BABYLON AND PERSIA

"KURUSH, THE KING, THE AKHMMENIAN." 293had taken a liking to his grandson, was sincerelyglad that he should turn up alive, and sent him hometo Persia, to his father and mother, having first takenthe advice of the Magi, who were of opinion that,the boy having been king in play, the dreams hadbeen literally fulfilled, and there was no furtherdanger. But not therefore was Harpagos forgivenfor his breach of trust. Cruel and revengeful as hewas,' Astyages dissembled his anger under a greatshow of friendliness, and bade his kinsman send hisson to the palace as attendant to the newly foundprince, and to come to supper that evening himself.The meat placed before Harpagos was the flesh ofhis own child, whose hands and feet and head werepresented to him in a basket after he had eaten.He made no sign, but from that moment secretlyworked against the king, alienating from him thegreat Median nobles and preparing the general fall¬ing off in favor of Kyros, with whom he communi¬cated as soon as the boy was old enough. Fromthis point the narrative, as given above, is in themain correct, though not free from fanciful em¬bellishments.5. So Herodotus knows nothing of Kyros' royalparentage on the father's side. This at once sug¬gests Median informants. It would be soothing tothe vanity of the conquered people, even after theyhad long accepted the new ruler and lived prosperousunder him and his descendants, to connect him withtheir own royal house, thus creating an hereditaryclaim for him on their own side, and taking the bit¬terest sting from conquestsubmission to a stranger