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Thus far I have been engaged in showing how the Lydians were brought
under the Persian yoke. The course of my history now compels me to
inquire who this Cyrus was by whom the Lydian empire was destroyed,
and by what means the Persians had become the lords paramount of
Asia. And herein I shall follow those Persian authorities whose
object it appears to be not to magnify the exploits of Cyrus, but to
relate the simple truth. I know besides three ways in which the story
of Cyrus is told, all differing from my own narrative.
The Assyrians had held the Empire of Upper Asia for the space of
five hundred and twenty years, when the Medes set the example of
revolt from their authority. They took arms for the recovery of their
freedom, and fought a battle with the Assyrians, in which they
behaved with such gallantry as to shake off the yoke of servitude, and
to become a free people. Upon their success the other nations also
revolted and regained their independence.
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