Book 3

1. Nebuzaradan, having razed Jerusalem, conveyed to Babylon the people and the high priest Saraeas and the sacred vessels. Nabuchodonosor dedicated the vessels of God to his own gods, and settled the captives in his own country. Those who during the siege had deserted to the Babylonians, and the poor, Nebuzaradan left behind in Judaea, and set over them as governor Godolias, a man of good family, fair and just, and charged them to work the land and ordered them to pay tribute to Nabuchodonosor. The prophet Jeremiah he urged to go off to Babylon; but he wished to remain among the ruins of his homeland. And he left him there, charging Godolias to take all care of him. He released to him also his disciple Baruch, who was exceptionally learned in the ancestral tongue. As many as had fled from Jerusalem on account of the siege came to Godolias. And he counselled them to farm the land and to dwell in whatever city each one wished, and to rebuild the ruins. Recognizing Godolias to be a worthy man, they loved him greatly.

There returned with the others also one named Ishmael, who was of the royal line, who had fled to the Ammonites at the time of the siege. When he came to Godolias, certain men said that he was plotting against him; and if he would allow them to kill the man, he would escape the plot. But Godolias would not believe it, and said he counted it better to die himself than to kill a man who had trusted himself to him. After a time this Ishmael came with others to Godolias, and being entertained as a guest he killed both Godolias and those feasting with him. Then, falling upon by night the Babylonians left in the city, he killed both them and all the Jews there. On the next day, when eighty men from the country came to Godolias with gifts, Ishmael killed these too, save a few who promised to show him household goods and clothing and grain hidden in the fields. And taking many captives with him, he went off to the Ammonites. Learning this, certain leaders of the Jews, having spurred on those with them, pursued him; and they recovered the captives, but Ishmael with eight men escaped.

The survivors, fearing the Babylonians, deliberated about going off to Egypt. Though Jeremiah counselled them to remain—for if they remained, the deity would provide that they suffer no harm, but if they departed, would not be with them—they did not believe him, but disobeying they set out for Egypt, taking Jeremiah and Baruch with them. When the prophet had gone there, the deity revealed to him what was to come. And he foretold to his countrymen that the Babylonian would march against the Egyptians and master Egypt, and that he would kill some of them and lead the rest off as spear-won captives. For this he was stoned by his fellow-countrymen and died. But the things he had foretold came to pass; for the fifth year after the sack of Jerusalem was being completed when Nabuchodonosor set out against Coele-Syria, and having taken it he came against the Ammonites and Moabites, and from there marched against Egypt, and subduing it killed the king and set up another in his place, and removed the Jews there to Babylon. When Jeremiah had been buried in Egypt, it is said that king Alexander, having become master of Egypt, since the Egyptians sang the prophet's praises, removed his bones, along with other things, to the city founded by him, Alexandria.

The prophet, then, foretold, as I have said, the things that were to come; and the race of the Hebrews found such an end, removed beyond the Euphrates. For the ten tribes, while Hoshea reigned in Samaria, were taken captive by the Assyrians, and the two tribes afterward were taken spear-won by Nabuchodonosor, and all who were left after the capture of Jerusalem. And Shalmaneser removed the nation of the Cuthaeans from Persia to Samaria, while Nabuchodonosor left Judaea desolate, and it remained thus for seventy years. The time between the captivity of the ten tribes from Samaria and that of the two from Jerusalem came to a hundred and thirty years, six months, and ten days.

2. The Babylonian made eunuchs of the more nobly born of the captive children, both those related to king Zedekiah and the more vigorous and comely of the rest, and handing them over to tutors he had them taught both the letters of the Chaldaeans and the native lore, assigning them their diet from his own table. Four of the children were of the royal stock, fair in appearance and good in their natures; of whom the Babylonian renamed the one called Daniel Baltasar, the one named Ananias he called Shadrach, the other called Mishael Meshach, and the remaining one, Azarias, Abednego. These he held in greater honour than the rest, since through their natural gifts they advanced in wisdom. These youths, then, begged the eunuch who had charge of them not to feed them on what was provided from the royal table, but on pulse and dates and other such things. He said he feared that, fed on such fare, their bodies might grow thin, and that on this account he himself might be ill-treated by the king. But they begged him to feed them thus for ten days, and if their bodily condition was not changed, to feed them so for the future too, but if he saw their bodies wasting, to keep to the former diet. The one in charge of the children was persuaded by this, and having done so, when he saw that they suffered nothing from such food—but rather had become more flourishing than the rest—he gave them lifeless foods. And they, with their minds made keen, mastered all Chaldaean and Assyrian learning. And Daniel devoted his zeal also to the interpretation of dreams.

Then Nabuchodonosor, having beheld an extraordinary dream, and having learned its interpretation in his sleep, forgot both the dream and its interpretation. At dawn, therefore, summoning the Chaldaeans and the seers and magi, he demanded of them that they tell him both the dream and its meaning. But they wished him first to tell the dream, and so to ask from them its significance. The king was angered at this and condemned them all to death, when they said they could not discover the dream. With these, as being wise men, Daniel and the three children were both summoned and condemned. Daniel therefore went to the commander of the king's bodyguard, and asked that the execution of those condemned be put off for one night; "for perhaps," he said, "during it we shall beg of God and learn the dream." The king yielded to the request. And Daniel, taking with him his three kinsmen children, supplicated God through the night. There was therefore revealed to him from God both the dream and what it signified. And after a day he went off to the king and said that both the dream and its interpretation had been made known to him from God, who had pitied those in danger of dying unjustly for it; "and no less you too, who wished without cause to kill so many for demanding what is impossible, things knowable to the divine nature alone. What you saw is this. You seemed to see a great statue standing, whose head was of gold, but whose shoulders and arms were of silver, while the belly with the thighs was of bronze, and the shins and the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay. Then a stone, broken off from a mountain, seemed to fall upon the statue and shatter it, and to grind the gold and the silver and the bronze and the iron and the clay so fine that they were winnowed away by the wind and scattered. And the stone seemed to grow and to come to so great a size that the whole earth was filled by it. This, then, is your dream; and what is revealed to you by it, as you take thought concerning the kingdom and who will rule after you, is this. The golden head is both you and the remaining kings of the Babylonians, and the gold indicates the great prosperity of your rule; the two hands and the shoulders represent two kingdoms by which your dominion will be destroyed; the bronze belly and the like thighs indicate a king clad in bronze, who will overthrow those who destroyed you; and his kingdom in turn another, more powerful, will bring to an end; for iron is stronger than gold and silver and bronze." For gold, and especially the purest, is softer than silver; and silver is denser than gold, but softer than bronze; and iron again is firmer than bronze. The kingdom of the Assyrians, then, is likened to the head, as being earlier than the others and leading in time. The second he called the kingdom of the Medes and Persians, who destroyed the rule of the Assyrians. For Cyrus, as will be related, was a Persian on his father's side, but related to the Medes through his mother; he, taking both nations together and making war on the Assyrians, overthrew their kingdom. By the pair of the hands the pair of these two nations is represented. The third kingdom he calls that of the Macedonians. This he likened to bronze as being stronger, inasmuch as it overthrew the Persian rule. And by the belly the monarchy of Alexander is figured, and by the thighs the division of the kingdom after his death and its parceling out. The fourth kingdom he called that of the Romans, to which he assigned iron because of its hardness. He figured it by the shins because it was later in time; for the kingdom of the Romans was later than the other great kingdoms, and the shins and the feet are the last parts of the body. The clay mixed with the iron hints that the kingdom is strong, but has in itself something brittle and weak; for such is the nature of clay, composed of mud.

3. If one were minded to refer the vision to the earlier constitution of the Roman dominion, when the senate and the dictators and the consuls and the tribunes and the people held the management of public affairs, he will find in many places the people at variance with the senate and factions arising, the senate enacting some things and the multitude introducing others, so that from this they fought one another and their affairs through this discord sometimes inclined to the worse and weaker. One might figure the senate by iron, on account of the firmness of its judgement, but the multitude might be likened to clay, being mingled with the magistrates and the council, both because of its rabble-like and grovelling quality—for such is the mud from which clay is made—and because of the fickleness and weakness of its disposition. For the multitude is wont to be unstable and easily led and easily changed of mind; and one will find these things often happened to the Roman state, going through the ancient writings about it.

If, then, one were to refer the difference of the materials and their mixture to the earlier constitution of the Roman state, he would perhaps reckon thus; but if to the later, when affairs were brought by the Romans from aristocracy to monarchy, and to the subsequent establishment of the empire, then too he would find that the discord of the Romans with one another brought the greatest harm to the state. For Caesar, reaching after monarchy, set on foot civil wars against Magnus Pompey and the others who claimed the ancient liberty; and against those who had killed him, in turn, Caesar Augustus and Antony got up the like battles; then again these two, at variance with one another over sole rule, set in motion grievous wars, kindred being destroyed on both sides in all the battles, and from this the Roman power being diminished. Nor would one see the factions abating in later times either. And if one compares the nature of the iron and the clay with the later empire, he will find the Roman rule in one respect strong, in another weak, and having cast away the most of its old dominion, and now circumscribed within a small fraction of that ancient sway.

Such, then, are the matters of the four kingdoms. But the remaining and indestructible kingdom, which the stone figured—the stone that was cut without hands and ground fine the materials of which the image was composed, and filled the whole earth, which the prophet said would not be destroyed unto the ages—this would be the future manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which will appear when the iron kingdom has become weaker through the admixture of the clay; when all things will be subjected to him, and he will deem worthy of an unending and incorruptible kingdom those who have made themselves worthy of it. For Scripture is wont to call Christ a stone. For David said, "The stone which the builders rejected, this has become the head of the corner," and Isaiah, in the person of God, says, "Behold, I lay in Zion a cornerstone." And the great Paul calls Christ a cornerstone, upon whom he wrote that believers are built. And again he says, "No one can lay another foundation than the one laid, which is Jesus Christ." And again elsewhere, "They drank of a spiritual following rock, and the rock was Christ." And he is called a rock of offence and a stone of stumbling, and in many places the Lord would be found called stone and rock. The being cut without hands prefigured his birth above nature, without seed, apart from marital union. For the tribe of Judah, from which David sprang, may be reckoned the mountain; and Christ is the stone, cut from it in respect of his humanity; and without hands, because he came forth not according to the natural laws, but from an unwedded and holy womb. He at first seemed small because of the nature of his humanity, but advancing he filled the whole world with his own glory, and will fill it yet more at his future manifestation.

The prophet, then, reported the dream to Nabuchodonosor and disclosed its interpretation; and he, marveling, fell upon his face and worshipped Daniel and ordered sacrifice to be made to him—not that boastful and haughty man rendering all the honour to Daniel, but to the God worshipped by him. For he said, "In truth your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and the revealer of mysteries." He gave him many gifts, and set him as ruler over all Babylon, and named him Baltasar, giving him the appellation of his own god.

4. Then, having set up a golden statue sixty cubits in height and six in breadth, he summoned the chief men from all his realm, ordering that, whenever they heard the trumpet, they should then fall and worship the statue, and that those who disobeyed should be cast into the furnace of fire, which he had kindled there great and fierce. When all worshipped, the three youths, whom the history has handed down as kinsmen of Daniel, unwilling to transgress their ancestral law, did not worship. And they were at once cast into the furnace; but the fire did not touch them, and standing in the midst of that irresistible flame they sent up a hymn to God. And there stood with the three a fourth; it was an angel, who had come down with them and was turning that fiery air into a dewy breeze. These things astounded the brutish and unfeeling soul of that king, and, laying aside his pride, he came forward and called the youths by name and blessed their God, and deemed those men worthy of honour and appointed them governors over all the Jews in Babylon.

A little later that Assyrian saw another dream. He saw a tree great and reaching to the ends of the earth, adorned with leaves and laden with fruit. Beneath it the wild beasts sheltered, and the birds dwelt in its branches. Then he saw a Watcher coming from heaven and crying out with strength, "Cut down the tree, and pluck off its branches, and shake off its leaves, and scatter its fruit; only leave the stock of its roots; and in an iron band, and in the grass of the earth, and in the dew of heaven let it lodge, and let its portion be with the beasts, and let its heart be changed from that of men, and let a beast's heart be given to it, and let seven seasons be changed over it." Having seen this vision, he again summoned the magi and the wise men of Babylon and sought to learn what was signified by it. But they were at a loss and could not tell the interpretation of the dream. Then again he took refuge with Daniel and related to him the dream, and asked him to tell its interpretation; "for you are able," he said, "because the holy spirit of God is in you." And he said, "My lord the king, may this dream be for those who hate you." Then he expounded its meaning to him and said, "The great tree which you saw is you, O king, because you have been magnified and grown strong, and your greatness has reached to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth"—he called greatness the exaltation of the mind and the swelling of pride. "And as for your seeing a Watcher coming down from heaven"—that is, a divine angel; for the word Ir, translated into Greek, signifies the one who is awake, by which he hints at the incorporeal; for he who is clothed in a body is enslaved to sleep, but he who is not enslaved to it has an incorporeal nature—"since, then, you saw that Watcher crying that the tree be cut down, but its root-stock be left, and the rest, expect that you will fall from the kingdom and be driven out from the fellowship of men, and lodge with beasts and eat grass; yet not to be utterly deprived of the kingdom, but that it will again be restored to you; for of this the leaving of the root-stock of the tree is a sign." Such was the interpretation of the vision that Daniel gave to Nabuchodonosor. And all came to pass according to the divine oracle, and the king, falling sick with madness because of his boastfulness and pride and spending seven years in the wilderness, no one assailing his kingdom, received it again, having appeased God. Having reigned forty-three years, he died. Josephus says that many of the ancient historians mention him, Berossus and Megasthenes and Diocles and Philostratus.

When he had died, his elder son Evil-merodach succeeded to the rule. He at once freed from his bonds the king Jehoiachin, also called Jechonias, whom Nabuchodonosor had kept imprisoned, and deemed him worthy of honour, and gave him gifts and had him as his table-companion continually.

5. When he too had passed away, the kingdom passed to his brother, called Baltasar, against whom Cyrus marched with the Persians and Medes. Now this man, holding a banquet for his nobles, and reclining with his concubines and growing drunk, ordered the sacred vessels to be brought which Nabuchodonosor had plundered from Jerusalem and dedicated to his own gods; and when they were brought, those which his father had not used, he himself used, and while drinking he blasphemed against God. He saw, then, the joints of a man's hand coming forth from the wall and writing upon the plaster of the wall; and he was beside himself, and his form was changed. And calling the Chaldaeans and the magi he demanded the interpretation of the letters, and proclaimed that he would give great rewards to whoever should make clear their meaning; but the writing was unknown to all. While the king was in despondency and confusion, his grandmother, seeing him, said, "If Baltasar the Jew be sent for, who explained to Nabuchodonosor many things which no one else could declare, he will signify to you the secret of these syllables; for the holy spirit of God is in him." At once, therefore, calling Baltasar, that is Daniel, the ruler asked him to make plain to him about the writing, and not to hold back, even though its meaning were grievous; and he promised to give him as reward to be clothed in purple and a golden necklace, and the third part of the rule. But Daniel refused the gifts, and said that the writing announced to him the end of his life, because he had not been chastened by those things for which his father had been punished for his impiety, but had used the vessels of God with his concubines for service. He read the letters thus, "Mane Thekel Phares," and interpreting their meaning he said, "God has numbered the time of your life and of your rule, and it has come down to very little"—for the word, translated into Greek, would be "number." Thus he interpreted the "mane"; and "thekel," he said, signifies a weight; "having set, then, the measure of your kingdom, God shows that it is brought low and broken"; and "thekel" signifies a fragment in the Greek tongue. And "phares," the prophet interpreting as "division"—for this is what the word, rendered into Greek, signifies—he said that his kingdom would be divided by God among the Persians and Medes. Thus, then, Daniel read what was written on the wall and made such an interpretation of those syllables. And grief seized the king. A little later the prophet's prediction came to pass, when Cyrus the king of the Persians marched against him, by whom both Babylon was taken and Baltasar killed in the capture. There are some who say that on that very night, on which he saw the hand writing, both the city was taken and he was slain.

After the capture of Babylon the prophet Daniel was removed to Media by Darius the Mede, who was also named Cyaxares and was Cyrus's maternal uncle, being the son of Astyages who had reigned over the Medes, and he was deemed worthy of all honour. Being thus, he was envied by the leading men among the Medes, and they contrived a way by which they hoped to destroy him. For seeing him pray to God thrice a day, they came to Cyaxares, that is Darius, asking him to make a law that for thirty days no one should pray to the gods, nor make request of any one save the king himself, and that whoever did not keep the law should be cast into the den of lions. He, ignorant of the plot being brewed against Daniel by them, set forth a decree ordaining what was said. The others, then, kept quiet according to the decree, but Daniel, according to his custom, prayed to God. And the satraps accused him to the king, and according to the law demanded that he be cast into the den of lions. When the prophet had been cast there, the king sealed the stone upon the mouth and withdrew. In anguish and grief he passed the night sleepless; for he hoped that Daniel would not be harmed by the beasts, knowing that the holy spirit of God was in him, but nevertheless in his fear he was anxious lest some ill befall him, not fully knowing, as a barbarian, the power of God. As soon as day dawned he stood by the den and called Daniel; and he answered. And the king ordered the prophet to be drawn up at once, and seeing him untouched and unharmed he was amazed. When his accusers said that the lions were sated with food and for this reason did not touch Daniel, the king, hating them for their wickedness and understanding the device and guile against the prophet, ordered abundant food to be set before the beasts, and when they were sated he ordered the accusers of the prophet to be cast into the den of beasts, "that we may know," he said, "whether the lions refrain from touching them through being sated." When those wicked men were at once torn apart, it became clear to all that some divine power had preserved Daniel, muzzling the beasts. Therefore the king magnified the God of the prophet, and held him in greater honour.

6. These things, then, happened later; but in the first year of the reign of Baltasar the prophet saw a dream. The vision was of this kind. Four beasts seemed to come up out of the sea, of which the first had the form of a lioness and wings as of an eagle, which was also lifted up from the earth and stood on a man's feet, and a man's heart was given to it. The sea signified human life, full of waves and receiving very many and continual changes and reversals; and the beast, the lioness, figured the kingdom of the Assyrians; and its being lifted up from the earth indicated the cessation of that rule and the removal of its power. And its standing on a man's feet hinted that it would become equal to its subjects; and a man's heart being given to it, that it would be taught by experience to have human thoughts and not to imagine anything beyond human nature out of arrogance; for the wings, which had grown upon the beast contrary to nature, indicated the exaltation of those kings and the cloud-towering pride of their mind.

The second beast was likened to a bear, and stood up on one side, and had three ribs and wings in its mouth. And it was said to it, "Arise, eat much flesh." The bear was the figure of the kingdom of the Persians, because of the rawness and harshness of the nation; for of all barbarians the Persians were the harshest in punishing, devising the bitterest and most prolonged tortures by impalement-in-the-boats and by flaying.

It is likely that the punishment of the boats is unknown to some; it is well, then, to make this too plain to those who do not know it. They fasten two boats equal to one another together, and cut them out so that the head of the one being punished is left outside the boats, and the hands, and likewise the feet, and they lay the tortured man on his back inside, and so nail the boats to one another. Then mixing a compound of honey and milk they pour it into the mouth of that wretched man, until he becomes over-sated; and from such a compound they pour over his face and his feet and his hands, and setting him in the open they make him be heated by the sun, and so they do to him each day. Flies, then, and wasps and bees, gathering on account of the sweetness of what is poured over, settle upon his face and the other limbs that are left outside the boats, as has been said, troubling and even wounding the wretch. And his belly, filled with the honey and milk, sends forth liquid excrement, in which, as it rots, maggots and worms boil up; and he, his flesh too rotting with the moisture, and being himself consumed by the worms, thus dies a more pitiable and lingering death. This punishment is recorded to have been used by Parysatis too, the mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, against the man who boasted of having killed Cyrus when he fought his brother for the kingdom, the punishment of the boats being prolonged to the fourteenth day.

The punishment of the boats, then, is recorded to be of this kind. The "Arise, eat flesh" is not the word of one giving permission, but of one foretelling what is to come; for great destruction of the Assyrians and of those allied with them came about at the hands of the Persians and Medes. One might also say that the "eat much flesh" is significant of the rawness of the nation. The three ribs or wings which it held in its mouth prefigured the rule over the three divisions of the inhabited world. For Cyrus, who overthrew the kingdom of the Assyrians, subdued all the east as far as the Hellespont. His son Cambyses brought both Egypt and Ethiopia under him; and these are southern lands. Darius the son of Hystaspes subdued also the nomad Scythians; and these dwell in the northern clime. And Xerxes the son of Darius set out against Europe, attempting to master it too, but was driven back, defeated in a sea-battle by the Athenians, and withdrew in disgrace. The beast's standing on one side is significant of its not falling wholly from rule, but being circumscribed within a small part of it. For that kingdom, formerly mastering all Asia and the Ethiopians and Egyptians and Palestine and Phoenicia and Libya itself, fell from the rest, but there was left to it Media and Persia. Or otherwise the beast's standing on one side will be taken to mean that the kingdom of the Persians was for a time idle and inactive. For when Alexander had overthrown it, and then died, his monarchy was divided into four rules. And as his successors moved against one another and were weakened in their wars with one another, the Persians, again seizing the opportunity, took courage and recovered much of their own rule.

The third beast was like a leopard, and had four wings of a bird above it, and four heads grew on this beast, and it says that authority was given to it. This beast figured the Macedonian kingdom. For Alexander was likened to a leopard because of his swiftness and agility, which the wings also indicated. And their tetrad hinted at the four parts of the inhabited world, which he traversed in the manner of a bird and well-nigh mastered them all. And the four heads signified the division of the rule after his death. For his dominion was divided into four kingdoms, and Ptolemy son of Lagus mastered Egypt and his descendants down to Cleopatra; Seleucus took control of Syria and the lands adjoining it; Antigonus brought Asia under him; and Antipater ruled Macedonia, or, as some relate, Aridaeus, a half-brother of Alexander on his father's side. For Chaeron says that Perdiccas, being in greatest power after Alexander's death, at once dragged Aridaeus along like a prop of his kingship, a man born of an obscure and common woman, and imperfect in understanding, not brought to such a state by nature but because Olympias by drugs had corrupted his mind.

7. The form of the fourth beast the prophet did not declare, but said that it was exceedingly fearful and astounding, having great teeth of iron, eating and grinding and trampling down what was left, and that it differed greatly from the beasts that went before. By this the kingdom of the Romans is signified. Therefore the prophet set neither form nor name to it. For the rule of the Romans is of many kinds, being directed at first by kings from Romulus to the Tarquins, and when their tyranny was destroyed governed as an aristocracy, the senate and consuls managing affairs, and sometimes too as a democracy, the people often rising in faction against the senate, and afterward falling again into monarchy, and from this returning to the name of kingdom. He said the beast was fearful and astounding because this kingdom became more powerful than the others, and all that the Macedonian kingdom did not subdue, this one brought under itself—all Greece, that is, Carthage with Libya, Sicily, Sardinia and other islands and various western nations besides, which Alexander did not rule; which things whoever wishes to know, let him read the books of the Roman Dio and the writings of Polybius. He said the beast was fearful and astounding and having iron teeth, since the rule of the Romans became more terrible than all the other kingdoms. For in the image seen in the dream by Nabuchodonosor he set the iron as the figure of the fourth kingdom. With its iron teeth, then, he said the beast ate and ground, and trampled the rest with its feet. The eating and grinding is taken to mean the levying of tributes, since heavier taxes were imposed on the subjects, which feed and fatten the rulers but make the payers themselves thin and poor. And those who would not pay tribute, claiming their freedom, these the beast trampled with its feet and destroyed; and by the feet the soldiery is hinted, since on this the kingdom is propped and stands and passes from one place to another. He says the beast had ten horns, indicating that at the last the kingdom would be divided into many dominions. And in the midst of the ten a little horn came up, and three of the horns were uprooted by it, and that horn had eyes and a mouth speaking great things, and warred with the saints. This horn some have understood of the Antichrist. It was called little as being about to spring from a small tribe of the Hebrews. It will overthrow three of the ten kings. By the eyes is hinted his wickedness and craft, in that through these he will deceive many. By the mouth speaking great things is shown his boastfulness and the exaltation of his pride. The making war with the saints shows that he will display all zeal to make all men sharers in his own wickedness and blasphemy. And of his blasphemy against God this is expressive, that "he will speak words on high."

Upon this the prophet added, "I beheld until thrones were set and the Ancient of Days sat, and his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head as pure wool, his throne a flame of fire, his wheels burning fire; a river of fire drew forth issuing before him; thousand thousands ministered to him and ten thousand times ten thousand stood beside him. The court sat, and books were opened." The horn, then, which was said to do these things, was shown to Daniel not to endure for long, but until the Eternal sat as judge—that is, set a time of judgement and unfolded the memory of what each had done. For by books he called the recollections, and by the Ancient of Days the Eternal. The whiteness of the hairs and the purity of the garment show his being clean on every side and without blemish. And that he might show that the deeds of the Antichrist will come to pass by God's permission, and not as though the divine nature were unable to stay them or to refuse to permit them to come about at all, he introduced the thousand thousands of ministers and the ten thousand times ten thousand standing by, and the fiery throne and the like wheels and the flaming river. "And I beheld until the beast was slain and its body given to the burning of fire." For on account of the madness of the Antichrist the whole kingdom will be taken away. And not the beast itself will be given to the burning, but its body. For since the beast hints at the kingdom, it is likely that in the kingdom there are many who worship God and pursue virtue. It is not these, then, that he says will be given to the burning, but the workers of wickedness and those given over continually to the desires of the body and minding nothing spiritual.

After the destruction of the beast the prophet says he saw as it were a son of man coming on the clouds and reaching to the Ancient of Days, to whom he says was given the rule and the honour and the kingdom, and that all peoples and tongues and tribes should serve him, and that his authority would be eternal and not pass away, and that his kingdom would not be destroyed. These things clearly foretell the second manifestation of our Saviour Jesus Christ. For he is called Son of Man because of our nature, which he assumed, and as coming on the clouds according to his own promise, when he said, "You will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven."

8. These things, then, Daniel was instructed in in the first year of the reign of Baltasar; and in the third year he saw another vision. "For being in Susa," he says, "I lifted up my eyes, and behold, a ram standing by the Ubal, and it had high horns, and the one higher than the other, and the higher came up last. And it was butting toward the sea and the north and the south, and all the beasts could not stand before it, and it did according to its will, and was magnified." Again here the prophet is taught about the kingdoms. And the rule of the Persians was likened to a ram on account of the wealth surrounding it, and the ram was standing by the Ubal, that is, by the gate of Susa; for this was the city, the mother-city of the Persians, and there the kings had their palace, and the prophet, dwelling in this city, saw the vision. And the two horns that directed this kingdom figured two lines. For the lesser horn figured Cyrus and his son Cambyses—for up to him the rule of the kingdom stood, and the line of Cyrus did not advance further—while the greater horn hinted at the line of Darius, which advanced to the last Darius, whom Alexander conquered in war. For when Cambyses the son of Cyrus had died, the magi by guile usurped the kingdom; and when they had ruled for a short time and it became known who they were, the seven houses of the Persians overthrew them. From these reigned Darius the son of Hystaspes, whose line endured to the end of the kingdom. For this the prophet shows by adding that the higher came up last, signifying that one of the horns endured for long and to the end of the Persian kingdom. The ram butted toward the south and north and sea; for it subdued both the southern and the northern clime, and the most of the islands—for these he hinted at by the sea—it brought under servitude; and the dwellers in the islands were allies of Xerxes when he marched against Greece; therefore the prophet saw the ram butting toward the sea also. And none of the beasts could stand before it. By beasts he called the lesser kingdoms, as being fearful to their subjects. These would be the kingdom of the Syrians, of the Cilicians, of the Arabs, of the Egyptians, of the Jews, and others; none of these, then, was able to withstand the rule of the Persians to the end, but he subdued all whom he assailed. "And it was magnified," either because the rule became great, mastering many nations and lands, or because, swollen with prosperity, it imagined great things beyond human nature.

While the prophet was perplexed about what he saw, he sees a he-goat coming from the southwest over all the earth, and it had one notable horn between its eyes. And reaching to the ram it grew fierce against it and smote it and broke its horns and threw it to the ground and trampled it, and there was none to deliver the ram from its hand. The he-goat figured the Macedonian kingdom; for it is swifter than the ram and more agile. It came from the southwest, because Alexander, having first brought Egypt under him, so set out a second time against Darius, and routing him overthrew the kingdom of the Persians. For at Issus in Cilicia he engaged him formerly and defeated him, and took his wife and daughters and his chariot and his bow and plundered the Persian camp; and Darius fled from there, and again gathering forces fought with Alexander when he had set out from Egypt against him, and was defeated again at Arbela and perished as he fled. He says the horn was notable, that is, conspicuous and renowned; and by this too he hints at the kingdom of Alexander. And he says the horn grew between its eyes, on account of the shrewdness and understanding and noble spirit of Alexander. And "the he-goat came," he says, "to the ram with the horns, and I saw it reaching to the ram, and it grew fierce against it and smote the ram and broke both its horns, and the ram had no strength to stand before it, and it threw it to the ground and trampled it." And both the horns of the ram were broken, he says, when the he-goat dashed against it—that is, both its powers, in which it had trusted, the Persian and the Median. For the kings of the Persians ruled over Persians and Medes, since Cyrus, as has been said, sprang from both and held the kingdom of both under him, and both these lines overthrew the kingdom of the Assyrians. "And the he-goat was magnified exceedingly." For he not only brought under him those subject to the Assyrian rule, but subdued many others as well. For he assailed India and conquered Porus and won over Taxiles and held other parts of India. Then, the prophet showing that this one too, having prospered for a little while, would pass away, added, "And when it grew strong its great horn was broken, and four horns grew up from beneath it." For when Alexander, after that prosperity, had died suddenly, his rule was divided into four, as has already been said in the case of the third beast, which seemed to Daniel in his sleep to come up out of the sea, having four heads.

"And out of one of the horns came a fearful horn, and it was magnified exceedingly toward the south and toward the east and toward the southwest and toward the host. And it was magnified to the host of heaven, and there fell to the earth some of the host and of the stars, and it trampled them." The things concerning Antiochus Epiphanes Daniel is taught beforehand by these words; he was the son of Antiochus the Great, and growing stronger than the kings before him—those from Seleucus, that is—and mastering Egypt and other lands, he marched also against the Jews and gained control of the city of Jerusalem, and indeed of the whole nation, and plundered the temple and defiled it, sacrificing swine in it, and setting up an altar to Zeus he forced the whole nation to follow Greek ways, preventing them from circumcising their males. For his madness against God the "it was magnified to the host of heaven" hints. The "there fell from the host and from the stars to the earth, and it trampled them" indicates those of the Jewish people who became impious because of the compulsion laid on them by him, who fell away from their lawful and divine manner of life, yielding to the tyrant and being trampled by him. They were called stars because of the purity and surpassing brightness of their piety, or because God promised Abraham to multiply his seed as the stars of heaven. "And it was established as far as the prince of the host." For he raged even against God himself, the prince of the powers above. "And the sacrifice was troubled by a falling, and it came to be and prospered, and sin was given upon the sacrifice, and righteousness was cast to the ground." For sacrificing things forbidden, he troubled the sacrifice—that is, confounded and defiled it. By "fallings" he means the swine, and by "sin upon the sacrifice" the lawlessness committed at it. By the "righteousness was cast to the ground" the abolition of the divine ordinances and the unjust murders of those who would not consent to be impious are shown. But even doing these things and being so impious, Antiochus prospered, he says.

Upon this Daniel adds, "And one holy one said to the Phelmuni, How long shall the vision stand, and the sacrifice taken away, and the sin of desolation given? And he said to him, Until evening and morning, two thousand three hundred days, and the holy place shall be cleansed." To the prophet, anxious because of what he saw, angels are sent showing him that the hardships will have an end, and teaching the time of their passing. And one asked the other; for the word "phelmuni," translated into Greek, signifies "a certain one." He asked not as one ignorant, but that Daniel might learn. And the one questioned answered, "Two thousand days, and until evening and morning, and the holy place shall be cleansed." By evening he called the beginning of the woes, or also their whole duration—for things grievous are like night and darkness—and by morning the peaceful state after the calamities. This, then, he signifies by what he says, that from the beginning of the evils to their end so great a time would pass. The days, reckoned against years, make up six years and an equal number of years according to the reckoning of the Hebrews; for over so long a time the calamity brought upon the Jews under Antiochus prevailed. These things were imparted to the prophet by the archangel Gabriel, as he sought understanding.

9. Then, on account of the captivity of his countrymen, again under Darius the ruler of the Medes—who was also named Cyaxares and Ahasuerus, being the son of Astyages—while the prophet was mourning and beseeching God, a certain man named Gabriel touched him. He touched him about the hour of the evening sacrifice, or at the time of the evening service, or for as long a time as the evening service lasted. And he said to Daniel, "Now I have come forth to give you understanding and to announce to you that you are a man of desires. And consider the matter and understand the vision"—that is, give careful heed to what is said, since it is riddling and needs much zeal. For sometimes divine things are made known through riddles, that they may not become plain to all and on this account contemptible. Daniel was called a man of desires either as playing the man against the desires of the flesh and nobly withstanding them, or as desiring to learn what was to come upon the people and his fellow-countrymen, or because he was desirable and beloved on account of the virtue he pursued.

Then the angel adds, "Seventy weeks have been cut short upon your people and upon your holy city, until the transgression is made old and sin is completed, and until the sealing of sin and the propitiation of iniquity and the bringing in of everlasting righteousness, and the sealing of vision and prophet, and the anointing of a Holy of Holies." The prophet, praying, said to God, "your people and your city"; but the angel says to Daniel, "your people and your city," as though the people were not worthy to be called God's. The like is found in the case of Moses too, when the Israelites, having made the calf, offered sacrifice to it; for then too, when the prophet prayed, God spoke likewise. The angel says, then, that Jerusalem will be built and your people will return and will continue for four hundred and ninety years; for the seventy weeks add up to that number, and he reckoned each day for a year. The "have been cut short" stands for "have been decided and determined." "Until the transgression is made old and sin is completed"—that is, until it grow old and increase; for this is what "made old" and "sin become complete" signifies. By these words he sets forth the audacity and frenzy of the Jews against the Lord. For many sins they had committed before this too and paid the penalty, but were recalled again; but when they raged against the Saviour and came to the extreme of wickedness and wrought sin complete, they no longer obtained recall. The "seal sin and propitiate iniquity" signifies the remission of faults bestowed by the Lord on those who believe in him; for this is he who takes away the sin of the world; for the "seal" is significant of "cause to cease." The "bring in everlasting righteousness" means his coming into the world, who is righteousness and redemption and sanctification. The "seal vision and prophet" shows that the prophecies have had their end, either because what was spoken by them concerning Christ has now come to pass, or because the gift of prophecy has failed among the Jews, or both. For Christ, having come, sealed the prophecies—fulfilled them, that is, and confirmed and indeed ended them; for there is no longer among them ruler and prophet and leader. And "bring in everlasting righteousness," which is our Lord and Saviour himself. For the apostle says, "God's wisdom was given to us, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." And elsewhere, writing of the gospel, he says, "Righteousness is revealed in it." And the Lord teaches, "Seek the kingdom of God and his righteousness," which he himself brought, making it manifest to us through his teaching. And the "anoint a Holy of Holies" shows that the Master Christ came to be present. For who else would be called Holy of Holies but our Lord and Saviour? who, being a fountain of holiness, is yet anointed with the Holy Spirit in respect of his humanity, as Isaiah cried out beforehand, saying, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, for which cause he anointed me," and as David sang, saying, "God, your God, anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your fellows," and as the chief and summit of the apostles, Peter, taught, writing of the Saviour that "God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power"; and he seals and confirms the old Scriptures, doing and suffering all that was foretold through them, and propitiates iniquity, reconciling sinners to God the Father and rendering him merciful to those who had transgressed.

Then the divine archangel adds, "And you shall know and understand: from the going forth of the word to answer and to build Jerusalem until Christ the leader, seven weeks and sixty-two weeks." Now the temple began to be built under Cyrus; for Cyrus first granted the return to the nation of the Jews, but it was hindered by Cambyses the son of Cyrus through the envy of the neighbouring nations, and the rebuilding was again entrusted to the Jews when Darius the son of Hystaspes gained the kingdom of the Persians. But the time, reckoned from none of these, is found not to preserve the count according to the archangel's word, but to exceed it; whereas if the time be reckoned from the years of the reign of Artaxerxes, it would be found neither in excess nor deficient. And it must be reckoned from this, because then both a wall was thrown about the city and what was lacking was added to the temple and the city was filled with inhabitants, when Nehemiah, cupbearer to Artaxerxes, begged him that the return to his homeland be granted, and going off walled the city about and settled it and finished the temple that was unfinished. If, then, one reckon the time back from the manifestation of the Saviour—through whom alone remission of sins was given and righteousness brought in and the predictions of the prophets fulfilled—he will find it completed up to the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, when, that is, Nehemiah, having received leave, returned to Jerusalem; which the history, going on in order, will relate more fully. And the one whom he above called the Holy of Holies, he now calls Christ the leader, naming him in respect of his humanity. For as he is called firstborn of the new creation and firstborn from the dead, so he is also called leader. And the divine apostle Peter named the Saviour the Prince of life, in discourse with the Jews, as the divine Luke records in the Acts. As, then, he was called our firstborn and chief according to the great Paul in respect of his humanity, so too he was named leader by the archangel Gabriel.

10. One might be perplexed why the weeks were reckoned separately, and not all together, but were divided into seven and sixty-two and into one other. Not idly did the archangel do this, but teaching by it certain new things that would come about in the divisions of the times. For if from the building of Jerusalem under Nehemiah, as has been said, the times be reckoned down to the high priest Hyrcanus, under whom the line of the Hasmonaeans ceased to hold the priesthood, the count of the sixty-two weeks is completed. For from the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, who gave Nehemiah the return to Jerusalem to wall it, down to Darius son of Arsames, whom Alexander overthrew, are a hundred and fourteen years; and from the overthrow of the Persian kingdom, which came about in the sixth year of Alexander's expedition against Asia, down to Julius Caesar Gaius, who first attempted the monarchy of the Romans, two hundred and eighty-two years passed; and from the sole rule of Caesar to the fifteenth year of Tiberius Caesar, when Christ was baptized by John and began his signs, seventy-three years—so that these come together to four hundred and sixty-nine years. And so many years make up four hundred and eighty-three years according to the Hebrew reckoning of the years. For the Hebrews do not reckon the year as we do, but counting it by the course of the moon they reckon it at three hundred and fifty-four days, so that there are eleven days over from each year. And when these surplus days are summed into years, the four hundred and eighty-three Hebrew years result. The angel, speaking with the Hebrew Daniel, surely meant the years known to him. Up to the slaying of the high priest Hyrcanus, then, whom king Herod killed—and the matter concerning this will be told more fully—the sixty-two weeks were measured out. From then on, the high priesthood no longer being fixed for life upon those deemed worthy of it according to the law, but given unlawfully for a year or limited to a shorter time, and those who wished buying it with money—which Josephus too records—the seven weeks passed. Showing this, the divine archangel said, "And after the sixty-two weeks the anointing shall be destroyed, and there is no judgement in it"—that is, the anointing of the high priesthood shall be corrupted. For those advanced to it being unlawfully anointed, neither did the anointing keep its proper power, but, being corrupted, was without the divine grace. Therefore he added, "and there is no judgement in it"—that is, they will be made not by judgement and scrutiny, but without judgement, either by favour or by money. As these things came to pass thus, the seven weeks too slipped by, lasting down to the manifestation of the Lord.

The division of the sixty-two weeks and the seven, then, came about for these reasons. And since to the seventy weeks named at the outset one still remains, the archangel said of this one too, "And he shall confirm the covenant to many for one week, and in the midst of the week sacrifice and libation shall be taken away, and upon these the abomination of desolation upon the temple, and until the consummation of the time a consummation shall be given upon the desolation." The remaining week, he says—the one after the sixty-nine—will bring in the new covenant so strong that through it sacrifices and libations are taken away—that is, set aside—in the midst of the week. For after the baptism Christ, having taught for three years and more and shown signs, so came to the Passion, and when he was sacrificed for the whole world, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the sacrifice and libation according to the law ceased. And from then the Jews sacrificed—since they still sacrifice—unlawfully, but their sacrifice and libation were unacceptable to God. And otherwise the "he shall confirm a covenant to many" will be taken to mean that that week will make the holy apostles strong for the preaching. For the archangel appears to divide the week into two, into the time before the Passion and the time after the Passion. For the Lord, having preached for about three years and a half, according to the gospel of the son of thunder, and having confirmed his divine apostles in the faith in him by the truth of his words and the display of his wondrous works, so went to the Passion and accepted the cross and endured death. Then, in the remaining time of the week, after the resurrection from the dead and the ascent to the Father's bosom, from which he had never been separated, and the coming of the Paraclete and the divine inspiration, his holy disciples, in Jerusalem confirming the gospel and the preaching by wonders and drawing multitudes of men to the knowledge of the true God, were scattered among the nations and enlightened them. This, then, the archangel foretelling to the prophet Daniel said, "He shall confirm a covenant to many for one week"—that is, he shall gird many with power, the disciples, that is. Having joined together the time before the Passion of the Lord and the time after the Passion—in which at first the apostles remained in Jerusalem and preached, and then went about to the ends of the inhabited world and taught—he again divides this week, saying, "And in the midst of the week sacrifice and libation shall be taken away," by this foreshowing the cessation of the shadow of the law. Then he adds, "And upon the temple the abomination of desolation." For when these things come to pass, he says, the formerly holy and venerable temple shall be reckoned an abomination; or because, after this last week, some abomination shall be brought into the temple, a sign of its desolation and that of the city. This came to pass under Pilate, who by night brought in standards bearing royal images, which were reckoned an abomination by the Jews; for it was forbidden them to possess or to revere a human image or that of any animal. And the Lord said, "When you see the abomination of desolation standing in a holy place, know that its desolation has drawn near"—of Jerusalem, that is. And elsewhere the Lord said, "Behold, your house is left to you desolate." Teaching these things beforehand to Daniel, the archangel adds, after foretelling that the legal service would be set aside, the "And upon the temple the abomination of desolation." And that the desolation might not be thought by the Jews to be temporary, as though the city would again be rebuilt for them and the temple raised up—as had also happened many times before to the temple and the city—he added, "And until the consummation of the time a consummation shall be given upon the desolation"—that is, until the age be consummated the desolation too will remain, and then there will be an end to it as well, when there is no longer time either for the city to rise again or for the temple.

These things Daniel beheld and was instructed in concerning his countrymen. But he also saw other visions and dreams, by which the future change of worldly affairs was made known to him from God. And he was instructed not only in the foreknowledge of the change, but also taught the times in which each of them would be accomplished; which whoever wishes will fully learn by going through more completely the book of the prophet's visions, and would gain thence a sure conviction that nothing is unforeseen or borne along at random and as chance has it, but that all things are both governed and brought to pass by divine providence.

These things, then, are so, and are glorified among the pious.

11. But we must not pass over the affairs of that manly-minded woman Judith, who destroyed Holofernes and saved her city and the whole nation. Her affairs stand thus. In the twelfth year of his reign the chief of the Assyrians, Nabuchodonosor, raised war against Arphaxad the king of the Medes, and summoned the surrounding nations to his alliance. When many others, and the Jews too, did not accept the summons and refused to ally themselves with him, Nabuchodonosor was enraged, and swore that, when he had finished the war against the Medes, he would come against Cilicia and Damascus of Syria and Judaea and Egypt and ravage them and sack them and bring them to desolation. Drawing up, then, against Arphaxad the Mede and overcoming him by force, and mastering his other cities and Ecbatana itself, where Arphaxad had his palace, and taking and killing him, he called Holofernes, the commander-in-chief of his own force, and charged him to fulfill the oath he had sworn, and to march against those who had refused to ally with him, when he came against the Medes, with a heavy force, and to preserve those who submitted themselves to him and to leave their cities unsacked, but not to spare the disobedient, but to put the men to the sword and give their cities over to plunder and ruin.

Nabuchodonosor, then, gave such charge to his chief satrap, and Holofernes, marching out and coming against the nations against which he had been sent, dealt with the others according to his orders; but when he was about to march against the Israelites and raise arms against them—for they did not come to him or submit—he asked who these were and in what trusting they resisted. And Achior the chief of the sons of Ammon told him their genealogy, and how they had settled in those cities from the beginning, and the strength of their God. Then he added, "Now it must be considered; and if they are sinning against their God, we shall go up and make war on them; but if not, let my lord pass by, lest their God shield them and we be defeated." When Achior had said this, Holofernes, seized with rage, ordered those standing by him to bind Achior and lead him away and hand him over to the sons of Israel, that being taken with them he might be punished. And they, seizing the man, led him off to Bethulia, and the men of the city pelted those who approached with slings and arrows. And they threw Achior down bound at the foot of the hill, and turned back. The men of the city, coming down, loosed Achior and led him into their city, and asked what had happened; and he related to them everything. And they called upon God for vengeance. On the next day Holofernes led his army against Bethulia—a hundred and seventy thousand foot and twelve thousand horse, besides the baggage-train—and encamped beside it. Then he resolved not to fight, but to seize beforehand the waters from which they drew, that failing them they might perish of thirst or surrender their city. And he set a part of the army as guards over the waters. For thirty-four days the enemy beset them, and their water failed them, and the people gathered to the rulers and asked them to give over the city and themselves to the enemy, that either, becoming slaves to them, they might live, or, being slaughtered, be rid of their sufferings. But Ozias the chief man of the city said, "Brothers, let us wait five days, and if help comes to us from God, well; but if not, I will do according to your counsel."

12. Now there was in that city a woman named Judith, and she a widow, and chaste and prudent and beautiful in appearance. Hearing, then, what had been decided by the people and the rulers, she sent for Ozias and the other rulers of the city, and reproached them for tempting God in that they had said they would give over the city to the enemy after five days, if within them no help came to them from God. They acknowledged that she spoke well, but set against this the thirst of the people and the violence from it. And she charged them to stand by night at the gate of the city, while she said she would go out with her maid, but not to tell them what she was planning, until it was brought to a successful issue. And they said to her, "Go." And they departed, and she turned to prayer to God. Then, laying aside the mourning garb of her widowhood and washing her body with water and anointing herself with perfume, she changed into a festive robe and put on adornment. And having made herself beautiful to the more alluring effect, she gave her maid to carry in vessels wine and oil and a wallet full of barley-meal and dried fig-cake and bread, and she went out of the city, she and her maid, going to the camp of the enemy. And meeting the outpost of the Assyrians she was taken and brought to Holofernes. He marveled at her beauty and said to her, "Do not fear; for you have come to safety." And the woman said to him, "Receive my words, lord, and let the word that Achior spoke be in your heart; for it is true that, unless the sons of Israel sin, the sword shall not prevail against them. But now, since their food and water have failed them, they have resolved to touch even the things forbidden by the law, and the firstfruits of the grain and the tithes of the wine reserved for the priests, which it is not lawful for another even to handle, they have determined to consume. And these things, being also resolved by those who dwell in Jerusalem, they have sent to the council of elders there, asking release for these things. And if they so transgress, there will be no defence for them from God, and they will be given over to destruction; which I, having learned, am fleeing from the city, that I may escape the destruction. And now I will remain with you, master, and will go out by night into the ravine, and will pray to God, and he will tell me when they have sinned, and I will announce it to you, and will lead you through Judaea as far as Jerusalem, and will set your throne in the midst of it." And her words pleased Holofernes, and he ordered her to be brought into the tent of his treasury and food to be given her. But she said, "I will not eat of your foods, lest it become a cause of stumbling to me, but I will be fed from what I bring." And Holofernes said to her, "If these should fail, from where shall such things be supplied to you?" And she answered, "As your soul lives, my lord, my food will not fail me before God works by my hand what he has resolved." In the middle of the night she asked to go out to the ravine for prayer, and Holofernes allowed it; and for three days she did so. And on the fourth day Holofernes prepared a banquet, and said to the eunuch Bagoas, who was set over all his affairs, "Persuade the Hebrew woman to come to us; for it is shameful for us if we let such a woman pass without having had converse with her." And Bagoas said to Judith, "Come to my lord to be honoured before his face, and you shall drink wine with us, and shall become as one of the women who stand in the house of Nabuchodonosor." And Judith, having adorned herself, went, and entering to Holofernes reclined, and ate and drank what her maid had prepared for her. And the heart of Holofernes was beside itself and inflamed with love of the woman. And as the banquet was prolonged he drank a very great deal of wine and became drunk. And he lay on his bed, heavy-headed from the drink, and all departed, and Bagoas shut the tent, leaving Judith alone within. And she charged her maid to watch for her going out; for she said she would go out for prayer. Holofernes, then, sunk in his drunkenness, lay sleeping the sleep that is brother to death, while she, calling upon God and drawing his scimitar, cut off his head, and going out gave it to her maid, and went off as if to pray according to her custom. And drawing near her city she called to those at the gates to open to her. And entering she told all that God had done wondrously through her, and brought forth the head of Holofernes, and counselled them to hang it from the battlements, and themselves, putting on their full armour, to go out at dawn; "for when the Assyrians see you," she said, "they will run to the tent of their commander, and finding him slain they will be amazed, and fear will fall upon them, and they will turn to flight, and you will follow after them and cut them down, and the plains will be filled with corpses." Having counselled her fellow-citizens these things, "Call me Achior," she said; and when he came she showed him the head of Holofernes. And the man was beside himself, and said, "Tell me all that you did." And she related before all what God had done through her, and how he had preserved her chastity and widowhood undefiled. And Achior believed in God and was circumcised. The rulers of the city and the multitude of it hung the head of Holofernes on the wall and did the rest according to Judith's counsel. And they cut down the Assyrians like grass, and plundering their camp were filled with much spoil. To Judith the tent of Holofernes and all that was in it were given, which, going off to Jerusalem, she dedicated as an offering to God. And she sang a song to him, crowned with a sprig of olive, and all Israel with her; and she returned to her house, and grew old in chastity, and died, having lived a hundred and five years.

13. The affairs of Judith, then, stand thus; and next must be related, in summary, the affairs of Tobit. Tobit, then, was descended from the tribe of Naphtali, and had been taken captive in the days of Enemessar, king of the Assyrians. He was pious toward God and just toward men, and when his fellow-countrymen sacrificed to Baal, he himself sacrificed to God, going to Jerusalem, and ordered his life according to the ordinances of the law, and though taken captive he was not defiled by gentile foods. He became honoured in the sight of Enemessar, and acquired much wealth, and shared it with those of his kindred who were in need. Going to Media, he deposited ten talents of silver with one of his countrymen dwelling there, Gabael. And taking a wife of his own people, Anna, he begot of her a son, Tobias. When Enemessar had died, and his son Sennacherib had succeeded to the rule of the Assyrians, and had marched against Judaea and fled thence in disgrace and returned to his own land, and in his rage at the defeat was killing very many of the Israelites, Tobit buried them by night. Being recognized as doing this and being sought, he fled, and all the goods of his house were plundered. But before fifty days had passed, Sennacherib was killed by his sons, and the parricides in fear fled, and another son of his, Nahordan, succeeded to his father's kingdom. He appointed a kinsman of Tobit, called Achiacharus, as steward of his affairs. And he begged the king on Tobit's behalf, and he returned to Nineveh. When Pentecost came on, which the Jews kept every seven weeks, a lavish meal was prepared for Tobit. He says, then, to his son Tobias, "Go, child, and bring whomever you find of our brethren in need, mindful of the Lord, to share our table." And he, going, returned saying, "One of our race lies strangled, cast out in the marketplace." And Tobit at once went off, and taking up the corpse brought it to the house, and when the sun had set buried him. And returning he did not enter the house, since by the law he was unclean as having touched a corpse, but slept by the wall in the courtyard. And sparrows passing the night in the wall dropped dung into his eyes, from which white films came upon them, and from these Tobit was blinded. Being in want, he was fed by his wife who spun for hire. And once, having received her wages, and getting in addition a kid, she came to Tobit. And hearing the bleating of the kid, he asked whether it might be stolen. And she said, "It was given me as a gift over and above my wages." And he insisted, saying, "If it is stolen, let it be given back to its owners." And the woman, in great distress, and as it were mocking the man for his strictness about justice, said, "Where are your charities and your righteous deeds?" And Tobit wept, confounded, and begged God to be released from life.

And on that very day it happened in Ecbatana of Media that Sarra the daughter of Raguel was reproached by her father's maidservants as having strangled her husbands, having been wedded to seven and having been with none of them. For a certain demon named Asmodaeus killed them as they came in to her. And she, not bearing the reproach, resolved to hang herself. But, that she might not give grief and reproach to her father, she did not do this, but standing in prayer she called upon God, asking either to die and be rid of the reproaches, or to be pitied, and so to escape the reproach.

The prayer, then, of both was heard, and Raphael the archangel was sent by God to heal the blindness of Tobit, and to betroth Sarra to Tobias, and to bind Asmodaeus the wicked demon, so that he might work no harm to Tobias if he should take Sarra. Now Tobit, calling his son Tobias and exhorting him much, at last said to him, "I deposited ten talents of silver with Gabael the son of Gabrias at Rages of Media; go, then, and get these." And he gave him the bond concerning them, and charged him to seek a man who for hire would travel with him. And seeking a fellow-traveler he met the archangel Raphael, who appeared to him in the form of a man and professed to know the way and the house of Gabael and to journey with him. And taking him as a man, called Azarias, he set out. And in the evening they came to the river Tigris, and lodged there. And Tobias went down into the river to wash, and a fish leaped up from there to swallow the lad. But the angel bade him take hold of the fish, and when it had been drawn to land told him to cut it open, and suggested to Tobias to take its heart and its liver and its gall, and to keep them safely.

14. As they journeyed and drew near Ecbatana, Tobias said, "Brother Azarias, of what use will the heart of the fish and the liver and the gall be to us?" And he answered, "The heart and the liver, when burned as incense, drive away demons, if they trouble anyone, and the gall, smeared on eyes that have white films, cleanses them and gives sight." And now they drew near Ecbatana, and the angel says to Tobias, "Today we shall lodge with Raguel, who is your kinsman, who has a daughter Sarra, prudent and fair, and I will speak about her, that she be given you to wife." And he said, "I have heard that the girl has been given to seven men, and that all died in the bridal chamber, because a demon loves her and destroys those who wed her; and I fear that I too may be killed by it." And the angel said, "Hear me, and let the demon be no concern to you. For if you go into the bridal chamber, set on coals from the heart and liver of the fish, and the demon, smelling their odour, will flee, and will return no more." And they entered the house of Raguel. And learning concerning Tobias that he was the son of Tobit, he kissed him, and hearing that Tobit was blind, he wept and gladly received them. And the angel told Raguel to join Sarra to him; and he consented, and calling his daughter and taking her by the hand he gave her to Tobias, and taking a book wrote out a contract. And after supper they led Tobias in to her into the chamber. And he, going in, took coals, and setting on them from the heart and liver of the fish made smoke, and the odour of these put the demon to flight. And Raguel by day sent one of the maidservants to see whether Tobias was alive. And when she returned and said he was alive, Raguel blessed God. And he said to Tobias, "Let us keep the wedding for fourteen days, and you shall not go out from here before they have passed. And then, taking the half part of my possessions, go; the rest you shall receive when I and the partner of my life are dead." Tobias therefore says to Raphael, "Brother Azarias, take for me the bond and go to Gabael at Rages, and bring the silver; for if we delay, my father will be greatly grieved." And the angel went and handed Gabael the bond and took the silver and returned. When the days of the wedding had passed, Tobias says to Raguel, "Send me off"; and taking his wife and the half of Raguel's possessions he set out. And when they were near Nineveh, the angel says to him, "Let us run on ahead and prepare the house. Take in your hands the gall of the fish, and your father will open his eyes, and do you anoint them with the gall, and stung, he will rub them and will cast off the white films." His mother sat watching the road, and when she knew her son was coming, hastening she says to Tobit, "Your son is coming," and running to him she kissed him and said, "I have seen you, child, and now, if I die, it is no concern to me." And Tobit went out to the door, stumbling. And Tobias took hold of him and smeared the gall upon his eyes, and they were stung, and he rubbed them, and the white films were peeled from them. And seeing his son he blessed God. And when it was reported to Tobit what had happened to Tobias in Media, Tobit went out to meet his daughter-in-law, and seeing her he blessed her. And those in Nineveh, seeing him see, and having heard how great things God had done, marveled. And Tobit said to his son, "Give now, child, the wage to the man who came with you—rather, indeed, more should be added to him." And he said, "Father, it is just that he take the half of what I have brought." And he said to Raphael, "Take for yourself, brother Azarias, the half of all that we have brought, and go in health." Then the angel, calling the two apart, declared to them all the great work that God had done with them, and said that he was Raphael, and had not come of himself but had been sent by God. And he exhorted them to bless God and to confess all that he had done with them. "For it is good to hide the secret of a king," he said, "but to proclaim gloriously the works of God." And they, hearing this, fell at his feet, and rising saw him no more, and gave thanks to God for the wonders he had done with them.

Tobit was fifty-eight years old when he lost his sight, and after eight years was restored again to sight; and from then on he was the more fearing God and doing good. Having grown very old, he says to his son, "Child, behold, I have grown old and am near to dying; do you take your sons and go off to Media; for I am persuaded that all that Jonah foretold concerning Nineveh, that it will be overthrown, will come to pass, and that Jerusalem will be desolate and the temple burned, and that God will again pity the city, and the people will return and rebuild it. But do you keep the law and be merciful and just." And having charged his son with such things he died, being a hundred and fifty-eight years old. And Tobias buried him honourably and his mother, and went off with his wife to Ecbatana to Raguel his father-in-law; and he buried him too when he had grown old, and inherited him. And Tobias died, a hundred and twenty-seven years old, in Ecbatana of Media, and he heard before his death of the destruction of Nineveh, taken captive by Nabuchodonosor and Ahasuerus.

15. The whole nation of the Hebrews, then, as has already been related, having become spear-won by the Assyrians, was removed, and Jerusalem was left desolate, nor was it released from captivity before the rule of the Assyrians was destroyed, according to the prophetic foretelling, by the Medes and Persians, and the seventy years passed which the prophet Jeremiah foretold. It would not be out of place to go briefly through the overthrow of the kingdom of the Assyrians too, and to show the prophetic prediction true, which foretold that it would be destroyed by the Medes and Persians. It is thus.

The kingdom of the Medes and that of the Persians were separate. And of the one Astyages ruled, and Cambyses of the Persians. He was married to the daughter of Astyages, called Mandane, who bore Cambyses a son, Cyrus; who, reared in the laws of the Persians, became most manly and most temperate and sensible and most just. The customs of the Persians were of this kind, as Xenophon wrote. They had a marketplace called Free, in which their palace and the other public buildings were made, from which the wares and the dealers and their crowd and clamour were driven, that they might not be mingled with the good order of those being educated. The Free marketplace was divided into four buildings; of these one was set apart for boys, another for youths, another for grown men, and the remaining one was assigned to those past the years of military service, who were each present in their own quarters. The youths were accustomed to sleep around the buildings with their light arms, except those who had married; these were neither sought after, unless previously bidden, nor permitted to be absent frequently. There were for each twelve rulers; for the Persians were divided into twelve tribes. The boys, going to the schools, learned justice, their rulers judging for them most of the day. For there arose among boys too, as among men, charges of theft and violence and robbery and deceit and insolence and other things. Those whom they found doing these things they punished; and those whom they found accusing unjustly they chastised. They taught the boys temperance, by their giving heed to the elders who lived temperately; and they taught also self-control in food and drink. And when the boys were to be fed, they were fed at the teacher's place, bringing bread from home and cress for relish; and for drink they took a cup of river water. And they learned to shoot and throw the javelin before eating. Until sixteen or seventeen years the boys did these things; and from then they were enrolled among the youths, and for ten years slept around the public buildings, and offered themselves by day for the rulers to use them wherever they had need of them for the common good. And when the king went out to hunt, he led out half their division. They hunted in common, since this exercise seemed kindred to the training for war, and accustomed them to rise earlier and to endure cold and heat, and trained them in marches and runs, and taught them to shoot a wild beast and to throw the javelin, and prepared them to contend against some valiant beast. They carried, when hunting, a more abundant meal than the boys', but otherwise the same. And they did not eat while hunting, unless it was necessary to wait for the sake of a beast, or they wished otherwise to spend time about the hunt. Having eaten this meal, they hunted the next day until supper, and they reckoned these days as one. They did this so that, if it were needful in war, they might be able to do this. They had for relish whatever they hunted, and if not, the cress. The tribes that remained spent their time, besides other things, in practicing to shoot and throw the javelin and to contend in these against one another. The rulers used the youths who remained for public works requiring strength or speed. When the youths had passed ten years in these things, they were enrolled among the grown men, and from then they passed twenty-five years thus. And if they had to go on campaign, they no longer carried bows or javelins, but the close-fighting arms, as they are called—a breastplate about the chest and a wicker shield in the left hand, and in the right a sword or cleaver. And all the magistracies were filled from these. When they had completed the twenty-five years, they were more than fifty years old from birth, and then they passed into the elders. The elders no longer went on campaign outside their own land, but remaining at home judged all public and private matters, and they decided capital cases, and chose all the magistrates. And if anyone, whether among the youths or the men, transgressed any of the laws, the elders expelled him; and he who was expelled remained dishonoured for the rest of his life. It was reckoned shameful among the Persians both to spit and to blow the nose and to be seen full of wind and that anyone should be seen plainly urinating or relieving his bowels. And they could not do these things unless they used a moderate diet and worked off the moisture by exertion.

Such, then, were the manners of the Persians and their customs.

16. Cyrus, reared and educated in these, and having passed the age of youth and been enrolled among the men, was well approved in all things. And when his maternal grandfather Astyages, who reigned over the Medes, had departed life, his son Cyaxares, who was also named Darius, succeeded to his father's rule, being Cyrus's maternal uncle.

The ruler of the Assyrians, his kingdom having grown great, and ruling over the nation of the Assyrians, which was numerous, and having brought the Arabs under him, and having made subjects of the Hyrcanians and tributaries of the Syrians, and besieging the Bactrians and having already subdued the nation of the Hebrews, and having made very many other nations subject to him, supposed that if he weakened the Medes he would the more easily master all those around. Having thought this, he prepared his own subjects, and sent also to Croesus the king of the Lydians and to both the Phrygians, to the Paphlagonians and Indians and to the Carians and Cilicians, asking them to ally with him in his march against the Medes, as the war was profitable to them too, saying that the nation was powerful, having made a marriage-alliance with the Persians and gained their support, and that the one was strengthened by the other, so that, unless one anticipated them and weakened them, they would, coming against each of the nations, master them. He sent such words, then, to each of the nations; and these, some moved by these words, some won over by money and gifts, and some constrained by fear of the Assyrian, agreed to ally with him.

Cyaxares, learning this, both made his own preparations and sent to the Persians, both to the commonwealth and to their king Cambyses, asking for an alliance and that Cyrus his nephew should come as commander of the allies; for he was now reckoned among the grown men. The Persians, then, having agreed to ally, the elders chose Cyrus as commander of the army for the Medes, and gave him thirty thousand peltasts and archers and slingers. When he was chosen, taking leave of his father he went off to the Medes with the army. And when he arrived, the Assyrian not yet being at hand, he ordered his men to practice the arts of war. Meanwhile a messenger came from Cyaxares, saying, "An Indian embassy is here, and you too must be present. And I bring you the fairest robe; for he wishes to bring you forward most splendidly arrayed, that you may so appear to the Indians." When he came to the doors of Cyaxares with his army, and entered to him arrayed in Persian fashion, Cyaxares was vexed at the plainness of the robe. And the Indians, being summoned, said they had been sent by their own king to ask from what the war had arisen between the Medes and the Assyrian, and to learn the same from him too, and to tell both that the king of the Indians, having considered the right, would be on the side of the one wronged. To this Cyaxares said, "We do the Assyrian no wrong, but inquire from him what he says." And Cyrus said, "If the Assyrian says he is wronged by us, O Indians, we choose your king as judge."

They, having heard this, departed; and Cyrus, not wishing his own army to sit idle, says to Cyaxares, "Just now I remember hearing you say that the Armenian neither sends you an army nor pays the tribute, having broken the agreements. If, then, you wish, send me, adding to me a moderate number of horse; and I think, with the gods, that he will both send the army and pay the tribute." When Cyaxares gave leave, promising to send him the horsemen when he should approach the borders of Armenia, Cyrus set out as though going to hunt; for he was wont to hunt on the borders of both, of the Medes, I mean, and of the Armenians. And going off he hunted and went up the mountains of Armenia, advancing forward gently. When Cyaxares perceived this, he sent him the horsemen. When they came, he summoned the captains and disclosed the secret, and said he had come because of the Armenian's faithlessness toward Cyaxares. And he charged Chrysantas to take half of the Persians and go into the mountains of the Armenians, and to take care not to be recognized that an army was there, but to send ahead some men resembling brigands both in number and in dress, so that if any chanced to meet them, they might think them thieves. And Chrysantas went with the Persians into the mountains, while Cyrus, sending to the Armenian, ordered him with all speed to bring both the tribute and the army, and himself came on in order. When the Armenian heard this, he was alarmed, and sent to gather his own army, and sent the women and the younger son and the goods into the mountains; for no wall was built about their dwelling. And when those sent to the mountains fell in with the men lying in wait there, and the women and the son and the daughters of the Armenian were taken, he, at a loss, surrendered himself too to Cyrus.

17. Meanwhile the elder son of the Armenian, Tigranes, who had been abroad, drew near, who had once been a fellow-hunter with Cyrus; and learning what had happened he went off at once just as he was to Cyrus; and seeing his father and mother and sisters and his own wife captives, he wept. And Cyrus said, "You have come at a good time." And conversing much with the Armenian and convicting him of wrong, at last he said, "Tell me how great is your force, and how much your money." When he said there were eight thousand horse and forty thousand foot, and money reckoned in silver more than three thousand talents, Cyrus said, "Send me with me half of the army, and of the money, instead of the fifty talents of the yearly tribute, give Cyaxares double; and to me," he said, "lend another hundred." And saying this he gave the wife and children to the Armenian as a gift, and to Tigranes his own bride, being newly wedded, and let all go free.

The Armenians and the Chaldaeans, being neighbours, had always disputes and battles; these Cyrus reconciled to one another, and so departed. And the army which he had taken from the Armenian he sent to Cyaxares, and when he arrived among the Medes he shared the money with his own captains. Then with Cyaxares he invaded the enemy's land, and they encamped and gathered much booty from it. When they learned that the Assyrians too were approaching, they advanced in order, and encamped a parasang apart from one another. On the next day Cyrus, leading out his army, drew it up, and on the other wing Cyaxares with the Medes, while on the other side were the Assyrians and their allies. And the Persians, having heartened one another, charged at a run, and Cyrus himself. The enemy did not stand, but fled to their entrenchment. And the Persians, following them, as they were thrust together, laid many low, and those who fell into the trenches they killed by leaping in upon them. And the horsemen of the Medes drove against the horsemen of the enemy, who gave way; and there was a pursuit of horses and men and slaughter on both sides. When the women of the Assyrians and their allies saw this, they cried out and ran in dismay, and rending their robes and tearing themselves they implored all to defend both them and their children and themselves. There too the kings themselves, with their most faithful, standing at the entrances, fought and exhorted the rest. But Cyrus, fearing that, being few, if they forced their way into the entrenchment, they might be overcome by the many, ordered them to draw back step by step out of range of the missiles; and they quickly did as ordered. Then he led his men back as far as seemed well, and encamped. The Assyrians, their ruler being dead and well-nigh the best with him, were despondent. Seeing this, Croesus and all their other allies grieved. From there they abandoned the camp and departed by night. When by day the enemy's entrenchment appeared deserted, Cyrus brought the Persians across first, and then those about Cyaxares crossed over. To Cyrus, then, it seemed good to pursue the enemy, but to Cyaxares the entire opposite was preferable. And Cyrus said, "Give me, then, some of the Medes to go with me, those, that is, who will be willing to follow me as volunteers." And Cyaxares gave leave, and sent with Cyrus the man to announce this to the Medes.

Meanwhile messengers came from the Hyrcanians. The Hyrcanians are neighbours of the Assyrians, a nation not large, and for this reason they were subjects of the Assyrians; and these used them sparing them neither in toils nor in dangers. And then they had been posted as rearguard, being about a thousand horse, so that if any danger were behind, it might fall on these before the rest. And they, considering what they suffered, sent messengers to Cyrus to say that the Assyrians were justly hated by them, and that if he wished to go against them, they would be his allies and would lead the way. He asked whether they could overtake them; and the Hyrcanians said that if even at dawn the next day they should go light-armed, they would overtake them. And Cyrus asked pledges that they spoke truly; and they undertook to give hostages, if he too would give his right hand and make pledges by the gods. And Cyrus gave them pledges, that indeed, if they made good what they said, he would treat them as friends and faithful, and that they should have no less from him than the Persians or Medes.

Upon this Cyrus, while it was still light, led out his army, and Tigranes with the Armenians was with him, and he ordered the Hyrcanians to wait, that they might go together. Of the Medes well-nigh all went out with Cyrus. He ordered the Hyrcanians to lead the way; and having traversed a long road he came near the army of the Hyrcanians. And the messengers told this to Cyrus, and he ordered, if they were friends, to come to meet him with all speed, holding up their right hands. And the Hyrcanians, hearing this, were at once present, holding up their right hands as had been said. Greeting them, he said, "Tell me, how far is it from here to where the rulers of the enemy are and their main body?" And they said, a little more than a parasang. He ordered the Hyrcanians to lead the way. And they led, while he himself with the Persians went, holding the centre, and he posted the horsemen on each side. When light came and the enemy knew what was being done, none fought, but some fled, and some perished even without a battle.

18. Croesus the king of the Lydians sent the women on with the wagons by night, that they might travel more easily in the cool—for it was summer—and himself with the horsemen followed. And the ruler of the Phrygia by the Hellespont, they say, did the same. When those who fled overtook them, and they learned what was happening, they too fled. The king of the Cappadocians, being still near, the Hyrcanians cut down. The rest pursued, but Cyrus ordered those with him to surround the camp, and to kill those who came out armed, and proclaimed to those who remained to bring out their arms bound together, and to leave the horses by the tents; and whoever did not do so should lose his head. So those who had arms threw them down, carrying them to one place, and those appointed burned them. And Cyrus, considering that they had come with neither food nor drink, proclaimed that the stewards of the tents should all be present, and when they were present he said, "Come, men, prepare in each tent twice as much food as you made daily for your masters and their servants." And they did as bidden. And of the Medes, some, having seized wagons that had set off ahead and turned them back, full of what an army needs, drove them on, and some brought up carriages of the noblest women, and showing Cyrus what they brought, drove off again. And Cyrus was stung at this and blamed himself, and gathering the captains he counselled them to gain cavalry and to make the Persians horsemen, that with this they might pursue the horsemen and overtake the fleeing; and the others agreed. When it was already past midday the horsemen of the Medes and Hyrcanians drove up, bringing captive horses and men. To the captive men he said, "Go, work your land and dwell in your houses and live with your wives and enjoy your children, and announce these things to the rest; for there will be one new thing for you, that the same man will not rule you as before, but in all else things will be the same for you." So they, doing obeisance, departed; and Cyrus said, "It is now time, Medes and Armenians, to dine; suppers are prepared for you as we, my good men, were able. And do you too, Hyrcanians," he said, "lead them to the tents, the rulers to the greatest, the rest as seems best, and dine yourselves too; for the tents are whole and untouched for you." And they did as ordered. And Cyrus sent many of the Persians around to watch the camp, that if anyone approached from outside, he might not escape notice, and if any of those within tried to slip away, he might be caught. So the Persians passed the time. On the next day he ordered the spoils to be distributed to the soldiers, and the horses to be given to the Persians, that they too might be horsemen. "And for Cyaxares," he said, "choose such things as you know to be pleasing to him; and for the Persians," he said, "those with me, whatever is left over will suffice; for we have not been reared in luxury, so that perhaps you would laugh at us if you put something stately about us; as I know we shall give you much to laugh at, both seated on the horses and, I think, falling to the ground." And calling the captains, he ordered them to take the horses, and to take them by lot, each an equal number.

19. Meanwhile there came Gobryas, an aged Assyrian man, with a mounted retinue, and asked to see Cyrus. He was brought to him and said, "Master, I am by race an Assyrian, having also a strong fortress, and I rule much land; I have also horse to a thousand, which I used to provide to the king of the Assyrians, and I was his friend as much as possible. But since he is dead at your hands, and his son holds the rule, who is most hostile to me because he envied and killed my only and beloved son, I have come to you and give myself to you as servant and ally, and ask you to become my avenger." And Cyrus answered, "If, Gobryas, all that you say is also what you mean, I receive you as suppliant and promise, with the gods, to avenge for you the murder of your son." And he said, "On these terms, speaking truly, I give you my right hand and take yours."

When this was done, he bade Gobryas depart, keeping his arms too. And he departed. And the Medes were present, having chosen for Cyrus the fairest tent and the Susian woman, who is said to have been the fairest woman in Asia, and two of the best music-girls, and for Cyaxares the second choice; and the remaining tents they handed over to Cyrus for the Persians. But Cyrus ordered Cyaxares' goods to be kept by his nearest people, and said, "What is given to me I gladly receive." And calling Araspes the Mede, who had been his companion from boyhood, he ordered him to guard for him the woman and the tent. She was the wife of Abradates the king of Susa, who, when the camp was taken, was not present, having been sent about an alliance by the Assyrian to the king of the Bactrians, being his guest-friend.

Rising at dawn they went off to Gobryas, Cyrus on horseback and the horsemen of the Persians now amounting to two thousand. On the second day, about evening, they came to Gobryas's place, they and the allies. Learning there that the Assyrians at Babylon had prepared a force many times the former one, he said, "Lead us straight on toward Babylon." As they journeyed, on the fourth day they came to the borders of Gobryas's land, and were now in the enemy's country, and he kept with him the foot and some of the horse, and let the other horsemen ride about, ordering them to kill those they met who had arms, and to bring to him the rest and whatever booty they took. He bade the Persians too ride about with them. And many of them came back tumbled from their horses, and many bringing as much booty as possible. Then he went toward Babylon as if drawn up for battle. When the Assyrians did not come out against him, Cyrus ordered Gobryas to ride up and say, if the king wished to come out and fight for his land, that he too would fight with him; but if he would not defend the land, that it was necessary to obey the victors. So Gobryas rode up and said this; and the Assyrian sent and said, "Your master, Gobryas, answers: If you wish to fight, come on the thirtieth day; for now we are not yet at leisure; we are still preparing."

And he reported this to Cyrus, who led the army back, and asked Gobryas about Gadatas. Now Gadatas was the son of a certain king, a companion of the Assyrian, whom, while drinking with him, he seized and gelded and made a eunuch; who, when his father died, then held the kingdom, being a eunuch. To this man, then, Cyrus wished Gobryas to go and bring him to himself. And he went. And meeting him and saying all that Cyrus charged, he returned, and Gadatas, pretending to ally with the Assyrian and by guile seizing a certain fortress of the Assyrian, an outwork of the war, and handing it over to Cyrus, came himself too to Cyrus. And being received he heard, "Gadatas, the Assyrian, it seems, deprived you of getting children, but did not deprive you of acquiring friends." So he spoke. The fortress having come under Cyrus, both Cadusians and Sacae and Hyrcanians in greater numbers joined his army; and upon this Gadatas comes to Cyrus saying that the Assyrian, learning about the fortress and being enraged, was making ready to invade my land. "If, then, you let me go, I would try to save the walls; for the rest I have less concern." Cyrus asked, "If you go, when will you be home?" And he said, "On the third day I will dine in our land." "And I," said Cyrus, "on what day might I arrive there with the army?" And Gadatas answered, "You could not, master, unless you came in six or seven days." And Cyrus said, "Do you, then, go off most quickly, and I will go as I am able." And Gadatas departed, and Cyrus said to the commanders of the allies that they must help Gadatas, who was being warred on by the Assyrian, a benefactor. And all agreed. And he said, "Since it seems good to you too, come, let us go, taking the strongest of horse and men and three days' provisions, that we may go light." And having so equipped themselves, at midnight they took to the road, Gobryas leading them.

20. So Cyrus departed; but as Gadatas was going off, one of his own powerful men plotted against him, and sending to the Assyrian disclosed the force of Gadatas and that he was coming, and charged him to lie in ambush for him, that he might so take both Gadatas himself and those with him. When the Assyrian heard this, he laid an ambush. And as Gadatas came near the ambush and now seemed to be at the point of being taken, the ambush rose up. And the one plotting against Gadatas at this moment struck him, and hit him on the shoulder, not mortally however; and having done this he at once withdrew to the Assyrian and pursued with him. So some of Gadatas's men were taken, and some fled, turning their reins; and now they descry Cyrus approaching. When he understood the matter, he led his army against them. And the enemy, seeing this, turned to flight, and Cyrus ordered the pursuit. And men and chariots were taken, and many were slain, including the very man who had struck Gadatas; and the rest and the Assyrian himself fled to a certain great city of his. And Cyrus, having accomplished this, withdrew to Gadatas's land, and went to visit Gadatas. And Gadatas met him with his wound bound up, and acknowledged his gratitude, saying, "As far as concerned me, I am lost, but as far as concerns you, I am saved, since you helped me so readily."

The Cadusians, posted then as rearguard by Cyrus and having had no share in the pursuit, wishing to do some brilliant thing themselves, without communicating with Cyrus, overran Babylonia. The Assyrian, going out of the city to which he had fled, fell in with them; and learning they were alone, he attacked them, and killed both their ruler and many others, and pursuing for some distance turned back. Those of the Cadusians who were saved came toward evening to the camp. Cyrus handed the wounded over to those who would heal them, and to the rest he himself addressed words of encouragement, and counselled them to choose a ruler for themselves from among themselves. And they chose one. And Gadatas came bringing Cyrus gifts of all kinds and many, and very many horses. But Cyrus said he received the horses, that he might fill out the Persian cavalry and that his horsemen might come to ten thousand, but ordered the money to be taken back to him and kept until he should see Cyrus too able to give in return; and he counselled him to put his city under safe guard, and himself to march with him. And Gadatas was pleased with the counsel, and having equipped himself accompanied Cyrus. As he journeyed thus and came to the border between the Syrians and Medes, there being three fortresses of the Syrians there, the one he himself took by assault and force, while the other two Cyrus, by frightening, and Gadatas, by persuading, brought the guards to surrender.

Then he sent to Cyaxares, asking him to come to the camp, that they might deliberate about what they needed. And the messenger went off; and Cyrus ordered the tent which the Medes had chosen for Cyaxares to be furnished as well as possible, both with the other equipment and by bringing the woman into the women's quarters of the tent, and with her the music-girls who had been chosen for Cyaxares. Meanwhile the messenger reported Cyrus's words to Cyaxares, and he set out with the Median horsemen who had stayed with him. When Cyrus knew he was approaching, taking the horsemen of the Persians, now many, and the Medes present and the Armenians and the best-mounted of the other allies, he went to meet him, displaying his force to Cyaxares. But Cyaxares, seeing Cyrus followed by many good men, and himself by a small and worthless retinue, thought it a dishonour to him, and grief took him, and he was reduced to open tears. Cyrus, taking him aside privately and seating him beside him, conversed with him, and asked the cause of his anger and grief. And having said and heard much, at last he said, "By the gods, uncle, cease for now blaming me; and when you have made trial of us, how we stand toward you, then either acknowledge gratitude to me or blame me." And Cyaxares yielded; and Cyrus, coming up, kissed him. And when the Medes and the Persians and the rest saw this, they were overjoyed. Mounting their horses, then, Cyrus and Cyaxares went off to the camp, and led Cyaxares to the tent chosen for him. And the Medes came to him bringing gifts, each one of the fairest thing he had taken. And when it was time for supper, Cyaxares was about his supper, while Cyrus took thought how the allies might stay with him, and gathering enough of his friends to help him do what was needful, he asked them to contrive how they might persuade the allies not to leave them, but to help still. On the next day all gathered to Cyaxares; and before they met him the friends brought to Cyrus, one this, another that, of the allied nations, who begged him to remain and share in the war with him.

21. Meanwhile Cyaxares, coming out of the tent, said, "Fellow-allies, it is necessary to consider whether it seems a time still to make war or now to disband the army." Each, then, coming forward, spoke, and all gave the judgement that they must make war. After all, Cyrus said, "Nor does it escape me, men, that if we disband the army, our affairs would become weaker, while those of the enemy would grow. But I see opponents approaching whom we shall not be able to fight. For winter is coming on and a lack of provisions. For some have been used up by us, and some, because of us, have been carried off by the enemy into strongholds. Who, then, fighting with hunger and cold, could make war? I think we ought to take away the enemy's strongholds, and make for ourselves as many strongholds as possible. For if we have fortresses, these will estrange the country from the enemy, and be to our profit." When these and many such things were said, all said they would zealously join in these, and Cyaxares himself, and they resolved to make siege-engines. But Cyrus, knowing there would be a delay about these things, both put the army in safety, and led it out on foraging expeditions, that they might have provisions in abundance and might be the healthier for their toil, and that they might be reminded of good discipline.

Deserters coming from Babylon said that the Assyrian had gone off to Lydia bringing many talents of gold and silver and all manner of adornment. The mass of the soldiers said he was now removing his money in fear; but Cyrus said the Assyrian was going off to seek allies, and made counter-preparations as though a battle would still be needed. It seemed good to him also to send a scout to Lydia, that he might learn what the Assyrian was doing. And for this Araspes seemed suitable to him—the one guarding the fair woman—who, smitten with love of the woman, had made advances to her; but she refused and was faithful to her husband even in his absence, and indeed reported Araspes to Cyrus. When the lover threatened her that, if she would not yield willingly, he would do it unwillingly, she, fearing the violence, sent the eunuch to Cyrus and bade him tell all. And he, hearing it, laughed, and sent Artabazus with the eunuch, ordering him to tell Araspes not to force such a woman, but to persuade her if he could; he said he did not forbid that. And Araspes, hearing this, was plunged into grief, partly from shame, partly from fear. Cyrus, knowing this, called him aside and said, "Cease, Araspes, being afraid and ashamed. For I hear that the gods too are overcome by love, and I know that men, and very prudent ones, have suffered things from love. And I am the cause of this to you, who shut you up with such an irresistible thing." And Araspes answered, "But you, Cyrus, are gentle in this too and forgiving of human faults; but other men plunge me into grief. For my enemies rejoice over me, and my friends counsel me to get out of the way, lest I suffer something from you." And Cyrus said, "Know well, then, that by this opinion you can both do me a favour and benefit the allies." "Would," said Araspes, "that I might be useful to you at a crisis." "If, then," he said, "pretending to flee from me, you should go over to the enemy, you would be trusted by them." "Yes, by Zeus," said Araspes, "and by my friends too." "You would go, then," he said, "reporting to us all the enemy's affairs."

Araspes, then, so going forth and taking his most faithful servants, departed. And Panthea, learning this, sent to Cyrus and said, "Do not grieve, Cyrus, that Araspes has gone over to the enemy; for if you let me send to my husband, there will come to you a friend more faithful than Araspes." And Cyrus bade her send; and she sent. And Abradates, when he knew the tokens from his wife, gladly went over to Cyrus. When he was at the outposts he sent to Cyrus saying who he was. And Cyrus ordered him to be brought to the woman. When the woman and Abradates saw one another, they embraced from a state of despair. Then Panthea told of the holiness and temperance of Cyrus and his compassion toward her. Upon this Abradates comes to Cyrus, and taking hold of his right hand said, "In return for the good you have done us, Cyrus, I give myself to you as friend and servant and ally." And Cyrus said, "And I receive you."

22. Money came to Cyrus from the Indian, and those bringing it reported that the Indian said, "I am glad, Cyrus, that you made known to me concerning your needs, and I wish to be your guest-friend, and I send you money, and if you need more, send for it; and my men are charged to do whatever you bid." And Cyrus said, "I bid, then, that the rest remain where you have encamped and guard the money, but that three of you come to me into the enemy as though from the Indian about an alliance, and learning the things there, whatever they say and do, report to me and to the Indian as quickly as possible." So the Indians, having equipped themselves, set out the next day, and Cyrus prepared his war-affairs magnificently. For the Persian horsemen were now full to ten thousand, and there were scythe-bearing chariots to a hundred, and Abradates fashioned another hundred, and the Median chariots they put together, another hundred, remade in the same fashion from the Trojan and Libyan driving; and on the camels were posted two archers on each. As Cyrus's war-affairs were being so ordered, the Indians came from the enemy and said that Croesus had been chosen leader and general, and that many kings and many nations and Greeks were ready to ally. When Cyrus's army heard this, they fell into anxiety. When Cyrus perceived fear running through the army, he conversed with them and turned them to a more cheerful temper. Then he said, "It seems to me, men, that we should go against them as quickly as possible." And all agreed. Cyaxares, then, with a third part of the Medes remained behind, that the home country too might not be left desolate, but Cyrus went on as quickly as he could. When the advance scouts seemed to make out smoke or dust rising, and to see men taking fodder and wood, they guessed the enemy's army was somewhere near, and reported to Cyrus. He ordered them to remain at the lookouts and report whatever they saw, and sent a squadron of horse forward to take some prisoners. They, dashing down into the plain, seized men and brought them. And the captives said they were from the camp. And Cyrus said, "How far off from here is the army?" And they said, two parasangs. And he asked further, "Was there any talk of us among them?" "Yes, by Zeus," they said, "and much, that you were now near, approaching." "What then?" said Cyrus, "did they rejoice to hear we were coming?" "No, by Zeus," they said, "but were greatly grieved." "And who is it that marshals them?" said Cyrus. And they answered, "Croesus himself, and a certain Greek man, and a certain Mede, who was said to be a fugitive from you." And Cyrus to this, "O Zeus, may it be mine to take him as I wish." He ordered the captives to be led away. There was not much interval, and the scout sent long ago, Araspes, that is, is announced to be riding up. When Cyrus heard, leaping up he went to meet him and greeted him, while the others were astounded at the matter, until Cyrus said, "Friends, there has come to us a most excellent man, who went off not overcome by anything shameful, fearing me, but sent by me, that learning the enemy's affairs clearly he might report to us. All must therefore honour this man. For he both underwent dishonour and ran into danger for our good." From then all greeted Araspes. And Cyrus said, "Relate, Araspes, all that you have seen." And he related the number of the enemy and the place of their array and the plans of the enemy. And Cyrus ordered each to go off and inspect his own arms and horses, and at dawn to make ready for battle.

Then, then, they departed; and on the next day each armed himself, and Abradates, having drawn by lot to be posted opposite the Egyptians. As he was arming, Panthea brought a golden helmet and arm-pieces and bracelets about the wrists of his hands and a purple tunic reaching to the feet and a crest dyed hyacinth-blue, which she herself had made for her husband. And he, seeing them, said, "You surely, wife, having broken up your own adornment, made the arms for me?" "Yes, by Zeus," said Panthea, "for you are to me the greatest adornment." And saying this she put the arms on her husband, and tried to weep unseen, but the tears fell down her cheeks. When Abradates was now ready to mount the chariot, Panthea, bidding those present withdraw, said, "That I honour you, Abradates, even above my own life, I think you know; nevertheless, being so disposed toward you, I swear by my love and yours that I would rather, with you having proved a good man, be buried in common with you than live in shame with one who is shamed. And to Cyrus I think we owe great gratitude, that when I was made captive and chosen for him he treated me neither as a slave nor as a free woman in a dishonourable name, but kept me for you as one taking a brother's wife. Moreover, when Araspes who guarded me deserted from him, I promised him that, if he would let me send to you so that you should come, you would prove far more faithful and better than Araspes." So she spoke, and Abradates, marveling at her words, prayed, "Grant, O Zeus, that I appear a man worthy of Panthea and a friend worthy of Cyrus." Saying this he mounted the chariot.

23. Cyrus, gathering the leaders, harangued them, encouraging them to the battle, and so set out to go. When they drew near the opposing forces, so as to see one another, Cyrus marshaled his men as well as possible, and going along the ranks he sharpened the men for battle with words. And Croesus, setting his own army opposite Cyrus's force, signaled to them to advance against the enemy. And three phalanxes came on, one in front, and of the two, one on the right, the other on the left, so that fear came upon all Cyrus's army; for it was surrounded by the enemy on every side except behind. Nevertheless Cyrus's men too, when he gave the order, all turned to face the enemy. And there was for a while much silence on every side; and when it seemed to Cyrus to be the time, he began a paean, and the whole army shouted it with him. And Cyrus rose up and with the horsemen engaged the enemy, while the foot drawn up with him followed. And Artagerses, commander of those on the camels, attacked on the left, sending the camels forward, as Cyrus had ordered. And the horses from afar would not endure them, but some fled, some leaped aside, some fell on one another. And the chariots, on the right and the left, charged at once, and many fleeing these were caught by them. And Abradates, crying "Friends, follow," drove on, sparing none of his horses; and the other charioteers charged with him. And Abradates broke into the phalanx of the Egyptians, and with him broke in those nearest posted, while the others swerved aside after the fleeing chariots. And those about Abradates, striking with the rush of the horses, overturned some and ran over those who fell; and whatever the scythes caught, all was forcibly cut through, both arms and bodies. In this indescribable confusion, the wheels leaping over the heaps of all sorts, Abradates falls out, and others too of those who had charged with him. And these were cut to pieces, while the Persians, following close, killed the disordered Egyptians, but those who held together advanced against the Persians; and there was a fierce battle. The Egyptians had the advantage both in number and in arms. The Persians could not hold out, but drew back step by step, striking and being struck, until they came under the engines. When they came there, the Egyptians were struck again from the towers. There was much slaughter of men, much din of arms, much shouting. Meanwhile Cyrus, pursuing those opposite him, comes up. And seeing the Persians forced from their ground, he was grieved, and ordering those with him to follow, rode round to the rear; and falling on them they killed many. When the Egyptians perceived it, they turned about. And foot and horse fought in confusion; and a man fallen under Cyrus's horse and being trodden struck his horse in the belly with a sword, and the horse, convulsing from the blow, shakes Cyrus off. And at once all cried out and falling on fought. And one of Cyrus's attendants, leaping down, set him on his own horse. And when he had mounted, he saw the Egyptians now being struck on every side. And going along by the engines he went up onto one of the towers, and looked down upon the plain full of horses, men, chariots, fleeing, pursuing, mastering, being mastered, but nowhere could he see anything still standing except that of the Egyptians. These, surrounded on every side, sat under their shields, doing nothing now, but suffering many and dreadful things. And Cyrus, admiring them and pitying them, that good men were perishing, allowed no one to fight with them any more, but sent heralds to them asking whether they wished all to perish or to be saved. And they said, "By doing what fair thing might we be saved?" And Cyrus said, "If you give up your arms to us, who choose to save you, though we might destroy you." Hearing this, the Egyptians gave pledges and received them.

Having accomplished this, Cyrus, now in the dark, withdrew and encamped. And those about Cyrus, having supped, slept; but Croesus at once fled to Sardis with his army, and the other nations withdrew in the night where they could. At dawn Cyrus led on toward Sardis, and coming to the city set up his engines and prepared ladders. On the following night he sent up Chaldaeans and Persians by what seemed the steepest part of the Sardian fortress. A Persian man, a slave of one of the guards on the citadel, led the way for these. When the heights were taken, the Lydians fled from the walls. Cyrus at daybreak entered the city, charging that no one from the ranks should move. Croesus, shut up in the palace, called for Cyrus. And Cyrus left guards over Croesus, and having encamped his men went off to Croesus. And seeing him Croesus said, "Hail, master." "And you too," said Cyrus, "Croesus. But would you be willing to give me some counsel?" "I would be willing," he said, "Cyrus." "I, then, Croesus," he said, "seeing the soldiers worn out and having run very many risks and now thinking they hold the richest city in Asia after Babylon, I judge it right that the soldiers be benefited, but I do not wish to let them plunder the city." And Croesus said, "But let me speak to those of the Lydians whom I wish, that I have brought it about with you that there be no pillage; and know that there will be for you, from willing Lydians, everything precious in Sardis. But first send to my treasures and take what you wish."

Cyrus agreed to do this, and they passed the day on these matters; on the next, Cyrus, calling some of his friends, ordered some to take the treasures, and others to take whatever money Croesus delivered. Then he asked whether anyone had seen Abradates; and when one of the attendants said that he had died in the battle, he struck his thigh, and leaping on his horse rode to him. And when he saw Panthea sitting on the ground and the corpse lying, he wept and said, "Alas, good and faithful soul." And the woman said, "I know that it was for my sake that he suffered this, and perhaps, Cyrus, for yours too. For I, fool that I was, often urged him to appear a friend worthy of mention to you, and he himself considered how he might do you a favour. And he has died blamelessly, while I, who urged him, sit beside him alive." And Cyrus for some time wept in silence, then spoke many consolations for the grief, and went off. And the woman bade the eunuchs withdraw, but told her nurse to remain and, when she was dead, to cover both her and her husband with one garment. The nurse sat weeping; but she slew herself, and laying her own head upon her husband's breast she died. And the nurse wailed and covered them both. And the eunuchs, learning what had happened, being three, drawing their scimitars, slew themselves. And Cyrus, when he perceived the woman's deed, admired her and mourned her, and heaped over them a vast monument, burying them magnificently.

24. The Carians, having fallen into faction and warring with one another, both parties surrendered themselves to Cyrus; and those of Phrygia by the Hellespont gave very many gifts to Cyrus, so as not to receive barbarians into their walls, but to pay tribute to him and to march wherever Cyrus bade. But the king of the Phrygians prepared as if not about to make peace; and when his subordinates revolted from him, he came to grips with Hystaspes. And Hystaspes, leaving Persian garrisons in the heights, went off, bringing with his own men many Phrygian horsemen and peltasts. And Cyrus set out from Sardis, leaving a garrison in Sardis, having Croesus with him bringing very many wagons full of much and varied money, and having accurately written down how much was in each wagon. And he gave the writings to Cyrus; and Cyrus said, "You have done well, Croesus; but those who have taken the money will surely bring it all to me, and if they steal anything, they will steal their own." And Croesus brought also many Lydians, splendidly armed.

Going on toward Babylon, Cyrus subdued the Phrygians in Greater Phrygia, and subdued the Cappadocians, and made subjects of the Arabians; and from all these he equipped of the Persians horsemen not fewer than forty thousand, and to all the allies he distributed many of the captured horses. He came, then, to Babylon bringing many horsemen, and many archers and javelin-men, and slingers innumerable. When he was at Babylon, he set the army about it, and himself, going round with the commanders of the allies and his friends, surveyed the walls. Then he brought the army up and encamped about the city. And seeing the river there flowing into the city and passing through the middle of Babylon, he disclosed his plan to no one, but ordered a trench to be dug around the camp, broad and very deep, that they might perhaps need the fewest guards in the camp. Those making the trench dug a moderate distance from the river, and threw the earth toward the camp; and the Babylonians laughed at the siege, as having provisions for more than twenty years. When the trench was dug, Cyrus, watching for a night on which he knew the Babylonians would keep a feast, drinking and reveling the whole night, on this gathered a multitude and opened the trenches to the river—this is the Euphrates, as Herodotus relates; and the water passed into the trenches in the night, and the channel of the river through the city became passable for men, the water being diverted. Then, sending down into the dry bed of the river attendants and foot and horse, he ordered them to see whether it was passable. Meanwhile, conversing with the leaders of the multitude and rousing them to the work, at last he said, "Come, take up your arms; I will lead; and do you, Gobryas and Gadatas, show the ways, knowing them. And when we are within, lead with all speed to the palace." Upon this they went. And going as quickly as they could, those with Gobryas and Gadatas came to the palace, and found the gates shut, and fell upon the guards as they drank. When a cry and tumult arose, those within, the king having ordered them to see what the matter was, opened the gates, into which the enemy fell and came to the king. And they found him already standing and drawing the scimitar he had. And him those with Gadatas and Gobryas overpowered, and those with him died, some defending themselves, some giving way. And Cyrus sent the squadrons of horse through the streets, having proclaimed that whomever they took outside they should kill, but should proclaim to those in the houses, those who knew how to speak Syriac, to remain within, and that if anyone were caught outside, he would die. Meanwhile Gobryas and Gadatas came, and because they had avenged themselves on the unholy king, first they worshipped the gods, then kissed Cyrus's hands and feet.

Xenophon, relating the affairs of Cyrus, does not give the name of the captured king of the Assyrians; but Josephus, in the tenth book of the Antiquities, records that this was that Baltasar to whom also the hand appeared coming forth from the wall and writing the letters already mentioned, whose interpretation Daniel explained.

25. When day came, the holders of the citadel, perceiving that the city was taken and their king dead, surrendered the citadel too. And Cyrus sent into them commanders and guards. Then, calling the magi, since the city was spear-won, he ordered firstfruits to be set apart for the gods, and he distributed houses and public buildings to those who had shared in his deeds; and for himself he intended to prepare a manner of living befitting a king. But that he might not become an object of envy to his friends, he wished to do this with their consent, and conversing with them, by what he said he persuaded them to ask for this. From there he enters the palace, and sets guards about himself, and those who tended his person he gelded and made eunuchs, and chose for bodyguards Persians to the number of ten thousand, and in the city he posted sufficient guards. Having done this, he trained the more honoured of the army not to live without toil and in luxury; and over other matters he set other overseers—receivers of revenues, I mean, and dispensers of expenditures, superintendents of works and guardians of possessions, and overseers of provisions for living, and managers of horses and dogs; but those whom he thought should be guardians of his prosperity, the care of these he assigned to himself. And since to benefit men with money was added to him, he knew that no benefit is more pleasing to men than the giving of food and drink; therefore he ordered much to be set before him like what he himself ate, and enough for very many, and what was set out, except what he and his fellow-diners used, he distributed. And he became the most generous of men. But to surpass in the greatness of gifts, being the richest, is no marvel; but to surpass, while a king, in the care and attention to friends, this is more noteworthy. And a saying of his is remembered, that the works of a good herdsman and of a king are alike; for he said the herdsman should use his beasts after making them well-fed, and the king likewise should use cities and men after making them prosperous.

It is said too that Croesus once said to him that by giving much he would become poor, and was asked by Cyrus, "How much money do you think I would now have, if I had been collecting gold as you bid since I have been in the rule?" And Croesus said some large number. And Cyrus said, "Come now, Croesus, send a man with this Hystaspes. And you, Hystaspes, going round to the friends, tell them that I need money for a certain undertaking, and bid them, each as much as he can, provide me money, and writing it and sealing it, give the letters to Croesus's servant." And writing and sealing all that he charged Hystaspes, he gave it to him to carry to the friends. And he wrote to all to receive Hystaspes as his friend. When he had gone round and Croesus's servant had brought the letters, Hystaspes said, "Cyrus, king, use me now too as a rich man; for I am present with very many gifts because of your letters." And Cyrus said, "Here is one treasury for us, then, Croesus; but survey the others, and reckon how much ready money I have, if I need to use any." It is said that Croesus, reckoning, found many times more than he had said would be in the treasuries for Cyrus if he had been collecting; and upon this Cyrus said, "You see, Croesus, that I too have treasures."

It having seemed good to him to make a procession to the precincts set apart for the gods, calling those who held office among the Persians and the rest, he distributed to them Median robes; and then first the Persians put on the Median robe. When he had distributed the finest robes to the best men, he brought out other Median robes too—for he had prepared very many, sparing neither purple nor dark nor scarlet nor crimson garments—and apportioning to each of the leaders a part of them, he ordered them to adorn their subordinates with these. And one of those present asked him, "And you, Cyrus, when will you adorn yourself?" And he said, "Do I not seem to you now to be adorning myself, while adorning you? For if I can do good to my friends, in whatever robe I am, in that I shall appear fair." Having made the procession and sacrificed to the gods, he dined with his friends, seating those whom he most honoured at his left hand, as being more open to plot against than the right, and the rest at his right. After supper he sent home those who had allied with him as volunteers, except those who wished to remain with him; to these he gave land and houses. And to those who departed, both soldiers and officers, he gave many gifts. Then to the soldiers and officers about him he distributed all the money he had taken from Sardis according to each one's worth. And when they had received what was given, they said of Cyrus, "Surely he himself has much, since he has given so much to each of us too." But others said, "It is not Cyrus's way to amass money, but he delights more in giving than in getting." Perceiving this, Cyrus gathered his friends and all the men of standing and said, "It seems to me a mark of the simplest character for the ruler, having made his power manifest, to contend on the basis of it for nobility. And I, then," he said, "wish to show you all that I have that can be seen, and what cannot be seen, to describe." Saying this, he showed much fair money, and described what was so stored as not to be easily seen. And he said, "Men, you must consider these no more mine than yours; for I gather these that I may have something to give to whoever of you does any fair thing, and that, if any of you needs anything, he may take it by coming to me."

26. When he had set the affairs in Babylon in good order, he made ready to go off to Persia. And as, journeying, he came to Media, Cyrus turned to Cyaxares, and greeting him said that a house had been chosen for him in Babylon, and gave him many fair gifts. And Cyaxares sent to him his daughter, bringing a golden crown and bracelets and a necklace and a most beautiful Median robe. And the girl crowned Cyrus, and Cyaxares said, "I give you, Cyrus, this very woman to wife, being my daughter, and I give with her as dowry all Media; for I have no legitimate male child." And Cyrus said, "The lineage, Cyaxares, I commend, and the girl and the gifts, but I wish to marry her with the consent of my father and mother." And saying this he journeyed to Persia. Coming to the borders of the Persians, he left the army there, and himself with his friends entered the city, bringing victims enough for all the Persians to sacrifice and feast. He brought gifts for his father and mother such as was fitting, and for his friends such as befitted magistrates and elders; and he gave to all Persians, and indeed to Persian women too. And having spent some time with his parents, he departed. And coming to Media, with his father's consent he married the daughter of Cyaxares; and having married, at once taking her with him he set out.

When he came to Babylon, he sent satraps to the subdued nations—to Arabia, that is, and Cappadocia, to Greater Phrygia, to Lycia and Ionia, to Caria, to Phrygia by the Hellespont and Aeolis. To the Cilicians and Cyprians and Paphlagonians he did not send satraps, because they seemed to march with him willingly; yet these too paid tribute. And that, his rule being great, reports might be conveyed to him quickly even from afar, he considered how long a road a horse driven hard could accomplish, and he made horse-stations so far apart from one another, and set horses in them and those who cared for them, and posted at each a suitable man to receive the dispatches conveyed and to deliver them, and to take the worn-out horses and send others fresh.

When a year had now passed he made a campaign, in which he is said to have subdued all the nations that dwell from where one enters Syria as far as the Red Sea. After this he marches against Egypt and subdues it too; so that from there his rule was bounded on the east by the Red Sea, on the north by the Euxine Sea, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and Ethiopia on the south. And he himself, making his abode in the midst of these, passed seven months in Babylon, the winter season, for this country is warm, three months about spring in Susa, and in Ecbatana two months he spent, the height of summer.

Having so lived, and being now very old, Cyrus comes to Persia for the seventh time, his parents having long since died. And as he slept in the palace, there seemed to him in a dream one greater than a man to come to him, saying, "Make ready, Cyrus; for now the gods summon you." From this he guessed that the end of his life was at hand, and on the third day he called his sons, for they accompanied him, and his friends and the rulers of the Persians, and said, "To me the end of life is now at hand, and I must make clear concerning the kingdom, to whom it shall belong after me, that it may not, becoming disputed, cause you trouble. You, then, Cambyses, being the elder, hold the kingdom, the gods granting and I; and to you, Tanaoxares, I give to be satrap of the Medes and Armenians and Cadusians." Having charged his sons with these things and exhorted them much, and having addressed those present and given his right hand to all, he covered himself and so departed. And when he was gone, at once his sons fell into faction, and cities and nations revolted, and all turned to the worse.

These things, then, are related by Xenophon concerning Cyrus; but Herodotus of Halicarnassus says other things about Cyrus's upbringing and end and the rest of his life, which it would be long to relate. And for me, who have made an epitome of history, it is not fitting to set down a work of many lines; but I myself have written the more probable things, and whoever wishes to know what Herodotus too wrote about him, taking up his book will find these things in the first book, to which he gave the title of the first of the Muses, Clio.