Astyages sends for Cyrus.--Cyrus goes to Media.--Cyrus's reception.--His astonishment.--Sympathy with childhood.--Pleasures of old age.--Character of Cyrus.--First interview with his grandfather.--Dress of the king.--Cyrus's considerate reply.--Habits of Cyrus.--Horsemanship among the Persians.--Cyrus learns to ride.--His delights.--Amusements with the boys.--The cup-bearer.--The entertainment.--Cyrus's conversation.--Cyrus and the Sacian cup-bearer.--Cyrus slights him.--Accomplishments of the cup-bearer.--Cyrus mimics him.--Cyrus declines to taste the wine.--Duties of a cup-bearer.--Cyrus's reason for not tasting the wine.--His description of a feast.--Cyrus's dislike of the cup-bearer.--His reason for it.--Amusement of the guests.--Cyrus becomes a greater favorite than ever.--Mandane proposes to return to Persia.--Cyrus consents to remain.--Fears of Mandane.--Departure of Mandane.--Rapid progress of Cyrus.--Hunting in the park.--Game becomes scarce.--Development of Cyrus's powers, both of body and mind.--Hunting wild beasts.--Cyrus's conversation with his attendants.--Pursuit of a stag.--Cyrus's danger.--Cyrus's recklessness.--He is reproved by his companions.--Cyrus kills a wild boar.--He is again reproved.--Cyrus carries his game home.--Distributes it among his companions.--Another hunting party.--A plundering party.--Cyrus departs for Media.--Parting presents.--The presents returned.--Cyrus sends them back again.--Character of Xenophon's narrative.--Its trustworthiness.--Character of Cyrus as given by Xenophon.--Herodotus more trustworthy than Xenophon. When Cyrus was about twelve years old, if the narrative which Xenophon gives of his history is true, he was invited by his grandfather Astyages to make a visit to Media. As he was about ten years of age, according to Herodotus, when he was restored to his parents, he could have been residing only two years in Persia when he received this invitation. During this period, Astyages had received, through Mandane and others, very glowing descriptions of the intelligence and vivacity of the young prince, and he naturally felt a desire to see him once more. In fact, Cyrus's personal attractiveness and beauty, joined to a certain frank and noble generosity of spirit which he seems to have manifested in his earliest years, made him a universal favorite at home, and the reports of these qualities, and of the various sayings and doings on Cyrus's part, by which his disposition and character were revealed, awakened strongly in the mind of Astyages that kind of interest which a grandfather is always very prone to feel in a handsome and precocious grandchild.