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of a child who should be born of his daughter; and further, thatthis child should deprive him of his kingdom. Astyages , to pre-vent the accomplishment of this prediction, married his daughterto Cambyses, a Persian of mean condition, who had no capacityfor forming any important design, nor for supporting the ambitionof his son, by his own riches and authority. And lest Mandane’sson should lind that assistance in his own courage, or some luckycircumstances, which his family was not able to supply him with,he commanded one of his officers, named Harpagus, to destroythe infant as soon as it came into the world, llarpagus, fearingthe resentment of Mandane, put the child into the hands of onewho was the king’s shepherd. The shepherd’s wife was so ex-tremely touched with the beauty of Cyrus , that she desired herhusband rather to expose her own son, who was born some timebefore, (a story equally unnatural and incredible,) and preservethe young prince, d ims Cyrus was preserved, and brought upamong the king’s shepherds. One day, as the neighbouring chil-dren were at play together, Cyrus was chosen king; and havingpunished one of his play-fellows with some severity, for disobey-ing his commands, the child’s parent complained of Cyrus to As-tyages. 'Phis prince sent for young Cyrus , and observing some-thing great in his air, together with a great resemblance of hisdaughter Mandane, he made particular inquiry into the matter,and discovered that Cyrus was his grandson . llarpagus, who wasthe instrument of preserving him, was punished with the death ofhis own son; but Astyages believing that the royalty which thesoothsayers had promised to the young prince, was only that whichlie had lately exercised among the shepherds children, laid asidehis fears. Cyrus being grown up, llarpagus disclosed the secretof his birth to him, with the manner wherein he had delivered himfrom his grandfather’s cruelty. lie encouraged him to come intoMedia, and promised to furnish him with forces, in order to makehim master of the country, and depose Astyages. Cyrus hearken-ed to their propositions, engaged the Persians to take arms againstthe Medes, marched at the head of them to meet Astyages , de-feated him, and possessed himself of Media. He carried on manyother wars; and at length sat down before Babylon , which, after along siege lie took. Xenophon’s account of Cyrus ’s life is morecredible, and has less of the miraculous in it. Astyages, king ofMedia, married his daughter Mandane to Cambyses, king of Per-sia, son and successor to Achanncnes. Cyrus was horn at his fa-ther’s court, and was educated with all the care his birth required.When he was about the age of 12, his grandfather Astyages sentfor him to Media, together with his mother Mandane. Somefiine after, the king of Assyria’s son having invaded Media, Asty-ages, with his son Cyaxares, and his grandson Cyrus , marchedagainst him. Cyrus distinguished himself in this war, and defeat-ed the Assyrians. Cambyses afterwards recalled him, that heWright have him near his own person; and Astyages dying, his sonCyaxares, uncle by the mother’s side to Cyrus , succeeded him inB'e kingdom of Media. Cyrus , at the age of 30, was, by his fa-ther Cambyses , made general of the Persian troops; and sent atIke head of 30,000 men to the assistance of his uncle Cyaxares ," hem the king of Babylon , and his allies, the Cappadocians, Ca-f ians, Phrygians, Cilicians, and Paphlagonians , were preparing toa ttack. Cyaxares and Cyrus prevented them, by falling uponthem and dispersing them. Cyrus advanced as far as Bain Ion,an A spread terror throughout the country. From this expeditionhe returned to his uncle, towards the frontiers of Armenia and As-syria, and was received by Cyaxares in the tent of the Assyrian hhig whom he had defeated. After this, Cyrus carried the warHito the countries beyond the river Ilalys, entered Cappadocia ,a nd subdued it entirely. From thence he marched against Croe-king of Lydia, beat him in the first battle; then besieged himhi Sardis his capital; and after a siege of 14 days, obliged him tosurrender. See Ciuxsus. After tins, Cyrus having almost re-duced all Asia, repassed the Euphrates , and made war upon theAssyrians. He marched directly to Babylon , took it, and. therePrepared a palace for his uncle Cyaxares , whither he might retire,1 a t any time he had an inclination to come to Babylon ; for he'fas not then in the army. After all these expeditions, Cyrus re-turned to his father and mother into Persia , where they were still> vin g ; and going some time after to his uncle Cyaxares into Me-S' a , he married his cousin, the only daughter and heiress of allS-yaxares’s dominions, and went with her to Babylon, from whencele Sent >"en of the first rank and quality to govern all the severalVOL. 11.— NO. Cl.

nations which he had conquered. He engaged again in severalwars, and subdued all the nations that lie between Syria and theRed Sea . He died at the age of 70 years, after a reign of 30: butauthors differ very much concerning the manner of his death.Daniel (viii. 3—20.) in the famous vision wherein God shewedhim the ruin of the four great empires, which were to precede thebirth of the Messiah, represents Cyrus , or rather his extensive em-pire, under the idea of “ a ram, which had two horns; the onewas higher than the other, and the higher came up last.” Theram’s two horns signify the two empiies which Cyrus united in hisperson; that of the Medes, and that of the Persians . The latterwas greater and more powerful than the former. Cyrus succeededhis father Cambyses in the kingdom of Persia , and his uncle Da-rius the Mede, by Xenophon called Cyaxares , in the kingdom ofthe Medes, and empire of Babylon. He was monarch of all theEast; or as he himself speaks (2 Chr. xxxvi. 22, 23, and Ezra, i.

1, 2.) “of all the earth,” when he permitted the Jews to returninto their own country; A.M. 3466, and B. C. 53S. The ene-mies of the Hebrews, making use of this prince’s affection to hisown religion, prevailed with him to put a stop by his orders to thebuilding of the temple at Jerusalem ; (Ezra iv. 5.) The prophetsfrequently foretold the coming of Cyrus; and Isaiah (xliv. 28.) isso particular as to declare his name above 100 years before his birth.Josephus (Anliq. I. II. c. 2,) says, that the Jews of Babylon shew-ed this passage of the prophet to Cyrus , which is extremely pro-bable: and that this prince, in the edict which he granted themfor their return, acknowledged that he received the empire of theworld from the God of Israel; and that the same God had de-scribed him by name in the writings of the prophets, and foretoldthat he should build a temple to him at Jerusalem. Cyrus is ex-pressly stiled in scripture “ the righteous man, the Lord’s anoint-ed, and the shepherd of Israel:” (Isaiah xli. 2, xlv. 1, and xliv.28.) Notwithstanding this, God says of him, (Isa. xlv. 5.) “ Igirded thee, though thou hast not known me.” And Jeremiahcalls Cyrus and his people, who overthrew the Babylonish empire,thieves and robbers; as indeed most great conquerors may hejustly styled. The taking of Babylon by Cyras, was clearly fore-told by the prophets. Abp. Ussher fixes the birth of Cyrus toA.M. 3405; his first year at Babylon to 3466, and his death to3475. Tlie eastern people say, that Cyrus by the mother’s sidewas descended from some of the Hebrew prophets; and that hiswife was a Jewess, which they assign as the reasons of his favour-ing the Jews .

Cyrus the Younger, son of Darius Nothus , and brother ofArtaxerxes . He was sent by his father at the age of 16 , to assistthe Lacedemonians against Alliens. Artaxerxes succeeded totlie throne at the deatii of Nothus; and Cyrus , mad with am-bition, attempted to assassinate him. He was discovered, andwould have been punished with death, had not his mother Pary-satis saved him by her tears and intreaties. This circumstance didnot check the ambition of Cyrus ; he was appointed over Lydiaand tlie sea-coasts, where lie secretly fomented rebellion and leviedtroops under various pretences. At last he took the field with anarmy of 100,000 barbarians; and 13,000 Greeks under the com-mand of Clearchus. Artaxerxes met him with 900,000 men nearCunaxa. The battle was long and bloody; and Cyrus might haveperhaps obtained tlie victory, had not his uncommon rashnessproved his ruin. It is said that the two royal brothers met inperson, and their engagement ended in the death of Cyrus , 401years before tlie Augustan age.

CYTIIERA, in ancient geography, an island opposite to Boise a town of Laconia; sacred to Venus, with a very ancient temple ofthat goddess. It is now called Cerigo.

Cytiiera, a town in the above island. It has a good port,called Scandea.

CYTI1EREA, in mythology, the surname of Venus, so calledfrom Cytiiera, her birth place, where she had a temple.

CYTHERIADES, an epithet of the Graces who attended Ve-nus on the sliore of Cytherea .

CYT1NUS, in botany, a genus of the dodccandria order, andgynandria class of plants; natural order, Sarmentacew. Calyxquadrifid, superior; no corolla; antherre are 16, sessile; fruit anoctolocular uolyspermous berry. One species.

CYTISUS, Laburnum, a"genus of the decandria order, anddiadelphia class ot plants ; natural order, Papilionacea’. Calyxbilabiated, with the upper lip bifid; inferior, Iridentate ; leguinen

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