 Chapter 3 of Cyrus the Great by Jacob Abbott. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Dion Giants, Salt Lake City, Utah. The Visit to Media, BC 587-584. When Cyrus was about 12 years old, if the narrative which Xenophon gives of his history is true, he was invited by his grandfather, Astigius, to make a visit to media. As he was about 10 years of age, according to Herodotus, when he was restored to his parents, he could have been residing only two years in Persia when he received this invitation. During this period, Astigius had received through Mandain and others very glowing descriptions of the intelligence and vivacity of the young prince, and he naturally felt a desire to see him once more. In fact, Cyrus's personal attractiveness and beauty joined to a certain frank and noble generosity of spirit, which he seems to have manifested in his earliest years, made him a universal favorite at home. And the reports of these qualities and of the various sayings and doings on Cyrus's part, by which his disposition and character were revealed, awakened strongly in the mind of Astigius that kind of interest, which a grandfather is always very prone to feel in a handsome and precocious grandchild. As Cyrus had been sent to Persia as soon as his true rank had been discovered, he had had no opportunities of seeing the splendor of royal life in media, and the manners and habits of the Persians were very plain and simple. Cyrus was accordingly very much impressed with the magnificence of the scenes to which he was introduced when he arrived in media, and with the gayities and luxuries, the pomp and display, and the spectacles and parades in which the median court abounded. Astigius himself took great pleasure in witnessing and increasing his little grandson's admiration for these wonders. It is one of the most extraordinary and beautiful of the provisions which God has made for securing the continuance of human happiness to the very end of life that we can renew through sympathy with children. The pleasures which, for ourselves alone, had long since, through repetition and satiety, lost their charm. The rides, the walks, the flowers gathered by the roadside, the rambles among pebbles on the beach, the songs, the games, and even the little picture book of childish tales which have utterly and entirely lost their power to affect the mind even of middle age directly and alone, regain their magical influence and call up vividly all the old emotions even to the heart of decrepit age when it seeks these enjoyments in companionship and sympathy with children or grandchildren beloved. By giving to us this capacity for renewing our own sensitiveness to the impressions of pleasure through sympathy with childhood, God has provided a true and effectual remedy for the satiety and insensibility of age. Let anyone who is in the decline of years, whose time passes but heavily away, and who supposes that nothing can awaken interest in his mind or give him pleasure, make the experiment of taking children to a ride or to a concert or to see a menagerie or a museum, and he will find that there is a way by which he can again enjoy very highly the pleasures which he had supposed were for him forever exhausted and gone. This was the result at all events. In the case of Stigis and Cyrus, the monarch took a new pleasure in the luxuries and splendors which had long since lost their charm for him in observing their influence and effect upon the mind of his little grandson. Cyrus, as we have already said, was very frank and open in his disposition and spoke with the utmost freedom of everything that he saw. He was, of course, a privileged person and he could always say what the feeling of the moment and his own childish conceptions prompted without danger. He had, however, according to the account which Xenophon gives, a great deal of good sense as well as of sprightliness and brilliancy so that while his remarks, through their originality and point, attracted everyone's attention, there was a native politeness and sense of propriety which restrained him from saying anything to give pain. Even when he disapproved of and condemned what he saw in the arrangements of his grandfather's court or household, he did it in such a manner so ingenuous, good-natured and unassuming that it amused all and offended none. In fact, on the very first interview which Estige's had with Cyrus, an instance of the boy's readiness and tact occurred which impressed his grandfather very much in his favor. The Persians, as has been already remarked, were accustomed to dress very plainly, while, on the other hand, at the median court, the superior officers and especially the king were always very splendidly adorned. Accordingly, when Cyrus was introduced into his grandfather's presence, he was quite dazzled with the display. The king wore a purple robe very richly adorned with a belt and collars which were embroidered highly and set with precious stones. He had bracelets, too, upon his wrists of the most costly character. He wore flowing locks of artificial hair and his face was painted after the median manner. Cyrus gazed upon this gay spectacle for a few moments in silence and then exclaimed, Why, mother, what a handsome man my grandfather is! Such an exclamation, of course, made great amusement both for the king himself and for the others who were present. And at length, mandane, somewhat indiscreetly, it must be confessed, asked Cyrus which of the two he thought the handsomest his father or his grandfather. Cyrus escaped from the danger of deciding such a formidable question by saying that his father was the handsomest man in Persia, but his grandfather was the handsomest of all the meads he had ever seen. Estichies was even more pleased by this proof of his grandson's adroitness and good sense than he had been with the compliment which the boy had paid to him. And, henceforward, Cyrus became an established favorite and did and said in his grandfather's presence almost whatever he pleased. When the first childish feelings of excitement and curiosity had subsided, Cyrus seemed to attach very little value to the fine clothes and gay trappings with which his grandfather was disposed to adorn him and to all the other external marks of parade and display which were generally so much prized among the meads. He was much more inclined to continue in his former habits of plain dress and frugal means than to imitate median ostentation and luxury. There was one pleasure, however, to be found in media which in Persia he had never enjoyed that he prized very highly. That was the pleasure of learning to ride on horseback. The Persians, it seems, either because their country was a rough and mountainous region or for some other cause, were very little accustomed to ride. They had very few horses and there were no bodies of cavalry in their armies. The young men, therefore, were not trained to the art of horsemanship. Even in their hunting excursions, they went always on foot and were accustomed to make long marches through the forests and among the mountains in this manner, loaded heavily to all the time with the burden of arms and provisions which they were obliged to carry. It was, therefore, a new pleasure to Cyrus to mount a horse. Horsemanship was a great art among the meads. Their horses were beautiful and fleed and splendidly comparisoned. Astitches provided for Cyrus the best animals which could be procured and the boy was very proud and happy in exercising himself in the new accomplishment which he thus had the opportunity to acquire. To ride is always a great source of pleasure to boys, but in that period of the world when physical strength was so much more important and more highly valued than at present, horsemanship was a vastly greater source of gratification than it is now. So, Cyrus felt that he had at a single leap quadrupled his power and thus risen at once to a far higher rank in the scale of being than he had occupied before. For as soon as he had once learned to be at home in the saddle and to subject the spirit and the power of his horse to his own will, the courage, the strength, and the speed of the animal became, in fact, almost personal acquisitions of his own. He felt accordingly when he was galloping over the plains or pursuing deer in the park or running over the race course with his companions as if it was some newly acquired strength and speed of his own that he was exercising and which by some magic power was attended by no toil some exertion and followed by no fatigue. The various officers and servants in Estegious's household, as well as Estegious himself, soon began to feel a strong interest in the young prince. Each took a pleasure in explaining to him what pertained to their several departments and in teaching him whatever he desired to learn. The attendant highest in rank in such a household was the cup bearer. He had the charge of the tables and the wine and all the general arrangements of the palace seem to have been under his direction. The cup bearer in Estegious's court was a satian. He was, however, less a friend to Cyrus than the rest. There was nothing within the range of his official duties that he could teach the boy and Cyrus did not like his wine. Besides, when Estegious was engaged, it was the cup bearer's duty to guard him from interruption and at such times he often had occasion to restrain the young prince from the liberty of entering his grandfather's apartments as often as he pleased. At one of the entertainments which Estegious gave in his palace, Cyrus and Mandane were invited and Estegious, in order to gratify the young prince as highly as possible, set before him a great variety of dishes, meats and sauces and delicacies of every kind, all served in costly vessels and with great parade and ceremony. He supposed that Cyrus would have been enraptured with the luxury and splendor of the entertainment. He did not, however, seem much pleased. Estegious asked him the reason and whether the feast which he saw before him was not a much finer one than he had been accustomed to see in Persia. Cyrus said in reply that it seemed to him to be very troublesome to have to eat a little of so many separate things. In Persia they managed, he thought, a great deal better. And how do you manage in Persia, asked Estegious, why in Persia, replied Cyrus, we have plain bread and meat and eat it when we are hungry so we get health and strength and have very little trouble. Estegious laughed at this simplicity and told Cyrus that he might, if he preferred it, live on plain bread and meat while he remained in media and then he would return to Persia in as good health as he came. Cyrus was satisfied. He, however, asked his grandfather if he would give him all those things which had been set before him to dispose of as he thought proper. And on his grandfather's assenting he began to call the various attendants up to the table and to distribute the costly dishes to them in return, as he said, for their various kindnesses to him. This said he to one is for you because you take pains to teach me to ride. This to another for you because you gave me a javelin. This to you because you serve my grandfather well and faithfully. And this to you because you honor my mother. Thus he went on until he had distributed all that he had received, though he omitted as it seemed designedly to give anything to the Sacean cupbearer. This Sacean, being an officer of high rank, of tall and handsome figure and beautifully dressed, was the most conspicuous attendant at the feast and could not therefore have been accidentally passed by. Estiches accordingly asked Cyrus why he had not given anything to the Sacean, the servant whom, as he said, he liked better than all the others. And what is the reason asked Cyrus in reply that this Sacean is such a favorite with you? Have you not observed, replied Estiches, how gracefully and elegantly he pours out the wine for me and then hands me the cup. The Sacean was, in fact, uncommonly accomplished in respect to the personal grace and dexterity for which cupbearers in those days were most highly valued and which constitute, in fact, so essential a part of the qualifications of a master of ceremonies at a royal court in every age. Cyrus, however, instead of yielding to this argument, said in reply that he could come into the room and pour out the wine as well as the Sacean could do it, and he asked his grandfather to allow him to try as Estiches consented. Cyrus then took the goblet of wine and went out. In a moment he came in again, stepping grandly as he entered in mimicry of the Sacean, and with accountants of assumed gravity and self-importance, which imitated so well the air and manner of the cupbearer as greatly to amuse the whole company assembled. Cyrus advanced thus toward the king and presented him with the cup, imitating, with the grace and dexterity, natural to childhood, all the ceremonies which he had seen the cupbearer himself perform, accepting that of tasting the wine, the king and mandane laughed heartily. Cyrus then, throwing off his assumed character, jumped up into his grandfather's lap and kissed him, and turning to the cupbearer, he said, Now, Sacean, you are ruined. I shall get my grandfather to appoint me in your place. I can handle the wine as well as you, and without tasting it myself at all. But why did you not taste it? Asked Estiches, you should have performed that part of the duty as well as the rest. It was, in fact, a very essential part of the duty of a cupbearer to taste the wine that he offered before presenting it to the king. He did this, however, not by putting the cup to his lips, but by pouring out a little of it into the palm of his hand. This custom was adopted by these ancient despots to guard against the danger of being poisoned. For such a danger would, of course, be very much diminished by requiring the officer who had custody of the wine, and without whose knowledge no foreign substance could well be introduced into it, always to drink a portion of it himself immediately before tendering it to the king. To Estiches' question why he had not tasted the wine, Cyrus replied that he was afraid it was poisoned. What led you to imagine that it was poisoned? Asked his grandfather, because, said Cyrus, it was poisoned the other day when you made a feast for your friends on your birthday. I knew by the effects it made you all crazy. The things that you do not allow of boys to do, you did yourselves, for you were very rude and noisy. You all bawled together so that nobody could hear or understand what any other person said. Presently you went to singing in a very ridiculous manner, and when a singer ended his song, you applauded him and declared that he had sung admirably, though nobody had paid attention. You went to telling stories too, each one of his own accord, without succeeding in making anybody listen to him. Finally, you got up and began to dance, but it was out of all rule and measure. You could not even stand erect and studdling. Then you all seemed to forget who and what you were. The guests paid no regard to you as their king, but treated you in a very familiar and disrespectful manner, and you treated them in the same way. So I thought that the wine that produced these effects must have been poisoned. Of course, Cyrus did not seriously mean that he thought the wine had been actually poisoned. He was old enough to understand its nature and effects. He undoubtedly intended his reply as a playful satire upon the intemperate excesses of his grandfather's court. But have you not ever seen such things before, asked Stigius, does not your father ever drink wine until it makes him merry? No, replied Cyrus, indeed he does not. He drinks only when he is thirsty and then only enough for his thirst, and so he is not harmed. He then added in a contemptuous tone, he has no Sacean cupbearer. You may depend about him. What is the reason my son here asked Mandane why you dislike this Sacean so much? Why every time that I want to come and see my grandfather, replied Cyrus, this teasing man always stops me and will not let me come in. I wish, grandfather, you would let me have the rule over him just for three days. Why, what would you do to him? asked Stigius. I would treat him as he treats me now, replied Cyrus. I would stand at the door as he does when I want to come in. And when he was coming for his dinner, I would stop him and say, you cannot come in now, he is busy with some men. In saying this, Cyrus imitated in a very ludicrous manner the gravity and dignity of the Sacean's heir and manor. Then he continued, when he came to supper I would say, he is bathing now, you must come some other time or else he is going to sleep and you will disturb him. So I would torment him all the time as he now torments me in keeping me out when I want to come and see you. Such conversation as this, half playful, half earnest, of course amused as Stigius and Mandain very much, as well as all the other listeners. There is a certain charm in the simplicity and confiding frankness of childhood when it is honest and sincere, which in Cyrus's case was heightened by his personal grace and beauty. He became in fact more and more a favorite the longer he remained. At length the indulgence and the attentions which he received began to produce in some degree their usual injurious effects. Cyrus became too talkative and sometimes he appeared a little vain. Still there was so much true kindness of heart, such consideration for the feelings of others and so respectful a regard for his grandfather, his mother and his uncle that his faults were overlooked. And he was the life and soul of the company in all the social gatherings which took place in the palaces of the king. At length the time arrived for Mandain to return to Persia as Stigius proposed that she should leave Cyrus in media to be educated there under his grandfather's charge. Mandain replied that she was willing to gratify her father in everything, but she thought it would be very hard to leave Cyrus behind unless he was willing of his own accord to stay. As Stigius then proposed the subject to Cyrus himself, if you will stay, said he, the Sacean shall no longer have power to keep you from coming in to see me. You shall come whenever you choose. Then besides, you shall have the use of all my horses and of as many more as you please, and when you go home at last, you shall take as many as you wish with you. Then you may have all the animals in the park to hunt. You can pursue them on horseback and shoot them with bows and arrows or kill them with javelins as men do with wild beasts in the woods. I will provide boys of your own age to play with you and to ride and hunt with you and will have all sorts of arms made of suitable size for you to use. And if there is anything else that you should want at any time, you will only have to ask me for it and I will immediately provide it. The pleasure of riding and of hunting in the park was very captivating to Cyrus's mind and he consented to stay. He represented to his mother that it would be of great advantage to him on his final return to Persia to be a skillful and powerful horseman as that would at once give him the superiority over all the Persian youths for they were very little accustomed to ride. His mother had some fears last by too long a residence in the median court. Her son should acquire the luxurious habits and proud and haughty manners, which would be constantly before him in his grandfather's example. But Cyrus said that his grandfather being imperious himself required all around him to be submissive and that mundane need not fear, but that he would return at last as dutiful and docile as ever. It was decided therefore that Cyrus should stay while his mother, fitting her child and her father farewell, went back to Persia. After his mother was gone, Cyrus endeared himself very strongly to all persons at his grandfather's court by the nobleness and generosity of character which he evened more and more as his mind was gradually developed. He applied himself with great diligence to acquiring the various accomplishments and arts then most highly prized such as leaping, vaulting, racing, riding, throwing the javelin and drawing the bow. In the friendly contest which took place among the boys to test their comparative excellence in those exercises, Cyrus would challenge those whom he knew to be superior to himself and allow them to enjoy the pleasure of victory. While he was satisfied himself with the superior stimulus to exertion which he derived from coming thus into comparison with attainments higher than his own, he pressed forward boldly and ardently undertaking everything which promised to be by any possibility within his power and far from being disconcerted and discouraged at his mistakes and failures, he always joined merrily in the laugh which they occasioned and renewed his attempts with as much ardor and alacrity as before. Thus he made great and rapid progress and learned first to equal and then to surpass one after another of his companions and all without exciting any jealousy or envy. It was a great amusement both to him and to the other boys, his playmates, to hunt the animals in the park, especially the deer. The park was a somewhat extensive domain but the animals were soon very much diminished by the slaughter which the boys made among them. Asstigies endeavored to supply their places by procuring more. At length, however, all the sources of supply that were conveniently at hand were exhausted and Cyrus then finding that his grandfather was put to no little trouble to obtain tame animals for his park proposed one day that he should be allowed to go out into the forest to hunt the wild bees with the men. There are animals enough there grandfather said Cyrus and I shall consider them all just as if you had procured them expressly for me. In fact, by this time Cyrus had grown up to be a tall and handsome young man with strength and bigger sufficient under favorable circumstances to endure the fatigue and exposures of real hunting as his person had become developed his mind and manners to had undergone a change. The gaiety, the thoughtfulness, the self confidence and talkative vivacity of his childhood had disappeared and he was fast becoming reserved, sedate, deliberate and cautious. He no longer entertained his grandfather's company by his mimicry, his repertees and his childish wit. He was silent. He observed, he listened, he shrank from publicity and spoke when he spoke at all in subdued and gentle tones. Instead of crowding forward eagerly into his grandfather's presence on all occasions, seasonable and unseasonable as he had done before, he now became of his own accord very much afraid of occasioning trouble or interruption. He did not any longer need a secian to restrain him, but became, as Xenophon expresses it, a secian to himself taking great care not to go into his grandfather's apartments without previously ascertaining that the king was disengaged so that he and the secian now became very great friends. This being the state of the case, Estige's consented that Cyrus should go out with his son, Syazarus, into the forest to hunt at the next opportunity. The party set out when the time arrived on horseback, the hearts of Cyrus and his companions bounding when they mounted their steeds with feelings of elation and pride. There were certain attendants and guards appointed to keep near to Cyrus and to help him in the rough and rocky parts of the country and to protect him from the dangers to which, if left alone, he would doubtless have been exposed. Cyrus talked with these attendants as they rode along of the mode of hunting, of the difficulties of hunting, the characters and the habits of the various wild beasts and of the dangers to be shunned. His attendants told him that the dangerous beasts were bears, lions, tigers, boars and lipards, that such animals as these often attacked and killed men and that he must avoid them, but that stags, wild goats, wild sheep and wild asses were harmless and that he could hunt such animals as they as much as he pleased. They told him moreover that steep, rocky and broken ground was more dangerous to the huntsman than any beast, however ferocious, for riders off their guard, driving impetuously over such ways were often thrown from their horses or fell with them over precipices or into chasms and were killed. Cyrus listened very attentively to these instructions with every disposition to give heed to them, but when he came to the trial he found that the ardour and impetuosity of the chase drove all considerations of prudence wholly from his mind. When the men got into the forest, those that were with Cyrus roused a stag and all set off eagerly in pursuit, Cyrus at the head away went the stag over rough and dangerous ground. The rest of the party turned aside or followed cautiously, while Cyrus urged his horse forward in the wildest excitement, thinking of nothing and seeing nothing but the stag bounding before him. The horse came to a chasm which he was obliged to leave, but the distance was too great. He came down upon his knees through Cyrus violently forward almost over his head and then with a bound and a scramble recovered his feet and went on. Cyrus clung tenaciously to the horse's mane and at length succeeded in getting back to the saddle, though for a moment his life was in the most imminent danger. His attendants were extremely terrified, though he himself seemed to experience no feeling but the pleasurable excitement of the chase. For as soon as the obstacle was cleared, he pressed on with new impetuosity after the stag overtook him and killed him with his javelin. Then alighting from his horse, he stood by the side of his victim to wait the coming up of the party, his countenance beaming with an expression of triumph and delight. His attendants, however, on their arrival, instead of applauding his exploit or seeming to share his pleasure, sharply reproved him for his recklessness and daring. He had entirely disregarded their instructions and they threatened to report him to his grandfather. Cyrus looked perplexed and uneasy. The excitement and the pleasure of victory and success were struggling in his mind against his dread of his grandfather's displeasure. Just at this instant, he heard a new hallow. Another party in the neighborhood had roused fresh game. All Cyrus' returning sense of duty was blown out once to the winds. He sprang to his horse with a shout of wild enthusiasm and rode off toward the scene of action. The game which had been started, a furious wild war, just then issued from a thicket directly before him. Cyrus, instead of shunning the danger as he ought to have done in obedience to the orders of those to whom his grandfather had entrusted him, dashed on to meet the boar at full speed and aimed so true a thrust with his javelin against the beast as to trench six him in the forehead. The boar fell and lay upon the ground in dying struggles while Cyrus' heart was filled with joy and triumph even greater than before. When Ciazzaris came up, he reproved Cyrus anew for running such risks. Cyrus received the reproaches meekly and then asked Ciazzaris to give him the two animals that he had killed. He wanted to carry them home to his grandfather. By no means said Ciazzaris, your grandfather would be very much displeased to know what you had done. He would not only condemn you for acting thus, but he would reprove us too severely for allowing you to do so. Let him punish me, said Cyrus, if he wishes after I have shown him the stag and the boar and you may punish me too if you think best, but do let me show them to him. Ciazzaris consented and Cyrus made arrangements to have the bodies of the beast and the bloody javelins carried home. Cyrus then presented the carcasses to his grandfather saying that it was some game which he had taken for him. The javelins he did not exhibit directly, but he laid them down in a place where his grandfather would see them. Astiches thanked him for his presence, but he said he had no such need of presence of game as to wish his grandson to expose himself to such imminent dangers to take it. Well, grandfather said Cyrus, if you do not want the meat, give it to me and I will divide it among my friends. Astiches agreed to this and Cyrus divided his booty among his companions, the boys who had before hunted with him in the park. They, of course, took their several portions home, each one carrying with his share of the gift a glowing account of the valor and prowess of the giver. It was not generosity which led Cyrus thus to give away the fruits of his toil, but a desire to widen and extend his fame. When Cyrus was about 15 or 16 years old, his uncle Syazarus was married, and in celebrating his nuptials, he formed a great hunting party to go to the frontiers between Medea and Assyria to hunt there, where it was said that Game of All Pines was very plentiful as it usually was, in fact, in those days in the neighborhood of disturbed and unsettled frontiers. The very causes which made such a region as this a safe and frequented hunt for wild beasts made it unsafe for men, and Syazarus did not consider it prudent to venture on his excursion without a considerable force to attend him. His hunting party formed, therefore quite a little army. They set out from home with great pomp and ceremony and proceeded to the frontiers in regular organization and order like a body of troops on a march. There was a squadron of horsemen who were to hunt the beasts in the open parts of the forest and a considerable detachment of light-armed footmen also who were to rouse the game and drive them out of their lurking places in the glens and thickets. Syros accompanied this expedition. When Syazarus reached the frontiers, he concluded instead of contending himself and his party with hunting wild beasts to make an incursion for plunder into the Assyrian territory, that being, as Xenophon expresses it, a more noble enterprise than the other. The nobleness, it seems, consisted in the greater immanence of the danger in having to contend with armed men instead of ferocious brutes, and in the higher value of the prizes which they would obtain in case of success. The idea of there being any injustice or wrong in this wanton and unprovoked aggression upon the territories of a neighboring nation seems not to have entered the mind either of the royal robber himself or of his historian. Syros distinguished himself very conspicuously in this expedition as he had done in the hunting excursion before, and when, at length, this nuptial party returned home loaded with booty, the tidings of Syros's exploits went to Persia. Canvases thought that if his son was beginning to take part as a soldier in military campaigns, it was time for him to be recalled. He accordingly sent for him, and Syros began to make preparations for his return. The day of his departure was a day of great sadness and sorrow among all his companions in media and, in fact, among all the members of his grandfather's household. They accompanied him for some distance on his way and took leave of him at last with much regret and many tears. Syros distributed among them as they left the various articles of value which he possessed such as his arms and ornaments of various kinds and costly articles of dress. He gave his median robe, at last, to a certain youth whom he said he loved the best of all. The name of this special favorite was Erospus. As these his friends parted from him, Syros took his leave of them one by one as they returned with many proofs of his affection for them and with a very sad and heavy heart. The boys and young men who had received these presents took them home, but they were so valuable that they were their parents supposing that they were given under a momentary impulse of feeling and that they ought to be returned, sent them all to Astigies. Astigies sent them to Persia to be restored to Syros. Syros sent them all back again to his grandfather with a request that he would distribute them again to those to whom Syros had originally given them, which said he, Grandfather, you must do if you wish me ever to come to media again with pleasure and not with shame. Such is the story which Xenophon gives of Syros's visit to media and in its romantic and incredible details it is a specimen of the whole narrative which this author has given of his hero's life. It is not at the present day supposed that these and the many similar stories with which Xenophon's books are filled are true history. It is not even thought that Xenophon really intended to offer his narrative as history, but rather as an historical romance. A fiction founded on fact written to amuse the warriors of his times and to serve as a vehicle for inculcating such principles of philosophy, of morals and of military science as seemed to him worthy of the attention of his countrymen. The story has no air of reality about it from beginning to end, but only a sort of poetical fitness of one part to another, much more like the contrived coincidences of a romance writer than like the real events and transactions of actual life. A very large portion of the work consists of long discourses on military, moral and often metaphysical philosophy made by generals in council for commanders in conversation with each other when going into battle. The occurrences and incidents out of which these conversations arise always take place just as they are wanted and arrange themselves in a manner to produce the highest dramatic effect like the stag, the broken ground and the wild boar in Cyrus's hunting, which came one after another to furnish the hero with poetical occasions for displaying his juvenile bravery and to produce the most picturesque and poetical grouping of incidents and events. Xenophon II, like other writers of romances, makes his hero a model of military virtue and magnanimity. According to the ideas of the times, he displays superhuman suggestivity in circumventing his foes. He performs prodigies of valor. He forms the most sentimental attachments and receives with a romantic confidence the adhesions of men who come over to his side from the enemy and who being traitors to old friends would seem to be only worthy of suspicion and distrust in being received by new ones. Everything, however, results well, all whom he confides in prove worthy, all whom he distrusts prove base, all his friends are generous and noble, and all his enemies treacherous and cruel. Every prediction which he makes is verified and all his enterprises succeed, or if in any respect there occurs a partial failure, the incident is always of such a character as to heighten the impression which is made by the final and triumphant success. Such being the character of Xenophon's tale, or rather drama, we shall content ourselves after giving this specimen of it with adding in some subsequent chapters a few other scenes and incidents drawn from his narrative. In the meantime, in relating the great leading events of Cyrus's life, we shall take Herodotus for our guide by following his more sober and probably more trustworthy record. Chapter 4 of Cyrus the Great by Jacob Abbott. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, recording by Dionne Giant's Celtic City, Utah. Crosus, BC 718 to 545. The scene of our narrative must now be changed for a time from Persia and media in the east to Asia Minor in the west, where the great Crosus, originally King of Lydia, was at this time gradually extending his empire along the shores of the Aegean Sea. The name of Crosus is associated in the minds of men with the idea of boundless wealth, the phrase as rich as Crosus having been a common proverb in all the modern languages of Europe for many centuries. Crosus relates to this Crosus, King of Lydia, whose story we are about to relate, that the proverb alludes. The country of Lydia, over which this famous sovereign originally ruled, was in the western part of Asia Minor bordering on the Aegean Sea. Crosus himself belonged to a dynasty or race of kings called the Myrmiday. The founder of this line was Gygus, who displaced the dynasty which preceded him and established his own by a revolution affected in a very remarkable manner. The circumstances were as follows. The name of the last monarch of the old dynasty, the one namely whom Gygus displaced, was Candelus. Gygus was a household servant in Candelus's family, a sort of slave in fact, and yet as such slaves often were in those rude days a personal favorite and boon companion of his master. Candelus was a dissolute and unprincipled tyrant. He had however a very beautiful and modest wife whose name was Nicaea. Candelus was very proud of the beauty of his queen and was always extolling it, though as the event proved he could not have felt for her any true and honest affection. In some of his revels with Gygus when he was boasting of Nicaea's charms, he said that the beauty of her form and figure when unrobed was even more exquisite than that of her features. And finally the monster growing more and more excited and having rendered himself still more of a brute than he was by nature by the influence of wine declared that Gygus should see for himself. He would conceal him, he said, in the queen's bed chamber while she was undressing for the night. Gygus remonstrated very earnestly against this proposal. It would be doing the innocent queen, he said, a great wrong. He assured the king too that he believed fully all that he said about Nicaea's beauty without applying such a test and he begged him not to insist upon a proposal with which it would be criminal to comply. The king however did insist upon it and Gygus was compelled to yield. Whatever is offered as a favor by a half intoxicated despot to an humble inferior, it would be death to refuse. Gygus allowed himself to be placed behind a half open door of the king's apartment when the king retired to it for the night. There he was to remain while the queen began to unrobe herself for retiring with a strict injunction to withdraw at a certain time which the king designated and with the utmost caution so as to prevent being observed by the queen. Gygus did as he was ordered. The beautiful queen laid aside her garments and made her toilet for the night with all the quiet composure and confidence which a woman might be expected to feel while in so sacred and inviolable a sanctuary and in the presence and under the guardianship of her husband. Just as she was about to retire to rest some movement alarmed her. It was Gygus going away. She saw him. She instantly understood the case. She was overwhelmed with indignation and shame. She however suppressed and concealed her emotions. She spoke to Candelus in her usual tone of voice and he on his part secretly rejoiced in the adroit and successful manner in which his little contrivance had been carried into execution. The next morning Nicia sent by some of her confidential messengers for Gygus to come to her. He came with some forebodings perhaps but without any direct reason for believing that what he had done had been discovered. Nicia however informed him that she knew all and that either he or her husband must die. Gygus earnestly remonstrated against this decision and supplicated forgiveness. He explained the circumstances under which the act had been performed which seemed at least so far as he was concerned to palliate the deed. The queen was however fixed and decided it was wholly inconsistent with her ideas of womanly delicacy that there should be two living men who had both been admitted to her bedchamber. The king she said by what he has done has forfeited his claims to me and resigned me to you. If you will kill him seize his kingdom and make me your wife all shall be well. Otherwise you must prepare to die. From this hard alternative Gygus chose to assassinate the king and to make the lovely object before him his own. The excitement of indignation and resentment which glowed upon her cheek and with which her bosom was heaving made her more beautiful than ever. How shall our purpose be accomplished? asked Gygus. The deed she replied shall be perpetrated in the very place which was the scene of the dishonor done to me. I will admit you into our bedchamber in my turn and you shall kill Condolus in his bed. When night came Nicaea stationed Gygus again behind the same door where the king had placed him. He had a dagger in his hand. He waited there till Condolus was asleep. Then at a signal given him by the queen he entered and stabbed the husband in his bed. He married Nicaea and possessed himself of the kingdom. After this he and his successors reigned for many years over the kingdom of Lydia constituting the dynasty of the Mirmaday from which in process of time King Croesus descended. The successive sovereigns of this dynasty gradually extended the Lydian power over the countries around them. The name of Croesus' father who was the monarch that immediately preceded him was Aliatus. Aliatus waged war toward the southward into the territories of the city of Miletus. He made annual incursions into the country of the Malaysians for plunder always taking care however while he seized all the movable property that he could find to leave the villages and towns and all the hamlets of the laborers without injury. The reason for this was that he did not wish to drive away the population but to encourage them to remain and cultivate their lands so that there might be new flocks and herds and new stores of corn and fruit and wine for him to plunder from in succeeding years. At last on one of these marauding excursions some fires which were accidentally set in a field spread into a neighboring town and destroyed among other buildings a temple consecrated to Minerva. After this Aliatus found himself quite unsuccessful in all his expeditions and campaigns. He sent to a famous oracle to ask the reason. You can't expect no more success replied the oracle until you rebuild the temple that you have destroyed. But how could he rebuild the temple? The site was in the enemy's country. His men could not build an edifice and defend themselves at the same time from the attacks of their foes. He concluded to demand a truce of the Malaysians until the reconstruction should be completed and he sent ambassadors to Miletus accordingly to make the proposal. The proposition for a truce resulted in a permanent peace by means of a very singular stratagem which Thracibulus the king of Miletus practiced upon Aliatus. It seems that Aliatus supposed that Thracibulus had been reduced to great distress by the loss and destruction of provisions and stores in various parts of the country and that he would soon be forced to yield up his kingdom. This was in fact the case but Thracibulus determined to disguise his real condition and to destroy by an artifice all the hopes which Aliatus had formed from the supposed scarcity in the city. When the herald whom Aliatus sent to Miletus was about to arrive Thracibulus collected all the corn and grain and other provisions which he could command and have them heaped up in a public part of the city where the herald was to be received so as to present indications of the most ample abundance of food. He collected a large body of his soldiers too and gave them leave to feast themselves without restriction on what he had thus gathered. Accordingly when the herald came in to deliver his message he found the whole city giving up to feasting and revelry and he saw stores of provisions at hand which were in process of being distributed and consumed with the most prodigal profusion. The herald reported this state of things to Aliatus. Aliatus then gave up all hopes of reducing Miletus by famine and made a permanent peace binding himself to its stipulations by a very solemn treaty to celebrate the event too he built two temples to Minerva instead of one. The story is related by Herodotus of a remarkable escape made by Arian at sea which occurred during the reign of Aliatus the father of Croesus. We will give the story as Herodotus relates it leaving the reader to judge for himself whether such tales were probably true or were only introduced by Herodotus into his narrative to make his histories more entertaining to the Grecian assemblies to whom he read them. Arian was a celebrated singer. He had been making a tour in Sicily and in the southern part of Italy where he had acquired considerable wealth and he was now returning to Corinth. He embarked at Torrentum which is a city in the southern part of Italy in a Corinthian vessel and put to sea. When the sailors found that they had him in their power they determined to rob and murder him. They accordingly seized his gold and silver and then told him that he might either kill himself or jump overboard into the sea. One or the other he must do. If he would kill himself on board the vessel they would give him decent burial when they reached the shore. Arian seemed at first at a loss how to decide in so hard an alternative. At length he told the sailors that he would throw himself into the sea but he asked permission to sing them one of his songs before he took the fatal plunge. They consented. He accordingly went into the cabin and spent some time in dressing himself magnificently in the splendid and richly ornamented robes in which he had been accustomed to appear upon the stage. At length he reappeared and took his position on the side of the ship with his harp in his hand. He sang his song accompanying himself upon the harp and then when he had finished his performance he leaped into the sea. The seamen divided their plunder and pursued their voyage. Arian however instead of being drowned was taken up by a dolphin that had been charmed by his song and was borne by him to Tenerus which is the promontory formed by the southern extremity of the Peloponnesus. There Arian landed in safety. From Tenerus he proceeded to Corinth wearing the same dress in which he had plunged into the sea. On his arrival he complained to the king of the crime which the sailors had committed and narrated his wonderful escape. The king did not believe him but put him in prison to wait until the ship should arrive. When at last the vessel came the king summoned the sailors into his presence and asked if they knew anything of Arian. Arian himself had been previously placed in an adjoining room ready to be called in as soon as his presence was required. The mariners answered to the question which the king put to them that they had seen Arian in Tarentum and that they had left him there. Arian was then himself called in. His sudden appearance clothed as he was in the same dress in which the mariners had seen him leap into the sea so terrified the conscience stricken criminals that they confessed their guilt and all were punished by the king. A marble statue representing a man seated upon a dolphin was erected at Tenerus to commemorate this event where it remained for centuries afterward a monument of the wonder which Arian had achieved. At length Aliades died and Croesus succeeded him. Croesus extended still further the power and fame of the Lydian Empire and was for a time very successful in all his military schemes. By looking upon the map the reader will see that the Aegean Sea along the coast of Asia Minor is studded with islands. These islands were in those days very fertile and beautiful and were densely inhabited by a commercial and maritime people who possessed a multitude of ships and were very powerful in all the adjacent seas. Of course their land forces were very few whether of horse or of foot as the habits and manners of such a sea going people were all foreign to modes of warfare required in land campaigns. On the sea however these islanders were supreme. Croesus formed a scheme for attacking these islands and bringing them under his sway and he began to make preparations for building and equipping a fleet for this purpose. Though of course his subjects were as unused to the sea as the nautical islanders were to military operations on the land. While he was making these preparations a certain philosopher was visiting at his court. He was one of the seven wise men of Greece who had recently come from the Peloponnesus. Croesus asked him if there was any news from that country. I heard said the philosopher that the inhabitants of the islands were preparing to invade your dominions with a squadron of 10,000 horse. Croesus who supposed that the philosopher was serious appeared greatly pleased and elated at the prospect of his seafaring enemies attempting to meet him as a body of cavalry. No doubt said the philosopher after a little pause you would be pleased to have those sailors attempt to contend with you on horseback. But do you not suppose that they will be equally pleased at the prospect of encountering Lydian landsmen on the ocean. Croesus perceived the absurdity of his plan and abandoned the attempt to execute it. Croesus acquired the enormous wealth for which he was so celebrated from the golden sands of the river Pactolus which flowed through his kingdom. The river brought the particles of gold in grains and globules and flakes from the mountains above and the servants and slaves of Croesus washed the sands and thus separated the heavier deposit of the metal. In respect to the origin of the gold however the people who lived upon the banks of the river had a different explanation from the simple one that the waters brought down the treasure from the mountain ravines. They had a story that ages before a certain king named Midas rendered some service to a god who in his turn offered to grant him any favor that he might ask. Midas asked that the power might be granted him to turn whatever he touched into gold. The power was bestowed and Midas after changing various objects around him into gold until he was satisfied began to find his new acquisition a source of great inconvenience and danger. His clothes, his food and even his drink were changed to gold when he touched them. He found that he was about to starve in the midst of a world of treasure and he implored the god to take back the fatal gift. The god directed him to go and bathe in the Pactolus and he should be restored to his former condition. Midas did so and was saved but not without transforming a great portion of the sands of the stream into gold during the process of his restoration. Croesus thus attained quite speedily to a very high degree of wealth, prosperity and renown. His dominions more widely extended, his palaces were full of treasures, his court was a scene of unexampled magnificence and splendor. While in the enjoyment of all this grandeur he was visited by Ceylon the celebrated Grecian lawgiver who was traveling in that part of the world to observe the institutions and customs of different states. Croesus received Ceylon with great distinction and showed him all his treasures. At last he one day said to him, you have traveled Ceylon over many countries and have studied with a great deal of attention and care all that you have seen. I have heard great commendations of your wisdom and I should like very much to know who of all the persons you have ever known has seemed to you most fortunate and happy. The king had no doubt that the answer would be that he himself was the one. I think replied Ceylon after a pause that Tellus an Athenian citizen was the most fortunate and happy man I have ever known. Tellus an Athenian repeated Croesus surprised what was there in his case which you consider so remarkable. He was a peaceful and quiet citizen of Athens said Ceylon. He lived happily with his family under a most excellent government enjoying for many years all the pleasures of domestic life. He had several amiable and virtuous children who all grew up to maturity and loved and honored their parents as long as they lived. At length when his life was drawing toward its natural termination a war broke out with a neighboring nation and Tellus went with the army to defend his country. He aided very essentially in the defeat of the enemy but fell at last on the field of battle. His countrymen greatly lamented his death. They buried him publicly where he fell with every circumstance of honor. Ceylon was proceeding to recount the domestic and social virtues of Tellus and the peaceful happiness which he enjoyed as the result of them. When Croesus interrupted him to ask who next to Tellus he considered the most fortunate and happy man. Ceylon after a little farther reflection mentioned two brothers Cleobus and Beto. Private persons among the Greeks who were celebrated for their great personal strength and also for their devoted attachment to their mother. He related to Croesus a story of a feat they performed on one occasion when their mother at the celebration of some public festival was going some miles to a temple in a car to be drawn by oxen. There happened to be some delay in bringing the oxen while the mother was waiting in the car. As the oxen did not come the young men took hold of the pole of the car themselves and walked off at their ease with the load amid the acclimations of the spectators while their mother's heart was filled with exultation and pride. Croesus here interrupted the philosopher again and expressed his surprise that he should place private men like those whom he had named who possessed no wealth or prominence or power before a monarch like him occupying a station of such high authority and renown and possessing such boundless treasures. Croesus replied Salon I see you now indeed at the height of human power and grandeur you reign supreme over many nations and you are in the enjoyment of unbounded affluence and every species of luxury and splendor. I cannot however decide whether I am to consider you a fortunate and happy man until I know how all this is to end. If we consider seventy years as the allotted period of life you have a large portion of your existence yet to come and we cannot with certainty pronounce any man happy till his life is ended. This conversation with Salon made a deep impression upon Croesus's mind as was afterward proved in a remarkable manner but the impression was not a pleasant or a salutary one. The king however suppressed for the time the resentment which the presentation of these unwelcome truths awakened within him though he treated Salon afterward with indifference and neglect so that the philosopher soon found it best to withdraw. Croesus had two sons one was deaf and dumb the other was a young man of uncommon promise and of course as he only could succeed his father in the government of the kingdom he was naturally an object of the king's particular attention and care. His name was Addis he was unmarried he was however old enough to have the command of a considerable body of troops and he had often distinguished himself in the Lydian campaigns. One night the king had a dream about Addis which greatly alarmed him he dreamed that his son was destined to die of a wound received from the point of an iron spear the king was made very uneasy by this ominous stream. He determined at once to take every precaution in his power to avert the threatened danger he immediately detached Addis from his command in the army and made provision for his marriage. He then very carefully collected all the darts javelins and every other iron pointed weapon that he could find about the palace and caused them to be deposited carefully in a secure place where there could be no danger even of an accidental injury from them. About that time there appeared at the court of Croesus a stranger from Phrygia a neighboring state who presented himself at the palace and asked for protection he was a prince of the royal family of Phrygia and his name was Addis. He had had the misfortune by some unhappy accident to kill his brother his father in consequence of it had banished him from his native land and he was now homeless friendless and destitute. Croesus received him kindly your family have always been my friends said he and I am glad of the opportunity to make some return by extending my protection to any member of it suffering misfortune. You shall reside in my palace and all your wants shall be supplied come in and forget the calamity which has befallen you instead of distressing yourself with it as if it had been a crime. Thus Croesus received the unfortunate address us into his household after the prince had been domiciliated in his new home for some time messengers came from Missia a neighboring state saying that a wild boar of enormous size and unusual ferocity had come down from the mountains and was lurking in the cultivated country in thickets and glands from which at night he made great havoc among the flocks and herds and asking that Croesus would send his son with a band of hunters and a pack of dogs to help them destroy the common enemy. Croesus consented immediately to send the dogs and the men but he said that he could not send his son. My son he added has been lately married and his time and attention are employed about other things. When however Addis himself heard of this reply he remonstrated very earnestly against it and begged his father to allow him to go. What will the world think of me said he if I shut myself up to these effeminate pursuits and enjoyment and shun those dangers and toils which other men consider it their highest honor to share. What will my fellow citizens think of me and how shall I appear in the eyes of my wife she will despise me. Croesus then explained to his son the reason why he had been so careful to avoid exposing him to danger. He related to him the dream which had alarmed him. It is on that account said he that I am so anxious about you. You are in fact my only son for your speechless brother can never be my heir. Addis said in reply that he was not surprised under those circumstances at his father's anxiety but he maintained that this was a case to which his caution could not properly apply. You dreamed he said that I should be killed by a weapon pointed with iron but a bore has no such weapon. If the dream had pretended that I was to perish by a tusk or a tooth you might reasonably have restrained me from going to hunt a wild beast. But iron pointed instruments are the weapons of men and we are not going in this expedition to contend with men. The king partly convinced perhaps by the arguments which Addis offered and partly overborn by the urgency of his request finally consented to his request and allowed him to go. He consigned him however to the special care of Audristus who was likewise to accompany the expedition charging a drustus to keep him constantly by his side and to watch over him with the utmost vigilance and fidelity. The band of huntsmen was organized, the dogs prepared and the train departed. Very soon afterward a messenger came back from the hunting ground breathless and with accountants of extreme concern and terror bringing the dreadful tidings that Addis was dead. Audristus himself had killed him in the ardor of the chase while the huntsmen had surrounded the bore and were each intent on his own personal danger while in close combat with such a monster and all were hurling darts and javelins at their ferocious foe. The spear of Audristus missed its aim and entered the body of the unhappy prince. He bled to death on the spot. Soon after the messenger had made known these terrible tidings the hunting train transformed now into a funeral procession appeared bearing the dead body of the king's son and followed by the wretched Audristus himself who was ringing his hands and crying out incessantly in accents and exclamations of despair. He begged the king to kill him at once over the body of his son and thus put an end to the unutterable agony that he endured. This second calamity was more, he said, than he could bear. He had killed before his own brother and now he had murdered the son of his greatest benefactor and friend. Crosus, though overwhelmed with anguish, was disarmed of all resentment at witnessing Audristus's suffering. He endeavored to soothe and quiet the agitation which the unhappy man endured, but it was in vain. Audristus could not be calmed. Crosus then ordered the body of his son to be buried with proper honors. The funeral services were performed with great and solemn ceremonies and when the body was interred the household of Crosus returned to the palace which was now, in spite of all its splendor, shrouded in gloom. That night, at midnight, Audristus, finding his mental anguish insupportable, retired from his apartment to the place where Addis had been buried and killed himself over the grave. Salon was wise in saying that he could not tell whether wealth and grandeur were to be accounted as happiness till he saw how they would end. Crosus was plunged into inconsolable grief and into extreme dejection and misery for a period of two years in consequence of this calamity and yet this calamity was only the beginning of the end. Recording by Dion John's, Salt Lake City, Utah. And in contending within, against an overwhelming tide of domestic misery and woe, great changes had taken place in the situation and prospects of Cyrus. Being an artless and generous-minded child, he had become a calculating, ambitious and aspiring man and he was preparing to take his part in the great public contests and struggles of the day with the same eagerness for self-aggrandizement and the same unconcern for the welfare and happiness of others which always characterizes the spirit of ambition and love of power. Although it is by no means certain that what Xenophon relates of his visit to his grandfather Astigius is meant for a true narrative of facts, it is not at all improbable that such a visit might have been made and that occurrences somewhat similar at least to those which his narrative records may have taken place. It may seem strange to the reader that a man who should at one time wish to put his grandchild to death should at another be disposed to treat him with such a profusion of kindness and attention. There is nothing, however, really extraordinary in this. Nothing is more fluctuating than the caprice of a desperate man accustomed from infancy to govern those around him by his own impetuous will, never learns self-control. He gives himself up to the dominion of the passing animal emotions of the hour. It may be jealousy, it may be revenge, it may be parental fondness, it may be hate, it may be love. Whatever the feeling is that the various incidents of life as they occur or the influences irritating or exhilarating which are produced by food or wine awaken in his mind, he follows its impulse blindly and without reserve. He loads a favorite with kindness and caresses at one hour and directs his assassination the next. He imagines that his infant grandchild is to become his rival and he deliberately orders him to be left in a gloomy forest alone to die of cold and hunger. When the imaginary danger has passed away, he seeks amusement in making the same grandchild his plaything and overwhelms him with favors bestowed solely for the gratification of the giver under the influence of an affection almost as purely animal as that of a lioness for her young. Favors of such a sort can awaken no permanent gratitude in any heart and thus it is quite possible that Cyrus might have evinced during the simple and guileless days of his childhood a deep veneration and affection for his grandfather and yet in subsequent years when he had arrived at full maturity have learned to regard him simply in the light of a great political potentate as likely as any other potentate around him to become his rival or his enemy. This was at all events the result. Cyrus on his return to Persia grew rapidly in strength and stature and soon became highly distinguished for his personal grace, his winning manners, and for the various martial accomplishments which he had acquired in media and in which he excelled almost all his companions. He gained, as such princes always do, a vast ascendancy over the minds of all around him. As he advanced toward maturity his mind passed from its interest in games and hunting and athletic sports to plans of war, of conquest, and of extended dominion. In the meantime, her pages, though he had, at the time when he endured the horrid punishment which as Digi's inflicted upon him, expressed no resentment. Still he had secretly felt an extreme indignation and anger and he had now, for fifteen years, been nourishing covert schemes and plans for revenge. He remained all this time in the court of his Digi's and was apparently his friend. He was, however, in heart a most bitter and implacable enemy. He was looking continually for a plan or prospect which should promise some hope of affording him his long desired revenge. His eyes were naturally turned toward Cyrus. He kept up a communication with him so far as it was possible for as Digi's watched very closely what passed between the two countries, being always suspicious of plots against his government and crown. Her pages, however, contrived to evade this vigilance in some degree. He made continual reports to Cyrus of the tyranny and misgovernment of Astigius and of the defenselessness of the realm of media, and he endeavored to stimulate his rising ambition to the desire of one day possessing for himself both the median and Persian throne. In fact, Persia was not then independent of media. It was more or less connected with the government of Astigius so that Cambysus, the chief ruler of Persia, Cyrus' father, is called sometimes a king and sometimes a satrap, which last title is equivalent to that of viceroy or governor general. Whatever his true and proper title may have been, Persia was a median dependency and Cyrus therefore informing plans for gaining possession of the median throne would consider himself as rather endeavoring to rise to the supreme command in his own native country than as projecting any scheme for foreign conquest. Her pages, too, looked upon the subject in the same light, accordingly in pushing forward his plots toward their execution. He operated in media as well as Persia. He ascertained by diligent and sagacious but by very covert inquiries who were discontented and ill at ease under the dominion of Astigius, and by sympathizing with and encouraging them, he increased their discontent and insubmission. Whenever Astigius in the exercise of his tyranny inflicted an injury upon a powerful subject, her pages espoused the cause of the injured man, condemned with him the intolerable oppression of the king, and thus fixed and perpetuated his enmity. At the same time, he took pains to collect and to disseminate among the meads all the information which he could obtain favorable to Cyrus in respect to his talents, his character, and his just and generous spirit, so that at length the ascendancy of Astigius through the instrumentality of these measures was very extensively undermined, and the way was rapidly becoming prepared for Cyrus's accession to power. During all this time, moreover, her pages was personally very deferential and obsequious to Astigius, and professed an unbounded devotedness to his interests. He maintained a high rank at court and in the army, and Astigius relied upon him as one of the most obedient and submissive of his servants without entertaining any suspicion whatever of his true designs. At length a favorable occasion arose as her pages thought for the execution of his plans. It was at a time when Astigius had been guilty of some unusual acts of tyranny and oppression by which he had produced extensive dissatisfaction among his people. Her pages communicated very cautiously to the principal men around him the designs that he had long been forming for deposing Astigius and elevating Cyrus in his place. He found them favorably inclined to the plan. The way being thus prepared, the next thing was to contrive some secret way of communicating with Cyrus as the proposal which he was going to make was that Cyrus should come into media with as great a force as he could command and had an insurrection against the government of Astigius. It would, of course, be death to him to have it discovered. He did not dare to trust the message to any living messenger for fear of betrayal, nor was it safe to send a letter by any ordinary mode of transmission lest the letter should be intercepted by some of Astigius's spies. And thus the whole plot be discovered. He finally adopted the following very extraordinary plan. He wrote a letter to Cyrus and then, taking a hair which some of his huntsmen had caught for him, he opened the body and concealed the letter within. He then sewed up the skin again in the most careful manner so that no signs of the incision should remain. He delivered this hair together with some nets and other hunting apparatus to certain trustworthy servants on whom he thought he could rely, charging them to deliver the hair into Cyrus's own hands and to say that it came from Harpeges and that it was the request of Harpeges that Cyrus should open it himself and alone. Harpeges concluded that this mode of making the communication was safe for in case the persons to whom the hair was entrusted were to be seen by any of the spies or other persons employed by Astigius on the frontiers, they would consider them as hunters returning from the chase with their game and would never think of examining the body of a hare in the hands of such a party in search after a clandestine correspondence. The plan was perfectly successful. The man passed into Persia without any suspicion. They delivered the hair to Cyrus with their message. He opened the hair and found the letter. It was in substance as follows. It is plain, Cyrus, that you are a favorite of heaven and that you are destined to a great and glorious career. You could not otherwise have escaped in so miraculous a manner the snares set for you in your infancy. Astigius meditated your death and he took such measures to affect it as would seem to have made your destruction sure. You were saved by the special interposition of heaven. You are aware by what extraordinary incidents you were preserved and discovered and what great and unusual prosperity has since attended you. You know too what cruel punishments Astigius inflicted upon me for my humanity in saving you. The time has now come for retribution. From this time the authority and the dominions of Astigius may be yours. Invite the Persians to revolt. Put yourself at the head of an army and march into media. I shall probably myself be appointed to command the army sent out to oppose you. If so, we will join our forces when we meet and I will enter your service. I have conferred with the leading nobles in media and they are all ready to espouse your cause. You may rely upon finding everything thus prepared for you here. Come therefore without any delay. Cyrus was thrown into a fever of excitement and agitation on reading this letter. He determined to accede to Harpages' proposal. He revolved in his mind for some time the measures by which he could raise the necessary force. Of course he could not openly announce his plan and enlist an army to effect it. For any avowed and public movement of that kind would be immediately made known to Astigius who by being thus forewarned of his enemies' designs might take effectual measures to circumvent them. He determined to resort to deceit, or as he called it, stratagem, nor did he probably have any distinct perception of the wrongfulness of such a mode of proceeding. The demon of war upholds and justifies falsehood and treachery in all its forms. On the part of his votaries he always applauds a forgery of false pretence or a lie. He calls it a stratagem. Cyrus had a letter prepared in the form of a commission from Astigius appointing him commander of a body of Persian forces to be raised for the service of the king. Cyrus read the fabricated document in the public assembly of the Persians and called upon all the warriors to join him. When they were organized he ordered them to assemble on a certain day at a place that he named each one provided with a woodsman's axe. When they were thus mustered he marched them into a forest and set them at work to clear a piece of ground. The army toiled all day, filling the trees and piling them up to be burned. They cleared in this way as Herodotus states, a piece of ground, eighteen or twenty furlongs in extent. Cyrus kept them thus engaged in severe and incessant toil all the day, giving them to only coarse food and little rest. At night he dismissed them, commanding them to assemble again the second day. On the second day when they came together they found a great banquet prepared for them and Cyrus directed them to devote the day to feasting and making merry. There was an abundance of meats of all kinds and rich wines in great profusion. The soldiers gave themselves up for the whole day to merriment and revelry. The toiles and the hard fare of the day before had prepared them very effectually to enjoy the rest and the luxuries of this festival. They spent the hours in feasting about their campfires and reclining on the grass where they amused themselves and one another by relating tales or joining in merry songs and dances. At last in the evening Cyrus called them together and asked them which day they had liked the best. They replied that there was nothing at all to like in the one and nothing to be disliked in the other. They had had on the first day hard work and bad fare and on the second uninterrupted ease and the most luxurious pleasures. It is indeed so, said Cyrus, and you have your destiny in your own hands to make your lives pass like either of these days just as you choose. If you will follow me you will enjoy ease, abundance, and luxury. If you refuse you must remain as you are and toil on as you do now and endure your present privations and hardships to the end of your days. He then explained to them his designs. He told them that although media was a great and powerful kingdom, still that they were as good soldiers as the Meads and with the arrangements and preparations which he had made they were sure a victory. The soldiers received this proposal with great enthusiasm and joy. They declared themselves ready to follow Cyrus wherever he should lead them and the whole body immediately commenced making preparations for the expedition. As Stygius was, of course, soon informed of these proceedings, he sent an order to Cyrus, summoning him immediately into his presence. Cyrus sent back word in reply that Stygius would probably see him sooner than he wished and went on vigorously with his preparations. When all was ready the army marched and crossing the frontiers they entered into media. In the meantime, Stygius had collected a large force and as had been anticipated by the conspirators he put it under the command of Harpeges. Harpeges made known his design of going over to Cyrus as soon as he should meet him to as large a portion of the army as he thought it prudent to admit to his confidence the rest knew nothing of the plan and thus the median army advanced to meet the invaders a part of the troops with mine's intent on resolutely meeting and repelling their enemies while the rest were secretly preparing to go over at once to their side. When the battle was joined the honest part of the median army fought valiantly at first but soon thunder struck and utterly confounded at seeing themselves abandoned and betrayed by a large body of their comrades. They were easily overpowered by the triumphant Persians. Some were taken prisoners, some fled back to as Stygius and others following the example of the deserters went over to Cyrus's camp and swelled the numbers of his train. Cyrus thus reinforced by the accessions he had received and encouraged by the flight or dispersion of all who still wished to oppose him began to advance toward the capital. As Stygius when he heard of the defection of Harpeges and of the discomforture of his army was thrown into a perfect frenzy of rage and hate, the long dreaded prediction of his dream seemed now about to be fulfilled and the magi who had taught him that when Cyrus had once been made king of the boys in sport there was no longer any danger of his aspiring to regal power had proved themselves false. They had either intentionally deceived him or they were ignorant themselves and in that case they were worthless imposters. Although the danger from Cyrus's approach was imminent in the extreme, Stygius could not take any measures for guarding against it until he had first gratified the despotic cruelty of his nature by taking vengeance on these false pretenders. He directed to have them all seized and brought before him and then having abraded them with bitter reproaches for their false predictions. He ordered them all to be crucified. He then adopted the most decisive measures for raising an army. He ordered every man capable of bearing arms to come forward and then putting himself at the head of the immense force which he had thus raised. He advanced to meet his enemy. He supposed no doubt that he was sure of victory, but he underrated the power which the discipline, the resolution, the concentration and the terrible energy of Cyrus's troops gave to their formidable array. He was defeated. His army was totally cut to pieces and he himself was taken prisoner. Herpages was present when he was taken and he exalted in revengeful triumph over the fallen tyrant's ruin. As Stygius was filled with rage and despair, Herpages asked him what he thought now of the supper in which he had compelled a father to feed on the flesh of his child. As Stygius in reply asked Herpages whether he thought that the success of Cyrus was owing to what he had done. Herpages replied that it was and exultingly explained to As Stygius the plots he had formed and the preparations which he had made for Cyrus's invasion so that As Stygius might see that his destruction had been affected by Herpages alone. In terrible retribution for the atrocious crime which he had committed so many years before and for which the vengeance of the sufferer had slumbered during the long interval only to be more complete and overwhelming at last. As Stygius told Herpages that he was a miserable wretch, the most foolish and most wicked of mankind. He was the most foolish for having plotted to put power into another's hands which it would have been just as easy for him to have secured and retained in his own. And he was the most wicked for having betrayed his country and delivered it over to a foreign power merely to gratify his own private revenge. The result of this battle was the complete overthrow of the power and kingdom of As Stygius and the establishment of Cyrus on the throne of the United Kingdom of Media and Persia. Cyrus treated his grandfather with kindness after his victory over him. He kept him confined, it is true, but it was probably that indirect and qualified sort of confinement which is all that is usually enforced in the case of princes and kings. In such cases, some extensive and often sumptuous residence is assigned to the illustrious prisoner with grounds sufficiently extensive to afford every necessary range for recreation and exercise and with bodies of troops for keepers which have much more the form and appearance of military guards of honor attending on a prince than of jailers confining a prisoner. It was probably in such an imprisonment as this that As Stygius passed the remainder of his days. The people having been wearied with his despotic tyranny rejoiced in his downfall and acquiesced very readily in the milder and more equitable government of Cyrus. As Stygius came to his death many years afterward in a somewhat remarkable manner, Cyrus sent for him to come into Persia where he was himself then residing. The officer who had as Stygius in charge conducted him on the way into a desolate wilderness where he perished of fatigue, exposure, and hunger. It was supposed that this was done in obedience to secret orders from Cyrus who perhaps found the charge of such a prisoner a burden. The officer, however, was cruelly punished for the act and even this may have been only for appearances to divert the minds of men from all suspicion that Cyrus could himself have been an accomplice in such a crime. The whole revolution which has been described in this chapter from its first inception to its final accomplishment was affected in a very short period of time and Cyrus thus found himself very unexpectedly and suddenly elevated to a throne. Her pages continued in his service and became subsequently one of his most celebrated generals.