yrus calls himself in one
inscription "the son of Cambyses, the powerful king." It is certain
therefore that Persia continued to be ruled by her own native monarchs
during the whole of the Median period, and that Cyrus led the attack
upon Astyages as hereditary Persian king. The Persian records seem
rather to imply actual independence of Media; but as national vanity
would prompt to dissimulation in such a case, we may perhaps accord so
much weight to the statement of Herodotus, and to the general tradition
on the subject, as to believe that there was some kind of acknowledgment
of Median supremacy on the part of the Persian kings anterior to Cyrus,
though the acknowledgment may have been not much more than a formality
and have imposed no onerous obligations. The residence of Cyrus at the
Median Court, which is asserted in almost every narrative of his life
before he became king, inexplicable if Persia was independent, becomes
thoroughly intelligible on the supposition that she was a great Median
feudatory. In such cases the residence of the Crown Prince at the
capital of the suzerain is constantly desired, or even required by the
superior Power, which sees in the presence of the son and heir the best
security against disaffection or rebellion on the part of the father.

It appears that Cyrus, while at the Median Court, observing the
unwarlike temper of the existing generation of the Medes, who had not
seen any actual service, and despising the personal character of the
monarch, who led a luxurious life, chiefly at Ecbatana, amid eunuchs,
concubines, and dancing-girls, resolved on raising the standard of
rebellion, and seeking at any rate to free his own country. It may be
suspected that the Persian prince was not actuated solely by political
motives. To earnest Zoroastrians, such as the Achgemenians are shown
to have been by their inscriptions, the yoke of a Power which had so
greatly corrupted, if it had not wholly laid aside, the worship of
Ormazd, must have been extremely distasteful; and Cyrus may have wished
by his rebellion as much to vindicate the honor of his religion--as to
obtain a loftier position for his nation. If the Magi occupied really
the position at the Median Court which Herodotus assigns to them--if
they "were held in high honor by the king, and shared in his
sovereignty"--if the priest-ridden monarch was perpetually dreaming and
perpetually referring his dreams to the Magian seers for exposition, an