History of Cyrus the great Author:Jacob Abbott Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: Cyrus's defeust, Aetoaiehment of Astyages. way that you, a mere herdsman's boy, dare to treat the son of one of my nobles ?" The little prince looked up in... more »to his stern judge's face with an undaunted expression of countenance, which, considering the circumstances of the case, and the smallness of the scale on which this embryo heroism was represented, was partly ludicrous and partly sublime. " My lord," said he, " what I have done I am able to justify. I did punish this boy, and 1 had a right to do so. I was king, and he was my subject, and he would not obey me. If you think that for this I deserve punishment myself, here 1 am; I am ready to suffer it." If Astyages had been struck with the appearance and manner of Cyrus at the commencement of the interview, his admiration was awakened far more strongly now, at hearing such words, uttered, too, in so exalted a tone, from such a child. He remained a long time silent. At last he told Artembaris and his son that they might retire. He would take the affair, he said, into his own hands, and dispose of it in a just and proper manner. Astyages then took the herdsman aside, and asked him, in an earnest tone, whose boy that was, and where he had obtained him. The discovery. Mingled feelings of Astyage Mitridates was terrified. He replied, however, that the boy was his own son, and that his mother was still living at home, in the but where they all resided. There seems to have been something, however, in his appearance and manner, while making these assertions, which led Astyages not to believe what he said. He was convinced that there was some unexplained mystery in respect to the orfgin of the boy, which the herdsman was wilifully withholding. He assumed a displeased and threatening air, and ordered in his guards to take Mitr...« less