We should naturally suppose that Cyrus, with the kings of Asia prostrate before his satraps, would have been contented to enjoy the fruits of his labors; but there is no limit to man’s ambition.  Like Alexander, he sought for new worlds to conquer, and perished, as some historians maintain, in an unsuccessful war with some unknown barbarians on the northeastern boundaries of his empire,—­even as Caesar meditated a war with the Parthians, where he might have perished, as Crassus did.  Unbounded as is human ambition, there is a limit to human aggrandizement.  Great conquerors are raised up by Providence to accomplish certain results for civilization, and when these are attained, when their mission is ended, they often pass away ingloriously,—­assassinated or defeated or destroyed by self-indulgence, as the case may be.  It seems to have been the mission of Cyrus to destroy the ascendency of the Semitic and Hamitic despotisms in western Asia, that a new empire might be erected by nobler races, who should establish a reign of law.  For the first time in Asia there was, on the accession of Cyrus to unlimited power, a recognition of justice, and the adoration of one supreme deity ruling in goodness and truth.

This may be the reason why Cyrus treated the captive Jews with so great generosity, since he recognized in their Jehovah the Ahura-Mazda,—­the Supreme God that Zoroaster taught.  No political reason will account for sending back to Palestine thousands of captives with imperial presents, to erect once more their sacred Temple and rebuild their sacred city.  He and all the Persian monarchs were zealous adherents of the religion of Zoroaster, the central doctrine of which was the unity of God and Divine Providence in the world, which doctrine neither Egyptian nor Babylonian nor Lydian monarchs recognized.  What a boon to humanity was the restoration of the Jews to their capital and country!  We read of no oppression of the Jews by the Persian monarchs.  Mordecai the Jew became the prime minister of such an effeminate monarch as Xerxes, while Daniel before him had been the honored minister of Darius.

Of all the Persian monarchs Cyrus was the best beloved.  Xenophon made him the hero of his philosophical romance.  He is represented as the incarnation of “sweetness and light.”  When a mere boy he delights all with whom he is brought into contact, by his wit and valor.  The king of Media accepts his reproofs and admires his wisdom; the nobles of Media are won by his urbanity and magnanimity.  All historians praise his simple habits and unbounded generosity.  In an age when polygamy was the vice of kings, he was contented with one wife, whom he loved and honored.  He rejected great presents, and thought it was better to give than to receive.  He treated women with delicacy and captives with magnanimity.  He conducted war with unknown mildness, and converted the conquered into friends.  He exalted the dignity of labor, and scorned all baseness and lies.  His piety