that the
attention of the two armies was attracted to it; and, discontinuing the
fight, they stood to gaze at the phenomenon. In most parts of the
East such an occurrence is even now seen with dread--the ignorant mass
believe that the orb of day is actually being devoured or destroyed,
and that the end of all things is at hand--even the chiefs, who may have
some notion that the phenomenon is a recurrent one, do not understand
its cause, and participate in the alarm of their followers. On the
present occasion it is said that, amid the general fear, a desire for
reconciliation seized both armies. Of this spontaneous movement two
chiefs, the foremost of the allies on either side, took advantage.
Syennesis, king of Cilicia, the first known monarch of his name, on
the part of Lydia, and a prince whom Herodotus calls "Labynetus of
Babylon"--probably either Nabopolassar or Nebuchadnezzar--on the part
of Media, came forward to propose an immediate armistice; and, when the
proposal was accepted on either side, proceeded to the more difficult
task of arranging terms of peace between the contending parties. Since
nothing is said of the Scythians, who had been put forward as the
ostensible grounds of quarrel, we may presume that Alyattes retained
them. It is further clear that both he and his allies preserved
undiminished both their territories and their independence. The
territorial basis of the treaty was thus what in modern diplomatic
language is called the status quo; matters, in other words, returned to
the position in which they had stood before the war broke out. The only
difference was that Cyaxares gained a friend and an ally where he had
previously had a jealous enemy; since it was agreed that the two kings
of Media and Lydia should swear a friendship, and that, to cement the
alliance, Alyattes should give his daughter Aryenis in marriage to
Astyages, the son of Cyaxares. The marriage thus arranged took place
soon afterwards, while the oath of friendship was sworn at once.
According to the barbarous usages of the time and place, the two
monarchs, having met and repeated the words of the formula, punctured
their own arms, and then sealed their contract by each sucking from the
wound a portion of the other's blood.

By this peace the three great monarchies of the time--the Median, the
Lydian, and the Babylonian--were placed on terms, not only of amity,
but of intimacy and (if the word may be used) of blood relationship. Th