585.

B. C. having put all the rich apparel on his own dead child, he carried it, in the same basket, to the wildest part of the mountains; and some of the guards of Harpagus, having formal notice from the herdsman, witnessed that the supposed child of Mandane was dead, and Harpagus had it buried under his own observation.

How the son of Mandane was reared up with the name of Cyrus, and how he was discovered by the king to be his grandson, has been already stated. We pass on to the vengeance taken by the king on Harpagus.

The herdsman, being questioned, confessed his share of the benevolent fraud; whereupon the king, highly incensed with Harpagus, sent his guards to bring him to the palace. When Harpagus came, the very sight of the herdsman convinced him that concealment was impossible; so he told the king how he had endeavoured at once to obey his prince's orders and spare himself the guilt of killing a royal infant; how he had compelled the herdsman to expose the child on the mountain, had proofs of the exposure and the death, and had buried the child with his own hands.

The king concealed his resentment at the time, and even affected to be glad that the child's life was spared, "for," said he, "I suffered a great deal about the child, and bitterly felt the reproaches of my daughter; so, since fortune has been more favourable to me than I could have

585.

hoped, send me your son to bear Cyrus company, B. C. and then come yourself to my supper; for I am resolved to sacrifice to the deities, who have a claim on my gratitude on so great an occasion."

Harpagus, delighted that all should end so well, and he have the honour to be invited to the feast of joy, sent his son, a boy of about thirteen, to the palace, and told his wife, with the greatest satisfaction, of all that had transpired. But no sooner did his son reach the palace, than he was barbarously killed and cut in pieces by order of the king; some parts of his flesh were roasted and some boiled, and all kept in readiness to be served at table. When the hour had arrived, and Harpagus and all the company were seated at supper, the tables before the king and all the rest of his guests were supplied with joints of mutton; but before Harpagus all the body of his son was placed except the head, the hands, and the feet, which were covered over in a basket near the wretched father. When he had made a hearty meal, the king asked him how he liked the meat? to which Harpagus replied, he had never tasted anything more delicious in his life: whereupon the officers, as already arranged, brought the basket with the head, hands, and feet of his son, and told him to take his choice of whatever he liked best. Harpagus uncovered the basket and looked upon the remains of his own murdered son, but without betraying any emotion or sign of resentment; and when the king asked if he knew what venison he

500.

B. c. had been eating, he said he was perfectly well aware, but he could not fail to feel pleasure in anything that gave pleasure to his king. Then, collecting the mangled parts, he went home and buried them.

This was the barbarous and inhuman treatment that rankled in the heart of Harpagus till it found vent in an insurrection, in which he induced Cyrus to join the Persians against the throne and the empire of that cruel monster Astyages, King of the Medes.

IN the year 500, B. C., the Grecian colonies in Asia Minor made an attempt to throw off the yoke of the Persians, and for that purpose they formed an alliance with the Athenians; but in this attempt they were unsuccessful. Asia Minor was obliged once more to submit to the Persians, and Darius, the Persian king, vowed vengeance on Athens and the other Grecian states. He first sent ambassadors and demanded submission; but the ambassadors were put to death. He then

490.

sent a fleet and an army; but the fleet suffered B. C. shipwreck, and the army was defeated before it reached the Grecian territory. A second fleet was now sent forth, of which the Greeks had far more reason to be afraid, as also a large number of armed men, to be set on shore near the city of Athens. And now the Athenians, deserted by nearly all the other Grecian states, were in alarm, and proposed to fly at their enemy's approach. But one man alone stood forth, named Miltiades, and fired each sinking heart with valour; led the Athenians to battle, and defeated the Persian army on the plains of Marathon, in the year 490 B. C., though Miltiades' army was, as compared with the Persians, a mere handful of men. Miltiades was received with loud acclamations as the defender of the city. Inscriptions, paintings, and anniversary festivals, rendered the victor and his victory of immortal memory. Darius, more enraged than before, now levied another army of many myriads of men; and, though he did not live to command them, Xerxes his son carried on the preparations of the armament with increased activity, and, pouring his infantry into the northern provinces, awed the majority of these Grecian states into submission. In the north, however, a steep and lofty mountain chain formed the barrier of Greece, passable by one narrow gorge alone. This pass was now defended by Leonidas and his Spartans, and for some time every effort of the Persians was in vain; till at last, a shame

480.

B. C. less and execrable traitor led the enemy by a bypath over the mountains. Leonidas and his brave soldiers, thus surrounded on all sides, perished to a man, though not before they had committed great havoc among the troops of the enemy. The Persians were now approaching Athens, and the people, seeing the impossibility of defending the city against so overwhelming a force, abandoned their houses and fled to the neighbouring coasts and islands, where all who were able to bear arms took to the ships and made ready for battle. And now the countless fleet of the Persians came in sight, and the Greeks entertained serious thoughts of sailing away; but a stratagem of Themistocles alone saved the liberties and the honour of Greece; for, he gave notice to the enemy that his countrymen intended to fly. Thereupon the Persians surrounded the narrow inlet that confined the Grecian fleet, and when the Greeks endeavoured to carry their determination into effect they found themselves encompassed on all sides by the enemy. In the meanwhile, Themistocles had made every preparation for the approaching struggle, and supported his countrymen with the greatest enthusi

asm.

The Persians, unacquainted with the coast, ran their ships aground, and were so crowded that many vessels could not come into action. At last, a part of their fleet went over to the Greeks, and the rest fled in the utmost confusion. Thus did Themistocles, 480 B. C. win the ever-memorable battle of Salamis, which at once secured the