that he did; and that
whatever was agreeable to the will of the king was always pleasing to
him!!

It is hard to say whether despotic power exerts its worst and most
direful influences on those who wield it, or on those who have it to
bear; on its masters, or on its slaves.

After the first feelings of pleasure which Astyages experienced in
being relieved from the sense of guilt which oppressed his mind so
long as he supposed that his orders for the murder of his infant
grandchild had been obeyed, his former uneasiness lest the child
should in future years become his rival and competitor for the
possession of the Median throne, which had been the motive originally
instigating him to the commission of the crime, returned in some
measure again, and he began to consider whether it was not incumbent
on him to take some measures to guard against such a result. The end
of his deliberations was, that he concluded to send for the magi, or
soothsayers, as he had done in the case of his dream, and obtain their
judgment on the affair in the new aspect which it had now assumed.

When the magi had heard the king's narrative of the circumstances
under which the discovery of the child's preservation had been made,
through complaints which had been preferred against him on account of
the manner in which he had exercised the prerogatives of a king among
his playmates, they decided at once that Astyages had no cause for any
further apprehensions in respect to the dreams which had disturbed him
previous to his grandchild's birth. "He has been a king," they said,
"and the danger is over. It is true that he has been a monarch only in
play, but that is enough to satisfy and fulfill the presages of the
vision. Occurrences very slight and trifling in themselves are often
found to accomplish what seemed of very serious magnitude and moment,
as portended. Your grandchild has been a king, and he will never reign
again. You have, therefore, no further cause to fear, and may send him
to his parents in Persia with perfect safety."

The king determined to adopt this advice. He ordered the soothsayers,
however, not to remit their assiduity and vigilance, and if any signs
or omens should appear to indicate approaching danger, he charged them
to give him immediate warning. This they faithfully promised to do.
They felt, they said, a personal interest in doing it; for Cyrus being
a Persian prince, his accession to the Median throne would involve the