No More Learning

out with tolerable certainty, namely, the dethrone-
After Cyrus had subdued the Assyrians, he un- ment of Astyages, the conquest of the Lydian and
dertook the subjugation of the Massagetac, a peo- Assyrian empires, his schemes to become master
ple dwelling beyond the Araxes. Cyrus offered of all Asia and of Egypt, and his death in a battle
to marry Tomyris, the widowed queen of this peo- with one of the Asiatic tribes which he wished to
ple; but she refused the offer, saying that he subdue. His acquisition of the Median empire
woocd not her, but the kingdom of the Massagetac. was rather a revolution than a conquest. Hero-
The details of the war which followed may be read dotus expressly states, that Cyrus had a large
in Herodotus. It ended in the death of Cyrus in party among the Medes before his rebellion, and
battle. Tomyris caused his corpse to be found that, after the defeat of Astyages, the nation vo-
among the slain, and having cut off the head, luntarily received him as their king.
This was
threw it into a bag filled with human blood, that very natural, for besides the harshness of the
he might satiate himself (she said) with blood. government of Astyages, Cyrus was the next
According to Herodotus, Cyrus had reigned 29 | heir to the throne, the Medes were effeminate,
years. Other writers say 30. He was killed in and the Persians were hardy. The kingdom
B. C. 529. (Clinton, F. II. vol. ii. sub anno. ) remained, as before, the united kingdom of
The account of Ctesias differs considerably in “the Medes and Persians," with the difference,
some points from that of Herodotus. According that the supremacy was transferred from the for-
to him, there was no relationship between Cyrus mer to the latter; and then in process of time it
and Astvages. At the conquest of Media by Cy- came to be generally called the Persian empire,
rus, Astyages fled to Ecbatana, and was there though the kings and their people were still, even
concealed by his daughter Amytis, and her hus- down to the time of Alexander, often spoken of as
band, Spitamas, whom, with their children, Cyrus Medes. If Cyrus had quietly succeeded to the
would have put to the torture, had not Astyages throne, in virtue of his being the grandson of the
discovered himself. When he did so, he was put Median king Astyages, it seems difficult to ac-
in fetters by Oebaras, but soon afterwards Cyrus count for this change. The mere fact of Cyrus's
luimself set him free, honoured him as a father, father being a Persian is hardly enough to explain
and married his daughter Amytis, haring put her it.
husband to death for telling a falsehood. (Asty- With regard to the order of Cyrus's conquests
AGE. ] Ctesias also says, that Cyrus made war in Asia, there seems much confusion. It is clear
apon the Bactrians, who voluntarily submitted to that there was a struggle for supremacy between
him, when they heard of his reconciliation with Cyrus and the king of Babylon, the latter having
Astyages and Amytis. He mentions a war with become master of Mesopotamia and Syria by the
the Sacae, in which Cyrus was taken prisoner and conquests of Nebuchadnezzar. It was in fact a
ransomed. He gives a somewhat different account struggle between the Zend tribes, which formed
of the Lydian war. (Ctesias, Pers. c. 5; Croesus. ) the Medo-Persian empire, and the Semitic tribes
Cyrus met with his death, according to Ctesias, by under the king of Babylon, for the supremacy of
a wound received in battle with a nation called the Asia. We can scarcely determine whether Cyrus
Derbices, who were assisted by the Indians. conquered Lydia before making any attack on
Strabo also mentions the expedition against the Babylon, and perhaps in this matter Xenophon
Sacae, and says, that Cyrus was at first defeated may have preserved something like the true suc-
but afterwards victorious. He also says, that Cy- cession of events. That Croesus was in alliance
rus made an expedition into India, from which with Babylon is stated also by Herodotus, who
country he escaped with difficulty.
however, makes Croesus entirely the aggressor in
The chief points of difference between Xeno- the Lydian war. No clear account can be given of
phon and Herodotus are the following : Xenophon his campaigns in Central Asia, but the object of
represents Cyrus as brought up at his grandfather's them was evidently to subdue the whole of Asia
court, as serving in the Median army under his as far as the Indus.
uncle Cyaxares, the son and successor of Astyages, With respect to the main points of difference
of whom Herodotus and Ctesias know nothing ; between Herodotus and the Cyropaedeia, besides
as making war upon Babylon simply as the general what has been said above of the historical value of
of Cyaxares, who remained at home during the Xenophon's book, if it could be viewed as a his-
latter part of the Assyrian war, and permitted tory at all, its real design is the great thing to be
Cyrus to assume without opposition the power and kept in view; and that design is stated by Xeno-
state of an independent sovereign at Babylon; as phon himself with sufficient clearness. He wished
marrying the daughter of Cyaxares; and at length to shew that the government of men is not so dif-
dying quietly in his bed, after a sage and Socratic ficult as is commonly supposed, provided that the
discourse to his children and friends. The Lydian ruler be wise ; and io illustrate this he holds forth
war of Cyrus is represented by Xenophon as a the example of Cyrus, whom he endows with all
sort of episode in the Assyrian war, occasioned by virtue, courage, and wisdom, and whose conduct is
the help wbich Croesus had given to the Assyrians meant for a practical illustration and his discourses
in the first campaign of Cyrus against them. for an exposition of the maxims of the Socratic
Diodorus agrees for the most part with lero- | philosophy, so far as Xenophon was capable of


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CYRUS.
understanding it. Of course it would not have | In the passage of Aeschylus, which is sometimes
done to have represented this beau ideal of a phi- quoted as confirming Xenophon (Astrages), the
Josnpliic king as the dethroner of his own grand- two kings before Cyrus are clearly Phraortes and
father, as the truc Asiatic despot and conqueror, Cyaxares, or Cyaxares and Astynges. At all
and as the victim of his own ambitious schemes. events, no room is left for Cyaxares Il. The most
It seems incredible that any one should rise from natural explanation seems to be, that Phraortes, in
the perusal of the Cyropacdcia without the firm whose reign the Persians were subjected to the
conviction that it is a romance, and, moreover, Viedes, and who was therefore the first king of
that its author never meant it to be taken for any the united Medes and Persians, is meant in the
thing else ; and still more incredible is it that any line
one should have recognized in the picture of Xeno- Μήδος γαρ ήν ο πρώτος ηγεμών στρατού.
phon the verisimilitude of an Asiatic conqueror in the next line admirably describes Cyaxares, who
the sixth century before Christ. That Cyrus was took Ninus, and consolidated the empire.
a great man, is proved by the empire he establish-
'Αλλος δ' εκείνου παίς τόδ' έργον ήνυσε.
ed; that he was a good man, according to the
virtues of his age and country, we need not doubt; If so, Astyages is omitted, probably because he
but if we would seek further for his likeness, we did not complete his reign, but was dethroned by
must assuredly look rather at Genghis Khan or Cyrus, who is thus reckoned the third Media
Timour than at the Cyrus of Xenophon.
Persian king, Tρίτος δ' απ' αυτού Κυρos. For the
It has, however, been supposed, that the state- d' ait où surely refers to the person who is called
ment of Xenophon about Cyaxares II. is confirmed pŵTos. On the other hand, the account which
by Scripture ; for that Dareius the Mede, who, ac- Herodotus gives of the transference of the Median
cording to Daniel, reigns after the taking of Baby- empire to the Persians is in substance confirmed by
lon (for two years, according to the chronologers) Plato, Aristotle, Isocrates, Anaximenes, Dinon,
and before the first year of Cyrus, can be no other Ctesias, Amyntas, Strabo, Cephalion, Justin, Plu-
(this is the utmost that can be asserted) than tarch, Polyaenus, and even by Xenophon himself
Cyaxares II. This matter seems susceptible of a in the Anabasis, as above quoted. (See Clinton,
better explanation than it has yet received. i. pp. 262, 263. ) Much light would be thrown
1. Xenophon's Cyaxares is the son of Astyages; on the subject if the date of Cyrus's birth could be
Dareius the Mede is the son of Ahasuerus. Now, fixt; but this is impossible. Dinon says, that he
it is almost beyond a doubt that Ahasuerus is the was seventy at his death ; but this is improbable
Hebrew form of the Persian name or title which for various reasons, and Herodotus evidently con-
the Greeks called Xerxes, and Cyaxares seems to sidered him much younger.
be simply the form of the same word used in the None but the sacred writers mention the edict
Median dialect. Cyaxares, the son of Phraortes, of Cyrus for the return of the Jews. A motive
is called Ahasuerus in Tobit xiv. 15. It is granted for that step may be perhaps found in what Hero-
that this argument is not decisive, but, so far as it dotus says about his designs on Egypt. The very
goes, it is against the identification.
remarkable prophecy relating to the destruction of
2. After the taking of Babylon, Dareius the Babylon and the restoration of the Jews by Cyrus
Mede receives the kingdom, and exercises all the is in Isaiah xliv. xlv. , besides other important
functions of royalty, with great power and splen- passages in Isaiah and Jeremiah, which predict
dour, evidently at Babylon. But in Xenophon the fall of Babylon without mentioning the name
it is Cyrus who does this, and Cyaxares nerer of Cyrus, and the corresponding history is in the
comes near Babylon at all after its capture, but books of Daniel, Ezra, and 2 Chron. xxxvi. 22,
remains in Media, totally eclipsed and almost su- 23. The language of the proclamation of Cyrus,
perseded by Cyrus. There are other arguments as recorded both in Ezra i. 2 and Chron. xxxvi.
which seem to shew clearly that, whoever Dareius 22, seems to countenance the idea that he was
the Mede may have been (a point difficult enough acquainted, as he might easily be through Daniel,
to decide), he was not the Cyaxares of Xenophon. with the prophecy of Isaiah. “The Lord God of
The matter cannot be further discussed here, but heaven. . . hath charged me to build hin an house
the result of a most careful examination of it is, at Jerusalem, which is in Judah” (compare Isaiah
that in some important points the statements of xliv. 28, xlv. 13); but beyond this one point there is
Xenophon cannot be reconciled with those of nothing to sustain the notion of Hales and others,
Daniel; and that a much more probable explana- that Cyrus was more than an unconscious instru-
tion is, that Dareius was a noble Median, who held ment in accomplishing the designs of Providence.
the sovereignty as the viceroy of Cyrus, until the The contrary is intimated in Isaiah xlv. 5.
latter found it convenient to fix his court at Baby-
In the East Cyrus was long regarded as the
lon ; and there are some indications on which a greatest hero of antiquity, and hence the fables by
conjecture might be founded that this viceroy which his history is obscured. The Persians remeni-
was Astyages. It is quite natural that the year bered him as a father (Herod. iii. 89, 100), and
in which Cyrus began to reign in person at Baby- | his fane passed, through the Greeks, to the Euro-
lon should be reckoned (as it is by the Hebrew peans, and the classical writers abound with allu-
writers) the first year of his reign over the whole sions to him. His sepulchre at Pasargadae was
empire. This view is confirmed by the fact, that visited by Alexander the Great. (Arrian, vi. 29 ;
in the prophecies of the destruction of Babylon it Plut. diex. 69. ) Pasargadae is said to have been
is Cyrus, and not any Median king, that is spoken built on the spot where Cyrus placed his camp
of. Regarding this difficulty, then, as capable of when he defeated Astyages, and in its immediate
being explained, it remains that Xenophon's state- neighbourhood the city of Persepolis grew up.
ment about Cyaxares II. is entirely unsupported. The tomb of Cyrus has perished, but his name is
Xenophon seems to have introduced Cyaxares found on monuments at Murghab, north of Perse-
simply as a foil to set off the virtues of Cyrus. polis, which place, indeed, some antiquarians tako


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CYRUS.
CYRUS.
for Pasargadae. (IIerodotus, lib. i. ; Ctesias, ed. | mect him. The numbers of the two armies aro
Lion; Xenophon, Cyropaedcia ; Diodorus ; Justin; variously stated. Artaxerxes had from 400. 000
Sirabo; and other ancient authors; Clinton, Fast. to a million of men ; Cyrus had about 100,000
Dell. i. ii. supplements; Heeren, Iileen (Asiatiche Asiatics and 13,000 Grecks. The battle was at
scurches); Schlosser, Univ. Geschich. d. alt. Welt; first altogether in favour of Cyrus. His Greek
Hockh, Vet. Ved, ei Pers. Alonum. ) [P. S. ] troops on the right routed the Asiatics who were
CYRUS, THE YOUNGER, the second of the four opposed to them; and he himself pressed forward
sons of Dareius Nothus, king of Persia, and of Pa- in the centre against his brother, and had even
fysatis, was appointed by his father commander (ka- wounded him, when he was killed by one of the
pavos or otpathyós) of the maritime parts of Asia king's body-guard. Aruxcrxes caused his head
Minor, and satrap of Lydia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia. and right hand to be struck off, and sought to
(B. C. 407. ) He carried with him a large sum of have it believed that Cyrus had fallen by his
money to aid the Lacedaemonians in the Pelopon- hand. Parysatis took a cruel revenge on the
nesian war, and by the address of Lysander he was suspected slayers and mutilators of her son. The
induced to help them even more than his father details of the expedition of Cyrus and of the
had commissioned him to do. The bluntness of events which followed his death may be read in
Cillicratidas caused him to withdraw his aid, but Xenophon's Anabusis. This attempi of an ambi-
on the return of Lysander to the command it was tious young prince to usurp his brother's throne
renewed with the greatest liberality. (Callicra- led ultimately to the greatest resulis, for by it
TIDAS; LYSANDER; TissAPHERNES. ] There is the path into the centre of the Persian empire
no doubt that Cyrus was already meditating the was laid open to the Greeks, and the way was
attempt to succeed his father on the throne of prepared for the conquests of Alexander. The
Persia, and that he sought through Lysander to character of Cyrus is drawn by Xenophon in the
provide for aid from Sparta. Cyrus, indeed, be- brightest colours. It is enough to say that his
trayed his anıbitious spirit, by putting to death ambition was gilded by all those brilliant qualities
tivo Persians of the blood royal, for not observing in which win men's hearts.
his presence a usage which was only due to the (Xenophon, llellen. i. 4, 5, ii. 1, jii. 1, Anab.
king. It was probably for this reason, and not i. , Cyrop. viii. 8. § 3, O con. iv. 16, 18, 21;
only on account of his own ill health, that Dareius Ctesias, Persica, i. 44, 49, Fr. li. , lii. , liii. , liv. ,
summoned Cyrus to his presence. (B. C. 405. ) Be | lvii. , ed. Lion; ap. Phot. p. 42, b. 10, 43, b. 10,
fore leaving Sardis, Cyrus sent for Lysander and 44, a. 14, ed. Bekker; Isocr. Panath. 39 ; Plut.
assigned to him his revenues for the prosecution of Lys. 4, 9; Artur. 3, 6, 13–17; Diod. xij. 70,
the war.
He then went to his father, attended | 104, xiv. 6, 11, 12, 19, 20, 22. ) [P. S. ]
by a body of 500 Greek mercenaries, and taking CYRUS, a rhetorician, of uncertain age, is the
with himn Tissaphernes, nominally as a mark of author of a work Tepi Alaoopas stáoewy in the
honour, but really for fear of what he might do in Aldine collection of the Greek orators, reprinted,
his absence. He arrived in Media just in time to more correctly, in Walz's Greek Orators, viii. p.
witness his father's death and the accession of his 386, &c.
Fabricius suspects that the anonymous
elder brother, Artaxerxes Mnemon (R. C. 404), work entitled Mpobaríuata 'PnTopinà eis Etdoels
though his mother, Parysatis, whose favourite son was written by the same person. (Fabric. Bibl.
Cyrus was, had endeavoured to persuade Dareius to Graec. vi. pp. 102, 128 ; Walz, l. c. ; Wester-
appoint him as his successor, on the ground that he mann, Geschichte der Griech. Bercutsamkeit, S
had been born after, but his brother Artaxerxes 101. )
[P. S. ]
before, the accession of Dareius. This attempt, of CYRUS(Kúpos), the name of several physicians.
course, excited the jealousy of Artaxerxes, which 1. Cyrus (called also in some editions Syrus), a
was further enflamed by information from Tissa- native of Alexandria, who lived in the fifth cen-
pheres, that Cyrus was plotting against his life. tury after Christ. He was first a physician and
Artaxerxes, therefore, arrested his brother and philosopher, and afterwards became a monk. He
condemned him to death; but, on the intercession is said to have been an eloquent man, and to have
of Parysatis, he spared his life and sent him back written against Nestorius. (S. Gennadius, de
to his satrapy: Cyrus now gave himself up to the Illustr. l'ir. c. 81. )
design of dethroning his brother. By his affability 2. A physician at Edessa, one of whose medi-
and by presents, he endeavoured to corrupt those cines is quoted by Aëtius (ii. 2. 91, p. 292), and
of the Persians who past between the court of who attained the dignity of Archiater. He must
Artaxerxes and his own; but he relied chiefly on have lived between the second and fifth centuries
a force of Greek mercenaries, which he raised on aſter Christ, as the office of Archiater was first
the pretext that he was in danger from the hostility conferred on Andromachus, the physician of Nero.
of Tissaphernes. When his preparations were (Dict. of Ant. s. r. Archiater. )
complete, he commenced his expedition against 3. A physician, probably of Lampsacus, son of
Babylon, giving out, howerer, eren to his own Apollonius, who obtained the dignity of Archiater.
soldiers, that he was only marching against the He is mentioned in a Greek inscription found at
robbers of Pisidia. When the Greeks learnt his Lampsacus, as having, besides many other acts of
real purpose, they found that they were too far liberality, presented to the senate one thousand
committed to him to draw back. He set out from Attic drachmae, i. e. (reckoning the drachma to
Sardis in the spring of B. C. 401, and, having be worth nine pence three farthings) forty pounds,
marched through Phrygia and Cilicia, entered twelve shillings, and six pence. (Spon, Miscellan.
Syria through the celebrated passes near Issus, Eruulit. Antiquit. p. 142, quoted by Fabric. Bill.
crossed the Euphrates at Thapsacus, and marched Gruec. rol. xiii. p. 134, ed. vet. )
down the river to the plain of Cunaxa, 500 stadia 4. A physician at Rome in the first century
from Babylon. Artaxerxes had been informed by B. C. , mentioned in a Latin inscription as having
Tissaphernes of his designs, and was prepared to i been the physician of Livia, the wife of Drusus


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CYRUS.
925
CYZICUS.
Carsar, who afterwards married the emperor | drawn up by Sergius, in which he clearly stated
Augustus. (Spon, quoted by Fabric. I. c. ) that there was but one will in Christ. This was
5. Cyrus, St. , was a native of Alexandria, where subscribed by Cyrus, a circumstance that served to
he practised medicine gratuitously and with great confirm its truth in the eyes of many. ('yrus died
reputation. He was a Christian, and took crery A. D. 610. Besides the Libellus Satisfactionis, he
opportunity of endeavouring to convert his patients wrote three letters to Sergius, patriarch of Con-
from paganism. During the persecution of Dio-stantinople, which are still extant. Both are print-
clerian hic fled to Arabia, where he was said to cd in the Concilia, vol. vi. (Cave, llistor. Literar.
heid diseases not so much by his medicines as by rol. i. ; Murdock's Mosheim, vol. i. ; Gucrike's
miraculous powers. lle was put to death with Handbuch, vol. i. ; Gieseler's Teat-booli, by Cun-
many tortures by the command of the prefect ningham, rol. i. )
[S. D. )
Syrianus, in company with several other martyrs, CYRUS, THEODORUS PRODROMUS.
A. D. 300; and his remains were carried to Rome, [THEODORI'S. )
and there buried. This memory is celebrated on CYTHIERA, CYTHEREIA, CYTHE'RIAS
the thirty-first of January both by the Romish (Kuonpa, Kutépeia, Kvenpiás), different forms of a
and Greek churches. (icu Sancior. ; Menolog. surname of Aphrodite, derived from the town of
Graecor. ; Bzorius, Nomencl. Sunctor. Professione Cythera in Cretc, or from the island of Cytherah,
Medicor. ; C. B. Carpzovius, De Medicis ab Eccles. where the goddess was said to have first landed,
pro Sanctis habitis. )
(W. A. G. ] and where she had a celebrated temple. (Hom.
CYRUS, an architect, who lived at Rome at Od, viii. 288; Herod. i. 105; Paus, üi. 23. Ól;
the time of Cicero, and died on the same day with Anacr. v. 9; Horat. Carm. i. 4. 5. ) (L. S. )
Clodius, B. C. 52. (Cic. ad Fam. vii. 14, ad Att. CYTHERIS, a celebrated courtezan of the
ii. 3, ad Qu. Fr. ii. 21, pro Milon. 17. ) [L. U. ] time of Cicero, Antony, and Gallus. She was
CYRUS, Christians. 1. An Egyptian, be- originally the freedwoman and mistress of Volum-
longing to the fifth century, afterwards bishop nius Eutrapelus, and subsequently she became
of Smyrna, according to the testimony of Theo connected in the same capacity with Antony, and
phanes. llis poetical talents procured him the with Gallus the poet, to whom, however, she did
favour of the empress Eudocia. Under Theo- not remain faithful. Gallus mentioned her in his
dosius the Younger he filled the office of go-poems under the name of Lycoris, by which name
vernor of the praetorium, and exarch of the city she is spoken of also by the Scholiast Cruquius on
of Constantinople. When Eudocia withdrew to Horace. (Sat. i. 2. 55, 10. 77 ; comp. Serv. ud
Jerusalem, A. D. 445, he fell under the emperor's Virg. Eclog. x. l; Cic. Phil. ii. 24, ad Att. x. 10,
displeasure. This led to his retirement from civil 16, ad Fuin. ix. 26; Plut. Ant. 9; Plin. H. N.
offices and his joining the clerical order. It is the viii. 16. )
[L. S. ]
express testimony of Theophanes that, by order of CYTHE'RIUS PHILOʻXENUS. [Philos-
Theodosius, he was made bishop of Smyrna. After ENUS. )
he was elevated to the episcopal dignity, he is CYTHE’RIUS PTOLEMAEUS. [ProLE-
said to have delivered a discourse to the people on MAEL'S. )
Christinas day, in which he betrayed gross igno- CYTISSO’RUS (Kurioowpos), a son of Phrixus
rance of divine things. He lived till the time of and Chalciope or lophossa. (Apollod. i. 9. & 1;
the emperor Leo. Suidas says, that on his retire-Schol. ad Apollon. Rhod. ii. 1123, 1149. ) [L. S.