Project Name

Thus far I have been engaged in showing how the Lydians were brought
under the Persian yoke. The course of my history now compels me to
inquire who this Cyrus was by whom the Lydian empire was destroyed,
and by what means the Persians had become the lords paramount of Asia.
And herein I shall follow those Persian authorities whose object it
appears to be not to magnify the exploits of Cyrus, but to relate
the simple truth. I know besides three ways in which the story of
Cyrus is told, all differing from my own narrative. 

The Assyrians had held the Empire of Upper Asia for the space of five
hundred and twenty years, when the Medes set the example of revolt
from their authority. They took arms for the recovery of their freedom,
and fought a battle with the Assyrians, in which they behaved with
such gallantry as to shake off the yoke of servitude, and to become
a free people. Upon their success the other nations also revolted
and regained their independence. 

Thus the nations over that whole extent of country obtained the blessing
of self-government, but they fell again under the sway of kings, in
the manner which I will now relate. There was a certain Mede named
Deioces, son of Phraortes, a man of much wisdom, who had conceived
the desire of obtaining to himself the sovereign power. In furtherance
of his ambition, therefore, he formed and carried into execution the
following scheme. As the Medes at that time dwelt in scattered villages
without any central authority, and lawlessness in consequence prevailed
throughout the land, Deioces, who was already a man of mark in his
own village, applied himself with greater zeal and earnestness than
ever before to the practice of justice among his fellows. It was his
conviction that justice and injustice are engaged in perpetual war
with one another. He therefore began his course of conduct, and presently
the men of his village, observing his integrity, chose him to be the
arbiter of all their disputes. Bent on obtaining the sovereign power,
he showed himself an honest and an upright judge, and by these means
gained such credit with his fellow-citizens as to attract the attention
of those who lived in the surrounding villages. They had long been
suffering from unjust and oppressive judgments; so that, when they
heard of the singular uprightness of Deioces, and of the equity of
his decisions, they joyfully had recourse to him in the various quarrels
and suits that arose, until at last they came to put confidence in
no one else. 

The number of complaints brought before him continually increasing,
as people learnt more and more the fairness of his judgments, Deioces,
feeling himself now all important, announced that he did not intend
any longer to hear causes, and appeared no more in the seat in which
he had been accustomed to sit and administer justice. "It did not
square with his interests," he said, "to spend the whole day in regulating
other men's affairs to the neglect of his own." Hereupon robbery and
lawlessness broke out afresh, and prevailed through the country even
more than heretofore; wherefore the Medes assembled from all quarters,
and held a consultation on the state of affairs. The speakers, as
I think, were chiefly friends of Deioces. "We cannot possibly," they
said, "go on living in this country if things continue as they now
are; let us therefore set a king over us, that so the land may be
well governed, and we ourselves may be able to attend to our own affairs,
and not be forced to quit our country on account of anarchy." The
assembly was persuaded by these arguments, and resolved to appoint
a king. 

It followed to determine who should be chosen to the office. When
this debate began the claims of Deioces and his praises were at once
in every mouth; so that presently all agreed that he should be king.
Upon this he required a palace to be built for him suitable to his
rank, and a guard to be given him for his person. The Medes complied,
and built him a strong and large palace, on a spot which he himself
pointed out, and likewise gave him liberty to choose himself a bodyguard
from the whole nation. Thus settled upon the throne, he further required
them to build a single great city, and, disregarding the petty towns
in which they had formerly dwelt, make the new capital the object
of their chief attention. The Medes were again obedient, and built
the city now called Agbatana, the walls of which are of great size
and strength, rising in circles one within the other. The plan of
the place is that each of the walls should out-top the one beyond
it by the battlements. The nature of the ground, which is a gentle
hill, favours this arrangement in some degree, but it was mainly effected
by art. The number of the circles is seven, the royal palace and the
treasuries standing within the last. The circuit of the outer wall
is very nearly the same with that of Athens. Of this wall the battlements
are white, of the next black, of the third scarlet, of the fourth
blue, of the fifth orange; all these are coloured with paint. The
two last have their battlements coated respectively with silver and
gold. 

All these fortifications Deioces caused to be raised for himself and
his own palace. The people were required to build their dwellings
outside the circuit of the walls. When the town was finished, he proceeded
to arrange the ceremonial. He allowed no one to have direct access
to the person of the king, but made all communication pass through
the hands of messengers, and forbade the king to be seen by his subjects.
He also made it an offence for any one whatsoever to laugh or spit
in the royal presence. This ceremonial, of which he was the first
inventor, Deioces established for his own security, fearing that his
compeers, who were brought up together with him, and were of as good
family as he, and no whit inferior to him in manly qualities, if they
saw him frequently would be pained at the sight, and would therefore
be likely to conspire against him; whereas if they did not see him,
they would think him quite a different sort of being from themselves.

After completing these arrangements, and firmly settling himself upon
the throne, Deioces continued to administer justice with the same
strictness as before. Causes were stated in writing, and sent in to
the king, who passed his judgment upon the contents, and transmitted
his decisions to the parties concerned: besides which he had spies
and eavesdroppers in all parts of his dominions, and if he heard of
any act of oppression, he sent for the guilty party, and awarded him
the punishment meet for his offence. 

Thus Deioces collected the Medes into a nation, and ruled over them
alone. Now these are the tribes of which they consist: the Busae,
the Paretaceni, the Struchates, the Arizanti, the Budii, and the Magi.

Having reigned three-and-fifty years, Deioces was at his death succeeded
by his son Phraortes. This prince, not satisfied with a dominion which
did not extend beyond the single nation of the Medes, began by attacking
the Persians; and marching an army into their country, brought them
under the Median yoke before any other people. After this success,
being now at the head of two nations, both of them powerful, he proceeded
to conquer Asia, overrunning province after province. At last he engaged
in war with the Assyrians- those Assyrians, I mean, to whom Nineveh
belonged, who were formerly the lords of Asia. At present they stood
alone by the revolt and desertion of their allies, yet still their
internal condition was as flourishing as ever. Phraortes attacked
them, but perished in the expedition with the greater part of his
army, after having reigned over the Medes two-and-twenty years.

On the death of Phraortes his son Cyaxares ascended the throne. Of
him it is reported that he was still more war-like than any of his
ancestors, and that he was the first who gave organisation to an Asiatic
army, dividing the troops into companies, and forming distinct bodies
of the spearmen, the archers, and the cavalry, who before his time
had been mingled in one mass, and confused together. He it was who
fought against the Lydians on the occasion when the day was changed
suddenly into night, and who brought under his dominion the whole
of Asia beyond the Halys. This prince, collecting together all the
nations which owned his sway, marched against Nineveh, resolved to
avenge his father, and cherishing a hope that he might succeed in
taking the town. A battle was fought, in which the Assyrians suffered
a defeat, and Cyaxares had already begun the siege of the place, when
a numerous horde of Scyths, under their king Madyes, son of Prtotohyes,
burst into Asia in pursuit of the Cimmerians whom they had driven
out of Europe, and entered the Median territory. 

The distance from the Palus Maeotis to the river Phasis and the Colchians
is thirty days' journey for a lightly-equipped traveller. From Colchis
to cross into Media does not take long- there is only a single intervening
nation, the Saspirians, passing whom you find yourself in Media. This
however was not the road followed by the Scythians, who turned out
of the straight course, and took the upper route, which is much longer,
keeping the Caucasus upon their right. The Scythians, having thus
invaded Media, were opposed by the Medes, who gave them battle, but,
being defeated, lost their empire. The Scythians became masters of
Asia. 

After this they marched forward with the design of invading Egypt.
When they had reached Palestine, however, Psammetichus the Egyptian
king met them with gifts and prayers, and prevailed on them to advance
no further. On their return, passing through Ascalon, a city of Syria,
the greater part of them went their way without doing any damage;
but some few who lagged behind pillaged the temple of Celestial Venus.
I have inquired and find that the temple at Ascalon is the most ancient
of all the temples to this goddess; for the one in Cyprus, as the
Cyprians themselves admit, was built in imitation of it; and that
in Cythera was erected by the Phoenicians, who belong to this part
of Syria. The Scythians who plundered the temple were punished by
the goddess with the female sickness, which still attaches to their
posterity. They themselves confess that they are afflicted with the
disease for this reason, and travellers who visit Scythia can see
what sort of a disease it is. Those who suffer from it are called
Enarees. 

The dominion of the Scythians over Asia lasted eight-and-twenty years,
during which time their insolence and oppression spread ruin on every
side. For besides the regular tribute, they exacted from the several
nations additional imposts, which they fixed at pleasure; and further,
they scoured the country and plundered every one of whatever they
could. At length Cyaxares and the Medes invited the greater part of
them to a banquet, and made them drunk with wine, after which they
were all massacred. The Medes then recovered their empire, and had
the same extent of dominion as before. They took Nineveh- I will relate
how in another history- and conquered all Assyria except the district
of Babylonia. After this Cyaxares died, having reigned over the Medes,
if we include the time of the Scythian rule, forty years.

Astyages, the son of Cyaxares, succeeded to the throne. He had a daughter
who was named Mandane concerning whom he had a wonderful dream. He
dreamt that from her such a stream of water flowed forth as not only
to fill his capital, but to flood the whole of Asia. This vision he
laid before such of the Magi as had the gift of interpreting dreams,
who expounded its meaning to him in full, whereat he was greatly terrified.
On this account, when his daughter was now of ripe age, he would not
give her in marriage to any of the Medes who were of suitable rank,
lest the dream should be accomplished; but he married her to a Persian
of good family indeed, but of a quiet temper, whom he looked on as
much inferior to a Mede of even middle condition. 

Thus Cambyses (for so was the Persian called) wedded Mandane, and
took her to his home, after which, in the very first year, Astyages
saw another vision. He fancied that a vine grew from the womb of his
daughter, and overshadowed the whole of Asia. After this dream, which
he submitted also to the interpreters, he sent to Persia and fetched
away Mandane, who was now with child, and was not far from her time.
On her arrival he set a watch over her, intending to destroy the child
to which she should give birth; for the Magian interpreters had expounded
the vision to foreshow that the offspring of his daughter would reign
over Asia in his stead. To guard against this, Astyages, as soon as
Cyrus was born, sent for Harpagus, a man of his own house and the
most faithful of the Medes, to whom he was wont to entrust all his
affairs, and addressed him thus- "Harpagus, I beseech thee neglect
not the business with which I am about to charge thee; neither betray
thou the interests of thy lord for others' sake, lest thou bring destruction
on thine own head at some future time. Take the child born of Mandane
my daughter; carry him with thee to thy home and slay him there. Then
bury him as thou wilt." "Oh! king," replied the other, "never in time
past did Harpagus disoblige thee in anything, and be sure that through
all future time he will be careful in nothing to offend. If therefore
it be thy will that this thing be done, it is for me to serve thee
with all diligence." 

When Harpagus had thus answered, the child was given into his hands,
clothed in the garb of death, and he hastened weeping to his home.
There on his arrival he found his wife, to whom he told all that Astyages
had said. "What then," said she, "is it now in thy heart to do?" "Not
what Astyages requires," he answered; "no, he may be madder and more
frantic still than he is now, but I will not be the man to work his
will, or lend a helping hand to such a murder as this. Many things
forbid my slaying him. In the first place the boy is my own kith and
kin; and next Astyages is old, and has no son. If then when he dies
the crown should go to his daughter- that daughter whose child he
now wishes to slay by my hand- what remains for me but danger of the
fearfullest kind? For my own safety, indeed, the child must die; but
some one belonging to Astyages must take his life, not I or mine."

So saying he sent off a messenger to fetch a certain Mitradates, one
of the herdsmen of Astyages, whose pasturages he knew to be the fittest
for his purpose, lying as they did among mountains infested with wild
beasts. This man was married to one of the king's female slaves, whose
Median name was Spaco, which is in Greek Cyno, since in the Median
tongue the word "Spaca" means a bitch. The mountains, on the skirts
of which his cattle grazed, lie to the north of Agbatana, towards
the Euxine. That part of Media which borders on the Saspirians is
an elevated tract, very mountainous, and covered with forests, while
the rest of the Median territory is entirely level ground. On the
arrival of the herdsman, who came at the hasty summons, Harpagus said
to him- "Astyages requires thee to take this child and lay him in
the wildest part of the hills, where he will be sure to die speedily.
And he bade me tell thee, that if thou dost not kill the boy, but
anyhow allowest him to escape, he will put thee to the most painful
of deaths. I myself am appointed to see the child exposed."

The herdsman on hearing this took the child in his arms, and went
back the way he had come till he reached the folds. There, providentially,
his wife, who had been expecting daily to be put to bed, had just,
during the absence of her husband, been delivered of a child. Both
the herdsman and his wife were uneasy on each other's account, the
former fearful because his wife was so near her time, the woman alarmed
because it was a new thing for her husband to be sent for by Harpagus.
When therefore he came into the house upon his return, his wife, seeing
him arrive so unexpectedly, was the first to speak, and begged to
know why Harpagus had sent for him in such a hurry. "Wife," said he,
"when I got to the town I saw and heard such things as I would to
heaven I had never seen such things as I would to heaven had never
happened to our masters. Every one was weeping in Harpagus's house.
It quite frightened me, but I went in. The moment I stepped inside,
what should I see but a baby lying on the floor, panting and whimpering,
and all covered with gold, and wrapped in clothes of such beautiful
colours. Harpagus saw me, and directly ordered me to take the child
my arms and carry him off, and what was I to do with him, think you?
Why, to lay him in the mountains, where the wild beasts are most plentiful.
And he told me it was the king himself that ordered it to be done,
and he threatened me with such dreadful things if I failed. So I took
the child up in my arms, and carried him along. I thought it might
be the son of one of the household slaves. I did wonder certainly
to see the gold and the beautiful baby-clothes, and I could not think
why there was such a weeping in Harpagus's house. Well, very soon,
as I came along, I got at the truth. They sent a servant with me to
show me the way out of the town, and to leave the baby in my hands;
and he told me that the child's mother is the king's daughter Mandane,
and his father Cambyses, the son of Cyrus; and that the king orders
him to be killed; and look, here the child is." 

With this the herdsman uncovered the infant, and showed him to his
wife, who, when she saw him, and observed how fine a child and how
beautiful he was, burst into tears, and clinging to the knees of her
husband, besought him on no account to expose the babe; to which he
answered, that it was not possible for him to do otherwise, as Harpagus
would be sure to send persons to see and report to him, and he was
to suffer a most cruel death if he disobeyed. Failing thus in her
first attempt to persuade her husband, the woman spoke a second time,
saying, "If then there is no persuading thee, and a child must needs
be seen exposed upon the mountains, at least do thus. The child of
which I have just been delivered is stillborn; take it and lay it
on the hills, and let us bring up as our own the child of the daughter
of Astyages. So shalt thou not be charged with unfaithfulness to thy
lord, nor shall we have managed badly for ourselves. Our dead babe
will have a royal funeral, and this living child will not be deprived
of life." 

It seemed to the herdsman that this advice was the best under the
circumstances. He therefore followed it without loss of time. The
child which he had intended to put to death he gave over to his wife,
and his own dead child he put in the cradle wherein he had carried
the other, clothing it first in all the other's costly attire, and
taking it in his arms he laid it in the wildest place of all the mountain-range.
When the child had been three days exposed, leaving one of his helpers
to watch the body, he started off for the city, and going straight
to Harpagus's house, declared himself ready to show the corpse of
the boy. Harpagus sent certain of his bodyguard, on whom he had the
firmest reliance, to view the body for him, and, satisfied with their
seeing it, gave orders for the funeral. Thus was the herdsman's child
buried, and the other child, who was afterwards known by the name
of Cyrus, was taken by the herdsman's wife, and brought up under a
different name. 

When the boy was in his tenth year, an accident which I will now relate,
caused it to be discovered who he was. He was at play one day in the
village where the folds of the cattle were, along with the boys of
his own age, in the street. The other boys who were playing with him
chose the cowherd's son, as he was called, to be their king. He then
proceeded to order them about some he set to build him houses, others
he made his guards, one of them was to be the king's eye, another
had the office of carrying his messages; all had some task or other.
Among the boys there was one, the son of Artembares, a Mede of distinction,
who refused to do what Cyrus had set him. Cyrus told the other boys
to take him into custody, and when his orders were obeyed, he chastised
him most severely with the whip. The son of Artembares, as soon as
he was let go, full of rage at treatment so little befitting his rank,
hastened to the city and complained bitterly to his father of what
had been done to him by Cyrus. He did not, of course, say "Cyrus,"
by which name the boy was not yet known, but called him the son of
the king's cowherd. Artembares, in the heat of his passion, went to
Astyages, accompanied by his son, and made complaint of the gross
injury which had been done him. Pointing to the boy's shoulders, he
exclaimed, "Thus, oh! king, has thy slave, the son of a cowherd, heaped
insult upon us." 

At this sight and these words Astyages, wishing to avenge the son
of Artembares for his father's sake, sent for the cowherd and his
boy. When they came together into his presence, fixing his eyes on
Cyrus, Astyages said, "Hast thou then, the son of so mean a fellow
as that, dared to behave thus rudely to the son of yonder noble, one
of the first in my court?" "My lord," replied the boy, "I only treated
him as he deserved. I was chosen king in play by the boys of our village,
because they thought me the best for it. He himself was one of the
boys who chose me. All the others did according to my orders; but
he refused, and made light of them, until at last he got his due reward.
If for this I deserve to suffer punishment, here I am ready to submit
to it." 

While the boy was yet speaking Astyages was struck with a suspicion
who he was. He thought he saw something in the character of his face
like his own, and there was a nobleness about the answer he had made;
besides which his age seemed to tally with the time when his grandchild
was exposed. Astonished at all this, Astyages could not speak for
a while. At last, recovering himself with difficulty, and wishing
to be quit of Artembares, that he might examine the herdsman alone,
he said to the former, "I promise thee, Artembares, so to settle this
business that neither thou nor thy son shall have any cause to complain."
Artembares retired from his presence, and the attendants, at the bidding
of the king, led Cyrus into an inner apartment. Astyages then being
left alone with the herdsman, inquired of him where he had got the
boy, and who had given him to him; to which he made answer that the
lad was his own child, begotten by himself, and that the mother who
bore him was still alive with him in his house. Astyages remarked
that he was very ill-advised to bring himself into such great trouble,
and at the same time signed to his bodyguard to lay hold of him. Then
the herdsman, as they were dragging him to the rack, began at the
beginning, and told the whole story exactly as it happened, without
concealing anything, ending with entreaties and prayers to the king
to grant him forgiveness. 

Astyages, having got the truth of the matter from the herdsman, was
very little further concerned about him, but with Harpagus he was
exceedingly enraged. The guards were bidden to summon him into the
presence, and on his appearance Astyages asked him, "By what death
was it, Harpagus, that thou slewest the child of my daughter whom
I gave into thy hands?" Harpagus, seeing the cowherd in the room,
did not betake himself to lies, lest he should be confuted and proved
false, but replied as follows:- "Sire, when thou gavest the child
into my hands I instantly considered with myself how I could contrive
to execute thy wishes, and yet, while guiltless of any unfaithfulness
towards thee, avoid imbruing my hands in blood which was in truth
thy daughter's and thine own. And this was how I contrived it. I sent
for this cowherd, and gave the child over to him, telling him that
by the king's orders it was to be put to death. And in this I told
no lie, for thou hadst so commanded. Moreover, when I gave him the
child, I enjoined him to lay it somewhere in the wilds of the mountains,
and to stay near and watch till it was dead; and I threatened him
with all manner of punishment if he failed. Afterwards, when he had
done according to all that I commanded him, and the child had died,
I sent some of the most trustworthy of my eunuchs, who viewed the
body for me, and then I had the child buried. This, sire, is the simple
truth, and this is the death by which the child died." 

Thus Harpagus related the whole story in a plain, straightforward
way; upon which Astyages, letting no sign escape him of the anger
that he felt, began by repeating to him all that he had just heard
from the cowherd, and then concluded with saying, "So the boy is alive,
and it is best as it is. For the child's fate was a great sorrow to
me, and the reproaches of my daughter went to my heart. Truly fortune
has played us a good turn in this. Go thou home then, and send thy
son to be with the new comer, and to-night, as I mean to sacrifice
thank-offerings for the child's safety to the gods to whom such honour
is due, I look to have thee a guest at the banquet." 

Harpagus, on hearing this, made obeisance, and went home rejoicing
to find that his disobedience had turned out so fortunately, and that,
instead of being punished, he was invited to a banquet given in honour
of the happy occasion. The moment he reached home he called for his
son, a youth of about thirteen, the only child of his parents, and
bade him go to the palace, and do whatever Astyages should direct.
Then, in the gladness of his heart, he went to his wife and told her
all that had happened. Astyages, meanwhile, took the son of Harpagus,
and slew him, after which he cut him in pieces, and roasted some portions
before the fire, and boiled others; and when all were duly prepared,
he kept them ready for use. The hour for the banquet came, and Harpagus
appeared, and with him the other guests, and all sat down to the feast.
Astyages and the rest of the guests had joints of meat served up to
them; but on the table of Harpagus, nothing was placed except the
flesh of his own son. This was all put before him, except the hands
and feet and head, which were laid by themselves in a covered basket.
When Harpagus seemed to have eaten his fill, Astyages called out to
him to know how he had enjoyed the repast. On his reply that he had
enjoyed it excessively, they whose business it was brought him the
basket, in which were the hands and feet and head of his son, and
bade him open it, and take out what he pleased. Harpagus accordingly
uncovered the basket, and saw within it the remains of his son. The
sight, however, did not scare him, or rob him of his self-possession.
Being asked by Astyages if he knew what beast's flesh it was that
he had been eating, he answered that he knew very well, and that whatever
the king did was agreeable. After this reply, he took with him such
morsels of the flesh as were uneaten, and went home, intending, as
I conceive, to collect the remains and bury them. 

Such was the mode in which Astyages punished Harpagus: afterwards,
proceeding to consider what he should do with Cyrus, his grandchild,
he sent for the Magi, who formerly interpreted his dream in the way
which alarmed him so much, and asked them how they had expounded it.
They answered, without varying from what they had said before, that
"the boy must needs be a king if he grew up, and did not die too soon."
Then Astyages addressed them thus: "The boy has escaped, and lives;
he has been brought up in the country, and the lads of the village
where he lives have made him their king. All that kings commonly do
he has done. He has had his guards, and his doorkeepers, and his messengers,
and all the other usual officers. Tell me, then, to what, think you,
does all this tend?" The Magi answered, "If the boy survives, and
has ruled as a king without any craft or contrivance, in that case
we bid thee cheer up, and feel no more alarm on his account. He will
not reign a second time. For we have found even oracles sometimes
fulfilled in an unimportant way; and dreams, still oftener, have wondrously
mean accomplishments." "It is what I myself most incline to think,"
Astyages rejoined; "the boy having been already king, the dream is
out, and I have nothing more to fear from him. Nevertheless, take
good heed and counsel me the best you can for the safety of my house
and your own interests." "Truly," said the Magi in reply, "it very
much concerns our interests that thy kingdom be firmly established;
for if it went to this boy it would pass into foreign hands, since
he is a Persian: and then we Medes should lose our freedom, and be
quite despised by the Persians, as being foreigners. But so long as
thou, our fellow-countryman, art on the throne, all manner of honours
are ours, and we are even not without some share in the government.
Much reason therefore have we to forecast well for thee and for thy
sovereignty. If then we saw any cause for present fear, be sure we
would not keep it back from thee. But truly we are persuaded that
the dream has had its accomplishment in this harmless way; and so
our own fears being at rest, we recommend thee to banish thine. As
for the boy, our advice is that thou send him away to Persia, to his
father and mother." 

Astyages heard their answer with pleasure, and calling Cyrus into
his presence, said to him, "My child, I was led to do thee a wrong
by a dream which has come to nothing: from that wrong thou wert saved
by thy own good fortune. Go now with a light heart to Persia; I will
provide thy escort. Go, and when thou gettest to thy journey's end,
thou wilt behold thy father and thy mother, quite other people from
Mitradates the cowherd and his wife." 

With these words Astyages dismissed his grandchild. On his arrival
at the house of Cambyses, he was received by his parents, who, when
they learnt who he was, embraced him heartily, having always been
convinced that he died almost as soon as he was born. So they asked
him by what means he had chanced to escape; and he told them how that
till lately he had known nothing at all about the matter, but had
been mistaken- oh! so widely!- and how that he had learnt his history
by the way, as he came from Media. He had been quite sure that he
was the son of the king's cowherd, but on the road the king's escort
had told him all the truth; and then he spoke of the cowherd's wife
who had brought him up, and filled his whole talk with her praises;
in all that he had to tell them about himself, it was always Cyno-
Cyno was everything. So it happened that his parents, catching the
name at his mouth, and wishing to persuade the Persians that there
was a special providence in his preservation, spread the report that
Cyrus, when he was exposed, was suckled by a bitch. This was the sole
origin of the rumour. 

Afterwards, when Cyrus grew to manhood, and became known as the bravest
and most popular of all his compeers, Harpagus, who was bent on revenging
himself upon Astyages, began to pay him court by gifts and messages.
His own rank was too humble for him to hope to obtain vengeance without
some foreign help. When therefore he saw Cyrus, whose wrongs were
so similar to his own, growing up expressly (as it were) to be the
avenger whom he needed, he set to work to procure his support and
aid in the matter. He had already paved the way for his designs, by
persuading, severally, the great Median nobles, whom the harsh rule
of their monarch had offended, that the best plan would be to put
Cyrus at their head, and dethrone Astyages. These preparations made,
Harpagus, being now ready for revolt, was anxious to make known his
wishes to Cyrus, who still lived in Persia; but as the roads between
Media and Persia were guarded, he had to contrive a means of sending
word secretly, which he did in the following way. He took a hare,
and cutting open its belly without hurting the fur, he slipped in
a letter containing what he wanted to say, and then carefully sewing
up the paunch, he gave the hare to one of his most faithful slaves,
disguising him as a hunter with nets, and sent him off to Persia to
take the game as a present to Cyrus, bidding him tell Cyrus, by word
of mouth, to paunch the animal himself, and let no one be present
at the time. 

All was done as he wished, and Cyrus, on cutting the hare open, found
the letter inside, and read as follows:- "Son of Cambyses, the gods
assuredly watch over thee, or never wouldst thou have passed through
thy many wonderful adventures- now is the time when thou mayst avenge
thyself upon Astyages, thy murderer. He willed thy death, remember;
to the gods and to me thou owest that thou art still alive. I think
thou art not ignorant of what he did to thee, nor of what I suffered
at his hands because I committed thee to the cowherd, and did not
put thee to death. Listen now to me, and obey my words, and all the
empire of Astyages shall be thine. Raise the standard of revolt in
Persia, and then march straight on Media. Whether Astyages appoint
me to command his forces against thee, or whether he appoint any other
of the princes of the Medes, all will go as thou couldst wish. They
will be the first to fall away from him, and joining thy side, exert
themselves to overturn his power. Be sure that on our part all is
ready; wherefore do thou thy part, and that speedily." 

Cyrus, on receiving the tidings contained in this letter, set himself
to consider how he might best persuade the Persians to revolt. After
much thought, he hit on the following as the most expedient course:
he wrote what he thought proper upon a roll, and then calling an assembly
of the Persians, he unfolded the roll, and read out of it that Astyages
appointed him their general. "And now," said he, "since it is so,
I command you to go and bring each man his reaping-hook." With these
words he dismissed the assembly. 

Now the Persian nation is made up of many tribes. Those which Cyrus
assembled and persuaded to revolt from the Medes were the principal
ones on which all the others are dependent. These are the Pasargadae,
the Maraphians, and the Maspians, of whom the Pasargadae are the noblest.
The Achaemenidae, from which spring all the Perseid kings, is one
of their clans. The rest of the Persian tribes are the following:
the Panthialaeans, the Derusiaeans, the Germanians, who are engaged
in husbandry; the Daans, the Mardians, the Dropicans, and the Sagartians,
who are nomads. 

When, in obedience to the orders which they had received, the Persians
came with their reaping-hooks, Cyrus led them to a tract of ground,
about eighteen or twenty furlongs each way, covered with thorns, and
ordered them to clear it before the day was out. They accomplished
their task; upon which he issued a second order to them, to take the
bath the day following, and again come to him. Meanwhile he collected
together all his father's flocks, both sheep and goats, and all his
oxen, and slaughtered them, and made ready to give an entertainment
to the entire Persian army. Wine, too, and bread of the choicest kinds
were prepared for the occasion. When the morrow came, and the Persians
appeared, he bade them recline upon the grass, and enjoy themselves.
After the feast was over, he requested them to tell him "which they
liked best, to-day's work, or yesterday's?" They answered that "the
contrast was indeed strong: yesterday brought them nothing but what
was bad, to-day everything that was good." Cyrus instantly seized
on their reply, and laid bare his purpose in these words: "Ye men
of Persia, thus do matters stand with you. If you choose to hearken
to my words, you may enjoy these and ten thousand similar delights,
and never condescend to any slavish toil; but if you will not hearken,
prepare yourselves for unnumbered toils as hard as yesterday's. Now
therefore follow my bidding, and be free. For myself I feel that I
am destined by Providence to undertake your liberation; and you, I
am sure, are no whit inferior to the Medes in anything, least of all
in bravery. Revolt, therefore, from Astyages, without a moment's delay."

The Persians, who had long been impatient of the Median dominion,
now that they had found a leader, were delighted to shake off the
yoke. Meanwhile Astyages, informed of the doings of Cyrus, sent a
messenger to summon him to his presence. Cyrus replied, "Tell Astyages
that I shall appear in his presence sooner than he will like." Astyages,
when he received this message, instantly armed all his subjects, and,
as if God had deprived him of his senses, appointed Harpagus to be
their general, forgetting how greatly he had injured him. So when
the two armies met and engaged, only a few of the Medes, who were
not in the secret, fought; others deserted openly to the Persians;
while the greater number counterfeited fear, and fled. 

Astyages, on learning the shameful flight and dispersion of his army,
broke out into threats against Cyrus, saying, "Cyrus shall nevertheless
have no reason to rejoice"; and directly he seized the Magian interpreters,
who had persuaded him to allow Cyrus to escape, and impaled them;
after which, he armed all the Medes who had remained in the city,
both young and old; and leading them against the Persians, fought
a battle, in which he was utterly defeated, his army being destroyed,
and he himself falling into the enemy's hands. 

Harpagus then, seeing him a prisoner, came near, and exulted over
him with many jibes and jeers. Among other cutting speeches which
he made, he alluded to the supper where the flesh of his son was given
him to eat, and asked Astyages to answer him now, how he enjoyed being
a slave instead of a king? Astyages looked in his face, and asked
him in return, why he claimed as his own the achievements of Cyrus?
"Because," said Harpagus, "it was my letter which made him revolt,
and so I am entitled to all the credit of the enterprise." Then Astyages
declared that "in that case he was at once the silliest and the most
unjust of men: the silliest, if when it was in his power to put the
crown on his own head, as it must assuredly have been, if the revolt
was entirely his doing, he had placed it on the head of another; the
most unjust, if on account of that supper he had brought slavery on
the Medes. For, supposing that he was obliged to invest another with
the kingly power, and not retain it himself, yet justice required
that a Mede, rather than a Persian, should receive the dignity. Now,
however, the Medes, who had been no parties to the wrong of which
he complained, were made slaves instead of lords, and slaves moreover
of those who till recently had been their subjects." 

Thus after a reign of thirty-five years, Astyages lost his crown,
and the Medes, in consequence of his cruelty, were brought under the
rule of the Persians. Their empire over the parts of Asia beyond the
Halys had lasted one hundred and twenty-eight years, except during
the time when the Scythians had the dominion. Afterwards the Medes
repented of their submission, and revolted from Darius, but were defeated
in battle, and again reduced to subjection. Now, however, in the time
of Astyages, it was the Persians who under Cyrus revolted from the
Medes, and became thenceforth the rulers of Asia. Cyrus kept Astyages
at his court during the remainder of his life, without doing him any
further injury. Such then were the circumstances of the birth and
bringing up of Cyrus, and such were the steps by which he mounted
the throne. It was at a later date that he was attacked by Croesus,
and overthrew him, as I have related in an earlier portion of this
history. The overthrow of Croesus made him master of the whole of
Asia.