cup of poison.

Socrates took the cup from his hand and drained it, unmoved, telling his
disciples that he felt sure that death was only birth into another and
better world. Then he bade them all farewell.

As he was a good and scrupulous man, very careful about paying his debts
and keeping his promises, he now told Crito to remember that he had
promised to sacrifice a cock to AEs-cu-la'pi-us, the god of medicine, and
bade him do it in his stead.

He then lay down upon his hard prison bed, and, while he felt the chill
of death slowly creeping upward toward his heart, he continued to teach
and exhort his pupils to love virtue and do right.

All his last sayings were carefully treasured by Plato, who wrote them
down, and who concludes the story of his death in these beautiful words:
"Thus died the man who, of all with whom we are acquainted, was in death
the noblest, and in life the wisest and best."

Some time after the death of Socrates, the Athenians found out their
mistake. Filled with remorse, they recalled the sentence which had
condemned him, but they could not bring him back to life. In token of
their sorrow, however, they set up a statue of him in the heart of their
city.

This statue, although made of bronze, has long ceased to exist; but the
remembrance of Socrates' virtues is still held dear, and all who know
his name both love and honor him.

LXXI. THE DEFEAT OF CYRUS.

It was at the close of the Peloponnesian War that Darius II., King of
Persia, died, leaving two sons, Artaxerxes and Cy'rus. These two heirs
could not agree which should reign. Artaxerxes claimed the throne
because he was the elder, and Cyrus because he was the first son born
after their father had become king; for in Persia it was the custom for
a ruler to choose as his successor a son born after he had taken
possession of the throne.

The quarrel between the two brothers daily became more bitter; and when
Artaxerxes made himself king by force, Cyrus swore that he would compel
him to give up his place again.

To oust his brother from the throne, Cyrus collected an army in Asia
Minor; and, as he could not secure enough Persian soldiers, he hired a
body of eleven thousand Greeks, commanded by a Spartan named
Cle-ar'chus.

This Greek army was only a small part of Cyrus' force; but he expected
great things from it, as the Persians had already found out to their
cost that the Greeks were very good fighters.

After a long ma