And since the cup of _Semiramis_ was preserved 'till the conquest of _Croesus_ by _Darius_, it is not probable that she could be older than is represented by _Herodotus_.
This conquest of the Kingdom of _Lydia_ put the _Greeks_ into fear of the _Medes_: for _Theognis_, who lived at _Megara_ in the very times of these wars, writes thus, [420]
[Greek: Pinômen, charienta met' allêloisi legontes,] [Greek: Mêden ton Mêdôn deidiotes polemon.]
_Let us drink, talking pleasant things with one another,_ _Not fearing the war of the _Medes_._
[Greek: Autos de straton hybristên Mêdôn aperyke] [Greek: Têsde poleus, hina soi laoi en euphrosynêi] [Greek: Êros eperchomenou kleitas pempôs' hekatombas,] [Greek: Terpomenoi kitharê kai eratêi thaliêi,] [Greek: Paianônte chorois, iachôsi te, son peri bômon.] [Greek: Ê gar egôge dedoik', aphradiên esorôn] [Greek: Kai stasin Hellênôn laophthoron; alla sy Phoibe,] [Greek: Hilaos hêmeterên tênde phylasse polin.]
_Thou _Apollo_ drive away the injurious army of the _Medes__ _From this city, that the people may with joy_ _Send thee choice hecatombs in the spring,_ _Delighted with the harp and chearful feasting,_ _And chorus's of _Poeans_ and acclamations about thy altar_. _For truly I am afraid, beholding the folly_ _And sedition of the _Greeks_, which corrupts the people: but thou _Apollo_,_ _Being propitious, keep this our city._
The Poet tells us further that discord had destroyed _Magnesia_, _Colophon_, and _Smyrna_, cities of _Ionia_ and _Phrygia_, and would destroy the _Greeks_; which is as much as to say that the _Medes_ had then conquered those cities.
The _Medes_ therefore Reigned 'till the taking of _Sardes_: and further, according to _Xenophon_ and the Scriptures, they Reigned 'till the taking of _Babylon_: for _Xenophon_ [422] tells us, that after the taking of _Babylon_, _Cyrus_ went to the King of the _Medes_ at _Ecbatane_ and succeeded him in the Kingdom: and _Jerom_, [423] _that _Babylon_ was taken by _Darius_ King of the _Medes_ and his kinsman _Cyrus__: and the Scriptures tell us, that _Babylon_ was destroyed by _a nation out of the north_, _Jerem_. l. 3, 9, 41. by _the Kingdoms of _Ararat Minni, or _Armenia__, and _Ashchenez, or _Phrygia minor___, _Jer_. li. 27. by the _Medes_, _Isa._ xiii. 17, 19. _by the Kings of the _Medes_ and the captains and rulers thereof, and all the land of his dominion_, _Jer_. li. 11, 28. The Kingdom of _Babylon_ was _numbred and finished and broken and given to the _Medes_ and _Persians__, _Dan._ v. 26. 28. first to the _Medes_ under _Darius_, and then to the _Persians_ under _Cyrus_: for _Darius_ Reigned over _Babylon_ like a conqueror, not observing the laws of the _Babylonians_, but introducing the immutable laws of the conquering nations, the _Medes_ and _Persians_, _Dan._ vi. 8, 12, 15; and the _Medes_ in his Reign are set before the _Persians_, _Dan._ ib. & v. 28, & viii. 20. as the _Persians_ were afterwards in the Reign of _Cyrus_ and his successors set before the _Medes_, _Esther_ i. 3, 14, 18, 19. _Dan._ x. 1, 20. and xi. 2. which shews that in the Reign of _Darius_ the _Medes_ were uppermost.