CYRUS, the son of Cambyses the Persian, by Mandane, the daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. The two principal historians who have written the life of Cyrus are Herodotus and Xenophon; but their accounts differ, inasmuch as the latter represents his father as a king of Persia, and the former as a meaner man. The account of Herodotus indeed contains narratives which are much more strange and surprising, and consequently more diverting and agreeable to the reader; and for this reason he has been more followed than Xenophon.

Herodotus informs us, that Astyages, king of the Medes, having dreamed that a vine sprung from the womb of his daughter Mandane, the branches of which overshadowed all Asia, consulted the soothsayers, when he was told that his dream portended the future power and greatness of a child which should be born of his daughter, and further, that the same child would deprive him of his kingdom. In order to prevent the accomplishment of this prediction, Astyages, instead of marrying his daughter to some powerful prince, gave her hand to Cambyses, a Persian of mean condition, and one who had no great capacity for forming any important design, or for supporting the ambition of his son by his own riches and authority. But Astyages did not stop here. The apprehension he laboured under lest Mandane’s son might perhaps find that assistance in his own courage, or in some fortunate circumstance which his family was unable to supply him withal, induced him to take the resolution of dispatching the child, if there should be any of the marriage. As soon, therefore, as he understood that his daughter was pregnant, he commanded one of his officers, named Harpagus, to destroy the infant whenever it came into the world. But Harpagus, dreading the resentment of Mandane, put the child into the hands of one of the king’s shepherds, with orders to expose him. The shepherd’s wife, however, was so extremely touched with the beauty of Cyrus, that she desired her husband rather to expose her own son, who was born some time before, and to preserve the young prince. In this manner Cyrus was saved from an early death, and brought up among the king’s shepherds.

One day, as the neighbouring children were at play together, Cyrus was chosen king; and having punished with some severity one of his little playfellows for disobeying his commands, was complained of to Astyages by the parent of the child. The prince sent for Cyrus, and observing something great in his air, manner, and behaviour, together with a great resemblance to his daughter Mandane, made particular inquiry into the matter, and discovered that, in reality, Cyrus was no other than his own grandson. Harpagus, who had been the instrument of preserving him, was punished with the death of his own son; but Astyages believing that the royalty which the soothsayers had promised to the young prince was only that which he had lately exercised among the shepherd’s children, troubled himself no more about the matter. When Cyrus had grown up, however, Harpagus disclosed to him the whole secret of his birth, together with the manner in which he had delivered him from the cruel resolution of his grandfather; encouraged him to go into Media, and promised to furnish him with forces, in order to make him master of the country, and to depose Astyages. Cyrus hearkened to these propositions, engaged the Persians to take up arms against the Medes, marched at their head to meet Astyages, defeated him, and possessed himself of Media. He also carried on many other wars; and at length sat down before Babylon, which, after a long siege, surrendered to his arms.

The relation given of the life of Cyrus by Xenophon, in his philosophical romance, is, however, very different. According to him, Astyages, king of Media, married his [7:7:578]daughter Mandane to Cambyses, king of Persia, son of Achaemenes, king of the same nation. Cyrus was born at his father’s court, and was educated with all the care which his birth required. When he was about the age of twelve years, his grandfather Astyages sent for him to Media, together with his mother Mandane; and some time afterwards, the king of Assyria’s son having invaded Media, Astyages, with his son Cyaxares and his grandson Cyrus, marched against him. Cyrus distinguished himself in this war, and defeated the Assyrians. Cambyses afterwards recalled him, that he might have him near his own person; and Astyages dying, his son Cyaxares, uncle of Cyrus by the mother’s side, succeeded him in the kingdom of Media.

At the age of thirty Cyrus was appointed, by his father Cambyses, general of the Persian troops; and sent at the head of 30,000 men to the assistance of his uncle Cyaxares, whom the king of Babylon, with his allies the Cappadocians, Carians, Phrygians, Cilicians, and Paphlagonians, were preparing to attack. But Cyaxares and Cyrus prevented them, by falling upon them and dispersing them. Cyrus advanced as far as Babylon, and spread terror throughout the whole country. From this expedition he retired towards the frontiers of Armenia and Assyria, and was received by Cyaxares in the tent of the Assyrian king, whom he had defeated.

After this Cyrus carried the war into the countries beyond the river Halys, and having entered Cappadocia, entirely subdued that country. From thence he marched against Croesus, king of Lydia, defeated him in the first battle, then besieged him in Sardis, his capital, and, after a siege of fourteen days, obliged him to surrender. (See Croesus.) After this, Cyrus having reduced almost all Asia, repassed the Euphrates, and made war upon the Assyrians. He marched directly to Babylon, took it, and there prepared a palace for the reception of his uncle Cyaxares. After all these expeditions, Cyrus returned to his father and mother in Persia, where they were still living; and having gone some time afterwards to visit his uncle Cyaxares into Media, he married his cousin, the only daughter and heiress of all Cyaxares’s dominions, and went with her to Babylon, whence he sent men of the first rank and quality to govern the various nations which he had conquered. He engaged again in several wars, and subdued all the countries situated between Syria and the Red Sea. He died at the age of seventy, after a reign of thirty years; but authors differ very much concerning the manner of his death. Herodotus, Justin, and Valerius Maximus state that he died in the war against the Scythians; and that having fallen into an ambush which Queen Tomyris had laid for him, she ordered his head to be cut off, and cast into a vessel full of blood, saying, “Thoų hast always thirsted after human blood, now glut thyself with it.” Diodorus says that he was taken in an engagement and hanged; while Ctesias assures us that he died of a wound which he had received in his thigh; but by Xenophon’s account he died peaceably in his bed, amidst his friends and his servants; and certain it is, that in Alexander’s time his monument was shown at Pasagarda, in Persia.

From all this it is easy to conclude, that we are but imperfectly acquainted with the history of this great prince, the founder of the Persian and the destroyer of the Chaldean empire. We learn fewer particulars of it from Scripture, but then these are more certain than any that we have produced. Daniel, in the famous vision in which God showed him the ruin of several great empires, which were to precede the birth of the Messiah, represents Cyrus under the idea of a ram which had two horns. The ram’s horns signify the two empires which Cyrus united in his person, namely, that of the Medes, and that of the Persians, which was greater and more powerful than the empire of the Medes; or otherwise, these horns signify the two branches of Cyrus’s successors. His son Cambyses having died, the empire was transferred to Darius, the son of Hystaspes, and was continued down to Darius Codomannus, who, as Calmet thinks, is the great horn which the he-goat, denoting Alexander, run against. Daniel also compares Cyrus to a bear, with three ribs in the mouth of it, to which it was said, “Arise, devour much flesh.” Cyrus succeeded his father Cambyses in the kingdom of Persia, and Darius the Mede (by Xenophon called Cyaxares, and Astyages in the apocryphal chapter of DanieD in the kingdom of the Medes and the empire of Babylon. He was monarch of all the East, or, as it is said, “of all the earth,” when he permitted the Jews to return to their own country, in the year of the world 3466, and before Jesus Christ 538. The enemies of the Hebrews, having availed themselves of this prince’s affection to his own religion, prevailed on him to put a stop to the building of the temple at Jerusalem. The prophets frequently foretold the coming of Cyrus; and Isaiah has been so particular as to declare his name two hundred years before he was born. Josephus says, that the Jews of Babylon showed this passage of the prophet to Cyrus; and that the prince, in the edict which he granted them for their return, acknowledged that he had received the empire of the world from the God’of Israel. Cyrus is pointed out in Scripture under the name of the righteous man and the shepherd of Israel. Archbishop Usher fixes the birth of Cyrus in the year of the world 3405, his first year at Babylon in 3466, and his death in 3475.

Cyrus II. was the younger son of Darius Nothus and of Parysatis, and the brother of Artaxerxes. He was sent by his father, at the age of sixteen, to assist the Lacedaemonians against the Athenians. Artaxerxes succeeded to the throne at the death of Nothus; and Cyrus, who was of an aspiring soul, attempted to assassinate him. But he was discovered, and would have been punished with death, had not his mother Parysatis saved him from the hands of the executioner by her tears and entreaties. This circumstance did not in the least check the ambition of Cyrus; he was appointed satrap of Lydia and of Asia Minor, where he secretly fomented rebellion, and levied troops under various pretences. At last he took the field with an army of one hundred thousand barbarians, and thirteen thousand Greeks, under the command of Clearchus; and Artaxerxes met him with nine hundred thousand men near Cunaxa. The battle was long and bloody, and Cyrus might perhaps have obtained the victory, had not his uncommon rashness proved his ruin. It is said that the two royal brothers met in person, and that their engagement ended in the death of Cyrus, four hundred and one years before the Augustan age. Artaxerxes was so anxious to have it universally reported that his brother had fallen by his hand, that he put to death two of his subjects for boasting that they had killed Cyrus. The Greeks who were engaged in the expedition obtained much glory in the battle, and after the death of Cyrus they remained victorious in the field without a commander. Though at the distance of above six hundred leagues from their country, and surrounded on every side by a powerful enemy, they were not discouraged. Having united in the election of commanders, they traversed all Asia, in spite of the continual attacks of the Persians; and nothing is more truly celebrated in ancient history than the bold and masterly retreat of the Ten Thousand. The journey which they made from the time of their first embarkation till their return has been calculated at 1155 leagues, performed in the space of fifteen months, including the time devoted to rest and refreshment. This retreat has been [7:7:579]celebrated by Xenophon, who was one of the leaders of his countrymen, and the friend and supporter of Cyrus.