cross by himself; but the current seized him, swept him along with it, and drowned him in its depths. 13. Cyrus, enraged at the insolence of the river, threatened so to break its strength that in future even women should cross it easily without wetting their knees. Accordingly, he put off for a time his attack on Babylon, and dividing his army into two parts, he marked out by ropes one hundred and eighty trenches on each side of the Gyndes, leading off from it in all directions, and setting his army to dig, some on one side of the river, some on the other, he accomplished his threat by the aid of so great a number of hands, but not without losing thereby the whole summer season. 14. Having, however, thus wreaked his vengeance on the Gyndes, by dispersing it through three hundred and sixty channels, Cyrus, with the first approach of the ensuing spring, marched forward against Babylon. The Babylonians, encamped without their walls, awaited his coming. A battle was fought at a short distance from the city, in which the Babylonians were defeated by the Persian king; whereupon they withdrew within their defenses. Here they shut themselves up, and made light of his siege, having laid in a store of provisions for many years in preparation against this attack; for when they saw Cyrus conquering nation after nation, they were convinced that he would never stop, and that their time would come at last. 15. Cyrus was now reduced to great perplexity, as time went on, and he made no progress against the place. In this distress either some one made the suggestion to him, or he bethought himself of a plan which he proceeded to put in execution. He placed a portion of his army at the point where the river enters the city, and another body at the back of the place where it issues forth, with orders to march into the town by the bed of the stream, as soon as the waters became shallow enough. He then himself drew off with the unwarlike portion of his host, and made for the place where Nitócris dug the basin for the river, where he did exactly what she had done formerly; he turned the Euphrates by a canal into the basin, which was then a marsh, on which the river sank to such an extent that the natural bed of the stream became fordable. 16. Hereupon the Persians, who had been left for the purpose at Babylon by the river-side, entered the stream, which had now sunk so as to reach about midway up a man's thigh, and thus got into the town. Had the Babylonians been apprised of what Cyrus was about, or had they noticed their danger, they would not have allowed the entrance of the Persians within the city, which was what ruined them utterly; but would have made fast all the street-gates which gave upon the river, and mounting upon the walls along both sides of the stream, would so have caught the enemy as it were in a trap. But, as it was, the Persians came upon them by surprise, and so took the city. Owing to the vast size of the place, the inhabitants of the central part (as the residents at Babylon declare), long after the outer portions of the town were taken, knew nothing of what had chanced; but as they were engaged in a festival, continued dancing and revelling until they learned the capture but too certainly. [In the account given in the Book of Daniel of this event, the king is called Belshazzar; and we are told that, neglecting the duty of watching the enemy, he gave himself up to feasting and revelry. The incident which produced so startling an interruption to his festivity, and foretold the doom of the city and the king, is familiar to all. The following lines of Lord Byron afford a poetic descrip ion of the event.] Vision of Belshazzar.-Byron. THE king was on his throne, The godless heathen's wine. In that same hour and hall, And wrote as if on sand: The fingers of a man ;— Along the letters ran, And traced them like a wand. The monarch saw and shook, The wisest of the earth, Chaldea's seers are good, But here they have no skill; And Babel's men of age Are wise and deep in lore; But now they were not sage, A captive in the land, A stranger and a youth, He heard the king's command, The morrow proved it true. "Belshazzar's grave is made, Is light and worthless clay. Like Daniel had been taken to Babylon after the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Joseph in earlier times, he gained the favor of the king; and demonstrated his divine endowment by interpreting the dream of Nebuchadnezzar. He had been trained in the mysteries of the Chal deans, and placed at the head of the Magi. The shroud his robe of state, His canopy the stone; The Mede is at his gate! The Persian on his throne !"* [Babylon subsequently revolted, and was again taken by Darius Hystaspes, after a siege of two years. The Persian kings afterward made Babylon their place of residence, until the kingdom was overturned by Alexander the Great, who entered the city as a conqueror 331 B.C. The great temple of Belus had been plundered and partly demolished by Xerxes, and Alexander undertook to restore it; but although he kept ten thousand men to work upon it for two months, he was unable to clear away the rubbish. The Macedonian conqueror died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. After the foundation of Seleucia, on the Tigris River, by Seleucus, Babylon fell into decay; and now it is diffi cult even to identify its site.] Education and Character of Cyrus.-Xenophon. [The history of Cyrus is differently related by Herodotus and Xenophon; and a very different idea is given of his character by each of these celebrated writers. By the former he is represented as a bold, enterprising, and merciless conqueror; by the latter as a great, wise, and benevolent monarch, virtuous in his designs and generous in his con. quests. The general belief among historians is, that Xenophon, in his great work entitled “Cyropædia,” did not design so much to give an accurate account of the history of Cyrus as to present, in the person of this monarch, the model of what a great and wise king should be. The following extract, principally from Rollin's "Ancient History," is a translation, somewhat abridged, of a portion of Xenophon's interesting work.] 1. CYRUS, as it is said, was the son of Camby'ses, king of Persia, and of Man-da'ne, daughter of Asty'ages, king of the Medes. He was beautiful in person, but still more lovely for the qualities of his mind, being of a very amiable disposition, most eager to acquire knowledge, and so fond of glory that in order to gain it he was willing to brave any danger and endure any fatigue. The laws and customs of the Persians, especially in regard to education, were, in those days, very excellent; and under these Cyrus was brought up. 2. The great aim of these laws was to promote the general good of the State; and the education of children was looked upon as the most important duty of the government. Hence, instead of permitting every person to bring up his children as he pleased, and passing laws to punish such crimes as they might afterward commit, the Persians took pains to prevent This is not exactly in accordance with the Scriptural account. Cyaxares, the Mede, called Darius by Daniel, took the throne at first; but he dying in two years, was succeeded by Cyrus, who, by the death of his father, Cambyses, became monarch of the Medes and Persians. the commission of those crimes by a careful education on the part of the State; and all parents were obliged to give up their children to its requirements. In accordance with these, boys were all brought up in common, under certain established rules, by which everything pertaining to their food, their physical training, and their instruction and discipline, was regulated. They were early accustomed to abstinence and sobriety, only the plainest food being permitted. Schools were provided, in which they were taught justice and virtue, with the same degree of care as is expended among us [the Athenians] in teaching letters. Ingratitude was a crime which they held in particular abhorrence. 3. The boys remained in the class of children until they had attained the age of sixteen or seventeen years, when they were transferred to the class of young men. Here they were kept during ten years, under very close inspection and restraint. They slept in the vicinity of the palace, both for the purpose of guarding the city, and to be protected from those vices to which this age is especially liable. In the day-time they waited upon the governors, attended the king on his hunting excursions, or practiced their military and athletic exercises. From this class they passed to that of the full-grown men, from whom were selected officers to command the troops, and to fill the various positions in the government; also teachers of the youth. After fifty years of age they were no longer obliged to bear arms abroad. The fourth class comprehended all above this age, and they were called seniors; from them were selected the judges, whose duty it was to pass sentence upon those of the lower classes who were found guilty of offenses, the sentence being a degradation from their proper rank, after which they were considered as infamous during the rest of their lives. . . . [At the commencement of the war against the Assyrians, undertaken by the Medes and Persians, the latter being under the command of Cyrus, the king of Armenia, who was a vassal to the Medes, revolted and refused to pay the ordinary tribute. Cyrus, therefore, undertook to compel the Armenians to execute their treaty, and advancing with a considerable force into the country, took the king by surprise. The following interesting narrative is given by Xenophon, to illustrate the character of his hero.] 4. Cyrus then sent a herald to the king of Armenia, to sum |