herodotus

Asia, and by their unruliness and reckless behaviour everything wasruined; for on the one hand they exacted that in tribute from eachpeople which they laid upon them,[120] and apart from the tribute theyrode about and carried off by force the possessions of each tribe.Then Kyaxares with the Medes, having invited the greater number ofthem to a banquet, made them drunk and slew them; and thus the Medesrecovered their power, and had rule over the same nations as before;and they also took Nineveh,--the manner how it was taken I shall setforth in another history,[121]--and made the Assyrians subject to themexcepting only the land of Babylon.107. After this Kyaxares died, having reigned forty years includingthose years during which the Scythians had rule, and Astyages son ofKyaxares received from him the kingdom. To him was born a daughterwhom he named Mandane; and in his sleep it seemed to him that therepassed from her so much water as to fill his city and also to floodthe whole of Asia. This dream he delivered over[122] to the Magianinterpreters of dreams, and when he heard from them the truth at eachpoint he became afraid. And afterwards when this Mandane was of an ageto have a husband, he did not give her in marriage to any one of theMedes who were his peers, because he feared the vision; but he gaveher to a Persian named Cambyses, whom he found to be of a good descentand of a quiet disposition, counting him to be in station much below aMede of middle rank. 108. And when Mandane was married to Cambyses, inthe first year Astyages saw another vision. It seemed to him that fromthe womb of this daughter a vine grew, and this vine overspread thewhole of Asia. Having seen this vision and delivered it to theinterpreters of dreams, he sent for his daughter, being then withchild, to come from the land of the Persians. And when she had come hekept watch over her, desiring to destroy that which should be born ofher; for the Magian interpreters of dreams signified to him that theoffspring of his daughter should be king in his room. Astyages thendesiring to guard against this, when Cyrus was born, called Harpagos,a man who was of kin near him and whom he trusted above all the otherMedes, and had made him manager of all his affairs; and to him he saidas follows: "Neglect not by any means, Harpagos, the matter which Ishall lay upon thee to do, and beware lest thou set me aside,[123] andchoosing the advantage of others instead, bring thyself afterwards todestruction. Take the child which Mandane bore, and carry it to thyhouse and slay it; and afterwards bury it in whatsoever manner thouthyself desirest." To this he made answer: "O king, never yet in anypast time didst thou discern in me an offence against thee, and I keepwatch over myself also with a view to the time that comes after, thatI may not commit any error towards thee. If it is indeed thy pleasurethat this should so be done, my service at least must be fitlyrendered." 109. Thus he made answer, and when the child had been