves into a sort of religious drama the threads of the historical web being in part put together in part originally spun for the purpose of setting forth the religious sentiment and doctrine woven in as a pattern the pithian priestess predicts to gaijes that the crime which he had committed in assassinating his master would be expiated by his fifth descendant though as Herodotus tells us no one took any notice of this prophecy until it was at last fulfilled we see thus the history of the first mermnad king is made up after the catastrophe of the last there was something in the main facts of the history of croesus profoundly striking to the greek mind a king at the summit of wealth and power pious in the extreme and munificent towards the gods the first destroyer of Hellenic liberty in asia then precipitated at once and on a sudden into the abyss of ruin the sin of the first parent helped much toward the solution of this perplexing problem as well as to exalt the credit of the oracle when made to assume the shape of an unnoticed prophecy in the affecting story of solon and croesus the lidion king is punished with an acute domestic affliction because he thought himself the happiest of mankind the gods not suffering anyone to be arrogant except themselves and the warning of salon is made to recur to croesus after he has become the prisoner of cyrus in the narrative of herodotus to the same vein of thought belongs the story just recounted of the relations of croesus with the delphian oracle an account is provided satisfactory to the religious feelings of the greeks how and why he was ruined but nothing less than the overruling and omnipotent moray could be invoked to explain so stupendous a result it is rarely that these supreme goddesses or hyper goddesses since the gods themselves must submit to them are brought into such distinct light and action usually they are kept in the dark or are left to be understood as the unseen stumbling block in cases of extreme incomprehensibility and it is difficult clearly to determine as in the case of some complicated political constitutions where the greeks conceived sovereign power to reside in respect to the government of the world but here the sovereignty of the moray and the subordinate agency of the gods are unequivocally set forth the gods are still extremely powerful because the moray comply with their requests up to a certain point not thinking it proper to be wholly inexorable but their compliance is carried no farther than they themselves choose nor would they even in deference to apollo alter the original sentence of punishment for the sin of gaijes in the person of his fifth descendant sentence moreover which apollo himself had formerly prophesied shortly after the sin was committed so that if the moray had listened to his intercession on behalf of crosses his own prophetic credit would have been endangered their unalterable resolution has predetermined the ruin of crosses and the grandeur of the event is manifested by the circumstance that even apollo himself cannot prevail upon them to alter it or to grant more than a three years respite the religious element must here be viewed as giving the form the historical element as giving the matter only and not the whole matter of the story these two elements will be found conjoined more or less throughout most of the history of herodotus though as we descend to later times we shall find the latter element in constantly increasing proportion his conception of history is extremely different from that of thucydides who lays down to himself the true scheme and purpose of the historian common to him with the philosopher to recount and interpret the past as a rational aid toward provision of the future in the short abstract which we now possess of the lost work of tcs no mention appears of the important conquest of babelon his narrative indeed as far as the abstract enables us to follow it diverges materially from that of herodotus and must have been founded on data altogether different i shall mention says herodotus these conquests which gave cyrus most trouble and are most memorable after he had subdued all the rest of the continent he attacked the assyrians those who recollect the description of babelon and its surrounding territory will not be surprised to learn that the capture of it gave the persian aggressor much trouble their only surprise will be how it could ever have been taken at all or indeed how a hostile army could have even reached it herodotus informs us that the babelonian queen nicotrus mother of that very labinatus who was king when cyrus attacked the place apprehensive of invasion from the meads after their capture of ninova had executed many laborious works near the euphrates for the purpose of obstructing their approach moreover there existed what was called the wall of media probably built by her but certainly built prior to the persian conquest 100 feet high and 20 feet thick across the entire space of 75 miles which joined the tigress with one of the canals of the euphrates while the canals themselves as we may see by the march of the 10 000 greeks after the battle of konaksa presented means of defense altogether insuperable by a rude army such as that of the persians on the east the territory of babelonia was defended by the tigress which cannot be forted lower than the ancient ninova or the modern mosul in addition to these ramparts natural as well as artificial to protect the territory populace cultivated productive and offering every motive to its inhabitants to resist even the entrance of an enemy we are told that the babelonians were so thoroughly prepared for the inroad of cyrus that they had accumulated within their walls a store of provisions for many years strange as it may seem we must suppose that the king of babelon after all the cost and labor spent in providing defenses for the territory voluntarily neglected to avail himself of them suffered the invader to tread down the fertile babelonia without resistance and merely drew out the citizens to oppose him when he arrived under the walls of the city if the statement of herodotus is correct and we may illustrate this unaccountable omission by that which we know to have happened in the march of the younger cyrus to kanuksa against his brother arteserxes nemon the latter had caused to be dug expressly in preparation for this invasion abroad and deep ditch 30 feet wide and eight feet deep from the wall of media to the river euphrates a distance of 12 perisings or 45 english miles leaving only a passage of 20 feet broad close alongside of the river yet when the invading army arrived at this important pass they found not a man there to defend it and all of them marched without resistance through the narrow inlet cyrus the younger who had up to that moment felt assured that his brother would fight now supposed that he had given up the idea of defending babelon instead of which two days afterward arteserxes attacked him on an open plain of ground where there was no advantage of position on either side though the invaders were taken rather unawares in consequence of their extreme confidence arising from recent unopposed entrance within the artificial ditch this anecdote is the more valuable as an illustration because all its circumstances are transmitted to us by a discerning eyewitness and both the two incidents here brought into comparison demonstrate the recklessness changefulness and incapacity of calculation belonging to the asiatic mind of that day as well as the great command of hands possessed by these kings and their prodigal waste of human labor vast walls and deep ditches are an inestimable aid to a brave and well commanded garrison but they cannot be made entirely to supply the want of bravery and intelligence in whatever manner the difficulties of approaching babelon may have been overcome the fact that they were overcome by cyrus is certain on first setting out for this conquest he was about to cross the river gindus one of the affluence from the east which joins the tigress near the modern bagdad and along which lay the high road crossing the pass of mount zagros from babelon to ecttona when one of the sacred white horses which accompanied him entered the river in pure wantonness and tried to cross it by himself the gindus resented this insult and the horse was drowned upon which cyrus swore in his wrath that he would so break the strength of the river as that women in future should pass it without wetting their knees accordingly he employed his entire army during the whole summer season in digging 360 artificial channels to disseminate the unit of the stream such according to herodotus was the incident which postponed for one year the fall of the great babelon but in the next spring cyrus and his army were before the walls after having defeated and driven in the population who came out to fight these walls were artificial mountains 300 feet high 75 feet thick and forming a square of 15 miles to each side within which the besieged defied attack and even blockade having previously stored up several years provision through the mists of the town however flowed the euphrates that river which had been so laboriously trained to serve for protection trade and sustenance to the babelonians was now made the avenue of their ruin having left a detachment of his army at the two points where the euphrates enters and quits the city cyrus retired with the remainder to the higher part of its course where an ancient babelonian queen had prepared one of the great lateral reservoirs for carrying off in case of need the superfluity of its water near this point cyrus caused another reservoir and another canal of communication to be dug by means of which he drew off the water of the euphrates to such a degree it became not the height of a man's thigh the period chosen was that of a great babelonian festival when the whole population were engaged in amusement and revelry the persian troops left near the town watching their opportunity entered from both sides along the bed of the river and took it by surprise with scarcely any resistance at no other time except during a festival could they have done this says Herodotus had the river been ever so low for both banks throughout the whole length of the town were provided with quays with continuous walls and with gates at the end of every street which led down to the river at right angles so that if the population had not been disqualified by the influences of the moment they would have caught the assailants in the bed of the river as in a trap and overwhelmed them from the walls alongside within a square of 15 miles to each side we are not surprised to hear that both the extremities were already in the power of the besiegers before the central population heard of it and while they were yet absorbed in unconscious festivity such is the account given by Herodotus of the circumstances which placed Babylon the greatest city of western asia in the power of the persians to what extent the information communicated to him was incorrect or exaggerated we cannot now decide the way in which the city was treated would lead us to suppose that its acquisition cannot have cost the conqueror either much time or much loss cyrus comes into the list as king of Babylon and the inhabitants with their whole territory become tributary to the persians forming the richest satropy in the empire but we do not hear that the people were otherwise ill-used and it is certain that the vast walls and gates were left untouched this was very different from the way in which the Medes had treated Nineveh which seems to have been ruined and for a long time absolutely uninhabited though reoccupied on a reduced scale under the Parthian empire and very different also from the way in which Babylon itself was treated 20 years afterward by Darius when reconquered after a revolt the importance of Babylon marking as it does one of the peculiar forms of civilization belonging to the ancient world in a state of full development gives an interest even to the half authenticated stories respecting its capture the other exploits as described to Cyrus his invasion of india across the desert of aracosia and his attack upon the masochete nomads ruled by queen tamaris and greatly resembling the sithians across the mysterious river which Herodotus calls Eraxes are too little known to be at all dwelt upon in the latter he is said to have perished his army being defeated in a bloody battle he was buried at Pasargete in his native province of purses proper where his tomb was honored and watched until the breaking up of the empire while his memory was held in profound veneration among the Persians of his real exploits we know little or nothing but in what we read respecting him there seems though a mid constant fighting very little cruelty xenophon has selected his life as the subject of a moral romance which for a long time was cited as authentic history and which even now serves as an authority express or implied for disputable and even incorrect conclusions his extraordinary activity and conquest admit of no doubt he left the persian empire extending from sagdiana and the rivers jack sardis and indus eastward to the helenspond and the syrian coast westward and his successors made no permanent addition to it except that of egypt finicia and judia were dependencies of babelon at the time when he conquered it with their princes and grandees in babelonian captivity as they seem to have yielded to him and become his tributaries without difficulty so the restoration of their captives was conceded to them it was from cyrus that the habits of the persian kings took commencement to dwell at susa in the winter and eqbetana during the summer the primitive territory of persis with its two towns of persopolis and pasar gade being reserved for the burial place of the kings and the religious sanctuary of the empire how or when the conquest of susiana was made we are not informed it lay eastward of the tigress between babelonia and persis proper and its people the kissians as far as we can discern were of assyrian and not of arian race the river chohaspis near susa was supposed to furnish the only water fit for the palette of the great king and it is said to have been carried about with him wherever he went while the conquest of cyrus contributed to assimilate the distant types of civilization in western asia not by elevating the worse but by degrading the better upon the native persians themselves they operated as an extraordinary stimulus provoking alike their pride ambition cupidity and warlike propensities not only did the territory of persis proper pay no tribute to susa or eqbetana being the only district so exempted between the gexardus and the mediterranean but the vast tributes received from the remaining empire were distributed to a great degree among its inhabitants empire to them meant for the great men lucrative satrapies or patrolics with powers altogether unlimited pomp inferior only to that of the great king and standing armies which they employed at their own discretion sometimes against each other for the common soldiers drawn from their fields or flocks constant plunder abundant maintenance and an unrestrained license either in this suit of one of the satraps or in the large permanent troops which moved from susa to eqbetana with the great king and if the entire population of persis proper did not migrate from their abodes to occupy some of those more inviting spots which the immensity of the imperial dominion furnished a dominion extending to use the language of cyrus the younger before the battle of kunaksa from the region of insupportable heat to that of insupportable cold this was only because the early kings discouraged such a movement in order that the nation might maintain its military hardy hood and be in a situation to furnish undiminished supplies of soldiers the self-esteem and arrogance of the persians were no less remarkable than their avidity for sensual enjoyment they were fond of wine to excess their wives and their concubines were both numerous and they adopted equally from foreign nations new fashions of luxury as well as of ornament even to novelties in religion they were not strongly averse for though disciples of zoroaster with magi as their priests and as indispensable companions of their sacrifices worshiping sun moon earth fire etc and recognizing neither image temple nor altar yet they had adopted the voluptuous worship of the goddess malita from the assyrians and arabians a numerous male offspring was the persians boast his warlike character and consciousness of force were displayed in the education of these youths who were taught from five years old to 20 only three things to ride to shoot with the bow and to speak the truth to owe money or even to buy and sell was accounted among the persians disgraceful a sentiment which they defended by saying that both the one and the other imposed the necessity of telling falsehood to exact tribute from subjects to receive pay or presents from the king and to give away without forethought whatever was not immediately wanted was their mode of dealing with money industrial pursuits were left to the conquered who were fortunate if by paying a fixed contribution and sending a military contingent when required they could purchase undisturbed immunity for their remaining concerns they could not thus purchase safety for the family hearth since we find instances of noble grecian maidens torn from their parents for the harem of this etc to a people of this character whose conceptions of political society went no further than personal obedience to achieve a conqueror like cyrus would communicate the strongest excitement and enthusiasm of which they were capable he had found them slaves and made them masters he was the first and greatest of national benefactors as well as the most forward of leaders in the field they followed him from one conquest to another during the thirty years of his reign their love of empire growing with the empire itself and this impulse of aggrandizement continued unabated during the reigns of his three next successors canvases derrius and xerxes until it was at length violently stifled by the humiliating defeats of platia and solemnus after which the persians became content with defending themselves at home and playing a secondary game end of section 28 section 29 of the great events volume one this is a liberal recording all liberal recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liberal.org the great events by famous historians volume one edited by charles f horn or sitar johnson and john rod section 29 rise of confucius the chinese sage bc 550 r k duckless confucius is the latinist name of kung fu zi or master kung who's work in china did much to educate the people in social and civic virtues he began as a political reformer of time when the empire was cut up into a number of petty and discontent principalities as a practical statement and administrator he urged the necessity of reform upon the princess whom one after another he served his advice was invariably disregarded and as he said no intelligent ruler arose in his time his great messians of submission to the emperor or supreme head of the state he based on the analogous duty of video obedience in the household and his very spirit of piety prevented him from taking independent measures for redressing the evils and oppressions of his distracted country his moral teaching are not based on any specific religious foundation but they have become settled code of chinese life of which submissiveness to authority industry frugality and fair dealing as prescribed by confusions epics are general characteristics the political doctrines of this great reformer were eventually adopted and his teaching an example brought about peaceful and gradual but complete revolution in the chinese empire whose consolidation into a simple kingdom was the practical result of this sages influence at the time of which we write the chinese were still clinging to the banks of the yellow river along which they had first entered the country and formed within the limits of china proper a few states on neither shore lying between the 33rd and the 38th parallels of latitude and the 106th and the 119th of longitude the royal state of chow occupied part of the modern province of honan to the south of this was the powerful states of chin embracing the northern province of xiang sin and part of chile to the south was the barbarous state of chuo which stretched as far as the yang zik yang to the east reaching to the coast where a number of smaller states among which those of chai lu wei zong and qin were the chief and the west of the yellow river was the state of qin which was destined eventually to gain the mastery over the contending principalities on the establishment of the child dynasty king who had apportioned these fifth ships among members of his family his aherians and the descendants of some of the asian worship's kings each prince was empowered to administer his government as he pleased so long as he followed the general lines indicated by history and in the event of any act of aggression on the part of one state against another the matter was to be reported to the king of the sovereign state was bound to punish the offender it is plain that in such a system the elements of this order was lie near the surface and no sooner was the authority of the central state lessened by the want of ability shown by the successors of king wu chin and ken the inconstant strife broke out between the several shifts the hand of every man was against his neighbor and the smaller states suffered the usual fate under like circumstances of being encroached a point and absorbed not extending their appeals for help to their common sovereign the house of chow having been thus far wanting the device was resorted to of appointing one of the most powerful princes as a presiding chief who should exercise royal functions leaving the king only the title and paraphernalia of sovereignty in fact the china of this period was governed and administered very much as japan was up to about 20 years ago for mikaido shogun and ruling dyno red king presiding chief and princes and the parallel is as nearly as possible complete the result of the system however in the two countries was different for apart from the support received by the mikaido from the belief in his heavenly origin the insular positions of japan prevented the possibility of the advent of elements of this order from without whereas the principalities of china were surrounded by semi-barbarious states the chiefs of which were engaged in constant warfare with them confucius deep spirit of loyalty to the house of chow forbade his following in the book of history the careers of the show friends who reigned between the death of mu in bc 946 and the accession of pain in 770 one after another these kings rose reigned and died leaving each to his successor an ever-increasing heritage of war during the reign of shun 827 to 761 a gleam of light seems to have shot through the pervading darkness though falling far short of the excellencies of the founders of the dynasty he yet strove to follow though at a long interval the examples they had set him and according to the chinese belief as an acknowledgement from heaven of his efforts in the direction of verge it was given him to sit upon the throne for nearly half a century his assessor you the dark appears to even less advantage no redeeming acts relieve the general disorder of his reign and at the indication of a favorite concubine he said to have committed acts which place him on a level with key and char earthquake storms and astrological portents appeared as in the dark days at the close of the hair and share dynasties his capital was surrounded by the barbarian allies of the prince of shin the father of his wife whom he had dismissed at the request of his favorite and in an attempt to escape if a victim to their weapons with this event the western child dynasty was brought to a close here also the book of history comes to an end and the spring and optimum annals by confucius takes up the tale of iniquity and disorder which overspread the land no more dreadful record of a nation's struggle can be imagined than that contained in confucius history the country was torn by discord and desolated by wars husbandry was neglected the peace of households was destroyed and plunder and raping where the washbirds of the time such was the state of china at the time of the birth of confucius bc 551 of the parents of the sage we know but little except that his father shulanghe was a military officer eminent for his commanding stature his great bravery and immense strength and that his mother's name was yan jing chai the marriage of these couples took place when hair was 70 years old and the prospect therefore of his having and hair having been but slight unusual rejoicing commemorated the birth of a son who was destined to achieve such everlasting fame report says that the child was born in a cave on manne with a chain chai went in obedience to a vision to be confined but this is but one of the many legends with which chinese historians loved to surround the birth of confucius with the same desire to glorify the sage and imperfect good faith generate how the event was heralded by strange portents and miraculous appearances how jini allows to change i the owner that was in store for her and how fair is attendant at his nativity of the early years of confucius we have but scanty record it will seem that from his childhood he showed ritualistic tendencies and we are told that as a boy he delighted to play at the arrangement of vessels and poichures of ceremony as he advanced in years he became an earnest student of history and looked back with love and reverence to the time when a great and good you and shen reigned in a golden age fruitful of golden deeds at the age of 15 he banned his mind to learning and when he was 19 years old he married a lady from a stage of song and has been following many other great men confucius married life was not a happy one and he finally divorced his wife not however before she had born him a son so now that his marriage at the instigation of property confucius accepted the offer of keeper of the stores of crane and in the following year it was promoted to be guardian of the public fields and lands it was while holding this later office that his son was born and so well known and highly esteemed and he already become that the reigning duke on hearing of the event of the event send him a present of a car from mr. gomstans the infant derived his name lay a cop the name of his son seldom occurs in the life of his illustrious father and a few references we have to him are enough to show that a small share of paternal affection failed his lot have you heard any lessons from your father different from what we have all heard as an inquisitive disciple of him no reply to lay he was standing alone once when i was passing through the court below with hasty steps and said to me have you read the oldest on my reply not yet he added if you do not learn the oldest you will not be fit to converse with another day in the same place in the same way he said to me have you read the rules of propriety on my reply not yet he added if you do not learn the rules of propriety your character cannot be established i asked one thing said to enthusiastic disciple and i have learned three things i have learned about the oldest i have learned about the rules of propriety and i have learned that the superior man maintains a distance reserved toward his son at the age of 22 we find confuses released from the toils of office and devoting his time to the more continued task of imparting instruction to a band of admiring and earnest students with idol or stupid scholars he would have nothing to do i do not open the truth he said the one who is not eager after knowledge now do i have anyone who is not anxious to explain himself when i have presented one corner of a subject and the listener cannot from it learn the other three i do not repeat my lesson when 28 years old confuses study archery and in the following years took lessons in music from a celebrator master shame at 30 he tells us he stood firm and about this time his fame might be increased many noble youths enrolled themselves among his disciples and on his expressing a desire to visit the imperial court of chow to confirm a subject of asian ceremonies with lousy the founder of the tower's side the reigning duke placed a carriage and horses at his disposal for the journey the extreme veneration which confucius entertained for the founders of the chow dynasty made the visit to le the capital one of the intense interest to him with eager delight he wandered through the temple and audience chambers the place of sacrifices and the palace and having completed his inspection of the position and shape of the various sacrificial and ceremonial vessels he turned to his disciples and said now i understand the wisdom of the duke of chow and how his house attained to imperial's way but the principal object of his visit to chow was to confer with lousy and of the interview between these two very dissimilar men we have various accounts the confucian's writers as a rule mainly mentioned the fact of the having met but the admirers of lousy affirmed that confucius was very roughly handled by his more aesthetic contemporary who looked down from his somewhat higher standpoint with contempt on the great apostle of antiquity it was only natural that lousy who preached that stillness and self-emptiness were the highest attainable objects should be ready to assail a man whose whole being was wrapped up in ceremonial observances and conscious well-doing the very measured tones and considered movements of confucius covered with a certain a mixture of that pride which apes humidity must have been very irritating to the metaphysically minded treasurer and it was eminently characteristic of confucius that nowithstanding the great provocation given him on this occasion he abstained from any rejoinder we know where red of his engaging in the dispute when an opponent rose it was in keeping with the doctrine of confucius to retire before him a sage he said will not enter a torturing state not well in a colonized one when the right principles of government prevail he shows himself but when they are frustrated he remains concealed and carrying out the same principle in private life he invariably refused to wrangle it was possibly in connection with this incident that confucius drew the attention of the disciples to the metal stature of a man with a triple clasp upon his mouth which stood in the ancestral temple of love on the back of the stature were inscribed these words the asians were guarded in their speech and like them we should avoid locosity many words invite many defeats avoid also engaging in many businesses for many businesses create many difficulties observe this my children said he pointing to the inscription these words are true and commend themselves to our reason having gained all the information they desired in child he returned to rule where pupils flocked to him until we are told he was surrounded by an admiring company of three thousand disciples his stay in rule was forever of short duration for the three principal clans of the state those of ji su and monk after frequent contests between themselves engaged in a war with the reigning duke and overthrew his armies upon this the duke told refuge in the state of zi with the confucius followed him as he passed along the rowish saw a woman whipping at the tomb and having compassion on her he sent his disciple zi lu to ask her the cause of her grief you will as if you had experienced sorrow upon sorrow said zi lu i have said the woman my father-in-law was killed here by a tiger and my husband also and now my son has met the same fate why then do you not remove from the place ask confucius because here there is no oppressive government replied the woman on hearing this answer confucius remarked to his disciples my children remember this oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger possibly confucius was attracted to zi by a knowledge that the music of the emperor shun was still preserved at the court at all events he are told that having heard a string of the much desired music on his way to the capital he hurried on and was so leveraged with the air as he heard that for three months he never tasted fresh i did not think that he that music would reach such a pitch of excellence hearing of the arrival of the sage the duke of chai king by a name sent him for him and after some conversation being minded to act a part of a patron to so distinguished a visitor offered to make him a president of the city of nithi with his revenues but this confucius declined remarking to his disciples a superior man will not receive rewards except for services done i have given advice to the duke king but he has not followed it as yet and now he would endow me with this place very far is here from understanding me he still however discussed politics with the duke and taught him that there is good government when the prince is prince and the minister is minister when the father is father and the son is son good said the duke if indeed the prince be not prince the minister not minister and the son not son although i have my revenue can i enjoy it though duke king was by no means a satisfactory pupil many of his instincts were good and he once again expressed a desire to pension confucius that he might keep him at hand but yin yin the prime minister dissuaded him from his purpose these scholars said the minister are impracticable and cannot be imitated they are haughty and conceited of their own views so that they will not rest satisfied in inferior positions they set a high value on all funeral ceremonies give way to their grief and will waste their property on great funerals so that they would only be injurious to the common manners this convulsor has a thousand peculiarities it would take ages to exhaust all he knows about the ceremonies of going up and going down this is not a time to examine into his rules of propriety if you wish to employ him to change the custom of chi you will not be making the people your primary consideration this reasoning had full weight with the duke who the next time he was urged to follow the advice of confucius cut short the discussion by the remark i am too old to adopt his doctrines under these circumstances confucius once more returned to lu only however to find that the condition of a state was still unchanged this order was wrong and the reigns of government were in the hands of the head of the strongest party for the time being this was no time for confucius to take office and he devoted the leisure thus forced upon him to the combination of the book of oldest and the book of history but in process of time order was once more restored and he then failed himself free to accept the post of magistrate of the town of which was offered him by the duke king he now had the opportunity of putting his principles of government to the test and the result partly justified his expectations he framed rules for the support of the living and for the observation of rights for the dead he arranged appropriate food for the old and the young and he provided for the proper separation of men and women and the results were we are told that as in the time of king alfred a thing dropped on the road was not picked up there was no further than coughing of vessels coffins were made of the ordained thickness graves were unmarked by mounts raised over them and no two prices were charged in the markets the duke surprised at what he saw as the sage whether his rule of government could be applied to the whole state certainly replied confucius and not only to the state of lu but to the whole empire both with therefore the duke make him assistant superintendent works and shortly afterwards appointed him minister of crime here again his success was complete from a day of his appointment crime is said to have disappeared and the penal laws remain a dead letter courage was recognized by confucius as being one of the great reverses and about this period we have related two instances in which he showed that he possessed both moral and physical courage to a high degree the chief of the g family being virtual possessor of the state when the body of the exiled duke chow was brought from chui for internment directed that it should be buried apart from the graves of his ancestors on confucius becoming aware of his decision he ordered a trend to be dug around the burying ground which should enclose the new tomb thus to censure a prince and signalize his fault is not according to antiquity said he to g i have caused the grave to be included in the cemetery and i have done so to hide your disloyalty and his action was allowed to pass unchallenged the other instance referred to was on the occasion a few years later of an interview between the dukes of lu and chai at which confucius was present as master of ceremonies at his indication an altar was raised at the place of meeting it was mounted by three steps and on this the dukes ascended and having pledged one another proceeded to discuss a treat of alliance but treasury was intended on the part of the duke of chai and at a given signal a band of savages advanced with speed of drum to carry off the duke of lu some such stratagem had been considered probable by fancius and the instant danger became imminent he rushed to the altar and led with the duke after much disorder in which confucius took a firm and prominent part a treaty was concluded and even some land on the south of the river wang which had been taken by chai was by the exertions of the stage restored to lu on this recovered territory the people of lu in memory of the circumstance built a city and got it the city of confession end of section 29 section 30 the great events volume one this is a liberox recording all liberox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit liberos.org the great events by famous historians volume one edited by chiles f horn rosita johnson and john rub section 30 but to return to confucius as the minister of crime though eminently successful the results obtained under his system were not quite such as his followers have represented them to have been no doubt crime diminished under his rule but it was by no means abolished in fact his biographers mentioned in case which must have been peculiarly shocking to him a father brought an accusation against his son in the expectation probably of gaining his suit with ease before a judge who later stretched on the virtues of video piety but to his surprise and that of the onlookers confucius cast both father and son into prison and to the remorgences of the head of the g-clan answered am i to punish for a bridge of video piety one who has never been taught to be filial minded it's not he who neglects to teach his son's duties equally guilty with the son who fails in them crime is not inherent in human nature and therefore the father and the family and the government in the state are responsible for the crimes committed against video piety and the public laws if a king is careless about publishing laws and then preemptory punishes in accordance with the strict letter of them he acts the part of a swindler if he collected taxes arbitrarily without giving warning he is guilty of oppression and if he puts the people to death without having instructed them he commits a cruelty on all these points confucius frequently insisted and strove both by precept and example to impart the spirit they reflected on all around him in the presence of his prince we are told that his manner those self-possessed displayed respectful uneasiness when he entered the palace or when he passed the vacant throne his countenance changed his legs bent under him and he spoke as though he had scarcely breathed to utter a word when he fell to his lot to carry the royal scepter he stooped his body as though he were not able to bear his weight if the prince came to visit him when he was ill he had himself placed with his head to the east and they dressed in his court clothes with his girdle across them when the prince sent him a presence of meat he carefully adjusted his mat and just tasted the dishes if the meat were uncooked he offered it to the spirits of his ancestors and an animal which was thus sent him he kept alive at the village festivals he never proceeded but always followed after the elders to all about him he assumed an appearance of simplicity and sincerity to the court officials of the lower grade he spoke freely and to superior officers his manner was planned but precise even at the wild gatherings which accompanied the annual ceremonies of driving away the credentials influences he paid honor to the original meaning of the rite by standing in court robes on the eastern steps of his house and received the rioters exorcists as though they were favored guests when sent for by the prince to assist in receiving a royal visitor his countenance appeared to change he inclined himself to the officers among whom he stood and when sent to meet visitor at the gate he hastened forward with his arms spread out like the wings of a bird recognizing in the wind and the storm the voice of heaven he changed countenance at the sound of a sudden clap of thunder or a violent gust of wind the principles which underline all these details relieve them from the sense of effective formality which they would otherwise suggest by the sages of old confucius had an overwinning faith in the effects of example what do you say as the chief of the gene clan on one occasion to killing the unprincipled for the good of the principled sir reply confucius in carrying on your government why should you employ capital punishment at all let your events desires be for what is good and the people be good and then quoted the words of king chain he added the relation between superiors and inferiors is like between the wind and the grass the ground must bend when the wind blows across it does in every act of his life whether at home or abroad whether at table or in bed whether a study or a moments of relaxation he did all with the about optic of being seen of men and of influencing them by his conduct and to a certain extent he gained his end he succeeded in demolishing a number of fortified cities which had formed the hotbeds of sedation and Talmud and thus added greatly to the power of the reigning duke he inspired the man with a spirit of loyalty and good faith and taught the women to be chased and dosa on the report of the tranquility prevailing in lu strangers flocked into the state and thus was fulfilled the old criterion of good government which was afterward repeated by confucius the people were happy and strangers were attracted from afar but even confucius found it impossible to carry all his theories into practice and his experience as minister of crime taught him that something more than may example was necessary to lead the people into the paths of verge before he had been many months in office he signed the death warrant of a well-known citizen named shout for disturbing the public peace this departure from the principal he had so lately laid down astonished his followers and the Simon Peter has been called among his disciples took him to task for executing so notable a man but confucius held to it that the steps was necessary there are five great evils in the world sat here a man with a rebellious heart who becomes dangerous a man who joins to vicious deeds of fierce temper a man whose words are knowingly false a man whose treasure in his memory notions feeds and disseminates them a man who follows evil and fertilizes it all these evil qualities were combined in shout his house was a rendezvous for the insuffctant his words were specious enough to dazzle anyone and his opposition was found enough to overthrow any independent man but now standing such departures from the lines he had laid down for himself the people gloried in his rule and sang at the very sounds in which he was described as the savior from oppression and wrong confucius was an enthusiast and his once-of-success in his attempt completely to reform the age in which he lived never seemed to suggest a doubt due to his mind of the complete wisdom of his creed according to his theory his official administration should have effected the reform not only of his sovereign and the people but of those of the neighboring states but what was the practical result the contentment which reigned among the people of lu instead of instigating the Duke of T to institute a similar system only served to arouse his jealousy with confucius at the head of his government said he lu will become supreme among states and which is nearest to it will be swallowed up let us propitiate it by a surrender of territory but a more proficient statement suggested that they should first try to bring about the disgrace of the sage with this object he sent eighty beautiful girls well skilled in the arts of music and dancing and a hundred and twenty of the finest horses which could be procured as a present to the Duke King the result fully realized the anticipation of the minister the girls were taken into the Duke's harem the horses were removed to the Duke's stables and confucius was left to meditate on the fault of men who preferred listening to the sounds of the maiden of to the wisdom of Yao and shun day after day passed and the Duke showed no signs of returning to his proper mind the affairs of states were neglected and for three days the Duke refused to receive his minister in audience master said he lu it is time you went but confucius who had more at state than his disciple was disinclined to give up the experiment on which his heart was set besides the time was approaching when the great sacrifice do happen as the sources about which he had had so many conversations for the Duke should be offered up and he hoped that the recollection of his weighty words would record the Duke to a sense of his duties but his gay rivals in the affections of the Duke still held his way and the recurrence of the great festival fell to weaken his conscience even for the moment reluctantly therefore confucius resigned his post and left the capital but though thus disappointed of the hope see and attained of the Duke of Lu confucius was by no means disposed to resign his role as the reformer of the age if any one among the princes would employ me he said he I would event something considerable in the course of 12 months and in three years the government would be perfected but the tendencies of the times were unfavorable to the sage the struggle for supremacy which had been going on for centuries between the princes of the various states was then this height and though there might be a question whether it would find a result in the victory of jinn or of chu or of jinn there could be no doubt that the scepter had already passed from the hands of the ruler of chow to man therefore who were fighting over the possessions of a sage would assist to live the idea of employing a minister whose principal objects what have been to breathe life into the dead bones of chow was ridiculous this soon became apparent to his disciples who begin even more concerned than their master at his loss of office and not taking so exalted a view as he did or what he considered to be a heaven sent mission we're inclined to urge him to make concessions in harmony with the times the principles said zi gong to him are excellent but they are unacceptable in the empire would it not be well therefore to bathe them a little a good estimate replied sage can so but he cannot secure a harvest another son may excel in handicraft but he cannot provide a market for his goods and in the same way a superior man can cultivate his principles but he cannot make them acceptable the confucius was at least determined that no efforts helped in his part should be wanting to discover the opening for which he longed and on leaving lu if he took himself the state of why on arriving at the capital the reigning duke received him with distinction but showed no desire to employ him probably expecting however to gain some advantage from the councils of the sage in the art of governing he determined to attach him to his court by the grant of an endose stipend of 60 000 measures of grain that having been the value of the post he had just resigned in lu had the experiences of his public life come up to the sanguine hopes he had entertained at his beginning confucius would probably have declined his offer as he did that of the duke of some years before but property unconsciously impaled him to act up to the advice of sikong and to bathe his principles of conduct somewhat his stay however in way was of short duration the officials at the court jealous probably of the influence they feared he might gain over the duke interviewed against him and confucius thought it best to bow before the coming storm after living on the duke's hospitality for 10 months he left the capital intending to visit the state of chin a chance however that the way tethered led him through the town of kwan which he suffered much from the filibustering expectations of a notorious disturber of the public peace named yang hu to this man of ill fame confucius bore a striking resemblance so much so that the town's people fencing that they now had their own enemy in their power surrounded the house in which he lodged for five days intending to attack him the situation was certainly disquieting and the disciples were much alarmed but confucius's belief in the heaven sent nature of his mission raised him above fear other than the death of king weng say was not the cause of truth lodged in me in heaven had wished to let this sacred cause perish i should not have been put into such a relation to it heaven will not let the cause of truth perish and what therefore can the people of kwan do to me saying which he turned his liar and same probably some of those songs from his recently compiled book of odors which breathed the wisdom of the asian emperors from someone explained the cause but more probably from the people of kwan discovering the mistake than from any effect reduced by confucius's dictates they are trained force suddenly withdrew leaving the sage free to go wherever he listed this misadventure was sufficient to deter him from wandering father of few and after a short stay at pole he returned to way again the dupe welcomed him to the capital though it does not appear that he renewed his stipend and even his consort nanzi forgot for a while her interviews and debauchery at the news of his arrival with a complimentary message she backed an interview with the sage which he at first refused but on her urging her request he was famed obliged to yield points on being introduced into her presence he found her concealed behind a stream in strict accordance with the prescribed antiquity and after the usual formalities they entered freely into conversation zilu was much disturbed at this point of discretion as he considered it on a part of confucius and the vehemence of his master's answer showed that there was a doubt in his own mind whether he had not overstepped the limits of sage-like propriety wherein i have done improperly said he may haven't reject me may haven't reject me this incident did not however prevent him from maintaining friendly relations with the court and it was not until the dupe by public act showed his inability to understand the dignity of the role which confucius decided to assume that he lost all hope of finding employment in a state of his former patron on this occasion the dupe drove through the streets of his capital seated in the carriage with nanzi and decided confucius to follow in the carriage behind as the procession passed through the marketplace the people perceiving more clearly than the dupe the inconcruity of the proceeding laughed and jeered at the idea of making verge follow in the wake of a lust this completed the shame which confucius felt as being in so false position i have not seen one said he who loves words as he loves beauty to stay any longer under the protection of our court which could inflict such an indignity upon him was more than he could do and he therefore once again struck southward to watch him after his retirement from office it is probable that confucius devoted himself are fresh to imparting to his followers those doctrines and opinions which we shall consider later on even on the road to chin we are told that he practiced ceremonies with his disciples beneath the shadow of a tree by the wayside in sum in the spirit of lao zi huang tui an officer in the neighborhood was angered at his reported proud air and many desires his insinuating habit and wild will and attempted to prevent him entering the state in this endeavor however he was unsuccessful as were some more determined opponents who two years later attacked him at pool when he was on his way to weigh on this occasion he was seized and though it is said that his followers struggled manfully with his captors their efforts did not save him from having to give an oath that he would not continue his journey to weigh but in spite of his oath and in spite of the public slight which has previously been put upon him but a duke of wire and the resistable attraction drew him toward the state and he had no soon escaped from the clutches of his captors then he continued his journey this deliberate for future of his word in one who had commanded them to hold faithfulness and sincerity as first principles surprised his disciples and zi gong who was generally the spokesman on such occasions asked him whether it was the right to violate the oath he had taken but confucius who had learned expediency in adversity replied it was an oath extracted by force the spirits do not hear such but to return to confucius flying from his enemies in song finding his way bound by the action of one way proceeded westward and arrived at jing the capital of the state of the same name tether it would appear his disciples had preceded him and he arrived unattended at the eastern gate of the city but his appearance was so striking that his followers were soon made aware of his presence there is a man sent townsmen to zi gong standing at the east gate with a forehead like yao a neck like gao tau his shoulders on a level with those of ji chen but wanting below the waist three inches of the height of yu and altogether having the forsaken appearance of a stray dog recognizing his masters in this description zi gong hasten to meet him and repeated to him the words of his informant confucius was much amused and said the personal appearance is a small matter but to say i was like a stray dog capital capital the ruling powers in jing however showed no disposition to employ even a man possessing such market characteristics and before long he removed to chen where he remained a year from chen he once more turned his face towards yi and it was while he was on this journey that he was detained at po as mentioned above between confucius and the duke of yi there evidently existed a personal liking if not friendship the duke was always glad to see him and ready to converse with him but confucius's unbounded admiration for those whose bones as lousy said were molded to dust and especially for the founders of the child dynasty made it impossible for the duke to place him in any position of importance at the same time confucius seems always to have hoped that he would be able to gain a duke over to his fields and thus he came about that the sage was constantly attracted to the call of duke ling and as often compelled to exile himself from it on this particular occasion as at all other times the duke received him gladly but their conversations which had principally turned on the act of peaceful government were now directed to warlike affairs the duke was contemplating an attack on po the inhabitants of which under the leadership of huang tui who had arrested confucius had rebelled against him at first confucius was quite disposed to support the duke in his intended hostilities but a representation from the duke that's the problem of support of the other states would make the expedition one of considerable danger converted confucius to the opinion evidently entertained by the duke that it would be best to live huang tui in possession of his ill gotten territory confucius's latest advice was then to this effect and the duke acted upon it the duke was now becoming an old man and with advancing age came a disposition to leave the task of governing to others and to weary of confucius's high-flown lectures he ceased to use confucius as the chinese historians say and the state was therefore intermittent and ready to accept any offer which might come from any quarter while in this humor he received an invitation from fu xi an officer of the state of jing who was holding the town of jong mao against his chief to visit him and he was inclined to go it is impossible to study this portion of confucius's career without feeling that a great change had come over his conduct there was no longer that lofty love of truth and of virtue which had distinguished the commencement of his official life adversity instead of stiffening his back and make him pliable he who had firmly refused to receive money he had not earned was now willing to take pay in return for no other services than the presentation of courtier-like advice location when duke length decided to have his opinion in support of his own and in defiance of his oft repeated denunciation of rebels he was now ready to go over to the court of a rebel chief in the hope possibility of being able to throw his means to establish as he said on an allocation an eastern child again zilu interfered and expostulated with him on his inconsistency master said he i have heard you say that when a man is purely of personal wrongdoing a superior man will not associate with him if you accept the invitation of this fu xi who is an open rebellion against his chief what will people say but confucius with a dexterity with that now become common with him replied it is true i have said so but is it not also true that if a thing be really hard it may be ground without being made thin and if it be really white it may be steeped in a black foot without becoming black am i a bitter good am i to be hung up out of the way of being eaten but nevertheless zilu's remuneration prevailed and he did not go his relations with the duke did not improve and so dissatisfied was he with his patron that he retired from the court as at this time confucius was not in the receipt of any official income it is probable that he again provided for his wants by imparting to his disciples some of the treasures out of the rich stores of learning which he had collected by means of diligent study and of a wild experience every word and action of confucius were full of such meaning to his admiring followers that they have enabled us to trace him into the retirement of private life in his dress we are told he was careful to wear only the correct colors this usher yellow carnation white and black and he scrupulously avoided red as being the color usually affected by women and girls at the table he was moderate in his appetite but particular as to the nature of his foot and the manner in which it was set before him nothing would induce him to touch any meat that was high or rice that was musty nor would he eat anything that was not probably cut up or accompanied with the proper sauce he allowed himself only a certain quantity of meat and rice and though no such limit was fixed to the amount of wine with which he accompanied his frugal fare we are assured that he never allowed himself to be confused by it when out driving he never turned his head quite round and in his actions as well as in his words he avoided all appearance of haste and of section 30