their own republics, but
also of all the nations around them; and with such admirable genius
and power did they fulfill this function, that, while the records of
all other nations cotemporary with them have been almost entirely
neglected and forgotten, the language of the Greeks has been preserved
among mankind, with infinite labor and toil, by successive generations
of scholars, in every civilized nation, for two thousand years, solely
in order that men may continue to read these tales.

Two Greek historians have given us a narrative of the events connected
with the life of Cyrus--Herodotus and Xenophon. These writers disagree
very materially in the statements which they make, and modern readers
are divided in opinion on the question which to believe. In order to
present this question fairly to the minds of our readers, we must
commence this volume with some account of these two authorities, whose
guidance, conflicting as it is, furnishes all the light which we have
to follow.

Herodotus was a philosopher and scholar. Xenophon was a great general.
The one spent his life in solitary study, or in visiting various
countries in the pursuit of knowledge; the other distinguished himself
in the command of armies, and in distant military expeditions, which
he conducted with great energy and skill. They were both, by birth,
men of wealth and high station, so that they occupied, from the
beginning, conspicuous positions in society; and as they were both
energetic and enterprising in character, they were led, each, to a
very romantic and adventurous career, the one in his travels, the
other in his campaigns, so that their personal history and their
exploits attracted great attention even while they lived.

Herodotus was born in the year 484 before Christ, which was about
fifty years after the death of the Cyrus whose history forms the
subject of this volume. He was born in the Grecian state of Caria,
in Asia Minor, and in the city of Halicarnassus. Caria, as may be
seen from the map at the commencement of this volume, was in the
southwestern part of Asia Minor, near the shores of the AEgean Sea.
Herodotus became a student at a very early age. It was the custom
in Greece, at that time, to give to young men of his rank a good
intellectual education. In other nations, the training of the young
men, in wealthy and powerful families, was confined almost exclusively
to the use of arms, to horsemanship, to athletic feats, and other s