and manly virtues may have been exaggerated by his admirers, but what we do know of him fills us with admiration.  Brilliant in intellect, lofty in character, he was an ideal man, fitted to be the guide of a noble nation whom he led to glory and honor.  Other warriors of world-wide fame have had, like him, great excellencies, marred by glaring defects; but no vices or crimes are ascribed to Cyrus, such as stained the characters of David and Constantine.  The worst we can say of him is that he was ambitious, and delighted in conquest; but he was a conqueror raised up to elevate a religious race to a higher plane, and to find a field for the development of their energies, whatever may be said of their subsequent degeneracy.  “The grandeur of his character is well rendered in that brief and unassuming inscription of his, more eloquent in its lofty simplicity than anything recorded by Assyrian and Babylonian kings:  ’I am Kurush [Cyrus] the king, the Achaemenian.’” Whether he fell in battle, or died a natural death in one of his palaces, he was buried in the ancient but modest capital of the ancient Persians, Pasargadae; and his tomb was intact in the time of Alexander, who visited it,—­a sort of marble chapel raised on a marble platform thirty-six feet high, in which was deposited a gilt sarcophagus, together with Babylonian tapestries, Persian weapons, and rare jewels of great value.  This was the inscription on his tomb:  “O man, I am Kurush, the son of Kambujiya, who founded the greatness of Persia and ruled Asia; grudge me not this monument.”

Cyrus was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who though not devoid of fine qualities was jealous and tyrannical.  He caused his own brother Smerdis to be put to death.  He completed the conquests of his father by adding Egypt to his empire.  In a fit of remorse for the murder of his brother he committed suicide, and the empire was usurped by a Magian impostor, called Gaumata, who claimed to be the second son of Cyrus.  His reign, however, was short, he being slain by Darius the son of Hystaspes, belonging to another branch of the royal family.  Darius was a great general and statesman, who reorganized the empire and raised it to the zenith of its power and glory.  It extended from the Greek islands on the west to India on the east.  This monarch even penetrated to the Danube with his armies, but made no permanent conquest in Europe.  He made Susa his chief capital, and also built Persepolis, the ruins of which attest its ancient magnificence.  It seems that he was a devout follower of Zoroaster, and ascribed his successes to the favor of Ahura-Mazda, the Supreme Deity.

It was during the reign of Darius that Persia came in contact with Greece, in consequence of the revolt of the Ionian cities of Asia Minor, which, however, was easily suppressed by the Persian satrap.  Then followed two invasions of Greece itself by the Persians under the generals of Darius, and their defeat at Marathon by Miltiades.