John Kitto Evening Bible Devotions: April 22

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John Kitto Evening Bible Devotions: April 22


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Providence in the Early Life of Cyrus

Isa_41:25

Having yesterday considered the circumstances attending the birth and preservation of Cyrus, in the face of the interests engaged in his destruction, we may proceed to notice the incidents of his early life down to the commencement of his public career. In this portion of his history the indications of Divine interposition and guidance grow upon us, and the recognitions and acknowledgments of this on the part of the youthful hero himself and of the narrator, become frequent and distinct.

When the lad had reached the age of ten years, an incident occurred which made him known. As he was playing in the village near which the herds were fed, with boys of his own age, they, in their sport, bethought themselves of electing a king; and they fixed upon him who passed for the son of the herdsman. He forthwith appointed some to build his houses, others to be his body-guard, one to be “the king’s eye,” Note: As we should say, “inspector general.” This was an ancient Persian, and highly Oriental mode of describing high offices. on another he bestowed the honor of presenting embassies; to every one appointing a part. One of these boys, being the son of Artembares, a noble Mede, yielded no obedience to the commands of Cyrus, who directed the others to seize him; which they did, and he flogged him soundly. No sooner was the youth released than, full of resentment at this treatment, he hastened home, and related with tears to his father what he had endured from the son of the herdsman of Astyages. Artembares, in high wrath, presented himself with his son before Astyages, and complained of the indignity he had sustained, saying: “O king, thus by thy slave, the son of thy herdsman, have we been maltreated!” And as he spoke he displayed his son’s shoulders. Hearing and seeing this, Astyages, fully purposing to give Artembares satisfaction, sent for the herdsman and his son. When they both appeared, Astyages, fixing his eye upon Cyrus, said: “Hast thou, who art but the son of a slave, dared to use thus shamefully the son of a man who is first in my favor?” to which he replied: “O sire, I did indeed thus treat him, and with justice; for the boys of the village, of whom he was one, in their play appointed me their king, thinking me the best fitted for the office. The others accordingly yielded obedience to my commands, but this one was disobedient, setting at nought my will, on which account he was punished. If now I am guilty in this matter, here I am before you.”

The king, who had observed him attentively while he spoke, was struck not more by the words than by the noble air with which they were delivered; and he began to trace certain resemblances in his countenance, his voice, and his manner, which awakened his suspicions; and these were strengthened when he reflected that the boy’s age corresponded to that which would be the age of his daughter’s son; if he were still alive. He, therefore, became anxious to question the herdsman alone, and dismissed Artembares with the promise that neither he nor his son should have any reason to complain. Cyrus was then removed to an inner chamber, and the herdsman, on being questioned, declared that the lad was his own son, and that his mother was now living. But the king told him sternly that nothing was to be gained by prevaricating, for that the truth should be extracted from him by the most painful tortures. He then beckoned the guard to seize the man, who, being led away to the torture, declared the whole truth, relating all that had happened from the beginning, and concluded with entreating pardon for himself. This was granted; but the heart of the king was filled with wrath against Harpagus, who was summoned to his presence. This nobleman, having noticed the herdsman in the palace, did not disguise the truth, but related the circumstances, just as they occurred, affirming, however, that the child was dead, for that the body had been seen and buried by some of his trustiest servants. The king, concealing the anger he really felt at the evasion of his commands, repeated the account he had received from the herdsman; and went on to say that the child was living, and all had turned out for the best, as he had since regretted the course he had taken towards his daughter’s child. In testimony of his satisfaction he invited him to supper, and desired that he would in the meanwhile send his son to be with the young stranger. Harpagus hastened home with a relieved and happy heart, and forthwith sent his son to the palace. The cruel king forthwith caused the boy to be killed, and his flesh to be dressed in various forms of preparation as food—all save the head, the hands, and the feet, which ware placed separately in a dish. At supper various meats were presented to his guests, but Harpagus was supplied with the flesh of his own son. When he had eaten heartily of it, the king, with a cruel smile, asked him how he liked his fare; and on his declaring that he had highly enjoyed his repast, Astyages directed the attendants to deliver to him the reserved dish; and we may easily guess how he was horrified to behold there the head, hands, and feet of his own child. But, by a mighty effort, he restrained his emotions; and when Astyages asked him if he knew of what game he had eaten, he answered, “Yes, he knew; and was pleased with whatever the king had done.” He then withdrew, heart-stricken, to his own house, taking with him the remains of his son.

This dreadful transaction is at least consistent with the character which the historian gives to Astyages, as evinced in the previous treatment of his own daughter’s son. Concerning him he now again consulted the magi, who had prophesied that if he lived he should reign. They were now disposed to consider his destinies satisfied by the mock royalty which his playmates had conferred upon him, and that his grandfather need be under no further apprehension concerning him; and they counselled that he should be sent back to his parents in Persia. He was accordingly sent home, and was most joyfully received by his parents, who had believed him dead, and whom the account of his early adventures deeply interested. They took advantage of the name of his foster mother Cyno, which name was often heard from his lips, to give out that their son had been preserved by a particular providence, for that when he was exposed he had been suckled by a bitch (which Cyno signifies), and this report spread far and near, and appears to have been still current in the time of Herodotus.

The lad grew, and seems to have excelled all his companions in strength and every manly grace. There were eyes that watched him with earnestness. Harpagus nourished the hope of making the young prince the instrument of that vengeance against Astyages, which burned the more fiercely in his heart because he dared not give it the least vent. At length, when Cyrus had grown up, this person sent him by a trusty servant a secret letter sewed up in the belly of a hare, calling him to vengeance against one who had been virtually his murderer; “for,” said the letter, “by his intention you had perished, although by the providence of the gods, and by me, you survive.” Harpagus further assured him, that many noble Medes had become disaffected to Astyages, and would declare for him if he incited the Persians to revolt, and invaded Media at their head.

Yielding to these suggestions, Cyrus convoked an assembly of the Persian tribes, and desired that every man would bring his axe with him. When they had assembled, Cyrus commanded them to take their axes and clear in one day the country around for three miles of the briers with which it was covered. This they accomplished; and they were then desired to present themselves the next day purified from the dust and stain of their past labor. Meanwhile Cyrus collected and slaughtered all his father’s flocks—goats, sheep, and oxen; and caused them to be cooked to entertain the assembled thousands, nor were bread and rich wines wanting for the intended feast. On the morrow, when they appeared, he made them recline upon the grass and partake of the feast he had provided. When they had finished, Cyrus addressed them, and asked them whether the labors of yesterday or the enjoyments of today had been the most pleasant. They declared that there was the greatest possible difference between the two, for that on the first day they had endured every hardship, but on this they had possessed every good. Taking up the word, Cyrus opened to them his whole intention, saying: “Persians, thus stand our affairs—if you are willing to follow me, these, and a thousand other good things, shall be yours; and servile labor shall be unknown to you; but if you refuse to obey me, toils innumerable, like those of yesterday, will be laid upon you. Now, therefore, follow me, and be free. For I believe myself to be divinely ordained to fill your hands with these benefits; and you deem yourselves not at all inferior to the Medes, as not in other respects, so not in military virtues. This being the state of your affairs, revolt instantly from Astyages.” And they did so, according to this account, and eventually succeeded not only in casting off the Median yoke, but in establishing their sway over many lands.

Such, in substance, is the account of Herodotus. The writers of the early part of the last and the latter part of the preceding century manifested a prevailing disposition to reject his account of the infancy of Cyrus, and to prefer that of Xenophon; and this still operates, through the just influence of the writers to whom we refer, although the relative positions of the authorities in question have been considerably altered. The extensive researches which have since taken place into the history and antiquities of Egypt and the East, have confirmed and in many cases established, the authority of Herodotus in many matters in which it was formerly most disputed; while it is now universally recognized that the account which Xenophon gives of Cyrus in his Cyropædia, is, in the account of his youth particularly, of no more historical authority than the Telemachus of Fenelon, to which it is in many respects similar.

Let us try to understand this matter a little; for it is well worth our while to have some distinct ideas on the subject. It is now generally admitted that Herodotus related what he heard—that is, what was the general report among the educated classes at the time and in the countries of which he wrote. His intention and care to give the true account, is incidentally evinced in this case by his mention, only for rejection, of the story of the bitch-nurture which Cyrus received when exposed upon the mountains. This, he distinctly states, was the common rumor of his time, but which he corrects and explains from the more authentic information to which he had access. Now, when Herodotus travelled among the Persians and discoursed with their learned men, the persons with whom he associated were those whose fathers had lived under Cyrus, and who must have been acquainted with his true history; and the accounts which the Greek traveller heard were those which these contemporaries of Cyrus had delivered to their sons. The value of this kind of testimony lessens in proportion to the number of links in its transmission, and Herodotus was in all respects nearer, in time, in place, and in circumstance than Xenophon, as we could show at large if space allowed and occasion required. Indeed, the matter might be thought to rest sufficiently on the fact, that Herodotus certainly intended to write true history, whereas Xenophon purposed to furnish a philosophical romance, were it not that so strange a preference has nevertheless been given to his materially different account of the youth of Cyrus. We are ready to admit, indeed we believe, that in the later and more public events of the career of the great Persian, the authority of Xenophon may be accepted, because the facts were more notorious, and because they were well known, even in his own country, as reported by the Persians of his age to many other Greeks who had been in the Persian service, and could not, therefore, be so easily turned from the direct truth to suit the purposes of his book: but in regard to the youth of Cyrus, he had “ample room and verge enough” to trace what characters he pleased; nothing of public importance—nothing that impresses itself upon a nation’s history, being involved in the details, beyond the simple fact that the child’s existence had been preserved. That much obscurity hung over the early life of Cyrus, as evinced by the conflicting accounts of that life to which Herodotus refers as existing in his time, seems strongly to corroborate the recital which he has given, seeing that the circumstances which he relates account adequately for it. The same considerations may help us to conclude that the father of Cyrus was not a king, as Xenophon reports, but merely, as Herodotus tells us, a Persian of noble birth and a member of the royal tribe. If the father had been king of the Persians, and if Cyrus had, from infancy, been brought up in distinction and honor at his father’s court, the facts must have been too well known to allow room for the existence of the story which Herodotus gives, or of the other to which he refers.