33.  Cyrus  has  been  mentioned  as  one  of  the  sons  of  Darius  No'  thus,
and  governor  of  the  maritime  region  of  Asia  Minor.     As  his  ambi-
tion led  him  to  aspire  to  the  throne  of  Persia,  to  the  exclusion  of
his  elder  brother,  Artaxerxes  Mnernon,  he  had  aided  Sparta  in  the
Peloponnesian  war,  with  the  view  of  claiming,  in  return,  her  assist-
ance against  his  brother,  should  he  ever  have  occasion  for  it.     When,
therefore,  the  latter  was  promoted  to  the  throne  in  accordance  with
the  dying  bequest  of  his  father,  Cyrus  prepared  for  the  execution
of  his  design* by  raising  an  army  of  a  ^hundred  thousand  Persian
and  barbarian  troops,  which  he  strengthened  by  an  auxiliary  force
of  thirteen  thousand  Grecians,  drawn  principally  from  the   Greek
cities  of  Asia.     On  the  Grecian  force,  commanded  by  the  Spartan
Clear'  chus,  Cyrus  placed  his  main  reliance  for  success.
34.  With  these  forces  he  marched  from  Sardis  in  the  Spring  of
the  year  40 1 ,  and  with  little  difficulty  penetrated  into  the  heart  of
the  Persian  empire,  when  he  was  met  by  Artaxerx'  es,  seventy  miles
from  Babylon,  at  the  head  of  nine  hundred  thousand  men.     In  the
battle  which  followed,  this  immense  force  was  at  first  routed ;  but
Cyrus,  rashly  charging  the  centre  of  the  guards  who  surrounded  his
brother,  was  slain  on  the  field,  when  the  whole  of  his  barbarian
troops  took  to  flight,  leaving  the  Greeks  almost  alone  in  the  midst
of  a  hostile  country,  more  than  a  thousand  miles  from  any  friendly
territory.
