of cavalry that were burning all before them, or would take the greater number of them prisoners, and hinder them from consuming every thing in their way, and prevent them from ever informing the king that they had seen the army of Cyrus. Cyrus, when he heard his proposal, thought it advantageous; and desired him to take a certain number of men from each of the different commanders.

Orontes, thinking that he had secured the cavalry, wrote a letter to the king, saying that he would come to him with as many horse as he could obtain; and he desired him to give directions to his own cavalry to receive him as a friend. There were also in the letter expressions reminding the king of his former friendship and fidelity to him. This letter he gave to a man, upon whom, as he believed, he could depend, but who, when he received it, carried it to Cyrus. Cyrus, after reading the letter, caused Orontes to be arrested, and summoned to his own tent seven of the most distinguished Persians of his staff, and desired the Greek generals to bring up a body of heavy-armed men, who should arrange themselves under arms around his tent. They did as he desired, and brought with them about three thousand heavy-armed soldiers. Clearchus he called in to assist at the council, as that officer appeared. both to himself and to the rest, to be held most in honor among the Greeks. Afterward, when Clearchus left the council, he related to his friends how the trial of Orontes was conducted, for there was no injunction of secresy. He said that Cyrus thus opened the proceedings:

And when after

"I have solicited your attendance, my friends, in order that, on consulting with you, I may do, with regard to Orontes here before you, whatever may be thought just before gods and men. In the first place, then, my father appointed him to be subject to me. ward, by the command, as he himself states, of my brother, he engaged in war against me, having possession of the citadel of Sardis, I, too, took up arms against him, and made him resolve to desist from war with me; and then I received from him, and gave him in return, the right-hand of friendship. And since that occurrence," he continued, "is there any thing in which I have wronged you?" Orontes replied that there was not. Cyrus again asked him, "And did you not then subsequently, when, as you own yourself, you had received no injury from me, go over to the Mysians, and do all the mischief in your power to my territories ?" Orontes answered in the affirmative. "And did you not then," continued Cyrus, “when you had thus again proved your strength, come to the altar of Diana, and say that you repented, and, prevailing upon me by entreaties, give me, and receive from me in return, pledges of mutual faith?" This, too, Orontes acknowledged. "What injury, then,"

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continued Cyrus, "have you received from me, that you are now, for the third time, discovered in traitorous designs against me?" Orontes saying that he had received no injury from him, Cyrus asked him, “You confess, then, that you have acted unjustly toward me?" "I am necessitated to confess it," replied Orontes. Cyrus then again inquired, "And would you yet become an enemy to my brother, and a faithful friend to me?" Orontes answered, "Though I should become so, O Cyrus, I should no longer appear so to you." On this Cyrus said to those present, Such are this man's deeds, and such his confessions. And now, do you first, O Clearchus, declare your opinion, whatever seems right to you." Clearchus spoke thus: I advise that this man be put out of the way with all dispatch; that so it may be no longer necessary to be on our guard against him, but that we may have leisure, as far as he is concerned, to benefit those who are willing to be our friends." In this opinion, Clearchus said, the rest concurred. Afterward, by the direction of Cyrus, all of them, even those related to the prisoner, rising from their seats, took Orontes by the girdle, in token that he was to suffer death; when those to whom directions had been given, led him away. And when those saw him pass, who had previously been used to bow before him, they bowed before him as usual, though they knew that he was being led to execution.

After he had been conducted into the tent of Artapa'tas, the most confidential of Cyrus's scepter-bearers, no one from that time ever beheld Orontes either living or dead, nor could any one say, from certain knowledge, in what manner he died. Various conjectures were made; but no burial-place of him was ever seen.

After the tragical episode of Orontes's end, Cyrus continued his march through Babylònia. At the end of the third day, the encounter of the king's forces seemed so imminent that Cyrus reviewed his whole army and arranged an order of battle. This review took place at midnight. An extraordinary spectacle, to us it seems, for the placid moon to look down upon from her far-off watch-tower in the sky. But we do not know that the moon was shining. Perhaps torches and blazing bonfires furnished the necessary light. The plan concerted was for Clearchus to command the right wing, Menon the left, while Cyrus himself should lead the Barbarian force in person. When day dawned, some de

serters came from the Great King with intelligence respecting the royal army. Cyrus held a council of war with the Greek commanders, at the close of which he exhorted them cheerfully and earnestly, and promised, if successful, to make them, in return for their loyalty and valor, the envy of Greece. Inspirited with these assurances, the Greek commanders were full of confidence and courage. The numbers of the Greeks were found to be but little short of 13,000 men. The Barbarian troops numbered 100,000. Cyrus had about twenty chariots armed with scythes. The king immensely outnumbered the pretender. He was said to have 1,200,000 men, and scythed chariots to the number of 200. A body-guard in addition of 6,000 horsemen were drawn up in front of the king. The absence of Abrocomas, who did not come up until five days after the battle, reduced by one quarter the numbers actually engaged on the king's side.

During one day, after the midnight review, Cyrus marched in battle array, expecting a collision with the king. His reason for this expectation was the fact that he found his march interrupted by a deep and broad trench, at right angles to the river Euphrates, and extending from the river as far as the wall of Media. A space, however, of about twenty feet was left between the end of this trench and the bank of the Euphrates. Through this space the army, narrowing their line of march, advanced to meet the king.

It seems singular that the passage of Cyrus should not have been disputed, but perhaps it was a part of the king's plan thus to throw Cyrus off his guard. Such at any rate was the result. For the army, left very much to the impulses of the individual soldiers, proceeded in loose array and, thus disorganized, after an interval of two days, suddenly encountered the king. The vast multitude of the king's force approached silently with slow and uniform step. Cyrus riding by with his interpreter called out to Clearchus to aim at the enemy's center, as there would be found the king,

But Clearchus, with all his boldness, was too prudent a man to leave his right unguarded by the river. He simply told Cyrus he would take care that all should go well. Clearchus's prudence on the present occasion was, it is probable, fatally ill-timed, both for himself and for the prince. It seems altogether likely that had he done as Cyrus directed, the event of the day would have been reversed. The sequel seems to show that Cyrus was a better judge than Clearchus as to what risks might safely be taken, in reliance upon the superiority of Greek over Barbarian. During the impressively gradual and noiseless mutual approach of the two opposing lines of battle, Xenophon makes his first personal appearance challenging the notice of the reader. Cyrus was riding between the two lines, when Xenophon, for no reason in the world that appears, except to attract the particular attention of the prince, rides out to meet him, and inquires whether he has any commands. Xenophon takes pains to inform us that Cyrus stopped his horse and told him, bidding him tell the rest, that the sacrifices and the appearances of the victims were favorable—a very important communication, which Cyrus, being no doubt himself an orthodox fire-worshiper, may be conceived to have had some humor in manufacturing out of whole cloth on the spot, at once to please Xenophon's vanity, and to satisfy the superstition of the Greeks. At the same moment, Cyrus heard a murmur of voices running through the ranks. He asked what it meant. On being told that it was the watch-word, he asked further what the watch-word was. "Jupiter the Preserver and Victory," was Xenophon's reply. With prompt wit, "I accept it as a good omen," Cyrus said.

The first onset was from the Greeks. They broke the stillness with a shout, and actually ran to the attack. The Bar barians, panic-stricken, fled before them. The scythed chariots of the enemy, abandoned by their drivers, made indiscriminate havoc among the two forces. The Greeks, however,

GREEK AND PERSIAN COMBATANTS.

one man, reported to have been hit

with great facility, opened their ranks to let them pass, and the remarkable fact is recorded by Xeno

phon that, with the doubtful exception of with an arrow, no

Greek received any material injury in this battle. Cyrus noted with exultation the success of the Greeks; but, though already saluted as king by the eager worshipers of the rising sun about him, with great presence of mind he refused to join in the pursuit of the conquered. Keeping his body-guard of 600 cavalry in close order around him, he bent his attention on the proceedings of the king. The king, owing to his enormous preponderance over Cyrus in numbers, was, while holding the center of his own army, actually beyond the extreme left of Cyrus's. Artaxerxes, accordingly, encountering no opposition in his front, began to wheel round as if with the purpose of inclosing his adversaries. Not unnaturally, Cyrus now thought that the victorious Greeks, ardently engaged in pursuit, were in danger of being attacked in the rear. Under this apprehension, he charges, with his 600 horse, directly on his brother. The 6,000 of the king broke and fled, whereupon Cyrus's 600 became dispersed in the ardor of headlong pursuit. Thus left almost alone, Cyrus caught sight of the king. Exclaiming, "I see the man," he rushed with such impetuosity upon his brother, that his weapon pierced the armor of Artaxerxes, and wounded him in the breast. But this fratricidal attack had an issue that Providence appointed, not Cyrus; for Cyrus, in the very act of striking his brother, was himself violently struck with a javelin under the eye and slain.

Xenophon devotes a chapter to a careful portraiture of the character of Cyrus. This chapter, in order that our