the gods."

With that Cyrus awoke out of sleep, and he all but seemed to know that
the end of his life was at hand. [3] Straightway he took victims and
offered sacrifice to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and to the Sun, and
all the other gods, on the high places where the Persians sacrifice, and
then he made this prayer:

"Zeus, god of my fathers, and thou, O Sun, and all ye gods, accept this
sacrifice, my offering for many a noble enterprise, and suffer me to
thank you for the grace ye have shown me, telling me all my life, by
victims and by signs from heaven, by birds and by the voices of men,
what things I ought to do and what I ought to refrain from doing. Deep
is my thankfulness that I was able to recognise your care, and never
lifted up my heart too high even in my prosperity. I beseech you now to
bless my children also, and my wife, and my friends, and my fatherland;
and for myself, may my death be as my life has been."

[4] Then Cyrus went home again and lay down on his bed, for he longed
to rest. And when the hour was come, his attendants came to him and bade
him take his bath. But he said he would rather rest. And others came
afterwards, at the usual time, to set the meal before him; but he could
not bring himself to take food: he seemed only to thirst, and drank
readily. [5] It was the same the second day, and the third, and then
he called his sons to his side--it chanced they had followed him to
Persia--and he summoned his friends also and the chief magistrates of
the land, and when they were all met, he began:

[6] "My sons, and friends of mine, the end of my life is at hand: I know
it by many signs. And when I am dead, you must show by word and deed
that you think of me as happy. When I was a child, I had all the joys
and triumphs of a child, and I reaped the treasures of youth as I grew
up, and all the glories of a man when I came to man'e estate. And as the
years passed, I seemed to find my powers grow with them, so that I never
felt my old age weaker than my youth, nor can I think of anything I
attempted or desired wherein I failed. [7] Moreover, I have seen my
friends made happy by my means, and my enemies crushed beneath my hand.
This my fatherland, which was once of no account in Asia, I leave at
the height of power, and of all that I won I think I have lost nothing.
Throughout my whole life I have fared as I prayed to fare, and the dread
that was ever with me lest in days to come I might see or h