Cyropaedia

When his life was far spent amid such achievements[*](The passing of Cyrus) and Cyrus was now a very old man, he came back for the seventh time in his reign to Persia. His father and his mother were in the course of nature long since dead; so Cyrus performed the customary sacrifice and led the Persians in their national dance and distributed presents among them all, as had been his custom.

As he slept in the palace, he saw a vision: a[*](He is warned in a vision) figure of more than human majesty appeared to him in a dream and said: Make ready,[*](Literally Be packing up; cf. Varro, de R.R. 1. 1: annus octogesimus admonet me ut sarcinas colligam antequam proficiscar e vita.) Cyrus; for thou shalt soon depart to the gods. When the vision was past, he awoke and seemed almost to know that the end of his life was at hand.

Accordingly, he at once took victims and offered sacrifice in the high places to ancestral Zeus, to Helius, and to the rest of the gods, even as the Persians are wont to make sacrifice; and as he sacrificed, he prayed, saying: O[*](His prayer) ancestral Zeus and Helius and all the gods, accept these offerings as tokens of gratitude for help in achieving many glorious enterprises; for in omens in the sacrifice, in signs from heaven, in the flight of birds, and in ominous words, ye ever showed me what I ought to do and what I ought not to do. And I render heartfelt thanks to you that I have never failed to recognize your fostering care and never in my successes entertained proud thoughts transcending human bounds. And I beseech of you that ye will now also grant prosperity and happiness to my children, my wife, my friends, and my country, and to me myself an end befitting the life that ye have given me.