When Cyrus had reached man's estate, and proved the most manly and beloved of his equals in age, Harpagus paid great court to him, sending him presents, from his desire to be avenged on Astyages; for he did not see that he himself, who was but a private man, could be able to take vengeance on Astyages; perceiving, therefore, that Cyrus was growing up to be his avenger, he contracted a friendship with him, comparing the sufferings of Cyrus with his own. And before this he had made the following preparations. Seeing Astyages severe in his treatment of the Medes, Harpagus holding intercourse with the chief persons of the nation, one after another, persuaded them that they ought to place him at their head, and depose Astyages. When he had effected his purpose, and all was ready, Harpagus, wishing to discover his designs to Cyrus, who resided in Persia, and having no other way left, because the roads were all guarded, contrived the following artifice. Having cunningly contrived a hare, by opening its belly, and tearing off none of the hair, he put a letter, containing what he thought necessary to write, into the body; and having sewed up the belly of the hare, he gave it with some nets to the most trusty of his servants, dressed as a hunter, and sent him to Persia; having by word of mouth commanded him to bid Cyrus, as he gave him the hare, to open it with his own hand, and not to suffer any one to be present when he did so. This was accordingly done, and Cyrus having received the hare, opened it; and found the letter which was in it, to the following purport: "Son of Cambyses, seeing the gods watch over you, (for otherwise you could never have arrived at your present fortune), do you now avenge yourself on your murderer Astyages; for as far as regards his purpose you are long since dead, but by the care of the gods and of me you survive. I suppose you have been long since informed both what was done regarding yourself, and what I suffered at the hands of Astyages, because I did not put you to death, but gave you to the herdsman. Then, if you will follow my counsel, you shall rule over the whole territory that Astyages now governs. Persuade the Persians to revolt, and invade Media; and whether I or any other illustrious Mede be appointed to command the army opposed to you, every thing will turn out as you wish; for they, on the first onset, having revolted from him, and siding with you, will endeavor to depose him. Since, then, every thing is ready here, do as I advise, and do it quickly."

Cyrus, upon receiving this intelligence, began to consider by what measures he could best persuade the Persians to revolt. Having written such a letter as he thought fit, he called an assembly of the Persians, read the letter and said that Astyages had appointed him general of the Persians: "Now," he continued, "I require you to attend me, every man with a sickle." When all had come with their sickles, as had been ordered, Cyrus selected a tract of land in Persia, about eighteen or twenty stadia square (nearly two and one half miles), which was overgrown with briers, and directed them to clear it during the day: when the Persians had finished the appointed task, he bade them come again on the next day, washed and well attired. In the meantime Cyrus collected all his father's flocks and herds, had them killed and dressed, to entertain the Persian forces, and provided wine and bread in abundance. The next day, when the Persians had assembled, he made them lie down on the turf, and feasted them; and, after the repast was over, asked them whether the treatment they had received the day before, or the present, was preferable. They answered, that the difference was great; for on the preceding day they had every hardship, but on the present everything that was good. Then Cyrus discovered his intentions, and said: "Men of Persia, the case stands thus; if you will hearken to me, you may enjoy these, and numberless other advantages, without any kind of servile labor; but if you will not hearken to me, innumerable hardships, like those of yesterday, await you. Now, therefore, obey me, and be free; for I am persuaded I am born by divine providence to undertake this work; and I deem you to be men in no way inferior to the Medes, either in other respects or in war; then revolt with all speed from Astyages."

The Persians under such a leader, gladly asserted their freedom, having for a long time felt indignant at being governed by the Medes. Astyages, informed of what Cyrus was doing, sent a messenger and summoned him; but Cyrus bade the messenger take back word, "that he would come to him sooner than Astyages desired." When Astyages heard this, he armed all the Medes; and, as if the gods had deprived him of understanding, made Harpagus their general, utterly forgetting the outrage he had done him. And when the Medes came to an engagement with the Persians, such of them as knew nothing of the plot, fought; but others went over to the Persians; and the far greater part purposely behaved as cowards and fled. As soon as the news was brought to Astyages that the Medes were thus shamefully dispersed, he exclaimed: "Not even so shall Cyrus have occasion to rejoice." His first act was to impale the Magi, who had interpreted his dream, and advised him to let Cyrus go; then he armed all the Medes that were left in the city, old and young; and leading them out, engaged the Persians, and was defeated. Astyages himself was made prisoner, and lost all the Medes whom he had led out. Harpagus, standing by Astyages after he was taken, exulted over him and jeered at him; and among other galling words, he asked him about the supper, at which he had feasted him with his son's flesh, and inquired, "how he liked slavery in exchange for a kingdom." Astyages, looking steadfastly on Harpagus, asked in return, whether he thought himself the author of Cyrus's success. Harpagus said, he did, for, as he had written, the achievement was justly due to himself. Astyages thereupon proved him to be "the weakest and most unjust of all men; the weakest, in giving the kingdom to another, which he might have assumed to himself, if indeed he had effected this change; and the most unjust, because he had enslaved the whole nation of the Medes on account of the supper."

So Astyages, after he had reigned thirty-five years, was deposed. But Cyrus kept him with him till he died, without doing him any further injury. Thus did Cyrus come to the throne, conquer Crœsus, and become master of all Asia.

The Persians, according to my own knowledge, observe the following customs:—It is not their practice to erect statues, or temples, or altars, but they charge those with folly who do so; because, as I conjecture, they do not think the gods have human forms, as the Greeks do. They are accustomed to ascend the highest parts of the mountains, and offer sacrifice to Jupiter, and they call the whole circle of the heavens by the name of Jupiter. They sacrifice to the sun and moon, to the earth, fire, water, and the winds. To these alone they sacrificed in the earliest times: but they have since learnt from the Arabians and Assyrians to sacrifice to Venus Urania, whom the Assyrians call Venus Mylitta, the Arabians, Alitta, and the Persians Mitra. They do not erect altars nor kindle fires when about to sacrifice; they do not use libations, or flutes, or fillets, or cakes; but, when any one wishes to offer sacrifice to any one of these deities, he leads the victim to a clean spot, and invokes the god, usually having his tiara decked with myrtle. He that sacrifices is not permitted to pray for blessings for himself alone; but he is obliged to offer prayers for the prosperity of all the Persians, and the king, for he is himself included in the Persians. When he has cut the victim into small pieces, and boiled the flesh, he strews under it a bed of tender grass, generally trefoil, and then lays all the flesh upon it; when he has put every thing in order, one of the Magi standing by sings an ode concerning the original of the gods, which they say is the incantation; and without one of the Magi it is not lawful for them to sacrifice. After having waited a short time, he that has sacrificed carries away the flesh and disposes of it as he thinks fit. It is their custom to honor their birthday above all other days; and on this day they furnish their table in a more plentiful manner than at other times. The rich then produce an ox, a horse, a camel, and an ass, roasted whole in an oven; but the poor produce smaller cattle. They are moderate at their meals, but eat of many after-dishes, and those not served up together. On this account the Persians say, "that the Greeks rise hungry from the table, because nothing worth mentioning is brought in after dinner, and that if anything were brought in, they would not leave off eating." The Persians are much addicted to wine. They are accustomed to debate the most important affairs when intoxicated; but whatever they have determined on in such deliberation, is on the following day, when they are sober, proposed to them by the master of the house where they have met to consult; and if they approve of it when sober also, then they adopt it; if not, they reject it. And whatever they have first resolved on when sober, they reconsider when intoxicated. When they meet one another in the streets, one may discover by the following custom, whether those who meet are equals. For instead of accosting one another, they kiss on the mouth; if one be a little inferior to the other, they kiss the cheek; but if he be of a much lower rank, he prostrates himself before the other.

The Persians are of all nations the most ready to adopt foreign customs; for they wear the Medic costume, thinking it handsomer than their own; and in war they use the Egyptian cuirass. From the age of five years to twenty, they instruct their sons in three things only: to ride, to use the bow, and to speak the truth. Before he is five years of age, a son is not admitted to the presence of his father, but lives entirely with the women: the reason of this custom is, that if he should die in childhood, he may occasion no grief to his father.

Now I much approve of the above custom, as also of the following, that not even the king is allowed to put any one to death for a single crime, nor any private Persian exercise extreme severity against any of his domestics for one fault, but if on examination he should find that his misdeeds are more numerous and greater than his services, he may in that case give vent to his anger. They say that no one ever yet killed his own father or mother. To tell a lie is considered by them the greatest disgrace; next to that, to be in debt; for the reason that one who is in debt must of necessity tell lies. Whosoever of the citizens has the leprosy or scrofula, is not permitted to stay within a town, nor to have communication with other Persians; and they say that a man is afflicted with these diseases from having committed some offence against the sun. Every stranger that is seized with these distempers they drive out of the country; and they do the same to white pigeons, making the same charge against them. They neither spit, nor wash their hands in a river, but pay extreme veneration to all rivers. Another circumstance is also peculiar to them which has escaped the notice of the Persians themselves, but not of us. Their names, which correspond with their personal forms and their rank, all terminate in the same letter (s) which the Dorians call San, and the Ionians Sigma. If you inquire into this you will find, that all Persian names, without exception, end in the same letter. These things I can with certainty affirm to be true, since I myself know them. But what follows, relating to the dead, is only secretly mentioned, viz.: that the dead body of a Persian is never buried until it has been torn by some bird or dog; but I know for a certainty that the Magi do this, for they do it openly. The Persians then, having covered the body with wax, conceal it in the ground. The Magi differ very much from all other men, and particularly from the Egyptian priests, for the latter hold it matter of religion not to kill any thing that has life, except such things as they offer in sacrifice; whereas the Magi kill every thing with their own hands, except a dog or a man; and they think they do a meritorious thing, when they kill ants, serpents, and other reptiles and birds.

CHAPTER VI.
THE ASIATIC GREEKS AND THE LYDIAN REVOLT.

The Ionians and Æolians, as soon as the Lydians were subdued by the Persians, sent ambassadors to Cyrus at Sardis, wishing to become subject to him, on the same terms as they had been to Crœsus. But, when he heard their proposal, he told them this story: "A piper seeing some fishes in the sea, began to pipe, expecting that they would come to shore; but finding his hopes disappointed, he took a casting-net, with which he caught a great number of fishes, and drew them out. When he saw them leaping about, he said to the fishes: 'Cease your dancing, since when I piped you would not come out and dance.'" Cyrus told this story to the Ionians and Æolians, because the Ionians, when Cyrus pressed them by his ambassador to revolt from Crœsus, refused to consent, and now, when the business was done, were ready to listen to him. When the Ionians heard this message, they severally fortified themselves with walls, and met together at the Panionium, with the exception of the Milesians; for Cyrus made an alliance with them on the same terms as the Lydians had done. The rest of the Ionians resolved unanimously to send ambassadors to Sparta, to implore them to succor the Ionians. These Ionians, to whom the Panionium belongs, have built their cities under the finest sky and climate of the world that we know of; for neither the regions that are above it, nor those that are below, nor the parts to the east or west, are at all equal to Ionia; for some of them are oppressed by cold and rain, others by heat and drought. These Ionians do not all use the same language, but have four varieties of dialect. Miletus, the first of them, lies toward the south.

The Milesians were sheltered from danger, as they had made an alliance. The islanders also had nothing to fear; for the Phœnicians were not yet subject to the Persians, nor were the Persians themselves at all acquainted with maritime affairs. Now the Milesians had seceded from the rest of the Ionians only for this reason, that weak as the Grecian race then was, the Ionian was weakest of all, and of least account; for except Athens, there was no other city of note. The other Ionians, therefore, and the Athenians shunned the name, and would not be called Ionians; and even now many of them appear to me to be ashamed of the name. But these twelve cities gloried in the name, and built a temple for their own use, to which they gave the name of Panionium.

When the ambassadors of the Ionians and Æolians arrived at Sparta, they made choice of a Phocæan, whose name was Pythermus, to speak in behalf of all. Putting on a purple robe, in order that as many as possible of the Spartans might hear of it and assemble, he addressed them at length, imploring their assistance. But the Lacedæmonians would not listen to him, and determined not to assist the Ionians: they therefore returned home. Yet the Lacedæmonians, though they had rejected the Ionian ambassadors, despatched men in a penteconter, to keep an eye upon the affairs of Cyrus and Ionia. These men arriving in Phocæa, sent the most eminent person among them, whose name was Lacrines, to Sardis, to warn Cyrus in the name of the Lacedæmonians, "not to injure any city on the Grecian territory, for in that case they would not pass it by unnoticed." When the herald gave this message, it is related that Cyrus inquired of the Greeks who were present, who the Lacedæmonians were, and how many in number, that they sent him such a warning. And when informed, he said to the Spartan herald, "I was never yet afraid of those, who in the midst of their city have a place set apart, in which they collect and cheat one another by false oaths; and if I continue in health, not the calamities of the Ionians shall be talked about, but their own." This taunt of Cyrus was levelled at the Greeks in general, who have markets for the purposes of buying and selling; for the Persians have no such a thing as a market. After this, Cyrus intrusted Tabalus a Persian with the government of Sardis, and appointed Pactyas a Lydian to bring away the gold, both that belonging to Crœsus and to the other Lydians, and departed with Cyrus for Ecbatana, for from the first he took no account of the Ionians. But Babylon was an obstacle to him, as were also the Bactrians, the Sacæ, and the Egyptians; against whom he resolved to lead an army in person, and to send some other general against the Ionians. But as soon as Cyrus had marched from Sardis, Pactyas prevailed on the Lydians to revolt from Tabalus and Cyrus; and going down to the sea-coast, with all the gold taken from Sardis in his possession, he hired mercenaries and persuaded the inhabitants of the coast to join him; and then having marched against Sardis, he besieged Tabalus, who was shut up in the citadel.

When Cyrus heard this news on his march, he said to Crœsus;

"Crœsus, what will be the end of these things? the Lydians, it seems, will never cease to give trouble to me, and to themselves. I am in doubt whether it will not be better to reduce them to slavery; for I appear to have acted like one who, having killed the father, has spared the children; so I am carrying away you, who have been something more than a father to the Lydians, and have intrusted their city to the Lydians themselves: and then I wonder at their rebellion!" Crœsus, fearing lest he should utterly destroy Sardis, answered: "Sir, you have but too much reason for what you say; yet do not give full vent to your anger, nor utterly destroy an ancient city, which is innocent as well of the former as of the present offence: for of the former I myself was guilty, and now bear the punishment on my own head; but in the present instance Pactyas, to whom you intrusted Sardis, is the culprit; let him therefore pay the penalty. But pardon the Lydians, and enjoin them to observe the following regulations, to the end that they may never more revolt, nor be troublesome to you: send to them and order them to keep no weapons of war in their possession; and enjoin them to wear tunics under their cloaks, and buskins on their feet; and require them to teach their sons to play on the cithara, to strike the guitar, and to sell by retail; and then you will soon see them becoming women instead of men, so that they will never give you any apprehensions about their revolting." Crœsus suggested this plan, thinking it would be more desirable for the Lydians, than that they should be sold for slaves; and being persuaded, that unless he could suggest some feasible proposal, he should not prevail with him to alter his resolution: and he dreaded also, that the Lydians, if they should escape the present danger, might hereafter revolt from the Persians, and bring utter ruin on themselves. Cyrus, pleased with the expedient, laid aside his anger, and said that he would follow his advice: then having sent for Mazares, a Mede, he commanded him to order the Lydians to conform themselves to the regulations proposed by Crœsus, and moreover to enslave all the rest who had joined the Lydians in the attack on Sardis; but by all means to bring Pactyas to him alive. Cyrus having given these orders on his way, proceeded to the settlements of the Persians. But Pactyas heard that the army which was coming against him was close at hand, and fled in great consternation to Cyme. Mazares marched against Sardis with an inconsiderable division of Cyrus's army, but found that Pactyas and his party were no longer there. He, however, compelled the Lydians to conform to the injunctions of Cyrus; who, by his order, completely changed their mode of life: after this Mazares despatched messengers to Cyme, requiring them to deliver up Pactyas. But the Cymæans, in order to come to a decision, resolved to refer the matter to the deity at Branchidæ, for an oracular shrine was there erected in former times, which all the Ionians and Æolians were in the practice of consulting. The Cymæans asked the oracle "what course they should pursue respecting Pactyas, that would be most pleasing to the gods:" the answer to their question was, that they should deliver up Pactyas to the Persians. When this answer was reported, they determined to give him up; but, Aristodicus the son of Heraclides, a man of high repute among the citizens, distrusting the oracle, and suspecting the sincerity of the consulters, prevented them from doing so; till at last other messengers, among whom was Aristodicus, went to inquire a second time concerning Pactyas. When they arrived at Branchidæ, Aristodicus consulted the oracle in the name of all, inquiring in these words: "O king, Pactyas, a Lydian, has come to us as a suppliant, to avoid a violent death at the hands of the Persians. They now demand him, and require the Cymæans to give him up. We, however, though we dread the Persian power, have not yet dared to surrender the suppliant, till it be plainly declared by thee what we ought to do." The oracle gave the same answer as before. Upon this Aristodicus deliberately acted as follows; walking round the temple, he took away all the sparrows and all other kinds of birds that had built nests in the temple; whereupon a voice issued from the sanctuary; addressing Aristodicus, it spoke as follows: "O most impious of men, how darest thou do this? Dost thou tear my suppliants from my temple?" Aristodicus without hesitation answered, "O king, art thou then so careful to succor thy suppliants, but biddest the Cymæans to deliver up theirs?" The oracle again rejoined: "Yes, I bid you do so; that having acted impiously, ye may the sooner perish, and never more come and consult the oracle about the delivering up of suppliants." When the Cymæans heard this latter answer, not wishing to bring destruction on themselves by surrendering Pactyas, or to subject themselves to a siege by protecting him, they sent him away to Mitylene. But the Mitylenæans, when Mazares sent a message to them requiring them to deliver up Pactyas, were preparing to do so for some remuneration; what, I am unable to say precisely, for the proposal was never completed. For the Cymæans, being informed of what was being done by the Mitylenæans, despatched a vessel to Lesbos, and transported Pactyas to Chios, whence he was torn by violence from the temple of Minerva Poliuchus by the Chians, and delivered up. The Chians delivered him up in exchange for Atarneus, a place situate in Mysia, opposite Lesbos. In this manner Pactyas fell into the hands of the Persians; who kept him under guard in order that they might deliver him to Cyrus. For a long time after this, none of the Chians would offer barley-meal from Atarneus to any of the gods, or make any cakes of the fruit that came from them; but all the productions of that country were excluded from the temples. Mazares, after this, marched against those who had assisted in besieging Tabalus; and in the first place reduced the Prienians to slavery, and in the next overran the whole plain of the Mæander, and gave it to his army to pillage; and he treated Magnesia in the same manner: but shortly afterward fell sick and died.

On his death Harpagus came down as his successor in the command; he also was by birth a Mede, the same whom Astyages king of the Medes entertained at the impious feast, and who assisted Cyrus in ascending the throne. This man being appointed general by Cyrus, on his arrival in Ionia, took several cities by means of earth-works; for he forced the people to retire within their fortifications, and then, having heaped up mounds against the walls, he carried the cities by storm. Phocæa was the first place in Ionia that he attacked.

These Phocæans were the first of all the Greeks who undertook long voyages, and they are the people who discovered the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, Iberia, and Tartessus.[7] They made their voyages in fifty-oared galleys, and not in merchant-ships. When they arrived at Tartessus they were kindly received by the king of the Tartessians, whose name was Arganthonius; he reigned eighty years over Tartessus, and lived to the age of one hundred and twenty. The Phocæans became such great favorites with him, that he at first solicited them to abandon Ionia, and to settle in any part of his territory they should choose; but afterward, finding he could not prevail with them to accept his offer, and hearing from them the increasing power of the Mede, he gave them money for the purpose of building a wall around their city; he must have given it unsparingly, for the wall is not a few stades in circumference, and is entirely built of large and well-compacted stones. When Harpagus had marched his army against the Phocæans, he besieged them, but offered these terms: "that he would be content if the Phocæans would throw down only one of their battlements, and consecrate one house to the king's use." The Phocæans, detesting slavery, said, "that they wished for one day to deliberate, and would then give their answer"; but while they were deliberating they required him to draw off his forces from the wall. Harpagus said, that "though he well knew their design, yet he would permit them to consult together." In the interval, then, during which Harpagus withdrew his army from the wall, the Phocæans launched their fifty-oared galleys, and having put their wives, children, and goods on board, together with the images from the temples and other offerings, except works of bronze or stone, or pictures, they embarked themselves, and set sail for Chios: and the Persians took possession of Phocæa, abandoned by all its inhabitants. The Phocæans, when the Chians refused to sell them the Œnyssæ Islands, for fear they should become the seat of trade, and their own island be thereby excluded, directed their course to Cyrnus; where, by the admonition of an oracle, they had twenty years before built a city, named Alalia. But Arganthonius was at that time dead. On their passage to Cyrnus, having first sailed down to Phocæa, they put to death the Persian garrison which had been left by Harpagus to guard the city. Afterward, when this was accomplished, they pronounced terrible imprecations on any who should desert the fleet; besides this, they sunk a mass of red-hot iron, and swore "that they would never return to Phocæa, till this burning mass should appear again." Nevertheless, as they were on their way toward Cyrnus, more than one half of the citizens were seized with regret and yearning for their city and dwellings in the country, and violating their oaths, sailed back to Phocæa; but such of them as kept to their oath weighed anchor and sailed from the Œnyssæ Islands. On their arrival at Cyrnus they lived for five years in common with the former settlers: but as they ravaged the territories of all their neighbors, the Tyrrhenians and Carthaginians combined together to make war against them, each with sixty ships: and the Phocæans, on their part, having manned their ships, consisting of sixty in number, met them in the Sardinian Sea; and having engaged, the Phocæans obtained a kind of Cadmean victory;[8] for forty of their own ships were destroyed, and the twenty that survived were disabled, for their prows were blunted. They therefore sailed back to Alalia, took on board their wives and children, with what property their ships were able to carry, and leaving Cyrnus, sailed to Rhegium. As to the men belonging to the ships destroyed, most of them fell into the hands of the Carthaginians and Tyrrhenians, who took them on shore and stoned them to death. But afterward all animals belonging to the Argyllæans that passed by the spot where the Phocæans who had been stoned lay, became distorted, maimed, and crippled, as well sheep, as beasts of burden and men. The Argyllæans, therefore, being anxious to expiate the guilt, sent to Delphi; and the Pythian enjoined them to use those rites which they still observe; for they commemorate their death with great magnificence, and have established gymnastic and equestrian contests. This was the fate of these Phocæans; but the others, who fled to Rhegium, left that place, and got possession of the town in the territory of Œnotria, which is now called Hyela, which they colonized by the advice of a certain Posidonian, who told them the Pythia had directed them to establish sacred rites to Cyrnus as being a hero, but not to colonize the island of that name.

The Teians also acted nearly in the same manner as the Phocæans. For when Harpagus by means of his earth-works had made himself master of their walls, they all went on board their ships, and sailed away to Thrace, and there settled in the city of Abdera; which Timesius of Clazomenæ having formerly founded, did not enjoy, but was driven out by the Thracians, and is now honored as a hero by the Teians of Abdera.

These were the only Ionians who abandoned their country rather than submit to servitude. The rest, except the Milesians, gave battle to Harpagus, and as well as those who abandoned their country, proved themselves brave men, each fighting for his own; but defeated and subdued, they remained in their own countries, and submitted to the commands imposed on them. The Milesians, as I have before mentioned, having made a league with Cyrus, remained quiet. So was Ionia a second time enslaved, and the islanders, dreading the same fate, made their submission to Cyrus. When the Ionians were brought into this wretched condition, and nevertheless still held assemblies at Panionium, I am informed that Bias of Priene gave them most salutary advice, which, had they harkened to him, would have made them the most flourishing of all the Greeks. He advised, "that the Ionians, should sail in one common fleet to Sardinia, and there build one city for all the Ionians; thus being freed from servitude, they would flourish, inhabiting the most considerable of the islands, and governing the rest; whereas if they remained in Ionia, he saw no hope of recovering their liberty." But before Ionia was ruined, the suggestion of Thales, the Milesian, who was of Phœnician extraction, was also good, who advised that the Ionians should constitute one general council in Teos, which stands in the centre of Ionia; and that the rest of the inhabited cities should be governed as independent states.

Harpagus having subdued Ionia, marched against the Carians, Cannians, Lycians, Ionians, and Æolians; of whom the Carians were by far the most famous of all nations in those times. They introduced three inventions which the Greeks have adopted. For the Carians set the example of fastening crests upon helmets and of putting devices on shields; they are also the first who attached handles to shields; until their time all who used shields carried them without handles, guiding them with leathern thongs, having them slung round their necks and left shoulders.

The Lycians were originally sprung from Crete, for in ancient time Crete was entirely in the possession of barbarians. But a dispute having arisen between Sarpedon and Minos, sons of Europa, respecting the sovereign power, when Minos got the upper hand in the struggle, he drove out Sarpedon with his partisans; and they being expelled came to the land of Milyas in Asia, and were afterwards joined by Lycus son of Pandion of Athens, who was likewise driven out by his brother Ægeus, and came to be called Lycians after him. Their customs are partly Cretan and partly Carian; but they have one peculiar to themselves, in which they differ from all other nations: they take their name from their mothers and not from their fathers; so that if any one asks another who he is, he will describe himself by his mother's side, and reckon his ancestry in the female line. And if a free-born woman marry a slave, the children are accounted of pure birth; but if a man though a citizen, and of high rank, marry a foreigner, the children are considered low born.

All Cnidia, except a small space, is surrounded by water; for the Ceramic gulf bounds it on the north, and on the south the sea by Syme and Rhodes: now this small space, which is about five stades in breadth, the Cnidians, wishing to make their territory insular, designed to dig through, while Harpagus was subduing Ionia. For the whole of their dominions were within the isthmus; and where the Cnidian territory terminates toward the continent, there is the isthmus that they designed to dig through. But, as they were carrying on the work with great diligence, the workmen appeared to be wounded to a greater extent and in a more strange manner than usual, both in other parts of the body, and particularly in the eyes, by the chipping of the rock; they therefore sent deputies to Delphi to inquire what was the cause of the obstruction; and, as the Cnidians say, the Pythia answered as follows in trimeter verse: "Build not a tower on the isthmus, nor dig it through, for Jove would have made it an island had he so willed." So the Cnidians desisted from their work, and surrendered without resistance to Harpagus, as soon as he approached with his army. The Pedasians were situated inland above Halicarnassus. When any mischief is about to befall them or their neighbors, the priestess of Minerva has a long beard: this has three times occurred. These were the only people about Caria who opposed Harpagus for any time and gave him much trouble, by fortifying a mountain called Lyda. After some time, however, they were subdued. The Lycians, when Harpagus marched his army toward the Xanthian plain, went out to meet him, and engaging with very inferior numbers, displayed great feats of valor. But being defeated and shut up within their city, they collected their wives, children, property, and servants within the citadel, and then set fire to it and burnt it to the ground. When they had done this, and engaged themselves by the strongest oaths, all the Xanthians went out and died fighting. Of the modern Lycians, who are said to be Xanthians, all, except eighty families, are strangers; but these eighty families happened at the time to be away from home and so survived. Thus Harpagus got possession of Xanthus and Caunia almost in the same manner; for the Caunians generally followed the example of the Lycians.

CHAPTER VII.
THE CONQUEST OF ASSYRIA AND THE WAR WITH THE MASSAGETÆ.

While Harpagus was reducing the lower parts of Asia, Cyrus had conquered the upper parts, subduing every nation without exception. The greatest parts of these I shall pass by without notice; but I will make mention of those which gave him most trouble, and are most worthy of being recorded.

Assyria contains many large cities, the most renowned and the strongest of which, where the seat of government was established after the destruction of Nineveh, was Babylon, which is of the following description. The city stands in a spacious plain, and is quadrangular, and shows a front on every side of one hundred and twenty stades [15 miles]; these stades make up the sum of four hundred and eighty in the whole circumference. It was adorned in a manner surpassing any city we are acquainted with. In the first place, a moat deep, wide, and full of water, runs entirely round it; next, there is a wall fifty royal cubits in breadth [about 84 feet], and in height two hundred [270 feet], but the royal cubit is larger than the common one by three fingers' breadth. And here I think I ought to explain how the earth, taken out of the moat, was consumed, and in what manner the wall was built. As they dug the moat they made bricks of the earth that was taken out; and when they had moulded a sufficient number they baked them in kilns. Then making use of hot asphalt for cement, and laying wattled reeds between the thirty bottom courses of bricks, they first built up the sides of the moat, and afterward the wall itself in the same manner; and on the top of the wall, at the edges, they built dwellings of one story, fronting each other, having spaces between these dwellings wide enough to turn a chariot with four horses. In the circumference of the wall there were a hundred gates, all of bronze, as also were the posts and lintels. Eight days' journey from Babylon [200 miles] stands another city, called Is, on a small river of the same name, which discharges its stream into the Euphrates; this river brings down with its water many lumps of bitumen, from which the bitumen used in the wall of Babylon was taken. The city consists of two divisions, for the Euphrates, separates it in the middle: this river, which is broad, deep, and rapid, flows from Armenia, and falls into the Red Sea. The wall on either bank has an elbow carried down to the river; and thence along the curvatures of each bank runs a wall of baked bricks. The city itself, which is full of houses three and four stories high, is cut up into straight streets running at right angles to each other. At the end of each street a little gate is formed in the wall along the river side, in number equal to the streets; and they are all made of bronze, and lead down to the edge of the river. This outer wall is the chief defence, but another wall runs round within, not much inferior to the other in strength, though narrower. In the middle of each division of the city fortified buildings were erected; in one, the royal palace, with a spacious and strong enclosure, bronze-gated; and in the other, the precinct of Jupiter Belus, which in my time was still in existence, a square building of two stades [¼ of a mile] on every side. In the midst of this precinct is built a solid tower of one stade both in length and breadth, and on this tower rose another, and another upon that, to the number of eight. And there is an ascent to these outside, running spirally round all the towers. About the middle of the ascent there is a landing-place and seats on which those who go up may rest themselves; and in the uppermost tower stands a spacious temple, handsomely furnished, and in it a large couch, with a table of gold by its side. No statue has been erected within it, but as the Chaldæans, who are priests of this deity, assert, though I cannot credit what they say, the god himself comes to the temple and reclines on the bed, in the same manner as the Egyptians say happens at Thebes in Egypt.

There is also another temple below, within the precinct at Babylon; in it is a large golden statue of Jupiter seated, and near it a great table of gold; the throne also and the step are of gold, which together weigh eight hundred talents [twenty-two tons], as the Chaldæans affirm. Outside the temple is a golden altar; and another large altar, where full-grown sheep are sacrificed; for on the golden altar only sucklings may be offered. On the great altar the Chaldæans consume yearly a thousand talents [twenty-seven tons] of frankincense when they celebrate the festival of this god. There was also at that time within the precincts of this temple a statue of solid gold, twelve cubits high [eighteen feet]; I, indeed, did not see it, but only relate what is said by the Chaldæans. Darius, son of Hystaspes, formed a design to take away this statue, but dared not do so; but Xerxes, son of Darius, took it, and killed the priest who forbade him to remove it.

There were many others who reigned over Babylon, whom I shall mention in my Assyrian history, who beautified the walls and temples, and amongst them were two women. The first of these, named Semiramis, lived five generations before the other; she raised mounds along the plain, which are worthy of admiration; for before, the river used to overflow the whole plain like a sea. But the other, who was queen next after her, and whose name was Nitocris, (and she was much more sagacious than the other queen,) in the first place left monuments of herself, which I shall presently describe; and in the next place, when she saw the power of the Medes growing formidable and restless, and that, among other cities, Nineveh was captured by them, she took every possible precaution for her own defence. First of all, the River Euphrates, which before ran in a straight line, and which flows through the middle of the city, by having channels dug above, she made so winding, that in its course it touched three times at one and the same village in Assyria, called Arderica: and to this day, those who go from our sea to Babylon, if they travel by the Euphrates, come three times to this village on three successive days. She also raised on either bank of the river a mound, astonishing for its magnitude and height. At a considerable distance above Babylon, she had a reservoir for a lake dug, carrying it out some distance from the river, and in the depth digging down to water, and in width making its circumference of four hundred and twenty stades [about fifty-two and a half miles]: she consumed the soil from this excavation by heaping it up on the banks of the river, and when it was completely dug, she had stones brought and built a casing to it all round. She had both these works done, the river made winding, and the whole excavation a lake, in order that the current, being broken by frequent turnings, might be more slow, and the navigation to Babylon tedious, and that after the voyage, a long march round the lake might follow. All this was done in that part of the country where the approach to Babylon is nearest, and where is the shortest way for the Medes; in order that the Medes might not, by holding intercourse with her people, become acquainted with her affairs. She enclosed herself, therefore, with these defences by digging, and immediately afterwards made the following addition. As the city consisted of two divisions, which were separated by the river, during the reign of former kings, when any one had occasion to cross from one division to the other, he was obliged to cross in a boat: and this, in my opinion, was very troublesome: she therefore provided for this, for after she had dug the reservoir for the lake, she left this other monument built by similar toil. She had large blocks of stone cut, and when they were ready and the place was completely dug out, she turned the whole stream of the river into the place she had dug: while this was filling, and the ancient channel had become dry, in the first place, she lined with burnt bricks the banks of the river throughout the city, and the descents that lead from the gates to the river, in the same manner as the walls. In the next place, about the middle of the city, she built a bridge with the stones she had prepared, and bound them together with plates of lead and iron. Upon these stones she laid, during the day, square planks of timber, on which the Babylonians might pass over; but at night these planks were removed, to prevent people from crossing by night and robbing one another. When the hollow that was dug had become a lake filled by the river, and the bridge was finished, she brought back the river to its ancient channel from the lake.

The same queen also contrived the following deception. Over the most frequented gate of the city she prepared a sepulchre for herself, high up above the gate itself; and on the sepulchre she had engraved, Should any one of my successors, kings of Babylon, find himself in want of money, let him open this sepulchre, and take as much as he chooses; but if he be not in want, let him not open it; for that were not well. This monument remained undisturbed, until the kingdom fell to Darius; but it seemed hard to Darius that this gate should be of no use, and that when money was lying there, and this money inviting him to take it, he should not do so; but no use was made of this gate for this reason, that a dead body was over the head of any one who passed through it. He therefore opened the sepulchre, and instead of money, found only the body, and these words written: Hadst thou not been insatiably covetous, and greedy of the most sordid gain, thou wouldest not have opened the chambers of the dead.

Cyrus made war against the son of this queen, who bore the name of his father Labynetus, and had the empire of Assyria. Now when the great king leads his army in person, he carries with him from home well prepared provisions and cattle; and he takes with him water from the river Choaspes, which flows past Susa, of which alone, the king drinks. A great number of four-wheeled carriages drawn by mules carry the water of this river, after it has been boiled in silver vessels, and follow him from place to place wherever he marches. Cyrus, in his march against Babylon, arrived at the river Gyndes, whose fountains are in the Matianian mountains, and which flows through the land of the Dardanians, and falls into another river, the Tigris; the latter, flowing by the city of Opis, discharges itself into the Red Sea. When Cyrus was endeavoring to cross this river Gyndes, which can be passed only in boats, one of the sacred white horses through wantonness plunged into the stream, and attempted to swim over, but the stream having carried him away and drowned him, Cyrus was much enraged with the river for this affront, and threatened to make his stream so weak, that henceforth women should easily cross it without wetting their knees. After this menace, deferring his expedition against Babylon, he divided his army into two parts; and marked out by lines one hundred and eighty channels, on each side of the river, diverging every way; then having distributed his army, he commanded them to dig. His design was indeed executed by the great numbers he employed; but they spent the whole summer in the work. When Cyrus had avenged himself on the river Gyndes, by distributing it into three hundred and sixty channels, and the second spring began to shine, he then advanced against Babylon. But the Babylonians, having taken the field, awaited his coming; and when he had advanced near the city, the Babylonians gave battle, and, being defeated, were shut up in the city. But as they had been long aware of the restless spirit of Cyrus, and saw that he attacked all nations alike, they had laid up provisions for many years; and therefore were under no apprehensions about a siege. On the other hand, Cyrus found himself in difficulty, since much time had elapsed, and his affairs were not at all advanced. Whether therefore some one else made the suggestion to him in his perplexity, or whether he himself devised the plan, he had recourse to the following stratagem. Having stationed the bulk of his army near the passage of the river where it enters Babylon, and again having stationed another division beyond the city, where the river makes its exit, he gave orders to his forces to enter the city as soon as they should see the stream fordable. Having thus stationed his forces, and given these directions, he himself marched away with the ineffective part of his army; and coming to the lake, Cyrus did the same with respect to the river and the lake as the queen of the Babylonians had done. For having diverted the river, by means of a canal, into the lake, which was before a swamp, he made the ancient channel fordable by the sinking of the river. When this took place, the Persians who were appointed to that purpose close to the stream of the river, which had now subsided to about the middle of a man's thigh, entered Babylon by this passage. If, however, the Babylonians had been aware of it beforehand, or had known what Cyrus was about, they would not have suffered the Persians to enter the city, but would have utterly destroyed them; for having shut all the little gates that lead down to the river, and mounting the walls that extend along the banks of the river, they would have caught them as in a net; whereas the Persians came upon them by surprise. It is related by the people who inhabited this city, that on account of its great extent, when they who were at the extremities were taken, those of the Babylonians who inhabited the centre knew nothing of the capture (for it happened to be a festival) but they were dancing at the time, and enjoying themselves, till they received certain information of the truth. Thus was Babylon taken for the first time.[9]

How great was the power of the Babylonians, I can prove by many other circumstances, and especially by the following. The whole territory over which the great king reigns, is divided into districts for the purpose of furnishing subsistence for him and his army, in addition to the usual tribute; of the twelve months in the year, the Babylonian territory provides him with subsistence for four, and all the rest of Asia for the remaining eight; so that the territory of Assyria amounts to a third part of the power of all Asia, and the government of this region, which the Persians call a satrapy, is remunerative; since it yielded a full artabe of silver every day to Tritæchmes son of Artabazus, who held this district from the king: the artabe is a Persian measure, containing three Attic chœnices more than the Attic medimnus [or about twelve and a half gallons]. And he had a private stud of horses, in addition to those used in war, of eight hundred stallions, and sixteen thousand mares. He kept, too, such a number of Indian dogs, that four considerable towns in the plain were exempted from all other taxes and appointed to find food for the dogs. Such were the advantages accruing to the governor of Babylon. The land of Assyria is but little watered by rain, only enough in fact to nourish the root of the corn; the stalk grows up, and the grain comes to maturity only by being irrigated from the river, not, as in Egypt, by the river overflowing the fields, but by the hand and by engines. The Babylonian territory, like Egypt, is intersected by canals; and the largest of these is navigable, stretching in the direction of the winter sunrise[10]; and it extends from the Euphrates to another river, the Tigris, on which the city of Nineveh stood. This is, of all lands with which we are acquainted, by far the best for the growth of corn: but it does not carry produce trees of any kind, either the fig, or the vine, or the olive; yet it is so fruitful in the produce of corn, that it yields continually two hundred-fold, and when it produces its best, it yields even three hundred-fold. The blades of wheat and barley grow there to fully four fingers (three inches) in breadth; and though I well know to what a height millet and sesama grow, I shall not mention it; for I am well assured, that to those who have never been in the Babylonian country, what has been said concerning its productions will appear to many incredible. They use no other oil than such as is drawn from sesama. They have palm-trees growing all over the plain; most of these bear fruit from which they make bread, wine, and honey. They also tie the fruit of that which the Greeks call the male palm, about those trees that bear dates, in order that the fly entering the date may ripen it, lest otherwise the fruit may fall before maturity; for the male palms have flies in the fruit, just like wild fig-trees.

The most wonderful thing of all, next to the city itself, is what I am now going to describe: their vessels that sail down the river to Babylon are circular, and made of leather. For when they have cut the ribs out of willows that grow in Armenia above Babylon, they cover them with hides extended on the outside, by way of a bottom; not making any distinction in the stern, nor contracting the prow, but making them circular like a buckler; then having lined this vessel throughout with reeds, they suffer it to be carried down by the river freighted with merchandise, chiefly casks of palm-wine. The vessel is steered by two spars, held by two men standing upright, one of whom draws his spar in and the other thrusts his out. Some of these vessels are made very large, and others of a smaller size; but the largest of them carry a cargo of five thousand talents [about one hundred and thirty-five tons]. Every vessel has a live ass on board, and the larger ones more. For after they arrive at Babylon, and have disposed of their freight, they sell the ribs of the boat and all the reeds by public auction; then having piled the skins on the asses, they return by land to Armenia, for it is not possible by any means to sail up the river because of the rapidity of the current: and for this reason they make their vessels of skins and not of wood, and upon their return to Armenia with their asses, they construct other vessels in the same manner. For their dress, they wear a linen tunic that reaches down to the feet; over this they put another garment of wool, and over all a short white cloak; they have sandals peculiar to the country, very much like the Bœotian clogs. They wear long hair, binding their heads with turbans, and anoint the whole body with perfumes. Every man has a seal, and a staff curiously wrought; and on every staff is carved either an apple, a rose, a lily, an eagle, or something of the kind; for it is not allowable to wear a stick without a device.

Many curious customs prevail amongst them. This, in my opinion, is the wisest, which I hear the Venetians, of Illyria, also practise. Once a year, in every village, whatever maidens are of a marriageable age, they collect together and bring in a body to one place; around them gathers a crowd of men. Then a crier having made them stand up one by one, offers them for sale, beginning with the most beautiful; and when she has been sold for a large sum, he puts up another who is next in beauty. They are sold on condition that they shall be married. Such men among the Babylonians as are rich and desirous of marrying, bid against one another, and purchase the handsomest. But such of the lower classes as are desirous of marrying, do not require a beautiful form, but are willing to take the plainer damsels with a sum of money. So when the crier has finished selling the handsomest of the maidens, he makes the ugliest stand up, or one that is a cripple, and puts her up to auction, for the person who will marry her with the smallest sum, until she is knocked down to the man who offers to take the least. This money is that obtained from the sale of the handsome maidens; so that the beautiful ones portion out the ugly and the crippled. A father is not allowed to give his daughter in marriage to whom he pleases, nor can a purchaser carry off a maiden without security; but he is first obliged to give security that he will certainly marry her, and then he may take her away. If they do not agree, a law has been enacted that the money shall be repaid. It is also lawful for any one who pleases to come from another village and purchase. They have also this other custom, second only to the former in wisdom. They bring their sick to the market-place, for they have no physicians; then those who pass by the sick person confer with him about the disease, to discover whether they have themselves been afflicted with the same disease, or have seen others so afflicted. They then advise him to have recourse to the same treatment as that by which they escaped a similar disease, or have known to cure others. And no one passes by a sick person in silence, without inquiring into the nature of his distemper. They embalm their dead in honey, and their funeral lamentations are like those of the Egyptians.

There are three tribes among them that eat nothing but fish; these, when they have taken and dried them in the sun, they treat in the following manner: they put them into a mortar, and having pounded them with a pestle, sift them through a fine cloth; then, whoever pleases, kneads them into a cake, or bakes them like bread.

When Cyrus had conquered this nation, he was anxious to reduce the Massagetæ to subjection. This nation is said to be both powerful and valiant, dwelling toward the east and the rising sun beyond the river Araxes, over against the Issedonians; there are some who say that this nation is Scythian. The Araxes is reported by some persons to be greater, by others less, than the Ister; they say that there are many islands in it, some nearly equal in size to Lesbos; and that in them are men, who during the summer feed upon all manner of roots, which they dig out of the ground; and that they store up for food ripe fruits which they find on the trees, and feed upon these during the winter. They add, that they have discovered other trees that produce fruit of a peculiar kind, which the inhabitants, when they meet together in companies, and have lighted a fire, throw on it, as they sit around in a circle; and that, inhaling the fumes of the burning fruit that has been thrown on, they become intoxicated by the odor, just as the Greeks do by wine; and that the more fruit is thrown on, the more intoxicated they become, until they rise up to dance and betake themselves to singing. The river Araxes flows from the Matienian mountains, whence also springs the river Gyndes, which Cyrus distributed into the three hundred and sixty trenches; and it gushes out from forty springs, all of which, except one, discharge themselves into fens and swamps, in which it is said men live who feed on raw fish, and clothe themselves in the skins of sea-calves; but the one stream of the Araxes flows through an unobstructed channel into the Caspian Sea. The Caspian is a sea by itself, having no communication with any other sea; for the whole of that which the Greeks navigate, and that beyond the Pillars, called the Atlantic, and the Red Sea, are all one. But the Caspian is a separate sea of itself; being in length a fifteen-days' voyage for a rowing boat; and in breadth, where it is widest, an eight-days' voyage. On the western shore of this sea stretches the Caucasus, which is in extent the largest, and in height the loftiest, of all mountains; it contains within itself many various nations of men, who for the most part live upon the produce of wild fruit-trees. In this country, it is said, there are trees which produce leaves of such a nature, that by rubbing them and mixing them with water the people paint figures on their garments; these figures do not wash out, but grow old with the wool, as if they had been woven in from the first. East of the Caspian is a plain in extent unbounded in the prospect. A great portion of this extensive plain is inhabited by the Massagetæ, against whom Cyrus resolved to make war; for the motives that urged and incited him to this enterprise were many and powerful: first of all his birth, which he thought was something more than human; and secondly, the good fortune which had attended him in his wars; for wherever Cyrus directed his arms, it was impossible for that nation to escape.

A woman whose husband was dead, was queen of the Massagetæ; her name was Tomyris; and Cyrus sent ambassadors under pretence of wooing her, and made her an offer of marriage. But Tomyris, being aware that he was not wooing her, but the kingdom of the Massagetæ, forbade their approach. Upon this Cyrus, perceiving his artifice ineffectual, marched to the Araxes, and openly prepared to make war on the Massagetæ, by throwing bridges over the river, and building turrets on the boats which carried over his army. While he was employed in this work Tomyris sent a herald to him with this message: "King of the Medes, desist from your great exertions; for you cannot know if they will terminate to your advantage; and having desisted, reign over your own dominions, and bear to see me governing what is mine. But if you will not attend to my advice, and prefer every thing before peace; in a word, if you are very anxious to make trial of the Massagetæ, toil no longer in throwing a bridge over the river; but do you cross over to our side, while we retire three days' march from the river; or if you had rather receive us on your side, do you the like." When Cyrus heard this proposal, he called a council of the principal Persians, laid the matter before them, and demanded their opinion as to what he should do: they unanimously advised him to let Tomyris pass with her army into his territory. But Crœsus the Lydian, who was present and disapproved this advice, delivered a contrary opinion to that which was put forward, and said: "O king, I assured you long ago, that since Jupiter delivered me into your hands, I would to the utmost of my power avert whatever misfortune I should see impending over your house; and my own calamities,[11] sad as they are, have been lessons to me. If you think yourself immortal, and that you command an army that is so too, it is needless for me to make known to you my opinion. But if you know that you too are a man, and that you command such as are men, learn this first of all, that there is a wheel in human affairs, which, continually revolving, does not suffer the same persons to be always successful. My opinion touching the matter before us is wholly at variance with that already given. For if we shall receive the enemy into this country, there is danger that if you are defeated, you will lose, besides, your whole empire; for it is plain that if the Massagetæ are victorious, they will not flee home again, but will march upon your territories: and if you are victorious, your victory is not so complete as if, having crossed over into their territory, you should conquer the Massagetæ and put them to flight; for then you can march directly into the dominions of Tomyris. It is a disgrace too that Cyrus the son of Cambyses should give way and retreat before a woman. My opinion, therefore, is, that you should pass over and advance as far as they retire; and then, by the following stratagem, endeavor to get the better of them. I hear the Massagetæ are unacquainted with the Persian luxuries, and are unused to the comforts of life. Suppose then that you cut up and dress an abundance of cattle, and lay out a feast in our camp for these men; and besides, bowls of unmixed wine without stint; then leave the weakest part of your army behind, while the rest return again toward the river; for the Massagetæ, if I mistake not, when they see so much excellent fare, will turn to immediately, and after that there remains for us the display of mighty achievements."

Cyrus approved the suggestions of Crœsus and bade Tomyris retire, as he would cross over to her. She accordingly retired, as she had promised. Cyrus placed Crœsus in the hands of his son Cambyses, to whom he also intrusted the kingdom, and having strictly charged him to honor Crœsus, and treat him well in case his inroad on the Massagetæ should fail, sent them back to Persia and crossed the river with his army. When he had passed the Araxes, and night came on, he saw a vision, as he was sleeping in the country of the Massagetæ. He fancied that he saw the eldest son of Hystaspes with wings on his shoulders; and that with one of these he overshadowed Asia, and with the other Europe. Now Darius, who was then about twenty years of age, was the eldest son of Hystaspes, son of Arsames, one of the Achæmenides; and he had been left in Persia, for he had not yet attained the age of military service. When Cyrus awoke he considered his dream with attention; and as it seemed to him of great moment, he summoned Hystaspes, and taking him aside, said: "Hystaspes, your son has been detected plotting against me and my empire; and I will show you how I know it for a certainty. The gods watch over me and forewarn me of every thing that is about to befall me. Now, last night, as I was sleeping, I saw the eldest of your sons with wings on his shoulders, and with one of these he overshadowed Asia, and Europe with the other; from this vision, it cannot be otherwise than that your son is forming designs against me; do you therefore go back to Persia with all speed, and take care, that when I have conquered these people and return home, you bring your son before me to be examined." Cyrus spoke thus under a persuasion that Darius was plotting against him; but the deity forewarned him that he himself would die in that very expedition, and that his kingdom would devolve on Darius. Hystaspes, however, answered in these words: "God forbid, O king, that a Persian should be born who would plot against you! But if any such there be, may sudden destruction overtake him, for you have made the Persians free instead of being slaves, and instead of being ruled over by others to rule over all; but if any vision informs you that my son is forming any plot against you, I freely surrender him to you to deal with as you please." And Hystaspes repassed the Araxes and went to Persia, for the purpose of keeping his son Darius in custody for Cyrus.