They will have Perfes, of whom, fay they, Perfia borrowed its name, to be the firft of this family that reigned in Perfia. We are told, that Achæmenes was nurfed by an eagle h; and of this fabulous eagle the no lefs fabulous wolf of Romulus was, perhaps, a tranfcript. Darius is mentioned by the fcholiaft of Ariftophanes; and supposed by some to have coined the famous darics, or ftateres darici. Cyrus had two children, Cambyfes and Atoffa: Atoffa married Pharnaces king of Cappadociak, and Cambyfes Mandane the fo-much celebrated daughter of Aftyages king of Media, by whom he had Cyrus the Great (A). But as nothing occurs worthy of notice, efpecially that we can depend upon, in the hiftory of the Perfian kings before Cyrus, we shall proceed, without dwelling on fo dark and barren a fubject, to the reign of that great and glorious prince. THE name of Cyrus is equally famous in facred and profane Cyrus. history in the latter, his valour and conquefts have rendered his memory immortal, as has, in the former, his kind treatment of the captive Hebrews, whom he reftored to their antient ftate, country, and temple, having been by the divine will appointed thereunto by name, many years before he appeared in the world: an honour bestowed upon none but him, and that excellent prince Jofiah m king of Judah. Profane historians are at no small variance with each other touching the birth of this prince, his education, and acceffion to the crown. Herodotus and Xenophon are the only two original authors, as we may call them, whom we can quote and follow in what relates to the life and exploits of this prince; for other writers have copied after them, fome adopting the accounts of the one, and some of the other: they are both very minute in their relations, and agree in fome particulars, but widely differ in others. We fhall, in the first place, hear Herodotus, the father of hiftory, as Tully calls him; but whether his accounts be genuine, or rather interwoven, and seasoned to the Greek tafte, with several fabulous and furprifing incidents, is what we shall have occafion to examine afterwards. (A) Ovid (1) mentions one Orchamus king of Perfia, and makes him the feventh after Belus. Scholiaft. Ariftoph. K DIOD. SIC. in fragm. 1. xxxi. Septimus a prifco numeratur ori- As this king is no-where to be Rexit Achæmenias urbes pater fes, what is faid of him deferves Orchamus, ifque no more credit than they do. (1) Ovid. metamorph. 1. iv, ASTYAGES, Account of ASTYAGES, the laft king of the Medes, being warned by a the birth, dream, that the fon who was to be born of his daughter Maneducation, dane, fhould one day be lord of all Afia, refolved to marry her, &c. of Cy- not to a Mede worthy of her bed, but to a Perfian; and acrus, ac- cordingly chofe one Cambyfes, fprung from an antient family, cording to but of a peaceable difpofition, and, as he thought, inferior in Herodo- rank to a Mede, even of a middling condition. A year after tus. they were married, Aftyages was frightened by another dream, portending anew, according to the interpretation of the mages, the empire of Afia to his grandfon (B). Hereupon Aftyages fends for his daughter, then big with child; and, upon her arrival in Media, puts her under a guard, determined to deftroy the child fhe fhould be delivered of; for the mages had affured him, that the iffue of his daughter was to fill his throne. Mandane, not long after her confinement, was brought to bed of a fon, whom Aftyages, mindful of the interpretation of the mages, delivered to one Harpagus, injoining him, as he tendered his own life, to take the new-born fon of Mandane, to carry him to his house, and there dispatch him with his own hands, in what manner he fhould think beft. Harpagus promifed to put the king's orders in execution; and, having received from the guards the infant, richly dreffed, went home under great concern, to fee himself employed in fo hateful and inhuman an office: he acquainted his wife, as foon as he came home, with what had paffed between Aftyages and himself; and refolved not to execute the fentence with his own hands, but to transfer his charge to another. With this defign he immediately fent for one of the king's herdímen, who kept his cattle in paftures lying at the foot of certain mountains on the north of Ecbatan, towards the Cafpian fea: the herdsman's name was Mithridates, and his wife's Spaco, in the language of the Medes, which fignifies a bitch, and answers to her Greek name Cyno. Mithridates, without delay, waited upon Harpagus, who commanded him, in the king's name, to take the infant, and expofe it in the most dangerous and abandoned part of the mountains, upon pain of dying in the moft exquifite tortures that could be invented: he added, that the king had charged him to fee his orders put in execution. The herdfman, not daring to make any remonftrance against the king's command, returned with the child to his cottage, where he found (B) His first dream was, that his daughter Mandane had voided fo great a quantity of water, as not only filled the metropolis of the kingdom, but overflowed all Afia. In the other he faw a vine fhooting from the womb of his daughter, and extending its branches over all Asia (2). (2) Herodot, I. i, 6, 107, 108, his wife juft delivered of a fon: during her husband's abfence, fhe had been in great trouble and perplexity, on account of the meffage from Harpagus, who had never before fent for him; fo that he no fooner fet his foot within the door, but she asked him in great furprize, why Harpagus had fent for him in fuch hafte. He told her he had been in the city, where he had heard and feen fuch things as grieved him beyond expreffion; that, when he arrived, the house of Harpagus was all in tears; and that, as he went in, he was ftruck with horror, at the fight of an infant, dreffed in gold and the richeft colours, panting and crying on the floor; that Harpagus had commanded him to carry away this child, and expofe it on the mountains to the mercy of the wild beafts, upon pain of incurring the king's difpleafure, and undergoing the fevereft punishments that could be inflicted; that, at firft, he had fuppofed the unhappy infant to belong to fome perfon of the family of Harpagus; but that he had been afterwards informed by the fervant that attended him out of the city, and delivered the babe into his hands, that it was born of Mandane the king's daughter, and was fon to Cambyfes of Perfia; and that Afyages had commanded it fhould be put to death 1. HAVING thus fpoken, he difclofed the child to his wife; Cyrus prewho no fooner faw it, but, being ravished with the innocent ferved and fmiles of the infant, fhe embraced her husband, and, with many nurfed by a tears, intreated him not to execute the orders he had received. Shepherd. But he remonstrating the abfolute neceflity he was under of obeying, or forfeiting his own life, fince the fpies of Harpagus would, without fail, keep a watchful eye over him, and fee whether he performed what had been fo ftrictly injoined him, the fuggefted to him to take their own child, that was ftill-born, to expofe it inftead of the other, and bring up the fon of Mandane as their own; for, by that means, faid fhe, we fhall fufficiently consult our own fafety, without injuring others, the dead child will be honoured with a royal fepulcre, and the furviving infant be preferved from an untimely death ". MITHRIDATES approved of this expedient, and, delivering the infant he was charged to deftroy into his wife's hands, dreffed the dead child in the rich apparel of the living; and carried it, in the fame basket in which he had brought the other, to the most unfrequented part of the mountains. Three days after, he acquainted Harpagus, that, if he pleased, he could fhew him the body of the dead infant; and he accordingly difpatched fome of his friends, in whom he most confided, to fee that the fentence had been put in execution, HEROD. i. c. 107, & feq. m Idem ibid. and and to inter the royal infant. Thus was Cyrus, for fo was the infant afterwards called, delivered from the fnares of his grandfather, and educated by the herdfman's wife as her Gives ear- own ". ly marks of WHEN he attained to the age of ten years, as he was one his royal day playing in the paftures with other children of his age, he Spirit. was chofen king by his companions; and, having, in virtue of that dignity, diftinguifhed thein into feveral orders and claffes, the fon of Artembares, a lord of eminent dignity among the Medes, who was one of his companions in the play, refused to obey his orders: whereupon Cyrus commanded him to be immediately seized, and whipped very feverely. The boy, with many tears, complained to his father of what he had fuffered from the herdfman's fon; and the father, highly refenting the affront, haftened, with his fon, to the king's palace; and, fhewing that prince in what a cruel and ignominious manner his child had been abused by the fon of a flave, intreated him to avenge, by fome very exemplary punishment, the indignity offered to him, and his whole family. Aftyages promifed to give him full fatisfaction; and, commanding both the herdfman and his fon to be brought before him, afked Cyrus, how he, who was the fon of fo mean a man, had dared to abuse the child of one of the chief lords in the kingdom. Cyrus replied, that he had done no more than he had a right to do; for, the boys of the neighbourhood having made him their king, because they thought him the moft worthy of that dignity, and performed what he, in virtue of that character, had commanded them, the fon of Artembares alone had flighted his orders; and, for his difobedience, had fuffered the punifhment he deserved. As the boy was pleading his caufe, with an eloquence far fuperior to his years and education, Aftyages took particular notice of his mien and features; and, thinking that he refembled himself, began to reflect on the time that his grandfon was expofed, which he found to agree with the age of the herdfman's fuppofed fon. Being perplexed with this thought, he difmiffed Artembares, affuring him, that his fon should have no caufe to complain, and commanded his guards to conduct Cyrus into the palace. Being then in private with the herdfman, he afked whofe boy Cyrus was, and from whofe hands he had him. Mithridates affirmed, that he was his own child; and that the boy's mother, who was ftill living, would Difcover come, if he pleafed, to atteft it. But Aftyages, giving no credit to what he averred, commanded his guards to feize him;" whereupon he discovered, without referve, the whole matter, and implored the king's mercy a, ed to Afty ages. D HEROD. 1. i. c. 114, Idem ibid. c. 116. ASTYAGES ASTYAGES was not fo much incenfed against the herdsman, as against his favourite Harpagus, whom he ordered the guards to bring, without delay, to the palace. Upon his arrival, the king, in a violent paffion, afked him, in what manner he had put to death the fon of his daughter Mandane. When Harpagus faw the herdfinan, he thought he should but aggravate his crime, by attempting to elude the ftorm that threatened him by any fort of falfhood, and therefore openly confeffed what he had done; adding, that he thought he had taken the moft effectual means he could to put his orders in execution; and that he truly believed the child was dead, fince the most trufty among his friends had affured him, that they had feen and interred the body P. ASTYAGES, diffembling his refentment, acquainted Harpagus with what the herdfman had confefled; adding, that the child was ftill alive, and that he was very well pleafed his orders had not been executed; for he had been under great concern ever fince he issued that cruel command, and had not been able to bear the reproaches of his daughter. He then ordered Harpagus to fend his fon to wait on the young Cyrus, and to come himself that night to fup with him, fince he intended to offer a facrifice to the gods, in thanksgiving for the care they had taken of his grandfon1. HARPAGUS, overjoyed at the king's fpeech, returned home; and, acquainting his wife with what had paffed, immediately fent his only fon to attend Cyrus, as he had been commanded. His fon, who was about thirty years old, no fooner entered the palace, but he was seized, barbaroufly murdered, and cut in pieces, by order of Aftyages; who gave directions, that the mangled body, variously dreffed and difguised, fhould be ferved up at fupper. Harpagus, and the reft of the gucits, repaired Harpato the palace at the hour appointed: the others were fplendidly gus's entertained; but the table, where Harpagus fupped, was dreadful ferved only with the flesh of his fon. When he had done, the punishking asked him, whether he had been pleased with his victuals; ment, ana and, Harpagus anfwering, that he had never tafted any thing policy. more delicious, the officers, appointed for that purpofe, brought in a basket, containing the head, hands, and feet of his fon, defiring him to uncover the basket, and take what he liked beft. He did as they defired, and beheld the remains of his only child, without betraying any fort of concern or refentment at fo fhocking a fight; fuch was the command he had of his paffions. The king inquired, whether he knew with what kind of meat he had been entertained: Harpagus replied, he, knew very well, and was always pleased with whatever his P HEROD. lib. i. c. 117. 9 Idem ibid. c. 118. |
