Book 1
3.2
As soon as she arrived and Cyrus had recognized in Astyages his mother’s father, being naturally an affectionate boy he at once kissed him, just as a person who had long lived with another and long loved him would do. Then he noticed that his grandfather was adorned with pencillings beneath his eyes, with rouge rubbed on his face, and with a wig of false hair—the common Median fashion. For all this is Median, and so are their purple tunics, and their mantles, the necklaces about their necks, and the bracelets on their wrists, while the Persians at home even to this day have much plainer clothing and a more frugal way of life. So, observing his grandfather’s adornment and staring at him, he said: Oh mother, how handsome my grandfather is! And when his mother asked him which he thought more handsome, his father or his grandfather, Cyrus answered at once: Of the Persians, mother, my father is much the handsomest; but of the Medes, as far as I have seen them either on the streets or at court, my grandfather here is the handsomest by far.
