IX. ravage from the first irruption of the Scythians, by LETTER whom they had been expelled, as we have seen, from the Chersonesus Taurica, now known by the name of the Crim Tartary. He also waged war for five years, with various success, against Cyaxares I. king of Media, in favour of some Scythian chieftains, who had sought shelter in his dominions. And he attempted to bring under his dominion, though without finally accomplishing his purpose, the Grecian cities on the Asiatic coast 188 187 Croesus, who ascended the throne of Lydia five hundred and sixty-two years before the christian æra, pursued the ambitious designs of his father Alyattes; and not only subdued the Grecian colonies in his neighbourhood, but extended his sway over all the nations of Asia Minor, the Lycians and Cilicians excepted; from the river Halys to the Hellespont, and from the Euxine to the Mediterranean sea These conquests he was enabled to prosecute by the internal wealth of his native kingdom. The particles of gold rolled down by the river Pactolus, which ran through Sardis, his capital, and the gold mines found near the city of Artaneus 189, furnished him with such a quantity of treasure as made his riches proverbial; beside pay for a great body of forces, and the expenses of a splendid court 190. Crasus was worthy of his good fortune. No prince seems ever to have treated with more lenity the people whom he had reduced under his dominion, or to have contributed more to the ease and happiness of his subjects of all denominations. He was, 187. Herodot. Historiar. lib. i. cap. xvi-xxv. 188. Id. lib. i. cap. xxvi-xxviii. 189. Strabo, lib. xiii. xiv. 190. Herodot. lib. i. VOL. II. H at PART I. at the same time, a generous patron of every liberal and ingenious art; so that the Asiatic Greeks, among whom those arts were successfully cultivated, and who were permitted to enjoy their own laws and republican government, flourished greatly dur ing his reign''. ། But the prosperity of the Lydian monarchy was soon to suffer a check, and the glory of Crœsus to be obscured. Though disposed to cherish the blessings of peace, and apprehensive of the consequences of foreign war, he saw the necessity of supporting the king of Babylon against the forces of the Medes and Persians, under the conduct of Cyrus. He therefore led into Assyria an army, consisting of forty thousand light-armed foot, and ten thousand horse 192. Meanwhile Cyrus had not been idle. Having reduced to obedience the Armenians, who had attempted to throw off the Median yoke, in hopes of recovering their independency, by joining in the general league, he was ready to make head against all his enemies before the arrival of Crœsus. He accordingly entered the Babylonian territories, which he prudently resolved to make the scene of war, and found the confederates posted in a large plain, with their camp strongly fortified 193. For some days Ant. Chr. after his approach, they continued within their entrenchments. At length they came out in order of battle, and a hot engagement took place. But the combat was unequal. The front battalions of the confederate army were soon broken, and the whole body of infantry routed, though vastly superior in numbers, by the vigorous shock of the Persian foot; 554. Nabonass. æra 193. 191. Id. ibid. Thucydid. lib. i. all all armed for close fight, with swords and pikes. The Median horse, in like manner, broke the cavalry of the confederates; and, during the conflict, Neriglissar king of Babylon was slain194. Notwithstanding these advantages, Cyrus did not think it prudent, on the evening of battle, to endeavour to force the enemy's camp. He therefore ordered a retreat. Next morning, however, he returned to the charge; drove the Babylonians, and their allies, from their fortified station, in spite of all the efforts of Croesus, king of Lydia, who had assumed the chief command on the death of the king of Babylon; took many prisoners, and seized an immense booty 195. The Babylonians in the death of Neriglissar, who was a brave and able usurper, sustained a great misfortune; especially as his son, Laborosoarchod, proved a weak and worthless despot. Gobrias and Gadates, two of the provincial governors of this tyrannical young king, revolted, because of the wrongs they had suffered; and if his violences and 194. Id. ibid. 195. Xenoph. ubi sup. The trophies of war, and the richest part of the booty, Cyrus sent to Cyaxares. But he reserved for himself all the horses that were captured, in order to form for his Persian army a body of cavalry, which hitherto it had wanted (Cyroped, lib. v.); a circumstance not a little remarkable, as Media abounded with excellent horses, and long supplied almost all Asia with them (Polyb. lib. x. Excerpt. iv.). The prisoners, after delivering up their arms, were permitted by Cyrus to return to their respective countries. Nor did he impose upon them, any other obligation, than a promise not to engage in hostilities against him or his allies (Cyropæd. lib. v.). Among those prisoners was a princess of singular beauty, whom the victorious army had set apart for the conqueror. She was named Panthæa, and was the wife of Abradates, king of Susiana. When informed of her captivating charms, Cyrus refused to see her, lest he should be tempted to abuse the rights of conquest, or to relax in the prosecution of those great designs he had formed. Id. ibid. cruelties PART I. cruelties had not provoked his subjects to murder him, Cyrus might soon have made himself master of the whole Babylonian empire 196. That such would have been the event, is, at least, highly probable. For although Nabonadius or Belshazzar, the successor of Laborosoarchod, appears to have been a dissolute prince, he was less obnoxious to his subjects; and, if no wiser, he was better advised in regard to the government of his kingdom 197. Cyrus, who had penetrated to the walls of Babylon, therefore laid aside all thoughts of the immediate reduction of that city; and having, after his return to Ecbatana, married the daughter and only child of Cyaxares, he employed himself for several years in recruiting his forces, both in Media and Persia, and in forming his armies for every kind of military service 98. 1 In the meantime Crasus, having arrived safe in Lydia with the shattered remains of his army, 196. Cyropædia, lib. v. 197. Prideaux, Connect. book ii. et auct. cit. 198. Cyropæd. ubi sup. Xenophon relates an anecdote of Cyrus, during his first Babylonian expedition, which does great honour to the character of his hero, if true; and at any rate shews the refined sentiments of the philosophical historian. When the Persian conqueror entered the palace of the satrap Gobryas, who had embraced his cause, he was struck with the magnificence of that nobleman's furniture; but more especially with the rich dress, and rare beauty of his daughter. Gobryas, who had watched, but misunderstood the looks of his royal guest, presented him with several purses of gold, and begged that he would take the young lady under his protection; a genteel mode of offering her, as one of his concubines. "I accept," said Cyrus, "the money, which I give to your daughter, to increase "her dowry; not doubting but she will find, among the officers of my army, a husband worthy of her good qualities. For without "these, wealth and beauty would be of small estimation with them; "of so little with many of them, that all the treasures of Babylon "could not influence them in the choice of a wife, unless she were "adorned with virtue and merit." Id. ibid. forgot IX. forgot in the elegant pleasures of the court of Sardis, LETTER the loss he had sustained in the plains of Assyria. Here, surrounded with riches and splendour, he enjoyed the conversation of men of learning and genius from all countries, but especially from Greece '99. That happiness, however, was interrupted by the death of his beloved son Atys 200; and before he recovered from 199. Herodot. lib. i. 200. Id. ibid. Immediately before this misfortune, and during the highest lustre of the Lydian court, is supposed to have happened the memorable conversation between Croesus and Solon the Athenian legislator, on human happiness; though, as I formerly observed, (Lett. VI.) Solon must have been dead before Croesus reached such a height of grandeur. But that conversation, which seems first to have been framed by some Grecian sage, and afterward ingrafted by -Herodotus into his narrative, abounds with so much good sense, and is so well calculated to display the character of Crœsus, that I shall here give it in substance, as a moral dialogue. After Croesus had ostentatiously shewed Solon, says the father of history, the magnificence of his palace, the immensity of his trea sures, and the pompous crowd of courtiers by whom he was attended, he asked, in the exultation of his heart, his Athenian guest, who, in the course of his travels and extensive observation, might be accounted the most happy man he had ever seen?—expecting, no doubt, that the decision would be in his own favour. But Solon, too little of a courtier to read the king's meaning, or too much of a philosopher to flatter him, bluntly answered, "Tellus the Athenian.”— "What entitled Tellus to this distinction?"-replied Croesus, with an air of surprise, mingled with chagrin, arising from mortified pride.—“ He had the good fortune,” said Solon, “to live under a "free government; to enjoy good health, and be in no want of the "necessaries of life; to have sons, and grandsons, brave and virtu 66 ous, who survived him; and to crown all, when he had lived to "an advanced age, in as much felicity as the condition of human "affairs will admit, he had the happiness to come to the assistance " of his countrymen in a hot and hazardous engagement; to turn the "tide of battle, and die on the field of victory; where he was buried, "and his funeral honours gratefully celebrated by his fellow-citi“zens.”—“ Who then do you esteem,” inquired Crœsus anxiously, hoping at least to obtain the second place, "who do you esteem to “have been next in happiness to Tellus?"—" Cleobis and Biton," answered Solon firmly; "two Argive youths, remarkable for their brotherly |