PART II.

HISTORY OF THE PERSIAN EMPIRE, AND GENERAL HISTORY OF THE EASTERN NATIONS UNDER THE GREEKS

AND ROMANS.

THE PERSIAN EMPIRE.

214. By whatever train of circumstances the revolution in the Median Empire was accomplished, it is certain that about the year 560 B.C. that empire, which had then existed for about a century and a half, was superseded by a new one called the Persian or Medo - Persian Empire, the founder and real monarch of which was a Persian warrior called Khosru or Cyrus, while its nominal head seems to have been a Mede called Daríus, or Cyaxares II. By successive wars among the Iranian nations (560-550 B.C.) Cyrus strengthened and consolidated his empire. At this period, therefore, there were in Western Asia three distinct monarchies contiguous to each other-the Medo-Persian Empire, the capital of which was Ecbatana, extending from the Indus to the Tigris in Assyria, and the Halys in Asia Minor; the Lydian empire, whose capital was Sardis, extending from the Halys over Western Asia Minor to the shores of the Ægéan; and the Chaldean or Babylonian empire, whose capital was Babylon, and which extended from the Tigris to the Mediterranean. The head of the first empire was Cyrus, of the second Croesus, and of the third Nabonadius, called in Scripture Belshazzar. It was impossible in those ancient times, when war constituted so excessive a proportion of human activity, that these three

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empires should continue to subsist amicably beside each other. Accordingly a great struggle was begun, which was destined to lead to the extinction of two of the empires, and the exclusive supremacy of the third—that of the Persians.

215. The Lydian king Croesus was the first to make the aggression. Being the brother-in-law of the deposed Median king Astyages, he thought it his duty to avenge the insult that had been offered to him; and being already the master of a powerful dominion, which he had attained by his own military prowess, and having abundance of the resources for war at command, he anticipated a victory over the Persians, and a great consequent accession to his own fame and majesty. Besides, in a struggle with the Persians he calculated on the assistance of the Babylonians, who, equally with himself, had reason to dread the growing strength of the Persian empire. Still so great an enterprise was not to be entered upon without serious deliberation. At that time it rarely happened that any king or prince undertook a scheme of much importance without previously procuring for it what was considered religious sanction, and, if possible, ascertaining from the ministers of religion what was the issue predestinated by the gods. Thus the Median and Persian kings consulted the Magi, the Babylonian kings resorted to the Chaldæan astrologers, and in Egypt all wars were undertaken according to the directions of the priestly caste. Each country or region of the world had its particular mode of soothsaying. In the western world, and especially in that portion of it where the Greeks were dominant, the favourite mode of obtaining religious sanction for any intended enterprise of great moment was by consulting the Oracles. These were certain celebrated shrines or temples, where bodies of priests or priestesses resided, whose special occupation was to practise divination according to methods handed down by tradition. The responses of the oracles, it may be supposed, were founded on some privately acquired knowledge of facts, along with a shrewd guess as to results. The superstitious consultation of these oracles was an essential part of the pagan religion of antiquity;

and it was only when the growing sense of mankind shewed the falsehood of those forms of religion of which oracles were a part, that oracular responses fell into disrepute.

216. Croesus, who was reputed to be one of the most pious, as well as one of the most enlightened princes of his time, was not superior to the general faith of his contemporaries. Accordingly, before making war upon Cyrus, he resolved to have a response from the gods in his favour. The whole story of his procedure on the occasion, and of the answers of the oracles, is involved in fable, and was probably written by Greek romancists after the result; but it forms so important a part of the ancient narrative, and so interesting an illustration of ancient manners, that it should not be omitted. Croesus, it is said, shewed himself more sceptical and anxious at this juncture than might have been expected from so bold and so pious a king. Before consulting any oracle relative to his project, he resolved to discover by experiment which of all the most celebrated oracles of the time was most worthy of credit. Accordingly, on a particular day he despatched envoys from Sardis to the following oracles that of Delphi in Phocis, that of Dodóna in Epírus, that of Branchidæ near Milétus, that of Amphiaraus at Thebes, that of Trophonius at Lebadéia, and that of Ammon in the Libyan Desert beyond Egypt. These envoys were instructed that, on the hundredth day after their departure from Sardis, they should at a particular hour ask the oracles to which they were severally sent what Croesus was at that moment doing. Four out of the six oracles, it is said, gave unsatisfactory answers; but those of Amphiaraus and Delphi succeeded. What the answer of the oracle of Amphiaraus was, it is not stated, farther than that Croesus regarded it as true; but the response from Delphi was far more remarkable. When the envoys had asked the question at this oracle, the priestess standing on her tripod in her state of frenzy, it was reported, murmured out in hexameter verse these words, which were brought in writing to Croesus: "I know the number of the sands, and the measures of the sea; I understand the dumb, and I hear the man that speaks not. The smell reaches me of a hard - shelled tortoise boiled in copper

with lamb's flesh-copper above and copper below.' This answer it is said astounded Croesus. On the day appointed, says the legend, he had shut himself up in his palace, and after considering what unusual thing he should do, had cut a lamb and a tortoise in pieces, and boiled them in a copper caldron with a copper cover.

217. To shew his gratitude to the two successful oracles, Croesus sent them most munificent presents. To the oracle of Amphiaraus he sent a spear and a shield of pure gold, which Herodotus himself saw about a hundred years afterwards. To the oracle of Delphi his gifts were of unprecedented magnitude. Besides offering up a holocaust of 3000 cattle, and burning a huge pile on which he had thrown costly robes, and furniture, and vessels of gold and silver without number, he sent to the oracle a great treasure of gold and silver ingots, with a multitude of bowls, vases, statues, and ornaments, all of gold and silver, and some of them of the rarest and most precious workmanship. These Herodotus also saw, and describes minutely. The messengers who conveyed these presents were ordered to ask the oracles whether Croesus should make war against the Persians, and if so, whether he should seek any allies. On the second point both the oracles were explicit they advised him to seek the alliance of the Greeks. On the other and more important point, however, the answer returned, at least by Delphi, was of that ambiguous kind in which oracles delighted. It was to this effect: If Croesus make war against the Persians, he will destroy a mighty empire. This part of the legend is probably authentic. Satisfied at least with the response, the rash king rushed on to his fate.

218. Having obtained some promises of help from the Spartans, Croesus crossed the Halys (546 B.C.) with a large army, composed of recruits from all the nations acknowledging his rule, and invaded Cappadocia, the province of the Persian empire which lay nearest to his own dominions. Cyrus, having collected his Iranian forces, marched to meet him. After an undecisive battle, Croesus thought it best to retire to his capital, and postpone the struggle till he should have assembled his foreign allies. Accordingly,

having sent ambassadors to Belshazzar, king of Babylon, to Amásis king of Egypt, and to the Spartans and other Greek states, urging them to hasten their levies, he awaited their return in security at Sardis. But Cyrus saw his opportunity, and granted no delay. Pushing on to Sardis, he routed the Lydian army under its walls, throwing their celebrated horsemen into confusion by means of his baggagecamels, and laid siege to the city. Built on a lofty and rocky site, and very strongly fortified, Sardis was deemed impregnable; but on the fourteenth day of the siege a Persian soldier having discovered a spot on the most precipitous and least-guarded side, climbed up to the ramparts; and a select party, scaling at this point with him, entered the stronghold, and took the garrison by surprise. town was sacked, and Croesus was taken prisoner.

The

219. According to the ferocious usages of Iranian warfare, it was resolved that Croesus and a number of his chief nobles should be burnt to death. A pile of wood was erected for the purpose in one of the squares of Sardis, and Croesus and his companions, bound in chains, were stretched upon it. The fire, it is said, had already been kindled, when the captive monarch uttered some plaintive cries; upon which Cyrus, moved to pity, and obeying the dictates of a soul more generous than that of most barbarian conquerors, ordered the fire to be extinguished, and Croesus to be set at liberty. The liberated monarch, it is said, asked permission of his conqueror to send the chains with which he had been bound to the Delphic oracle, as a significant reproach to the god for the manner in which his response had misled him. The reply of the oracle was, that even the gods themselves must bow to Fate; that the Fates had decreed that in the person of Croesus should be punished the crime of his ancestor Gyges, the first of the Mermnădæ, for having violently seized the Lydian throne. In this reply, it is said, Croesus piously acquiesced; and from that time forward he became the friend, counsellor, and admirer of his conqueror Cyrus, who on his part trusted and loved him. Such is the legend of the fall of Croesus, certain portions of which, particularly that which speaks of the friendship which