Prince Cyrus the Golden

Unconfirmed: Potentially a reference to "The Travels of Cyrus" by Andrew Michael Ramsey (1727) in which, like Xenophon of Athens, the author fictionalizes the life and travels of Cytrus the Great, the 6th century (BC) found of the first Persian Empire.

Robert Betteridge, in his web article "Curators' Favourites: The Travels of Cyrus," describes the narrative:

See link to the article here

Cyrus’s travels begin when his mother Mandana takes him to the court of his grandfather Astyages at Ecbatana. There he distinguishes himself in both his conversation and military prowess and his mother, sensing this may go to his head, warns him against being seduced by the luxuries of the court. This introduces a recurring theme whereby states and their leaders are weakened, corrupted and led astray as the introduction of luxury to society breeds destructive greed, jealousy and ambition. Cyrus’s virtue is also preserved by his love for Cassandana despite the obstacles in their path. After leaving Persia Cyrus’s travels take him to Egypt, Greece, Crete and Cyprus before he returns to his homeland.

On his journeys Cyrus meets famous figures such as the philosopher Pythagoras, the Athenian lawmaker Solon, the spiritual leader Zoroaster and the Spartan general Leonidas. He is told the histories of his hosts’ nations and stories that illustrate moral virtue and how a wise leader should act. These and other historical figures presented in the book were a more immediate vehicle for Ramsay’s ideas than we might find them today, being familiar to educated readers of the 18th century who received much of their education via the authors of classical Greece and Rome. Cyrus’s time with Solon is used by Ramsay to illustrate the author’s own view that the best form of government was a benevolent monarchy advised by an aristocratic senate, avoiding “all the disorders of a popular government”. The mysteries revealed to Cyrus include the Greek philosophy of metempsychosis involving the reincarnation of the soul, and Ramsay blends Christianity with Newtonianism: something that appealed to his freemasonry where he became a leading figure in France. Several times Ramsay refers to a “first Mover”. Zoroaster tells Cyrus “the first Mover draws all spirits to himself, & by his almighty attraction unites them in different societies; so does he likewise continually act upon all bodies, give them a tendency towards each other, & thereby range them with order into different systems.”