Beacon Lights of History, Volume 04 | Page 6

was the type-man, combining in himself all
that was admirable in his countrymen, and making so strong an
impression on the Greeks that he is presented by their historians as an
ideal prince, invested with all those virtues which the mediaeval
romance-writers have ascribed to the knights of chivalry.
The Persians were ruled by independent chieftains, or petty kings, who
acknowledged fealty to Media; so that Persia was really a province of
Media, as Burgundy was of France in the Middle Ages, and as
Babylonia at one period was of Assyria. The most prominent of these
chieftains or princes was Achaemenes, who is regarded as the founder
of the Persian monarchy. To this royal family of the Achaemenidae
Cyrus belonged. His father Cambyses, called by some a satrap and by

others a king, married, according to Herodotus, a daughter of Astyages,
the last of the Median monarchs.
The youth and education of Cyrus are invested with poetic interest by
both Herodotus and Xenophon, but their narratives have no historical
authority in the eyes of critics, any more than Livy's painting of
Romulus and Remus: they belong to the realm of romance rather than
authentic history. Nevertheless the legend of Cyrus is beautiful, and has
been repeated by all succeeding historians.
According to this legend, Astyages--a luxurious and superstitious
monarch, without the warlike virtues of his father, who had really built
up the Median empire--had a dream that troubled him, which being
interpreted by the Magi, priests of the national religion, was to the
effect that his daughter Mandanê (for he had no legitimate son) would
be married to a prince whose heir should seize the supreme power of
Media. To prevent this, he married her to a prince beneath her rank, for
whom he felt no fear,--Cambyses, the chief governor or king of Persia,
who ruled a territory to the South, about one fifth the size of Media,
and which practically was a dependent province. Another dream which
alarmed Astyages still further, in spite of his precaution, induced him to
send for his daughter, so that having her in his power he might easily
destroy her offspring. As soon as Cyrus was born therefore in the royal
palace at Ecbatana, the king intrusted the infant prince to one of the
principal officers of his court, named Harpagus, with peremptory orders
to destroy him. Harpagus, although he professed unconditional
obedience to his monarch, had scruples about taking the life of one so
near the throne, the grandson of the king and presumptive heir of the
monarchy. So he, in turn, intrusted the royal infant to the care of a
herdsman, in whom he had implicit confidence, with orders to kill him.
The herdsman had a tender-hearted and conscientious wife who had
just given birth to a dead child, and she persuaded her husband--for
even in Media women virtually ruled, as they do everywhere, if they
have tact--to substitute the dead child for the living one, deck it out in
the royal costume, and expose it to wild beasts. This was done, and
Cyrus remained the supposed child of the shepherd. The secret was
well kept for ten years, and both Astyages and Harpagus supposed that

Cyrus was slain.
Cyrus meanwhile grew up among the mountains, a hardy and beautiful
boy, exposed to heat and cold, hunger and fatigue, and thus was early
inured to danger and hardship. Added to personal beauty was
remarkable courage, frankness, and brightness, so that he took the lead
of other boys in their amusements. One day they played king, and
Cyrus was chosen to represent royalty, which he acted so literally as to
beat the son of a Median nobleman for disobedience. The indignant and
angry father complained at once to the king, and Astyages sent for the
herdsman and his supposed son to attend him in his palace. When the
two mountaineers were ushered into the royal presence, Astyages was
so struck with the beauty, wit, and boldness of the boy that he made
earnest inquiries of the herdsman, who was forced to tell the truth, and
confessed that the youth was not his son, but had been put into his
hands by Harpagus with orders to destroy him. The royal origin of
Cyrus was now apparent, and the king sent for Harpagus, who
corroborated the statement of the herdsman. Astyages dissembled his
wrath, as Oriental monarchs can, who are trained to dissimulation, and
the only punishment he inflicted on Harpagus was to set before him at a
banquet a dish made of the arms and legs of a dead infant. This the
courtier in turn professed to relish, but henceforth became the secret
and implacable enemy of the king.
Herodotus tells us that Astyages took the boy, unmistakably his
grandson and heir, to his palace to