that he offered before presenting it to the king. He
did this, however, not by putting the cup to his lips, but by pouring
out a little of it into the palm of his hand. This custom was adopted
by these ancient despots to guard against the danger of being
poisoned; for such a danger would of course be very much diminished by
requiring the officer who had the custody of the wine, and without
whose knowledge no foreign substance could well be introduced into it,
always to drink a portion of it himself immediately before tendering
it to the king.

To Astyages's question why he had not tasted the wine, Cyrus replied
that he was afraid it was poisoned. "What led you to imagine that it
was poisoned?" asked his grandfather. "Because," said Cyrus, "it was
poisoned the other day, when you made a feast for your friends, on
your birth-day. I knew by the effects. It made you all crazy. The
things that you do not allow us boys to do, you did yourselves, for
you were very rude and noisy; you all bawled together, so that nobody
could hear or understand what any other person said. Presently you
went to singing in a very ridiculous manner, and when a singer ended
his song, you applauded him, and declared that he had sung admirably,
though nobody had paid attention. You went to telling stories, too,
each one of his own accord, without succeeding in making any body
listen to him. Finally, you got up and began to dance, but it was out
of all rule and measure; you could not even stand erect and steadily.
Then, you all seemed to forget who and what you were. The guests paid
no regard to you as their king, but treated you in a very familiar and
disrespectful manner, and you treated them in the same way; so I
thought that the wine that produced these effects must have been
poisoned."

Of course, Cyrus did not seriously mean that he thought the wine had
been actually poisoned. He was old enough to understand its nature
and effects. He undoubtedly intended his reply as a playful satire
upon the intemperate excesses of his grandfather's court.

"But have not you ever seen such things before?" asked Astyages. "Does
not your father ever drink wine until it makes him merry?"

"No," replied Cyrus, "indeed he does not. He drinks only when he is
thirsty, and then only enough for his thirst, and so he is not
harmed." He then added, in a contemptuous tone, "He has no Sacian
cup-bearer, you may depend, about _him_."

"What is the reason, my son," her