became very angry, and asked if his own happiness were slighted, and if he did not think he was of as much value as private men were. "You appear to me," said Solon, in the course of his answer, "to be the master of immense treasures, and the king of many nations, but as relates to what you inquire of me, I cannot say until you have ended your life happily. The richest of men is not more happy than he who has only a sufficiency for the day, unless good fortune attend him to the grave, and he ends his life in happiness. Many who abound in wealth are unhappy, and many who have only a moderate competency are fortunate. No human being is in all respects self-sufficient, but if he possesses one advantage he is in need of another; he therefore who has constantly enjoyed the most of these, and then ends his life tranquilly, this man, in my judgment, O king! deserves the name of happy. We ought, therefore, to consider the end of everything and in what way it will terminate."

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How true are those words attributed to Solon, that we ought to consider the end of everything, in what way it will terminate ;" words most wise and true, truer and wiser than Solon himself could have known them to be. Nothing in this life is deserving of the name of happiness, if we cannot attain to happiness at the last. "Look to the end," respice finem, was Solon's teaching, and is the best motto for life. Croesus was greatly offended, and contrary to his wont, dismissed him without any mark of his favour; considering that his remarks were those of a very ignorant man, in neglecting present prosperity and bidding men look to the end of everything. Yet the remarks of Solon were proved to be fully true. A mighty power was now rising in the east, that was destined to absorb the Lydian kingdom. The great Median empire extended from the Indus in the east to the river Halys, in the heart of Asia Minor. Formerly there had been war between Media and Lydia, but any danger from this source appeared to have ceased in the time of Croesus, for Croesus was the brother-in-law of Astyages, the King of Media. In the south and south-east of Media dwelt the Persian subjects of the Median king, abiding on high upland plains and

rugged mountains; a simple, primitive race, as mountaineers commonly are. The exact relations between Persia and Media are not known, but it is most likely that the Persians had their own monarch, who acknowledged the suzerainty of the King of Media. Cyrus, the Persian prince, supposed by some to have been the grandson of Astyages, was brought up at the Median court, and soon perceived how the courage and virtue of the Medes were altogether sapped by vicious and luxurious habits. Cyrus formed the idea of revolting and throwing off entirely even the nominal subjection of the Persians. Astyages sent his armies to quell the rebellion, but after many battles the victory finally rested with Cyrus and the Persians. The royal insignia fell into the hands of the conqueror, who was hailed by his soldiers "King of Media and Persia." Astyages was soon taken prisoner, and then all the dependencies, conceiving that the royal rights had accrued to the possessor of the royal person, yielded submission. "This ready submission was, no doubt, partly owing to the general recognition of a close connection between Media and Persia, which made the transfer of empire from one to the other but slightly galling to the subjected power, and a matter of complete indifference to the dependent countries. Except in so far as religion was concerned, the change from one Iranic race to the other would make scarcely a perceptible difference to the subjects of either kingdom. The law of the state would still be the law of the Medes and Persians. Official employment would be open to the people of both countries. Even the fame and glory of empire would attach in the minds of men almost as much to the one nation as the other. If Media descended from her pre-eminent rank, it was to occupy a station only a little below the highest, and one which left her a very distinct superiority over. all the other subject races.'

B.C. 599.

1 Rawlinson's 'Ancient Monarchies,' iii. 231. On the high employments filled by Medes under Persian kings, Professor Rawlinson quotes, inter alia, Dan. ix. 1. He also cites Dan. v. 28: "Thy kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Persians." The Greek writers frequently use Mede and Persian as almost synonymous terms.

Croesus viewed the growing power of the Persians with dismay, and was anxious to arrest its progress. He consulted the oracles, and they declared that "if Croesus should make war on the Persians he would destroy a mighty empire." Croesus interpreted the oracle in his own favour, though it was of course susceptible of a very different interpretation. By the advice of the oracle he sought an alliance with the Spartans, who readily promised their aid. One of his counsellors sought to dissuade Croesus, showing him that he had nothing to win from such a war, and that instead of attacking the Persians he should be glad that the Persians were not going to attack him. Croesus, however, marched into Cappadocia, crossing the river Halys. Some engagements ensued of an indecisive character. Croesus, finding that his army was not victorious, fell back upon Sardis, intending to gather together a still larger army. But as soon as Croesus had returned to Sardis, and disbanded his troops for a time, Cyrus with wonderful celerity marched on the Lydian capital and invested it. The Lydians, though without allies, fought bravely, and moreover, their fortifications were considered impregnable. The Spartans could not come to help him because they were at war with Argos, and when they were at liberty the Lydian war was over. Sardis was captured in the following manner. Only one part of Sardis was unfortified, a precipitous rock that was considered absolutely unassailable. happened that a Lydian soldier who had lost his helmet over the precipice, was observed to climb down and recover it. The soldier who noticed this ascended the same way, many Persians followed him, and in this way Sardis was captured. Cyrus condemned Croesus to be burned alive. When the unhappy king was placed on the pyre, he groaned and then pronounced the name of Solon. Cyrus commanded the interpreters to ask Croesus what he meant. Then Croesus told him about Solon, and how Solon had warned him that the highest prosperity was often followed by the most extreme adversity. Herodotus makes Cyrus relent on hearing this, and we certainly find Croesus restored to freedom and comparative rank.

It so

Towards the Jonian and Eolian Greeks Cyrus was not equally generous. Before the war broke out he had endeavoured to induce them to revolt, but had not succeeded. When they asked him to concede the same terms to them as to Croesus he showed his resentment by refusing their request, except indeed in the case of Miletus. It would be sufficient if Miletus paid him the same tribute which she had paid to Croesus. The Greeks met together in common council, resolved on resistance, and sent messengers to Sparta, to ask for help. The Spartans would not engage in war; but some Spartan envoys being sent out to look into the state of matters, one of them warned Cyrus "not to injure any city in Hellas, for the Lacedæmonians would not permit it." "Who are the Lacedæmonians ?" asked Cyrus, when he heard the message; "how many are there of them that they venture to send me such a notice?" An answer was given to him, in which it was explained that the Lacedæmonians had a city and agora at Sparta. The rude mountain conqueror heard this with contempt, and answered, "I have never yet been afraid of men like these, who have a set place in the middle of their city where they meet to cheat one another and forswear themselves. If I like, they shall have troubles of their own to talk about, apart from the Ionians."

The Lydians were deprived of their arms and reduced to that effeminate state for which the word Lydian became synonymous. As for the Ionian Greeks, Cyrus left his lieutenants to subjugate them, and departed to prosecute his conquests in the east, taking Croesus with him. The chief of the generals left behind was Harpagus. He captured the principal Ionian cities, and treated their inhabitants with the utmost severity. Two of these cities, Phocæa and Teos, require especial mention. The Phocæans, taking advantage of an opportunity at which Harpagus connived, freighted their ships with their most precious and sacred treasures. After various events they sailed away into the western seas in search of a new home, and, dropping an iron bar into the sea, they swore that they would not return to Phocæa until the bar should rise to the surface.

Eventually they settled in the south of Italy, where they founded Elea, a city which subsequently became famous for what is called the Eleatic philosophy. The people of Teos followed the example of Phocæa. They sailed away to Thrace, and founded the city of Abdera, which,. like Elea, became the seat of a philosophical school.

CHAPTER XIV.

CYRUS AND HIS SUCCESSORS.

WE must now, for a time, follow Cyrus in his career of conquest in the east. Having subdued the west of the continent, as then known, he marched against Assyria, and there ensued the siege and conquest of Babylon. The Babylonian empire, the most magnificent in renown, was also the shortest lived of all the great empires of antiquity, lasting only eighty-eight years. Nebuchadnezzar is the great monarch of its history. His reign. extended over half the period. Of the Babylonian empire our most trustworthy notices are to be derived from Holy Scripture. Some other information we have, of a most interesting kind, from other sources, but those ancient records, the evidences of language and archæology, and the ancient monuments so wonderfully brought to light from the Mesopotamian plain, all unite in confirming the absolute truth of all the details of the Scripture narrative. How deeply should these extraordinary evidences impress our mind that in the Bible we learn the declaration of God's revealed will in respect to His creatures. As our knowledge expands we ever find fresh evidences of the truth of Revelation. Nebuchadnezzar was succeeded by his son Evil-Merodach, the same who released Jehoiachim from his fetters and gave him precedence among the captive kings. He lost his crown and his life in a conspiracy, and the new dynasty which thus gained the throne by conspiracy in turn by conspiracy was destroyed. In this treason, Nabonadius was chief, and he became the last king of Babylon. In his later years, Nabonadius associated Belshazzar with