CYKUS IL 



CZACKI TADEfs/.. 



tfl 



household, was charged with the commiuioii, but being reluctant to 

 execute it. gave the child to the king's herdsman to put to death. 

 The herdsman's wife, who just at this time was delivered of a still- 

 born male child, persuaded her husband to preserve the life of the 

 roynl infant, and their own dead child was accordingly exposed instead 

 of Cyrus, whom they brought up under their own root Among his 

 boyii-h playmates Cyrus exhibited all the royal symptoms of an 

 inclination to command and be obeyed. In their games the youths 

 made him king, and the severity with which he enforced his orders 

 on one of these occasions led to his being brought before Astyages, 

 who recognised in his feature* a likeness to himself, and found that 

 the time of the exposure of his grandson and the age of Cyrus agreed. 

 The circumstances of hia preservation were disclosed, and he was 

 sent to his real parent*. Astyages was less enraged against the herds- 

 man than against Harpagus, on whom he wreaked his vengeance by 

 the murder of his son : the youth'* mangled limbs were dressed and 

 erred up at supper when Harpagu* was present, and the head, hands, 

 mad feet were afterward* shown to the father in a basket, with insulting 

 expressions. Uarpagu* said nothing, but meditated revenge ; and it 

 was not long before he succeeded in rousing Cyrus against Astyages. 

 Cyras induced the Persians to revolt agaiust the Mules, and dethroned 

 Astyages B.C. 560. He next attacked and took Sardis, and made 

 Crcaous prisoner B.C. 646. [CBOBUB.] He besieged and took the city 

 of Babylon B.C. 538, which he entered by diverting the course of the 

 Euphrates and leading hi* army into the city by the dry bed of the 

 rivrr (i. 190-191.) At hut he carried his arms against the Masn&getao, 

 and was defeated and tlain by Tomyris, their queen (B.C. 29), who 

 had bin head cut off and put into a leathern bag full of human blood, 

 rayinfr, "Though I am olive and have conquered you, you have uudone 

 me by taking iny son ; but I will, as I threatened, satiate you with 

 blood." He bad reigned twenty-nine years (i. 214.) Thia is the 

 account given by Herodotus, which, with a few variations, is copied 

 by Justin. Xenophon's work on the education of Cyrus is rather an 

 historical romance than a history, and therefore hi* narrative is less 

 to be depended on than that of Herodotus, from which it differs mate- 

 rially. Both Xenophon and Cteaia* (' Persica,' a 8) [CTESIAS], make 

 Cyrus die quietly a natural death. (See the last chapter of Cicero 

 ' De Seuectute.') The account of Ctesias as to his death is conforma- 

 ble with the story in Arriau (' Anab.' vi 29) of the body of Cyru* 

 being interred at Pasargacke. [ALEXANDER III.] The fame of Cyrus 

 appears to have lasted to the downfall of the Persian empire ; he was 

 regarded by his countrymen as their great national hero; and his 

 fame is still preserved iu the annals of modern Persia. The Persians 

 gave him the title of father (iii. 89). while they called his son, 

 C.imbrses, a tyrant The capture of Babyloa by Cyrus is the point 

 at which sacred history first touches on profane. (Clinton, 'Fast. 

 Hel.,' p. SOI.) Cyrus left two sons, Catnbyses, who succeeded hiui on 

 the throne, and Smerdis, who was murdered by the comumud of 

 Cambysr*. (Herod, iii. 30.) 



18 II. was the sou of Darius II. and Paryrnti*. Artaxerxes, 

 the eldest son of Darius, succeeded him as king : but Cyrus disputed 

 the right of succession, and founded his own chum on tho fact that he 

 was the first-born after tho accession of his father. Cyrus was the 

 favourite of his mother, Parysatis, and was indebted to her intercession 

 with Artaxerxea for the preservation of his life after he hail been 

 chanted with a conspiracy against the king. He was scut back to 

 bin government in the western provinces of Asia Minor, but did not 

 relinquish his designs on Artaxerxes. Indignant at the disgrace he 

 had suffered by being sentenced to death, he resolved, if possibl.-, to 

 dethrone hit brother. The great difficulty was to raise a sufficient 

 force without exciting hi* brother's suspicion*. Clearchus, a Lacedae- 

 monian general, undertook to raise a body of Greek troops for the pur- 

 po*e of making war on some Throcian tribe*. Aristippus in Tliessalia, 

 and Proxcnus in Jkcotia, railed troop* for similar purposes and with 

 a similar object. Artaxerxes had originally been apprised of the 

 design* of Cyru* by Tiseaphernes, but the cities which were in the 

 government of Tisaaphernrs now all revolted to Cyrus, with the 

 exception of Miletus. A war thus arising between Tissaphemts and 

 1 ': rn', gave Cyru* a pretext for openly collecting bis force*, and even 

 for soliciting the aid of the king, to whom be made heavy complaint* 

 of the conduct of Tiataphernes. Artaxerxe* was thus blinded to 

 tli* real aim* of Cyrus, who explained hia intentions to no Greek 

 but Clearclius, lest they should be deterred from joining him by 

 the boldness of the attempt. When his forces were all collected, he 

 set out from Sardis, the srat of tho Persian authority in Western 

 Asia (B.C. 401), without the soldier* knowing anything more of tho 

 object* of the expedition than that he was goin; to march against 

 the Pistdiana, who had infested hi* province. me* however 



with his characteristic cunning saw that the preparation* were much 

 too great to be really intended against the I'isidians, and accordingly 

 he went with all expedition to inform the king. Artaxerxes no 

 sooner heard of the armament of Cyrus than he began to make 

 preparation) for opposing him. Cyrus iu the meantime was con- 

 tinuing bis march through the southern province* of Asia Minor, 

 passing through Cehcntc, 1'clUc, Thymbrium, Tyrauni, Iconiuui, 

 and Dana, till he arrived at tho foot of the Taurus, which he crowed 

 and arrived at Tarsus. Hera the Greeks refused to march any 

 farther : they suspected that they were going against the king and 



declared that they were hired for no such purpose. The tumult 

 was partially appeased by the influence of Clearchus, who persuaded 

 them to send deputies to Cyrus to enquire what was the real object 

 of the expedition. Cyrus, by an artful evasion, which however 

 was partly seen through by the soldiers, pretended that he had an 

 enemy, Abrocoma*, on the bank* of the Euphrates, at the distance of 

 a few days' march, and that he was advancing against him. A 

 promise of half as much pay again as they had received before, 

 induced them to proceed ; but it wai not till some time afu-r 

 that it was openly stated that they were going agaiust the king. At 

 hut, on arriving at the plain of Cynaxa, iu the province of Babylon, 

 Cyrus found Artaxerxes ready to oppose him with an immense army. 

 Clearchus advised Cyrus not to expose his own person, but he rejected 

 the counsel. As soon as the enemy approached, the Greeks attacked 

 them with such vigour that the disorderly and ill-assorted army of tho 

 king forthwith took to flight. While Artaxerxes was preparing to 

 attack in the flank, Cyrus advanced agaiust him with a large 1 > 

 horse, and with his own hand killed Artagerces, the captniu of the 

 king's guards, and routed the whole troop. Just at this moment, 

 spying the king himself, and crying out " I see him ! " he rushed for- 

 ward and engaged with him in close combat. He killed his brother's 

 horse and wounded the king himself. The king mounted another 

 horse, but Cyrus attacked him again, and gave him another wound, 

 and was in the act of giving him a third when he himself wax 

 The select guards and friends of Cyrus, not choosing to survive tin ir 

 master, killed themselves on his body. With the life of Cyru 

 the cause in which he died, and the Greeks effected their retreat uinlrr 

 the command of Xenophon and others. [XKXoriiox.] The whole 

 expedition occupied fifteen mouths. 



The character of Cyrus is highly eulogised by Xenophon ('Anab.,' 

 i. c. 9.) In hia childhood aud youth he excelled all his companions in 

 those pursuits which belonged to their rank. He was fond of war an<l 

 hunting. His justice was conspicuous in all his conduct, both public 

 and private, and be never suffered the evil-doer to go unpunished. To 

 those who deserved reward for services he was unbounded in hi < 

 munificence, and his friends received frequent tokens of Ms kind 

 remembrance. On the whole it was the opinion of Xenophou that no 

 individual had over secured the affections of a greater number of 

 men, whether Greeks or others. According to a passage in Xenophon 

 quoted by Cicero ('De Senectute,' c. 17), Cyrus was fond of agricul- 

 tural and horticultural labours, and worked with his own hands. 



(Xenophon, Anabajft, i.; Plutarch, Art<uerxa\ Diodorus !S.< 

 xiv.) 



C/ACKI, TADEUSZ, an eminent Polish statesman and author, 

 was born in 1765 or 1766, at Poryck in Volhyuia, where his father 

 was a large lauded proprietor. Czacki's life has been written by two 

 of his personal fricnda by Stanislas Potocki in a funeral pan* 

 read before the society of ' Friends of Science ' at Warsaw in 

 and by Mostowski iu the supplement to the Biographic Universelle' 

 published in 1836 ; and it is curious to observe how frequently they 

 differ in tho facts of his biography. According to Potocki he was 

 "educated under the eye of his father, aud was the consolation ;m i 

 support of his old age;" according to Mostowski ho was ' 'drprivid 

 from infancy of the assistance of his father, who was kept for seven 

 years a prisoner iu Ituseia," Again, at a later pi-rind of life 1; 

 according to Mostowski, for some years a professor at the nnr 

 of Cracow ; Potocki does not allude to tho circumstance, but speaks 

 in tho portion of his narrative relating to that period of his life 

 eminent services in ru-eatablUhing tho banks at Warsaw. It is agreed 

 by both that Czacki, unlike most of his countrymen of the same 

 received his education in Poland alone ; that he was early distingui-h- <l 

 by hia consummate knowledge of Polish affaire ; and that at tho age 

 of two- or thrae-and-twenty he became one of the most active minis- 

 ters of the cabinet of King Stanislaus Pouiatowski, reforming tho 

 system of weights and measures, proposing improvements in the 

 water-communication, drawing up a map of the rivers of Poland, ami 

 finally taking a part in the construction of the new constitution . 

 Third of May 1791, which was followed by the hostilities termii 

 in the final dismemberment of Poland. Czacki took an active part, in 

 these disastrous times a* an adherent of the patriotic party, a: 

 estate* were in consequence confiscated by the Russian victoiv. 

 accession of the Emperor Paul to the throne of liussia led to the 

 liberation of Polish captives, and the restoration of Polish estates, and 

 among others Czacki received back his large possessions in Volhyuia, 

 aud from this period he became known an the muniiiivnt patron of 

 Polish education. He was allowed to found a high school, which was 

 opened at Krzemieniec in 1805, to which he devoted almost the whole 

 of his property and his time, ami in which he introduced instruction 

 in the fine arts and in bodily exercises, as well as in the sciences and 

 the languages, with so much success that it speedily became the most 

 popular school in Poland for both sexes, and numbered about six 

 hundred pupils. Tho suspicious of the Russians were excited that the 

 instruction given was of too patriotic a character, and a commirhioii 

 was appointed in 1807 to inquire into the management of the .- 

 when Czacki vindicated himself so much to the satisfaction 

 Emperor Alexander, that he was appointed, deputy of I'rinco Czar- 

 toryski, superintendent of public instruction. These suspicions how- 

 ever revived, aud it is perhaps doing no injustice to Czacki to suppose 



