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(ASTYAGES reigned thirty-five years. This prince is called in fcripture Ahafuerus. Though his reign was very long no less than thirty-five years, yet have we no particulas re corded of it in hiftory. He had two children, whofe names are famous, namely, Cyaxares, by his wife Aryenis, and Mandana, by a former marriage. In his father's life-time he married Mandana to Cambyfes, the fon of Achemenes, king of Perfia: From this marriage fprung Cyrus, who was bor but one year after the birth of his uncle Cyaxares. The latter fucceeded his father in the kingdom of the Medes.

CYAXARES II. This is the prince whom the fcripture call Darius the Mede.

Cyrus, having taken Babylon, in conjunction with his uncle Cyaxares, left it under his government. After the death of his uncle, and his father Cambyfes, he united the kingdoms of the Medes and the Perfians into one: In the fequel therefore of this difcourfe they will be confidered only as one empire. Ifhall begin the hiftory of that empire with the reign of Cy rus; which will include alfo what is known of the reigns of his two predeceffors, Cyaxares and Aftyages. But I fhall previously give fome account of the kingdom of Lydia, because Croefus, its king, has a confiderable fhare in the events which Lam to fpeak.

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CHAP. IV.

The biftory of the LYDIANS.

HE kings, who firft reigned over the Lydians are by Herodotus called Atyades, that is, defcendants from Atys. Thefe, he tells us, derived their origin from Lydus, the fon of Atys; and Lydus gave the name of Lydians to that people, who before his time were called Mæonians.

Thefe Atyades were fucceeded by the Heraclide; or defcendants of Hercules, who poffeffed this kingdom for the space of five hundred and five

years.

(g) ARGO, great grandfon of Alcaus, fon of Hercules, was the firft of the Heraclides, who reigned in Lydia.

The last was

CANDAULES. This prince was married to a lady of exquifite beauty; and, being infatuated by his paffion for her, was perpetually boafting of her charms to others. Nothing F 3 would

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would ferve him, but Gyges, one of his chief officers, fhould fee, and judge of them by his own eyes; as if the husband's own knowledge of them was not fufficient for his happiness, or the beauty of his wife would have been impaired by his filence. The king to this end placed Gyges fecretly in a convenient place; but notwithstanding that precaution, the queen perceived him when he retired, yet took no manner of notice of it; judging, as the hiftorian reprefents it, that the moft valuable treasure of a woman is her modesty, she studied a fignal revenge for the injury fhe had received; and, to punish the fault of her husband, committed a ftill greater crime. Poffibly a fecret paffion for Gyges had as great fhare in that action, as her refentment for the difhonour done her. Be that as it will, fhe fent for Gyges, and obliged him to expiate his crime either by his own death, or the king's, at his own option. After fome remonftrances to no purpose, he refolved upon the latter, and by the murder of Candaules became master of his queen and his throne (b). By this means the kingdom paffed from the family of the Heraclidæ into that of the Mermnades, Archilochus, the poet, lived at this time, and, as Herodotus informs us, fpoke of this adventure of Gyges in his poems.

I cannot forbear mentioning in this place what is related by Herodotus, that amongst the Lydians, and almost all other Barbarians, it was reckoned fhameful and infamous, even for a man to appear naked. These footsteps of modesty, which are met with amongst pagans, ought to be reckoned valuable. We are affured, that among the Romans a son, who was come to the age of maturity, never went into the baths with his father, nor even a fon-in-law with his father-in-law; and this modesty and decency were looked upon by them as a law of nature, the violation whereof was criminal. It is aftonishing, that amongst us our magiftrates take no care to prevent this diforder, which, in the midft of Paris, at the feafon of bathing, is openly committed with impunity; a diforder fo visibly contrary to the rules of common decency, fo dangerous to young perfons of both fexes, and fo feverely condemned by paganism itself.

(b) A. M. 3286. Ant. J. C. 718,

Non contentus voluptatum fuarum tacita confcientia-prorfus quafi filentium damnum pulchritudinis effet. Juftin. 1.i. c. 7.

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Plato

non lavantur, Retinenda eft igitur hujus generis verecundia, præfertim natura ipfa magiftra & duce, Cic. 1. i de offic. n. 129.

+ Noftro quidem more cum paren. Nudare fe nefas effe credebatur, tibus puberes filii, cum saceris generi, | Val. Max. 1, ii, cop. 1.

(i) Plato relates the ftory of Gyges in a different manner from Herodotus. He tells us, that Gyges wore a ring, the ftone of which, when turned towards him, rendered him invifible; fo that he had the advantage of feeing others, without being feen himself; and that by means of this ring, with the concurrence of the queen, he deprived Candaules of his life and throne. This probably fignifies, that, in order to compass his criminal defign, he ufed all the tricks and ftratagems, the world calls fubtle and refined policy, which penetrates into the moft fecret purposes of others, without making the leaft difcovery of its own. This ftory thus explained carries in it a greater appearance of truth, than what we read in Herodotus.

Cicero, after having related this fable of Gyges's famous ring, adds, that if a wife man had fuch a ring, he would not ufe it to any wicked purpofe; becaufe virtue confiders what is honourable and juft, and has no occafion for darkness.

(k) GYCES reigned thirty-eight years. The murder of Candaules raifed a fedition among the Lydians. The two parties, inftead of coming to blows, agreed to refer the matter to the decifion of the Delphick oracle, which declared in favour of Gyges. The king made large prefents to the temple at Delphos, which undoubtedly preceded, and had no little inAuence upon the oracle's anfwer. Among other things of value Herodotus mentions fix golden cups, weighing thirty talents, amounting to near a million of French money, which is about forty-eight thousand pounds fterling.

As foon as he was in peaceable poffeffion of the throne, he made war againft Miletos, Smyrna, and Colophon, three powerful cities belonging to the neighbouring ftates.

After he had reigned thirty-eight years, he died, and was fucceeded by his fon,

(1) ARDYS reigned forty-nine years. It was in the reign of this prince, that the Cimmerians, driven out of their country by the Scythe Nomades, went into Aha, and took the city of Sardis, but not the citadel.

(m) SADYATTES reigned twelve years. This prince declared war against the Milefians, and laid fiege to their city. In thofe days the fieges, which were generally nothing more than blockades, were carried on very flowly, and lasted many years. This

(1) Plato de Rep. 1. ii. p. 359.

Her. l. i. c. 13, 14.

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(*) A. M. 3286. (1) A. M. 3324. Ant. J. C. 680. (m) A, M. 3373. Ant. J. C. 631. Ibid. c. 16, 22.

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Hunc ipfum annulum fi habeat | nefta enim bonis viris, non oceulta fapiens, nihilo plus fibi licere puret quæruntur. Lib, iii, de offic. n. 38. peccare, quam fi non haberet. Ho

OF This king died before he had finished that of Miletos, and was fucceeded by his fon,

(2) HALYATTES reigned fifty-feven years. This is the prince who made war againft Cyaxares, king of Media. He likewife drove the Cimmerians out of Afia. He attacked, and took the cities of Smyrna and Clazomena. He vigorously profecuted the war against the Milefians, begun by his father; and continued the hege of their city, which had lafted fix years under his father, and continued as many under him. It ended at length in the following manner: Halyattes, upon an anfwer he received from the Delphick oracle, had fent an ambaffador into the city, to propofe a truce for fome months. Thrafy bulus, tyrant of Miletos, having notice of his coming, ordered all the corn, and other provifions, affembled by him and his fubjects for their fupport, to be brought into the publick market; and commanded the citizens, at the fight of a signal that fhould be given, to be all in a general humour of feafting and jollity. The thing was executed according to his orders. The Lydian ambaffador at his arrival was in the utmoft furprize to fee fuch a plenty in the market, and fuch chearfuluefs in the city. His mafter, to whom he gave an account of what he had feen, concluding that his project of reducing the place by famine would never fucceed, preferred peace to fo fruitlefs a war, and immediately raised the fiege.

(0) CROESUS. His very name, which is become a proverb, carres in it an idea of immenfe riches. The wealth of this prince, to judge of it only by the prefents he made to the temple of Delphos, muft have been exceffively great. Moft of thofe prefents were ftill to be feen in the time of Herodotus, and were worth feveral millions. (p) We may partly account for the treasures of this prince, from certain mines that he had, fituate, according to Strabo, between Pergamus and Atarnes; as alfo from the little river Pactolus, the fand of which was gold. But in Strabo's time this river had not the same advantage.

(4) This uncommon affluence, which is a thing extraordi nary, did not enervate or foften the courage of Crofus. He thought it unworthy of a prince to spend his time in idleness and pleasure. For his part, he was perpetually in arms, made feveral conquefts, and enlarged his dominions by the addition of all the contiguous provinces, as Phrygia, Myfia, Paphlagonia, Bithynia, Pamphylia, and all the country of the Ca

rians,

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(a) A. M. 3385. Ant. J. C. 619. Her. 1.i. c. 21, 22. (o) A. M. 3442 Ant. J. C. 562. (p)-Strab. 1. xii), p. 625, &), xiv p. 690. Her. l. i. c, 26-28.

rians, Fonians, Dorians, and Eolians. Herodotus obferves that he was the firft conquerer of the Greeks, who till then hab never been fubject to a foreign power. Doubtless he muf mean the Greeks, fettled in Afia Minor.

But, what is ftill more extraordinary in this prince, though he was fo immenfely rich, and fo great a warrior, yet his chief delight was in literature and the fciences. His court was the ordinary refidence of thofe famous learned men, To revered by antiquity, and diftinguished by the name of the feven wife men of Greece.

(r) Solon, one of the most celebrated amongst then, after having established new laws at Athens, thought he might ab fent himself for fome years, and improve that time by travel Ling. He went to Sardis, where he was received in a manner fuitable to the reputation of fo great a man The king, a tended with a numerous court, appeared in all his regal pomp and fplendor, dreffed in the moft magnificent apparel, which was all over enriched with gold, and glittered with diamonds, Notwithstanding the novelty of this fpectacle to Solon, it did not appear that he was the leaft moved at it, or that he uttered a word which difcovered the leaft furprize or admiration; on the contrary, people of fenfe might fufficiently difcern from his behaviour, that he looked upon all this outward pomp, as an indication of a little mind, which knows not in what true greatnefs and dignity confifts. This coldness and indifference in Solon's first approach, give the king no favourable opinion of his new guest.

He afterwards ordered all his treasures, his magnificenes apartments, and coftly furniture fhould be fhewed him; as is He expected by the multitude of his fine veffels, diamonds, fta tues, and paintings, to conquer the philofopher's indifference But thefe things were not the king; and it was the king that Solon was come to vifit, and not the walls or chambers of Iris palace. He had no notion of making a judgment of the king, or an estimate of his worth, by thefe outward appendages, bur by himself and his own perfonal qualities. Were we to judge at prefent by the fame rule, we fhould find many of our great men wretchedly naked and defolate.

When Solon had feen all, he was brought back to the king Craefus then asked him, which of mankind in all his travels he had found the moit truly happy." One Tellus (relied "Solon) a citizen of Athens,, a very honeft and good many "who had lived all his days without indigence, had always feen his country in a flourishing condition,, had children that

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(r) Her. l.i. c. 29-33. Plut. in Sol. p. 93, 94

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