New-York tribune., 1874-03-20
THE LECTURE.

IA.
as The title of his lecture. CALL he sald
hun Of whom shall speak 10 you tonight by th's august
title for two reasons. FIRST because the heofe" scrip
tures call him so and next because nc proNcu "eoi'
to he such by actions and their consequences MS
work was very different from any that need nc uohe vi
can he done in these our days Bat, while we thank
Goa that such work unnecessary as lmpossoe we
may thank God likewise that. when suca WORK was
necessary and possible, man was raised MP 10 40 IT,
and TO do H. as all assert better perhaps thah
has ever been done before since The old conquer
ors We hope are soon TO replaced throughout the
worlds here end Great Brltan-by free self-gov
erned eopes hut yet in The old times OF conquest ana
empire we surely believe that God fulfilled HIS own
designs as Scripture asserts that He ana III cyrus Wen
surnamcd the Great tde louhuer ol 'he ois'"" FN'
some .qon years
This old hero and his hardy Persians should be spe
eially interesting us for IN them does our race-he
hryan rlco--asss ia "rthe"ti' "iS'''S - 'N ~
promise OF being the cOnqueriDg and clvlzng race Vi
The future. In that mountain province called Farisan'
tbe dwelbnc-pace OF the Fars Persians there dwet
In the sixth century before Christ hardy tribe OF the
aurest blood of Iran branch OF the same race rs tue
Celtic Teutonic Greek, and HindoO, and speaking
tongue akin to theirs They had wandered thher, said
their legends out OF the northeast from of some
lofty plateau OF Central Asia driven out by the increas
ing cold which gave them only two months OF summer
They despsed at first, the luxurious life OF the Medes
Among hardy PeTans their lads from the age OF
to that OF 90 were instructed but two things-to
speak the truth shoot with the bow. To ride was
the thrI necessary art introduced according 10 Keno
phon after they had descended from their mountain
businesses to conquer the whole East
Their creed was simple enough Ormuz1. their good
spirit was the eternal Creator the source of all light
and life and good He needed sacrifices of blood lie
was to be worshiped Only with prayers with offerings
of the nspirn- iuice OF the unknown herb Horna
aud by the preservation OF the sacred fire, which was
10 them a, were the and the light the symbols OF
divinity. They had no images OF the Gods-these ola
Persaus-nO temples and no aars; ana cohsuered lhe
use of them sgu OF folly. They were, as has been well
said OF them, the Purtans OF the old world When they
descended from their mountain fasnesses they became
the icoEocasts the old world and the later Isaiah saw
in them brother spirits commissioned TO sweep away the
foul eeninaces and supers'itons OF the Semitic peo-
pies of the East.
They believed in evil spirit, also these men of
Persia Their great prophet zJroaser tried to solve
for them the mystery of evi and failed; for IN this
trial who Succeeded Bat he aud they believed that
Ahriman .evIl spirit, constantly at war with
ormuz ana trying TO wrcs, his possessions from him.
But sometime the future, they believed, OrmuZd
was TO triumph and Ahriman to be wholly Overthro~n
Meantime, il was their wO.k to help on the night to
conquer eyh and uphold good, wherever opportunity
offered. Men who held such creed. who coLld speak
truth aui draw tue Dow-Shalmlght they not do when
TIE hour and the man argNeJi
At last the hour and the The story IL half
legendary-ilferenty told by different authors Herod
otus has tale. and Xenophon another. But Herod
ous had ample means Information. Astyages is the
old Shah Median Empire then al the hight of its
seeming might and splendor and efeminacy. He has
married ms duu shter thn Princess Mandana Cam
bysses, seemingly Vasalkng or prince OF the pure
Persian blood one nigut the old Shah is troubled with
a dream. He a vine spring from his daughter,
which OvershadOws all Asia. He sends for the Mag TO
interpret. and they tell him that Nandana VIII have
sou who viii reign in his stead Having sons of his
own and fcaliug for the succession, he sends Tor
Mapdana, aud when her child is born gives it TO
Hsrpagus one OF his cOuers to be slain. The cOurtier
reents aud hands II over 10 herdsmdn TO be
exposed on the mountains The herdsman relents, in
turn and brings up the babe as his own child When
the boy who goes 10y tue name Of Agradaes Is grown
he ia at play with tie other herd boys and they choose
him for mimic king. Some he constitutes his guards
some he commands 10 build houses; carry his
messages The Meie of rank refuses, anu Agra
dates has him seized by his guards. and whipped The
young Mede complains his father and his father 20
King Astvages; SENDS of course for the herdsman
and his boy The noble youth asserts that he had done
nothing but What right His mates had chosen him
for king was then clearly their duty TO obey, and right
that disobedience should be punished. II deserve
punishment for that, he quietly then am ready
to submit"
The old King looks keeny aud wOnderingy at this
boy who seems to have been born king and whose
features resemble hs own. suspicion crosses him
aud by threats of torture he obtains the truth The
Magi told Astyages that bis dream had been fulfilled
already since his grandson had been king, in play
the boy is allowed 20 back, unharmed, to his hardy
Persian life. Already he has enough of Medean
luxury TO despse it. He has his grandfather
with his cheeks rouged. his eyeds stained with
anmony shut away from his subjects like a woman. in
the recesses Of a seraglo. He resolves that the
kingdom shall be more vigorously ruled, and he calls
together the mountain cmeftains and makes friends
with Tgranes Armenian prince, who has wrongs OF
OF his Own 10 ayenge And the two little armies Of foot
soldiers take Old King and keep hun in honorable
captivity thus changing in single battle the fortunes
OF the whole East.
And then begins that series Of conquests OF which
know scarcely than that they were made The
young mountalneer and his playmates-whom he makes
his generals and satraps-sweep onward toward the
West teaching their the art of riding till the Per
sian cavalry becomes famous than the Medean had
been They gather them, as SNOWFALL gathers in
rolling the picked youth Of every tribe whom they
come They knit these tribes them, 10y that truthful
and justice for which Isaiah in his grandest lyric
strains. has made them ilustrious TO all time; which
Xenophon celebrated in like in that exquisite
book Of his the CyroOadia. The great Lydian kingdom
OF CrGus-Asia Minor, call il nOw-gOes down be-
fore them Babylon itself goes down, after that world
famous siege which ended IN Belshazzars feast and
when Cyrus died, the legends say, still in the
prime OF life, he left coherent and wcll-organzed
empire, which stretched from the Mediterranean to
Hindostan.
80 runs tale which to Mr. Kingsley seems proba.
ble aud rational. though many learned men have been
disposed reegate II into the region myths and call
old Herodotus liar, or else dupe. But it would be
hard 10 discover what those wise men can have
at this distance OF than 1900 years. OF knowing
more about the matter than Herodotus, who lived
within 100 years OF Cyrus. The wise men who talk 80
much v, and always believe the sensational
be false the extraordinary the untrue, would do
I.a