C Y R 
lion of many rare Species of Plants never noticed before ; 
among which is the convolvulus Jl'o'lojiifcroi/s, fo much 
fpoken of by the' continental reviewers. Mr. Cyrillo 
was alfo an accontplifhed moral character. During the 
•lhort reign of the Parthenopean republic, he was a mem¬ 
ber of the legiflature ; and when Naples was reconquered 
by the ferocious bands of cardinal Rull'o, he was con¬ 
demned to death as guilty of high ireafon. Lord N el-fon, 
•and fir William Hamilton, then in Naples, who were in¬ 
timately acquainted with him, offered their intercellion 
to procure him pardon from his Sicilian mujeffy. Mr. 
Cyrillo thanked them for their generous offer, and de¬ 
clared, that “ he was too good a patriot to accept of 
any grace from a tyrant.” Accordingly, he was exe¬ 
cuted in the month of July, 1799, about feventy years 
of age. 
CYRTAN'DRA,y. in botany. See Besletua. 
CYRTAN'THUS,y. [from y.vpToq, bent, and avSo?, a 
flower.] In botany, a genus of the clafs hexandria, or¬ 
der monogynia, natural order fpathacea?. The generic 
characters are—Calyx: none. Corolla: one-petalled, 
club-fliaped, bent, fix-cleft at the top ; fegments ovate- 
oblong ; the three inner blunt, the three outer termi¬ 
nating in a little horn. Stamina : filaments fix, fattened 
to the tube, filiform-fubulate, a little fhorter than the 
corolla; antherse oblong, eredt. Piftillum: germ infe¬ 
rior, ovate, obtufely three-cornered ; ftyle filiform, the 
length of the corolla; ftigma trifid .—EJJential CharaEler. 
Corolla, tubular, club-fliaped, crooked, fix-cleft; feg¬ 
ments ovate-oblong ; filaments inferted into the tube, 
converging at the top. 
Species. 1. Cyrtanthus anguftifolius, or narrow-leaved 
cyrtanthus: leaves obtufely keeled, ftraight; flowers 
drooping. Flowers narrow, purple, with a bent tube ; 
from which latter circumftance it takes the name. The 
fmall glandular hook at the extremity of each alternate 
fegment of the corolla is deferving of notice. Curtis's 
Magazine , p. 271. 
2. Cyrtanthus obliquus, or oblique-leaved cyrtanthus: 
leaves flat, oblique ; flowers pendulous. This is Angu¬ 
lar for its long oblique leaves. Flowers purple; tube 
turbinate ; border beli-lhaped, eredt. Thefe are both 
natives of the Cape of Good Hope, where they were 
found by Tluinberg and Maffon. They were introduced 
at Kew in 1774; and flower from May to July. Thefe 
plants may be increafed by oif-fets or feeds, and require 
the fame treatment as other bulbs from the Cape. See 
Crinum, Amaryllis, and Ignatia. 
f CYRTO'MA,y [from v.vgrou, to incurvate.] The 
medical term for any preternatural tumour or gibbofity. 
CY'RUS, king of Perfia, a great conqueror, of an¬ 
cient f 9 me, but whofe true hittory is involved in much 
obfcurity, was the fon of Cambyfes, and is fuppofed to 
have-been born about B.C. 599. There are only two 
Greek writers who can be called original authorities con¬ 
cerning his life and actions, Herodotus and Xenophon, 
and thefe differ fo widely, that they cannot be recon¬ 
ciled. The authority of the firft has been generally pre¬ 
ferred, and apparently with juftice ; for, though his 
account is intermixed with narrations ftrongly tindtured 
with fable, yet real hittory was probably his aim ; where¬ 
as the very purpofe of Xenophon has always been under- 
ffood to.be that of compofing a-fort of didadtic romance, 
or a philofophical inftitute of regal government. Fol¬ 
lowing Herodotus, therefore, we may admit that Afty- 
ages king of the Modes, induced by political or fuper- 
ffitious fears, married his daughter, Mandane, toa Per- 
fian named Cambyfes, of ancient family, but in an hum¬ 
ble condition ; that on the birth of a male child, further 
apprehenfions, excited perhaps by the interpretation of 
a dream, induced him to-order the infant to be expofed; 
that its life was preferved by a fhepherd, and that his 
exiftence at length became known to his grandfather ; 
that he then fent him to be educated among his relations 
in Perfia, where he grew up in manly exercifes, and 
Vol. V. No. 294. 
C Y R 540 
formed a bold and martial character. It is not impro¬ 
bable that he was intruded with a military command, 
and that lie obtained fuccelfes over the king of Armenia, 
and other neighbouring potentates. 
Difcontents in the mean time rifing in Media againft 
the tyrannical government of Attyages, principally fo¬ 
mented by a noble, named Harpagus, a fecret correfpon- 
dence was entered into with Cyrus, who was exhorted 
as well to free his countrymen, the Perfians, from their 
dependence on the Medes, as to make ufe of the oppor¬ 
tunity to afcencl the throne of his unnatural grandfather. 
Cyrus, by means of his military reputation, eafily raifed 
a determined band of Perfians, greedy of fpoil, whom 
he led into Media. In an engagement with the troops 
of Attyages, feveral of the Median generals went over to 
Cyrus, who gained a great vidtory. In a fecond battle, 
Attyages, who was himfelf prefent, was made prifoner. 
Cyrus detained him for the reft of his life as a captive in 
his palace, and afcended the throne in his ftead. In all 
this narration of the revolt of Cyrus, and his depofition 
of his grandfather, there is certainly nothing improbable, 
or foreign from eaffern manners. Cyrus appears after¬ 
wards to have purfued that courfe of ambitious conqueft 
to which his power and fuccefs invited him. .He en¬ 
gaged in a war with Crcefus king of Lydia, which ter¬ 
minated in the capture and dethronement of that mo¬ 
narch, and the fubjugation of his dominions. (See 
Crcesus.) He then completed the reduction of all Lef- 
fer Afia, and Syria ; and next, turning his arms againft 
the king of Aflyria, he invefted Babylon, which he took 
after a fiege of two years, and thus put an end to that 
kingdom, 538 years before Chrift. Soon after this event, 
he performed an action which has greatly contributed to 
the celebrity of his name. He iflued an edidt, permit¬ 
ting Inch of the Jews as were remaining from the Baby- 
lonifh captivity, to return to Jerufalem, and rebuild 
their temple. But that the words of the edidt were 
fuch as are recorded in Efdras ii. in which he fays, 
“ The Lord of Ifrael, the moll high Lord, has made me 
king of tire whole world,” may well be queftioned, fince 
there is no reafon to doubt of his being an idolater, like 
his countrymen. Of the death of this great conqueror 
we have various and contradidlory accounts. Herodotus 
fays, that Cyrus having invaded the Maflagetes, a Scy¬ 
thian people, dwelling beyond the Araxes, at firft ob¬ 
tained great fuccefs againft them ; but that their queen, 
Tomyris, aflembling frefli troops, gave him battle,-in 
which, after a mod bloody conflidt, the greateft part of 
the Perfian army was cut in pieces, and himfelf (lain. 
He adds, that the queen caiifed his head to be thrown 
into a veflel of human blood, pronouncing over it the 
reproachful words, “ Satiate thyfelf with the blood for 
which thou haft fo ardently thirfted.” Diodorus relates 
his defeat by the fame Tomyris, but fays that he was 
taken prifoner, and afterwards crucified. Others agree 
in his meeting with a violent death ; but Xenophon 
alone reprefents him as dying in his bed, probably for 
the purpofe of introducing a philofophical difcourfe 
upon death in his name. The date of his deceafe is 
placed 529 years before Chrifl. 
CYRUS the Younger, fecond fon of Darius No- 
thus king of Perfia, by Paryfatis, was born about 423 
years before Chrift. His fatherLent him, at the age of 
fixteen, to govern the provinces of Afia Minor, for 
which early truft he was indebted to his mother, who 
wiftied to put him into a condition to contend for the 
fucceffion at his father’s deceafe. Fie appears, to have 
affumed all the haughtinefs of royal birth ; for he put 
to death two noble Perfians, his coufins, only becaufe 
they approached him without wrapping their hands in 
their fleeves, the mark of refpedt paid to royalty. In- 
cenfed at this action, his father called him to court, and 
it was with difficulty that his mother procured a recon¬ 
ciliation. At his death, Darius bequeathed to his 
younger fon the government of the provinces before under 
1 A his 
