Cyrus was the son of a Persian king and Median princess, and had been
so well brought up at home, that when as a little boy he visited his
grandfather at Echatana, in Media, he was very much shocked to see the
court drinking to intoxication, and said wine must be poison, since it
made people lose their senses; and he was much puzzled by the hosts of
slaves who would not let people do anything for themselves. He thought
only those who were old and helpless could like being waited on, and he
kept these hardy, simple ways, even after he was a great king over both
nations.
When he was about forty years old one of the kings in Asia Minor made
war on him, and he not only overthrew this monarch, but won that whole
country, which was kept by the Persians for many years. Afterwards, in
the year 540, he marched against Assyria, which had insulted him in the
time of Evil-Merodach. He beat Belshazzar in battle, and then besieged
him in his city; but the Babylonians had no fears; they trusted to their
walls and brazen gates, and knew that he could not starve them out,
as they had so much corn growing within the walls.
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