sums them all
up in a single line; but there is reason to believe that the Cnidian
historian gave a methodized account of their accomplishment, of which
scattered notices have come down to us in various writers. Arrian
relates that there was a city called Cyropolis, situated on the
Jaxartes, a place of great strength defended by very lofty walls, which
had been founded by the Great Cyrus. This city belonged to Sogdiana.
Pliny states that Capisa, the chief city of Capisene, which lay not far
from the upper Indus, was destroyed by Cyrus. This place is probably
Kafshan, a little to the north of Kabul. Several authors tell us that
the Ariaspse, a people of Drangiana, assisted Cyrus with provisions when
he was warring in their neighborhood, and received from him in return a
new name, which the Greeks rendered by "Euergetse"--"Benefactors." The
Ariaspae must have dwelt near the Hamoon, or Lake of Seistan. We have
thus traces of the conqueror's presence in the extreme north on the
Jaxartes, in the extreme east in Affghanistan, and towards the south as
far as Seistan and the Helmend; nor can there be any reasonable doubt
that he overran and reduced to subjection the whole of that vast tract
which lies between the Caspian on the west, the Indus valley and the
desert of Tartary towards the east, the Jaxartes or Sir Deria on the
north, and towards the south the Great Deserts of Seistan and Khorassan.

More uncertainty attaches to the reduction of the tract lying south
of these deserts. Tradition said that Cyrus had once penetrated into
Gedrosia on an expedition against the Indians, and had lost his entire
army in the waterless and trackless desert; but there is no evidence at
all that he reduced the country. It appears to have been a portion of
the Empire in the reign of Darius Hystaspis, but whether that monarch,
or Cambyses, or the great founder of the Persian power conquered it,
cannot at present be determined.

The conquest of the vast tract lying between the Caspian and the
Indus, inhabited (as it was) by a numerous, valiant, and freedom-loving
population, may well have occupied Cyrus for thirteen or fourteen years.
Alexander the Great spent in the reduction of this region, after the
inhabitants had in a great measure lost their warlike qualities, as
much as five years, or half the time occupied by his whole series of
conquests. Cyrus could not have ventured on prosecuting his enterprises,
as did the Macedonian prince, conti