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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Historical Lecturers and Essays by Charles Kingsley: has married his daughter, the Princess Mandane, to Cambyses,
seemingly a vassal-king or prince of the pure Persian blood. One
night the old man is troubled with a dream. He sees a vine spring
from his daughter, which overshadows all Asia. He sends for the
Magi to interpret; and they tell him that Mandane will have a son
who will reign in his stead. Having sons of his own, and fearing
for the succession, he sends for Mandane, and, when her child is
born, gives it to Harpagus, one of his courtiers, to be slain. The
courtier relents, and hands it over to a herdsman, to be exposed on
the mountains. The herdsman relents in turn, and bring the babe up
as his own child.
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