taken refuge in his court, and was named Adrastus. And this very Adrastus, as he was aiming his javelin at the boar, unfortunately killed Atys. It is impossible to express either the affliction of the father, when he heard of this fatal accident, or of the unhappy prince, the innocent author of the murder, who expiated his fault with his blood, stabbing himself in the breast with his own sword, upon the funeral pile of the unfortunate Atys.

Two years were spent on this occasion in deep mourning,* the afflicted father's thoughts being wholly taken up with the loss he had sustained. But the growing reputation and great qualities of Cyrus, who began to make himself known, roused him out of his lethargy. He thought it behoved him to put a stop to the power of the Persians, which was enlarging itself every day. As he was very religious in his way, he would never enter upon any enterprise without consulting the gods. But that he might not act blindly, and in order to be able to form a certain judgment on the answers he should receive, he was willing to assure himself beforehand of the truth of the oracles. For which purpose, he sent messengers to all the most celebrated oracles both of Greece and Africa, with orders to inquire, every one at his respective oracle, what Croesus was doing on such a day, and such an hour, before agreed on. His orders were punctually observed; and of all the oracles none gave a true answer but that of Delphi. The answer was given in Greek hexameter verses, and was in substance as follows: I know the number of the grains of sand on the seashore, and the measure of the ocean's vast extent. I can hear the dumb, and him that has not yet learned to speak. A strong smell of a tortoise boiled in brass, together with sheep's flesh, has reached my nostrils, brass beneath, brass above. And indeed the king, thinking to invent something that could not possibly be guessed at, had employed himself on the day and hour set down, in boiling a tortoise and a lamb in a brass pot, which had a brass cover. St. Austin observes in several places, that God, to punish the blindness of the Pagans, sometimes permitted the devils to give answers conformable to the truth.

Cræsus, thus assured of the veracity of the god, whom he designed to consult, offered 3000 victims to his honour, and ordered an infinite number of vessels, tripods, and golden tables, to be melted down, and converted into ingots of gold, to the number of 117, to augment the treasures of the temple of Delphi. Each of these ingots weighed at least two talents; besides which, he made several other presents: amongst others Herodotus mentions a golden lion, weighing ten talents, and two vessels of an extraordinary size, one of gold, which weighed eight talents and a half and twelve mine; the other of silver, which contained 600 of the measures called amphora. All these presents, and many more, which for brevity's sake I omit, were to be seen in the time of Herodotus.

Herod. 1. i. c. 46-50.

The messengers were ordered to consult the god upon two points: first, whether Croesus should undertake a war against the Persians; secondly, if he did, whether he should require the succour of any auxiliary troops. The oracle answered, upon the first article, that if he carried his arms against the Persians, he would subvert a great empire; upon the second, that he would do well to make alliances with the most powerful states of Greece. He consulted the oracle again, to know how long the duration of his empire would be. The answer was, that it should subsist till a mule came to possess the throne of Media; which he considered as an assurance of the perpetual duration of his kingdom.

Pursuant to the direction.of the oracle, Croesus entered into an alliance with the Athenians, who at that time had Pisistratus at their head, and with the Lacedæmonians, who were indisputably the two most powerful states of Greece.

A certain Lydian,* much esteemed for his prudence, gave Crœsus, on this occasion, very judicious advice. O prince, says he to him, why do you think of turning your arms against such a people as the Persians, who, being born in a wild, rugged country, are inured from their infancy to every kind of hardship and fatigue; who, being coarsely clad and coarsely fed, can content themselves with bread and water; who are absolute strangers to all the delicacies and conveniences of life; who, in a word, have nothing to lose if you conquer them, and every thing to gain if they conquer you; and whom it would be very difficult to drive out of our country, if they should once come to taste the sweets and advantages of it? So far, therefore, from thinking of beginning a war against them, it is my opinion we ought to thank the gods that they have never put it into the heads of the Persians to come and attack the Lydians. But Croesus had taken his resolution, and would not be diverted from it.

What remains of the history of Croesus will be found in that of Cyrus, which I am now going to begin.

Herod. 1. i. c. 71.

BOOK. IV.

THE

FOUNDATION OF THE EMPIRE

OF THE

PERSIANS AND MEDES,

BY CYRUS:

CONTAINING THE REIGNS OF CYRUS, OF CAMBYSES, AND SMERDIS THE MAGIAN.

THE history of this prince is differently related by Herodotus and Xenophon. I follow the latter, as judging him infinitely more worthy of credit on this subject than the former; and as to those facts wherein they differ, I shall think it sufficient briefly to relate what Herodotus says of them. It is well known, that Xenophon served a long time under the younger Cyrus, who had in his troops a great number of Persian noblemen, with whom undoubtedly this writer, considering how curious he was, did often converse, in order to acquaint himself by that means with the manners and customs of the Persians, with their conquests in general, but more particularly with those of the prince who had founded their monarchy, and whose history he proposed to write. This he tells us himself, in the beginning of his Cyropædia: Having always looked upon this great man as worthy of admiration, I took a pleasure of informing myself of his birth, his natural disposition, and the method of his education, that I might know by what means he became so great a prince; and herein I advance nothing but what has been told me.

As to what Cicero says, in his first letter to his brother Quintus, that Xenophon's design, in writing the history of Cyrus, was not so much to follow truth, as to give a model of a just government;* this ought not to lessen the authority of that judicious historian, or make

* Cyrus ille à Xenophonte, non ad historiæ fidem scriptus, sed ad effigiem justi imperii.

us give the less credit to what he relates. All that can be inferred from thence is, that the design of Xenophon, who was a great philosopher, as well as a great captain, was not merely to write Cyrus's history, but to represent him as a model and example to princes, for their instruction in the arts of reigning, and of gaining the love of their subjects, notwithstanding the pomp and elevation of their stations. With this view he may possibly have lent his hero some thoughts, some sentiments, or discourses, of his own. But the substance of the facts and events he relates, is to be deemed true; and of this their conformity with the holy Scripture is of itself a sufficient proof. The reader may see the dissertation of the Abbé Banier upon this subject in the Memoirs of the Academy of Belles Lettres.* For the greater perspicuity, I divide the history of Cyrus into three parts. The first will reach from his birth to the siege of Babylon: the second will comprehend the description of the siege, and the taking of that city, with every thing else that relates to that great event: the third will contain that prince's history, from the taking of Babylon to his death.

ARTICLE I.

The history of Cyrus from his infancy to the siege of Babylon.

This interval, besides his education, and the journey he made into Media to his grandfather Astyages, includes the first campaigns of Cyrus, and the important expeditions subsequent to them.

A. M. 3405.

SECT. I. Cyrus's education.

Cyrus was the son of Cambyses, king of Persia, and Ant. J. C. 599. of Mandane, daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. He was born one year after his uncle Cyaxares, the brother of Mandane.

The Persians were at this time divided into twelve tribes, and inhabited only one province of that vast country which has since borne the name of Persia, and were not in all above 120,000 men. But this people having afterwards, through the prudence and valour of Cyrus, acquired the empire of the East, the name of Persia extended itself with their conquests and fortune, and comprehended all that vast tract of country which reaches, from east to west, from the river Indus to the Tigris; and from north to south, from the Caspian sea to the ocean. And still to this day the country of Persia has the same extent.

Cyrus was beautiful in his person, and still more deserving of esteem for the qualities of his mind; was of a very sweet disposition, full of good-nature and humanity, and had a great desire for learning, and a noble ardour for glory. He was never afraid of any

danger, or discouraged by any hardship or difficulty, where honour was to be acquired. He was brought up according to the laws and customs of the Persians, which were excellent, in those days, with respect to education.

The public good, the common benefit of the nation, was the only principle and end of all their laws.* The education of children was looked upon as the most important duty, and the most essential part of government: it was not left to the care of fathers and mothers, whose blind affection and fondness often rendered them incapable of that office; but the state took it upon themselves. Boys were all brought up in common, after one uniform manner, where every thing was regulated; the place and length of their exercises, the times of eating, the quality of their meat and drink, and their different kinds of punishment. The only food allowed either the children or the young men, was bread, cresses, and water; for their design was to accustom them early to temperance and sobriety: besides, they considered, that a plain, frugal diet, without any mixture of sauces or ragouts, would strengthen the body, and lay such a foundation of health, as would enable them to undergo the hardships and fatigues of war to a good old age.

Here boys went to school to learn justice and virtue, as they do in other places to learn arts and sciences; and the crime most severely punished amongst them was ingratitude.

The design of the Persians, in all these wise regulations, was to prevent evil, being convinced that it is much better to prevent faults than to punish them: and whereas in other states the legislators are satisfied with enacting punishments for criminals, the Persians endeavoured so to order it, as to have no criminals amongst them.

Till sixteen or seventeen years of age the boys remained in the class of children; and here it was they learned to draw the bow, and to fling the dart or javelin; after which they were received into the class of young men. In this they were more narrowly watched and kept under than before, because that age requires the strictest inspection, and has the greatest need of restraint. Here they remained ten years; during which time they passed all their nights in keeping guard, as well for the safety of the city, as to inure them to fatigue. In the day-time they waited upon their governors, to receive their orders, attended the king when he went a hunting, or improved themselves in their exercises.

The third class consisted of men grown up; and in this they remained five-and-twenty years. Out of these all the officers that were to command in the troops, and all such as were to fill the different posts and employments in the state, were chosen. When they were turned of fifty, they were not obliged to carry arms out of their own country.

Besides these, there was a fourth or last class, from whence men

Xem. Cyrop. p. 3-8.