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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/2085-8.txt b/2085-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a482958 --- /dev/null +++ b/2085-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11246 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cyropaedia, by Xenophon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cyropaedia + The Education Of Cyrus + +Author: Xenophon + +Editor: F. M. Stawell + +Translator: Henry Graham Dakyns + +Release Date: February, 2000 [Etext #2085] +Posting Date: July 18, 2009 +[Last updated: August 9, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CYROPAEDIA *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +CYROPAEDIA + +THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS + +By Xenophon + + + +Translated By Henry Graham Dakyns + +Revised By F. M. Stawell + + + +DEDICATION + +To Clifton College + + + +PREPARER'S NOTE + +This was typed from an Everyman's Library edition. It seems that Dakyns +died before Cyropaedia could be included as the planned fourth and final +volume of his series, "The Works of Xenophon," published in the 1890s by +Macmillan and Co. The works in that series can all be found in Project +Gutenberg under their individual titles. The complete list of Xenophon's +works (though there is doubt about some of these) is: + + Work Number of books + + The Anabasis 7 + The Hellenica 7 + The Cyropaedia 8 + The Memorabilia 4 + The Symposium 1 + The Economist 1 + On Horsemanship 1 + The Sportsman 1 + The Cavalry General 1 + The Apology 1 + On Revenues 1 + The Hiero 1 + The Agesilaus 1 + The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2 + +Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English +using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks +have been lost. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +A very few words may suffice by way of introduction to this translation +of the _Cyropaedia_. + +Professor Jowett, whose Plato represents the high-water mark of +classical translation, has given us the following reminders: "An English +translation ought to be idiomatic and interesting, not only to the +scholar, but also to the unlearned reader. It should read as an original +work, and should also be the most faithful transcript which can be made +of the language from which the translation is taken, consistently with +the first requirement of all, that it be English. The excellence of a +translation will consist, not merely in the faithful rendering of words, +or in the composition of a sentence only, or yet of a single paragraph, +but in the colour and style of the whole work." + +These tests may be safely applied to the work of Mr. Dakyns. An +accomplished Greek scholar, for many years a careful and sympathetic +student of Xenophon, and possessing a rare mastery of English idiom, +he was unusually well equipped for the work of a translator. And +his version will, as I venture to think, be found to satisfy those +requirements of an effective translation which Professor Jowett laid +down. It is faithful to the tone and spirit of the original, and it has +the literary quality of a good piece of original English writing. For +these and other reasons it should prove attractive and interesting +reading for the average Englishman. + +Xenophon, it must be admitted, is not, like Plato, Thucydides, or +Demosthenes, one of the greatest of Greek writers, but there are several +considerations which should commend him to the general reader. He is +more representative of the type of man whom the ordinary Englishman +specially admires and respects, than any other of the Greek authors +usually read. + +An Athenian of good social position, endowed with a gift of eloquence +and of literary style, a pupil of Socrates, a distinguished soldier, +an historian, an essayist, a sportsman, and a lover of the country, he +represents a type of country gentleman greatly honoured in English life, +and this should ensure a favourable reception for one of his chief works +admirably rendered into idiomatic English. And the substance of the +_Cyropaedia_, which is in fact a political romance, describing the +education of the ideal ruler, trained to rule as a benevolent despot +over his admiring and willing subjects, should add a further element of +enjoyment for the reader of this famous book in its English garb. + + J. HEREFORD. + + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + +In preparing this work for the press, I came upon some notes made by Mr. +Dakyns on the margin of his Xenophon. These were evidently for his own +private use, and are full of scholarly colloquialisms, impromptu words +humorously invented for the need of the moment, and individual turns of +phrase, such as the references to himself under his initials in small +letters, "hgd." Though plainly not intended for publication, the notes +are so vivid and illuminating as they stand that I have shrunk from +putting them into a more formal dress, believing that here, as in the +best letters, the personal element is bound up with what is most fresh +and living in the comment, most characteristic of the writer, and most +delightful both to those who knew him and to those who will wish they +had. I have, therefore, only altered a word here and there, and added +a note or two of my own (always in square brackets), where it seemed +necessary for the sake of clearness. + + F. M. S. + + + + + + +CYROPAEDIA + + +THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS + + + + +BOOK I + +[C.1] We have had occasion before now to reflect how often democracies +have been overthrown by the desire for some other type of government, +how often monarchies and oligarchies have been swept away by movements +of the people, how often would-be despots have fallen in their turn, +some at the outset by one stroke, while whose who have maintained their +rule for ever so brief a season are looked upon with wonder as marvels +of sagacity and success. + +The same lesson, we had little doubt, was to be learnt from the family: +the household might be great or small--even the master of few could +hardly count on the obedience of his little flock. [2] And so, one idea +leading to another, we came to shape our reflexions thus: Drovers may +certainly be called the rulers of their cattle and horse-breeders +the rulers of their studs--all herdsmen, in short, may reasonably be +considered the governors of the animals they guard. If, then, we were to +believe the evidence of our senses, was it not obvious that flocks and +herds were more ready to obey their keepers than men their rulers? Watch +the cattle wending their way wherever their herdsmen guide them, see +them grazing in the pastures where they are sent and abstaining from +forbidden grounds, the fruit of their own bodies they yield to their +master to use as he thinks best; nor have we ever seen one flock among +them all combining against their guardian, either to disobey him or to +refuse him the absolute control of their produce. On the contrary, they +are more apt to show hostility against other animals than against +the owner who derives advantage from them. But with man the rule is +converse; men unite against none so readily as against those whom they +see attempting to rule over them. [3] As long, therefore, as we followed +these reflexions, we could not but conclude that man is by nature fitted +to govern all creatures, except his fellow-man. But when we came to +realise the character of Cyrus the Persian, we were led to a change +of mind: here is a man, we said, who won for himself obedience from +thousands of his fellows, from cities and tribes innumerable: we must +ask ourselves whether the government of men is after all an impossible +or even a difficult task, provided one set about it in the right way. +Cyrus, we know, found the readiest obedience in his subjects, though +some of them dwelt at a distance which it would take days and months to +traverse, and among them were men who had never set eyes on him, and for +the matter of that could never hope to do so, and yet they were willing +to obey him. [4] Cyrus did indeed eclipse all other monarchs, before or +since, and I include not only those who have inherited their power, but +those who have won empire by their own exertions. How far he surpassed +them all may be felt if we remember that no Scythian, although +the Scythians are reckoned by their myriads, has ever succeeded in +dominating a foreign nation; indeed the Scythian would be well content +could he but keep his government unbroken over his own tribe and people. +The same is true of the Thracians and the Illyrians, and indeed of all +other nations within our ken; in Europe, at any rate, their condition is +even now one of independence, and of such separation as would seem to +be permanent. Now this was the state in which Cyrus found the tribes and +peoples of Asia when, at the head of a small Persian force, he started +on his career. The Medes and the Hyrcanians accepted his leadership +willingly, but it was through conquest that he won Syria, Assyria, +Arabia, Cappadocia, the two Phrygias, Lydia, Caria, Phoenicia, and +Babylonia. Then he established his rule over the Bactrians, Indians, and +Cilicians, over the Sakians, Paphlagonians, and Magadidians, over a +host of other tribes the very names of which defy the memory of the +chronicler; and last of all he brought the Hellenes in Asia beneath his +sway, and by a descent on the seaboard Cyprus and Egypt also. + +[5] It is obvious that among this congeries of nations few, if any, +could have spoken the same language as himself, or understood one +another, but none the less Cyrus was able so to penetrate that vast +extent of country by the sheer terror of his personality that the +inhabitants were prostrate before him: not one of them dared lift hand +against him. And yet he was able, at the same time, to inspire them all +with so deep a desire to please him and win his favour that all they +asked was to be guided by his judgment and his alone. Thus he knit to +himself a complex of nationalities so vast that it would have taxed a +man's endurance merely to traverse his empire in any one direction, east +or west or south or north, from the palace which was its centre. For +ourselves, considering his title to our admiration proved, we set +ourselves to inquire what his parentage might have been and his natural +parts, and how he was trained and brought up to attain so high a pitch +of excellence in the government of men. And all we could learn from +others about him or felt we might infer for ourselves we will here +endeavour to set forth. + +[C.2] The father of Cyrus, so runs the story, was Cambyses, a king +of the Persians, and one of the Perseidae, who look to Perseus as +the founder of their race. His mother, it is agreed, was Mandane, the +daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Of Cyrus himself, even now in +the songs and stories of the East the record lives that nature made him +most fair to look upon, and set in his heart the threefold love of +man, of knowledge, and of honour. He would endure all labours, he would +undergo all dangers, for the sake of glory. [2] Blest by nature with +such gifts of soul and body, his memory lives to this day in the mindful +heart of ages. It is true that he was brought up according to the laws +and customs of the Persians, and of these laws it must be noted that +while they aim, as laws elsewhere, at the common weal, their guiding +principle is far other than that which most nations follow. Most states +permit their citizens to bring up their own children at their own +discretion, and allow the grown men to regulate their own lives at their +own will, and then they lay down certain prohibitions, for example, not +to pick and steal, not to break into another man's house, not to strike +a man unjustly, not to commit adultery, not to disobey the magistrate, +and so forth; and on the transgressor they impose a penalty. [3] But the +Persian laws try, as it were, to steal a march on time, to make their +citizens from the beginning incapable of setting their hearts on any +wickedness or shameful conduct whatsoever. And this is how they set +about their object. + +In their cities they have an open place or square dedicated to Freedom +(Free Square they call it), where stand the palace and other public +buildings. From this place all goods for sale are rigidly excluded, and +all hawkers and hucksters with their yells and cries and vulgarities. +They must go elsewhere, so that their clamour may not mingle with and +mar the grace and orderliness of the educated classes. [4] This square, +where the public buildings stand, is divided into four quarters which +are assigned as follows: one for the boys, another for the youths, a +third for the grown men, and the last for those who are past the age +of military service. The law requires all the citizens to present +themselves at certain times and seasons in their appointed places. The +lads and the grown men must be there at daybreak; the elders may, as a +rule, choose their own time, except on certain fixed days, when they too +are expected to present themselves like the rest. Moreover, the young +men are bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, with their +arms at their side; only the married men among them are exempt, and need +not be on duty at night unless notice has been given, though even in +their case frequent absence is thought unseemly. [5] Over each of these +divisions are placed twelve governors, twelve being the number of the +Persian tribes. The governors of the boys are chosen from the elders, +and those are appointed who are thought best fitted to make the best of +their lads: the governors of the youths are selected from the grown men, +and on the same principle; and for the grown men themselves and their +own governors; the choice falls on those who will, it is hoped, make +them most prompt to carry out their appointed duties, and fulfil +the commands imposed by the supreme authority. Finally, the elders +themselves have presidents of their own, chosen to see that they too +perform their duty to the full. + +[6] We will now describe the services demanded from the different +classes, and thus it will appear how the Persians endeavour to improve +their citizens. The boys go to school and give their time to learning +justice and righteousness: they will tell you they come for that +purpose, and the phrase is as natural with them as it is for us to speak +of lads learning their letters. The masters spend the chief part of the +day in deciding cases for their pupils: for in this boy-world, as in the +grown-up world without, occasions of indictment are never far to seek. +There will be charges, we know, of picking and stealing, of violence, of +fraud, of calumny, and so forth. The case is heard and the offender, if +shown to be guilty, is punished. [7] Nor does he escape who is found to +have accused one of his fellows unfairly. And there is one charge the +judges do not hesitate to deal with, a charge which is the source of +much hatred among grown men, but which they seldom press in the courts, +the charge of ingratitude. The culprit convicted of refusing to repay +a debt of kindness when it was fully in his power meets with severe +chastisement. They reason that the ungrateful man is the most likely to +forget his duty to the gods, to his parents, to his fatherland, and +his friends. Shamelessness, they hold, treads close on the heels of +ingratitude, and thus ingratitude is the ringleader and chief instigator +to every kind of baseness. [8] Further, the boys are instructed in +temperance and self-restraint, and they find the utmost help towards +the attainment of this virtue in the self-respecting behaviour of +their elders, shown them day by day. Then they are taught to obey their +rulers, and here again nothing is of greater value than the studied +obedience to authority manifested by their elders everywhere. Continence +in meat and drink is another branch of instruction, and they have no +better aid in this than, first, the example of their elders, who never +withdraw to satisfy their carnal cravings until those in authority +dismiss them, and next, the rule that the boys must take their food, not +with their mother but with their master, and not till the governor gives +the sign. They bring from home the staple of their meal, dry bread +with nasturtium for a relish, and to slake their thirst they bring a +drinking-cup, to dip in the running stream. In addition, they are taught +to shoot with the bow and to fling the javelin. + +The lads follow their studies till the age of sixteen or seventeen, and +then they take their places as young men. + +[9] After that they spend their time as follows. For ten years they are +bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, as we said before, +and this for two reasons, to guard the community and to practise +self-restraint; because that season of life, the Persians conceive, +stands most in need of care. During the day they present themselves +before the governors for service to the state, and, whenever necessary, +they remain in a body round the public buildings. Moreover, when the +king goes out to hunt, which he will do several times a month, he takes +half the company with him, and each man must carry bow and arrows, a +sheathed dagger, or "sagaris," slung beside the quiver, a light shield, +and two javelins, one to hurl and the other to use, if need be, at close +quarters. [10] The reason of this public sanction for the chase is not +far to seek; the king leads just as he does in war, hunting in person +at the head of the field, and making his men follow, because it is felt +that the exercise itself is the best possible training for the needs of +war. It accustoms a man to early rising; it hardens him to endure heat +and cold; it teaches him to march and to run at the top of his speed; he +must perforce learn to let fly arrow and javelin the moment the quarry +is across his path; and, above all, the edge of his spirit must needs be +sharpened by encountering any of the mightier beasts: he must deal his +stroke when the creature closes, and stand on guard when it makes its +rush: indeed, it would be hard to find a case in war that has not its +parallel in the chase. [11] But to proceed: the young men set out +with provisions that are ampler, naturally, than the boys' fare, but +otherwise the same. During the chase itself they would not think of +breaking their fast, but if a halt is called, to beat up the game, or +for any hunter's reason, then they will make, as it were, a dinner of +their breakfast, and, hunting again on the morrow till dinner-time, they +will count the two days as one, because they have only eaten one day's +food. This they do in order that, if the like necessity should arise in +war, they may be found equal to it. As relish to their bread these +young men have whatever they may kill in the chase, or failing that, +nasturtium like the boys. And if one should ask how they can enjoy the +meal with nasturtium for their only condiment and water for their only +drink, let him bethink himself how sweet barley bread and wheaten can +taste to the hungry man and water to the thirsty. [12] As for the young +men who are left at home, they spend their time in shooting and hurling +the javelin, and practising all they learnt as boys, in one long trial +of skill. Beside this, public games are open to them and prizes are +offered; and the tribe which can claim the greatest number of lads +distinguished for skill and courage and faithfulness is given the meed +of praise from all the citizens, who honour, not only their present +governor, but the teacher who trained them when they were boys. +Moreover, these young men are also employed by the magistrates if +garrison work needs to be done or if malefactors are to be tracked or +robbers run down, or indeed on any errand which calls for strength of +limb and fleetness of foot. Such is the life of the youth. But when the +ten years are accomplished they are classed as grown men. [13] And from +this time forth for five-and-twenty years they live as follows. + +First they present themselves, as in youth, before the magistrates for +service to the state wherever there is need for strength and sound sense +combined. If an expedition be on foot the men of this grade march out, +not armed with the bow or the light shield any longer, but equipped with +what are called the close-combat arms, a breastplate up to the throat, +a buckler on the left arm (just as the Persian warrior appears in +pictures), and for the right hand a dagger or a sword. Lastly, it +is from this grade that all the magistrates are appointed except the +teachers for the boys. But when the five-and-twenty years are over and +the men have reached the age of fifty years or more, then they take rank +as elders, and the title is deserved. [14] These elders no longer go on +military service beyond the frontier; they stay at home and decide all +cases, public and private both. Even capital charges are left to their +decision, and it is they who choose all the magistrates. If a youth or +a grown man breaks the law he is brought into court by the governors of +his tribe, who act as suitors in the case, aided by any other citizen +who pleases. The cause is heard before the elders and they pronounce +judgment; and the man who is condemned is disenfranchised for the rest +of his days. + +[15] And now, to complete the picture of the whole Persian policy, I +will go back a little. With the help of what has been said before, the +account may now be brief; the Persians are said to number something +like one hundred and twenty thousand men: and of these no one is by +law debarred from honour or office. On the contrary, every Persian is +entitled to send his children to the public schools of righteousness +and justice. As a fact, all who can afford to bring up their children +without working do send them there: those who cannot must forego the +privilege. A lad who has passed through a public school has a right +to go and take his place among the youths, but those who have not gone +through the first course may not join them. In the same way the youths +who have fulfilled the duties of their class are entitled eventually +to rank with the men, and to share in office and honour: but they +must first spend their full time among the youths; if not, they go no +further. Finally, those who as grown men have lived without reproach may +take their station at last among the elders. Thus these elders form a +college, every member of which has passed through the full circle +of noble learning; and this is that Persian polity and that Persian +training which, in their belief, can win them the flower of excellence. +[16] And even to this day signs are left bearing witness to that ancient +temperance of theirs and the ancient discipline that preserved it. +To this day it is still considered shameful for a Persian to spit in +public, or wipe the nose, or show signs of wind, or be seen going apart +for his natural needs. And they could not keep to this standard unless +they were accustomed to a temperate diet, and were trained to exercise +and toil, so that the humours of the body were drawn off in other ways. +Hitherto we have spoken of the Persians as a whole: we will now go back +to our starting-point and recount the deeds of Cyrus from his childhood. + +[C.3] Until he was twelve years old or more, Cyrus was brought up in the +manner we have described, and showed himself to be above all his fellows +in his aptitude for learning and in the noble and manly performance of +every duty. But about this time, Astyages sent for his daughter and her +son, desiring greatly to see him because he had heard how noble and fair +he was. So it fell out that Mandane came to Astyages, bringing her son +Cyrus with her. [2] And as soon as they met, the boy, when he heard +that Astyages was his mother's father, fell on his neck and kissed him +without more ado, like the loving lad nature had made him, as though he +had been brought up at his grandfather's side from the first and the two +of them had been playmates of old. Then he looked closer and saw that +the king's eyes were stencilled and his cheeks painted, and that he +wore false curls after the fashion of the Medes in those days (for these +adornments, and the purple robes, the tunics, the necklaces, and the +bracelets, they are all Median first and last, not Persian; the Persian, +as you find him at home even now-a-days, still keeps to his +plainer dress and his plainer style of living.) The boy, seeing his +grandfather's splendour, kept his eyes fixed on him, and cried, "Oh, +mother, how beautiful my grandfather is!" Then his mother asked him +which he thought the handsomer, his father or his grandfather, and he +answered at once, "My father is the handsomest of all the Persians, but +my grandfather much the handsomest of all the Medes I ever set eyes on, +at home or abroad." [3] At that Astyages drew the child to his heart, +and gave him a beautiful robe and bracelets and necklaces in sign of +honour, and when he rode out, the boy must ride beside him on a horse +with a golden bridle, just like King Astyages himself. And Cyrus, who +had a soul as sensitive to beauty as to honour, was pleased with the +splendid robe, and overjoyed at learning to ride, for a horse is a rare +sight in Persia, a mountainous country, and one little suited to the +breed. + +[4] Now Cyrus and his mother sat at meat with the king, and Astyages, +wishing the lad to enjoy the feast and not regret his home, plied him +with dainties of every sort. At that, so says the story, Cyrus burst +out, "Oh, grandfather, what trouble you must give yourself reaching for +all these dishes and tasting all these wonderful foods!" "Ah, but," said +Astyages, "is not this a far better meal than you ever had in Persia?" +Thereupon, as the tale runs, Cyrus answered, "Our way, grandfather, is +much shorter than yours, and much simpler. We are hungry and wish to be +fed, and bread and meat brings us where we want to be at once, but you +Medes, for all your haste, take so many turns and wind about so much it +is a wonder if you ever find your way to the goal that we have reached +long ago." [5] "Well, my lad," said his grandfather, "we are not at all +averse to the length of the road: taste the dishes for yourself and see +how good they are." "One thing I do see," the boy said, "and that is +that you do not quite like them yourself." And when Astyages asked him +how he felt so sure of that, Cyrus answered, "Because when you touch an +honest bit of bread you never wipe your hands, but if you take one of +these fine kickshaws you turn to your napkin at once, as if you were +angry to find your fingers soiled." [6] "Well and good, my lad, well and +good," said the king, "only feast away yourself and make good cheer, +and we shall send you back to Persia a fine strong fellow." And with the +word he had dishes of meat and game set before his grandson. The boy was +taken aback by their profusion, and exclaimed, "Grandfather, do you give +me all this for myself, to do what I like with it?" "Certainly I do," +said the king. [7] Whereupon, without more ado, the boy Cyrus took first +one dish and then another and gave them to the attendants who stood +about his grandfather, and with each gift he made a little speech: "That +is for you, for so kindly teaching me to ride;" "And that is for you, in +return for the javelin you gave me, I have got it still;" "And this is +for you, because you wait on my grandfather so prettily;" "And this for +you, sir, because you honour my mother." And so on until he had got rid +of all the meat he had been given. [8] "But you do not give a single +piece to Sacas, my butler," quoth the grandfather, "and I honour +him more than all the rest." Now this Sacas, as one may guess, was a +handsome fellow, and he had the right to bring before the king all who +desired audience, to keep them back if he thought the time unseasonable. +But Cyrus, in answer to his grandfather's question retorted eagerly, +like a lad who did not know what fear meant, "And why should you honour +him so much, grandfather?" Then Astyages laughed and said, "Can you not +see how prettily he mixes the cup, and with what a grace he serves the +wine?" And indeed, these royal cup-bearers are neat-handed at their +task, mixing the bowl with infinite elegance, and pouring the wine into +the beakers without spilling a drop, and when they hand the goblet they +poise it deftly between thumb and finger for the banqueter to take. [9] +"Now, grandfather," said the boy, "tell Sacas to give me the bowl, +and let me pour out the wine as prettily as he if I can, and win your +favour." So the king bade the butler hand him the bowl, and Cyrus took +it and mixed the wine just as he had seen Sacas do, and then, showing +the utmost gravity and the greatest deftness and grace, he brought +the goblet to his grandfather and offered it with such an air that his +mother and Astyages, too, laughed outright, and then Cyrus burst out +laughing also, and flung his arms round his grandfather and kissed him, +crying, "Sacas, your day is done! I shall oust you from your office, you +may be sure. I shall make just as pretty a cup-bearer as you--and not +drink the wine myself!" For it is the fact that the king's butler when +he offers the wine is bound to dip a ladle in the cup first, and pour +a little in the hollow of his hand and sip it, so that if he has mixed +poison in the bowl it will do him no good himself. [10] Accordingly, +Astyages, to carry on the jest, asked the little lad why he had +forgotten to taste the wine though he had imitated Sacas in everything +else. And the boy answered, "Truly, I was afraid there might be poison +in the bowl. For when you gave your birthday feast to your friends I +could see quite plainly that Sacas had put in poison for you all." "And +how did you discover that, my boy?" asked the king. "Because I saw how +your wits reeled and how you staggered; and you all began doing what you +will not let us children do--you talked at the top of your voices, and +none of you understood a single word the others said, and then you began +singing in a way to make us laugh, and though you would not listen to +the singer you swore that it was right nobly sung, and then each of you +boasted of his own strength, and yet as soon as you got up to dance, so +far from keeping time to the measure, you could barely keep your legs. +And you seemed quite to have forgotten, grandfather, that you were +king, and your subjects that you were their sovereign. Then at last I +understood that you must be celebrating that 'free speech' we hear of; +at any rate, you were never silent for an instant." [11] "Well, but, +boy," said Astyages, "does your father never lose his head when he +drinks?" "Certainly not," said the boy. "What happens then?" asked the +king. "He quenches his thirst," answered Cyrus, "and that is all. No +harm follows. You see, he has no Sacas to mix his wine for him." "But, +Cyrus," put in his mother, "why are you so unkind to Sacas?" "Because I +do so hate him," answered the boy. "Time after time when I have wanted +to go to my grandfather this old villain has stopped me. Do please, +grandfather, let me manage him for three days." "And how would you set +about it?" Astyages asked. "Why," said the boy, "I will plant myself +in the doorway just as he does, and then when he wants to go in to +breakfast I will say 'You cannot have breakfast yet: HE is busy with +some people,' and when he comes for dinner I will say 'No dinner yet: HE +is in his bath,' and as he grows ravenous I will say 'Wait a little: HE +is with the ladies of the court,' until I have plagued and tormented him +as he torments me, keeping me away from you, grandfather, when I want to +come." [12] Thus the boy delighted his elders in the evening, and by +day if he saw that his grandfather or his uncle wanted anything, no one +could forestall him in getting it; indeed nothing seemed to give him +greater pleasure than to please them. + +[13] Now when Mandane began to think of going back to her husband, +Astyages begged her to leave the boy behind. She answered that though +she wished to please her father in everything, it would be hard to leave +the boy against his will. [14] Then the old man turned to Cyrus: "My +boy, if you will stay with us, Sacas shall never stop you from coming to +me: you shall be free to come whenever you choose, and the oftener you +come the better it will please me. You shall have horses to ride, my +own and as many others as you like, and when you leave us you shall take +them with you. And at dinner you shall go your own away and follow your +own path to your own goal of temperance just as you think right. And I +will make you a present of all the game in my parks and paradises, and +collect more for you, and as soon as you have learnt to ride you shall +hunt and shoot and hurl the javelin exactly like a man. And you shall +have boys to play with and anything else you wish for: you have only to +ask me and it shall be yours." [15] Then his mother questioned the +boy and asked him whether he would rather stay with his grandfather +in Media, or go back home with her: and he said at once that he would +rather stay. And when she went on to ask him the reason, he answered, so +the story says, "Because at home I am thought to be the best of the lads +at shooting and hurling the javelin, and so I think I am: but here I +know I am the worst at riding, and that you may be sure, mother, annoys +me exceedingly. Now if you leave me here and I learn to ride, when I am +back in Persia you shall see, I promise you, that I will outdo all our +gallant fellows on foot, and when I come to Media again I will try and +show my grandfather that, for all his splendid cavalry, he will not have +a stouter horseman than his grandson to fight his battles for him." [16] +Then said his mother, "But justice and righteousness, my son, how can +you learn them here when your teachers are at home?" "Oh," said Cyrus, +"I know all about them already." "How do you know that you do?" asked +Mandane. "Because," answered the boy, "before I left home my master +thought I had learnt enough to decide the cases, and he set me to try +the suits. Yes! and I remember once, said he, "I got a whipping for +misjudgment. [17] I will tell you about that case. There were two boys, +a big boy and a little boy, and the big boy's coat was small and the +small boy's coat was huge. So the big boy stripped the little boy and +gave him his own small coat, while he put on the big one himself. Now in +giving judgment I decided that it was better for both parties that each +should have the coat that fitted him best. But I never got any further +in my sentence, because the master thrashed me here, and said that the +verdict would have been excellent if I had been appointed to say what +fitted and what did not, but I had been called in to decide to whom the +coat belonged, and the point to consider was, who had a right to it: Was +he who took a thing by violence to keep it, or he who had had it made +and bought it for his own? And the master taught me that what is lawful +is just and what is in the teeth of law is based on violence, and +therefore, he said, the judge must always see that his verdict tallies +with the law. So you see, mother, I have the whole of justice at my +fingers' ends already. And if there should be anything more I need to +know, why, I have my grandfather beside me, and he will always give me +lessons." [18] "But," rejoined his mother, "what everyone takes to be +just and righteous at your grandfather's court is not thought to be so +in Persia. For instance, your own grandfather has made himself master +over all and sundry among the Medes, but with the Persians equality is +held to be an essential part of justice: and first and foremost, your +father himself must perform his appointed services to the state and +receive his appointed dues: and the measure of these is not his own +caprice but the law. Have a care then, or you may be scourged to death +when you come home to Persia, if you learn in your grandfather's school +to love not kingship but tyranny, and hold the tyrant's belief that he +and he alone should have more than all the rest." "Ah, but, mother," +said the boy, "my grandfather is better at teaching people to have +less than their share, not more. Cannot you see," he cried, "how he +has taught all the Medes to have less than himself? So set your mind +at rest, mother, my grandfather will never make me, or any one else, an +adept in the art of getting too much." + +[C.4] So the boy's tongue ran on. But at last his mother went home, and +Cyrus stayed behind and was brought up in Media. He soon made friends +with his companions and found his way to their hearts, and soon won +their parents by the charm of his address and the true affection he bore +their sons, so much so that when they wanted a favour from the king +they bade their children ask Cyrus to arrange the matter for them. +And whatever it might be, the kindliness of the lad's heart and the +eagerness of his ambition made him set the greatest store on getting it +done. [2] On his side, Astyages could not bring himself to refuse his +grandson's lightest wish. For once, when he was sick, nothing would +induce the boy to leave his side; he could not keep back his tears, and +his terror at the thought that his grandfather might die was plain for +every one to see. If the old man needed anything during the night Cyrus +was the first to notice it, it was he who sprang up first to wait upon +him, and bring him what he thought would please him. Thus the old king's +heart was his. + +[3] During these early days, it must be allowed, the boy was something +too much of a talker, in part, may be, because of his bringing-up. He +had been trained by his master, whenever he sat in judgment, to give a +reason for what he did, and to look for the like reason from others. And +moreover, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge were such that he must +needs inquire from every one he met the explanation of this, that, and +the other; and his own wits were so lively that he was ever ready with +an answer himself for any question put to him, so that talkativeness had +become, as it were, his second nature. But, just as in the body when a +boy is overgrown, some touch of youthfulness is sure to show itself +and tell the secret of his age, so for all the lad's loquacity, the +impression left on the listener was not of arrogance, but of simplicity +and warm-heartedness, and one would gladly have heard his chatter to the +end rather than have sat beside him and found him dumb. + +[4] However, as he grew in stature and the years led him to the time +when childhood passes into youth he became more chary of his words and +quieter in his tone: at times, indeed, he was so shy that he would blush +in the presence of his elders, and there was little sign left of the old +forwardness, the impulsiveness of the puppy who will jump up on every +one, master and stranger alike. Thus he grew more sedate, but his +company was still most fascinating, and little wonder: for whenever it +came to a trial of skill between himself and his comrades he would never +challenge his mates to those feats in which he himself excelled: he +would start precisely one where he felt his own inferiority, averring +that he would outdo them all,--indeed, he would spring to horse in order +to shoot or hurl the javelin before he had got a firm seat--and +then, when he was worsted, he would be the first to laugh at his own +discomfiture. [5] He had no desire to escape defeat by giving up the +effort, but took glory in the resolution to do better another time, +and thus he soon found himself as good a horseman as his peers, and +presently, such was his ardour, he surpassed them all, and at last the +thinning of the game in the king's preserves began to show what he could +do. What with the chasing and the shooting and the spearing, the stock +of animals ran so low that Astyages was hard put to it to collect enough +for him. Then Cyrus, seeing that his grandfather for all his goodwill +could never furnish him with enough, came to him one day and said, +"Grandfather, why should you take so much trouble in finding game for +me? If only you would let me go out to hunt with my uncle, I could fancy +every beast we came across had been reared for my particular delight!" +[6] But however anxious the lad might be to go out to the chase, he had +somehow lost the old childish art of winning what he wanted by coaxing: +and he hesitated a long time before approaching the king again. If in +the old days he had quarrelled with Sacas for not letting him in, now +he began to play the part of Sacas against himself, and could not summon +courage to intrude until he thought the right moment had come: indeed, +he implored the real Sacas to let him know when he might venture. So +that the old butler's heart was won, and he, like the rest of the world, +was completely in love with the young prince. + +[7] At last when Astyages saw that the lad's heart was really set on +hunting in the open country, he gave him leave to go out with his uncle, +taking care at the same time to send an escort of mounted veterans at +his heels, whose business it was to keep watch and ward over him in any +dangerous place or against any savage beast. Cyrus plied his retinue +with questions about the creatures they came across, which must he avoid +and which might he hunt? They told him he must be on his guard against +bears and wild-boars and lions and leopards: many a man had found +himself at too close quarters with these dangerous creatures, and been +torn to pieces: but antelopes, they said, and deer and mountain sheep +and wild asses were harmless enough. And the huntsman, they added, ought +to be as careful about dangerous places as about the beasts themselves: +many a time horse and rider had gone headlong down a precipice to death. +[8] The lad seemed to take all their lessons to heart at the time: but +then he saw a stag leap up, and forgot all the wise cautions he had +heard, giving chase forthwith, noticing nothing except the beast ahead +of him. His horse, in its furious plunge forward, slipped, and came down +on its knees, all but throwing the rider over its head. As luck would +have it the boy managed to keep his seat, and the horse recovered its +footing. When they reached the flat bottom, Cyrus let fly his javelin, +and the stag fell dead, a beautiful big creature. The lad was still +radiant with delight when up rode the guard and took him severely to +task. Could he not see the danger he had run? They would certainly tell +his grandfather, that they would. Cyrus, who had dismounted, stood quite +still and listened ruefully, hanging his head while they rated him. But +in the middle of it all he heard the view-halloo again: he sprang to his +horse as though frenzied--a wild-boar was charging down on them, and he +charged to meet it, and drawing his bow with the surest aim possible, +struck the beast in the forehead, and laid him low. [9] But now his +uncle thought it was high time to scold his nephew himself; the lad's +boldness was too much. Only, the more he scolded the more Cyrus begged +he would let him take back the spoil as a present for his grandfather. +To which appeal, says the story, his uncle made reply: "But if your +grandfather finds out that you have gone in chase yourself, he will not +only scold you for going but me for letting you go." "Well, let him whip +me if he likes," said the boy, "when once I have given him my beasts: +and you too, uncle," he went on, "punish me however you choose, only do +not refuse me this." So Cyaxares was forced to yield:--"Have it your own +way then, you are little less than our king already." [10] Thus it was +that Cyrus was allowed to bring his trophies home, and in due course +presented them to his grandfather. "See, grandfather, here are some +animals I have shot for you." But he did not show his weapons in +triumph: he only laid them down with the gore still on them where he +hoped his grandfather would see them. It is easy to guess the answer +Astyages gave:--"I must needs accept with pleasure every gift you bring +me, only I want none of them at the risk of your own life." And Cyrus +said, "If you really do not want them yourself, grandfather, will you +give them to me? And I will divide them among the lads." "With all my +heart," said the old man, "take them, or anything else you like; bestow +them where you will, and welcome." [11] So Cyrus carried off the spoil, +and divided it with his comrades, saying all the while, "What foolery +it was, when we used to hunt in the park! It was no better than hunting +creatures tied by a string. First of all, it was such a little bit of +a place, and then what scarecrows the poor beasts were, one halt, +and another maimed! But those real animals on the mountains and the +plains--what splendid beasts, so gigantic, so sleek and glossy! Why, +the stags leapt up against the sky as though they had wings, and the +wild-boars came rushing to close quarters like warriors in battle! And +thanks to their breadth and bulk one could not help hitting them. Why, +even as they lie dead there," cried he, "they look finer than those +poor walled-up creatures when alive! But you," he added, "could not your +fathers let you go out to hunt too?" "Gladly enough," answered they, "if +only the king gave the order." [12] "Well," said Cyrus, "who will speak +to Astyages for us?" "Why," answered they, "who so fit to persuade him +as yourself?" "No, by all that's holy, not I!" cried Cyrus. "I cannot +think what has come over me: I cannot speak to my grandfather any more; +I cannot look him straight in the face. If this fit grows on me, I am +afraid I shall become no better than an idiot. And yet, when I was a +little boy, they tell me, I was sharp enough at talking." To which the +other lads retorted, "Well, it is a bad business altogether: and if you +cannot bestir yourself for your friends, if you can do nothing for us +in our need, we must turn elsewhere." [13] When Cyrus heard that he was +stung to the quick: he went away in silence and urged himself to put on +a bold face, and so went in to his grandfather, not, however, without +planning first how he could best bring in the matter. Accordingly he +began thus: "Tell me, grandfather," said he, "if one of your slaves were +to run away, and you caught him, what would you do to him?" "What else +should I do," the old man answered, "but clap irons on him and set him +to work in chains?" "But if he came back of his own accord, how would +you treat him then?" "Why, I would give him a whipping, as a warning not +to do it again, and then treat him as though nothing had happened." "It +is high time then," said the boy, "that you began getting a birch ready +for your grandson: for I am planning to take my comrades and run away on +a hunting expedition." "Very kind of you to tell me, beforehand," said +Astyages. "And now listen, I forbid you to set foot outside the palace +grounds. A pretty thing," he added, "if for the sake of a day's hunting +I should let my daughter's lamb get lost." [14] So Cyrus did as he was +ordered and stayed at home, but he spent his days in silence and his +brow was clouded. At last Astyages saw how bitterly the lad felt it, +and he made up his mind to please him by leading out a hunting-party +himself. He held a great muster of horse and foot, and the other lads +were not forgotten: he had the beasts driven down into the flat country +where the horses could be taken easily, and then the hunt began in +splendid style. After the royal fashion--for he was present in person +himself--he gave orders that no one was to shoot until Cyrus had hunted +to his heart's content. But Cyrus would not hear of any such hindrance +to the others: "Grandfather," he cried, "if you wish me to enjoy myself, +let my friends hunt with me and each of us try our best." [15] Thereupon +Astyages let them all go, while he stood still and watched the sight, +and saw how they raced to attack the quarry and how their ambition +burned within them as they followed up the chase and let fly their +javelins. But above all he was overjoyed to see how his grandson could +not keep silence for sheer delight, calling upon his fellows by name +whenever he came up with the quarry, like a noble young hound, baying +from pure excitement. It gladdened the old man's heart to hear how +gleefully the boy would laugh at one of his comrades and how eagerly he +would applaud another without the slightest touch of jealousy. At +length it was time to turn, and home they went, laden with their mighty +trophies. And ever afterwards, so well pleased was the king with the +day's hunting, that whenever it was possible, out he must go with his +grandson, all his train behind him, and he never failed to take the boys +also, "to please Cyrus." Thus did Cyrus spend his early life, sharing in +and helping towards the happiness of all, and bringing no sorrow to any +man. + +[16] But when he was about fifteen years of age, it chanced that the +young Prince of Assyria, who was about to marry a wife, planned a +hunting-party of his own, in honour of the bridal. And, having heard +that on the frontiers of Assyria and Media there was much game to be +got, untouched and unmolested because of the war, the prince chose these +marches for his hunting-ground. But for safety sake he took with him +a large escort of cavalry and targeteers, who were to drive the beasts +down from their lairs into the cultivated levels below where it was +easy to ride. He set out to the place where the Assyrian outposts were +planted and a garrison on duty, and there he and his men prepared to +take their supper, intending to begin the hunt with the morrow's dawn. +[17] And as evening had fallen, it happened that the night-watch, a +considerable body of horse and foot, arrived from the city to relieve +the garrison on guard. Thus the prince found that he had something like +a large army at his call: the two garrisons as well as the troop of +horse and foot for the hunt. And then he asked himself whether it would +not be the best of plans to drive off booty from the country of the +Medes? In this way more lustre would be given to the chase, and there +would be great store of beasts for sacrifice. With this intent he rose +betimes and led his army out: the foot soldiers he massed together on +the frontier, while he himself, at the head of his cavalry, rode up to +the border fortresses of the Medes. Here he halted with the strongest +and largest part of his company, to prevent the garrisons from sallying +out, and meanwhile he sent picked men forward by detachments with orders +to raid the country in every direction, waylay everything they chanced +upon, and drive the spoil back to him. + +[18] While this was going on news was brought to Astyages that the enemy +was across the border, and he hastened to the rescue at once, himself at +the head of his own body-guard, and his son with such troopers as were +ready to hand, leaving word for others to follow with all despatch. But +when they were in sight of the Assyrians, and saw their serried ranks, +horse and foot, drawn up in order, compact and motionless, they came to +a halt themselves. [19] Now Cyrus, seeing that all the rest of the world +was off to the rescue, boot and saddle, must needs ride out too, and so +put on his armour for the first time, and could scarcely believe it was +true, he had longed so often and so ardently to wear it all. And right +beautiful it was, and right well it fitted the lad, the armour that his +grandsire had had made for him. So he put on the whole accoutrement, +mounted his charger, and galloped to the front. And Astyages, though he +wondered who had sent the boy, bade him stay beside him, now that he +had come. Cyrus, as he looked at the horsemen facing them, turned to +his grandfather with the question, "Can those men yonder be our enemies, +grandfather, those who are standing so quietly beside their horses?" +"Enemies they are too for all that," said the king. "And are those +enemies too?" the boy asked, "those who are riding over there?" "Yes, +to be sure." "Well, grandfather, a sorry set they look, and sorry jades +they ride to ravage our lands! It would be well for some of us to charge +them!" "Not yet, my boy," answered his grandfather, "look at the mass +of horsemen there. If we were to charge the others now, these friends of +theirs would charge us, for our full strength is not yet on the field." +"Yes, but," suggested the boy, "if you stay here yourself, ready to +receive our supporters, those fellows will be afraid to stir either, and +the cattle-lifters will drop their booty quick enough, as soon as they +find they are attacked." + +[20] Astyages felt there was much in what the boy said, and thinking all +the while what wonderful sense he showed and how wide-awake he was, gave +orders for his son to take a squadron of horse and charge the raiders. +"If the main body move to attack," he added, "I will charge myself and +give them enough to do here." Accordingly Cyaxares took a detachment of +horse and galloped to the field. Cyrus seeing the charge, darted forward +himself, and swept to the van, leading it with Cyaxares close at his +heels and the rest close behind them. As soon as the plunderers saw +them, they left their booty and took to flight. [21] The troopers, with +Cyrus at their head, dashed in to cut them off, and some they overtook +at once and hewed down then and there; others slipped past, and then +they followed in hot pursuit, and caught some of them too. And Cyrus was +ever in the front, like a young hound, untrained as yet but bred from +a gallant stock, charging a wild-boar recklessly; forward he swept, +without eyes or thought for anything but the quarry to be captured and +the blow to be struck. But when the Assyrian army saw their friends +in trouble they pushed forward, rank on rank, saying to themselves the +pursuit would stop when their own movement was seen. [22] But Cyrus +never slackened his pace a whit: in a transport of joy he called on his +uncle by name as he pressed forward, hanging hot-foot on the fugitives, +while Cyaxares still clung to his heels, thinking maybe what his father +Astyages would say if he hung back, and the others still followed close +behind them, even the faint-hearted changed into heroes for the nonce. + +Now Astyages, watching their furious onslaught, and seeing the enemy +move steadily forward in close array to meet them, decided to advance +without a moment's delay himself, for fear that his son and Cyrus might +come to harm, crashing in disorder against the solid battalions of the +foe. [23] The Assyrians saw the movement of the king and came to a halt, +spears levelled and bows bent, expecting that, when their assailants +came within range, they would halt likewise as they had usually done +before. For hitherto, whenever the armies met, they would only charge up +to a certain distance, and there take flying shots, and so keep up the +skirmish until evening fell. But now the Assyrians saw their own men +borne down on them in rout, with Cyrus and his comrades at their heels +in full career, while Astyages and his cavalry were already within +bowshot. It was more than they could face, and they turned and fled. +After them swept the Medes in full pursuit, and those they caught they +mowed down, horse and man, and those that fell they slew. There was no +pause until they came up with the Assyrian foot. [24] Here at last they +drew rein in fear of some hidden ambuscade, and Astyages led his army +off. The exploit of his cavalry pleased him beyond measure, but he did +not know what he could say to Cyrus. It was he to whom the engagement +was due, and the victory; but the boy's daring was on the verge of +madness. Even during the return home his behaviour was strange; he could +not forbear riding round alone to look into the faces of the slain, +and those whose duty it was could hardly drag him away to lead him to +Astyages: indeed, the youth was glad enough to keep them as a screen +between himself and the king, for he saw that the countenance of his +grandfather grew stern at the sight of him. + +[25] So matters passed in Media: and more and more the name of Cyrus was +on the lip of every man, in song and story everywhere, and Astyages, +who had always loved him, was astonished beyond all measure at the lad. +Meanwhile his father, Cambyses, rejoiced to hear such tidings of his +son; but, when he heard that he was already acting like a man of years, +he thought it full time to call him home again that he might complete +his training in the discipline of his fatherland. The story tells how +Cyrus answered the summons, saying he would rather return home at once +so that his father might not be vexed or his country blame him. And +Astyages, too, thought it his plain duty to send the boy back, but he +must needs give him horses to take with him, as many as he would care +to choose, and other gifts beside, not only for the love he bore him +but for the high hopes he had that the boy would one day prove a man of +mark, a blessing to his friends, and a terror to his foes. And when the +time came for Cyrus to go, the whole world poured out to speed him on +his journey--little children and lads of his own age, and grown men +and greybeards on their steeds, and Astyages the king. And, so says the +chronicle, the eyes of none were dry when they turned home again. [26] +Cyrus himself, they tell us, rode away in tears. He heaped gifts on all +his comrades, sharing with them what Astyages had given to himself; and +at last he took off the splendid Median cloak he wore and gave it to one +of them, to tell him, plainer than words could say, how his heart clung +to him above the rest. And his friends, they say, took the gifts he gave +them, but they brought them all back to Astyages, who sent them to Cyrus +again. But once more Cyrus sent them back to Media with this prayer to +his grandfather:--"If you would have me hold my head up when I come back +to you again, let my friends keep the gifts I gave them." And Astyages +did as the boy asked. + +[27] And here, if a tale of boyish love is not out of place, we might +tell how, when Cyrus was just about to depart and the last good-byes +were being said, each of his kinsmen in the Persian fashion--and to this +day the custom holds in Persia--kissed him on the lips as they bade him +god-speed. Now there was a certain Mede, as beautiful and brave a man +as ever lived, who had been enamoured of Cyrus for many a long day, +and, when he saw the kiss, he stayed behind, and after the others had +withdrawn he went up to Cyrus and said, "Me, and me alone, of all your +kindred, Cyrus, you refuse to recognize?" And Cyrus answered, "What, are +you my kinsman too?" "Yes, assuredly," the other answered, and the lad +rejoined, "Ah, then, that is why you looked at me so earnestly; and I +have seen you look at me like that, I think, more than once before." +"Yes," answered the Mede, "I have often longed to approach you, but as +often, heaven knows, my heart failed me." "But why should that be," said +Cyrus, "seeing you are my kinsman?" And with the word, he leant forward +and kissed him on the lips. [28] Then the Mede, emboldened by the kiss, +took heart and said, "So in Persia it is really the custom for relatives +to kiss?" "Truly yes," answered Cyrus, "when we see each other after a +long absence, or when we part for a journey." "Then the time has come," +said the other, "to give me a second kiss, for I must leave you now." +With that Cyrus kissed him again and so they parted. But the travellers +were not far on their way when suddenly the Mede came galloping after +them, his charger covered with foam. Cyrus caught sight of him:--"You +have forgotten something? There is something else you wanted to say?" +"No," said the Mede, "it is only such a long, long while since we met." +"Such a little, little while you mean, my kinsman," answered Cyrus. "A +little while!" repeated the other. "How can you say that? Cannot you +understand that the time it takes to wink is a whole eternity if it +severs me from the beauty of your face?" + +Then Cyrus burst out laughing in spite of his own tears, and bade the +unfortunate man take heart of grace and be gone. "I shall soon be back +with you again, and then you can stare at me to your heart's content, +and never wink at all." + +[C.5] Thus Cyrus left his grandfather's court and came home to Persia, +and there, so it is said, he spent one year more as a boy among boys. +At first the lads were disposed to laugh at him, thinking he must have +learnt luxurious ways in Media, but when they saw that he could take +the simple Persian food as happily as themselves, and how, whenever they +made good cheer at a festival, far from asking for any more himself he +was ready to give his own share of the dainties away, when they saw and +felt in this and in other things his inborn nobleness and superiority to +themselves, then the tide turned and once more they were at his feet. + +And when this part of his training was over, and the time was come for +him to join the younger men, it was the same tale once more. Once more +he outdid all his fellows, alike in the fulfilment of his duty, in +the endurance of hardship, in the reverence he showed to age, and the +obedience he paid to authority. + +[2] Now in the fullness of time Astyages died in Media, and Cyaxares +his son, the brother of Cyrus' mother, took the kingdom in his stead. +By this time the king of Assyria had subdued all the tribes of Syria, +subjugated the king of Arabia, brought the Hyrcanians under his rule, +and was holding the Bactrians in siege. Therefore he came to think that, +if he could but weaken the power of the Medes, it would be easy for him +to extend his empire over all the nations round him, since the Medes +were, without doubt, the strongest of them all. [3] Accordingly he +sent his messengers to every part of his dominions: to Croesus, king +of Lydia, to the king of Cappadocia, to both the Phrygias, to the +Paphlagonians and the Indians, to the Carians and the Cilicians. And he +bade them spread slanders abroad against the Persians and the Medes, and +say moreover that these were great and mighty kingdoms which had come +together and made alliance by marriage with one another, and unless a +man should be beforehand with them and bring down their power it could +not be but that they would fall on each of their neighbours in turn and +subdue them one by one. So the nations listened to the messengers and +made alliance with the king of Assyria: some were persuaded by what he +said and others were won over by gifts and gold, for the riches of the +Assyrian were great. [4] Now Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, was aware of +these plots and preparations, and he made ready on his side, so far as +in him lay, sending word to the Persian state and to Cambyses the king, +who had his sister to wife. And he sent to Cyrus also, begging him to +come with all speed at the head of any force that might be furnished, if +so be the Council of Persia would give him men-at-arms. For by this +time Cyrus had accomplished his ten years among the youths and was now +enrolled with the grown men. [5] He was right willing to go, and the +Council of Elders appointed him to command the force for Media. They +bade him choose two hundred men among the Peers, each of them to choose +four others from their fellows. Thus was formed a body of a thousand +Peers: and each of the thousand had orders to raise thirty men from the +commons--ten targeteers, ten slingers, and ten archers--and thus three +regiments were levied, 10,000 archers, 10,000 slingers, and 10,000 +targeteers, over and above the thousand Peers. The whole force was to +be put under the command of Cyrus. [6] As soon as he was appointed, +his first act had been to offer sacrifice, and when the omens were +favourable he had chosen his two hundred Peers, and each of them had +chosen their four comrades. Then he called the whole body together, and +for the first time spoke to them as follows:-- + +[7] "My friends, I have chosen you for this work, but this is not the +first time that I have formed my opinion of your worth: from my boyhood +I have watched your zeal for all that our country holds to be honourable +and your abhorrence for all that she counts base. And I wish to tell you +plainly why I accepted this office myself and why I ask your help. [8] I +have long felt sure that our forefathers were in their time as good men +as we. For their lives were one long effort towards the self-same deeds +of valour as are held in honour now; and still, for all their worth, +I fail to see what good they gained either for the state or for +themselves. [9] Yet I cannot bring myself to believe that there is a +single virtue practised among mankind merely in order that the brave and +good should fare no better than the base ones of the earth. Men do +not forego the pleasures of the moment to say good-bye to all joy for +evermore--no, this self-control is a training, so that we may reap the +fruits of a larger joy in the time to come. A man will toil day and +night to make himself an orator, yet oratory is not the one aim of +his existence: his hope is to influence men by his eloquence and thus +achieve some noble end. So too with us, and those like us, who are +drilled in the arts of war: we do not give our labours in order to fight +for ever, endlessly and hopelessly, we hope that we too one day, when we +have proved our mettle, may win and wear for ourselves and for our city +the threefold ornament of wealth, of happiness, of honour. [10] And if +there should be some who have worked hard all their lives and suddenly +old-age, they find, has stolen on them unawares, and taken away their +powers before they have gathered in the fruit of all their toil, such +men seem to me like those who desire to be thrifty husbandmen, and who +sow well and plant wisely, but when the time of harvest comes let the +fruit drop back ungarnered into the soil whence it sprang. Or as if an +athlete should train himself and reach the heights where victory may be +won and at the last forbear to enter the lists--such an one, I take it, +would but meet his deserts if all men cried out upon him for a fool. +[11] Let not such be our fate, my friends. Our own hearts bear us +witness that we, too, from our boyhood up, have been trained in the +school of beauty and nobleness and honour, and now let us go forward to +meet our foes. They, I know right well, when matched with us, will prove +but novices in war. He is no true warrior, though he be skilled with the +javelin and the bow and ride on horseback with the best, who, when the +call for endurance comes, is found to fail: toil finds him but a novice. +Nor are they warriors who, when they should wake and watch, give way to +slumber: sleep finds them novices. Even endurance will not avail, if a +man has not learnt to deal as a man should by friends and foes: such an +one is unschooled in the highest part of his calling. [12] But with you +it is not so: to you the night will be as the day; toil, your school +has taught you, is the guide to happiness; hunger has been your daily +condiment, and water you take to quench your thirst as the lion laps the +stream. And you have that within your hearts which is the rarest of all +treasures and the most akin to war: of all sweet sounds the sweetest +sound for you is the voice of fame. You are fair Honour's suitors, and +you must needs win your title to her favour. Therefore you undergo toil +and danger gladly. + +[13] "Now if I said all this of you, and my heart were not in my words, +I should but cheat myself. For in so far as you should fail to fulfil my +hopes of you, it is on me that the shame would fall. But I have faith in +you, bred of experience: I trust in your goodwill towards me, and in our +enemy's lack of wit; you will not belie my hopes. Let us go forth with a +light heart; we have no ill-fame to fear: none can say we covet +another man's goods unlawfully. Our enemy strikes the first blow in an +unrighteous cause, and our friends call us to protect them. What is more +lawful than self-defence? What is nobler than to succour those we love? +[14] And you have another ground of confidence--in opening this campaign +I have not been forgetful of the gods: you have gone in and out with me, +and you know how in all things, great and small, I strive to win their +blessing. And now," he added, "what need of further words? I will leave +you now to choose your own men, and when all is ready you will march +into Media at their head. Meanwhile I will return to my father and start +before you, so that I may learn what I can about the enemy as soon as +may be, and thus make all needful preparations, so that by God's help we +may win glory on the field." + +[C.6] Such were his orders and they set about them at once. But Cyrus +himself went home and prayed to the gods of his father's house, to +Hestia and Zeus, and to all who had watched over his race. And when he +had done so, he set out for the war, and his father went with him on +the road. They were no sooner clear of the city, so says the story, than +they met with favourable omens of thunder and lightning, and after that +they went forward without further divination, for they felt that no man +could mistake the signs from the Ruler of the gods. [2] And as they went +on their way Cyrus' father said to him, "My son, the gods are gracious +to us, and look with favour on your journey--they have shown it in the +sacrifices, and by their signs from heaven. You do not need another man +to tell you so, for I was careful to have you taught this art, so that +you might understand the counsels of the gods yourself and have no need +of an interpreter, seeing with your own eyes and hearing with your own +ears and taking the heavenly meaning for yourself. Thus you need not be +at the mercy of any soothsayers who might have a mind to deceive you, +speaking contrary to the omens vouchsafed from heaven, nor yet, should +you chance to be without a seer, drift in perplexity and know not how to +profit by the heavenly signs: you yourself through your own learning can +understand the warnings of the gods and follow them." + +[3] "Yes, father," answered Cyrus, "so far as in me lies, I bear your +words in mind, and pray to the gods continually that they may show us +favour and vouchsafe to counsel us. I remember," he went on, "how once I +heard you say that, as with men, so with the gods, it was but natural if +the prayer of him should prevail who did not turn to flatter them only +in time of need, but was mindful of them above all in the heyday of his +happiness. It was thus indeed, you said, that we ought to deal with our +earthly friends." [4] "True, my son," said his father, "and because of +all my teaching, you can now approach the gods in prayer with a lighter +heart and a more confident hope that they will grant you what you ask, +because your conscience bears you witness that you have never forgotten +them." "Even so," said Cyrus, "and in truth I feel towards them as +though they were my friends." [5] "And do you remember," asked his +father, "certain other conclusions on which we were agreed? How we +felt there were certain things that the gods had permitted us to attain +through learning and study and training? The accomplishment of these is +the reward of effort, not of idleness; in these it is only when we have +done all that it is our duty to do that we are justified in asking for +blessings from the gods." [6] "I remember very well," said Cyrus, "that +you used to talk to me in that way: and indeed I could not but agree +with the arguments you gave. You used to say that a man had no right to +pray he might win a cavalry charge if he had never learnt how to ride, +or triumph over master-bowmen if he could not draw a bow, or bring +a ship safe home to harbour if he did not know how to steer, or be +rewarded with a plenteous harvest if he had not so much as sown grain +into the ground, or come home safe from battle if he took no precautions +whatsoever. All such prayers as these, you said, were contrary to the +very ordinances of heaven, and those who asked for things forbidden +could not be surprised if they failed to win them from the gods. Even as +a petition in the face of law on earth would have no success with men." + +[7] "And do you remember," said his father, "how we thought that it +would be a noble work enough if a man could train himself really and +truly to be beautiful and brave and earn all he needed for his household +and himself? That, we said, was a work of which a man might well be +proud; but if he went further still, if he had the skill and the science +to be the guide and governor of other men, supplying all their wants and +making them all they ought to be, that, it seemed to us, would be indeed +a marvel." [8] "Yes, my father," answered Cyrus, "I remember it very +well. I agreed with you that to rule well and nobly was the greatest +of all works, and I am of the same mind still," he went on, "whenever +I think of government in itself. But when I look on the world at large, +when I see of what poor stuff those men are made who contrive to uphold +their rule and what sort of antagonists we are likely to find in them, +then I can only feel how disgraceful it would be to cringe before them +and not to face them myself and try conclusions with them on the field. +All of them, I perceive," he added, "beginning with our own friends +here, hold to it that the ruler should only differ from his subjects by +the splendour of his banquets, the wealth of gold in his coffers, the +length and depth of his slumbers, and his freedom from trouble and pain. +But my views are different: I hold that the ruler should be marked out +from other men, not by taking life easily, but by his forethought and +his wisdom and his eagerness for work." [9] "True, my son," the father +answered, "but you know the struggle must in part be waged not against +flesh and blood but against circumstances, and these may not be overcome +so easily. You know, I take it, that if supplies were not forthcoming, +farewell to this government of yours." "Yes," Cyrus answered, "and that +is why Cyaxares is undertaking to provide for all of us who join him, +whatever our numbers are." "So," said the father, "and you really mean, +my son, that you are relying only on these supplies of Cyaxares for this +campaign of yours?" "Yes," answered Cyrus. "And do you know what they +amount to?" "No," he said, "I cannot say that I do." "And yet," his +father went on, "you are prepared to rely on what you do not know? Do +you forget that the needs of the morrow must be high, not to speak +of the outlay for the day?" "Oh, no," said Cyrus, "I am well aware of +that." "Well," said the father, "suppose the cost is more than Cyaxares +can bear, or suppose he actually meant to deceive you, how would your +soldiers fare?" "Ill enough, no doubt," answered he. "And now tell +me, father, while we are still in friendly country, if you know of any +resources that I could make my own?" [10] "You want to know where you +could find resources of your own?" repeated his father. "And who is to +find that out, if not he who holds the keys of power? We have given you +a force of infantry that you would not exchange, I feel sure, for one +that was more than twice its size; and you will have the cavalry of +Media to support you, the finest in the world. I conceive there are none +of the nations round about who will not be ready to serve you, whether +to win your favour or because they fear disaster. These are matters +you must look into carefully, in concert with Cyaxares, so that nothing +should ever fail you of what you need, and, if only for habit's sake, +you should devise some means for supplying your revenue. Bear this maxim +in mind before all others--never put off the collecting of supplies +until the day of need, make the season of your abundance provide against +the time of dearth. You will gain better terms from those on whom you +must depend if you are not thought to be in straits, and, what is more, +you will be free from blame in the eyes of your soldiers. That in itself +will make you more respected; wherever you desire to help or to hurt, +your troops will follow you with greater readiness, so long as they have +all they need, and your words, you may be sure, will carry the greater +weight the fuller your display of power for weal or woe." + +[11] "Yes, father," Cyrus said, "I feel all you say is true, and the +more because as things now stand none of my soldiers will thank me for +the pay that is promised them. They are well aware of the terms Cyaxares +has offered for their help: but whatever they get over and above the +covenanted amount they will look upon as a free gift, and for that they +will, in all likelihood, feel most gratitude to the giver." "True," said +the father, "and really for a man to have a force with which he could +serve his friends and take vengeance on his foes, and yet neglect the +supplies for it, would be as disgraceful, would it not? as for a farmer +to hold lands and labourers and yet allow fields to lie barren for lack +of tillage." + +"No such neglect," answered the son, "shall ever be laid at my door. +Through friendly lands or hostile, trust me, in this business of +supplying my troops with all they need I will always play my part." + +[12] "Well, my son," the father resumed, "and do you remember certain +other points which we agreed must never be overlooked?" "Could I forget +them?" answered Cyrus. "I remember how I came to you for money to pay +the teacher who professed to have taught me generalship, and you gave it +me, but you asked me many questions. 'Now, my boy,' you said, 'did this +teacher you want to pay ever mention economy among the things a general +ought to understand? Soldiers, no less than servants in a house, are +dependent on supplies.' And I was forced to tell the truth and admit +that not a syllable had been mentioned on that score. Then you asked +me if anything had been taught about health and strength, since a true +general is bound to think of these matters no less than of tactics and +strategy. And when I was forced to say no, you asked me if he had taught +me any of the arts which give the best aid in war. Once again I had to +say no and then you asked whether he had ever taught me how to kindle +enthusiasm in my men. For in every undertaking, you said, there was all +the difference in the world between energy and lack of spirit. I shook +my head and your examination went on:--Had this teacher laid no stress +on the need for obedience in an army, or on the best means of securing +discipline? [14] And finally, when it was plain that even this had been +utterly ignored, you exclaimed, 'What in the world, then, does your +professor claim to have taught you under the name of generalship?' To +that I could at last give a positive answer: 'He taught me tactics.' +And then you gave a little laugh and ran through your list point by +point:--'And pray what will be the use of tactics to an army without +supplies, without health, without discipline, without knowledge of those +arts and inventions that are of use in war?' And so you made it clear +to me that tactics and manoeuvres and drill were only a small part of all +that is implied in generalship, and when I asked you if you could teach +me the rest of it you bade me betake myself to those who stood high in +repute as great generals, and talk with them and learn from their lips +how each thing should be done. [15] So I consorted with all I thought to +be of authority in these matters. As regards our present supplies I was +persuaded that what Cyaxares intended to provide was sufficient, and, as +for the health of the troops, I was aware that the cities where health +was valued appointed medical officers, and the generals who cared for +their soldiers took out a medical staff; and so when I found myself in +this office I gave my mind to the matter at once: and I flatter myself, +father," he added, "that I shall have with me an excellent staff of +surgeons and physicians." [16] To which the father made reply, "Well, +my son, but these excellent men are, after all, much the same as the +tailors who patch torn garments. When folk are ill, your doctors can +patch them up, but your own care for their health ought to go far deeper +than that: your prime object should be to save your men from falling ill +at all." "And pray, father," asked Cyrus, "how can I succeed in that?" +"Well," answered Cambyses, "I presume if you are to stay long in one +place you will do your best to discover a healthy spot for your camp, +and if you give your mind to the matter you can hardly fail to find it. +Men, we know, are forever discussing what places are healthy and what +are not, and their own complexions and the state of their own bodies is +the clearest evidence. But you will not content yourself with choosing a +site, you will remember the care you take yourself for your own health." +[17] "Well," said Cyrus, "my first rule is to avoid over-feeding as most +oppressive to the system, and my next to work off all that enters the +body: that seems the best way to keep health and gain strength." "My +son," Cambyses answered, "these are the principles you must apply to +others." "What!" said Cyrus; "do you think it will be possible for the +soldiers to diet and train themselves?" "Not only possible," said the +father, "but essential. For surely an army, if it is to fulfil its +function at all, must always be engaged in hurting the foe or helping +itself. A single man is hard enough to support in idleness, a household +is harder still, an army hardest of all. There are more mouths to be +filled, less wealth to start with, and greater waste; and therefore +an army should never be unemployed." [18] "If I take your meaning," +answered Cyrus, "you think an idle general as useless as an idle farmer. +And here and now I answer for the working general, and promise on his +behalf that with God's help he will show you that his troops have all +they need and their bodies are all they ought to be. And I think," he +added, "I know a way by which an officer might do much towards training +his men in the various branches of war. Let him propose competitions +of every kind and offer prizes; the standard of skill will rise, and +he will soon have a body of troops ready to his hand for any service he +requires." "Nothing could be better," answered the father. "Do this, and +you may be sure you will watch your regiments at their manoeuvres with as +much delight as if they were a chorus in the dance." + +[19] "And then," continued Cyrus, "to rouse enthusiasm in the men, there +can be nothing, I take it, like the power of kindling hope?" "True," +answered his father, "but that alone would be as though a huntsman were +for ever rousing his pack with the view-halloo. At first, of course, the +hounds will answer eagerly enough, but after they have been cheated +once or twice they will end by refusing the call even when the quarry +is really in sight. And so it is with hope. Let a man rouse false +expectations often enough, and in the end, even when hope is at the +door, he may cry the good news in vain. Rather ought he to refrain from +speaking positively himself when he cannot know precisely; his agents +may step in and do it in his place; but he should reserve his own appeal +for the supreme crises of supreme danger, and not dissipate his credit." + +"By heaven, a most admirable suggestion!" cried Cyrus, "and one much +more to my mind! [20] As for enforcing obedience, I hope I have had some +training in that already; you began my education yourself when I was a +child by teaching me to obey you, and then you handed me over to masters +who did as you had done, and afterwards, when we were lads, my fellows +and myself, there was nothing on which the governors laid more stress. +Our laws themselves, I think, enforce this double lesson:--'Rule thou +and be thou ruled.' And when I come to study the secret of it all, I +seem to see that the real incentive to obedience lies in the praise and +honour that it wins against the discredit and the chastisement which +fall on the disobedient." [21] "That, my son," said the father, "is the +road to the obedience of compulsion. But there is a shorter way to a +nobler goal, the obedience of the will. When the interests of mankind +are at stake, they will obey with joy the man whom they believe to be +wiser than themselves. You may prove this on all sides: you may see how +the sick man will beg the doctor to tell him what he ought to do, how a +whole ship's company will listen to the pilot, how travellers will +cling to the one who knows the way better, as they believe, than they do +themselves. But if men think that obedience will lead them to disaster, +then nothing, neither penalties, nor persuasion, nor gifts, will avail +to rouse them. For no man accepts a bribe to his own destruction." [22] +"You would have me understand," said Cyrus, "that the best way to +secure obedience is to be thought wiser than those we rule?" "Yes," said +Cambyses, "that is my belief." + +"And what is the quickest way," asked Cyrus, "to win that reputation?" + +"None quicker, my lad, than this: wherever you wish to seem wise, be +wise. Examine as many cases as you like, and you will find that what I +say is true. If you wished to be thought a good farmer, a good horseman, +a good physician, a good flute-player, or anything else whatever, +without really being so, just imagine what a world of devices you would +need to invent, merely to keep up the outward show! And suppose you did +get a following to praise you and cry you up, suppose you did burden +yourself with all kinds of paraphernalia for your profession, what +would come of it all? You succeed at first in a very pretty piece of +deception, and then by and by the test comes, and the impostor stands +revealed." + +[23] "But," said Cyrus, "how can a man really and truly attain to the +wisdom that will serve his turn?" + +"Well, my son, it is plain that where learning is the road to wisdom, +learn you must, as you learnt your battalion-drill, but when it comes to +matters which are not to be learnt by mortal men, nor foreseen by mortal +minds, there you can only become wiser than others by communicating with +the gods through the art of divination. But, always, wherever you know +that a thing ought to be done, see that it is done, and done with care; +for care, not carelessness, is the mark of the wise man." + +[24] "And now," said Cyrus, "to win the affection of those we rule--and +there is nothing, I take it, of greater importance--surely the path to +follow lies open to all who desire the love of their friends. We must, I +mean, show that we do them good." "Yes, my child, but to do good really +at all seasons to those we wish to help is not always possible: only one +way is ever open, and that is the way of sympathy; to rejoice with the +happy in the day of good things, to share their sorrow when ill befalls +them, to lend a hand in all their difficulties, to fear disaster for +them, and guard against it by foresight--these, rather than actual +benefits, are the true signs of comradeship. [25] And so in war; if the +campaign is in summer the general must show himself greedy for his share +of the sun and the heat, and in winter for the cold and the frost, and +in all labours for toil and fatigue. This will help to make him beloved +of his followers." "You mean, father," said Cyrus, "that a commander +should always be stouter-hearted in everything than those whom he +commands." "Yes, my son, that is my meaning," said he; "only be well +assured of this: the princely leader and the private soldier may be +alike in body, but their sufferings are not the same: the pains of the +leader are always lightened by the glory that is his and by the very +consciousness that all his acts are done in the public eye." + +[26] "But now, father, suppose the time has come, and you are satisfied +that your troops are well supplied, sound in wind and limb, well able to +endure fatigue, skilled in the arts of war, covetous of honour, eager to +show their mettle, anxious to follow, would you not think it well to try +the chance of battle without delay?" "By all means," said the father, +"if you are likely to gain by the move: but if not, for my own part, the +more I felt persuaded of my own superiority and the power of my troops, +the more I should be inclined to stand on my guard, just as we put our +greatest treasures in the safest place we have." [27] "But how can a man +make sure that he will gain?" "Ah, there you come," said the father, +"to a most weighty matter. This is no easy task, I can tell you. If your +general is to succeed he must prove himself an arch-plotter, a king of +craft, full of deceits and stratagems, a cheat, a thief, and a robber, +defrauding and overreaching his opponent at every turn." + +"Heavens!" said Cyrus, and burst out laughing, "is this the kind of man +you want your son to be!" "I want him to be," said the father, "as just +and upright and law-abiding as any man who ever lived." [28] "But how +comes it," said his son, "that the lessons you taught us in boyhood and +youth were exactly opposed to what you teach me now?" "Ah," said the +father, "those lessons were for friends and fellow-citizens, and for +them they still hold good, but for your enemies--do you not remember +that you were also taught to do much harm?" + +"No, father," he answered, "I should say certainly not." + +"Then why were you taught to shoot? Or to hurl the javelin? Or to trap +wild-boars? Or to snare stags with cords and caltrops? And why did you +never meet the lion or the bear or the leopard in fair fight on equal +terms, but were always trying to steal some advantage over them? Can you +deny that all that was craft and deceit and fraud and greed?" + +[29] "Why, of course," answered the young man, "in dealing with animals, +but with human beings it was different; if I was ever suspected of a +wish to cheat another, I was punished, I know, with many stripes." + +"True," said the father, "and for the matter of that we did not permit +you to draw bow or hurl javelin against human beings; we taught you +merely to aim at a mark. But why did we teach you that? Not so that you +might injure your friends, either then or now, but that in war you might +have the skill to make the bodies of living men your targets. So also we +taught you the arts of deceit and craft and greed and covetousness, not +among men it is true, but among beasts; we did not mean you ever to turn +these accomplishments against your friends, but in war we wished you to +be something better than raw recruits." + +[30] "But, father," Cyrus answered, "if to do men good and to do men +harm were both of them things we ought to learn, surely it would have +been better to teach them in actual practice?" + +[31] Then the father said, "My son, we are told that in the days of our +forefathers there was such a teacher once. This man did actually teach +his boys righteousness in the way you suggest, to lie and not to lie, +to cheat and not to cheat, to calumniate and not to calumniate, to be +grasping and not grasping. He drew the distinction between our duty to +friends and our duty to enemies; and he went further still; he taught +men that it was just and right to deceive even a friend for his own +good, or steal his property. [32] And with this he must needs teach +his pupils to practise on one another what he taught them, just as the +people of Hellas, we are told, teach lads in the wrestling-school to +fence and to feint, and train them by their practice with one another. +Now some of his scholars showed such excellent aptitudes for deception +and overreaching, and perhaps no lack of taste for common money-making, +that they did not even spare their friends, but used their arts on them. +[33] And so an unwritten law was framed by which we still abide, bidding +us teach our children as we teach our servants, simply and solely not to +lie, and not to cheat, and not to covert, and if they did otherwise to +punish them, hoping to make them humane and law-abiding citizens. [34] +But when they came to manhood, as you have come, then, it seemed, the +risk was over, and it would be time to teach them what is lawful against +our enemies. For at your age we do not believe you will break out into +savagery against your fellows with whom you have been knit together +since childhood in ties of friendship and respect. In the same way we do +not talk to the young about the mysteries of love, for if lightness were +added to desire, their passion might sweep them beyond all bounds." + +[35] "Then in heaven's name, father," said Cyrus, "remember that +your son is but a backward scholar and a late learner in this lore of +selfishness, and teach me all you can that may help me to overreach the +foe." + +"Well," said the father, "you must plot and you must plan, whatever the +size of his force and your own, to catch his men in disorder when yours +are all arrayed, unarmed when yours are armed, asleep when yours are +awake, or you must wait till he is visible to you and you invisible +to him, or till he is labouring over heavy ground and you are in your +fortress and can give him welcome there." + +[36] "But how," asked Cyrus, "can I catch him in all these blunders?" + +"Simply because both you and he are bound to be often in some such case; +both of you must take your meals sometime; both of you must sleep; your +men must scatter in the morning to satisfy the needs of nature, and, +for better for worse, whatever the roads are like, you will be forced +to make use of them. All these necessities you must lay to heart, and +wherever you are weaker, there you must be most on your guard, and +wherever your foe is most assailable, there you must press the attack." + +[37] Then Cyrus asked, "And are these the only cases where one can apply +the great principle of greed, or are there others?" + +"Oh, yes, there are many more; indeed in these simple cases any general +will be sure to keep good watch, knowing how necessary it is. But your +true cheat and prince of swindlers is he who can lure the enemy on +and throw him off his guard, suffer himself to be pursued and get the +pursuers into disorder, lead the foe into difficult ground and then +attack him there. [38] Indeed, as an ardent student, you must not +confine yourself to the lessons you have learnt; you must show yourself +a creator and discoverer, you must invent stratagems against the foe; +just as a real musician is not content with the mere elements of his +art, but sets himself to compose new themes. And if in music it is the +novel melody, the flower-like freshness, that wins popularity, still +more in military matters it is the newest contrivance that stands the +highest, for the simple reason that such will give you the best chance +of outwitting your opponent. [39] And yet, my son, I must say that if +you did no more than apply against human beings the devices you learnt +to use against the smallest game, you would have made considerable +progress in this art of overreaching. Do you not think so yourself? +Why, to snare birds you would get up by night in the depth of winter +and tramp off in the cold; your nets were laid before the creatures were +astir, and your tracks completely covered and you actually had birds of +your own, trained to serve you and decoy their kith and kin, while you +yourself lay in some hiding-place, seeing yet unseen, and you had learnt +by long practice to jerk in the net before the birds could fly away. +[40] Or you might be out after hares, and for a hare you had two breeds +of dogs, one to track her out by scent, because she feeds in the dusk +and takes to her form by day, and another to cut off her escape and run +her down, because she is so swift. And even if she escaped these, she +did not escape you; you had all her runs by heart and knew all her +hiding-places, and there you would spread your nets, so that they were +scarcely to be seen, and the very haste of her flight would fling her +into the snare. And to make sure of her you had men placed on the spot +to keep a look-out, and pounce on her at once. And there were you at her +heels, shouting and scaring her out of her wits, so that she was caught +from sheer terror, and there lay your men, as you had taught them, +silent and motionless in their ambuscade. [41] I say, therefore, that if +you chose to act like this against human beings, you would soon have no +enemies left to fight, or I am much mistaken. And even if, as well may +be, the necessity should arise for you to do battle on equal terms in +open field, even so, my son, there will still be power in those arts +which you have studied so long and which teach you to out-villain +villainy. And among them I include all that has served to train the +bodies and fire the courage of your men, all that has made them adepts +in every craft of war. One thing you must ever bear in mind: if you wish +your men to follow you, remember that they expect you to plan for them. +[42] Hence you must never know a careless mood; if it be night, you must +consider what your troops shall do when it is day; if day, how the night +had best be spent. [43] For the rest, you do not need me to tell you +now how you should draw up your troops or conduct your march by day or +night, along broad roads or narrow lanes, over hills or level ground, or +how you should encamp and post your pickets, or advance into battle +or retreat before the foe, or march past a hostile city, or attack a +fortress or retire from it, or cross a river or pass through a defile, +or guard against a charge of cavalry or an attack from lancers or +archers, or what you should do if the enemy comes into sight when you +are marching in column and how you are to take up position against him, +or how deploy into action if you are in line and he takes you in flank +or rear, and how you are to learn all you can about his movements, while +keeping your own as secret as may be; these are matters on which you +need no further word of mine; all that I know about them you have +heard a hundred times, and I am sure you have not neglected any other +authority on whom you thought you could rely. You know all their +theories, and you must apply them now, I take it, according to +circumstances and your need. [44] But," he added, "there is one lesson +that I would fain impress on you, and it is the greatest of them all. +Observe the sacrifices and pay heed to the omens; when they are against +you, never risk your army or yourself, for you must remember that men +undertake enterprises on the strength of probability alone and without +any real knowledge as to what will bring them happiness. [45] You may +learn this from all life and all history. How often have cities allowed +themselves to be persuaded into war, and that by advisers who were +thought the wisest of men, and then been utterly destroyed by those +whom they attacked! How often have statesmen helped to raise a city or a +leader to power, and then suffered the worst at the hands of those whom +they exalted! And many who could have treated others as friends and +equals, giving and receiving kindnesses, have chosen to use them as +slaves, and then paid the penalty at their hands; and many, not content +to enjoy their own share of good, have been swept on by the craving to +master all, and thereby lost everything that they once possessed; and +many have won the very wealth they prayed for and through it have found +destruction. [46] So little does human wisdom know how to choose the +best, helpless as a man who could but draw lots to see what he should +do. But the gods, my son, who live for ever, they know all things, the +things that have been and the things that are and the things that are to +be, and all that shall come from these; and to us mortals who ask their +counsel and whom they love they will show signs, to tell us what we +should do and what we should leave undone. Nor must we think it strange +if the gods will not vouchsafe their wisdom to all men equally; no +compulsion is laid on them to care for men, unless it be their will." + + + NOTES + +[This work concludes the translation of Xenophon undertaken by Mr. +Dakyns. ("The Works of Xenophon," with maps, introductions, and notes, +Vols. I.-III., Macmillan.) From references in the earlier vols. (e.g. +Vol. I. pp. lvii., lxx., xc., cxiii., cxxxi.; Vol. III. Part I. pp. +v.-vii.) it is plain the translator considered that the historical +romance of the _Cyropaedia_ was written in Xenophon's old age (completed +_circa_ 365 B.C.) embodying many of his own experiences and his maturest +thoughts on education, on government, on the type of man,--a rare type, +alone fitted for leadership. The figure of his hero, Cyrus the Great, +the founder of the Persian empire, known to him by story and legend, is +modelled on the Spartan king Agesilaus, whom he loved and admired, and +under whom he served in Persia and in Greece (op. cit. Vol. II., see +under _Agesilaus_, Index, and _Hellenica_, Bks. III.-V. _Agesilaus_, +_an Encomium_, passim). Certain traits are also taken from the younger +Cyrus, whom Xenophon followed in his famous march against his brother, +the Persian king, up from the coast of Asia Minor into the heart of +Babylonia (see the _Anabasis_, Bk. I., especially c. ix.; op. cit. Vol. +I. p. 109). Clearly, moreover, many of the customs and institutions +described in the work as Persian are really Dorian, and were still in +vogue among Xenophon's Spartan friends (vide e.g. _Hellenica_, Bk. IV., +i. S28; op. cit. Vol. II. p. 44).] + +C2.4. Qy. Were these tribal customs of the Persians, as doubtless of the +Dorians, or is it all a Dorian idealisation? + +C2.13. Good specimen of the "annotative" style with a parenthetic +comment. The passage in brackets might be a gloss, but is it? + +C3.3. When did Xenophon himself first learn to ride? Surely this is a +boyish reminiscence, full of sympathy with boy-nature. + +C3.12. Beautiful description of a child subject to his parents, growing +in stature and favour with God and man. + +C4.2. Perhaps his own grandson, Xenophon the son of Grylus, is the +prototype, and Xenophon himself a sort of ancient Victor Hugo in this +matter of fondness for children. + +C4.3. Contrast Autolycus in the _Symposium_, who had, however, reached +the more silent age [e.g. _Symp_., c. iii., fin. tr. Works, Vol. III. +Part I. p. 309]. + +C4.4. The touch about the puppy an instance of Xenophon's {katharotes} +[clear simplicity of style]. + +C4.8. Reads like a biographical incident in some hunt of Xenophon, boy +or father. + +C4.9-10. The rapidity, one topic introducing and taken up by another, +wave upon wave, {anerithmon lelasma} ["the multitudinous laughter of the +sea"]. + +C4.12. The truth of this due to sympathy (cf. Archidamus and his father +Agesilaus, _Hell_., V. c. iv.; tr. Works, Vol. II. p. 126). + +C4.22. Cyaxares recalls John Gilpin. + +C4.24. An Hellenic trait; madness of battle-rage, {menis}. Something of +the fierceness of the _Iliad_ here. + +C5.7. Cyrus. His first speech as a general; a fine one; a spirit +of athleticism breathes through it. Cf. _Memorabilia_ for a similar +rationalisation of virtuous self-restraint (e.g. _Mem_., Bk. I. c. 5, 6; +Bk. III. c. 8). Paleyan somewhat, perhaps Socratic, not devoid of common +sense. What is the end and aim of our training? Not only for an earthly +aim, but for a high spiritual reward, all this toil. + +C5.10. This is Dakyns. + +C5.11. "Up, Guards, and at 'em!" + +C6. This chapter might have been a separate work appended to the +_Memorabilia_ on Polemics or Archics ["Science of War" and "Science of +Rule"]. + +C6.3-6. Sounds like some Socratic counsel; the righteous man's +conception of prayer and the part he must himself play. + +C6.7. Personal virtue and domestic economy a sufficiently hard task, +let alone that still graver task, the art of grinding masses of men into +virtue. + +C6.8, fin. The false theory of ruling in vogue in Media: the _plus_ of +ease instead of the _plus_ of foresight and danger-loving endurance. Cf. +Walt Whitman. + +C6.30. Is like the logical remark of a disputant in a Socratic dialogue +of the Alcibiades type, and §§ 31-33 a Socratic _mythos_ to escape +from the dilemma; the breakdown of this ideal _plus_ and _minus_ +righteousness due to the hardness of men's hearts and their feeble +intellects. + +C6.31. Who is this ancient teacher or who is his prototype if he is an +ideal being? A sort of Socrates-Lycurgus? Or is Xenophon thinking of the +Spartan Crypteia? + +C6.34. For _pleonexia_ and deceit in war, vide _Hipparch_., c. 5 [tr. +Works, Vol. III. Part II. p. 20]. Interesting and Hellenic, I think, +the mere raising of this sort of question; it might be done nowadays, +perhaps, with advantage _or_ disadvantage, less cant and more plain +brutality. + +C6.39. Hunting devices applied: throws light on the date of the +_Cyropaedia_, after the Scilluntine days, probably. [After Xenophon was +exiled from Athens, his Spartan friends gave him a house and farm +at Scillus, a township in the Peloponnese, not far from Olympia. See +_Sketch of Xenophon's Life_, Works, Vol. I., p. cxxvi.] + +C6.41, init. Colloquial exaggerated turn of phrase; almost "you could +wipe them off the earth." + + + + +BOOK II + +[C.1] Thus they talked together, and thus they journeyed on until they +reached the frontier, and there a good omen met them: an eagle swept +into view on the right, and went before them as though to lead the way, +and they prayed the gods and heroes of the land to show them favour and +grant them safe entry, and then they crossed the boundary. And when they +were across, they prayed once more that the gods of Media might receive +them graciously, and when they had done this they embraced each other, +as father and son will, and Cambyses turned back to his own city, but +Cyrus went forward again, to his uncle Cyaxares in the land of Media. +[2] And when his journey was done and he was face to face with him and +they had greeted each other as kinsmen may, then Cyaxares asked +the prince how great an armament he had brought with him? And Cyrus +answered, "I have 30,000 with me, men who have served with you before as +mercenaries; and more are coming on behind, fresh troops, from the Peers +of Persia." + +"How many of those?" asked Cyaxares. [3] And Cyrus answered, "Their +numbers will not please you, but remember these Peers of ours, though +they are few, find it easy to rule the rest of the Persians, who are +many. But now," he added, "have you any need of us at all? Perhaps +it was only a false alarm that troubled you, and the enemy are not +advancing?" + +"Indeed they are," said the other, "and in full force." + +[4] "How do you know?" asked Cyrus. + +"Because," said he, "many deserters come to us, and all of them, in one +fashion or another, tell the same tale." + +"Then we must give battle?" said Cyrus. + +"Needs must," Cyaxares replied. + +"Well," answered Cyrus, "but you have not told me yet how great their +power is, or our own either. I want to hear, if you can tell me, so that +we may make our plans." + +"Listen, then," said Cyaxares. [5] "Croesus the Lydian is coming, we +hear, with 10,000 horse and more than 40,000 archers and targeteers. +Artamas the governor of Greater Phrygia is bringing, they say, 8000 +horse, and lancers and targeteers also, 40,000 strong. Then there is +Aribaius the king of Cappadocia with 6000 horse and 30,000 archers +and targeteers. And Aragdus the Arabian with 10,000 horse, a hundred +chariots, and innumerable slingers. As for the Hellenes who dwell in +Asia, it is not clear as yet whether they will send a following or not. +But the Phrygians from the Hellespont, we are told, are mustering in the +Caystrian plain under Gabaidus, 6000 horse and 40,000 targeteers. Word +has been sent to the Carians, Cilicians, and Paphlagonians, but it is +said they will not rise; the Lord of Assyria and Babylon will himself, +I believe, bring not less than 20,000 horse, and I make no doubt as many +as 200 chariots, and thousands upon thousands of men on foot; such at +least has been his custom whenever he invaded us before." + +[6] Cyrus answered: "Then you reckon the numbers of the enemy to be, in +all, something like 60,000 horse and 200,000 archers and targeteers. And +what do you take your own to be?" + +"Well," he answered, "we ourselves can furnish over 10,000 horse and +perhaps, considering the state of the country, as many as 60,000 archers +and targeteers. And from our neighbours, the Armenians," he added, "we +look to get 4000 horse and 20,000 foot." + +"I see," said Cyrus, "you reckon our cavalry at less than a third of the +enemy's, and our infantry at less than half." + +[7] "Ah," said Cyaxares, "and perhaps you feel that the force you are +bringing from Persia is very small?" + +"We will consider that later on," answered Cyrus, "and see then if we +require more men or not. Tell me first the methods of fighting that the +different troops adopt." + +"They are much the same for all," answered Cyaxares, "that is to say, +their men and ours alike are armed with bows and javelins." + +"Well," replied Cyrus, "if such arms are used, skirmishing at long range +must be the order of the day." "True," said the other. [8] "And in that +case," went on Cyrus, "the victory is in the hands of the larger force; +for even if the same numbers fall on either side, the few would be +exhausted long before the many." "If that be so," cried Cyaxares, "there +is nothing left for us but to send to Persia, and make them see that if +disaster falls on Media it will fall on Persia next, and beg them for +a larger force." "Ah, but," said Cyrus, "you must remember that even if +every single Persian were to come at once, we could not outnumber our +enemies." [9] "But," said the other, "can you see anything else to be +done?" "For my part," answered Cyrus, "if I could have my way, I would +arm every Persian who is coming here in precisely the same fashion as +our Peers at home, that is to say, with a corslet for the breast, a +shield for the left arm, and a sword or battle-axe for the right hand. +If you will give us these you will make it quite safe for us to close +with the enemy, and our foes will find that flight is far pleasanter +than defence. But we Persians," he added, "will deal with those who do +stand firm, leaving the fugitives to you and to your cavalry, who must +give them no time to rally and no time to escape." + +[10] That was the counsel of Cyrus, and Cyaxares approved it. He thought +no more of sending for a larger force, but set about preparing the +equipment he had been asked for, and all was in readiness just about the +time when the Peers arrived from Persia at the head of their own troops. +[11] Then, so says the story, Cyrus called the Peers together and spoke +to them as follows: "Men of Persia, my friends and comrades, when I +looked at you first and saw the arms you bore and how you were all on +fire to meet the enemy, hand to hand, and when I remembered that your +squires are only equipped for fighting on the outskirts of the field, +I confess my mind misgave me. Few and forlorn they will be, I said to +myself, swallowed up in a host of enemies; no good can come of it. But +to-day you are here, and your men behind you, stalwart and stout of +limb, and to-morrow they shall have armour like our own. None could find +fault with their thews and sinews, and as for their spirit, it is for +us to see it does not fail. A leader must not only have a stout heart +himself; he must see to it that his followers are as valiant as he." + +[12] Thus Cyrus spoke, and the Peers were well satisfied at his words, +feeling that on the day of battle they would have more to help them in +the struggle. [13] And one of them said, "Perhaps it will seem strange +if I ask Cyrus to speak in our stead to our fellow-combatants when they +receive their arms, and yet I know well that the words of him who has +the greatest power for weal or woe sink deepest into the listener's +heart. His very gifts, though they should be less than the gifts of +equals, are valued more. These new comrades of ours," he went on, "would +rather be addressed by Cyrus himself than by us, and now that they are +to take their place among the Peers their title will seem to them +far more secure if it is given them by the king's own son and our +general-in-chief. Not that we have not still our own duties left. We are +bound to do our best in every way to rouse the spirit of our men. Shall +we not gain ourselves by all they gain in valour?" + +[14] So it came about that Cyrus had the new armour placed before him +and summoned a general meeting of the Persian soldiery, and spoke to +them as follows: + +[15] "Men of Persia, born and bred in the same land as ourselves, whose +limbs are as stout and as strong as our own, your hearts should be as +brave. I know they are; and yet at home in the land of our fathers you +did not share our rights; not that we drove you out ourselves, but +you were banished by the compulsion that lay upon you to find your +livelihood for yourselves. Now from this day forward, with heaven's +help, it shall be my care to provide it for you; and now, if so +you will, you have it in your power to take the armour that we wear +ourselves, face the same perils and win the same honours, if so be you +make any glorious deed your own. [16] In former days you were trained, +like ourselves, in the use of bow and javelin, and if you were at all +inferior to us in skill, that was not to be wondered at; you had not +the same leisure for practice as we; but now in this new accoutrement we +shall have no pre-eminence at all. Each of us will wear a corslet fitted +to his breast and carry a shield on his left arm of the type to which we +are all accustomed, and in his right hand a sabre or a battle-axe. With +these we shall smite the enemy before us, and need have no fear that we +shall miss the mark. [17] How can we differ from one another with these +arms? There can be no difference except in daring. And daring you may +foster in your hearts as much as we in ours. What greater right have we +than you to love victory and follow after her, victory who wins for us +and preserves to us all things that are beautiful and good? Why should +you, any more than we, be found lacking in that power which takes the +goods of weaklings and bestows them on the strong?" + +[18] He ended: "Now you have heard all. There lie your weapons; let him +who chooses take them up and write his name with the brigadier in the +same roll as ours. And if a man prefers to remain a mercenary, let him +do so; he carries the arms of a servant." + +[19] Thus spoke Cyrus; and the Persians, every man of them, felt they +would be ashamed for the rest of their days, and deservedly, if they +drew back now, when they were offered equal honour in return for equal +toil. One and all they inscribed their names and took up the new arms. + +[20] And now in the interval, before the enemy were actually at hand, +but while rumour said they were advancing, Cyrus took on himself a +three-fold task: to bring the physical strength of his men to the +highest pitch, to teach them tactics, and to rouse their spirit for +martial deeds. [21] He asked Cyaxares for a body of assistants whose +duty it should be to provide each of his soldiers with all they could +possibly need, thus leaving the men themselves free for the art of war. +He had learnt, he thought, that success, in whatever sphere, was only to +be won by refusing to attempt a multitude of tasks and concentrating the +mind on one. + +Thus in the military training itself he gave up the practice with bow +and javelin, leaving his men to perfect themselves in the use of sabre, +shield, and corslet, accustoming them from the very first to the thought +that they must close with the enemy, or confess themselves worthless as +fellow-combatants; a harsh conclusion for those who knew that they were +only protected in order to fight on behalf of their protectors. [22] And +further, being convinced that wherever the feeling of emulation can +be roused, there the eagerness to excel is greatest, he instituted +competitions for everything in which he thought his soldiers should be +trained. The private soldier was challenged to prove himself prompt +to obey, anxious to work, eager for danger, and yet ever mindful of +discipline, an expert in the science of war, an artist in the conduct +of his arms, and a lover of honour in all things. The petty officer +commanding a squad of five was not only to equal the leading private, he +must also do what he could to bring his men to the same perfection; the +captain of ten must do the same for his ten, and the company's captain +for the company, while the commander of the whole regiment, himself +above reproach, must take the utmost care with the officers under him so +that they in their turn should see that their subordinates were perfect +in all their duties. [23] For prizes, Cyrus announced that the brigadier +in command of the finest regiment should be raised to the rank of +general, the captain of the finest company should be made a brigadier, +the captain of the finest squad of ten captain of a company, and the +captain of the best five a captain of ten, while the best soldiers from +the ranks should become captains of five themselves. Every one of these +officers had the privilege of being served by those beneath him, and +various other honours also, suited to their several grades, while ampler +hopes were offered for any nobler exploits. [24] Finally prizes were +announced to be won by a regiment or a company or a squad taken as a +whole, by those who proved themselves most loyal to their leaders and +most zealous in the practice of their duty. These prizes, of course, +were such as to be suitable for men taken in the mass. + +Such were the orders of the Persian leader, and such the exercises of +the Persian troops. [25] For their quarters, he arranged that a separate +shelter should be assigned to every brigadier, and that it should be +large enough for the whole regiment he commanded; a regiment consisting +of 100 men. Thus they were encamped by regiments, and in the mere fact +of common quarters there was this advantage, Cyrus thought, for the +coming struggle, that the men saw they were all treated alike, and +therefore no one could pretend that he was slighted, and no one sink to +the confession that he was a worse man than his neighbours when it came +to facing the foe. Moreover the life in common would help the men to +know each other, and it is only by such knowledge, as a rule, that a +common conscience is engendered; those who live apart, unknowing and +unknown, seem far more apt for mischief, like those who skulk in the +dark. [26] Cyrus thought the common life would lead to the happiest +results in the discipline of the regiments. By this system all the +officers--brigadiers, company-captains, captains of the squads--could +keep their men in as perfect order as if they were marching before them +in single file. [27] Such precision in the ranks would do most to guard +against disorder and re-establish order if ever it were broken; just as +when timbers and stones have to be fitted together it is easy enough +to put them into place, wherever they chance to lie, provided only that +they are marked so as to leave no doubt where each belongs. [28] And +finally, he felt, there was the fact that those who live together are +the less likely to desert one another; even the wild animals, Cyrus +knew, who are reared together suffer terribly from loneliness when they +are severed from each other. + +[29] There was a further matter, to which he gave much care; he wished +no man to take his meal at morning or at night till he had sweated for +it. He would lead the men out to hunt, or invent games for them, or +if there was work to be done, he would so conduct it that they did not +leave it without sweat. He believed this regimen gave them zest for +their food, was good for their health, and increased their powers of +toil; and the toil itself was a blessed means for making the men more +gentle towards each other; just as horses that work together grow +gentle, and will stand quietly side by side. Moreover the knowledge of +having gone through a common training would increase tenfold the courage +with which they met the foe. + +[30] Cyrus had his own quarters built to hold all the guests he might +think it well to entertain, and, as a rule, he would invite such of the +brigadiers as the occasion seemed to call for, but sometimes he would +send for the company-captains and the officers in command of the smaller +squads, and even the private soldiers were summoned to his board, and +from time to time a squad of five, or of ten, or an entire company, or +even a whole regiment, or he would give a special invitation by way of +honour to any one whom he knew had undertaken some work he had at heart +himself. In every case there was no distinction whatever between the +meats for himself and for his guests. [31] Further he always insisted +that the army servants should share and share alike with the soldiers +in everything, for he held that those who did such service for the army +were as much to be honoured as heralds or ambassadors. They were bound, +he said, to be loyal and intelligent, alive to all a soldier's needs, +active, swift, unhesitating, and withal cool and imperturbable. Nor +was that all; he was convinced that they ought also to possess those +qualities which are thought to be peculiar to what we call "the better +classes," and yet never despise their work, but feel that everything +their commander laid upon them must be fit for them to do. + +[C.2] It was the constant aim of Cyrus whenever he and his soldiers +messed together, that the talk should be lively and full of grace, and +at the same time do the listeners good. Thus one day he brought the +conversation round to the following theme:-- + +"Do you think, gentlemen," said he, "that our new comrades appear +somewhat deficient in certain respects simply because they have not been +educated in the same fashion as ourselves? Or will they show themselves +our equals in daily life and on the field of battle when the time comes +to meet the foe?" + +[2] Hystaspas took up the challenge:--"What sort of warriors they will +prove I do not pretend to know, but this I do say, in private life some +of them are cross-grained fellows enough. Only the other day," he went +on, "Cyaxares sent a present of sacrificial meat to every regiment. +There was flesh enough for three courses apiece or more, and the +attendant had handed round the first, beginning with myself. So when he +came in again, I told him to begin at the other end of the board, and +serve the company in that order. [3] But I was greeted by a yell from +the centre: one of these men who was sitting there bawled out, 'Equality +indeed! There's not much of it here, if we who sit in the middle +are never served first at all!' It nettled me that they should fancy +themselves treated worse than we, so I called him up at once and made +him sit beside me. And I am bound to say he obeyed that order with the +most exemplary alacrity. But when the dish came round to us, we found, +not unnaturally, since we were the last to be served, that only a few +scraps were left. At this my man fell into the deepest dudgeon, and made +no attempt to conceal it, muttering to himself, 'Just like my ill-luck! +To be invited here just now and never before!' [4] I tried to comfort +him. 'Never mind,' I said, 'presently the servant will begin again with +us, and then you will help yourself first and you can take the biggest +piece.' Just then the third course, and, as it proved, the last, came +round, and so the poor fellow took his helping, but as he did so it +struck him that the piece he had chosen first was too small, and he put +it back, meaning to pick out another. But the carver, thinking he had +changed his mind and did not want any more, passed on to the next man +before he had time to secure his second slice. [5] At this our friend +took his loss so hard that he only made matters worse: his third course +was clean gone, and now in his rage and his bad luck he somehow managed +to overset the gravy, which was all that remained to him. The captain +next to us seeing how matters stood rubbed his hands with glee and went +into peals of laughter. And," said Hystaspas, "I took refuge in a fit +of coughing myself, for really I could not have controlled my laughter. +There, Cyrus," said he, "that is a specimen of our new comrades, as +nearly as I can draw his portrait." + +[6] The description, as may be guessed, was greeted with shouts of +laughter, and then another brigadier took up the word: "Well, Cyrus," +said he, "our friend here has certainly met with an absolute boor: my +own experience is somewhat different. You remember the admonitions you +gave us when you dismissed the regiments, and how you bade each of us +instruct his own men in the lessons we had learnt from you. Well, I, +like the rest of us, went off at once and set about instructing one of +the companies under me. I posted the captain in front with a fine young +fellow behind him, and after them the others in the order I thought +best; I took my stand facing them all, and waited, with my eyes fixed on +the captain, until I thought the right moment had come, and then I gave +the order to advance. [7] And what must my fine fellow do but get in +front of the captain and march off ahead of the whole troop. I cried +out, 'You, sir, what are you doing?' 'Advancing as you ordered.' 'I +never ordered you to advance alone,' I retorted, 'the order was given +to the whole company.' At which he turned right round and addressed the +ranks: 'Don't you hear the officer abusing you? The orders are for all +to advance!' Whereupon the rest of them marched right past their captain +and up to me. [8] Of course the captain called them back, and they began +to grumble and growl: 'Which of the two are we to obey? One tells us to +advance, the other won't let us move.' + +"Well, I had to take the whole matter very quietly and begin again from +the beginning, posting the company as they were, and explaining that no +one in the rear was to move until the front rank man led off: all they +had to do was to follow the man in front. [9] As I was speaking, up came +a friend of mine; he was going off to Persia, and had come to ask me for +a letter I had written home. So I turned to the captain who happened to +know where I had left the letter lying, and bade him fetch it for me. +Off he ran, and off ran my young fellow at his heels, breast-plate, +battle-axe, and all. The rest of the company thought they were bound to +follow suit, joined in the race, and brought my letter back in style. +That is how my company, you see, carries out your instructions to the +full." + +[10] He paused, and the listeners laughed to their hearts' content, as +well as they might, over the triumphant entry of the letter under its +armed escort. Then Cyrus spoke: + +"Now heaven be praised! A fine set they are, these new friends of ours, +a most rare race! So grateful are they for any little act of courtesy, +you may win a hundred hearts by a dish of meat! And so docile, some of +them must needs obey an order before they have understood it! For my +part I can only pray to be blest with an army like them all." + +[11] Thus he joined in the mirth, but he turned the laughter to the +praise of his new recruits. + +Then one of the company, a brigadier called Aglaïtadas, a somewhat +sour-tempered man, turned to him and said: + +"Cyrus, do you really think the tales they tell are true?" + +"Certainly," he answered, "why should they say what is false?" + +"Why," repeated the other, "simply to raise a laugh, and make a brag +like the impostors that they are." [12] But Cyrus cut him short, "Hush! +hush! You must not use such ugly names. Let me tell you what an impostor +is. He is a man who claims to be wealthier or braver than he is in fact, +and who undertakes what he can never carry out, and all this for the +sake of gain. But he who contrives mirth for his friends, not for his +own profit, or his hearers' loss, or to injure any man, surely, if we +must needs give him a name, we ought to call him a man of taste and +breeding and a messenger of wit." + +[13] Such was the defence of Cyrus in behalf of the merrymakers. And the +officer who had begun the jest turned to Aglaïtadas and said: + +"Just think, my dear sir, if we had tried to make you weep! What +fault you would have found with us! Suppose we had been like the +ballad-singers and story-tellers who put in lamentable tales in the hope +of reducing their audience to tears! What would you have said about us +then? Why, even now, when you know we only wish to amuse you, not to +make you suffer, you must needs hold us up to shame." + +[14] "And is not the shame justified?" Aglaïtadas replied. "The man who +sets himself to make his fellows laugh does far less for them than he +who makes them weep. If you will but think, you will admit that what +I say is true. It is through tears our fathers teach self-control unto +their sons, and our tutors sound learning to their scholars, and the +laws themselves lead the grown man to righteousness by putting him to +sit in the place of penitence. But your mirth-makers, can you say they +benefit the body or edify the soul? Can smiles make a man a better +master or a better citizen? Can he learn economy or statesmanship from a +grin?" + +[15] But Hystaspas answered back: + +"Take my advice, Aglaïtadas, pluck up heart and spend this precious gift +of yours on your enemies: make them sit in the seat of the sorrowful, +and fling away on us, your friends, that vile and worthless laughter. +You must have an ample store of it in reserve: it cannot be said you +have squandered it on yourself, or ever wasted a smile on friend or +foreigner if you could help it. So you have no excuse to be niggardly +now, and cannot refuse us a smile." + +"I see," said Aglaïtadas, "you are trying to get a laugh out of me, are +you not?" + +But the brigadier interposed, "Then he is a fool for his pains, my +friend: one might strike fire out of you, perhaps, but not a laugh, not +a laugh." + +[16] At this sally all the others shouted with glee, and even Aglaïtadas +could not help himself: he smiled. + +And Cyrus, seeing the sombre face light up said: + +"Brigadier, you are very wrong to corrupt so virtuous a man, luring him +to laughter, and that too when he is the sworn foe of gaiety." + +So they talked and jested. [17] And then Chrysantas began on another +theme. + +[18] "Cyrus," he said, "and gentlemen all, I cannot help seeing that +within our ranks are men of every kind, some better and some worse, and +yet if anything is won every man will claim an equal share. Now to my +mind nothing is more unfair than that the base man and the good should +be held of equal account." + +"Perhaps it would be best, gentlemen," said Cyrus in answer, "to bring +the matter before the army in council and put it to them, whether, +if God grant us success, we should let all share and share alike, or +distribute the rewards and honours in proportion to the deserts of +each." + +[19] "But why," asked Chrysantas, "why discuss the point? Why not simply +issue a general order that you intend to do this? Was not that enough in +the case of the competitions?" + +"Doubtless," Cyrus answered, "but this case is different. The troops, I +take it, will feel that all they win by their services on the campaign +should belong to them in common: but they hold that the actual command +of the expedition was mine by right even before we left home, so that I +was fully entitled, on their view, to appoint umpires and judges at my +own will." + +[20] "And do you really expect," asked Chrysantas, "that the mass of the +army will pass a resolution giving up the right of all to an equal share +in order that the best men should receive the most?" + +"Yes, I do," said Cyrus, "partly because we shall be there to argue for +that course, but chiefly because it would seem too base to deny that +he who works the hardest and does most for the common good deserves +the highest recompense. Even the worst of men must admit that the brave +should gain the most." + +[21] It was, however, as much for the sake of the Peers themselves as +for any other reason that Cyrus wished the resolution to be passed. +They would prove all the better men, he thought, if they too were to be +judged by their deeds and rewarded accordingly. And this was the right +moment, he felt, to raise the question and put it to the vote, now when +the Peers were disposed to resent being put on a level with the common +people. In the end it was agreed by all the company that the question +should be raised, and that every one who claimed to call himself a man +was bound to argue in its favour. + +[22] And on that one of the brigadiers smiled to himself and said: "I +know at least one son of the soil who will be ready to agree that the +principle of share and share alike should not be followed everywhere." + +"And who is he?" another asked. + +"Well," said the first, "he is a member of our quarters, I can tell you +that, and he is always hunting after the lion's share of every single +thing." + +"What? Of everything?" said a third. "Of work as well?" "Oh, no!" said +the first, "you have caught me there. I was wrong to say so much, I must +confess. When it comes to work, I must admit, he is quite ready to go +short: he will give up his own share of that, without a murmur, to any +man whatever." + +[23] "For my part, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "I hold that all such idlers +ought to be turned out of the army, that is, if we are ever to cultivate +obedience and energy in our men. The bulk of our soldiers, I take it, +are of the type to follow a given lead: they will seek after nobleness +and valour if their leaders are valiant and noble, but after baseness if +these are base. [24] And we know that only too often the worthless will +find more friends than the good. Vice, passing lightly along her path +of pleasure, wins the hearts of thousands with her gifts; but Virtue, +toiling up the steep ascent, has little skill to snare the souls of men +and draw them after her, when all the while their comrades are calling +to them on the easy downward way. [25] It is true there are degrees, +and where the evil springs only from sloth and lethargy, I look on the +creatures as mere drones, only injuring the hive by what they cost: but +there are others, backward in toil and forward in greed, and these are +the captains in villainy: for not seldom can they show that rascality +has its advantages. Such as they must be removed, cut out from among us, +root and branch. [26] And I would not have you fill their places from +our fellow-citizens alone, but, just as you choose your horses from +the best stocks, wherever you find them, not limiting yourselves to +the national breed, so you have all mankind before you, and you should +choose those, and those only, who will increase your power and add +to your honour. Let me clinch my argument by examples: no chariot can +travel fast if the horses in the team are slow, or run straight if they +will not be ruled; no house can stand firm if the household is evil: +better empty walls than traitors who will bring it to the ground. + +[27] "And be sure, my friends," he added, "the removal of the bad means +a benefit beyond the sheer relief that they are taken away and will +trouble us no more: those who are left and were ripe for contagion are +purified, and those who were worthy will cleave to virtue all the closer +when they see the dishonour that falls on wickedness." + +[28] So Cyrus spoke, and his words won the praise of all his friends, +and they set themselves to do as he advised. + +But after that Cyrus began to jest again. His eye fell on a certain +captain who had chosen for his comrade at the feast a great hairy lad, a +veritable monster of ugliness, and Cyrus called to the captain by name: +"How now, Sambulas? Have you adopted the Hellenic fashion too? And +will you roam the world together, you and the lad who sits beside you, +because there is none so fair as he?" "By heaven," answered Sambulas, +"you are not far wrong. It is bliss to me to feast my eyes upon him." +[29] At that all the guests turned and looked on the young man's +face, but when they saw how ugly it was, they could not help laughing +outright. "Heavens, Sambulas, tell us the valiant deed that knit your +souls together! How has he drawn you to himself?" [30] "Listen then," he +answered, "and I will tell you the whole truth. Every time I call +him, morning, noon, or night, he comes to me; never yet has he excused +himself, never been too busy to attend; and he comes at a run, he does +not walk. Whatever I have bidden him do, he has always done it, and at +the top of his speed. He has made all the petty captains under him the +very models of industry; he shows them, not by word but deed, what they +ought to be." [31] "And so," said another, "for all these virtues you +give him, I take it, the kiss of kinship?" But the ugly lad broke out: +"Not he! He has no great love for work. And to kiss me, if it came to +that, would mean more effort than all his exercises." + +[C.3] So the hours passed in the general's tent, from grave to gay, +until at last the third libation was poured out, and the company bent +in prayer to the gods--"Grant us all that is good"--and so broke up, and +went away to sleep. + +But the next day Cyrus assembled the soldiers in full conclave, and +spoke to them: [2] "My men," he said, "my friends, the day of struggle +is at hand, and the enemy are near. The prizes of victory, if victory +is to be ours--and we must believe it will be ours, we must make it +ours--the prizes of victory will be nothing short of the enemy himself +and all that he possesses. And if the victory should be his, then, in +like manner, all the goods of the vanquished must lie at the victor's +feet. [3] Therefore I would have you take this to your hearts: wherever +those who have joined together for war remember that unless each and +every one of them play his part with zeal nothing good can follow; there +we may look for glorious success. For there nothing that ought to be +done will be left undone. But if each man thinks 'My neighbour will +toil and fight, even though my own heart should fail and my own arm +fall slack,' then, believe me, disaster is at the door for each and all +alike, and no man shall escape. [4] Such is the ordinance of God: those +who will not work out their own salvation he gives into the hands of +other men to bear rule over them. And now I call on any man here," he +added, "to stand up and say whether he believes that virtue will best +be nourished among us if he who bears the greatest toil and takes the +heaviest risk shall receive the highest honours. Or whether we should +hold that cowardice makes no difference in the end, seeing that we all +must share alike?" + +[5] Thereupon Chrysantas of the Peers rose up. He was a man of +understanding, but his bodily presence was weak. And now he spoke thus: + +"I do not imagine, Cyrus, that you put this question with any belief +that cowards ought really to receive the same share as the brave. No, +you wished to make trial of us and see whether any man would dare to +claim an equal part in all that his fellows win by their nobleness, +though he never struck a single valiant stroke himself. [6] I myself," +he continued, "am neither fleet of foot nor stout of limb, and for aught +I can do with my body, I perceive that on the day of trial neither the +first place nor the second can be mine, no, nor yet the hundredth, nor +even, it may be, the thousandth. But this I know right well, that if +our mighty men put forth all their strength, I too shall receive such +portion of our blessings as I may deserve. But if the cowards sit at +ease and the good and brave are out of heart, then I fear that I shall +get a portion, a larger than I care to think, of something that is no +blessing but a curse." + +[7] And so spoke Chrysantas, and then Pheraulas stood up. He was a +man of the people, but well known to Cyrus in the old days at home and +well-beloved by him: no mean figure to look at, and in soul like a man +of noble birth. Now he spoke as follows: + +[8] "Cyrus, friends, and Persians, I hold to the belief that on this +day we all start equal in that race where valour is the goal. I speak of +what I see: we are trained on the same fare; we are held worthy of the +same comradeship; we contend for the same rewards. All of us alike are +told to obey our leaders, and he who obeys most frankly never fails +to meet with honour at the hands of Cyrus. Valour is no longer the +privilege of one class alone: it has become the fairest prize that can +fall to the lot of any man. [9] And to-day a battle is before us where +no man need teach us how to fight: we have the trick of it by nature, +as a bull knows how to use his horns, or a horse his hoofs, or a dog +his teeth, or a wild boar his tusks. The animals know well enough," he +added, "when and where to guard themselves: they need no master to tell +them that. [10] I myself, when I was a little lad, I knew by instinct +how to shield myself from the blow I saw descending: if I had nothing +else, I had my two fists, and used them with all my force against my +foe: no one taught me how to do it, on the contrary they beat me if they +saw me clench my fists. And a knife, I remember, I never could resist: +I clutched the thing whenever I caught sight of it: not a soul showed me +how to hold it, only nature herself, I do aver. I did it, not because I +was taught to do it, but in spite of being forbidden, like many another +thing to which nature drove me, in spite of my father and mother both. +Yes, and I was never tired of hacking and hewing with my knife whenever +I got the chance: it did not seem merely natural, like walking or +running, it was positive joy. [11] Well, to-day we are to fight in +this same simple fashion: energy, rather than skill, is called for, and +glorious it will be to match ourselves against our friends, the Peers of +Persia. And let us remember that the same prizes are offered to us +all, but the stakes differ: our friends give up a life of honour, +the sweetest life there can be, but we escape from years of toil and +ignominy, and there can be no life worse than that. [12] And what fires +me most of all, my friends, and sends me into the lists most gladly, is +the thought that Cyrus will be our judge: one who will give no partial +verdict. I call the gods to witness when I say that he loves a valiant +man as he loves his own soul: I have seen him give such an one more than +he ever keeps for himself. [13] And now," he added, "I know that our +friends here pride themselves upon their breeding and what it has done +for them. They have been brought up to endure hunger and thirst, cold +and nakedness, and yet they are aware that we too have been trained in +the self-same school and by a better master than they: we were taught by +Necessity, and there is no teacher so good, and none so strict. [14] How +did our friends here learn their endurance? By bearing arms, weapons +of war, tools that the wit of the whole human race has made as light as +well could be: but Necessity drove us, my fellows and myself, to stagger +under burdens so heavy that to-day, if I may speak for myself, these +weapons of mine seem rather wings to lift me than weights to bear. [15] +I for one am ready, Cyrus, to enter the lists, and, however I prove, I +will ask from you no more than I deserve: I would have you believe this. +And you," he added, turning to his fellows, "you, men of the people, I +would have you plunge into the battle and match yourselves with these +gentlemen-warriors: the fine fellows must meet us now, for this is the +people's day." + +[16] That is what Pheraulas said, and many rose to follow him and +support his views. And it was resolved that each man should be honoured +according to his deserts and that Cyrus should be the judge. So the +matter ended, and all was well. + +[17] Now Cyrus gave a banquet and a certain brigadier was the chief +guest, and his regiment with him. Cyrus had marked the officer one +day when he was drilling his men; he had drawn up the ranks in two +divisions, opposite each other, ready for the charge. They were all +wearing corslets and carrying light shields, but half were equipped +with stout staves of fennel, and half were ordered to snatch up clods of +earth and do what they could with these. [18] When all were ready, the +officer gave the signal and the artillery began, not without effect: the +missiles fell fast on shields and corslets, on thighs and greaves. But +when they came to close quarters the men of the staves had their turn: +they struck at thighs and hands and legs, or, if the adversary stooped +and twisted, they belaboured back and shoulders, till they put the foe +to utter rout, delivering their blows with shouts of laughter and the +glee of boys. Then there was an exchange of weapons, and the other side +had their revenge: they took the staves in their turn, and once more the +staff triumphed over the clod. [19] Cyrus was full of admiration, partly +at the inventiveness of the commander, partly at the discipline of the +men; it was good to see the active exercise, and the gaiety of heart, +and good to know that the upshot of the battle favoured those who fought +in the Persian style. In every way he was pleased, and then and there +he bade them all to dinner. But at the feast many of the guests wore +bandages, some on their hands, others on their legs, and Cyrus saw it +and asked what had befallen them. They told him they had been bruised +by the clods. [20] "At close quarters?" said he, "or at long range?" "At +long range," they answered, and all the club-bearers agreed that when +it came to close quarters, they had the finest sport. But here those who +had been carbonaded by that weapon broke in and protested loudly that +it was anything but sport to be clubbed at short range, and in proof +thereof they showed the weals on hand and neck and face. Thus they +laughed at one another as soldiers will; and on the next day the whole +plain was studded with combats of this type, and whenever the army had +nothing more serious in hand, this sport was their delight. + +[21] Another day Cyrus noticed a brigadier who was marching his regiment +up from the river back to their quarters. They were advancing in single +file on his left, and at the proper moment he ordered the second company +to wheel round and draw up to the front alongside the first, and then +the third, and then the fourth; and when the company-captains were +all abreast, he passed the word along, "Companies in twos," and the +captains-of-ten came into line; and then at the right moment he gave the +order, "Companies in fours," and the captains of five wheeled round and +came abreast, and when they reached the tent doors he called a halt, +made them fall into single file once more, and marched the first company +in first, and then the second at its heels, and the third and fourth +behind them, and as he introduced them, he seated them at the table, +keeping the order of their entry. What Cyrus commended was the quiet +method of instruction and the care the officer showed, and it was for +that he invited him and all his regiment to dinner in the royal tent. + +[22] Now it chanced that another brigadier was among the guests, and +he spoke up and said to Cyrus: "But will you never ask my men to dinner +too? Day after day, morning and evening, whenever we come in for a meal +we do just the same as they, and when the meal is over the hindmost +man of the last company leads out his men with their fighting-order +reversed, and the next company follows, led by their hindmost man, and +then the third, and then the fourth: so that all of them, if they have +to retire before an enemy, will know how to fall back in good order. +And as soon as we are drawn up on the parade-ground we set off marching +east, and I lead off with all my divisions behind me, in their regular +order, waiting for my word. By-and-by we march west, and then the +hindmost man of the last division leads the way, but they must still +look to me for commands, though I am marching last: and thus they learn +to obey with equal promptitude whether I am at the head or in the rear." + +[23] "Do you mean to tell me," said Cyrus, "that this is a regular rule +of yours?" + +"Truly yes," he answered, "as regular as our meals, heaven help us!" + +"Then I hereby invite you all to dinner, and for three good reasons; you +practice your drill in both forms, you do this morning and evening both, +and by your marching and counter-marching you train your bodies and +benefit your souls. And since you do it all twice over every day, it is +only fair to give you dinner twice." + +[24] "Not twice in one day, I beg you!" said the officer, "unless you +can furnish us with a second stomach apiece." + +And so the conversation ended for the time. But the next day Cyrus was +as good as his word. He had all the regiment to dinner; and the day +after he invited them again: and when the other regiments knew of it +they fell to doing as they did. + +[C.4] Now it chanced one day as Cyrus was holding a review, a messenger +came from Cyaxares to tell him that an embassy from India had just +arrived, and to bid him return with all despatch. + +"And I bring with me," said the messenger, "a suit of splendid apparel +sent from Cyaxares himself: my lord wishes you to appear in all possible +splendour, for the Indians will be there to see you." + +[2] At that Cyrus commanded the brigadier of the first regiment to draw +up to the front with his men behind him on the left in single file, and +to pass the order on to the second, and so throughout the army. Officers +and men were quick to obey; so that in a trice the whole force on the +field was drawn up, one hundred deep and three hundred abreast, with +their officers at the head. [3] When they were in position Cyrus bade +them follow his lead and off they went at a good round pace. However the +road leading to the royal quarters was too narrow to let them pass +with so wide a front and Cyrus sent word along the line that the first +detachment, one thousand strong, should follow as they were, and then +the second, and so on to the last, and as he gave the command he led +on without a pause and all the detachments followed in due order, one +behind the other. [4] But to prevent mistakes he sent two gallopers up +to the entrance with orders to explain what should be done in case the +men were at a loss. And when they reached the gates, Cyrus told the +leading brigadier to draw up his regiment round the palace, twelve deep, +the front rank facing the building, and this command he was to pass on +to the second, and the second to the third, and so on till the last. [5] +And while they saw to this he went in to Cyaxares himself, wearing his +simple Persian dress without a trace of pomp. Cyaxares was well pleased +at his celerity, but troubled by the plainness of his attire, and said +to him, "What is the meaning of this, Cyrus? How could you show yourself +in this guise to the Indians? I wished you to appear in splendour: +it would have done me honour for my sister's son to be seen in great +magnificence." + +[6] But Cyrus made answer: "Should I have done you more honour if I had +put on a purple robe, and bracelets for my arms, and a necklace about my +neck, and so presented myself at your call after long delay? Or as now, +when to show you respect I obey you with this despatch and bring you +so large and fine a force, although I wear no ornament but the dust and +sweat of speed, and make no display unless it be to show you these +men who are as obedient to you as I am myself." Such were the words of +Cyrus, and Cyaxares felt that they were just, and so sent for the +Indian ambassadors forthwith. [7] And when they entered they gave this +message:--The king of the Indians bade them ask what was the cause of +strife between the Assyrians and the Medes, "And when we have heard +you," they said, "our king bids us betake ourselves to the Assyrian and +put the same question to him, and in the end we are to tell you both +that the king of the Indians, when he has enquired into the justice of +the case, will uphold the cause of him who has been wronged." + +[8] To this Cyaxares replied: + +"Then take from me this answer: we do the Assyrian no wrong nor any +injustice whatsoever. And now go and make inquiry of him, if you are so +minded, and see what answer he will give." + +Then Cyrus, who was standing by, asked Cyaxares, "May I too say what +is in my mind?" "Say on," answered Cyaxares. Then Cyrus turned to the +ambassadors: "Tell your master," he said, "unless Cyaxares is otherwise +minded, that we are ready to do this: if the Assyrian lays any injustice +to our charge we choose the king of the Indians himself to be our judge, +and he shall decide between us." + +[9] With that the embassy departed. And when they had gone out Cyrus +turned to his uncle and began, "Cyaxares, when I came to you I had scant +wealth of my own and of the little I brought with me only a fragment is +left. I have spent it all on my soldiers. You may wonder at this," he +added, "when it is you who have supported them, but, believe me, the +money has not been wasted: it has all been spent on gifts and rewards +to the soldiers who deserved it. [10] And I am sure," he added, "if +we require good workers and good comrades in any task whatever, it is +better and pleasanter to encourage them by kind speeches and kindly acts +than to drive them by pains and penalties. And if it is for war that we +need such trusty helpers, we can only win the men we want by every charm +of word and grace of deed. For our true ally must be a friend and not a +foe, one who can never envy the prosperity of his leader nor betray him +in the day of disaster. [11] Such is my conviction, and such being so, +I do not hide from myself the need of money. But to look to you for +everything, when I know that you spend so much already, would be +monstrous in my eyes. I only ask that we should take counsel together so +as to prevent the failure of your funds. I am well aware that if you won +great wealth, I should be able to help myself at need, especially if I +used it for your own advantage. [12] Now I think you told me the other +day that the king of Armenia has begun to despise you, because he hears +we have an enemy, and therefore he will neither send you troops nor pay +the tribute which is due." [13] "Yes," answered Cyaxares, "such are his +tricks. And I cannot decide whether to march on him at once and try +to subdue him by force, or let the matter be for the time, for fear of +adding to the enemies we have." Then Cyrus asked, "Are his dwellings +strongly fortified, or could they be attacked?" And Cyaxares answered, +"The actual fortifications are not very strong: I took good care of +that. But he has the hill-country to which he can retire, and there for +the moment lie secure, knowing that he himself is safely out of reach, +with everything that he can convoy thither; unless we are prepared to +carry on a siege, as my father actually did." + +[14] Thereupon Cyrus said, "Now if you are willing to send me with +a moderate force of cavalry--I will not ask for many men--I believe, +heaven helping me, I could compel him to send the troops and the +tribute. And I even hope that in the future he may become a firmer +friend that he is now." [15] And Cyaxares said: "I think myself they are +more likely to listen to you than to me. I have been told that his sons +were your companions in the chase when you were lads, and possibly old +habits will return and they will come over to you. Once they were in our +power, everything could be done as we desire." "Then," said Cyrus, +"this plan of ours had better be kept secret, had it not?" "No doubt," +answered Cyaxares. "In that way they would be more likely to fall into +our hands, and if we attack them they would be taken unprepared." + +[16] "Listen then," said Cyrus, "and see what you think of this. I have +often hunted the marches between your country and Armenia with all +my men, and sometimes I have taken horsemen with me from our comrades +here." "I see," said Cyaxares, "and if you chose to do the like again +it would seem only natural, but if your force was obviously larger than +usual, suspicion would arise at once." [17] "But it is possible," said +Cyrus, "to frame a pretext which would find credit with us and with them +too, if any rumour reached them. We might give out that I intend to hold +a splendid hunt and I might ask you openly for a troop of horse." + +"Admirable!" said Cyaxares. "And I shall refuse to give you more than a +certain number, my reason being that I wish to visit the outposts on the +Syrian side. And as a matter of fact," he added, "I do wish to see them +and put them in as strong a state as possible. Then, as soon as you have +started with your men, and marched, let us say, for a couple of days, +I could send you a good round number of horse and foot from my own +detachment. And when you have them at your back, you could advance at +once, and I will follow with the rest of my men as near you as I may, +close enough to appear in time of need." + +[18] Accordingly, Cyaxares proceeded to muster horse and foot for his +own march, and sent provision-waggons forward to meet him on the road. +Meanwhile Cyrus offered sacrifice for the success of his expedition and +found an opportunity to ask Cyaxares for a troop of his junior cavalry. +But Cyaxares would only spare a few, though many wished to go. Soon +afterwards he started for the outposts himself with all his horse and +foot, and then Cyrus found the omens favourable for his enterprise, and +led his soldiers out as though he meant to hunt. [19] He was scarcely +on his way when a hare started up at their feet, and an eagle, flying on +the right, saw the creature as it fled, swooped down and struck it, +bore it aloft in its talons to a cliff hard by, and did its will upon it +there. The omen pleased Cyrus well, and he bowed in worship to Zeus the +King, and said to his company, "This shall be a right noble hunt, my +friends, if God so will." + +[20] When he came to the borders he began the hunt in his usual way, the +mass of horse and foot going on ahead in rows like reapers, beating out +the game, with picked men posted at intervals to receive the animals and +give them chase. And thus they took great numbers of boars and stags and +antelopes and wild-asses: even to this day wild-asses are plentiful in +those parts. [21] But when the chase was over, Cyrus had touched the +frontier of the Armenian land, and there he made the evening meal. The +next day he hunted till he reached the mountains which were his goal. +And there he halted again and made the evening meal. At this point he +knew that the army from Cyaxares was advancing, and he sent secretly to +them and bade them keep about eight miles off, and take their evening +meal where they were, since that would make for secrecy. And when their +meal was over he told them to send their officers to him, and after +supper he called his own brigadiers together and addressed them thus: + +[22] "My friends, in old days the Armenian was a faithful ally and +subject of Cyaxares, but now when he sees an enemy against us, he +assumes contempt: he neither sends the troops nor pays the tribute. He +is the game we have come to catch, if catch we can. And this, I think, +is the way. You, Chrysantas," said he, "will sleep for a few hours, and +then take half the Persians with you, make for the hill country, and +seize the heights which we hear are his places of refuge when alarmed. +I will give you guides. [23] The hills, they tell us, are covered with +trees and scrub, so that we may hope you will escape unseen: still you +might send a handful of scouts ahead of you, disguised as a band of +robbers. If they should come across any Armenians they can either make +them prisoners and prevent them from spreading the news, or at least +scare them out of the way, so that they will not realise the whole of +your force, and only take measures against a pack of thieves. [24] That +is your task, Chrysantas, and now for mine. At break of day I shall take +half the foot and all the cavalry and march along the level straight to +the king's residence. If he resists, we must fight, if he retreats +along the plain we must run him down, if he makes for the mountains, why +then," said Cyrus, "it will be your business to see that none of your +visitors escape. [25] Think of it as a hunt: we down below are the +beaters rounding up the game, and you are the men at the nets: only bear +in mind that the earths must all be stopped before the game is up, and +the men at the traps must be hidden, or they will turn back the flying +quarry. [26] One last word, Chrysantas: you must not behave now as I +have known you do in your passion for the chase: you must not sit up the +whole night long without a wink of sleep, you must let all your men have +the modicum of rest that they cannot do without. [27] Nor must you--just +because you scour the hills in the hunt without a guide, following the +lead of the quarry and that alone, checking and changing course wherever +it leads you--you must not now plunge into the wildest paths: you must +tell your guides to take you by the easiest road unless it is much the +longest. [28] In war, they say, the easiest way is the quickest. And +once more, because you can race up a mountain yourself you are not to +lead on your men at the double; suit your pace to the strength of all. +[29] Indeed, it were no bad thing if some of your best and bravest were +to fall behind here and there and cheer the laggards on: and it would +quicken the pace of all, when the column has gone ahead, to see them +racing back to their places past the marching files." + +[30] Chrysantas listened, and his heart beat high at the trust reposed +in him. He took the guides, and gave the necessary orders for those who +were to march with him, and then he lay down to rest. And when all his +men had had the sleep he thought sufficient he set out for the hills. +[31] Day dawned, and Cyrus sent a messenger to the Armenian with these +words: "Cyrus bids you see to it that you bring your tribute and troops +without delay." "And if he asks you where Cyrus is, tell the truth and +say I am on the frontier. And if he asks whether I am advancing myself, +tell the truth again and say that you do not know. And if he enquires +how many we are, bid him send some one with you to find out." + +[32] Having so charged the messenger he sent him on forthwith, holding +this to be more courteous than to attack without warning. Then he drew +up his troops himself in the order best suited for marching, and, if +necessary, for fighting, and so set forth. The soldiers had orders that +not a soul was to be wronged, and if they met any Armenians they were +to bid them to have no fear, but open a market wherever they wished, and +sell meat or drink as they chose. + + + NOTES + +C1.5. Is this historical, i.e. _quasi_-historical? Are any of the names +real or all invented to give verisimilitude? + +C1.13. Any touch of the sycophancy of the future in it? As in modern +Germany, a touch of that involved in the system of royalty. + +C1.15. The raw material is good, but not worked up. Important for +the conception of Hellenic democracy (cf. § 17). Daring, courage, +virtue--there is no monopoly of these things. + +C1.21. (Cf. below VIII. C2.5) Worthy of Adam Smith. Xenophon has bump of +economy strongly developed; he resembles J. P.[*] in that respect. The +economic methodism, the mosaic interbedding, the architectonic structure +of it all, a part and parcel of Xenophon's genius. Was Alexander's +army a highly-organised, spiritually and materially built-up, vitalised +machine of this sort? What light does Arrian, that younger Xenophon, +throw upon it? + +[* "J. P." = John Percival, Bishop of Hereford (the writer of the +Introduction to this volume), at the time the notes were written +Headmaster of Clifton College.--F.M.S.] + +C1.25. Camaraderie encouraged and developed through a sense of equality +and fraternity, the life _au grand jour_ in common, producing a common +consciousness (cf. Comte and J. P.; Epaminondas and the Sacred Band at +Thebes). + +C2. Contrast of subject enlivening the style--light concrete as a foil +to the last drier abstract detail. Humorous also, with a dramatising +and development of the characters, Shakespeare-wise--Hystaspas, and the +rest. Aglaïtadas, a type of educator we know well (cf. Eccles. "Cocker +not a child"), grim, dry person with no sense of humour. Xenophon's own +humour shines out. + +C2.12. The term given to the two stories {eis tagathon}. T. E. B.[*] +could do it, or Socrates, without dullness or seeming to preach. There +is a crispness in the voice which is anti-pedantic. + +[* "T. E. B." = T. E. Brown, the Manx poet, at that time a colleague of +Mr. Dakyns at Clifton.--F.M.S.] + +C2.19. Cyrus recognises the ideal principle of co-operation and +collective ownership. Xenophon, Economist, ahead of the moderns. + +C2.26. Xenophon's breadth of view: virtue is not confined to citizens, +but we have the pick of the whole world. Cosmopolitan Hellenism. + +C3.4. Xenophon's theory of rule (cf. Ruskin): a right, inalienable, +God-bestowed, of the virtuous; subjection an inevitable consequence on +lack of self-discipline. + +C3.5, init. Is this a carelessness, or what? Chrysantas has been +introduced before, but here he is described as if stepping on the stage +for the first time. The sentence itself suggests the mould for the New +Testament narrative. + +C3.7. Pheraulas, and of him we shall hear much. A sharp contrast to +Chrysantas, the Peer, with his pointed plebeian similes. His speech +important again for Xenophon's sympathetic knowledge of children and +also of the hard-working poor. + +C3.10. How true to nature this. Cannot one see the little boy doubling +his little fists, a knife in his pocket, possibly a ball of string? + +C3.11. Is there a touch of flunkeyism in this? Not so; it is the +clear-sighted scientific Greek, that is all. + +C3.14. Very Scotch all this. + +C3.21-22. _Locus classicus_ for regimental marching tactics. Qy.: Are +any of these tactical improvements by Xenophon himself? + +C3.21. The "regiment" of a hundred men was divided into four +"companies" of twenty-five, to each of these one company-captain and +twenty-four men, viz.: twenty privates, two captains-of-ten, and two +captains-of-five, the two captains of ten having also especial charge +over the two remaining squads of five. A condensed diagram may make +the little manoeuvre clear. An X represents one group of five plus its +captain, either a captain-of-five or a captain-of-ten. A C represents a +company-captain. + + First position--One long column. All in single file. + + Second position--Four columns. Single file for each company. + + Third position--Eight columns. Double files. + + Fourth position--Sixteen columns. Quadruple files. + + C C C C C C C + X X X -> X X X X -> X X X X X X X X + X -> X X X X X X + X X X + X X X + C + X + X + X + X] + +C4.15. Cyaxares means to kidnap them, doesn't he? That is not quite +Cyrus' method. If so, it contrasts Cyaxares and Cyrus again. + +C4.17. Cyaxares the old fox improves upon the plan. + +C4.30, init. It is these touches which give the thrilling subjective +feeling to the writings of Xenophon, or, rather, thus his nerves tingle, +just as the external touches give a sense of objective health (e.g. +above, C1.29). + +C4.32. All this is entirely modern, never yet excelled, I imagine. + + + + +BOOK III + + +[C.1] Thus Cyrus made his preparations. But the Armenian, when he heard +what the messenger had to say, was terror-stricken: he knew the wrong +he had done in neglecting the tribute and withholding the troops, and, +above all, he was afraid it would be discovered that he was beginning +to put his palace in a fit state for defence. [2] Therefore, with much +trepidation, he began to collect his own forces, and at the same time +he sent his younger son Sabaris into the hills with the women, his own +wife, and the wife of his elder son and his daughters, taking the best +of their ornaments and furniture with them and an escort to be their +guide. Meanwhile he despatched a party to discover what Cyrus was doing, +and organised all the Armenian contingents as they came in. But it was +not long before other messengers arrived, saying that Cyrus himself was +actually at hand. [3] Then his courage forsook him; he dared not come +to blows and he withdrew. As soon as the recruits saw this they took to +their heels, each man bent on getting his own property safely out of +the way. When Cyrus saw the plains full of them, racing and riding +everywhere, he sent out messengers privately to explain that he had no +quarrel with any who stayed quietly in their homes, but if he caught a +man in flight, he warned them he would treat him as an enemy. Thus +the greater part were persuaded to remain, though there were some who +retreated with the king. + +[4] But when the escort with the women came on the Persians in the +mountain, they fled with cries of terror, and many of them were taken +prisoners. In the end the young prince himself was captured, and the +wife of the king, and his daughters, and his daughter-in-law, and +all the goods they had with them. And when the king learnt what had +happened, scarcely knowing where to turn, he fled to the summit of a +certain hill. [5] Cyrus, when he saw it, surrounded the spot with his +troops and sent word to Chrysantas, bidding him leave a force to +guard the mountains and come down to him. So the mass of the army was +collected under Cyrus, and then he sent a herald to the king with this +enquiry: + +"Son of Armenia, will you wait here and fight with hunger and thirst, +or will you come down into the plain and fight it out with us?" But the +Armenian answered that he wished to fight with neither. [6] Cyrus sent +again and asked, "Why do you sit there, then, and refuse to come down?" +"Because I know not what to do," answered the other. "It is simple +enough," said Cyrus, "come down and take your trial." "And who shall try +me?" asked the king. "He," answered Cyrus, "to whom God has given the +power to treat you as he lists, without a trial at all." + +Thereupon the Armenian came down, yielding to necessity, and Cyrus took +him and all that he had and placed him in the centre of the camp, for +all his forces were now at hand. + +[7] Meanwhile Tigranes, the elder son of the king, was on his way home +from a far country. In old days he had hunted with Cyrus and been his +friend, and now, when he heard what had happened, he came forward just +as he was; but when he saw his father and his mother, his brother and +sisters, and his own wife all held as prisoners, he could not keep back +the tears. [8] But Cyrus gave him no sign of friendship or courtesy, and +only said, "You have come in time, you may be present now to hear your +father tried." With that he summoned the leaders of the Persians and the +Medes, and any Armenian of rank and dignity who was there, nor would +he send away the women as they sat in covered carriages, but let them +listen too. [9] When all was ready he began: "Son of Armenia, I would +counsel you, in the first place, to speak the truth, so that at least +you may stand free from what deserves the utmost hate: beyond all +else, be assured, manifest lying checks the sympathy of man and man. +Moreover," said he, "your own sons, your daughters, and your wife are +well aware of all that you have done, and so are your own Armenians +who are here: if they perceive that you say what is not true, they must +surely feel that out of your own lips you condemn yourself to suffer +the uttermost penalty when I learn the truth." "Nay," answered the king, +"ask me whatever you will, and I will answer truly, come what come may." +[10] "Answer then," said Cyrus, "did you once make war upon Astyages, +my mother's father, and his Medes?" "I did," he answered. "And were you +conquered by him, and did you agree to pay tribute and furnish troops +whenever he required, and promise not to fortify your dwellings?" "Even +so," he said. "Why is it, then, that to-day you have neither brought the +tribute nor sent the troops, and are building forts?" "I set my heart on +liberty: it seemed to me so fair a thing to be free myself and to leave +freedom to my sons." [11] "And fair and good it is," said Cyrus, "to +fight for freedom and choose death rather than slavery, but if a man is +worsted in war or enslaved by any other means and then attempts to rid +himself of his lord, tell me yourself, would you honour such a man as +upright, and a doer of noble deeds, or would you, if you got him in +your power, chastise him as a malefactor?" "I would chastise him," he +answered, "since you drive me to the truth." [12] "Then answer me now, +point by point," said Cyrus. "If you have an officer and he does wrong, +do you suffer him to remain in office, or do you set up another in his +stead?" "I set up another." "And if he have great riches, to you leave +him all his wealth, or do you make him a beggar?" "I take away from him +all that he has." "And if you found him deserting to your enemies, what +would you do?" "I would kill him," he said: "why should I perish with a +lie on my lips rather than speak the truth and die?" + +[13] But at this his son rent his garments and dashed the tiara from his +brows, and the women lifted up their voices in wailing and tore their +cheeks, as though their father was dead already, and they themselves +undone. But Cyrus bade them keep silence, and spoke again. "Son of +Armenia, we have heard your own judgment in this case, and now tell us, +what ought we to do?" But the king sat silent and perplexed, wondering +whether he should bid Cyrus put him to death, or act in the teeth of the +rule he had laid down for himself. [14] Then his son Tigranes turned to +Cyrus and said, "Tell me, Cyrus, since my father sits in doubt, may I +give counsel in his place and say what I think best for you?" + +Now Cyrus remembered that, in the old hunting days, he had noticed a +certain man of wisdom who went about with Tigranes and was much admired +by him, and he was curious to know what the youth would say. So he +readily agreed and bade him speak his mind. + +[15] "In my view, then," said Tigranes, "if you approve of all that my +father has said and done, certainly you ought to do as he did, but if +you think he has done wrong, then you must not copy him." + +"But surely," said Cyrus, "the best way to avoid copying the wrongdoer +is to practise what is right?" + +"True enough," answered the prince. + +"Then on your own reasoning, I am bound to punish your father, if it is +right to punish wrong." + +"But would you wish your vengeance to do you harm instead of good?" + +"Nay," said Cyrus, "for then my vengeance would fall upon myself." + +[16] "Even so," said Tigranes, "and you will do yourself the greatest +harm if you put your own subjects to death just when they are most +valuable to you." + +"Can they have any value," asked Cyrus, "when they are detected doing +wrong?" + +"Yes," answered Tigranes, "if that is when they turn to good and learn +sobriety. For it is my belief, Cyrus, that without this virtue all +others are in vain. What good will you get from a strong man or a brave +if he lack sobriety, be he never so good a horseman, never so rich, +never so powerful in the state? But with sobriety every friend is a +friend in need and every servant a blessing." + +[17] "I take your meaning," answered Cyrus; "your father, you would have +me think, has been changed in this one day from a fool into a wise and +sober-minded man?" + +"Exactly," said the prince. + +"Then you would call sober-mindedness a condition of our nature, such +as pain, not a matter of reason that can be learnt? For certainly, if +he who is to be sober-minded must learn wisdom first, he could not be +converted from folly in a day." + +[18] "Nay, but, Cyrus," said the prince, "surely you yourself have +known one man at least who out of sheer folly has set himself to fight +a stronger man than he, and on the day of defeat his senselessness has +been cured. And surely you have known a city ere now that has marshalled +her battalions against a rival state, but with defeat she changes +suddenly and is willing to obey and not resist?" + +[19] "But what defeat," said Cyrus, "can you find in your father's case +to make you so sure that he has come to a sober mind?" + +"A defeat," answered the young man, "of which he is well aware in the +secret chambers of his soul. He set his heart on liberty, and he has +found himself a slave as never before: he had designs that needed +stealth and speed and force, and not one of them has he been able to +carry through. With you he knows that design and fulfilment went hand +in hand; when you wished to outwit him, outwit him you did, as though he +had been blind and deaf and dazed; when stealth was needed, your stealth +was such that the fortresses he thought his own you turned into traps +for him; and your speed was such that you were upon him from miles away +with all your armament before he found time to muster the forces at his +command." + +[20] "So you think," said Cyrus, "that merely to learn another is +stronger than himself is defeat enough to bring a man to his senses?" + +"I do," answered Tigranes, "and far more truly than mere defeat in +battle. For he who is conquered by force may fancy that if he trains +he can renew the war, and captured cities dream that with the help of +allies they will fight again one day, but if we meet with men who are +better than ourselves and whom we recognise to be so, we are ready to +obey them of our own free will." [21] "You imagine then," said +Cyrus, "that the bully and the tyrant cannot recognise the man +of self-restraint, nor the thief the honest man, nor the liar the +truth-speaker, nor the unjust man the upright? Has not your own father +lied even now and broken his word with us, although he knew that we had +faithfully observed every jot and tittle of the compact Astyages made?" +[22] "Ah, but," replied the prince, "I do not pretend that the bare +knowledge alone will bring a man to his senses, it cannot cure him +unless he pays the penalty as my father pays it to-day." "But," answered +Cyrus, "your father has suffered nothing at all so far: although he +fears, I know, that the worst suffering may be his." [23] "Do you +suppose then," asked Tigranes, "that anything can enslave a man more +utterly than fear? Do you not know that even the men who are beaten with +the iron rod of war, the heaviest rod in all the world, may still be +ready to fight again, while the victims of terror cannot be brought to +look their conquerors in the face, even when they try to comfort them?" +"Then, you maintain," said Cyrus, "that fear will subdue a man more than +suffering?" [24] "Yes," he answered, "and you of all men know that what +I say is true: you know the despondency men feel in dread of banishment, +or on the eve of battle facing defeat, or sailing the sea in peril of +shipwreck--they cannot touch their food or take their rest because +of their alarm: while it may often be that the exiles themselves, the +conquered, or the enslaved, can eat and sleep better than men who have +not known adversity. [25] Think of those panic-stricken creatures who +through fear of capture and death have died before their day, have +hurled themselves from cliffs, hanged themselves, or set the knife to +their throats; so cruelly can fear, the prince of horrors, bind and +subjugate the souls of men. And what, think you, does my father feel at +this moment? He, whose fears are not for himself alone, but for us all, +for his wife, and for his children." [26] And Cyrus said, "To-day and +at this time, it may be with him as you say: but I still think that the +same man may well be insolent in good fortune and cringing in defeat: +let such an one go free again, and he will return to his arrogance and +trouble us once more." [27] "I do not deny it, Cyrus," said the prince. +"Our offences are such that you may well mistrust us: but you have it in +your power to set garrisons in our land and hold our strong places and +take what pledges you think best. And even so," he added, "you will not +find that we fret against our chains, for we shall remember we have only +ourselves to blame. Whereas, if you hand over the government to some +who have not offended, they may either think that you mistrust them, and +thus, although you are their benefactor, you cannot be their friend, or +else in your anxiety not to rouse their enmity you may leave no check +on their insolence, and in the end you will need to sober them even +more than us." [28] "Nay, but by all the gods," cried Cyrus, "little joy +should I ever take in those who served me from necessity alone. Only if +I recognise some touch of friendship or goodwill in the help it is their +duty to render, I could find it easier to forgive them all their faults +than to accept the full discharge of service paid upon compulsion by +those who hate me." + +Then Tigranes answered, "You speak of friendship, but can you ever find +elsewhere so great a friendship as you may find with us?" "Surely I +can," he answered, "and with those who have never been my enemies, if +I choose to be their benefactor as you would have me yours." [29] "But +to-day, and now, can you find another man in the world whom you could +benefit as you can benefit my father? Say you let a man live who has +never done you wrong, will he be grateful for the boon? Say he need not +lose his children and his wife, will he love you for that more than one +who knows he well deserved the loss? Say he may not sit upon the throne +of Armenia, will he suffer from that as we shall suffer? And is it not +clear that the one who feels the pain of forfeiture the most will be the +one most grateful for the granting of the gift? [30] And if you have it +at all at heart to leave matters settled here, think for yourself, and +see where tranquillity will lie when your back is turned. Will it be +with the new dynasty, or with the old familiar house? And if you want +as large a force as possible at your command, where will you find a man +better fitted to test the muster-roll than the general who has used it +time and again? If you need money, who will provide the ways and means +better than he who knows and can command all the resources of the +country? I warn you as a friend," he added, "that if you throw us aside +you will do yourself more harm than ever my father could have done." + +[31] Such were the pleadings of the prince, and Cyrus, as he listened, +was overjoyed, for he felt he would accomplish to the full all he had +promised Cyaxares; his own words came back to him, "I hope to make the +Armenian a better friend than before." + +Thereupon he turned to the king and said, "Son of Armenia, if I were +indeed to hearken unto you and yours in this, tell me, how large an army +would you send me and how much money for the war?" + +[32] And the king replied, "The simplest answer I can make and the most +straightforward is to tell you what my power is, and then you may take +the men you choose, and leave the rest to garrison the country. And so +with the money: it is only fair that you should know the whole of our +wealth, and with that knowledge to guide you, you will take what you +like and leave what you like." [33] And Cyrus said, "Tell me then, and +tell me true: how great is your power and your wealth?" Whereupon the +Armenian replied: "Our cavalry is 8000 strong and our infantry 40,000; +and our wealth," said he, "if I include the treasures which my father +left, amounts in silver to more than 3000 talents." + +[34] And Cyrus, without more ado, said at once, "Of your whole armament +you shall give me half, not more, since your neighbours the Chaldaeans +are at war with you: but for the tribute, instead of the fifty talents +which you paid before, you shall hand over twice as much to Cyaxares +because you made default; and you will lend me another hundred for +myself, and I hereby promise you, if God be bountiful, I will requite +you for the loan with things of higher worth, or I will pay the money +back in full, if I can; and if I cannot, you may blame me for want of +ability, but not for want of will." [35] But the Armenian cried, "By all +the gods, Cyrus, speak not so, or you will put me out of heart. I beg +you to look on all I have as yours, what you leave behind as well as +what you take away." + +"So be it then," answered Cyrus, "and to ransom your wife, how much +money would you give?" "All that I have," said he. "And for your sons?" +"For them too, all that I have." "Good," answered Cyrus, "but is not +that already twice as much as you possess? [36] And you, Tigranes," said +he, "at what price would you redeem your bride?" Now the youth was but +newly wedded, and his wife was beyond all things dear to him. "I would +give my life," said he, "to save her from slavery." [37] "Take her +then," said Cyrus, "she is yours. For I hold that she has never yet been +made a prisoner, seeing that her husband never deserted us. And you, +son of Armenia," said he, turning to the king, "you shall take home your +wife and children, and pay no ransom for them, so that they shall not +feel they come to you from slavery. But now," he added, "you shall stay +and sup with us, and afterwards you shall go wherever you wish." + +And so the Armenians stayed. [38] But when the company broke up after +the evening meal, Cyrus asked Tigranes, "Tell me, where is that friend +of yours who used to hunt with us, and whom, as it seemed to me, you +admired so much?" "Do you not know," he said, "that my father put him +to death?" "And why?" said Cyrus, "what fault did he find in him?" "He +thought he corrupted me," said the youth; "and yet, I tell you, Cyrus, +he was so gentle and so brave, so beautiful in soul, that when he came +to die, he called me to him and said, 'Do not be angry with your father, +Tigranes, for putting me to death. What he does is not done from +malice, but from ignorance; and the sins of ignorance, I hold, are +unintentional.'" + +[39] And at that Cyrus could not but say: "Poor soul! I grieve for him." +But the king spoke in his own defence: "Remember this, Cyrus, that the +man who finds another with his wife kills him not simply because he +believes that he has turned the woman to folly, but because he has +robbed him of her love. Even so I was jealous of that man who seemed to +put himself between my son and me and steal away his reverence." [40] +"May the gods be merciful to us!" said Cyrus, "you did wrong, but your +fault was human. And you, Tigranes," said he, turning to the son, "you +must forgive your father." + +And so they talked in all friendliness and kindliness, as befitted +that time of reconciliation; and then the father and son mounted their +carriages, with their dear ones beside them, and drove away rejoicing. + +[41] But when they were home again, they all spoke of Cyrus, one +praising his wisdom, another his endurance, a third the gentleness +of his nature, and a fourth his stature and his beauty. Then Tigranes +turned to his wife and asked, "Did Cyrus seem so beautiful in your +eyes?" But she answered, "Ah, my lord, he was not the man I saw." "Who +was it then?" asked Tigranes. "He," she answered, "who offered his own +life to free me from slavery." + +And so they took their delight together, as lovers will, after all their +sufferings. + +[42] But on the morrow the king of Armenia sent gifts of hospitality to +Cyrus and all his army, and bade his own contingent make ready to march +on the third day, and himself brought Cyrus twice the sum which he had +named. But Cyrus would take no more than he had fixed, and gave the +rest back to the king, only asking whether he or his son was to lead the +force. And the father answered that it should be as Cyrus chose, but the +son said, "I will not leave you, Cyrus, if I must carry the baggage to +follow you." [43] And Cyrus laughed and said, "What will you take to let +us tell your wife that you have become a baggage-bearer?" "She will not +need to be told," he answered, "I mean to bring her with me, and she can +see for herself all that her husband does." "Then it is high time," said +Cyrus, "that you got your own baggage together now." "We will come," +said he, "be sure of that, in good time, with whatever baggage my father +gives." + +So the soldiers were the guests of Armenia for the day, and rested for +that night. + +[C.2] But on the day following Cyrus took Tigranes and the best of the +Median cavalry, with chosen followers of his own, and scoured the whole +country to decide where he should build a fort. He halted on the top of +a mountain-pass and asked Tigranes where the heights lay down which the +Chaldaeans swept when they came to plunder. Tigranes showed him. Then +Cyrus asked him if the mountains were quite uninhabited. "No, indeed," +said the prince, "there are always men on the look-out, who signal to +the others if they catch sight of anything." "And what do they do," he +asked, "when they see the signal?" "They rush to the rescue," he said, +"as quickly as they can." [2] Cyrus listened and looked, and he could +see that large tracts lay desolate and untilled because of the war. That +day they came back to camp and took their supper and slept. [3] But the +next morning Tigranes presented himself with all his baggage in order +and ready for the march, 4000 cavalry at his back, 10,000 bowmen, and as +many targeteers. While they were marching up, Cyrus offered sacrifice, +and finding that the victims were favourable, he called the leaders of +the Persians together and the chief captains of the Medes and spoke to +them thus: + +[4] "My friends, there lie the Chaldaean hills. If we could seize +them and set a garrison to hold the pass, we should compel them both, +Chaldaeans and Armenians alike, to behave themselves discreetly. The +victims are favourable; and to help a man in such a work as this there +is no ally half so good as speed. If we scale the heights before the +enemy have time to gather, we may take the position out of hand without +a blow, and at most we shall only find a handful of weak and scattered +forces to oppose us. [5] Steady speed is all I ask for, and surely I +could ask for nothing easier or less dangerous. To arms then! The Medes +will march on our left, half the Armenians on our right, and the rest +in the van to lead the way, the cavalry in our rear, to cheer us on and +push us forward and let none of us give way." + +[6] With that Cyrus led the advance, the army in column behind him. +As soon as the Chaldaeans saw them sweeping up from the plain, they +signalled to their fellows till the heights re-echoed with answering +shouts, and the tribesmen gathered on every side. Then Cyrus sent word +along his lines, "Soldiers of Persia, they are signalling to us to make +haste. If only we reach the top before them, all they can do will be in +vain." + +[7] Now the Chaldaeans were said to be the most warlike of all the +tribes in that country, and each of them was armed with a shield and a +brace of javelins. They fight for pay wherever they are needed, partly +because they are warriors born, but partly through poverty; for their +country is mountainous, and the fertile part of it small. [8] As Cyrus +and his force drew near the head of the pass, Tigranes, who was marching +at his side, said: + +"Do you know, Cyrus, that before long we shall be in the thick of the +fight ourselves? Our Armenians will never stand the charge." Cyrus +answered that he was well aware of that, and immediately sent word that +the Persians should be ready to give chase at once, "as soon as we see +the Armenians decoying the enemy by feigning flight and drawing them +within our reach." + +[9] Thus they marched up with the Armenians in the van: and the +Chaldaeans who had collected waited till they were almost on them, +and then charged with a tremendous shout, as their custom was, and the +Armenians, as was ever theirs, turned and ran. [10] But in the midst +of the pursuit the Chaldaeans met new opponents streaming up the pass, +armed with short swords, and some of them were cut to pieces at once +before they could withdraw, while others were taken prisoners and the +rest fled, and in a few moments the heights were won. From the top +of the pass Cyrus and his staff looked down and saw below them the +Chaldaean villages with fugitives pouring from the nearest houses. [11] +Soon the rest of the army came up, and Cyrus ordered them all to take +the morning meal. When it was over, and he had ascertained that the +look-out was really in a strong position, and well supplied with water, +he set about fortifying a post without more ado, and he bade Tigranes +send to his father and bid him come at once with all the carpenters and +stonemasons he could fetch, and while a messenger went off to the king +Cyrus did all he could with what he had at hand. + +[12] Meanwhile they brought up the prisoners, all of them bound in +chains and some wounded. But Cyrus when he saw their plight ordered the +chains to be struck off, and sent for surgeons to dress their wounds, +and then he told them that he came neither to destroy them nor to war +against them, but to make peace between them and the Armenians. "I +know," he said, "before your pass was taken you did not wish for peace. +Your own land was in safety and you could harry the Armenians: but you +can see for yourselves how things stand to-day. [13] Accordingly I will +let you all go back to your homes in freedom, and I will allow you and +your fellows to take counsel together and choose whether you will have +us for your enemies or your friends. If you decide on war, you had +better not come here again without your weapons, but if you choose +peace, come unarmed and welcome: it shall be my care to see that all is +well with you, if you are my friends." + +[14] And when the Chaldaeans heard that, they poured out praises and +thanks, and then they turned homewards and departed. + +Meanwhile the king, receiving the call of Cyrus, and hearing the +business that was at hand, had gathered his workmen together and took +what he thought necessary and came with all speed. [15] And when he +caught sight of Cyrus, he cried: "Ah, my lord, blind mortals that we +are! How little can we see of the future, and how much we take in hand +to do! I set myself to win freedom and I made myself a slave, and now, +when we were captured and said to ourselves that we were utterly undone, +suddenly we find a safety we never had before. Those who troubled us are +taken now, even as I would have them. [16] Be well assured, Cyrus," he +added, "that I would have paid the sum you had from me over and over +again simply to dislodge the Chaldaeans from these heights. The things +of worth you promised me when you took the money have been paid in full +already, and we discover that we are not your creditors, but deep in +your debt for many kindnesses; and we shall be ashamed not to return +them, or we should be base indeed, for try as we may, we shall never be +able to requite in full so great a benefactor." + +[17] Such thanks the Armenian gave. + +Then the Chaldaeans came back, begging Cyrus to make peace with them. +And Cyrus asked them: "Am I right in thinking that you desire peace +to-day because you believe it will be safer for you than war, now that +we hold these heights?" + +And the Chaldaeans said that so it was. [18] "Well and good," said he. +"And what if other benefits were gained by peace?" "We should be all the +better pleased," said they. "Is there any other reason," he asked, "for +your present poverty, except your lack of fertile soil?" They said that +there was none. "Well then," Cyrus went on, "would you be willing to pay +the same dues as the Armenians, if you were allowed to cultivate as much +of their land as you desired?" And the Chaldaeans said they would, if +only they could rely on being fairly treated. [19] "Now," said Cyrus, +turning to the Armenian king, "would you like that land of yours which +is now lying idle to be tilled and made productive, supposing the +workers paid you the customary dues?" "I would, indeed," said the king, +"so much so that I am ready to pay a large sum for it. It would mean a +great increase to my revenue." [20] "And you, Chaldaeans," said Cyrus, +"with your splendid mountains, would you let the Armenians use them for +pasture if the graziers paid you what was fair?" "Surely yes," said the +Chaldaeans, "it would mean much profit and no pains." + +"Son of Armenia," said Cyrus, "would you take this land for grazing, +if by paying a small sum to the Chaldaeans you got a far greater return +yourself?" + +"Right willingly," said he, "if I thought my flocks could feed in +safety." + +"And would they not be safe enough," suggested Cyrus, "if this pass were +held for you?" To which the king agreed. [21] But the Chaldaeans cried, +"Heaven help us! We could not till our own fields in safety, not to +speak of theirs, if the Armenians held the pass." "True," answered +Cyrus, "but how would it be if the pass were held for you?" "Ah, then," +said they, "all would be well enough." "Heaven help us!" cried the +Armenian in his turn, "all might be well enough for them, but it would +be ill for us if these neighbours of ours recovered the post, especially +now that it is fortified." [22] Then Cyrus said, "See, then, this is +what I will do: I will hand over the pass to neither of you: we Persians +will guard it ourselves, and if either of you injure the other, we will +step in and side with the sufferers." + +[23] Then both parties applauded the decision, and said that only thus +could they establish a lasting peace, and on these terms they exchanged +pledges, and a covenant was made that both nations alike were to be free +and independent, but with common rights of marriage, and tillage, and +pasturage, and help in time of war if either were attacked. [24] Thus +the matter was concluded, and to this day the treaty holds between the +Chaldaeans and Armenia. + +Peace was no sooner made than both parties began building what they now +considered their common fortress, working side by side and bringing up +all that was needed. [25] And when evening fell, Cyrus summoned them all +as fellow-guests to his board, saying that they were friends already. +At the supper as they sat together, one of the Chaldaeans said to Cyrus +that the mass of his nation would feel they had received all they +could desire, "But there are men among us," he added, "who live as +freebooters: they do not know how to labour in the field, and they could +not learn, accustomed as they are from youth up to get their livelihood +either by plundering for themselves or serving as mercenaries, often +under the king of India, for he is a man of much wealth, but sometimes +under Astyages." [26] Then Cyrus said: "Why should they not take service +with me? I undertake to give them at least as much as they ever got +elsewhere." The Chaldaeans readily agreed with him and prophesied that +he would have many volunteers. + +[27] So this matter was settled to the mind of all. But Cyrus, on +hearing that the Chaldaeans were in the habit of going to India, +remembered how Indian ambassadors had come to the Medes to spy out their +affairs, and how they had gone on to their enemies--doubtless to do the +same there--and he felt a wish that they should hear something of +what he had achieved himself. [28] So he said to the company: "Son of +Armenia, and men of the Chaldaeans, I have something to ask you. Tell +me, if I were to send ambassadors to India, would you send some of your +own folk with them to show them the way, and support them in gaining +for us all that I desire? I still need more money if I am to pay all the +wages, as I wish, in full, and give rewards and make presents to such of +my soldiers as deserve them. It is for such things I need all the money +I can get, for I believe them to be essential. It would be pleasanter +for me not to draw on you, because I look on you already as my friends, +but I should be glad to take from the Indian as much as he will give me. +My messenger--the one for whom I ask guides and coadjutors--will go to +the king and say: 'Son of India, my master has sent me to you, bidding +me say that he has need of more money. He is expecting another army from +Persia,' and indeed I do expect one," Cyrus added. "Then my messenger +will proceed, 'If you can send my master all that you have at hand he +will do his best, if God grant him success, that you should feel your +kindness has not been ill-advised.' [30] That is what my emissary will +say: and you must give such instructions to yours as you think fit +yourselves. If I get money from the king, I shall have abundance at my +disposal: if I fail, at least we shall owe him no gratitude, and as far +as he is concerned we may look to our own interests alone." + +[31] So Cyrus spoke, convinced that the ambassadors from Armenia and +Chaldaea would speak of him as he desired all men might do. And then, as +the hour was come, they broke up the meeting and took their rest. + +[C.3] But on the next day Cyrus despatched his messenger with +the instructions, and the Armenians and Chaldaeans sent their own +ambassadors, choosing the men they thought would help Cyrus most and +speak of his exploits in the most fitting terms. Cyrus put a strong +garrison in the fort and stored it with supplies, and left an officer in +command, a Mede, whose appointment, he thought, would gratify Cyaxares, +and then he turned homewards, taking with him not only the troops he had +brought, but the force the Armenians had furnished, and a picked body +of Chaldaeans who considered themselves stronger than all the rest +together. [2] And as he come down from the hills into the cultivated +land, not one of the Armenians, man or woman, stayed indoors: with one +accord they all went out to meet him, rejoicing that peace was made, and +bringing him offerings from their best, driving before them the animals +they valued most. The king himself was not ill-pleased at this, for he +thought that Cyrus would take delight in the honour the people showed +him. Last of all came the queen herself, with her daughters and her +younger son, bearing many gifts, and among them the golden treasure that +Cyrus had refused before. [3] But when he saw it he said: "Nay, you must +not make me a mercenary and a benefactor for pay; take this treasure +back and hie you home, but do not give it to your lord that he may bury +it again; spend it on your son, and send him forth gloriously equipped +for war, and with the residue buy yourself and for your husband and your +children such precious things as shall endure, and bring joy and beauty +into all your days. As for burying, let us only bury our bodies on the +day when each must die." + +[4] With that he rode away, the king and all his people escorting him, +like a guard of honour, calling him their saviour, their benefactor, and +their hero, and heaping praises on him until he had left the land. +And the king sent with him a larger army than ever he had sent before, +seeing that now he had peace at home. [5] Thus Cyrus took his departure, +having gained not only the actual money he took away with him, but a far +ampler store of wealth, won by his own graciousness, on which he could +draw in time of need. + +For the first night he encamped on the borders of Armenia, but the next +day he sent an army and the money to Cyaxares, who was close at hand, +as he had promised to be, while he himself took his pleasure in hunting +wherever he could find the game, in company with Tigranes and the flower +of the Persian force. + +[6] And when he came back to Media he gave gifts of money to his chief +officers, sufficient for each to reward their own subordinates, for he +held to it that, if every one made his own division worthy of praise, +all would be well with the army as a whole. He himself secured anything +that he thought of value for the campaign, and divided it among the most +meritorious, convinced that every gain to the army was an adornment to +himself. + +[7] At every distribution he would take occasion to address the officers +and all whom he chose to honour in some such words as these: "My +friends, the god of mirth must be with us to-day: we have found a source +of plenty, and we have the wherewithal to honour whom we wish and as +they may deserve. [8] Let us call to mind, all of us, the only way +in which these blessings can be won. We shall find it is by toil, and +watchfulness, and speed, and the resolve never to yield to our foes. +After this pattern must we prove ourselves to be men, knowing that +all high delights and all great joys are only gained by obedience and +hardihood, and through pains endured and dangers confronted in their +proper season." + +[9] But presently, when Cyrus saw that his men were strong enough for +all the work of war, and bold enough to meet their enemies with scorn, +expert and skilful in the use of the weapons each man bore, and all of +them perfect in obedience and discipline, the desire grew in his heart +to be up and doing and achieve something against the foe. He knew well +how often a general has found delay ruin his fairest armament. [10] He +noticed, moreover, that in the eagerness of rivalry and the strain of +competition many of the soldiers grew jealous of each other; and for +this, if for no other reason, he desired to lead them into the enemy's +country without delay, feeling that common dangers awaken comradeship +among those who are fighting in a common cause, and then all such +bickerings cease, and no man is galled by the splendour of his comrade's +arms, or the passion of his desire for glory: envy is swallowed up +in praise, and each competitor greets his rivals with delight as +fellow-workers for the common good. + +[11] Therefore Cyrus ordered his whole force to assemble under arms, and +drew them up into battle-array, using all his skill to make the display +a wonder of beauty and perfection. Then he summoned his chief officers, +his generals, his brigadiers, and his company-captains. These men were +not bound to be always in the ranks, and some were always free to +wait on the commander-in-chief or carry orders along the lines without +leaving the troops unofficered: for the captains-of-twelve and the +captains-of-six stepped into the gaps, and absolute order was preserved. +[12] So Cyrus assembled his staff and led them along the lines, pointing +out the merits of the combined forces and the special strength of each, +and thus he kindled in their hearts the passion for achievement, and +then he bade them return to their regiments and repeat the lessons he +had taught them, trying to implant in their own men the same desire for +action, so that one and all might sally out in the best of heart; and +the next morning they were to present themselves at Cyaxares' gates. +[13] So the officers went away and did as he commanded, and the next +morning at daybreak they assembled at the trysting-place, and Cyrus met +them and came before Cyaxares and said to him: + +"I know well that what I am about to say must often have been in your +own mind, but you have shrunk from suggesting it yourself lest it seem +that you were weary of supporting us. [14] Therefore since you must keep +silence, let me speak for both of us. We are all agreed that since our +preparations are complete we should not wait until the enemy invades our +territory before we give him battle, nor loiter here in a friendly land, +but attack him on his own ground with what speed we may. [15] For while +we linger here, we injure your property in spite of ourselves, but once +on the enemy's soil, we can damage his, and that with the best will in +the world. [16] As things are, you must maintain us, and the cost is +great; but once launched on foreign service, we can maintain ourselves, +and at our foe's expense. [17] Possibly, if it were more dangerous to go +forward than to stay here, the more cautious might seem the wiser plan. +But whether we stay or whether we go, the enemy's numbers will be the +same, and so will ours, whether we receive them here or join battle with +them there. [18] Moreover, the spirit of our soldiers will be all the +higher and all the bolder if they feel that they are marching against +the foe and not cowering before him; and his alarm will be all the +greater when he hears that we are not crouching at home in terror but +coming out to meet him as soon as we have heard of his advance, eager to +close at once, not holding back until our territory suffers, but prompt +to seize the moment and ravage his own land first. [19] Indeed," he +added, "if we do no more than quicken our own courage and his fears, I +would reckon it a substantial gain, and count it so much the less danger +for us and so much the more for him. My father never tires of telling me +what I have heard you say yourself, and what all the world admits, that +battles are decided more by the character of the troops than by their +bodily strength." + +[20] He ended, and Cyaxares answered: + +"Cyrus, both you and all my Persian friends may feel sure that I find +it no trouble to maintain you; do not imagine such a thing; but I agree +with you that the time is ripe for an advance on the enemy's land." + +"Then," said Cyrus, "since we are all of one mind, let us make our final +preparations, and, if heaven will, let us set forth without delay." + +[21] So they bade the soldiers prepare for the start, and Cyrus offered +sacrifices to Zeus the Lord and to the other gods in due order, and +prayed, "Look on us with favour, and be gracious to us; guide our army, +stand beside us in the battle, aid us in council, help us in action, be +the comrades of the brave." Also he called upon the Heroes of Media, +who dwell in the land and guard it. [22] Then, when the signs were +favourable and his army was mustered on the frontier, he felt that the +moment had come, and with all good omens to support him, he invaded +the enemy's land. And so soon as he had crossed the border he offered +libations to the Earth and victims to the gods, and sought to win the +favour of the Heroes who guard Assyria. And having so done, once more he +sacrificed to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and was careful to reverence +every other god who came before his mind. + +[23] But when these duties were fulfilled, there was no further pause. +He pushed his infantry on at once, a short day's march, and then +encamped, while the cavalry made a swift descent and captured much spoil +of every kind. For the future they had only to shift their camp from +time to time, and they found supplies in abundance, and could ravage the +enemy's land at their ease while waiting his approach. [24] Presently +news came of his advance: he was said to be barely ten days' off, and +at that Cyrus went to Cyaxares and said: "The hour has come, and we +must face the enemy. Let it not seem to friend or foe that we fear the +encounter: let us show them that we enjoy the fight." + +[25] Cyaxares agreed, and they moved forward in good order, marching +each day as far as appeared desirable. They were careful to take their +evening meal by daylight, and at night they lit no fires in the camp: +they made them in front of it, so that in case of attack they might see +their assailants, while they themselves remained unseen. And often they +lit other fires in their rear as well, to deceive the enemy; so that +at times the Assyrian scouts actually fell in with the advance-guard, +having fancied from the distance of the fires that they were still some +way from the encampment. + +[26] Meanwhile the Assyrians and their allies, as the two armies came +into touch, halted, and threw up an entrenchment, just as all barbarian +leaders do to-day, whenever they encamp, finding no difficulty in the +work because of the vast numbers at their command, and knowing that +cavalry may easily be thrown into confusion and become unmanageable, +especially if they are barbarians. [27] The horses must be tethered +at their stalls, and in case of attack a dozen difficulties arise: the +soldier must loose his steed in the dark, bridle and saddle him, put on +his own armour, mount, and then gallop through the camp, and this +last it is quite impossible to do. Therefore the Assyrians, like all +barbarians, throw up entrenchments round their position, and the mere +fact of being inside a fastness leaves them, they consider, the choice +of fighting at any moment they think fit. [28] So the two armies drew +nearer and nearer, and when they were about four miles apart, the +Assyrians proceeded to encamp in the manner described: their position +was completely surrounded by a trench, but also perfectly visible, +while Cyrus took all the cover he could find, screening himself behind +villages and hillocks, in the conviction that the more sudden the +disclosure of a hostile force the greater will be the enemy's alarm. + +[29] During the first night neither army did more than post the +customary guards before they went to sleep, and on the next day the +king of Assyria, and Croesus, and their officers, still kept the troops +within their lines. But Cyrus and Cyaxares drew up their men, prepared +to fight if the enemy advanced. + +Ere long it was plain that they would not venture out that day, and +Cyaxares summoned Cyrus and his staff and said: + +[30] "I think, gentlemen, it would be well for us to march up to the +breastworks in our present order, and show them that we wish to fight. +If we do so," he added, "and they refuse our challenge, it will increase +the confidence of our own men, and the mere sight of our boldness will +add to the enemy's alarm." + +[31] So it seemed to Cyaxares, but Cyrus protested: "In the name of +heaven, Cyaxares, let us do no such thing. By such an advance we should +only reveal our numbers to them: they would watch us at their ease, +conscious that they are safe from any danger, and when we retire without +doing them any harm they will have another look at us and despise us +because of our inferiority in numbers, and to-morrow they will come +out much emboldened. [32] At present," he added, "they know that we are +here, but they have not seen us, and you may be sure they do not despise +us; they are asking what all this means, and they never cease discussing +the problem; of that I am convinced. They ought not to see us until +they sally out, and in that moment we ought to come to grips with them, +thankful to have caught them as we have so long desired." + +[33] So Cyrus spoke, and Cyaxares and the others were convinced, and +waited. In the evening they took their meal, and posted their pickets +and lit watch-fires in front of their outposts, and so turned to sleep. +[34] But early the next morning Cyrus put a garland on his head and went +out to offer sacrifice, and sent word to all the Peers of Persia to +join him, wearing garlands like himself. And when the rite was over, he +called them together and said: "Gentlemen, the soothsayers tell us, and +I agree, that the gods announce by the signs in the victims that the +battle is at hand, and they assure us of victory, they promise us +salvation. [35] I should be ashamed to admonish you at such a season, or +tell you how to bear yourselves: I do not forget that we have all been +brought up in the same school, you have learnt the same lessons as I, +and practised them day by day, and you might well instruct others. But +you may not have noticed one point, and for this I would ask a hearing. +[36] Our new comrades, the men we desire to make our peers--it may be +well to remind them of the terms on which Cyaxares has kept us and of +our daily discipline, the goal for which we asked their help, and the +race in which they promised to be our friendly rivals. [37] Remind them +also that this day will test the worth of every man. With learners late +in life, we cannot wonder if now and then a prompter should be needed: +it is much to be thankful for if they show themselves good men and true +with the help of a reminder. [38] Moreover, while you help them you will +be putting your own powers to the test. He who can give another strength +at such a crisis may well have confidence in his own, whereas one who +keeps his ideal to himself and is content with that, ought to remember +that he is only half a man. [39] There is another reason," he added, +"why I do not speak to them myself, but ask you to do so. I want them to +try to please you: you are nearer to them than I, each of you to the +men of his own division: and be well assured that if you show yourselves +stout-hearted you will be teaching them courage, and others too, by +deeds as well as words." + +[40] With that Cyrus dismissed them, and bade them break their fast and +make libation, and then take their places in the ranks, still wearing +their garlands on their heads. As they went away he summoned the leaders +of the rearguard and gave them his instructions: + +[41] "Men of Persia, you have been made Peers and chosen for special +duties, because we think you equal to the best in other matters, and +wiser than most in virtue of your age. The post that you hold is every +whit as honourable as theirs who form the front: from your position in +the rear you can single out the gallant fighters, and your praise will +make them outdo themselves in valour, while if any man should be tempted +to give way, your eyes will be upon him and you will not suffer it. [42] +Victory will mean even more to you than to the others, because of your +age and the weight of your equipment. If the men in front call on you to +follow, answer readily, and let them see that you can hold your own with +them, shout back to them, and bid them lead on quicker still. And now," +said he, "go back and take your breakfast, and then join your ranks with +the rest, wearing your garlands on your heads." + +[43] Thus Cyrus and his men made their preparations, and meanwhile the +Assyrians on their side took their breakfast, and then sallied forth +boldly and drew up in gallant order. It was the king himself who +marshalled them, driving past in his chariot and encouraging his troops. + +[44] "Men of Assyria," he said, "to-day you must show your valour. +To-day you fight for your lives and your land, the land where you were +born and the homes where you were bred, and for your wives and your +children, and all the blessings that are yours. If you win, you +will possess them all in safety as before, but if you lose, you must +surrender them into the hands of your enemies. [45] Abide, therefore, +and do battle as though you were enamoured of victory. It would be folly +for her lovers to turn their backs to the foe, sightless, handless, +helpless, and a fool is he who flies because he longs to live, for he +must know that safety comes to those who conquer, but death to those +who flee; and fools are they whose hearts are set on riches, but whose +spirits are ready to admit defeat. It is the victor who preserves his +own possessions and wins the property of those whom he overcomes: the +conquered lose themselves and all they call their own." + +[46] Thus spoke the king of Assyria. + +But meanwhile Cyaxares sent to Cyrus saying that the moment for attack +had come. "Although," he added, "there are as yet but few of them +outside the trenches, by the time we have advanced there will be quite +enough. Let us not wait until they outnumber us, but charge at once +while we are satisfied we can master them easily." + +[47] But Cyrus answered him, "Unless those we conquer are more than half +their number, they are sure to say that we attacked when they were few, +because we were afraid of their full force, and in their hearts they +will not feel that they are beaten; and we shall have to fight another +battle, when perhaps they will make a better plan than they have made +to-day, delivering themselves into our hands one by one, to fight with +as we choose." + +[48] So the messengers took back his reply, but meanwhile Chrysantas and +certain other Peers came to Cyrus bringing Assyrian deserters with +them, and Cyrus, as a general would, questioned the fugitives about the +enemy's doings, and they told him that the Assyrians were marching out +in force and that the king himself had crossed the trenches and was +marshalling his troops, addressing them in stirring words, as all the +listeners said. [49] Then Chrysantas turned to Cyrus: + +"What if you also were to summon our men, while there is yet time, and +inspire them with your words?" + +[50] But Cyrus answered: + +"Do not be disturbed by the thought of the Assyrian's exhortations; +there are no words so fine that they can turn cowards into brave men +on the day of hearing, nor make good archers out of bad, nor doughty +spearmen, nor skilful riders, no, nor even teach men to use their arms +and legs if they have not learnt before." + +[51] "But," replied Chrysantas, "could you not make the brave men braver +still, and the good better?" + +"What!" cried Cyrus, "can one solitary speech fill the hearer's soul on +the selfsame day with honour and uprightness, guard him from all that is +base, spur him to undergo, as he ought, for the sake of glory every +toil and every danger, implant in him the faith that it is better to die +sword in hand than to escape by flight? [52] If such thoughts are ever +to be engraved in the hearts of men and there abide, we must begin with +the laws, and frame them so that the righteous can count on a life of +honour and liberty, while the bad have to face humiliation, suffering, +and pain, and a life that is no life at all. [53] And then we ought to +have tutors and governors to instruct and teach and train our citizens +until the belief is engendered in their souls that the righteous and +the honourable are the happiest of all men born, and the bad and the +infamous the most miserable. This is what our men must feel if they are +to show that their schooling can triumph over their terror of the foe. +[54] Surely, if in the moment of onset, amid the clash of arms, at a +time when lessons long learnt seem suddenly wiped away, it were possible +for any speaker, by stringing a few fine sentiments together, to +manufacture warriors out of hand, why, it would be the easiest thing in +all the world to teach men the highest virtue man can know. [55] For my +own part," he added, "I would not trust our new comrades yonder, whom +we have trained ourselves, to stand firm this day unless they saw you at +their side, to be examples unto them and to remind them if they forget. +As for men who are utterly undisciplined, I should be astonished if any +speech, however splendid, did one whit more to encourage valour in their +hearts than a song well sung could do to make a musician of a man who +had no music in his soul." + +[56] But while they were speaking, Cyaxares sent again, saying that +Cyrus did ill to loiter instead of advancing against the enemy with all +speed. And Cyrus sent back word there and then by the messengers: + +"Tell Cyaxares once more, that even now there are not as many before us +as we need. And tell him this so that all may hear. But add that, if it +so please him, I will advance at once." + +[57] So saying and with one prayer to the gods, he led his troops into +battle. + +Once the advance began he quickened the pace, and his men followed +in perfect order, steadily, swiftly, joyously, brimful of emulation, +hardened by toil, trained by their long discipline, every man in the +front a leader, and all of them alert. They had laid to heart the lesson +of many a day that it was always safest and easiest to meet enemies at +close quarters, especially archers, javelin-men, and cavalry. [58] While +they were still out of range, Cyrus sent the watchword along the lines, +"Zeus our help and Zeus our leader." And as soon as it was returned to +him, he sounded the first notes of the battle-paean, and the men took +up the hymn devoutly, in one mighty chorus. For at such times those +who fear the gods have less fear of their fellow-men. [59] And when the +chant was over, the Peers of Persia went forward side by side, radiant, +high-bred, disciplined, a band of gallant comrades; they looked into +each other's eyes, they called each other by name, with many a cheery +cry, "Forward, friends, forward, gallant gentlemen!" And the rear-ranks +heard the call, and sent back a ringing cheer, bidding the van lead on. +The whole army of Cyrus was brimming with courage and zeal and strength +and hardihood and comradeship and self-control; more terrible, I +imagine, to an opponent than aught else could be. [60] On the Assyrian +side, those in the van who fought from the chariots, as soon as the mass +of the Persian force drew near, leapt back and drove to their own main +body; but the archers, javelin-men, and slingers, let fly long before +they were in range. [61] And as the Persians steadily advanced, stepping +over the spent missiles, Cyrus called to his men: + +"Forward now, bravest of the brave! Show us what your pace can be!" + +They caught the word and passed it on, and in their eagerness and +passion for the fray some of the leaders broke into a run, and the whole +phalanx followed at their heels. [62] Cyrus himself gave up the regular +march and dashed forward at their head, shouting: + +"Brave men to the front! Who follows me? Who will lay the first Assyrian +low?" + +At this the men behind took up the shout till it rang through the field +like a battle-cry: "Who follows? Brave men to the front!" [63] Thus the +Persians closed. But the enemy could not hold their ground; they turned +and fled to their entrenchments. [64] The Persians swept after them, +many a warrior falling as they crowded in at the gates or tumbled into +the trenches. For in the rout some of the chariots were carried into the +fosse, and the Persians sprang down after them and slew man and horse +where they fell. [65] Then the Median troopers, seeing how matters +stood, charged the Assyrian cavalry, who swerved and broke before them, +chased and slaughtered, horse and rider, by their conquerors. [66] +Meanwhile the Assyrians within the camp, though they stood upon the +breastworks, had neither wit nor power to draw bow or fling spear +against the destroyers, dazed as they were by their panic and the horror +of the sight. Then came the tidings that the Persians had cut their way +through to the gates, and at that they fled from the breastworks. +[67] The women, seeing the rout in the camp, fell to wailing and +lamentations, running hither and thither in utter dismay, young maidens, +and mothers with children in their arms, rending their garments and +tearing their cheeks and crying on all they met, "Leave us not, save us, +save your children and yourselves!" [68] Then the princes gathered +the trustiest men and stood at the gates, fighting on the breastworks +themselves, and urging their troops to make a stand. [69] Cyrus, seeing +this, and fearing that if his handful of Persians forced their way into +the camp they would be overborne by numbers, gave the order to fall back +out of range. [70] Then was shown the perfect discipline of the Peers; +at once they obeyed the order and passed it on at once. And when they +were all out of range they halted and reformed their ranks, better than +any chorus could have done, every man of them knowing exactly where he +ought to be. + + + NOTES + +C1.6. Oriental in feeling; situation well realised. Hellenic = Oriental, +also in part perhaps. Also, we know the Oriental through the medium of +Greek to a great extent (cf. Greek Testament, and earlier still LXX.). + +C1.8, init. Cf. Joseph and his brethren for this hardening of his heart. + +C1.11. Hellenic political ethics = modern in this matter, apart from +modern theory of nationalism, i.e. right of nations to exist free. + +C1.12. Quite after the manner of an advocate in a Greek law-court, but +also Oriental (cf. David and Nathan the seer). + +C1.24. Fear of exile; autobiographical touch? Is anything passing +through the mind of Xenophon? I dare say there is. [Xenophon was +banished from his native city of Athens because of his friendship with +Sparta and with Cyrus the Younger. See Works, Vol. I. p. xcix.] + +C1.33, fin. 3000 talents. Something under £750,000. + +C1.35. Cyrus drives home the conscience of indebtedness _à la_ Portia v. +Shylock. N.B.--Humorous also and an Oriental tinge. + +C1.38. One can't help thinking of Socrates and the people of Athens +here. If so, this is a quasi-apology for the Athenian _bons pères +de famille_ who condemned Socrates. Beautiful story of the sophist +teacher's last injunction to Tigranes. + +C1.40-41. What smiles after tears! Like a sunny day succeeding clouds +and blackness. A pretty story this, of the wife of Tigranes. _Xenophon's +women:_ this one, Pantheia, Croesus' wife, the wife of Ischomachus +(_Economist_), the daughter of Gobryas. + +C2.12. Archaeologically interesting. N.B.--Humanity towards wounded, +Hellenic. Xenophon's own strategy in the _Anabasis_ is probably the +prototype. + +C2.15. For Hellenic and Xenophontine religiousness. The incalculableness +of human life: God fulfils himself in many unforeseen ways. N.B.--Irony +also of the situation, since Cyrus doesn't intend the Armenian to +triumph over the Chaldaean in the way he anticipates. + +C2.20. Note how Socratically it is made to work itself out. + +C3. Cyrus, the Archic Man, the "born ruler," is also the diplomatic man +(cf., no doubt, Gladstone), a diplomacy based on organic economic sense +and friendly-naturedness. + +C3.10. Xenophon's theory of fraternity in action, all petty jealousies +brushed aside. + +[C3.11. The "captains-of-twelve" and the "captains-of-six" are the +same officers as those called elsewhere "captains-of-ten" and +"captains-of-five" (cf. above Bk. II. C2.21 note). The titles vary +because sometimes the officers themselves are included in the squads and +sometimes not.] + +C3.19. Nice touch, quoting his father as an authority. + +C3.40. With garlands, like the Spartans. Was it conceivably a Persian +custom too? + +C3.44. Assyrian's speech; not a bad one, though platitudinous. +Xenophon's dramatic form is shown in the intellectual and emotional side +of his characters, rather than by the diction in their mouths, is it +not? + +C3.51-52. Most important for Xenophon, Educationalist. Cyrus on the +powerlessness of a speech to create valour in the soul of the +untrained: there must be a physical, moral, and spiritual training there +beforehand. The speech is in Xenophon's best earnest rhetorical style. + +C3.57. The march into battle, _vide_ Milton. A beautiful bit of +word-painting. + +C3.58. Cf. the Prussian army singing a hymn [in 1870]. + + + + +BOOK IV + +[C.1] Cyrus waited, with his troops as they were, long enough to show +that he was ready to do battle again if the enemy would come out; but +as they did not stir he drew the soldiers off as far as he thought well, +and there encamped. He had guards posted and scouts sent forward, and +then he gathered his warriors round him and spoke to them as follows: + +[2] "Men of Persia, first and foremost I thank the gods of heaven with +all my soul and strength; and I know you render thanks with me, for we +have won salvation and victory, and it is meet and right to thank the +gods for all that comes to us. But in the next place I must praise you, +one and all; it is through you all that this glorious work has been +accomplished, and when I have learnt what each man's part has been from +those whose place it is to tell me, I will do my best to give each man +his due, in word and deed. [3] But I need none to tell me the exploits +of your brigadier Chrysantas; he was next to me in the battle and I +could see that he bore himself as I believe you all have done. Moreover, +at the very moment when I called on him to retire, he had just raised +his sword to strike an Assyrian down, but he heard my voice, and at once +he dropped his hand and did my bidding. He sent the word along the lines +and led his division out of range before the enemy could lay one arrow +to the string or let one javelin fly. Thus he brought himself and his +men safely out of action, because he had learnt to obey. [4] But some +of you, I see, are wounded, and when I hear at what moment they received +their wounds I will pronounce my opinion on their deserts. Chrysantas +I know already to be a true soldier and a man of sense, able to command +because he is able to obey, and here and now I put him at the head of a +thousand troops, nor shall I forget him on the day when God may please +to give me other blessings. [5] There is one reminder I would make to +all. Never let slip the lesson of this day's encounter, and judge for +yourselves whether it is cowardice or courage that saves a man in war, +whether the fighters or the shirkers have the better chance, and what +the joy is that victory can yield. To-day of all days you can decide, +for you have made the trial and the result is fresh. [6] With such +thoughts as these in your hearts you will grow braver and better still. +And now you may rest in the consciousness that you are dear to God and +have done your duty bravely and steadily, and so take your meal and make +your libations and sing the paean and be ready for the watchword." + +So saying, Cyrus mounted his horse and galloped on to Cyaxares, and +the two rejoiced together as victors will. And then, after a glance at +matters there and an inquiry if aught were needed, he rode back to his +own detachment. Then the evening meal was taken and the watches were +posted and Cyrus slept with his men. + +[8] Meanwhile the Assyrians, finding that their king was among the slain +and almost all his nobles with him, fell into utter despair, and many of +them deserted during the night. And at this fear crept over Croesus and +the allies; they saw dangers on every side, and heaviest of all was the +knowledge that the leading nation, the head of the whole expedition, had +received a mortal blow. Nothing remained but to abandon the encampment +under cover of night. [9] Day broke, and the camp was seen to be +deserted, and Cyrus, without more ado, led his Persians within the +entrenchments, where they found the stores that the enemy had left: +herds of sheep and goats and kine, and long rows of waggons laden with +good things. Cyaxares and his Medes followed, and all arms took their +breakfast in the camp. [10] But when the meal was over, Cyrus summoned +his brigadiers and said to them: + +"Think what blessings we are flinging away now, spurning, as it were, +the very gifts of heaven! So at least it seems to me. The enemy have +given us the slip, as you see with your own eyes. Is it likely that men +who forsook the shelter of their own fortress will ever face us in fair +field on level ground? Will those who shrink from us before they put our +prowess to the test ever withstand us now when we have overthrown and +shattered them? They have lost their best and bravest, and will the +cowards dare to give us battle?" + +[11] At that one of his officers cried, "Why not pursue at once, if such +triumphs are before us?" + +And Cyrus answered, "Because we have not the horses. The stoutest of our +enemies, those whom we must seize or slay, are mounted on steeds that +could sweep past us like the wind. God helping us, we can put them to +flight, but we cannot overtake them." + +[12] "Then," said they, "why not go and lay the matter before Cyaxares?" + +And he answered, "If so, you must all go with me, that Cyaxares may see +it is the wish of all." + +So they all went together and spoke as they thought best. [13] Now +Cyaxares felt, no doubt, a certain jealousy that the Persians should be +the first to broach the matter, but he may also have felt that it was +really wiser to run no further risks for the present; he had, moreover, +abandoned himself to feasting and merrymaking, and he saw that most of +his Medes were in like case. Whatever the reason, this was the answer he +gave: + +[14] "My good nephew, I have always heard and always seen that you +Persians of all men think it your duty never to be insatiate in the +pursuit of any pleasure; and I myself believe that the greater the joy +the more important is self-restraint. Now what greater joy could there +be than the good fortune which waits on us to-day? [15] When fortune +comes to us, if we guard her with discretion, we may live to grow old +in peace, but if we are insatiate, if we use and abuse our pleasures, +chasing first one and then another, we may well fear lest that fate be +ours which, the proverb tells us, falls on those mariners who cannot +forgo their voyages in the pursuit of wealth, and one day the deep sea +swallows them. Thus has many a warrior achieved one victory only to +clutch at another and lose the first. [16] If indeed, our enemies who +have fled were weaker than we, it might be safe enough to pursue them. +But now, bethink you, how small a portion of them we have fought and +conquered; the mass have had no part in the battle, and they, if we +do not force them to fight, will take themselves off through sheer +cowardice and sloth. As yet they know nothing of our powers or their +own, but if they learn that to fly is as dangerous as to hold their +ground, we run the risk of driving them to be brave in spite of +themselves. [17] You may be sure they are just as anxious to save their +wives and children as you can be to capture them. Take a lesson from +hunting: the wild sow when she is sighted will scamper away with her +young, though she be feeding with the herd; but if you attack her little +ones she will never fly, even if she is all alone; she will turn on the +hunters. [18] Yesterday the enemy shut themselves up in a fort, and then +handed themselves over to us to choose how many we cared to fight. But +if we meet them in open country, and they learn how to divide their +forces and take us in front and flank and rear, I wonder how many pairs +of eyes and hands each man of us would need! Finally," he added, "I have +no great wish myself to disturb my Medes in their enjoyment, and drive +them out to further dangers." + +[19] Then Cyrus took him up: "Nay, I would not have you put pressure on +any man; only let those who are willing follow me, and perhaps we shall +come back with something for all of you to enjoy. The mass of the enemy +we should not think of pursuing; indeed, how could we overtake them? But +if we cut off any stragglers, we could clap hands on them and bring them +back to you. [20] Remember," he added, "when you sent for us, we came +a long way to do you service; is it not fair that you should do us a +kindness in return, and let us have something to take back with us for +ourselves, and not stand here agape at all your treasures?" + +[21] At that Cyaxares answered, "Ah, if any will follow you of their own +free will, I can but be most grateful." + +"Send some one with me then," said Cyrus, "from these trusty men of +yours, to carry your commands." + +"Take whomever you like," he answered, "and begone." + +[22] Now, as it chanced, among the officers present was the Mede who +had claimed kinship with Cyrus long ago and won a kiss thereby. Cyrus +pointed to him and said, "That man will do for me." "He shall go with +you then," Cyaxares replied. And turning to the officer, "Tell your +fellows," he said, "that he who lists may follow Cyrus." [23] Thus +Cyrus chose his man and went forth. And when they were outside he said, +"To-day you can show me if you spoke truth long ago when you told me +that the sight of me was your joy." + +"If you say that," said the Mede, "I will never leave you." + +"And will you not do your best," added Cyrus, "to bring me others too?" +"By the gods in heaven," cried the Mede, "that I will, until you say in +your turn that to see me is your joy." Thereupon, with the authority +of Cyaxares to support him, the officer went to the Medes and delivered +with message with all diligence, adding that he for one would never +forsake Cyrus, the bravest, noblest, and best of men, and a hero whose +lineage was divine. + +[C.2] While Cyrus was busied with these matters, by some strange chance +two ambassadors arrived from the Hyrcanians. These people are neighbours +of the Assyrians, and being few in number, they were held in subjection. +But they seemed then, as they seem now, to live on horseback. Hence the +Assyrians used them as the Lacedaemonians employ the Skirites, for +every toil and every danger, without sparing them. In fact, at that very +moment they had ordered them to furnish a rear-guard of a thousand +men and more, so as to bear the brunt of any rear attack. [2] The +Hyrcanians, as they were to be the hindmost, had put their waggons and +families in the rear, for, like most of the tribes in Asia, they take +their entire households with them on the march. [3] But when they +thought of the sorry treatment they got from the Assyrians and when they +saw the king fallen, the army worsted and a prey to panic, the allies +disheartened and ready to desert, they judged it a fine moment to revolt +themselves, if only the Medes and Persians would make common cause with +them. So they sent an embassy to Cyrus, for after the late battle there +was no name like his. [4] They told him what good cause they had to +hate the Assyrians, and how if he was willing to attack them now, they +themselves would be his allies and show him the way. At the same time +they gave a full account of the enemy's doings, being eager to get Cyrus +on the road. [5] "Do you think," said Cyrus, "we should overtake the +Assyrians before they reach their fortresses? We look on it as a great +misfortune," he added, "that they ever slipped through our fingers and +escaped." (This he said, wishing to give his hearers as high an opinion +as possible of himself and his friends.) [6] "You should certainly catch +them," they answered, "and that to-morrow, ere the day is old, if you +gird up your loins: they move heavily because of their numbers and their +train of waggons, and to-day, since they did not sleep last night, +they have only gone a little way ahead, and are now encamped for the +evening." + +[7] "Can you give us any guarantee," said Cyrus, "that what you say is +true?" + +"We will give you hostages," they said; "we will ride off at once and +bring them back this very night. Only do you on your side call the gods +to witness and give us the pledge of your own right hand, that we may +give our people the assurance we have received from you ourselves." + +[8] Thereupon Cyrus gave them his pledge that if they would make good +what they promised he would treat them as his true friends and faithful +followers, of no less account than the Persians and the Medes. And to +this day one may see Hyrcanians treated with trust and holding office on +an equal footing with Persians and Medes of high distinction. + +[9] Now Cyrus and his men took their supper and then while it was still +daylight he led his army out, having made the two Hyrcanians wait so +that they might go with them. The Persians, of course, were with him to +a man, and Tigranes was there, with his own contingent, and the Median +volunteers, who had joined for various reasons. [10] Some had been +friends of Cyrus in boyhood, others had hunted with him and learnt to +admire his character, others were grateful, feeling he had lifted a load +of fear from them, others were flushed with hope, nothing doubting that +great things were reserved for the man who had proved so brave and so +fortunate already. Others remembered the time when he was brought up in +Media, and were glad to return the kindnesses that he had shown +them; many could recall the favours the boy had won for them from his +grandfather through his sheer goodness of heart; and many, now that they +had seen the Hyrcanians and heard say they were leading them to untold +treasures, went out from simple love of gain. [11] So they sallied +forth, the entire body of the Persians and all the Medes, except those +who were quartered with Cyaxares: these stayed behind, and their men +with them. But all the rest went out with radiant faces and eager +hearts, not following him from constraint, but offering willing service +in their gratitude. [12] So, as soon as they were well afield, Cyrus +went to the Medes and thanked them, praying that the gods in their mercy +might guide them all, and that he himself might have power given him to +reward their zeal. He ended by saying that the infantry would lead the +van, while they would follow with the cavalry, and whenever the column +halted on the march they were to send him gallopers to receive his +orders. [13] Then he bade the Hyrcanians lead the way, but they +exclaimed, "What? Are you not going to wait until we bring the hostages? +Then you could begin the march with pledges from us in return for +yours." + +But he answered, as the story says, "If I am not mistaken, we hold the +pledges now, in our own hearts and our own right hands. We believe that +if you are true to us we can do you service, and if you play us false, +you will not have us at your mercy; God willing, we shall hold you at +ours. Nevertheless," he added, "since you tell us your own folk follow +in the Assyrian rear, point them out to us as soon as you set eyes upon +them, that we may spare their lives." + +[14] When the Hyrcanians heard this they led the way as he ordered, +marvelling at his strength of soul. Their own fear of the Assyrians, the +Lydians, and their allies, had altogether gone; their dread now was lest +Cyrus should regard themselves as mere dust in the balance, and count it +of no importance whether they stayed with him or not. + +[15] As night closed in on their march, the legend runs that a strange +light shone out, far off in the sky, upon Cyrus and his host, filling +them with awe of the heavenly powers and courage to meet the foe. +Marching as they did, their loins girt and their pace swift, they +covered a long stretch of road in little time, and with the half light +of the morning they were close to the Hyrcanian rear-guard. [16] As soon +as the guides saw it, they told Cyrus that these were their own men: +they knew this, they added, from the number of their fires, and the fact +that they were in the rear. [17] Therefore Cyrus sent one of the guides +to them, bidding them come out at once, if they were friendly, with +their right hands raised. And he sent one of his own men also to say, +"According as you make your approach, so shall we Persians comport +ourselves." + +Thus one of the two messengers stayed with Cyrus while the other rode up +to his fellows. [18] Cyrus halted his army to watch what the tribe would +do, and Tigranes and the Median officers rode along the ranks to ask +for orders. Cyrus explained that the troops nearest to them were the +Hyrcanians, and that one of the ambassadors had gone, and a Persian with +him, to bid them come out at once, if they were friendly, with their +right hands raised. "If they do so," he added, "you must welcome them +as they come, each of you at your post, and take them by the hand and +encourage them, but if they draw sword or try to escape, you must make +an example of them: not a man of them must be left." + +Such were his orders. [19] However, as soon as the Hyrcanians heard the +message, they were overjoyed: springing to their steeds they galloped up +to Cyrus, holding out their right hands as he had bidden. Then the Medes +and Persians gave them the right hand of fellowship in return, and bade +them be of courage. [20] And Cyrus spoke: + +"Sons of the Hyrcanians, we have shown our trust in you already, and +you must trust us in return. And now tell me, how far from here do +the Assyrian headquarters lie, and their main body?" "About four miles +hence," they answered. + +[21] "Forward then, my men," said Cyrus, "Persians, Medes, and +Hyrcanians. I have learnt already, you see, to call you friends and +comrades. All of you must remember that the moment has come when, if +hand falters or heart fails, we meet with utter disaster: our enemies +know why we are here. But if we summon our strength and charge home, +you shall see them caught like a pack of runaway slaves, some on their +knees, others in full flight, and the rest unable to do even so much for +themselves. They are beaten already, and they will see their conquerors +fall on them before they dream of an approach, before their ranks are +formed or their preparations made, and the sight will paralyse them. +[22] If we wish to sleep and eat and live in peace and happiness from +this time forth, let us not give them leisure to take counsel or arrange +defence, or so much as see that we are men, and not a storm of shields +and battle-axes and flashing swords, sweeping on them in one rain of +blows. [23] You Hyrcanians must go in front of us as a screen, that we +may lie behind you as long as may be. And as soon as I close with them, +you must give me, each of you, a squadron of horse, to use in case of +need while I am waiting at the camp. [24] I would advise the older men +among you and the officers, to ride in close order, so that your ranks +should not be broken, if you come across a compact body of the foe; let +the younger men give chase, and do the killing; our safest plan to-day +is to leave as few of the enemy alive as possible. [25] And if we +conquer," he added, "we must beware of what has overset the fortune +of many a conqueror ere now, I mean the lust for plunder. The man who +plunders is no longer a man, he is a machine for porterage, and all +who list may treat him as a slave. [26] One thing we must bear in mind: +nothing can bring such gain as victory; at one clutch the victor seizes +all, men and women, and wealth, and territory. Therefore make it your +one object to secure the victory; if he is conquered, the greatest +plunderer is caught. One more word--remember, even in the heat of +pursuit to rejoin me while it is still daylight, for when darkness has +fallen we will not admit a soul within the lines." + +[27] With these words he sent them off to their appointed stations, +bidding them repeat his instructions on the way to their own +lieutenants, who were posted in front to receive the orders, and make +each of them pass down the word to his own file of ten. Thereupon the +advance began, the Hyrcanians leading off, Cyrus holding the centre +himself, marching with his Persians, and the cavalry in the usual way, +drawn up on either flank. + +[28] As the day broke the enemy saw them for the first time: some simply +stared at what was happening, others began to realise the truth, calling +and shouting to each other, unfastening their horses, getting their +goods together, tearing what they needed off the beasts of burden, and +others arming themselves, harnessing their steeds, leaping to horse, +others helping the women into their carriages, or seizing their +valuables, some caught in the act of burying them, others, and by far +the greatest number, in sheer headlong flight. Many and divers were +their shifts, as one may well conceive, save only that not one man stood +at bay: they perished without a blow. [29] Now Croesus, king of Lydia, +seeing that it was summer-time, had sent his women on during the night, +so that they might travel more pleasantly in the cool, and he himself +had followed with his cavalry to escort them. [30] The Lord of +Hellespontine Phrygia, it is said, had done the same. And these two, +when they heard what was happening from the fugitives who overtook them, +fled for their lives with the rest. [31] But it was otherwise with the +kings of Cappadocia and Arabia; they had not gone far, and they stood +their ground, but they had not even time to put on their corslets, and +were cut down by the Hyrcanians. Indeed, the mass of those who fell were +Assyrians and Arabians, for, being in their own country, they had +taken no precautions on the march. [32] The victorious Medes and the +Hyrcanians had their hands full with the chase, and meanwhile Cyrus made +the cavalry who were left with him ride all round the camp and cut down +any man who left it with weapons in his hands. Then he sent a herald to +those who remained, bidding the horsemen and targeteers and archers come +out on foot, with their weapons tied in bundles, and deliver them up to +him, leaving their horses in their stalls: he who disobeyed should lose +his head, and a cordon of Persian troops stood round with their swords +drawn. [33] At that the weapons were brought at once, and flung down, +and Cyrus had the whole pile burnt. + +[34] Meanwhile he did not forget that his own troops had come without +food or drink, that nothing could be done without provisions, and that +to obtain these in the quickest way, it was necessary on every campaign +to have some one to see that quarters were prepared and supplies ready +for the men on their return. [35] It occurred to him it was more than +likely that such officers, of all others, would be left behind in the +Assyrian camp, because they would have been delayed by the packing. + +Accordingly, he sent out a proclamation that all the stewards should +present themselves before him, and if there was no such officer left, +the oldest man in every tent must take his place; any one failing to +obey would suffer the severest penalties. The stewards, following the +example of their masters, obeyed at once. And when they came before him +he ordered those who had more than two months' rations in their quarters +to sit down on the ground, and then those who had provisions for one +month. [36] Thereupon very few were left standing. [37] Having thus got +the information he needed, he spoke to them as follows: + +"Gentlemen, if any of you dislike hard blows and desire gentle treatment +at our hands, make it your business to provide twice as much meat and +drink in every tent as you have been wont to do, with all things that +are needed for a fine repast. The victors, whoever they are, will be +here anon, and will expect an overflowing board. You may rest assured +it will not be against your interests to give them a welcome they can +approve." + +[38] At that the stewards went off at once and set to work with all zeal +to carry out their instructions. Then Cyrus summoned his own officers +and said to them: + +"My friends, it is clear that we have it in our power, now that our +allies' backs are turned, to help ourselves to breakfast, and take our +choice of the most delicate dishes and the rarest wines. But I scarcely +think this would do us so much good as to show that we study the +interest of our friends: the best of cheer will not give us half the +strength we could draw from the zeal of loyal allies whose gratitude we +had won. [39] If we forget those who are toiling for us now, pursuing +our foes, slaying them, and fighting wherever they resist, if they see +that we sit down to enjoy ourselves and devour our meal before we know +how it goes with them, I fear we shall cut a sorry figure in their eyes, +and our strength will turn to weakness through lack of friends. The true +banquet for us is to study the wants of those who have run the risk and +done the work, to see that they have all they need when they come home, +a banquet that will give us richer delight than any gorging of the +belly. [40] And remember, that even if the thought of them were not +enough to shame us from it, in no case is this a moment for gluttony +and drunkenness: the thing we set our minds to do is not yet done: +everything is full of danger still, and calls for carefulness. We have +enemies in this camp ten times more numerous than ourselves, and they +are all at large: we need both to guard against them and to guard them, +so that we may have servants to furnish us with supplies. Our cavalry +are not yet back, and we must ask ourselves where they are and whether +they mean to stay with us when they return. [41] Therefore, gentlemen, I +would say, for the present let us above all be careful to avoid the +food and drink that leads to slumber and stupefaction. [42] And there is +another matter: this camp contains vast treasures, and I am well aware +we have it in our power to pick and choose as much as we like for +ourselves out of what belongs by right to all who helped in its capture. +But it does not seem to me that grasping will be so lucrative as proving +ourselves just toward our allies, and so binding them closer. [43] I go +further: I say that we should leave the distribution of the spoil to the +Medes, the Hyrcanians, and Tigranes, and count it gain if they allot us +the smaller share, for then they will be all the more willing to stay +with us. [44] Selfishness now could only secure us riches for the +moment, while to let these vanities go in order to obtain the very fount +of wealth, that, I take it, will ensure for us and all whom we call ours +a far more enduring gain. [45] Was it not," he continued, "for this very +reason that we trained ourselves at home to master the belly and its +appetites, so that, if ever the need arose, we might turn our education +to account? And where, I ask, shall we find a nobler opportunity than +this, to show what we have learnt?" + +[46] Such were his words and Hystaspas the Persian rose to support him, +saying: + +"Truly, Cyrus, it would be a monstrous thing if we could go fasting when +we hunt, and keep from food so often and so long merely to lay some poor +beast low, worth next to nothing, maybe, and yet, when a world of wealth +is our quarry, let ourselves be baulked by one of those temptations +which flee before the noble and rule the bad. Such conduct, methinks, +would be little worthy of our race." + +[47] So Hystaspas spoke, and the rest approved him, one and all. Then +Cyrus said: + +"Come now, since we are all of one mind, each of you give me five of the +trustiest fellows in his company, and let them go the rounds, and see +how the supplies are furnished; let them praise the active servants, +and where they see neglect, chastise them more severely than their own +masters could." + +Thus they dealt with these matters. + +[C.3] But it was not long before some of the Medes returned: one set had +overtaken the waggons that had gone ahead, seized them and turned them +back, and were now driving them to the camp, laden with all that an army +could require, and others had captured the covered carriages in which +the women rode, the wives of the Assyrian grandees or their concubines, +whom they had taken with them because of their beauty. [2] Indeed, to +this day the tribes of Asia never go on a campaign without their most +precious property: they say they can fight better in the presence of +their beloved, feeling they must defend their treasures, heart and soul. +It may be so, but it may also be that the desire for pleasure is the +cause. + +[3] And when Cyrus saw the feats of arms that the Medes and the +Hyrcanians had performed, he came near reproaching himself and those +that were with him; the others, he felt, had risen with the time, had +shown their strength and won their prizes, while he and his had stayed +behind like sluggards. Indeed it was a sight to watch the victors riding +home, driving their spoil before them, pointing it out with some +display to Cyrus, and then dashing off again at once in search of more, +according to the instructions they had received. + +But though he ate out his heart with envy Cyrus was careful to set all +their booty apart; and then he summoned his own officers again, and +standing where they could all hear what he had to propose, he spoke as +follows: + +[4] "My friends, you would all agree, I take it, that if the spoils +displayed to us now were our own to keep, wealth would be showered on +every Persian in the land, and we ourselves, no doubt, through whom it +was won, would receive the most. But what I do not see is how we are +to get possession of such prizes unless we have cavalry of our own. [5] +Consider the facts," he continued, "we Persians have weapons with which, +we hope, we can rout the enemy at close quarters: but when we do rout +them, what sort of horsemen or archers or light-armed troops could ever +be caught and killed, if we can only pursue them on foot? Why should +they ever be afraid to dash up and harry us, when they know full well +that they run no greater risk at our hands than if we were stumps in +their orchards? [6] And if this be so, it is plain that the cavalry now +with us consider every gain to be as much theirs as ours, and possibly +even more, God wot! [7] At present things must be so: there is no help +for it. But suppose we were to provide ourselves with as good a force +as our friends, it must be pretty evident to all of us, I think, that we +could then deal with the enemy by ourselves precisely as we do now with +their help, and then perhaps we should find that they would carry their +heads less high. It would be of less importance to us whether they chose +to stay or go, we should be sufficient for ourselves without them. [8] +So far then I expect that no one will disagree: if we could get a body +of Persian cavalry it would make all the difference to us; but no doubt +you feel the question is, how are we to get it? Well, let us consider +first, suppose we decide to raise the force, exactly what we have to +start with and what we need. [9] We certainly have hundreds of horses +now captured in this camp, with their bridles and all their gear. +Besides these, we have all the accoutrements for a mounted force, +breast-plates to protect the trunk, and light spears to be flung or +wielded at close quarters. What else do we need? It is plain we need +men. [10] But that is just what we have already at our own command. For +nothing is so much ours as our own selves. Only, some will say, we have +not the necessary skill. No, of course not, and none of those who have +it now had it either before they learnt to get it. Ah, you object, but +they learnt when they were boys. [11] Maybe; but are boys more capable +of learning what they are taught then grown men? Which are the better at +heavy physical tasks, boys or men? [12] Besides, we, of all pupils, have +advantages that neither boys nor other men possess: we have not to be +taught the use of the bow as boys have, we are skilled in that already; +nor yet the use of the javelin, we are versed in that; our time has not +been taken up like other men's with toiling on the land or labouring at +some craft or managing household matters; we have not only had leisure +for war, it has been our life. [13] Moreover, one cannot say of riding +as of so many warlike exercises that it is useful but disagreeable. To +ride a-horseback is surely pleasanter than to trudge a-foot? And as for +speed--how pleasant to join a friend betimes whenever you wish, or +come up with your quarry be it man or beast! And then, the ease and +satisfaction of it! Whatever weapon the rider carries his horse must +help to bear the load: 'wear arms' and 'bear arms,'--they are the same +thing on horseback. [14] But now, to meet the worst we can apprehend: +suppose, before we are adepts, we are called upon to run some risk, and +then find that we are neither infantry nor thoroughgoing cavalry? This +may be a danger, but we can guard against it. We have it always in our +power to turn into infantry again at a moment's notice. I do not propose +that by learning to ride we should unlearn the arts of men on foot." + +[15] Thus spoke Cyrus, and Chrysantas rose to support him, saying: + +"For my part I cannot say I so much desire to be a horseman as flatter +myself that once I can ride I shall be a sort of flying man. [16] At +present when I race I am quiet content if, with a fair start, I can beat +one of my rivals by the head, or when I sight my game I am happy if, by +laying legs to the ground, I can get close enough to let fly javelin or +arrow before he is clean out of range. But when once I am a horseman +I shall be able to overhaul my man as far as I can see him, or come up +with the beasts I chase and knock them over myself or else spear them +as though they stood stock still, for when hunter and hunted are both +of them racing, if they are only side by side, it is as good as though +neither of them moved. [17] And the creature I have always envied," he +continued, "the centaur--if only he had the intelligence and forethought +of a man, the adroit skill and the cunning hand, with the swiftness and +strength of a horse, so as to overtake all that fled before him, and +overthrow all that resisted--why, all these powers I shall collect +and gather in my own person when once I am a rider. [18] Forethought I +intend to keep with my human wits, my hands can wield my weapons, and my +horse's legs will follow up the foe, and my horse's rush overthrow him. +Only I shall not be tied and fettered to my steed, flesh of his flesh, +and blood of his blood, like the old centaur. [19] And that I count +a great improvement on the breed, far better than being united to the +animal, body and soul. The old centaur, I imagine, must have been +for ever in difficulties; as a horse, he could not use the wonderful +inventions of man, and as a man, he could not enjoy the proper pleasures +of a horse. [20] But I, if I learn to ride, once set me astride my +horse, and I will do all that the centaur can, and yet, when I dismount, +I can dress myself as a human being, and dine, and sleep in my bed, like +the rest of my kind: in short, I shall be a jointed centaur that can be +taken to pieces and put together again. [21] And I shall gain another +point or so over the original beast: he, we know, had only two eyes to +see with and two ears to hear with, but I shall watch with four eyes and +with four ears I shall listen. You know, they tell us a horse can often +see quicker than any man, and hear a sound before his master, and give +him warning in some way. Have the goodness, therefore," he added, "to +write my name down among those who want to ride." + +[22] "And ours too," they all cried, "ours too, in heaven's name!" + +Then Cyrus spoke: "Gentlemen, since we are all so well agreed, suppose +we make it a rule that every one who receives a horse from me shall +be considered to disgrace himself if he is seen trudging afoot, be his +journey long or short?" + +[23] Thus Cyrus put the question, and one and all assented; and hence it +is that even to this day the custom is retained, and no Persian of the +gentle class would willingly be seen anywhere on foot. + +[C.4] In this debate their time was spent, and when it was past midday +the Median cavalry and the Hyrcanians came galloping home, bringing in +men and horses from the enemy, for they had spared all who surrendered +their arms. [2] As they rode up the first inquiry of Cyrus was whether +all of them were safe, and when they answered yes, he asked what they +had achieved. And they told their exploits in detail, and how bravely +they had borne themselves, magnifying it all. [3] Cyrus heard their +story through with a pleasant smile, and praised them for their work. +"I can see for myself," he said, "that you have done gallant deeds. You +seem to have grown taller and fairer and more terrible to look on than +when we saw you last." + +[4] Then he made them tell him how far they had gone, and whether they +had found the country inhabited. They said they had ridden a long way, +and that the whole country was inhabited, and full of sheep and goats +and cattle and horses, and rich in corn and every good thing. + +[5] "Then there are two matters," he said, "to which we must attend; +first we must become masters of those who own all this, and next we must +ensure that they do not run away. A well-populated country is a rich +possession, but a deserted land will soon become a desert. [6] You have +put the defenders to the sword, I know, and rightly--for that is the +only safe road to victory; but you have brought in as prisoners those +who laid down their arms. Now if we let these men go, I maintain we +should do the very best thing for ourselves. [7] We gain two points; +first, we need neither be on our guard against them nor mount guard over +them nor find them victuals (and we do not propose to starve them, I +presume), and in the next place, their release means more prisoners +to-morrow. [8] For if we dominate the country all the inhabitants are +ours, and if they see that these men are still alive and at large they +will be more disposed to stay where they are, and prefer obedience to +battle. That is my own view, but if any one sees a better course, let +him point it out." + +[9] However, all his hearers approved the plan proposed. Thus it came to +pass that Cyrus summoned the prisoners and said to them: + +[10] "Gentlemen, you owe it to your own obedience this day that your +lives are safe; and for the future if you continue in this conduct, no +evil whatsoever shall befall you; true, you will not have the same ruler +as before, but you will dwell in the same houses, you will cultivate the +same land, you will live with your wives and govern your children as you +do now. Moreover you will not have us to fight with, nor any one else. +[11] On the contrary, if any wrong is done you, it is we who will fight +on your behalf. And to prevent any one from ordering you to take the +field, you will bring your arms to us and hand them over. Those who do +this can count on peace and the faithful fulfilment of our promises; +those who will not, must expect war, and that at once. [12] Further, +if any man of you comes to us and shows a friendly spirit, giving +us information and helping us in any way, we will treat him not as a +servant, but as a friend and benefactor. This," he added, "we wish you +to understand yourselves and make known among your fellows. [13] And if +it should appear that you yourselves are willing to comply but others +hinder you, lead us against them, and you shall be their masters, not +they yours." + +Such were his words; and they made obeisance and promised to do as he +bade. + +[C.5] And when they were gone, Cyrus turned to the Medes and the men of +Armenia, and said, "It is high time, gentlemen, that we should dine, +one and all of us; food and drink are prepared for you, the best we had +skill to find. Send us, if you will, the half of the bread that has +been baked; there is ample, I know, for both of us; but do not send any +relish with it, nor any drink, we have quite enough at hand. [2] And do +you," he added, turning to the Hyrcanians, "conduct our friends to +their quarters, the officers to the largest tents--you know where they +are--and the rest where you think best. For yourselves, you may dine +where you like; your quarters are intact, and you will find everything +there prepared for you exactly as it is for the others. [3] All of you +alike must understand that during the night we Persians will guard the +camp outside, but you must keep an eye over what goes on within; and see +that your arms are ready to hand; our messmates are not our friends as +yet." + +[4] So the Medes and Tigranes with his men washed away the stains of +battle, and put on the apparel that was laid out for them, and fell to +dinner, and the horses had their provender too. They sent half the bread +to the Persians but no relish with it and no wine, thinking that Cyrus +and his men possessed a store, because he had said they had enough and +to spare. But Cyrus meant the relish of hunger, and the draught from the +running river. [5] Thus he regaled his Persians, and when the darkness +fell he sent them out by fives and tens and ordered them to lie in +ambush around the camp, so as to form a double guard, against attack +from without, and absconders from within; any one attempting to make off +with treasures would be caught in the act. And so it befell; for many +tried to escape, and all of them were seized. [6] As for the treasures, +Cyrus allowed the captors to keep them, but he had the absconders +beheaded out of hand, so that for the future a thief by night was hardly +to be found. Thus the Persians passed their time. [7] But the Medes +drank and feasted and made music and took their fill of good cheer and +all delights; there was plenty to serve their purpose, and work enough +for those who did not sleep. + +[8] Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, on the very night when Cyrus set +forth, drank himself drunk in company with the officers in his own +quarters to celebrate their good fortune. Hearing uproar all about him, +he thought that the rest of the Medes must have stayed behind in the +camp, except perhaps a few, but the fact was that their domestics, +finding the masters gone, had fallen to drinking in fine style and +were making a din to their hearts' content, the more so that they had +procured wine and dainties from the Assyrian camp. [9] But when it was +broad day and no one knocked at the palace gate except the guests +of last night's revel, and when Cyaxares heard that the camp was +deserted--the Medes gone, the cavalry gone--and when he went out and saw +for himself that it was so, then he fumed with indignation against Cyrus +and his own men, to think that they had gone off and left him in the +lurch. It is said that without more ado, savage and mad with anger as he +was, he ordered one of his staff to take his troopers and ride at once +to Cyrus and his men, and there deliver this message: + +[10] "I should never have dreamed that Cyrus could have acted towards +me with such scant respect, or, if he could have thought of it, that the +Medes could have borne to desert me in this way. And now, whether Cyrus +will or no, I command the Medes to present themselves before me without +delay." + +[11] Such was the message. But he who was to take it said, "And how +shall I find them, my lord?" + +"Why," said Cyaxares, "as Cyrus and his men found those they went to +seek." + +"I only asked," continued the messenger, "because I was told that some +Hyrcanians who had revolted from the enemy came here, and went off with +him to act as guides." + +[12] When Cyaxares heard that, he was the more enraged to think that +Cyrus had never told him, and the more urgent to have his Medes removed +from him at once, and he summoned them home under fiercer threats +than ever; threatening the officer as well if he failed to deliver the +message in full force. + +[13] So the emissary set off with his troopers, about one hundred +strong, fervently regretting that he had not gone with Cyrus himself. On +the way they took a turning which led them wrong, and they did not +reach the Persians until they had chanced upon some of the Assyrians +in retreat and forced them to be their guides, and so at last arrived, +sighting the watch-fires about midnight. [14] But though they had got to +the camp, the pickets, acting on the orders of Cyrus, would not let them +in till dawn. With the first faint gleam of morning Cyrus summoned +the Persian Priests, who are called Magians, and bade them choose the +offerings due to the gods for the blessings they had vouchsafed. [15] +And while they were about this, Cyrus called the Peers together and said +to them: + +"Gentlemen, God has put before us many blessings, but at present we +Persians are but a scant company to keep them. If we fail to guard what +we have toiled for, it will soon fall back into other hands, and if we +leave some of our number to watch our gains, it will soon be seen that +we have no strength in us. [16] I propose therefore that one of you +should go home to Persia without loss of time, and explain what I need +and bid them despatch an army forthwith, if they desire Persia to +win the empire of Asia and the fruits thereof. [17] Do you," said he, +turning to one of the Peers, "do you, who are the eldest, go and repeat +these words, and tell them that it shall be my care to provide for the +soldiers they send me as soon as they are here. And as to what we have +won--you have seen it yourself--keep nothing back, and ask my father how +much I ought to send home for an offering to the gods, if I wish to act +in honour and according to the law, and ask the magistrates how much is +due to the commonwealth. And let them send commissioners to watch all +that we do and answer all that we ask. So, sir," he ended, "you will get +your baggage together, and take your company with you as an escort. Fare +you well." + +[18] With that message he turned to the Medes and at the same moment the +messenger from Cyaxares presented himself, and in the midst of the whole +assembly announced the anger of the king against Cyrus, and his threats +against the Medes, and so bade the latter return home at once, even if +Cyrus wished them to stay. [19] The Medes listened, but were silent; for +they were sore bested; they could hardly disobey the summons, and +yet they were afraid to go back after his threats, being all too well +acquainted with the savage temper of their lord. [20] But Cyrus spoke: + +"Herald," said he, "and sons of the Medes, I am not surprised that +Cyaxares, who saw the host of the enemy so lately, and knows so little +of what we have done now, should tremble for us and for himself. But +when he learns how many have fallen, and that all have been dispersed, +his fears will vanish, and he will recognise that he is not deserted on +this day of all days when his friends are destroying his foes. [21] Can +we deserve blame for doing him a service? And that not even without his +own consent? I am acting as I am, only after having gained his leave +to take you out; it is not as though you had come to me in your own +eagerness, and begged me to let you go, and so were here now; he himself +ordered you out, those of you who did not find it a burthen. Therefore, +I feel sure, his anger will melt in the sunshine of success, and, when +his fears are gone, it will vanish too. [22] For the moment then," he +added, turning to the messenger, "you must recruit yourself; you have +had a heavy task; and for ourselves," said he, turning to the Persians, +"since we are waiting for an enemy who will either offer us battle +or render us submission, we must draw up in our finest style; the +spectacle, perhaps, will bring us more than we could dare to hope. And +do you," he said, taking the Hyrcanian chieftain aside, "after you +have told your officers to arm their men, come back and wait with me a +moment." + +[23] So the Hyrcanian went and returned. Then Cyrus said to him, "Son +of Hyrcania, it gives me pleasure to see that you show not only +friendliness, but sagacity. It is clear that our interests are the same; +the Assyrians are my foes as well as yours, only they hate you now even +more bitterly than they hate me. [24] We must consult together and see +that not one of our present allies turns his back on us, and we must do +what we can to acquire more. You heard the Mede summon the cavalry to +return, and if they go, we shall be left with nothing but infantry. [25] +This is what we must do, you and I; we must make this messenger, who is +sent to recall them, desirous to stay here himself. You must find him +quarters where he will have a merry time and everything heart can wish, +and I will offer him work which he will like far better than going back. +And do you talk to him yourself, and dilate on all the wonders we expect +for our friends if things go well. And when you have done this, come +back again and tell me." + +[26] So the chieftain took the Mede away to his own quarters, and +meanwhile the messenger from Persia presented himself equipped for the +journey, and Cyrus bade him tell the Persians all that had happened, +as it has been set out in this story, and then he gave him a letter to +Cyaxares. "I would like to read you the very words," he added, "so that +what you say yourself may agree with it, in case you have questions +asked you." + +[27] The letter ran as follows:--"Cyrus to Cyaxares, greeting. We do not +admit that we have deserted you; for no one is deserted when he is being +made the master of his enemies. Nor do we consider that we put you in +jeopardy by our departure; on the contrary, the greater the distance +between us the greater the security we claim to have won for you. [28] +It is not the friend at a man's elbow who serves him and puts him out of +danger, but he who drives his enemies farthest and furthest away. [29] +And I pray you to remember what I have done for you, and you for me, +before you blame me. I brought you allies, not limiting myself to those +you asked for, but pressing in every man that I could find; you allowed +me while we were on friendly soil only to take those whom I could +persuade to follow me, and now that I am in hostile territory you insist +that they must all return; you do not leave it to their own choice. [30] +Yesterday I felt that I owed both you and them a debt of gratitude, +but to-day you drive me to forget your share, you make me wish to repay +those, and those only, who followed me. [31] Not that I could bring +myself to return you like for like; even now I am sending to Persia for +more troops, and instructing all the men who come that, if you need them +before we return, they must hold themselves at your service absolutely, +to act not as they wish, but as you may care to use them. [32] In +conclusion, I would advise you, though I am younger than yourself, not +to take back with one hand what you give with the other, or else you +will win hatred instead of gratitude; nor to use threats if you wish +men to come to you speedily; nor to speak of being deserted when you +threaten an army, unless you would teach them to despise you. [33] +For ourselves, we will do our best to rejoin you as soon as we have +concluded certain matters which we believe will prove a common blessing +to yourself and us. Farewell." + +[34] "Deliver this," said Cyrus, "to Cyaxares, and whatever questions he +puts to you, answer in accordance with it. My injunctions to you about +the Persians agree exactly with what is written here." With that he gave +him the letter and sent him off, bidding him remember that speed was of +importance. + +[35] Then he turned to review his troops, who were already fully armed, +Medes, Hyrcanians, the men Tigranes had brought, and the whole body of +the Persians. And already some of the neighbouring folk were coming up, +to bring in their horses or hand over their arms. [36] The javelins +were then piled in a heap as before and burnt at his command, after his +troops had taken what they needed for themselves, but he bade the owners +stay with their horses until they received fresh orders. This done, +Cyrus called together the officers of the Hyrcanians and of the cavalry, +and spoke as follows: + +[37] "My friends and allies, you must not be surprised that I summon +you so often. Our circumstances are so novel that much still needs +adjustment, and we must expect difficulty until everything has found +its place. [38] At present we have a mass of spoil, and prisoners set to +guard it. But we do not ourselves know what belongs to each of us, nor +could the guards say who the owners are: and thus it is impossible for +them to be exact in their duties, since scarcely any of them know what +these duties may be. [39] To amend this, you must divide the spoil. +There will be no difficulty where a man has won a tent that is fully +supplied with meat and drink, and servants to boot, bedding, apparel, +and everything to make it a comfortable home; he has only to understand +that this is now his private property, and he must look after it +himself. But where the quarters are not furnished so well, there you +must make it your business to supply what is lacking. [40] There will be +more than enough for this; of that I am sure; the enemy had a stock +of everything quite out of proportion to our scanty numbers. Moreover, +certain treasurers have come to me, men who were in the service of the +king of Assyria and other potentates, and according to what they tell +me, they have a supply of gold coin, the produce of certain tributes +they can name. [41] You will send out a proclamation that this deposit +must be delivered up to you in your quarters; you must terrify those who +fail to execute the order, and then you must distribute the money; the +mounted men should have two shares apiece for the foot-soldier's one; +and you should keep the surplus, so that in case of need you may have +wherewith to make your purchases. [42] With regard to the camp-market, +proclamation must be made at once, forbidding any injustice; the +hucksters must be allowed to sell the goods they have brought, and when +these are disposed of they may bring more, so that the camp may be duly +supplied." + +[43] So the proclamations were issued forthwith. But the Medes and the +Hyrcanians asked Cyrus: + +"How are we to distribute the spoil alone, without your men and +yourself?" + +[44] But Cyrus met question by question: "Do you really think, +gentlemen, that we must all preside over every detail, each and all of +us together? Can I never act for you, and you for me? I could scarcely +conceive a surer way of creating trouble, or of reducing results. See," +said he, "I will take a case in point. [45] We Persians guarded this +booty for you, and you believe that we guarded it well: now it is for +you to distribute it, and we will trust you to be fair. [46] And there +is another benefit that I should be glad to obtain for us all. You see +what a number of horses we have got already, and more are being brought +in. If they are left riderless we shall get no profit out of them; we +shall only have the burden of looking after them. But if we set riders +on them, we shall be quit of the trouble and add to our strength. [47] +Now if you have other men in view, men whom you would choose before us +to share the brunt of danger with you, by all means give these horses +to them. But if you would rather have us fight at your side than any +others, bestow them upon us. [48] To-day when you dashed ahead to meet +danger all alone, great was our fear lest you might come to harm, and +bitter our shame to think that where you were we were not. But if once +we have horses, we can follow at your heels. [49] And if it is clear +that we do more good so mounted, shoulder to shoulder with yourselves, +we shall not fail in zeal; or if it appears better to support you on +foot, why, to dismount is but the work of a moment, and you will have +your infantry marching by your side at once, and we will find men to +hold our horses for us." + +[50] To which they answered: + +"In truth, Cyrus, we have not men for these horses ourselves, and even +if we had them, we should not do anything against your wish. Take them, +we beg you, and use them as you think best." + +[51] "I will," said he, "and gladly, and may good fortune bless us all, +you in your division of the spoil and us in our horsemanship. In the +first place," he added, "you will set apart for the gods whatever our +priests prescribe, and after that you must select for Cyaxares what you +think will please him most." + +[52] At that they laughed, and said they must choose him a bevy of fair +women. "So let it be," said Cyrus, "fair women, and anything else you +please. And when you have chosen his share, the Hyrcanians must see to +it that our friends among the Medes who followed us of their own free +will shall have no cause to find fault with their own portion. [53] And +the Medes on their side must show honour to the first allies we have +won, and make them feel their decision was wise when they chose us +for their friends. And be sure to give a share of everything to the +messenger who came from Cyaxares and to his retinue; persuade him +to stay on with us, say that I would like it, and that he could tell +Cyaxares all the better how matters stood. [54] As for my Persians," he +added, "we shall be quite content with what is left over, after you are +all provided for; we are not used to luxury, we were brought up in a +very simple fashion, and I think you would laugh at us if you saw us +tricked out in grand attire, just as I am sure you will when you see us +seated on our horses, or, rather, rolling off them." + +[55] So they dispersed to make the distribution, in great mirth over the +thought of the riding; and then Cyrus called his own officers and bade +them take the horses and their gear, and the grooms with them, number +them all, and then distribute them by lot in equal shares for each +division. [56] Finally he sent out another proclamation, saying that if +there was any slave among the Syrians, Assyrians, or Arabians who was +a Mede, a Persian, a Bactrian, a Carian, a Cilician, or a Hellene, or a +member of any other nation, and who had been forcibly enrolled, he +was to come forward and declare himself. [57] And when they heard the +herald, many came forward gladly, and out of their number Cyrus selected +the strongest and fairest, and told them they were now free, and would +be required to bear arms, with which he would furnish them, and as to +necessaries, he would see himself that they were not stinted. [58] With +that he brought them to the officers and had them enrolled forthwith, +saying they were to be armed with shields and light swords, so as to +follow the troopers, and were to receive supplies exactly as if they +were his own Persians. The Persian officers themselves, wearing corslets +and carrying lances, were for the future to appear on horseback, he +himself setting the example, and each one was to appoint another of the +Peers to lead the infantry for him. + +[C.6] While they were concerned with these matters, an old Assyrian +prince, Gobryas by name, presented himself before Cyrus, mounted on +horseback and with a mounted retinue behind him, all of them armed as +cavalry. The Persian officers who were appointed to receive the weapons +bade them hand over their lances and have them burnt with the rest, but +Gobryas said he wished to see Cyrus first. At that the adjutants led him +in, but they made his escort stay where they were. [2] When the old man +came before Cyrus, he addressed him at once, saying: + +"My lord, I am an Assyrian by birth; I have a strong fortress in my +territory, and I rule over a wide domain; I have cavalry at my command, +two thousand three hundred of them, all of which I offered to the king +of Assyria; and if ever he had a friend, that friend was I. But he +has fallen at your hands, the gallant heart, and his son, who is my +bitterest foe, reigns in his stead. Therefore I have come to you, a +suppliant at your feet. I am ready to be your slave and your ally, and +I implore you to be my avenger. You yourself will be a son to me, for +I have no male children now. [3] He whom I had, my only son, he was +beautiful and brave, my lord, and loved me and honoured me as a father +rejoices to be loved. And this vile king--his father, my old master, had +sent for my son, meaning to give him his own daughter in marriage; and +I let my boy go, with high hopes and a proud heart, thinking that when +I saw him again the king's daughter would be his bride. And the prince, +who is now king, invited him to the chase, and bade him do his best, +for he thought himself far the finer horseman of the two. So they hunted +together, side by side, as though they were friends, and suddenly a bear +appeared, and the two of them gave chase, and the king's son let fly his +javelin, but alas! he missed his aim, and then my son threw--oh, that he +never had!--and laid the creature low. [4] The prince was stung to the +quick, though for the moment he kept his rancour hidden. But, soon after +that, they roused a lion, and then he missed a second time--no unusual +thing for him, I imagine--but my son's spear went home, and he brought +the beast down, and cried, 'See, I have shot but twice, and killed +each time!' And at this the monster could not contain his jealousy; he +snatched a spear from one of his followers and ran my son through the +body, my only son, my darling, and took his life. [5] And I, unhappy +that I am, I, who thought to welcome a bride-groom, carried home a +corpse. I, who am old, buried my boy with the first down on his chin, my +brave boy, my well-beloved. And his assassin acted as though it were an +enemy that he had done to death. He never showed one sign of remorse, he +never paid one tribute of honour to the dead, in atonement for his cruel +deed. Yet his own father pitied me, and showed that he could share the +burden of my grief. [6] Had he lived, my old master, I would never have +come to you to do him harm; many a kindness have I received from +him, and many a service have I done him. But now that his kingdom has +descended to my boy's murderer--I could never be loyal to that man, and +he, I know, could never regard me as a friend. He knows too well how I +feel towards him, and how, after my former splendour, I pass my days in +mourning, growing old in loneliness and grief. [7] If you can receive +me, if you can give me some hope of vengeance for my dear son, I think +I should grow young again, I should not feel ashamed to live, and when I +came to die I should not die in utter wretchedness." + +[8] So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: + +"Gobryas, if your heart be set towards us as you say, I receive you as +my suppliant, and I promise, God helping me, to avenge your son. But +tell me," he added, "if we do this for you, and if we suffer you to keep +your stronghold, your land, your arms, and the power which you had, how +will you serve us in return?" + +[9] And the old man answered: + +"My stronghold shall be yours, to live in as often as you come to me; +the tribute which I used to pay to Assyria shall be paid to you; and +whenever you march out to war, I will march at your side with the men +from my own land. Moreover, I have a daughter, a well-beloved maiden, +ripe for marriage; once I thought of bringing her up to be the bride of +the man who is now king; but she besought me herself, with tears, not +to give her to her brother's murderer, and I have no mind to oppose her. +And now I will put her in your hands, to deal with as I shall deal with +you." + +[10] So it came to pass that Cyrus said, "On the faith that you have +spoken truly and with true intent, I take your hand and I give you mine; +let the gods be witness." + +And when this was done, Cyrus bade the old man depart in peace, without +surrendering his arms, and then he asked him how far away he lived, +"Since," said he, "I am minded to visit you." And Gobryas answered, "If +you set off early to-morrow, the next day you may lodge with us." [11] +With that he took his own departure, leaving a guide for Cyrus. + +Then the Medes presented themselves; they had set apart for the gods +what the Persian Priests thought right, and had left it in their hands, +and they had chosen for Cyrus the finest of all the tents, and a lady +from Susa, of whom the story says that in all Asia there was never a +woman so fair as she, and two singing-girls with her, the most skilful +among the musicians. The second choice was for Cyaxares, and for +themselves they had taken their fill of all they could need on the +campaign, since there was abundance of everything. [12] The Hyrcanians +had all they wanted too, and they made the messenger from Cyaxares share +and share alike with them. The tents which were left over they delivered +to Cyrus for his Persians; and the coined money they said should be +divided as soon as it was all collected, and divided it was. + + + NOTES + +C1.10. Two theories of hedonism: (1) Cyaxares' "Economise the greatest +joy when you have got it," and by contrast (2) Cyrus' roaming from joy +to joy. + +C1.22. Xenophon the Artist: the "kinsman" of Cyrus again, and the light +by-play to enliven the severe history. The economic organising genius of +Cyrus is also brought out. + +C2.25. No looting, an order of the Duke of Wellington, Napier, Wolseley. + +C2.32. Cf. modern times; humane orders, but strict. + +C2.34. The question of commissariat. Would a modern force storm a camp +without taking rations? I dare say they would. + +C2.37. Notice the tone he adopts to these slaves; no bullying, but +appealing to appetite and lower motives. This is doubtless Xenophontine +and Hellenic. + +C2.38. Important as illustrating the stern Spartan self-denial of +the man and his followers. There is a hedonistic test, but the higher +hedonism prevails against the lower: ignoble and impolitic to sit here +feasting while they are fighting, and we don't even know how it fares +with them, our allies. The style rises and is at times Pauline. St. +Paul, of course, is moving on a higher spiritual plane, but still-- + +C2.45, fin. The Education of Cyrus, Cyropaedia, {Keroupaideia}; the name +justified. + +C2.46. Hystaspas' simple response: important, with other passages, to +show how naturally it came to them (i.e. the Hellenes and Xenophon) +to give a spiritual application to their rules of bodily and mental +training. These things to them are an allegory. The goal is lofty, if +not so sublime as St. Paul's or Comte's, the Christians or Positivists +(there has been an alteration for the better in the spiritual plane, and +Socrates helped to bring it about, I believe), but _ceteris paribus_, +the words of St. Paul are the words of Hystaspas and Xenophon. They for +a corruptible crown, and we for an incorruptible--and one might find a +still happier parable! + +C2.46. Fine sentiment, this _noblesse oblige_ (cf. the archangelic +dignity in Milton, _Paradise Lost_, I think). + +C2.47. The aristocratic theory (cf. modern English "nigger" theory, +Anglo-Indian, etc.). + +C3.3. Xenophon's dramatic skill. We are made to feel the touch of +something galling in the manner of these Median and Hyrcanian troopers. + +C3.4. A 'cute beginning rhetorically, because in the most graceful +way possible, and without egotism _versus_ Medes and Hyrcanians, it +postulates the Persian superiority, moral, as against the accidental +inferiority of the moment caused by want of cavalry and the dependence +on others which that involves. I suppose it's no reflection on Cyrus' +military acumen not to foreseen this need. It would have been premature +then, now it organically grows; and there's no great crisis to pass +through. + +C3.11. I should have thought this was a dangerous argument; obviously +boys do learn better than men certain things. + +C3.12. Short sharp snap of argumentative style. + +C3.19. The antithetic balance and word-jingle, with an exquisite, +puristic, precise, and delicate lisp, as of one tasting the flavour of +his words throughout. + +C3.23. I think one sees how Xenophon built up his ideal structure on a +basis of actual living facts. The actual diverts the creator of Cyrus +from the ideal at times, as here. It is a slight declension in the +character of Cyrus to lay down this law, "equestrian once, equestrian +always." Xenophon has to account for the actual Persian horror of +pedestrianism: Cyrus himself can dismount, and so can the Persian nobles +with Cyrus the Younger, but still the rule is "never be seen walking;" +and without the concluding paragraph the dramatic narrative that +precedes would seem a little bit unfinished and pointless: with the +explanation it floats, and we forgive "the archic man" his partiality to +equestrianism, as later on we have to forgive him his Median get-up and +artificiality generally, which again is contrary to the Xenophontine and +the ideal Spartan spirit. + +C4. Xenophon has this theory of mankind: some are fit to rule, the +rest to be ruled. It is parallel to the Hellenic slavery theory. Some +moderns, e.g. Carlyle (Ruskin perhaps) inherit it, and in lieu of +Hellenic slavery we have a good many caste-distinction crotchets still +left. + +C4.13, fin. The first salaam, ominous of the advent of imperialism; the +sun's rim visible, and a ray shot up to the zenith. + +C5. Here the question forces itself in the midst of all this "ironic" +waiting on the part of the Persians in Spartan durance for a future +apotheosis of splendour and luxuriance,--what is the moral? "Hunger +now and thirst, for ye shall be filled"--is that it? Well, anyhow it's +parallel to the modern popular Christianity, reward-in-heaven theory, +only on a less high level, but exactly the same logicality. + +C5.6. A point, this reward to the catcher, and this rigid _couvrefeu_ +habit (cf. modern military law). + +C5.8. A dramatic contrast, the Median Cyaxares who follows Pleasure, +and the Persian Cyrus who follows Valour, _vide_ Heracles' choice +[_Memorabilia_, II. i. 21]. This allegorising tendency is engrained in +Xenophon: it is his view of life; one of the best things he got from +Socrates, no doubt. Later (§ 12) the "ironic" suicidal self-assertion of +Cyaxares is contrasted with the health-giving victorious self-repression +of Cyrus. + +C5.9-10. Xenophon can depict character splendidly: this is the crapulous +{orge} of the somewhat "hybristic" nature, seeing how the land lies, +_siccis luminibus_, the day after the premature revel. Theophrastus +couldn't better have depicted the irascible man. These earliest +portraits of character are, according to Xenophon's genius, all sketched +in the concrete, as it were. The character is not philosophised and then +illustrated by concrete instances after the manner of Theophrastus, +but we see the man moving before us and are made aware of his nature at +once. + +C5.17. {kalos ka nomimos}, "in all honour, and according to the +law," almost a Xenophontine motto, and important in reference to the +"questionable" conduct on his part in exile--"questionable" from a +modern rather than an "antique" standard. [The chief reference is to +Xenophon's presence on the Spartan side at the battle of Coronea against +his native city of Athens. See _Sketch_, Works, Vol. I. pp. cxxiii. ff.] + +C5.20. The "archic man" does not recognise the littleness of soul of +the inferior nature, he winks at it, and so disarms at once and triumphs +over savagery, and this not through cunning and pride, but a kind of +godlike imperturbable sympathy, as of a fearless man with a savage +hound. Still there is a good dash of diplomacy. + +C5.21, fin. Pretty sentence. Xenophon's words: some of these are +prettily-sounding words, some are rare and choice and exquisite, some +are charged with feeling, you can't touch them with your finger-tips +without feeling an "affective" thrill. That is in part the _goeteia_, +the witchery, of his style. + +C5.30-31. A brilliant stroke of diplomacy worthy of the archic man. This +{arkinoia} of the Hellene is the necessary sharp shrewdness of a brain, +which, however "affectively" developed, is at bottom highly organised +intellectually. H. S.[*] has it, all 'cute people and nations have it, +the Americans, e.g.--every proposition must, however else it presents +itself, be apprehended in its logical bearings: the result may be +logically damaging to the supporter of it, but does not necessarily +banish an affective sympathetic attitude on the part of the common-sense +antagonist, who is not bound, in other words, to be a sharp practitioner +because he sees clearly. Affection is the inspirer, intellect the +up-and-doing agent of the soul. The Hellenes and all 'cute people put +the agent to the fore in action, but if besides being 'cute they +are affective, the operations of the agent will be confined within +prescribed limits. + +[* "H. S." = Henry Sidgwick, the philosopher, author of _Methods of +Ethics_, etc., a life-long friend of Mr. Dakyns.] + +C5.32. This is almost pummelling, but it's fair: it's rather, "See, I +have you now in Chancery, I could pummel if I would." + +C5.37. These constant masters' meetings! + +C5.38 ff. The mind of Xenophon: guiding principles, rule of Health, rule +of Forethought. Religious trust in the divine, and for things beyond +man's control; orderly masterly working out of problems within his +power. Economic, diplomatic, anchinoetic, archic manhood. Moral theory, +higher hedonism. + +C5.45. The archic man trusts human nature: this appeal to their good +faith is irresistible. The archic is also the diplomatic method. + +C5.54. N.B.--Rhetorical artifice of winding-up a speech with a joke. +This is the popular orator. Xenophon the prototype himself perhaps. + +C6.3. Is this by chance a situation in Elizabethan or other drama? It's +tragic enough for anything. + +C6.4. Admirable colloquial style: "well done, me!" + +C6.6, fin. Beautifully-sounding sentence [in the Greek]. Like harp or +viol with its dying mournful note. + +C6.8. A new tributary for the archic man, and a foothold in the enemy's +country. + +C6.9, fin. As to this daughter, _vide infra_. Who do you think will win +her? We like her much already. + +C6.11. The first flutings of this tale. The lady of Susa, +quasi-historic, or wholly imaginative, or mixed? + + + + +BOOK V + +[C.1] Such were the deeds they did and such the words they spoke. +Then Cyrus bade them set a guard over the share chosen for Cyaxares, +selecting those whom he knew were most attached to their lord, "And what +you have given me," he added, "I accept with pleasure, but I hold it at +the service of those among you who would enjoy it the most." + +At that one of the Medes who was passionately fond of music said, "In +truth, Cyrus, yesterday evening I listened to the singing-girls who are +yours to-day, and if you could give me one of them, I would far rather +be serving on this campaign than sitting at home." + +And Cyrus said, "Most gladly I will give her; she is yours. And I +believe I am more grateful to you for asking than you can be to me for +giving; I am so thirsty to gratify you all." + +So this suitor carried off his prize. [2] And then Cyrus called to his +side Araspas the Mede, who had been his comrade in boyhood. It was he +to whom Cyrus gave the Median cloak he was wearing when he went back to +Persia from his grandfather's court. Now he summoned him, and asked him +to take care of the tent and the lady from Susa. [3] She was the wife of +Abradatas, a Susian, and when the Assyrian army was captured it happened +that her husband was away: his master had sent him on an embassy to +Bactria to conclude an alliance there, for he was the friend and host of +the Bactrian king. And now Cyrus asked Araspas to guard the captive +lady until her husband could take her back himself. [4] To that Araspas +replied, "Have you seen the lady whom you bid me guard?" + +"No, indeed," said Cyrus, "certainly I have not." + +"But I have," rejoined the other, "I saw here when we chose her for you. +When we came into the tent, we did not make her out at first, for she +was seated on the ground with all her maidens round her, and she was +clad in the same attire as her slaves, but when we looked at them all +to discover the mistress, we soon saw that one outshone the others, +although she was veiled and kept her eyes on the ground. [5] And when we +bade her rise, all her women rose with her, and then we saw that she was +marked out from them all by her height, and her noble bearing, and her +grace, and the beauty that shone through her mean apparel. And, under +her veil, we could see the big tear-drops trickling down her garments to +her feet. [6] At that sight the eldest of us said, 'Take comfort, lady, +we know that your husband was beautiful and brave, but we have chosen +you a man to-day who is no whit inferior to him in face or form or mind +or power; Cyrus, we believe, is more to be admired than any soul on +earth, and you shall be his from this day forward.' But when the lady +heard that, she rent the veil that covered her head and gave a pitiful +cry, while her maidens lifted up their voice and wept with their +mistress. [7] And thus we could see her face, and her neck, and her +arms, and I tell you, Cyrus," he added, "I myself, and all who looked +on her, felt that there never was, and never had been, in broad Asia +a mortal woman half so fair as she. Nay, but you must see her for +yourself." + +[8] "Say, rather, I must not," answered Cyrus, "if she be such as you +describe." + +"And why not?" asked the young man. + +"Because," said he, "if the mere report of her beauty could persuade me +to go and gaze on her to-day, when I have not a moment to spare, I fear +she would win me back again and perhaps I should neglect all I have to +do, and sit and gaze at her for ever." + +[9] At that the young man laughed outright and said: + +"So you think, Cyrus, that the beauty of any human creature can compel +a man to do wrong against his will? Surely if that were the nature of +beauty, all men would feel its force alike. [10] See how fire burns +all men equally; it is the nature of it so to do; but these flowers of +beauty, one man loves them, and another loves them not, nor does every +man love the same. For love is voluntary, and each man loves what he +chooses to love. The brother is not enamoured of his own sister, nor the +father of his own daughter; some other man must be the lover. Reverence +and law are strong enough to break the heart of passion. [11] But if a +law were passed saying, 'Eat not, and thou shalt not starve; Drink not, +and thou shalt not thirst; Let not cold bite thee in winter nor heat +inflame thee in summer,' I say there is no law that could compel us to +obey; for it is our nature to be swayed by these forces. But love is +voluntary; each man loves to himself alone, and according as he chooses, +just as he chooses his cloak or his sandals." + +[12] "Then," said Cyrus, "if love be voluntary, why cannot a man cease +to love when he wishes? I have seen men in love," said he, "who have +wept for very agony, who were the very slaves of those they loved, +though before the fever took them they thought slavery the worst of +evils. I have seen them make gifts of what they ill could spare, I have +seen them praying, yes, praying, to be rid of their passion, as though +it were any other malady, and yet unable to shake it off; they were +bound hand and foot by a chain of something stronger than iron. There +they stood at the beck and call of their idols, and that without rhyme +or reason; and yet, poor slaves, they make no attempt to run away, in +spite of all they suffer; on the contrary, they mount guard over their +tyrants, for fear these should escape." + +[13] But the young man spoke in answer: "True," he said, "there are such +men, but they are worthless scamps, and that is why, though they are +always praying to die and be put out of their misery and though ten +thousand avenues lie open by which to escape from life, they never +take one of them. These are the very men who are prepared to steal and +purloin the goods of others, and yet you know yourself, when they do it, +you are the first to say stealing is not done under compulsion, and you +blame the thief and the robber; you do not pity him, you punish him. +[14] In the same way, beautiful creatures do not compel others to +love them or pursue them when it is wrong, but these good-for-nothing +scoundrels have no self-control, and then they lay the blame on love. +But the nobler type of man, the true gentleman, beautiful and brave, +though he desire gold and splendid horses and lovely women, can still +abstain from each and all alike, and lay no finger on them against the +law of honour. [15] Take my own case," he added, "I have seen this lady +myself, and passing fair I found her, and yet here I stand before you, +and am still your trooper and can still perform my duty." + +[16] "I do not deny it," said Cyrus; "probably you came away in time. +Love takes a little while to seize and carry off his victim. A man may +touch fire for a moment and not be burnt; a log will not kindle all at +once; and yet for all that, I am not disposed to play with fire or look +on beauty. You yourself, my friend, if you will follow my advice, will +not let your own eyes linger there too long; burning fuel will only burn +those who touch it, but beauty can fire the beholder from afar, until he +is all aflame with love." + +[17] "Oh, fear me not, Cyrus," answered he; "if I looked till the end of +time I could not be made to do what ill befits a man." + +"A fair answer," said Cyrus. "Guard her then, as I bid you, and be +careful of her. This lady may be of service to us all one day." + +[18] With these words they parted. But afterwards, after the young man +saw from day to day how marvellously fair the woman was, and how noble +and gracious in herself, after he took care of her, and fancied that she +was not insensible to what he did, after she set herself, through her +attendants, to care for his wants and see that all things were ready for +him when he came in, and that he should lack for nothing if ever he were +sick, after all this, love entered his heart and took possession, and it +may be there was nothing surprising in his fate. So at least it was. + +[19] Meanwhile Cyrus, who was anxious that the Medes and the allies +should stay with him of their own free choice, called a meeting of their +leading men, and when they were come together he spoke as follows: + +[20] "Sons of the Medes and gentlemen all, I am well aware it was not +from need of money that you went out with me, nor yet in order to serve +Cyaxares; you came for my sake. You marched with me by night, you ran +into danger at my side, simply to do me honour. [21] Unless I were a +miscreant, I could not but be grateful for such kindness. But I must +confess that at present I lack the ability to make a fit requital. This +I am not ashamed to tell you, but I would feel ashamed to add, 'If you +will stay with me, I will be sure to repay you,' for that would look +as though I spoke to bribe you into remaining. Therefore I will not say +that; I will say instead, 'Even if you listen to Cyaxares and go back +to-day, I will still act so that you shall praise me, I will not forget +you in the day of my good fortune.' [22] For myself, I will never go +back; I cannot, for I must confirm my oath to the Hyrcanians and the +pledge I gave them; they are my friends and I shall never be found a +traitor to them. Moreover, I am bound to Gobryas, who has offered us the +use of his castle, his territory, and his power; and I would not have +him repent that he came to me. [23] Last of all, and more than all, when +the great gods have showered such blessings on us, I fear them and I +reverence them too much to turn my back on all they have given us. This, +then, is what I myself must do; it is for you to decide as you think +best, and you will acquaint me with your decision." + +[24] So he spoke, and the first to answer was the Mede who had claimed +kinship with Cyrus in the old days. + +"Listen to me," he said, "O king! For king I take you to be by right of +nature; even as the king of the hive among the bees, whom all the bees +obey and take for their leader of their own free will; where he stays +they stay also, not one of them departs, and where he goes, not one of +them fails to follow; so deep a desire is in them to be ruled by him. +[25] Even thus, I believe, do our men feel towards you. Do you remember +the day you left us to go home to Persia? Was there one of us, young or +old, who did not follow you until Astyages turned us back? And later, +when you returned to bring us aid, did we not see for ourselves how your +friends poured after you? And again, when you had set your heart on this +expedition, we know that the Medes flocked to your standard with one +consent. [26] To-day we have learnt to feel that even in an enemy's +country we may be of good heart if you are with us, but, without you, +we should be afraid even to return to our homes. The rest may speak for +themselves, and tell you how they will act, but for myself, Cyrus, and +for those under me, I say we will stand by you; we shall not grow weary +of gazing at you, and we will continue to endure your benefits." + +[27] Thereupon Tigranes spoke: + +"Do not wonder, Cyrus, if I am silent now. The soul within me is ready, +not to offer counsel, but to do your bidding." [28] And the Hyrcanian +chieftain said, "For my part, if you Medes turn back to-day I shall say +it was the work of some evil genius, who could not brook the fulfilment +of your happiness. For no human heart could think of retiring when the +foe is in flight, refusing to receive his sword when he surrenders it, +rejecting him when he offers himself and all that he calls his own; +above all, when we have a prince of men for our leader, one who, I +swear it by the holy gods, takes delight to do us service, not to enrich +himself." + +[29] Thereupon the Medes cried with one consent: + +"It was you, Cyrus, who led us out, and it is you who must lead us home +again, when the right moment comes." + +And when Cyrus heard that, he prayed aloud: + +"O most mighty Zeus, I supplicate thee, suffer me to outdo these friends +of mine in courtesy and kindly dealing." + +[30] Upon that he gave his orders. The rest of the army were to place +their outposts and see to their own concerns, while the Persians took +the tents allotted to them, and divided them among their cavalry and +infantry, to suit the needs of either arm. Then they arranged for the +stewards to wait on them in future, bring them all they needed, and keep +their horses groomed, so that they themselves might be free for the work +of war. Thus they spent that day. + +[C.2] But on the morrow they set out for their march to Gobryas. Cyrus +rode on horseback at the head of his new Persian cavalry, two thousand +strong, with as many more behind them, carrying their shields and +swords, and the rest of the army followed in due order. The cavalry were +told to make their new attendants understand that they would be punished +if they were caught falling behind the rear-guard, or riding in advance +of the column, or straggling on either flank. [2] Towards evening of the +second day the army found themselves before the castle of Gobryas, and +they saw that the place was exceedingly strong and that all preparations +had been made for the stoutest possible defence. They noticed also that +great herds of cattle and endless flocks of sheep and goats had been +driven up under the shelter of the castle walls. [3] Then Gobryas +sent word to Cyrus, bidding him ride round and see where the place was +easiest of approach, and meanwhile send his trustiest Persians to enter +the fortress and bring him word what they found within. [4] Cyrus, who +really wished to see if the citadel admitted of attack in case Gobryas +proved false, rode all round the walls, and found they were too strong +at every point. Presently the messengers who had gone in brought back +word that there were supplies enough to last a whole generation and +still not fail the garrison. [5] While Cyrus was wondering what this +could mean, Gobryas himself came out, and all his men behind him, +carrying wine and corn and barley, and driving oxen and goats and +swine, enough to feast the entire host. [6] And his stewards fell to +distributing the stores at once, and serving up a banquet. Then Gobryas +invited Cyrus to enter the castle now that all the garrison had left it, +using every precaution he might think wise; and Cyrus took him at his +word, and sent in scouts and a strong detachment before he entered the +palace himself. Once within, he had the gates thrown open and sent for +all his own friends and officers. [7] And when they joined him, Gobryas +had beakers of gold brought out, and pitchers, and goblets, and costly +ornaments, and golden coins without end, and all manner of beautiful +things, and last of all he sent for his own daughter, tall and fair, +a marvel of beauty and stateliness, still wearing mourning for her +brother. And her father said to Cyrus, "All these riches I bestow on +you for a gift, and I put my daughter in your hands, to deal with as you +think best. We are your suppliants; I but three days gone for my son, +and she this day for her brother; we beseech you to avenge him." + +[8] And Cyrus made answer: + +"I gave you my promise before that if you kept faith with me I would +avenge you, so far as in me lay, and to-day I see the debt is due, and +the promise I made to you I repeat to your daughter; God helping me, I +will perform it. As for these costly gifts," he added, "I accept them, +and I give them for a dowry to your daughter, and to him who may win her +hand in marriage. One gift only I will take with me when I go, but +that is a thing so precious that if I changed it for all the wealth of +Babylon or the whole world itself I could not go on my way with half so +blithe a heart." + +[9] And Gobryas wondered what this rare thing could be, half suspecting +it might be his daughter. "What is it, my lord?" said he. And Cyrus +answered, "I will tell you. A man may hate injustice and impiety +and lies, but if no one offers him vast wealth or unbridled power or +impregnable fortresses or lovely children, he dies before he can show +what manner of man he is. [10] But you have placed everything in my +hands to-day, this mighty fortress, treasures of every kind, your own +power, and a daughter most worthy to be won. And thus you have shown +all men that I could not sin against my friend and my host, nor act +unrighteously for the sake of wealth, nor break my plighted word of my +own free will. [11] This is your gift, and, so long as I am a just man +and known to be such, receiving the praise of my fellow-men, I will +never forget it; I will strive to repay you with every honour I can +give. [12] Doubt not," he added, "but that you will find a husband +worthy of your daughter. I have many a good man and true among my +friends, and one of them will win her hand; but I could not say whether +he will have less wealth, or more, than what you offer me. Only of one +thing you may be certain; there are those among them who will not admire +you one whit the more because of the splendour of your gifts; they will +only envy me and supplicate the gods that one day it will be given to +them to show that they too are loyal to their friends, that they too +will never yield to their foes while life is in them, unless some god +strike them down; that they too would never sacrifice virtue and fair +renown for all the wealth you proffer and all the treasure of Syria and +Assyria to boot. Such is the nature, believe me, of some who are seated +here." + +[13] And Gobryas smiled. "By heaven, I wish you would point them out to +me, and I would beg you to give me one of them to be my son-in-law." And +Cyrus said, "You will not need to learn their names from me; follow us, +and you will be able to point them out yourself." + +[14] With these words he rose, clasped the hand of Gobryas, and went +out, all his men behind him. And though Gobryas pressed him to stay and +sup in the citadel, he would not, but took his supper in the camp and +constrained Gobryas to take his meal with them. [15] And there, lying on +a couch of leaves, he put this question to him, 'Tell me, Gobryas, who +has the largest store of coverlets, yourself, or each of us?" And the +Assyrian answered, "You, I know, have more than I, more coverlets, more +couches, and a far larger dwelling-place, for your home is earth and +heaven, and every nook may be a couch, and for your coverlets you need +not count the fleeces of your flocks, but the brushwood, and the herbage +of hill and plain." + +[16] Nevertheless, when the meal began, it must be said that Gobryas, +seeing the poverty of what was set before him, thought at first that his +own men were far more open-handed than the Persians. [17] But his mood +changed as he watched the grace and decorum of the company; and saw that +not a single Persian who had been schooled would ever gape, or snatch at +the viands, or let himself be so absorbed in eating that he could attend +to nothing else; these men prided themselves on showing their good sense +and their intelligence while they took their food, just as a perfect +rider sits his horse with absolute composure, and can look and listen +and talk to some purpose while he puts him through his paces. To be +excited or flustered by meat and drink was in their eyes something +altogether swinish and bestial. [18] Nor did Gobryas fail to notice that +they only asked questions which were pleasant to answer, and only jested +in a manner to please; all their mirth was as far from impertinence and +malice as it was from vulgarity and unseemliness. [19] And what struck +him most was their evident feeling that on a campaign, since the danger +was the same for all, no one was entitled to a larger share than any +of his comrades; on the contrary, it was thought the perfection of the +feast to perfect the condition of those who were to share the fighting. +[20] And thus when he rose to return home, the story runs that he said: + +"I begin to understand, Cyrus, how it is that while we have more goblets +and more gold, more apparel and more wealth than you, yet we ourselves +are not worth as much. We are always trying to increase what we possess, +but you seem to set your hearts on perfecting your own souls." + +[21] But Cyrus only answered: + +"My friend, be here without fail to-morrow, and bring all your cavalry +in full armour, so that we may see your power, and then lead us through +your country and show us who are hostile and who are friendly." + +[22] Thus they parted for the time and each saw to his own concerns. + +But when the day dawned Gobryas appeared with his cavalry and led the +way. And Cyrus, as a born general would, not only supervised the march, +but watched for any chance to weaken the enemy and add to his own +strength. [23] With this in view, he summoned the Hyrcanian chief and +Gobryas himself; for they were the two he thought most likely to give +him the information that he needed. + +"My friends," said he, "I think I shall not err if I trust to your +fidelity and consult you about the campaign. You, even more than I, are +bound to see that the Assyrians do not overpower us. For myself, if I +fail, there may well be some loophole of escape. But for you, if +the king conquers, I see nothing but enmity on every side. [24] For, +although he is my enemy, he bears me no malice, he only feels that it is +against his interest for me to be powerful and therefore he attacks me. +But you he hates with a bitter hatred, believing he is wronged by you." + +To this his companions answered that he must finish what he had to say; +they were well aware of the facts, and had the deepest interest in the +turn events might take. + +[25] Thereupon Cyrus put his questions: "Does the king suppose that +you alone are his enemies, or do you know of others who hate him too?" +"Certainly we do," replied the Hyrcanian, "the Cadousians are his +bitterest foes, and they are both numerous and warlike. Then there are +the Sakians, our neighbours, who have suffered severely at his hands, +for he tried to subdue them as he subdued us." + +[26] "Then you think," said Cyrus, "that they would be glad to attack +him in our company?" "Much more than glad," answered they; "if they +could manage to join us." "And what stands in their way?" asked he. "The +Assyrians themselves," said they, "the very people among whom you are +marching now." [27] At that Cyrus turned to Gobryas: + +"And what of this lad who is now on the throne? Did you not charge him +with unbridled insolence?" + +"Even so," replied Gobryas, "and I think he gave me cause." "Tell me," +said Cyrus, "were you the only man he treated thus, or did others suffer +too?" + +[28] "Many others," said Gobryas, "but some of them were weak, and why +should I weary you with the insults they endured? I will tell you of a +young man whose father was a much greater personage than I, and who was +himself, like my own son, a friend and comrade of the prince. One day +at a drinking-bout this monster had the youth seized and mutilated, and +why? Some say simply because a paramour of his own had praised the boy's +beauty and said his bride was a woman to be envied. The king himself now +asserts it was because he had tried to seduce his paramour. That young +man, eunuch as he is, is now at the head of his province, for his father +is dead." + +[29] "Well," rejoined Cyrus, "I take it, you believe he would welcome +us, if he thought we came to help him?" "I am more than sure of that," +said Gobryas, "but it is not so easy to set eyes on him." "And why?" +asked Cyrus. "Because if we are to join him at all, we must march right +past Babylon itself." [30] "And where is the difficulty in that?" said +Cyrus. "Heaven help us!" cried Gobryas. "The city has only to open +her gates, and she can send out an army ten thousand times as large as +yours. That is why," he added, "the Assyrians are less prompt than they +were at bringing in their weapons and their horses, because those who +have seen your army think it so very small, and their report has got +about. So that in my opinion it would be better to advance with the +utmost care." + +[31] Cyrus listened and replied. + +"You do well, Gobryas, my friend, in urging as much care as possible. +But I cannot myself see a safer route for us than the direct advance +on Babylon, if Babylon is the centre of the enemy's strength. They are +numerous, you say, and if they are in good heart, we shall soon know it. +[32] Now, if they cannot find us and imagine that we have disappeared +from fear of them, you may take it as certain that they will be quit of +the terror we have inspired. Courage will spring up in its place, and +grow the greater the longer we lie hid. But if we march straight on +then, we shall find them still mourning for the dead whom we have slain, +still nursing the wounds we have inflicted, still trembling at the +daring of our troops, still mindful of their own discomfiture and +flight. [33] Gobryas," he added, "be assured of this; men in the mass, +when aflame with courage, are irresistible, and when their hearts fail +them, the more numerous they are the worse the panic that seizes them. +[34] It comes upon them magnified by a thousand lies, blanched by a +thousand pallors, it gathers head from a thousand terror-stricken looks, +until it grows so great that no orator can allay it by his words, no +general arouse the old courage by a charge, or revive the old confidence +by retreat; the more their leader cheers them on, the worse do the +soldiers take their case to be. [35] Now by all means let us see exactly +how things stand with us. If from henceforward victory must fall +to those who can reckon the largest numbers, your fears for us are +justified, and we are indeed in fearful danger; but if the old rule +still holds, and battles are decided by the qualities of those who +fight, then, I say, take heart and you will never fail. You will find +far more stomach for the fight among our ranks than theirs. [36] And to +hearten you the more, take note of this: our enemies are far fewer now +than when we worsted them, far weaker than when they fled from us, while +we are stronger because we are conquerors, and greater because fortune +has been ours; yes, and actually more numerous because you and yours +have joined us, for I would not have you hold your men too low, now that +they are side by side with us. In the company of conquerors, Gobryas, +the hearts of the followers beat high. [37] Nor should you forget," he +added, "that the enemy is well able to see us as it is, and the sight of +us will certainly not be more alarming if we wait for him where we are +than if we advance against him. That is my opinion, and now you must +lead us straight for Babylon." + +[C.3] And so the march continued, and on the fourth day they found +themselves at the limit of the territory over which Gobryas ruled. Since +they were now in the enemy's country Cyrus changed the disposition of +his men, taking the infantry immediately under his own command, with +sufficient cavalry to support them, and sending the rest of the mounted +troops to scour the land. Their orders were to cut down every one with +arms in his hands, and drive in the rest, with all the cattle they could +find. The Persians were ordered to take part in this raid, and though +many came home with nothing for their trouble but a toss from their +horses, others brought back a goodly store of booty. + +[2] When the spoil was all brought in, Cyrus summoned the officers of +the Medes and the Hyrcanians, as well as his own peers, and spoke as +follows: + +"My friends, Gobryas has entertained us nobly; he has showered good +things upon us. What say you then? After we have set aside the customary +portion for the gods and a fair share for the army, shall we not give +all the rest of the spoil to him? Would it not be a noble thing, a sign +and symbol at the outset that we desire to outdo in well-doing those who +do good to us?" + +[3] At that all his hearers with one consent applauded, and a certain +officer rose and said: + +"By all means, Cyrus, let us do so. I myself cannot but feel that +Gobryas must have thought us almost beggars because we were not laden +with coins of gold and did not drink from golden goblets. But if we do +this, he will understand that men may be free and liberal without the +help of gold." + +[4] "Come then," said Cyrus, "let us pay the priests our debt to heaven, +select what the army requires, and then summon Gobryas and give the rest +to him." + +So they took what they needed and gave all the rest to Gobryas. + +[5] Forthwith Cyrus pressed on towards Babylon, his troops in battle +order. But as the Assyrians did not come out to meet them, he bade +Gobryas ride forward and deliver this message: + +"If the king will come out to fight for his land, I, Gobryas, will fight +for him, but, if he will not defend his own country, we must yield to +the conquerors." + +[6] So Gobryas rode forward, just far enough to deliver the message in +safety. And the king sent a messenger to answer him: + +"Thy master says to thee: 'It repents me, Gobryas, not that I slew thy +son, but that I stayed my hand from slaying thee. And now if ye will do +battle, come again on the thirtieth day from hence. We have no leisure +now, our preparations are still on foot.'" + +[7] And Gobryas made answer: + +"It repents thee: may that repentance never cease! I have begun to make +thee suffer, since the day repentance took hold on thee." + +[8] Then Gobryas brought back the words of the king to Cyrus, and Cyrus +led his army off, and then he summoned Gobryas and said to him: + +"Surely you told me that you thought the man who was made an eunuch by +the king would be upon our side?" + +"And I am sure he will," answered Gobryas, "for we have spoken freely to +each other many a time, he and I." [9] "Then," said Cyrus, "you must go +to him when you think the right moment has come: and you must so act at +first that only he and you may know what he intends, and when you are +closeted with him, if you find he really wishes to be a friend, you +must contrive that his friendship remain a secret: for in war a man can +scarcely do his friends more good than by a semblance of hostility, or +his enemies more harm than under the guise of friendship." [10] "Aye," +answered Gobryas, "and I know that Gadatas would pay a great price to +punish the king of Assyria. But it is for us to consider what he can +best do." [11] "Tell me now," rejoined Cyrus, "you spoke of an outpost, +built against the Hyrcanians and the Sakians, which was to protect +Assyria in time of war,--could the eunuch be admitted there by the +commandant if he came with a force at his back?" "Certainly he could," +said Gobryas, "if he were as free from suspicion as he is to-day." +[12] "And free he would be," Cyrus went on, "if I were to attack his +strongholds as though in earnest, and he were to repel me in force. +I might capture some of his men, and he some of my soldiers, or some +messengers sent by me to those you say are the enemies of Assyria, and +these prisoners would let it be known that they were on their way to +fetch an army with scaling-ladders to attack this fortress, and the +eunuch, hearing their story, would pretend that he came to warn the +commandant in time." [13] "Undoubtedly," said Gobryas, "if things went +thus, the commandant would admit him; he would even beg him to stay +there until you withdrew." + +"And then," Cyrus continued, "once inside the walls, he could put the +place into our hands?" [14] "We may suppose so," said Gobryas. "He +would be there to settle matters within, and you would be redoubling the +pressure from without." + +"Then be off at once," said Cyrus, "and do your best to teach him his +part, and when you have arranged affairs, come back to me; and as for +pledges of good faith, you could offer him none better than those you +received from us yourself." + +[15] Then Gobryas made haste and was gone, and the eunuch welcomed +him gladly; he agreed to everything and helped to arrange all that was +needed. Presently Gobryas brought back word that he thought the eunuch +had everything in readiness, and so, without more ado, Cyrus made his +feigned attack on the following day, and was beaten off. [16] But on +the other hand there was a fortress, indicated by Gadatas himself, that +Cyrus took. The messengers Cyrus had sent out, telling them exactly +where to go, fell into the hands of Gadatas: some were allowed +to escape--their business was to fetch the troops and carry the +scaling-ladders--but the rest were narrowly examined in the presence of +many witnesses, and when Gadatas heard the object of their journey he +got his equipment together and set out in the night at full speed +to take the news. [17] In the end he made his way into the fortress, +trusted and welcomed as a deliverer, and for a time he helped the +commandant to the best of his ability. But as soon as Cyrus appeared he +seized the place, aided by the Persian prisoners he had taken. [18] This +done, and having set things in order within the fortress, Gadatas went +out to Cyrus, bowed before him according to the custom of his land, and +said, "Cyrus, may joy be yours!" + +[19] "Joy is mine already," answered he, "for you, God helping you, have +brought it to me. You must know," he added, "that I set great store by +this fortress, and rejoice to leave it in the hands of my allies here. +And for yourself, Gadatas," he added, "if the Assyrian has robbed you of +the ability to beget children, remember he has not stolen your power to +win friends; you have made us yours, I tell you, by this deed, and we +will stand by as faithfully as sons and grandsons of your own." + +[20] So Cyrus spoke. And at that instant the Hyrcanian chief, who had +only just learnt what had happened, came running up to him, and seizing +him by the hand cried out: + +"O Cyrus, you godsend to your friends! How often you make me thank the +gods for bringing me to you!" + +[21] "Off with you, then," said Cyrus, "and occupy this fortress for +which you bless me so. Take it and make the best use of it you can, for +your own nation, and for all our allies, and above all for Gadatas, our +friend, who won it and surrenders it to us." + +[22] "Then," said the chieftain, "as soon as the Cadousians arrive and +the Sakians and my countrymen, we must, must we not? call a council of +them all, so that we may consult together, and see how best to turn it +to account." + +[23] Cyrus thought the proposal good, and when they met together it was +decided to garrison the post with a common force, chosen from all who +were concerned that it should remain friendly and be an outer balwark to +overawe the Assyrians. [24] This heightened the enthusiasm of them all, +Cadousians, Sakians, and Hyrcanians, and their levies rose high, until +the Cadousians sent in 20,000 light infantry and 4000 cavalry, and +the Sakians 11,000 bowmen, 10,000 on foot and 1000 mounted, while the +Hyrcanians were free to despatch all their reserves of infantry and make +up their horsemen to a couple of thousand strong, whereas previously +the larger portion of their cavalry had been left at home to support the +Cadousians and Sakians against Assyria. + +[25] And while Cyrus was kept in the fortress, organising and arranging +everything, many of the Assyrians from the country round brought in +their horses and handed over their arms, being by this time in great +dread of their neighbours. + +[26] Soon after this Gadatas came to Cyrus and told him that messengers +had come to say that the king of Assyria, learning what had happened to +the fortress, was beside himself with anger, and was preparing to attack +his territory. "If you, Cyrus," said he, "will let me go now, I will try +to save my fortresses: the rest is of less account." [27] Cyrus said, +"If you go now, when will you reach home?" And Gadatas answered, "On the +third day from this I can sup in my own house." "Do you think," asked +Cyrus, "that you will find the Assyrian already there?" "I am sure of +it," he answered, "for he will make haste while he thinks you are still +far off." [28] "And I," said Cyrus, "when could I be there with my +army?" But to this Gadatas made answer, "The army you have now, my lord, +is very large, and you could not reach my home in less than six days or +seven." "Well," Cyrus replied, "be off yourself: make all speed, and I +will follow as best I can." + +[29] So Gadatas was gone, and Cyrus called together all the officers of +the allies, and a great and goodly company they seemed, noble gentlemen, +beautiful and brave. And Cyrus stood up among them all and said: + +[30] "My allies and my friends, Gadatas has done deeds that we all feel +worthy of high reward, and that too before ever he had received any +benefit from us. The Assyrians, we hear, have now invaded his territory, +to take vengeance for the monstrous injury they consider he has done +them, and moreover, they doubtless argue that if those who revolt to us +escape scot-free, while those who stand by them are cut to pieces, ere +long they will not have a single supporter on their side. [31] To-day, +gentlemen, we may do a gallant deed, if we rescue Gadatas, our friend +and benefactor; and truly it is only just and right thus to repay +gift for gift, and boon for boon. Moreover, as it seems to me, what we +accomplish will be much to our own interest. [32] If all men see that we +are ready to give blow for blow and sting for sting, while we outdo our +benefactors in generous deeds, it is only natural that multitudes will +long to be our friends, and no man care to be our foe. [33] Whereas, if +it be thought that we left Gadatas in the lurch, how in heaven's name +shall we persuade another to show us any kindness? How shall we dare to +think well of ourselves again? How shall one of us look Gadatas in +the face, when all of us, so many and so strong, showed ourselves less +generous than he, one single man and in so sore a plight?" + +[34] Thus Cyrus spoke, and all of them assented right willingly, and +said it must be done. + +"Come then," concluded Cyrus, "since you are all of one mind with me, +let each of us choose an escort for our waggons and beasts of burden. +[35] Let us leave them behind us, and put Gobryas at their head. He is +acquainted with the roads, and for the rest he is a man of skill. But we +ourselves will push on with our stoutest men and our strongest horses, +taking provision for three days and no more: the lighter and cheaper +our gear the more gaily shall we break our fast and take our supper and +sleep on the road. [36] And now," said he, "let us arrange the order +of the march. You, Chrysantas, must lead the van with your cuirassiers, +since the road is broad and smooth, and you must put your brigadiers +in the first line, each regiment marching in file, for if we keep close +order we shall travel all the quicker and be all the safer. [37] I put +the cuirassiers in the front," he added, "because they are our heaviest +troops, and if the heaviest are leading, the lighter cannot find it hard +to follow: whereas where the swiftest lead and the march is at night, +it is no wonder if the column fall to pieces: the vanguard is always +running away. [38] And behind the cuirassiers," he went on, "Artabazas +is to follow with the Persian targeteers and the bowmen, and behind +them Andamyas the Mede with the Median infantry, and then Embas and +the Armenian infantry, and then Artouchas with the Hyrcanians, and +then Thambradas with the Sakian foot, and finally Datamas with the +Cadousians. [39] All these officers will put their brigadiers in the +first line, their targeteers on the right, and their bowmen on the left +of their own squares: this is the order in which they will be of most +use. [40] All the baggage-bearers are to follow in the rear: and their +officers must see that they get everything together before they sleep, +and present themselves betimes in the morning, with all their gear, +and always keep good order on the march. [41] In support of the +baggage-train," he added, "there will be, first, Madatas the Persian +with the Persian cavalry, and he too must put his brigadiers in the +front, each regiment following in single file, as with the infantry. +[42] Behind them Rambacas the Mede and his cavalry, in the same order, +and then you, Tigranes, and yours, and after you the other cavalry +leaders with the men they brought. The Sakians will follow you, and last +of all will come the Cadousians, who were the last to join us, and +you, Alkeunas, who are to command them, for the present you will take +complete control of the rear, and allow no one to fall behind your men. +[43] All of you alike, officers, and all who respect yourselves, must be +most careful to march in silence. At night the ears, and not the eyes, +are the channels of information and the guides for action, and at night +any confusion is a far more serious matter than by day, and far more +difficult to put right. For this reason silence must be studied and +order absolutely maintained. [44] Whenever you mean to rise before +daybreak, you must make the night-watches as short and as numerous as +possible, so that no one may suffer on the march because of his long +vigil before it; and when the hour for the start arrives the horn must +be blown. [45] Gentlemen, I expect you all to present yourselves on +the road to Babylon with everything you require, and as each detachment +starts, let them pass down the word for those in the rear to follow." + +[46] So the officers went to their quarters, and as they went they +talked of Cyrus, and what a marvellous memory he had, always naming +each officer as he assigned him his post. [47] The fact was Cyrus took +special pains over this: it struck him as odd that a mere mechanic could +know the names of all his tools, and a physician the names of all his +instruments, but a general be such a simpleton that he could not name +his own officers, the very tools he had to depend on each time he wanted +to seize a point or fortify a post or infuse courage or inspire terror. +Moreover it seemed to him only courteous to address a man by name when +he wished to honour him. [48] And he was sure that the man who feels he +is personally known to his commander is more eager to be seen performing +some noble feat of arms, and more careful to refrain from all that is +unseemly and base. [49] Cyrus thought it would be quite foolish for him +to give his orders in the style of certain householders: "Somebody fetch +the water, some one split the wood." [50] After a command of that kind, +every one looks at every one else, and no one carries it out, every one +is to blame, and no one is ashamed or afraid, because there are so many +beside himself. Therefore Cyrus always named the officers whenever he +gave an order. + +[51] That, then, was his view of the matter. The army now took supper +and posted their guards and got their necessaries together and went to +rest. [52] And at midnight the horn was blown. Cyrus had told Chrysantas +he would wait for him at a point on the road in advance of the troops, +and therefore he went on in front himself with his own staff, and +waited till Chrysantas appeared shortly afterwards at the head of his +cuirassiers. [53] Then Cyrus put the guides under his command, and told +him to march on, but to go slowly until he received a message, for all +the troops were not yet on the road. This done, Cyrus took his stand on +the line of march, and as each division came up, hurried it forward to +its place, sending messengers meanwhile to summon those who were still +behind. [54] When all had started, he despatched gallopers to Chrysantas +to tell him that the whole army was now under way, and that he might +lead on as quick as he could. [55] Then he galloped to the front +himself, reined up, and quietly watched the ranks defile before him. +Whenever a division advanced silently and in good order, he would ride +up and ask their names and pay them compliments; and if he saw any sign +of confusion he would inquire the reason and restore tranquillity. [56] +One point remains to add in describing his care that night; he sent +forward a small but picked body of infantry, active fellows all of them, +in advance of the whole army. They were to keep Chrysantas in sight, and +he was not to lose sight of them; they were to use their ears and all +their wits, and report at once to Chrysantas if they thought there +was any need. They had an officer to direct their movements, announce +anything of importance, and not trouble about trifles. + +[57] Thus they pressed forward through the night, and when day broke +Cyrus ordered the mass of the cavalry to the front, the Cadousians alone +remaining with their own infantry, who brought up the rear, and who +were as much in need as others of cavalry support. But the rest of the +horsemen he sent ahead because it was ahead that the enemy lay, and in +case of resistance he was anxious to oppose them in battle-order, while +if they fled he wished no time to be lost in following up the pursuit. +[58] It was always arranged who were to give chase and who were to stay +with himself: he never allowed the whole army to be broken up. [59] Thus +Cyrus conducted the advance, but it is not to be thought that he kept +to one particular spot; he was always galloping backwards and forwards, +first at one point and then at another, supervising everything and +supplying any defect as it arose. Thus Cyrus and his men marched +forward. + +[C.4] Now there was a certain officer in the cavalry with Gadatas, a man +of power and influence, who, when he saw that his master had revolted +from Assyria, thought to himself, "If anything should happen to him, I +myself could get from the king all that he possessed." + +Accordingly he sent forward a man he could trust, with instructions +that, if he found the Assyrian army already in the territory of Gadatas, +he was to tell the king that he could capture Gadatas and all who were +with him, if he thought fit to make an ambuscade. [2] And the messenger +was also to say what force Gadatas had at his command and to announce +that Cyrus was not with him. Moreover, the officer stated the road by +which Gadatas was coming. Finally, to win the greater confidence, he +sent word to his own dependents and bade them deliver up to the king of +Assyria the castle which he himself commanded in the province, with all +that it contained: he would come himself, he added, if possible, after +he had slain Gadatas, and, even if he failed in that, he would always +stand by the king. + +[3] Now the emissary rode as hard as he could and came before the king +and told his errand, and, hearing it, the king at once took over the +castle and formed an ambuscade, with a large body of horse and many +chariots, in a dense group of villages that lay upon the road. [4] +Gadatas, when he came near the spot, sent scouts ahead to explore, +and the king, as soon as he sighted them, ordered two or three of his +chariots and a handful of horsemen to dash away as though in flight, +giving the impression that they were few in number and panic-stricken. +At this the scouting party swept after them, signalling to Gadatas, who +also fell into the trap and gave himself up to the chase. + +The Assyrians waited till the quarry was within their grasp and then +sprang out from their ambuscade. [5] The men, with Gadatas, seeing +what had happened, turned back and fled, as one might expect, with +the Assyrians at their heels, while the officer who had planned it all +stabbed Gadatas himself. He struck him in the shoulder, but the blow was +not mortal. Thereupon the traitor fled to the pursuers, and when +they found out who he was he galloped on with them, his horse at full +stretch, side by side with the king. [6] Naturally the men with the +slower horses were overtaken by the better mounted, and the fugitives, +already wearied by their long journey, were at the last extremity when +suddenly they caught sight of Cyrus advancing at the head of his army, +and were swept into safety, as glad and thankful, we may well believe, +as shipwrecked mariners into port. + +[7] The first feeling of Cyrus was sheer astonishment, but he soon saw +how matters stood. The whole force of the Assyrian cavalry was rolling +on him, and he met it with his own army in perfect order, till the +enemy, realising what had happened, turned and fled. Then Cyrus ordered +his pursuing party to charge, while he followed more slowly at the pace +he thought the safest. [8] The enemy were utterly routed: many of the +chariots were taken, some had lost their charioteers, others were seized +in the sudden change of front, others surrounded by the Persian cavalry. +Right and left the conquerors cut down their foes, and among them fell +the officer who had dealt the blow at Gadatas. [9] But of the Assyrian +infantry, those who were besieging the fortress of Gadatas escaped +to the stronghold that had revolted from him, or managed to reach an +important city belonging to the king, where he himself, his horsemen, +and his chariots had taken refuge. + +[10] After this exploit Cyrus went on to the territory of Gadatas, and +as soon as he had given orders to those who guarded the prisoners, he +went himself to visit the eunuch and see how it was with him after his +wound. Gadatas came out to meet him, his wound already bandaged. And +Cyrus was gladdened and said, "I came myself to see how it was with +you." [11] "And I," said Gadatas, "heaven be my witness, I came out to +see how a man would look who had a soul like yours. I cannot tell what +need you had of me, or what promise you ever gave me, to make you do as +you have done. I had shown you no kindness for your private self: it was +because you thought I had been of some little service to your friends, +that you came to help me thus, and help me you did, from death to life. +Left to myself I was lost. [12] By heaven above, I swear it, Cyrus, if +I had been a father as I was born to be, God knows whether I could +have found in the son of my loins so true a friend as you. I know of +sons--this king of ours is such an one, who has caused his own father +ten thousand times more trouble than ever he causes you." + +[13] And Cyrus made answer: + +"You have overlooked a much more wonderful thing, Gadatas, to turn and +wonder at me." + +"Nay," said Gadatas, "what could that be?" + +"That all these Persians," he answered, "are so zealous in your behalf, +and all these Medes and Hyrcanians, and every one of our allies, +Armenians, Sakians, Cadousians." + +[14] Then Gadatas prayed aloud: + +"O Father Zeus, may the gods heap blessings on them also, but above +all on him who has made them what they are! And now, Cyrus, that I may +entertain as they deserve these men you praise, take the gifts I bring +you as their host, the best I have it in my power to bring." + +And with the word he brought out stores of every kind, enough for all +to over sacrifice who listed; and the whole army was entertained in a +manner worthy of their feat and their success. + +[15] Meanwhile the Cadousians had been always in the rear, unable to +share in the pursuit, and they longed to achieve some exploit of their +own. So their chieftain, with never a word to Cyrus, led them forth +alone, and raided the country towards Babylon. But, as soon as they +were scattered the Assyrians came out from their city of refuge in good +battle-order. [16] When they saw that the Cadousians were unsupported +they attacked them, killing the leader himself and numbers of his men, +capturing many of their horses and retaking the spoil they were in the +act of driving away. The king pursued as far as he thought safe, and +then turned back, and the Cadousians at last found safety in their own +camp, though even the vanguard only reached it late in the afternoon. +[17] When Cyrus saw what had happened he went out to meet them, +succouring every wounded man and sending him off to Gadatas at once, to +have his wounds dressed, while he helped to house the others in their +quarters, and saw that they had all they needed, his Peers aiding him, +for at such times noble natures will give help with all their hearts. +[18] Still it was plain to see that he was sorely vexed, and when the +hour for dinner came, and the others went away, he was still there on +the ground with the attendants and the surgeons; not a soul would he +leave uncared for if anything could be done: he either saw to it himself +or sent for the proper aid. + +[19] So for that night they rested. But with daybreak Cyrus sent out +a herald and summoned a gathering of all the officers and the whole +Cadousian army, and spoke as follows: + +"My friends and allies, what has happened is only natural; for it is +human nature to err, and I cannot find it astonishing. Still we may gain +at least one advantage from what has occurred, if we learn that we must +never cut off from our main body a detachment weaker than the force of +the enemy. [20] I do not say that one is never to march anywhere, if +necessary, with an even smaller fraction than the Cadousians had; but, +before doing so you must communicate with some one able to bring up +reinforcements, and then, though you may be trapped yourself, it is at +least probable that your friends behind you may foil the foilers, and +divert them from your own party: there are fifty ways in which one can +embarrass the enemy and save one's friends. Thus separation need not +mean isolation, and union with the main force may still be kept, whereas +if you sally forth without telling your plan, you are no better off than +if you were alone in the field. [21] However, God willing, we shall take +our revenge for this ere long; indeed, as soon as you have breakfasted, +I will lead you out to the scene of yesterday's skirmish, and there we +will bury those who fell, and show our enemies that the very field where +they thought themselves victorious is held by those who are stronger +than they: they shall never look again with joy upon the spot where they +slew our comrades. Or else, if they refuse to come out and meet us, we +will burn their villages and harry all their land, so that in lieu of +rejoicing at the sight of what they did to us, they shall gnash their +teeth at the spectacle of their own disasters. [22] Go now," said +he, "the rest of you, and take your breakfast forthwith, but let the +Cadousians first elect a leader in accordance with their own laws, and +one who will guide them well and wisely, by the grace of God, and with +our human help, if they should need it. And when you have chosen your +leader, and had your breakfast, send him hither to me." + +[23] So they did as Cyrus bade them, and when he led the army out, he +stationed their new general close to his own person, and told him to +keep his detachment there, "So that you and I," said he, "may rekindle +the courage in their souls." + +In this order they marched out, and thus they buried the Cadousian dead +and ravaged the country. Which done, they went back to the province of +Gadatas, laden with supplies taken from the foe. + +[24] Now Cyrus felt that those who had come over to his side and who +dwelt in the neighbourhood of Babylon would be sure to suffer unless he +were constantly there himself, and so he bade all the prisoners he set +free take a message to the king, and he himself despatched a herald +to say that he would leave all the tillers of the soil unmolested and +unhurt if the Assyrian would let those who had come over to him continue +their work in peace. [25] "And remember," he added, "that even if you +try to hinder my friends, it is only a few whom you could stop, whereas +there is a vast territory of yours that I could allow to be cultivated. +As for the crops," he added, "if we have war, it will be the conqueror, +I make no doubt, who will reap them, but if we have peace, it will be +you. If, however, any of my people take up arms against you, or any of +yours against me, we must, of course, each of us, defend ourselves as +best we can." + +[26] With this message Cyrus despatched the herald, and when the +Assyrians heard it, they urged the king to accept the proposal, and so +limit the war as much as possible. [27] And he, whether influenced by +his own people or because he desired it himself, consented to the terms. +So an agreement was drawn up, proclaiming peace to the tillers of the +soil and war to all who carried arms. + +[28] Thus Cyrus arranged matters for the husbandmen, and he asked his +own supporters among the drovers to bring their herds, if they liked, +into his dominions and leave them there, while he treated the enemy's +cattle as booty wherever he could, so that his allies found attraction +in the campaign. For the risk was no greater if they took what they +needed, while the knowledge that they were living at the enemy's expense +certainly seemed to lighten the labour of the war. + +[29] When the time came for Cyrus to go back, and the final preparations +were being made, Gadatas brought him gifts of every kind, the produce +of a vast estate, and among the cattle a drove of horses, taken from +cavalry of his own, whom he distrusted owing to the late conspiracy. +[30] And when he brought them he said, "Cyrus, this day I give you these +for your own, and I would pray you to make such use of them as you think +best, but I would have you remember that all else which I call mine +is yours as well. For there is no son of mine, nor can there ever be, +sprung from my own loins, to whom I may leave my wealth: when I die +myself, my house must perish with me, my family and my name. [31] And I +must suffer this, Cyrus, I swear to you by the great gods above us, who +see all things and hear all things, though never by word or deed did I +commit injustice or foulness of any kind." + +But here the words died on his lips; he burst into tears over his +sorrows, and could say no more. [32] Cyrus was touched with pity at his +suffering and said to him: + +"Let me accept the horses, for in that I can help you, if I set loyal +riders on them, men of a better mind, methinks, than those who had them +before, and I myself can satisfy a wish that has long been mine, to +bring my Persian cavalry up to ten thousand men. But take back, I pray +you, all these other riches, and guard them safely against the time +when you may find me able to vie with you in gifts. If I left you now so +hugely in your debt, heaven help me if I could hold up my head again for +very shame." + +[33] Thereto Gadatas made answer, "In all things I trust you, and will +trust you, for I see your heart. But consider whether I am competent +to guard all this myself. [34] While I was at peace with the king, the +inheritance I had from my father was, it may be, the fairest in all the +land: it was near that mighty Babylon, and all the good things that can +be gathered from a great city fell into our laps, and yet from all the +trouble of it, the noise and the bustle, we could be free at once by +turning our backs and coming home here. But now that we are at war, the +moment you have left us we are sure to be attacked, ourselves and all +our wealth, and methinks we shall have a sorry life of it, our enemies +at our elbow and far stronger than ourselves. [35] I seem to hear +some one say, why did you not think of this before you revolted? But I +answer, Cyrus, because the soul within me was stung beyond endurance by +my wrongs; I could not sit and ponder the safest course, I was always +brooding over one idea, always in travail of one dream, praying for +the day of vengeance on the miscreant, the enemy of God and man, whose +hatred never rested, once aroused, once he suspected a man, not of +doing wrong, but of being better than himself. [36] And because he is a +villain, he will always find, I know, worse villains that himself to +aid him, but if one day a nobler rival should appear--have no concern, +Cyrus, you will never need to do battle with such an one, yonder fiend +would deal with him and never cease to plot against him until he had +dragged him in the dust, only because he was the better man. And to work +me trouble and disaster, he and his wicked tools will, I fear me, have +strength enough and to spare." + +[37] Cyrus thought there was much in what he said, and he answered +forthwith: + +"Tell me, Gadatas, did we not put a stout garrison in your fortress, +so as to make it safe for you whenever you needed it, and are you not +taking the field with us now, so that, if the gods be on our side as +they are to-day, that scoundrel may fear you, not you him? Go now, bring +with you all you have that is sweet to look on and to love, and then +join our march: you shall be, I am persuaded, of the utmost service to +me, and I, so far as in me lies, will give you help for help." + +[38] When Gadatas heard that, he breathed again, and he said: + +"Could I really be in time to make my preparations and be back before +you leave? I would fain take my mother with me on the march." + +"Assuredly," said Cyrus, "you will be in time: for I will wait until you +say that all is ready." + +[39] So it came to pass that Gadatas went his way, and with the aid of +Cyrus put a strong garrison in his fortress, and got together the +wealth of his broad estates. And moreover he brought with him in his own +retinue servants he could trust and in whom he took delight, as well as +many others in whom he put no trust at all, and these he compelled to +bring their wives with them, and their sisters, that so they might be +bound to his service. + +[40] Thus Gadatas went with Cyrus, and Cyrus kept him ever at his side, +to show him the roads and the places for water and fodder and food, and +lead them where there was most abundance. + +[41] At last they came in sight of Babylon once more, and it seemed +to Cyrus that the road they were following led under the very walls. +Therefore he summoned Gobryas and Gadatas, and asked them if there was +not another way, so that he need not pass so close to the ramparts. [42] +"There are many other ways, my lord," answered Gobryas, "but I thought +you would certainly want to pass as near the city as possible, and +display the size and splendour of your army to the king. I knew that +when your force was weaker you advanced to his walls, and let him +see us, few as we were, and I am persuaded that if he has made any +preparation for battle now, as he said he would, when he sees the +power you have brought with you, he will think once more that he is +unprepared." + +[435] But Cyrus said: + +"Does it seem strange to you, Gobryas, that when I had a far smaller +army I took it right up to the enemy's walls, and to-day when my force +is greater I will not venture there? [44] You need not think it strange: +to march up is not the same as to march past. Every leader will march up +with his troops disposed in the best order for battle and a wise leader +will draw them off so as to secure safety rather than sped. [45] But +in marching past there is no means of avoiding long straggling lines of +waggons, long strings of baggage-bearers, and all these must be screened +by the fighting-force so as never to leave the baggage unprotected. [46] +But this must mean a thin weak order for the fighting-men, and if the +enemy choose to attack at any point with their full force, they can +strike with far more weight than any of the troops available to meet +them at the moment. [47] Again, the length of line means a long delay in +bringing up relief, whereas the enemy have only a handsbreadth to cover +as they rush out from the walls or retire. [48] But now, if we leave +a distance between ourselves and them as wide as our line is long, +not only with they realise our numbers plainly enough, but our veil of +glittering armour will make the whole multitude more formidable in +their eyes. [49] And, if they do attack us anywhere, we shall be able to +foresee their advance a long way off and be quite prepared to give them +welcome. But it is far more likely, gentlemen," he added, "that they +will not make the attempt, with all that ground to cover from the walls, +unless they imagine that their whole force is superior to the whole of +ours: they know that retreat will be difficult and dangerous." + +[50] So Cyrus spoke, and his listeners felt that he was right, and +Gobryas led the army by the way that he advised. And as one detachment +after another passed the city, Cyrus strengthened the protection for the +rear and so withdrew in safety. + +[51] Marching in this order, he came back at last to his first +starting-point, on the frontier between Assyria and Media. Here he dealt +with three Assyrian fortresses: one, the weakest, he attacked and took +by force, while the garrisons of the other two, what with the eloquence +of Gadatas and the terror inspired by Cyrus, were persuaded to +surrender. + +[C.5] And now that his expedition was completed, Cyrus sent to Cyaxares +and urged him to come to the camp in order that they might decide best +how to use the forts which they had taken, and perhaps Cyaxares, after +reviewing the army, would advise him what the next move ought to be, or, +Cyrus added to the messenger, "if he bids me, say I will come to him +and take up my encampment there." [2] So the emissary went off with the +message, and meanwhile Cyrus gave orders that the Assyrian tent chosen +for Cyaxares should be furnished as splendidly as possible, and the +woman brought to her apartment there, and the two singing-girls also, +whom they had set aside for him. + +[3] And while they were busied with these things the envoy went to +Cyaxares and delivered his message, and Cyaxares listened and decided +it was best for Cyrus and his men to stay on the frontier. The Persians +whom Cyrus had sent for had already arrived, forty thousand bowmen and +targeteers. [4] To watch these eating up the land was bad enough, and +Cyaxares thought he would rather be quit of one horde before he received +another. On his side the officer in command of the Persian levy, +following the instructions from Cyrus, asked Cyaxares if he had any need +of the men, and Cyaxares said he had not. Thereupon, and hearing that +Cyrus had arrived, the Persian put himself at the head of his troops and +went off at once to join him. [5] Cyaxares himself waited till the next +day and then set out with the Median troopers who had stayed behind. And +when Cyrus knew of his approach he took his Persian cavalry, who were +now a large body of men, and all the Medes, Hyrcanians, and Armenians, +and the best-mounted and best-armed among the rest, and so went out to +meet Cyaxares and show the power he had won. [6] But when Cyaxares saw +so large a following of gallant gentlemen with Cyrus, and with +himself so small and mean a retinue, it seemed to him an insult, and +mortification filled his heart. And when Cyrus sprang from his horse +and came up to give him the kiss of greeting, Cyaxares, though he +dismounted, turned away his head and gave him no kiss, while the tears +came into his eyes. [7] Whereupon Cyrus told the others to stand aside +and rest, and then he took Cyaxares by the hand and led him apart under +a grove of palm-trees, and bade the attendants spread Median carpets for +them, and made Cyaxares sit down, and then, seating himself beside him, +he said: + +[8] "Uncle of mine, tell me, in heaven's name, I implore you, why are +you angry with me? What bitter sight have you seen to make you feel such +bitterness?" + +And then Cyaxares answered: + +"Listen, Cyrus; I have been reputed royal and of royal lineage as far +back as the memory of man can go; my father was a king and a king I +myself was thought to be; and now I see myself riding here, meanly +and miserably attended, while you come before me in splendour and +magnificence, followed by the retinue that once was mine and all your +other forces. [9] That would be bitter enough, methinks, from the hand +of an enemy, but--O gods above us!--how much more bitter at the hands of +those from whom we least deserve it! Far rather would I be swallowed in +the earth than live to be seen so low, aye, and to see my own kinsfolk +turn against me and make a mock of me. And well I know," said he, "that +not only you but my own slaves are now stronger and greater than myself: +they come out equipt to do me far more mischief than ever I could +repay." + +[10] But here he stopped, overcome by a passion of weeping, so much so +that for very pity Cyrus' own eyes filled with tears. There was silence +between them for a while, and then Cyrus said: + +"Nay, Cyaxares, what you say is not true, and what you think is not +right, if you imagine that because I am here, your Medes have been +equipt to do you any harm. [11] I do not wonder that you are pained, and +I will not ask if you have cause or not for your anger against them: +you will ill brook apologies for them from me. Only it seems to me a +grievous error in a ruler to quarrel with all his subjects at once. +Widespread terror must needs be followed by widespread hate: anger with +all creates unity among all. [12] It was for this reason, take my word +for it, that I would not send them back to you without myself, fearing +that your wrath might be the cause of what would injure all of us. +Through my presence here and by the blessing of heaven, all is safe for +you: but that you should regard yourself as wronged by me,--I cannot but +feel it bitter, when I am doing all in my power to help my friends, to +be accused of plotting against them. [13] However," he continued, "let +us not accuse each other in this useless way; if possible, let us see +exactly in what I have offended. And as between friend and friend, I +will lay down the only rule that is just and fair: if I can be shown to +have done you harm, I will confess I am to blame, but if it appears that +I have never injured you, not even in thought, will you not acquit me of +all injustice towards you?" + +"Needs must I," answered Cyaxares. + +[14] "And if I can show that I have done you service, and been zealous +in your cause to the utmost of my power, may I not claim, instead of +rebuke, some little meed of praise?" + +"That were only fair," said Cyaxares. + +[15] "Then," said Cyrus, "let us go through all I have done, point by +point, and see what is good in it and what is evil. [16] Let us begin +from the time when I assumed my generalship, if that is early enough. +I think I am right in saying that it was because you saw your enemies +gathering together against you, and ready to sweep over your land and +you, that you sent to Persia asking for help, and to me in private, +praying me to come, if I could, myself, at the head of any forces they +might send. Was I not obedient to your word? Did I not come myself with +the best and bravest I could bring?" + +[17] "You did indeed," answered Cyaxares. + +"Tell me, then, before we go further, did you see any wrong in this? Was +it not rather a service and a kindly act?" "Certainly," said Cyaxares, +"so far as that went, I saw nothing but kindliness." [18] "Well, after +the enemy had come, and we had to fight the matter out, did you ever see +me shrink from toil or try to escape from danger?" "That I never did," +said Cyaxares, "quite the contrary." + +[19] "And afterwards, when, through the help of heaven, victory was +ours, and the enemy retreated, and I implored you to let us pursue them +together, take vengeance on them together, win together the fruits +of any gallant exploit we might achieve, can you accuse me then of +self-seeking or self-aggrandisement?" + +[20] But at that Cyaxares was silent. Then Cyrus spoke again. "If you +would rather not reply to that, tell me if you thought yourself injured +because, when you considered pursuit unsafe, I relieved you of the risk, +and only begged you to lend me some of your cavalry? If my offence lay +in asking for that, when I had already offered to work with you, side by +side, you must prove it to me; and it will need some eloquence." + +[21] He paused, but Cyaxares still kept silence. "Nay," said Cyrus, "if +you will not answer that either, tell me at least if my offence lay in +what followed, when you said that you did not care to stop your Medes in +their merry-making and drive them out into danger, do you think it was +wrong in me, without waiting to quarrel on that score, to ask you for +what I knew was the lightest boon you could grant and the lightest +command you could lay on your soldiers? For I only asked that he who +wished it might be allowed to follow me. [22] And thus, when I had +won your permission, I had won nothing, unless I could win them too. +Therefore I went and tried persuasion, and some listened to me, and with +these I set off on my march, holding my commission from your own self. +So that, if you look on this act as blameworthy, it would seem that not +even the acceptance of your own gifts can be free from blame. [23] It +was thus we started, and after we had gone, was there, I ask you, a +single deed of mine that was not done in the light of day? Has not the +enemy's camp been taken? Have not hundreds of your assailants fallen? +And hundreds been deprived of their horses and their arms? Is not the +spoiler spoiled? The cattle and the goods of those who harried your land +are now in the hands of your friends, they are brought to you, or to +your subjects. [24] And, above all and beyond all, you see your own +country growing great and powerful and the land of your enemy brought +low. Strongholds of his are in your power, and your own that were torn +from you in other days by the Syrian domination are now restored to you +again. I cannot say I should be glad to learn that any of these things +can be bad for you, or short of good, but I am ready to listen, if so it +is. [25] Speak, tell me your judgment of it all." + +Then Cyrus paused, and Cyaxares made answer: + +"To call what you have done evil, Cyrus, is impossible. But your +benefits are of such a kind that the more they multiply upon me, the +heavier burden do they bring. [26] I would far rather," he went on, +"have made your country great by own power than see mine exalted in this +way by you. These deeds of yours are a crown of glory to you; but they +bring dishonour to me. [27] And for the wealth, I would rather have made +largess of it to yourself than receive it at your hands in the way +you give it now. Goods so gotten only leave me the poorer. And for my +subjects--I think I would have suffered less if you had injured them +a little than I suffer now when I see how much they owe you. [28] +Perhaps," he added, "you find it inhuman of me to feel thus, but I would +ask you to forget me and imagine that you are in my place and see how it +would appear to you then. Suppose a friend of yours were to take care of +your dogs, dogs that you bred up to guard yourself and your house, such +care that he made them fonder of him than of yourself, would you be +pleased with him for his attention? [29] Or take another instance, if +that one seems too slight: suppose a friend of yours were to do so much +for your own followers, men you kept to guard you and to fight for +you, that they would rather serve in his train than yours, would you be +grateful to him for his kindness? [30] Or let me take the tenderest of +human ties: suppose a friend of yours paid court to the wife of your +bosom so that in the end he made her love him more than yourself, would +he rejoice your heart by his courtesy? Far from it, I trow; he who did +this, you would say, did you the greatest wrong in all the world. [31] +And now, to come nearest to my own case, suppose some one paid such +attention to your Persians that they learnt to follow him instead of +you, would you reckon that man your friend? No; but a worse enemy +than if he had slain a thousand. [32] Or again, say you spoke in all +friendship to a friend and bade him take what he wished, and straightway +he took all he could lay hands on and carried it off, and so grew rich +with your wealth, and you were left in utter poverty, could you say that +friend was altogether blameless? [33] And I, Cyrus, I feel that you have +treated me, if not in that way, yet in a way exactly like it. What you +say is true enough: I did allow you to take what you liked and go, and +you took the whole of my power and went, leaving me desolate, and to-day +you bring the spoil you have won with my forces, and lay it so grandly +at my feet--magnificent! And you make my country great through the help +of my own might, while I have no part or lot in the performance, but +must step in at the end, like a woman, to receive your favours, while in +the eyes of all men, not least my faithful subjects yonder, you are the +man, and I--I am not fit to wear a crown. [34] Are these, I ask you, +Cyrus, are these the deeds of a benefactor? Nay, had you been kind as +you are kin, above all else you would have been careful not to rob me +of my dignity and honour. What advantage is it to me for my lands to be +made broad if I myself am dishonoured? When I ruled the Medes, I ruled +them not because I was stronger than all of them, but because they +themselves thought that our race was in all things better than theirs." + +[35] But while he was still speaking Cyrus broke in on his words, +crying: + +"Uncle of mine, by the heaven above us, if I have ever shown you any +kindness, be kind to me now. Do not find fault with me any more, wait, +and put me to the test, and learn how I feel towards you, and if you see +that what I have done has really brought you good, then, when I embrace +you, embrace me in return and call me your benefactor, and if not, you +may blame me as you please." + +[36] "Perhaps," answered Cyaxares, "you are right. I will do as you +wish." + +"Then I may kiss you?" said Cyrus. + +"Yes, if it pleases you. "And you will not turn aside as you did just +now?" "No, I will not turn aside." And he kissed him. + +[37] And when the Medes saw it and the Persians and all the allies--for +all were watching to see how matters would shape--joy came into their +hearts and gladness lit up their faces. Then Cyrus and Cyaxares mounted +their horses and rode back, and the Medes fell in behind Cyaxares, at +a nod from Cyrus, and behind Cyrus the Persians, and the others behind +them. [38] And when they reached the camp and brought Cyaxares to the +splendid tent, those who were appointed made everything ready for him, +and while he was waiting for the banquet his Medes presented themselves, +some of their own accord, it is true, but most were sent by Cyrus. +[39] And they brought him gifts; one came with a beautiful cup-bearer, +another with an admirable cook, a third with a baker, a fourth with a +musician, while others brought cups and goblets and beautiful apparel; +almost every one gave something out of the spoils they had won. [40] So +that the mood of Cyaxares changed, and he seemed to see that Cyrus had +not stolen his subjects from him, and that they made no less account of +him than they used to do. + +[41] Now when the hour came for the banquet, Cyaxares sent to Cyrus and +begged him to share it: it was so long, he said, since they had met. +But Cyrus answered, "Bid me not to the feast, good uncle. Do you not see +that all these soldiers of ours have been raised by us to the pitch of +expectation? And it were ill on my part if I seemed to neglect them for +the sake of my private pleasure. If soldiers feel themselves neglected +even the good become faint-hearted, and the bad grow insolent. [42] With +yourself it is different, you have come a long journey and you must fall +to without delay, and if your subjects do you honour, welcome them and +give them good cheer, that there may be confidence between you and them, +but I must go and attend to the matters of which I speak. [43] +Early to-morrow morning," he added, "our chief officers will present +themselves at your gate to hear from you what you think our next step +ought to be. You will tell us whether we ought to pursue the campaign +further or whether the time has now come to disband our army." + +[44] Thereupon Cyaxares betook himself to the banquet and Cyrus called +a council of his friends, the shrewdest and the best fitted to act with +him, and spoke to them as follows: + +"My friends, thanks to the gods, our first prayers are granted. Wherever +we set foot now we are the masters of the country: we see our enemies +brought low and ourselves increasing day by day in numbers and in +strength. [45] And if only our present allies would consent to stay with +us a little longer, our achievements could be greater still, whether +force were needed or persuasion. Now it must be your work as much as +mine to make as many of them as possible willing and anxious to remain. +[46] Remember that, just as the soldier who overthrows the greatest +number in the day of battle is held to be the bravest, so the speaker, +when the time has come for persuasion, who brings most men to his side +will be thought the most eloquent, the best orator and the ablest man of +action. [47] Do not, however, prepare your speeches as though we asked +you to give a rhetorical display: remember that those whom you convince +will show it well enough by what they do. [48] I leave you then," he +added, "to the careful study of your parts: mine is to see, so far as in +me lies, that our troops are provided with all they need, before we hold +the council of war." + + + NOTES + +C.1. Cyrus' generosity: he is not cold, not incapable of soft pleasure, +but too pre-occupied with greater things. On the whole, if a hedonist, +this type of man, a hedonist that = a stoic (cf. Socrates, H. Sidgwick, +also J. P.). + +C1.4, init. Well told: we feel the character of Araspas at once, as soon +as he opens his lips. + +C1.4, med. An Eastern picture. She is one of the Bible women, as Gadatas +and Gobryas are brothers of Barzillai; she is sister of Ruth or Susanna +or Judith or Bathsheba. Perhaps she is nobler than any of them. She +is also the sister of the Greek tragedy women, Antigone, Alcestis; +especially Euripidean is she: no doubt she is sister to the great women +of all lands. + +C1.10 ff. Xenophon, Moralist. Cf. _Memorabilia_ for a similar +philosophical difficulty about the will and knowledge. And for this +raising of ethical problems in an artistic setting of narrative, cf. +Lyly. I see a certain resemblance between the times and the writers' +minds. _Vide_ J. A. Symonds on the predecessors of Shakespeare. +Araspas' point is that these scamps have only themselves to blame, being +{akrateis}, and then they turn round and accuse love. (We are thrown +back on the origin of {akrasia}: _vide Memorabilia_ [e.g. I. ii. v.; IV. +v.] for such answer as we can get to that question.) Whereas the {kaloi +kagathoi} desire strongly but can curb their desires. + +C1.13. Shows a confidence in the healthy action of the will. When +Araspas himself is caught later on he develops the theory of a double +self, a higher and a lower (so hgd., and so, I think, Xenophon and +Socrates. _Vide Memorabilia_). + +C1.16, fin. Cyrus || Socrates, his prototype here. + +C1.18. Very natural and beautiful. Xenophon sympathetic with such a +beautiful humanity. The woman's nature brought out by these touches. +Xenophon, Dramatist: the moral problem is subordinate, that is to say, +is made to grow out of the dramatic action and characterisation. + +C1.20. Notice the absolutely fair and warrantable diplomatic advantage +given to the archic man: each step he takes opens up new avenues of +progress. Herein is fulfilled "to him who hath shall be given," but +Cyrus plays his part also, he has the wisdom of serpents with the +gentleness of doves. + +C1.21. This is the true rhetoric, the right road to persuasiveness, to +be absolutely frank. + +C1.24. The desire to be ruled by the archic man, which the +archomenoi--i.e. all men--feel, is thus manifest. Notice again how the +Mede's own character is maintained: he speaks as he felt then. + +C2.8. The bridegroom will be found to be Hystaspas; but we have no +suspicion as yet, without looking on. + +C2.9. In this interview Cyrus' character still further developed. _Ex +ore Cyri._, Xenophon propounds his theory of the latent virtue in man, +which only needs an opportunity to burst forth, but, this lacking, +remains unrevealed. Now it is a great godsend to get such a chance. It +is thoroughly Hellenic, or Xenophon-Socratic, this feeling, "Give me +a chance to show my virtue." (But has Cyrus a touch of superhuman +conscious rectitude?) + +C2.12. The same thought again: it is full of delicacy and spiritual +discernment: the more one ponders it the more one feels that. + +C2.12, fin. For Hellenic or Xenophontine or old-world theory of the +misfortunes which befall the virtuous, _vide_ Homer, _vide_ Book of Job +(Satan), _vide_ Tragedians. + +C2.15. Cf. the _Economist_ for praise of rural simplicity. It is +Xenophon _ipsissimus_. + +C2.17. Whose bad manners is Xenophon thinking of? Thebans'? + +C2.20, fin. A very noble sentence. The man who utters it and the people +whose heart and mind it emanates from must be of a high order; and in +the _Memorabilia_ Socrates has this highest praise, that he studied to +make himself and _all others also_ as good as possible. + +C2.21. Notice the practical answer of Cyrus to this panegyric (cf. J. +P.). + +C2.32. Prolix, Xenophontic. + +C3.6 ff. Here also I feel the mind of Xenophon shimmering under +various lights. The _Cyropaedia_ is shot with Orientalism. Homeric +Epicism--antique Hellenism and modern Hellenism are both there. Spartan +simplicity and Eastern quaintness both say their say. In this passage +the biblical element seems almost audible. + +C3.7. This is in the grand style, Oriental, dilatory, ponderous, +savouring of times when battles were affairs of private arrangement +between monarchs and hedged about by all the punctilios of an affair of +honour. + +C3.12. N.B.--The archic man shows a very ready wit and inventiveness in +the great art of "grab" in war, though as he said to his father he was +"a late learner" in such matters. Cf. in modern times the duties of a +detective or some such disagreeable office. G. O. Trevelyan as Irish +secretary. Interesting for _war ethics_ in the abstract, and for +Xenophon's view, which is probably Hellenic. Cyrus now has the +opportunity of carrying out the selfish decalogue, the topsy-turvy +morality set forth in I. C.6, C.26 ff. + +C3.13. Cf. Old Testament for the sort of subterfuges and preparations, +e.g. the Gibeonites. + +C3.15. The archic man has no time. Cyrus {ou skholazei}. Cf. J. P. It +comes from energy combined with high gifts of organisation, economic, +architectonic. + +C3.19. Nice, I think, this contrasting of spiritual and natural +productiveness. + +C3.32. Here is the rule of conduct clearly expressed, nor do I see how a +military age could frame for itself any other. Christianity only emerged +_sub pace Romana_, which for fraternal brotherhood was the fullness of +time; and even in the commercial age the nations tumble back practically +into the old system. + +C3.36 ff. An army on forced march: are there any novelties here? + +C3.53. These minute details probably not boring at the time, but +interesting rather, perhaps useful. + +C4.13. Cyrus resembles Fawcett in his unselfish self-estimate. Gadatas +is like the British public, or hgd. + +C4.16. Here we feel that the Assyrian is not a mere weakling: he can +play his part well enough if he gets a good chance. It needs an Archic +and Strategic Man to overpower him. + +C4.17. ANCIENT and MODERN parallelism in treatment of wounded. + +C4.24. Hellenic war ethics: non-combatant tillers of the soil to be let +alone. Is this a novelty? If not, what is the prototype? Did the modern +rights of non-combatants so originate? + +C4.27, fin. A touch which gives the impression of real history: that is +the art of it. + +C4.34. Almost autobiographical: the advantage of having a country +seat in the neighbourhood of a big town. Here we feel the MODERNISM +of XENOPHON. The passage which Stevenson chose for the motto to his +_Silverado Squatters_ would suit Xenophon very well (Cicero, De Off. I. +xx.). Xenophon || Alfred Tennyson. [Mr. Dakyns used the geometric sign +|| to indicate parallelism of any sort. The passage from Cicero might +be translated thus: "Some have lived in the country, content with the +happiness of home. These men have enjoyed all that kings could claim, +needing nothing, under the dominion of no man, untrammelled and in +freedom; for the free man lives as he chooses."] + +C4.36. The wicked man as conceived in Hellenico-Xenophontine fashion, +charged with the spirit of meanness, envy, and hatred, which cannot +brook the existence of another better than itself. + +C4.38. A nice touch: we learn to know Gadatas and Xenophon also, and the +Hellenic mind. + +C5.10. Pathos well drawn: _vide_ Richard II. and Bolingbroke. Euripidean +quality. + +C5.12. The archic man has got so far he can play the part of intercessor +between Cyaxares and his Medes. The discussion involves the whole +difficulty of suppression ("he must increase, but I must decrease" is +one solution, not touched here). + +C5.34. Perhaps this is the very point which Xenophon, Philosopher, +wishes to bring out, the pseudo-archic man and the archic man +contrasted, but Xenophon, lover of man and artist, draws the situation +admirably and truthfully without any doctrinal purpose. It is +{anthropinon} human essentially, this jealousy and humiliation of +spirit. + +C5.35. Cyrus' tone of voice and manner must have some compelling charm +in them: the dialectic debate is not pursued, but by a word and look the +archic man wins his way. + +C5.36. Oriental and antique Hellenic, also _modern_, formalities. I can +imagine some of those crowned heads, emperors of Germany and Austria, +going through similar ceremonies, walking arm-in-arm, kissing on both +cheeks fraternally, etc. + +C5.39-40. This reveals the incorrigible weakness of Cyaxares. He can +never hold his own against the archic man. As a matter of philosophic +"historising," probably Xenophon conceives the Median element as the +corrupting and sapping one in the Persian empire (_vide_ Epilogue), only +he to some extent justifies and excuses Cyrus in his imitations of it. +That is a difficulty. + +C5.41. The archic man shows self-command again: his energy somewhat +relieves ignobler actors of responsibility and so far saps their wills. +His up-and-doingness a foil to their indolence. + + + + +BOOK VI + +[C.1] So the day ended, and they supped and went to rest. But early +the next morning all the allies flocked to Cyaxares' gates, and while +Cyaxares dressed and adorned himself, hearing that a great multitude +were waiting, Cyrus gave audience to the suitors his own friends had +brought. First came the Cadousians, imploring him to stay, and then +the Hyrcanians, and after them the Sakians, and then some one presented +Gobryas, and Hystaspas brought in Gadatas the eunuch, whose entreaty was +still the same. [2] At that Cyrus, who knew already that for many a day +Gadatas had been half-dead with fear lest the army should be disbanded, +laughed outright and said, "Ah, Gadatas, you cannot conceal it: you have +been bribed by my friend Hystaspas to take this view." + +[3] But Gadatas lifted up his hands to heaven and swore most solemnly +that Hystaspas had not influenced him. + +"Nay," said he, "it is because I know myself that, if you depart, I am +ruined utterly. And therefore it was that I took it upon me to speak +with Hystaspas myself, and ask him if he knew what was in your mind +about the disbanding of the army." + +[4] And Cyrus said, "It would be unjust then, I suppose, to lay the +blame on Hystaspas." "Yes, Cyrus, most unjust," said Hystaspas, "for I +only said to Gadatas that it would be impossible for you to carry on the +campaign, as your father wanted you home, and had sent for you." + +[5] "What?" cried Cyrus, "you dared to let that be known whether I +wished it or not?" + +"Certainly I did," he answered, "for I can see that you are mad to be +home in Persia, the cynosure of every eye, telling your father how you +wrought this and accomplished that." + +"Well," said Cyrus, "are you not longing to go home yourself?" + +"No," said the other. "I am not. Nor have I any intention of going: here +I shall stay and be general-in-chief until I make our friend Gadatas the +lord and the Assyrian his slave." + +[6] Thus half in jest and half in earnest they played with one another, +and meanwhile Cyaxares had finished adorning himself and came forth in +great splendour and solemnity, and sat down on a Median throne. And when +all were assembled and silence was proclaimed, Cyaxares said: + +"My friends and allies, perhaps, since I am present and older than +Cyrus, it is suitable that I should address you first. It appears to me +that the moment has come to discuss one question before all others, +the question whether we ought to go on with the campaign or disband the +army. Be pleased," he added, "to state your opinions on the matter." + +[7] Then the leader of the Hyrcanians stood up at once and said: + +"Friends and allies, I hardly think that words are needed when facts +themselves show us the path to take. All of us know that while we stand +together we give our enemy more trouble than we get: but when we stood +alone it was they who dealt with us as they liked best and we liked +least." + +[8] Then the Cadousian followed. + +"The less we talk," said he, "about breaking-up and going home +separately the better; separation has done us anything but good, it +seems to me, even on the march. My men and I, at any rate, very soon +paid the penalty for private excursions; as I dare say you have not +forgotten." + +[9] Upon that Artabazus rode, the Mede who had claimed kinship with +Cyrus in the old days. + +"Cyaxares," said he, "in one respect I differ from those who have spoken +before me: they think we should stay here in order to go on with the +campaign, but I think I am always on campaign at home. [10] I was for +ever out on some expedition or other, because our people were being +harried, or our fortresses threatened, and a world of trouble I had, +what with fears within and fighting without, and all too at my own +expense. As it is now, I occupy the enemy's forts, my fear of them is +gone, I make good cheer on their own good things, and I drink their own +good wine. Since home means fighting and service here means feasting, I +am not in favour myself," said he, "of breaking up the company." + +[11] Then Gobryas spoke. + +"Friends," said he, "I have trusted Cyrus' word and had no fault to +find with him: what he promises that he performs: but if he leaves the +country now, the Assyrian will be reprieved, he will never be punished +for the wrongs he tried to inflict on you and did inflict on me: I shall +be punished instead, because I have been your friend." + +[12] At that Cyrus rose at last and said: + +"Gentlemen, I am well aware that the disbanding of our forces must mean +the decrease of our power and the increase of theirs. If some of them +have given up their weapons, they will soon procure others; if some have +lost their horses, the loss will soon be made good; if some have fallen +in battle, others, younger and stronger, will take their place. We need +not be surprised if they are soon in a condition to cause us trouble +again. [13] Why, then, did I ask Cyaxares to put the question to debate? +Because, I answer, I am afraid of the future. I see opponents against +us whom we cannot fight, if we conduct the campaign as we are doing now. +[14] Winter is advancing against us, and though we may have shelter for +ourselves we have nothing, heaven knows, for our horses and our servants +and the great mass of our soldiery, without whom we cannot even think +of a campaign. As to provisions, up to the limits of our advance and +because of that advance they have been exhausted; and beyond that line, +owing to the terror we inspire, the inhabitants will have stowed their +supplies away in strong places where they can enjoy them and we cannot +get them. [15] Where is the warrior, stout of heart and strong of will, +who can wage war with cold and hunger? If our style of soldiering is to +be only what it has been, I say we ought to disband at once of our own +accord, and not wait to be driven from the field against our will by +sheer lack of means. If we do wish to go forward, this is what we must +do: we must detach from the enemy all the fortresses we can and secure +all we can for our own: if this is done, the larger supply will be in +the hands of those who can stow away the larger store, and the weaker +will suffer siege. [16] At present we are like mariners on the ocean: +they may sail on for ever, but the seas they have crossed are no +more theirs than those that are still unsailed. But if we hold the +fortresses, the enemy will find they are living in a hostile land, +while we have halcyon weather. [17] Some of you may dread the thought of +garrison duty far from home; if so, dispel your doubts. We Persians, +who must, as it is, be exiles for the time, will undertake the positions +that are nearest to the foe, while it will be for you to occupy the land +on the marches between Assyria and yourselves and put it under tillage. +[18] For, if we can hold his inner line, your peace will not be +disturbed in the outlying parts: he will scarcely neglect the danger at +his door to attack you out in the distance." + +[19] At this the whole assembly rose to express their eagerness and +assent, and Cyaxares stood up with them. And both Gadatas and Gobryas +offered to fortify a post if the allies wished, and thus provide two +cities of refuge to start with. + +[20] Finally Cyrus, thus assured of the general consent to his +proposals, said, "If we really wish to carry out what we have set +ourselves, we must prepare battering-rams and siege engines, and get +together mechanics and builders for our own castles." [21] Thereupon +Cyaxares at once undertook to provide an engine at his own expense, +Gadatas and Gobryas made themselves responsible for a second, Tigranes +for a third, and Cyrus himself promised he would try to furnish two. +[22] That done, every one set to work to find engineers and artisans and +to collect material for the machines; and superintendents were appointed +from those best qualified for the work. + +[23] Now Cyrus was aware that all this would take some time, and +therefore he encamped his troops in the healthiest spot he could find +and the easiest to supply, strengthening, wherever necessary, the +natural defences of the place, so that the detachment left in charge for +the time should always be in complete security, even though he might be +absent himself with the main body of his force. [24] Nor was this all; +he questioned those who knew the country best, and, learning where he +would be rewarded for his pains, he would lead his men out to forage, +and thus procure as large supplies as possible, keep his soldiers in the +best of health and strength, and fix their drill in their minds. + +[25] So Cyrus spent his days, and meanwhile the deserters from Babylon +and the prisoners who were captured all told the same story: they said +that the king had gone off to Lydia, taking with him store of gold and +silver, and riches and treasures of every kind. [26] The mass of the +soldiers were convinced that he was storing his goods away from fear, +but Cyrus knew that he must have gone to raise, if possible, an opponent +who could face them, and therefore he pushed his preparations forward +vigorously, feeling that another battle must be fought. He filled up the +Persian cavalry to its full complement, getting the horses partly from +the prisoners, partly from his own friends. There were two gifts he +would never refuse, horses and good weapons. [27] He also procured +chariots, taking them from the enemy or wherever he could find them. +The old Trojan type of charioteering, still in use to this day among the +Cyrenaeans, he abolished; before his time the Medes, the Syrians, the +Arabians, and all Asiatics generally, used their chariots in the same +way as the Cyrenaeans do now. [28] The fault of the system to his mind +was that the very flower of the army, if the picked men were in the +chariots, could only act at long range and so contribute little after +all to the victory. Three hundred chariots meant twelve hundred horses +and three hundred fighting-men, besides the charioteers, who would +naturally be men above the common, in whom the warriors could place +confidence: and that meant another three hundred debarred from injuring +the enemy in any kind of way. [29] Such was the system he abolished in +favour of the war-chariot proper, with strong wheels to resist the shock +of collision, and long axles, on the principle that a broad base is the +firmer, while the driver's seat was changed into what might be called +a turret, stoutly built of timber and reaching up to the elbow, +leaving the driver room to manage the horses above the rim. The drivers +themselves were all fully armed, only their eyes uncovered. [30] He had +iron scythes about two feet long attached to the axles on either side, +and others, under the tree, pointing to the ground, for use in a charge. +Such was the type of chariot invented by Cyrus, and it is still in use +to-day among the subjects of the Great King. Beside the chariots he had +a large number of camels, collected from his friends or captured +from the enemy. [31] Moreover, he decided to send a spy into Lydia to +ascertain the movements of the king, and he thought that the right man +for this purpose was Araspas, the officer in charge of the fair lady +from Susa. Matters had gone ill with Araspas: he had fallen passionately +in love with his prisoner, and been led to entreat her to be his +paramour. [32] She had refused, faithful to her husband who was far +away, for she loved him dearly, but she forbore to accuse Araspas to +Cyrus, being unwilling to set friend at strife with friend. [33] But +when at length Araspas, thinking it would help him in his desires, began +to threaten her, saying that if she would not yield he would have his +will of her by force, then in her dread of violence she could keep the +matter hid no longer, and she sent her eunuch to Cyrus with orders to +tell him everything. [34] And when Cyrus heard it he smiled over the man +who had boasted that he was superior to love, and sent Artabazus back +with the eunuch to tell Araspas that he must use no violence against +such a woman, but if he could persuade her, he might do so. [35] But +Artabazus, when he saw Araspas, rebuked him sternly, saying that the +woman was a sacred trust, and his conduct disgraceful, impious, and +wicked, till Araspas burst into tears of misery and shame, and was half +dead at the thought of what Cyrus would do. [36] Learning this, Cyrus +sent for him, saw him alone, and said to him face to face: + +"Araspas, I know that you are afraid of me and in an agony of shame. +Be comforted; we are told that the gods themselves are made subject to +desire, and I could tell you what love has forced some men to undergo, +men who seemed most lofty and most wise. Did I not pass sentence on +myself, when I confessed I was too weak to consort with loveliness and +remain unmoved? Indeed it is I who am most to blame in the matter, for I +shut you up myself with this irresistible power." + +[37] But Araspas broke in on his words: + +"Ah, Cyrus, you are ever the same, gentle and compassionate to human +weaknesses. But all the rest of the world has no pity on me; they drown +me in wretchedness. As soon as the tattlers got wind of my misfortune, +all my enemies exulted, and my friends came to me, advising me to make +away with myself for fear of you, because my iniquity was so great." + +[38] Then Cyrus said, "Now listen: this opinion about you may be the +means by which you can do me a great kindness and your comrades a great +service." "Oh, that it were possible!" said Araspas, "for me ever to +be of service to you!" [39] "Well," said the other, "if you went to the +enemy, feigning that you had fled from me, I think they would believe +you." "I am sure they would," said Araspas, "I know even my own friends +would think that of course I ran away." [40] "Then you will come back +to us," Cyrus went on, "with full information about the enemy's affairs; +for, if I am right in my expectation, they will trust you and let you +see all their plans, so that you need miss nothing of what we wish to +know." "I will be off this moment," said Araspas; "it will be my best +credential to have it thought I was just in time to escape punishment +from you." + +[41] "Then you can really bring yourself to leave the beautiful +Pantheia?" + +"Yes, Cyrus," he answered, "I can; for I see now that we have two souls. +This is the lesson of philosophy that I have learnt from the wicked +sophist Love. If we had but a single soul, how could she be at once evil +and good? How could she be enamoured at once of nobleness and baseness, +or at once desire and not desire one deed and the same? No, it is clear +that we have two souls, and when the beautiful soul prevails, all fair +things are wrought, and when the evil soul has the mastery, she lays her +hand to shame and wickedness. But to-day my good soul conquers, because +she has you to help her." + +[42] "Well," said Cyrus, "if you have decided on going, it is thus you +had better go. Thus you will win their confidence, and then you must +tell them what we are doing, but in such a way as to hinder their own +designs. It would hinder them, for example, if you said that we were +preparing an attack on their territory at a point not yet decided; for +this would check the concentration of their forces, each leader being +most concerned for the safety of his own home. [43] Stay with them," he +added, "till the last moment possible: what they do when they are close +at hand is just what is most important for us to know. Advise them how +to dispose their forces in the way that really seems the best, for then, +after you are gone and although it may be known that you are aware of +their order, they will be forced to keep to it, they will not dare to +change it, and should they do so at the last moment they will be thrown +into confusion." + +[44] Thereupon Araspas took his leave, called together his trustiest +attendants, said what he thought necessary for the occasion, and +departed. + +[45] Now Pantheia, when she heard that Araspas had fled, sent a +messenger to Cyrus, saying: + +"Grieve not, Cyrus, that Araspas has gone to join the foe: I will +bring you a far trustier friend than he, if you will let me send for my +husband, and I know he will bring with him all the power that he has. It +is true that the old king was my husband's friend, but he who reigns now +tried to tear us two asunder, and my husband knows him for a tyrant and +a miscreant, and would gladly be quit of him and take service with such +a man as you." + +[46] When Cyrus heard that, he bade Pantheia send word to her husband, +and she did so. Now when Abradatas saw the tokens from his wife, and +learnt how matters stood, he was full of joy, and set out for Cyrus' +camp immediately, with a thousand horsemen in his train. And when he +came to the Persian outposts he sent to Cyrus saying who he was, and +Cyrus gave orders that he should be taken to Pantheia forthwith. [47] So +husband and wife met again after hope had well-nigh vanished, and were +in each other's arms once more. And then Pantheia spoke of Cyrus, +his nobleness, his honour, and the compassion he had shown her, and +Abradatas cried: + +"Tell me, tell me, how can I repay him all I owe him in your name and +mine!" And she answered: + +"So deal with him, my husband, as he has dealt with you." + +[48] And thus Abradatas went to Cyrus, and took him by the hand, and +said: + +"Cyrus, in return for the kindness you have shown us, I can say no more +than this: I give myself to you, I will be your friend, your servant, +and your ally: whatever you desire, I will help you to win, your +fellow-worker always, so far as in me lies." + +[49] Then Cyrus answered: + +"And I will take your gift: but for the moment you must leave me, and +sup with your wife: another day you will let me play the host, and give +you lodging with your friends and mine." + +[50] Afterwards Abradatas perceived how much Cyrus had at heart the +scythe-bearing chariots and the cavalry and the war-horses with their +armour, and he resolved to equip a hundred chariots for him out of his +own cavalry force. [51] These he proposed to lead himself in a chariot +of his own, four-poled and drawn by eight horses, all the eight +protected by chest-plates of bronze. [52] So Abradatas set to work, and +this four-poled chariot of his gave Cyrus the idea of making a car +with eight poles, drawn by eight yoke of oxen, to carry the lowest +compartment of the battering engines, which stood, with its wheels, +about twenty-seven feet from the ground. [53] Cyrus felt that he had a +series of such towers brought into the field at a fair pace they would +be of immense service to him, and inflict as much damage on the enemy. +The towers were built with galleries and parapets, and each of them +could carry twenty men. [54] When the whole was put together he tested +it and found that the eight yoke of oxen could draw the whole tower with +the men more easily than one yoke by itself could manage the ordinary +weight of baggage, which came to about five-and-twenty talents apiece, +whereas the tower, build of planks about as thick as the boards for +a stage, weighed less than fifteen for each yoke. [55] Thus, having +satisfied himself that the attempt was perfectly possible, he arranged +to take the towers into action, believing that in war selfishness meant +salvation, justice, and happiness. + +[C.2] About this time ambassadors came to Cyrus from India with gifts of +courtesy and a message from their king, saying: + +"I send you greeting, Cyrus, and I rejoice that you told me of your +needs. I desire to be your friend and I offer you gifts; and if you have +need of anything more, I bid you say the word, and it shall be yours. I +have told my men to do whatever you command." + +[2] Then Cyrus answered: + +"This, then, is my bidding: the rest of you shall stay where you have +pitched your tents; you shall guard your treasures and live as you +choose: but three of you shall go to the enemy and make believe that you +have come to him about an alliance with your king, and thus you shall +learn how matters stand, and all they say and all they do, and so bring +me word again with speed. And if you serve me well in this, I shall owe +you even more than I could owe you for these gifts. There are some spies +who are no better than slaves, and have no skill to find out anything +more than is known already, but there are men of another sort, men of +your stamp, who can discover plans that are not yet disclosed." + +[3] The Indians listened gladly, and for the moment made themselves at +home as the guests of Cyrus: but the next day they got ready and set +off on their journey, promising to find out as much as they could of the +enemy's secrets and bring him word again with all possible speed. + +[4] Meanwhile Cyrus continued his preparations for the war on +a magnificent scale, like one who meant to accomplish no small +achievement. Not only did he carry out all the resolutions of the +allies, but he breathed a spirit of emulation into his own friends +and followers, till each strove to outshine his fellows in arms +and accoutrements, in horsemanship and spearmanship and archery, in +endurance of toil and danger. [5] Cyrus would lead them out to the +chase, and show especial honour to those who distinguished themselves in +any way: he would whet the ambition of the officers by praising all who +did their best to improve their men, and by gratifying them in every way +he could. [6] At every sacrifice and festival he instituted games and +contests in all martial exercises, and lavished prizes on the victors, +till the whole army was filled with enthusiasm and confidence. [7] By +this time Cyrus had almost everything in readiness for the campaign, +except the battering-machines. The Persian cavalry was made up to its +full number of ten thousand men, and the scythed chariots were complete, +a hundred of his own, and a hundred that Abradatas of Susa had provided. +[8] Beside these there were a hundred of the old Median chariots which +Cyrus had persuaded Cyaxares to remodel on his own type, giving up +the Trojan and Lydian style. The camels were ready also, each animal +carrying a couple of mounted archers. + +The bulk of the great army felt almost as though they had already +conquered, and the enemy's power was held of no account. + +[9] While matters were thus, the Indians whom Cyrus had sent out +returned with their report. Croesus had been chosen leader and +general-in-chief; a resolution had been passed, calling on all the +allied kings to bring up their entire forces, raise enormous sums for +the war, and spend them in hiring mercenaries where they could and +making presents where they must. [10] Large numbers of Thracians, armed +with the short sword, had already been enrolled, and a body of Egyptians +were coming by sea, amounting--so said the Indians--to 120,000 men, +armed with long shields reaching to their feet, huge spears (such as +they carry to this day), and sabres. Beside these, an army was expected +from Cyprus, and there were already on the spot all the Cilicians, the +men of both the Phrygias, of Lycaonia, Paphlagonia, and Cappadocia, +the Arabians, the Phoenicians, and all the Assyrians under the king of +Babylon. Moreover, the Ionians, and Aeolians, and indeed nearly all the +Hellenic colonists on the coast were compelled to follow in the train of +Croesus. [11] Croesus himself had already sent to Lacedaemon to propose +an alliance with the Spartans. The armament was mustering on the banks +of the Pactolus, and they were to push forward presently to Thymbrara +(the place which is still the mustering-ground for all the Asiatic +subjects of the Great King west of Syria), and orders had been issued to +open a market there. This report agreed with the accounts given by the +prisoners, for Cyrus was always at pains to gave men captured from +whom he could get some information, and he would also send out spies +disguised as runaway slaves. + +[12] Such were the tidings, and when the army heard the news there was +much anxiety and concern, as one may well suppose. The men went about +their work with an unusual quietness, their faces clouded over, or +gathered in knots and clusters everywhere, anxiously asking each other +the news and discussing the report. [13] When Cyrus saw that fear was in +the camp, he called a meeting of his generals, and indeed of all +whose dejection might injure the cause and whose confidence assist it. +Moreover, he sent word that any of the attendants, or any of the rank +and file, who wished to hear what he had to say, would be allowed to +come and listen. When they met, he spoke as follows: + +[14] "My friends and allies, I make no secret of the reason I have +called you here. It was because I saw that some of you, when the reports +of the enemy reached us, looked like men who were panic-stricken. But I +must say I am astonished that any of you should feel alarm because the +enemy is mustering his forces, and not be reassured by remembering that +our own is far larger than it was when we conquered him before, and far +better provided, under heaven, with all we need. [15] I ask you how you +would have felt, you who are afraid now, if you had been told that a +force exactly like our own was marching upon us, if you had heard that +men who had conquered us already were coming now, carrying in their +hearts the victory they had won, if you knew that those who made short +work then of all our bows and javelins were advancing again, and others +with them, ten thousand times as many? [16] Suppose you heard that the +very men who had routed our infantry once were coming on now equipt as +before, but this time on horseback, scorning arms and javelins, each man +armed with one stout spear, ready to charge home? [17] Suppose you heard +of chariots, made on a new pattern, not to be kept motionless, standing, +as hitherto, with their backs turned to the foe as if for flight, but +with the horses shielded by armour, and the drivers sheltered by wooden +walls and protected by breastplates and helmets, and the axles fitted +with iron scythes so that they can charge straight into the ranks of the +foe? [18] And suppose you heard that they have camels to ride on, each +one of which would scare a hundred horses, and that they will bring +up towers from which to help their own friends, and overwhelm us with +volleys of darts so that we cannot fight them on level ground? [19] If +this were what you had heard of the enemy, I as you, once again, you who +are now so fearful what would you have done? You who turn pale when +told that Croesus has been chosen commander-in-chief, Croesus who proved +himself so much more cowardly than the Syrians, that when they were +worsted in battle and fled, instead of helping them, his own allies, he +took to his heels himself. [20] We are told, moreover, that the enemy +himself does not feel equal to facing you alone, he is hiring others +to fight for him better than he could for himself. I can only say, +gentlemen, that if any individual considers our position as I describe +it alarming or unfavourable, he had better leave us. Let him join our +opponents, he will do us far more service there than here." + +[21] When Cyrus had ended, Chrysantas the Persian stood up and said: + +"Cyrus, you must not wonder if the faces of some were clouded when they +heard the news. The cloud was a sign of annoyance, not of fear. Just as +if," he went on, "a company were expecting breakfast immediately, and +then were told there was some business that must be got through first, I +do not suppose any of them would be particularly pleased. Here we were, +saying to ourselves that our fortunes were made, and now we are informed +there is still something to be done, and of course our countenances +fell, not because we were afraid, but because we could have wished it +all over and done with. [22] However, since it now appears that Syria +is not to be the only prize--though there is much to be got in Syria, +flocks and herds and corn and palm-trees yielding fruit--but Lydia as +well, Lydia the land of wine and oil and fig-trees, Lydia, to whose +shores the sea brings more good things than eyes can feast on, I say +that once we realise this we can mope no longer, our spirits will rise +apace, and we shall hasten to lay our hands on the Lydian wealth without +delay." + +So he spoke, and the allies were well pleased at his words and gave him +loud applause. + +[23] "Truly, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "as Chrysantas says, I think we +ought to march without delay, if only to be beforehand with our foes, +and reach their magazines before they do themselves; and besides, the +quicker we are, the fewer resources we shall find with them. [24] That +is how I put the matter, but if any one sees a safer or an easier way, +let him instruct us." + +But many speakers followed, all urging an immediate march, without one +speech in opposition, and so Cyrus took up the word again and said: + +[25] "My friends and allies, God helping us, our hearts, our bodies, +and our weapons have now been long prepared: all that remains is to get +together what we need for ourselves and our animals on a march of at +least twenty days. I reckon that the journey itself must take more than +fifteen, and not a vestige of food shall we find from end to end. It has +all been made away with, partly by ourselves, partly by our foes, so far +as they could. [26] We must collect enough corn, without which one can +neither fight nor live: and as for wine, every man must carry just +so much as will accustom him to drink water: the greater part of the +country will be absolutely devoid of wine, and the largest supply we +could take with us would not hold out. [27] But to avoid too sudden a +change and the sickness that might follow, this is what we must do. We +must begin by taking water with our food: we can do this without any +great change in our habits. [28] For every one who eats porridge has +the oatmeal mixed with water, and every one who eats bread has the wheat +soaked in water, and all boiled meat is prepared in water. We shall not +miss the wine if we drink a little after the meal is done. [29] Then we +must gradually lessen the amount, until we find that, without knowing +it, we have become water-drinkers. Gradual change enables every creature +to go through a complete conversion; and this is taught us by God, who +leads us little by little out of winter until we can bear the blazing +heat of summer, and out of heat back again into the depths of winter. So +should we follow God, and take one step after another until we reach our +goal. [30] What you might spend on heavy rugs and coverlets spend rather +on food: any superfluity there will not be wasted: and you will not +sleep less soundly for lack of bedclothes; if you do, I give you leave +to blame me. But with clothing the case is different: a man can hardly +have too much of that in sickness or in health. [31] And for seasoning +you should take what is sharp and dry and salted, for such meats +are more appetising and more satisfying. And since we may come into +districts as yet unravaged where we may find growing corn, we ought to +take handmills for grinding: these are the lightest machines for +the purpose. [32] Nor must we forget to supply ourselves with +medicines--they are small in bulk and, if need arises, invaluable. And +we ought to have a large supply of straps--I wonder what is not fastened +by a strap to man or horse? But straps wear out and get broken and then +things are at a standstill unless there are spare ones to be had. [33] +Some of you have learnt to shave spears, so that it would be as well not +to forget a plane, and also to carry a rasp, for the man who sharpens a +spearhead will sharpen his spirit too. He will feel ashamed to whet the +edge and be a coward. And we must take plenty of timber for chariots and +waggons; there is bound to be many a breakdown on the road. [34] Also +we shall need the most necessary tools for repairs, since smiths and +carpenters are not to be found at every turn, but there are few who +cannot patch up a makeshift for the time. Then there should be a mattock +and a shovel apiece for every waggon, and on every beast of burden a +billhook and an axe, always useful to the owner and sometimes a boon +to all. [35] The provisions must be seen to by the officers of the +fighting-line; they must inspect the men under their command and see +that nothing is omitted which any man requires; the omission would be +felt by us all. Those of you who are in command of the baggage-train +will inspect what I have ordered for the animals and insist upon every +man being provided who is not already supplied. [36] You, gentlemen, who +are in command of the road-makers, you have the lists of the soldiers I +have disqualified from serving as javelin-men, bowmen, or slingers, and +you will make the old javelin men march with axes for felling timber, +the bowmen with mattocks, and the slingers with shovels. They will +advance by squads in front of the waggons so that if there is any +road-making to be done you may set to work at once, and in case of need +I may know where to get the men I want. [37] I mean also to take a corps +of smiths, carpenters, and cobblers, men of military age, provided with +the proper tools, to supply any possible need. These men will not be +in the fighting-line, but they will have a place assigned to them where +they can be hired by any one who likes. [38] If any huckster wishes +to follow the army with his wares, he may do so, but if caught selling +anything during the fifteen days for which provisions have been ordered, +he will be deprived of all his goods: after the fifteen days are done he +may sell what he likes. Any merchant who offers us a well-stocked market +will receive recompense and honour from the allies and myself. [39] +And if any one needs an advance of money for trading, he must send me +guarantors who will undertake that he will march with the army, and then +he can draw on our funds. These are the general orders: and I will ask +any of you who think that anything has been omitted to point it out +to me. [40] You will now go back to your quarters and make your +preparations, and while you do so I will offer sacrifice for our journey +and when the signs are favourable we will give the signal. At that +you must present yourselves, with everything I have ordered, at the +appointed place, under your own officers. [41] And you, gentlemen," said +he, turning to the officers, "when your divisions are all in line, you +will come to me in a body to receive your final orders." + +[C.3] With these instructions the army went to make their preparations +while Cyrus offered sacrifice. + +As soon as the victims were favourable, he set out with his force. + +On the first day they encamped as near by as possible, so that anything +left behind could easily be fetched and any omission readily supplied. +[2] Cyaxares stayed in Media with a third of the Median troops in order +not to leave their own country undefended. Cyrus himself pushed forward +with all possible speed, keeping his cavalry in the van and constantly +sending explorers and scouts ahead to some look-out. Behind the cavalry +came the baggage, and on the plains he had long strings of waggons and +beasts of burden, and the main army behind them, so that if any of the +baggage-train fell back, the officers who caught them up would see that +they did not lose their places in the march. [3] But where the road was +narrower the fighting-men marched on either side with the baggage in the +middle, and in case of any block it was the business of the soldiers +on the spot to attend to the matter. As a rule, the different regiments +would be marching alongside their own baggage, orders having been +given that all members of the train should advance by regiments +unless absolutely prevented. [4] To help matters the brigadier's own +body-servant led the way with an ensign known to his men, so that each +regiment marched together, the men doing their best to keep up with +their comrades. Thus there was no need to search for each other, +everything was to hand, there was greater security, and the soldiers +could get what they wanted more quickly. + +[5] After some days the scouts ahead thought they could see people in +the plain collecting fodder and timber, and then they made out beasts of +burden, some grazing and others already laden, and as they scanned the +distance they felt sure they could distinguish something that was either +smoke rising or clouds of dust; and from all this they concluded +that the enemy's army was not far off. [6] Whereupon their commander +despatched a messenger with the news to Cyrus, who sent back word that +the scouts should stay where they were, on their look-out, and tell him +if they saw anything more, while he ordered a squadron of cavalry to +ride forward, and intercept, if they could, some of the men on the plain +and so discover the actual state of affairs. [7] While the detachment +carried out this order Cyrus halted the rest of his army to make such +dispositions as he thought necessary before coming to close quarters. +His first order was for the troops to take their breakfast: after +breakfast they were to fall in and wait for the word of command. [8] +When breakfast was over he sent for all the officers from the cavalry, +the infantry, and the chariot brigade, and for the commanders of the +battering engines and the baggage train, and they came to him. [9] +Meanwhile the troop of horse had dashed into the plain, cut off some +of the men, and now brought them in captive. The prisoners, on being +questioned by Cyrus, said they belonged to the camp and had gone out +to forage or cut wood and so had passed beyond their own pickets, for, +owing to the size of their army, everything was scarce. + +[10] "How far is your army from here?" asked Cyrus. "About seven miles," +said they. "Was there any talk about us down there?" said he. "We should +think there was," they answered; "it was all over the camp that you were +coming." "Ah," said Cyrus, "I suppose they were glad to hear we were +coming so soon?" (putting this question for his officers to hear the +answer). "That they were not," said the prisoners, "they were anything +but glad; they were miserable." [11] "And what are they doing now?" +asked Cyrus. "Forming their line of battle," answered they; "yesterday +and the day before they did the same." + +"And their commander?" said Cyrus, "who is he?" "Croesus himself," said +they, "and with him a Greek, and also another man, a Mede, who is said +to be a deserter from you." + +"Ah," cried Cyrus, "is that so? Most mighty Zeus, may I deal with him as +I wish!" + +[12] Then he had the prisoners led away and turned to speak to his +officers, but at this moment another scout appeared, saying that a large +force of cavalry was in the plain. "We think," he added, "that they are +trying to get a sight of our army. For about thirty of them are riding +ahead at a good round pace and they seem to be coming straight for our +little company, perhaps to capture our look-out if they can, for there +are only ten of us there." + +[13] At that Cyrus sent off a detachment from his own bodyguard, +bidding them gallop up to the place, unseen by the enemy, and stay there +motionless. "Wait," he said, "until our own ten must leave the spot and +then dash out on the thirty as they come up the hill. And to prevent any +injury from the larger body, do you, Hystaspas," said he, turning to the +latter, "ride out with a thousand horse, and let them see you suddenly, +face to face. But remember not to pursue them out of sight, come back as +soon as you have secured our post. And if any of your opponents ride up +with their right hands raised, welcome them as friends." + +[14] Accordingly Hystaspas went off and got under arms, while the +bodyguard galloped to the spot. But before they reached the scouts, some +one met them with his squires, the man who had been sent out as a spy, +the guardian of the lady from Susa, Araspas himself. [15] When the news +reached Cyrus, he sprang up from his seat, went to meet him himself, +and clasped his hand, but the others, who of course knew nothing, were +utterly dumbfounded, until Cyrus said: + +"Gentlemen, the best of our friends has come back to us. It is high +time that all men should know what he has done. It was not through any +baseness, or any weakness, or any fear of me, that he left us; it was +because I sent him to be my messenger, to learn the enemy's doings and +bring us word. [16] Araspas, I have not forgotten what I promised you, +I will repay you, we will all repay you. For, gentlemen, it is only +just that all of you should pay him honour. Good and true I call him who +risked himself for our good, and took upon himself a reproach that was +heavy to bear." + +[17] At that all crowded round Araspas and took him by the hand and made +him welcome. Then Cyrus spoke again: + +"Enough, my friends, Araspas has news for us, and it is time to hear it. +Tell us your tale, Araspas, keep back nothing of the truth, and do not +make out the power of the enemy less than it really is. It is far better +that we should find it smaller than we looked for rather than strong +beyond our expectations." [18] "Well," began Araspas, "in order to +learn their numbers, I managed to be present at the marshalling of their +troops." "Then you can tell us," said Cyrus, "not only their numbers but +their disposition in the field." "That I can," answered Araspas, "and +also how they propose to fight." "Good," said Cyrus, "but first let us +hear their numbers in brief." [19] "Well," he answered, "they are drawn +up thirty deep, infantry and cavalry alike, all except the Egyptians, +and they cover about five miles; for I was at great pains," he added, +"to find out how much ground they occupied." + +[20] "And the Egyptians?" Cyrus said, "how are they drawn up? I noticed +you said, 'all except the Egyptians.'" + +"The Egyptians," he answered, "are drawn up in companies of ten +thousand, under their own officers, a hundred deep, and a hundred +broad: that, they insisted, was their usual formation at home. Croesus, +however, was very loth to let them have their own way in this: he wished +to outflank you as much as possible." "Why?" Cyrus asked, "what was his +object?" "To encircle you, I imagine, with his wings." "He had better +take care," said Cyrus, "or his circle may find itself in the centre. +[21] But now you have told us what we most needed to know, and you, +gentlemen," said he to the officers, "on leaving this meeting, you will +look to your weapons and your harness. It often happens that the lack +of some little thing makes man or horse or chariot useless. To-morrow +morning early, while I am offering sacrifice, do you take your breakfast +and give your steeds their provender, so that when the moment comes to +strike you may not be found wanting. And then you, Araspas, must hold +the right wing in the position it has now, and the rest of you who +command a thousand men must do the same with your divisions: it is no +time to be changing horses when the race is being run; and you will send +word to the brigadiers and captains under you to draw up the phalanx +with each company two deep." (Now a company consisted of four-and-twenty +men.) + +[22] Then one of the officers, a captain of ten thousand, said: + +"Do you think, Cyrus, that with so shallow a depth we can stand against +their tremendous phalanx?" + +"But do you suppose," rejoined he, "that any phalanx so deep that the +rear-ranks cannot close with the enemy could do much either for friend +or foe? [23] I myself," he added, "would rather this heavy infantry of +theirs were drawn up, not a hundred, but ten thousand deep: we should +have all the fewer to fight. Whereas with the depth that I propose, I +believe we shall not waste a man: every part of our army will work with +every other. [24] I will post the javelin-men behind the cuirassiers, +and the archers behind them: it would be absurd to place in the van +troops who admit that they are not made for hand-to-hand fighting; +but with the cuirassiers thrown in front of them they will stand firm +enough, and harass the enemy over the heads of our own men with their +arrows and their darts. And every stroke that falls on the enemy means +so much relief to our friends. [25] In the very rear of all I will post +our reserve. A house is useless without a foundation as well as a roof, +and our phalanx will be no use unless it has a rear-guard and a van, and +both of them good. [26] You," he added, "will draw up the ranks to suit +these orders, and you who command the targeteers will follow with your +companies in the same depth, and you who command the archers will follow +the targeteers. [27] Gentlemen of the reserve, you will hold your men in +the rear, and pass the word down to your own subordinates to watch the +men in front, cheer on those who do their duty, threaten him who plays +the coward, and if any man show signs of treachery, see that he dies the +death. It is for those in the van to hearten those behind them by word +and deed; it is for you, the reserve, to make the cowards dread you more +than the foe. [28] You know your work, and you will do it. Euphratus," +he added, turning to the officer in command of the artillery, "see that +the waggons with the towers keep as close to the phalanx as possible. +[29] And you, Daouchus, bring up the whole of your baggage-train under +cover of the towers and make your squires punish severely any man who +breaks the line. [30] You, Carouchas, keep the women's carriages close +behind the baggage-train. This long line of followers should give +an impression of vast numbers, allow our own men opportunity for +ambuscades, and force the enemy, if he try to surround us, to widen his +circuit, and the wider he makes it the weaker he will be. [31] That, +then, is your business; and you, gentlemen, Artaozus and Artagersas, +each of you take your thousand foot and guard the baggage. [32] And you, +Pharnouchus and Asiadatas, neither of you must lead your thousand horse +into the fighting-line, you must get them under arms by themselves +behind the carriages: and then come to me with the other officers as +fully-equipt as if you were to be the first to fight. [53] You, sir, who +command the camel-corps will take up your post behind the carriages +and look for further orders to Artagersas. [34] Officers of the +war-chariots, you will draw lots among yourselves, and he on whom the +lot falls will bring his hundred chariots in front of the fighting-line, +while the other two centuries will support our flanks on the right and +left." + +[35] Such were the dispositions made by Cyrus; but Abradatas, the lord +of Susa, cried: + +"Cyrus, let me, I pray you, volunteer for the post in front." + +[36] And Cyrus, struck with admiration for the man, took him by the +hand, and turning to the Persians in command of the other centuries +said: + +"Perhaps, gentlemen, you will allow this?" + +But they answered that it was hard to resign the post of honour, and so +they all drew lots, and the lot fell on Abradatas, and his post was +face to face with the Egyptians. Then the officers left the council and +carried out the orders given, and took their evening meal and posted the +pickets and went to rest. + +[C.4] But early on the morrow Cyrus offered sacrifice, and meanwhile the +rest of the army took their breakfast, and after the libation they armed +themselves, a great and goodly company in bright tunics and splendid +breastplates and shining helmets. All the horses had frontlets and +chest-plates, the chargers had armour on their shoulders, and the +chariot-horses on their flanks; so that the whole army flashed with +bronze, and shone like a flower with scarlet. [2] The eight-horse +chariot of Abradatas was a marvel of beauty and richness; and just as he +was about to put on the linen corslet of his native land, Pantheia came, +bringing him a golden breastplate and a helmet of gold, and armlets and +broad bracelets for his wrists, and a full flowing purple tunic, and +a hyacinth-coloured helmet-plume. All these she had made for him in +secret, taking the measure of his armour without his knowledge. [3] And +when he saw them, he gazed in wonder and said: + +"Dear wife, and did you destroy your own jewels to make this armour for +me?" + +But she said, "No, my lord, at least not the richest of them all, for +you shall be my loveliest jewel, when others see you as I see you now." + +As she spoke, she put the armour on him, but then, though she tried to +hide it, the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +[4] And truly, when Abradatas was arrayed in the new panoply, he, who +had been fair enough to look upon before, was now a sight of splendour, +noble and beautiful and free, as indeed his nature was. [5] He took the +reins from the charioteer, and was about to set foot on the car, when +Pantheia bade the bystanders withdraw, and said to him, "My own lord, +little need to tell you what you know already, yet this I say, if any +woman loved her husband more than her own soul, I am of her company. Why +should I try to speak? Our lives say more than any words of mine. [6] +And yet, feeling for you what you know, I swear to you by the love +between us that I would rather go down to the grave beside you after a +hero's death than live on with you in shame. I have thought you worthy +of the highest, and believed myself worthy to follow you. [7] And I +bear in mind the great gratitude we owe to Cyrus, who, when I was his +captive, chosen for his spoil, was too high-minded to treat me as a +slave, or dishonour me as a free woman; he took me and saved me for +you, as though I had been his brother's wife. [8] And when Araspas, my +warder, turned from him, I promised, if he would let me send for you, +I would bring him a friend in the other's place, far nobler and more +faithful." + +[9] And as Pantheia spoke, Abradatas listened with rapture to her words, +and when she ended, he laid his hand upon her head, and looking up to +heaven he prayed aloud: + +"O most mighty Zeus, make me worthy to be Pantheia's husband, and the +friend of Cyrus who showed us honour!" + +[10] Then he opened the driver's seat and mounted the car, and the +driver shut the door, and Pantheia could not take him in her arms again, +so she bent and kissed the chariot-box. Then the car rolled forward and +she followed unseen till Abradatas turned and saw her and cried, "Be +strong, Pantheia, be of a good heart! Farewell, and hie thee home!" + +[11] Thereupon her chamberlains and her maidens took her and brought her +back to her own carriage, and laid her down and drew the awning. But +no man, of all who was there that day, splendid as Abradatas was in his +chariot, had eyes to look on him until Pantheia had gone. + +[12] Meanwhile Cyrus had found the victims favourable, and his army was +already drawn up in the order he had fixed. He had scouts posted ahead, +one behind the other, and then he called his officers together for his +final words: + +[13] "Gentlemen, my friends and allies, the sacred signs from heaven are +as they were the day the gods gave us victory before, and I would call +to your minds thoughts to bring you gladness and confidence for the +fight. [14] You are far better trained than your enemies, you have +lived together and worked together far longer than they, you have won +victories together. What they have shared with one another has been +defeat, and those who have not fought as yet feel they have traitors to +right and left of them, while our recruits know that they enter battle +in company with men who help their allies. [15] Those who trust each +other will stand firm and fight without flinching, but when confidence +has gone no man thinks of anything but flight. [16] Forward then, +gentlemen, against the foe; drive our scythed chariots against their +defenceless cars, let our armed cavalry charge their unprotected horse, +and charge them home. [17] The mass of their infantry you have met +before; and as for the Egyptians, they are armed in much the same way as +they are marshalled; they carry shields too big to let them stir or see, +they are drawn up a hundred deep, which will prevent all but the merest +handful fighting. [18] If they count on forcing us back by their weigh, +they must first withstand our steel and the charge of our cavalry. And +if any of them do hold firm, how can they fight at once against cavalry, +infantry, and turrets of artillery? For our men on the towers will be +there to help us, they will smite the enemy until he flies instead of +fighting. [19] If you think there is anything wanting, tell me now; God +helping us, we will lack nothing. And if any man wishes to say anything, +let him speak now; if not, go to the altar and there pray to the gods to +whom we have sacrificed, and then fall in. [20] Let each man say to his +own men what I have said to him, let him show the men he rules that he +is fit to rule, let them see the fearlessness in his face, his bearing, +and his words." + + + NOTES + +C1.9. Artabazus "the kinsman" named now for the first time, why? + +C1.11. Cf. Anglicè "his word": a delicate appeal to a man of honour. It +suits G.'s character. + +C1.14-15. Speech full of metaphor: winter stalking on, with hunter and +frost attendant on either side; a stealthy, but august advance. + +C1.16. A happy simile: _vide_ Book of Wisdom [c. 5, 10, "And as a ship +that passeth over the waves of the water," etc.]. + +C1.38. How a fault may be turned to account: Hellenic stool of +repentance. + +C1.41. Theory of two souls, to account for the yielding to base desires. +It works, but is it not the theory of a man whose will is weak, as we +say, or whose sympathetic nature has been developed at the expense +of his self-regulative? There is another way of putting it in +_Memorabilia_, Bk. I. c. ii., §§ 19-28. Xenophon is not more a +philosopher than a "philanthropist." He is full of compassion for human +weaknesses. + +C1.44. Exit Araspas, to be baptised under this cloud of ignominy into +the sunshine of recognised joyous serviceableness. + +C1.45. We grow fonder than ever of Pantheia. + +C1.50. Irony: the chariots that are to cost Abradatas his life +hereafter. Is this tale "historic" at all? I mean, did Xenophon find +or hear any such story current? What is the relation, if any, to it of +Xenophon Ephesius, Antheia, and Abrocomas? [_Xenophon Ephesius_, a late +writer of romances.] Had that writer any echo of the names in his head? +What language are "Pantheia" and "Abradatas"? + +C1.52. All very well, but the author hasn't told us anything about the +construction of these {mekhanai}, these battering engines, before, to +prepare us for this. Is that a slip, or how explainable? I think he +is betrayed into the description by reason of his interest in such +strategic matters. The expression is intelligible enough to any one +who knows about engines, just as we might speak of the butt or the +stanchion, or whatever it be. + +C2.1-3. The Medians bring back the bread that was cast upon the waters. +Cyrus turns this gain to new account. He sacrifices the present natural +gain, i.e. the wealth, to the harder spiritual gain, viz., their +positive as opposed to their merely negative alliance. Cyrus _is_ the +archic man. + +C2.4. I have a sort of idea, or feeling that here the writer takes up +his pen afresh after a certain interval. C4-6 are a reduplication, not +unnatural indeed, but _pro tanto_ tautological. + +C2.7. Semi-historical basis. Prototype, when Agesilaus meditated the +advance on Persia, just before his recall. [See _Hellenica_, III. iv., +Works II. p. 29.] + +C2.13 foll. The archic man can by a word of his mouth still the flutter +and incipient heave of terror-stricken hearts. + +C2.15-18. A review of the improvements amounting to a complete +revolution in arms and attack effected by Cyrus. This is imagined as an +ideal accompaniment to the archic man and conqueror. Xenophon nowadays +on the relative advantages of the bayonet and the sword, cavalry and +infantry, etc., would have been very interesting. Cf. a writer like +Forbes. + +[C2.19. "Syrians." The word is used loosely, including the Assyrians +and their kindred. See below C.22. "Syria" = Assyria and the adjacent +country.] + +C2.21, fin. Xenophon has more than once witnessed this clouding of the +brow, the scowl or sulk of the less stalwart moral-fibred men (notably +in _Hellenica_). + +C2.26 ff. How to give up wine: the art in it. Now listen, all you +blue-ribbonists! Xenophon, Hygienist. + +C2.37. One would like to know how the price was regulated. Does any +learned German know? Note the orderliness and economy of it all. Is it, +as far as the army goes, novel in any respect, do you suppose, or only +idealised Hellenic? Spartan? + +C3.14. A slight (intentional?) aposiopesis. Did H. have to drive back +the great cavalry division of the enemy? + +C3.17. How quickly the archic man passes on! Cf. J. P. + +C3.19. Notice the part given to the Egyptians to play. Why? (Agesilaus +died on his last campaign in Egypt.) + +C3.25. Is it dramatic to make Cyrus speak in this way as if he were +lecturing a class on strategics? + +C3.30. The advantage even of sutlers and women. This +several-times-repeated remark surprises me. But no doubt the arrangement +would give the enemy pause, and waste his time in out-flanking +movements: violà tout, hgd. At Cunaxa, however, the Persian did get +behind the Greek camp. No prototype there, then. [Xenophon, _Anabasis_, +Bk. I. c. 10.] + +C4.2. We are more and more enamoured of Pantheia. + +C4.7. As delicate as any modern in the respect for wedded womanhood. + +C4.13 ff. Notice how in this stirring and inspiriting speech Cyrus by +dealing with the Egyptians (the only unknown quantity) strikes a new +note and sets up a new motive, as it were, preparing us for the tragic +struggle which is to come, which will cost Abradatas and other good +men dear, not to speak of the brave Egyptians themselves (cf. Sudanese +Arabs). Also note Xenophon's enthusiasm in reference to the new arming +and the odds of encounter between cavalry and infantry (cf. Napier, +Forbes, etc.). + + + + +BOOK VII + +[C.1] So they prayed to the gods and went to their place, and the +squires brought food and drink to Cyrus and his staff as they stood +round the sacrifice. And he took his breakfast where he stood, after +making the due offering, sharing what he had with all who needed it, and +he poured out the libation and prayed, and then drank, and his men with +him. + +Then he supplicated Zeus, the god of his fathers, to be his leader and +helper in the fight, and so he mounted his horse and bade those about +him follow. [2] All his squires were equipped as he was, with scarlet +tunics, breastplates of bronze, and brazen helmets plumed with white, +short swords, and a lance of cornel-wood apiece. Their horses had +frontlets, chest-plates, and armour for their shoulders, all of bronze, +and the shoulder-pieces served as leg-guards for the riders. In one +thing only the arms of Cyrus differed from the rest: theirs was covered +with a golden varnish and his flashed like a mirror. [3] As he sat on +his steed, gazing into the distance, where he meant to go, a peal of +thunder rang out on the right, and he cried, "We will follow thee, O +Zeus most high!" + +So he set forth with Chrysantas on his right at the head of cavalry and +Arsamas on his left with infantry. [4] And the word went down the lines, +"Eyes on the standard and steady marching." + +The standard was a golden eagle, with outspread wings, borne aloft on +a long spear-shaft, and to this day such is the standard of the Persian +king. + +Before they came in full sight of the Assyrians Cyrus halted the army +thrice. [5] And when they had gone about two miles or more, they began +to see the enemy advancing. As soon as both armies were in full view +of each other, and the Assyrians could see how much they outflanked +the Persians on either side, Croesus halted, in order to prepare an +encircling movement, and pushed out a column on the right wing and the +left, so that the Persian forces might be attacked on every side at +once. + +[6] Cyrus saw it, but gave no sign of stopping; he led straight on as +before. Meanwhile he noticed that the turning-point where the Assyrians +had pushed out on either flank was an immense distance from their +centre, and he said to Chrysantas: + +"Do you see where they have fixed their angle?" "Yes, I do," answered +Chrysantas, "and I am surprised at it: it seems to me they are drawing +their wings too far away from their centre." "Just so," said Cyrus, +"and from ours too." [7] "Why are they doing that?" asked the other. +"Clearly," said Cyrus, "they are afraid we shall attack, if their wings +are in touch with us while their centre is still some way off." +"But," went on Chrysantas, "how can they support each other at such a +distance?" "Doubtless," said Cyrus, "as soon as their wings are opposite +our flanks, they will wheel round, and then advance at once on every +side and so set us fighting everywhere at once." [8] "Well," said +Chrysantas, "do you think the movement wise?" "Yes," said Cyrus, "it +is good enough in view of what they can see, but, in view of what they +cannot, it is worse for them than if they had advanced in a single +column. Do you," he said, turning to Arsamas, "advance with your +infantry, slowly, taking your pace from me, and do you, Chrysantas, +march beside him with your cavalry, step for step. I will make for their +angle myself, where I propose to join battle, first riding round the +army to see how things are with all our men. [9] When I reach the point, +and we are on the verge of action, I will raise the paean and then +you must quicken your pace. You will know when we have closed with the +enemy, the din will be loud enough. At the same moment Abradatas will +dash out upon them: such will be his orders; your duty is to follow, +keeping as close to the chariots as possible. Thus we shall fall on the +enemy at the height of his confusion. And, God helping me, I shall be +with you also, cutting my way through the rout by the quickest road I +can. + +[10] So he spoke, and sent the watchword down the lines, "Zeus our +saviour, and Zeus our leader," and went forward. As he passed between +the chariots and the cuirassiers, he would say to some, "My men, the +look on your faces rejoices my heart," and to others, "You understand, +gentlemen, that this battle is not for the victory of a day, but for all +that we have won ere now, and for all our happiness to come." [11] And +to others, "My friends, we can never reproach the gods again: to-day +they have put all blessings in our hands. [12] Let us show ourselves +good men and true." Or else, "Gentlemen, can we invite each other to a +more glorious feast than this? This day all gallant hearts are bidden; +this day they may feast their friends." [13] Or again, "You know, I +think, the prizes in this game: the victors pursue and smite and slay, +and win wealth and fame and freedom and empire: the cowards lose them +all. He who loves his own soul let him fight beside me: for I will have +no disgrace." [14] But if he met soldiers who had fought for him before, +he only said, "To you, gentlemen, what need I say? You know the brave +man's part in battle, and the craven's." [15] And when he came to +Abradatas, he halted, and Abradatas gave the reins to his charioteer +and came up to him, and others gathered round from the infantry and the +chariots, and Cyrus said: + +"God has rewarded you, Abradatas, according to your prayer, you and +yours. You hold the first rank among our friends. And you will not +forget, when the moment for action comes, that those who watch you will +be Persians, and those who follow you, and they will not let you bear +the brunt alone." + +[16] And Abradatas answered: + +"Even so, Cyrus; and with us here, methinks, all looks well enough: but +the state of our flanks troubles me: the enemy's wings are strong and +stretch far: he has chariots there, and every kind of arm as well, while +we have nothing else with which to oppose him. So that for myself," said +he, "if I had not won by lot the post I hold, I should feel ashamed to +be here in the safest place of all." + +[17] "Nay," answered Cyrus, "if it is well with you, have no concern for +the rest. God willing, I mean to relieve our flanks. But you yourself, +I conjure you, do not attack until you see the rout of those detachments +that you fear." + +So much of boasting did Cyrus allow himself on the eve of action, though +he was the last man to boast at other times. + +"When you see them routed," he said, "you may take it that I am there, +and then make your rush, for that is the moment when you will find the +enemy weakest and your own men strongest. [18] And while there is time, +Abradatas, be sure to drive along your front and prepare your men for +the charge, kindle their courage by your looks, lift up their hearts by +your hopes. Breathe a spirit of emulation into them, to make them prove +themselves the flower of the chariot-force. Be assured if things go well +with us all men will say nothing is so profitable as valour." + +[19] Accordingly Abradatas mounted his chariot and drove along the lines +to do as Cyrus bade. + +Meanwhile Cyrus went on to the left where Hystaspas was posted with half +the Persian cavalry, and he called to him and said: + +"Hystaspas, here is work to test your pace! If we are quick enough in +cutting off their heads, none of us will be slaughtered first." + +[20] And Hystaspas answered with a laugh: + +"Leave it to us! We'll see to the men opposite. But set some one to deal +with the fellows on our flank: it would be a pity for them to be idle." + +And Cyrus answered, "I am going to them myself. But remember, Hystaspas, +to which ever of us God grants the victory, so long as a single foeman +is on the field, attack we must, again and again, until the last has +yielded." + +[21] With that he passed on, and as he came to the flank he went up to +the officer in command of the chariots and said to him: + +"Good, I intend to support you myself. And when you hear me fall on +the wing, at that instant do your best to charge straight through your +opponents; you will be far safer once outside their ranks than if you +are caught half-way." + +[22] Then he went on to the rear and the carriages, where the two +detachments were stationed, a thousand horse and a thousand foot, and +told Artagersas and Pharnouchus, their leaders, to keep the men where +they were. + +"But when," he added, "you see me close with the enemy on our right, +then set upon those in front of you: take them in flank, where they are +weakest, while you advance in line, at your full strength. Their lines, +as you see, are closed by cavalry; hurl your camels at these, and you +may be sure, even before the fighting begins, they will cut a comic +figure." + +[23] Thus, with all his dispositions made, Cyrus rode round the head +of his right. By this time Croesus, believing that the centre, where he +himself was marching, must be nearer the enemy than the distant wings, +had the signal raised for them to stop their advance, halt, and wheel +round where they were. When they were in position opposite the Persian +force, he signalled for them to charge, and thus three columns came at +once against Cyrus, one facing his front and one on either flank. [24] +A tremor ran through the whole army; it was completely enclosed, like a +little brick laid within a large, with the forces of the enemy all +round it, on every side except the rear, cavalry and heavy infantry, +targeteers, archers, and chariots. [25] None the less, the instant +Cyrus gave the word they swung round to confront the foe. There was deep +silence through the ranks as they realised what they had to face, and +then Cyrus, when the moment came, began the battle-hymn and it thundered +through the host. [26] And as it died away the war-cry rang out unto the +God of Battles, and Cyrus swooped forward at the head of his cavalry, +straight for the enemy's flank, and closed with them then and there, +while the infantry behind him followed, swift and steady, wave on wave, +sweeping out on either side, far out-flanking their opponents, for they +attacked in line and the foe were in column, to the great gain of Cyrus. +A short struggle, and the ranks broke and fled before him headlong. [27] +Artagersas, seeing that Cyrus had got to work, made his own charge on +the left, hurling his camels forward as Cyrus had advised. Even at a +distance the horses could not face the camels: they seemed to go mad +with fear, and galloped off in terror, rearing and falling foul of one +another: such is the strange effect of camels upon horses. [28] So that +Artagersas, his own troops well in hand, had easy work with the enemy's +bewildered masses. At the same moment the war-chariots dashed in, right +and left, so that many, flying from the chariots, were cut down by the +troopers, and many, flying from these, were caught by the chariots. +[29] And now Abradatas could wait no longer. "Follow me, my friends," +he shouted, and drove straight at the enemy, lashing his good steeds +forward till their flanks were bloody with the goad, the other +charioteers racing hard behind him. The enemy's chariots fled before +them instantly, some not even waiting to take up their fighting-men. +[30] But Abradatas drove on through them, straight into the main body of +the Egyptians, his rush shared by his comrades on either hand. And then, +what has often been shown elsewhere was shown here, namely, that of +all strong formations the strongest is a band of friends. His +brothers-in-arms and his mess-mates charged with him, but the others, +when they saw that the solid ranks of the Egyptians stood firm, swung +round and pursued the flying chariots. [31] Meanwhile Abradatas and his +companions could make no further way: there was not a gap through the +Egyptian lines on either hand, and they could but charge the single +soldiers where they stood, overthrow them by the sheer weight of horse +and car, and crush them and their arms beneath the hoofs and wheels. And +where the scythes caught them, men and weapons were cut to shreds. [32] +In the midst of indescribable confusion, the chariots rocking among the +weltering mounds, Abradatas was thrown out and some of his comrades with +him. There they stood, and fought like men, and there they were cut +down and died. The Persians, pouring in after them, dealt slaughter +and destruction where Abradatas and his men had charged and shaken the +ranks, but elsewhere the Egyptians, who were still unscathed, and they +were many, moved steadily on to meet them. + +[33] There followed a desperate struggle with lance and spear and sword, +and still the Egyptians had the advantage, because of their numbers and +their weapons. Their spears were immensely stout and long, such as they +carry to this day, and the huge shield not only gave more protection +than corslet and buckler, but aided the thrust of the fighter, slung as +it was from the shoulder. + +[34] Shield locked into shield, they thrust their way forward; and the +Persians could not drive them back, with their light bucklers borne on +the forearm only. Step by step they gave ground, dealing blow for blow, +till they came under cover of their own artillery. Then at last a second +shower of blows fell on the Egyptians, while the reserves would allow no +flight of the archers or the javelin-men: at the sword's point they made +them do their duty. [35] Thick was the slaughter, and loud the din of +clashing weapons and whirring darts, and shouting warriors, cheering +each other and calling on the gods. + +[36] At this moment Cyrus appeared, cutting his way through his own +opponents. To see the Persians thrust from their position was misery +to him, but he knew he could check the enemy's advance most quickly by +galloping round to their rear, and thither he dashed, bidding his troops +follow, and there they fell upon them and smote them as they were gazing +ahead, and there they mowed them down. + +[37] The Egyptians, seeing what had happened, cried out that the enemy +had taken them in the rear, and wheeled round under a storm of blows. At +this the confusion reached its height, cavalry and infantry struggling +all together. An Egyptian fell under Cyrus' horse, and as the hoofs +struck him he stabbed the creature in the belly. The charger reared +at the blow and Cyrus was thrown. [38] Then was seen what it is for +a leader to be loved by his men. With a terrible cry the men dashed +forward, conquering thrust with thrust and blow with blow. One of his +squires leapt down and set Cyrus on his own charger. [39] And as Cyrus +sprang on the horse he saw the Egyptians worsted everywhere. For by now +Hystaspas was on the ground with his cavalry, and Chrysantas also. Still +Cyrus would not allow them to charge the Egyptian phalanx: the archers +and javelin-men were to play on them from outside. Then he made his way +along the lines to the artillery, and there he mounted one of the towers +to take a survey of the field, and see if any of the foe still held +their ground and kept up the fight. [40] But he saw the plain one chaos +of flying horses and men and chariots, pursuers and pursued, conquerors +and conquered, and nowhere any who still stood firm, save only the +Egyptians. These, in sore straits as they were, formed themselves into +a circle behind a ring of steel, and sat down under cover of their +enormous shields. They no longer attempted to act, but they suffered, +and suffered heavily. [41] Cyrus, in admiration and pity, unwilling that +men so brave should be done to death, drew off his soldiers who were +fighting round them, and would not let another man lift sword. + +Then he sent them a herald asking if they wished to be cut to pieces for +the sake of those who had betrayed them, or save their lives and keep +their reputation for gallantry? And they answered, "Is it possible that +we can be saved and yet keep our reputation untarnished?" [42] And Cyrus +said, "Surely yes, for we ourselves have seen that you alone have held +your ground and been ready to fight." "But even so," said the Egyptians, +"how can we act in honour if we save ourselves?" + +"By betraying none of those at whose side you fought," answered Cyrus: +"only surrender your arms to us, and become our friends, the friends of +men who chose to save you when they might have destroyed you." [43] "And +if we become your friends," said they, "how will you treat us?" "As you +treat us," answered he, "and the treatment shall be good." + +"And what will that good treatment be?" they asked once more. "This," +said Cyrus: "better pay than you have had, so long as the war lasts, and +when peace comes, if you choose to stay with me, lands and cities and +women and servants." [44] Then they asked him if he would excuse them +from one duty, service against Croesus. Croesus, they said, was the only +leader who knew them; for the rest, they were content to agree. And so +they came to terms, and took and gave pledges of good faith. [45] Thus +it came about that their descendants are to this day faithful subjects +of the king, and Cyrus gave them cities, some in the interior, which are +still called the cities of the Egyptians, beside Larissa and Kyllene and +Kyme on the coast, still held by their descendants. + +When this matter was arranged darkness had already fallen, and Cyrus +drew off his army and encamped at Thymbrara. + +[46] In this engagement the Egyptians alone among the enemy won +themselves renown, and of the troops under Cyrus the Persian cavalry was +held to have done the best, so much so that to this day they are still +armed in the manner that Cyrus devised. [47] High praise also was given +to the scythe-bearing chariots, and this engine of war is still employed +by the reigning king. [48] As for the camels, all they did was to scare +the horses; their riders could take no part in the slaughter, and were +never touched themselves by the enemy's cavalry. For not a horse would +come near the camels. [49] It was a useful arm, certainly, but no +gallant gentleman would dream of breeding camels for his own use or +learning to fight on camel-back. And so they returned to their old +position among the baggage-train. + +[C.2] Then Cyrus and his men took their evening meal and posted their +pickets and went to rest. But Croesus and his army fled in haste to +Sardis, and the other tribes hurried away homewards under cover of +night as fast and as far as they could. [2] When day broke Cyrus marched +straight for Sardis, and when he came before the citadel he set up +his engines as though for the assault and got out his ladders. But the +following night he sent a scaling party of Persians and Chaldaeans to +climb the fortifications at the steepest point. The guide was a Persian +who had served as a slave to one of the garrison in the citadel, and who +knew a way down to the river by which one could get up. [4] As soon as +it became clear that the heights had been taken, all the Lydians without +exception fled from the walls and hid wherever they could. At daybreak +Cyrus entered the city and gave orders that not a man was to leave the +ranks. [5] Croesus, who had shut himself up inside his palace, cried +out on Cyrus, and Cyrus left a guard round the building while he himself +went to inspect the captured citadel. Here he found the Persians keeping +guard in perfect order, but the Chaldaean quarters were deserted, for +the men had rushed down to pillage the town. Immediately he summoned +their officers, and bade them leave his army at once. [6] "I could never +endure," he said, "to have undisciplined fellows seizing the best of +everything. You know well enough," he added, "all that was in store for +you. I meant to make all who served with me the envy of their fellows; +but now," he said, "you cannot be surprised if you encounter some one +stronger than yourselves on your way home." + +[7] Fear fell on the Chaldaeans at this, and they intreated him to lay +aside his anger and vowed they would give back all the booty they had +taken. He answered that he had no need of it himself. "But if," he +added, "you wish to appease me, you will hand it over to those who +stayed and guarded the citadel. For if my soldiers see that discipline +means reward, all will be well with us." + +[8] So the Chaldaeans did as he bade them, and the faithful and obedient +received all manner of good things. + +Then Cyrus made his troops encamp in the most convenient quarter of +the town, and told them to stay at their posts and take their breakfast +there. [9] That done, he gave orders that Croesus should be brought to +him, and when he came into his presence, Croesus cried: + +"Hail, Cyrus, my lord and master! Fate has given you that title from now +henceforward, and thus must I salute you." + +[20] "All hail to you likewise," answered Cyrus: "we are both of us men. +And tell me now," he continued, "would you be more willing to advise me +as a friend?" "I should be more than glad," said Croesus, "to do you +any good. It would mean good for myself, I know." [11] "Listen, then," +answered Cyrus: "I see that my soldiers have endured much toil and +encountered many dangers, and now they are persuaded that they have +taken the wealthiest city in all Asia, after Babylon. I would not have +them cheated of their recompense, seeing that if they win nothing by +their labour, I know not how I can keep them obedient to me for long. +Yet I am unwilling to give them this city over to plunder. I believe +it would be utterly destroyed, and moreover I know full well that in +plunder the worst villains win the most." + +[12] To this Croesus answered, "Suffer me then to tell what Lydians I +please that I have won your promise that the city shall not be sacked, +nor their women and children made away with. [13] I promise you in +return that my men will bring you willingly everything that is costly +and beautiful in Sardis. If I can announce such terms, I am certain +there is not one treasure belonging to man or woman that will not be +yours to-morrow. Further, on this day year, the city will overflow once +more with wealth and beauty. But if you sack it, you will destroy +the crafts in its ruin, and they, we know, are the well-spring of all +loveliness. [14] Howbeit, you need not decide at once, wait and see what +is brought to you. Send first," he added, "to my own treasuries, and let +your guards take some of my own men with them." + +To all this Cyrus consented, and then he said: + +[15] "And now, O Croesus, tell me one thing more. How did matters go +between you and the oracle at Delphi? It is said that you did much +reverence to Apollo and obeyed him in all things." + +[16] "I could wish it had been so," said Croesus, "but, truth to say, +from the beginning I have acted in all things against him." "How can +that be?" said Cyrus. "Explain it to me: for your words seem strange +indeed." [17] "Because," he answered, "in the first place, instead of +asking the god for all I wanted I must needs put him to the test, to see +if he could speak the truth. This," he added, "no man of honour could +endure, let be the godhead. Those who are doubted cannot love their +doubters. [18] And yet he stood the test; for though the things I did +were strange, and I was many leagues from Delphi, he knew them all. And +so I resolved to consult him about my children. [19] At first he would +not so much as answer me, but I sent him many an offering, some of gold +and some of silver, and I propitiated him, as I deemed, by countless +sacrifices, and at last he answered me when I asked him what I must do +that sons might be born to me. He said they should be born. [20] And so +they were; in that he uttered no lie, but they brought me no joy. One +of them was dumb his whole life long, and the noblest perished in the +flower of his youth. And I, crushed by these sorrows, sent again to the +god and asked him how I could live in happiness for the rest of my days, +and he answered: + + "'Know thyself, O Croesus, and happiness shall be thine.' + +"And when I heard the oracle, I was comforted. [21] I said to myself, +the god has laid the lightest of tasks upon me, and promised me +happiness in return. Some of his neighbours a man may know and others +not: but every one can know himself. [22] So I thought, and in truth so +long as I was at peace I had no fault to find with my lot after my +son's death; but when the Assyrian persuaded me to march against you +I encountered every danger. Yet I was saved, I came to no harm. Once +again, therefore, I have no charge to bring against the god: when I +_knew myself_ incapable of warring against you, he came to my help +and saved mine and me. [23] But afterwards, intoxicated by my wealth, +cajoled by those who begged me to be their leader, tempted by the gifts +they showered on me, flattered by all who said that if I would but lead +them they would obey me to a man, and that I would be the greatest ruler +in all the world, and that all their kings had met together and chosen +me for their champion in the war, I undertook the generalship as though +I were born to be the monarch of the world, for I did not _know myself_. +[24] I thought myself able to fight against you, you who are sprung from +the seed of the gods, born of a royal line, trained in valour and virtue +from your youth, while I--I believe that the first of my ancestors to +reign won his freedom and his crown on the self-same day. For this dull +ignorance of mine I see I am justly punished. [25] But now at last, O +Cyrus," he cried, "now I _know myself_. And tell me, do you think the +god will still speak truth? Do you think that, knowing myself, I can be +happy now? I ask you, because you of all men have it in your power to +answer best. Happiness is yours to give." + +[26] Cyrus answered, "Give me time to deliberate, Croesus. I bear in +mind your former happiness and I pity you. I give you back at once your +wife and your daughters (for they tell me you have daughters), and your +friends and your attendants; they are yours once more. And yours it is +to sit at your own table as you used to live. But battles and wars I +must put out of your power." + +[27] "Now by the gods above us," cried Croesus, "you need take no +further thought about your answer: if you will do for me what you say, +I shall live the life that all men called the happiest of lives, and I +knew that they were right." [28] "And who," said Cyrus, "who was it that +lived that life of happiness?" "My own wife," said Croesus; "she shared +all my good things with me, my luxuries, my softest joys; but in the +cares on which those joys were based, in war and battle and strife, she +had no part or lot. Methinks, you will provide for me as I provided for +her whom I loved beyond all others in the world, and I must needs send +to Apollo again, and send thank-offerings." + +[29] And as Cyrus listened he marvelled at the man's contentedness of +soul, and for the future wherever he went he took Croesus with him, +either because he thought he might be useful or perhaps because he felt +it was safer so. + +[C.3] So for that night they rested. But the next day Cyrus called his +friends and generals together and told some to make an inventory of +their treasures and others to receive all the wealth that Croesus +brought in. First they were to set aside for the gods all that the +Persian priests thought fit, and then store the rest in coffers, weight +them, and pack them on waggons, distributing the waggons by lot to take +with them on the march, so that they could receive their proper share at +any convenient time. [2] So they set about the work. + +Then Cyrus called some of his squires and said: + +"Tell me, have any of you seen Abradatas? I wonder that he who used to +come to me so often is nowhere to be found." + +[3] Then one of the squires made answer, "My lord, he is dead: he fell +in the battle, charging straight into the Egyptian ranks: the rest, all +but his own companions, swerved before their close array. [4] And now," +he added, "we hear that his wife has found his body and laid it in her +own car, and has brought it here to the banks of the Pactolus. [5] Her +chamberlains and her attendants are digging a grave for the dead man +upon a hill, and she, they say, has put her fairest raiment on him +and her jewels, and she is seated on the ground with his head upon her +knees." + +[6] Then Cyrus smote his hand upon his thigh and leapt up and sprang to +horse, galloping to the place of sorrow, with a thousand troopers at his +back. [7] He bade Gadatas and Gobryas take what jewels they could find +to honour the dear friend and brave warrior who had fallen, and follow +with all speed: and he bade the keepers of the herds, the cattle, and +the horses drive up their flocks wherever they heard he was, that he +might sacrifice on the grave. + +[8] But when he saw Pantheia seated on the ground and the dead man lying +there, the tears ran down his cheeks and he cried: + +"O noble and loyal spirit, have you gone from us?" + +Then he took the dead man by the hand, but the hand came away with his +own: it had been hacked by an Egyptian blade. [9] And when he saw that, +his sorrow grew, and Pantheia sobbed aloud and took the hand from Cyrus +and kissed it and laid it in its place, as best she could, and said: + +[10] "It is all like that, Cyrus. But why should you see it?" And +presently she said, "All this, I know, he suffered for my sake, and for +yours too, Cyrus, perhaps as much. I was a fool: I urged him so to bear +himself as became a faithful friend of yours, and he, I know, he never +thought once of his own safety, but only of what he might do to show his +gratitude. Now he has fallen, without a stain upon his valour: and I, +who urged him, I live on to sit beside his grave." + +[11] And Cyrus wept silently for a while, and then he said: + +"Lady, his end was the noblest and the fairest that could be: he died +in the hour of victory. Take these gifts that I have brought and adorn +him." + +For now Gobryas and Gadatas appeared with store of jewels and rich +apparel. "He shall not lack for honour," Cyrus said; "many hands will +raise his monument: it shall be a royal one; and we will offer such +sacrifice as befits a hero. [12] And you, lady," he added, "you shall +not be left desolate. I reverence your chastity and your nobleness, and +I will give you a guardian to lead you withersoever you choose, if you +will but tell me to whom you wish to go." + +[13] And Pantheia answered: + +"Be at rest, Cyrus, I will not hide from you to whom I long to go." + +[14] Therewith Cyrus took his leave of her and went, pitying from his +heart the woman who had lost so brave a husband, and the dead man in his +grave, taken from so sweet a wife, never to see her more. Then Pantheia +bade her chamberlains stand aside "until," she said, "I have wept over +him as I would." But she made her nurse stay with her and she said: + +"Nurse, when I am dead, cover us with the same cloak." And the nurse +entreated and besought her, but she could not move her, and when she +saw that she did but vex her mistress, she sat down and wept in silence. +Then Pantheia took the scimitar, that had been ready for her so long, +and drew it across her throat, and dropped her head upon her husband's +breast and died. And the nurse cried bitterly, but she covered the two +with one cloak as her mistress had bidden her. + +[15] And when Cyrus heard what Pantheia had done he rushed out in horror +to see if he could save her. And when the three chamberlains saw what +had happened they drew their own scimitars and killed themselves, there +where she had bidden them stand. [16, 17] And when Cyrus came to that +place of sorrow, he looked with wonder and reverence on the woman, and +wept for her and went his way and saw that all due honour was paid to +those who lay there dead, and a mighty sepulchre was raised above them, +mightier, men say, than had been seen in all the world before. + +[C.4] After this the Carians, who were always at war and strife with one +another, because their dwellings were fortified, sent to Cyrus and +asked for aid. Cyrus himself was unwilling to leave Sardis, where he +was having engines of artillery made and battering-rams to overthrow +the walls of those who would not listen to him. But he sent Adousius, a +Persian, in his place, a man of sound judgment and a stout soldier +and withal a person of winning presence. He gave him an army; and the +Cilicians and Cypriotes were very ready to serve under him. [2] That +was why Cyrus never sent a Persian satrap to govern either Cilicia or +Cyprus; he was always satisfied with the native kings; only he exacted +tribute and levied troops whenever he needed them. + +[3] So Adousius took his army and marched into Caria, where he was met +by the men of both parties, ready to receive him inside their walls to +the detriment of their opponents. Adousius treated each in exactly the +same way, he told whichever side was pleading that he thought their case +was just, but it was essential that the others should not realise he +was their friend, "for thus, you perceive, I will take them unprepared +whenever I attack." + +He insisted they should give him pledges of good faith, and the Carians +had to swear they would receive him without fraud or guile within their +walls and for the welfare of Cyrus and the Persians; and on his side he +was willing to swear that he would enter without fraud or guile himself +and for the welfare of those who received him. [4] Having imposed these +terms on either party without the knowledge of the other, he fixed on +the same night with both, entered the walls, and had the strongholds +of both parties in his hands. At break of day he took his place in the +midst with his army, and sent for the leading men on either side. Thus +confronted with each other they were more than a little vexed, and both +imagined they had been cheated. [5] However, Adousius began: + +"Gentlemen, I took an oath to you that I would enter your walls without +fraud or guile and for the welfare of those who received me. Now if I am +forced to destroy either of you, I am persuaded I shall have entered to +the detriment of the Carians. But if I give you peace, so that you can +till your lands in safety, I imagine I shall have come for your welfare. +Therefore from this day forwards you must meet on friendly terms, +cultivate your fields without fear, give your children to each other, +and if any one offends against these laws, Cyrus and ourselves will be +his enemies." + +[6] At that the city gates were flung wide open, the roads were filled +with folk hurrying to one another, the fields were thronged with +labourers. They held high festival together, and the land was full of +peace and joyfulness. + +[7] Meanwhile messengers came from Cyrus inquiring whether there was +need for more troops or siege-engines, but Adousius answered, on the +contrary his present force was at Cyrus' service to employ elsewhere +if he wished, and so drew off his army, only leaving a garrison in the +citadels. Thereupon the Carians implored him to remain, and when he +would not, they sent to Cyrus begging him to make Adousius their satrap. + +[8] Meanwhile Cyrus had sent Hystaspas with an army into Phrygia on +the Hellespont, and when Adousius came back he bade him follow, for the +Phrygians would be more willing to obey Hystaspas if they heard that +another army was advancing. + +[9] Now the Hellenes on the seaboard offered many gifts and bargained +not to receive the Asiatics within their walls, but only to pay tribute +and serve wherever Cyrus commanded. [10] But the king of Phrygia made +preparations to hold his fortresses and not yield, and sent out orders +to that effect. However, when his lieutenants deserted him and he found +himself all alone, he had to put himself in the hands of Hystaspas, and +leave his fate to the judgment of Cyrus. Then Hystaspas stationed strong +Persian garrisons in all the citadels, and departed, taking with him not +only his own troops but many mounted men and targeteers from Phrygia. +[11] And Cyrus sent word to Adousius to join Hystaspas, put himself at +the head of those who had submitted and allow them to retain their arms, +while those who showed a disposition to resist were to be deprived of +their horses and their weapons and made to follow the army as slingers. + +[12] While his lieutenants were thus employed, Cyrus set out from +Sardis, leaving a large force of infantry to garrison the place, and +taking Croesus with him, and a long train of waggons laden with riches +of every kind. Croesus presented an accurate inventory of everything in +each waggon, and said, as he delivered the scrolls: + +"With these in your possession, Cyrus, you can tell whether your +officers are handing over their freights in full or not." + +[13] And Cyrus answered: + +"It was kindly done, Croesus, on your part, to take thought for this: +but I have arranged that the freights should be in charge of those who +are entitled to them, so that if the men steal, they steal their own +property." + +With these words he handed the documents to his friends and officers to +serve as checks on their own stewards. + +[14] Cyrus also took Lydians in his train; allowing some to carry arms, +those, namely, who were at pains to keep their weapons in good order, +and their horses and chariots, and who did their best to please him, but +if they gave themselves ungracious airs, he took away their horses and +bestowed them on the Persians who had served him from the beginning of +the campaign, burnt their weapons, and forced them to follow the army +as slingers. [15] Indeed, as a rule, he compelled all the subject +population who had been disarmed to practise the use of the sling: it +was, he considered, a weapon for slaves. No doubt there are occasions +when a body of slingers, working with other detachments, can do +excellent service, but, taken alone, not all the slingers in the world +could face a mere handful armed with steel. + +[16] Cyrus was marching to Babylon, but on his way he subdued the +Phrygians of Greater Phrygia and the Cappadocians, and reduced the +Arabians to subjection. These successes enabled him to increase his +Persian cavalry till it was not far short of forty thousand men, and he +had still horses left over to distribute among his allies at large. + +At length he came before Babylon with an immense body of cavalry, +archers, and javelin-men, beside slingers innumerable. + +[C.5] When Cyrus reached the city he surrounded it entirely with his +forces, and then rode round the walls himself, attended by his friends +and the leading officers of the allies. [2] Having surveyed the +fortifications, he prepared to lead off his troops, and at that moment +a deserter came to inform him that the Assyrians intended to attack as +soon as he began to withdraw, for they had inspected his forces from the +walls and considered them very weak. This was not surprising, for the +circuit of the city was so enormous that it was impossible to surround +it without seriously thinning the lines. [3] When Cyrus heard of their +intention, he took up his post in the centre of his troops with his own +staff round him and sent orders to the infantry for the wings to double +back on either side, marching past the stationary centre of the line, +until they met in the rear exactly opposite himself. [4] Thus the men +in front were immediately encouraged by the doubling of their depth, +and those who retired were equally cheered, for they saw that the others +would encounter the enemy first. The two wings being united, the power +of the whole force was strengthened, those behind being protected by +those in front and those in front supported by those behind. [5] When +the phalanx was thus folded back on itself, both the front and the rear +ranks were formed of picked men, a disposition that seemed calculated +to encourage valour and check flight. On the flanks, the cavalry and the +light infantry were drawn nearer and nearer to the commander as the line +contracted. [6] When the whole phalanx was in close order, they fell +back from the walls, slowly, facing the foe, until they were out of +range; then they turned, marched a few paces, and then wheeled round +again to the left, and halted, facing the walls, but the further they +got the less often they paused, until, feeling themselves secure, they +quickened their pace and went off in an uninterrupted march until they +reached their quarters. + +[7] When they were encamped, Cyrus called a council of his officers and +said, "My friends and allies, we have surveyed the city on every side, +and for my part I fail to see any possibility of taking by assault walls +so lofty and so strong: on the other hand, the greater the population +the more quickly must they yield to hunger, unless they come out to +fight. If none of you have any other scheme to suggest, I propose that +we reduce them by blockade." + +[8] Then Chrysantas spoke: + +"Does not the river flow through the middle of the city, and it is not +at least a quarter of a mile in width?" + +"To be sure it is," answered Gobryas, "and so deep that the water would +cover two men, one standing on the other's shoulders; in fact the city +is even better protected by its river than by its walls." + +[9] At which Cyrus said, "Well, Chrysantas, we must forego what is +beyond our power: but let us measure off at once the work for each of +us, set to, and dig a trench as wide and as deep as we can, that we may +need as few guards as possible." + +[10] Thereupon Cyrus took his measurements all round the city, and, +leaving a space on either bank of the river large enough for a lofty +tower, he had a gigantic trench dug from end to end of the wall, his +men heaping up the earth on their own side. [11] Then he set to work +to build his towers by the river. The foundations were of palm-trees, a +hundred feet long and more--the palm-tree grows to a greater height than +that, and under pressure it will curve upwards like the spine of an +ass beneath a load. [12] He laid these foundations in order to give the +impression that he meant to besiege the town, and was taking precautions +so that the river, even if it found its way into his trench, should not +carry off his towers. Then he had other towers built along the mound, +so as to have as many guard-posts as possible. [13] Thus his army was +employed, but the men within the walls laughed at his preparations, +knowing they had supplies to last them more than twenty years. When +Cyrus heard that, he divided his army into twelve, each division to keep +guard for one month in the year. [14] At this the Babylonians laughed +louder still, greatly pleased at the idea of being guarded by Phrygians +and Lydians and Arabians and Cappadocians, all of whom, they thought, +would be more friendly to themselves than to the Persians. + +[15] However by this time the trenches were dug. And Cyrus heard that it +was a time of high festival in Babylon when the citizens drink and make +merry the whole night long. As soon as the darkness fell, he set his +men to work. [16] The mouths of the trenches were opened, and during the +night the water poured in, so that the river-bed formed a highway into +the heart of the town. + +[17] When the great stream had taken to its new channel, Cyrus ordered +his Persian officers to bring up their thousands, horse and foot alike, +each detachment drawn up two deep, the allies to follow in their old +order. [18] They lined up immediately, and Cyrus made his own bodyguard +descend into the dry channel first, to see if the bottom was firm enough +for marching. [19] When they said it was, he called a council of all his +generals and spoke as follows: + +[20] "My friends, the river has stepped aside for us; he offers us a +passage by his own high-road into Babylon. We must take heart and enter +fearlessly, remembering that those against whom we are to march this +night are the very men we have conquered before, and that too when they +had their allies to help them, when they were awake, alert, and sober, +armed to the teeth, and in their battle order. [21] To-night we go +against them when some are asleep and some are drunk, and all are +unprepared: and when they learn that we are within the walls, sheer +astonishment will make them still more helpless than before. [22] If any +of you are troubled by the thought of volleys from the roofs when the +army enters the city, I bid you lay these fears aside: if our enemies +do climb their roofs we have a god to help us, the god of Fire. Their +porches are easily set aflame, for the doors are made of palm-wood and +varnished with bitumen, the very food of fire. [23] And we shall come +with the pine-torch to kindle it, and with pitch and tow to feed it. +They will be forced to flee from their homes or be burnt to death. [24] +Come, take your swords in your hand: God helping me, I will lead you on. +Do you," he said, turning to Gadatas and Gobryas, "show us the streets, +you know them; and once we are inside, lead us straight to the palace." + +[25] "So we will," said Gobryas and his men, "and it would not surprise +us to find the palace-gates unbarred, for this night the whole city is +given over to revelry. Still, we are sure to find a guard, for one is +always stationed there." + +"Then," said Cyrus, "there is no time for lingering; we must be off at +once and take them unprepared." + +[26] Thereupon they entered: and of those they met some were struck down +and slain, and others fled into their houses, and some raised the hue +and cry, but Gobryas and his friends covered the cry with their shouts, +as though they were revellers themselves. And thus, making their way by +the quickest route, they soon found themselves before the king's palace. +[27] Here the detachment under Gobryas and Gadatas found the gates +closed, but the men appointed to attack the guards rushed on them as +they lay drinking round a blazing fire, and closed with them then and +there. [28] As the din grew louder and louder, those within became aware +of the tumult, till, the king bidding them see what it meant, some of +them opened the gates and ran out. [29] Gadatas and his men, seeing the +gates swing wide, darted in, hard on the heels of the others who fled +back again, and they chased them at the sword's point into the presence +of the king. + +[30] They found him on his feet, with his drawn scimitar in his hand. By +sheer weight of numbers they overwhelmed him: and not one of his retinue +escaped, they were all cut down, some flying, others snatching up +anything to serve as a shield and defending themselves as best they +could. [31] Cyrus sent squadrons of cavalry down the different roads +with orders to kill all they found in the street, while those who knew +Assyrian were to warn the inhabitants to stay indoors under pain of +death. [32] While they carried out these orders, Gobryas and Gadatas +returned, and first they gave thanks to the gods and did obeisance +because they had been suffered to take vengeance on their unrighteous +king, and then they fell to kissing the hands and feet of Cyrus, +shedding tears of joy and gratitude. [33] And when it was day and those +who held the heights knew that the city was taken and the king slain, +they were persuaded to surrender the citadel themselves. [34] Cyrus took +it over forthwith, and sent in a commandant and a garrison, while he +delivered the bodies of the fallen to their kinsfolk for burial, and +bade his heralds make proclamation that all the citizens must deliver +up their arms: wherever weapons were discovered in any house all the +inmates would be put to death. So the arms were surrendered, and Cyrus +had them placed in the citadel for use in case of need. [35] When all +was done he summoned the Persian priests and told them the city was the +captive of his spear and bade them set aside the first-fruits of the +booty as an offering to the gods and mark out land for sacred demesnes. +Then he distributed the houses and the public buildings to those whom +he counted his partners in the exploit; and the distribution was on +the principle accepted, the best prizes to the bravest men: and if any +thought they had not received their deserts they were invited to come +and tell him. [36] At the same time he issued a proclamation to the +Babylonians, bidding them till the soil and pay the dues and render +willing service to those under whose rule they were placed. As for his +partners the Persians, and such of his allies as elected to remain +with him, he gave them to understand they were to treat as subjects the +captives they received. + +[37] After this Cyrus felt that the time was come to assume the style +and manner that became a king: and he wished this to be done with the +goodwill and concurrence of his friends and in such a way that, without +seeming ungracious, he might appear but seldom in public and always with +a certain majesty. Therefore he devised the following scheme. At break +of day he took his station at some convenient place, and received all +who desired speech with him, and then dismissed them. [38] The people, +when they heard that he gave audience, thronged to him in multitudes, +and in the struggle to gain access there was much jostling and scheming +and no little fighting. [39] His attendants did their best to divide +the suitors, and introduce them in some order, and whenever any of his +personal friends appeared, thrusting their way through the crowd, Cyrus +would stretch out his hand and draw them to his side and say, "Wait, my +friends, until we have finished with this crowd, and then we can talk at +our ease." So his friends would wait, but the multitude would pour on, +growing greater and greater, until the evening would fall before there +had been a moment's leisure for his friends. [40] All that Cyrus could +do then was to say, "Perhaps, gentlemen, it is a little late this +evening and time that we broke up. Be sure to come early to-morrow. I am +very anxious myself to speak with you." With that his friends were only +too glad to be dismissed, and made off without more ado. They had done +penance enough, fasting and waiting and standing all day long. [41] So +they would get to rest at last, but the next morning Cyrus was at the +same spot and a much greater concourse of suitors round him than before, +already assembled long before his friends arrived. Accordingly Cyrus had +a cordon of Persian lancers stationed round him, and gave out that no +one except his personal friends and the generals were to be allowed +access, and as soon as they were admitted he said: + +[42] "My friends, we cannot exclaim against the gods as though they had +failed to fulfil our prayers. They have granted all we asked. But if +success means that a man must forfeit his own leisure and the good +company of all his friends, why, to that kind of happiness I would +rather bid farewell. [43] Yesterday," he added, "I make no doubt you +observed yourselves that from early dawn till late evening I never +ceased listening to petitioners, and to-day you see this crowd before +us, larger still than yesterday's, ready with business for me. [44] If +this must be submitted to, I calculate that what you will get of me +and I of you will be little enough, and what I shall get of myself will +simply be nothing at all. Further," he added, "I foresee another absurd +consequence. [45] I, personally, have a feeling towards you which I need +not state, but, of that audience yonder, scarcely one of them do I know +at all, and yet they are all prepared to thrust themselves in front of +you, transact their business, and get what they want out of me before +any of you have a chance. I should have thought it more suitable myself +that men of that class, if they wanted anything from me, should pay some +court to you, my friends, in the hopes of an introduction. [46] Perhaps +you will ask why I did not so arrange matters from the first, instead of +always appearing in public. Because in war it is the first business of +a commander not to be behindhand in knowing what ought to be done and +seeing that it is done, and the general who is seldom seen is apt to let +things slip. [47] But to-day, when war with its insatiable demands is +over, I feel as if I had some claim myself to rest and refreshment. I am +in some perplexity, however, as to how I can arrange matters so that +all goes well, not only with you and me, but also with those whom we are +bound to care for. Therefore I seek your advice and counsel, and I would +be glad to learn from any of you the happiest solution." + +[48] Cyrus paused, and up rose Artabazus the Mede, who had claimed to be +his kinsman, and said: + +"You did well, Cyrus, to open this matter. Years ago, when you were +still a boy, from the very first I longed to be your friend, but I saw +you did not need me, and so I shrank from approaching you. [49] Then +came a lucky moment when you did have need of me to be your good +messenger among the Medes with the order from Cyaxares, and I said to +myself that if I did the work well, if I really helped you, I might +become your comrade and have the right to talk with you as often as I +wished. [50] Well, the work was done, and done so as to win your praise. +After that the Hyrcanians joined us, the first friends we made, when we +were hungry and thirsty for allies, and we loved them so much we almost +carried them about with us in our arms wherever we went. Then the +enemy's camp was taken, and I scarcely think you had the leisure to +trouble your head with me--oh, I quite forgave you. [51] The next thing +was that Gobryas became your friend, and I had to take my leave, and +after him Gadatas, and by that time it was a real task to get hold of +you. Then came the alliances with the Sakians, and the Cadousians, and +no doubt you had to pay them court; if they danced attendance on you, +you must dance attendance on them. [52] So that there I was, back again +at my starting-point, and yet all the while, as I saw you busy with +horses and chariots and artillery, I consoled myself by thinking, 'when +he is done with this he will have a little leisure for me.' And then +came the terrible news that the whole world was gathering in arms +against us; I could not deny that these were important matters, but +still I felt certain, if all went well, a time would come at last when +you need not grudge me your company, and we should be together to +my heart's content, you and I. [53] Now, the day has come; we have +conquered in the great battle; we have taken Sardis and Babylon; the +world is at our feet, and yesterday, by Mithras! unless I had used my +fists a hundred times, I swear I could never have got near you at all. +Well, you grasped my hand and gave me greeting, and bade me wait beside +you, and there I waited, the cynosure of every eye, the envy of every +man, standing there all day long, without a scrap to eat or a drop to +drink. [54] So now, if any way can be found by which we who have served +you longest can get the most of you, well and good: but, if not, pray +send me as your messenger once more, and this time I will tell them they +can all leave you, except those who were your friends of old." + +[55] This appeal set them all laughing, Cyrus with the rest. Then +Chrysantas the Persian stood up and spoke as follows: + +"Formerly, Cyrus, it was natural and right that you should appear in +public, for the reasons you have given us yourself, and also because +we were not the folk you had to pay your court to. We did not need +inviting: we were with you for our own sakes. It was necessary to win +over the masses by every means, if they were to share our toils and our +dangers willingly. [56] But now you have won them, and not them alone; +you have it in your power to gain others, and the moment has come when +you ought to have a house to yourself. What would your empire profit +you if you alone were left without hearth or home? Man has nothing more +sacred than his home, nothing sweeter, nothing more truly his. And do +you not think," he added, "that we ourselves would be ashamed if we saw +you bearing the hardships of the camp while we sat at home by our own +firesides? Should we not feel we had done you wrong, and taken advantage +of you?" + +[57] When Chrysantas had spoken thus, many others followed him, and all +to the same effect. And so it came about that Cyrus entered the palace, +and those in charge brought the treasures from Sardis thither, and +handed them over. And Cyrus when he entered sacrificed to Hestia, the +goddess of the Hearth, and to Zeus the Lord, and to any other gods named +by the Persian priests. + +[58] This done, he set himself to regulate the matters that remained. +Thinking over his position, and the attempt he was making to govern an +enormous multitude, preparing at the same time to take up his abode in +the greatest of all famous cities, but yet a city that was as hostile to +him as a city could be, pondering all this, he concluded that he could +not dispense with a bodyguard for himself. [59] He knew well enough that +a man can most easily be assassinated at his meals, or in his bath, or +in bed, or when he is asleep, and he asked himself who were most to +be trusted of those he had about him. A man, he believed, can never be +loyal or trustworthy who is likely to love another more than the one +who requires his guardianship. [60] He knew that men with children, or +wives, or favourites in whom they delight, must needs love them most: +while eunuchs, who are deprived of all such dear ones, would surely make +most account of him who could enrich them, or help them if they were +injured, or crown them with honour. And in the conferring of such +benefits he was disposed to think he could outbid the world. [61] +Moreover the eunuch, being degraded in the eyes of other men, is driven +to seek the assistance of some lord and master. Without some such +protection there is not a man in the world who would not think he +had the right to over-reach a eunuch: while there was every reason to +suppose that the eunuch would be the most faithful of all servants. [62] +As for the customary notion that the eunuch must be weak and cowardly, +Cyrus was not disposed to accept it. He studied the indications to be +observed in animals: a vicious horse, if gelded, will cease to bite and +be restive, but he will charge as gallantly as ever; a bull that has +been cut will become less fierce and less intractable, but he will not +lose his strength, he will be as good as ever for work; castration +may cure a dog of deserting his master, but it will not ruin him as a +watch-dog or spoil him for the chase. [63] So, too, with men; when cut +off from this passion, they become gentler, no doubt, but not less quick +to obey, not less daring as horsemen, not less skilful with the javelin, +not less eager for honour. [64] In war and in the chase they show +plainly enough that the fire of ambition is still burning in their +hearts. And they have stood the last test of loyalty in the downfall +of their masters. No men have shown more faithfulness than eunuchs when +ruin has fallen on their lords. [65] In bodily strength, perhaps, the +eunuchs seem to be lacking, but steel is a great leveller, and makes +the weak man equal to the strong in war. Holding this in mind, Cyrus +resolved that his personal attendants, from his doorkeepers onwards, +should be eunuchs one and all. + +[66] This guard, however, he felt was hardly sufficient against the +multitude of enemies, and he asked himself whom he could choose among +the rest. [67] He remembered how his Persians led the sorriest of lives +at home owing to their poverty, working long and hard on the niggard +soil, and he felt sure they were the men who would most value the life +at his court. [68] Accordingly he selected ten thousand lancers from +among them, to keep guard round the palace, night and day, whenever +he was at home, and to march beside him whenever he went abroad. [69] +Moreover, he felt that Babylon must always have an adequate garrison, +whether he was in the country or not, and therefore he stationed a +considerable body of troops in the city; and he bade the Babylonians +provide their pay, his object being to make the citizens helpless, +and therefore humble and submissive. [70] This royal guard that he +established there, and the city guard for Babylon, survive to this day +unaltered. + +Lastly, as he pondered how the whole empire was to be kept together, and +possibly another added to it, he felt convinced that his mercenaries did +not make up for the smallness of their numbers by their superiority +to the subject peoples. Therefore he must keep together those brave +warriors, to whom with heaven's help the victory was due, and he must +take all care that they did not lose their valour, hardihood, and skill. +[71] To avoid the appearance of dictating to them and to bring it about +that they should see for themselves it was best to stay with him and +remember their valour and their training, he called a council of the +Peers and of the leading men who seemed to him most worthy of sharing +their dangers and their rewards. [72] And when they were met he began: + +"Gentlemen, my friends and allies, we owe the utmost thanks to the gods +because they have given us what we believed that we deserved. We are +masters to-day of a great country and a good; and those who till it will +support us; we have houses of our own, and all the furniture that is in +them is ours. [73] For you need not think that what you hold belongs to +others. It is an eternal law the wide world over, that when a city is +taken in war, the citizens, their persons, and all their property fall +into the hands of the conquerors. It is not by injustice, therefore, +that you hold what you have taken, rather it is through your own human +kindness that the citizens are allowed to keep whatever they do retain. + +[74] "Yet I foresee that if we betake ourselves to the life of indolence +and luxury, the life of the degenerate who think that labour is the +worst of evils and freedom from toil the height of happiness, the day +will come, and speedily, when we shall be unworthy of ourselves, and +with the loss of honour will come the loss of wealth. [75] Once to have +been valiant is not enough; no man can keep his valour unless he watch +over it to the end. As the arts decay through neglect, as the body, once +healthy and alert, will grow weak through sloth and indolence, even so +the powers of the spirit, temperance, self-control, and courage, if we +grow slack in training, fall back once more to rottenness and death. +[76] We must watch ourselves; we must not surrender to the sweetness +of the day. It is a great work, methinks, to found an empire, but a +far greater to keep it safe. To seize it may be the fruit of daring and +daring only, but to hold it is impossible without self-restraint and +self-command and endless care. [77] We must not forget this; we must +train ourselves in virtue from now henceforward with even greater +diligence than before we won this glory, remembering that the more a man +possesses, the more there are to envy him, to plot against him, and +be his enemies, above all when the wealth he wins and the services +he receives are yielded by reluctant hands. But the gods, we need not +doubt, will be upon our side; we have not triumphed through injustice; +we were not the aggressors, it was we who were attacked and we avenged +ourselves. [78] The gods are with us, I say; but next to that supreme +support there is a defence we must provide out of our own powers alone; +and that is the righteous claim to rule our subjects because we are +better men than they. Needs must that we share with our slaves in heat +and cold and food and drink and toil and slumber, and we must strive to +prove our superiority even in such things as these, and first in these. +[79] But in the science of war and the art of it we can admit no share; +those whom we mean to make our labourers and our tributaries can have no +part in that; we will set ourselves to defraud them there; we know that +such exercises are the very tools of freedom and happiness, given by the +gods to mortal men. We have taken their arms away from our slaves, +and we must never lay our own aside, knowing well that the nearer the +sword-hilt the closer the heart's desire. So. Does any man ask himself +what profit he has gained from the fulfilment of his dreams, if he must +still endure, still undergo hunger and thirst and toil and trouble and +care? Let him learn the lesson that a man's enjoyment of all good things +is in exact proportion to the pains he has undergone to gain them. +Toil is the seasoning of delight; without desire and longing, no dish, +however costly, could be sweet. [81] Yes, if some spirit were to set +before us what men desire most, and we were left to add for ourselves +that final touch of sweetness, I say that we could only gain above the +poorest of the poor in so far as we could bring hunger for the most +delicious foods, and thirst for the richest wines, and weariness to make +us woo the deepest slumber. [82] Therefore, we must strain every nerve +to win and to keep manhood and nobleness; so that we may gain that +satisfaction which is the sweetest and the best, and be saved from the +bitterest of sorrows; since to fail of good altogether is not so hard as +to lose the good that has once been ours. [83] And let us ask ourselves +what excuse we could offer for being unworthy of our past. Shall we say +it is because we have won an empire? Surely it is hardly fitting that +the ruler should be baser than the ruled. Or is it that we seem to +be happier to-day than heretofore? Is cowardice, then, an adjunct of +happiness? Or is it simply because we have slaves and must punish them +if they do wrong? But by what right can a man, who is bad himself, +punish others for badness or stupidity? [84] Remember, too, that we have +arranged for the maintenance of a whole multitude, to guard our persons +and our houses, and it would be shameful for us to depend for safety on +the weapons of others and refuse to carry weapons for ourselves. Surely +we ought to know that there can be no defence so strong as a man's own +gallantry. Courage should be our companion all our days. For if virtue +leave us, nothing else whatever can go well with us. [85] What, then, +would I have you do? How are we to remember our valour and train our +skill? Gentlemen, I have nothing novel to suggest; at home in Persia the +Peers spend their days at the public buildings and here we should do the +same. Here we are the men of rank and honour, as we are there, and we +should hold to the same customs. You must keep your eyes on me and watch +whether I am diligent in my duty, and I shall give heed to you, and +honour him who trains himself in what is beautiful and brave. [86] And +here too let us educate our sons, if sons are born to us. We cannot but +become better ourselves if we strive to set the best example we can to +our children, and our children could hardly grow up to be unworthy, even +if they wished, when they see nothing base before them, and hear nothing +shameful, but live in the practice of all that is beautiful and good." + + + NOTES + +C1. Notice the epic tone now adopted, or rather swum into, or rather +which floats the writer up of its own motion. + +C1.2 ff. On the whole this description of the battle is, for Xenophon, +obscure. + +C1.5-6. Xenophon, Artist. This military criticism and technical +discussion juxtaposed to the epic prelude and the epic sequel is a +clever device enough. We are pleased. + +C1.8-9. Final injunctions somewhat obscure, I think. + +C1.24 ff. The epic and Homeric vein. + +C1.33. The Egyptians have the advantage. This is noticeable in reference +to Cyrus' criticisms of their arms before battle. That is not a slip, +but a dramatic touch on the part of the author, I think. And Cyrus is +speaking of cavalry there, and anticipates the result. + +C1.34 fin. A singular feature this in ancient battles. Is it simply +and solely Oriental, or general, and Hellenic also? Has it any analogue +nowadays anywhere? Probably with Egyptian troops in the Soudan it has +(hgd. 1884). + +C2.6-7. The archic man through an act of bad discipline makes good +discipline more acceptable. + +C2.13. The civilised method of dealing with a conquered city. Instead of +pillage and rapine, an indemnity, which will bring in to the conquerors +wealth, and yet not destroy the arts of the population, which are the +fountain-heads of beauty. || Modern. So the archic man asserts his +superiority once more. + +C2.24. Is this also Xenophon's view? If so, it throws light on his +theory of rank and caste. + +C3.2. Curious Cyrus should be so little suspicious of Abradatas' death, +is it not? Because the victory was not bloodless. Notice, too, +how little is said of the bloodshed; that is Hellenic as well as +Xenophontine, I fancy. + +C3.7. Something epic in all this. Cf. Archilles sacrificing at the tomb +of Patroklos. + +C3.8 ff. The pathos of the situation and the _Eironeia_ at its maximum. +"Euripidean" touches throughout. + +C3.16. [This is bracketed in most editions, no doubt rightly, as an +interpolation. It was not translated in Mr. Dakyns' manuscript, but his +marginal note is characteristic, and evidently he would have translated +the section in a footnote. It may be rendered thus: "It is said that a +monument was raised above the eunuchs and is in existence to this day. +On the upper slab the names of the husband and the wife are written +in Syrian letters, and below are three other slabs, inscribed 'To the +chamberlains.'"] + +C3.16. Interesting, especially if of later insertion, and perhaps given +the historical basis of the story in some monument on the Pactolus, +known to Xenophon. I wish a new Schliemann would find it. hgd. + +C4. Semi-historical? The version is to be found, I think, in C4.2, which +is the _pièce justicative_. The episode itself is full of humour, as +good as a play: Xenophon has seen these duplicities often. Brer Fox +outwitted by Brer Rabbit. + +C4.4. Can these rival fastnesses of the Carians be identified? All this +country is well known to Xenophon (_vide Hellenica_, III. c. 4, etc.). + +C4.6. Beautiful renewal of the peaceful arts, festivals, and +merry-makings after the internecine party strife. + +C4.9. This again is a district Xenophon is well acquainted with. Has he +one eye on the old insurrection against Persia, _tempore_ Histiaeus, and +another on the new arrangements, _tempore_ Antalcidas? + +C4.12-13. Croesus and his bills of lading. Some humour. It also brings +out the archic man in opposition to the shop-keeper man of the mere +business type. But still the bills of lading are needed. Croesus only +doesn't "twig" the right persons to check. It's the opposition between +Despot and true Ruler. + +C5.9. Cyrus has an idea, the nature of which we shall discover later. + +C5.15. Belshazzar's feast, _vide_ Daniel, cf. Hdt. Why plural, "the +trenches"? Is Xenophon obscure? His obscurity is mostly this: he expects +his reader intelligently to follow him. + +C5.32. Jars somewhat on our feelings, perhaps, in its thirst for +revenge: but cf. the feeling against the assassins of Lord Frederick +Cavendish and Mr. Burke. [Written at the time of the Phoenix Park +murders.] + +C5.37. Is a turning-point in the rise of the archic man (and yet hardly +yet, but at C5.58 we shall come to bodyguards and eunuchs). At this +highest pinnacle of {arkhe} Cyrus desires to furnish himself as befits +a king. It is an historical difficulty which Xenophon has to get over +or round, or is Xenophon himself in the same condemnation, so to speak? +Does he also desire his archic man to be got up in a manner befitting +royalty at a certain date? Consider. + +C5.42-47. These sections pose the difficulty well, and it is a +difficulty, and no mistake. + +C5.42 ff. Xenophon-Hellenic theory of life. The leisure to invite +one's own soul and see one's friends which is needed to make life worth +living, versus _negotia_, _negotia_, _negotia_. How far are we to be +consciously self-regarding? Cyrus versus Buddha. The Hellenic hero is +not equal to absolute non-self-regarding devotion to mere work. The +Buddha might be. + +C5.48. Perhaps nothing is cleverer in the neat and skilful mosaic work +of this composition than the fitting-in here of Artabazus' personal view +with the--at last necessary--impersonal or public theory of leadership. +It is pretty also that Artabazus should at length get his reward, and +humorous that he doesn't, after all, get it in the old form. + +C5.49 ff. He keenly remembers each tantalizing moment of approach and +separation. A splendid speech of the humorous type. Xenophon himself +must be credited with so much fun, and real fun it is. + +C5.56 ff. Curious on this page (a) Xenophon's domestic hearth theory +without which {arkhe} is a tinkling cymbal and empire no burthen to +be borne. His feeling for the sweetness of home || modern. In this the +secret of his happiness, || hgd. (b) His _justification_ or _raison +d'être_ explanation of the eunuch system. Why doesn't he point out its +hollowness also? Not from any lack of sympathy with this barren mankind. +Cf. Gadatas. I think this all logically follows if the {arkhon} is +to rule political enemies as well as friends: to do so {epistamenos} +["asian expert"] some strange devices must be resorted to--what think +you, Dakyns? + +C5.58. The need of a bodyguard. The dragon-fly must wing his flight in +armour cased: that is the law of his development. So Cyrus must be in +the end an ideal "tyrannus," the one spoken of by Simonides the poet to +Hiero [_vide_ the dialogue _Hiero_, and the notes thereto in Mr. Dakyns' +translation, Vol. III.]. + +C5.64. The faithfulness of the eunuch has its parallel in that of the +old negro slave. + +C5.67. These are the sort of fellows Xenophon would have chosen himself, +I take it. Again the historical basis has to be taken account of. +Xenophon has to explain to himself the existence of their body and how +the archic man came to invent it. Throughout we must compare the +_Hiero_ for Xenophon's own political theory apart from his romantic and +philosophical interest in Cyrus. + +C5.69. Not a pleasant picture of subject and ruling race. Cf. the +Austrians in Italy. + +C5.73. The Hellenic || the modern theory, but more rudely expressed. The +conquerors right to the land he has taken, and what Cyrus proceeds to +say is quite up to the modern mark. + +C5.74. Of course this is precisely what the Persians as they degenerated +did come to, nor did the good example of the archic man nor his precepts +nor his institutions save them. + +C5.77-79. "Military" theory of virtue: almost barbaric (_ex mea +sententia_ hgd.). But Xenophon is not absolutely = Cyrus. + +C5.80 ff. This is the Socratico-Xenophontine hedonism-and-stoicism +combined. + +C5.82 ff. A noble sermon on the need of straining every nerve to +virtuous training. Splendidly rhetorical and forceful. + +C5.84. Cyrus (i.e. Xenophon) is aware of the crisis he and his are going +through. If externalism has to be adopted to hedge royalty, still +a further inner change is demanded: there must be a corresponding +spiritual growth. + +C5.86. One of the noblest sayings in all Xenophon. The one somehow which +touches me most. The best way to improve ourselves is to see that we set +our boys the best examples. + + + + +BOOK VIII + +[C.1] Such were the words of Cyrus; and Chrysantas rose up after him, +saying, "Gentlemen, this is not the first time I have had occasion to +observe that a good ruler differs in no respect from a good father. Even +as a father takes thought that blessings may never fail his children, +so Cyrus would commend to us the ways by which we can preserve our +happiness. And yet, on one point, it seemed to me he had spoken less +fully than he might; and I will try to explain it for the benefit of +those who have not learnt it. [2] I would have you ask yourselves, was +ever a hostile city captured by an undisciplined force? Did ever an +undisciplined garrison save a friendly town? When discipline was gone, +did ever an army conquer? Is ever disaster nearer than when each solider +thinks about his private safety only? Nay, in peace as in war, can any +good be gained if men will not obey their betters? What city could be at +rest, lawful, and orderly? What household could be safe? What ship sail +home to her haven? [3] And we, to what do we owe our triumph, if not to +our obedience? We obeyed; we were ready to follow the call by night and +day; we marched behind our leader, ranks that nothing could resist; we +left nothing half-done of all we were told to do. If obedience is the +one path to win the highest good, remember it is also the one way to +preserve it. [4] Now in the old days, doubtless, many of us ruled no one +else, we were simply ruled. But to-day you find yourselves rulers, one +and all of you, some over many and some over few. And just as you would +wish your subjects to obey you, so we must obey those who are set over +us. Yet there should be this difference between ourselves and slaves; a +slave renders unwilling service to his lord, but we, if we claim to be +freemen, must do of our own free will that which we see to be the best. +And you will find," he added, "that even when no single man is ruler, +that city which is most careful to obey authority is the last to bow to +the will of her enemies. [5] Let us listen to the words of Cyrus. Let +us gather round the public buildings and train ourselves, so that we may +keep our hold on all we care for, and offer ourselves to Cyrus for his +noble ends. Of one thing we may be sure: Cyrus will never put us to any +service which can make for his own good and not for ours. Our needs are +the same as his, and our foes the same." + +[6] When Chrysantas had said his say, many others followed to support +him, Persians and allies alike, and it was agreed that the men of rank +and honour should be in attendance continually at the palace gates, +ready for Cyrus to employ, until he gave them their dismissal. That +custom is still in force, and to this day the Asiatics under the Great +King wait at the door of their rulers. [7] And the measures that Cyrus +instituted to preserve his empire, as set forth in this account, are +still the law of the land, maintained by all the kings who followed him. +[8] Only as in other matters, so here; with a good ruler, the government +is pure; with a bad one, corrupt. Thus it came about that the nobles of +Cyrus and all his honourable men waited at his gates, with their weapons +and their horses, according to the common consent of the gallant men who +had helped to lay the empire at his feet. + +[9] Then Cyrus turned to other matters, and appointed various overseers: +he had receivers of revenue, controllers of finance, ministers of works, +guardians of property, superintendents of the household. Moreover, he +chose managers for his horses and his dogs, men who could be trusted +to keep the creatures in the best condition and ready for use at +any moment. [10] But when it came to those who were to be his +fellow-guardians for the commonwealth, he would not leave the care and +the training of these to others; he regarded that as his own personal +task. He knew, if he were ever to fight a battle, he would have to +choose his comrades and supporters, the men on his right hand and +left, from these and these alone; it was from them he must appoint his +officers for horse and foot. [11] If he had to send out a general alone +it would be from them that one must be sent: he must depend on them for +satraps and governors over cities and nations; he would require them for +ambassadors, and an embassy was, he knew, the best means for obtaining +what he wanted without war. [12] He foresaw that nothing could go well +if the agents in his weightiest affairs were not what they ought to be, +while, if they were, everything would prosper. This charge, therefore, +he took upon his own shoulders, and he was persuaded that the training +he demanded of others should also be undergone by himself. No man could +rouse others to noble deeds if he fell short of what he ought to be +himself. [13] The more he pondered the matter, the more he felt the need +of leisure, if he were to deal worthily with the highest matters. +It was, he felt, impossible to neglect the revenues, in view of the +enormous funds necessary for so vast an empire, yet he foresaw that if +he was always to be occupied with the multitude of his possessions he +would never have time to watch over the safety of the whole. [14] As +he pondered how he could compass both objects, the prosperity of the +finances and the leisure he required, the old military organisation +came into his mind. He remembered how the captains of ten supervised the +squads of ten, and were supervised themselves by the company-captains, +and they by the captains of the thousands, and these by the captains +of ten thousand, and thus even with hundreds of thousands not a man +was left without supervision, and when the general wished to employ his +troops one order to the captains of ten thousand was enough. [15] On +this principle Cyrus arranged his finances and held his departments +together; in this way, by conferring with a few officers he could keep +the whole system under his control, and actually have more leisure for +himself than the manager of a single household or the master of a single +ship. Finally, having thus ordered his own affairs, he taught those +about him to adopt the same system. + +[16] Accordingly, having gained the leisure he needed for himself +and his friends, he could devote himself to his work of training his +partners and colleagues. In the first place he dealt with those who, +enabled as they were to live on the labour of others, yet failed to +present themselves at the palace; he would send for them and seek them +out, convinced that attendance would be wholesome for them; they would +be unwilling to do anything base or evil in the presence of their king +and under the eye of their noblest men; those who were absent were so +through self-indulgence or wrong-doing or carelessness. [17] And I will +now set forth how he brought them to attend. He would go to one of +his most intimate friends and bid him lay hands on the property of the +offender, asserting that it was his own. Then of course the truants +would appear at once crying out that they had been robbed. [18] But +somehow for many days Cyrus could never find leisure to hear their +complaints, and when he did listen he took care to defer judgment for +many more. [19] This was one way he had of teaching them to attend; +another was to assign the lightest and most profitable tasks to +those who were punctual, and a third to give nothing whatever to the +offenders. [20] But the most effective of all, for those who paid no +heed to gentler measures, was to deprive the truant of what he possessed +and bestow it on him who would come when he was needed. By this process +Cyrus gave up a useless friend and gained a serviceable one. To this +day the king sends for and seeks out those who do not present themselves +when they should. + +[21] Such was his method with the truants; with those who came forward +he felt, since he was their rightful leader, that he could best incite +them to noble deeds by trying to show that he himself had all the +virtues that became a man. [22] He believed that men do grow better +through written laws, and he held that the good ruler is a living law +with eyes that see, inasmuch as he is competent to guide and also to +detect the sinner and chastise him. [23] Thus he took pains to show +that he was the more assiduous in his service to the gods the higher +his fortunes rose. It was at this time that the Persian priests, the +Magians, were first established as an order, and always at break of day +Cyrus chanted a hymn and sacrificed to such of the gods as they might +name. [24] And the ordinances he established service to this day at the +court of the reigning king. These were the first matters in which the +Persians set themselves to copy their prince; feeling their own fortune +would be the higher if they did reverence to the gods, following the man +who was fortune's favourite and their own monarch. At the same time, no +doubt, they thought they would please Cyrus by this. [25] On his side +Cyrus looked on the piety of his subjects as a blessing to himself, +reckoning as they do who prefer to sail in the company of pious men +rather than with those who are suspected of wicked deeds, and he +reckoned further that if all his partners were god-fearing, they would +be the less prone to crime against each other or against himself, for he +knew he was the benefactor of his fellows. [26] And by showing plainly +his own deep desire never to be unfair to friend or fellow-combatant or +ally, but always to fix his eyes on justice and rectitude, he believed +he could induce others to keep from base actions and walk in the paths +of righteousness. [27] And he would bring more modesty, he hoped, into +the hearts of all men if it were plain that he himself reverenced all +the world and would never say a shameful word to any man or woman or do +a shameful deed. [28] He looked for this because he saw that, apart +from kings and governors who may be supposed to inspire fear, men will +reverence the modest and not the shameless, and modesty in women will +inspire modesty in the men who behold them. [29] And his people, he +thought, would learn to obey if it were plain that he honoured frank and +prompt obedience even above virtues that made a grander show and were +harder to attain. [30] Such was his belief, and his practice went with +it to the end. His own temperance and the knowledge of it made others +more temperate. When they saw moderation and self-control in the man who +above all others had licence to be insolent, lesser men were the more +ready to abjure all insolence of their own. [31] But there was this +difference, Cyrus held, between modesty and self-control: the modest +man will do nothing shameful in the light of day, but the man of +self-control nothing base, not even in secret. [32] Self-restrain, he +believed, would best be cultivated if he made men see in himself one who +could not be dragged from the pursuit of virtue by the pleasure of the +moment, one who chose to toil first for the happy-hearted joys that go +hand-in-hand with beauty and nobleness. [33] Thus, being the man he +was, he established at his gates a stately company, where the lower gave +place to the higher, and they in their turn showed reverence to each +other, and courtesy, and perfect harmony. Among them all there was never +a cry of anger to be heard, nor a burst of insolent laughter; to look at +them was to know that they lived for honour and loveliness. + +[34] Such was the life at the palace-gates, and to practise his nobles +in martial exercises he would lead them out to the hunt whenever he +thought it well, holding the chase to be the best training for war and +the surest way to excellence in horsemanship. [35] A man learns to keep +his seat, no matter what the ground may be, as he follows the flying +quarry, learns to hurl and strike on horseback in his eagerness to bring +down the game and win applause. [36] And here, above all, was the field +in which to inure his colleagues to toil and hardship and cold and heat +and hunger and thirst. Thus to this day the Persian monarch and his +court spend their leisure in the chase. [37] From all that has been +said, it is clear Cyrus was convinced that no one has a right to rule +who is not superior to his subjects, and he held that by imposing +such exercises as these on those about him, he would lead them to +self-control and bring to perfection the art and discipline of war. [38] +Accordingly he would put himself at the head of the hunting-parties and +take them out himself unless he was bound to stay at home, and, if he +was, he would hunt in his parks among the wild creatures he had reared. +He would never touch the evening meal himself until he had sweated for +it, nor give his horses their corn until they had been exercised, and +he would invite his own mace-bearers to join him in the chase. [39] +Therefore he excelled in all knightly accomplishments, he and those +about him, because of their constant practice. Such was the example he +set before his friends. But he also kept his eye on others, and would +single out those who worshipped noble deeds, and reward them with gifts, +and high commands, and seats at festivals, and every kind of honour. +And thus their hearts were filled with ambition, and every man longed to +outdo his fellows in the eyes of Cyrus. + +[40] But we seem to learn also that Cyrus thought it necessary for the +ruler not only to surpass his subjects by his own native worth, but also +to charm them through deception and artifice. At any rate he adopted the +Median dress, and persuaded his comrades to do likewise; he thought it +concealed any bodily defect, enhancing the beauty and stature of the +wearer. [41] The shoe, for instance, was so devised that a sole could be +added without notice, and the man would seem taller than he really was. +So also Cyrus encouraged the use of ointments to make the eyes more +brilliant and pigments to make the skin look fairer. [42] And he trained +his courtiers never to spit or blow the nose in public or turn aside +to stare at anything; they were to keep the stately air of persons +whom nothing can surprise. These were all means to one end; to make it +impossible for the subjects to despise their rulers. + +[43] Thus he moulded the men he considered worthy of command by his own +example, by the training he gave them, and by the dignity of his own +leadership. But the treatment of those he prepared for slavery was +widely different. Not one of them would he incite to any noble toil, he +would not even let them carry arms, and he was careful that they should +never lack food or drink in any manly sort. [44] When the beaters drove +the wild creatures into the plain he would allow food to be brought for +the servants, but not for the free men; on a march he would lead the +slaves to the water-springs as he led the beasts of burden. Or when it +was the hour of breakfast he would wait himself till they had taken a +snatch of food and stayed their wolfish hunger; and the end of it was +they called him their father even as the nobles did, because he cared +for them, but the object of his care was to keep them slaves for ever. + +[45] Thus he secured the safety of the Persian empire. He himself, he +felt sure, ran no danger from the massages of the conquered people; he +saw they had no courage, no unity, and no discipline, and, moreover, not +one of them could ever come near him, day or night. [46] But there were +others whom he knew to be true warriors, who carried arms, and who +held by one another, commanders of horse and foot, many of them men of +spirit, confident, as he could plainly see, of their own power to rule, +men who were in close touch with his own guards, and many of them in +constant intercourse with himself; as indeed was essential if he was +to make any use of them at all. It was from them that danger was to be +feared; and that in a thousand ways. [47] How was he to guard against +it? He rejected the idea of disarming them; he thought this unjust, +and that it would lead to the dissolution of the empire. To refuse them +admission into his presence, to show them his distrust, would be, he +considered, a declaration of war. [48] But there was one method, he +felt, worth all the rest, an honourable method and one that would secure +his safety absolutely; to win their friendship if he could, and make +them more devoted to himself than to each other. I will now endeavour +to set forth the methods, so far as I conceive them, by which he gained +their love. + +[C.2] In the first place he never lost an opportunity of showing +kindliness wherever he could, convinced that just as it is not easy to +love those who hate us, so it is scarcely possible to feel enmity for +those who love us and wish us well. [2] So long as he had lacked the +power to confer benefits by wealth, all he could do then was to show +his personal care for his comrades and his soldiers, to labour in their +behalf, manifest his joy in their good fortune and his sympathy in their +sorrows, and try to win them in that way. But when the time came for the +gifts of wealth, he realised that of all the kindnesses between man +and man none come with a more natural grace than the gifts of meat and +drink. [3] Accordingly he arranged that his table should be spread every +day for many guests in exactly the same way as for himself; and all that +was set before him, after he and his guests had dined, he would send out +to his absent friends, in token of affection and remembrance. He would +include those who had won his approval by their work on guard, or in +attendance on himself, or in any other service, letting them see that no +desire to please him could ever escape his eyes. [4] He would show the +same honour to any servant he wished to praise; and he had all the +food for them placed at his own board, believing this would win their +fidelity, as it would a dog's. Or, if he wished some friend of his to be +courted by the people, he would single him out for such gifts; even to +this day the world will pay court to those who have dishes sent them +from the Great King's table, thinking they must be in high favour at +the palace and can get things done for others. But no doubt there was +another reason for the pleasure in such gifts, and that was the sheer +delicious taste of the royal meats. [5] Nor should that surprise us; +for if we remember to what a pitch of perfection the other crafts are +brought in great communities, we ought to expect the royal dishes to be +wonders of finished art. In a small city the same man must make beds +and chairs and ploughs and tables, and often build houses as well; and +indeed he will be only too glad if he can find enough employers in all +trades to keep him. Now it is impossible that a single man working at a +dozen crafts can do them all well; but in the great cities, owing to the +wide demand for each particular thing, a single craft will suffice for a +means of livelihood, and often enough even a single department of that; +there are shoe-makers who will only make sandals for men and others only +for women. Or one artisan will get his living merely by stitching shoes, +another by cutting them out, a third by shaping the upper leathers, and +a fourth will do nothing but fit the parts together. Necessarily the man +who spends all his time and trouble on the smallest task will do that +task the best. [6] The arts of the household must follow the same law. +If one and the same servant makes the bed, spreads the table, kneads the +dough, and cooks the various dishes, the master must take things as they +come, there is no help for it. But when there is work enough for one man +to boil the pot, and another to roast the meat, and a third to stew the +fish, and a fourth to fry it, while some one else must bake the bread, +and not all of it either, for the loaves must be of different kinds, +and it will be quite enough if the baker can serve up one kind to +perfection--it is obvious, I think, that in this way a far higher +standard of excellence will be attained in every branch of the work. + +[7] Thus it is easy to see how Cyrus could outdo all competitors in the +grace of hospitality, and I will now explain how he came to triumph +in all other services. Far as he excelled mankind in the scale of his +revenues, he excelled them even more in the grandeur of his gifts. It +was Cyrus who set the fashion; and we are familiar to this day with the +open-handedness of Oriental kings. [8] There is no one, indeed, in all +the world whose friends are seen to be as wealthy as the friends of the +Persian monarch: no one adorns his followers in such splendour of +rich attire, no gifts are so well known as his, the bracelets, and the +necklaces, and the chargers with the golden bridles. For in that country +no one can have such treasures unless the king has given them. [9] And +of whom but the Great King could it be said that through the splendour +of his presents he could steal the hearts of men and turn them to +himself, away from brothers, fathers, sons? Who but he could stretch out +an arm and take vengeance on his enemies when yet they were months and +months away? Who but Cyrus ever won an empire in war, and when he died +was called father by the people he overcame?--a title that proclaims the +benefactor and not the robber. [10] Indeed, we are led to think that the +offices called "the king's eyes" and "the king's ears" came into being +through this system of gifts and honours. Cyrus' munificence toward +all who told him what it was well for him to know set countless people +listening with all their ears and watching with all their eyes for news +that might be of service to him. [11] Thus there sprang up a host of +"king's eyes" and "king's ears," as they were called, known and reputed +to be such. But it is a mistake to suppose that the king has one chosen +"eye." It is little that one man can see or one man hear, and to hand +over the office to one single person would be to bid all others go to +sleep. Moreover, his subjects would feel they must be on their guard +before the man they knew was "the king's eye." The contrary is the case; +the king will listen to any man who asserts that he has heard or seen +anything that needs attention. [12] Hence the saying that the king has +a thousand eyes and a thousand ears; and hence the fear of uttering +anything against his interest since "he is sure to hear," or doing +anything that might injure him "since he may be there to see." So far, +therefore, from venturing to breathe a syllable against Cyrus, every man +felt that he was under the eye and within the hearing of a king who was +always present. For this universal feeling towards him I can give no +other reason than his resolve to be a benefactor on a most mighty scale. + +[13] It is not surprising, no doubt, that being the wealthiest of men, +he could outdo the world in the splendour of his gifts. The remarkable +thing was to find a king outstrip his courtiers in courtesy and +kindness. There was nothing, so the story runs, that could ever shame +him more than to be outdone in courtesy. [14] Indeed, a saying of his is +handed down comparing a good king to a good shepherd--the shepherd must +manage his flock by giving them all they need, and the king must satisfy +the needs of his cities and his subjects if he is to manage them. We +need not wonder, then, that with such opinions his ambition was to excel +mankind in courtesy and care. [15] There was a noble illustration of his +philosophy in the answer we are told he gave to Croesus, who had +taken him to task, saying his lavish gifts would bring him to beggary, +although he could lay by more treasures for himself than any man had +ever had before. Cyrus, it is said, asked him in return, "How much +wealth do you suppose I could have amassed already, had I collected +gold, as you bid me, ever since I came into my empire?" + +[16] And Croesus named an enormous sum. Then Cyrus said, "Listen, +Croesus, here is my friend, Hystaspas, and you must send with him a man +that you can trust." Then, turning to Hystaspas, "Do you," he said, +"go round to my friends and tell them that I need money for a certain +enterprise--and that is true, I do need it. Bid each of them write down +the amount he can give me, seal the letter, and hand it to the messenger +of Croesus, who will bring it here." [17] Thereupon Cyrus wrote his +wishes and put his seal on the letter, and gave it to Hystaspas to carry +round, only he added a request that they should all welcome Hystaspas +as a friend of his. And when the messengers came back, the officer of +Croesus carrying the answers, Hystaspas cried, "Cyrus, my lord, you must +know I am a rich man now! I have made my fortune, thanks to your letter! +They have loaded me with gifts." [18] And Cyrus said, "There, Croesus, +that is treasure number one; and now run through the rest, and count +what sums I have in hand, in case I need them." And Croesus counted, +and found, so the story tells us, that the sum was far larger than the +amount he had said would have been lying in the treasury if only Cyrus +had made a hoard. [19] At this discovery Cyrus said, so we are told, +"You see, Croesus, I have my treasures too. Only you advise me to +collect them and hide them, and be envied and hated because of them, and +set mercenaries to guard them, putting my trust in hirelings. But I +hold to it that if I make my friends rich they will be my treasures +themselves, and far better guards too, for me and all we have, than if I +set hired watchmen over my wealth. [20] And I have somewhat else to say; +I tell you, Croesus, there is something the gods have implanted in our +souls, and there they have made us all beggars alike, something I can +never overcome. [21] I too, like all the rest, am insatiate of riches, +only in one respect I fancy I am different. Most men when they have more +wealth than they require bury some of it underground, and let some of it +rot, and some they count and measure, and they guard it and they air +it, and give themselves a world of trouble, and yet for all their +wealth they cannot eat more than they have stomach for--they would burst +asunder if they did--nor wear more clothes than they can carry--they +would die of suffocation--and so their extra wealth means nothing but +extra work. [22] For my part, I serve the gods, and I stretch out my +hands for more and more; only when I have got what is beyond my own +requirements I piece out the wants of my friends, and so, helping my +fellows, I purchase their love and their goodwill, and out of these I +garner security and renown, fruits that can never rot, rich meats that +can work no mischief; for glory, the more it grows, the grander it +becomes, and the fairer, and the lighter to be borne; it even gives a +lighter step to those who bear it. [23] One thing more, Croesus, I would +have you know; the happiest men, in my judgment, are not the holders +of vast riches and the masters who have the most to guard; else the +sentinels of our citadels would be the happiest of mortals, seeing they +guard the whole wealth of the state. He, I hold, has won the crown +of happiness who has had the skill to gain wealth by the paths of +righteousness and use it for all that is honourable and fair." + +[24] That was the doctrine Cyrus preached, and all men could see that +his practice matched his words. + +Moreover, he observed that the majority of mankind, if they live in good +health for long, will only lay by such stores and requisites as may be +used by a healthy man, and hardly care at all to have appliances at hand +in case of sickness. But Cyrus was at the pains to provide these; he +encouraged the ablest physicians of the day by his liberal payments, and +if ever they recommended an instrument or a drug or a special kind of +food or drink, he never failed to procure it and have it stored in the +palace. + +[25] And whenever any one fell sick among those who had peculiar claims +on his attentions, he would visit them and bring them all they needed, +and he showed especial gratitude to the doctors if they cured their +patients by the help of his own stores. [26] These measures, and others +like them, he adopted to win the first place in the hearts of those +whose friendship he desired. Moreover, the contests he proclaimed and +the prizes he offered to awaken ambition and desire for gallant deeds +all redounded to his own glory as a man who had the pursuit of nobleness +at heart, while they bred strife and bitter rivalry among the champions +themselves. [27] Further, he laid it down that in every matter needing +arbitration, whether it were a suit-at-law or a trial of skill, the +parties should concur in their choice of a judge. Each would try to +secure the most powerful man he knew and the one most friendly to +himself, and if he lost he envied his successful rival and hated the +judge who had declared against him, while the man who won claimed to win +because his case was just and felt he owed no gratitude to anybody. +[28] Thus all who wished to be first in the affections of Cyrus, just as +others in democratic states, were full of rancour against each other, in +fact most of them would sooner have seen their rivals exterminated than +join with them for any common good. Such are some of the devices by +which he made the ablest of his subjects more attached to himself than +to one another. + +[C.3] I will now describe the first public progress that Cyrus made. For +the very solemnity of the ceremony was one of the artifices by which +he won reverence for his government. The day before it he summoned the +officers of state, the Persians and the others, and gave them all the +splendid Median dress. This was the first time the Persians wore it, +and as they received the robes he said that he wished to drive in his +chariot to the sacred precincts and offer sacrifice with them. [2] "You +will present yourselves at my gates," he added, "before the sun rises, +attired in these robes, and you will take your places where Pheraulas +the Persian bids you on my behalf. As soon as I lead the way you will +follow in your appointed order. And if any of you should think of some +change to heighten the beauty and stateliness of our procession, you +will acquaint me with it, I pray, on our return; it is for us to see +that all is done in the manner you feel to be most beautiful and best." + +[3] With that Cyrus gave the most splendid robes to his chief notables, +and then he brought out others, for he had stores of Median garments, +purple and scarlet and crimson and glowing red, and gave a share to each +of his generals and said to them, "Adorn your friends, as I have adorned +you." [4] Then one of them asked him, "And you, O Cyrus, when will you +adorn yourself?" But he answered, "Is it not adornment enough for me +to have adorned you? If I can but do good to my friends, I shall look +glorious enough, whatever robe I wear." + +[5] So his nobles took their leave, and sent for their friends and +put the splendid raiment on them. Meanwhile Cyrus summoned Pheraulas, +knowing that, while he was a man of the people, he was also +quick-witted, a lover of the beautiful, prompt to understand and to +obey, and one who had ever an eye to please his master. It was he who +had supported Cyrus long ago when he proposed that honour should be +given in proportion to desert. And now Cyrus asked him how he thought +the procession might be made most beautiful in the eyes of friends and +most formidable in the sight of foes. [6] So they took counsel and were +of the same mind, and Cyrus bade Pheraulas see that all was done on the +morrow as they had agreed. + +"I have issued orders," he added, "for all to obey you in the matter, +but to make them the more willing, take these tunics yourself and give +them to the captains of the guard, and these military cloaks for the +cavalry officers, and these tunics for those who command the chariots." + +[7] So Pheraulas took the raiment and departed, and when the generals +saw him, they met him with shouts and cries, "A monstrous fine fellow +you are, Pheraulas!" said one: "you are to give us our orders, it +seems!" + +"Oh, yes," said Pheraulas, "and carry your baggage too. Here I come with +two cloaks as it is, one for you and another for somebody else: you must +choose whichever you like the best." + +[8] At that the officer put out his hand to take the cloak; he had clean +forgotten his jealousy, and fell to asking Pheraulas which he had +better choose. And Pheraulas gave his advice, adding, "But if you inform +against me, and let out that I gave you the choice, the next time I have +to wait upon you you will find me a very different sort of serving-man." + +Thus he distributed the gifts he brought, and then he saw to the +arrangements for the procession so that everything should be as far as +possible. + +[9] On the morrow all things were ready before day-break, ranks lining +the road on either hand, as they do to this day when the king is +expected to ride abroad--no one may pass within the lines unless he is +a man of mark--and constables were posted with whips, to use at any sign +of disturbance. + +In front of the palace stood the imperial guard of lancers, four +thousand strong, drawn up four deep on either side of the gates. [10] +And all the cavalry were there, the men standing beside their horses, +with their hands wrapped in their cloaks, as is the custom to this day +for every subject when the king's eye is on him. The Persians stood on +the right, and the allies on the left, and the chariots were posted in +the same way, half on one side and half on the other. [11] Presently the +palace-gates were flung open, and at the head of the procession were +led out the bulls for sacrifice, beautiful creatures, four and four +together. They were to be offered to Zeus and to any other gods that the +Persian priests might name. For the Persians think it of more importance +to follow the guidance of the learned in matters pertaining to the gods +than in anything else whatever. + +[12] After the oxen came horses, an offering to the Sun, then a white +chariot with a golden yoke, hung with garlands and dedicated to Zeus, +and after that the white car of the Sun, wreathed like the one before +it, and then a third chariot, the horses of which were caparisoned with +scarlet trappings, and behind walked men carrying fire upon a mighty +hearth. [13] And then at last Cyrus himself was seen, coming forth from +the gates in his chariot, wearing his tiara on his head, and a purple +tunic shot with white, such as none but the king may wear, and trews of +scarlet, and a cloak of purple. Round his tiara he wore a diadem, and +his kinsmen wore the same, even as the custom is to this day. [14] +And the king's hands hung free outside his cloak. Beside him stood a +charioteer--he was a tall man, but he seemed to be dwarfed by Cyrus; +whether it was really so, or whether there was some artifice at work, +Cyrus towered above him. At the sight of the king, the whole company +fell on their faces. Perhaps some had been ordered to do this and so +set the fashion, or perhaps the multitude were really overcome by the +splendour of the pageant and the sight of Cyrus himself, stately and +tall and fair. [15] For hitherto none of the Persians had done obeisance +to Cyrus. + +And now, as the chariot moved onwards, the four thousand lancers went +before it, two thousand on either side, and close behind came the +mace-bearers, mounted on horseback, with javelins in their hands, three +hundred strong. [16] Then the royal steeds were led past, with golden +bridles and striped housings, two hundred and more, and then followed +two thousand spearmen and after them the squadron of cavalry first +formed, ten thousand men, a hundred deep and a hundred riding abreast, +with Chrysantas at their head. [17] And behind them the second body +of the Persian horse, ten thousand more, in the same order, under +Hystaspas, and then again ten thousand under Datamas, and others behind +them under Gadatas. [18] And after them the Median cavalry, and then +the Armenians, the Hyrcanians, the Cadousians, and the Sakians in their +order; and after the cavalry a squadron of war-chariots, drawn up four +deep, with Artabatas the Persian in command. + +[19] All along the route thousands of men followed, outside the +barriers, with petitions to Cyrus. Accordingly he sent his mace-bearers, +who rode beside him for the purpose, three on either side of his +chariot, bidding them tell the crowd of suitors, if they had need of +anything, to acquaint one of the cavalry officers and he would speak for +them. So the petitioners withdrew, and fell to marching along the +lines of the cavalry, considering whom they should address. [20] Cyrus +meanwhile would send messengers to the friends he wished to be courted, +saying to them, "If any man appeals to you and you think nothing of what +he says, pay no heed to him, but if his request seems just, report it to +me, and we will discuss it together and arrange matters for him." [21] +As a rule the officers so summoned did not loiter, but dashed up at +full speed, glad to enhance the authority of Cyrus and to show their +own allegiance. But there was a certain Daïpharnes, a person of somewhat +boorish manners, who fancied that he would make a show of greater +independence if he did not hurry himself. [22] Cyrus noted this, and +quietly, before the man could reach him, sent another messenger to say +he had no further need of him; and that was the last time Daïpharnes +was ever summoned. [23] And when the next officer rode up, in front of +Daïpharnes though sent for after him, Cyrus presented him with a horse +from his train and bade one of the mace-bearers lead it wherever he +wished. The people saw in this a high mark of honour; and a greater +crowd than ever paid their court to the favoured man. + +[24] When the procession reached the sacred precincts, sacrifice +was offered to Zeus, a whole burnt-offering of bulls, and a whole +burnt-offering of horses to the Sun; and then they sacrificed to the +Earth, slaying the victims as the Persian priests prescribed, and then +to the heroes who hold the Syrian land. [25] And when the rites were +done, Cyrus, seeing that the ground was suitable for racing, marked out +a goal, and a course half-a-mile in length, and bade the cavalry and +the chariots match their horses against each other, tribe by tribe. He +himself raced among his Persians, and won with ease, for he was far the +best horseman there. The winner among the Medes was Artabazus, the +horse he rode being a gift from Cyrus. The Syrian race was won by their +chieftain, the Armenian by Tigranes, the Hyrcanian by the general's son, +and the Sakian by a private soldier who left all his rivals half the +course behind him. + +[26] Cyrus, so the story says, asked the young man if he would take a +kingdom for his horse. + +"No kingdom for me," answered the soldier, "but I would take the thanks +of a gallant fellow." + +[27] "Well," said Cyrus, "I would like to show you where you could +hardly fail to hit one, even if you shut your eyes." + +"Be so good as to show me now," said the Sakian, "and I will take aim +with this clod," picking up one from the ground. + +[28] Then Cyrus pointed to a group of his best friends, and the other +shut his eyes and flung the clod, and it struck Pheraulas as he galloped +by, bearing some message from Cyrus. But he never so much as turned, +flashing past on his errand. [29] Then the Sakian opened his eyes and +asked whom he had hit? + +"Nobody, I assure you," said Cyrus, "who is here." + +"And nobody who is not, of course," said the young man. + +"Oh yes, you did," answered Cyrus, "you hit that officer over there who +is riding so swiftly paste the chariot-lines." + +[30] "And how is it," asked the other, "that he does not even turn his +head?" + +"Half-witted, probably," said Cyrus. + +Whereat the young man rode off to see who it was, and found Pheraulas, +with his chin and beard all begrimed and bloody, gore trickling from his +nostrils were the clod had struck him. [31] The Sakian cried out to know +if he was hit. + +"As you see," answered Pheraulas. + +"Then," said the other, "let me give you my horse." + +"But why?" asked Pheraulas. + +And so the Sakian had to tell him all about the matter, adding, "And +after all, you see, I did not miss a gallant fellow." + +[32] "Ah," said Pheraulas, "if you had been wise, you would have chosen +a richer one; but I take your gift with all my thanks. And I pray the +gods," he added, "who let me be your target, to help me now and see that +you may never regret your gift. For the present, mount my horse yourself +and ride back; I will be with you shortly." + +So they exchanged steeds and parted. + +The winner of the Cadousian race was Rathines. + +[33] Then followed chariot-races, tribe by tribe as before: and to all +the winners Cyrus gave goblets of price, and oxen, that they might have +the wherewithal for sacrifice and feasting. He himself took an ox for +his own meed, but he gave all the goblets to Pheraulas to show his +approval of the arrangements for the march. [34] And the manner of that +procession, then first established by Cyrus, continues to this day, the +same in all things, save that the victims are absent when there is no +sacrifice. And when it was over, the soldiers went back to the city, and +took up their quarters for the night, some in houses and some with their +regiments. + +[35] Now Pheraulas had invited the Sakian who had given him the horse, +and he entertained him with the best he had, and set before him a full +board, and after they had dined he filled the goblets Cyrus had given +him, and drank to his guest, and offered them all to him. [36] And +the Sakian looked round on the rich and costly rugs, and the beautiful +furniture, and the train of servants, and cried: + +"Tell me, Pheraulas, do you belong to wealthy folk at home?" + +[37] "Wealthy folk indeed!" cried Pheraulas, "men who live by their +hands, you mean. My father, I can tell you, had work enough to rear me +and get me a boy's schooling; he had to toil hard and live sparely, and +when I grew to be a lad he could not afford to keep me idle, he took me +to a farm in the country and set me there to work it. [38] Then it was +my turn, and I supported him while he lived, digging with my own hands +and sowing the seed in a ridiculous little plot of ground, and yet it +was not a bad bit of soil either, but as good and as honest earth as +ever you saw: whatever seed it got from me, it paid me back again, and +so prettily and carefully and duly, principal and interest both; not +that the interest was very much, I won't say it was, though once or +twice, out of pure generosity, that land gave me twice was much as I put +into it. That's how I used to live at home, in the old days: to-day it's +different, and all that you see here I owe to Cyrus." + +[39] Then the Sakian cried: + +"O lucky fellow! Lucky in everything, and most of all in coming to +wealth from beggary! I know your riches must taste the sweeter, because +you hungered for them first and now are full." + +[40] But Pheraulas answered: + +"Do you really think, my friend, that my joy in life has grown with the +growth of my wealth? Do you not know," he went on, "that I neither eat +nor drink nor sleep with any more zest than I did when I was poor? What +I get by all these goods is simply this: I have more to watch over, more +to distribute, and more trouble in looking after more. [41] I have a +host of servants now, one set asking me for food, another for drink, +another for clothing, and some must have the doctor, and then a herdsman +comes, carrying the carcase of some poor sheep mangled by the wolves, or +perhaps with an ox that has fallen down a precipice, or maybe he has to +tell me that a murrain has broken out among my flocks. It seems to me," +Pheraulas ended, "that I suffer more to-day through having much than +ever I did before through having nothing." + +[42] "But--Heaven help us!" cried the Sakian, "surely, when it is all +safe, to see so much of your own must make you much happier than me?" + +"I assure you, my friend," said Pheraulas, "the possession of riches +is nothing like so sweet as the loss of them is painful. And here is a +proof for you: no rich man lies awake from pure joy at his wealth, but +did you ever know a man who could close his eyes when he was losing?" + +[43] "No," said the Sakian, "nor yet one who could drop asleep when he +was winning." + +[44] "True enough," answered the other, "and if having were as sweet as +getting, the rich would be a thousand times more happy than the poor. +And remember, stranger," he added, "a man who has much must spend much +on the gods and his friends and his guests, and if he takes intense +delight in his riches, spending will cause him intense annoyance." + +[45] "Upon my word," said the Sakian, "for myself, I am not that sort +of man at all: to have much and to spend much is just my idea of perfect +happiness." + +[46] "Heavens!" cried Pheraulas, "what a chance for us both! You can win +perfect happiness now, this instant, and make me happy too! Here, take +all these things for your own, make what use of them you please; and +as for me, you can keep me as your guest, only much more cheaply if +you like: it will be quite enough for me to share whatever you have +yourself." + +"You are jesting," said the Sakian. + +[47] But Pheraulas swore with all solemnity that he spoke in earnest. + +"Yes, my friend," he added, "and there are other matters that I can +arrange for you with Cyrus: freedom from military service or attendance +at the gates. All you will have to do will be to stay at home and grow +rich: I will do the rest on your behalf and mine. And if I win any +treasure through my service at court or on the field, I will bring it +home to you, and you will be lord of more; only," he added, "you must +free me from the responsibility of looking after it, for if you give me +leisure from these cares I believe you will be of great use to Cyrus and +myself." + +[48] So the talk ended and they struck a bargain on these terms, and +kept it. And the Sakian thought he had found happiness because he was +the master of much wealth, and the other felt he was in bliss because he +had got a steward who would leave him leisure to do what he liked +best. [49] For the character of Pheraulas was amiable: he was a loving +comrade, and no service seemed so sweet to him or so helpful as the +service of man. Man, he believed, was the noblest of the animals and the +most grateful: praise, Pheraulas saw, will reap counter-praise, kindness +will stir kindness in return, and goodwill goodwill; those whom men know +to love them they cannot hate, and, in a way no other animals will, they +cherish their parents in life and in death and requite their care. All +other creatures, in short, compared with man, are lacking in gratitude +and heart. + +[50] Thus Pheraulas was overjoyed to feel that he could now be quit of +anxiety for his wealth, and devote himself to his friends, while the +Sakian was delighted with all that he had and all that he could use. The +Sakian loved Pheraulas because he was for ever adding something to the +store, and Pheraulas loved the Sakian because he was willing to assume +the entire burden, and however much the cares increased he never broke +into the other's leisure. Thus those two lived their lives. + +[C.4] Now Cyrus offered sacrifice and held high festival for his +victories, and he summoned to the feast those of his friends who bore +him most affection and had shown most desire to exalt him. With them +were bidden Artabazus the Mede, and Tigranes the Armenian, and the +commander of the Hyrcanian cavalry, and Gobryas. [2] Gadatas was the +chief of the mace-bearers, and the whole household was arranged as he +advised. When there were guests at dinner, Gadatas would not sit down, +but saw to everything, and when they were alone he sat at meat with +Cyrus, who took delight in his company, and in return for all his +services he was greatly honoured by Cyrus and that led to more honours +for others. [3] As the guests entered, Gadatas would show each man to +his seat, and the places were chosen with care: the friend whom Cyrus +honoured most was placed on his left hand (for that was the side +most open to attack), the second on his right, the third next to the +left-hand guest, and the fourth next to the right, and so on, whatever +the number of guests might be. [4] Cyrus thought it well it should be +known how much each man was honoured, for he saw that where the world +believes merit will win no crown and receive no proclamation, there the +spirit of emulation dies, but if all see that the best man gains most, +then the rivalry grows keen. [5] Thus it was that Cyrus marked out the +men he favoured by the seat of honour and the order of precedence. Nor +did he assign the honourable place to one friend for all time; he made +it a law that by good deeds a man might rise into a higher seat or +through sloth descend into a lower; and he would have felt ashamed if it +were not known that the guest most honoured at his table received most +favours at his hands. These customs that arose in the reign of Cyrus +continue to our time, as we can testify. + +[6] While they were at the feast that day it struck Gobryas that though +there was nothing surprising in the abundance and variety at the table +of one who was lord over so vast an empire, yet it was strange that +Cyrus, who had done such mighty deeds, should never keep any dainty for +himself, but must always be at pains to share it with the company. More +than once also he saw Cyrus send off to an absent friend some dish that +had chanced to please him. [7] So that by the time they had finished +their meal all the viands had been given away by Cyrus, and the board +was bare. + +Then Gobryas said, "Truly, Cyrus, until to-day I used to think it was in +generalship that you outshone other men the most, but, by heaven! I say +now it is not in generalship at all, it is generosity." + +[8] "Maybe," said Cyrus, "at least I take far more pride in this work +than in the other." + +"How can that be?" asked Gobryas. + +"Because," said he, "the one does good to man and the other injury." + +[9] Presently as the wine went round and round, Hystaspas turned to +Cyrus and said: + +"Would you be angry, Cyrus, if I asked something I long to know?" + +"On the contrary," answered Cyrus, "I should be vexed if I saw you +silent when you longed to ask." + +"Tell me then," said the other, "have you ever called me and found I +refused to come?" + +"What a question!" said Cyrus, "of course not." + +"Well, have I ever been slow in coming?" + +"No, never." + +"Or failed to do anything you ordered?" + +"No," said Cyrus, "I have no fault to find at all." + +"Whatever I had to do, I always did it eagerly and with all my heart, +did I not?" + +"Most assuredly," answered Cyrus. + +[10] "Then why, Cyrus, why, in heaven's name, have you singled out +Chrysantas for a more honourable seat than me?" + +"Shall I really tell you?" asked Cyrus in his turn. + +"By all means," said the other. + +"And you will not be annoyed if I tell you the plain truth?" + +[11] "On the contrary, it will comfort me to know I have not been +wronged." + +"Well, then, Chrysantas never waited to be called; he came of his own +accord on our behalf, and he made it his business to do, not merely what +he was ordered, but whatever he thought would help us. When something +had to be said to the allies, he would not only suggest what was fitting +for me to say myself, he would guess what I wanted the allies to know +but could not bring myself to utter, since it was about myself, and +he would say it for me as though it were his own opinion; in fact, for +everything of the kind he was nothing less to me than a second and a +better self. And now he is always insisting that what he has already +got is quite enough for himself, and always trying to discover something +more for me: he takes a greater pride and joy in all my triumphs than I +do myself." + +[12] "By Hera," said Hystaspas, "I am right glad I asked you. Only one +thing puzzles me: how am I to show my joy at your success? Shall I clap +my hands and laugh, or what shall I do?" + +"Dance the Persian dance, of course," said Artabazus. And all the +company laughed. + +[13] And as the drinking deepened Cyrus put a question to Gobryas. + +"Tell me, Gobryas, would you be better pleased to give your daughter to +one of our company to-day than the day when you met us first?" + +"Well," said Gobryas, "am I also to tell the truth?" + +"Certainly," said Cyrus, "no question looks for a lie." + +"Then," said Gobryas, "I assure you, I would far rather give her in +marriage to-day." + +"Can you tell us why?" said Cyrus. + +"That I can," said he. + +[14] "Say on, then." + +"At that time, I saw, it is true, the gallant manner in which your men +endured toil and danger, but to-day I see the modesty with which they +bear success. And I believe, Cyrus, that the man who takes good-fortune +well is further to seek than he who can endure adversity; for success +engenders insolence in many hearts, while suffering teaches sobriety and +fortitude." + +[15] And Cyrus said, "Hystaspas, did you hear the saying of Gobryas?" + +"I did indeed," he answered, "and if he has many more as good, he will +find me a suitor for his daughter, a far more eager one than if he had +shown me all his goblets." + +[16] "Well," said Gobryas, "I have many such written down at home, +and you may have them all if you take my daughter to wife. And as for +goblets," he added, "since it seems you cannot away with them, perhaps +I might give them to Chrysantas to punish him for having filled your +seat." + +[17] "Listen to me," said Cyrus, "Hystaspas, and all of you. If you +will but tell me, any of you, when you propose to marry, you would soon +discover what a clever advocate you had in me." + +[18] But Gobryas interposed, "And if one of us wants to give his +daughter in marriage, to whom should he apply?" + +"To me also," answered Cyrus; "I assure you, I am adept in the art." + +"What art is that?" Chrysantas inquired. + +[19] "The art of discerning the wife to suit each man." + +"Then by all the gods," said Chrysantas, "tell me what sort of wife +would do for me?" + +[20] "In the first place," he answered, "she must be short, for you are +not tall yourself, and if you married a tall maiden and wanted to give +her a kiss when she stood up straight, you would have to jump to reach +her like a little dog." + +"Your advice is straight enough," said Chrysantas; "and I am but a sorry +jumper at the best." + +[21] "In the next place," Cyrus went on, "a flat nose would suit you +very well." + +"A flat nose?" said the other, "why?" + +"Because your own is high enough, and flatness, you may be sure, will go +best with height." + +"You might as well say," retorted Chrysantas, "that one who has dined +well, like myself, is best matched with the dinnerless." + +"Quite so," answered Cyrus, "a full stomach is high and an empty paunch +is flat." + +[22] "And now," said Chrysantas, "in heaven's name, tell us the bride +for a flat king?" + +But at this Cyrus laughed outright, and all the others with him. [23] +And the laughter still rang loud when Hystaspas said: + +"There is one thing, Cyrus, that I envy in your royal state more than +all the rest." + +"And what is that?" said Cyrus. + +"That though you are flat, you can raise a laugh." + +"Ah," said Cyrus, "what would you give to have as much said of you? To +have it reported on all sides and wherever you wished to stand well that +you were a man of wit?" + +Thus they bantered each other and gave jest for jest. + +[24] Then Cyrus brought out a woman's attire and ornaments of price +and gave them to Tigranes as a present for his wife, because she had +followed her husband so manfully to the war, and he gave a golden goblet +to Artabazus, and a horse to the Hyrcanian leader, and many another +splendid gift among the company. + +"And to you, Gobryas," said he, "I will give a husband for your +daughter." + +[25] "Let me be the gift," said Hystaspas, "and then I shall get those +writings." + +"But have you a fortune on your side," asked Cyrus, "to match the +bride's?" + +"Certainly, I have," he answered, "I may say twenty times as great." + +"And where," asked Cyrus, "may those treasures be?" + +"At the foot of your throne," he answered, "my gracious lord." + +"I ask no more," said Gobryas, and held out his right hand. "Give him to +me, Cyrus," he said; "I accept him." + +[26] At that Cyrus took the right hand of Hystaspas and laid it in the +hand of Gobryas, and the pledge was given and received. Then Cyrus gave +beautiful gifts to Hystaspas for his bride, but he drew Chrysantas to +his breast and kissed him. [27] Thereupon Artabazus cried: + +"Heaven help us, Cyrus! The goblet you gave me is not of the fine gold +you have given Chrysantas now!" + +"Well," said Cyrus, "you shall have the same one day." + +"When?" asked the other. + +"Thirty years hence," said Cyrus. + +"I will wait," said Artabazus: "I will not die: be ready for me." + +And then the banquet came to an end: the guests rose, and Cyrus stood up +with them and conducted them to the door. + +[28] But on the morrow he arranged that all the allies and all who had +volunteered should be sent back to their homes, all except those who +wished to take up their abode with him. To these he gave grants of land +and houses, still held by their descendants, Medes for the greater part, +and Hyrcanians. And to those who went home he gave many gifts and +sent them away well content, both officers and men. [29] After this +he distributed among his own soldiers all the wealth he had taken at +Sardis, choice gifts for the captains of ten thousand and for his own +staff in proportion to their deserts, and the rest in equal shares, +delivering to every captain one share with orders to divide it among +their subordinates as he had divided the whole among them. [30] +Thereupon each officer gave to the officers directly under him, judging +the worth of each, until it came to the captains of six, who considered +the cases of the privates in their own squads, and gave each man what +he deserved: and thus every soldier in the army received an equitable +share. [31] But after the distribution of it all there were some who +said: + +"How rich Cyrus must be, to have given us all so much!" + +"Rich?" cried others, "what do you mean? Cyrus is no money-maker: he is +more glad to give than to get." + +[32] When Cyrus heard of this talk and the opinions held about him, he +gathered together his friends and the chief men of the state and spoke +as follows: + +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, I have known men who were anxious to +have it thought they possessed more than they really had, thinking this +would give them an air of freedom and nobility. But in my opinion the +result was the very opposite of what they wished. If it is thought that +a man has great riches and does not help his friends in proportion to +his wealth, he cannot but appear ignoble and niggardly. [33] There are +others," he went on, "who would have their wealth forgotten, and these I +look upon as traitors to their friends: for it must often happen that +a comrade is in need and yet hesitates to tell them because he does +not know how much they have, and so he is kept in the dark and left to +starve. [34] The straightforward course, it seems to me, is always to +make no secret of our own resources, but to use them all, whatever they +are, in our efforts to win the crown of honour. Accordingly I am anxious +to show you all my possessions so far as they can be seen, and to give +you a list of the rest." + +[35] With these words he proceeded to point out his visible treasures, +and he gave an exact account of those that could not be shown. He ended +by saying: + +[36] "All these things, gentlemen, you must consider yours as much as +mine. I have collected them, not that I might spend them on myself or +waste them in my own use: I could not do that if I tried. I keep them to +reward him who does a noble deed, and to help any of you who may be in +want of anything, so that you may come to me and take what ou require." + +Such were the words of Cyrus. + +[C.5] But now that all was well in Babylon and Cyrus felt he might leave +the land, he began to prepare for a march to Persia, and sent out orders +to his men. And when he had all he needed, the steeds were yoked, and +he set off. [2] And here we will explain how it was that so vast a host +could unpack and pack again without a break of order, and take up a +position with such speed wherever it was desired. When the king is on +the march his attendants, of course, are provided with tents and encamp +with him, winter and summer alike. [3] From the first the Cyrus made it +a custom to have his tent pitched facing east, and later on he fixed the +space to be left between himself and his lancers, and then he stationed +his bakers on the right and his cooks on the left, the cavalry on the +right again, and the baggage-train on the left. Everything else was so +arranged that each man knew his own quarters, their position and their +size. [4] When the army was packing up after a halt, each man put +together the baggage he used himself, and others placed it on the +animals: so that at one and the same moment all his bearers came to the +baggage-train and each man laid his load on his own beasts. Thus all the +tents could be struck in the same time as one. [5] And it was the +same when the baggage had to be unpacked. Again, in order that the +necessaries should be prepared in time, each man was told beforehand +what he had to do: and thus all the divisions could be provided for as +speedily as one. [6] And, just as the serving-men had their appointed +places, so the different regiments had their own stations, adapted to +their special style of fighting, and each detachment knew their quarters +and went to them without hesitation. [7] Even in a private house, +orderliness, Cyrus knew, was a most excellent thing: every one, if he +needed anything, would then know where to get it; but he held it still +more desirable for the arrangement of an army, seeing that the moment +for action passes far more quickly in war and the evil from being too +late is far more grave. Therefore he gave more thought and care to order +and arrangement than to anything else. + +[8] His own position, to begin with, must be at the centre of the +camp, as this was the safest place, and next to him must come his most +faithful followers, as their habit was. Beyond these, in a ring, lay the +cavalry and the charioteers. [9] For Cyrus held to it that these troops +also needed a safe position: their equipment could not be kept at +hand for them, and if they were to be of any use at all they needed +considerable time for arming. [10] The targeteers were placed to +left and right of the cavalry, and the bowmen in front and rear. [11] +Finally, the heavy-armed troops and those who carried the huge shields +surrounded the whole encampment like a wall; so that in case of need, if +the cavalry had to mount, the steadiest troops would stand firm in front +and let them arm in safety. [12] He insisted that the targeteers and +archers should, like the soldiers of the line, sleep at their posts, in +case of alarm at night, and be ready at any moment, while the infantry +dealt with the assailant at close quarters, to hurl darts and javelins +at them over the others' heads. [13] Moreover, all the generals had +standards on their tents; and just as an intelligent serving-man in a +city will know most of the houses, at any rate of the most important +people, so the squires of Cyrus knew the ways of the camp and the +quarters of the generals and the standards of each. Thus, if Cyrus +needed any one they had not to search and seek, but could run by +the shortest road and summon him at once. [14] Owing to this clear +arrangement, it was easy to see where good discipline was kept and where +duty was neglected. With these dispositions Cyrus felt that if an attack +should be made, by night or day, the enemy would find not so much a +camp as an ambuscade. [15] Nor was it enough, he considered, for a real +master of tactics to know how to extend his front without confusion, or +deepen his ranks, or get from column into line, or wheel round quickly +when the enemy appeared on the right or the left or in the rear: the +true tactician must also be able to break up his troops into small +bodies, whenever necessary, and place each division exactly where it +would be of the greatest use; he must know how to quicken speed when +it was essential to forestall the enemy; these and a hundred other +operations are part of his science, and Cyrus studied them all with +equal care. [16] On the march he varied the order constantly to suit the +needs of the moment, but for the camp, as a rule, he adopted the plan we +have described. + +[17] And now when the march had brought them into Media, Cyrus turned +aside to visit Cyaxares. After they had met and embraced, Cyrus began by +telling Cyaxares that a palace in Babylon, and an estate, had been set +aside for him so that he might have a residence of his own whenever he +came there, and he offered him other gifts, most rich and beautiful. +[18] And Cyaxares was glad to take them from his nephew, and then +he sent for his daughter, and she came, carrying a golden crown, and +bracelets, and a necklace of wrought gold, and a most beautiful Median +robe, as splendid as could be. [19] The maiden placed the crown upon the +head of Cyrus, and as she did so Cyaxares said: + +"I will give her to you, Cyrus, my own daughter, to be your wife. Your +father wedded the daughter of my father, and you are their son; and this +is the little maid whom you carried in your arms when you were with us +as a lad, and whenever she was asked whom she meant to marry, she would +always answer 'Cyrus.' And for her dowry I will give her the whole of +Media: since I have no lawful son." + +[20] So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: + +"Cyaxares, I can but thank you myself for all you offer me, the kinship +and the maiden and the gifts, but I must lay the matter before my father +and my mother before I accept, and then we will thank you together." + +That was what Cyrus said, but none the less he gave the maiden the gifts +he thought would please her father. And when he had done so, he marched +on home to Persia. + +[21] And when he reached the borders of his fatherland, he left the mass +of his troops on the frontier, and went forward alone with his friends +to the city, leading victims enough for all the Persians to sacrifice +and hold high festival. And he brought special gifts for his father and +his mother and his friends of old, and for the high officers of state, +the elders, and all the Persian Peers; and he gave every Persian man and +every Persian woman such bounties as the king confers to-day whenever he +visits Persia. [22] After this Cambyses gathered together the elders +of the land and the chief officers, who have authority in the highest +matters, and spoke as follows: + +"Men of Persia, and Cyrus, my son, both of you are dear to me and must +needs be dear; I am the king of my people and the father of my son; +therefore I am bound to lay before you openly all that I believe to be +for the good of both. [23] In the past the nation has done great things +for Cyrus by giving him an army and appointing him the leader, and +Cyrus, God helping him, has made my Persians famous in all the world by +his leadership, and crowned you with glory in Asia. Of those who served +with him he has made the bravest wealthy for life, and given sustenance +and full pay to numbers. By founding the cavalry he has won the plains +for Persia. [24] If your hearts are still the same in future, all of you +will bless each other: but if you, my son, would be puffed up by your +present fortune and attempt to rule the Persians for your own advantage +as you rule the rest of the world, or if you, my people, should envy +this man's power and try to drive him from his throne, I tell you, you +will cut each other off from many precious things. [25] Therefore, that +this should never be, and only good be yours, I counsel you to offer +sacrifice together, and call the gods to witness and make a covenant. +You, Cyrus, shall vow to resist with all your strength any man who +attacks our land of Persia or tries to overthrow our laws; and you, my +people, must promise that if rebels attempt to depose Cyrus or if +his subjects revolt, you will render aid to him and to yourselves in +whatever way he wishes. [26] Now, so long as I live, the kingdom of +Persia is and continues mine, but when I die it passes to Cyrus if he +is still alive, and whenever he visits Persia it should be a holy custom +for him to offer sacrifice on your behalf, even as I do now; and when he +is abroad, it will be well for you, I think, if the member of our family +whom you count the noblest fulfils the sacred rites." + +[27] Cambyses ended, and Cyrus and the officers of Persia agreed to all +he said. They made the covenant and called the gods to witness, and to +this day they keep it still, the Persians and the Great King. And when +it was done, Cyrus took his leave and came back to Media. [28] There, +with the full consent of his father and his mother, he wedded the +daughter of Cyaxares, the fame of whose beauty has lasted to this +day. And after the marriage his steeds were yoked and they set out for +Babylon. + +[C.6] When he was in Babylon once more, he thought it would be well to +appoint satraps and set them over the conquered tribes. Yet he did not +wish the commandants in the citadels and the captains in charge of the +garrisons throughout the country to be under any authority but his own. +Herein he showed his foresight, realising that if any satrap became +insolent and rebellious, relying on his own wealth and the numbers at +his back, he would at once find a power to oppose him within his own +district. [2] In order to carry out this plan, Cyrus resolved to summon +a council of the leading men and explain the terms on which the +satraps who went would go. In this way, he thought, they would not feel +aggrieved, whereas, if a man found himself appointed and then learnt the +restrictions for the first time, he might well take it ill, fancying it +a sign of personal mistrust. [3] So it was that Cyrus called a council +and spoke as follows: + +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, you are aware that we have garrisons and +commandants in the cities we conquered, stationed there at the time. I +left them with orders simply to guard the fortifications and not +meddle with anything else. Now I do not wish to remove them from their +commands, for they have done their duty nobly, but I propose to send +others, satraps, who will govern the inhabitants, receive the tribute, +give the garrisons their pay, and discharge all necessary dues. [4] +Further, I think it right that certain of you who live here and yet on +whom I may lay the task of travelling to these nations and working for +me among them, should possess houses there and estates, where tribute +may be brought them, and where they may find a place of their own to +lodge in." + +[5] With these words he assigned houses and districts to many of +his friends among the lands he had subdued: and to this day their +descendants possess the estates, although they reside at court +themselves. [6] "Now," he added, "we must choose for the satraps who are +to go abroad persons who will not forget to send us anything of value in +their districts, so that we who are at home may share in all the wealth +of the world. For if any danger comes, it is we who must ward it off." + +[7] With that he ended for the time, but later on when he came to +know what friends of his were ready and willing to go on the terms +prescribed, he selected those he thought best qualified for the work, +and sent Magabazus to Arabia, Artabatas to Cappadocia, Artacamas to +Greater Phrygia, Chrysantas to Lydia and Susia, Adousius, whom the +Carians had asked for themselves, to Caria, and Pharnouchus to Aeolia +and Phrygia by the Hellespont. + +[8] But to Cilicia, Cyprus, and Paphlagonia, Cyrus sent no satraps, +because they had shown their willingness to march against Babylon; +tribute, however, was imposed on them as on the others. [9] In +accordance with the rules then laid down by Cyrus, the citadel garrisons +and the captains-of-the-guard are to this day appointed directly by +the king, and have their names on the royal list. [10] All satraps whom +Cyprus sent out were ordered to do as they saw him doing: each was to +raise a body of cavalry and a chariot-force from the Persians and the +allies who went out with him; and all who received grants of land and +official residences were to present themselves at the palace-gates, +study temperance and self-control, and hold themselves in readiness +for the service of their satrap. Their boys were to be educated at the +gates, as with Cyrus, and the satrap was to lead his nobles out to hunt, +and train himself and his followers in the art of war. [11] "Whichever +of you," Cyrus added, "can show the greatest number of chariots in +proportion to his power, and the largest and finest body of cavalry, I +will honour him as my best ally and most faithful fellow-guardian of +the Persian empire. Let the best men always have the preference at your +courts as they have at mine, give them seats of honour as I do, and let +your table be spread, as mine is, not only for your own household, but +for your friends also, and for the honour of him who may accomplish any +noble deed. [12] You must lay out parks and breed game, and never touch +food until you have toiled for it, nor give your horses fodder until +they have been exercised. I am but a single man, with only human +strength and human virtue, and I could not by myself preserve the good +things that are yours: I must have good comrades to help me in goodness, +and only thus can I be your defender; and you likewise, if you are to +help me, must be good yourselves and have good men at your side. [13] +Remember that I have not spoken unto you as unto slaves: what I say you +ought to do I strive to do myself. And even as I bid you follow me, so I +would have you teach those in authority under you to follow you." + +[14] Such were the principles then laid down by Cyrus, and to this day +all the royal garrisons are appointed in the same manner, the gates of +all the governors are thronged in the same way, the houses, great +and small, are managed in the same fashion, everywhere the most +distinguished guests are given seats of honour, every province is +visited on the same system, and everywhere the threads of numberless +affairs are gathered into the hands of a few superiors. [15] Having +given these instructions, Cyrus assigned a body of troops to each of his +satraps, and sent them out to their provinces, bidding them to be ready +for a campaign in the new year and for a review of their soldiers, their +weapons, their horses, and their chariots. [16] And here I may notice +another custom, also instituted by Cyrus, it is said, and still in force +to-day: every year a progress of inspection is made by an officer at the +head of an army, to help any satrap who may require aid, or bring the +insolent to their senses; and, if there has been negligence in the +delivery of tribute, or the protection of the inhabitants, or the +cultivation of the soil, or indeed any omission of duty whatsoever, the +officer is there to put the matter right, or if he cannot do so himself, +to report it to the king, who decides what is to be done about the +offender. The announcements so often made, such as "the king's son is +coming down," or "the king's brother," or "the king's eye," refer to +these inspectors, but sometimes no one appears, for at any moment +the officer may be turned back at the king's command. [17] We hear of +another arrangement, devised to meet the huge size of the empire and +enable the king to learn with great celerity the state of affairs at any +distance. Cyrus first ascertained how far a horse could travel in +one day without being over-ridden, and then he had a series of +posting-stations built, one day's ride apart, with relays of horses, and +grooms to take care of them, and a proper man in charge of each station +to receive the despatches and hand them on, take over the jaded horses +and men, and furnish fresh ones. [18] Sometimes, we are told, this +post does not even halt at night: the night-messenger relieves the +day-messenger and rides on. Some say that, when this is done, the post +travels more quickly than the crane can fly, and, whether that is true +or not, there is no doubt it is the quickest way in which a human being +can travel on land. To learn of events so rapidly and be able to deal +with them at once is of course a great advantage. + +[19] After a year had passed, Cyrus collected all his troops at Babylon, +amounting, it is said, to one hundred and twenty thousand horse, two +thousand scythe-bearing chariots, and six hundred thousand foot. [20] +Then, seeing that all was got together, he set out for that campaign of +his, on which, the story says, he subdued the nations from the borders +of Syria as far as the Red Sea. After that there followed, we are told, +the expedition against Egypt and its conquest. [21] From that time +forward his empire was bounded on the east by the Red Sea, on the north +by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and towards the south +by Ethiopia. Of these outlying districts, some were scarcely habitable, +owing to heat or cold, drought or excessive rain. [22] But Cyrus himself +always lived at the centre of his dominions, seven months in Babylon +during the winter season, where the land is warm and sunny, three months +at Susa in the spring, and during the height of summer in Ecbatana, +so that for him it was springtime all the year. [23] Towards him the +disposition of all men was such that every nation felt they had failed +unless they could send Cyrus the treasures of their land, plants, +or animals, or works of art. And every city felt the same, and every +private person counted himself on the road to riches if he could do +Cyrus some special service, for Cyrus took only such things as they had +in abundance, and gave them in return what he saw they lacked. + +[C.7] Thus the years passed on, and Cyrus was now in a ripe old age, and +he journeyed to Persia for the seventh time in his reign. His father and +mother were long since dead in the course of nature, and Cyrus offered +sacrifice according to the law, and led the sacred dance of his Persians +after the manner of his forefathers, and gave gifts to every man +according to his wont. + +[2] But one night, as he lay asleep in the royal palace, he dreamt a +dream. It seemed to him that some one met him, greater than a man, and +said to him, "Set your house in order, Cyrus: the time has come, and you +are going to the gods." + +With that Cyrus awoke out of sleep, and he all but seemed to know that +the end of his life was at hand. [3] Straightway he took victims and +offered sacrifice to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and to the Sun, and +all the other gods, on the high places where the Persians sacrifice, and +then he made this prayer: + +"Zeus, god of my fathers, and thou, O Sun, and all ye gods, accept this +sacrifice, my offering for many a noble enterprise, and suffer me to +thank you for the grace ye have shown me, telling me all my life, by +victims and by signs from heaven, by birds and by the voices of men, +what things I ought to do and what I ought to refrain from doing. Deep +is my thankfulness that I was able to recognise your care, and never +lifted up my heart too high even in my prosperity. I beseech you now to +bless my children also, and my wife, and my friends, and my fatherland; +and for myself, may my death be as my life has been." + +[4] Then Cyrus went home again and lay down on his bed, for he longed +to rest. And when the hour was come, his attendants came to him and bade +him take his bath. But he said he would rather rest. And others came +afterwards, at the usual time, to set the meal before him; but he could +not bring himself to take food: he seemed only to thirst, and drank +readily. [5] It was the same the second day, and the third, and then +he called his sons to his side--it chanced they had followed him to +Persia--and he summoned his friends also and the chief magistrates of +the land, and when they were all met, he began: + +[6] "My sons, and friends of mine, the end of my life is at hand: I know +it by many signs. And when I am dead, you must show by word and deed +that you think of me as happy. When I was a child, I had all the joys +and triumphs of a child, and I reaped the treasures of youth as I grew +up, and all the glories of a man when I came to man'e estate. And as the +years passed, I seemed to find my powers grow with them, so that I never +felt my old age weaker than my youth, nor can I think of anything I +attempted or desired wherein I failed. [7] Moreover, I have seen my +friends made happy by my means, and my enemies crushed beneath my hand. +This my fatherland, which was once of no account in Asia, I leave at +the height of power, and of all that I won I think I have lost nothing. +Throughout my whole life I have fared as I prayed to fare, and the dread +that was ever with me lest in days to come I might see or hear or suffer +evil, this dread would never let me think too highly of myself, or +rejoice as a fool rejoices. [8] And if I die now, I leave my sons +behind me, the sons the gods have given me; and I leave my fatherland +in happiness, and my friends. Surely I may hope that men will count me +blessed and cherish my memory. [9] And now I must leave instructions +about my kingdom, that there may be no dispute among you after my death. +Sons of mine, I love you both alike, but I choose the elder-born, the +one whose experience of life is the greater, to be the leader in +council and the guide in action. [10] Thus was I trained myself, in the +fatherland that is yours and mine, to yield to my elders, my brothers or +my fellow-citizens, in the street, or in the place of meeting, or in the +assembly for debate. And thus have I trained both of you, to honour your +elders and be honoured by those who are younger than yourselves. These +are the principles that I leave with you, sanctioned by time, ingrained +in our customs, embodied in our laws. [11] The sovereignty is yours, +Cambyses; the gods have given it to you, and I also, as far as in me +lies; and to you, Tanaoxares, I give the satrapy over the Medes and the +Armenians and the Cadousians, these three; and though I leave your elder +brother a larger empire and the name of king, your inheritance will +bring you, I believe, more perfect happiness than his. [12] I ask myself +what human joy will be lacking to you: all things which gladden the +hearts of men will be yours--but the craving for what is out of reach, +the load of cares, the restless passion to rival my achievements, the +plots and counterplots, they will follow him who wears the crown, +and they are things, be well assured, that leave little leisure for +happiness. [13] And you, Cambyses, you know of yourself, without words +from me, that your kingdom is not guarded by this golden sceptre, but +by faithful friends; their loyalty is your true staff, a sceptre which +shall not fail. But never think that loyal hearts grow up by nature as +the grass grows in the field: if that were so, the same men would be +loyal to all alike, even as all natural objects are the same to all +mankind. No, every leader must win his own followers for himself, and +the way to win them is not by violence but by loving-kindness. [14] And +if you would seek for friends to stand by you and guard your throne, who +so fit to be the first of them as he who is sprung from the self-same +loins? Our fellow-citizens are nearer to us than foreigners, and our +mess-mates dearer than strangers, and what of those who are sprung from +the same seed, suckled at the same breast, reared in the same home, +loved by the same parents, the same mother, the same father? [15] What +the gods have given to be the seal of brotherhood do not make of none +effect yourselves. But build upon it: make it the foundation for other +loving deeds, and thus the love between you shall never be overcome. The +man who takes thought for his brother cares for his own self. For who +but a brother can win glory from a brother's greatness? Who can be +honoured as a brother can through a brother's power? Or who so safe from +injury as the brother of the great? [16] Let no one, Tanaoxares, be more +eager than yourself to obey your brother and support him: to no one can +his triumph or his danger come so near. Ask yourself from whom you could +win a richer reward for any kindness. Who could give you stouter help +in return for your own support? And where is coldness so ugly as between +brothers? Or where is reverence so beautiful? And remember, Cambyses, +only the brother who holds pre-eminence in a brother's heart can be safe +from the jealousy of the world. [17] I implore you both, my sons, by the +gods of our fathers, hold each other in honour, if you care at all to do +me pleasure: and none of you can say you know that I shall cease to be +when I cease to live this life of ours. With your bodily eyes you have +never seen my soul, and yet you have discerned its presence through its +working. [18] And have you never marked the terrors which the spirits +of those who have suffered wrong can send into the hearts of their +murderers, and the avenging furies they let loose upon the wicked? +Think you the honours of the dead would still abide, if the souls of the +departed were altogether powerless? [19] Never yet, my sons, could I +be persuaded that the soul only lives so long as she dwells within this +mortal body, and falls dead so soon as she is quit of that. Nay, I +see for myself that it is the soul which lends life to it, while she +inhabits there. [20] I cannot believe that she must lose all sense on +her separation from the senseless body, but rather that she will reach +her highest wisdom when she is set free, pure and untrammelled at last. +And when this body crumbles in dissolution, we see the several parts +thereof return to their kindred elements, but we do not see the soul, +whether she stays or whether she departs. [21] Consider," he went on, +"how these two resemble one another, Death and his twin-brother Sleep, +and it is in sleep that the soul of a man shows her nature most divine, +and is able to catch a glimpse of what is about to be, for it is then, +perhaps, that she is nearest to her freedom. [22] Therefore, if these +things are as I believe, and the spirit leaves the body behind and is +set free, reverence my soul, O sons of mine, and do as I desire. And +even if it be not so, if the spirit must stay with the body and perish, +yet the everlasting gods abide, who behold all things, with whom is +all power, who uphold the order of this universe, unmarred, unaging, +unerring, unfathomable in beauty and in splendour. Fear them, my sons, +and never yield to sin or wickedness, in thought or word or deed. [23] +And after the gods, I would have you reverence the whole race of man, +as it renews itself for ever; for the gods have not hidden you in the +darkness, but your deeds will be manifest in the eyes of all mankind, +and if they be righteous deeds and pure from iniquity, they will blazon +forth your power: but if you meditate evil against each other, you will +forfeit the confidence of every man. For no man can trust you, even +though he should desire it, if he sees you wrong him whom above all +you are bound to love. [24] Therefore, if my words are strong enough to +teach you your duty to one another, it is well. But, if not, let history +teach you, and there is no better teacher. For the most part, parents +have shown kindness to their children and brothers to their brothers, +but it has been otherwise with some. Look, then, and see which conduct +has brought success, choose to follow that, and your choice will be +wise. [25] And now maybe I have said enough of this. As for my body, +when I am dead, I would not have you lay it up in gold or silver or any +coffin whatsoever, but give it back to the earth with all speed. What +could be more blessed than to lie in the lap of Earth, the mother of all +things beautiful, the nurse of all things good? I have been a lover of +men all my life, and methinks I would fain become a part of that which +does good to man. [26] And now," he added, "now it seems to me that my +life begins to ebb; I feel my spirit slipping away from those parts she +leaves the first. If you would take my hand once more, or look into my +eyes while life is there, draw near me now; but when I have covered my +face, let no man look on me again, not even you, my sons. [27] But you +shall bid the Persians come, and all our allies, to my sepulchre; and +you shall rejoice with me and congratulate me that I am safe at last, +free from suffering or sorrow, whether I am with God or whether I have +ceased to be. Give all who come the entertainment that is fitting in +honour of a man whose life on earth was happy, and so send them away. +[28] Remember my last saying: show kindness to your friends, and then +shall you have it in your power to chastise your enemies. Good-bye, my +dear sons, bid your mother good-bye for me. And all my friends, who are +here or far away, good-bye." + +And with these words he gave his hand to them, and then he covered his +face and died. + + + EPILOGUE + +[C.8] Of all the powers in Asia, the kingdom of Cyrus showed itself to +be the greatest and most glorious. On the east it was bounded by the Red +Sea, on the north by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and +on the south by Ethiopia. And yet the whole of this enormous empire was +governed by the mind and will of a single man, Cyrus: his subjects he +cared for and cherished as a father might care for his children, and +they who came beneath his rule reverenced him like a father. + +[2] But no sooner was he dead than his sons were at strife, cities and +nations revolted, and all things began to decay. I can show that what I +say is true, and first I will speak of their impiety. In the early days, +I am aware, the king and those beneath him never failed to keep the +oaths they had sworn and fulfil the promises they had given, even to the +worst of criminals. [3] In fact, if such had not been their character +and such their reputation, none of the Hellenic generals who marched +up with the younger Cyrus could have felt the confidence they did: they +would not have trusted a Persian any more than one trusts them to-day, +now that their perfidy is known. As it was, they relied on their old +reputation and put themselves in their power, and many were taken up to +the king and there beheaded. And many of the Asiatics who served in the +same war perished as they did, deluded by one promise or another. + +[4] In other ways also the Persians have degenerated. Noble achievement +in the old days was the avenue to fame: the man was honoured who risked +his life for the king, or brought a city or nation beneath his sway. But +now, if some Mithridates has betrayed his father Ariobarzanes, or some +Reomithres has left his wife and children and the sons of his friend as +hostages at the court of Egypt, and then has broken the most solemn of +all pledges--it is they and their like who are loaded with the highest +honours, if only they are thought to have gained some advantage for the +king. [5] With such examples before them, all the Asiatics have turned +to injustice and impiety. For what the leaders are, that, as a rule, +will the men below them be. Thus has lawlessness increased and grown +among them. [6] And injustice has grown, and thieving. Not only +criminals, but men who are absolutely innocent are arrested and forced +to pay fines for no reason whatsoever: to be known to have wealth is +more dangerous than guilt, so that the rich do not care to have any +dealings with the powerful, and dare not even risk appearing at the +muster of the royal troops. [7] Therefore, when any man makes war on +Persia, whoever he may be, he can roam up and down the country to his +heart's content without striking a blow, because they have forgotten the +gods and are unjust to their fellow-men. In every way their hearts and +minds are lower than in days gone by. + +[8] Nor do they care for their bodies as they did of old. It was always +their custom neither to spit nor blow the nose, only it is clear this +was instituted not from concern for the humours of the body, but in +order to strengthen themselves by toil and sweat. But nowadays, though +this habit is still in vogue, to harden the body by exercise has quite +gone out of fashion. [9] Again, from the first it was their rule only to +take a single meal in the day, which left them free to give their time +to business and exercise. The single meal is still the rule, but it +commences at the earliest hour ever chosen for breakfast, and the eating +and drinking goes on till the last moment which the latest reveller +would choose for bed. [10] It was always forbidden to bring chamber-pots +into the banquet-hall, but the reason lay in their belief that the +right way to keep body and brain from weakness was to avoid drinking +in excess. But to-day, though as in the old time no such vessels may be +carried in, they drink so deep that they themselves are carried out, too +weak to stand on their own legs. [11] It was a national custom from the +first not to eat and drink on the march nor be seen satisfying the wants +of nature, but nowadays, though they still abstain, they make each march +so short that no man need wonder at their abstinence. + +[12] In the old time they went out to hunt so often that the chase gave +enough exercise and training for man and horse alike. But when the day +came that Artaxerxes and all his court were the worse for wine, the old +custom of the king leading the hunt in person began to pass away. And if +any eager spirits hunted with their own followers it was easy to see the +jealousy, and even the hatred, aroused by such superiority. + +[13] It is still the habit to bring up the boys at the palace-gates, but +fine horsemanship has disappeared, for there is no place where the lads +can win applause by their skill. The old belief that the children of +Persia would learn justice by hearing the judges decide the cases has +been turned upside down: the children have only to use their eyes and +they see that the verdict goes to the man with the longest purse. [14] +Children in former times were taught the properties of plants in order +to use the wholesome and avoid the harmful; but now they seem to learn +it for the mere sake of doing harm: at any rate, there is no country +where deaths from poison are so common. [15] And the Persian to-day is +far more luxurious than he was in the time of Cyrus. Then they still +clung to the Persian style of education and the Persian self-restraint, +merely adopting the Median dress and a certain grace of life. But now +the old Persian hardihood may perish for all they care, if only they +preserve the softness of the Mede. [16] I might give instances of their +luxury. They are not content with soft sheets and rugs for their beds, +they must have carpets laid under the bed-posts to prevent any jarring +from the floor. They have given up none of the cooked dishes invented +in former days; on the contrary, they are always devising new ones, and +condiments to boot: in fact, they keep men for the very purpose. [17] In +the winter it is not enough to have the body covered, and the head and +the feet, they must have warm sleeves as well and gloves for the hands: +and in the summer they are not content with the shade from the trees or +the rocks, they must have servants standing beside them with artificial +screens. [18] To have an endless array of cups and goblets is their +special pride: and if these are come by unjustly, and all the world +knows it, why, there is nothing to blush for in that: injustice has +grown too common among them, and ill-gotten gain. [19] Formerly no +Persian was ever to be seen on foot, but the sole object of the custom +was to make them perfect horsemen. Now they lay more rugs on their +horses' backs than on their own beds; it is not a firm seat they care +for, but a soft saddle. + +[20] As soldiers we may imagine how they have sunk below the ancient +standard; in past times it was a national institution that the +land-owner should furnish troopers from his own estate, and men were +bound to go on active service, while the garrison troops in the country +received regular pay; but now the Persian grandees have manufactured +a new type of cavalry, who earn their pay as butlers and cooks and +confectioners and cupbearers and bathmen and flunkeys to serve at table +or remove the dishes, and serving-men to put their lords to bed and help +them to rise, and perfumers to anoint them and rub them and make them +beautiful. [21] In numbers they make a very splendid show, but they are +no use for fighting; as may be seen by what actually takes place: an +enemy can move about their country more freely than the inhabitants +themselves. [22] It will be remembered that Cyrus put a stop to the +old style of fighting at long range, and by arming men and horses with +breastplates and giving each trooper a short spear he taught them to +fight at close quarters. But nowadays they will fight in neither one +style nor the other. [23] The infantry still carry the large shields, +the battle-axes, and the swords, as if they meant to do battle as they +did in Cyrus' day. [24] But they will never close with the enemy. Nor do +they use the scythe-bearing chariots as Cyrus intended. By the +honours he gave he raised the dignity and improved the quality of his +charioteers till he had a body of men who would charge right into the +enemy's ranks; but the generals of to-day, though they do not even know +the charioteers by sight, flatter themselves that untrained men will +serve their purpose quite as well as trained. [25] So the charioteers +will dash off, but before they reach the enemy half the men have fallen +from their boxes, and the others will jump out of their own accord, +and the teams, left without their drivers, will do more harm to their +friends than to their foes. [26] And since in their hearts the Persians +of to-day are well aware what their fighting condition really is, they +always give up the struggle, and now none of them will take the field +at all without Hellenes to help them, whether they are fighting among +themselves or whether Hellenes are in arms against them: even then it +is a settled thing that they must have the aid of other Hellenes to face +them. + +[27] I venture to think I have shown the truth of the statement that I +made. I asserted that the Persians of to-day and their allies are less +religious than they were of old, less dutiful to their kindred, less +just and righteous towards other men, and less valiant in war. And if +any man doubts me, let him examine their actions for himself, and he +will find full confirmation of all I say. + + + NOTES + +C1. Xenophon puts into the mouth of Chrysantas his favourite theory of +monarchism, the relationship strongly cemented by obedience and trust +between subjects and king. + +C1.4, med. On _willing_ service. This again is one of the best +utterances in all Xenophon. It has a deep spiritual import. + +C1.4, fin. He is thinking of Athens, perhaps. It is a choice: obey the +ruler or knock under to foreign foes. + +C1.8. Surely a remark of the author. It is an old inveterate thought of +his: "the Master's eye." I feel the _old_ man at times. + +C1.9-10. This side of the Persian state-machine strongly impressed the +mind and imagination of Xenophon. Hence he works it into the treatise +on economy as well as here. In fact his expansion of the Socratic +reflections into the _Economist_ has to do, I believe, with these +reflections on state economy. + +C1.13. Hellenic aristocratic theory of existence. Leisure for the grand +duties which devolve on the lords of mankind. It doesn't seem to +strike Xenophon that this rigid system of self-absorption in the higher +selfhood of the social system might be destructive of individual life. +Of course he would say, "No, it enlarges the individual life." + +C1.17-20. Seems to me to show Xenophon struggling with the hard parts +of the later Persian system. The theory of Persian feudalism is too +high-strung for these grand satraps, rulers of provinces as big as +ordinary kingdoms. It tends to snap, and from the beginning did. The +archic man has no charm to compel his followers to archic virtue. It is +a negative {episteme} after all. Does Xenophon realise this, or is hgd. +wrong? + +C1.21. Cf. headmasters with preposters in a public school, based on the +same system of high aims and duties corresponding to rights. + +C1.23, init. Cf. Louis Napoleon in Browning's poem [_Prince +Hohensteil-Schwangau_]. + +C1.23, med. The Magians, the Persian order of priests. Yet we have heard +of them throughout. + +C1.27. A very true saying and very nice the feeling it gives us towards +Xenophon. We think of him with his wife and his little sons and his +friends and their friends. + +C1.28. How true of women! + +C1.33. A reduplication of the description in Bk. I., and also a +summing-up of Xenophon's own earthly paradise--quite Tennysonian. + +C1.37. An important point or principle in Xenophon's political +theory--indeed the key and tone of it: no one has a right to command +except by virtue of personal superiority. + +C1.40 foll. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the +morning!" The section, if, as I think it is, by Xenophon, throws +light on the nature and composition of the book. The author isn't so +disengaged from "history" that he can set aside obviously integral +parts of the Persian system traceable to Cyrus, or at any rate probably +original, and their false-seeming and bamboozling mode of keeping up +dignity has to be taken account of. It has its analogy in the admission +of thaumaturgy on the part of religious teachers, and no doubt a good +deal can be said for it. The archic man in low spirits, if he ever is +so, has some need of bamboozling himself. Titles do give some moral +support even nowadays to certain kinds of minds. + +C1.46-48. The archic man's dealings by those of his subjects who are apt +to rule, the men of high thoughts and ambitions, with whom he must come +into constant personal contact. With them the spiritual dominance alone +will do. They shall be made to love him rather than themselves. +(The only thing just here that jars is a sort of Machiavellian +self-consciousness, resented in the archic man). + +C1.46. A cumbrous disjointed sentence, but the thought of it is clear +enough. Even Xenophon's style breaks down when he tries to say in +a breath more than he naturally can. Is it a sign of senility, or +half-thought-out ideas, or what? + +C2.2, fin. Does Xenophon feel the bathos of this, or is hdg. wrong and +there is no bathos? It may be said that the sacramental and spiritual +side is not in abeyance. Xenophon has to account for the "common board" +and he has the Spartan Lycurgan "common board" to encourage him, so that +imaginatively he provides this royal being with a sumptuous table at +which thousands will share alike. + +C2.3. How far was this a custom among Hellenes? It reveals a curious +state of society, real or imaginary; but I suppose that at Rome in +imperial days (cf. _panem et circenses_) the theory of meat and drink +largesses being the best would hold. + +C2.4, fin. The last remark is so silly (?) I am almost disposed to +follow Lincke and admit interpolation. Yet on the whole I think it is +the voice of the old man explaining in his Vicar-of-Wakefield style, +to his admiring auditors, wife, children, and grandsons, I fancy, and +slaves, the _raison d'être_ of Persian dinner-largesse customs. + +C2.6. Qy.: What was Xenophon's manner of composing? The style here +is loose, like that of a man talking. Perhaps he lectured and the +amanuensis took down what he said. + +C2.8. Ineptitudes. One does somewhat sniff an editor here, I think, but +I am not sure. There's a similar touch of ineptitude (senility, perhaps) +in the _Memorabilia_, _ad fin_. On the other hand I can imagine Xenophon +purring over this side of Orientalism quite naturally. + +C2.12. This slipshod style, how accounted for? The most puzzling thing +of all is the sort of mental confusion between Cyrus and the king in +general. + +C2.15-16. Thoroughly Xenophontine and Ruskinian and eternal. + +C2.24. Here is the germ of benefit societies and clubs and insurances +and hospitals. Xenophon probably learns it all from Ctesias, and others +of the sort. Cyrus provides doctors and instruments and medicines and +diet, in fact, all the requisites of a hospital, in his palace. Nor does +he forget to be grateful to the doctors who cured the sick. [Ctesias, +the Greek physician to the Persian king. See _Anabasis_, I. viii. Works, +Vol. I. p. 108.] + +C2.26 ff. Xenophon's Machiavellianism. Does it work? + +C2.17-28. It seems to me that all this is too elaborate for an +interpolator: it smacks of Xenophon in his arm-chair, theorising and +half-dreaming over his political philosophy. + +C3.2. Prototype, a procession to Eleusis or elsewhere: the Panathenaic, +possibly. Xenophon's sumptuous taste and love of bright colours. + +C3.3, fin., C3.4. What a curious prototypic sound! Truly this is the +very _modus_ of the evangelist's type of sentence. His narrative must +run in this mould. + +C3.4, fin. This is the old Cyrus. It comes in touchingly here, this +refrain of the old song, now an echo of the old life. + +C3.14. Xenophon delights somewhat in this sort of scene. It is a +turning-point, a veritable moral peripety, though the decisive step was +taken long ago. What is Xenophon's intention with regard to it? Has he +any _parti pris_, for or against? Does he wish us to draw conclusions? +Or does it correspond to a moral meeting of the waters in his own mind? +Here love of Spartan simplicity, and there of splendour and regality +and monarchism? He does not give a hint that the sapping of the system +begins here, when the archic man ceases to depend on his own spiritual +archic qualities and begins to eke out his dignity by artificial means +and external shows of reverence. + +C3.20. Is this worthy of the archic man? It is a method, no doubt, +of {arkhe}, but has it any spiritual "last" in it? The incident of +Daïpharnes somewhat diverts our attention from the justice of the system +in reference to the suitors. On the whole, I think Xenophon can't get +further. He is blinded and befogged by two things: (1) his (i.e. their) +aristocratism, and again (2) his satisfaction in splendour and get-up, +provided it is attached to moral greatness. We are in the same maze, I +fancy. Jesus was not, nor is Walt Whitman. + +C3.23. Cyrus is made to behave rather like the autocratic father of a +goody story-book. + +C3.25. Realistic and vivid detailing: our curiosity is satisfied. "Who +has won?" we ask. "Oh, so-and-so, Smith." Well, it's something to know +that Smith has won. Xenophon, the artist, 'cutely introduces the Sakian +to us. One scene takes up another, just as in real life. Quite soon +we know a great deal more about this young man, a mere Sakian private +soldier, who wins the race so easily on his splendid horse. Cyrus +and good fortune introduce him to the very man he is suited to: viz. +Pheraulas. + +C3.37. Pheraulas' boyhood has already been sketched by himself (II. +C3.7), the active sturdy little youngster, snatching at a knife, and +hacking away _con amore_. We know him well: Xenophon's modernism comes +out in these things. Here we have the old father, a heart of oak, like +the old Acharnian in Aristophanes. One of the prettiest morsels in all +Xenophon. Xenophon's own father, is he there? + +C3.47. The desire for "leisure" is as strong in Xenophon as in hgd. or +S. T. I., I think. [S. T. Irwin, also a master at Clifton.] + +C4.1. Why is the Hyrcanian never named? Is it conceivable that Xenophon +shrinks from using a proper name except when he has some feeling for the +sound of the language? (Sic. Sakians, Cadousians, Indians, etc.) + +C4.4 The "mark" system again which Xenophon believes in, but hgd. not. +Shows how he tried to foster competitiveness. It's after all a belief +in the central sun, a species of monarch-worship, logical and consistent +enough. + +C4.8. Xenophon reveals himself and the Hellenic feeling with regard to +war and its use. The _pax Romana_ is anticipated in their minds. + +C4.9. Hystaspas is rather like the sons of Zebedee or the elder brother +of the Prodigal. + +C4.12, fin. Looks rather like a Greek joke. But what is the joke? + +C4.13-23. Broad type of joke, but not unhealthy or prurient. Prototype +probably Agesilaus and the younger Cyrus at the supper-table, with just +this touch of coarseness. + +C4.32-36. This is = to the Comtist theory of the duties of capitalists, +and is one of the noblest disquisitions in all Xenophon, {os g' emoi +dokei}. Cyrus' theory is based on fraternal feeling among the _elite_ of +the world, and that is the sole difference, a large one doubtless, +and measures the gap between Xenophon and A. C. and our advance in +Democracy. + +C5.17. How far is this historical, i.e. semi-historical? I can't help +supposing that the commoner notion of a conquest of Media by Persia was +current and familiar to Xenophon apart from any other account, which for +his present purpose he chose to go upon and possibly believed in. + +C5.18-20. Will Cyrus take her to wife, his old playmate? All this shows +once more Xenophon's love of children. + +C5.23-25. The Persian Magna Charta, parallel to that between the Spartan +king and the ephorate. + +C6.1-3. (a) Satraps; to be counterpoised by (b) military governors in +the citadels, and (c) visitors living at court, but possessed of lands +in the provinces. The object is, no doubt, to create a common +interest between the nobles and the king which will keep the satrap in +counterpoise. + +C6.11. The Oriental feeling again. + +C6.12, fin. One of the nicest (monarchical) remarks ever uttered. + +C6.13. Marked Greek Testament parallel S. Joan. 13, 13. Surely the +evangelist had read this at school: I mean, the Greek scribe who +Hellenised the evangel. + +C6.23. Free trade or favoured-nation principle and commercial treaty. + +C7.10. Prototype: Socrates and his sons. Perhaps also Xenophon and his. +One seems to hear his own voice addressing Gryllus. + +C7.14. A very noble passage. + +C7.27. That's also nice: "Summon the Persians to rejoice with me at my +joyous release;" a refined form of funeral festival--"nothing is here +for tears"--nor have we, perhaps, arrived beyond it. + +C7.28. His last remark is Xenophon-Hellenic, but less edifying; +fortunately it is only the penultimate, for there is the final +{khairete} [good-bye] and message to his wife. Why was she not present? +I suppose she was at home in Babylon. + +[C8. It has been doubted whether C8 is by Xenophon at all. C8.3, with +its reference to the _Anabasis_, certainly looks as though it might have +been written after his death. Some scholars have also thought the style +unlike Xenophon's, but it is clear from his marginal notes that Mr. +Dakyns did not lean towards this view. To stress the degeneracy of the +Persians is, no doubt, to make a curious comment on the institutions of +"the born ruler," but on the other hand the preceding chapter (C7) is +full of grave warnings, and, throughout, Xenophon has been at pains to +insist that everything depends on the continuous and united effort of +the ruling classes towards virtue and self-control. Again, as Mr. Dakyns +pointed out (in his _Sketch of Xenophon's Life_, Works, Vol. I. p. +cxxxvii.), the epilogue bears a marked analogy to the account of Spartan +degeneracy in c. xiv. of the _Laconian Polity_ (see Vol. II. p. 322), a +chapter he took to be genuine. On the whole, therefore, we may conclude +that he would have considered this epilogue to be genuine also.--F.M.S.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cyropaedia, by Xenophon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CYROPAEDIA *** + +***** This file should be named 2085-8.txt or 2085-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/8/2085/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/2085-8.zip b/2085-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..58d389f --- /dev/null +++ b/2085-8.zip diff --git a/2085-h.zip b/2085-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..506db3c --- /dev/null +++ b/2085-h.zip diff --git a/2085-h/2085-h.htm b/2085-h/2085-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..897696b --- /dev/null +++ b/2085-h/2085-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,12586 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> +<title> + Cyropaedia, + by Xenophon +</title> + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body { text-align:justify} + P { margin:15%; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + .play { margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; text-align: justify; font-size: 100%; } + img {border: 0;} + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%;} + .pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 1%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: left; + color: gray; + } /* page numbers */ + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 10%; margin-left: 1%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; + margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 5%; margin-bottom: .75em; font-size: 110%;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 5%;} + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-family: Courier; font-style: italic; font-size: 100%; margin-left: 25%;} + --> +</style> + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cyropaedia, by Xenophon + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cyropaedia + The Education Of Cyrus + +Author: Xenophon + +Editor: F. M. Stawell + +Translator: Henry Graham Dakyns + +Release Date: July 18, 2009 [EBook #2085] +[Last updated: August 9, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CYROPAEDIA *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, Dagny, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br><br> + +<h1> + CYROPAEDIA +</h1> +<h2> +THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS +</h2><br><br> + +<h2> +By Xenophon +</h2><br><br> + +<h3> +Translated By Henry Graham Dakyns +</h3><br> +<h3> +Revised By F. M. Stawell +</h3> + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + +<h4> +DEDICATION +</h4> +<h4> +To Clifton College +</h4> + + +<div class="mynote"> + + +<center> +PREPARER'S NOTE +</center> +<p> +This was typed from an Everyman's Library edition. It seems that Dakyns +died before Cyropaedia could be included as the planned fourth and final +volume of his series, "The Works of Xenophon," published in the 1890s by +Macmillan and Co. The works in that series can all be found in Project +Gutenberg under their individual titles. The complete list of Xenophon's +works (though there is doubt about some of these) is: +</p> +<pre> + Work Number of books + + The Anabasis 7 + The Hellenica 7 + The Cyropaedia 8 + The Memorabilia 4 + The Symposium 1 + The Economist 1 + On Horsemanship 1 + The Sportsman 1 + The Cavalry General 1 + The Apology 1 + On Revenues 1 + The Hiero 1 + The Agesilaus 1 + The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2 +</pre> +<p> +Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English +using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks +have been lost. +</p> +<br> +</div> + + + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + + +<h2>Contents</h2> + +<center> +<table summary=""> +<tr><td> + + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_INTR"> +INTRODUCTION +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0002"> +EDITOR'S NOTE +</a></p><br /> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0003"> +<big><b>CYROPAEDIA</b></big> +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0004"> +BOOK I +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0005"> +BOOK II +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0006"> +BOOK III +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0007"> +BOOK IV +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0008"> +BOOK V +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0009"> +BOOK VI +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0010"> +BOOK VII +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#2H_4_0011"> +BOOK VIII +</a></p> + + +</td></tr> +</table> +</center> + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="2H_INTR"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + + + +<h2> + INTRODUCTION +</h2> +<p> +A very few words may suffice by way of introduction to this translation +of the <i>Cyropaedia</i>. +</p> +<p> +Professor Jowett, whose Plato represents the high-water mark of +classical translation, has given us the following reminders: "An English +translation ought to be idiomatic and interesting, not only to the +scholar, but also to the unlearned reader. It should read as an original +work, and should also be the most faithful transcript which can be made +of the language from which the translation is taken, consistently with +the first requirement of all, that it be English. The excellence of a +translation will consist, not merely in the faithful rendering of words, +or in the composition of a sentence only, or yet of a single paragraph, +but in the colour and style of the whole work." +</p> +<p> +These tests may be safely applied to the work of Mr. Dakyns. An +accomplished Greek scholar, for many years a careful and sympathetic +student of Xenophon, and possessing a rare mastery of English idiom, +he was unusually well equipped for the work of a translator. And +his version will, as I venture to think, be found to satisfy those +requirements of an effective translation which Professor Jowett laid +down. It is faithful to the tone and spirit of the original, and it has +the literary quality of a good piece of original English writing. For +these and other reasons it should prove attractive and interesting +reading for the average Englishman. +</p> +<p> +Xenophon, it must be admitted, is not, like Plato, Thucydides, or +Demosthenes, one of the greatest of Greek writers, but there are several +considerations which should commend him to the general reader. He is +more representative of the type of man whom the ordinary Englishman +specially admires and respects, than any other of the Greek authors +usually read. +</p> +<p> +An Athenian of good social position, endowed with a gift of eloquence +and of literary style, a pupil of Socrates, a distinguished soldier, +an historian, an essayist, a sportsman, and a lover of the country, he +represents a type of country gentleman greatly honoured in English life, +and this should ensure a favourable reception for one of his chief works +admirably rendered into idiomatic English. And the substance of the +<i>Cyropaedia</i>, which is in fact a political romance, describing the +education of the ideal ruler, trained to rule as a benevolent despot +over his admiring and willing subjects, should add a further element of +enjoyment for the reader of this famous book in its English garb. +</p> +<pre> + J. HEREFORD. +</pre> + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br> +<br> + +<a name="2H_4_0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + + +<h2> + EDITOR'S NOTE +</h2> +<p> +In preparing this work for the press, I came upon some notes made by Mr. +Dakyns on the margin of his Xenophon. These were evidently for his own +private use, and are full of scholarly colloquialisms, impromptu words +humorously invented for the need of the moment, and individual turns of +phrase, such as the references to himself under his initials in small +letters, "hgd." Though plainly not intended for publication, the notes +are so vivid and illuminating as they stand that I have shrunk from +putting them into a more formal dress, believing that here, as in the +best letters, the personal element is bound up with what is most fresh +and living in the comment, most characteristic of the writer, and most +delightful both to those who knew him and to those who will wish they +had. I have, therefore, only altered a word here and there, and added +a note or two of my own (always in square brackets), where it seemed +necessary for the sake of clearness. +</p> +<pre> + F. M. S. +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> +<hr> +<br><a name="2H_4_0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> +<br> + + + +<h1> + CYROPAEDIA +</h1> +<h2> +THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS +</h2> +<a name="2H_4_0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK I +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) We have had occasion before now to reflect how often democracies +have been overthrown by the desire for some other type of government, +how often monarchies and oligarchies have been swept away by movements +of the people, how often would-be despots have fallen in their turn, +some at the outset by one stroke, while whose who have maintained their +rule for ever so brief a season are looked upon with wonder as marvels +of sagacity and success. +</p> +<p> +The same lesson, we had little doubt, was to be learnt from the family: +the household might be great or small—even the master of few could +hardly count on the obedience of his little flock. (2) And so, one idea +leading to another, we came to shape our reflexions thus: Drovers may +certainly be called the rulers of their cattle and horse-breeders +the rulers of their studs—all herdsmen, in short, may reasonably be +considered the governors of the animals they guard. If, then, we were to +believe the evidence of our senses, was it not obvious that flocks and +herds were more ready to obey their keepers than men their rulers? Watch +the cattle wending their way wherever their herdsmen guide them, see +them grazing in the pastures where they are sent and abstaining from +forbidden grounds, the fruit of their own bodies they yield to their +master to use as he thinks best; nor have we ever seen one flock among +them all combining against their guardian, either to disobey him or to +refuse him the absolute control of their produce. On the contrary, they +are more apt to show hostility against other animals than against +the owner who derives advantage from them. But with man the rule is +converse; men unite against none so readily as against those whom they +see attempting to rule over them. (3) As long, therefore, as we followed +these reflexions, we could not but conclude that man is by nature fitted +to govern all creatures, except his fellow-man. But when we came to +realise the character of Cyrus the Persian, we were led to a change +of mind: here is a man, we said, who won for himself obedience from +thousands of his fellows, from cities and tribes innumerable: we must +ask ourselves whether the government of men is after all an impossible +or even a difficult task, provided one set about it in the right way. +Cyrus, we know, found the readiest obedience in his subjects, though +some of them dwelt at a distance which it would take days and months to +traverse, and among them were men who had never set eyes on him, and for +the matter of that could never hope to do so, and yet they were willing +to obey him. (4) Cyrus did indeed eclipse all other monarchs, before or +since, and I include not only those who have inherited their power, but +those who have won empire by their own exertions. How far he surpassed +them all may be felt if we remember that no Scythian, although +the Scythians are reckoned by their myriads, has ever succeeded in +dominating a foreign nation; indeed the Scythian would be well content +could he but keep his government unbroken over his own tribe and people. +The same is true of the Thracians and the Illyrians, and indeed of all +other nations within our ken; in Europe, at any rate, their condition is +even now one of independence, and of such separation as would seem to +be permanent. Now this was the state in which Cyrus found the tribes and +peoples of Asia when, at the head of a small Persian force, he started +on his career. The Medes and the Hyrcanians accepted his leadership +willingly, but it was through conquest that he won Syria, Assyria, +Arabia, Cappadocia, the two Phrygias, Lydia, Caria, Phoenicia, and +Babylonia. Then he established his rule over the Bactrians, Indians, and +Cilicians, over the Sakians, Paphlagonians, and Magadidians, over a +host of other tribes the very names of which defy the memory of the +chronicler; and last of all he brought the Hellenes in Asia beneath his +sway, and by a descent on the seaboard Cyprus and Egypt also. +</p> +<p> +(5) It is obvious that among this congeries of nations few, if any, +could have spoken the same language as himself, or understood one +another, but none the less Cyrus was able so to penetrate that vast +extent of country by the sheer terror of his personality that the +inhabitants were prostrate before him: not one of them dared lift hand +against him. And yet he was able, at the same time, to inspire them all +with so deep a desire to please him and win his favour that all they +asked was to be guided by his judgment and his alone. Thus he knit to +himself a complex of nationalities so vast that it would have taxed a +man's endurance merely to traverse his empire in any one direction, east +or west or south or north, from the palace which was its centre. For +ourselves, considering his title to our admiration proved, we set +ourselves to inquire what his parentage might have been and his natural +parts, and how he was trained and brought up to attain so high a pitch +of excellence in the government of men. And all we could learn from +others about him or felt we might infer for ourselves we will here +endeavour to set forth. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) The father of Cyrus, so runs the story, was Cambyses, a king +of the Persians, and one of the Perseidae, who look to Perseus as +the founder of their race. His mother, it is agreed, was Mandane, the +daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Of Cyrus himself, even now in +the songs and stories of the East the record lives that nature made him +most fair to look upon, and set in his heart the threefold love of +man, of knowledge, and of honour. He would endure all labours, he would +undergo all dangers, for the sake of glory. (2) Blest by nature with +such gifts of soul and body, his memory lives to this day in the mindful +heart of ages. It is true that he was brought up according to the laws +and customs of the Persians, and of these laws it must be noted that +while they aim, as laws elsewhere, at the common weal, their guiding +principle is far other than that which most nations follow. Most states +permit their citizens to bring up their own children at their own +discretion, and allow the grown men to regulate their own lives at their +own will, and then they lay down certain prohibitions, for example, not +to pick and steal, not to break into another man's house, not to strike +a man unjustly, not to commit adultery, not to disobey the magistrate, +and so forth; and on the transgressor they impose a penalty. (3) But the +Persian laws try, as it were, to steal a march on time, to make their +citizens from the beginning incapable of setting their hearts on any +wickedness or shameful conduct whatsoever. And this is how they set +about their object. +</p> +<p> +In their cities they have an open place or square dedicated to Freedom +(Free Square they call it), where stand the palace and other public +buildings. From this place all goods for sale are rigidly excluded, and +all hawkers and hucksters with their yells and cries and vulgarities. +They must go elsewhere, so that their clamour may not mingle with and +mar the grace and orderliness of the educated classes. (4) This square, +where the public buildings stand, is divided into four quarters which +are assigned as follows: one for the boys, another for the youths, a +third for the grown men, and the last for those who are past the age +of military service. The law requires all the citizens to present +themselves at certain times and seasons in their appointed places. The +lads and the grown men must be there at daybreak; the elders may, as a +rule, choose their own time, except on certain fixed days, when they too +are expected to present themselves like the rest. Moreover, the young +men are bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, with their +arms at their side; only the married men among them are exempt, and need +not be on duty at night unless notice has been given, though even in +their case frequent absence is thought unseemly. (5) Over each of these +divisions are placed twelve governors, twelve being the number of the +Persian tribes. The governors of the boys are chosen from the elders, +and those are appointed who are thought best fitted to make the best of +their lads: the governors of the youths are selected from the grown men, +and on the same principle; and for the grown men themselves and their +own governors; the choice falls on those who will, it is hoped, make +them most prompt to carry out their appointed duties, and fulfil +the commands imposed by the supreme authority. Finally, the elders +themselves have presidents of their own, chosen to see that they too +perform their duty to the full. +</p> +<p> +(6) We will now describe the services demanded from the different +classes, and thus it will appear how the Persians endeavour to improve +their citizens. The boys go to school and give their time to learning +justice and righteousness: they will tell you they come for that +purpose, and the phrase is as natural with them as it is for us to speak +of lads learning their letters. The masters spend the chief part of the +day in deciding cases for their pupils: for in this boy-world, as in the +grown-up world without, occasions of indictment are never far to seek. +There will be charges, we know, of picking and stealing, of violence, of +fraud, of calumny, and so forth. The case is heard and the offender, if +shown to be guilty, is punished. (7) Nor does he escape who is found to +have accused one of his fellows unfairly. And there is one charge the +judges do not hesitate to deal with, a charge which is the source of +much hatred among grown men, but which they seldom press in the courts, +the charge of ingratitude. The culprit convicted of refusing to repay +a debt of kindness when it was fully in his power meets with severe +chastisement. They reason that the ungrateful man is the most likely to +forget his duty to the gods, to his parents, to his fatherland, and +his friends. Shamelessness, they hold, treads close on the heels of +ingratitude, and thus ingratitude is the ringleader and chief instigator +to every kind of baseness. (8) Further, the boys are instructed in +temperance and self-restraint, and they find the utmost help towards +the attainment of this virtue in the self-respecting behaviour of +their elders, shown them day by day. Then they are taught to obey their +rulers, and here again nothing is of greater value than the studied +obedience to authority manifested by their elders everywhere. Continence +in meat and drink is another branch of instruction, and they have no +better aid in this than, first, the example of their elders, who never +withdraw to satisfy their carnal cravings until those in authority +dismiss them, and next, the rule that the boys must take their food, not +with their mother but with their master, and not till the governor gives +the sign. They bring from home the staple of their meal, dry bread +with nasturtium for a relish, and to slake their thirst they bring a +drinking-cup, to dip in the running stream. In addition, they are taught +to shoot with the bow and to fling the javelin. +</p> +<p> +The lads follow their studies till the age of sixteen or seventeen, and +then they take their places as young men. +</p> +<p> +(9) After that they spend their time as follows. For ten years they are +bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, as we said before, +and this for two reasons, to guard the community and to practise +self-restraint; because that season of life, the Persians conceive, +stands most in need of care. During the day they present themselves +before the governors for service to the state, and, whenever necessary, +they remain in a body round the public buildings. Moreover, when the +king goes out to hunt, which he will do several times a month, he takes +half the company with him, and each man must carry bow and arrows, a +sheathed dagger, or "sagaris," slung beside the quiver, a light shield, +and two javelins, one to hurl and the other to use, if need be, at close +quarters. (10) The reason of this public sanction for the chase is not +far to seek; the king leads just as he does in war, hunting in person +at the head of the field, and making his men follow, because it is felt +that the exercise itself is the best possible training for the needs of +war. It accustoms a man to early rising; it hardens him to endure heat +and cold; it teaches him to march and to run at the top of his speed; he +must perforce learn to let fly arrow and javelin the moment the quarry +is across his path; and, above all, the edge of his spirit must needs be +sharpened by encountering any of the mightier beasts: he must deal his +stroke when the creature closes, and stand on guard when it makes its +rush: indeed, it would be hard to find a case in war that has not its +parallel in the chase. (11) But to proceed: the young men set out +with provisions that are ampler, naturally, than the boys' fare, but +otherwise the same. During the chase itself they would not think of +breaking their fast, but if a halt is called, to beat up the game, or +for any hunter's reason, then they will make, as it were, a dinner of +their breakfast, and, hunting again on the morrow till dinner-time, they +will count the two days as one, because they have only eaten one day's +food. This they do in order that, if the like necessity should arise in +war, they may be found equal to it. As relish to their bread these +young men have whatever they may kill in the chase, or failing that, +nasturtium like the boys. And if one should ask how they can enjoy the +meal with nasturtium for their only condiment and water for their only +drink, let him bethink himself how sweet barley bread and wheaten can +taste to the hungry man and water to the thirsty. (12) As for the young +men who are left at home, they spend their time in shooting and hurling +the javelin, and practising all they learnt as boys, in one long trial +of skill. Beside this, public games are open to them and prizes are +offered; and the tribe which can claim the greatest number of lads +distinguished for skill and courage and faithfulness is given the meed +of praise from all the citizens, who honour, not only their present +governor, but the teacher who trained them when they were boys. +Moreover, these young men are also employed by the magistrates if +garrison work needs to be done or if malefactors are to be tracked or +robbers run down, or indeed on any errand which calls for strength of +limb and fleetness of foot. Such is the life of the youth. But when the +ten years are accomplished they are classed as grown men. (13) And from +this time forth for five-and-twenty years they live as follows. +</p> +<p> +First they present themselves, as in youth, before the magistrates for +service to the state wherever there is need for strength and sound sense +combined. If an expedition be on foot the men of this grade march out, +not armed with the bow or the light shield any longer, but equipped with +what are called the close-combat arms, a breastplate up to the throat, +a buckler on the left arm (just as the Persian warrior appears in +pictures), and for the right hand a dagger or a sword. Lastly, it +is from this grade that all the magistrates are appointed except the +teachers for the boys. But when the five-and-twenty years are over and +the men have reached the age of fifty years or more, then they take rank +as elders, and the title is deserved. (14) These elders no longer go on +military service beyond the frontier; they stay at home and decide all +cases, public and private both. Even capital charges are left to their +decision, and it is they who choose all the magistrates. If a youth or +a grown man breaks the law he is brought into court by the governors of +his tribe, who act as suitors in the case, aided by any other citizen +who pleases. The cause is heard before the elders and they pronounce +judgment; and the man who is condemned is disenfranchised for the rest +of his days. +</p> +<p> +(15) And now, to complete the picture of the whole Persian policy, I +will go back a little. With the help of what has been said before, the +account may now be brief; the Persians are said to number something +like one hundred and twenty thousand men: and of these no one is by +law debarred from honour or office. On the contrary, every Persian is +entitled to send his children to the public schools of righteousness +and justice. As a fact, all who can afford to bring up their children +without working do send them there: those who cannot must forego the +privilege. A lad who has passed through a public school has a right +to go and take his place among the youths, but those who have not gone +through the first course may not join them. In the same way the youths +who have fulfilled the duties of their class are entitled eventually +to rank with the men, and to share in office and honour: but they +must first spend their full time among the youths; if not, they go no +further. Finally, those who as grown men have lived without reproach may +take their station at last among the elders. Thus these elders form a +college, every member of which has passed through the full circle +of noble learning; and this is that Persian polity and that Persian +training which, in their belief, can win them the flower of excellence. +(16) And even to this day signs are left bearing witness to that ancient +temperance of theirs and the ancient discipline that preserved it. +To this day it is still considered shameful for a Persian to spit in +public, or wipe the nose, or show signs of wind, or be seen going apart +for his natural needs. And they could not keep to this standard unless +they were accustomed to a temperate diet, and were trained to exercise +and toil, so that the humours of the body were drawn off in other ways. +Hitherto we have spoken of the Persians as a whole: we will now go back +to our starting-point and recount the deeds of Cyrus from his childhood. +</p> +<p> +(C.3) Until he was twelve years old or more, Cyrus was brought up in the +manner we have described, and showed himself to be above all his fellows +in his aptitude for learning and in the noble and manly performance of +every duty. But about this time, Astyages sent for his daughter and her +son, desiring greatly to see him because he had heard how noble and fair +he was. So it fell out that Mandane came to Astyages, bringing her son +Cyrus with her. (2) And as soon as they met, the boy, when he heard +that Astyages was his mother's father, fell on his neck and kissed him +without more ado, like the loving lad nature had made him, as though he +had been brought up at his grandfather's side from the first and the two +of them had been playmates of old. Then he looked closer and saw that +the king's eyes were stencilled and his cheeks painted, and that he +wore false curls after the fashion of the Medes in those days (for these +adornments, and the purple robes, the tunics, the necklaces, and the +bracelets, they are all Median first and last, not Persian; the Persian, +as you find him at home even now-a-days, still keeps to his +plainer dress and his plainer style of living.) The boy, seeing his +grandfather's splendour, kept his eyes fixed on him, and cried, "Oh, +mother, how beautiful my grandfather is!" Then his mother asked him +which he thought the handsomer, his father or his grandfather, and he +answered at once, "My father is the handsomest of all the Persians, but +my grandfather much the handsomest of all the Medes I ever set eyes on, +at home or abroad." (3) At that Astyages drew the child to his heart, +and gave him a beautiful robe and bracelets and necklaces in sign of +honour, and when he rode out, the boy must ride beside him on a horse +with a golden bridle, just like King Astyages himself. And Cyrus, who +had a soul as sensitive to beauty as to honour, was pleased with the +splendid robe, and overjoyed at learning to ride, for a horse is a rare +sight in Persia, a mountainous country, and one little suited to the +breed. +</p> +<p> +(4) Now Cyrus and his mother sat at meat with the king, and Astyages, +wishing the lad to enjoy the feast and not regret his home, plied him +with dainties of every sort. At that, so says the story, Cyrus burst +out, "Oh, grandfather, what trouble you must give yourself reaching for +all these dishes and tasting all these wonderful foods!" "Ah, but," said +Astyages, "is not this a far better meal than you ever had in Persia?" +Thereupon, as the tale runs, Cyrus answered, "Our way, grandfather, is +much shorter than yours, and much simpler. We are hungry and wish to be +fed, and bread and meat brings us where we want to be at once, but you +Medes, for all your haste, take so many turns and wind about so much it +is a wonder if you ever find your way to the goal that we have reached +long ago." (5) "Well, my lad," said his grandfather, "we are not at all +averse to the length of the road: taste the dishes for yourself and see +how good they are." "One thing I do see," the boy said, "and that is +that you do not quite like them yourself." And when Astyages asked him +how he felt so sure of that, Cyrus answered, "Because when you touch an +honest bit of bread you never wipe your hands, but if you take one of +these fine kickshaws you turn to your napkin at once, as if you were +angry to find your fingers soiled." (6) "Well and good, my lad, well and +good," said the king, "only feast away yourself and make good cheer, +and we shall send you back to Persia a fine strong fellow." And with the +word he had dishes of meat and game set before his grandson. The boy was +taken aback by their profusion, and exclaimed, "Grandfather, do you give +me all this for myself, to do what I like with it?" "Certainly I do," +said the king. (7) Whereupon, without more ado, the boy Cyrus took first +one dish and then another and gave them to the attendants who stood +about his grandfather, and with each gift he made a little speech: "That +is for you, for so kindly teaching me to ride;" "And that is for you, in +return for the javelin you gave me, I have got it still;" "And this is +for you, because you wait on my grandfather so prettily;" "And this for +you, sir, because you honour my mother." And so on until he had got rid +of all the meat he had been given. (8) "But you do not give a single +piece to Sacas, my butler," quoth the grandfather, "and I honour +him more than all the rest." Now this Sacas, as one may guess, was a +handsome fellow, and he had the right to bring before the king all who +desired audience, to keep them back if he thought the time unseasonable. +But Cyrus, in answer to his grandfather's question retorted eagerly, +like a lad who did not know what fear meant, "And why should you honour +him so much, grandfather?" Then Astyages laughed and said, "Can you not +see how prettily he mixes the cup, and with what a grace he serves the +wine?" And indeed, these royal cup-bearers are neat-handed at their +task, mixing the bowl with infinite elegance, and pouring the wine into +the beakers without spilling a drop, and when they hand the goblet they +poise it deftly between thumb and finger for the banqueter to take. (9) +"Now, grandfather," said the boy, "tell Sacas to give me the bowl, +and let me pour out the wine as prettily as he if I can, and win your +favour." So the king bade the butler hand him the bowl, and Cyrus took +it and mixed the wine just as he had seen Sacas do, and then, showing +the utmost gravity and the greatest deftness and grace, he brought +the goblet to his grandfather and offered it with such an air that his +mother and Astyages, too, laughed outright, and then Cyrus burst out +laughing also, and flung his arms round his grandfather and kissed him, +crying, "Sacas, your day is done! I shall oust you from your office, you +may be sure. I shall make just as pretty a cup-bearer as you—and not +drink the wine myself!" For it is the fact that the king's butler when +he offers the wine is bound to dip a ladle in the cup first, and pour +a little in the hollow of his hand and sip it, so that if he has mixed +poison in the bowl it will do him no good himself. (10) Accordingly, +Astyages, to carry on the jest, asked the little lad why he had +forgotten to taste the wine though he had imitated Sacas in everything +else. And the boy answered, "Truly, I was afraid there might be poison +in the bowl. For when you gave your birthday feast to your friends I +could see quite plainly that Sacas had put in poison for you all." "And +how did you discover that, my boy?" asked the king. "Because I saw how +your wits reeled and how you staggered; and you all began doing what you +will not let us children do—you talked at the top of your voices, and +none of you understood a single word the others said, and then you began +singing in a way to make us laugh, and though you would not listen to +the singer you swore that it was right nobly sung, and then each of you +boasted of his own strength, and yet as soon as you got up to dance, so +far from keeping time to the measure, you could barely keep your legs. +And you seemed quite to have forgotten, grandfather, that you were +king, and your subjects that you were their sovereign. Then at last I +understood that you must be celebrating that 'free speech' we hear of; +at any rate, you were never silent for an instant." (11) "Well, but, +boy," said Astyages, "does your father never lose his head when he +drinks?" "Certainly not," said the boy. "What happens then?" asked the +king. "He quenches his thirst," answered Cyrus, "and that is all. No +harm follows. You see, he has no Sacas to mix his wine for him." "But, +Cyrus," put in his mother, "why are you so unkind to Sacas?" "Because I +do so hate him," answered the boy. "Time after time when I have wanted +to go to my grandfather this old villain has stopped me. Do please, +grandfather, let me manage him for three days." "And how would you set +about it?" Astyages asked. "Why," said the boy, "I will plant myself +in the doorway just as he does, and then when he wants to go in to +breakfast I will say 'You cannot have breakfast yet: HE is busy with +some people,' and when he comes for dinner I will say 'No dinner yet: HE +is in his bath,' and as he grows ravenous I will say 'Wait a little: HE +is with the ladies of the court,' until I have plagued and tormented him +as he torments me, keeping me away from you, grandfather, when I want to +come." (12) Thus the boy delighted his elders in the evening, and by +day if he saw that his grandfather or his uncle wanted anything, no one +could forestall him in getting it; indeed nothing seemed to give him +greater pleasure than to please them. +</p> +<p> +(13) Now when Mandane began to think of going back to her husband, +Astyages begged her to leave the boy behind. She answered that though +she wished to please her father in everything, it would be hard to leave +the boy against his will. (14) Then the old man turned to Cyrus: "My +boy, if you will stay with us, Sacas shall never stop you from coming to +me: you shall be free to come whenever you choose, and the oftener you +come the better it will please me. You shall have horses to ride, my +own and as many others as you like, and when you leave us you shall take +them with you. And at dinner you shall go your own away and follow your +own path to your own goal of temperance just as you think right. And I +will make you a present of all the game in my parks and paradises, and +collect more for you, and as soon as you have learnt to ride you shall +hunt and shoot and hurl the javelin exactly like a man. And you shall +have boys to play with and anything else you wish for: you have only to +ask me and it shall be yours." (15) Then his mother questioned the +boy and asked him whether he would rather stay with his grandfather +in Media, or go back home with her: and he said at once that he would +rather stay. And when she went on to ask him the reason, he answered, so +the story says, "Because at home I am thought to be the best of the lads +at shooting and hurling the javelin, and so I think I am: but here I +know I am the worst at riding, and that you may be sure, mother, annoys +me exceedingly. Now if you leave me here and I learn to ride, when I am +back in Persia you shall see, I promise you, that I will outdo all our +gallant fellows on foot, and when I come to Media again I will try and +show my grandfather that, for all his splendid cavalry, he will not have +a stouter horseman than his grandson to fight his battles for him." (16) +Then said his mother, "But justice and righteousness, my son, how can +you learn them here when your teachers are at home?" "Oh," said Cyrus, +"I know all about them already." "How do you know that you do?" asked +Mandane. "Because," answered the boy, "before I left home my master +thought I had learnt enough to decide the cases, and he set me to try +the suits. Yes! and I remember once, said he, "I got a whipping for +misjudgment. (17) I will tell you about that case. There were two boys, +a big boy and a little boy, and the big boy's coat was small and the +small boy's coat was huge. So the big boy stripped the little boy and +gave him his own small coat, while he put on the big one himself. Now in +giving judgment I decided that it was better for both parties that each +should have the coat that fitted him best. But I never got any further +in my sentence, because the master thrashed me here, and said that the +verdict would have been excellent if I had been appointed to say what +fitted and what did not, but I had been called in to decide to whom the +coat belonged, and the point to consider was, who had a right to it: Was +he who took a thing by violence to keep it, or he who had had it made +and bought it for his own? And the master taught me that what is lawful +is just and what is in the teeth of law is based on violence, and +therefore, he said, the judge must always see that his verdict tallies +with the law. So you see, mother, I have the whole of justice at my +fingers' ends already. And if there should be anything more I need to +know, why, I have my grandfather beside me, and he will always give me +lessons." (18) "But," rejoined his mother, "what everyone takes to be +just and righteous at your grandfather's court is not thought to be so +in Persia. For instance, your own grandfather has made himself master +over all and sundry among the Medes, but with the Persians equality is +held to be an essential part of justice: and first and foremost, your +father himself must perform his appointed services to the state and +receive his appointed dues: and the measure of these is not his own +caprice but the law. Have a care then, or you may be scourged to death +when you come home to Persia, if you learn in your grandfather's school +to love not kingship but tyranny, and hold the tyrant's belief that he +and he alone should have more than all the rest." "Ah, but, mother," +said the boy, "my grandfather is better at teaching people to have +less than their share, not more. Cannot you see," he cried, "how he +has taught all the Medes to have less than himself? So set your mind +at rest, mother, my grandfather will never make me, or any one else, an +adept in the art of getting too much." +</p> +<p> +(C.4) So the boy's tongue ran on. But at last his mother went home, and +Cyrus stayed behind and was brought up in Media. He soon made friends +with his companions and found his way to their hearts, and soon won +their parents by the charm of his address and the true affection he bore +their sons, so much so that when they wanted a favour from the king +they bade their children ask Cyrus to arrange the matter for them. +And whatever it might be, the kindliness of the lad's heart and the +eagerness of his ambition made him set the greatest store on getting it +done. (2) On his side, Astyages could not bring himself to refuse his +grandson's lightest wish. For once, when he was sick, nothing would +induce the boy to leave his side; he could not keep back his tears, and +his terror at the thought that his grandfather might die was plain for +every one to see. If the old man needed anything during the night Cyrus +was the first to notice it, it was he who sprang up first to wait upon +him, and bring him what he thought would please him. Thus the old king's +heart was his. +</p> +<p> +(3) During these early days, it must be allowed, the boy was something +too much of a talker, in part, may be, because of his bringing-up. He +had been trained by his master, whenever he sat in judgment, to give a +reason for what he did, and to look for the like reason from others. And +moreover, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge were such that he must +needs inquire from every one he met the explanation of this, that, and +the other; and his own wits were so lively that he was ever ready with +an answer himself for any question put to him, so that talkativeness had +become, as it were, his second nature. But, just as in the body when a +boy is overgrown, some touch of youthfulness is sure to show itself +and tell the secret of his age, so for all the lad's loquacity, the +impression left on the listener was not of arrogance, but of simplicity +and warm-heartedness, and one would gladly have heard his chatter to the +end rather than have sat beside him and found him dumb. +</p> +<p> +(4) However, as he grew in stature and the years led him to the time +when childhood passes into youth he became more chary of his words and +quieter in his tone: at times, indeed, he was so shy that he would blush +in the presence of his elders, and there was little sign left of the old +forwardness, the impulsiveness of the puppy who will jump up on every +one, master and stranger alike. Thus he grew more sedate, but his +company was still most fascinating, and little wonder: for whenever it +came to a trial of skill between himself and his comrades he would never +challenge his mates to those feats in which he himself excelled: he +would start precisely one where he felt his own inferiority, averring +that he would outdo them all,—indeed, he would spring to horse in order +to shoot or hurl the javelin before he had got a firm seat—and +then, when he was worsted, he would be the first to laugh at his own +discomfiture. (5) He had no desire to escape defeat by giving up the +effort, but took glory in the resolution to do better another time, +and thus he soon found himself as good a horseman as his peers, and +presently, such was his ardour, he surpassed them all, and at last the +thinning of the game in the king's preserves began to show what he could +do. What with the chasing and the shooting and the spearing, the stock +of animals ran so low that Astyages was hard put to it to collect enough +for him. Then Cyrus, seeing that his grandfather for all his goodwill +could never furnish him with enough, came to him one day and said, +"Grandfather, why should you take so much trouble in finding game for +me? If only you would let me go out to hunt with my uncle, I could fancy +every beast we came across had been reared for my particular delight!" +(6) But however anxious the lad might be to go out to the chase, he had +somehow lost the old childish art of winning what he wanted by coaxing: +and he hesitated a long time before approaching the king again. If in +the old days he had quarrelled with Sacas for not letting him in, now +he began to play the part of Sacas against himself, and could not summon +courage to intrude until he thought the right moment had come: indeed, +he implored the real Sacas to let him know when he might venture. So +that the old butler's heart was won, and he, like the rest of the world, +was completely in love with the young prince. +</p> +<p> +(7) At last when Astyages saw that the lad's heart was really set on +hunting in the open country, he gave him leave to go out with his uncle, +taking care at the same time to send an escort of mounted veterans at +his heels, whose business it was to keep watch and ward over him in any +dangerous place or against any savage beast. Cyrus plied his retinue +with questions about the creatures they came across, which must he avoid +and which might he hunt? They told him he must be on his guard against +bears and wild-boars and lions and leopards: many a man had found +himself at too close quarters with these dangerous creatures, and been +torn to pieces: but antelopes, they said, and deer and mountain sheep +and wild asses were harmless enough. And the huntsman, they added, ought +to be as careful about dangerous places as about the beasts themselves: +many a time horse and rider had gone headlong down a precipice to death. +(8) The lad seemed to take all their lessons to heart at the time: but +then he saw a stag leap up, and forgot all the wise cautions he had +heard, giving chase forthwith, noticing nothing except the beast ahead +of him. His horse, in its furious plunge forward, slipped, and came down +on its knees, all but throwing the rider over its head. As luck would +have it the boy managed to keep his seat, and the horse recovered its +footing. When they reached the flat bottom, Cyrus let fly his javelin, +and the stag fell dead, a beautiful big creature. The lad was still +radiant with delight when up rode the guard and took him severely to +task. Could he not see the danger he had run? They would certainly tell +his grandfather, that they would. Cyrus, who had dismounted, stood quite +still and listened ruefully, hanging his head while they rated him. But +in the middle of it all he heard the view-halloo again: he sprang to his +horse as though frenzied—a wild-boar was charging down on them, and he +charged to meet it, and drawing his bow with the surest aim possible, +struck the beast in the forehead, and laid him low. (9) But now his +uncle thought it was high time to scold his nephew himself; the lad's +boldness was too much. Only, the more he scolded the more Cyrus begged +he would let him take back the spoil as a present for his grandfather. +To which appeal, says the story, his uncle made reply: "But if your +grandfather finds out that you have gone in chase yourself, he will not +only scold you for going but me for letting you go." "Well, let him whip +me if he likes," said the boy, "when once I have given him my beasts: +and you too, uncle," he went on, "punish me however you choose, only do +not refuse me this." So Cyaxares was forced to yield:—"Have it your own +way then, you are little less than our king already." (10) Thus it was +that Cyrus was allowed to bring his trophies home, and in due course +presented them to his grandfather. "See, grandfather, here are some +animals I have shot for you." But he did not show his weapons in +triumph: he only laid them down with the gore still on them where he +hoped his grandfather would see them. It is easy to guess the answer +Astyages gave:—"I must needs accept with pleasure every gift you bring +me, only I want none of them at the risk of your own life." And Cyrus +said, "If you really do not want them yourself, grandfather, will you +give them to me? And I will divide them among the lads." "With all my +heart," said the old man, "take them, or anything else you like; bestow +them where you will, and welcome." (11) So Cyrus carried off the spoil, +and divided it with his comrades, saying all the while, "What foolery +it was, when we used to hunt in the park! It was no better than hunting +creatures tied by a string. First of all, it was such a little bit of +a place, and then what scarecrows the poor beasts were, one halt, +and another maimed! But those real animals on the mountains and the +plains—what splendid beasts, so gigantic, so sleek and glossy! Why, +the stags leapt up against the sky as though they had wings, and the +wild-boars came rushing to close quarters like warriors in battle! And +thanks to their breadth and bulk one could not help hitting them. Why, +even as they lie dead there," cried he, "they look finer than those +poor walled-up creatures when alive! But you," he added, "could not your +fathers let you go out to hunt too?" "Gladly enough," answered they, "if +only the king gave the order." (12) "Well," said Cyrus, "who will speak +to Astyages for us?" "Why," answered they, "who so fit to persuade him +as yourself?" "No, by all that's holy, not I!" cried Cyrus. "I cannot +think what has come over me: I cannot speak to my grandfather any more; +I cannot look him straight in the face. If this fit grows on me, I am +afraid I shall become no better than an idiot. And yet, when I was a +little boy, they tell me, I was sharp enough at talking." To which the +other lads retorted, "Well, it is a bad business altogether: and if you +cannot bestir yourself for your friends, if you can do nothing for us +in our need, we must turn elsewhere." (13) When Cyrus heard that he was +stung to the quick: he went away in silence and urged himself to put on +a bold face, and so went in to his grandfather, not, however, without +planning first how he could best bring in the matter. Accordingly he +began thus: "Tell me, grandfather," said he, "if one of your slaves were +to run away, and you caught him, what would you do to him?" "What else +should I do," the old man answered, "but clap irons on him and set him +to work in chains?" "But if he came back of his own accord, how would +you treat him then?" "Why, I would give him a whipping, as a warning not +to do it again, and then treat him as though nothing had happened." "It +is high time then," said the boy, "that you began getting a birch ready +for your grandson: for I am planning to take my comrades and run away on +a hunting expedition." "Very kind of you to tell me, beforehand," said +Astyages. "And now listen, I forbid you to set foot outside the palace +grounds. A pretty thing," he added, "if for the sake of a day's hunting +I should let my daughter's lamb get lost." (14) So Cyrus did as he was +ordered and stayed at home, but he spent his days in silence and his +brow was clouded. At last Astyages saw how bitterly the lad felt it, +and he made up his mind to please him by leading out a hunting-party +himself. He held a great muster of horse and foot, and the other lads +were not forgotten: he had the beasts driven down into the flat country +where the horses could be taken easily, and then the hunt began in +splendid style. After the royal fashion—for he was present in person +himself—he gave orders that no one was to shoot until Cyrus had hunted +to his heart's content. But Cyrus would not hear of any such hindrance +to the others: "Grandfather," he cried, "if you wish me to enjoy myself, +let my friends hunt with me and each of us try our best." (15) Thereupon +Astyages let them all go, while he stood still and watched the sight, +and saw how they raced to attack the quarry and how their ambition +burned within them as they followed up the chase and let fly their +javelins. But above all he was overjoyed to see how his grandson could +not keep silence for sheer delight, calling upon his fellows by name +whenever he came up with the quarry, like a noble young hound, baying +from pure excitement. It gladdened the old man's heart to hear how +gleefully the boy would laugh at one of his comrades and how eagerly he +would applaud another without the slightest touch of jealousy. At +length it was time to turn, and home they went, laden with their mighty +trophies. And ever afterwards, so well pleased was the king with the +day's hunting, that whenever it was possible, out he must go with his +grandson, all his train behind him, and he never failed to take the boys +also, "to please Cyrus." Thus did Cyrus spend his early life, sharing in +and helping towards the happiness of all, and bringing no sorrow to any +man. +</p> +<p> +(16) But when he was about fifteen years of age, it chanced that the +young Prince of Assyria, who was about to marry a wife, planned a +hunting-party of his own, in honour of the bridal. And, having heard +that on the frontiers of Assyria and Media there was much game to be +got, untouched and unmolested because of the war, the prince chose these +marches for his hunting-ground. But for safety sake he took with him +a large escort of cavalry and targeteers, who were to drive the beasts +down from their lairs into the cultivated levels below where it was +easy to ride. He set out to the place where the Assyrian outposts were +planted and a garrison on duty, and there he and his men prepared to +take their supper, intending to begin the hunt with the morrow's dawn. +(17) And as evening had fallen, it happened that the night-watch, a +considerable body of horse and foot, arrived from the city to relieve +the garrison on guard. Thus the prince found that he had something like +a large army at his call: the two garrisons as well as the troop of +horse and foot for the hunt. And then he asked himself whether it would +not be the best of plans to drive off booty from the country of the +Medes? In this way more lustre would be given to the chase, and there +would be great store of beasts for sacrifice. With this intent he rose +betimes and led his army out: the foot soldiers he massed together on +the frontier, while he himself, at the head of his cavalry, rode up to +the border fortresses of the Medes. Here he halted with the strongest +and largest part of his company, to prevent the garrisons from sallying +out, and meanwhile he sent picked men forward by detachments with orders +to raid the country in every direction, waylay everything they chanced +upon, and drive the spoil back to him. +</p> +<p> +(18) While this was going on news was brought to Astyages that the enemy +was across the border, and he hastened to the rescue at once, himself at +the head of his own body-guard, and his son with such troopers as were +ready to hand, leaving word for others to follow with all despatch. But +when they were in sight of the Assyrians, and saw their serried ranks, +horse and foot, drawn up in order, compact and motionless, they came to +a halt themselves. (19) Now Cyrus, seeing that all the rest of the world +was off to the rescue, boot and saddle, must needs ride out too, and so +put on his armour for the first time, and could scarcely believe it was +true, he had longed so often and so ardently to wear it all. And right +beautiful it was, and right well it fitted the lad, the armour that his +grandsire had had made for him. So he put on the whole accoutrement, +mounted his charger, and galloped to the front. And Astyages, though he +wondered who had sent the boy, bade him stay beside him, now that he +had come. Cyrus, as he looked at the horsemen facing them, turned to +his grandfather with the question, "Can those men yonder be our enemies, +grandfather, those who are standing so quietly beside their horses?" +"Enemies they are too for all that," said the king. "And are those +enemies too?" the boy asked, "those who are riding over there?" "Yes, +to be sure." "Well, grandfather, a sorry set they look, and sorry jades +they ride to ravage our lands! It would be well for some of us to charge +them!" "Not yet, my boy," answered his grandfather, "look at the mass +of horsemen there. If we were to charge the others now, these friends of +theirs would charge us, for our full strength is not yet on the field." +"Yes, but," suggested the boy, "if you stay here yourself, ready to +receive our supporters, those fellows will be afraid to stir either, and +the cattle-lifters will drop their booty quick enough, as soon as they +find they are attacked." +</p> +<p> +(20) Astyages felt there was much in what the boy said, and thinking all +the while what wonderful sense he showed and how wide-awake he was, gave +orders for his son to take a squadron of horse and charge the raiders. +"If the main body move to attack," he added, "I will charge myself and +give them enough to do here." Accordingly Cyaxares took a detachment of +horse and galloped to the field. Cyrus seeing the charge, darted forward +himself, and swept to the van, leading it with Cyaxares close at his +heels and the rest close behind them. As soon as the plunderers saw +them, they left their booty and took to flight. (21) The troopers, with +Cyrus at their head, dashed in to cut them off, and some they overtook +at once and hewed down then and there; others slipped past, and then +they followed in hot pursuit, and caught some of them too. And Cyrus was +ever in the front, like a young hound, untrained as yet but bred from +a gallant stock, charging a wild-boar recklessly; forward he swept, +without eyes or thought for anything but the quarry to be captured and +the blow to be struck. But when the Assyrian army saw their friends +in trouble they pushed forward, rank on rank, saying to themselves the +pursuit would stop when their own movement was seen. (22) But Cyrus +never slackened his pace a whit: in a transport of joy he called on his +uncle by name as he pressed forward, hanging hot-foot on the fugitives, +while Cyaxares still clung to his heels, thinking maybe what his father +Astyages would say if he hung back, and the others still followed close +behind them, even the faint-hearted changed into heroes for the nonce. +</p> +<p> +Now Astyages, watching their furious onslaught, and seeing the enemy +move steadily forward in close array to meet them, decided to advance +without a moment's delay himself, for fear that his son and Cyrus might +come to harm, crashing in disorder against the solid battalions of the +foe. (23) The Assyrians saw the movement of the king and came to a halt, +spears levelled and bows bent, expecting that, when their assailants +came within range, they would halt likewise as they had usually done +before. For hitherto, whenever the armies met, they would only charge up +to a certain distance, and there take flying shots, and so keep up the +skirmish until evening fell. But now the Assyrians saw their own men +borne down on them in rout, with Cyrus and his comrades at their heels +in full career, while Astyages and his cavalry were already within +bowshot. It was more than they could face, and they turned and fled. +After them swept the Medes in full pursuit, and those they caught they +mowed down, horse and man, and those that fell they slew. There was no +pause until they came up with the Assyrian foot. (24) Here at last they +drew rein in fear of some hidden ambuscade, and Astyages led his army +off. The exploit of his cavalry pleased him beyond measure, but he did +not know what he could say to Cyrus. It was he to whom the engagement +was due, and the victory; but the boy's daring was on the verge of +madness. Even during the return home his behaviour was strange; he could +not forbear riding round alone to look into the faces of the slain, +and those whose duty it was could hardly drag him away to lead him to +Astyages: indeed, the youth was glad enough to keep them as a screen +between himself and the king, for he saw that the countenance of his +grandfather grew stern at the sight of him. +</p> +<p> +(25) So matters passed in Media: and more and more the name of Cyrus was +on the lip of every man, in song and story everywhere, and Astyages, +who had always loved him, was astonished beyond all measure at the lad. +Meanwhile his father, Cambyses, rejoiced to hear such tidings of his +son; but, when he heard that he was already acting like a man of years, +he thought it full time to call him home again that he might complete +his training in the discipline of his fatherland. The story tells how +Cyrus answered the summons, saying he would rather return home at once +so that his father might not be vexed or his country blame him. And +Astyages, too, thought it his plain duty to send the boy back, but he +must needs give him horses to take with him, as many as he would care +to choose, and other gifts beside, not only for the love he bore him +but for the high hopes he had that the boy would one day prove a man of +mark, a blessing to his friends, and a terror to his foes. And when the +time came for Cyrus to go, the whole world poured out to speed him on +his journey—little children and lads of his own age, and grown men +and greybeards on their steeds, and Astyages the king. And, so says the +chronicle, the eyes of none were dry when they turned home again. (26) +Cyrus himself, they tell us, rode away in tears. He heaped gifts on all +his comrades, sharing with them what Astyages had given to himself; and +at last he took off the splendid Median cloak he wore and gave it to one +of them, to tell him, plainer than words could say, how his heart clung +to him above the rest. And his friends, they say, took the gifts he gave +them, but they brought them all back to Astyages, who sent them to Cyrus +again. But once more Cyrus sent them back to Media with this prayer to +his grandfather:—"If you would have me hold my head up when I come back +to you again, let my friends keep the gifts I gave them." And Astyages +did as the boy asked. +</p> +<p> +(27) And here, if a tale of boyish love is not out of place, we might +tell how, when Cyrus was just about to depart and the last good-byes +were being said, each of his kinsmen in the Persian fashion—and to this +day the custom holds in Persia—kissed him on the lips as they bade him +god-speed. Now there was a certain Mede, as beautiful and brave a man +as ever lived, who had been enamoured of Cyrus for many a long day, +and, when he saw the kiss, he stayed behind, and after the others had +withdrawn he went up to Cyrus and said, "Me, and me alone, of all your +kindred, Cyrus, you refuse to recognize?" And Cyrus answered, "What, are +you my kinsman too?" "Yes, assuredly," the other answered, and the lad +rejoined, "Ah, then, that is why you looked at me so earnestly; and I +have seen you look at me like that, I think, more than once before." +"Yes," answered the Mede, "I have often longed to approach you, but as +often, heaven knows, my heart failed me." "But why should that be," said +Cyrus, "seeing you are my kinsman?" And with the word, he leant forward +and kissed him on the lips. (28) Then the Mede, emboldened by the kiss, +took heart and said, "So in Persia it is really the custom for relatives +to kiss?" "Truly yes," answered Cyrus, "when we see each other after a +long absence, or when we part for a journey." "Then the time has come," +said the other, "to give me a second kiss, for I must leave you now." +With that Cyrus kissed him again and so they parted. But the travellers +were not far on their way when suddenly the Mede came galloping after +them, his charger covered with foam. Cyrus caught sight of him:—"You +have forgotten something? There is something else you wanted to say?" +"No," said the Mede, "it is only such a long, long while since we met." +"Such a little, little while you mean, my kinsman," answered Cyrus. "A +little while!" repeated the other. "How can you say that? Cannot you +understand that the time it takes to wink is a whole eternity if it +severs me from the beauty of your face?" +</p> +<p> +Then Cyrus burst out laughing in spite of his own tears, and bade the +unfortunate man take heart of grace and be gone. "I shall soon be back +with you again, and then you can stare at me to your heart's content, +and never wink at all." +</p> +<p> +(C.5) Thus Cyrus left his grandfather's court and came home to Persia, +and there, so it is said, he spent one year more as a boy among boys. +At first the lads were disposed to laugh at him, thinking he must have +learnt luxurious ways in Media, but when they saw that he could take +the simple Persian food as happily as themselves, and how, whenever they +made good cheer at a festival, far from asking for any more himself he +was ready to give his own share of the dainties away, when they saw and +felt in this and in other things his inborn nobleness and superiority to +themselves, then the tide turned and once more they were at his feet. +</p> +<p> +And when this part of his training was over, and the time was come for +him to join the younger men, it was the same tale once more. Once more +he outdid all his fellows, alike in the fulfilment of his duty, in +the endurance of hardship, in the reverence he showed to age, and the +obedience he paid to authority. +</p> +<p> +(2) Now in the fullness of time Astyages died in Media, and Cyaxares +his son, the brother of Cyrus' mother, took the kingdom in his stead. +By this time the king of Assyria had subdued all the tribes of Syria, +subjugated the king of Arabia, brought the Hyrcanians under his rule, +and was holding the Bactrians in siege. Therefore he came to think that, +if he could but weaken the power of the Medes, it would be easy for him +to extend his empire over all the nations round him, since the Medes +were, without doubt, the strongest of them all. (3) Accordingly he +sent his messengers to every part of his dominions: to Croesus, king +of Lydia, to the king of Cappadocia, to both the Phrygias, to the +Paphlagonians and the Indians, to the Carians and the Cilicians. And he +bade them spread slanders abroad against the Persians and the Medes, and +say moreover that these were great and mighty kingdoms which had come +together and made alliance by marriage with one another, and unless a +man should be beforehand with them and bring down their power it could +not be but that they would fall on each of their neighbours in turn and +subdue them one by one. So the nations listened to the messengers and +made alliance with the king of Assyria: some were persuaded by what he +said and others were won over by gifts and gold, for the riches of the +Assyrian were great. (4) Now Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, was aware of +these plots and preparations, and he made ready on his side, so far as +in him lay, sending word to the Persian state and to Cambyses the king, +who had his sister to wife. And he sent to Cyrus also, begging him to +come with all speed at the head of any force that might be furnished, if +so be the Council of Persia would give him men-at-arms. For by this +time Cyrus had accomplished his ten years among the youths and was now +enrolled with the grown men. (5) He was right willing to go, and the +Council of Elders appointed him to command the force for Media. They +bade him choose two hundred men among the Peers, each of them to choose +four others from their fellows. Thus was formed a body of a thousand +Peers: and each of the thousand had orders to raise thirty men from the +commons—ten targeteers, ten slingers, and ten archers—and thus three +regiments were levied, 10,000 archers, 10,000 slingers, and 10,000 +targeteers, over and above the thousand Peers. The whole force was to +be put under the command of Cyrus. (6) As soon as he was appointed, +his first act had been to offer sacrifice, and when the omens were +favourable he had chosen his two hundred Peers, and each of them had +chosen their four comrades. Then he called the whole body together, and +for the first time spoke to them as follows:— +</p> +<p> +(7) "My friends, I have chosen you for this work, but this is not the +first time that I have formed my opinion of your worth: from my boyhood +I have watched your zeal for all that our country holds to be honourable +and your abhorrence for all that she counts base. And I wish to tell you +plainly why I accepted this office myself and why I ask your help. (8) I +have long felt sure that our forefathers were in their time as good men +as we. For their lives were one long effort towards the self-same deeds +of valour as are held in honour now; and still, for all their worth, +I fail to see what good they gained either for the state or for +themselves. (9) Yet I cannot bring myself to believe that there is a +single virtue practised among mankind merely in order that the brave and +good should fare no better than the base ones of the earth. Men do +not forego the pleasures of the moment to say good-bye to all joy for +evermore—no, this self-control is a training, so that we may reap the +fruits of a larger joy in the time to come. A man will toil day and +night to make himself an orator, yet oratory is not the one aim of +his existence: his hope is to influence men by his eloquence and thus +achieve some noble end. So too with us, and those like us, who are +drilled in the arts of war: we do not give our labours in order to fight +for ever, endlessly and hopelessly, we hope that we too one day, when we +have proved our mettle, may win and wear for ourselves and for our city +the threefold ornament of wealth, of happiness, of honour. (10) And if +there should be some who have worked hard all their lives and suddenly +old-age, they find, has stolen on them unawares, and taken away their +powers before they have gathered in the fruit of all their toil, such +men seem to me like those who desire to be thrifty husbandmen, and who +sow well and plant wisely, but when the time of harvest comes let the +fruit drop back ungarnered into the soil whence it sprang. Or as if an +athlete should train himself and reach the heights where victory may be +won and at the last forbear to enter the lists—such an one, I take it, +would but meet his deserts if all men cried out upon him for a fool. +(11) Let not such be our fate, my friends. Our own hearts bear us +witness that we, too, from our boyhood up, have been trained in the +school of beauty and nobleness and honour, and now let us go forward to +meet our foes. They, I know right well, when matched with us, will prove +but novices in war. He is no true warrior, though he be skilled with the +javelin and the bow and ride on horseback with the best, who, when the +call for endurance comes, is found to fail: toil finds him but a novice. +Nor are they warriors who, when they should wake and watch, give way to +slumber: sleep finds them novices. Even endurance will not avail, if a +man has not learnt to deal as a man should by friends and foes: such an +one is unschooled in the highest part of his calling. (12) But with you +it is not so: to you the night will be as the day; toil, your school +has taught you, is the guide to happiness; hunger has been your daily +condiment, and water you take to quench your thirst as the lion laps the +stream. And you have that within your hearts which is the rarest of all +treasures and the most akin to war: of all sweet sounds the sweetest +sound for you is the voice of fame. You are fair Honour's suitors, and +you must needs win your title to her favour. Therefore you undergo toil +and danger gladly. +</p> +<p> +(13) "Now if I said all this of you, and my heart were not in my words, +I should but cheat myself. For in so far as you should fail to fulfil my +hopes of you, it is on me that the shame would fall. But I have faith in +you, bred of experience: I trust in your goodwill towards me, and in our +enemy's lack of wit; you will not belie my hopes. Let us go forth with a +light heart; we have no ill-fame to fear: none can say we covet +another man's goods unlawfully. Our enemy strikes the first blow in an +unrighteous cause, and our friends call us to protect them. What is more +lawful than self-defence? What is nobler than to succour those we love? +(14) And you have another ground of confidence—in opening this campaign +I have not been forgetful of the gods: you have gone in and out with me, +and you know how in all things, great and small, I strive to win their +blessing. And now," he added, "what need of further words? I will leave +you now to choose your own men, and when all is ready you will march +into Media at their head. Meanwhile I will return to my father and start +before you, so that I may learn what I can about the enemy as soon as +may be, and thus make all needful preparations, so that by God's help we +may win glory on the field." +</p> +<p> +(C.6) Such were his orders and they set about them at once. But Cyrus +himself went home and prayed to the gods of his father's house, to +Hestia and Zeus, and to all who had watched over his race. And when he +had done so, he set out for the war, and his father went with him on +the road. They were no sooner clear of the city, so says the story, than +they met with favourable omens of thunder and lightning, and after that +they went forward without further divination, for they felt that no man +could mistake the signs from the Ruler of the gods. (2) And as they went +on their way Cyrus' father said to him, "My son, the gods are gracious +to us, and look with favour on your journey—they have shown it in the +sacrifices, and by their signs from heaven. You do not need another man +to tell you so, for I was careful to have you taught this art, so that +you might understand the counsels of the gods yourself and have no need +of an interpreter, seeing with your own eyes and hearing with your own +ears and taking the heavenly meaning for yourself. Thus you need not be +at the mercy of any soothsayers who might have a mind to deceive you, +speaking contrary to the omens vouchsafed from heaven, nor yet, should +you chance to be without a seer, drift in perplexity and know not how to +profit by the heavenly signs: you yourself through your own learning can +understand the warnings of the gods and follow them." +</p> +<p> +(3) "Yes, father," answered Cyrus, "so far as in me lies, I bear your +words in mind, and pray to the gods continually that they may show us +favour and vouchsafe to counsel us. I remember," he went on, "how once I +heard you say that, as with men, so with the gods, it was but natural if +the prayer of him should prevail who did not turn to flatter them only +in time of need, but was mindful of them above all in the heyday of his +happiness. It was thus indeed, you said, that we ought to deal with our +earthly friends." (4) "True, my son," said his father, "and because of +all my teaching, you can now approach the gods in prayer with a lighter +heart and a more confident hope that they will grant you what you ask, +because your conscience bears you witness that you have never forgotten +them." "Even so," said Cyrus, "and in truth I feel towards them as +though they were my friends." (5) "And do you remember," asked his +father, "certain other conclusions on which we were agreed? How we +felt there were certain things that the gods had permitted us to attain +through learning and study and training? The accomplishment of these is +the reward of effort, not of idleness; in these it is only when we have +done all that it is our duty to do that we are justified in asking for +blessings from the gods." (6) "I remember very well," said Cyrus, "that +you used to talk to me in that way: and indeed I could not but agree +with the arguments you gave. You used to say that a man had no right to +pray he might win a cavalry charge if he had never learnt how to ride, +or triumph over master-bowmen if he could not draw a bow, or bring +a ship safe home to harbour if he did not know how to steer, or be +rewarded with a plenteous harvest if he had not so much as sown grain +into the ground, or come home safe from battle if he took no precautions +whatsoever. All such prayers as these, you said, were contrary to the +very ordinances of heaven, and those who asked for things forbidden +could not be surprised if they failed to win them from the gods. Even as +a petition in the face of law on earth would have no success with men." +</p> +<p> +(7) "And do you remember," said his father, "how we thought that it +would be a noble work enough if a man could train himself really and +truly to be beautiful and brave and earn all he needed for his household +and himself? That, we said, was a work of which a man might well be +proud; but if he went further still, if he had the skill and the science +to be the guide and governor of other men, supplying all their wants and +making them all they ought to be, that, it seemed to us, would be indeed +a marvel." (8) "Yes, my father," answered Cyrus, "I remember it very +well. I agreed with you that to rule well and nobly was the greatest +of all works, and I am of the same mind still," he went on, "whenever +I think of government in itself. But when I look on the world at large, +when I see of what poor stuff those men are made who contrive to uphold +their rule and what sort of antagonists we are likely to find in them, +then I can only feel how disgraceful it would be to cringe before them +and not to face them myself and try conclusions with them on the field. +All of them, I perceive," he added, "beginning with our own friends +here, hold to it that the ruler should only differ from his subjects by +the splendour of his banquets, the wealth of gold in his coffers, the +length and depth of his slumbers, and his freedom from trouble and pain. +But my views are different: I hold that the ruler should be marked out +from other men, not by taking life easily, but by his forethought and +his wisdom and his eagerness for work." (9) "True, my son," the father +answered, "but you know the struggle must in part be waged not against +flesh and blood but against circumstances, and these may not be overcome +so easily. You know, I take it, that if supplies were not forthcoming, +farewell to this government of yours." "Yes," Cyrus answered, "and that +is why Cyaxares is undertaking to provide for all of us who join him, +whatever our numbers are." "So," said the father, "and you really mean, +my son, that you are relying only on these supplies of Cyaxares for this +campaign of yours?" "Yes," answered Cyrus. "And do you know what they +amount to?" "No," he said, "I cannot say that I do." "And yet," his +father went on, "you are prepared to rely on what you do not know? Do +you forget that the needs of the morrow must be high, not to speak +of the outlay for the day?" "Oh, no," said Cyrus, "I am well aware of +that." "Well," said the father, "suppose the cost is more than Cyaxares +can bear, or suppose he actually meant to deceive you, how would your +soldiers fare?" "Ill enough, no doubt," answered he. "And now tell +me, father, while we are still in friendly country, if you know of any +resources that I could make my own?" (10) "You want to know where you +could find resources of your own?" repeated his father. "And who is to +find that out, if not he who holds the keys of power? We have given you +a force of infantry that you would not exchange, I feel sure, for one +that was more than twice its size; and you will have the cavalry of +Media to support you, the finest in the world. I conceive there are none +of the nations round about who will not be ready to serve you, whether +to win your favour or because they fear disaster. These are matters +you must look into carefully, in concert with Cyaxares, so that nothing +should ever fail you of what you need, and, if only for habit's sake, +you should devise some means for supplying your revenue. Bear this maxim +in mind before all others—never put off the collecting of supplies +until the day of need, make the season of your abundance provide against +the time of dearth. You will gain better terms from those on whom you +must depend if you are not thought to be in straits, and, what is more, +you will be free from blame in the eyes of your soldiers. That in itself +will make you more respected; wherever you desire to help or to hurt, +your troops will follow you with greater readiness, so long as they have +all they need, and your words, you may be sure, will carry the greater +weight the fuller your display of power for weal or woe." +</p> +<p> +(11) "Yes, father," Cyrus said, "I feel all you say is true, and the +more because as things now stand none of my soldiers will thank me for +the pay that is promised them. They are well aware of the terms Cyaxares +has offered for their help: but whatever they get over and above the +covenanted amount they will look upon as a free gift, and for that they +will, in all likelihood, feel most gratitude to the giver." "True," said +the father, "and really for a man to have a force with which he could +serve his friends and take vengeance on his foes, and yet neglect the +supplies for it, would be as disgraceful, would it not? as for a farmer +to hold lands and labourers and yet allow fields to lie barren for lack +of tillage." +</p> +<p> +"No such neglect," answered the son, "shall ever be laid at my door. +Through friendly lands or hostile, trust me, in this business of +supplying my troops with all they need I will always play my part." +</p> +<p> +(12) "Well, my son," the father resumed, "and do you remember certain +other points which we agreed must never be overlooked?" "Could I forget +them?" answered Cyrus. "I remember how I came to you for money to pay +the teacher who professed to have taught me generalship, and you gave it +me, but you asked me many questions. 'Now, my boy,' you said, 'did this +teacher you want to pay ever mention economy among the things a general +ought to understand? Soldiers, no less than servants in a house, are +dependent on supplies.' And I was forced to tell the truth and admit +that not a syllable had been mentioned on that score. Then you asked +me if anything had been taught about health and strength, since a true +general is bound to think of these matters no less than of tactics and +strategy. And when I was forced to say no, you asked me if he had taught +me any of the arts which give the best aid in war. Once again I had to +say no and then you asked whether he had ever taught me how to kindle +enthusiasm in my men. For in every undertaking, you said, there was all +the difference in the world between energy and lack of spirit. I shook +my head and your examination went on:—Had this teacher laid no stress +on the need for obedience in an army, or on the best means of securing +discipline? (14) And finally, when it was plain that even this had been +utterly ignored, you exclaimed, 'What in the world, then, does your +professor claim to have taught you under the name of generalship?' To +that I could at last give a positive answer: 'He taught me tactics.' +And then you gave a little laugh and ran through your list point by +point:—'And pray what will be the use of tactics to an army without +supplies, without health, without discipline, without knowledge of those +arts and inventions that are of use in war?' And so you made it clear +to me that tactics and manoeuvres and drill were only a small part of all +that is implied in generalship, and when I asked you if you could teach +me the rest of it you bade me betake myself to those who stood high in +repute as great generals, and talk with them and learn from their lips +how each thing should be done. (15) So I consorted with all I thought to +be of authority in these matters. As regards our present supplies I was +persuaded that what Cyaxares intended to provide was sufficient, and, as +for the health of the troops, I was aware that the cities where health +was valued appointed medical officers, and the generals who cared for +their soldiers took out a medical staff; and so when I found myself in +this office I gave my mind to the matter at once: and I flatter myself, +father," he added, "that I shall have with me an excellent staff of +surgeons and physicians." (16) To which the father made reply, "Well, +my son, but these excellent men are, after all, much the same as the +tailors who patch torn garments. When folk are ill, your doctors can +patch them up, but your own care for their health ought to go far deeper +than that: your prime object should be to save your men from falling ill +at all." "And pray, father," asked Cyrus, "how can I succeed in that?" +"Well," answered Cambyses, "I presume if you are to stay long in one +place you will do your best to discover a healthy spot for your camp, +and if you give your mind to the matter you can hardly fail to find it. +Men, we know, are forever discussing what places are healthy and what +are not, and their own complexions and the state of their own bodies is +the clearest evidence. But you will not content yourself with choosing a +site, you will remember the care you take yourself for your own health." +(17) "Well," said Cyrus, "my first rule is to avoid over-feeding as most +oppressive to the system, and my next to work off all that enters the +body: that seems the best way to keep health and gain strength." "My +son," Cambyses answered, "these are the principles you must apply to +others." "What!" said Cyrus; "do you think it will be possible for the +soldiers to diet and train themselves?" "Not only possible," said the +father, "but essential. For surely an army, if it is to fulfil its +function at all, must always be engaged in hurting the foe or helping +itself. A single man is hard enough to support in idleness, a household +is harder still, an army hardest of all. There are more mouths to be +filled, less wealth to start with, and greater waste; and therefore +an army should never be unemployed." (18) "If I take your meaning," +answered Cyrus, "you think an idle general as useless as an idle farmer. +And here and now I answer for the working general, and promise on his +behalf that with God's help he will show you that his troops have all +they need and their bodies are all they ought to be. And I think," he +added, "I know a way by which an officer might do much towards training +his men in the various branches of war. Let him propose competitions +of every kind and offer prizes; the standard of skill will rise, and +he will soon have a body of troops ready to his hand for any service he +requires." "Nothing could be better," answered the father. "Do this, and +you may be sure you will watch your regiments at their manoeuvres with as +much delight as if they were a chorus in the dance." +</p> +<p> +(19) "And then," continued Cyrus, "to rouse enthusiasm in the men, there +can be nothing, I take it, like the power of kindling hope?" "True," +answered his father, "but that alone would be as though a huntsman were +for ever rousing his pack with the view-halloo. At first, of course, the +hounds will answer eagerly enough, but after they have been cheated +once or twice they will end by refusing the call even when the quarry +is really in sight. And so it is with hope. Let a man rouse false +expectations often enough, and in the end, even when hope is at the +door, he may cry the good news in vain. Rather ought he to refrain from +speaking positively himself when he cannot know precisely; his agents +may step in and do it in his place; but he should reserve his own appeal +for the supreme crises of supreme danger, and not dissipate his credit." +</p> +<p> +"By heaven, a most admirable suggestion!" cried Cyrus, "and one much +more to my mind! (20) As for enforcing obedience, I hope I have had some +training in that already; you began my education yourself when I was a +child by teaching me to obey you, and then you handed me over to masters +who did as you had done, and afterwards, when we were lads, my fellows +and myself, there was nothing on which the governors laid more stress. +Our laws themselves, I think, enforce this double lesson:—'Rule thou +and be thou ruled.' And when I come to study the secret of it all, I +seem to see that the real incentive to obedience lies in the praise and +honour that it wins against the discredit and the chastisement which +fall on the disobedient." (21) "That, my son," said the father, "is the +road to the obedience of compulsion. But there is a shorter way to a +nobler goal, the obedience of the will. When the interests of mankind +are at stake, they will obey with joy the man whom they believe to be +wiser than themselves. You may prove this on all sides: you may see how +the sick man will beg the doctor to tell him what he ought to do, how a +whole ship's company will listen to the pilot, how travellers will +cling to the one who knows the way better, as they believe, than they do +themselves. But if men think that obedience will lead them to disaster, +then nothing, neither penalties, nor persuasion, nor gifts, will avail +to rouse them. For no man accepts a bribe to his own destruction." (22) +"You would have me understand," said Cyrus, "that the best way to +secure obedience is to be thought wiser than those we rule?" "Yes," said +Cambyses, "that is my belief." +</p> +<p> +"And what is the quickest way," asked Cyrus, "to win that reputation?" +</p> +<p> +"None quicker, my lad, than this: wherever you wish to seem wise, be +wise. Examine as many cases as you like, and you will find that what I +say is true. If you wished to be thought a good farmer, a good horseman, +a good physician, a good flute-player, or anything else whatever, +without really being so, just imagine what a world of devices you would +need to invent, merely to keep up the outward show! And suppose you did +get a following to praise you and cry you up, suppose you did burden +yourself with all kinds of paraphernalia for your profession, what +would come of it all? You succeed at first in a very pretty piece of +deception, and then by and by the test comes, and the impostor stands +revealed." +</p> +<p> +(23) "But," said Cyrus, "how can a man really and truly attain to the +wisdom that will serve his turn?" +</p> +<p> +"Well, my son, it is plain that where learning is the road to wisdom, +learn you must, as you learnt your battalion-drill, but when it comes to +matters which are not to be learnt by mortal men, nor foreseen by mortal +minds, there you can only become wiser than others by communicating with +the gods through the art of divination. But, always, wherever you know +that a thing ought to be done, see that it is done, and done with care; +for care, not carelessness, is the mark of the wise man." +</p> +<p> +(24) "And now," said Cyrus, "to win the affection of those we rule—and +there is nothing, I take it, of greater importance—surely the path to +follow lies open to all who desire the love of their friends. We must, I +mean, show that we do them good." "Yes, my child, but to do good really +at all seasons to those we wish to help is not always possible: only one +way is ever open, and that is the way of sympathy; to rejoice with the +happy in the day of good things, to share their sorrow when ill befalls +them, to lend a hand in all their difficulties, to fear disaster for +them, and guard against it by foresight—these, rather than actual +benefits, are the true signs of comradeship. (25) And so in war; if the +campaign is in summer the general must show himself greedy for his share +of the sun and the heat, and in winter for the cold and the frost, and +in all labours for toil and fatigue. This will help to make him beloved +of his followers." "You mean, father," said Cyrus, "that a commander +should always be stouter-hearted in everything than those whom he +commands." "Yes, my son, that is my meaning," said he; "only be well +assured of this: the princely leader and the private soldier may be +alike in body, but their sufferings are not the same: the pains of the +leader are always lightened by the glory that is his and by the very +consciousness that all his acts are done in the public eye." +</p> +<p> +(26) "But now, father, suppose the time has come, and you are satisfied +that your troops are well supplied, sound in wind and limb, well able to +endure fatigue, skilled in the arts of war, covetous of honour, eager to +show their mettle, anxious to follow, would you not think it well to try +the chance of battle without delay?" "By all means," said the father, +"if you are likely to gain by the move: but if not, for my own part, the +more I felt persuaded of my own superiority and the power of my troops, +the more I should be inclined to stand on my guard, just as we put our +greatest treasures in the safest place we have." (27) "But how can a man +make sure that he will gain?" "Ah, there you come," said the father, +"to a most weighty matter. This is no easy task, I can tell you. If your +general is to succeed he must prove himself an arch-plotter, a king of +craft, full of deceits and stratagems, a cheat, a thief, and a robber, +defrauding and overreaching his opponent at every turn." +</p> +<p> +"Heavens!" said Cyrus, and burst out laughing, "is this the kind of man +you want your son to be!" "I want him to be," said the father, "as just +and upright and law-abiding as any man who ever lived." (28) "But how +comes it," said his son, "that the lessons you taught us in boyhood and +youth were exactly opposed to what you teach me now?" "Ah," said the +father, "those lessons were for friends and fellow-citizens, and for +them they still hold good, but for your enemies—do you not remember +that you were also taught to do much harm?" +</p> +<p> +"No, father," he answered, "I should say certainly not." +</p> +<p> +"Then why were you taught to shoot? Or to hurl the javelin? Or to trap +wild-boars? Or to snare stags with cords and caltrops? And why did you +never meet the lion or the bear or the leopard in fair fight on equal +terms, but were always trying to steal some advantage over them? Can you +deny that all that was craft and deceit and fraud and greed?" +</p> +<p> +(29) "Why, of course," answered the young man, "in dealing with animals, +but with human beings it was different; if I was ever suspected of a +wish to cheat another, I was punished, I know, with many stripes." +</p> +<p> +"True," said the father, "and for the matter of that we did not permit +you to draw bow or hurl javelin against human beings; we taught you +merely to aim at a mark. But why did we teach you that? Not so that you +might injure your friends, either then or now, but that in war you might +have the skill to make the bodies of living men your targets. So also we +taught you the arts of deceit and craft and greed and covetousness, not +among men it is true, but among beasts; we did not mean you ever to turn +these accomplishments against your friends, but in war we wished you to +be something better than raw recruits." +</p> +<p> +(30) "But, father," Cyrus answered, "if to do men good and to do men +harm were both of them things we ought to learn, surely it would have +been better to teach them in actual practice?" +</p> +<p> +(31) Then the father said, "My son, we are told that in the days of our +forefathers there was such a teacher once. This man did actually teach +his boys righteousness in the way you suggest, to lie and not to lie, +to cheat and not to cheat, to calumniate and not to calumniate, to be +grasping and not grasping. He drew the distinction between our duty to +friends and our duty to enemies; and he went further still; he taught +men that it was just and right to deceive even a friend for his own +good, or steal his property. (32) And with this he must needs teach +his pupils to practise on one another what he taught them, just as the +people of Hellas, we are told, teach lads in the wrestling-school to +fence and to feint, and train them by their practice with one another. +Now some of his scholars showed such excellent aptitudes for deception +and overreaching, and perhaps no lack of taste for common money-making, +that they did not even spare their friends, but used their arts on them. +(33) And so an unwritten law was framed by which we still abide, bidding +us teach our children as we teach our servants, simply and solely not to +lie, and not to cheat, and not to covert, and if they did otherwise to +punish them, hoping to make them humane and law-abiding citizens. (34) +But when they came to manhood, as you have come, then, it seemed, the +risk was over, and it would be time to teach them what is lawful against +our enemies. For at your age we do not believe you will break out into +savagery against your fellows with whom you have been knit together +since childhood in ties of friendship and respect. In the same way we do +not talk to the young about the mysteries of love, for if lightness were +added to desire, their passion might sweep them beyond all bounds." +</p> +<p> +(35) "Then in heaven's name, father," said Cyrus, "remember that +your son is but a backward scholar and a late learner in this lore of +selfishness, and teach me all you can that may help me to overreach the +foe." +</p> +<p> +"Well," said the father, "you must plot and you must plan, whatever the +size of his force and your own, to catch his men in disorder when yours +are all arrayed, unarmed when yours are armed, asleep when yours are +awake, or you must wait till he is visible to you and you invisible +to him, or till he is labouring over heavy ground and you are in your +fortress and can give him welcome there." +</p> +<p> +(36) "But how," asked Cyrus, "can I catch him in all these blunders?" +</p> +<p> +"Simply because both you and he are bound to be often in some such case; +both of you must take your meals sometime; both of you must sleep; your +men must scatter in the morning to satisfy the needs of nature, and, +for better for worse, whatever the roads are like, you will be forced +to make use of them. All these necessities you must lay to heart, and +wherever you are weaker, there you must be most on your guard, and +wherever your foe is most assailable, there you must press the attack." +</p> +<p> +(37) Then Cyrus asked, "And are these the only cases where one can apply +the great principle of greed, or are there others?" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes, there are many more; indeed in these simple cases any general +will be sure to keep good watch, knowing how necessary it is. But your +true cheat and prince of swindlers is he who can lure the enemy on +and throw him off his guard, suffer himself to be pursued and get the +pursuers into disorder, lead the foe into difficult ground and then +attack him there. (38) Indeed, as an ardent student, you must not +confine yourself to the lessons you have learnt; you must show yourself +a creator and discoverer, you must invent stratagems against the foe; +just as a real musician is not content with the mere elements of his +art, but sets himself to compose new themes. And if in music it is the +novel melody, the flower-like freshness, that wins popularity, still +more in military matters it is the newest contrivance that stands the +highest, for the simple reason that such will give you the best chance +of outwitting your opponent. (39) And yet, my son, I must say that if +you did no more than apply against human beings the devices you learnt +to use against the smallest game, you would have made considerable +progress in this art of overreaching. Do you not think so yourself? +Why, to snare birds you would get up by night in the depth of winter +and tramp off in the cold; your nets were laid before the creatures were +astir, and your tracks completely covered and you actually had birds of +your own, trained to serve you and decoy their kith and kin, while you +yourself lay in some hiding-place, seeing yet unseen, and you had learnt +by long practice to jerk in the net before the birds could fly away. +(40) Or you might be out after hares, and for a hare you had two breeds +of dogs, one to track her out by scent, because she feeds in the dusk +and takes to her form by day, and another to cut off her escape and run +her down, because she is so swift. And even if she escaped these, she +did not escape you; you had all her runs by heart and knew all her +hiding-places, and there you would spread your nets, so that they were +scarcely to be seen, and the very haste of her flight would fling her +into the snare. And to make sure of her you had men placed on the spot +to keep a look-out, and pounce on her at once. And there were you at her +heels, shouting and scaring her out of her wits, so that she was caught +from sheer terror, and there lay your men, as you had taught them, +silent and motionless in their ambuscade. (41) I say, therefore, that if +you chose to act like this against human beings, you would soon have no +enemies left to fight, or I am much mistaken. And even if, as well may +be, the necessity should arise for you to do battle on equal terms in +open field, even so, my son, there will still be power in those arts +which you have studied so long and which teach you to out-villain +villainy. And among them I include all that has served to train the +bodies and fire the courage of your men, all that has made them adepts +in every craft of war. One thing you must ever bear in mind: if you wish +your men to follow you, remember that they expect you to plan for them. +(42) Hence you must never know a careless mood; if it be night, you must +consider what your troops shall do when it is day; if day, how the night +had best be spent. (43) For the rest, you do not need me to tell you +now how you should draw up your troops or conduct your march by day or +night, along broad roads or narrow lanes, over hills or level ground, or +how you should encamp and post your pickets, or advance into battle +or retreat before the foe, or march past a hostile city, or attack a +fortress or retire from it, or cross a river or pass through a defile, +or guard against a charge of cavalry or an attack from lancers or +archers, or what you should do if the enemy comes into sight when you +are marching in column and how you are to take up position against him, +or how deploy into action if you are in line and he takes you in flank +or rear, and how you are to learn all you can about his movements, while +keeping your own as secret as may be; these are matters on which you +need no further word of mine; all that I know about them you have +heard a hundred times, and I am sure you have not neglected any other +authority on whom you thought you could rely. You know all their +theories, and you must apply them now, I take it, according to +circumstances and your need. (44) But," he added, "there is one lesson +that I would fain impress on you, and it is the greatest of them all. +Observe the sacrifices and pay heed to the omens; when they are against +you, never risk your army or yourself, for you must remember that men +undertake enterprises on the strength of probability alone and without +any real knowledge as to what will bring them happiness. (45) You may +learn this from all life and all history. How often have cities allowed +themselves to be persuaded into war, and that by advisers who were +thought the wisest of men, and then been utterly destroyed by those +whom they attacked! How often have statesmen helped to raise a city or a +leader to power, and then suffered the worst at the hands of those whom +they exalted! And many who could have treated others as friends and +equals, giving and receiving kindnesses, have chosen to use them as +slaves, and then paid the penalty at their hands; and many, not content +to enjoy their own share of good, have been swept on by the craving to +master all, and thereby lost everything that they once possessed; and +many have won the very wealth they prayed for and through it have found +destruction. (46) So little does human wisdom know how to choose the +best, helpless as a man who could but draw lots to see what he should +do. But the gods, my son, who live for ever, they know all things, the +things that have been and the things that are and the things that are to +be, and all that shall come from these; and to us mortals who ask their +counsel and whom they love they will show signs, to tell us what we +should do and what we should leave undone. Nor must we think it strange +if the gods will not vouchsafe their wisdom to all men equally; no +compulsion is laid on them to care for men, unless it be their will." +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +(This work concludes the translation of Xenophon undertaken by Mr. +Dakyns. ("The Works of Xenophon," with maps, introductions, and notes, +Vols. I.-III., Macmillan.) From references in the earlier vols. (e.g. +Vol. I. pp. lvii., lxx., xc., cxiii., cxxxi.; Vol. III. Part I. pp. +v.-vii.) it is plain the translator considered that the historical +romance of the <i>Cyropaedia</i> was written in Xenophon's old age (completed +<i>circa</i> 365 B.C.) embodying many of his own experiences and his maturest +thoughts on education, on government, on the type of man,—a rare type, +alone fitted for leadership. The figure of his hero, Cyrus the Great, +the founder of the Persian empire, known to him by story and legend, is +modelled on the Spartan king Agesilaus, whom he loved and admired, and +under whom he served in Persia and in Greece (op. cit. Vol. II., see +under <i>Agesilaus</i>, Index, and <i>Hellenica</i>, Bks. III.-V. <i>Agesilaus</i>, +<i>an Encomium</i>, passim). Certain traits are also taken from the younger +Cyrus, whom Xenophon followed in his famous march against his brother, +the Persian king, up from the coast of Asia Minor into the heart of +Babylonia (see the <i>Anabasis</i>, Bk. I., especially c. ix.; op. cit. Vol. +I. p. 109). Clearly, moreover, many of the customs and institutions +described in the work as Persian are really Dorian, and were still in +vogue among Xenophon's Spartan friends (vide e.g. <i>Hellenica</i>, Bk. IV., +i. S28; op. cit. Vol. II. p. 44).) +</p> +<p> +C2.4. Qy. Were these tribal customs of the Persians, as doubtless of the +Dorians, or is it all a Dorian idealisation? +</p> +<p> +C2.13. Good specimen of the "annotative" style with a parenthetic +comment. The passage in brackets might be a gloss, but is it? +</p> +<p> +C3.3. When did Xenophon himself first learn to ride? Surely this is a +boyish reminiscence, full of sympathy with boy-nature. +</p> +<p> +C3.12. Beautiful description of a child subject to his parents, growing +in stature and favour with God and man. +</p> +<p> +C4.2. Perhaps his own grandson, Xenophon the son of Grylus, is the +prototype, and Xenophon himself a sort of ancient Victor Hugo in this +matter of fondness for children. +</p> +<p> +C4.3. Contrast Autolycus in the <i>Symposium</i>, who had, however, reached +the more silent age (e.g. <i>Symp</i>., c. iii., fin. tr. Works, Vol. III. +Part I. p. 309). +</p> +<p> +C4.4. The touch about the puppy an instance of Xenophon's {katharotes} +(clear simplicity of style). +</p> +<p> +C4.8. Reads like a biographical incident in some hunt of Xenophon, boy +or father. +</p> +<p> +C4.9-10. The rapidity, one topic introducing and taken up by another, +wave upon wave, {anerithmon lelasma} ("the multitudinous laughter of the +sea"). +</p> +<p> +C4.12. The truth of this due to sympathy (cf. Archidamus and his father +Agesilaus, <i>Hell</i>., V. c. iv.; tr. Works, Vol. II. p. 126). +</p> +<p> +C4.22. Cyaxares recalls John Gilpin. +</p> +<p> +C4.24. An Hellenic trait; madness of battle-rage, {menis}. Something of +the fierceness of the <i>Iliad</i> here. +</p> +<p> +C5.7. Cyrus. His first speech as a general; a fine one; a spirit +of athleticism breathes through it. Cf. <i>Memorabilia</i> for a similar +rationalisation of virtuous self-restraint (e.g. <i>Mem</i>., Bk. I. c. 5, 6; +Bk. III. c. 8). Paleyan somewhat, perhaps Socratic, not devoid of common +sense. What is the end and aim of our training? Not only for an earthly +aim, but for a high spiritual reward, all this toil. +</p> +<p> +C5.10. This is Dakyns. +</p> +<p> +C5.11. "Up, Guards, and at 'em!" +</p> +<p> +C6. This chapter might have been a separate work appended to the +<i>Memorabilia</i> on Polemics or Archics ("Science of War" and "Science of +Rule"). +</p> +<p> +C6.3-6. Sounds like some Socratic counsel; the righteous man's +conception of prayer and the part he must himself play. +</p> +<p> +C6.7. Personal virtue and domestic economy a sufficiently hard task, +let alone that still graver task, the art of grinding masses of men into +virtue. +</p> +<p> +C6.8, fin. The false theory of ruling in vogue in Media: the <i>plus</i> of +ease instead of the <i>plus</i> of foresight and danger-loving endurance. Cf. +Walt Whitman. +</p> +<p> +C6.30. Is like the logical remark of a disputant in a Socratic dialogue +of the Alcibiades type, and §§ 31-33 a Socratic <i>mythos</i> to escape +from the dilemma; the breakdown of this ideal <i>plus</i> and <i>minus</i> +righteousness due to the hardness of men's hearts and their feeble +intellects. +</p> +<p> +C6.31. Who is this ancient teacher or who is his prototype if he is an +ideal being? A sort of Socrates-Lycurgus? Or is Xenophon thinking of the +Spartan Crypteia? +</p> +<p> +C6.34. For <i>pleonexia</i> and deceit in war, vide <i>Hipparch</i>., c. 5 (tr. +Works, Vol. III. Part II. p. 20). Interesting and Hellenic, I think, +the mere raising of this sort of question; it might be done nowadays, +perhaps, with advantage <i>or</i> disadvantage, less cant and more plain +brutality. +</p> +<p> +C6.39. Hunting devices applied: throws light on the date of the +<i>Cyropaedia</i>, after the Scilluntine days, probably. (After Xenophon was +exiled from Athens, his Spartan friends gave him a house and farm +at Scillus, a township in the Peloponnese, not far from Olympia. See +<i>Sketch of Xenophon's Life</i>, Works, Vol. I., p. cxxvi.) +</p> +<p> +C6.41, init. Colloquial exaggerated turn of phrase; almost "you could +wipe them off the earth." +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK II +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) Thus they talked together, and thus they journeyed on until they +reached the frontier, and there a good omen met them: an eagle swept +into view on the right, and went before them as though to lead the way, +and they prayed the gods and heroes of the land to show them favour and +grant them safe entry, and then they crossed the boundary. And when they +were across, they prayed once more that the gods of Media might receive +them graciously, and when they had done this they embraced each other, +as father and son will, and Cambyses turned back to his own city, but +Cyrus went forward again, to his uncle Cyaxares in the land of Media. +(2) And when his journey was done and he was face to face with him and +they had greeted each other as kinsmen may, then Cyaxares asked +the prince how great an armament he had brought with him? And Cyrus +answered, "I have 30,000 with me, men who have served with you before as +mercenaries; and more are coming on behind, fresh troops, from the Peers +of Persia." +</p> +<p> +"How many of those?" asked Cyaxares. (3) And Cyrus answered, "Their +numbers will not please you, but remember these Peers of ours, though +they are few, find it easy to rule the rest of the Persians, who are +many. But now," he added, "have you any need of us at all? Perhaps +it was only a false alarm that troubled you, and the enemy are not +advancing?" +</p> +<p> +"Indeed they are," said the other, "and in full force." +</p> +<p> +(4) "How do you know?" asked Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +"Because," said he, "many deserters come to us, and all of them, in one +fashion or another, tell the same tale." +</p> +<p> +"Then we must give battle?" said Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +"Needs must," Cyaxares replied. +</p> +<p> +"Well," answered Cyrus, "but you have not told me yet how great their +power is, or our own either. I want to hear, if you can tell me, so that +we may make our plans." +</p> +<p> +"Listen, then," said Cyaxares. (5) "Croesus the Lydian is coming, we +hear, with 10,000 horse and more than 40,000 archers and targeteers. +Artamas the governor of Greater Phrygia is bringing, they say, 8000 +horse, and lancers and targeteers also, 40,000 strong. Then there is +Aribaius the king of Cappadocia with 6000 horse and 30,000 archers +and targeteers. And Aragdus the Arabian with 10,000 horse, a hundred +chariots, and innumerable slingers. As for the Hellenes who dwell in +Asia, it is not clear as yet whether they will send a following or not. +But the Phrygians from the Hellespont, we are told, are mustering in the +Caystrian plain under Gabaidus, 6000 horse and 40,000 targeteers. Word +has been sent to the Carians, Cilicians, and Paphlagonians, but it is +said they will not rise; the Lord of Assyria and Babylon will himself, +I believe, bring not less than 20,000 horse, and I make no doubt as many +as 200 chariots, and thousands upon thousands of men on foot; such at +least has been his custom whenever he invaded us before." +</p> +<p> +(6) Cyrus answered: "Then you reckon the numbers of the enemy to be, in +all, something like 60,000 horse and 200,000 archers and targeteers. And +what do you take your own to be?" +</p> +<p> +"Well," he answered, "we ourselves can furnish over 10,000 horse and +perhaps, considering the state of the country, as many as 60,000 archers +and targeteers. And from our neighbours, the Armenians," he added, "we +look to get 4000 horse and 20,000 foot." +</p> +<p> +"I see," said Cyrus, "you reckon our cavalry at less than a third of the +enemy's, and our infantry at less than half." +</p> +<p> +(7) "Ah," said Cyaxares, "and perhaps you feel that the force you are +bringing from Persia is very small?" +</p> +<p> +"We will consider that later on," answered Cyrus, "and see then if we +require more men or not. Tell me first the methods of fighting that the +different troops adopt." +</p> +<p> +"They are much the same for all," answered Cyaxares, "that is to say, +their men and ours alike are armed with bows and javelins." +</p> +<p> +"Well," replied Cyrus, "if such arms are used, skirmishing at long range +must be the order of the day." "True," said the other. (8) "And in that +case," went on Cyrus, "the victory is in the hands of the larger force; +for even if the same numbers fall on either side, the few would be +exhausted long before the many." "If that be so," cried Cyaxares, "there +is nothing left for us but to send to Persia, and make them see that if +disaster falls on Media it will fall on Persia next, and beg them for +a larger force." "Ah, but," said Cyrus, "you must remember that even if +every single Persian were to come at once, we could not outnumber our +enemies." (9) "But," said the other, "can you see anything else to be +done?" "For my part," answered Cyrus, "if I could have my way, I would +arm every Persian who is coming here in precisely the same fashion as +our Peers at home, that is to say, with a corslet for the breast, a +shield for the left arm, and a sword or battle-axe for the right hand. +If you will give us these you will make it quite safe for us to close +with the enemy, and our foes will find that flight is far pleasanter +than defence. But we Persians," he added, "will deal with those who do +stand firm, leaving the fugitives to you and to your cavalry, who must +give them no time to rally and no time to escape." +</p> +<p> +(10) That was the counsel of Cyrus, and Cyaxares approved it. He thought +no more of sending for a larger force, but set about preparing the +equipment he had been asked for, and all was in readiness just about the +time when the Peers arrived from Persia at the head of their own troops. +(11) Then, so says the story, Cyrus called the Peers together and spoke +to them as follows: "Men of Persia, my friends and comrades, when I +looked at you first and saw the arms you bore and how you were all on +fire to meet the enemy, hand to hand, and when I remembered that your +squires are only equipped for fighting on the outskirts of the field, +I confess my mind misgave me. Few and forlorn they will be, I said to +myself, swallowed up in a host of enemies; no good can come of it. But +to-day you are here, and your men behind you, stalwart and stout of +limb, and to-morrow they shall have armour like our own. None could find +fault with their thews and sinews, and as for their spirit, it is for +us to see it does not fail. A leader must not only have a stout heart +himself; he must see to it that his followers are as valiant as he." +</p> +<p> +(12) Thus Cyrus spoke, and the Peers were well satisfied at his words, +feeling that on the day of battle they would have more to help them in +the struggle. (13) And one of them said, "Perhaps it will seem strange +if I ask Cyrus to speak in our stead to our fellow-combatants when they +receive their arms, and yet I know well that the words of him who has +the greatest power for weal or woe sink deepest into the listener's +heart. His very gifts, though they should be less than the gifts of +equals, are valued more. These new comrades of ours," he went on, "would +rather be addressed by Cyrus himself than by us, and now that they are +to take their place among the Peers their title will seem to them +far more secure if it is given them by the king's own son and our +general-in-chief. Not that we have not still our own duties left. We are +bound to do our best in every way to rouse the spirit of our men. Shall +we not gain ourselves by all they gain in valour?" +</p> +<p> +(14) So it came about that Cyrus had the new armour placed before him +and summoned a general meeting of the Persian soldiery, and spoke to +them as follows: +</p> +<p> +(15) "Men of Persia, born and bred in the same land as ourselves, whose +limbs are as stout and as strong as our own, your hearts should be as +brave. I know they are; and yet at home in the land of our fathers you +did not share our rights; not that we drove you out ourselves, but +you were banished by the compulsion that lay upon you to find your +livelihood for yourselves. Now from this day forward, with heaven's +help, it shall be my care to provide it for you; and now, if so +you will, you have it in your power to take the armour that we wear +ourselves, face the same perils and win the same honours, if so be you +make any glorious deed your own. (16) In former days you were trained, +like ourselves, in the use of bow and javelin, and if you were at all +inferior to us in skill, that was not to be wondered at; you had not +the same leisure for practice as we; but now in this new accoutrement we +shall have no pre-eminence at all. Each of us will wear a corslet fitted +to his breast and carry a shield on his left arm of the type to which we +are all accustomed, and in his right hand a sabre or a battle-axe. With +these we shall smite the enemy before us, and need have no fear that we +shall miss the mark. (17) How can we differ from one another with these +arms? There can be no difference except in daring. And daring you may +foster in your hearts as much as we in ours. What greater right have we +than you to love victory and follow after her, victory who wins for us +and preserves to us all things that are beautiful and good? Why should +you, any more than we, be found lacking in that power which takes the +goods of weaklings and bestows them on the strong?" +</p> +<p> +(18) He ended: "Now you have heard all. There lie your weapons; let him +who chooses take them up and write his name with the brigadier in the +same roll as ours. And if a man prefers to remain a mercenary, let him +do so; he carries the arms of a servant." +</p> +<p> +(19) Thus spoke Cyrus; and the Persians, every man of them, felt they +would be ashamed for the rest of their days, and deservedly, if they +drew back now, when they were offered equal honour in return for equal +toil. One and all they inscribed their names and took up the new arms. +</p> +<p> +(20) And now in the interval, before the enemy were actually at hand, +but while rumour said they were advancing, Cyrus took on himself a +three-fold task: to bring the physical strength of his men to the +highest pitch, to teach them tactics, and to rouse their spirit for +martial deeds. (21) He asked Cyaxares for a body of assistants whose +duty it should be to provide each of his soldiers with all they could +possibly need, thus leaving the men themselves free for the art of war. +He had learnt, he thought, that success, in whatever sphere, was only to +be won by refusing to attempt a multitude of tasks and concentrating the +mind on one. +</p> +<p> +Thus in the military training itself he gave up the practice with bow +and javelin, leaving his men to perfect themselves in the use of sabre, +shield, and corslet, accustoming them from the very first to the thought +that they must close with the enemy, or confess themselves worthless as +fellow-combatants; a harsh conclusion for those who knew that they were +only protected in order to fight on behalf of their protectors. (22) And +further, being convinced that wherever the feeling of emulation can +be roused, there the eagerness to excel is greatest, he instituted +competitions for everything in which he thought his soldiers should be +trained. The private soldier was challenged to prove himself prompt +to obey, anxious to work, eager for danger, and yet ever mindful of +discipline, an expert in the science of war, an artist in the conduct +of his arms, and a lover of honour in all things. The petty officer +commanding a squad of five was not only to equal the leading private, he +must also do what he could to bring his men to the same perfection; the +captain of ten must do the same for his ten, and the company's captain +for the company, while the commander of the whole regiment, himself +above reproach, must take the utmost care with the officers under him so +that they in their turn should see that their subordinates were perfect +in all their duties. (23) For prizes, Cyrus announced that the brigadier +in command of the finest regiment should be raised to the rank of +general, the captain of the finest company should be made a brigadier, +the captain of the finest squad of ten captain of a company, and the +captain of the best five a captain of ten, while the best soldiers from +the ranks should become captains of five themselves. Every one of these +officers had the privilege of being served by those beneath him, and +various other honours also, suited to their several grades, while ampler +hopes were offered for any nobler exploits. (24) Finally prizes were +announced to be won by a regiment or a company or a squad taken as a +whole, by those who proved themselves most loyal to their leaders and +most zealous in the practice of their duty. These prizes, of course, +were such as to be suitable for men taken in the mass. +</p> +<p> +Such were the orders of the Persian leader, and such the exercises of +the Persian troops. (25) For their quarters, he arranged that a separate +shelter should be assigned to every brigadier, and that it should be +large enough for the whole regiment he commanded; a regiment consisting +of 100 men. Thus they were encamped by regiments, and in the mere fact +of common quarters there was this advantage, Cyrus thought, for the +coming struggle, that the men saw they were all treated alike, and +therefore no one could pretend that he was slighted, and no one sink to +the confession that he was a worse man than his neighbours when it came +to facing the foe. Moreover the life in common would help the men to +know each other, and it is only by such knowledge, as a rule, that a +common conscience is engendered; those who live apart, unknowing and +unknown, seem far more apt for mischief, like those who skulk in the +dark. (26) Cyrus thought the common life would lead to the happiest +results in the discipline of the regiments. By this system all the +officers—brigadiers, company-captains, captains of the squads—could +keep their men in as perfect order as if they were marching before them +in single file. (27) Such precision in the ranks would do most to guard +against disorder and re-establish order if ever it were broken; just as +when timbers and stones have to be fitted together it is easy enough +to put them into place, wherever they chance to lie, provided only that +they are marked so as to leave no doubt where each belongs. (28) And +finally, he felt, there was the fact that those who live together are +the less likely to desert one another; even the wild animals, Cyrus +knew, who are reared together suffer terribly from loneliness when they +are severed from each other. +</p> +<p> +(29) There was a further matter, to which he gave much care; he wished +no man to take his meal at morning or at night till he had sweated for +it. He would lead the men out to hunt, or invent games for them, or +if there was work to be done, he would so conduct it that they did not +leave it without sweat. He believed this regimen gave them zest for +their food, was good for their health, and increased their powers of +toil; and the toil itself was a blessed means for making the men more +gentle towards each other; just as horses that work together grow +gentle, and will stand quietly side by side. Moreover the knowledge of +having gone through a common training would increase tenfold the courage +with which they met the foe. +</p> +<p> +(30) Cyrus had his own quarters built to hold all the guests he might +think it well to entertain, and, as a rule, he would invite such of the +brigadiers as the occasion seemed to call for, but sometimes he would +send for the company-captains and the officers in command of the smaller +squads, and even the private soldiers were summoned to his board, and +from time to time a squad of five, or of ten, or an entire company, or +even a whole regiment, or he would give a special invitation by way of +honour to any one whom he knew had undertaken some work he had at heart +himself. In every case there was no distinction whatever between the +meats for himself and for his guests. (31) Further he always insisted +that the army servants should share and share alike with the soldiers +in everything, for he held that those who did such service for the army +were as much to be honoured as heralds or ambassadors. They were bound, +he said, to be loyal and intelligent, alive to all a soldier's needs, +active, swift, unhesitating, and withal cool and imperturbable. Nor +was that all; he was convinced that they ought also to possess those +qualities which are thought to be peculiar to what we call "the better +classes," and yet never despise their work, but feel that everything +their commander laid upon them must be fit for them to do. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) It was the constant aim of Cyrus whenever he and his soldiers +messed together, that the talk should be lively and full of grace, and +at the same time do the listeners good. Thus one day he brought the +conversation round to the following theme:— +</p> +<p> +"Do you think, gentlemen," said he, "that our new comrades appear +somewhat deficient in certain respects simply because they have not been +educated in the same fashion as ourselves? Or will they show themselves +our equals in daily life and on the field of battle when the time comes +to meet the foe?" +</p> +<p> +(2) Hystaspas took up the challenge:—"What sort of warriors they will +prove I do not pretend to know, but this I do say, in private life some +of them are cross-grained fellows enough. Only the other day," he went +on, "Cyaxares sent a present of sacrificial meat to every regiment. +There was flesh enough for three courses apiece or more, and the +attendant had handed round the first, beginning with myself. So when he +came in again, I told him to begin at the other end of the board, and +serve the company in that order. (3) But I was greeted by a yell from +the centre: one of these men who was sitting there bawled out, 'Equality +indeed! There's not much of it here, if we who sit in the middle +are never served first at all!' It nettled me that they should fancy +themselves treated worse than we, so I called him up at once and made +him sit beside me. And I am bound to say he obeyed that order with the +most exemplary alacrity. But when the dish came round to us, we found, +not unnaturally, since we were the last to be served, that only a few +scraps were left. At this my man fell into the deepest dudgeon, and made +no attempt to conceal it, muttering to himself, 'Just like my ill-luck! +To be invited here just now and never before!' (4) I tried to comfort +him. 'Never mind,' I said, 'presently the servant will begin again with +us, and then you will help yourself first and you can take the biggest +piece.' Just then the third course, and, as it proved, the last, came +round, and so the poor fellow took his helping, but as he did so it +struck him that the piece he had chosen first was too small, and he put +it back, meaning to pick out another. But the carver, thinking he had +changed his mind and did not want any more, passed on to the next man +before he had time to secure his second slice. (5) At this our friend +took his loss so hard that he only made matters worse: his third course +was clean gone, and now in his rage and his bad luck he somehow managed +to overset the gravy, which was all that remained to him. The captain +next to us seeing how matters stood rubbed his hands with glee and went +into peals of laughter. And," said Hystaspas, "I took refuge in a fit +of coughing myself, for really I could not have controlled my laughter. +There, Cyrus," said he, "that is a specimen of our new comrades, as +nearly as I can draw his portrait." +</p> +<p> +(6) The description, as may be guessed, was greeted with shouts of +laughter, and then another brigadier took up the word: "Well, Cyrus," +said he, "our friend here has certainly met with an absolute boor: my +own experience is somewhat different. You remember the admonitions you +gave us when you dismissed the regiments, and how you bade each of us +instruct his own men in the lessons we had learnt from you. Well, I, +like the rest of us, went off at once and set about instructing one of +the companies under me. I posted the captain in front with a fine young +fellow behind him, and after them the others in the order I thought +best; I took my stand facing them all, and waited, with my eyes fixed on +the captain, until I thought the right moment had come, and then I gave +the order to advance. (7) And what must my fine fellow do but get in +front of the captain and march off ahead of the whole troop. I cried +out, 'You, sir, what are you doing?' 'Advancing as you ordered.' 'I +never ordered you to advance alone,' I retorted, 'the order was given +to the whole company.' At which he turned right round and addressed the +ranks: 'Don't you hear the officer abusing you? The orders are for all +to advance!' Whereupon the rest of them marched right past their captain +and up to me. (8) Of course the captain called them back, and they began +to grumble and growl: 'Which of the two are we to obey? One tells us to +advance, the other won't let us move.' +</p> +<p> +"Well, I had to take the whole matter very quietly and begin again from +the beginning, posting the company as they were, and explaining that no +one in the rear was to move until the front rank man led off: all they +had to do was to follow the man in front. (9) As I was speaking, up came +a friend of mine; he was going off to Persia, and had come to ask me for +a letter I had written home. So I turned to the captain who happened to +know where I had left the letter lying, and bade him fetch it for me. +Off he ran, and off ran my young fellow at his heels, breast-plate, +battle-axe, and all. The rest of the company thought they were bound to +follow suit, joined in the race, and brought my letter back in style. +That is how my company, you see, carries out your instructions to the +full." +</p> +<p> +(10) He paused, and the listeners laughed to their hearts' content, as +well as they might, over the triumphant entry of the letter under its +armed escort. Then Cyrus spoke: +</p> +<p> +"Now heaven be praised! A fine set they are, these new friends of ours, +a most rare race! So grateful are they for any little act of courtesy, +you may win a hundred hearts by a dish of meat! And so docile, some of +them must needs obey an order before they have understood it! For my +part I can only pray to be blest with an army like them all." +</p> +<p> +(11) Thus he joined in the mirth, but he turned the laughter to the +praise of his new recruits. +</p> +<p> +Then one of the company, a brigadier called Aglaïtadas, a somewhat +sour-tempered man, turned to him and said: +</p> +<p> +"Cyrus, do you really think the tales they tell are true?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly," he answered, "why should they say what is false?" +</p> +<p> +"Why," repeated the other, "simply to raise a laugh, and make a brag +like the impostors that they are." (12) But Cyrus cut him short, "Hush! +hush! You must not use such ugly names. Let me tell you what an impostor +is. He is a man who claims to be wealthier or braver than he is in fact, +and who undertakes what he can never carry out, and all this for the +sake of gain. But he who contrives mirth for his friends, not for his +own profit, or his hearers' loss, or to injure any man, surely, if we +must needs give him a name, we ought to call him a man of taste and +breeding and a messenger of wit." +</p> +<p> +(13) Such was the defence of Cyrus in behalf of the merrymakers. And the +officer who had begun the jest turned to Aglaïtadas and said: +</p> +<p> +"Just think, my dear sir, if we had tried to make you weep! What +fault you would have found with us! Suppose we had been like the +ballad-singers and story-tellers who put in lamentable tales in the hope +of reducing their audience to tears! What would you have said about us +then? Why, even now, when you know we only wish to amuse you, not to +make you suffer, you must needs hold us up to shame." +</p> +<p> +(14) "And is not the shame justified?" Aglaïtadas replied. "The man who +sets himself to make his fellows laugh does far less for them than he +who makes them weep. If you will but think, you will admit that what +I say is true. It is through tears our fathers teach self-control unto +their sons, and our tutors sound learning to their scholars, and the +laws themselves lead the grown man to righteousness by putting him to +sit in the place of penitence. But your mirth-makers, can you say they +benefit the body or edify the soul? Can smiles make a man a better +master or a better citizen? Can he learn economy or statesmanship from a +grin?" +</p> +<p> +(15) But Hystaspas answered back: +</p> +<p> +"Take my advice, Aglaïtadas, pluck up heart and spend this precious gift +of yours on your enemies: make them sit in the seat of the sorrowful, +and fling away on us, your friends, that vile and worthless laughter. +You must have an ample store of it in reserve: it cannot be said you +have squandered it on yourself, or ever wasted a smile on friend or +foreigner if you could help it. So you have no excuse to be niggardly +now, and cannot refuse us a smile." +</p> +<p> +"I see," said Aglaïtadas, "you are trying to get a laugh out of me, are +you not?" +</p> +<p> +But the brigadier interposed, "Then he is a fool for his pains, my +friend: one might strike fire out of you, perhaps, but not a laugh, not +a laugh." +</p> +<p> +(16) At this sally all the others shouted with glee, and even Aglaïtadas +could not help himself: he smiled. +</p> +<p> +And Cyrus, seeing the sombre face light up said: +</p> +<p> +"Brigadier, you are very wrong to corrupt so virtuous a man, luring him +to laughter, and that too when he is the sworn foe of gaiety." +</p> +<p> +So they talked and jested. (17) And then Chrysantas began on another +theme. +</p> +<p> +(18) "Cyrus," he said, "and gentlemen all, I cannot help seeing that +within our ranks are men of every kind, some better and some worse, and +yet if anything is won every man will claim an equal share. Now to my +mind nothing is more unfair than that the base man and the good should +be held of equal account." +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps it would be best, gentlemen," said Cyrus in answer, "to bring +the matter before the army in council and put it to them, whether, +if God grant us success, we should let all share and share alike, or +distribute the rewards and honours in proportion to the deserts of +each." +</p> +<p> +(19) "But why," asked Chrysantas, "why discuss the point? Why not simply +issue a general order that you intend to do this? Was not that enough in +the case of the competitions?" +</p> +<p> +"Doubtless," Cyrus answered, "but this case is different. The troops, I +take it, will feel that all they win by their services on the campaign +should belong to them in common: but they hold that the actual command +of the expedition was mine by right even before we left home, so that I +was fully entitled, on their view, to appoint umpires and judges at my +own will." +</p> +<p> +(20) "And do you really expect," asked Chrysantas, "that the mass of the +army will pass a resolution giving up the right of all to an equal share +in order that the best men should receive the most?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, I do," said Cyrus, "partly because we shall be there to argue for +that course, but chiefly because it would seem too base to deny that +he who works the hardest and does most for the common good deserves +the highest recompense. Even the worst of men must admit that the brave +should gain the most." +</p> +<p> +(21) It was, however, as much for the sake of the Peers themselves as +for any other reason that Cyrus wished the resolution to be passed. +They would prove all the better men, he thought, if they too were to be +judged by their deeds and rewarded accordingly. And this was the right +moment, he felt, to raise the question and put it to the vote, now when +the Peers were disposed to resent being put on a level with the common +people. In the end it was agreed by all the company that the question +should be raised, and that every one who claimed to call himself a man +was bound to argue in its favour. +</p> +<p> +(22) And on that one of the brigadiers smiled to himself and said: "I +know at least one son of the soil who will be ready to agree that the +principle of share and share alike should not be followed everywhere." +</p> +<p> +"And who is he?" another asked. +</p> +<p> +"Well," said the first, "he is a member of our quarters, I can tell you +that, and he is always hunting after the lion's share of every single +thing." +</p> +<p> +"What? Of everything?" said a third. "Of work as well?" "Oh, no!" said +the first, "you have caught me there. I was wrong to say so much, I must +confess. When it comes to work, I must admit, he is quite ready to go +short: he will give up his own share of that, without a murmur, to any +man whatever." +</p> +<p> +(23) "For my part, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "I hold that all such idlers +ought to be turned out of the army, that is, if we are ever to cultivate +obedience and energy in our men. The bulk of our soldiers, I take it, +are of the type to follow a given lead: they will seek after nobleness +and valour if their leaders are valiant and noble, but after baseness if +these are base. (24) And we know that only too often the worthless will +find more friends than the good. Vice, passing lightly along her path +of pleasure, wins the hearts of thousands with her gifts; but Virtue, +toiling up the steep ascent, has little skill to snare the souls of men +and draw them after her, when all the while their comrades are calling +to them on the easy downward way. (25) It is true there are degrees, +and where the evil springs only from sloth and lethargy, I look on the +creatures as mere drones, only injuring the hive by what they cost: but +there are others, backward in toil and forward in greed, and these are +the captains in villainy: for not seldom can they show that rascality +has its advantages. Such as they must be removed, cut out from among us, +root and branch. (26) And I would not have you fill their places from +our fellow-citizens alone, but, just as you choose your horses from +the best stocks, wherever you find them, not limiting yourselves to +the national breed, so you have all mankind before you, and you should +choose those, and those only, who will increase your power and add +to your honour. Let me clinch my argument by examples: no chariot can +travel fast if the horses in the team are slow, or run straight if they +will not be ruled; no house can stand firm if the household is evil: +better empty walls than traitors who will bring it to the ground. +</p> +<p> +(27) "And be sure, my friends," he added, "the removal of the bad means +a benefit beyond the sheer relief that they are taken away and will +trouble us no more: those who are left and were ripe for contagion are +purified, and those who were worthy will cleave to virtue all the closer +when they see the dishonour that falls on wickedness." +</p> +<p> +(28) So Cyrus spoke, and his words won the praise of all his friends, +and they set themselves to do as he advised. +</p> +<p> +But after that Cyrus began to jest again. His eye fell on a certain +captain who had chosen for his comrade at the feast a great hairy lad, a +veritable monster of ugliness, and Cyrus called to the captain by name: +"How now, Sambulas? Have you adopted the Hellenic fashion too? And +will you roam the world together, you and the lad who sits beside you, +because there is none so fair as he?" "By heaven," answered Sambulas, +"you are not far wrong. It is bliss to me to feast my eyes upon him." +(29) At that all the guests turned and looked on the young man's +face, but when they saw how ugly it was, they could not help laughing +outright. "Heavens, Sambulas, tell us the valiant deed that knit your +souls together! How has he drawn you to himself?" (30) "Listen then," he +answered, "and I will tell you the whole truth. Every time I call +him, morning, noon, or night, he comes to me; never yet has he excused +himself, never been too busy to attend; and he comes at a run, he does +not walk. Whatever I have bidden him do, he has always done it, and at +the top of his speed. He has made all the petty captains under him the +very models of industry; he shows them, not by word but deed, what they +ought to be." (31) "And so," said another, "for all these virtues you +give him, I take it, the kiss of kinship?" But the ugly lad broke out: +"Not he! He has no great love for work. And to kiss me, if it came to +that, would mean more effort than all his exercises." +</p> +<p> +(C.3) So the hours passed in the general's tent, from grave to gay, +until at last the third libation was poured out, and the company bent +in prayer to the gods—"Grant us all that is good"—and so broke up, and +went away to sleep. +</p> +<p> +But the next day Cyrus assembled the soldiers in full conclave, and +spoke to them: (2) "My men," he said, "my friends, the day of struggle +is at hand, and the enemy are near. The prizes of victory, if victory +is to be ours—and we must believe it will be ours, we must make it +ours—the prizes of victory will be nothing short of the enemy himself +and all that he possesses. And if the victory should be his, then, in +like manner, all the goods of the vanquished must lie at the victor's +feet. (3) Therefore I would have you take this to your hearts: wherever +those who have joined together for war remember that unless each and +every one of them play his part with zeal nothing good can follow; there +we may look for glorious success. For there nothing that ought to be +done will be left undone. But if each man thinks 'My neighbour will +toil and fight, even though my own heart should fail and my own arm +fall slack,' then, believe me, disaster is at the door for each and all +alike, and no man shall escape. (4) Such is the ordinance of God: those +who will not work out their own salvation he gives into the hands of +other men to bear rule over them. And now I call on any man here," he +added, "to stand up and say whether he believes that virtue will best +be nourished among us if he who bears the greatest toil and takes the +heaviest risk shall receive the highest honours. Or whether we should +hold that cowardice makes no difference in the end, seeing that we all +must share alike?" +</p> +<p> +(5) Thereupon Chrysantas of the Peers rose up. He was a man of +understanding, but his bodily presence was weak. And now he spoke thus: +</p> +<p> +"I do not imagine, Cyrus, that you put this question with any belief +that cowards ought really to receive the same share as the brave. No, +you wished to make trial of us and see whether any man would dare to +claim an equal part in all that his fellows win by their nobleness, +though he never struck a single valiant stroke himself. (6) I myself," +he continued, "am neither fleet of foot nor stout of limb, and for aught +I can do with my body, I perceive that on the day of trial neither the +first place nor the second can be mine, no, nor yet the hundredth, nor +even, it may be, the thousandth. But this I know right well, that if +our mighty men put forth all their strength, I too shall receive such +portion of our blessings as I may deserve. But if the cowards sit at +ease and the good and brave are out of heart, then I fear that I shall +get a portion, a larger than I care to think, of something that is no +blessing but a curse." +</p> +<p> +(7) And so spoke Chrysantas, and then Pheraulas stood up. He was a +man of the people, but well known to Cyrus in the old days at home and +well-beloved by him: no mean figure to look at, and in soul like a man +of noble birth. Now he spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +(8) "Cyrus, friends, and Persians, I hold to the belief that on this +day we all start equal in that race where valour is the goal. I speak of +what I see: we are trained on the same fare; we are held worthy of the +same comradeship; we contend for the same rewards. All of us alike are +told to obey our leaders, and he who obeys most frankly never fails +to meet with honour at the hands of Cyrus. Valour is no longer the +privilege of one class alone: it has become the fairest prize that can +fall to the lot of any man. (9) And to-day a battle is before us where +no man need teach us how to fight: we have the trick of it by nature, +as a bull knows how to use his horns, or a horse his hoofs, or a dog +his teeth, or a wild boar his tusks. The animals know well enough," he +added, "when and where to guard themselves: they need no master to tell +them that. (10) I myself, when I was a little lad, I knew by instinct +how to shield myself from the blow I saw descending: if I had nothing +else, I had my two fists, and used them with all my force against my +foe: no one taught me how to do it, on the contrary they beat me if they +saw me clench my fists. And a knife, I remember, I never could resist: +I clutched the thing whenever I caught sight of it: not a soul showed me +how to hold it, only nature herself, I do aver. I did it, not because I +was taught to do it, but in spite of being forbidden, like many another +thing to which nature drove me, in spite of my father and mother both. +Yes, and I was never tired of hacking and hewing with my knife whenever +I got the chance: it did not seem merely natural, like walking or +running, it was positive joy. (11) Well, to-day we are to fight in +this same simple fashion: energy, rather than skill, is called for, and +glorious it will be to match ourselves against our friends, the Peers of +Persia. And let us remember that the same prizes are offered to us +all, but the stakes differ: our friends give up a life of honour, +the sweetest life there can be, but we escape from years of toil and +ignominy, and there can be no life worse than that. (12) And what fires +me most of all, my friends, and sends me into the lists most gladly, is +the thought that Cyrus will be our judge: one who will give no partial +verdict. I call the gods to witness when I say that he loves a valiant +man as he loves his own soul: I have seen him give such an one more than +he ever keeps for himself. (13) And now," he added, "I know that our +friends here pride themselves upon their breeding and what it has done +for them. They have been brought up to endure hunger and thirst, cold +and nakedness, and yet they are aware that we too have been trained in +the self-same school and by a better master than they: we were taught by +Necessity, and there is no teacher so good, and none so strict. (14) How +did our friends here learn their endurance? By bearing arms, weapons +of war, tools that the wit of the whole human race has made as light as +well could be: but Necessity drove us, my fellows and myself, to stagger +under burdens so heavy that to-day, if I may speak for myself, these +weapons of mine seem rather wings to lift me than weights to bear. (15) +I for one am ready, Cyrus, to enter the lists, and, however I prove, I +will ask from you no more than I deserve: I would have you believe this. +And you," he added, turning to his fellows, "you, men of the people, I +would have you plunge into the battle and match yourselves with these +gentlemen-warriors: the fine fellows must meet us now, for this is the +people's day." +</p> +<p> +(16) That is what Pheraulas said, and many rose to follow him and +support his views. And it was resolved that each man should be honoured +according to his deserts and that Cyrus should be the judge. So the +matter ended, and all was well. +</p> +<p> +(17) Now Cyrus gave a banquet and a certain brigadier was the chief +guest, and his regiment with him. Cyrus had marked the officer one +day when he was drilling his men; he had drawn up the ranks in two +divisions, opposite each other, ready for the charge. They were all +wearing corslets and carrying light shields, but half were equipped +with stout staves of fennel, and half were ordered to snatch up clods of +earth and do what they could with these. (18) When all were ready, the +officer gave the signal and the artillery began, not without effect: the +missiles fell fast on shields and corslets, on thighs and greaves. But +when they came to close quarters the men of the staves had their turn: +they struck at thighs and hands and legs, or, if the adversary stooped +and twisted, they belaboured back and shoulders, till they put the foe +to utter rout, delivering their blows with shouts of laughter and the +glee of boys. Then there was an exchange of weapons, and the other side +had their revenge: they took the staves in their turn, and once more the +staff triumphed over the clod. (19) Cyrus was full of admiration, partly +at the inventiveness of the commander, partly at the discipline of the +men; it was good to see the active exercise, and the gaiety of heart, +and good to know that the upshot of the battle favoured those who fought +in the Persian style. In every way he was pleased, and then and there +he bade them all to dinner. But at the feast many of the guests wore +bandages, some on their hands, others on their legs, and Cyrus saw it +and asked what had befallen them. They told him they had been bruised +by the clods. (20) "At close quarters?" said he, "or at long range?" "At +long range," they answered, and all the club-bearers agreed that when +it came to close quarters, they had the finest sport. But here those who +had been carbonaded by that weapon broke in and protested loudly that +it was anything but sport to be clubbed at short range, and in proof +thereof they showed the weals on hand and neck and face. Thus they +laughed at one another as soldiers will; and on the next day the whole +plain was studded with combats of this type, and whenever the army had +nothing more serious in hand, this sport was their delight. +</p> +<p> +(21) Another day Cyrus noticed a brigadier who was marching his regiment +up from the river back to their quarters. They were advancing in single +file on his left, and at the proper moment he ordered the second company +to wheel round and draw up to the front alongside the first, and then +the third, and then the fourth; and when the company-captains were +all abreast, he passed the word along, "Companies in twos," and the +captains-of-ten came into line; and then at the right moment he gave the +order, "Companies in fours," and the captains of five wheeled round and +came abreast, and when they reached the tent doors he called a halt, +made them fall into single file once more, and marched the first company +in first, and then the second at its heels, and the third and fourth +behind them, and as he introduced them, he seated them at the table, +keeping the order of their entry. What Cyrus commended was the quiet +method of instruction and the care the officer showed, and it was for +that he invited him and all his regiment to dinner in the royal tent. +</p> +<p> +(22) Now it chanced that another brigadier was among the guests, and +he spoke up and said to Cyrus: "But will you never ask my men to dinner +too? Day after day, morning and evening, whenever we come in for a meal +we do just the same as they, and when the meal is over the hindmost +man of the last company leads out his men with their fighting-order +reversed, and the next company follows, led by their hindmost man, and +then the third, and then the fourth: so that all of them, if they have +to retire before an enemy, will know how to fall back in good order. +And as soon as we are drawn up on the parade-ground we set off marching +east, and I lead off with all my divisions behind me, in their regular +order, waiting for my word. By-and-by we march west, and then the +hindmost man of the last division leads the way, but they must still +look to me for commands, though I am marching last: and thus they learn +to obey with equal promptitude whether I am at the head or in the rear." +</p> +<p> +(23) "Do you mean to tell me," said Cyrus, "that this is a regular rule +of yours?" +</p> +<p> +"Truly yes," he answered, "as regular as our meals, heaven help us!" +</p> +<p> +"Then I hereby invite you all to dinner, and for three good reasons; you +practice your drill in both forms, you do this morning and evening both, +and by your marching and counter-marching you train your bodies and +benefit your souls. And since you do it all twice over every day, it is +only fair to give you dinner twice." +</p> +<p> +(24) "Not twice in one day, I beg you!" said the officer, "unless you +can furnish us with a second stomach apiece." +</p> +<p> +And so the conversation ended for the time. But the next day Cyrus was +as good as his word. He had all the regiment to dinner; and the day +after he invited them again: and when the other regiments knew of it +they fell to doing as they did. +</p> +<p> +(C.4) Now it chanced one day as Cyrus was holding a review, a messenger +came from Cyaxares to tell him that an embassy from India had just +arrived, and to bid him return with all despatch. +</p> +<p> +"And I bring with me," said the messenger, "a suit of splendid apparel +sent from Cyaxares himself: my lord wishes you to appear in all possible +splendour, for the Indians will be there to see you." +</p> +<p> +(2) At that Cyrus commanded the brigadier of the first regiment to draw +up to the front with his men behind him on the left in single file, and +to pass the order on to the second, and so throughout the army. Officers +and men were quick to obey; so that in a trice the whole force on the +field was drawn up, one hundred deep and three hundred abreast, with +their officers at the head. (3) When they were in position Cyrus bade +them follow his lead and off they went at a good round pace. However the +road leading to the royal quarters was too narrow to let them pass +with so wide a front and Cyrus sent word along the line that the first +detachment, one thousand strong, should follow as they were, and then +the second, and so on to the last, and as he gave the command he led +on without a pause and all the detachments followed in due order, one +behind the other. (4) But to prevent mistakes he sent two gallopers up +to the entrance with orders to explain what should be done in case the +men were at a loss. And when they reached the gates, Cyrus told the +leading brigadier to draw up his regiment round the palace, twelve deep, +the front rank facing the building, and this command he was to pass on +to the second, and the second to the third, and so on till the last. (5) +And while they saw to this he went in to Cyaxares himself, wearing his +simple Persian dress without a trace of pomp. Cyaxares was well pleased +at his celerity, but troubled by the plainness of his attire, and said +to him, "What is the meaning of this, Cyrus? How could you show yourself +in this guise to the Indians? I wished you to appear in splendour: +it would have done me honour for my sister's son to be seen in great +magnificence." +</p> +<p> +(6) But Cyrus made answer: "Should I have done you more honour if I had +put on a purple robe, and bracelets for my arms, and a necklace about my +neck, and so presented myself at your call after long delay? Or as now, +when to show you respect I obey you with this despatch and bring you +so large and fine a force, although I wear no ornament but the dust and +sweat of speed, and make no display unless it be to show you these +men who are as obedient to you as I am myself." Such were the words of +Cyrus, and Cyaxares felt that they were just, and so sent for the +Indian ambassadors forthwith. (7) And when they entered they gave this +message:—The king of the Indians bade them ask what was the cause of +strife between the Assyrians and the Medes, "And when we have heard +you," they said, "our king bids us betake ourselves to the Assyrian and +put the same question to him, and in the end we are to tell you both +that the king of the Indians, when he has enquired into the justice of +the case, will uphold the cause of him who has been wronged." +</p> +<p> +(8) To this Cyaxares replied: +</p> +<p> +"Then take from me this answer: we do the Assyrian no wrong nor any +injustice whatsoever. And now go and make inquiry of him, if you are so +minded, and see what answer he will give." +</p> +<p> +Then Cyrus, who was standing by, asked Cyaxares, "May I too say what +is in my mind?" "Say on," answered Cyaxares. Then Cyrus turned to the +ambassadors: "Tell your master," he said, "unless Cyaxares is otherwise +minded, that we are ready to do this: if the Assyrian lays any injustice +to our charge we choose the king of the Indians himself to be our judge, +and he shall decide between us." +</p> +<p> +(9) With that the embassy departed. And when they had gone out Cyrus +turned to his uncle and began, "Cyaxares, when I came to you I had scant +wealth of my own and of the little I brought with me only a fragment is +left. I have spent it all on my soldiers. You may wonder at this," he +added, "when it is you who have supported them, but, believe me, the +money has not been wasted: it has all been spent on gifts and rewards +to the soldiers who deserved it. (10) And I am sure," he added, "if +we require good workers and good comrades in any task whatever, it is +better and pleasanter to encourage them by kind speeches and kindly acts +than to drive them by pains and penalties. And if it is for war that we +need such trusty helpers, we can only win the men we want by every charm +of word and grace of deed. For our true ally must be a friend and not a +foe, one who can never envy the prosperity of his leader nor betray him +in the day of disaster. (11) Such is my conviction, and such being so, +I do not hide from myself the need of money. But to look to you for +everything, when I know that you spend so much already, would be +monstrous in my eyes. I only ask that we should take counsel together so +as to prevent the failure of your funds. I am well aware that if you won +great wealth, I should be able to help myself at need, especially if I +used it for your own advantage. (12) Now I think you told me the other +day that the king of Armenia has begun to despise you, because he hears +we have an enemy, and therefore he will neither send you troops nor pay +the tribute which is due." (13) "Yes," answered Cyaxares, "such are his +tricks. And I cannot decide whether to march on him at once and try +to subdue him by force, or let the matter be for the time, for fear of +adding to the enemies we have." Then Cyrus asked, "Are his dwellings +strongly fortified, or could they be attacked?" And Cyaxares answered, +"The actual fortifications are not very strong: I took good care of +that. But he has the hill-country to which he can retire, and there for +the moment lie secure, knowing that he himself is safely out of reach, +with everything that he can convoy thither; unless we are prepared to +carry on a siege, as my father actually did." +</p> +<p> +(14) Thereupon Cyrus said, "Now if you are willing to send me with +a moderate force of cavalry—I will not ask for many men—I believe, +heaven helping me, I could compel him to send the troops and the +tribute. And I even hope that in the future he may become a firmer +friend that he is now." (15) And Cyaxares said: "I think myself they are +more likely to listen to you than to me. I have been told that his sons +were your companions in the chase when you were lads, and possibly old +habits will return and they will come over to you. Once they were in our +power, everything could be done as we desire." "Then," said Cyrus, +"this plan of ours had better be kept secret, had it not?" "No doubt," +answered Cyaxares. "In that way they would be more likely to fall into +our hands, and if we attack them they would be taken unprepared." +</p> +<p> +(16) "Listen then," said Cyrus, "and see what you think of this. I have +often hunted the marches between your country and Armenia with all +my men, and sometimes I have taken horsemen with me from our comrades +here." "I see," said Cyaxares, "and if you chose to do the like again +it would seem only natural, but if your force was obviously larger than +usual, suspicion would arise at once." (17) "But it is possible," said +Cyrus, "to frame a pretext which would find credit with us and with them +too, if any rumour reached them. We might give out that I intend to hold +a splendid hunt and I might ask you openly for a troop of horse." +</p> +<p> +"Admirable!" said Cyaxares. "And I shall refuse to give you more than a +certain number, my reason being that I wish to visit the outposts on the +Syrian side. And as a matter of fact," he added, "I do wish to see them +and put them in as strong a state as possible. Then, as soon as you have +started with your men, and marched, let us say, for a couple of days, +I could send you a good round number of horse and foot from my own +detachment. And when you have them at your back, you could advance at +once, and I will follow with the rest of my men as near you as I may, +close enough to appear in time of need." +</p> +<p> +(18) Accordingly, Cyaxares proceeded to muster horse and foot for his +own march, and sent provision-waggons forward to meet him on the road. +Meanwhile Cyrus offered sacrifice for the success of his expedition and +found an opportunity to ask Cyaxares for a troop of his junior cavalry. +But Cyaxares would only spare a few, though many wished to go. Soon +afterwards he started for the outposts himself with all his horse and +foot, and then Cyrus found the omens favourable for his enterprise, and +led his soldiers out as though he meant to hunt. (19) He was scarcely +on his way when a hare started up at their feet, and an eagle, flying on +the right, saw the creature as it fled, swooped down and struck it, +bore it aloft in its talons to a cliff hard by, and did its will upon it +there. The omen pleased Cyrus well, and he bowed in worship to Zeus the +King, and said to his company, "This shall be a right noble hunt, my +friends, if God so will." +</p> +<p> +(20) When he came to the borders he began the hunt in his usual way, the +mass of horse and foot going on ahead in rows like reapers, beating out +the game, with picked men posted at intervals to receive the animals and +give them chase. And thus they took great numbers of boars and stags and +antelopes and wild-asses: even to this day wild-asses are plentiful in +those parts. (21) But when the chase was over, Cyrus had touched the +frontier of the Armenian land, and there he made the evening meal. The +next day he hunted till he reached the mountains which were his goal. +And there he halted again and made the evening meal. At this point he +knew that the army from Cyaxares was advancing, and he sent secretly to +them and bade them keep about eight miles off, and take their evening +meal where they were, since that would make for secrecy. And when their +meal was over he told them to send their officers to him, and after +supper he called his own brigadiers together and addressed them thus: +</p> +<p> +(22) "My friends, in old days the Armenian was a faithful ally and +subject of Cyaxares, but now when he sees an enemy against us, he +assumes contempt: he neither sends the troops nor pays the tribute. He +is the game we have come to catch, if catch we can. And this, I think, +is the way. You, Chrysantas," said he, "will sleep for a few hours, and +then take half the Persians with you, make for the hill country, and +seize the heights which we hear are his places of refuge when alarmed. +I will give you guides. (23) The hills, they tell us, are covered with +trees and scrub, so that we may hope you will escape unseen: still you +might send a handful of scouts ahead of you, disguised as a band of +robbers. If they should come across any Armenians they can either make +them prisoners and prevent them from spreading the news, or at least +scare them out of the way, so that they will not realise the whole of +your force, and only take measures against a pack of thieves. (24) That +is your task, Chrysantas, and now for mine. At break of day I shall take +half the foot and all the cavalry and march along the level straight to +the king's residence. If he resists, we must fight, if he retreats +along the plain we must run him down, if he makes for the mountains, why +then," said Cyrus, "it will be your business to see that none of your +visitors escape. (25) Think of it as a hunt: we down below are the +beaters rounding up the game, and you are the men at the nets: only bear +in mind that the earths must all be stopped before the game is up, and +the men at the traps must be hidden, or they will turn back the flying +quarry. (26) One last word, Chrysantas: you must not behave now as I +have known you do in your passion for the chase: you must not sit up the +whole night long without a wink of sleep, you must let all your men have +the modicum of rest that they cannot do without. (27) Nor must you—just +because you scour the hills in the hunt without a guide, following the +lead of the quarry and that alone, checking and changing course wherever +it leads you—you must not now plunge into the wildest paths: you must +tell your guides to take you by the easiest road unless it is much the +longest. (28) In war, they say, the easiest way is the quickest. And +once more, because you can race up a mountain yourself you are not to +lead on your men at the double; suit your pace to the strength of all. +(29) Indeed, it were no bad thing if some of your best and bravest were +to fall behind here and there and cheer the laggards on: and it would +quicken the pace of all, when the column has gone ahead, to see them +racing back to their places past the marching files." +</p> +<p> +(30) Chrysantas listened, and his heart beat high at the trust reposed +in him. He took the guides, and gave the necessary orders for those who +were to march with him, and then he lay down to rest. And when all his +men had had the sleep he thought sufficient he set out for the hills. +(31) Day dawned, and Cyrus sent a messenger to the Armenian with these +words: "Cyrus bids you see to it that you bring your tribute and troops +without delay." "And if he asks you where Cyrus is, tell the truth and +say I am on the frontier. And if he asks whether I am advancing myself, +tell the truth again and say that you do not know. And if he enquires +how many we are, bid him send some one with you to find out." +</p> +<p> +(32) Having so charged the messenger he sent him on forthwith, holding +this to be more courteous than to attack without warning. Then he drew +up his troops himself in the order best suited for marching, and, if +necessary, for fighting, and so set forth. The soldiers had orders that +not a soul was to be wronged, and if they met any Armenians they were +to bid them to have no fear, but open a market wherever they wished, and +sell meat or drink as they chose. +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +C1.5. Is this historical, i.e. <i>quasi</i>-historical? Are any of the names +real or all invented to give verisimilitude? +</p> +<p> +C1.13. Any touch of the sycophancy of the future in it? As in modern +Germany, a touch of that involved in the system of royalty. +</p> +<p> +C1.15. The raw material is good, but not worked up. Important for +the conception of Hellenic democracy (cf. § 17). Daring, courage, +virtue—there is no monopoly of these things. +</p> +<p> +C1.21. (Cf. below VIII. C2.5) Worthy of Adam Smith. Xenophon has bump of +economy strongly developed; he resembles J. P.(*) in that respect. The +economic methodism, the mosaic interbedding, the architectonic structure +of it all, a part and parcel of Xenophon's genius. Was Alexander's +army a highly-organised, spiritually and materially built-up, vitalised +machine of this sort? What light does Arrian, that younger Xenophon, +throw upon it? +</p> +<p> +(* "J. P." = John Percival, Bishop of Hereford (the writer of the +Introduction to this volume), at the time the notes were written +Headmaster of Clifton College.—F.M.S.) +</p> +<p> +C1.25. Camaraderie encouraged and developed through a sense of equality +and fraternity, the life <i>au grand jour</i> in common, producing a common +consciousness (cf. Comte and J. P.; Epaminondas and the Sacred Band at +Thebes). +</p> +<p> +C2. Contrast of subject enlivening the style—light concrete as a foil +to the last drier abstract detail. Humorous also, with a dramatising +and development of the characters, Shakespeare-wise—Hystaspas, and the +rest. Aglaïtadas, a type of educator we know well (cf. Eccles. "Cocker +not a child"), grim, dry person with no sense of humour. Xenophon's own +humour shines out. +</p> +<p> +C2.12. The term given to the two stories {eis tagathon}. T. E. B.(*) +could do it, or Socrates, without dullness or seeming to preach. There +is a crispness in the voice which is anti-pedantic. +</p> +<p> +(* "T. E. B." = T. E. Brown, the Manx poet, at that time a colleague of +Mr. Dakyns at Clifton.—F.M.S.) +</p> +<p> +C2.19. Cyrus recognises the ideal principle of co-operation and +collective ownership. Xenophon, Economist, ahead of the moderns. +</p> +<p> +C2.26. Xenophon's breadth of view: virtue is not confined to citizens, +but we have the pick of the whole world. Cosmopolitan Hellenism. +</p> +<p> +C3.4. Xenophon's theory of rule (cf. Ruskin): a right, inalienable, +God-bestowed, of the virtuous; subjection an inevitable consequence on +lack of self-discipline. +</p> +<p> +C3.5, init. Is this a carelessness, or what? Chrysantas has been +introduced before, but here he is described as if stepping on the stage +for the first time. The sentence itself suggests the mould for the New +Testament narrative. +</p> +<p> +C3.7. Pheraulas, and of him we shall hear much. A sharp contrast to +Chrysantas, the Peer, with his pointed plebeian similes. His speech +important again for Xenophon's sympathetic knowledge of children and +also of the hard-working poor. +</p> +<p> +C3.10. How true to nature this. Cannot one see the little boy doubling +his little fists, a knife in his pocket, possibly a ball of string? +</p> +<p> +C3.11. Is there a touch of flunkeyism in this? Not so; it is the +clear-sighted scientific Greek, that is all. +</p> +<p> +C3.14. Very Scotch all this. +</p> +<p> +C3.21-22. <i>Locus classicus</i> for regimental marching tactics. Qy.: Are +any of these tactical improvements by Xenophon himself? +</p> +<p> +C3.21. The "regiment" of a hundred men was divided into four +"companies" of twenty-five, to each of these one company-captain and +twenty-four men, viz.: twenty privates, two captains-of-ten, and two +captains-of-five, the two captains of ten having also especial charge +over the two remaining squads of five. A condensed diagram may make +the little manoeuvre clear. An X represents one group of five plus its +captain, either a captain-of-five or a captain-of-ten. A C represents a +company-captain. +</p> +<pre> + First position—One long column. All in single file. + + Second position—Four columns. Single file for each company. + + Third position—Eight columns. Double files. + + Fourth position—Sixteen columns. Quadruple files. + + C C C C C C C + X X X -> X X X X -> X X X X X X X X + X -> X X X X X X + X X X + X X X + C + X + X + X + X) +</pre> +<p> +C4.15. Cyaxares means to kidnap them, doesn't he? That is not quite +Cyrus' method. If so, it contrasts Cyaxares and Cyrus again. +</p> +<p> +C4.17. Cyaxares the old fox improves upon the plan. +</p> +<p> +C4.30, init. It is these touches which give the thrilling subjective +feeling to the writings of Xenophon, or, rather, thus his nerves tingle, +just as the external touches give a sense of objective health (e.g. +above, C1.29). +</p> +<p> +C4.32. All this is entirely modern, never yet excelled, I imagine. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK III +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) Thus Cyrus made his preparations. But the Armenian, when he heard +what the messenger had to say, was terror-stricken: he knew the wrong +he had done in neglecting the tribute and withholding the troops, and, +above all, he was afraid it would be discovered that he was beginning +to put his palace in a fit state for defence. (2) Therefore, with much +trepidation, he began to collect his own forces, and at the same time +he sent his younger son Sabaris into the hills with the women, his own +wife, and the wife of his elder son and his daughters, taking the best +of their ornaments and furniture with them and an escort to be their +guide. Meanwhile he despatched a party to discover what Cyrus was doing, +and organised all the Armenian contingents as they came in. But it was +not long before other messengers arrived, saying that Cyrus himself was +actually at hand. (3) Then his courage forsook him; he dared not come +to blows and he withdrew. As soon as the recruits saw this they took to +their heels, each man bent on getting his own property safely out of +the way. When Cyrus saw the plains full of them, racing and riding +everywhere, he sent out messengers privately to explain that he had no +quarrel with any who stayed quietly in their homes, but if he caught a +man in flight, he warned them he would treat him as an enemy. Thus +the greater part were persuaded to remain, though there were some who +retreated with the king. +</p> +<p> +(4) But when the escort with the women came on the Persians in the +mountain, they fled with cries of terror, and many of them were taken +prisoners. In the end the young prince himself was captured, and the +wife of the king, and his daughters, and his daughter-in-law, and +all the goods they had with them. And when the king learnt what had +happened, scarcely knowing where to turn, he fled to the summit of a +certain hill. (5) Cyrus, when he saw it, surrounded the spot with his +troops and sent word to Chrysantas, bidding him leave a force to +guard the mountains and come down to him. So the mass of the army was +collected under Cyrus, and then he sent a herald to the king with this +enquiry: +</p> +<p> +"Son of Armenia, will you wait here and fight with hunger and thirst, +or will you come down into the plain and fight it out with us?" But the +Armenian answered that he wished to fight with neither. (6) Cyrus sent +again and asked, "Why do you sit there, then, and refuse to come down?" +"Because I know not what to do," answered the other. "It is simple +enough," said Cyrus, "come down and take your trial." "And who shall try +me?" asked the king. "He," answered Cyrus, "to whom God has given the +power to treat you as he lists, without a trial at all." +</p> +<p> +Thereupon the Armenian came down, yielding to necessity, and Cyrus took +him and all that he had and placed him in the centre of the camp, for +all his forces were now at hand. +</p> +<p> +(7) Meanwhile Tigranes, the elder son of the king, was on his way home +from a far country. In old days he had hunted with Cyrus and been his +friend, and now, when he heard what had happened, he came forward just +as he was; but when he saw his father and his mother, his brother and +sisters, and his own wife all held as prisoners, he could not keep back +the tears. (8) But Cyrus gave him no sign of friendship or courtesy, and +only said, "You have come in time, you may be present now to hear your +father tried." With that he summoned the leaders of the Persians and the +Medes, and any Armenian of rank and dignity who was there, nor would +he send away the women as they sat in covered carriages, but let them +listen too. (9) When all was ready he began: "Son of Armenia, I would +counsel you, in the first place, to speak the truth, so that at least +you may stand free from what deserves the utmost hate: beyond all +else, be assured, manifest lying checks the sympathy of man and man. +Moreover," said he, "your own sons, your daughters, and your wife are +well aware of all that you have done, and so are your own Armenians +who are here: if they perceive that you say what is not true, they must +surely feel that out of your own lips you condemn yourself to suffer +the uttermost penalty when I learn the truth." "Nay," answered the king, +"ask me whatever you will, and I will answer truly, come what come may." +(10) "Answer then," said Cyrus, "did you once make war upon Astyages, +my mother's father, and his Medes?" "I did," he answered. "And were you +conquered by him, and did you agree to pay tribute and furnish troops +whenever he required, and promise not to fortify your dwellings?" "Even +so," he said. "Why is it, then, that to-day you have neither brought the +tribute nor sent the troops, and are building forts?" "I set my heart on +liberty: it seemed to me so fair a thing to be free myself and to leave +freedom to my sons." (11) "And fair and good it is," said Cyrus, "to +fight for freedom and choose death rather than slavery, but if a man is +worsted in war or enslaved by any other means and then attempts to rid +himself of his lord, tell me yourself, would you honour such a man as +upright, and a doer of noble deeds, or would you, if you got him in +your power, chastise him as a malefactor?" "I would chastise him," he +answered, "since you drive me to the truth." (12) "Then answer me now, +point by point," said Cyrus. "If you have an officer and he does wrong, +do you suffer him to remain in office, or do you set up another in his +stead?" "I set up another." "And if he have great riches, to you leave +him all his wealth, or do you make him a beggar?" "I take away from him +all that he has." "And if you found him deserting to your enemies, what +would you do?" "I would kill him," he said: "why should I perish with a +lie on my lips rather than speak the truth and die?" +</p> +<p> +(13) But at this his son rent his garments and dashed the tiara from his +brows, and the women lifted up their voices in wailing and tore their +cheeks, as though their father was dead already, and they themselves +undone. But Cyrus bade them keep silence, and spoke again. "Son of +Armenia, we have heard your own judgment in this case, and now tell us, +what ought we to do?" But the king sat silent and perplexed, wondering +whether he should bid Cyrus put him to death, or act in the teeth of the +rule he had laid down for himself. (14) Then his son Tigranes turned to +Cyrus and said, "Tell me, Cyrus, since my father sits in doubt, may I +give counsel in his place and say what I think best for you?" +</p> +<p> +Now Cyrus remembered that, in the old hunting days, he had noticed a +certain man of wisdom who went about with Tigranes and was much admired +by him, and he was curious to know what the youth would say. So he +readily agreed and bade him speak his mind. +</p> +<p> +(15) "In my view, then," said Tigranes, "if you approve of all that my +father has said and done, certainly you ought to do as he did, but if +you think he has done wrong, then you must not copy him." +</p> +<p> +"But surely," said Cyrus, "the best way to avoid copying the wrongdoer +is to practise what is right?" +</p> +<p> +"True enough," answered the prince. +</p> +<p> +"Then on your own reasoning, I am bound to punish your father, if it is +right to punish wrong." +</p> +<p> +"But would you wish your vengeance to do you harm instead of good?" +</p> +<p> +"Nay," said Cyrus, "for then my vengeance would fall upon myself." +</p> +<p> +(16) "Even so," said Tigranes, "and you will do yourself the greatest +harm if you put your own subjects to death just when they are most +valuable to you." +</p> +<p> +"Can they have any value," asked Cyrus, "when they are detected doing +wrong?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes," answered Tigranes, "if that is when they turn to good and learn +sobriety. For it is my belief, Cyrus, that without this virtue all +others are in vain. What good will you get from a strong man or a brave +if he lack sobriety, be he never so good a horseman, never so rich, +never so powerful in the state? But with sobriety every friend is a +friend in need and every servant a blessing." +</p> +<p> +(17) "I take your meaning," answered Cyrus; "your father, you would have +me think, has been changed in this one day from a fool into a wise and +sober-minded man?" +</p> +<p> +"Exactly," said the prince. +</p> +<p> +"Then you would call sober-mindedness a condition of our nature, such +as pain, not a matter of reason that can be learnt? For certainly, if +he who is to be sober-minded must learn wisdom first, he could not be +converted from folly in a day." +</p> +<p> +(18) "Nay, but, Cyrus," said the prince, "surely you yourself have +known one man at least who out of sheer folly has set himself to fight +a stronger man than he, and on the day of defeat his senselessness has +been cured. And surely you have known a city ere now that has marshalled +her battalions against a rival state, but with defeat she changes +suddenly and is willing to obey and not resist?" +</p> +<p> +(19) "But what defeat," said Cyrus, "can you find in your father's case +to make you so sure that he has come to a sober mind?" +</p> +<p> +"A defeat," answered the young man, "of which he is well aware in the +secret chambers of his soul. He set his heart on liberty, and he has +found himself a slave as never before: he had designs that needed +stealth and speed and force, and not one of them has he been able to +carry through. With you he knows that design and fulfilment went hand +in hand; when you wished to outwit him, outwit him you did, as though he +had been blind and deaf and dazed; when stealth was needed, your stealth +was such that the fortresses he thought his own you turned into traps +for him; and your speed was such that you were upon him from miles away +with all your armament before he found time to muster the forces at his +command." +</p> +<p> +(20) "So you think," said Cyrus, "that merely to learn another is +stronger than himself is defeat enough to bring a man to his senses?" +</p> +<p> +"I do," answered Tigranes, "and far more truly than mere defeat in +battle. For he who is conquered by force may fancy that if he trains +he can renew the war, and captured cities dream that with the help of +allies they will fight again one day, but if we meet with men who are +better than ourselves and whom we recognise to be so, we are ready to +obey them of our own free will." (21) "You imagine then," said +Cyrus, "that the bully and the tyrant cannot recognise the man +of self-restraint, nor the thief the honest man, nor the liar the +truth-speaker, nor the unjust man the upright? Has not your own father +lied even now and broken his word with us, although he knew that we had +faithfully observed every jot and tittle of the compact Astyages made?" +(22) "Ah, but," replied the prince, "I do not pretend that the bare +knowledge alone will bring a man to his senses, it cannot cure him +unless he pays the penalty as my father pays it to-day." "But," answered +Cyrus, "your father has suffered nothing at all so far: although he +fears, I know, that the worst suffering may be his." (23) "Do you +suppose then," asked Tigranes, "that anything can enslave a man more +utterly than fear? Do you not know that even the men who are beaten with +the iron rod of war, the heaviest rod in all the world, may still be +ready to fight again, while the victims of terror cannot be brought to +look their conquerors in the face, even when they try to comfort them?" +"Then, you maintain," said Cyrus, "that fear will subdue a man more than +suffering?" (24) "Yes," he answered, "and you of all men know that what +I say is true: you know the despondency men feel in dread of banishment, +or on the eve of battle facing defeat, or sailing the sea in peril of +shipwreck—they cannot touch their food or take their rest because +of their alarm: while it may often be that the exiles themselves, the +conquered, or the enslaved, can eat and sleep better than men who have +not known adversity. (25) Think of those panic-stricken creatures who +through fear of capture and death have died before their day, have +hurled themselves from cliffs, hanged themselves, or set the knife to +their throats; so cruelly can fear, the prince of horrors, bind and +subjugate the souls of men. And what, think you, does my father feel at +this moment? He, whose fears are not for himself alone, but for us all, +for his wife, and for his children." (26) And Cyrus said, "To-day and +at this time, it may be with him as you say: but I still think that the +same man may well be insolent in good fortune and cringing in defeat: +let such an one go free again, and he will return to his arrogance and +trouble us once more." (27) "I do not deny it, Cyrus," said the prince. +"Our offences are such that you may well mistrust us: but you have it in +your power to set garrisons in our land and hold our strong places and +take what pledges you think best. And even so," he added, "you will not +find that we fret against our chains, for we shall remember we have only +ourselves to blame. Whereas, if you hand over the government to some +who have not offended, they may either think that you mistrust them, and +thus, although you are their benefactor, you cannot be their friend, or +else in your anxiety not to rouse their enmity you may leave no check +on their insolence, and in the end you will need to sober them even +more than us." (28) "Nay, but by all the gods," cried Cyrus, "little joy +should I ever take in those who served me from necessity alone. Only if +I recognise some touch of friendship or goodwill in the help it is their +duty to render, I could find it easier to forgive them all their faults +than to accept the full discharge of service paid upon compulsion by +those who hate me." +</p> +<p> +Then Tigranes answered, "You speak of friendship, but can you ever find +elsewhere so great a friendship as you may find with us?" "Surely I +can," he answered, "and with those who have never been my enemies, if +I choose to be their benefactor as you would have me yours." (29) "But +to-day, and now, can you find another man in the world whom you could +benefit as you can benefit my father? Say you let a man live who has +never done you wrong, will he be grateful for the boon? Say he need not +lose his children and his wife, will he love you for that more than one +who knows he well deserved the loss? Say he may not sit upon the throne +of Armenia, will he suffer from that as we shall suffer? And is it not +clear that the one who feels the pain of forfeiture the most will be the +one most grateful for the granting of the gift? (30) And if you have it +at all at heart to leave matters settled here, think for yourself, and +see where tranquillity will lie when your back is turned. Will it be +with the new dynasty, or with the old familiar house? And if you want +as large a force as possible at your command, where will you find a man +better fitted to test the muster-roll than the general who has used it +time and again? If you need money, who will provide the ways and means +better than he who knows and can command all the resources of the +country? I warn you as a friend," he added, "that if you throw us aside +you will do yourself more harm than ever my father could have done." +</p> +<p> +(31) Such were the pleadings of the prince, and Cyrus, as he listened, +was overjoyed, for he felt he would accomplish to the full all he had +promised Cyaxares; his own words came back to him, "I hope to make the +Armenian a better friend than before." +</p> +<p> +Thereupon he turned to the king and said, "Son of Armenia, if I were +indeed to hearken unto you and yours in this, tell me, how large an army +would you send me and how much money for the war?" +</p> +<p> +(32) And the king replied, "The simplest answer I can make and the most +straightforward is to tell you what my power is, and then you may take +the men you choose, and leave the rest to garrison the country. And so +with the money: it is only fair that you should know the whole of our +wealth, and with that knowledge to guide you, you will take what you +like and leave what you like." (33) And Cyrus said, "Tell me then, and +tell me true: how great is your power and your wealth?" Whereupon the +Armenian replied: "Our cavalry is 8000 strong and our infantry 40,000; +and our wealth," said he, "if I include the treasures which my father +left, amounts in silver to more than 3000 talents." +</p> +<p> +(34) And Cyrus, without more ado, said at once, "Of your whole armament +you shall give me half, not more, since your neighbours the Chaldaeans +are at war with you: but for the tribute, instead of the fifty talents +which you paid before, you shall hand over twice as much to Cyaxares +because you made default; and you will lend me another hundred for +myself, and I hereby promise you, if God be bountiful, I will requite +you for the loan with things of higher worth, or I will pay the money +back in full, if I can; and if I cannot, you may blame me for want of +ability, but not for want of will." (35) But the Armenian cried, "By all +the gods, Cyrus, speak not so, or you will put me out of heart. I beg +you to look on all I have as yours, what you leave behind as well as +what you take away." +</p> +<p> +"So be it then," answered Cyrus, "and to ransom your wife, how much +money would you give?" "All that I have," said he. "And for your sons?" +"For them too, all that I have." "Good," answered Cyrus, "but is not +that already twice as much as you possess? (36) And you, Tigranes," said +he, "at what price would you redeem your bride?" Now the youth was but +newly wedded, and his wife was beyond all things dear to him. "I would +give my life," said he, "to save her from slavery." (37) "Take her +then," said Cyrus, "she is yours. For I hold that she has never yet been +made a prisoner, seeing that her husband never deserted us. And you, +son of Armenia," said he, turning to the king, "you shall take home your +wife and children, and pay no ransom for them, so that they shall not +feel they come to you from slavery. But now," he added, "you shall stay +and sup with us, and afterwards you shall go wherever you wish." +</p> +<p> +And so the Armenians stayed. (38) But when the company broke up after +the evening meal, Cyrus asked Tigranes, "Tell me, where is that friend +of yours who used to hunt with us, and whom, as it seemed to me, you +admired so much?" "Do you not know," he said, "that my father put him +to death?" "And why?" said Cyrus, "what fault did he find in him?" "He +thought he corrupted me," said the youth; "and yet, I tell you, Cyrus, +he was so gentle and so brave, so beautiful in soul, that when he came +to die, he called me to him and said, 'Do not be angry with your father, +Tigranes, for putting me to death. What he does is not done from +malice, but from ignorance; and the sins of ignorance, I hold, are +unintentional.'" +</p> +<p> +(39) And at that Cyrus could not but say: "Poor soul! I grieve for him." +But the king spoke in his own defence: "Remember this, Cyrus, that the +man who finds another with his wife kills him not simply because he +believes that he has turned the woman to folly, but because he has +robbed him of her love. Even so I was jealous of that man who seemed to +put himself between my son and me and steal away his reverence." (40) +"May the gods be merciful to us!" said Cyrus, "you did wrong, but your +fault was human. And you, Tigranes," said he, turning to the son, "you +must forgive your father." +</p> +<p> +And so they talked in all friendliness and kindliness, as befitted +that time of reconciliation; and then the father and son mounted their +carriages, with their dear ones beside them, and drove away rejoicing. +</p> +<p> +(41) But when they were home again, they all spoke of Cyrus, one +praising his wisdom, another his endurance, a third the gentleness +of his nature, and a fourth his stature and his beauty. Then Tigranes +turned to his wife and asked, "Did Cyrus seem so beautiful in your +eyes?" But she answered, "Ah, my lord, he was not the man I saw." "Who +was it then?" asked Tigranes. "He," she answered, "who offered his own +life to free me from slavery." +</p> +<p> +And so they took their delight together, as lovers will, after all their +sufferings. +</p> +<p> +(42) But on the morrow the king of Armenia sent gifts of hospitality to +Cyrus and all his army, and bade his own contingent make ready to march +on the third day, and himself brought Cyrus twice the sum which he had +named. But Cyrus would take no more than he had fixed, and gave the +rest back to the king, only asking whether he or his son was to lead the +force. And the father answered that it should be as Cyrus chose, but the +son said, "I will not leave you, Cyrus, if I must carry the baggage to +follow you." (43) And Cyrus laughed and said, "What will you take to let +us tell your wife that you have become a baggage-bearer?" "She will not +need to be told," he answered, "I mean to bring her with me, and she can +see for herself all that her husband does." "Then it is high time," said +Cyrus, "that you got your own baggage together now." "We will come," +said he, "be sure of that, in good time, with whatever baggage my father +gives." +</p> +<p> +So the soldiers were the guests of Armenia for the day, and rested for +that night. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) But on the day following Cyrus took Tigranes and the best of the +Median cavalry, with chosen followers of his own, and scoured the whole +country to decide where he should build a fort. He halted on the top of +a mountain-pass and asked Tigranes where the heights lay down which the +Chaldaeans swept when they came to plunder. Tigranes showed him. Then +Cyrus asked him if the mountains were quite uninhabited. "No, indeed," +said the prince, "there are always men on the look-out, who signal to +the others if they catch sight of anything." "And what do they do," he +asked, "when they see the signal?" "They rush to the rescue," he said, +"as quickly as they can." (2) Cyrus listened and looked, and he could +see that large tracts lay desolate and untilled because of the war. That +day they came back to camp and took their supper and slept. (3) But the +next morning Tigranes presented himself with all his baggage in order +and ready for the march, 4000 cavalry at his back, 10,000 bowmen, and as +many targeteers. While they were marching up, Cyrus offered sacrifice, +and finding that the victims were favourable, he called the leaders of +the Persians together and the chief captains of the Medes and spoke to +them thus: +</p> +<p> +(4) "My friends, there lie the Chaldaean hills. If we could seize +them and set a garrison to hold the pass, we should compel them both, +Chaldaeans and Armenians alike, to behave themselves discreetly. The +victims are favourable; and to help a man in such a work as this there +is no ally half so good as speed. If we scale the heights before the +enemy have time to gather, we may take the position out of hand without +a blow, and at most we shall only find a handful of weak and scattered +forces to oppose us. (5) Steady speed is all I ask for, and surely I +could ask for nothing easier or less dangerous. To arms then! The Medes +will march on our left, half the Armenians on our right, and the rest +in the van to lead the way, the cavalry in our rear, to cheer us on and +push us forward and let none of us give way." +</p> +<p> +(6) With that Cyrus led the advance, the army in column behind him. +As soon as the Chaldaeans saw them sweeping up from the plain, they +signalled to their fellows till the heights re-echoed with answering +shouts, and the tribesmen gathered on every side. Then Cyrus sent word +along his lines, "Soldiers of Persia, they are signalling to us to make +haste. If only we reach the top before them, all they can do will be in +vain." +</p> +<p> +(7) Now the Chaldaeans were said to be the most warlike of all the +tribes in that country, and each of them was armed with a shield and a +brace of javelins. They fight for pay wherever they are needed, partly +because they are warriors born, but partly through poverty; for their +country is mountainous, and the fertile part of it small. (8) As Cyrus +and his force drew near the head of the pass, Tigranes, who was marching +at his side, said: +</p> +<p> +"Do you know, Cyrus, that before long we shall be in the thick of the +fight ourselves? Our Armenians will never stand the charge." Cyrus +answered that he was well aware of that, and immediately sent word that +the Persians should be ready to give chase at once, "as soon as we see +the Armenians decoying the enemy by feigning flight and drawing them +within our reach." +</p> +<p> +(9) Thus they marched up with the Armenians in the van: and the +Chaldaeans who had collected waited till they were almost on them, +and then charged with a tremendous shout, as their custom was, and the +Armenians, as was ever theirs, turned and ran. (10) But in the midst +of the pursuit the Chaldaeans met new opponents streaming up the pass, +armed with short swords, and some of them were cut to pieces at once +before they could withdraw, while others were taken prisoners and the +rest fled, and in a few moments the heights were won. From the top +of the pass Cyrus and his staff looked down and saw below them the +Chaldaean villages with fugitives pouring from the nearest houses. (11) +Soon the rest of the army came up, and Cyrus ordered them all to take +the morning meal. When it was over, and he had ascertained that the +look-out was really in a strong position, and well supplied with water, +he set about fortifying a post without more ado, and he bade Tigranes +send to his father and bid him come at once with all the carpenters and +stonemasons he could fetch, and while a messenger went off to the king +Cyrus did all he could with what he had at hand. +</p> +<p> +(12) Meanwhile they brought up the prisoners, all of them bound in +chains and some wounded. But Cyrus when he saw their plight ordered the +chains to be struck off, and sent for surgeons to dress their wounds, +and then he told them that he came neither to destroy them nor to war +against them, but to make peace between them and the Armenians. "I +know," he said, "before your pass was taken you did not wish for peace. +Your own land was in safety and you could harry the Armenians: but you +can see for yourselves how things stand to-day. (13) Accordingly I will +let you all go back to your homes in freedom, and I will allow you and +your fellows to take counsel together and choose whether you will have +us for your enemies or your friends. If you decide on war, you had +better not come here again without your weapons, but if you choose +peace, come unarmed and welcome: it shall be my care to see that all is +well with you, if you are my friends." +</p> +<p> +(14) And when the Chaldaeans heard that, they poured out praises and +thanks, and then they turned homewards and departed. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile the king, receiving the call of Cyrus, and hearing the +business that was at hand, had gathered his workmen together and took +what he thought necessary and came with all speed. (15) And when he +caught sight of Cyrus, he cried: "Ah, my lord, blind mortals that we +are! How little can we see of the future, and how much we take in hand +to do! I set myself to win freedom and I made myself a slave, and now, +when we were captured and said to ourselves that we were utterly undone, +suddenly we find a safety we never had before. Those who troubled us are +taken now, even as I would have them. (16) Be well assured, Cyrus," he +added, "that I would have paid the sum you had from me over and over +again simply to dislodge the Chaldaeans from these heights. The things +of worth you promised me when you took the money have been paid in full +already, and we discover that we are not your creditors, but deep in +your debt for many kindnesses; and we shall be ashamed not to return +them, or we should be base indeed, for try as we may, we shall never be +able to requite in full so great a benefactor." +</p> +<p> +(17) Such thanks the Armenian gave. +</p> +<p> +Then the Chaldaeans came back, begging Cyrus to make peace with them. +And Cyrus asked them: "Am I right in thinking that you desire peace +to-day because you believe it will be safer for you than war, now that +we hold these heights?" +</p> +<p> +And the Chaldaeans said that so it was. (18) "Well and good," said he. +"And what if other benefits were gained by peace?" "We should be all the +better pleased," said they. "Is there any other reason," he asked, "for +your present poverty, except your lack of fertile soil?" They said that +there was none. "Well then," Cyrus went on, "would you be willing to pay +the same dues as the Armenians, if you were allowed to cultivate as much +of their land as you desired?" And the Chaldaeans said they would, if +only they could rely on being fairly treated. (19) "Now," said Cyrus, +turning to the Armenian king, "would you like that land of yours which +is now lying idle to be tilled and made productive, supposing the +workers paid you the customary dues?" "I would, indeed," said the king, +"so much so that I am ready to pay a large sum for it. It would mean a +great increase to my revenue." (20) "And you, Chaldaeans," said Cyrus, +"with your splendid mountains, would you let the Armenians use them for +pasture if the graziers paid you what was fair?" "Surely yes," said the +Chaldaeans, "it would mean much profit and no pains." +</p> +<p> +"Son of Armenia," said Cyrus, "would you take this land for grazing, +if by paying a small sum to the Chaldaeans you got a far greater return +yourself?" +</p> +<p> +"Right willingly," said he, "if I thought my flocks could feed in +safety." +</p> +<p> +"And would they not be safe enough," suggested Cyrus, "if this pass were +held for you?" To which the king agreed. (21) But the Chaldaeans cried, +"Heaven help us! We could not till our own fields in safety, not to +speak of theirs, if the Armenians held the pass." "True," answered +Cyrus, "but how would it be if the pass were held for you?" "Ah, then," +said they, "all would be well enough." "Heaven help us!" cried the +Armenian in his turn, "all might be well enough for them, but it would +be ill for us if these neighbours of ours recovered the post, especially +now that it is fortified." (22) Then Cyrus said, "See, then, this is +what I will do: I will hand over the pass to neither of you: we Persians +will guard it ourselves, and if either of you injure the other, we will +step in and side with the sufferers." +</p> +<p> +(23) Then both parties applauded the decision, and said that only thus +could they establish a lasting peace, and on these terms they exchanged +pledges, and a covenant was made that both nations alike were to be free +and independent, but with common rights of marriage, and tillage, and +pasturage, and help in time of war if either were attacked. (24) Thus +the matter was concluded, and to this day the treaty holds between the +Chaldaeans and Armenia. +</p> +<p> +Peace was no sooner made than both parties began building what they now +considered their common fortress, working side by side and bringing up +all that was needed. (25) And when evening fell, Cyrus summoned them all +as fellow-guests to his board, saying that they were friends already. +At the supper as they sat together, one of the Chaldaeans said to Cyrus +that the mass of his nation would feel they had received all they +could desire, "But there are men among us," he added, "who live as +freebooters: they do not know how to labour in the field, and they could +not learn, accustomed as they are from youth up to get their livelihood +either by plundering for themselves or serving as mercenaries, often +under the king of India, for he is a man of much wealth, but sometimes +under Astyages." (26) Then Cyrus said: "Why should they not take service +with me? I undertake to give them at least as much as they ever got +elsewhere." The Chaldaeans readily agreed with him and prophesied that +he would have many volunteers. +</p> +<p> +(27) So this matter was settled to the mind of all. But Cyrus, on +hearing that the Chaldaeans were in the habit of going to India, +remembered how Indian ambassadors had come to the Medes to spy out their +affairs, and how they had gone on to their enemies—doubtless to do the +same there—and he felt a wish that they should hear something of +what he had achieved himself. (28) So he said to the company: "Son of +Armenia, and men of the Chaldaeans, I have something to ask you. Tell +me, if I were to send ambassadors to India, would you send some of your +own folk with them to show them the way, and support them in gaining +for us all that I desire? I still need more money if I am to pay all the +wages, as I wish, in full, and give rewards and make presents to such of +my soldiers as deserve them. It is for such things I need all the money +I can get, for I believe them to be essential. It would be pleasanter +for me not to draw on you, because I look on you already as my friends, +but I should be glad to take from the Indian as much as he will give me. +My messenger—the one for whom I ask guides and coadjutors—will go to +the king and say: 'Son of India, my master has sent me to you, bidding +me say that he has need of more money. He is expecting another army from +Persia,' and indeed I do expect one," Cyrus added. "Then my messenger +will proceed, 'If you can send my master all that you have at hand he +will do his best, if God grant him success, that you should feel your +kindness has not been ill-advised.' (30) That is what my emissary will +say: and you must give such instructions to yours as you think fit +yourselves. If I get money from the king, I shall have abundance at my +disposal: if I fail, at least we shall owe him no gratitude, and as far +as he is concerned we may look to our own interests alone." +</p> +<p> +(31) So Cyrus spoke, convinced that the ambassadors from Armenia and +Chaldaea would speak of him as he desired all men might do. And then, as +the hour was come, they broke up the meeting and took their rest. +</p> +<p> +(C.3) But on the next day Cyrus despatched his messenger with +the instructions, and the Armenians and Chaldaeans sent their own +ambassadors, choosing the men they thought would help Cyrus most and +speak of his exploits in the most fitting terms. Cyrus put a strong +garrison in the fort and stored it with supplies, and left an officer in +command, a Mede, whose appointment, he thought, would gratify Cyaxares, +and then he turned homewards, taking with him not only the troops he had +brought, but the force the Armenians had furnished, and a picked body +of Chaldaeans who considered themselves stronger than all the rest +together. (2) And as he come down from the hills into the cultivated +land, not one of the Armenians, man or woman, stayed indoors: with one +accord they all went out to meet him, rejoicing that peace was made, and +bringing him offerings from their best, driving before them the animals +they valued most. The king himself was not ill-pleased at this, for he +thought that Cyrus would take delight in the honour the people showed +him. Last of all came the queen herself, with her daughters and her +younger son, bearing many gifts, and among them the golden treasure that +Cyrus had refused before. (3) But when he saw it he said: "Nay, you must +not make me a mercenary and a benefactor for pay; take this treasure +back and hie you home, but do not give it to your lord that he may bury +it again; spend it on your son, and send him forth gloriously equipped +for war, and with the residue buy yourself and for your husband and your +children such precious things as shall endure, and bring joy and beauty +into all your days. As for burying, let us only bury our bodies on the +day when each must die." +</p> +<p> +(4) With that he rode away, the king and all his people escorting him, +like a guard of honour, calling him their saviour, their benefactor, and +their hero, and heaping praises on him until he had left the land. +And the king sent with him a larger army than ever he had sent before, +seeing that now he had peace at home. (5) Thus Cyrus took his departure, +having gained not only the actual money he took away with him, but a far +ampler store of wealth, won by his own graciousness, on which he could +draw in time of need. +</p> +<p> +For the first night he encamped on the borders of Armenia, but the next +day he sent an army and the money to Cyaxares, who was close at hand, +as he had promised to be, while he himself took his pleasure in hunting +wherever he could find the game, in company with Tigranes and the flower +of the Persian force. +</p> +<p> +(6) And when he came back to Media he gave gifts of money to his chief +officers, sufficient for each to reward their own subordinates, for he +held to it that, if every one made his own division worthy of praise, +all would be well with the army as a whole. He himself secured anything +that he thought of value for the campaign, and divided it among the most +meritorious, convinced that every gain to the army was an adornment to +himself. +</p> +<p> +(7) At every distribution he would take occasion to address the officers +and all whom he chose to honour in some such words as these: "My +friends, the god of mirth must be with us to-day: we have found a source +of plenty, and we have the wherewithal to honour whom we wish and as +they may deserve. (8) Let us call to mind, all of us, the only way +in which these blessings can be won. We shall find it is by toil, and +watchfulness, and speed, and the resolve never to yield to our foes. +After this pattern must we prove ourselves to be men, knowing that +all high delights and all great joys are only gained by obedience and +hardihood, and through pains endured and dangers confronted in their +proper season." +</p> +<p> +(9) But presently, when Cyrus saw that his men were strong enough for +all the work of war, and bold enough to meet their enemies with scorn, +expert and skilful in the use of the weapons each man bore, and all of +them perfect in obedience and discipline, the desire grew in his heart +to be up and doing and achieve something against the foe. He knew well +how often a general has found delay ruin his fairest armament. (10) He +noticed, moreover, that in the eagerness of rivalry and the strain of +competition many of the soldiers grew jealous of each other; and for +this, if for no other reason, he desired to lead them into the enemy's +country without delay, feeling that common dangers awaken comradeship +among those who are fighting in a common cause, and then all such +bickerings cease, and no man is galled by the splendour of his comrade's +arms, or the passion of his desire for glory: envy is swallowed up +in praise, and each competitor greets his rivals with delight as +fellow-workers for the common good. +</p> +<p> +(11) Therefore Cyrus ordered his whole force to assemble under arms, and +drew them up into battle-array, using all his skill to make the display +a wonder of beauty and perfection. Then he summoned his chief officers, +his generals, his brigadiers, and his company-captains. These men were +not bound to be always in the ranks, and some were always free to +wait on the commander-in-chief or carry orders along the lines without +leaving the troops unofficered: for the captains-of-twelve and the +captains-of-six stepped into the gaps, and absolute order was preserved. +(12) So Cyrus assembled his staff and led them along the lines, pointing +out the merits of the combined forces and the special strength of each, +and thus he kindled in their hearts the passion for achievement, and +then he bade them return to their regiments and repeat the lessons he +had taught them, trying to implant in their own men the same desire for +action, so that one and all might sally out in the best of heart; and +the next morning they were to present themselves at Cyaxares' gates. +(13) So the officers went away and did as he commanded, and the next +morning at daybreak they assembled at the trysting-place, and Cyrus met +them and came before Cyaxares and said to him: +</p> +<p> +"I know well that what I am about to say must often have been in your +own mind, but you have shrunk from suggesting it yourself lest it seem +that you were weary of supporting us. (14) Therefore since you must keep +silence, let me speak for both of us. We are all agreed that since our +preparations are complete we should not wait until the enemy invades our +territory before we give him battle, nor loiter here in a friendly land, +but attack him on his own ground with what speed we may. (15) For while +we linger here, we injure your property in spite of ourselves, but once +on the enemy's soil, we can damage his, and that with the best will in +the world. (16) As things are, you must maintain us, and the cost is +great; but once launched on foreign service, we can maintain ourselves, +and at our foe's expense. (17) Possibly, if it were more dangerous to go +forward than to stay here, the more cautious might seem the wiser plan. +But whether we stay or whether we go, the enemy's numbers will be the +same, and so will ours, whether we receive them here or join battle with +them there. (18) Moreover, the spirit of our soldiers will be all the +higher and all the bolder if they feel that they are marching against +the foe and not cowering before him; and his alarm will be all the +greater when he hears that we are not crouching at home in terror but +coming out to meet him as soon as we have heard of his advance, eager to +close at once, not holding back until our territory suffers, but prompt +to seize the moment and ravage his own land first. (19) Indeed," he +added, "if we do no more than quicken our own courage and his fears, I +would reckon it a substantial gain, and count it so much the less danger +for us and so much the more for him. My father never tires of telling me +what I have heard you say yourself, and what all the world admits, that +battles are decided more by the character of the troops than by their +bodily strength." +</p> +<p> +(20) He ended, and Cyaxares answered: +</p> +<p> +"Cyrus, both you and all my Persian friends may feel sure that I find +it no trouble to maintain you; do not imagine such a thing; but I agree +with you that the time is ripe for an advance on the enemy's land." +</p> +<p> +"Then," said Cyrus, "since we are all of one mind, let us make our final +preparations, and, if heaven will, let us set forth without delay." +</p> +<p> +(21) So they bade the soldiers prepare for the start, and Cyrus offered +sacrifices to Zeus the Lord and to the other gods in due order, and +prayed, "Look on us with favour, and be gracious to us; guide our army, +stand beside us in the battle, aid us in council, help us in action, be +the comrades of the brave." Also he called upon the Heroes of Media, +who dwell in the land and guard it. (22) Then, when the signs were +favourable and his army was mustered on the frontier, he felt that the +moment had come, and with all good omens to support him, he invaded +the enemy's land. And so soon as he had crossed the border he offered +libations to the Earth and victims to the gods, and sought to win the +favour of the Heroes who guard Assyria. And having so done, once more he +sacrificed to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and was careful to reverence +every other god who came before his mind. +</p> +<p> +(23) But when these duties were fulfilled, there was no further pause. +He pushed his infantry on at once, a short day's march, and then +encamped, while the cavalry made a swift descent and captured much spoil +of every kind. For the future they had only to shift their camp from +time to time, and they found supplies in abundance, and could ravage the +enemy's land at their ease while waiting his approach. (24) Presently +news came of his advance: he was said to be barely ten days' off, and +at that Cyrus went to Cyaxares and said: "The hour has come, and we +must face the enemy. Let it not seem to friend or foe that we fear the +encounter: let us show them that we enjoy the fight." +</p> +<p> +(25) Cyaxares agreed, and they moved forward in good order, marching +each day as far as appeared desirable. They were careful to take their +evening meal by daylight, and at night they lit no fires in the camp: +they made them in front of it, so that in case of attack they might see +their assailants, while they themselves remained unseen. And often they +lit other fires in their rear as well, to deceive the enemy; so that +at times the Assyrian scouts actually fell in with the advance-guard, +having fancied from the distance of the fires that they were still some +way from the encampment. +</p> +<p> +(26) Meanwhile the Assyrians and their allies, as the two armies came +into touch, halted, and threw up an entrenchment, just as all barbarian +leaders do to-day, whenever they encamp, finding no difficulty in the +work because of the vast numbers at their command, and knowing that +cavalry may easily be thrown into confusion and become unmanageable, +especially if they are barbarians. (27) The horses must be tethered +at their stalls, and in case of attack a dozen difficulties arise: the +soldier must loose his steed in the dark, bridle and saddle him, put on +his own armour, mount, and then gallop through the camp, and this +last it is quite impossible to do. Therefore the Assyrians, like all +barbarians, throw up entrenchments round their position, and the mere +fact of being inside a fastness leaves them, they consider, the choice +of fighting at any moment they think fit. (28) So the two armies drew +nearer and nearer, and when they were about four miles apart, the +Assyrians proceeded to encamp in the manner described: their position +was completely surrounded by a trench, but also perfectly visible, +while Cyrus took all the cover he could find, screening himself behind +villages and hillocks, in the conviction that the more sudden the +disclosure of a hostile force the greater will be the enemy's alarm. +</p> +<p> +(29) During the first night neither army did more than post the +customary guards before they went to sleep, and on the next day the +king of Assyria, and Croesus, and their officers, still kept the troops +within their lines. But Cyrus and Cyaxares drew up their men, prepared +to fight if the enemy advanced. +</p> +<p> +Ere long it was plain that they would not venture out that day, and +Cyaxares summoned Cyrus and his staff and said: +</p> +<p> +(30) "I think, gentlemen, it would be well for us to march up to the +breastworks in our present order, and show them that we wish to fight. +If we do so," he added, "and they refuse our challenge, it will increase +the confidence of our own men, and the mere sight of our boldness will +add to the enemy's alarm." +</p> +<p> +(31) So it seemed to Cyaxares, but Cyrus protested: "In the name of +heaven, Cyaxares, let us do no such thing. By such an advance we should +only reveal our numbers to them: they would watch us at their ease, +conscious that they are safe from any danger, and when we retire without +doing them any harm they will have another look at us and despise us +because of our inferiority in numbers, and to-morrow they will come +out much emboldened. (32) At present," he added, "they know that we are +here, but they have not seen us, and you may be sure they do not despise +us; they are asking what all this means, and they never cease discussing +the problem; of that I am convinced. They ought not to see us until +they sally out, and in that moment we ought to come to grips with them, +thankful to have caught them as we have so long desired." +</p> +<p> +(33) So Cyrus spoke, and Cyaxares and the others were convinced, and +waited. In the evening they took their meal, and posted their pickets +and lit watch-fires in front of their outposts, and so turned to sleep. +(34) But early the next morning Cyrus put a garland on his head and went +out to offer sacrifice, and sent word to all the Peers of Persia to +join him, wearing garlands like himself. And when the rite was over, he +called them together and said: "Gentlemen, the soothsayers tell us, and +I agree, that the gods announce by the signs in the victims that the +battle is at hand, and they assure us of victory, they promise us +salvation. (35) I should be ashamed to admonish you at such a season, or +tell you how to bear yourselves: I do not forget that we have all been +brought up in the same school, you have learnt the same lessons as I, +and practised them day by day, and you might well instruct others. But +you may not have noticed one point, and for this I would ask a hearing. +(36) Our new comrades, the men we desire to make our peers—it may be +well to remind them of the terms on which Cyaxares has kept us and of +our daily discipline, the goal for which we asked their help, and the +race in which they promised to be our friendly rivals. (37) Remind them +also that this day will test the worth of every man. With learners late +in life, we cannot wonder if now and then a prompter should be needed: +it is much to be thankful for if they show themselves good men and true +with the help of a reminder. (38) Moreover, while you help them you will +be putting your own powers to the test. He who can give another strength +at such a crisis may well have confidence in his own, whereas one who +keeps his ideal to himself and is content with that, ought to remember +that he is only half a man. (39) There is another reason," he added, +"why I do not speak to them myself, but ask you to do so. I want them to +try to please you: you are nearer to them than I, each of you to the +men of his own division: and be well assured that if you show yourselves +stout-hearted you will be teaching them courage, and others too, by +deeds as well as words." +</p> +<p> +(40) With that Cyrus dismissed them, and bade them break their fast and +make libation, and then take their places in the ranks, still wearing +their garlands on their heads. As they went away he summoned the leaders +of the rearguard and gave them his instructions: +</p> +<p> +(41) "Men of Persia, you have been made Peers and chosen for special +duties, because we think you equal to the best in other matters, and +wiser than most in virtue of your age. The post that you hold is every +whit as honourable as theirs who form the front: from your position in +the rear you can single out the gallant fighters, and your praise will +make them outdo themselves in valour, while if any man should be tempted +to give way, your eyes will be upon him and you will not suffer it. (42) +Victory will mean even more to you than to the others, because of your +age and the weight of your equipment. If the men in front call on you to +follow, answer readily, and let them see that you can hold your own with +them, shout back to them, and bid them lead on quicker still. And now," +said he, "go back and take your breakfast, and then join your ranks with +the rest, wearing your garlands on your heads." +</p> +<p> +(43) Thus Cyrus and his men made their preparations, and meanwhile the +Assyrians on their side took their breakfast, and then sallied forth +boldly and drew up in gallant order. It was the king himself who +marshalled them, driving past in his chariot and encouraging his troops. +</p> +<p> +(44) "Men of Assyria," he said, "to-day you must show your valour. +To-day you fight for your lives and your land, the land where you were +born and the homes where you were bred, and for your wives and your +children, and all the blessings that are yours. If you win, you +will possess them all in safety as before, but if you lose, you must +surrender them into the hands of your enemies. (45) Abide, therefore, +and do battle as though you were enamoured of victory. It would be folly +for her lovers to turn their backs to the foe, sightless, handless, +helpless, and a fool is he who flies because he longs to live, for he +must know that safety comes to those who conquer, but death to those +who flee; and fools are they whose hearts are set on riches, but whose +spirits are ready to admit defeat. It is the victor who preserves his +own possessions and wins the property of those whom he overcomes: the +conquered lose themselves and all they call their own." +</p> +<p> +(46) Thus spoke the king of Assyria. +</p> +<p> +But meanwhile Cyaxares sent to Cyrus saying that the moment for attack +had come. "Although," he added, "there are as yet but few of them +outside the trenches, by the time we have advanced there will be quite +enough. Let us not wait until they outnumber us, but charge at once +while we are satisfied we can master them easily." +</p> +<p> +(47) But Cyrus answered him, "Unless those we conquer are more than half +their number, they are sure to say that we attacked when they were few, +because we were afraid of their full force, and in their hearts they +will not feel that they are beaten; and we shall have to fight another +battle, when perhaps they will make a better plan than they have made +to-day, delivering themselves into our hands one by one, to fight with +as we choose." +</p> +<p> +(48) So the messengers took back his reply, but meanwhile Chrysantas and +certain other Peers came to Cyrus bringing Assyrian deserters with +them, and Cyrus, as a general would, questioned the fugitives about the +enemy's doings, and they told him that the Assyrians were marching out +in force and that the king himself had crossed the trenches and was +marshalling his troops, addressing them in stirring words, as all the +listeners said. (49) Then Chrysantas turned to Cyrus: +</p> +<p> +"What if you also were to summon our men, while there is yet time, and +inspire them with your words?" +</p> +<p> +(50) But Cyrus answered: +</p> +<p> +"Do not be disturbed by the thought of the Assyrian's exhortations; +there are no words so fine that they can turn cowards into brave men +on the day of hearing, nor make good archers out of bad, nor doughty +spearmen, nor skilful riders, no, nor even teach men to use their arms +and legs if they have not learnt before." +</p> +<p> +(51) "But," replied Chrysantas, "could you not make the brave men braver +still, and the good better?" +</p> +<p> +"What!" cried Cyrus, "can one solitary speech fill the hearer's soul on +the selfsame day with honour and uprightness, guard him from all that is +base, spur him to undergo, as he ought, for the sake of glory every +toil and every danger, implant in him the faith that it is better to die +sword in hand than to escape by flight? (52) If such thoughts are ever +to be engraved in the hearts of men and there abide, we must begin with +the laws, and frame them so that the righteous can count on a life of +honour and liberty, while the bad have to face humiliation, suffering, +and pain, and a life that is no life at all. (53) And then we ought to +have tutors and governors to instruct and teach and train our citizens +until the belief is engendered in their souls that the righteous and +the honourable are the happiest of all men born, and the bad and the +infamous the most miserable. This is what our men must feel if they are +to show that their schooling can triumph over their terror of the foe. +(54) Surely, if in the moment of onset, amid the clash of arms, at a +time when lessons long learnt seem suddenly wiped away, it were possible +for any speaker, by stringing a few fine sentiments together, to +manufacture warriors out of hand, why, it would be the easiest thing in +all the world to teach men the highest virtue man can know. (55) For my +own part," he added, "I would not trust our new comrades yonder, whom +we have trained ourselves, to stand firm this day unless they saw you at +their side, to be examples unto them and to remind them if they forget. +As for men who are utterly undisciplined, I should be astonished if any +speech, however splendid, did one whit more to encourage valour in their +hearts than a song well sung could do to make a musician of a man who +had no music in his soul." +</p> +<p> +(56) But while they were speaking, Cyaxares sent again, saying that +Cyrus did ill to loiter instead of advancing against the enemy with all +speed. And Cyrus sent back word there and then by the messengers: +</p> +<p> +"Tell Cyaxares once more, that even now there are not as many before us +as we need. And tell him this so that all may hear. But add that, if it +so please him, I will advance at once." +</p> +<p> +(57) So saying and with one prayer to the gods, he led his troops into +battle. +</p> +<p> +Once the advance began he quickened the pace, and his men followed +in perfect order, steadily, swiftly, joyously, brimful of emulation, +hardened by toil, trained by their long discipline, every man in the +front a leader, and all of them alert. They had laid to heart the lesson +of many a day that it was always safest and easiest to meet enemies at +close quarters, especially archers, javelin-men, and cavalry. (58) While +they were still out of range, Cyrus sent the watchword along the lines, +"Zeus our help and Zeus our leader." And as soon as it was returned to +him, he sounded the first notes of the battle-paean, and the men took +up the hymn devoutly, in one mighty chorus. For at such times those +who fear the gods have less fear of their fellow-men. (59) And when the +chant was over, the Peers of Persia went forward side by side, radiant, +high-bred, disciplined, a band of gallant comrades; they looked into +each other's eyes, they called each other by name, with many a cheery +cry, "Forward, friends, forward, gallant gentlemen!" And the rear-ranks +heard the call, and sent back a ringing cheer, bidding the van lead on. +The whole army of Cyrus was brimming with courage and zeal and strength +and hardihood and comradeship and self-control; more terrible, I +imagine, to an opponent than aught else could be. (60) On the Assyrian +side, those in the van who fought from the chariots, as soon as the mass +of the Persian force drew near, leapt back and drove to their own main +body; but the archers, javelin-men, and slingers, let fly long before +they were in range. (61) And as the Persians steadily advanced, stepping +over the spent missiles, Cyrus called to his men: +</p> +<p> +"Forward now, bravest of the brave! Show us what your pace can be!" +</p> +<p> +They caught the word and passed it on, and in their eagerness and +passion for the fray some of the leaders broke into a run, and the whole +phalanx followed at their heels. (62) Cyrus himself gave up the regular +march and dashed forward at their head, shouting: +</p> +<p> +"Brave men to the front! Who follows me? Who will lay the first Assyrian +low?" +</p> +<p> +At this the men behind took up the shout till it rang through the field +like a battle-cry: "Who follows? Brave men to the front!" (63) Thus the +Persians closed. But the enemy could not hold their ground; they turned +and fled to their entrenchments. (64) The Persians swept after them, +many a warrior falling as they crowded in at the gates or tumbled into +the trenches. For in the rout some of the chariots were carried into the +fosse, and the Persians sprang down after them and slew man and horse +where they fell. (65) Then the Median troopers, seeing how matters +stood, charged the Assyrian cavalry, who swerved and broke before them, +chased and slaughtered, horse and rider, by their conquerors. (66) +Meanwhile the Assyrians within the camp, though they stood upon the +breastworks, had neither wit nor power to draw bow or fling spear +against the destroyers, dazed as they were by their panic and the horror +of the sight. Then came the tidings that the Persians had cut their way +through to the gates, and at that they fled from the breastworks. +(67) The women, seeing the rout in the camp, fell to wailing and +lamentations, running hither and thither in utter dismay, young maidens, +and mothers with children in their arms, rending their garments and +tearing their cheeks and crying on all they met, "Leave us not, save us, +save your children and yourselves!" (68) Then the princes gathered +the trustiest men and stood at the gates, fighting on the breastworks +themselves, and urging their troops to make a stand. (69) Cyrus, seeing +this, and fearing that if his handful of Persians forced their way into +the camp they would be overborne by numbers, gave the order to fall back +out of range. (70) Then was shown the perfect discipline of the Peers; +at once they obeyed the order and passed it on at once. And when they +were all out of range they halted and reformed their ranks, better than +any chorus could have done, every man of them knowing exactly where he +ought to be. +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +C1.6. Oriental in feeling; situation well realised. Hellenic = Oriental, +also in part perhaps. Also, we know the Oriental through the medium of +Greek to a great extent (cf. Greek Testament, and earlier still LXX.). +</p> +<p> +C1.8, init. Cf. Joseph and his brethren for this hardening of his heart. +</p> +<p> +C1.11. Hellenic political ethics = modern in this matter, apart from +modern theory of nationalism, i.e. right of nations to exist free. +</p> +<p> +C1.12. Quite after the manner of an advocate in a Greek law-court, but +also Oriental (cf. David and Nathan the seer). +</p> +<p> +C1.24. Fear of exile; autobiographical touch? Is anything passing +through the mind of Xenophon? I dare say there is. (Xenophon was +banished from his native city of Athens because of his friendship with +Sparta and with Cyrus the Younger. See Works, Vol. I. p. xcix.) +</p> +<p> +C1.33, fin. 3000 talents. Something under £750,000. +</p> +<p> +C1.35. Cyrus drives home the conscience of indebtedness <i>à la</i> Portia v. +Shylock. N.B.—Humorous also and an Oriental tinge. +</p> +<p> +C1.38. One can't help thinking of Socrates and the people of Athens +here. If so, this is a quasi-apology for the Athenian <i>bons pères +de famille</i> who condemned Socrates. Beautiful story of the sophist +teacher's last injunction to Tigranes. +</p> +<p> +C1.40-41. What smiles after tears! Like a sunny day succeeding clouds +and blackness. A pretty story this, of the wife of Tigranes. <i>Xenophon's +women:</i> this one, Pantheia, Croesus' wife, the wife of Ischomachus +(<i>Economist</i>), the daughter of Gobryas. +</p> +<p> +C2.12. Archaeologically interesting. N.B.—Humanity towards wounded, +Hellenic. Xenophon's own strategy in the <i>Anabasis</i> is probably the +prototype. +</p> +<p> +C2.15. For Hellenic and Xenophontine religiousness. The incalculableness +of human life: God fulfils himself in many unforeseen ways. N.B.—Irony +also of the situation, since Cyrus doesn't intend the Armenian to +triumph over the Chaldaean in the way he anticipates. +</p> +<p> +C2.20. Note how Socratically it is made to work itself out. +</p> +<p> +C3. Cyrus, the Archic Man, the "born ruler," is also the diplomatic man +(cf., no doubt, Gladstone), a diplomacy based on organic economic sense +and friendly-naturedness. +</p> +<p> +C3.10. Xenophon's theory of fraternity in action, all petty jealousies +brushed aside. +</p> +<p> +(C3.11. The "captains-of-twelve" and the "captains-of-six" are the +same officers as those called elsewhere "captains-of-ten" and +"captains-of-five" (cf. above Bk. II. C2.21 note). The titles vary +because sometimes the officers themselves are included in the squads and +sometimes not.) +</p> +<p> +C3.19. Nice touch, quoting his father as an authority. +</p> +<p> +C3.40. With garlands, like the Spartans. Was it conceivably a Persian +custom too? +</p> +<p> +C3.44. Assyrian's speech; not a bad one, though platitudinous. +Xenophon's dramatic form is shown in the intellectual and emotional side +of his characters, rather than by the diction in their mouths, is it +not? +</p> +<p> +C3.51-52. Most important for Xenophon, Educationalist. Cyrus on the +powerlessness of a speech to create valour in the soul of the +untrained: there must be a physical, moral, and spiritual training there +beforehand. The speech is in Xenophon's best earnest rhetorical style. +</p> +<p> +C3.57. The march into battle, <i>vide</i> Milton. A beautiful bit of +word-painting. +</p> +<p> +C3.58. Cf. the Prussian army singing a hymn (in 1870). +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK IV +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) Cyrus waited, with his troops as they were, long enough to show +that he was ready to do battle again if the enemy would come out; but +as they did not stir he drew the soldiers off as far as he thought well, +and there encamped. He had guards posted and scouts sent forward, and +then he gathered his warriors round him and spoke to them as follows: +</p> +<p> +(2) "Men of Persia, first and foremost I thank the gods of heaven with +all my soul and strength; and I know you render thanks with me, for we +have won salvation and victory, and it is meet and right to thank the +gods for all that comes to us. But in the next place I must praise you, +one and all; it is through you all that this glorious work has been +accomplished, and when I have learnt what each man's part has been from +those whose place it is to tell me, I will do my best to give each man +his due, in word and deed. (3) But I need none to tell me the exploits +of your brigadier Chrysantas; he was next to me in the battle and I +could see that he bore himself as I believe you all have done. Moreover, +at the very moment when I called on him to retire, he had just raised +his sword to strike an Assyrian down, but he heard my voice, and at once +he dropped his hand and did my bidding. He sent the word along the lines +and led his division out of range before the enemy could lay one arrow +to the string or let one javelin fly. Thus he brought himself and his +men safely out of action, because he had learnt to obey. (4) But some +of you, I see, are wounded, and when I hear at what moment they received +their wounds I will pronounce my opinion on their deserts. Chrysantas +I know already to be a true soldier and a man of sense, able to command +because he is able to obey, and here and now I put him at the head of a +thousand troops, nor shall I forget him on the day when God may please +to give me other blessings. (5) There is one reminder I would make to +all. Never let slip the lesson of this day's encounter, and judge for +yourselves whether it is cowardice or courage that saves a man in war, +whether the fighters or the shirkers have the better chance, and what +the joy is that victory can yield. To-day of all days you can decide, +for you have made the trial and the result is fresh. (6) With such +thoughts as these in your hearts you will grow braver and better still. +And now you may rest in the consciousness that you are dear to God and +have done your duty bravely and steadily, and so take your meal and make +your libations and sing the paean and be ready for the watchword." +</p> +<p> +So saying, Cyrus mounted his horse and galloped on to Cyaxares, and +the two rejoiced together as victors will. And then, after a glance at +matters there and an inquiry if aught were needed, he rode back to his +own detachment. Then the evening meal was taken and the watches were +posted and Cyrus slept with his men. +</p> +<p> +(8) Meanwhile the Assyrians, finding that their king was among the slain +and almost all his nobles with him, fell into utter despair, and many of +them deserted during the night. And at this fear crept over Croesus and +the allies; they saw dangers on every side, and heaviest of all was the +knowledge that the leading nation, the head of the whole expedition, had +received a mortal blow. Nothing remained but to abandon the encampment +under cover of night. (9) Day broke, and the camp was seen to be +deserted, and Cyrus, without more ado, led his Persians within the +entrenchments, where they found the stores that the enemy had left: +herds of sheep and goats and kine, and long rows of waggons laden with +good things. Cyaxares and his Medes followed, and all arms took their +breakfast in the camp. (10) But when the meal was over, Cyrus summoned +his brigadiers and said to them: +</p> +<p> +"Think what blessings we are flinging away now, spurning, as it were, +the very gifts of heaven! So at least it seems to me. The enemy have +given us the slip, as you see with your own eyes. Is it likely that men +who forsook the shelter of their own fortress will ever face us in fair +field on level ground? Will those who shrink from us before they put our +prowess to the test ever withstand us now when we have overthrown and +shattered them? They have lost their best and bravest, and will the +cowards dare to give us battle?" +</p> +<p> +(11) At that one of his officers cried, "Why not pursue at once, if such +triumphs are before us?" +</p> +<p> +And Cyrus answered, "Because we have not the horses. The stoutest of our +enemies, those whom we must seize or slay, are mounted on steeds that +could sweep past us like the wind. God helping us, we can put them to +flight, but we cannot overtake them." +</p> +<p> +(12) "Then," said they, "why not go and lay the matter before Cyaxares?" +</p> +<p> +And he answered, "If so, you must all go with me, that Cyaxares may see +it is the wish of all." +</p> +<p> +So they all went together and spoke as they thought best. (13) Now +Cyaxares felt, no doubt, a certain jealousy that the Persians should be +the first to broach the matter, but he may also have felt that it was +really wiser to run no further risks for the present; he had, moreover, +abandoned himself to feasting and merrymaking, and he saw that most of +his Medes were in like case. Whatever the reason, this was the answer he +gave: +</p> +<p> +(14) "My good nephew, I have always heard and always seen that you +Persians of all men think it your duty never to be insatiate in the +pursuit of any pleasure; and I myself believe that the greater the joy +the more important is self-restraint. Now what greater joy could there +be than the good fortune which waits on us to-day? (15) When fortune +comes to us, if we guard her with discretion, we may live to grow old +in peace, but if we are insatiate, if we use and abuse our pleasures, +chasing first one and then another, we may well fear lest that fate be +ours which, the proverb tells us, falls on those mariners who cannot +forgo their voyages in the pursuit of wealth, and one day the deep sea +swallows them. Thus has many a warrior achieved one victory only to +clutch at another and lose the first. (16) If indeed, our enemies who +have fled were weaker than we, it might be safe enough to pursue them. +But now, bethink you, how small a portion of them we have fought and +conquered; the mass have had no part in the battle, and they, if we +do not force them to fight, will take themselves off through sheer +cowardice and sloth. As yet they know nothing of our powers or their +own, but if they learn that to fly is as dangerous as to hold their +ground, we run the risk of driving them to be brave in spite of +themselves. (17) You may be sure they are just as anxious to save their +wives and children as you can be to capture them. Take a lesson from +hunting: the wild sow when she is sighted will scamper away with her +young, though she be feeding with the herd; but if you attack her little +ones she will never fly, even if she is all alone; she will turn on the +hunters. (18) Yesterday the enemy shut themselves up in a fort, and then +handed themselves over to us to choose how many we cared to fight. But +if we meet them in open country, and they learn how to divide their +forces and take us in front and flank and rear, I wonder how many pairs +of eyes and hands each man of us would need! Finally," he added, "I have +no great wish myself to disturb my Medes in their enjoyment, and drive +them out to further dangers." +</p> +<p> +(19) Then Cyrus took him up: "Nay, I would not have you put pressure on +any man; only let those who are willing follow me, and perhaps we shall +come back with something for all of you to enjoy. The mass of the enemy +we should not think of pursuing; indeed, how could we overtake them? But +if we cut off any stragglers, we could clap hands on them and bring them +back to you. (20) Remember," he added, "when you sent for us, we came +a long way to do you service; is it not fair that you should do us a +kindness in return, and let us have something to take back with us for +ourselves, and not stand here agape at all your treasures?" +</p> +<p> +(21) At that Cyaxares answered, "Ah, if any will follow you of their own +free will, I can but be most grateful." +</p> +<p> +"Send some one with me then," said Cyrus, "from these trusty men of +yours, to carry your commands." +</p> +<p> +"Take whomever you like," he answered, "and begone." +</p> +<p> +(22) Now, as it chanced, among the officers present was the Mede who +had claimed kinship with Cyrus long ago and won a kiss thereby. Cyrus +pointed to him and said, "That man will do for me." "He shall go with +you then," Cyaxares replied. And turning to the officer, "Tell your +fellows," he said, "that he who lists may follow Cyrus." (23) Thus +Cyrus chose his man and went forth. And when they were outside he said, +"To-day you can show me if you spoke truth long ago when you told me +that the sight of me was your joy." +</p> +<p> +"If you say that," said the Mede, "I will never leave you." +</p> +<p> +"And will you not do your best," added Cyrus, "to bring me others too?" +"By the gods in heaven," cried the Mede, "that I will, until you say in +your turn that to see me is your joy." Thereupon, with the authority +of Cyaxares to support him, the officer went to the Medes and delivered +with message with all diligence, adding that he for one would never +forsake Cyrus, the bravest, noblest, and best of men, and a hero whose +lineage was divine. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) While Cyrus was busied with these matters, by some strange chance +two ambassadors arrived from the Hyrcanians. These people are neighbours +of the Assyrians, and being few in number, they were held in subjection. +But they seemed then, as they seem now, to live on horseback. Hence the +Assyrians used them as the Lacedaemonians employ the Skirites, for +every toil and every danger, without sparing them. In fact, at that very +moment they had ordered them to furnish a rear-guard of a thousand +men and more, so as to bear the brunt of any rear attack. (2) The +Hyrcanians, as they were to be the hindmost, had put their waggons and +families in the rear, for, like most of the tribes in Asia, they take +their entire households with them on the march. (3) But when they +thought of the sorry treatment they got from the Assyrians and when they +saw the king fallen, the army worsted and a prey to panic, the allies +disheartened and ready to desert, they judged it a fine moment to revolt +themselves, if only the Medes and Persians would make common cause with +them. So they sent an embassy to Cyrus, for after the late battle there +was no name like his. (4) They told him what good cause they had to +hate the Assyrians, and how if he was willing to attack them now, they +themselves would be his allies and show him the way. At the same time +they gave a full account of the enemy's doings, being eager to get Cyrus +on the road. (5) "Do you think," said Cyrus, "we should overtake the +Assyrians before they reach their fortresses? We look on it as a great +misfortune," he added, "that they ever slipped through our fingers and +escaped." (This he said, wishing to give his hearers as high an opinion +as possible of himself and his friends.) (6) "You should certainly catch +them," they answered, "and that to-morrow, ere the day is old, if you +gird up your loins: they move heavily because of their numbers and their +train of waggons, and to-day, since they did not sleep last night, +they have only gone a little way ahead, and are now encamped for the +evening." +</p> +<p> +(7) "Can you give us any guarantee," said Cyrus, "that what you say is +true?" +</p> +<p> +"We will give you hostages," they said; "we will ride off at once and +bring them back this very night. Only do you on your side call the gods +to witness and give us the pledge of your own right hand, that we may +give our people the assurance we have received from you ourselves." +</p> +<p> +(8) Thereupon Cyrus gave them his pledge that if they would make good +what they promised he would treat them as his true friends and faithful +followers, of no less account than the Persians and the Medes. And to +this day one may see Hyrcanians treated with trust and holding office on +an equal footing with Persians and Medes of high distinction. +</p> +<p> +(9) Now Cyrus and his men took their supper and then while it was still +daylight he led his army out, having made the two Hyrcanians wait so +that they might go with them. The Persians, of course, were with him to +a man, and Tigranes was there, with his own contingent, and the Median +volunteers, who had joined for various reasons. (10) Some had been +friends of Cyrus in boyhood, others had hunted with him and learnt to +admire his character, others were grateful, feeling he had lifted a load +of fear from them, others were flushed with hope, nothing doubting that +great things were reserved for the man who had proved so brave and so +fortunate already. Others remembered the time when he was brought up in +Media, and were glad to return the kindnesses that he had shown +them; many could recall the favours the boy had won for them from his +grandfather through his sheer goodness of heart; and many, now that they +had seen the Hyrcanians and heard say they were leading them to untold +treasures, went out from simple love of gain. (11) So they sallied +forth, the entire body of the Persians and all the Medes, except those +who were quartered with Cyaxares: these stayed behind, and their men +with them. But all the rest went out with radiant faces and eager +hearts, not following him from constraint, but offering willing service +in their gratitude. (12) So, as soon as they were well afield, Cyrus +went to the Medes and thanked them, praying that the gods in their mercy +might guide them all, and that he himself might have power given him to +reward their zeal. He ended by saying that the infantry would lead the +van, while they would follow with the cavalry, and whenever the column +halted on the march they were to send him gallopers to receive his +orders. (13) Then he bade the Hyrcanians lead the way, but they +exclaimed, "What? Are you not going to wait until we bring the hostages? +Then you could begin the march with pledges from us in return for +yours." +</p> +<p> +But he answered, as the story says, "If I am not mistaken, we hold the +pledges now, in our own hearts and our own right hands. We believe that +if you are true to us we can do you service, and if you play us false, +you will not have us at your mercy; God willing, we shall hold you at +ours. Nevertheless," he added, "since you tell us your own folk follow +in the Assyrian rear, point them out to us as soon as you set eyes upon +them, that we may spare their lives." +</p> +<p> +(14) When the Hyrcanians heard this they led the way as he ordered, +marvelling at his strength of soul. Their own fear of the Assyrians, the +Lydians, and their allies, had altogether gone; their dread now was lest +Cyrus should regard themselves as mere dust in the balance, and count it +of no importance whether they stayed with him or not. +</p> +<p> +(15) As night closed in on their march, the legend runs that a strange +light shone out, far off in the sky, upon Cyrus and his host, filling +them with awe of the heavenly powers and courage to meet the foe. +Marching as they did, their loins girt and their pace swift, they +covered a long stretch of road in little time, and with the half light +of the morning they were close to the Hyrcanian rear-guard. (16) As soon +as the guides saw it, they told Cyrus that these were their own men: +they knew this, they added, from the number of their fires, and the fact +that they were in the rear. (17) Therefore Cyrus sent one of the guides +to them, bidding them come out at once, if they were friendly, with +their right hands raised. And he sent one of his own men also to say, +"According as you make your approach, so shall we Persians comport +ourselves." +</p> +<p> +Thus one of the two messengers stayed with Cyrus while the other rode up +to his fellows. (18) Cyrus halted his army to watch what the tribe would +do, and Tigranes and the Median officers rode along the ranks to ask +for orders. Cyrus explained that the troops nearest to them were the +Hyrcanians, and that one of the ambassadors had gone, and a Persian with +him, to bid them come out at once, if they were friendly, with their +right hands raised. "If they do so," he added, "you must welcome them +as they come, each of you at your post, and take them by the hand and +encourage them, but if they draw sword or try to escape, you must make +an example of them: not a man of them must be left." +</p> +<p> +Such were his orders. (19) However, as soon as the Hyrcanians heard the +message, they were overjoyed: springing to their steeds they galloped up +to Cyrus, holding out their right hands as he had bidden. Then the Medes +and Persians gave them the right hand of fellowship in return, and bade +them be of courage. (20) And Cyrus spoke: +</p> +<p> +"Sons of the Hyrcanians, we have shown our trust in you already, and +you must trust us in return. And now tell me, how far from here do +the Assyrian headquarters lie, and their main body?" "About four miles +hence," they answered. +</p> +<p> +(21) "Forward then, my men," said Cyrus, "Persians, Medes, and +Hyrcanians. I have learnt already, you see, to call you friends and +comrades. All of you must remember that the moment has come when, if +hand falters or heart fails, we meet with utter disaster: our enemies +know why we are here. But if we summon our strength and charge home, +you shall see them caught like a pack of runaway slaves, some on their +knees, others in full flight, and the rest unable to do even so much for +themselves. They are beaten already, and they will see their conquerors +fall on them before they dream of an approach, before their ranks are +formed or their preparations made, and the sight will paralyse them. +(22) If we wish to sleep and eat and live in peace and happiness from +this time forth, let us not give them leisure to take counsel or arrange +defence, or so much as see that we are men, and not a storm of shields +and battle-axes and flashing swords, sweeping on them in one rain of +blows. (23) You Hyrcanians must go in front of us as a screen, that we +may lie behind you as long as may be. And as soon as I close with them, +you must give me, each of you, a squadron of horse, to use in case of +need while I am waiting at the camp. (24) I would advise the older men +among you and the officers, to ride in close order, so that your ranks +should not be broken, if you come across a compact body of the foe; let +the younger men give chase, and do the killing; our safest plan to-day +is to leave as few of the enemy alive as possible. (25) And if we +conquer," he added, "we must beware of what has overset the fortune +of many a conqueror ere now, I mean the lust for plunder. The man who +plunders is no longer a man, he is a machine for porterage, and all +who list may treat him as a slave. (26) One thing we must bear in mind: +nothing can bring such gain as victory; at one clutch the victor seizes +all, men and women, and wealth, and territory. Therefore make it your +one object to secure the victory; if he is conquered, the greatest +plunderer is caught. One more word—remember, even in the heat of +pursuit to rejoin me while it is still daylight, for when darkness has +fallen we will not admit a soul within the lines." +</p> +<p> +(27) With these words he sent them off to their appointed stations, +bidding them repeat his instructions on the way to their own +lieutenants, who were posted in front to receive the orders, and make +each of them pass down the word to his own file of ten. Thereupon the +advance began, the Hyrcanians leading off, Cyrus holding the centre +himself, marching with his Persians, and the cavalry in the usual way, +drawn up on either flank. +</p> +<p> +(28) As the day broke the enemy saw them for the first time: some simply +stared at what was happening, others began to realise the truth, calling +and shouting to each other, unfastening their horses, getting their +goods together, tearing what they needed off the beasts of burden, and +others arming themselves, harnessing their steeds, leaping to horse, +others helping the women into their carriages, or seizing their +valuables, some caught in the act of burying them, others, and by far +the greatest number, in sheer headlong flight. Many and divers were +their shifts, as one may well conceive, save only that not one man stood +at bay: they perished without a blow. (29) Now Croesus, king of Lydia, +seeing that it was summer-time, had sent his women on during the night, +so that they might travel more pleasantly in the cool, and he himself +had followed with his cavalry to escort them. (30) The Lord of +Hellespontine Phrygia, it is said, had done the same. And these two, +when they heard what was happening from the fugitives who overtook them, +fled for their lives with the rest. (31) But it was otherwise with the +kings of Cappadocia and Arabia; they had not gone far, and they stood +their ground, but they had not even time to put on their corslets, and +were cut down by the Hyrcanians. Indeed, the mass of those who fell were +Assyrians and Arabians, for, being in their own country, they had +taken no precautions on the march. (32) The victorious Medes and the +Hyrcanians had their hands full with the chase, and meanwhile Cyrus made +the cavalry who were left with him ride all round the camp and cut down +any man who left it with weapons in his hands. Then he sent a herald to +those who remained, bidding the horsemen and targeteers and archers come +out on foot, with their weapons tied in bundles, and deliver them up to +him, leaving their horses in their stalls: he who disobeyed should lose +his head, and a cordon of Persian troops stood round with their swords +drawn. (33) At that the weapons were brought at once, and flung down, +and Cyrus had the whole pile burnt. +</p> +<p> +(34) Meanwhile he did not forget that his own troops had come without +food or drink, that nothing could be done without provisions, and that +to obtain these in the quickest way, it was necessary on every campaign +to have some one to see that quarters were prepared and supplies ready +for the men on their return. (35) It occurred to him it was more than +likely that such officers, of all others, would be left behind in the +Assyrian camp, because they would have been delayed by the packing. +</p> +<p> +Accordingly, he sent out a proclamation that all the stewards should +present themselves before him, and if there was no such officer left, +the oldest man in every tent must take his place; any one failing to +obey would suffer the severest penalties. The stewards, following the +example of their masters, obeyed at once. And when they came before him +he ordered those who had more than two months' rations in their quarters +to sit down on the ground, and then those who had provisions for one +month. (36) Thereupon very few were left standing. (37) Having thus got +the information he needed, he spoke to them as follows: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen, if any of you dislike hard blows and desire gentle treatment +at our hands, make it your business to provide twice as much meat and +drink in every tent as you have been wont to do, with all things that +are needed for a fine repast. The victors, whoever they are, will be +here anon, and will expect an overflowing board. You may rest assured +it will not be against your interests to give them a welcome they can +approve." +</p> +<p> +(38) At that the stewards went off at once and set to work with all zeal +to carry out their instructions. Then Cyrus summoned his own officers +and said to them: +</p> +<p> +"My friends, it is clear that we have it in our power, now that our +allies' backs are turned, to help ourselves to breakfast, and take our +choice of the most delicate dishes and the rarest wines. But I scarcely +think this would do us so much good as to show that we study the +interest of our friends: the best of cheer will not give us half the +strength we could draw from the zeal of loyal allies whose gratitude we +had won. (39) If we forget those who are toiling for us now, pursuing +our foes, slaying them, and fighting wherever they resist, if they see +that we sit down to enjoy ourselves and devour our meal before we know +how it goes with them, I fear we shall cut a sorry figure in their eyes, +and our strength will turn to weakness through lack of friends. The true +banquet for us is to study the wants of those who have run the risk and +done the work, to see that they have all they need when they come home, +a banquet that will give us richer delight than any gorging of the +belly. (40) And remember, that even if the thought of them were not +enough to shame us from it, in no case is this a moment for gluttony +and drunkenness: the thing we set our minds to do is not yet done: +everything is full of danger still, and calls for carefulness. We have +enemies in this camp ten times more numerous than ourselves, and they +are all at large: we need both to guard against them and to guard them, +so that we may have servants to furnish us with supplies. Our cavalry +are not yet back, and we must ask ourselves where they are and whether +they mean to stay with us when they return. (41) Therefore, gentlemen, I +would say, for the present let us above all be careful to avoid the +food and drink that leads to slumber and stupefaction. (42) And there is +another matter: this camp contains vast treasures, and I am well aware +we have it in our power to pick and choose as much as we like for +ourselves out of what belongs by right to all who helped in its capture. +But it does not seem to me that grasping will be so lucrative as proving +ourselves just toward our allies, and so binding them closer. (43) I go +further: I say that we should leave the distribution of the spoil to the +Medes, the Hyrcanians, and Tigranes, and count it gain if they allot us +the smaller share, for then they will be all the more willing to stay +with us. (44) Selfishness now could only secure us riches for the +moment, while to let these vanities go in order to obtain the very fount +of wealth, that, I take it, will ensure for us and all whom we call ours +a far more enduring gain. (45) Was it not," he continued, "for this very +reason that we trained ourselves at home to master the belly and its +appetites, so that, if ever the need arose, we might turn our education +to account? And where, I ask, shall we find a nobler opportunity than +this, to show what we have learnt?" +</p> +<p> +(46) Such were his words and Hystaspas the Persian rose to support him, +saying: +</p> +<p> +"Truly, Cyrus, it would be a monstrous thing if we could go fasting when +we hunt, and keep from food so often and so long merely to lay some poor +beast low, worth next to nothing, maybe, and yet, when a world of wealth +is our quarry, let ourselves be baulked by one of those temptations +which flee before the noble and rule the bad. Such conduct, methinks, +would be little worthy of our race." +</p> +<p> +(47) So Hystaspas spoke, and the rest approved him, one and all. Then +Cyrus said: +</p> +<p> +"Come now, since we are all of one mind, each of you give me five of the +trustiest fellows in his company, and let them go the rounds, and see +how the supplies are furnished; let them praise the active servants, +and where they see neglect, chastise them more severely than their own +masters could." +</p> +<p> +Thus they dealt with these matters. +</p> +<p> +(C.3) But it was not long before some of the Medes returned: one set had +overtaken the waggons that had gone ahead, seized them and turned them +back, and were now driving them to the camp, laden with all that an army +could require, and others had captured the covered carriages in which +the women rode, the wives of the Assyrian grandees or their concubines, +whom they had taken with them because of their beauty. (2) Indeed, to +this day the tribes of Asia never go on a campaign without their most +precious property: they say they can fight better in the presence of +their beloved, feeling they must defend their treasures, heart and soul. +It may be so, but it may also be that the desire for pleasure is the +cause. +</p> +<p> +(3) And when Cyrus saw the feats of arms that the Medes and the +Hyrcanians had performed, he came near reproaching himself and those +that were with him; the others, he felt, had risen with the time, had +shown their strength and won their prizes, while he and his had stayed +behind like sluggards. Indeed it was a sight to watch the victors riding +home, driving their spoil before them, pointing it out with some +display to Cyrus, and then dashing off again at once in search of more, +according to the instructions they had received. +</p> +<p> +But though he ate out his heart with envy Cyrus was careful to set all +their booty apart; and then he summoned his own officers again, and +standing where they could all hear what he had to propose, he spoke as +follows: +</p> +<p> +(4) "My friends, you would all agree, I take it, that if the spoils +displayed to us now were our own to keep, wealth would be showered on +every Persian in the land, and we ourselves, no doubt, through whom it +was won, would receive the most. But what I do not see is how we are +to get possession of such prizes unless we have cavalry of our own. (5) +Consider the facts," he continued, "we Persians have weapons with which, +we hope, we can rout the enemy at close quarters: but when we do rout +them, what sort of horsemen or archers or light-armed troops could ever +be caught and killed, if we can only pursue them on foot? Why should +they ever be afraid to dash up and harry us, when they know full well +that they run no greater risk at our hands than if we were stumps in +their orchards? (6) And if this be so, it is plain that the cavalry now +with us consider every gain to be as much theirs as ours, and possibly +even more, God wot! (7) At present things must be so: there is no help +for it. But suppose we were to provide ourselves with as good a force +as our friends, it must be pretty evident to all of us, I think, that we +could then deal with the enemy by ourselves precisely as we do now with +their help, and then perhaps we should find that they would carry their +heads less high. It would be of less importance to us whether they chose +to stay or go, we should be sufficient for ourselves without them. (8) +So far then I expect that no one will disagree: if we could get a body +of Persian cavalry it would make all the difference to us; but no doubt +you feel the question is, how are we to get it? Well, let us consider +first, suppose we decide to raise the force, exactly what we have to +start with and what we need. (9) We certainly have hundreds of horses +now captured in this camp, with their bridles and all their gear. +Besides these, we have all the accoutrements for a mounted force, +breast-plates to protect the trunk, and light spears to be flung or +wielded at close quarters. What else do we need? It is plain we need +men. (10) But that is just what we have already at our own command. For +nothing is so much ours as our own selves. Only, some will say, we have +not the necessary skill. No, of course not, and none of those who have +it now had it either before they learnt to get it. Ah, you object, but +they learnt when they were boys. (11) Maybe; but are boys more capable +of learning what they are taught then grown men? Which are the better at +heavy physical tasks, boys or men? (12) Besides, we, of all pupils, have +advantages that neither boys nor other men possess: we have not to be +taught the use of the bow as boys have, we are skilled in that already; +nor yet the use of the javelin, we are versed in that; our time has not +been taken up like other men's with toiling on the land or labouring at +some craft or managing household matters; we have not only had leisure +for war, it has been our life. (13) Moreover, one cannot say of riding +as of so many warlike exercises that it is useful but disagreeable. To +ride a-horseback is surely pleasanter than to trudge a-foot? And as for +speed—how pleasant to join a friend betimes whenever you wish, or +come up with your quarry be it man or beast! And then, the ease and +satisfaction of it! Whatever weapon the rider carries his horse must +help to bear the load: 'wear arms' and 'bear arms,'—they are the same +thing on horseback. (14) But now, to meet the worst we can apprehend: +suppose, before we are adepts, we are called upon to run some risk, and +then find that we are neither infantry nor thoroughgoing cavalry? This +may be a danger, but we can guard against it. We have it always in our +power to turn into infantry again at a moment's notice. I do not propose +that by learning to ride we should unlearn the arts of men on foot." +</p> +<p> +(15) Thus spoke Cyrus, and Chrysantas rose to support him, saying: +</p> +<p> +"For my part I cannot say I so much desire to be a horseman as flatter +myself that once I can ride I shall be a sort of flying man. (16) At +present when I race I am quiet content if, with a fair start, I can beat +one of my rivals by the head, or when I sight my game I am happy if, by +laying legs to the ground, I can get close enough to let fly javelin or +arrow before he is clean out of range. But when once I am a horseman +I shall be able to overhaul my man as far as I can see him, or come up +with the beasts I chase and knock them over myself or else spear them +as though they stood stock still, for when hunter and hunted are both +of them racing, if they are only side by side, it is as good as though +neither of them moved. (17) And the creature I have always envied," he +continued, "the centaur—if only he had the intelligence and forethought +of a man, the adroit skill and the cunning hand, with the swiftness and +strength of a horse, so as to overtake all that fled before him, and +overthrow all that resisted—why, all these powers I shall collect +and gather in my own person when once I am a rider. (18) Forethought I +intend to keep with my human wits, my hands can wield my weapons, and my +horse's legs will follow up the foe, and my horse's rush overthrow him. +Only I shall not be tied and fettered to my steed, flesh of his flesh, +and blood of his blood, like the old centaur. (19) And that I count +a great improvement on the breed, far better than being united to the +animal, body and soul. The old centaur, I imagine, must have been +for ever in difficulties; as a horse, he could not use the wonderful +inventions of man, and as a man, he could not enjoy the proper pleasures +of a horse. (20) But I, if I learn to ride, once set me astride my +horse, and I will do all that the centaur can, and yet, when I dismount, +I can dress myself as a human being, and dine, and sleep in my bed, like +the rest of my kind: in short, I shall be a jointed centaur that can be +taken to pieces and put together again. (21) And I shall gain another +point or so over the original beast: he, we know, had only two eyes to +see with and two ears to hear with, but I shall watch with four eyes and +with four ears I shall listen. You know, they tell us a horse can often +see quicker than any man, and hear a sound before his master, and give +him warning in some way. Have the goodness, therefore," he added, "to +write my name down among those who want to ride." +</p> +<p> +(22) "And ours too," they all cried, "ours too, in heaven's name!" +</p> +<p> +Then Cyrus spoke: "Gentlemen, since we are all so well agreed, suppose +we make it a rule that every one who receives a horse from me shall +be considered to disgrace himself if he is seen trudging afoot, be his +journey long or short?" +</p> +<p> +(23) Thus Cyrus put the question, and one and all assented; and hence it +is that even to this day the custom is retained, and no Persian of the +gentle class would willingly be seen anywhere on foot. +</p> +<p> +(C.4) In this debate their time was spent, and when it was past midday +the Median cavalry and the Hyrcanians came galloping home, bringing in +men and horses from the enemy, for they had spared all who surrendered +their arms. (2) As they rode up the first inquiry of Cyrus was whether +all of them were safe, and when they answered yes, he asked what they +had achieved. And they told their exploits in detail, and how bravely +they had borne themselves, magnifying it all. (3) Cyrus heard their +story through with a pleasant smile, and praised them for their work. +"I can see for myself," he said, "that you have done gallant deeds. You +seem to have grown taller and fairer and more terrible to look on than +when we saw you last." +</p> +<p> +(4) Then he made them tell him how far they had gone, and whether they +had found the country inhabited. They said they had ridden a long way, +and that the whole country was inhabited, and full of sheep and goats +and cattle and horses, and rich in corn and every good thing. +</p> +<p> +(5) "Then there are two matters," he said, "to which we must attend; +first we must become masters of those who own all this, and next we must +ensure that they do not run away. A well-populated country is a rich +possession, but a deserted land will soon become a desert. (6) You have +put the defenders to the sword, I know, and rightly—for that is the +only safe road to victory; but you have brought in as prisoners those +who laid down their arms. Now if we let these men go, I maintain we +should do the very best thing for ourselves. (7) We gain two points; +first, we need neither be on our guard against them nor mount guard over +them nor find them victuals (and we do not propose to starve them, I +presume), and in the next place, their release means more prisoners +to-morrow. (8) For if we dominate the country all the inhabitants are +ours, and if they see that these men are still alive and at large they +will be more disposed to stay where they are, and prefer obedience to +battle. That is my own view, but if any one sees a better course, let +him point it out." +</p> +<p> +(9) However, all his hearers approved the plan proposed. Thus it came to +pass that Cyrus summoned the prisoners and said to them: +</p> +<p> +(10) "Gentlemen, you owe it to your own obedience this day that your +lives are safe; and for the future if you continue in this conduct, no +evil whatsoever shall befall you; true, you will not have the same ruler +as before, but you will dwell in the same houses, you will cultivate the +same land, you will live with your wives and govern your children as you +do now. Moreover you will not have us to fight with, nor any one else. +(11) On the contrary, if any wrong is done you, it is we who will fight +on your behalf. And to prevent any one from ordering you to take the +field, you will bring your arms to us and hand them over. Those who do +this can count on peace and the faithful fulfilment of our promises; +those who will not, must expect war, and that at once. (12) Further, +if any man of you comes to us and shows a friendly spirit, giving +us information and helping us in any way, we will treat him not as a +servant, but as a friend and benefactor. This," he added, "we wish you +to understand yourselves and make known among your fellows. (13) And if +it should appear that you yourselves are willing to comply but others +hinder you, lead us against them, and you shall be their masters, not +they yours." +</p> +<p> +Such were his words; and they made obeisance and promised to do as he +bade. +</p> +<p> +(C.5) And when they were gone, Cyrus turned to the Medes and the men of +Armenia, and said, "It is high time, gentlemen, that we should dine, +one and all of us; food and drink are prepared for you, the best we had +skill to find. Send us, if you will, the half of the bread that has +been baked; there is ample, I know, for both of us; but do not send any +relish with it, nor any drink, we have quite enough at hand. (2) And do +you," he added, turning to the Hyrcanians, "conduct our friends to +their quarters, the officers to the largest tents—you know where they +are—and the rest where you think best. For yourselves, you may dine +where you like; your quarters are intact, and you will find everything +there prepared for you exactly as it is for the others. (3) All of you +alike must understand that during the night we Persians will guard the +camp outside, but you must keep an eye over what goes on within; and see +that your arms are ready to hand; our messmates are not our friends as +yet." +</p> +<p> +(4) So the Medes and Tigranes with his men washed away the stains of +battle, and put on the apparel that was laid out for them, and fell to +dinner, and the horses had their provender too. They sent half the bread +to the Persians but no relish with it and no wine, thinking that Cyrus +and his men possessed a store, because he had said they had enough and +to spare. But Cyrus meant the relish of hunger, and the draught from the +running river. (5) Thus he regaled his Persians, and when the darkness +fell he sent them out by fives and tens and ordered them to lie in +ambush around the camp, so as to form a double guard, against attack +from without, and absconders from within; any one attempting to make off +with treasures would be caught in the act. And so it befell; for many +tried to escape, and all of them were seized. (6) As for the treasures, +Cyrus allowed the captors to keep them, but he had the absconders +beheaded out of hand, so that for the future a thief by night was hardly +to be found. Thus the Persians passed their time. (7) But the Medes +drank and feasted and made music and took their fill of good cheer and +all delights; there was plenty to serve their purpose, and work enough +for those who did not sleep. +</p> +<p> +(8) Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, on the very night when Cyrus set +forth, drank himself drunk in company with the officers in his own +quarters to celebrate their good fortune. Hearing uproar all about him, +he thought that the rest of the Medes must have stayed behind in the +camp, except perhaps a few, but the fact was that their domestics, +finding the masters gone, had fallen to drinking in fine style and +were making a din to their hearts' content, the more so that they had +procured wine and dainties from the Assyrian camp. (9) But when it was +broad day and no one knocked at the palace gate except the guests +of last night's revel, and when Cyaxares heard that the camp was +deserted—the Medes gone, the cavalry gone—and when he went out and saw +for himself that it was so, then he fumed with indignation against Cyrus +and his own men, to think that they had gone off and left him in the +lurch. It is said that without more ado, savage and mad with anger as he +was, he ordered one of his staff to take his troopers and ride at once +to Cyrus and his men, and there deliver this message: +</p> +<p> +(10) "I should never have dreamed that Cyrus could have acted towards +me with such scant respect, or, if he could have thought of it, that the +Medes could have borne to desert me in this way. And now, whether Cyrus +will or no, I command the Medes to present themselves before me without +delay." +</p> +<p> +(11) Such was the message. But he who was to take it said, "And how +shall I find them, my lord?" +</p> +<p> +"Why," said Cyaxares, "as Cyrus and his men found those they went to +seek." +</p> +<p> +"I only asked," continued the messenger, "because I was told that some +Hyrcanians who had revolted from the enemy came here, and went off with +him to act as guides." +</p> +<p> +(12) When Cyaxares heard that, he was the more enraged to think that +Cyrus had never told him, and the more urgent to have his Medes removed +from him at once, and he summoned them home under fiercer threats +than ever; threatening the officer as well if he failed to deliver the +message in full force. +</p> +<p> +(13) So the emissary set off with his troopers, about one hundred +strong, fervently regretting that he had not gone with Cyrus himself. On +the way they took a turning which led them wrong, and they did not +reach the Persians until they had chanced upon some of the Assyrians +in retreat and forced them to be their guides, and so at last arrived, +sighting the watch-fires about midnight. (14) But though they had got to +the camp, the pickets, acting on the orders of Cyrus, would not let them +in till dawn. With the first faint gleam of morning Cyrus summoned +the Persian Priests, who are called Magians, and bade them choose the +offerings due to the gods for the blessings they had vouchsafed. (15) +And while they were about this, Cyrus called the Peers together and said +to them: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen, God has put before us many blessings, but at present we +Persians are but a scant company to keep them. If we fail to guard what +we have toiled for, it will soon fall back into other hands, and if we +leave some of our number to watch our gains, it will soon be seen that +we have no strength in us. (16) I propose therefore that one of you +should go home to Persia without loss of time, and explain what I need +and bid them despatch an army forthwith, if they desire Persia to +win the empire of Asia and the fruits thereof. (17) Do you," said he, +turning to one of the Peers, "do you, who are the eldest, go and repeat +these words, and tell them that it shall be my care to provide for the +soldiers they send me as soon as they are here. And as to what we have +won—you have seen it yourself—keep nothing back, and ask my father how +much I ought to send home for an offering to the gods, if I wish to act +in honour and according to the law, and ask the magistrates how much is +due to the commonwealth. And let them send commissioners to watch all +that we do and answer all that we ask. So, sir," he ended, "you will get +your baggage together, and take your company with you as an escort. Fare +you well." +</p> +<p> +(18) With that message he turned to the Medes and at the same moment the +messenger from Cyaxares presented himself, and in the midst of the whole +assembly announced the anger of the king against Cyrus, and his threats +against the Medes, and so bade the latter return home at once, even if +Cyrus wished them to stay. (19) The Medes listened, but were silent; for +they were sore bested; they could hardly disobey the summons, and +yet they were afraid to go back after his threats, being all too well +acquainted with the savage temper of their lord. (20) But Cyrus spoke: +</p> +<p> +"Herald," said he, "and sons of the Medes, I am not surprised that +Cyaxares, who saw the host of the enemy so lately, and knows so little +of what we have done now, should tremble for us and for himself. But +when he learns how many have fallen, and that all have been dispersed, +his fears will vanish, and he will recognise that he is not deserted on +this day of all days when his friends are destroying his foes. (21) Can +we deserve blame for doing him a service? And that not even without his +own consent? I am acting as I am, only after having gained his leave +to take you out; it is not as though you had come to me in your own +eagerness, and begged me to let you go, and so were here now; he himself +ordered you out, those of you who did not find it a burthen. Therefore, +I feel sure, his anger will melt in the sunshine of success, and, when +his fears are gone, it will vanish too. (22) For the moment then," he +added, turning to the messenger, "you must recruit yourself; you have +had a heavy task; and for ourselves," said he, turning to the Persians, +"since we are waiting for an enemy who will either offer us battle +or render us submission, we must draw up in our finest style; the +spectacle, perhaps, will bring us more than we could dare to hope. And +do you," he said, taking the Hyrcanian chieftain aside, "after you +have told your officers to arm their men, come back and wait with me a +moment." +</p> +<p> +(23) So the Hyrcanian went and returned. Then Cyrus said to him, "Son +of Hyrcania, it gives me pleasure to see that you show not only +friendliness, but sagacity. It is clear that our interests are the same; +the Assyrians are my foes as well as yours, only they hate you now even +more bitterly than they hate me. (24) We must consult together and see +that not one of our present allies turns his back on us, and we must do +what we can to acquire more. You heard the Mede summon the cavalry to +return, and if they go, we shall be left with nothing but infantry. (25) +This is what we must do, you and I; we must make this messenger, who is +sent to recall them, desirous to stay here himself. You must find him +quarters where he will have a merry time and everything heart can wish, +and I will offer him work which he will like far better than going back. +And do you talk to him yourself, and dilate on all the wonders we expect +for our friends if things go well. And when you have done this, come +back again and tell me." +</p> +<p> +(26) So the chieftain took the Mede away to his own quarters, and +meanwhile the messenger from Persia presented himself equipped for the +journey, and Cyrus bade him tell the Persians all that had happened, +as it has been set out in this story, and then he gave him a letter to +Cyaxares. "I would like to read you the very words," he added, "so that +what you say yourself may agree with it, in case you have questions +asked you." +</p> +<p> +(27) The letter ran as follows:—"Cyrus to Cyaxares, greeting. We do not +admit that we have deserted you; for no one is deserted when he is being +made the master of his enemies. Nor do we consider that we put you in +jeopardy by our departure; on the contrary, the greater the distance +between us the greater the security we claim to have won for you. (28) +It is not the friend at a man's elbow who serves him and puts him out of +danger, but he who drives his enemies farthest and furthest away. (29) +And I pray you to remember what I have done for you, and you for me, +before you blame me. I brought you allies, not limiting myself to those +you asked for, but pressing in every man that I could find; you allowed +me while we were on friendly soil only to take those whom I could +persuade to follow me, and now that I am in hostile territory you insist +that they must all return; you do not leave it to their own choice. (30) +Yesterday I felt that I owed both you and them a debt of gratitude, +but to-day you drive me to forget your share, you make me wish to repay +those, and those only, who followed me. (31) Not that I could bring +myself to return you like for like; even now I am sending to Persia for +more troops, and instructing all the men who come that, if you need them +before we return, they must hold themselves at your service absolutely, +to act not as they wish, but as you may care to use them. (32) In +conclusion, I would advise you, though I am younger than yourself, not +to take back with one hand what you give with the other, or else you +will win hatred instead of gratitude; nor to use threats if you wish +men to come to you speedily; nor to speak of being deserted when you +threaten an army, unless you would teach them to despise you. (33) +For ourselves, we will do our best to rejoin you as soon as we have +concluded certain matters which we believe will prove a common blessing +to yourself and us. Farewell." +</p> +<p> +(34) "Deliver this," said Cyrus, "to Cyaxares, and whatever questions he +puts to you, answer in accordance with it. My injunctions to you about +the Persians agree exactly with what is written here." With that he gave +him the letter and sent him off, bidding him remember that speed was of +importance. +</p> +<p> +(35) Then he turned to review his troops, who were already fully armed, +Medes, Hyrcanians, the men Tigranes had brought, and the whole body of +the Persians. And already some of the neighbouring folk were coming up, +to bring in their horses or hand over their arms. (36) The javelins +were then piled in a heap as before and burnt at his command, after his +troops had taken what they needed for themselves, but he bade the owners +stay with their horses until they received fresh orders. This done, +Cyrus called together the officers of the Hyrcanians and of the cavalry, +and spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +(37) "My friends and allies, you must not be surprised that I summon +you so often. Our circumstances are so novel that much still needs +adjustment, and we must expect difficulty until everything has found +its place. (38) At present we have a mass of spoil, and prisoners set to +guard it. But we do not ourselves know what belongs to each of us, nor +could the guards say who the owners are: and thus it is impossible for +them to be exact in their duties, since scarcely any of them know what +these duties may be. (39) To amend this, you must divide the spoil. +There will be no difficulty where a man has won a tent that is fully +supplied with meat and drink, and servants to boot, bedding, apparel, +and everything to make it a comfortable home; he has only to understand +that this is now his private property, and he must look after it +himself. But where the quarters are not furnished so well, there you +must make it your business to supply what is lacking. (40) There will be +more than enough for this; of that I am sure; the enemy had a stock +of everything quite out of proportion to our scanty numbers. Moreover, +certain treasurers have come to me, men who were in the service of the +king of Assyria and other potentates, and according to what they tell +me, they have a supply of gold coin, the produce of certain tributes +they can name. (41) You will send out a proclamation that this deposit +must be delivered up to you in your quarters; you must terrify those who +fail to execute the order, and then you must distribute the money; the +mounted men should have two shares apiece for the foot-soldier's one; +and you should keep the surplus, so that in case of need you may have +wherewith to make your purchases. (42) With regard to the camp-market, +proclamation must be made at once, forbidding any injustice; the +hucksters must be allowed to sell the goods they have brought, and when +these are disposed of they may bring more, so that the camp may be duly +supplied." +</p> +<p> +(43) So the proclamations were issued forthwith. But the Medes and the +Hyrcanians asked Cyrus: +</p> +<p> +"How are we to distribute the spoil alone, without your men and +yourself?" +</p> +<p> +(44) But Cyrus met question by question: "Do you really think, +gentlemen, that we must all preside over every detail, each and all of +us together? Can I never act for you, and you for me? I could scarcely +conceive a surer way of creating trouble, or of reducing results. See," +said he, "I will take a case in point. (45) We Persians guarded this +booty for you, and you believe that we guarded it well: now it is for +you to distribute it, and we will trust you to be fair. (46) And there +is another benefit that I should be glad to obtain for us all. You see +what a number of horses we have got already, and more are being brought +in. If they are left riderless we shall get no profit out of them; we +shall only have the burden of looking after them. But if we set riders +on them, we shall be quit of the trouble and add to our strength. (47) +Now if you have other men in view, men whom you would choose before us +to share the brunt of danger with you, by all means give these horses +to them. But if you would rather have us fight at your side than any +others, bestow them upon us. (48) To-day when you dashed ahead to meet +danger all alone, great was our fear lest you might come to harm, and +bitter our shame to think that where you were we were not. But if once +we have horses, we can follow at your heels. (49) And if it is clear +that we do more good so mounted, shoulder to shoulder with yourselves, +we shall not fail in zeal; or if it appears better to support you on +foot, why, to dismount is but the work of a moment, and you will have +your infantry marching by your side at once, and we will find men to +hold our horses for us." +</p> +<p> +(50) To which they answered: +</p> +<p> +"In truth, Cyrus, we have not men for these horses ourselves, and even +if we had them, we should not do anything against your wish. Take them, +we beg you, and use them as you think best." +</p> +<p> +(51) "I will," said he, "and gladly, and may good fortune bless us all, +you in your division of the spoil and us in our horsemanship. In the +first place," he added, "you will set apart for the gods whatever our +priests prescribe, and after that you must select for Cyaxares what you +think will please him most." +</p> +<p> +(52) At that they laughed, and said they must choose him a bevy of fair +women. "So let it be," said Cyrus, "fair women, and anything else you +please. And when you have chosen his share, the Hyrcanians must see to +it that our friends among the Medes who followed us of their own free +will shall have no cause to find fault with their own portion. (53) And +the Medes on their side must show honour to the first allies we have +won, and make them feel their decision was wise when they chose us +for their friends. And be sure to give a share of everything to the +messenger who came from Cyaxares and to his retinue; persuade him +to stay on with us, say that I would like it, and that he could tell +Cyaxares all the better how matters stood. (54) As for my Persians," he +added, "we shall be quite content with what is left over, after you are +all provided for; we are not used to luxury, we were brought up in a +very simple fashion, and I think you would laugh at us if you saw us +tricked out in grand attire, just as I am sure you will when you see us +seated on our horses, or, rather, rolling off them." +</p> +<p> +(55) So they dispersed to make the distribution, in great mirth over the +thought of the riding; and then Cyrus called his own officers and bade +them take the horses and their gear, and the grooms with them, number +them all, and then distribute them by lot in equal shares for each +division. (56) Finally he sent out another proclamation, saying that if +there was any slave among the Syrians, Assyrians, or Arabians who was +a Mede, a Persian, a Bactrian, a Carian, a Cilician, or a Hellene, or a +member of any other nation, and who had been forcibly enrolled, he +was to come forward and declare himself. (57) And when they heard the +herald, many came forward gladly, and out of their number Cyrus selected +the strongest and fairest, and told them they were now free, and would +be required to bear arms, with which he would furnish them, and as to +necessaries, he would see himself that they were not stinted. (58) With +that he brought them to the officers and had them enrolled forthwith, +saying they were to be armed with shields and light swords, so as to +follow the troopers, and were to receive supplies exactly as if they +were his own Persians. The Persian officers themselves, wearing corslets +and carrying lances, were for the future to appear on horseback, he +himself setting the example, and each one was to appoint another of the +Peers to lead the infantry for him. +</p> +<p> +(C.6) While they were concerned with these matters, an old Assyrian +prince, Gobryas by name, presented himself before Cyrus, mounted on +horseback and with a mounted retinue behind him, all of them armed as +cavalry. The Persian officers who were appointed to receive the weapons +bade them hand over their lances and have them burnt with the rest, but +Gobryas said he wished to see Cyrus first. At that the adjutants led him +in, but they made his escort stay where they were. (2) When the old man +came before Cyrus, he addressed him at once, saying: +</p> +<p> +"My lord, I am an Assyrian by birth; I have a strong fortress in my +territory, and I rule over a wide domain; I have cavalry at my command, +two thousand three hundred of them, all of which I offered to the king +of Assyria; and if ever he had a friend, that friend was I. But he +has fallen at your hands, the gallant heart, and his son, who is my +bitterest foe, reigns in his stead. Therefore I have come to you, a +suppliant at your feet. I am ready to be your slave and your ally, and +I implore you to be my avenger. You yourself will be a son to me, for +I have no male children now. (3) He whom I had, my only son, he was +beautiful and brave, my lord, and loved me and honoured me as a father +rejoices to be loved. And this vile king—his father, my old master, had +sent for my son, meaning to give him his own daughter in marriage; and +I let my boy go, with high hopes and a proud heart, thinking that when +I saw him again the king's daughter would be his bride. And the prince, +who is now king, invited him to the chase, and bade him do his best, +for he thought himself far the finer horseman of the two. So they hunted +together, side by side, as though they were friends, and suddenly a bear +appeared, and the two of them gave chase, and the king's son let fly his +javelin, but alas! he missed his aim, and then my son threw—oh, that he +never had!—and laid the creature low. (4) The prince was stung to the +quick, though for the moment he kept his rancour hidden. But, soon after +that, they roused a lion, and then he missed a second time—no unusual +thing for him, I imagine—but my son's spear went home, and he brought +the beast down, and cried, 'See, I have shot but twice, and killed +each time!' And at this the monster could not contain his jealousy; he +snatched a spear from one of his followers and ran my son through the +body, my only son, my darling, and took his life. (5) And I, unhappy +that I am, I, who thought to welcome a bride-groom, carried home a +corpse. I, who am old, buried my boy with the first down on his chin, my +brave boy, my well-beloved. And his assassin acted as though it were an +enemy that he had done to death. He never showed one sign of remorse, he +never paid one tribute of honour to the dead, in atonement for his cruel +deed. Yet his own father pitied me, and showed that he could share the +burden of my grief. (6) Had he lived, my old master, I would never have +come to you to do him harm; many a kindness have I received from +him, and many a service have I done him. But now that his kingdom has +descended to my boy's murderer—I could never be loyal to that man, and +he, I know, could never regard me as a friend. He knows too well how I +feel towards him, and how, after my former splendour, I pass my days in +mourning, growing old in loneliness and grief. (7) If you can receive +me, if you can give me some hope of vengeance for my dear son, I think +I should grow young again, I should not feel ashamed to live, and when I +came to die I should not die in utter wretchedness." +</p> +<p> +(8) So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: +</p> +<p> +"Gobryas, if your heart be set towards us as you say, I receive you as +my suppliant, and I promise, God helping me, to avenge your son. But +tell me," he added, "if we do this for you, and if we suffer you to keep +your stronghold, your land, your arms, and the power which you had, how +will you serve us in return?" +</p> +<p> +(9) And the old man answered: +</p> +<p> +"My stronghold shall be yours, to live in as often as you come to me; +the tribute which I used to pay to Assyria shall be paid to you; and +whenever you march out to war, I will march at your side with the men +from my own land. Moreover, I have a daughter, a well-beloved maiden, +ripe for marriage; once I thought of bringing her up to be the bride of +the man who is now king; but she besought me herself, with tears, not +to give her to her brother's murderer, and I have no mind to oppose her. +And now I will put her in your hands, to deal with as I shall deal with +you." +</p> +<p> +(10) So it came to pass that Cyrus said, "On the faith that you have +spoken truly and with true intent, I take your hand and I give you mine; +let the gods be witness." +</p> +<p> +And when this was done, Cyrus bade the old man depart in peace, without +surrendering his arms, and then he asked him how far away he lived, +"Since," said he, "I am minded to visit you." And Gobryas answered, "If +you set off early to-morrow, the next day you may lodge with us." (11) +With that he took his own departure, leaving a guide for Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +Then the Medes presented themselves; they had set apart for the gods +what the Persian Priests thought right, and had left it in their hands, +and they had chosen for Cyrus the finest of all the tents, and a lady +from Susa, of whom the story says that in all Asia there was never a +woman so fair as she, and two singing-girls with her, the most skilful +among the musicians. The second choice was for Cyaxares, and for +themselves they had taken their fill of all they could need on the +campaign, since there was abundance of everything. (12) The Hyrcanians +had all they wanted too, and they made the messenger from Cyaxares share +and share alike with them. The tents which were left over they delivered +to Cyrus for his Persians; and the coined money they said should be +divided as soon as it was all collected, and divided it was. +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +C1.10. Two theories of hedonism: (1) Cyaxares' "Economise the greatest +joy when you have got it," and by contrast (2) Cyrus' roaming from joy +to joy. +</p> +<p> +C1.22. Xenophon the Artist: the "kinsman" of Cyrus again, and the light +by-play to enliven the severe history. The economic organising genius of +Cyrus is also brought out. +</p> +<p> +C2.25. No looting, an order of the Duke of Wellington, Napier, Wolseley. +</p> +<p> +C2.32. Cf. modern times; humane orders, but strict. +</p> +<p> +C2.34. The question of commissariat. Would a modern force storm a camp +without taking rations? I dare say they would. +</p> +<p> +C2.37. Notice the tone he adopts to these slaves; no bullying, but +appealing to appetite and lower motives. This is doubtless Xenophontine +and Hellenic. +</p> +<p> +C2.38. Important as illustrating the stern Spartan self-denial of +the man and his followers. There is a hedonistic test, but the higher +hedonism prevails against the lower: ignoble and impolitic to sit here +feasting while they are fighting, and we don't even know how it fares +with them, our allies. The style rises and is at times Pauline. St. +Paul, of course, is moving on a higher spiritual plane, but still— +</p> +<p> +C2.45, fin. The Education of Cyrus, Cyropaedia, {Keroupaideia}; the name +justified. +</p> +<p> +C2.46. Hystaspas' simple response: important, with other passages, to +show how naturally it came to them (i.e. the Hellenes and Xenophon) +to give a spiritual application to their rules of bodily and mental +training. These things to them are an allegory. The goal is lofty, if +not so sublime as St. Paul's or Comte's, the Christians or Positivists +(there has been an alteration for the better in the spiritual plane, and +Socrates helped to bring it about, I believe), but <i>ceteris paribus</i>, +the words of St. Paul are the words of Hystaspas and Xenophon. They for +a corruptible crown, and we for an incorruptible—and one might find a +still happier parable! +</p> +<p> +C2.46. Fine sentiment, this <i>noblesse oblige</i> (cf. the archangelic +dignity in Milton, <i>Paradise Lost</i>, I think). +</p> +<p> +C2.47. The aristocratic theory (cf. modern English "nigger" theory, +Anglo-Indian, etc.). +</p> +<p> +C3.3. Xenophon's dramatic skill. We are made to feel the touch of +something galling in the manner of these Median and Hyrcanian troopers. +</p> +<p> +C3.4. A 'cute beginning rhetorically, because in the most graceful +way possible, and without egotism <i>versus</i> Medes and Hyrcanians, it +postulates the Persian superiority, moral, as against the accidental +inferiority of the moment caused by want of cavalry and the dependence +on others which that involves. I suppose it's no reflection on Cyrus' +military acumen not to foreseen this need. It would have been premature +then, now it organically grows; and there's no great crisis to pass +through. +</p> +<p> +C3.11. I should have thought this was a dangerous argument; obviously +boys do learn better than men certain things. +</p> +<p> +C3.12. Short sharp snap of argumentative style. +</p> +<p> +C3.19. The antithetic balance and word-jingle, with an exquisite, +puristic, precise, and delicate lisp, as of one tasting the flavour of +his words throughout. +</p> +<p> +C3.23. I think one sees how Xenophon built up his ideal structure on a +basis of actual living facts. The actual diverts the creator of Cyrus +from the ideal at times, as here. It is a slight declension in the +character of Cyrus to lay down this law, "equestrian once, equestrian +always." Xenophon has to account for the actual Persian horror of +pedestrianism: Cyrus himself can dismount, and so can the Persian nobles +with Cyrus the Younger, but still the rule is "never be seen walking;" +and without the concluding paragraph the dramatic narrative that +precedes would seem a little bit unfinished and pointless: with the +explanation it floats, and we forgive "the archic man" his partiality to +equestrianism, as later on we have to forgive him his Median get-up and +artificiality generally, which again is contrary to the Xenophontine and +the ideal Spartan spirit. +</p> +<p> +C4. Xenophon has this theory of mankind: some are fit to rule, the +rest to be ruled. It is parallel to the Hellenic slavery theory. Some +moderns, e.g. Carlyle (Ruskin perhaps) inherit it, and in lieu of +Hellenic slavery we have a good many caste-distinction crotchets still +left. +</p> +<p> +C4.13, fin. The first salaam, ominous of the advent of imperialism; the +sun's rim visible, and a ray shot up to the zenith. +</p> +<p> +C5. Here the question forces itself in the midst of all this "ironic" +waiting on the part of the Persians in Spartan durance for a future +apotheosis of splendour and luxuriance,—what is the moral? "Hunger +now and thirst, for ye shall be filled"—is that it? Well, anyhow it's +parallel to the modern popular Christianity, reward-in-heaven theory, +only on a less high level, but exactly the same logicality. +</p> +<p> +C5.6. A point, this reward to the catcher, and this rigid <i>couvrefeu</i> +habit (cf. modern military law). +</p> +<p> +C5.8. A dramatic contrast, the Median Cyaxares who follows Pleasure, +and the Persian Cyrus who follows Valour, <i>vide</i> Heracles' choice +(<i>Memorabilia</i>, II. i. 21). This allegorising tendency is engrained in +Xenophon: it is his view of life; one of the best things he got from +Socrates, no doubt. Later (§ 12) the "ironic" suicidal self-assertion of +Cyaxares is contrasted with the health-giving victorious self-repression +of Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +C5.9-10. Xenophon can depict character splendidly: this is the crapulous +{orge} of the somewhat "hybristic" nature, seeing how the land lies, +<i>siccis luminibus</i>, the day after the premature revel. Theophrastus +couldn't better have depicted the irascible man. These earliest +portraits of character are, according to Xenophon's genius, all sketched +in the concrete, as it were. The character is not philosophised and then +illustrated by concrete instances after the manner of Theophrastus, +but we see the man moving before us and are made aware of his nature at +once. +</p> +<p> +C5.17. {kalos ka nomimos}, "in all honour, and according to the +law," almost a Xenophontine motto, and important in reference to the +"questionable" conduct on his part in exile—"questionable" from a +modern rather than an "antique" standard. (The chief reference is to +Xenophon's presence on the Spartan side at the battle of Coronea against +his native city of Athens. See <i>Sketch</i>, Works, Vol. I. pp. cxxiii. ff.) +</p> +<p> +C5.20. The "archic man" does not recognise the littleness of soul of +the inferior nature, he winks at it, and so disarms at once and triumphs +over savagery, and this not through cunning and pride, but a kind of +godlike imperturbable sympathy, as of a fearless man with a savage +hound. Still there is a good dash of diplomacy. +</p> +<p> +C5.21, fin. Pretty sentence. Xenophon's words: some of these are +prettily-sounding words, some are rare and choice and exquisite, some +are charged with feeling, you can't touch them with your finger-tips +without feeling an "affective" thrill. That is in part the <i>goeteia</i>, +the witchery, of his style. +</p> +<p> +C5.30-31. A brilliant stroke of diplomacy worthy of the archic man. This +{arkinoia} of the Hellene is the necessary sharp shrewdness of a brain, +which, however "affectively" developed, is at bottom highly organised +intellectually. H. S.(*) has it, all 'cute people and nations have it, +the Americans, e.g.—every proposition must, however else it presents +itself, be apprehended in its logical bearings: the result may be +logically damaging to the supporter of it, but does not necessarily +banish an affective sympathetic attitude on the part of the common-sense +antagonist, who is not bound, in other words, to be a sharp practitioner +because he sees clearly. Affection is the inspirer, intellect the +up-and-doing agent of the soul. The Hellenes and all 'cute people put +the agent to the fore in action, but if besides being 'cute they +are affective, the operations of the agent will be confined within +prescribed limits. +</p> +<p> +(* "H. S." = Henry Sidgwick, the philosopher, author of <i>Methods of +Ethics</i>, etc., a life-long friend of Mr. Dakyns.) +</p> +<p> +C5.32. This is almost pummelling, but it's fair: it's rather, "See, I +have you now in Chancery, I could pummel if I would." +</p> +<p> +C5.37. These constant masters' meetings! +</p> +<p> +C5.38 ff. The mind of Xenophon: guiding principles, rule of Health, rule +of Forethought. Religious trust in the divine, and for things beyond +man's control; orderly masterly working out of problems within his +power. Economic, diplomatic, anchinoetic, archic manhood. Moral theory, +higher hedonism. +</p> +<p> +C5.45. The archic man trusts human nature: this appeal to their good +faith is irresistible. The archic is also the diplomatic method. +</p> +<p> +C5.54. N.B.—Rhetorical artifice of winding-up a speech with a joke. +This is the popular orator. Xenophon the prototype himself perhaps. +</p> +<p> +C6.3. Is this by chance a situation in Elizabethan or other drama? It's +tragic enough for anything. +</p> +<p> +C6.4. Admirable colloquial style: "well done, me!" +</p> +<p> +C6.6, fin. Beautifully-sounding sentence (in the Greek). Like harp or +viol with its dying mournful note. +</p> +<p> +C6.8. A new tributary for the archic man, and a foothold in the enemy's +country. +</p> +<p> +C6.9, fin. As to this daughter, <i>vide infra</i>. Who do you think will win +her? We like her much already. +</p> +<p> +C6.11. The first flutings of this tale. The lady of Susa, +quasi-historic, or wholly imaginative, or mixed? +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK V +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) Such were the deeds they did and such the words they spoke. +Then Cyrus bade them set a guard over the share chosen for Cyaxares, +selecting those whom he knew were most attached to their lord, "And what +you have given me," he added, "I accept with pleasure, but I hold it at +the service of those among you who would enjoy it the most." +</p> +<p> +At that one of the Medes who was passionately fond of music said, "In +truth, Cyrus, yesterday evening I listened to the singing-girls who are +yours to-day, and if you could give me one of them, I would far rather +be serving on this campaign than sitting at home." +</p> +<p> +And Cyrus said, "Most gladly I will give her; she is yours. And I +believe I am more grateful to you for asking than you can be to me for +giving; I am so thirsty to gratify you all." +</p> +<p> +So this suitor carried off his prize. (2) And then Cyrus called to his +side Araspas the Mede, who had been his comrade in boyhood. It was he +to whom Cyrus gave the Median cloak he was wearing when he went back to +Persia from his grandfather's court. Now he summoned him, and asked him +to take care of the tent and the lady from Susa. (3) She was the wife of +Abradatas, a Susian, and when the Assyrian army was captured it happened +that her husband was away: his master had sent him on an embassy to +Bactria to conclude an alliance there, for he was the friend and host of +the Bactrian king. And now Cyrus asked Araspas to guard the captive +lady until her husband could take her back himself. (4) To that Araspas +replied, "Have you seen the lady whom you bid me guard?" +</p> +<p> +"No, indeed," said Cyrus, "certainly I have not." +</p> +<p> +"But I have," rejoined the other, "I saw here when we chose her for you. +When we came into the tent, we did not make her out at first, for she +was seated on the ground with all her maidens round her, and she was +clad in the same attire as her slaves, but when we looked at them all +to discover the mistress, we soon saw that one outshone the others, +although she was veiled and kept her eyes on the ground. (5) And when we +bade her rise, all her women rose with her, and then we saw that she was +marked out from them all by her height, and her noble bearing, and her +grace, and the beauty that shone through her mean apparel. And, under +her veil, we could see the big tear-drops trickling down her garments to +her feet. (6) At that sight the eldest of us said, 'Take comfort, lady, +we know that your husband was beautiful and brave, but we have chosen +you a man to-day who is no whit inferior to him in face or form or mind +or power; Cyrus, we believe, is more to be admired than any soul on +earth, and you shall be his from this day forward.' But when the lady +heard that, she rent the veil that covered her head and gave a pitiful +cry, while her maidens lifted up their voice and wept with their +mistress. (7) And thus we could see her face, and her neck, and her +arms, and I tell you, Cyrus," he added, "I myself, and all who looked +on her, felt that there never was, and never had been, in broad Asia +a mortal woman half so fair as she. Nay, but you must see her for +yourself." +</p> +<p> +(8) "Say, rather, I must not," answered Cyrus, "if she be such as you +describe." +</p> +<p> +"And why not?" asked the young man. +</p> +<p> +"Because," said he, "if the mere report of her beauty could persuade me +to go and gaze on her to-day, when I have not a moment to spare, I fear +she would win me back again and perhaps I should neglect all I have to +do, and sit and gaze at her for ever." +</p> +<p> +(9) At that the young man laughed outright and said: +</p> +<p> +"So you think, Cyrus, that the beauty of any human creature can compel +a man to do wrong against his will? Surely if that were the nature of +beauty, all men would feel its force alike. (10) See how fire burns +all men equally; it is the nature of it so to do; but these flowers of +beauty, one man loves them, and another loves them not, nor does every +man love the same. For love is voluntary, and each man loves what he +chooses to love. The brother is not enamoured of his own sister, nor the +father of his own daughter; some other man must be the lover. Reverence +and law are strong enough to break the heart of passion. (11) But if a +law were passed saying, 'Eat not, and thou shalt not starve; Drink not, +and thou shalt not thirst; Let not cold bite thee in winter nor heat +inflame thee in summer,' I say there is no law that could compel us to +obey; for it is our nature to be swayed by these forces. But love is +voluntary; each man loves to himself alone, and according as he chooses, +just as he chooses his cloak or his sandals." +</p> +<p> +(12) "Then," said Cyrus, "if love be voluntary, why cannot a man cease +to love when he wishes? I have seen men in love," said he, "who have +wept for very agony, who were the very slaves of those they loved, +though before the fever took them they thought slavery the worst of +evils. I have seen them make gifts of what they ill could spare, I have +seen them praying, yes, praying, to be rid of their passion, as though +it were any other malady, and yet unable to shake it off; they were +bound hand and foot by a chain of something stronger than iron. There +they stood at the beck and call of their idols, and that without rhyme +or reason; and yet, poor slaves, they make no attempt to run away, in +spite of all they suffer; on the contrary, they mount guard over their +tyrants, for fear these should escape." +</p> +<p> +(13) But the young man spoke in answer: "True," he said, "there are such +men, but they are worthless scamps, and that is why, though they are +always praying to die and be put out of their misery and though ten +thousand avenues lie open by which to escape from life, they never +take one of them. These are the very men who are prepared to steal and +purloin the goods of others, and yet you know yourself, when they do it, +you are the first to say stealing is not done under compulsion, and you +blame the thief and the robber; you do not pity him, you punish him. +(14) In the same way, beautiful creatures do not compel others to +love them or pursue them when it is wrong, but these good-for-nothing +scoundrels have no self-control, and then they lay the blame on love. +But the nobler type of man, the true gentleman, beautiful and brave, +though he desire gold and splendid horses and lovely women, can still +abstain from each and all alike, and lay no finger on them against the +law of honour. (15) Take my own case," he added, "I have seen this lady +myself, and passing fair I found her, and yet here I stand before you, +and am still your trooper and can still perform my duty." +</p> +<p> +(16) "I do not deny it," said Cyrus; "probably you came away in time. +Love takes a little while to seize and carry off his victim. A man may +touch fire for a moment and not be burnt; a log will not kindle all at +once; and yet for all that, I am not disposed to play with fire or look +on beauty. You yourself, my friend, if you will follow my advice, will +not let your own eyes linger there too long; burning fuel will only burn +those who touch it, but beauty can fire the beholder from afar, until he +is all aflame with love." +</p> +<p> +(17) "Oh, fear me not, Cyrus," answered he; "if I looked till the end of +time I could not be made to do what ill befits a man." +</p> +<p> +"A fair answer," said Cyrus. "Guard her then, as I bid you, and be +careful of her. This lady may be of service to us all one day." +</p> +<p> +(18) With these words they parted. But afterwards, after the young man +saw from day to day how marvellously fair the woman was, and how noble +and gracious in herself, after he took care of her, and fancied that she +was not insensible to what he did, after she set herself, through her +attendants, to care for his wants and see that all things were ready for +him when he came in, and that he should lack for nothing if ever he were +sick, after all this, love entered his heart and took possession, and it +may be there was nothing surprising in his fate. So at least it was. +</p> +<p> +(19) Meanwhile Cyrus, who was anxious that the Medes and the allies +should stay with him of their own free choice, called a meeting of their +leading men, and when they were come together he spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +(20) "Sons of the Medes and gentlemen all, I am well aware it was not +from need of money that you went out with me, nor yet in order to serve +Cyaxares; you came for my sake. You marched with me by night, you ran +into danger at my side, simply to do me honour. (21) Unless I were a +miscreant, I could not but be grateful for such kindness. But I must +confess that at present I lack the ability to make a fit requital. This +I am not ashamed to tell you, but I would feel ashamed to add, 'If you +will stay with me, I will be sure to repay you,' for that would look +as though I spoke to bribe you into remaining. Therefore I will not say +that; I will say instead, 'Even if you listen to Cyaxares and go back +to-day, I will still act so that you shall praise me, I will not forget +you in the day of my good fortune.' (22) For myself, I will never go +back; I cannot, for I must confirm my oath to the Hyrcanians and the +pledge I gave them; they are my friends and I shall never be found a +traitor to them. Moreover, I am bound to Gobryas, who has offered us the +use of his castle, his territory, and his power; and I would not have +him repent that he came to me. (23) Last of all, and more than all, when +the great gods have showered such blessings on us, I fear them and I +reverence them too much to turn my back on all they have given us. This, +then, is what I myself must do; it is for you to decide as you think +best, and you will acquaint me with your decision." +</p> +<p> +(24) So he spoke, and the first to answer was the Mede who had claimed +kinship with Cyrus in the old days. +</p> +<p> +"Listen to me," he said, "O king! For king I take you to be by right of +nature; even as the king of the hive among the bees, whom all the bees +obey and take for their leader of their own free will; where he stays +they stay also, not one of them departs, and where he goes, not one of +them fails to follow; so deep a desire is in them to be ruled by him. +(25) Even thus, I believe, do our men feel towards you. Do you remember +the day you left us to go home to Persia? Was there one of us, young or +old, who did not follow you until Astyages turned us back? And later, +when you returned to bring us aid, did we not see for ourselves how your +friends poured after you? And again, when you had set your heart on this +expedition, we know that the Medes flocked to your standard with one +consent. (26) To-day we have learnt to feel that even in an enemy's +country we may be of good heart if you are with us, but, without you, +we should be afraid even to return to our homes. The rest may speak for +themselves, and tell you how they will act, but for myself, Cyrus, and +for those under me, I say we will stand by you; we shall not grow weary +of gazing at you, and we will continue to endure your benefits." +</p> +<p> +(27) Thereupon Tigranes spoke: +</p> +<p> +"Do not wonder, Cyrus, if I am silent now. The soul within me is ready, +not to offer counsel, but to do your bidding." (28) And the Hyrcanian +chieftain said, "For my part, if you Medes turn back to-day I shall say +it was the work of some evil genius, who could not brook the fulfilment +of your happiness. For no human heart could think of retiring when the +foe is in flight, refusing to receive his sword when he surrenders it, +rejecting him when he offers himself and all that he calls his own; +above all, when we have a prince of men for our leader, one who, I +swear it by the holy gods, takes delight to do us service, not to enrich +himself." +</p> +<p> +(29) Thereupon the Medes cried with one consent: +</p> +<p> +"It was you, Cyrus, who led us out, and it is you who must lead us home +again, when the right moment comes." +</p> +<p> +And when Cyrus heard that, he prayed aloud: +</p> +<p> +"O most mighty Zeus, I supplicate thee, suffer me to outdo these friends +of mine in courtesy and kindly dealing." +</p> +<p> +(30) Upon that he gave his orders. The rest of the army were to place +their outposts and see to their own concerns, while the Persians took +the tents allotted to them, and divided them among their cavalry and +infantry, to suit the needs of either arm. Then they arranged for the +stewards to wait on them in future, bring them all they needed, and keep +their horses groomed, so that they themselves might be free for the work +of war. Thus they spent that day. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) But on the morrow they set out for their march to Gobryas. Cyrus +rode on horseback at the head of his new Persian cavalry, two thousand +strong, with as many more behind them, carrying their shields and +swords, and the rest of the army followed in due order. The cavalry were +told to make their new attendants understand that they would be punished +if they were caught falling behind the rear-guard, or riding in advance +of the column, or straggling on either flank. (2) Towards evening of the +second day the army found themselves before the castle of Gobryas, and +they saw that the place was exceedingly strong and that all preparations +had been made for the stoutest possible defence. They noticed also that +great herds of cattle and endless flocks of sheep and goats had been +driven up under the shelter of the castle walls. (3) Then Gobryas +sent word to Cyrus, bidding him ride round and see where the place was +easiest of approach, and meanwhile send his trustiest Persians to enter +the fortress and bring him word what they found within. (4) Cyrus, who +really wished to see if the citadel admitted of attack in case Gobryas +proved false, rode all round the walls, and found they were too strong +at every point. Presently the messengers who had gone in brought back +word that there were supplies enough to last a whole generation and +still not fail the garrison. (5) While Cyrus was wondering what this +could mean, Gobryas himself came out, and all his men behind him, +carrying wine and corn and barley, and driving oxen and goats and +swine, enough to feast the entire host. (6) And his stewards fell to +distributing the stores at once, and serving up a banquet. Then Gobryas +invited Cyrus to enter the castle now that all the garrison had left it, +using every precaution he might think wise; and Cyrus took him at his +word, and sent in scouts and a strong detachment before he entered the +palace himself. Once within, he had the gates thrown open and sent for +all his own friends and officers. (7) And when they joined him, Gobryas +had beakers of gold brought out, and pitchers, and goblets, and costly +ornaments, and golden coins without end, and all manner of beautiful +things, and last of all he sent for his own daughter, tall and fair, +a marvel of beauty and stateliness, still wearing mourning for her +brother. And her father said to Cyrus, "All these riches I bestow on +you for a gift, and I put my daughter in your hands, to deal with as you +think best. We are your suppliants; I but three days gone for my son, +and she this day for her brother; we beseech you to avenge him." +</p> +<p> +(8) And Cyrus made answer: +</p> +<p> +"I gave you my promise before that if you kept faith with me I would +avenge you, so far as in me lay, and to-day I see the debt is due, and +the promise I made to you I repeat to your daughter; God helping me, I +will perform it. As for these costly gifts," he added, "I accept them, +and I give them for a dowry to your daughter, and to him who may win her +hand in marriage. One gift only I will take with me when I go, but +that is a thing so precious that if I changed it for all the wealth of +Babylon or the whole world itself I could not go on my way with half so +blithe a heart." +</p> +<p> +(9) And Gobryas wondered what this rare thing could be, half suspecting +it might be his daughter. "What is it, my lord?" said he. And Cyrus +answered, "I will tell you. A man may hate injustice and impiety +and lies, but if no one offers him vast wealth or unbridled power or +impregnable fortresses or lovely children, he dies before he can show +what manner of man he is. (10) But you have placed everything in my +hands to-day, this mighty fortress, treasures of every kind, your own +power, and a daughter most worthy to be won. And thus you have shown +all men that I could not sin against my friend and my host, nor act +unrighteously for the sake of wealth, nor break my plighted word of my +own free will. (11) This is your gift, and, so long as I am a just man +and known to be such, receiving the praise of my fellow-men, I will +never forget it; I will strive to repay you with every honour I can +give. (12) Doubt not," he added, "but that you will find a husband +worthy of your daughter. I have many a good man and true among my +friends, and one of them will win her hand; but I could not say whether +he will have less wealth, or more, than what you offer me. Only of one +thing you may be certain; there are those among them who will not admire +you one whit the more because of the splendour of your gifts; they will +only envy me and supplicate the gods that one day it will be given to +them to show that they too are loyal to their friends, that they too +will never yield to their foes while life is in them, unless some god +strike them down; that they too would never sacrifice virtue and fair +renown for all the wealth you proffer and all the treasure of Syria and +Assyria to boot. Such is the nature, believe me, of some who are seated +here." +</p> +<p> +(13) And Gobryas smiled. "By heaven, I wish you would point them out to +me, and I would beg you to give me one of them to be my son-in-law." And +Cyrus said, "You will not need to learn their names from me; follow us, +and you will be able to point them out yourself." +</p> +<p> +(14) With these words he rose, clasped the hand of Gobryas, and went +out, all his men behind him. And though Gobryas pressed him to stay and +sup in the citadel, he would not, but took his supper in the camp and +constrained Gobryas to take his meal with them. (15) And there, lying on +a couch of leaves, he put this question to him, 'Tell me, Gobryas, who +has the largest store of coverlets, yourself, or each of us?" And the +Assyrian answered, "You, I know, have more than I, more coverlets, more +couches, and a far larger dwelling-place, for your home is earth and +heaven, and every nook may be a couch, and for your coverlets you need +not count the fleeces of your flocks, but the brushwood, and the herbage +of hill and plain." +</p> +<p> +(16) Nevertheless, when the meal began, it must be said that Gobryas, +seeing the poverty of what was set before him, thought at first that his +own men were far more open-handed than the Persians. (17) But his mood +changed as he watched the grace and decorum of the company; and saw that +not a single Persian who had been schooled would ever gape, or snatch at +the viands, or let himself be so absorbed in eating that he could attend +to nothing else; these men prided themselves on showing their good sense +and their intelligence while they took their food, just as a perfect +rider sits his horse with absolute composure, and can look and listen +and talk to some purpose while he puts him through his paces. To be +excited or flustered by meat and drink was in their eyes something +altogether swinish and bestial. (18) Nor did Gobryas fail to notice that +they only asked questions which were pleasant to answer, and only jested +in a manner to please; all their mirth was as far from impertinence and +malice as it was from vulgarity and unseemliness. (19) And what struck +him most was their evident feeling that on a campaign, since the danger +was the same for all, no one was entitled to a larger share than any +of his comrades; on the contrary, it was thought the perfection of the +feast to perfect the condition of those who were to share the fighting. +(20) And thus when he rose to return home, the story runs that he said: +</p> +<p> +"I begin to understand, Cyrus, how it is that while we have more goblets +and more gold, more apparel and more wealth than you, yet we ourselves +are not worth as much. We are always trying to increase what we possess, +but you seem to set your hearts on perfecting your own souls." +</p> +<p> +(21) But Cyrus only answered: +</p> +<p> +"My friend, be here without fail to-morrow, and bring all your cavalry +in full armour, so that we may see your power, and then lead us through +your country and show us who are hostile and who are friendly." +</p> +<p> +(22) Thus they parted for the time and each saw to his own concerns. +</p> +<p> +But when the day dawned Gobryas appeared with his cavalry and led the +way. And Cyrus, as a born general would, not only supervised the march, +but watched for any chance to weaken the enemy and add to his own +strength. (23) With this in view, he summoned the Hyrcanian chief and +Gobryas himself; for they were the two he thought most likely to give +him the information that he needed. +</p> +<p> +"My friends," said he, "I think I shall not err if I trust to your +fidelity and consult you about the campaign. You, even more than I, are +bound to see that the Assyrians do not overpower us. For myself, if I +fail, there may well be some loophole of escape. But for you, if +the king conquers, I see nothing but enmity on every side. (24) For, +although he is my enemy, he bears me no malice, he only feels that it is +against his interest for me to be powerful and therefore he attacks me. +But you he hates with a bitter hatred, believing he is wronged by you." +</p> +<p> +To this his companions answered that he must finish what he had to say; +they were well aware of the facts, and had the deepest interest in the +turn events might take. +</p> +<p> +(25) Thereupon Cyrus put his questions: "Does the king suppose that +you alone are his enemies, or do you know of others who hate him too?" +"Certainly we do," replied the Hyrcanian, "the Cadousians are his +bitterest foes, and they are both numerous and warlike. Then there are +the Sakians, our neighbours, who have suffered severely at his hands, +for he tried to subdue them as he subdued us." +</p> +<p> +(26) "Then you think," said Cyrus, "that they would be glad to attack +him in our company?" "Much more than glad," answered they; "if they +could manage to join us." "And what stands in their way?" asked he. "The +Assyrians themselves," said they, "the very people among whom you are +marching now." (27) At that Cyrus turned to Gobryas: +</p> +<p> +"And what of this lad who is now on the throne? Did you not charge him +with unbridled insolence?" +</p> +<p> +"Even so," replied Gobryas, "and I think he gave me cause." "Tell me," +said Cyrus, "were you the only man he treated thus, or did others suffer +too?" +</p> +<p> +(28) "Many others," said Gobryas, "but some of them were weak, and why +should I weary you with the insults they endured? I will tell you of a +young man whose father was a much greater personage than I, and who was +himself, like my own son, a friend and comrade of the prince. One day +at a drinking-bout this monster had the youth seized and mutilated, and +why? Some say simply because a paramour of his own had praised the boy's +beauty and said his bride was a woman to be envied. The king himself now +asserts it was because he had tried to seduce his paramour. That young +man, eunuch as he is, is now at the head of his province, for his father +is dead." +</p> +<p> +(29) "Well," rejoined Cyrus, "I take it, you believe he would welcome +us, if he thought we came to help him?" "I am more than sure of that," +said Gobryas, "but it is not so easy to set eyes on him." "And why?" +asked Cyrus. "Because if we are to join him at all, we must march right +past Babylon itself." (30) "And where is the difficulty in that?" said +Cyrus. "Heaven help us!" cried Gobryas. "The city has only to open +her gates, and she can send out an army ten thousand times as large as +yours. That is why," he added, "the Assyrians are less prompt than they +were at bringing in their weapons and their horses, because those who +have seen your army think it so very small, and their report has got +about. So that in my opinion it would be better to advance with the +utmost care." +</p> +<p> +(31) Cyrus listened and replied. +</p> +<p> +"You do well, Gobryas, my friend, in urging as much care as possible. +But I cannot myself see a safer route for us than the direct advance +on Babylon, if Babylon is the centre of the enemy's strength. They are +numerous, you say, and if they are in good heart, we shall soon know it. +(32) Now, if they cannot find us and imagine that we have disappeared +from fear of them, you may take it as certain that they will be quit of +the terror we have inspired. Courage will spring up in its place, and +grow the greater the longer we lie hid. But if we march straight on +then, we shall find them still mourning for the dead whom we have slain, +still nursing the wounds we have inflicted, still trembling at the +daring of our troops, still mindful of their own discomfiture and +flight. (33) Gobryas," he added, "be assured of this; men in the mass, +when aflame with courage, are irresistible, and when their hearts fail +them, the more numerous they are the worse the panic that seizes them. +(34) It comes upon them magnified by a thousand lies, blanched by a +thousand pallors, it gathers head from a thousand terror-stricken looks, +until it grows so great that no orator can allay it by his words, no +general arouse the old courage by a charge, or revive the old confidence +by retreat; the more their leader cheers them on, the worse do the +soldiers take their case to be. (35) Now by all means let us see exactly +how things stand with us. If from henceforward victory must fall +to those who can reckon the largest numbers, your fears for us are +justified, and we are indeed in fearful danger; but if the old rule +still holds, and battles are decided by the qualities of those who +fight, then, I say, take heart and you will never fail. You will find +far more stomach for the fight among our ranks than theirs. (36) And to +hearten you the more, take note of this: our enemies are far fewer now +than when we worsted them, far weaker than when they fled from us, while +we are stronger because we are conquerors, and greater because fortune +has been ours; yes, and actually more numerous because you and yours +have joined us, for I would not have you hold your men too low, now that +they are side by side with us. In the company of conquerors, Gobryas, +the hearts of the followers beat high. (37) Nor should you forget," he +added, "that the enemy is well able to see us as it is, and the sight of +us will certainly not be more alarming if we wait for him where we are +than if we advance against him. That is my opinion, and now you must +lead us straight for Babylon." +</p> +<p> +(C.3) And so the march continued, and on the fourth day they found +themselves at the limit of the territory over which Gobryas ruled. Since +they were now in the enemy's country Cyrus changed the disposition of +his men, taking the infantry immediately under his own command, with +sufficient cavalry to support them, and sending the rest of the mounted +troops to scour the land. Their orders were to cut down every one with +arms in his hands, and drive in the rest, with all the cattle they could +find. The Persians were ordered to take part in this raid, and though +many came home with nothing for their trouble but a toss from their +horses, others brought back a goodly store of booty. +</p> +<p> +(2) When the spoil was all brought in, Cyrus summoned the officers of +the Medes and the Hyrcanians, as well as his own peers, and spoke as +follows: +</p> +<p> +"My friends, Gobryas has entertained us nobly; he has showered good +things upon us. What say you then? After we have set aside the customary +portion for the gods and a fair share for the army, shall we not give +all the rest of the spoil to him? Would it not be a noble thing, a sign +and symbol at the outset that we desire to outdo in well-doing those who +do good to us?" +</p> +<p> +(3) At that all his hearers with one consent applauded, and a certain +officer rose and said: +</p> +<p> +"By all means, Cyrus, let us do so. I myself cannot but feel that +Gobryas must have thought us almost beggars because we were not laden +with coins of gold and did not drink from golden goblets. But if we do +this, he will understand that men may be free and liberal without the +help of gold." +</p> +<p> +(4) "Come then," said Cyrus, "let us pay the priests our debt to heaven, +select what the army requires, and then summon Gobryas and give the rest +to him." +</p> +<p> +So they took what they needed and gave all the rest to Gobryas. +</p> +<p> +(5) Forthwith Cyrus pressed on towards Babylon, his troops in battle +order. But as the Assyrians did not come out to meet them, he bade +Gobryas ride forward and deliver this message: +</p> +<p> +"If the king will come out to fight for his land, I, Gobryas, will fight +for him, but, if he will not defend his own country, we must yield to +the conquerors." +</p> +<p> +(6) So Gobryas rode forward, just far enough to deliver the message in +safety. And the king sent a messenger to answer him: +</p> +<p> +"Thy master says to thee: 'It repents me, Gobryas, not that I slew thy +son, but that I stayed my hand from slaying thee. And now if ye will do +battle, come again on the thirtieth day from hence. We have no leisure +now, our preparations are still on foot.'" +</p> +<p> +(7) And Gobryas made answer: +</p> +<p> +"It repents thee: may that repentance never cease! I have begun to make +thee suffer, since the day repentance took hold on thee." +</p> +<p> +(8) Then Gobryas brought back the words of the king to Cyrus, and Cyrus +led his army off, and then he summoned Gobryas and said to him: +</p> +<p> +"Surely you told me that you thought the man who was made an eunuch by +the king would be upon our side?" +</p> +<p> +"And I am sure he will," answered Gobryas, "for we have spoken freely to +each other many a time, he and I." (9) "Then," said Cyrus, "you must go +to him when you think the right moment has come: and you must so act at +first that only he and you may know what he intends, and when you are +closeted with him, if you find he really wishes to be a friend, you +must contrive that his friendship remain a secret: for in war a man can +scarcely do his friends more good than by a semblance of hostility, or +his enemies more harm than under the guise of friendship." (10) "Aye," +answered Gobryas, "and I know that Gadatas would pay a great price to +punish the king of Assyria. But it is for us to consider what he can +best do." (11) "Tell me now," rejoined Cyrus, "you spoke of an outpost, +built against the Hyrcanians and the Sakians, which was to protect +Assyria in time of war,—could the eunuch be admitted there by the +commandant if he came with a force at his back?" "Certainly he could," +said Gobryas, "if he were as free from suspicion as he is to-day." +(12) "And free he would be," Cyrus went on, "if I were to attack his +strongholds as though in earnest, and he were to repel me in force. +I might capture some of his men, and he some of my soldiers, or some +messengers sent by me to those you say are the enemies of Assyria, and +these prisoners would let it be known that they were on their way to +fetch an army with scaling-ladders to attack this fortress, and the +eunuch, hearing their story, would pretend that he came to warn the +commandant in time." (13) "Undoubtedly," said Gobryas, "if things went +thus, the commandant would admit him; he would even beg him to stay +there until you withdrew." +</p> +<p> +"And then," Cyrus continued, "once inside the walls, he could put the +place into our hands?" (14) "We may suppose so," said Gobryas. "He +would be there to settle matters within, and you would be redoubling the +pressure from without." +</p> +<p> +"Then be off at once," said Cyrus, "and do your best to teach him his +part, and when you have arranged affairs, come back to me; and as for +pledges of good faith, you could offer him none better than those you +received from us yourself." +</p> +<p> +(15) Then Gobryas made haste and was gone, and the eunuch welcomed +him gladly; he agreed to everything and helped to arrange all that was +needed. Presently Gobryas brought back word that he thought the eunuch +had everything in readiness, and so, without more ado, Cyrus made his +feigned attack on the following day, and was beaten off. (16) But on +the other hand there was a fortress, indicated by Gadatas himself, that +Cyrus took. The messengers Cyrus had sent out, telling them exactly +where to go, fell into the hands of Gadatas: some were allowed +to escape—their business was to fetch the troops and carry the +scaling-ladders—but the rest were narrowly examined in the presence of +many witnesses, and when Gadatas heard the object of their journey he +got his equipment together and set out in the night at full speed +to take the news. (17) In the end he made his way into the fortress, +trusted and welcomed as a deliverer, and for a time he helped the +commandant to the best of his ability. But as soon as Cyrus appeared he +seized the place, aided by the Persian prisoners he had taken. (18) This +done, and having set things in order within the fortress, Gadatas went +out to Cyrus, bowed before him according to the custom of his land, and +said, "Cyrus, may joy be yours!" +</p> +<p> +(19) "Joy is mine already," answered he, "for you, God helping you, have +brought it to me. You must know," he added, "that I set great store by +this fortress, and rejoice to leave it in the hands of my allies here. +And for yourself, Gadatas," he added, "if the Assyrian has robbed you of +the ability to beget children, remember he has not stolen your power to +win friends; you have made us yours, I tell you, by this deed, and we +will stand by as faithfully as sons and grandsons of your own." +</p> +<p> +(20) So Cyrus spoke. And at that instant the Hyrcanian chief, who had +only just learnt what had happened, came running up to him, and seizing +him by the hand cried out: +</p> +<p> +"O Cyrus, you godsend to your friends! How often you make me thank the +gods for bringing me to you!" +</p> +<p> +(21) "Off with you, then," said Cyrus, "and occupy this fortress for +which you bless me so. Take it and make the best use of it you can, for +your own nation, and for all our allies, and above all for Gadatas, our +friend, who won it and surrenders it to us." +</p> +<p> +(22) "Then," said the chieftain, "as soon as the Cadousians arrive and +the Sakians and my countrymen, we must, must we not? call a council of +them all, so that we may consult together, and see how best to turn it +to account." +</p> +<p> +(23) Cyrus thought the proposal good, and when they met together it was +decided to garrison the post with a common force, chosen from all who +were concerned that it should remain friendly and be an outer balwark to +overawe the Assyrians. (24) This heightened the enthusiasm of them all, +Cadousians, Sakians, and Hyrcanians, and their levies rose high, until +the Cadousians sent in 20,000 light infantry and 4000 cavalry, and +the Sakians 11,000 bowmen, 10,000 on foot and 1000 mounted, while the +Hyrcanians were free to despatch all their reserves of infantry and make +up their horsemen to a couple of thousand strong, whereas previously +the larger portion of their cavalry had been left at home to support the +Cadousians and Sakians against Assyria. +</p> +<p> +(25) And while Cyrus was kept in the fortress, organising and arranging +everything, many of the Assyrians from the country round brought in +their horses and handed over their arms, being by this time in great +dread of their neighbours. +</p> +<p> +(26) Soon after this Gadatas came to Cyrus and told him that messengers +had come to say that the king of Assyria, learning what had happened to +the fortress, was beside himself with anger, and was preparing to attack +his territory. "If you, Cyrus," said he, "will let me go now, I will try +to save my fortresses: the rest is of less account." (27) Cyrus said, +"If you go now, when will you reach home?" And Gadatas answered, "On the +third day from this I can sup in my own house." "Do you think," asked +Cyrus, "that you will find the Assyrian already there?" "I am sure of +it," he answered, "for he will make haste while he thinks you are still +far off." (28) "And I," said Cyrus, "when could I be there with my +army?" But to this Gadatas made answer, "The army you have now, my lord, +is very large, and you could not reach my home in less than six days or +seven." "Well," Cyrus replied, "be off yourself: make all speed, and I +will follow as best I can." +</p> +<p> +(29) So Gadatas was gone, and Cyrus called together all the officers of +the allies, and a great and goodly company they seemed, noble gentlemen, +beautiful and brave. And Cyrus stood up among them all and said: +</p> +<p> +(30) "My allies and my friends, Gadatas has done deeds that we all feel +worthy of high reward, and that too before ever he had received any +benefit from us. The Assyrians, we hear, have now invaded his territory, +to take vengeance for the monstrous injury they consider he has done +them, and moreover, they doubtless argue that if those who revolt to us +escape scot-free, while those who stand by them are cut to pieces, ere +long they will not have a single supporter on their side. (31) To-day, +gentlemen, we may do a gallant deed, if we rescue Gadatas, our friend +and benefactor; and truly it is only just and right thus to repay +gift for gift, and boon for boon. Moreover, as it seems to me, what we +accomplish will be much to our own interest. (32) If all men see that we +are ready to give blow for blow and sting for sting, while we outdo our +benefactors in generous deeds, it is only natural that multitudes will +long to be our friends, and no man care to be our foe. (33) Whereas, if +it be thought that we left Gadatas in the lurch, how in heaven's name +shall we persuade another to show us any kindness? How shall we dare to +think well of ourselves again? How shall one of us look Gadatas in +the face, when all of us, so many and so strong, showed ourselves less +generous than he, one single man and in so sore a plight?" +</p> +<p> +(34) Thus Cyrus spoke, and all of them assented right willingly, and +said it must be done. +</p> +<p> +"Come then," concluded Cyrus, "since you are all of one mind with me, +let each of us choose an escort for our waggons and beasts of burden. +(35) Let us leave them behind us, and put Gobryas at their head. He is +acquainted with the roads, and for the rest he is a man of skill. But we +ourselves will push on with our stoutest men and our strongest horses, +taking provision for three days and no more: the lighter and cheaper +our gear the more gaily shall we break our fast and take our supper and +sleep on the road. (36) And now," said he, "let us arrange the order +of the march. You, Chrysantas, must lead the van with your cuirassiers, +since the road is broad and smooth, and you must put your brigadiers +in the first line, each regiment marching in file, for if we keep close +order we shall travel all the quicker and be all the safer. (37) I put +the cuirassiers in the front," he added, "because they are our heaviest +troops, and if the heaviest are leading, the lighter cannot find it hard +to follow: whereas where the swiftest lead and the march is at night, +it is no wonder if the column fall to pieces: the vanguard is always +running away. (38) And behind the cuirassiers," he went on, "Artabazas +is to follow with the Persian targeteers and the bowmen, and behind +them Andamyas the Mede with the Median infantry, and then Embas and +the Armenian infantry, and then Artouchas with the Hyrcanians, and +then Thambradas with the Sakian foot, and finally Datamas with the +Cadousians. (39) All these officers will put their brigadiers in the +first line, their targeteers on the right, and their bowmen on the left +of their own squares: this is the order in which they will be of most +use. (40) All the baggage-bearers are to follow in the rear: and their +officers must see that they get everything together before they sleep, +and present themselves betimes in the morning, with all their gear, +and always keep good order on the march. (41) In support of the +baggage-train," he added, "there will be, first, Madatas the Persian +with the Persian cavalry, and he too must put his brigadiers in the +front, each regiment following in single file, as with the infantry. +(42) Behind them Rambacas the Mede and his cavalry, in the same order, +and then you, Tigranes, and yours, and after you the other cavalry +leaders with the men they brought. The Sakians will follow you, and last +of all will come the Cadousians, who were the last to join us, and +you, Alkeunas, who are to command them, for the present you will take +complete control of the rear, and allow no one to fall behind your men. +(43) All of you alike, officers, and all who respect yourselves, must be +most careful to march in silence. At night the ears, and not the eyes, +are the channels of information and the guides for action, and at night +any confusion is a far more serious matter than by day, and far more +difficult to put right. For this reason silence must be studied and +order absolutely maintained. (44) Whenever you mean to rise before +daybreak, you must make the night-watches as short and as numerous as +possible, so that no one may suffer on the march because of his long +vigil before it; and when the hour for the start arrives the horn must +be blown. (45) Gentlemen, I expect you all to present yourselves on +the road to Babylon with everything you require, and as each detachment +starts, let them pass down the word for those in the rear to follow." +</p> +<p> +(46) So the officers went to their quarters, and as they went they +talked of Cyrus, and what a marvellous memory he had, always naming +each officer as he assigned him his post. (47) The fact was Cyrus took +special pains over this: it struck him as odd that a mere mechanic could +know the names of all his tools, and a physician the names of all his +instruments, but a general be such a simpleton that he could not name +his own officers, the very tools he had to depend on each time he wanted +to seize a point or fortify a post or infuse courage or inspire terror. +Moreover it seemed to him only courteous to address a man by name when +he wished to honour him. (48) And he was sure that the man who feels he +is personally known to his commander is more eager to be seen performing +some noble feat of arms, and more careful to refrain from all that is +unseemly and base. (49) Cyrus thought it would be quite foolish for him +to give his orders in the style of certain householders: "Somebody fetch +the water, some one split the wood." (50) After a command of that kind, +every one looks at every one else, and no one carries it out, every one +is to blame, and no one is ashamed or afraid, because there are so many +beside himself. Therefore Cyrus always named the officers whenever he +gave an order. +</p> +<p> +(51) That, then, was his view of the matter. The army now took supper +and posted their guards and got their necessaries together and went to +rest. (52) And at midnight the horn was blown. Cyrus had told Chrysantas +he would wait for him at a point on the road in advance of the troops, +and therefore he went on in front himself with his own staff, and +waited till Chrysantas appeared shortly afterwards at the head of his +cuirassiers. (53) Then Cyrus put the guides under his command, and told +him to march on, but to go slowly until he received a message, for all +the troops were not yet on the road. This done, Cyrus took his stand on +the line of march, and as each division came up, hurried it forward to +its place, sending messengers meanwhile to summon those who were still +behind. (54) When all had started, he despatched gallopers to Chrysantas +to tell him that the whole army was now under way, and that he might +lead on as quick as he could. (55) Then he galloped to the front +himself, reined up, and quietly watched the ranks defile before him. +Whenever a division advanced silently and in good order, he would ride +up and ask their names and pay them compliments; and if he saw any sign +of confusion he would inquire the reason and restore tranquillity. (56) +One point remains to add in describing his care that night; he sent +forward a small but picked body of infantry, active fellows all of them, +in advance of the whole army. They were to keep Chrysantas in sight, and +he was not to lose sight of them; they were to use their ears and all +their wits, and report at once to Chrysantas if they thought there +was any need. They had an officer to direct their movements, announce +anything of importance, and not trouble about trifles. +</p> +<p> +(57) Thus they pressed forward through the night, and when day broke +Cyrus ordered the mass of the cavalry to the front, the Cadousians alone +remaining with their own infantry, who brought up the rear, and who +were as much in need as others of cavalry support. But the rest of the +horsemen he sent ahead because it was ahead that the enemy lay, and in +case of resistance he was anxious to oppose them in battle-order, while +if they fled he wished no time to be lost in following up the pursuit. +(58) It was always arranged who were to give chase and who were to stay +with himself: he never allowed the whole army to be broken up. (59) Thus +Cyrus conducted the advance, but it is not to be thought that he kept +to one particular spot; he was always galloping backwards and forwards, +first at one point and then at another, supervising everything and +supplying any defect as it arose. Thus Cyrus and his men marched +forward. +</p> +<p> +(C.4) Now there was a certain officer in the cavalry with Gadatas, a man +of power and influence, who, when he saw that his master had revolted +from Assyria, thought to himself, "If anything should happen to him, I +myself could get from the king all that he possessed." +</p> +<p> +Accordingly he sent forward a man he could trust, with instructions +that, if he found the Assyrian army already in the territory of Gadatas, +he was to tell the king that he could capture Gadatas and all who were +with him, if he thought fit to make an ambuscade. (2) And the messenger +was also to say what force Gadatas had at his command and to announce +that Cyrus was not with him. Moreover, the officer stated the road by +which Gadatas was coming. Finally, to win the greater confidence, he +sent word to his own dependents and bade them deliver up to the king of +Assyria the castle which he himself commanded in the province, with all +that it contained: he would come himself, he added, if possible, after +he had slain Gadatas, and, even if he failed in that, he would always +stand by the king. +</p> +<p> +(3) Now the emissary rode as hard as he could and came before the king +and told his errand, and, hearing it, the king at once took over the +castle and formed an ambuscade, with a large body of horse and many +chariots, in a dense group of villages that lay upon the road. (4) +Gadatas, when he came near the spot, sent scouts ahead to explore, +and the king, as soon as he sighted them, ordered two or three of his +chariots and a handful of horsemen to dash away as though in flight, +giving the impression that they were few in number and panic-stricken. +At this the scouting party swept after them, signalling to Gadatas, who +also fell into the trap and gave himself up to the chase. +</p> +<p> +The Assyrians waited till the quarry was within their grasp and then +sprang out from their ambuscade. (5) The men, with Gadatas, seeing +what had happened, turned back and fled, as one might expect, with +the Assyrians at their heels, while the officer who had planned it all +stabbed Gadatas himself. He struck him in the shoulder, but the blow was +not mortal. Thereupon the traitor fled to the pursuers, and when +they found out who he was he galloped on with them, his horse at full +stretch, side by side with the king. (6) Naturally the men with the +slower horses were overtaken by the better mounted, and the fugitives, +already wearied by their long journey, were at the last extremity when +suddenly they caught sight of Cyrus advancing at the head of his army, +and were swept into safety, as glad and thankful, we may well believe, +as shipwrecked mariners into port. +</p> +<p> +(7) The first feeling of Cyrus was sheer astonishment, but he soon saw +how matters stood. The whole force of the Assyrian cavalry was rolling +on him, and he met it with his own army in perfect order, till the +enemy, realising what had happened, turned and fled. Then Cyrus ordered +his pursuing party to charge, while he followed more slowly at the pace +he thought the safest. (8) The enemy were utterly routed: many of the +chariots were taken, some had lost their charioteers, others were seized +in the sudden change of front, others surrounded by the Persian cavalry. +Right and left the conquerors cut down their foes, and among them fell +the officer who had dealt the blow at Gadatas. (9) But of the Assyrian +infantry, those who were besieging the fortress of Gadatas escaped +to the stronghold that had revolted from him, or managed to reach an +important city belonging to the king, where he himself, his horsemen, +and his chariots had taken refuge. +</p> +<p> +(10) After this exploit Cyrus went on to the territory of Gadatas, and +as soon as he had given orders to those who guarded the prisoners, he +went himself to visit the eunuch and see how it was with him after his +wound. Gadatas came out to meet him, his wound already bandaged. And +Cyrus was gladdened and said, "I came myself to see how it was with +you." (11) "And I," said Gadatas, "heaven be my witness, I came out to +see how a man would look who had a soul like yours. I cannot tell what +need you had of me, or what promise you ever gave me, to make you do as +you have done. I had shown you no kindness for your private self: it was +because you thought I had been of some little service to your friends, +that you came to help me thus, and help me you did, from death to life. +Left to myself I was lost. (12) By heaven above, I swear it, Cyrus, if +I had been a father as I was born to be, God knows whether I could +have found in the son of my loins so true a friend as you. I know of +sons—this king of ours is such an one, who has caused his own father +ten thousand times more trouble than ever he causes you." +</p> +<p> +(13) And Cyrus made answer: +</p> +<p> +"You have overlooked a much more wonderful thing, Gadatas, to turn and +wonder at me." +</p> +<p> +"Nay," said Gadatas, "what could that be?" +</p> +<p> +"That all these Persians," he answered, "are so zealous in your behalf, +and all these Medes and Hyrcanians, and every one of our allies, +Armenians, Sakians, Cadousians." +</p> +<p> +(14) Then Gadatas prayed aloud: +</p> +<p> +"O Father Zeus, may the gods heap blessings on them also, but above +all on him who has made them what they are! And now, Cyrus, that I may +entertain as they deserve these men you praise, take the gifts I bring +you as their host, the best I have it in my power to bring." +</p> +<p> +And with the word he brought out stores of every kind, enough for all +to over sacrifice who listed; and the whole army was entertained in a +manner worthy of their feat and their success. +</p> +<p> +(15) Meanwhile the Cadousians had been always in the rear, unable to +share in the pursuit, and they longed to achieve some exploit of their +own. So their chieftain, with never a word to Cyrus, led them forth +alone, and raided the country towards Babylon. But, as soon as they +were scattered the Assyrians came out from their city of refuge in good +battle-order. (16) When they saw that the Cadousians were unsupported +they attacked them, killing the leader himself and numbers of his men, +capturing many of their horses and retaking the spoil they were in the +act of driving away. The king pursued as far as he thought safe, and +then turned back, and the Cadousians at last found safety in their own +camp, though even the vanguard only reached it late in the afternoon. +(17) When Cyrus saw what had happened he went out to meet them, +succouring every wounded man and sending him off to Gadatas at once, to +have his wounds dressed, while he helped to house the others in their +quarters, and saw that they had all they needed, his Peers aiding him, +for at such times noble natures will give help with all their hearts. +(18) Still it was plain to see that he was sorely vexed, and when the +hour for dinner came, and the others went away, he was still there on +the ground with the attendants and the surgeons; not a soul would he +leave uncared for if anything could be done: he either saw to it himself +or sent for the proper aid. +</p> +<p> +(19) So for that night they rested. But with daybreak Cyrus sent out +a herald and summoned a gathering of all the officers and the whole +Cadousian army, and spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +"My friends and allies, what has happened is only natural; for it is +human nature to err, and I cannot find it astonishing. Still we may gain +at least one advantage from what has occurred, if we learn that we must +never cut off from our main body a detachment weaker than the force of +the enemy. (20) I do not say that one is never to march anywhere, if +necessary, with an even smaller fraction than the Cadousians had; but, +before doing so you must communicate with some one able to bring up +reinforcements, and then, though you may be trapped yourself, it is at +least probable that your friends behind you may foil the foilers, and +divert them from your own party: there are fifty ways in which one can +embarrass the enemy and save one's friends. Thus separation need not +mean isolation, and union with the main force may still be kept, whereas +if you sally forth without telling your plan, you are no better off than +if you were alone in the field. (21) However, God willing, we shall take +our revenge for this ere long; indeed, as soon as you have breakfasted, +I will lead you out to the scene of yesterday's skirmish, and there we +will bury those who fell, and show our enemies that the very field where +they thought themselves victorious is held by those who are stronger +than they: they shall never look again with joy upon the spot where they +slew our comrades. Or else, if they refuse to come out and meet us, we +will burn their villages and harry all their land, so that in lieu of +rejoicing at the sight of what they did to us, they shall gnash their +teeth at the spectacle of their own disasters. (22) Go now," said +he, "the rest of you, and take your breakfast forthwith, but let the +Cadousians first elect a leader in accordance with their own laws, and +one who will guide them well and wisely, by the grace of God, and with +our human help, if they should need it. And when you have chosen your +leader, and had your breakfast, send him hither to me." +</p> +<p> +(23) So they did as Cyrus bade them, and when he led the army out, he +stationed their new general close to his own person, and told him to +keep his detachment there, "So that you and I," said he, "may rekindle +the courage in their souls." +</p> +<p> +In this order they marched out, and thus they buried the Cadousian dead +and ravaged the country. Which done, they went back to the province of +Gadatas, laden with supplies taken from the foe. +</p> +<p> +(24) Now Cyrus felt that those who had come over to his side and who +dwelt in the neighbourhood of Babylon would be sure to suffer unless he +were constantly there himself, and so he bade all the prisoners he set +free take a message to the king, and he himself despatched a herald +to say that he would leave all the tillers of the soil unmolested and +unhurt if the Assyrian would let those who had come over to him continue +their work in peace. (25) "And remember," he added, "that even if you +try to hinder my friends, it is only a few whom you could stop, whereas +there is a vast territory of yours that I could allow to be cultivated. +As for the crops," he added, "if we have war, it will be the conqueror, +I make no doubt, who will reap them, but if we have peace, it will be +you. If, however, any of my people take up arms against you, or any of +yours against me, we must, of course, each of us, defend ourselves as +best we can." +</p> +<p> +(26) With this message Cyrus despatched the herald, and when the +Assyrians heard it, they urged the king to accept the proposal, and so +limit the war as much as possible. (27) And he, whether influenced by +his own people or because he desired it himself, consented to the terms. +So an agreement was drawn up, proclaiming peace to the tillers of the +soil and war to all who carried arms. +</p> +<p> +(28) Thus Cyrus arranged matters for the husbandmen, and he asked his +own supporters among the drovers to bring their herds, if they liked, +into his dominions and leave them there, while he treated the enemy's +cattle as booty wherever he could, so that his allies found attraction +in the campaign. For the risk was no greater if they took what they +needed, while the knowledge that they were living at the enemy's expense +certainly seemed to lighten the labour of the war. +</p> +<p> +(29) When the time came for Cyrus to go back, and the final preparations +were being made, Gadatas brought him gifts of every kind, the produce +of a vast estate, and among the cattle a drove of horses, taken from +cavalry of his own, whom he distrusted owing to the late conspiracy. +(30) And when he brought them he said, "Cyrus, this day I give you these +for your own, and I would pray you to make such use of them as you think +best, but I would have you remember that all else which I call mine +is yours as well. For there is no son of mine, nor can there ever be, +sprung from my own loins, to whom I may leave my wealth: when I die +myself, my house must perish with me, my family and my name. (31) And I +must suffer this, Cyrus, I swear to you by the great gods above us, who +see all things and hear all things, though never by word or deed did I +commit injustice or foulness of any kind." +</p> +<p> +But here the words died on his lips; he burst into tears over his +sorrows, and could say no more. (32) Cyrus was touched with pity at his +suffering and said to him: +</p> +<p> +"Let me accept the horses, for in that I can help you, if I set loyal +riders on them, men of a better mind, methinks, than those who had them +before, and I myself can satisfy a wish that has long been mine, to +bring my Persian cavalry up to ten thousand men. But take back, I pray +you, all these other riches, and guard them safely against the time +when you may find me able to vie with you in gifts. If I left you now so +hugely in your debt, heaven help me if I could hold up my head again for +very shame." +</p> +<p> +(33) Thereto Gadatas made answer, "In all things I trust you, and will +trust you, for I see your heart. But consider whether I am competent +to guard all this myself. (34) While I was at peace with the king, the +inheritance I had from my father was, it may be, the fairest in all the +land: it was near that mighty Babylon, and all the good things that can +be gathered from a great city fell into our laps, and yet from all the +trouble of it, the noise and the bustle, we could be free at once by +turning our backs and coming home here. But now that we are at war, the +moment you have left us we are sure to be attacked, ourselves and all +our wealth, and methinks we shall have a sorry life of it, our enemies +at our elbow and far stronger than ourselves. (35) I seem to hear +some one say, why did you not think of this before you revolted? But I +answer, Cyrus, because the soul within me was stung beyond endurance by +my wrongs; I could not sit and ponder the safest course, I was always +brooding over one idea, always in travail of one dream, praying for +the day of vengeance on the miscreant, the enemy of God and man, whose +hatred never rested, once aroused, once he suspected a man, not of +doing wrong, but of being better than himself. (36) And because he is a +villain, he will always find, I know, worse villains that himself to +aid him, but if one day a nobler rival should appear—have no concern, +Cyrus, you will never need to do battle with such an one, yonder fiend +would deal with him and never cease to plot against him until he had +dragged him in the dust, only because he was the better man. And to work +me trouble and disaster, he and his wicked tools will, I fear me, have +strength enough and to spare." +</p> +<p> +(37) Cyrus thought there was much in what he said, and he answered +forthwith: +</p> +<p> +"Tell me, Gadatas, did we not put a stout garrison in your fortress, +so as to make it safe for you whenever you needed it, and are you not +taking the field with us now, so that, if the gods be on our side as +they are to-day, that scoundrel may fear you, not you him? Go now, bring +with you all you have that is sweet to look on and to love, and then +join our march: you shall be, I am persuaded, of the utmost service to +me, and I, so far as in me lies, will give you help for help." +</p> +<p> +(38) When Gadatas heard that, he breathed again, and he said: +</p> +<p> +"Could I really be in time to make my preparations and be back before +you leave? I would fain take my mother with me on the march." +</p> +<p> +"Assuredly," said Cyrus, "you will be in time: for I will wait until you +say that all is ready." +</p> +<p> +(39) So it came to pass that Gadatas went his way, and with the aid of +Cyrus put a strong garrison in his fortress, and got together the +wealth of his broad estates. And moreover he brought with him in his own +retinue servants he could trust and in whom he took delight, as well as +many others in whom he put no trust at all, and these he compelled to +bring their wives with them, and their sisters, that so they might be +bound to his service. +</p> +<p> +(40) Thus Gadatas went with Cyrus, and Cyrus kept him ever at his side, +to show him the roads and the places for water and fodder and food, and +lead them where there was most abundance. +</p> +<p> +(41) At last they came in sight of Babylon once more, and it seemed +to Cyrus that the road they were following led under the very walls. +Therefore he summoned Gobryas and Gadatas, and asked them if there was +not another way, so that he need not pass so close to the ramparts. (42) +"There are many other ways, my lord," answered Gobryas, "but I thought +you would certainly want to pass as near the city as possible, and +display the size and splendour of your army to the king. I knew that +when your force was weaker you advanced to his walls, and let him +see us, few as we were, and I am persuaded that if he has made any +preparation for battle now, as he said he would, when he sees the +power you have brought with you, he will think once more that he is +unprepared." +</p> +<p> +(435) But Cyrus said: +</p> +<p> +"Does it seem strange to you, Gobryas, that when I had a far smaller +army I took it right up to the enemy's walls, and to-day when my force +is greater I will not venture there? (44) You need not think it strange: +to march up is not the same as to march past. Every leader will march up +with his troops disposed in the best order for battle and a wise leader +will draw them off so as to secure safety rather than sped. (45) But +in marching past there is no means of avoiding long straggling lines of +waggons, long strings of baggage-bearers, and all these must be screened +by the fighting-force so as never to leave the baggage unprotected. (46) +But this must mean a thin weak order for the fighting-men, and if the +enemy choose to attack at any point with their full force, they can +strike with far more weight than any of the troops available to meet +them at the moment. (47) Again, the length of line means a long delay in +bringing up relief, whereas the enemy have only a handsbreadth to cover +as they rush out from the walls or retire. (48) But now, if we leave +a distance between ourselves and them as wide as our line is long, +not only with they realise our numbers plainly enough, but our veil of +glittering armour will make the whole multitude more formidable in +their eyes. (49) And, if they do attack us anywhere, we shall be able to +foresee their advance a long way off and be quite prepared to give them +welcome. But it is far more likely, gentlemen," he added, "that they +will not make the attempt, with all that ground to cover from the walls, +unless they imagine that their whole force is superior to the whole of +ours: they know that retreat will be difficult and dangerous." +</p> +<p> +(50) So Cyrus spoke, and his listeners felt that he was right, and +Gobryas led the army by the way that he advised. And as one detachment +after another passed the city, Cyrus strengthened the protection for the +rear and so withdrew in safety. +</p> +<p> +(51) Marching in this order, he came back at last to his first +starting-point, on the frontier between Assyria and Media. Here he dealt +with three Assyrian fortresses: one, the weakest, he attacked and took +by force, while the garrisons of the other two, what with the eloquence +of Gadatas and the terror inspired by Cyrus, were persuaded to +surrender. +</p> +<p> +(C.5) And now that his expedition was completed, Cyrus sent to Cyaxares +and urged him to come to the camp in order that they might decide best +how to use the forts which they had taken, and perhaps Cyaxares, after +reviewing the army, would advise him what the next move ought to be, or, +Cyrus added to the messenger, "if he bids me, say I will come to him +and take up my encampment there." (2) So the emissary went off with the +message, and meanwhile Cyrus gave orders that the Assyrian tent chosen +for Cyaxares should be furnished as splendidly as possible, and the +woman brought to her apartment there, and the two singing-girls also, +whom they had set aside for him. +</p> +<p> +(3) And while they were busied with these things the envoy went to +Cyaxares and delivered his message, and Cyaxares listened and decided +it was best for Cyrus and his men to stay on the frontier. The Persians +whom Cyrus had sent for had already arrived, forty thousand bowmen and +targeteers. (4) To watch these eating up the land was bad enough, and +Cyaxares thought he would rather be quit of one horde before he received +another. On his side the officer in command of the Persian levy, +following the instructions from Cyrus, asked Cyaxares if he had any need +of the men, and Cyaxares said he had not. Thereupon, and hearing that +Cyrus had arrived, the Persian put himself at the head of his troops and +went off at once to join him. (5) Cyaxares himself waited till the next +day and then set out with the Median troopers who had stayed behind. And +when Cyrus knew of his approach he took his Persian cavalry, who were +now a large body of men, and all the Medes, Hyrcanians, and Armenians, +and the best-mounted and best-armed among the rest, and so went out to +meet Cyaxares and show the power he had won. (6) But when Cyaxares saw +so large a following of gallant gentlemen with Cyrus, and with +himself so small and mean a retinue, it seemed to him an insult, and +mortification filled his heart. And when Cyrus sprang from his horse +and came up to give him the kiss of greeting, Cyaxares, though he +dismounted, turned away his head and gave him no kiss, while the tears +came into his eyes. (7) Whereupon Cyrus told the others to stand aside +and rest, and then he took Cyaxares by the hand and led him apart under +a grove of palm-trees, and bade the attendants spread Median carpets for +them, and made Cyaxares sit down, and then, seating himself beside him, +he said: +</p> +<p> +(8) "Uncle of mine, tell me, in heaven's name, I implore you, why are +you angry with me? What bitter sight have you seen to make you feel such +bitterness?" +</p> +<p> +And then Cyaxares answered: +</p> +<p> +"Listen, Cyrus; I have been reputed royal and of royal lineage as far +back as the memory of man can go; my father was a king and a king I +myself was thought to be; and now I see myself riding here, meanly +and miserably attended, while you come before me in splendour and +magnificence, followed by the retinue that once was mine and all your +other forces. (9) That would be bitter enough, methinks, from the hand +of an enemy, but—O gods above us!—how much more bitter at the hands of +those from whom we least deserve it! Far rather would I be swallowed in +the earth than live to be seen so low, aye, and to see my own kinsfolk +turn against me and make a mock of me. And well I know," said he, "that +not only you but my own slaves are now stronger and greater than myself: +they come out equipt to do me far more mischief than ever I could +repay." +</p> +<p> +(10) But here he stopped, overcome by a passion of weeping, so much so +that for very pity Cyrus' own eyes filled with tears. There was silence +between them for a while, and then Cyrus said: +</p> +<p> +"Nay, Cyaxares, what you say is not true, and what you think is not +right, if you imagine that because I am here, your Medes have been +equipt to do you any harm. (11) I do not wonder that you are pained, and +I will not ask if you have cause or not for your anger against them: +you will ill brook apologies for them from me. Only it seems to me a +grievous error in a ruler to quarrel with all his subjects at once. +Widespread terror must needs be followed by widespread hate: anger with +all creates unity among all. (12) It was for this reason, take my word +for it, that I would not send them back to you without myself, fearing +that your wrath might be the cause of what would injure all of us. +Through my presence here and by the blessing of heaven, all is safe for +you: but that you should regard yourself as wronged by me,—I cannot but +feel it bitter, when I am doing all in my power to help my friends, to +be accused of plotting against them. (13) However," he continued, "let +us not accuse each other in this useless way; if possible, let us see +exactly in what I have offended. And as between friend and friend, I +will lay down the only rule that is just and fair: if I can be shown to +have done you harm, I will confess I am to blame, but if it appears that +I have never injured you, not even in thought, will you not acquit me of +all injustice towards you?" +</p> +<p> +"Needs must I," answered Cyaxares. +</p> +<p> +(14) "And if I can show that I have done you service, and been zealous +in your cause to the utmost of my power, may I not claim, instead of +rebuke, some little meed of praise?" +</p> +<p> +"That were only fair," said Cyaxares. +</p> +<p> +(15) "Then," said Cyrus, "let us go through all I have done, point by +point, and see what is good in it and what is evil. (16) Let us begin +from the time when I assumed my generalship, if that is early enough. +I think I am right in saying that it was because you saw your enemies +gathering together against you, and ready to sweep over your land and +you, that you sent to Persia asking for help, and to me in private, +praying me to come, if I could, myself, at the head of any forces they +might send. Was I not obedient to your word? Did I not come myself with +the best and bravest I could bring?" +</p> +<p> +(17) "You did indeed," answered Cyaxares. +</p> +<p> +"Tell me, then, before we go further, did you see any wrong in this? Was +it not rather a service and a kindly act?" "Certainly," said Cyaxares, +"so far as that went, I saw nothing but kindliness." (18) "Well, after +the enemy had come, and we had to fight the matter out, did you ever see +me shrink from toil or try to escape from danger?" "That I never did," +said Cyaxares, "quite the contrary." +</p> +<p> +(19) "And afterwards, when, through the help of heaven, victory was +ours, and the enemy retreated, and I implored you to let us pursue them +together, take vengeance on them together, win together the fruits +of any gallant exploit we might achieve, can you accuse me then of +self-seeking or self-aggrandisement?" +</p> +<p> +(20) But at that Cyaxares was silent. Then Cyrus spoke again. "If you +would rather not reply to that, tell me if you thought yourself injured +because, when you considered pursuit unsafe, I relieved you of the risk, +and only begged you to lend me some of your cavalry? If my offence lay +in asking for that, when I had already offered to work with you, side by +side, you must prove it to me; and it will need some eloquence." +</p> +<p> +(21) He paused, but Cyaxares still kept silence. "Nay," said Cyrus, "if +you will not answer that either, tell me at least if my offence lay in +what followed, when you said that you did not care to stop your Medes in +their merry-making and drive them out into danger, do you think it was +wrong in me, without waiting to quarrel on that score, to ask you for +what I knew was the lightest boon you could grant and the lightest +command you could lay on your soldiers? For I only asked that he who +wished it might be allowed to follow me. (22) And thus, when I had +won your permission, I had won nothing, unless I could win them too. +Therefore I went and tried persuasion, and some listened to me, and with +these I set off on my march, holding my commission from your own self. +So that, if you look on this act as blameworthy, it would seem that not +even the acceptance of your own gifts can be free from blame. (23) It +was thus we started, and after we had gone, was there, I ask you, a +single deed of mine that was not done in the light of day? Has not the +enemy's camp been taken? Have not hundreds of your assailants fallen? +And hundreds been deprived of their horses and their arms? Is not the +spoiler spoiled? The cattle and the goods of those who harried your land +are now in the hands of your friends, they are brought to you, or to +your subjects. (24) And, above all and beyond all, you see your own +country growing great and powerful and the land of your enemy brought +low. Strongholds of his are in your power, and your own that were torn +from you in other days by the Syrian domination are now restored to you +again. I cannot say I should be glad to learn that any of these things +can be bad for you, or short of good, but I am ready to listen, if so it +is. (25) Speak, tell me your judgment of it all." +</p> +<p> +Then Cyrus paused, and Cyaxares made answer: +</p> +<p> +"To call what you have done evil, Cyrus, is impossible. But your +benefits are of such a kind that the more they multiply upon me, the +heavier burden do they bring. (26) I would far rather," he went on, +"have made your country great by own power than see mine exalted in this +way by you. These deeds of yours are a crown of glory to you; but they +bring dishonour to me. (27) And for the wealth, I would rather have made +largess of it to yourself than receive it at your hands in the way +you give it now. Goods so gotten only leave me the poorer. And for my +subjects—I think I would have suffered less if you had injured them +a little than I suffer now when I see how much they owe you. (28) +Perhaps," he added, "you find it inhuman of me to feel thus, but I would +ask you to forget me and imagine that you are in my place and see how it +would appear to you then. Suppose a friend of yours were to take care of +your dogs, dogs that you bred up to guard yourself and your house, such +care that he made them fonder of him than of yourself, would you be +pleased with him for his attention? (29) Or take another instance, if +that one seems too slight: suppose a friend of yours were to do so much +for your own followers, men you kept to guard you and to fight for +you, that they would rather serve in his train than yours, would you be +grateful to him for his kindness? (30) Or let me take the tenderest of +human ties: suppose a friend of yours paid court to the wife of your +bosom so that in the end he made her love him more than yourself, would +he rejoice your heart by his courtesy? Far from it, I trow; he who did +this, you would say, did you the greatest wrong in all the world. (31) +And now, to come nearest to my own case, suppose some one paid such +attention to your Persians that they learnt to follow him instead of +you, would you reckon that man your friend? No; but a worse enemy +than if he had slain a thousand. (32) Or again, say you spoke in all +friendship to a friend and bade him take what he wished, and straightway +he took all he could lay hands on and carried it off, and so grew rich +with your wealth, and you were left in utter poverty, could you say that +friend was altogether blameless? (33) And I, Cyrus, I feel that you have +treated me, if not in that way, yet in a way exactly like it. What you +say is true enough: I did allow you to take what you liked and go, and +you took the whole of my power and went, leaving me desolate, and to-day +you bring the spoil you have won with my forces, and lay it so grandly +at my feet—magnificent! And you make my country great through the help +of my own might, while I have no part or lot in the performance, but +must step in at the end, like a woman, to receive your favours, while in +the eyes of all men, not least my faithful subjects yonder, you are the +man, and I—I am not fit to wear a crown. (34) Are these, I ask you, +Cyrus, are these the deeds of a benefactor? Nay, had you been kind as +you are kin, above all else you would have been careful not to rob me +of my dignity and honour. What advantage is it to me for my lands to be +made broad if I myself am dishonoured? When I ruled the Medes, I ruled +them not because I was stronger than all of them, but because they +themselves thought that our race was in all things better than theirs." +</p> +<p> +(35) But while he was still speaking Cyrus broke in on his words, +crying: +</p> +<p> +"Uncle of mine, by the heaven above us, if I have ever shown you any +kindness, be kind to me now. Do not find fault with me any more, wait, +and put me to the test, and learn how I feel towards you, and if you see +that what I have done has really brought you good, then, when I embrace +you, embrace me in return and call me your benefactor, and if not, you +may blame me as you please." +</p> +<p> +(36) "Perhaps," answered Cyaxares, "you are right. I will do as you +wish." +</p> +<p> +"Then I may kiss you?" said Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, if it pleases you. "And you will not turn aside as you did just +now?" "No, I will not turn aside." And he kissed him. +</p> +<p> +(37) And when the Medes saw it and the Persians and all the allies—for +all were watching to see how matters would shape—joy came into their +hearts and gladness lit up their faces. Then Cyrus and Cyaxares mounted +their horses and rode back, and the Medes fell in behind Cyaxares, at +a nod from Cyrus, and behind Cyrus the Persians, and the others behind +them. (38) And when they reached the camp and brought Cyaxares to the +splendid tent, those who were appointed made everything ready for him, +and while he was waiting for the banquet his Medes presented themselves, +some of their own accord, it is true, but most were sent by Cyrus. +(39) And they brought him gifts; one came with a beautiful cup-bearer, +another with an admirable cook, a third with a baker, a fourth with a +musician, while others brought cups and goblets and beautiful apparel; +almost every one gave something out of the spoils they had won. (40) So +that the mood of Cyaxares changed, and he seemed to see that Cyrus had +not stolen his subjects from him, and that they made no less account of +him than they used to do. +</p> +<p> +(41) Now when the hour came for the banquet, Cyaxares sent to Cyrus and +begged him to share it: it was so long, he said, since they had met. +But Cyrus answered, "Bid me not to the feast, good uncle. Do you not see +that all these soldiers of ours have been raised by us to the pitch of +expectation? And it were ill on my part if I seemed to neglect them for +the sake of my private pleasure. If soldiers feel themselves neglected +even the good become faint-hearted, and the bad grow insolent. (42) With +yourself it is different, you have come a long journey and you must fall +to without delay, and if your subjects do you honour, welcome them and +give them good cheer, that there may be confidence between you and them, +but I must go and attend to the matters of which I speak. (43) +Early to-morrow morning," he added, "our chief officers will present +themselves at your gate to hear from you what you think our next step +ought to be. You will tell us whether we ought to pursue the campaign +further or whether the time has now come to disband our army." +</p> +<p> +(44) Thereupon Cyaxares betook himself to the banquet and Cyrus called +a council of his friends, the shrewdest and the best fitted to act with +him, and spoke to them as follows: +</p> +<p> +"My friends, thanks to the gods, our first prayers are granted. Wherever +we set foot now we are the masters of the country: we see our enemies +brought low and ourselves increasing day by day in numbers and in +strength. (45) And if only our present allies would consent to stay with +us a little longer, our achievements could be greater still, whether +force were needed or persuasion. Now it must be your work as much as +mine to make as many of them as possible willing and anxious to remain. +(46) Remember that, just as the soldier who overthrows the greatest +number in the day of battle is held to be the bravest, so the speaker, +when the time has come for persuasion, who brings most men to his side +will be thought the most eloquent, the best orator and the ablest man of +action. (47) Do not, however, prepare your speeches as though we asked +you to give a rhetorical display: remember that those whom you convince +will show it well enough by what they do. (48) I leave you then," he +added, "to the careful study of your parts: mine is to see, so far as in +me lies, that our troops are provided with all they need, before we hold +the council of war." +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +C.1. Cyrus' generosity: he is not cold, not incapable of soft pleasure, +but too pre-occupied with greater things. On the whole, if a hedonist, +this type of man, a hedonist that = a stoic (cf. Socrates, H. Sidgwick, +also J. P.). +</p> +<p> +C1.4, init. Well told: we feel the character of Araspas at once, as soon +as he opens his lips. +</p> +<p> +C1.4, med. An Eastern picture. She is one of the Bible women, as Gadatas +and Gobryas are brothers of Barzillai; she is sister of Ruth or Susanna +or Judith or Bathsheba. Perhaps she is nobler than any of them. She +is also the sister of the Greek tragedy women, Antigone, Alcestis; +especially Euripidean is she: no doubt she is sister to the great women +of all lands. +</p> +<p> +C1.10 ff. Xenophon, Moralist. Cf. <i>Memorabilia</i> for a similar +philosophical difficulty about the will and knowledge. And for this +raising of ethical problems in an artistic setting of narrative, cf. +Lyly. I see a certain resemblance between the times and the writers' +minds. <i>Vide</i> J. A. Symonds on the predecessors of Shakespeare. +Araspas' point is that these scamps have only themselves to blame, being +{akrateis}, and then they turn round and accuse love. (We are thrown +back on the origin of {akrasia}: <i>vide Memorabilia</i> (e.g. I. ii. v.; IV. +v.) for such answer as we can get to that question.) Whereas the {kaloi +kagathoi} desire strongly but can curb their desires. +</p> +<p> +C1.13. Shows a confidence in the healthy action of the will. When +Araspas himself is caught later on he develops the theory of a double +self, a higher and a lower (so hgd., and so, I think, Xenophon and +Socrates. <i>Vide Memorabilia</i>). +</p> +<p> +C1.16, fin. Cyrus || Socrates, his prototype here. +</p> +<p> +C1.18. Very natural and beautiful. Xenophon sympathetic with such a +beautiful humanity. The woman's nature brought out by these touches. +Xenophon, Dramatist: the moral problem is subordinate, that is to say, +is made to grow out of the dramatic action and characterisation. +</p> +<p> +C1.20. Notice the absolutely fair and warrantable diplomatic advantage +given to the archic man: each step he takes opens up new avenues of +progress. Herein is fulfilled "to him who hath shall be given," but +Cyrus plays his part also, he has the wisdom of serpents with the +gentleness of doves. +</p> +<p> +C1.21. This is the true rhetoric, the right road to persuasiveness, to +be absolutely frank. +</p> +<p> +C1.24. The desire to be ruled by the archic man, which the +archomenoi—i.e. all men—feel, is thus manifest. Notice again how the +Mede's own character is maintained: he speaks as he felt then. +</p> +<p> +C2.8. The bridegroom will be found to be Hystaspas; but we have no +suspicion as yet, without looking on. +</p> +<p> +C2.9. In this interview Cyrus' character still further developed. <i>Ex +ore Cyri.</i>, Xenophon propounds his theory of the latent virtue in man, +which only needs an opportunity to burst forth, but, this lacking, +remains unrevealed. Now it is a great godsend to get such a chance. It +is thoroughly Hellenic, or Xenophon-Socratic, this feeling, "Give me +a chance to show my virtue." (But has Cyrus a touch of superhuman +conscious rectitude?) +</p> +<p> +C2.12. The same thought again: it is full of delicacy and spiritual +discernment: the more one ponders it the more one feels that. +</p> +<p> +C2.12, fin. For Hellenic or Xenophontine or old-world theory of the +misfortunes which befall the virtuous, <i>vide</i> Homer, <i>vide</i> Book of Job +(Satan), <i>vide</i> Tragedians. +</p> +<p> +C2.15. Cf. the <i>Economist</i> for praise of rural simplicity. It is +Xenophon <i>ipsissimus</i>. +</p> +<p> +C2.17. Whose bad manners is Xenophon thinking of? Thebans'? +</p> +<p> +C2.20, fin. A very noble sentence. The man who utters it and the people +whose heart and mind it emanates from must be of a high order; and in +the <i>Memorabilia</i> Socrates has this highest praise, that he studied to +make himself and <i>all others also</i> as good as possible. +</p> +<p> +C2.21. Notice the practical answer of Cyrus to this panegyric (cf. J. +P.). +</p> +<p> +C2.32. Prolix, Xenophontic. +</p> +<p> +C3.6 ff. Here also I feel the mind of Xenophon shimmering under +various lights. The <i>Cyropaedia</i> is shot with Orientalism. Homeric +Epicism—antique Hellenism and modern Hellenism are both there. Spartan +simplicity and Eastern quaintness both say their say. In this passage +the biblical element seems almost audible. +</p> +<p> +C3.7. This is in the grand style, Oriental, dilatory, ponderous, +savouring of times when battles were affairs of private arrangement +between monarchs and hedged about by all the punctilios of an affair of +honour. +</p> +<p> +C3.12. N.B.—The archic man shows a very ready wit and inventiveness in +the great art of "grab" in war, though as he said to his father he was +"a late learner" in such matters. Cf. in modern times the duties of a +detective or some such disagreeable office. G. O. Trevelyan as Irish +secretary. Interesting for <i>war ethics</i> in the abstract, and for +Xenophon's view, which is probably Hellenic. Cyrus now has the +opportunity of carrying out the selfish decalogue, the topsy-turvy +morality set forth in I. C.6, C.26 ff. +</p> +<p> +C3.13. Cf. Old Testament for the sort of subterfuges and preparations, +e.g. the Gibeonites. +</p> +<p> +C3.15. The archic man has no time. Cyrus {ou skholazei}. Cf. J. P. It +comes from energy combined with high gifts of organisation, economic, +architectonic. +</p> +<p> +C3.19. Nice, I think, this contrasting of spiritual and natural +productiveness. +</p> +<p> +C3.32. Here is the rule of conduct clearly expressed, nor do I see how a +military age could frame for itself any other. Christianity only emerged +<i>sub pace Romana</i>, which for fraternal brotherhood was the fullness of +time; and even in the commercial age the nations tumble back practically +into the old system. +</p> +<p> +C3.36 ff. An army on forced march: are there any novelties here? +</p> +<p> +C3.53. These minute details probably not boring at the time, but +interesting rather, perhaps useful. +</p> +<p> +C4.13. Cyrus resembles Fawcett in his unselfish self-estimate. Gadatas +is like the British public, or hgd. +</p> +<p> +C4.16. Here we feel that the Assyrian is not a mere weakling: he can +play his part well enough if he gets a good chance. It needs an Archic +and Strategic Man to overpower him. +</p> +<p> +C4.17. ANCIENT and MODERN parallelism in treatment of wounded. +</p> +<p> +C4.24. Hellenic war ethics: non-combatant tillers of the soil to be let +alone. Is this a novelty? If not, what is the prototype? Did the modern +rights of non-combatants so originate? +</p> +<p> +C4.27, fin. A touch which gives the impression of real history: that is +the art of it. +</p> +<p> +C4.34. Almost autobiographical: the advantage of having a country +seat in the neighbourhood of a big town. Here we feel the MODERNISM +of XENOPHON. The passage which Stevenson chose for the motto to his +<i>Silverado Squatters</i> would suit Xenophon very well (Cicero, De Off. I. +xx.). Xenophon || Alfred Tennyson. (Mr. Dakyns used the geometric sign +|| to indicate parallelism of any sort. The passage from Cicero might +be translated thus: "Some have lived in the country, content with the +happiness of home. These men have enjoyed all that kings could claim, +needing nothing, under the dominion of no man, untrammelled and in +freedom; for the free man lives as he chooses.") +</p> +<p> +C4.36. The wicked man as conceived in Hellenico-Xenophontine fashion, +charged with the spirit of meanness, envy, and hatred, which cannot +brook the existence of another better than itself. +</p> +<p> +C4.38. A nice touch: we learn to know Gadatas and Xenophon also, and the +Hellenic mind. +</p> +<p> +C5.10. Pathos well drawn: <i>vide</i> Richard II. and Bolingbroke. Euripidean +quality. +</p> +<p> +C5.12. The archic man has got so far he can play the part of intercessor +between Cyaxares and his Medes. The discussion involves the whole +difficulty of suppression ("he must increase, but I must decrease" is +one solution, not touched here). +</p> +<p> +C5.34. Perhaps this is the very point which Xenophon, Philosopher, +wishes to bring out, the pseudo-archic man and the archic man +contrasted, but Xenophon, lover of man and artist, draws the situation +admirably and truthfully without any doctrinal purpose. It is +{anthropinon} human essentially, this jealousy and humiliation of +spirit. +</p> +<p> +C5.35. Cyrus' tone of voice and manner must have some compelling charm +in them: the dialectic debate is not pursued, but by a word and look the +archic man wins his way. +</p> +<p> +C5.36. Oriental and antique Hellenic, also <i>modern</i>, formalities. I can +imagine some of those crowned heads, emperors of Germany and Austria, +going through similar ceremonies, walking arm-in-arm, kissing on both +cheeks fraternally, etc. +</p> +<p> +C5.39-40. This reveals the incorrigible weakness of Cyaxares. He can +never hold his own against the archic man. As a matter of philosophic +"historising," probably Xenophon conceives the Median element as the +corrupting and sapping one in the Persian empire (<i>vide</i> Epilogue), only +he to some extent justifies and excuses Cyrus in his imitations of it. +That is a difficulty. +</p> +<p> +C5.41. The archic man shows self-command again: his energy somewhat +relieves ignobler actors of responsibility and so far saps their wills. +His up-and-doingness a foil to their indolence. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0009"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK VI +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) So the day ended, and they supped and went to rest. But early +the next morning all the allies flocked to Cyaxares' gates, and while +Cyaxares dressed and adorned himself, hearing that a great multitude +were waiting, Cyrus gave audience to the suitors his own friends had +brought. First came the Cadousians, imploring him to stay, and then +the Hyrcanians, and after them the Sakians, and then some one presented +Gobryas, and Hystaspas brought in Gadatas the eunuch, whose entreaty was +still the same. (2) At that Cyrus, who knew already that for many a day +Gadatas had been half-dead with fear lest the army should be disbanded, +laughed outright and said, "Ah, Gadatas, you cannot conceal it: you have +been bribed by my friend Hystaspas to take this view." +</p> +<p> +(3) But Gadatas lifted up his hands to heaven and swore most solemnly +that Hystaspas had not influenced him. +</p> +<p> +"Nay," said he, "it is because I know myself that, if you depart, I am +ruined utterly. And therefore it was that I took it upon me to speak +with Hystaspas myself, and ask him if he knew what was in your mind +about the disbanding of the army." +</p> +<p> +(4) And Cyrus said, "It would be unjust then, I suppose, to lay the +blame on Hystaspas." "Yes, Cyrus, most unjust," said Hystaspas, "for I +only said to Gadatas that it would be impossible for you to carry on the +campaign, as your father wanted you home, and had sent for you." +</p> +<p> +(5) "What?" cried Cyrus, "you dared to let that be known whether I +wished it or not?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly I did," he answered, "for I can see that you are mad to be +home in Persia, the cynosure of every eye, telling your father how you +wrought this and accomplished that." +</p> +<p> +"Well," said Cyrus, "are you not longing to go home yourself?" +</p> +<p> +"No," said the other. "I am not. Nor have I any intention of going: here +I shall stay and be general-in-chief until I make our friend Gadatas the +lord and the Assyrian his slave." +</p> +<p> +(6) Thus half in jest and half in earnest they played with one another, +and meanwhile Cyaxares had finished adorning himself and came forth in +great splendour and solemnity, and sat down on a Median throne. And when +all were assembled and silence was proclaimed, Cyaxares said: +</p> +<p> +"My friends and allies, perhaps, since I am present and older than +Cyrus, it is suitable that I should address you first. It appears to me +that the moment has come to discuss one question before all others, +the question whether we ought to go on with the campaign or disband the +army. Be pleased," he added, "to state your opinions on the matter." +</p> +<p> +(7) Then the leader of the Hyrcanians stood up at once and said: +</p> +<p> +"Friends and allies, I hardly think that words are needed when facts +themselves show us the path to take. All of us know that while we stand +together we give our enemy more trouble than we get: but when we stood +alone it was they who dealt with us as they liked best and we liked +least." +</p> +<p> +(8) Then the Cadousian followed. +</p> +<p> +"The less we talk," said he, "about breaking-up and going home +separately the better; separation has done us anything but good, it +seems to me, even on the march. My men and I, at any rate, very soon +paid the penalty for private excursions; as I dare say you have not +forgotten." +</p> +<p> +(9) Upon that Artabazus rode, the Mede who had claimed kinship with +Cyrus in the old days. +</p> +<p> +"Cyaxares," said he, "in one respect I differ from those who have spoken +before me: they think we should stay here in order to go on with the +campaign, but I think I am always on campaign at home. (10) I was for +ever out on some expedition or other, because our people were being +harried, or our fortresses threatened, and a world of trouble I had, +what with fears within and fighting without, and all too at my own +expense. As it is now, I occupy the enemy's forts, my fear of them is +gone, I make good cheer on their own good things, and I drink their own +good wine. Since home means fighting and service here means feasting, I +am not in favour myself," said he, "of breaking up the company." +</p> +<p> +(11) Then Gobryas spoke. +</p> +<p> +"Friends," said he, "I have trusted Cyrus' word and had no fault to +find with him: what he promises that he performs: but if he leaves the +country now, the Assyrian will be reprieved, he will never be punished +for the wrongs he tried to inflict on you and did inflict on me: I shall +be punished instead, because I have been your friend." +</p> +<p> +(12) At that Cyrus rose at last and said: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen, I am well aware that the disbanding of our forces must mean +the decrease of our power and the increase of theirs. If some of them +have given up their weapons, they will soon procure others; if some have +lost their horses, the loss will soon be made good; if some have fallen +in battle, others, younger and stronger, will take their place. We need +not be surprised if they are soon in a condition to cause us trouble +again. (13) Why, then, did I ask Cyaxares to put the question to debate? +Because, I answer, I am afraid of the future. I see opponents against +us whom we cannot fight, if we conduct the campaign as we are doing now. +(14) Winter is advancing against us, and though we may have shelter for +ourselves we have nothing, heaven knows, for our horses and our servants +and the great mass of our soldiery, without whom we cannot even think +of a campaign. As to provisions, up to the limits of our advance and +because of that advance they have been exhausted; and beyond that line, +owing to the terror we inspire, the inhabitants will have stowed their +supplies away in strong places where they can enjoy them and we cannot +get them. (15) Where is the warrior, stout of heart and strong of will, +who can wage war with cold and hunger? If our style of soldiering is to +be only what it has been, I say we ought to disband at once of our own +accord, and not wait to be driven from the field against our will by +sheer lack of means. If we do wish to go forward, this is what we must +do: we must detach from the enemy all the fortresses we can and secure +all we can for our own: if this is done, the larger supply will be in +the hands of those who can stow away the larger store, and the weaker +will suffer siege. (16) At present we are like mariners on the ocean: +they may sail on for ever, but the seas they have crossed are no +more theirs than those that are still unsailed. But if we hold the +fortresses, the enemy will find they are living in a hostile land, +while we have halcyon weather. (17) Some of you may dread the thought of +garrison duty far from home; if so, dispel your doubts. We Persians, +who must, as it is, be exiles for the time, will undertake the positions +that are nearest to the foe, while it will be for you to occupy the land +on the marches between Assyria and yourselves and put it under tillage. +(18) For, if we can hold his inner line, your peace will not be +disturbed in the outlying parts: he will scarcely neglect the danger at +his door to attack you out in the distance." +</p> +<p> +(19) At this the whole assembly rose to express their eagerness and +assent, and Cyaxares stood up with them. And both Gadatas and Gobryas +offered to fortify a post if the allies wished, and thus provide two +cities of refuge to start with. +</p> +<p> +(20) Finally Cyrus, thus assured of the general consent to his +proposals, said, "If we really wish to carry out what we have set +ourselves, we must prepare battering-rams and siege engines, and get +together mechanics and builders for our own castles." (21) Thereupon +Cyaxares at once undertook to provide an engine at his own expense, +Gadatas and Gobryas made themselves responsible for a second, Tigranes +for a third, and Cyrus himself promised he would try to furnish two. +(22) That done, every one set to work to find engineers and artisans and +to collect material for the machines; and superintendents were appointed +from those best qualified for the work. +</p> +<p> +(23) Now Cyrus was aware that all this would take some time, and +therefore he encamped his troops in the healthiest spot he could find +and the easiest to supply, strengthening, wherever necessary, the +natural defences of the place, so that the detachment left in charge for +the time should always be in complete security, even though he might be +absent himself with the main body of his force. (24) Nor was this all; +he questioned those who knew the country best, and, learning where he +would be rewarded for his pains, he would lead his men out to forage, +and thus procure as large supplies as possible, keep his soldiers in the +best of health and strength, and fix their drill in their minds. +</p> +<p> +(25) So Cyrus spent his days, and meanwhile the deserters from Babylon +and the prisoners who were captured all told the same story: they said +that the king had gone off to Lydia, taking with him store of gold and +silver, and riches and treasures of every kind. (26) The mass of the +soldiers were convinced that he was storing his goods away from fear, +but Cyrus knew that he must have gone to raise, if possible, an opponent +who could face them, and therefore he pushed his preparations forward +vigorously, feeling that another battle must be fought. He filled up the +Persian cavalry to its full complement, getting the horses partly from +the prisoners, partly from his own friends. There were two gifts he +would never refuse, horses and good weapons. (27) He also procured +chariots, taking them from the enemy or wherever he could find them. +The old Trojan type of charioteering, still in use to this day among the +Cyrenaeans, he abolished; before his time the Medes, the Syrians, the +Arabians, and all Asiatics generally, used their chariots in the same +way as the Cyrenaeans do now. (28) The fault of the system to his mind +was that the very flower of the army, if the picked men were in the +chariots, could only act at long range and so contribute little after +all to the victory. Three hundred chariots meant twelve hundred horses +and three hundred fighting-men, besides the charioteers, who would +naturally be men above the common, in whom the warriors could place +confidence: and that meant another three hundred debarred from injuring +the enemy in any kind of way. (29) Such was the system he abolished in +favour of the war-chariot proper, with strong wheels to resist the shock +of collision, and long axles, on the principle that a broad base is the +firmer, while the driver's seat was changed into what might be called +a turret, stoutly built of timber and reaching up to the elbow, +leaving the driver room to manage the horses above the rim. The drivers +themselves were all fully armed, only their eyes uncovered. (30) He had +iron scythes about two feet long attached to the axles on either side, +and others, under the tree, pointing to the ground, for use in a charge. +Such was the type of chariot invented by Cyrus, and it is still in use +to-day among the subjects of the Great King. Beside the chariots he had +a large number of camels, collected from his friends or captured +from the enemy. (31) Moreover, he decided to send a spy into Lydia to +ascertain the movements of the king, and he thought that the right man +for this purpose was Araspas, the officer in charge of the fair lady +from Susa. Matters had gone ill with Araspas: he had fallen passionately +in love with his prisoner, and been led to entreat her to be his +paramour. (32) She had refused, faithful to her husband who was far +away, for she loved him dearly, but she forbore to accuse Araspas to +Cyrus, being unwilling to set friend at strife with friend. (33) But +when at length Araspas, thinking it would help him in his desires, began +to threaten her, saying that if she would not yield he would have his +will of her by force, then in her dread of violence she could keep the +matter hid no longer, and she sent her eunuch to Cyrus with orders to +tell him everything. (34) And when Cyrus heard it he smiled over the man +who had boasted that he was superior to love, and sent Artabazus back +with the eunuch to tell Araspas that he must use no violence against +such a woman, but if he could persuade her, he might do so. (35) But +Artabazus, when he saw Araspas, rebuked him sternly, saying that the +woman was a sacred trust, and his conduct disgraceful, impious, and +wicked, till Araspas burst into tears of misery and shame, and was half +dead at the thought of what Cyrus would do. (36) Learning this, Cyrus +sent for him, saw him alone, and said to him face to face: +</p> +<p> +"Araspas, I know that you are afraid of me and in an agony of shame. +Be comforted; we are told that the gods themselves are made subject to +desire, and I could tell you what love has forced some men to undergo, +men who seemed most lofty and most wise. Did I not pass sentence on +myself, when I confessed I was too weak to consort with loveliness and +remain unmoved? Indeed it is I who am most to blame in the matter, for I +shut you up myself with this irresistible power." +</p> +<p> +(37) But Araspas broke in on his words: +</p> +<p> +"Ah, Cyrus, you are ever the same, gentle and compassionate to human +weaknesses. But all the rest of the world has no pity on me; they drown +me in wretchedness. As soon as the tattlers got wind of my misfortune, +all my enemies exulted, and my friends came to me, advising me to make +away with myself for fear of you, because my iniquity was so great." +</p> +<p> +(38) Then Cyrus said, "Now listen: this opinion about you may be the +means by which you can do me a great kindness and your comrades a great +service." "Oh, that it were possible!" said Araspas, "for me ever to +be of service to you!" (39) "Well," said the other, "if you went to the +enemy, feigning that you had fled from me, I think they would believe +you." "I am sure they would," said Araspas, "I know even my own friends +would think that of course I ran away." (40) "Then you will come back +to us," Cyrus went on, "with full information about the enemy's affairs; +for, if I am right in my expectation, they will trust you and let you +see all their plans, so that you need miss nothing of what we wish to +know." "I will be off this moment," said Araspas; "it will be my best +credential to have it thought I was just in time to escape punishment +from you." +</p> +<p> +(41) "Then you can really bring yourself to leave the beautiful +Pantheia?" +</p> +<p> +"Yes, Cyrus," he answered, "I can; for I see now that we have two souls. +This is the lesson of philosophy that I have learnt from the wicked +sophist Love. If we had but a single soul, how could she be at once evil +and good? How could she be enamoured at once of nobleness and baseness, +or at once desire and not desire one deed and the same? No, it is clear +that we have two souls, and when the beautiful soul prevails, all fair +things are wrought, and when the evil soul has the mastery, she lays her +hand to shame and wickedness. But to-day my good soul conquers, because +she has you to help her." +</p> +<p> +(42) "Well," said Cyrus, "if you have decided on going, it is thus you +had better go. Thus you will win their confidence, and then you must +tell them what we are doing, but in such a way as to hinder their own +designs. It would hinder them, for example, if you said that we were +preparing an attack on their territory at a point not yet decided; for +this would check the concentration of their forces, each leader being +most concerned for the safety of his own home. (43) Stay with them," he +added, "till the last moment possible: what they do when they are close +at hand is just what is most important for us to know. Advise them how +to dispose their forces in the way that really seems the best, for then, +after you are gone and although it may be known that you are aware of +their order, they will be forced to keep to it, they will not dare to +change it, and should they do so at the last moment they will be thrown +into confusion." +</p> +<p> +(44) Thereupon Araspas took his leave, called together his trustiest +attendants, said what he thought necessary for the occasion, and +departed. +</p> +<p> +(45) Now Pantheia, when she heard that Araspas had fled, sent a +messenger to Cyrus, saying: +</p> +<p> +"Grieve not, Cyrus, that Araspas has gone to join the foe: I will +bring you a far trustier friend than he, if you will let me send for my +husband, and I know he will bring with him all the power that he has. It +is true that the old king was my husband's friend, but he who reigns now +tried to tear us two asunder, and my husband knows him for a tyrant and +a miscreant, and would gladly be quit of him and take service with such +a man as you." +</p> +<p> +(46) When Cyrus heard that, he bade Pantheia send word to her husband, +and she did so. Now when Abradatas saw the tokens from his wife, and +learnt how matters stood, he was full of joy, and set out for Cyrus' +camp immediately, with a thousand horsemen in his train. And when he +came to the Persian outposts he sent to Cyrus saying who he was, and +Cyrus gave orders that he should be taken to Pantheia forthwith. (47) So +husband and wife met again after hope had well-nigh vanished, and were +in each other's arms once more. And then Pantheia spoke of Cyrus, +his nobleness, his honour, and the compassion he had shown her, and +Abradatas cried: +</p> +<p> +"Tell me, tell me, how can I repay him all I owe him in your name and +mine!" And she answered: +</p> +<p> +"So deal with him, my husband, as he has dealt with you." +</p> +<p> +(48) And thus Abradatas went to Cyrus, and took him by the hand, and +said: +</p> +<p> +"Cyrus, in return for the kindness you have shown us, I can say no more +than this: I give myself to you, I will be your friend, your servant, +and your ally: whatever you desire, I will help you to win, your +fellow-worker always, so far as in me lies." +</p> +<p> +(49) Then Cyrus answered: +</p> +<p> +"And I will take your gift: but for the moment you must leave me, and +sup with your wife: another day you will let me play the host, and give +you lodging with your friends and mine." +</p> +<p> +(50) Afterwards Abradatas perceived how much Cyrus had at heart the +scythe-bearing chariots and the cavalry and the war-horses with their +armour, and he resolved to equip a hundred chariots for him out of his +own cavalry force. (51) These he proposed to lead himself in a chariot +of his own, four-poled and drawn by eight horses, all the eight +protected by chest-plates of bronze. (52) So Abradatas set to work, and +this four-poled chariot of his gave Cyrus the idea of making a car +with eight poles, drawn by eight yoke of oxen, to carry the lowest +compartment of the battering engines, which stood, with its wheels, +about twenty-seven feet from the ground. (53) Cyrus felt that he had a +series of such towers brought into the field at a fair pace they would +be of immense service to him, and inflict as much damage on the enemy. +The towers were built with galleries and parapets, and each of them +could carry twenty men. (54) When the whole was put together he tested +it and found that the eight yoke of oxen could draw the whole tower with +the men more easily than one yoke by itself could manage the ordinary +weight of baggage, which came to about five-and-twenty talents apiece, +whereas the tower, build of planks about as thick as the boards for +a stage, weighed less than fifteen for each yoke. (55) Thus, having +satisfied himself that the attempt was perfectly possible, he arranged +to take the towers into action, believing that in war selfishness meant +salvation, justice, and happiness. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) About this time ambassadors came to Cyrus from India with gifts of +courtesy and a message from their king, saying: +</p> +<p> +"I send you greeting, Cyrus, and I rejoice that you told me of your +needs. I desire to be your friend and I offer you gifts; and if you have +need of anything more, I bid you say the word, and it shall be yours. I +have told my men to do whatever you command." +</p> +<p> +(2) Then Cyrus answered: +</p> +<p> +"This, then, is my bidding: the rest of you shall stay where you have +pitched your tents; you shall guard your treasures and live as you +choose: but three of you shall go to the enemy and make believe that you +have come to him about an alliance with your king, and thus you shall +learn how matters stand, and all they say and all they do, and so bring +me word again with speed. And if you serve me well in this, I shall owe +you even more than I could owe you for these gifts. There are some spies +who are no better than slaves, and have no skill to find out anything +more than is known already, but there are men of another sort, men of +your stamp, who can discover plans that are not yet disclosed." +</p> +<p> +(3) The Indians listened gladly, and for the moment made themselves at +home as the guests of Cyrus: but the next day they got ready and set +off on their journey, promising to find out as much as they could of the +enemy's secrets and bring him word again with all possible speed. +</p> +<p> +(4) Meanwhile Cyrus continued his preparations for the war on +a magnificent scale, like one who meant to accomplish no small +achievement. Not only did he carry out all the resolutions of the +allies, but he breathed a spirit of emulation into his own friends +and followers, till each strove to outshine his fellows in arms +and accoutrements, in horsemanship and spearmanship and archery, in +endurance of toil and danger. (5) Cyrus would lead them out to the +chase, and show especial honour to those who distinguished themselves in +any way: he would whet the ambition of the officers by praising all who +did their best to improve their men, and by gratifying them in every way +he could. (6) At every sacrifice and festival he instituted games and +contests in all martial exercises, and lavished prizes on the victors, +till the whole army was filled with enthusiasm and confidence. (7) By +this time Cyrus had almost everything in readiness for the campaign, +except the battering-machines. The Persian cavalry was made up to its +full number of ten thousand men, and the scythed chariots were complete, +a hundred of his own, and a hundred that Abradatas of Susa had provided. +(8) Beside these there were a hundred of the old Median chariots which +Cyrus had persuaded Cyaxares to remodel on his own type, giving up +the Trojan and Lydian style. The camels were ready also, each animal +carrying a couple of mounted archers. +</p> +<p> +The bulk of the great army felt almost as though they had already +conquered, and the enemy's power was held of no account. +</p> +<p> +(9) While matters were thus, the Indians whom Cyrus had sent out +returned with their report. Croesus had been chosen leader and +general-in-chief; a resolution had been passed, calling on all the +allied kings to bring up their entire forces, raise enormous sums for +the war, and spend them in hiring mercenaries where they could and +making presents where they must. (10) Large numbers of Thracians, armed +with the short sword, had already been enrolled, and a body of Egyptians +were coming by sea, amounting—so said the Indians—to 120,000 men, +armed with long shields reaching to their feet, huge spears (such as +they carry to this day), and sabres. Beside these, an army was expected +from Cyprus, and there were already on the spot all the Cilicians, the +men of both the Phrygias, of Lycaonia, Paphlagonia, and Cappadocia, +the Arabians, the Phoenicians, and all the Assyrians under the king of +Babylon. Moreover, the Ionians, and Aeolians, and indeed nearly all the +Hellenic colonists on the coast were compelled to follow in the train of +Croesus. (11) Croesus himself had already sent to Lacedaemon to propose +an alliance with the Spartans. The armament was mustering on the banks +of the Pactolus, and they were to push forward presently to Thymbrara +(the place which is still the mustering-ground for all the Asiatic +subjects of the Great King west of Syria), and orders had been issued to +open a market there. This report agreed with the accounts given by the +prisoners, for Cyrus was always at pains to gave men captured from +whom he could get some information, and he would also send out spies +disguised as runaway slaves. +</p> +<p> +(12) Such were the tidings, and when the army heard the news there was +much anxiety and concern, as one may well suppose. The men went about +their work with an unusual quietness, their faces clouded over, or +gathered in knots and clusters everywhere, anxiously asking each other +the news and discussing the report. (13) When Cyrus saw that fear was in +the camp, he called a meeting of his generals, and indeed of all +whose dejection might injure the cause and whose confidence assist it. +Moreover, he sent word that any of the attendants, or any of the rank +and file, who wished to hear what he had to say, would be allowed to +come and listen. When they met, he spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +(14) "My friends and allies, I make no secret of the reason I have +called you here. It was because I saw that some of you, when the reports +of the enemy reached us, looked like men who were panic-stricken. But I +must say I am astonished that any of you should feel alarm because the +enemy is mustering his forces, and not be reassured by remembering that +our own is far larger than it was when we conquered him before, and far +better provided, under heaven, with all we need. (15) I ask you how you +would have felt, you who are afraid now, if you had been told that a +force exactly like our own was marching upon us, if you had heard that +men who had conquered us already were coming now, carrying in their +hearts the victory they had won, if you knew that those who made short +work then of all our bows and javelins were advancing again, and others +with them, ten thousand times as many? (16) Suppose you heard that the +very men who had routed our infantry once were coming on now equipt as +before, but this time on horseback, scorning arms and javelins, each man +armed with one stout spear, ready to charge home? (17) Suppose you heard +of chariots, made on a new pattern, not to be kept motionless, standing, +as hitherto, with their backs turned to the foe as if for flight, but +with the horses shielded by armour, and the drivers sheltered by wooden +walls and protected by breastplates and helmets, and the axles fitted +with iron scythes so that they can charge straight into the ranks of the +foe? (18) And suppose you heard that they have camels to ride on, each +one of which would scare a hundred horses, and that they will bring +up towers from which to help their own friends, and overwhelm us with +volleys of darts so that we cannot fight them on level ground? (19) If +this were what you had heard of the enemy, I as you, once again, you who +are now so fearful what would you have done? You who turn pale when +told that Croesus has been chosen commander-in-chief, Croesus who proved +himself so much more cowardly than the Syrians, that when they were +worsted in battle and fled, instead of helping them, his own allies, he +took to his heels himself. (20) We are told, moreover, that the enemy +himself does not feel equal to facing you alone, he is hiring others +to fight for him better than he could for himself. I can only say, +gentlemen, that if any individual considers our position as I describe +it alarming or unfavourable, he had better leave us. Let him join our +opponents, he will do us far more service there than here." +</p> +<p> +(21) When Cyrus had ended, Chrysantas the Persian stood up and said: +</p> +<p> +"Cyrus, you must not wonder if the faces of some were clouded when they +heard the news. The cloud was a sign of annoyance, not of fear. Just as +if," he went on, "a company were expecting breakfast immediately, and +then were told there was some business that must be got through first, I +do not suppose any of them would be particularly pleased. Here we were, +saying to ourselves that our fortunes were made, and now we are informed +there is still something to be done, and of course our countenances +fell, not because we were afraid, but because we could have wished it +all over and done with. (22) However, since it now appears that Syria +is not to be the only prize—though there is much to be got in Syria, +flocks and herds and corn and palm-trees yielding fruit—but Lydia as +well, Lydia the land of wine and oil and fig-trees, Lydia, to whose +shores the sea brings more good things than eyes can feast on, I say +that once we realise this we can mope no longer, our spirits will rise +apace, and we shall hasten to lay our hands on the Lydian wealth without +delay." +</p> +<p> +So he spoke, and the allies were well pleased at his words and gave him +loud applause. +</p> +<p> +(23) "Truly, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "as Chrysantas says, I think we +ought to march without delay, if only to be beforehand with our foes, +and reach their magazines before they do themselves; and besides, the +quicker we are, the fewer resources we shall find with them. (24) That +is how I put the matter, but if any one sees a safer or an easier way, +let him instruct us." +</p> +<p> +But many speakers followed, all urging an immediate march, without one +speech in opposition, and so Cyrus took up the word again and said: +</p> +<p> +(25) "My friends and allies, God helping us, our hearts, our bodies, +and our weapons have now been long prepared: all that remains is to get +together what we need for ourselves and our animals on a march of at +least twenty days. I reckon that the journey itself must take more than +fifteen, and not a vestige of food shall we find from end to end. It has +all been made away with, partly by ourselves, partly by our foes, so far +as they could. (26) We must collect enough corn, without which one can +neither fight nor live: and as for wine, every man must carry just +so much as will accustom him to drink water: the greater part of the +country will be absolutely devoid of wine, and the largest supply we +could take with us would not hold out. (27) But to avoid too sudden a +change and the sickness that might follow, this is what we must do. We +must begin by taking water with our food: we can do this without any +great change in our habits. (28) For every one who eats porridge has +the oatmeal mixed with water, and every one who eats bread has the wheat +soaked in water, and all boiled meat is prepared in water. We shall not +miss the wine if we drink a little after the meal is done. (29) Then we +must gradually lessen the amount, until we find that, without knowing +it, we have become water-drinkers. Gradual change enables every creature +to go through a complete conversion; and this is taught us by God, who +leads us little by little out of winter until we can bear the blazing +heat of summer, and out of heat back again into the depths of winter. So +should we follow God, and take one step after another until we reach our +goal. (30) What you might spend on heavy rugs and coverlets spend rather +on food: any superfluity there will not be wasted: and you will not +sleep less soundly for lack of bedclothes; if you do, I give you leave +to blame me. But with clothing the case is different: a man can hardly +have too much of that in sickness or in health. (31) And for seasoning +you should take what is sharp and dry and salted, for such meats +are more appetising and more satisfying. And since we may come into +districts as yet unravaged where we may find growing corn, we ought to +take handmills for grinding: these are the lightest machines for +the purpose. (32) Nor must we forget to supply ourselves with +medicines—they are small in bulk and, if need arises, invaluable. And +we ought to have a large supply of straps—I wonder what is not fastened +by a strap to man or horse? But straps wear out and get broken and then +things are at a standstill unless there are spare ones to be had. (33) +Some of you have learnt to shave spears, so that it would be as well not +to forget a plane, and also to carry a rasp, for the man who sharpens a +spearhead will sharpen his spirit too. He will feel ashamed to whet the +edge and be a coward. And we must take plenty of timber for chariots and +waggons; there is bound to be many a breakdown on the road. (34) Also +we shall need the most necessary tools for repairs, since smiths and +carpenters are not to be found at every turn, but there are few who +cannot patch up a makeshift for the time. Then there should be a mattock +and a shovel apiece for every waggon, and on every beast of burden a +billhook and an axe, always useful to the owner and sometimes a boon +to all. (35) The provisions must be seen to by the officers of the +fighting-line; they must inspect the men under their command and see +that nothing is omitted which any man requires; the omission would be +felt by us all. Those of you who are in command of the baggage-train +will inspect what I have ordered for the animals and insist upon every +man being provided who is not already supplied. (36) You, gentlemen, who +are in command of the road-makers, you have the lists of the soldiers I +have disqualified from serving as javelin-men, bowmen, or slingers, and +you will make the old javelin men march with axes for felling timber, +the bowmen with mattocks, and the slingers with shovels. They will +advance by squads in front of the waggons so that if there is any +road-making to be done you may set to work at once, and in case of need +I may know where to get the men I want. (37) I mean also to take a corps +of smiths, carpenters, and cobblers, men of military age, provided with +the proper tools, to supply any possible need. These men will not be +in the fighting-line, but they will have a place assigned to them where +they can be hired by any one who likes. (38) If any huckster wishes +to follow the army with his wares, he may do so, but if caught selling +anything during the fifteen days for which provisions have been ordered, +he will be deprived of all his goods: after the fifteen days are done he +may sell what he likes. Any merchant who offers us a well-stocked market +will receive recompense and honour from the allies and myself. (39) +And if any one needs an advance of money for trading, he must send me +guarantors who will undertake that he will march with the army, and then +he can draw on our funds. These are the general orders: and I will ask +any of you who think that anything has been omitted to point it out +to me. (40) You will now go back to your quarters and make your +preparations, and while you do so I will offer sacrifice for our journey +and when the signs are favourable we will give the signal. At that +you must present yourselves, with everything I have ordered, at the +appointed place, under your own officers. (41) And you, gentlemen," said +he, turning to the officers, "when your divisions are all in line, you +will come to me in a body to receive your final orders." +</p> +<p> +(C.3) With these instructions the army went to make their preparations +while Cyrus offered sacrifice. +</p> +<p> +As soon as the victims were favourable, he set out with his force. +</p> +<p> +On the first day they encamped as near by as possible, so that anything +left behind could easily be fetched and any omission readily supplied. +(2) Cyaxares stayed in Media with a third of the Median troops in order +not to leave their own country undefended. Cyrus himself pushed forward +with all possible speed, keeping his cavalry in the van and constantly +sending explorers and scouts ahead to some look-out. Behind the cavalry +came the baggage, and on the plains he had long strings of waggons and +beasts of burden, and the main army behind them, so that if any of the +baggage-train fell back, the officers who caught them up would see that +they did not lose their places in the march. (3) But where the road was +narrower the fighting-men marched on either side with the baggage in the +middle, and in case of any block it was the business of the soldiers +on the spot to attend to the matter. As a rule, the different regiments +would be marching alongside their own baggage, orders having been +given that all members of the train should advance by regiments +unless absolutely prevented. (4) To help matters the brigadier's own +body-servant led the way with an ensign known to his men, so that each +regiment marched together, the men doing their best to keep up with +their comrades. Thus there was no need to search for each other, +everything was to hand, there was greater security, and the soldiers +could get what they wanted more quickly. +</p> +<p> +(5) After some days the scouts ahead thought they could see people in +the plain collecting fodder and timber, and then they made out beasts of +burden, some grazing and others already laden, and as they scanned the +distance they felt sure they could distinguish something that was either +smoke rising or clouds of dust; and from all this they concluded +that the enemy's army was not far off. (6) Whereupon their commander +despatched a messenger with the news to Cyrus, who sent back word that +the scouts should stay where they were, on their look-out, and tell him +if they saw anything more, while he ordered a squadron of cavalry to +ride forward, and intercept, if they could, some of the men on the plain +and so discover the actual state of affairs. (7) While the detachment +carried out this order Cyrus halted the rest of his army to make such +dispositions as he thought necessary before coming to close quarters. +His first order was for the troops to take their breakfast: after +breakfast they were to fall in and wait for the word of command. (8) +When breakfast was over he sent for all the officers from the cavalry, +the infantry, and the chariot brigade, and for the commanders of the +battering engines and the baggage train, and they came to him. (9) +Meanwhile the troop of horse had dashed into the plain, cut off some +of the men, and now brought them in captive. The prisoners, on being +questioned by Cyrus, said they belonged to the camp and had gone out +to forage or cut wood and so had passed beyond their own pickets, for, +owing to the size of their army, everything was scarce. +</p> +<p> +(10) "How far is your army from here?" asked Cyrus. "About seven miles," +said they. "Was there any talk about us down there?" said he. "We should +think there was," they answered; "it was all over the camp that you were +coming." "Ah," said Cyrus, "I suppose they were glad to hear we were +coming so soon?" (putting this question for his officers to hear the +answer). "That they were not," said the prisoners, "they were anything +but glad; they were miserable." (11) "And what are they doing now?" +asked Cyrus. "Forming their line of battle," answered they; "yesterday +and the day before they did the same." +</p> +<p> +"And their commander?" said Cyrus, "who is he?" "Croesus himself," said +they, "and with him a Greek, and also another man, a Mede, who is said +to be a deserter from you." +</p> +<p> +"Ah," cried Cyrus, "is that so? Most mighty Zeus, may I deal with him as +I wish!" +</p> +<p> +(12) Then he had the prisoners led away and turned to speak to his +officers, but at this moment another scout appeared, saying that a large +force of cavalry was in the plain. "We think," he added, "that they are +trying to get a sight of our army. For about thirty of them are riding +ahead at a good round pace and they seem to be coming straight for our +little company, perhaps to capture our look-out if they can, for there +are only ten of us there." +</p> +<p> +(13) At that Cyrus sent off a detachment from his own bodyguard, +bidding them gallop up to the place, unseen by the enemy, and stay there +motionless. "Wait," he said, "until our own ten must leave the spot and +then dash out on the thirty as they come up the hill. And to prevent any +injury from the larger body, do you, Hystaspas," said he, turning to the +latter, "ride out with a thousand horse, and let them see you suddenly, +face to face. But remember not to pursue them out of sight, come back as +soon as you have secured our post. And if any of your opponents ride up +with their right hands raised, welcome them as friends." +</p> +<p> +(14) Accordingly Hystaspas went off and got under arms, while the +bodyguard galloped to the spot. But before they reached the scouts, some +one met them with his squires, the man who had been sent out as a spy, +the guardian of the lady from Susa, Araspas himself. (15) When the news +reached Cyrus, he sprang up from his seat, went to meet him himself, +and clasped his hand, but the others, who of course knew nothing, were +utterly dumbfounded, until Cyrus said: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen, the best of our friends has come back to us. It is high +time that all men should know what he has done. It was not through any +baseness, or any weakness, or any fear of me, that he left us; it was +because I sent him to be my messenger, to learn the enemy's doings and +bring us word. (16) Araspas, I have not forgotten what I promised you, +I will repay you, we will all repay you. For, gentlemen, it is only +just that all of you should pay him honour. Good and true I call him who +risked himself for our good, and took upon himself a reproach that was +heavy to bear." +</p> +<p> +(17) At that all crowded round Araspas and took him by the hand and made +him welcome. Then Cyrus spoke again: +</p> +<p> +"Enough, my friends, Araspas has news for us, and it is time to hear it. +Tell us your tale, Araspas, keep back nothing of the truth, and do not +make out the power of the enemy less than it really is. It is far better +that we should find it smaller than we looked for rather than strong +beyond our expectations." (18) "Well," began Araspas, "in order to +learn their numbers, I managed to be present at the marshalling of their +troops." "Then you can tell us," said Cyrus, "not only their numbers but +their disposition in the field." "That I can," answered Araspas, "and +also how they propose to fight." "Good," said Cyrus, "but first let us +hear their numbers in brief." (19) "Well," he answered, "they are drawn +up thirty deep, infantry and cavalry alike, all except the Egyptians, +and they cover about five miles; for I was at great pains," he added, +"to find out how much ground they occupied." +</p> +<p> +(20) "And the Egyptians?" Cyrus said, "how are they drawn up? I noticed +you said, 'all except the Egyptians.'" +</p> +<p> +"The Egyptians," he answered, "are drawn up in companies of ten +thousand, under their own officers, a hundred deep, and a hundred +broad: that, they insisted, was their usual formation at home. Croesus, +however, was very loth to let them have their own way in this: he wished +to outflank you as much as possible." "Why?" Cyrus asked, "what was his +object?" "To encircle you, I imagine, with his wings." "He had better +take care," said Cyrus, "or his circle may find itself in the centre. +(21) But now you have told us what we most needed to know, and you, +gentlemen," said he to the officers, "on leaving this meeting, you will +look to your weapons and your harness. It often happens that the lack +of some little thing makes man or horse or chariot useless. To-morrow +morning early, while I am offering sacrifice, do you take your breakfast +and give your steeds their provender, so that when the moment comes to +strike you may not be found wanting. And then you, Araspas, must hold +the right wing in the position it has now, and the rest of you who +command a thousand men must do the same with your divisions: it is no +time to be changing horses when the race is being run; and you will send +word to the brigadiers and captains under you to draw up the phalanx +with each company two deep." (Now a company consisted of four-and-twenty +men.) +</p> +<p> +(22) Then one of the officers, a captain of ten thousand, said: +</p> +<p> +"Do you think, Cyrus, that with so shallow a depth we can stand against +their tremendous phalanx?" +</p> +<p> +"But do you suppose," rejoined he, "that any phalanx so deep that the +rear-ranks cannot close with the enemy could do much either for friend +or foe? (23) I myself," he added, "would rather this heavy infantry of +theirs were drawn up, not a hundred, but ten thousand deep: we should +have all the fewer to fight. Whereas with the depth that I propose, I +believe we shall not waste a man: every part of our army will work with +every other. (24) I will post the javelin-men behind the cuirassiers, +and the archers behind them: it would be absurd to place in the van +troops who admit that they are not made for hand-to-hand fighting; +but with the cuirassiers thrown in front of them they will stand firm +enough, and harass the enemy over the heads of our own men with their +arrows and their darts. And every stroke that falls on the enemy means +so much relief to our friends. (25) In the very rear of all I will post +our reserve. A house is useless without a foundation as well as a roof, +and our phalanx will be no use unless it has a rear-guard and a van, and +both of them good. (26) You," he added, "will draw up the ranks to suit +these orders, and you who command the targeteers will follow with your +companies in the same depth, and you who command the archers will follow +the targeteers. (27) Gentlemen of the reserve, you will hold your men in +the rear, and pass the word down to your own subordinates to watch the +men in front, cheer on those who do their duty, threaten him who plays +the coward, and if any man show signs of treachery, see that he dies the +death. It is for those in the van to hearten those behind them by word +and deed; it is for you, the reserve, to make the cowards dread you more +than the foe. (28) You know your work, and you will do it. Euphratus," +he added, turning to the officer in command of the artillery, "see that +the waggons with the towers keep as close to the phalanx as possible. +(29) And you, Daouchus, bring up the whole of your baggage-train under +cover of the towers and make your squires punish severely any man who +breaks the line. (30) You, Carouchas, keep the women's carriages close +behind the baggage-train. This long line of followers should give +an impression of vast numbers, allow our own men opportunity for +ambuscades, and force the enemy, if he try to surround us, to widen his +circuit, and the wider he makes it the weaker he will be. (31) That, +then, is your business; and you, gentlemen, Artaozus and Artagersas, +each of you take your thousand foot and guard the baggage. (32) And you, +Pharnouchus and Asiadatas, neither of you must lead your thousand horse +into the fighting-line, you must get them under arms by themselves +behind the carriages: and then come to me with the other officers as +fully-equipt as if you were to be the first to fight. (53) You, sir, who +command the camel-corps will take up your post behind the carriages +and look for further orders to Artagersas. (34) Officers of the +war-chariots, you will draw lots among yourselves, and he on whom the +lot falls will bring his hundred chariots in front of the fighting-line, +while the other two centuries will support our flanks on the right and +left." +</p> +<p> +(35) Such were the dispositions made by Cyrus; but Abradatas, the lord +of Susa, cried: +</p> +<p> +"Cyrus, let me, I pray you, volunteer for the post in front." +</p> +<p> +(36) And Cyrus, struck with admiration for the man, took him by the +hand, and turning to the Persians in command of the other centuries +said: +</p> +<p> +"Perhaps, gentlemen, you will allow this?" +</p> +<p> +But they answered that it was hard to resign the post of honour, and so +they all drew lots, and the lot fell on Abradatas, and his post was +face to face with the Egyptians. Then the officers left the council and +carried out the orders given, and took their evening meal and posted the +pickets and went to rest. +</p> +<p> +(C.4) But early on the morrow Cyrus offered sacrifice, and meanwhile the +rest of the army took their breakfast, and after the libation they armed +themselves, a great and goodly company in bright tunics and splendid +breastplates and shining helmets. All the horses had frontlets and +chest-plates, the chargers had armour on their shoulders, and the +chariot-horses on their flanks; so that the whole army flashed with +bronze, and shone like a flower with scarlet. (2) The eight-horse +chariot of Abradatas was a marvel of beauty and richness; and just as he +was about to put on the linen corslet of his native land, Pantheia came, +bringing him a golden breastplate and a helmet of gold, and armlets and +broad bracelets for his wrists, and a full flowing purple tunic, and +a hyacinth-coloured helmet-plume. All these she had made for him in +secret, taking the measure of his armour without his knowledge. (3) And +when he saw them, he gazed in wonder and said: +</p> +<p> +"Dear wife, and did you destroy your own jewels to make this armour for +me?" +</p> +<p> +But she said, "No, my lord, at least not the richest of them all, for +you shall be my loveliest jewel, when others see you as I see you now." +</p> +<p> +As she spoke, she put the armour on him, but then, though she tried to +hide it, the tears rolled down her cheeks. +</p> +<p> +(4) And truly, when Abradatas was arrayed in the new panoply, he, who +had been fair enough to look upon before, was now a sight of splendour, +noble and beautiful and free, as indeed his nature was. (5) He took the +reins from the charioteer, and was about to set foot on the car, when +Pantheia bade the bystanders withdraw, and said to him, "My own lord, +little need to tell you what you know already, yet this I say, if any +woman loved her husband more than her own soul, I am of her company. Why +should I try to speak? Our lives say more than any words of mine. (6) +And yet, feeling for you what you know, I swear to you by the love +between us that I would rather go down to the grave beside you after a +hero's death than live on with you in shame. I have thought you worthy +of the highest, and believed myself worthy to follow you. (7) And I +bear in mind the great gratitude we owe to Cyrus, who, when I was his +captive, chosen for his spoil, was too high-minded to treat me as a +slave, or dishonour me as a free woman; he took me and saved me for +you, as though I had been his brother's wife. (8) And when Araspas, my +warder, turned from him, I promised, if he would let me send for you, +I would bring him a friend in the other's place, far nobler and more +faithful." +</p> +<p> +(9) And as Pantheia spoke, Abradatas listened with rapture to her words, +and when she ended, he laid his hand upon her head, and looking up to +heaven he prayed aloud: +</p> +<p> +"O most mighty Zeus, make me worthy to be Pantheia's husband, and the +friend of Cyrus who showed us honour!" +</p> +<p> +(10) Then he opened the driver's seat and mounted the car, and the +driver shut the door, and Pantheia could not take him in her arms again, +so she bent and kissed the chariot-box. Then the car rolled forward and +she followed unseen till Abradatas turned and saw her and cried, "Be +strong, Pantheia, be of a good heart! Farewell, and hie thee home!" +</p> +<p> +(11) Thereupon her chamberlains and her maidens took her and brought her +back to her own carriage, and laid her down and drew the awning. But +no man, of all who was there that day, splendid as Abradatas was in his +chariot, had eyes to look on him until Pantheia had gone. +</p> +<p> +(12) Meanwhile Cyrus had found the victims favourable, and his army was +already drawn up in the order he had fixed. He had scouts posted ahead, +one behind the other, and then he called his officers together for his +final words: +</p> +<p> +(13) "Gentlemen, my friends and allies, the sacred signs from heaven are +as they were the day the gods gave us victory before, and I would call +to your minds thoughts to bring you gladness and confidence for the +fight. (14) You are far better trained than your enemies, you have +lived together and worked together far longer than they, you have won +victories together. What they have shared with one another has been +defeat, and those who have not fought as yet feel they have traitors to +right and left of them, while our recruits know that they enter battle +in company with men who help their allies. (15) Those who trust each +other will stand firm and fight without flinching, but when confidence +has gone no man thinks of anything but flight. (16) Forward then, +gentlemen, against the foe; drive our scythed chariots against their +defenceless cars, let our armed cavalry charge their unprotected horse, +and charge them home. (17) The mass of their infantry you have met +before; and as for the Egyptians, they are armed in much the same way as +they are marshalled; they carry shields too big to let them stir or see, +they are drawn up a hundred deep, which will prevent all but the merest +handful fighting. (18) If they count on forcing us back by their weigh, +they must first withstand our steel and the charge of our cavalry. And +if any of them do hold firm, how can they fight at once against cavalry, +infantry, and turrets of artillery? For our men on the towers will be +there to help us, they will smite the enemy until he flies instead of +fighting. (19) If you think there is anything wanting, tell me now; God +helping us, we will lack nothing. And if any man wishes to say anything, +let him speak now; if not, go to the altar and there pray to the gods to +whom we have sacrificed, and then fall in. (20) Let each man say to his +own men what I have said to him, let him show the men he rules that he +is fit to rule, let them see the fearlessness in his face, his bearing, +and his words." +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +C1.9. Artabazus "the kinsman" named now for the first time, why? +</p> +<p> +C1.11. Cf. Anglicè "his word": a delicate appeal to a man of honour. It +suits G.'s character. +</p> +<p> +C1.14-15. Speech full of metaphor: winter stalking on, with hunter and +frost attendant on either side; a stealthy, but august advance. +</p> +<p> +C1.16. A happy simile: <i>vide</i> Book of Wisdom (c. 5, 10, "And as a ship +that passeth over the waves of the water," etc.). +</p> +<p> +C1.38. How a fault may be turned to account: Hellenic stool of +repentance. +</p> +<p> +C1.41. Theory of two souls, to account for the yielding to base desires. +It works, but is it not the theory of a man whose will is weak, as we +say, or whose sympathetic nature has been developed at the expense +of his self-regulative? There is another way of putting it in +<i>Memorabilia</i>, Bk. I. c. ii., §§ 19-28. Xenophon is not more a +philosopher than a "philanthropist." He is full of compassion for human +weaknesses. +</p> +<p> +C1.44. Exit Araspas, to be baptised under this cloud of ignominy into +the sunshine of recognised joyous serviceableness. +</p> +<p> +C1.45. We grow fonder than ever of Pantheia. +</p> +<p> +C1.50. Irony: the chariots that are to cost Abradatas his life +hereafter. Is this tale "historic" at all? I mean, did Xenophon find +or hear any such story current? What is the relation, if any, to it of +Xenophon Ephesius, Antheia, and Abrocomas? (<i>Xenophon Ephesius</i>, a late +writer of romances.) Had that writer any echo of the names in his head? +What language are "Pantheia" and "Abradatas"? +</p> +<p> +C1.52. All very well, but the author hasn't told us anything about the +construction of these {mekhanai}, these battering engines, before, to +prepare us for this. Is that a slip, or how explainable? I think he +is betrayed into the description by reason of his interest in such +strategic matters. The expression is intelligible enough to any one +who knows about engines, just as we might speak of the butt or the +stanchion, or whatever it be. +</p> +<p> +C2.1-3. The Medians bring back the bread that was cast upon the waters. +Cyrus turns this gain to new account. He sacrifices the present natural +gain, i.e. the wealth, to the harder spiritual gain, viz., their +positive as opposed to their merely negative alliance. Cyrus <i>is</i> the +archic man. +</p> +<p> +C2.4. I have a sort of idea, or feeling that here the writer takes up +his pen afresh after a certain interval. C4-6 are a reduplication, not +unnatural indeed, but <i>pro tanto</i> tautological. +</p> +<p> +C2.7. Semi-historical basis. Prototype, when Agesilaus meditated the +advance on Persia, just before his recall. (See <i>Hellenica</i>, III. iv., +Works II. p. 29.) +</p> +<p> +C2.13 foll. The archic man can by a word of his mouth still the flutter +and incipient heave of terror-stricken hearts. +</p> +<p> +C2.15-18. A review of the improvements amounting to a complete +revolution in arms and attack effected by Cyrus. This is imagined as an +ideal accompaniment to the archic man and conqueror. Xenophon nowadays +on the relative advantages of the bayonet and the sword, cavalry and +infantry, etc., would have been very interesting. Cf. a writer like +Forbes. +</p> +<p> +(C2.19. "Syrians." The word is used loosely, including the Assyrians +and their kindred. See below C.22. "Syria" = Assyria and the adjacent +country.) +</p> +<p> +C2.21, fin. Xenophon has more than once witnessed this clouding of the +brow, the scowl or sulk of the less stalwart moral-fibred men (notably +in <i>Hellenica</i>). +</p> +<p> +C2.26 ff. How to give up wine: the art in it. Now listen, all you +blue-ribbonists! Xenophon, Hygienist. +</p> +<p> +C2.37. One would like to know how the price was regulated. Does any +learned German know? Note the orderliness and economy of it all. Is it, +as far as the army goes, novel in any respect, do you suppose, or only +idealised Hellenic? Spartan? +</p> +<p> +C3.14. A slight (intentional?) aposiopesis. Did H. have to drive back +the great cavalry division of the enemy? +</p> +<p> +C3.17. How quickly the archic man passes on! Cf. J. P. +</p> +<p> +C3.19. Notice the part given to the Egyptians to play. Why? (Agesilaus +died on his last campaign in Egypt.) +</p> +<p> +C3.25. Is it dramatic to make Cyrus speak in this way as if he were +lecturing a class on strategics? +</p> +<p> +C3.30. The advantage even of sutlers and women. This +several-times-repeated remark surprises me. But no doubt the arrangement +would give the enemy pause, and waste his time in out-flanking +movements: violà tout, hgd. At Cunaxa, however, the Persian did get +behind the Greek camp. No prototype there, then. (Xenophon, <i>Anabasis</i>, +Bk. I. c. 10.) +</p> +<p> +C4.2. We are more and more enamoured of Pantheia. +</p> +<p> +C4.7. As delicate as any modern in the respect for wedded womanhood. +</p> +<p> +C4.13 ff. Notice how in this stirring and inspiriting speech Cyrus by +dealing with the Egyptians (the only unknown quantity) strikes a new +note and sets up a new motive, as it were, preparing us for the tragic +struggle which is to come, which will cost Abradatas and other good +men dear, not to speak of the brave Egyptians themselves (cf. Sudanese +Arabs). Also note Xenophon's enthusiasm in reference to the new arming +and the odds of encounter between cavalry and infantry (cf. Napier, +Forbes, etc.). +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0010"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK VII +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) So they prayed to the gods and went to their place, and the +squires brought food and drink to Cyrus and his staff as they stood +round the sacrifice. And he took his breakfast where he stood, after +making the due offering, sharing what he had with all who needed it, and +he poured out the libation and prayed, and then drank, and his men with +him. +</p> +<p> +Then he supplicated Zeus, the god of his fathers, to be his leader and +helper in the fight, and so he mounted his horse and bade those about +him follow. (2) All his squires were equipped as he was, with scarlet +tunics, breastplates of bronze, and brazen helmets plumed with white, +short swords, and a lance of cornel-wood apiece. Their horses had +frontlets, chest-plates, and armour for their shoulders, all of bronze, +and the shoulder-pieces served as leg-guards for the riders. In one +thing only the arms of Cyrus differed from the rest: theirs was covered +with a golden varnish and his flashed like a mirror. (3) As he sat on +his steed, gazing into the distance, where he meant to go, a peal of +thunder rang out on the right, and he cried, "We will follow thee, O +Zeus most high!" +</p> +<p> +So he set forth with Chrysantas on his right at the head of cavalry and +Arsamas on his left with infantry. (4) And the word went down the lines, +"Eyes on the standard and steady marching." +</p> +<p> +The standard was a golden eagle, with outspread wings, borne aloft on +a long spear-shaft, and to this day such is the standard of the Persian +king. +</p> +<p> +Before they came in full sight of the Assyrians Cyrus halted the army +thrice. (5) And when they had gone about two miles or more, they began +to see the enemy advancing. As soon as both armies were in full view +of each other, and the Assyrians could see how much they outflanked +the Persians on either side, Croesus halted, in order to prepare an +encircling movement, and pushed out a column on the right wing and the +left, so that the Persian forces might be attacked on every side at +once. +</p> +<p> +(6) Cyrus saw it, but gave no sign of stopping; he led straight on as +before. Meanwhile he noticed that the turning-point where the Assyrians +had pushed out on either flank was an immense distance from their +centre, and he said to Chrysantas: +</p> +<p> +"Do you see where they have fixed their angle?" "Yes, I do," answered +Chrysantas, "and I am surprised at it: it seems to me they are drawing +their wings too far away from their centre." "Just so," said Cyrus, +"and from ours too." (7) "Why are they doing that?" asked the other. +"Clearly," said Cyrus, "they are afraid we shall attack, if their wings +are in touch with us while their centre is still some way off." +"But," went on Chrysantas, "how can they support each other at such a +distance?" "Doubtless," said Cyrus, "as soon as their wings are opposite +our flanks, they will wheel round, and then advance at once on every +side and so set us fighting everywhere at once." (8) "Well," said +Chrysantas, "do you think the movement wise?" "Yes," said Cyrus, "it +is good enough in view of what they can see, but, in view of what they +cannot, it is worse for them than if they had advanced in a single +column. Do you," he said, turning to Arsamas, "advance with your +infantry, slowly, taking your pace from me, and do you, Chrysantas, +march beside him with your cavalry, step for step. I will make for their +angle myself, where I propose to join battle, first riding round the +army to see how things are with all our men. (9) When I reach the point, +and we are on the verge of action, I will raise the paean and then +you must quicken your pace. You will know when we have closed with the +enemy, the din will be loud enough. At the same moment Abradatas will +dash out upon them: such will be his orders; your duty is to follow, +keeping as close to the chariots as possible. Thus we shall fall on the +enemy at the height of his confusion. And, God helping me, I shall be +with you also, cutting my way through the rout by the quickest road I +can. +</p> +<p> +(10) So he spoke, and sent the watchword down the lines, "Zeus our +saviour, and Zeus our leader," and went forward. As he passed between +the chariots and the cuirassiers, he would say to some, "My men, the +look on your faces rejoices my heart," and to others, "You understand, +gentlemen, that this battle is not for the victory of a day, but for all +that we have won ere now, and for all our happiness to come." (11) And +to others, "My friends, we can never reproach the gods again: to-day +they have put all blessings in our hands. (12) Let us show ourselves +good men and true." Or else, "Gentlemen, can we invite each other to a +more glorious feast than this? This day all gallant hearts are bidden; +this day they may feast their friends." (13) Or again, "You know, I +think, the prizes in this game: the victors pursue and smite and slay, +and win wealth and fame and freedom and empire: the cowards lose them +all. He who loves his own soul let him fight beside me: for I will have +no disgrace." (14) But if he met soldiers who had fought for him before, +he only said, "To you, gentlemen, what need I say? You know the brave +man's part in battle, and the craven's." (15) And when he came to +Abradatas, he halted, and Abradatas gave the reins to his charioteer +and came up to him, and others gathered round from the infantry and the +chariots, and Cyrus said: +</p> +<p> +"God has rewarded you, Abradatas, according to your prayer, you and +yours. You hold the first rank among our friends. And you will not +forget, when the moment for action comes, that those who watch you will +be Persians, and those who follow you, and they will not let you bear +the brunt alone." +</p> +<p> +(16) And Abradatas answered: +</p> +<p> +"Even so, Cyrus; and with us here, methinks, all looks well enough: but +the state of our flanks troubles me: the enemy's wings are strong and +stretch far: he has chariots there, and every kind of arm as well, while +we have nothing else with which to oppose him. So that for myself," said +he, "if I had not won by lot the post I hold, I should feel ashamed to +be here in the safest place of all." +</p> +<p> +(17) "Nay," answered Cyrus, "if it is well with you, have no concern for +the rest. God willing, I mean to relieve our flanks. But you yourself, +I conjure you, do not attack until you see the rout of those detachments +that you fear." +</p> +<p> +So much of boasting did Cyrus allow himself on the eve of action, though +he was the last man to boast at other times. +</p> +<p> +"When you see them routed," he said, "you may take it that I am there, +and then make your rush, for that is the moment when you will find the +enemy weakest and your own men strongest. (18) And while there is time, +Abradatas, be sure to drive along your front and prepare your men for +the charge, kindle their courage by your looks, lift up their hearts by +your hopes. Breathe a spirit of emulation into them, to make them prove +themselves the flower of the chariot-force. Be assured if things go well +with us all men will say nothing is so profitable as valour." +</p> +<p> +(19) Accordingly Abradatas mounted his chariot and drove along the lines +to do as Cyrus bade. +</p> +<p> +Meanwhile Cyrus went on to the left where Hystaspas was posted with half +the Persian cavalry, and he called to him and said: +</p> +<p> +"Hystaspas, here is work to test your pace! If we are quick enough in +cutting off their heads, none of us will be slaughtered first." +</p> +<p> +(20) And Hystaspas answered with a laugh: +</p> +<p> +"Leave it to us! We'll see to the men opposite. But set some one to deal +with the fellows on our flank: it would be a pity for them to be idle." +</p> +<p> +And Cyrus answered, "I am going to them myself. But remember, Hystaspas, +to which ever of us God grants the victory, so long as a single foeman +is on the field, attack we must, again and again, until the last has +yielded." +</p> +<p> +(21) With that he passed on, and as he came to the flank he went up to +the officer in command of the chariots and said to him: +</p> +<p> +"Good, I intend to support you myself. And when you hear me fall on +the wing, at that instant do your best to charge straight through your +opponents; you will be far safer once outside their ranks than if you +are caught half-way." +</p> +<p> +(22) Then he went on to the rear and the carriages, where the two +detachments were stationed, a thousand horse and a thousand foot, and +told Artagersas and Pharnouchus, their leaders, to keep the men where +they were. +</p> +<p> +"But when," he added, "you see me close with the enemy on our right, +then set upon those in front of you: take them in flank, where they are +weakest, while you advance in line, at your full strength. Their lines, +as you see, are closed by cavalry; hurl your camels at these, and you +may be sure, even before the fighting begins, they will cut a comic +figure." +</p> +<p> +(23) Thus, with all his dispositions made, Cyrus rode round the head +of his right. By this time Croesus, believing that the centre, where he +himself was marching, must be nearer the enemy than the distant wings, +had the signal raised for them to stop their advance, halt, and wheel +round where they were. When they were in position opposite the Persian +force, he signalled for them to charge, and thus three columns came at +once against Cyrus, one facing his front and one on either flank. (24) +A tremor ran through the whole army; it was completely enclosed, like a +little brick laid within a large, with the forces of the enemy all +round it, on every side except the rear, cavalry and heavy infantry, +targeteers, archers, and chariots. (25) None the less, the instant +Cyrus gave the word they swung round to confront the foe. There was deep +silence through the ranks as they realised what they had to face, and +then Cyrus, when the moment came, began the battle-hymn and it thundered +through the host. (26) And as it died away the war-cry rang out unto the +God of Battles, and Cyrus swooped forward at the head of his cavalry, +straight for the enemy's flank, and closed with them then and there, +while the infantry behind him followed, swift and steady, wave on wave, +sweeping out on either side, far out-flanking their opponents, for they +attacked in line and the foe were in column, to the great gain of Cyrus. +A short struggle, and the ranks broke and fled before him headlong. (27) +Artagersas, seeing that Cyrus had got to work, made his own charge on +the left, hurling his camels forward as Cyrus had advised. Even at a +distance the horses could not face the camels: they seemed to go mad +with fear, and galloped off in terror, rearing and falling foul of one +another: such is the strange effect of camels upon horses. (28) So that +Artagersas, his own troops well in hand, had easy work with the enemy's +bewildered masses. At the same moment the war-chariots dashed in, right +and left, so that many, flying from the chariots, were cut down by the +troopers, and many, flying from these, were caught by the chariots. +(29) And now Abradatas could wait no longer. "Follow me, my friends," +he shouted, and drove straight at the enemy, lashing his good steeds +forward till their flanks were bloody with the goad, the other +charioteers racing hard behind him. The enemy's chariots fled before +them instantly, some not even waiting to take up their fighting-men. +(30) But Abradatas drove on through them, straight into the main body of +the Egyptians, his rush shared by his comrades on either hand. And then, +what has often been shown elsewhere was shown here, namely, that of +all strong formations the strongest is a band of friends. His +brothers-in-arms and his mess-mates charged with him, but the others, +when they saw that the solid ranks of the Egyptians stood firm, swung +round and pursued the flying chariots. (31) Meanwhile Abradatas and his +companions could make no further way: there was not a gap through the +Egyptian lines on either hand, and they could but charge the single +soldiers where they stood, overthrow them by the sheer weight of horse +and car, and crush them and their arms beneath the hoofs and wheels. And +where the scythes caught them, men and weapons were cut to shreds. (32) +In the midst of indescribable confusion, the chariots rocking among the +weltering mounds, Abradatas was thrown out and some of his comrades with +him. There they stood, and fought like men, and there they were cut +down and died. The Persians, pouring in after them, dealt slaughter +and destruction where Abradatas and his men had charged and shaken the +ranks, but elsewhere the Egyptians, who were still unscathed, and they +were many, moved steadily on to meet them. +</p> +<p> +(33) There followed a desperate struggle with lance and spear and sword, +and still the Egyptians had the advantage, because of their numbers and +their weapons. Their spears were immensely stout and long, such as they +carry to this day, and the huge shield not only gave more protection +than corslet and buckler, but aided the thrust of the fighter, slung as +it was from the shoulder. +</p> +<p> +(34) Shield locked into shield, they thrust their way forward; and the +Persians could not drive them back, with their light bucklers borne on +the forearm only. Step by step they gave ground, dealing blow for blow, +till they came under cover of their own artillery. Then at last a second +shower of blows fell on the Egyptians, while the reserves would allow no +flight of the archers or the javelin-men: at the sword's point they made +them do their duty. (35) Thick was the slaughter, and loud the din of +clashing weapons and whirring darts, and shouting warriors, cheering +each other and calling on the gods. +</p> +<p> +(36) At this moment Cyrus appeared, cutting his way through his own +opponents. To see the Persians thrust from their position was misery +to him, but he knew he could check the enemy's advance most quickly by +galloping round to their rear, and thither he dashed, bidding his troops +follow, and there they fell upon them and smote them as they were gazing +ahead, and there they mowed them down. +</p> +<p> +(37) The Egyptians, seeing what had happened, cried out that the enemy +had taken them in the rear, and wheeled round under a storm of blows. At +this the confusion reached its height, cavalry and infantry struggling +all together. An Egyptian fell under Cyrus' horse, and as the hoofs +struck him he stabbed the creature in the belly. The charger reared +at the blow and Cyrus was thrown. (38) Then was seen what it is for +a leader to be loved by his men. With a terrible cry the men dashed +forward, conquering thrust with thrust and blow with blow. One of his +squires leapt down and set Cyrus on his own charger. (39) And as Cyrus +sprang on the horse he saw the Egyptians worsted everywhere. For by now +Hystaspas was on the ground with his cavalry, and Chrysantas also. Still +Cyrus would not allow them to charge the Egyptian phalanx: the archers +and javelin-men were to play on them from outside. Then he made his way +along the lines to the artillery, and there he mounted one of the towers +to take a survey of the field, and see if any of the foe still held +their ground and kept up the fight. (40) But he saw the plain one chaos +of flying horses and men and chariots, pursuers and pursued, conquerors +and conquered, and nowhere any who still stood firm, save only the +Egyptians. These, in sore straits as they were, formed themselves into +a circle behind a ring of steel, and sat down under cover of their +enormous shields. They no longer attempted to act, but they suffered, +and suffered heavily. (41) Cyrus, in admiration and pity, unwilling that +men so brave should be done to death, drew off his soldiers who were +fighting round them, and would not let another man lift sword. +</p> +<p> +Then he sent them a herald asking if they wished to be cut to pieces for +the sake of those who had betrayed them, or save their lives and keep +their reputation for gallantry? And they answered, "Is it possible that +we can be saved and yet keep our reputation untarnished?" (42) And Cyrus +said, "Surely yes, for we ourselves have seen that you alone have held +your ground and been ready to fight." "But even so," said the Egyptians, +"how can we act in honour if we save ourselves?" +</p> +<p> +"By betraying none of those at whose side you fought," answered Cyrus: +"only surrender your arms to us, and become our friends, the friends of +men who chose to save you when they might have destroyed you." (43) "And +if we become your friends," said they, "how will you treat us?" "As you +treat us," answered he, "and the treatment shall be good." +</p> +<p> +"And what will that good treatment be?" they asked once more. "This," +said Cyrus: "better pay than you have had, so long as the war lasts, and +when peace comes, if you choose to stay with me, lands and cities and +women and servants." (44) Then they asked him if he would excuse them +from one duty, service against Croesus. Croesus, they said, was the only +leader who knew them; for the rest, they were content to agree. And so +they came to terms, and took and gave pledges of good faith. (45) Thus +it came about that their descendants are to this day faithful subjects +of the king, and Cyrus gave them cities, some in the interior, which are +still called the cities of the Egyptians, beside Larissa and Kyllene and +Kyme on the coast, still held by their descendants. +</p> +<p> +When this matter was arranged darkness had already fallen, and Cyrus +drew off his army and encamped at Thymbrara. +</p> +<p> +(46) In this engagement the Egyptians alone among the enemy won +themselves renown, and of the troops under Cyrus the Persian cavalry was +held to have done the best, so much so that to this day they are still +armed in the manner that Cyrus devised. (47) High praise also was given +to the scythe-bearing chariots, and this engine of war is still employed +by the reigning king. (48) As for the camels, all they did was to scare +the horses; their riders could take no part in the slaughter, and were +never touched themselves by the enemy's cavalry. For not a horse would +come near the camels. (49) It was a useful arm, certainly, but no +gallant gentleman would dream of breeding camels for his own use or +learning to fight on camel-back. And so they returned to their old +position among the baggage-train. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) Then Cyrus and his men took their evening meal and posted their +pickets and went to rest. But Croesus and his army fled in haste to +Sardis, and the other tribes hurried away homewards under cover of +night as fast and as far as they could. (2) When day broke Cyrus marched +straight for Sardis, and when he came before the citadel he set up +his engines as though for the assault and got out his ladders. But the +following night he sent a scaling party of Persians and Chaldaeans to +climb the fortifications at the steepest point. The guide was a Persian +who had served as a slave to one of the garrison in the citadel, and who +knew a way down to the river by which one could get up. (4) As soon as +it became clear that the heights had been taken, all the Lydians without +exception fled from the walls and hid wherever they could. At daybreak +Cyrus entered the city and gave orders that not a man was to leave the +ranks. (5) Croesus, who had shut himself up inside his palace, cried +out on Cyrus, and Cyrus left a guard round the building while he himself +went to inspect the captured citadel. Here he found the Persians keeping +guard in perfect order, but the Chaldaean quarters were deserted, for +the men had rushed down to pillage the town. Immediately he summoned +their officers, and bade them leave his army at once. (6) "I could never +endure," he said, "to have undisciplined fellows seizing the best of +everything. You know well enough," he added, "all that was in store for +you. I meant to make all who served with me the envy of their fellows; +but now," he said, "you cannot be surprised if you encounter some one +stronger than yourselves on your way home." +</p> +<p> +(7) Fear fell on the Chaldaeans at this, and they intreated him to lay +aside his anger and vowed they would give back all the booty they had +taken. He answered that he had no need of it himself. "But if," he +added, "you wish to appease me, you will hand it over to those who +stayed and guarded the citadel. For if my soldiers see that discipline +means reward, all will be well with us." +</p> +<p> +(8) So the Chaldaeans did as he bade them, and the faithful and obedient +received all manner of good things. +</p> +<p> +Then Cyrus made his troops encamp in the most convenient quarter of +the town, and told them to stay at their posts and take their breakfast +there. (9) That done, he gave orders that Croesus should be brought to +him, and when he came into his presence, Croesus cried: +</p> +<p> +"Hail, Cyrus, my lord and master! Fate has given you that title from now +henceforward, and thus must I salute you." +</p> +<p> +(20) "All hail to you likewise," answered Cyrus: "we are both of us men. +And tell me now," he continued, "would you be more willing to advise me +as a friend?" "I should be more than glad," said Croesus, "to do you +any good. It would mean good for myself, I know." (11) "Listen, then," +answered Cyrus: "I see that my soldiers have endured much toil and +encountered many dangers, and now they are persuaded that they have +taken the wealthiest city in all Asia, after Babylon. I would not have +them cheated of their recompense, seeing that if they win nothing by +their labour, I know not how I can keep them obedient to me for long. +Yet I am unwilling to give them this city over to plunder. I believe +it would be utterly destroyed, and moreover I know full well that in +plunder the worst villains win the most." +</p> +<p> +(12) To this Croesus answered, "Suffer me then to tell what Lydians I +please that I have won your promise that the city shall not be sacked, +nor their women and children made away with. (13) I promise you in +return that my men will bring you willingly everything that is costly +and beautiful in Sardis. If I can announce such terms, I am certain +there is not one treasure belonging to man or woman that will not be +yours to-morrow. Further, on this day year, the city will overflow once +more with wealth and beauty. But if you sack it, you will destroy +the crafts in its ruin, and they, we know, are the well-spring of all +loveliness. (14) Howbeit, you need not decide at once, wait and see what +is brought to you. Send first," he added, "to my own treasuries, and let +your guards take some of my own men with them." +</p> +<p> +To all this Cyrus consented, and then he said: +</p> +<p> +(15) "And now, O Croesus, tell me one thing more. How did matters go +between you and the oracle at Delphi? It is said that you did much +reverence to Apollo and obeyed him in all things." +</p> +<p> +(16) "I could wish it had been so," said Croesus, "but, truth to say, +from the beginning I have acted in all things against him." "How can +that be?" said Cyrus. "Explain it to me: for your words seem strange +indeed." (17) "Because," he answered, "in the first place, instead of +asking the god for all I wanted I must needs put him to the test, to see +if he could speak the truth. This," he added, "no man of honour could +endure, let be the godhead. Those who are doubted cannot love their +doubters. (18) And yet he stood the test; for though the things I did +were strange, and I was many leagues from Delphi, he knew them all. And +so I resolved to consult him about my children. (19) At first he would +not so much as answer me, but I sent him many an offering, some of gold +and some of silver, and I propitiated him, as I deemed, by countless +sacrifices, and at last he answered me when I asked him what I must do +that sons might be born to me. He said they should be born. (20) And so +they were; in that he uttered no lie, but they brought me no joy. One +of them was dumb his whole life long, and the noblest perished in the +flower of his youth. And I, crushed by these sorrows, sent again to the +god and asked him how I could live in happiness for the rest of my days, +and he answered: +</p> +<pre> + "'Know thyself, O Croesus, and happiness shall be thine.' +</pre> +<p> +"And when I heard the oracle, I was comforted. (21) I said to myself, +the god has laid the lightest of tasks upon me, and promised me +happiness in return. Some of his neighbours a man may know and others +not: but every one can know himself. (22) So I thought, and in truth so +long as I was at peace I had no fault to find with my lot after my +son's death; but when the Assyrian persuaded me to march against you +I encountered every danger. Yet I was saved, I came to no harm. Once +again, therefore, I have no charge to bring against the god: when I +<i>knew myself</i> incapable of warring against you, he came to my help +and saved mine and me. (23) But afterwards, intoxicated by my wealth, +cajoled by those who begged me to be their leader, tempted by the gifts +they showered on me, flattered by all who said that if I would but lead +them they would obey me to a man, and that I would be the greatest ruler +in all the world, and that all their kings had met together and chosen +me for their champion in the war, I undertook the generalship as though +I were born to be the monarch of the world, for I did not <i>know myself</i>. +(24) I thought myself able to fight against you, you who are sprung from +the seed of the gods, born of a royal line, trained in valour and virtue +from your youth, while I—I believe that the first of my ancestors to +reign won his freedom and his crown on the self-same day. For this dull +ignorance of mine I see I am justly punished. (25) But now at last, O +Cyrus," he cried, "now I <i>know myself</i>. And tell me, do you think the +god will still speak truth? Do you think that, knowing myself, I can be +happy now? I ask you, because you of all men have it in your power to +answer best. Happiness is yours to give." +</p> +<p> +(26) Cyrus answered, "Give me time to deliberate, Croesus. I bear in +mind your former happiness and I pity you. I give you back at once your +wife and your daughters (for they tell me you have daughters), and your +friends and your attendants; they are yours once more. And yours it is +to sit at your own table as you used to live. But battles and wars I +must put out of your power." +</p> +<p> +(27) "Now by the gods above us," cried Croesus, "you need take no +further thought about your answer: if you will do for me what you say, +I shall live the life that all men called the happiest of lives, and I +knew that they were right." (28) "And who," said Cyrus, "who was it that +lived that life of happiness?" "My own wife," said Croesus; "she shared +all my good things with me, my luxuries, my softest joys; but in the +cares on which those joys were based, in war and battle and strife, she +had no part or lot. Methinks, you will provide for me as I provided for +her whom I loved beyond all others in the world, and I must needs send +to Apollo again, and send thank-offerings." +</p> +<p> +(29) And as Cyrus listened he marvelled at the man's contentedness of +soul, and for the future wherever he went he took Croesus with him, +either because he thought he might be useful or perhaps because he felt +it was safer so. +</p> +<p> +(C.3) So for that night they rested. But the next day Cyrus called his +friends and generals together and told some to make an inventory of +their treasures and others to receive all the wealth that Croesus +brought in. First they were to set aside for the gods all that the +Persian priests thought fit, and then store the rest in coffers, weight +them, and pack them on waggons, distributing the waggons by lot to take +with them on the march, so that they could receive their proper share at +any convenient time. (2) So they set about the work. +</p> +<p> +Then Cyrus called some of his squires and said: +</p> +<p> +"Tell me, have any of you seen Abradatas? I wonder that he who used to +come to me so often is nowhere to be found." +</p> +<p> +(3) Then one of the squires made answer, "My lord, he is dead: he fell +in the battle, charging straight into the Egyptian ranks: the rest, all +but his own companions, swerved before their close array. (4) And now," +he added, "we hear that his wife has found his body and laid it in her +own car, and has brought it here to the banks of the Pactolus. (5) Her +chamberlains and her attendants are digging a grave for the dead man +upon a hill, and she, they say, has put her fairest raiment on him +and her jewels, and she is seated on the ground with his head upon her +knees." +</p> +<p> +(6) Then Cyrus smote his hand upon his thigh and leapt up and sprang to +horse, galloping to the place of sorrow, with a thousand troopers at his +back. (7) He bade Gadatas and Gobryas take what jewels they could find +to honour the dear friend and brave warrior who had fallen, and follow +with all speed: and he bade the keepers of the herds, the cattle, and +the horses drive up their flocks wherever they heard he was, that he +might sacrifice on the grave. +</p> +<p> +(8) But when he saw Pantheia seated on the ground and the dead man lying +there, the tears ran down his cheeks and he cried: +</p> +<p> +"O noble and loyal spirit, have you gone from us?" +</p> +<p> +Then he took the dead man by the hand, but the hand came away with his +own: it had been hacked by an Egyptian blade. (9) And when he saw that, +his sorrow grew, and Pantheia sobbed aloud and took the hand from Cyrus +and kissed it and laid it in its place, as best she could, and said: +</p> +<p> +(10) "It is all like that, Cyrus. But why should you see it?" And +presently she said, "All this, I know, he suffered for my sake, and for +yours too, Cyrus, perhaps as much. I was a fool: I urged him so to bear +himself as became a faithful friend of yours, and he, I know, he never +thought once of his own safety, but only of what he might do to show his +gratitude. Now he has fallen, without a stain upon his valour: and I, +who urged him, I live on to sit beside his grave." +</p> +<p> +(11) And Cyrus wept silently for a while, and then he said: +</p> +<p> +"Lady, his end was the noblest and the fairest that could be: he died +in the hour of victory. Take these gifts that I have brought and adorn +him." +</p> +<p> +For now Gobryas and Gadatas appeared with store of jewels and rich +apparel. "He shall not lack for honour," Cyrus said; "many hands will +raise his monument: it shall be a royal one; and we will offer such +sacrifice as befits a hero. (12) And you, lady," he added, "you shall +not be left desolate. I reverence your chastity and your nobleness, and +I will give you a guardian to lead you withersoever you choose, if you +will but tell me to whom you wish to go." +</p> +<p> +(13) And Pantheia answered: +</p> +<p> +"Be at rest, Cyrus, I will not hide from you to whom I long to go." +</p> +<p> +(14) Therewith Cyrus took his leave of her and went, pitying from his +heart the woman who had lost so brave a husband, and the dead man in his +grave, taken from so sweet a wife, never to see her more. Then Pantheia +bade her chamberlains stand aside "until," she said, "I have wept over +him as I would." But she made her nurse stay with her and she said: +</p> +<p> +"Nurse, when I am dead, cover us with the same cloak." And the nurse +entreated and besought her, but she could not move her, and when she +saw that she did but vex her mistress, she sat down and wept in silence. +Then Pantheia took the scimitar, that had been ready for her so long, +and drew it across her throat, and dropped her head upon her husband's +breast and died. And the nurse cried bitterly, but she covered the two +with one cloak as her mistress had bidden her. +</p> +<p> +(15) And when Cyrus heard what Pantheia had done he rushed out in horror +to see if he could save her. And when the three chamberlains saw what +had happened they drew their own scimitars and killed themselves, there +where she had bidden them stand. (16, 17) And when Cyrus came to that +place of sorrow, he looked with wonder and reverence on the woman, and +wept for her and went his way and saw that all due honour was paid to +those who lay there dead, and a mighty sepulchre was raised above them, +mightier, men say, than had been seen in all the world before. +</p> +<p> +(C.4) After this the Carians, who were always at war and strife with one +another, because their dwellings were fortified, sent to Cyrus and +asked for aid. Cyrus himself was unwilling to leave Sardis, where he +was having engines of artillery made and battering-rams to overthrow +the walls of those who would not listen to him. But he sent Adousius, a +Persian, in his place, a man of sound judgment and a stout soldier +and withal a person of winning presence. He gave him an army; and the +Cilicians and Cypriotes were very ready to serve under him. (2) That +was why Cyrus never sent a Persian satrap to govern either Cilicia or +Cyprus; he was always satisfied with the native kings; only he exacted +tribute and levied troops whenever he needed them. +</p> +<p> +(3) So Adousius took his army and marched into Caria, where he was met +by the men of both parties, ready to receive him inside their walls to +the detriment of their opponents. Adousius treated each in exactly the +same way, he told whichever side was pleading that he thought their case +was just, but it was essential that the others should not realise he +was their friend, "for thus, you perceive, I will take them unprepared +whenever I attack." +</p> +<p> +He insisted they should give him pledges of good faith, and the Carians +had to swear they would receive him without fraud or guile within their +walls and for the welfare of Cyrus and the Persians; and on his side he +was willing to swear that he would enter without fraud or guile himself +and for the welfare of those who received him. (4) Having imposed these +terms on either party without the knowledge of the other, he fixed on +the same night with both, entered the walls, and had the strongholds +of both parties in his hands. At break of day he took his place in the +midst with his army, and sent for the leading men on either side. Thus +confronted with each other they were more than a little vexed, and both +imagined they had been cheated. (5) However, Adousius began: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen, I took an oath to you that I would enter your walls without +fraud or guile and for the welfare of those who received me. Now if I am +forced to destroy either of you, I am persuaded I shall have entered to +the detriment of the Carians. But if I give you peace, so that you can +till your lands in safety, I imagine I shall have come for your welfare. +Therefore from this day forwards you must meet on friendly terms, +cultivate your fields without fear, give your children to each other, +and if any one offends against these laws, Cyrus and ourselves will be +his enemies." +</p> +<p> +(6) At that the city gates were flung wide open, the roads were filled +with folk hurrying to one another, the fields were thronged with +labourers. They held high festival together, and the land was full of +peace and joyfulness. +</p> +<p> +(7) Meanwhile messengers came from Cyrus inquiring whether there was +need for more troops or siege-engines, but Adousius answered, on the +contrary his present force was at Cyrus' service to employ elsewhere +if he wished, and so drew off his army, only leaving a garrison in the +citadels. Thereupon the Carians implored him to remain, and when he +would not, they sent to Cyrus begging him to make Adousius their satrap. +</p> +<p> +(8) Meanwhile Cyrus had sent Hystaspas with an army into Phrygia on +the Hellespont, and when Adousius came back he bade him follow, for the +Phrygians would be more willing to obey Hystaspas if they heard that +another army was advancing. +</p> +<p> +(9) Now the Hellenes on the seaboard offered many gifts and bargained +not to receive the Asiatics within their walls, but only to pay tribute +and serve wherever Cyrus commanded. (10) But the king of Phrygia made +preparations to hold his fortresses and not yield, and sent out orders +to that effect. However, when his lieutenants deserted him and he found +himself all alone, he had to put himself in the hands of Hystaspas, and +leave his fate to the judgment of Cyrus. Then Hystaspas stationed strong +Persian garrisons in all the citadels, and departed, taking with him not +only his own troops but many mounted men and targeteers from Phrygia. +(11) And Cyrus sent word to Adousius to join Hystaspas, put himself at +the head of those who had submitted and allow them to retain their arms, +while those who showed a disposition to resist were to be deprived of +their horses and their weapons and made to follow the army as slingers. +</p> +<p> +(12) While his lieutenants were thus employed, Cyrus set out from +Sardis, leaving a large force of infantry to garrison the place, and +taking Croesus with him, and a long train of waggons laden with riches +of every kind. Croesus presented an accurate inventory of everything in +each waggon, and said, as he delivered the scrolls: +</p> +<p> +"With these in your possession, Cyrus, you can tell whether your +officers are handing over their freights in full or not." +</p> +<p> +(13) And Cyrus answered: +</p> +<p> +"It was kindly done, Croesus, on your part, to take thought for this: +but I have arranged that the freights should be in charge of those who +are entitled to them, so that if the men steal, they steal their own +property." +</p> +<p> +With these words he handed the documents to his friends and officers to +serve as checks on their own stewards. +</p> +<p> +(14) Cyrus also took Lydians in his train; allowing some to carry arms, +those, namely, who were at pains to keep their weapons in good order, +and their horses and chariots, and who did their best to please him, but +if they gave themselves ungracious airs, he took away their horses and +bestowed them on the Persians who had served him from the beginning of +the campaign, burnt their weapons, and forced them to follow the army +as slingers. (15) Indeed, as a rule, he compelled all the subject +population who had been disarmed to practise the use of the sling: it +was, he considered, a weapon for slaves. No doubt there are occasions +when a body of slingers, working with other detachments, can do +excellent service, but, taken alone, not all the slingers in the world +could face a mere handful armed with steel. +</p> +<p> +(16) Cyrus was marching to Babylon, but on his way he subdued the +Phrygians of Greater Phrygia and the Cappadocians, and reduced the +Arabians to subjection. These successes enabled him to increase his +Persian cavalry till it was not far short of forty thousand men, and he +had still horses left over to distribute among his allies at large. +</p> +<p> +At length he came before Babylon with an immense body of cavalry, +archers, and javelin-men, beside slingers innumerable. +</p> +<p> +(C.5) When Cyrus reached the city he surrounded it entirely with his +forces, and then rode round the walls himself, attended by his friends +and the leading officers of the allies. (2) Having surveyed the +fortifications, he prepared to lead off his troops, and at that moment +a deserter came to inform him that the Assyrians intended to attack as +soon as he began to withdraw, for they had inspected his forces from the +walls and considered them very weak. This was not surprising, for the +circuit of the city was so enormous that it was impossible to surround +it without seriously thinning the lines. (3) When Cyrus heard of their +intention, he took up his post in the centre of his troops with his own +staff round him and sent orders to the infantry for the wings to double +back on either side, marching past the stationary centre of the line, +until they met in the rear exactly opposite himself. (4) Thus the men +in front were immediately encouraged by the doubling of their depth, +and those who retired were equally cheered, for they saw that the others +would encounter the enemy first. The two wings being united, the power +of the whole force was strengthened, those behind being protected by +those in front and those in front supported by those behind. (5) When +the phalanx was thus folded back on itself, both the front and the rear +ranks were formed of picked men, a disposition that seemed calculated +to encourage valour and check flight. On the flanks, the cavalry and the +light infantry were drawn nearer and nearer to the commander as the line +contracted. (6) When the whole phalanx was in close order, they fell +back from the walls, slowly, facing the foe, until they were out of +range; then they turned, marched a few paces, and then wheeled round +again to the left, and halted, facing the walls, but the further they +got the less often they paused, until, feeling themselves secure, they +quickened their pace and went off in an uninterrupted march until they +reached their quarters. +</p> +<p> +(7) When they were encamped, Cyrus called a council of his officers and +said, "My friends and allies, we have surveyed the city on every side, +and for my part I fail to see any possibility of taking by assault walls +so lofty and so strong: on the other hand, the greater the population +the more quickly must they yield to hunger, unless they come out to +fight. If none of you have any other scheme to suggest, I propose that +we reduce them by blockade." +</p> +<p> +(8) Then Chrysantas spoke: +</p> +<p> +"Does not the river flow through the middle of the city, and it is not +at least a quarter of a mile in width?" +</p> +<p> +"To be sure it is," answered Gobryas, "and so deep that the water would +cover two men, one standing on the other's shoulders; in fact the city +is even better protected by its river than by its walls." +</p> +<p> +(9) At which Cyrus said, "Well, Chrysantas, we must forego what is +beyond our power: but let us measure off at once the work for each of +us, set to, and dig a trench as wide and as deep as we can, that we may +need as few guards as possible." +</p> +<p> +(10) Thereupon Cyrus took his measurements all round the city, and, +leaving a space on either bank of the river large enough for a lofty +tower, he had a gigantic trench dug from end to end of the wall, his +men heaping up the earth on their own side. (11) Then he set to work +to build his towers by the river. The foundations were of palm-trees, a +hundred feet long and more—the palm-tree grows to a greater height than +that, and under pressure it will curve upwards like the spine of an +ass beneath a load. (12) He laid these foundations in order to give the +impression that he meant to besiege the town, and was taking precautions +so that the river, even if it found its way into his trench, should not +carry off his towers. Then he had other towers built along the mound, +so as to have as many guard-posts as possible. (13) Thus his army was +employed, but the men within the walls laughed at his preparations, +knowing they had supplies to last them more than twenty years. When +Cyrus heard that, he divided his army into twelve, each division to keep +guard for one month in the year. (14) At this the Babylonians laughed +louder still, greatly pleased at the idea of being guarded by Phrygians +and Lydians and Arabians and Cappadocians, all of whom, they thought, +would be more friendly to themselves than to the Persians. +</p> +<p> +(15) However by this time the trenches were dug. And Cyrus heard that it +was a time of high festival in Babylon when the citizens drink and make +merry the whole night long. As soon as the darkness fell, he set his +men to work. (16) The mouths of the trenches were opened, and during the +night the water poured in, so that the river-bed formed a highway into +the heart of the town. +</p> +<p> +(17) When the great stream had taken to its new channel, Cyrus ordered +his Persian officers to bring up their thousands, horse and foot alike, +each detachment drawn up two deep, the allies to follow in their old +order. (18) They lined up immediately, and Cyrus made his own bodyguard +descend into the dry channel first, to see if the bottom was firm enough +for marching. (19) When they said it was, he called a council of all his +generals and spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +(20) "My friends, the river has stepped aside for us; he offers us a +passage by his own high-road into Babylon. We must take heart and enter +fearlessly, remembering that those against whom we are to march this +night are the very men we have conquered before, and that too when they +had their allies to help them, when they were awake, alert, and sober, +armed to the teeth, and in their battle order. (21) To-night we go +against them when some are asleep and some are drunk, and all are +unprepared: and when they learn that we are within the walls, sheer +astonishment will make them still more helpless than before. (22) If any +of you are troubled by the thought of volleys from the roofs when the +army enters the city, I bid you lay these fears aside: if our enemies +do climb their roofs we have a god to help us, the god of Fire. Their +porches are easily set aflame, for the doors are made of palm-wood and +varnished with bitumen, the very food of fire. (23) And we shall come +with the pine-torch to kindle it, and with pitch and tow to feed it. +They will be forced to flee from their homes or be burnt to death. (24) +Come, take your swords in your hand: God helping me, I will lead you on. +Do you," he said, turning to Gadatas and Gobryas, "show us the streets, +you know them; and once we are inside, lead us straight to the palace." +</p> +<p> +(25) "So we will," said Gobryas and his men, "and it would not surprise +us to find the palace-gates unbarred, for this night the whole city is +given over to revelry. Still, we are sure to find a guard, for one is +always stationed there." +</p> +<p> +"Then," said Cyrus, "there is no time for lingering; we must be off at +once and take them unprepared." +</p> +<p> +(26) Thereupon they entered: and of those they met some were struck down +and slain, and others fled into their houses, and some raised the hue +and cry, but Gobryas and his friends covered the cry with their shouts, +as though they were revellers themselves. And thus, making their way by +the quickest route, they soon found themselves before the king's palace. +(27) Here the detachment under Gobryas and Gadatas found the gates +closed, but the men appointed to attack the guards rushed on them as +they lay drinking round a blazing fire, and closed with them then and +there. (28) As the din grew louder and louder, those within became aware +of the tumult, till, the king bidding them see what it meant, some of +them opened the gates and ran out. (29) Gadatas and his men, seeing the +gates swing wide, darted in, hard on the heels of the others who fled +back again, and they chased them at the sword's point into the presence +of the king. +</p> +<p> +(30) They found him on his feet, with his drawn scimitar in his hand. By +sheer weight of numbers they overwhelmed him: and not one of his retinue +escaped, they were all cut down, some flying, others snatching up +anything to serve as a shield and defending themselves as best they +could. (31) Cyrus sent squadrons of cavalry down the different roads +with orders to kill all they found in the street, while those who knew +Assyrian were to warn the inhabitants to stay indoors under pain of +death. (32) While they carried out these orders, Gobryas and Gadatas +returned, and first they gave thanks to the gods and did obeisance +because they had been suffered to take vengeance on their unrighteous +king, and then they fell to kissing the hands and feet of Cyrus, +shedding tears of joy and gratitude. (33) And when it was day and those +who held the heights knew that the city was taken and the king slain, +they were persuaded to surrender the citadel themselves. (34) Cyrus took +it over forthwith, and sent in a commandant and a garrison, while he +delivered the bodies of the fallen to their kinsfolk for burial, and +bade his heralds make proclamation that all the citizens must deliver +up their arms: wherever weapons were discovered in any house all the +inmates would be put to death. So the arms were surrendered, and Cyrus +had them placed in the citadel for use in case of need. (35) When all +was done he summoned the Persian priests and told them the city was the +captive of his spear and bade them set aside the first-fruits of the +booty as an offering to the gods and mark out land for sacred demesnes. +Then he distributed the houses and the public buildings to those whom +he counted his partners in the exploit; and the distribution was on +the principle accepted, the best prizes to the bravest men: and if any +thought they had not received their deserts they were invited to come +and tell him. (36) At the same time he issued a proclamation to the +Babylonians, bidding them till the soil and pay the dues and render +willing service to those under whose rule they were placed. As for his +partners the Persians, and such of his allies as elected to remain +with him, he gave them to understand they were to treat as subjects the +captives they received. +</p> +<p> +(37) After this Cyrus felt that the time was come to assume the style +and manner that became a king: and he wished this to be done with the +goodwill and concurrence of his friends and in such a way that, without +seeming ungracious, he might appear but seldom in public and always with +a certain majesty. Therefore he devised the following scheme. At break +of day he took his station at some convenient place, and received all +who desired speech with him, and then dismissed them. (38) The people, +when they heard that he gave audience, thronged to him in multitudes, +and in the struggle to gain access there was much jostling and scheming +and no little fighting. (39) His attendants did their best to divide +the suitors, and introduce them in some order, and whenever any of his +personal friends appeared, thrusting their way through the crowd, Cyrus +would stretch out his hand and draw them to his side and say, "Wait, my +friends, until we have finished with this crowd, and then we can talk at +our ease." So his friends would wait, but the multitude would pour on, +growing greater and greater, until the evening would fall before there +had been a moment's leisure for his friends. (40) All that Cyrus could +do then was to say, "Perhaps, gentlemen, it is a little late this +evening and time that we broke up. Be sure to come early to-morrow. I am +very anxious myself to speak with you." With that his friends were only +too glad to be dismissed, and made off without more ado. They had done +penance enough, fasting and waiting and standing all day long. (41) So +they would get to rest at last, but the next morning Cyrus was at the +same spot and a much greater concourse of suitors round him than before, +already assembled long before his friends arrived. Accordingly Cyrus had +a cordon of Persian lancers stationed round him, and gave out that no +one except his personal friends and the generals were to be allowed +access, and as soon as they were admitted he said: +</p> +<p> +(42) "My friends, we cannot exclaim against the gods as though they had +failed to fulfil our prayers. They have granted all we asked. But if +success means that a man must forfeit his own leisure and the good +company of all his friends, why, to that kind of happiness I would +rather bid farewell. (43) Yesterday," he added, "I make no doubt you +observed yourselves that from early dawn till late evening I never +ceased listening to petitioners, and to-day you see this crowd before +us, larger still than yesterday's, ready with business for me. (44) If +this must be submitted to, I calculate that what you will get of me +and I of you will be little enough, and what I shall get of myself will +simply be nothing at all. Further," he added, "I foresee another absurd +consequence. (45) I, personally, have a feeling towards you which I need +not state, but, of that audience yonder, scarcely one of them do I know +at all, and yet they are all prepared to thrust themselves in front of +you, transact their business, and get what they want out of me before +any of you have a chance. I should have thought it more suitable myself +that men of that class, if they wanted anything from me, should pay some +court to you, my friends, in the hopes of an introduction. (46) Perhaps +you will ask why I did not so arrange matters from the first, instead of +always appearing in public. Because in war it is the first business of +a commander not to be behindhand in knowing what ought to be done and +seeing that it is done, and the general who is seldom seen is apt to let +things slip. (47) But to-day, when war with its insatiable demands is +over, I feel as if I had some claim myself to rest and refreshment. I am +in some perplexity, however, as to how I can arrange matters so that +all goes well, not only with you and me, but also with those whom we are +bound to care for. Therefore I seek your advice and counsel, and I would +be glad to learn from any of you the happiest solution." +</p> +<p> +(48) Cyrus paused, and up rose Artabazus the Mede, who had claimed to be +his kinsman, and said: +</p> +<p> +"You did well, Cyrus, to open this matter. Years ago, when you were +still a boy, from the very first I longed to be your friend, but I saw +you did not need me, and so I shrank from approaching you. (49) Then +came a lucky moment when you did have need of me to be your good +messenger among the Medes with the order from Cyaxares, and I said to +myself that if I did the work well, if I really helped you, I might +become your comrade and have the right to talk with you as often as I +wished. (50) Well, the work was done, and done so as to win your praise. +After that the Hyrcanians joined us, the first friends we made, when we +were hungry and thirsty for allies, and we loved them so much we almost +carried them about with us in our arms wherever we went. Then the +enemy's camp was taken, and I scarcely think you had the leisure to +trouble your head with me—oh, I quite forgave you. (51) The next thing +was that Gobryas became your friend, and I had to take my leave, and +after him Gadatas, and by that time it was a real task to get hold of +you. Then came the alliances with the Sakians, and the Cadousians, and +no doubt you had to pay them court; if they danced attendance on you, +you must dance attendance on them. (52) So that there I was, back again +at my starting-point, and yet all the while, as I saw you busy with +horses and chariots and artillery, I consoled myself by thinking, 'when +he is done with this he will have a little leisure for me.' And then +came the terrible news that the whole world was gathering in arms +against us; I could not deny that these were important matters, but +still I felt certain, if all went well, a time would come at last when +you need not grudge me your company, and we should be together to +my heart's content, you and I. (53) Now, the day has come; we have +conquered in the great battle; we have taken Sardis and Babylon; the +world is at our feet, and yesterday, by Mithras! unless I had used my +fists a hundred times, I swear I could never have got near you at all. +Well, you grasped my hand and gave me greeting, and bade me wait beside +you, and there I waited, the cynosure of every eye, the envy of every +man, standing there all day long, without a scrap to eat or a drop to +drink. (54) So now, if any way can be found by which we who have served +you longest can get the most of you, well and good: but, if not, pray +send me as your messenger once more, and this time I will tell them they +can all leave you, except those who were your friends of old." +</p> +<p> +(55) This appeal set them all laughing, Cyrus with the rest. Then +Chrysantas the Persian stood up and spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +"Formerly, Cyrus, it was natural and right that you should appear in +public, for the reasons you have given us yourself, and also because +we were not the folk you had to pay your court to. We did not need +inviting: we were with you for our own sakes. It was necessary to win +over the masses by every means, if they were to share our toils and our +dangers willingly. (56) But now you have won them, and not them alone; +you have it in your power to gain others, and the moment has come when +you ought to have a house to yourself. What would your empire profit +you if you alone were left without hearth or home? Man has nothing more +sacred than his home, nothing sweeter, nothing more truly his. And do +you not think," he added, "that we ourselves would be ashamed if we saw +you bearing the hardships of the camp while we sat at home by our own +firesides? Should we not feel we had done you wrong, and taken advantage +of you?" +</p> +<p> +(57) When Chrysantas had spoken thus, many others followed him, and all +to the same effect. And so it came about that Cyrus entered the palace, +and those in charge brought the treasures from Sardis thither, and +handed them over. And Cyrus when he entered sacrificed to Hestia, the +goddess of the Hearth, and to Zeus the Lord, and to any other gods named +by the Persian priests. +</p> +<p> +(58) This done, he set himself to regulate the matters that remained. +Thinking over his position, and the attempt he was making to govern an +enormous multitude, preparing at the same time to take up his abode in +the greatest of all famous cities, but yet a city that was as hostile to +him as a city could be, pondering all this, he concluded that he could +not dispense with a bodyguard for himself. (59) He knew well enough that +a man can most easily be assassinated at his meals, or in his bath, or +in bed, or when he is asleep, and he asked himself who were most to +be trusted of those he had about him. A man, he believed, can never be +loyal or trustworthy who is likely to love another more than the one +who requires his guardianship. (60) He knew that men with children, or +wives, or favourites in whom they delight, must needs love them most: +while eunuchs, who are deprived of all such dear ones, would surely make +most account of him who could enrich them, or help them if they were +injured, or crown them with honour. And in the conferring of such +benefits he was disposed to think he could outbid the world. (61) +Moreover the eunuch, being degraded in the eyes of other men, is driven +to seek the assistance of some lord and master. Without some such +protection there is not a man in the world who would not think he +had the right to over-reach a eunuch: while there was every reason to +suppose that the eunuch would be the most faithful of all servants. (62) +As for the customary notion that the eunuch must be weak and cowardly, +Cyrus was not disposed to accept it. He studied the indications to be +observed in animals: a vicious horse, if gelded, will cease to bite and +be restive, but he will charge as gallantly as ever; a bull that has +been cut will become less fierce and less intractable, but he will not +lose his strength, he will be as good as ever for work; castration +may cure a dog of deserting his master, but it will not ruin him as a +watch-dog or spoil him for the chase. (63) So, too, with men; when cut +off from this passion, they become gentler, no doubt, but not less quick +to obey, not less daring as horsemen, not less skilful with the javelin, +not less eager for honour. (64) In war and in the chase they show +plainly enough that the fire of ambition is still burning in their +hearts. And they have stood the last test of loyalty in the downfall +of their masters. No men have shown more faithfulness than eunuchs when +ruin has fallen on their lords. (65) In bodily strength, perhaps, the +eunuchs seem to be lacking, but steel is a great leveller, and makes +the weak man equal to the strong in war. Holding this in mind, Cyrus +resolved that his personal attendants, from his doorkeepers onwards, +should be eunuchs one and all. +</p> +<p> +(66) This guard, however, he felt was hardly sufficient against the +multitude of enemies, and he asked himself whom he could choose among +the rest. (67) He remembered how his Persians led the sorriest of lives +at home owing to their poverty, working long and hard on the niggard +soil, and he felt sure they were the men who would most value the life +at his court. (68) Accordingly he selected ten thousand lancers from +among them, to keep guard round the palace, night and day, whenever +he was at home, and to march beside him whenever he went abroad. (69) +Moreover, he felt that Babylon must always have an adequate garrison, +whether he was in the country or not, and therefore he stationed a +considerable body of troops in the city; and he bade the Babylonians +provide their pay, his object being to make the citizens helpless, +and therefore humble and submissive. (70) This royal guard that he +established there, and the city guard for Babylon, survive to this day +unaltered. +</p> +<p> +Lastly, as he pondered how the whole empire was to be kept together, and +possibly another added to it, he felt convinced that his mercenaries did +not make up for the smallness of their numbers by their superiority +to the subject peoples. Therefore he must keep together those brave +warriors, to whom with heaven's help the victory was due, and he must +take all care that they did not lose their valour, hardihood, and skill. +(71) To avoid the appearance of dictating to them and to bring it about +that they should see for themselves it was best to stay with him and +remember their valour and their training, he called a council of the +Peers and of the leading men who seemed to him most worthy of sharing +their dangers and their rewards. (72) And when they were met he began: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen, my friends and allies, we owe the utmost thanks to the gods +because they have given us what we believed that we deserved. We are +masters to-day of a great country and a good; and those who till it will +support us; we have houses of our own, and all the furniture that is in +them is ours. (73) For you need not think that what you hold belongs to +others. It is an eternal law the wide world over, that when a city is +taken in war, the citizens, their persons, and all their property fall +into the hands of the conquerors. It is not by injustice, therefore, +that you hold what you have taken, rather it is through your own human +kindness that the citizens are allowed to keep whatever they do retain. +</p> +<p> +(74) "Yet I foresee that if we betake ourselves to the life of indolence +and luxury, the life of the degenerate who think that labour is the +worst of evils and freedom from toil the height of happiness, the day +will come, and speedily, when we shall be unworthy of ourselves, and +with the loss of honour will come the loss of wealth. (75) Once to have +been valiant is not enough; no man can keep his valour unless he watch +over it to the end. As the arts decay through neglect, as the body, once +healthy and alert, will grow weak through sloth and indolence, even so +the powers of the spirit, temperance, self-control, and courage, if we +grow slack in training, fall back once more to rottenness and death. +(76) We must watch ourselves; we must not surrender to the sweetness +of the day. It is a great work, methinks, to found an empire, but a +far greater to keep it safe. To seize it may be the fruit of daring and +daring only, but to hold it is impossible without self-restraint and +self-command and endless care. (77) We must not forget this; we must +train ourselves in virtue from now henceforward with even greater +diligence than before we won this glory, remembering that the more a man +possesses, the more there are to envy him, to plot against him, and +be his enemies, above all when the wealth he wins and the services +he receives are yielded by reluctant hands. But the gods, we need not +doubt, will be upon our side; we have not triumphed through injustice; +we were not the aggressors, it was we who were attacked and we avenged +ourselves. (78) The gods are with us, I say; but next to that supreme +support there is a defence we must provide out of our own powers alone; +and that is the righteous claim to rule our subjects because we are +better men than they. Needs must that we share with our slaves in heat +and cold and food and drink and toil and slumber, and we must strive to +prove our superiority even in such things as these, and first in these. +(79) But in the science of war and the art of it we can admit no share; +those whom we mean to make our labourers and our tributaries can have no +part in that; we will set ourselves to defraud them there; we know that +such exercises are the very tools of freedom and happiness, given by the +gods to mortal men. We have taken their arms away from our slaves, +and we must never lay our own aside, knowing well that the nearer the +sword-hilt the closer the heart's desire. So. Does any man ask himself +what profit he has gained from the fulfilment of his dreams, if he must +still endure, still undergo hunger and thirst and toil and trouble and +care? Let him learn the lesson that a man's enjoyment of all good things +is in exact proportion to the pains he has undergone to gain them. +Toil is the seasoning of delight; without desire and longing, no dish, +however costly, could be sweet. (81) Yes, if some spirit were to set +before us what men desire most, and we were left to add for ourselves +that final touch of sweetness, I say that we could only gain above the +poorest of the poor in so far as we could bring hunger for the most +delicious foods, and thirst for the richest wines, and weariness to make +us woo the deepest slumber. (82) Therefore, we must strain every nerve +to win and to keep manhood and nobleness; so that we may gain that +satisfaction which is the sweetest and the best, and be saved from the +bitterest of sorrows; since to fail of good altogether is not so hard as +to lose the good that has once been ours. (83) And let us ask ourselves +what excuse we could offer for being unworthy of our past. Shall we say +it is because we have won an empire? Surely it is hardly fitting that +the ruler should be baser than the ruled. Or is it that we seem to +be happier to-day than heretofore? Is cowardice, then, an adjunct of +happiness? Or is it simply because we have slaves and must punish them +if they do wrong? But by what right can a man, who is bad himself, +punish others for badness or stupidity? (84) Remember, too, that we have +arranged for the maintenance of a whole multitude, to guard our persons +and our houses, and it would be shameful for us to depend for safety on +the weapons of others and refuse to carry weapons for ourselves. Surely +we ought to know that there can be no defence so strong as a man's own +gallantry. Courage should be our companion all our days. For if virtue +leave us, nothing else whatever can go well with us. (85) What, then, +would I have you do? How are we to remember our valour and train our +skill? Gentlemen, I have nothing novel to suggest; at home in Persia the +Peers spend their days at the public buildings and here we should do the +same. Here we are the men of rank and honour, as we are there, and we +should hold to the same customs. You must keep your eyes on me and watch +whether I am diligent in my duty, and I shall give heed to you, and +honour him who trains himself in what is beautiful and brave. (86) And +here too let us educate our sons, if sons are born to us. We cannot but +become better ourselves if we strive to set the best example we can to +our children, and our children could hardly grow up to be unworthy, even +if they wished, when they see nothing base before them, and hear nothing +shameful, but live in the practice of all that is beautiful and good." +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +C1. Notice the epic tone now adopted, or rather swum into, or rather +which floats the writer up of its own motion. +</p> +<p> +C1.2 ff. On the whole this description of the battle is, for Xenophon, +obscure. +</p> +<p> +C1.5-6. Xenophon, Artist. This military criticism and technical +discussion juxtaposed to the epic prelude and the epic sequel is a +clever device enough. We are pleased. +</p> +<p> +C1.8-9. Final injunctions somewhat obscure, I think. +</p> +<p> +C1.24 ff. The epic and Homeric vein. +</p> +<p> +C1.33. The Egyptians have the advantage. This is noticeable in reference +to Cyrus' criticisms of their arms before battle. That is not a slip, +but a dramatic touch on the part of the author, I think. And Cyrus is +speaking of cavalry there, and anticipates the result. +</p> +<p> +C1.34 fin. A singular feature this in ancient battles. Is it simply +and solely Oriental, or general, and Hellenic also? Has it any analogue +nowadays anywhere? Probably with Egyptian troops in the Soudan it has +(hgd. 1884). +</p> +<p> +C2.6-7. The archic man through an act of bad discipline makes good +discipline more acceptable. +</p> +<p> +C2.13. The civilised method of dealing with a conquered city. Instead of +pillage and rapine, an indemnity, which will bring in to the conquerors +wealth, and yet not destroy the arts of the population, which are the +fountain-heads of beauty. || Modern. So the archic man asserts his +superiority once more. +</p> +<p> +C2.24. Is this also Xenophon's view? If so, it throws light on his +theory of rank and caste. +</p> +<p> +C3.2. Curious Cyrus should be so little suspicious of Abradatas' death, +is it not? Because the victory was not bloodless. Notice, too, +how little is said of the bloodshed; that is Hellenic as well as +Xenophontine, I fancy. +</p> +<p> +C3.7. Something epic in all this. Cf. Archilles sacrificing at the tomb +of Patroklos. +</p> +<p> +C3.8 ff. The pathos of the situation and the <i>Eironeia</i> at its maximum. +"Euripidean" touches throughout. +</p> +<p> +C3.16. (This is bracketed in most editions, no doubt rightly, as an +interpolation. It was not translated in Mr. Dakyns' manuscript, but his +marginal note is characteristic, and evidently he would have translated +the section in a footnote. It may be rendered thus: "It is said that a +monument was raised above the eunuchs and is in existence to this day. +On the upper slab the names of the husband and the wife are written +in Syrian letters, and below are three other slabs, inscribed 'To the +chamberlains.'") +</p> +<p> +C3.16. Interesting, especially if of later insertion, and perhaps given +the historical basis of the story in some monument on the Pactolus, +known to Xenophon. I wish a new Schliemann would find it. hgd. +</p> +<p> +C4. Semi-historical? The version is to be found, I think, in C4.2, which +is the <i>pièce justicative</i>. The episode itself is full of humour, as +good as a play: Xenophon has seen these duplicities often. Brer Fox +outwitted by Brer Rabbit. +</p> +<p> +C4.4. Can these rival fastnesses of the Carians be identified? All this +country is well known to Xenophon (<i>vide Hellenica</i>, III. c. 4, etc.). +</p> +<p> +C4.6. Beautiful renewal of the peaceful arts, festivals, and +merry-makings after the internecine party strife. +</p> +<p> +C4.9. This again is a district Xenophon is well acquainted with. Has he +one eye on the old insurrection against Persia, <i>tempore</i> Histiaeus, and +another on the new arrangements, <i>tempore</i> Antalcidas? +</p> +<p> +C4.12-13. Croesus and his bills of lading. Some humour. It also brings +out the archic man in opposition to the shop-keeper man of the mere +business type. But still the bills of lading are needed. Croesus only +doesn't "twig" the right persons to check. It's the opposition between +Despot and true Ruler. +</p> +<p> +C5.9. Cyrus has an idea, the nature of which we shall discover later. +</p> +<p> +C5.15. Belshazzar's feast, <i>vide</i> Daniel, cf. Hdt. Why plural, "the +trenches"? Is Xenophon obscure? His obscurity is mostly this: he expects +his reader intelligently to follow him. +</p> +<p> +C5.32. Jars somewhat on our feelings, perhaps, in its thirst for +revenge: but cf. the feeling against the assassins of Lord Frederick +Cavendish and Mr. Burke. (Written at the time of the Phoenix Park +murders.) +</p> +<p> +C5.37. Is a turning-point in the rise of the archic man (and yet hardly +yet, but at C5.58 we shall come to bodyguards and eunuchs). At this +highest pinnacle of {arkhe} Cyrus desires to furnish himself as befits +a king. It is an historical difficulty which Xenophon has to get over +or round, or is Xenophon himself in the same condemnation, so to speak? +Does he also desire his archic man to be got up in a manner befitting +royalty at a certain date? Consider. +</p> +<p> +C5.42-47. These sections pose the difficulty well, and it is a +difficulty, and no mistake. +</p> +<p> +C5.42 ff. Xenophon-Hellenic theory of life. The leisure to invite +one's own soul and see one's friends which is needed to make life worth +living, versus <i>negotia</i>, <i>negotia</i>, <i>negotia</i>. How far are we to be +consciously self-regarding? Cyrus versus Buddha. The Hellenic hero is +not equal to absolute non-self-regarding devotion to mere work. The +Buddha might be. +</p> +<p> +C5.48. Perhaps nothing is cleverer in the neat and skilful mosaic work +of this composition than the fitting-in here of Artabazus' personal view +with the—at last necessary—impersonal or public theory of leadership. +It is pretty also that Artabazus should at length get his reward, and +humorous that he doesn't, after all, get it in the old form. +</p> +<p> +C5.49 ff. He keenly remembers each tantalizing moment of approach and +separation. A splendid speech of the humorous type. Xenophon himself +must be credited with so much fun, and real fun it is. +</p> +<p> +C5.56 ff. Curious on this page (a) Xenophon's domestic hearth theory +without which {arkhe} is a tinkling cymbal and empire no burthen to +be borne. His feeling for the sweetness of home || modern. In this the +secret of his happiness, || hgd. (b) His <i>justification</i> or <i>raison +d'être</i> explanation of the eunuch system. Why doesn't he point out its +hollowness also? Not from any lack of sympathy with this barren mankind. +Cf. Gadatas. I think this all logically follows if the {arkhon} is +to rule political enemies as well as friends: to do so {epistamenos} +("asian expert") some strange devices must be resorted to—what think +you, Dakyns? +</p> +<p> +C5.58. The need of a bodyguard. The dragon-fly must wing his flight in +armour cased: that is the law of his development. So Cyrus must be in +the end an ideal "tyrannus," the one spoken of by Simonides the poet to +Hiero (<i>vide</i> the dialogue <i>Hiero</i>, and the notes thereto in Mr. Dakyns' +translation, Vol. III.). +</p> +<p> +C5.64. The faithfulness of the eunuch has its parallel in that of the +old negro slave. +</p> +<p> +C5.67. These are the sort of fellows Xenophon would have chosen himself, +I take it. Again the historical basis has to be taken account of. +Xenophon has to explain to himself the existence of their body and how +the archic man came to invent it. Throughout we must compare the +<i>Hiero</i> for Xenophon's own political theory apart from his romantic and +philosophical interest in Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +C5.69. Not a pleasant picture of subject and ruling race. Cf. the +Austrians in Italy. +</p> +<p> +C5.73. The Hellenic || the modern theory, but more rudely expressed. The +conquerors right to the land he has taken, and what Cyrus proceeds to +say is quite up to the modern mark. +</p> +<p> +C5.74. Of course this is precisely what the Persians as they degenerated +did come to, nor did the good example of the archic man nor his precepts +nor his institutions save them. +</p> +<p> +C5.77-79. "Military" theory of virtue: almost barbaric (<i>ex mea +sententia</i> hgd.). But Xenophon is not absolutely = Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +C5.80 ff. This is the Socratico-Xenophontine hedonism-and-stoicism +combined. +</p> +<p> +C5.82 ff. A noble sermon on the need of straining every nerve to +virtuous training. Splendidly rhetorical and forceful. +</p> +<p> +C5.84. Cyrus (i.e. Xenophon) is aware of the crisis he and his are going +through. If externalism has to be adopted to hedge royalty, still +a further inner change is demanded: there must be a corresponding +spiritual growth. +</p> +<p> +C5.86. One of the noblest sayings in all Xenophon. The one somehow which +touches me most. The best way to improve ourselves is to see that we set +our boys the best examples. +</p> +<a name="2H_4_0011"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + BOOK VIII +</h2> +<p> +(C.1) Such were the words of Cyrus; and Chrysantas rose up after him, +saying, "Gentlemen, this is not the first time I have had occasion to +observe that a good ruler differs in no respect from a good father. Even +as a father takes thought that blessings may never fail his children, +so Cyrus would commend to us the ways by which we can preserve our +happiness. And yet, on one point, it seemed to me he had spoken less +fully than he might; and I will try to explain it for the benefit of +those who have not learnt it. (2) I would have you ask yourselves, was +ever a hostile city captured by an undisciplined force? Did ever an +undisciplined garrison save a friendly town? When discipline was gone, +did ever an army conquer? Is ever disaster nearer than when each solider +thinks about his private safety only? Nay, in peace as in war, can any +good be gained if men will not obey their betters? What city could be at +rest, lawful, and orderly? What household could be safe? What ship sail +home to her haven? (3) And we, to what do we owe our triumph, if not to +our obedience? We obeyed; we were ready to follow the call by night and +day; we marched behind our leader, ranks that nothing could resist; we +left nothing half-done of all we were told to do. If obedience is the +one path to win the highest good, remember it is also the one way to +preserve it. (4) Now in the old days, doubtless, many of us ruled no one +else, we were simply ruled. But to-day you find yourselves rulers, one +and all of you, some over many and some over few. And just as you would +wish your subjects to obey you, so we must obey those who are set over +us. Yet there should be this difference between ourselves and slaves; a +slave renders unwilling service to his lord, but we, if we claim to be +freemen, must do of our own free will that which we see to be the best. +And you will find," he added, "that even when no single man is ruler, +that city which is most careful to obey authority is the last to bow to +the will of her enemies. (5) Let us listen to the words of Cyrus. Let +us gather round the public buildings and train ourselves, so that we may +keep our hold on all we care for, and offer ourselves to Cyrus for his +noble ends. Of one thing we may be sure: Cyrus will never put us to any +service which can make for his own good and not for ours. Our needs are +the same as his, and our foes the same." +</p> +<p> +(6) When Chrysantas had said his say, many others followed to support +him, Persians and allies alike, and it was agreed that the men of rank +and honour should be in attendance continually at the palace gates, +ready for Cyrus to employ, until he gave them their dismissal. That +custom is still in force, and to this day the Asiatics under the Great +King wait at the door of their rulers. (7) And the measures that Cyrus +instituted to preserve his empire, as set forth in this account, are +still the law of the land, maintained by all the kings who followed him. +(8) Only as in other matters, so here; with a good ruler, the government +is pure; with a bad one, corrupt. Thus it came about that the nobles of +Cyrus and all his honourable men waited at his gates, with their weapons +and their horses, according to the common consent of the gallant men who +had helped to lay the empire at his feet. +</p> +<p> +(9) Then Cyrus turned to other matters, and appointed various overseers: +he had receivers of revenue, controllers of finance, ministers of works, +guardians of property, superintendents of the household. Moreover, he +chose managers for his horses and his dogs, men who could be trusted +to keep the creatures in the best condition and ready for use at +any moment. (10) But when it came to those who were to be his +fellow-guardians for the commonwealth, he would not leave the care and +the training of these to others; he regarded that as his own personal +task. He knew, if he were ever to fight a battle, he would have to +choose his comrades and supporters, the men on his right hand and +left, from these and these alone; it was from them he must appoint his +officers for horse and foot. (11) If he had to send out a general alone +it would be from them that one must be sent: he must depend on them for +satraps and governors over cities and nations; he would require them for +ambassadors, and an embassy was, he knew, the best means for obtaining +what he wanted without war. (12) He foresaw that nothing could go well +if the agents in his weightiest affairs were not what they ought to be, +while, if they were, everything would prosper. This charge, therefore, +he took upon his own shoulders, and he was persuaded that the training +he demanded of others should also be undergone by himself. No man could +rouse others to noble deeds if he fell short of what he ought to be +himself. (13) The more he pondered the matter, the more he felt the need +of leisure, if he were to deal worthily with the highest matters. +It was, he felt, impossible to neglect the revenues, in view of the +enormous funds necessary for so vast an empire, yet he foresaw that if +he was always to be occupied with the multitude of his possessions he +would never have time to watch over the safety of the whole. (14) As +he pondered how he could compass both objects, the prosperity of the +finances and the leisure he required, the old military organisation +came into his mind. He remembered how the captains of ten supervised the +squads of ten, and were supervised themselves by the company-captains, +and they by the captains of the thousands, and these by the captains +of ten thousand, and thus even with hundreds of thousands not a man +was left without supervision, and when the general wished to employ his +troops one order to the captains of ten thousand was enough. (15) On +this principle Cyrus arranged his finances and held his departments +together; in this way, by conferring with a few officers he could keep +the whole system under his control, and actually have more leisure for +himself than the manager of a single household or the master of a single +ship. Finally, having thus ordered his own affairs, he taught those +about him to adopt the same system. +</p> +<p> +(16) Accordingly, having gained the leisure he needed for himself +and his friends, he could devote himself to his work of training his +partners and colleagues. In the first place he dealt with those who, +enabled as they were to live on the labour of others, yet failed to +present themselves at the palace; he would send for them and seek them +out, convinced that attendance would be wholesome for them; they would +be unwilling to do anything base or evil in the presence of their king +and under the eye of their noblest men; those who were absent were so +through self-indulgence or wrong-doing or carelessness. (17) And I will +now set forth how he brought them to attend. He would go to one of +his most intimate friends and bid him lay hands on the property of the +offender, asserting that it was his own. Then of course the truants +would appear at once crying out that they had been robbed. (18) But +somehow for many days Cyrus could never find leisure to hear their +complaints, and when he did listen he took care to defer judgment for +many more. (19) This was one way he had of teaching them to attend; +another was to assign the lightest and most profitable tasks to +those who were punctual, and a third to give nothing whatever to the +offenders. (20) But the most effective of all, for those who paid no +heed to gentler measures, was to deprive the truant of what he possessed +and bestow it on him who would come when he was needed. By this process +Cyrus gave up a useless friend and gained a serviceable one. To this +day the king sends for and seeks out those who do not present themselves +when they should. +</p> +<p> +(21) Such was his method with the truants; with those who came forward +he felt, since he was their rightful leader, that he could best incite +them to noble deeds by trying to show that he himself had all the +virtues that became a man. (22) He believed that men do grow better +through written laws, and he held that the good ruler is a living law +with eyes that see, inasmuch as he is competent to guide and also to +detect the sinner and chastise him. (23) Thus he took pains to show +that he was the more assiduous in his service to the gods the higher +his fortunes rose. It was at this time that the Persian priests, the +Magians, were first established as an order, and always at break of day +Cyrus chanted a hymn and sacrificed to such of the gods as they might +name. (24) And the ordinances he established service to this day at the +court of the reigning king. These were the first matters in which the +Persians set themselves to copy their prince; feeling their own fortune +would be the higher if they did reverence to the gods, following the man +who was fortune's favourite and their own monarch. At the same time, no +doubt, they thought they would please Cyrus by this. (25) On his side +Cyrus looked on the piety of his subjects as a blessing to himself, +reckoning as they do who prefer to sail in the company of pious men +rather than with those who are suspected of wicked deeds, and he +reckoned further that if all his partners were god-fearing, they would +be the less prone to crime against each other or against himself, for he +knew he was the benefactor of his fellows. (26) And by showing plainly +his own deep desire never to be unfair to friend or fellow-combatant or +ally, but always to fix his eyes on justice and rectitude, he believed +he could induce others to keep from base actions and walk in the paths +of righteousness. (27) And he would bring more modesty, he hoped, into +the hearts of all men if it were plain that he himself reverenced all +the world and would never say a shameful word to any man or woman or do +a shameful deed. (28) He looked for this because he saw that, apart +from kings and governors who may be supposed to inspire fear, men will +reverence the modest and not the shameless, and modesty in women will +inspire modesty in the men who behold them. (29) And his people, he +thought, would learn to obey if it were plain that he honoured frank and +prompt obedience even above virtues that made a grander show and were +harder to attain. (30) Such was his belief, and his practice went with +it to the end. His own temperance and the knowledge of it made others +more temperate. When they saw moderation and self-control in the man who +above all others had licence to be insolent, lesser men were the more +ready to abjure all insolence of their own. (31) But there was this +difference, Cyrus held, between modesty and self-control: the modest +man will do nothing shameful in the light of day, but the man of +self-control nothing base, not even in secret. (32) Self-restrain, he +believed, would best be cultivated if he made men see in himself one who +could not be dragged from the pursuit of virtue by the pleasure of the +moment, one who chose to toil first for the happy-hearted joys that go +hand-in-hand with beauty and nobleness. (33) Thus, being the man he +was, he established at his gates a stately company, where the lower gave +place to the higher, and they in their turn showed reverence to each +other, and courtesy, and perfect harmony. Among them all there was never +a cry of anger to be heard, nor a burst of insolent laughter; to look at +them was to know that they lived for honour and loveliness. +</p> +<p> +(34) Such was the life at the palace-gates, and to practise his nobles +in martial exercises he would lead them out to the hunt whenever he +thought it well, holding the chase to be the best training for war and +the surest way to excellence in horsemanship. (35) A man learns to keep +his seat, no matter what the ground may be, as he follows the flying +quarry, learns to hurl and strike on horseback in his eagerness to bring +down the game and win applause. (36) And here, above all, was the field +in which to inure his colleagues to toil and hardship and cold and heat +and hunger and thirst. Thus to this day the Persian monarch and his +court spend their leisure in the chase. (37) From all that has been +said, it is clear Cyrus was convinced that no one has a right to rule +who is not superior to his subjects, and he held that by imposing +such exercises as these on those about him, he would lead them to +self-control and bring to perfection the art and discipline of war. (38) +Accordingly he would put himself at the head of the hunting-parties and +take them out himself unless he was bound to stay at home, and, if he +was, he would hunt in his parks among the wild creatures he had reared. +He would never touch the evening meal himself until he had sweated for +it, nor give his horses their corn until they had been exercised, and +he would invite his own mace-bearers to join him in the chase. (39) +Therefore he excelled in all knightly accomplishments, he and those +about him, because of their constant practice. Such was the example he +set before his friends. But he also kept his eye on others, and would +single out those who worshipped noble deeds, and reward them with gifts, +and high commands, and seats at festivals, and every kind of honour. +And thus their hearts were filled with ambition, and every man longed to +outdo his fellows in the eyes of Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +(40) But we seem to learn also that Cyrus thought it necessary for the +ruler not only to surpass his subjects by his own native worth, but also +to charm them through deception and artifice. At any rate he adopted the +Median dress, and persuaded his comrades to do likewise; he thought it +concealed any bodily defect, enhancing the beauty and stature of the +wearer. (41) The shoe, for instance, was so devised that a sole could be +added without notice, and the man would seem taller than he really was. +So also Cyrus encouraged the use of ointments to make the eyes more +brilliant and pigments to make the skin look fairer. (42) And he trained +his courtiers never to spit or blow the nose in public or turn aside +to stare at anything; they were to keep the stately air of persons +whom nothing can surprise. These were all means to one end; to make it +impossible for the subjects to despise their rulers. +</p> +<p> +(43) Thus he moulded the men he considered worthy of command by his own +example, by the training he gave them, and by the dignity of his own +leadership. But the treatment of those he prepared for slavery was +widely different. Not one of them would he incite to any noble toil, he +would not even let them carry arms, and he was careful that they should +never lack food or drink in any manly sort. (44) When the beaters drove +the wild creatures into the plain he would allow food to be brought for +the servants, but not for the free men; on a march he would lead the +slaves to the water-springs as he led the beasts of burden. Or when it +was the hour of breakfast he would wait himself till they had taken a +snatch of food and stayed their wolfish hunger; and the end of it was +they called him their father even as the nobles did, because he cared +for them, but the object of his care was to keep them slaves for ever. +</p> +<p> +(45) Thus he secured the safety of the Persian empire. He himself, he +felt sure, ran no danger from the massages of the conquered people; he +saw they had no courage, no unity, and no discipline, and, moreover, not +one of them could ever come near him, day or night. (46) But there were +others whom he knew to be true warriors, who carried arms, and who +held by one another, commanders of horse and foot, many of them men of +spirit, confident, as he could plainly see, of their own power to rule, +men who were in close touch with his own guards, and many of them in +constant intercourse with himself; as indeed was essential if he was +to make any use of them at all. It was from them that danger was to be +feared; and that in a thousand ways. (47) How was he to guard against +it? He rejected the idea of disarming them; he thought this unjust, +and that it would lead to the dissolution of the empire. To refuse them +admission into his presence, to show them his distrust, would be, he +considered, a declaration of war. (48) But there was one method, he +felt, worth all the rest, an honourable method and one that would secure +his safety absolutely; to win their friendship if he could, and make +them more devoted to himself than to each other. I will now endeavour +to set forth the methods, so far as I conceive them, by which he gained +their love. +</p> +<p> +(C.2) In the first place he never lost an opportunity of showing +kindliness wherever he could, convinced that just as it is not easy to +love those who hate us, so it is scarcely possible to feel enmity for +those who love us and wish us well. (2) So long as he had lacked the +power to confer benefits by wealth, all he could do then was to show +his personal care for his comrades and his soldiers, to labour in their +behalf, manifest his joy in their good fortune and his sympathy in their +sorrows, and try to win them in that way. But when the time came for the +gifts of wealth, he realised that of all the kindnesses between man +and man none come with a more natural grace than the gifts of meat and +drink. (3) Accordingly he arranged that his table should be spread every +day for many guests in exactly the same way as for himself; and all that +was set before him, after he and his guests had dined, he would send out +to his absent friends, in token of affection and remembrance. He would +include those who had won his approval by their work on guard, or in +attendance on himself, or in any other service, letting them see that no +desire to please him could ever escape his eyes. (4) He would show the +same honour to any servant he wished to praise; and he had all the +food for them placed at his own board, believing this would win their +fidelity, as it would a dog's. Or, if he wished some friend of his to be +courted by the people, he would single him out for such gifts; even to +this day the world will pay court to those who have dishes sent them +from the Great King's table, thinking they must be in high favour at +the palace and can get things done for others. But no doubt there was +another reason for the pleasure in such gifts, and that was the sheer +delicious taste of the royal meats. (5) Nor should that surprise us; +for if we remember to what a pitch of perfection the other crafts are +brought in great communities, we ought to expect the royal dishes to be +wonders of finished art. In a small city the same man must make beds +and chairs and ploughs and tables, and often build houses as well; and +indeed he will be only too glad if he can find enough employers in all +trades to keep him. Now it is impossible that a single man working at a +dozen crafts can do them all well; but in the great cities, owing to the +wide demand for each particular thing, a single craft will suffice for a +means of livelihood, and often enough even a single department of that; +there are shoe-makers who will only make sandals for men and others only +for women. Or one artisan will get his living merely by stitching shoes, +another by cutting them out, a third by shaping the upper leathers, and +a fourth will do nothing but fit the parts together. Necessarily the man +who spends all his time and trouble on the smallest task will do that +task the best. (6) The arts of the household must follow the same law. +If one and the same servant makes the bed, spreads the table, kneads the +dough, and cooks the various dishes, the master must take things as they +come, there is no help for it. But when there is work enough for one man +to boil the pot, and another to roast the meat, and a third to stew the +fish, and a fourth to fry it, while some one else must bake the bread, +and not all of it either, for the loaves must be of different kinds, +and it will be quite enough if the baker can serve up one kind to +perfection—it is obvious, I think, that in this way a far higher +standard of excellence will be attained in every branch of the work. +</p> +<p> +(7) Thus it is easy to see how Cyrus could outdo all competitors in the +grace of hospitality, and I will now explain how he came to triumph +in all other services. Far as he excelled mankind in the scale of his +revenues, he excelled them even more in the grandeur of his gifts. It +was Cyrus who set the fashion; and we are familiar to this day with the +open-handedness of Oriental kings. (8) There is no one, indeed, in all +the world whose friends are seen to be as wealthy as the friends of the +Persian monarch: no one adorns his followers in such splendour of +rich attire, no gifts are so well known as his, the bracelets, and the +necklaces, and the chargers with the golden bridles. For in that country +no one can have such treasures unless the king has given them. (9) And +of whom but the Great King could it be said that through the splendour +of his presents he could steal the hearts of men and turn them to +himself, away from brothers, fathers, sons? Who but he could stretch out +an arm and take vengeance on his enemies when yet they were months and +months away? Who but Cyrus ever won an empire in war, and when he died +was called father by the people he overcame?—a title that proclaims the +benefactor and not the robber. (10) Indeed, we are led to think that the +offices called "the king's eyes" and "the king's ears" came into being +through this system of gifts and honours. Cyrus' munificence toward +all who told him what it was well for him to know set countless people +listening with all their ears and watching with all their eyes for news +that might be of service to him. (11) Thus there sprang up a host of +"king's eyes" and "king's ears," as they were called, known and reputed +to be such. But it is a mistake to suppose that the king has one chosen +"eye." It is little that one man can see or one man hear, and to hand +over the office to one single person would be to bid all others go to +sleep. Moreover, his subjects would feel they must be on their guard +before the man they knew was "the king's eye." The contrary is the case; +the king will listen to any man who asserts that he has heard or seen +anything that needs attention. (12) Hence the saying that the king has +a thousand eyes and a thousand ears; and hence the fear of uttering +anything against his interest since "he is sure to hear," or doing +anything that might injure him "since he may be there to see." So far, +therefore, from venturing to breathe a syllable against Cyrus, every man +felt that he was under the eye and within the hearing of a king who was +always present. For this universal feeling towards him I can give no +other reason than his resolve to be a benefactor on a most mighty scale. +</p> +<p> +(13) It is not surprising, no doubt, that being the wealthiest of men, +he could outdo the world in the splendour of his gifts. The remarkable +thing was to find a king outstrip his courtiers in courtesy and +kindness. There was nothing, so the story runs, that could ever shame +him more than to be outdone in courtesy. (14) Indeed, a saying of his is +handed down comparing a good king to a good shepherd—the shepherd must +manage his flock by giving them all they need, and the king must satisfy +the needs of his cities and his subjects if he is to manage them. We +need not wonder, then, that with such opinions his ambition was to excel +mankind in courtesy and care. (15) There was a noble illustration of his +philosophy in the answer we are told he gave to Croesus, who had +taken him to task, saying his lavish gifts would bring him to beggary, +although he could lay by more treasures for himself than any man had +ever had before. Cyrus, it is said, asked him in return, "How much +wealth do you suppose I could have amassed already, had I collected +gold, as you bid me, ever since I came into my empire?" +</p> +<p> +(16) And Croesus named an enormous sum. Then Cyrus said, "Listen, +Croesus, here is my friend, Hystaspas, and you must send with him a man +that you can trust." Then, turning to Hystaspas, "Do you," he said, +"go round to my friends and tell them that I need money for a certain +enterprise—and that is true, I do need it. Bid each of them write down +the amount he can give me, seal the letter, and hand it to the messenger +of Croesus, who will bring it here." (17) Thereupon Cyrus wrote his +wishes and put his seal on the letter, and gave it to Hystaspas to carry +round, only he added a request that they should all welcome Hystaspas +as a friend of his. And when the messengers came back, the officer of +Croesus carrying the answers, Hystaspas cried, "Cyrus, my lord, you must +know I am a rich man now! I have made my fortune, thanks to your letter! +They have loaded me with gifts." (18) And Cyrus said, "There, Croesus, +that is treasure number one; and now run through the rest, and count +what sums I have in hand, in case I need them." And Croesus counted, +and found, so the story tells us, that the sum was far larger than the +amount he had said would have been lying in the treasury if only Cyrus +had made a hoard. (19) At this discovery Cyrus said, so we are told, +"You see, Croesus, I have my treasures too. Only you advise me to +collect them and hide them, and be envied and hated because of them, and +set mercenaries to guard them, putting my trust in hirelings. But I +hold to it that if I make my friends rich they will be my treasures +themselves, and far better guards too, for me and all we have, than if I +set hired watchmen over my wealth. (20) And I have somewhat else to say; +I tell you, Croesus, there is something the gods have implanted in our +souls, and there they have made us all beggars alike, something I can +never overcome. (21) I too, like all the rest, am insatiate of riches, +only in one respect I fancy I am different. Most men when they have more +wealth than they require bury some of it underground, and let some of it +rot, and some they count and measure, and they guard it and they air +it, and give themselves a world of trouble, and yet for all their +wealth they cannot eat more than they have stomach for—they would burst +asunder if they did—nor wear more clothes than they can carry—they +would die of suffocation—and so their extra wealth means nothing but +extra work. (22) For my part, I serve the gods, and I stretch out my +hands for more and more; only when I have got what is beyond my own +requirements I piece out the wants of my friends, and so, helping my +fellows, I purchase their love and their goodwill, and out of these I +garner security and renown, fruits that can never rot, rich meats that +can work no mischief; for glory, the more it grows, the grander it +becomes, and the fairer, and the lighter to be borne; it even gives a +lighter step to those who bear it. (23) One thing more, Croesus, I would +have you know; the happiest men, in my judgment, are not the holders +of vast riches and the masters who have the most to guard; else the +sentinels of our citadels would be the happiest of mortals, seeing they +guard the whole wealth of the state. He, I hold, has won the crown +of happiness who has had the skill to gain wealth by the paths of +righteousness and use it for all that is honourable and fair." +</p> +<p> +(24) That was the doctrine Cyrus preached, and all men could see that +his practice matched his words. +</p> +<p> +Moreover, he observed that the majority of mankind, if they live in good +health for long, will only lay by such stores and requisites as may be +used by a healthy man, and hardly care at all to have appliances at hand +in case of sickness. But Cyrus was at the pains to provide these; he +encouraged the ablest physicians of the day by his liberal payments, and +if ever they recommended an instrument or a drug or a special kind of +food or drink, he never failed to procure it and have it stored in the +palace. +</p> +<p> +(25) And whenever any one fell sick among those who had peculiar claims +on his attentions, he would visit them and bring them all they needed, +and he showed especial gratitude to the doctors if they cured their +patients by the help of his own stores. (26) These measures, and others +like them, he adopted to win the first place in the hearts of those +whose friendship he desired. Moreover, the contests he proclaimed and +the prizes he offered to awaken ambition and desire for gallant deeds +all redounded to his own glory as a man who had the pursuit of nobleness +at heart, while they bred strife and bitter rivalry among the champions +themselves. (27) Further, he laid it down that in every matter needing +arbitration, whether it were a suit-at-law or a trial of skill, the +parties should concur in their choice of a judge. Each would try to +secure the most powerful man he knew and the one most friendly to +himself, and if he lost he envied his successful rival and hated the +judge who had declared against him, while the man who won claimed to win +because his case was just and felt he owed no gratitude to anybody. +(28) Thus all who wished to be first in the affections of Cyrus, just as +others in democratic states, were full of rancour against each other, in +fact most of them would sooner have seen their rivals exterminated than +join with them for any common good. Such are some of the devices by +which he made the ablest of his subjects more attached to himself than +to one another. +</p> +<p> +(C.3) I will now describe the first public progress that Cyrus made. For +the very solemnity of the ceremony was one of the artifices by which +he won reverence for his government. The day before it he summoned the +officers of state, the Persians and the others, and gave them all the +splendid Median dress. This was the first time the Persians wore it, +and as they received the robes he said that he wished to drive in his +chariot to the sacred precincts and offer sacrifice with them. (2) "You +will present yourselves at my gates," he added, "before the sun rises, +attired in these robes, and you will take your places where Pheraulas +the Persian bids you on my behalf. As soon as I lead the way you will +follow in your appointed order. And if any of you should think of some +change to heighten the beauty and stateliness of our procession, you +will acquaint me with it, I pray, on our return; it is for us to see +that all is done in the manner you feel to be most beautiful and best." +</p> +<p> +(3) With that Cyrus gave the most splendid robes to his chief notables, +and then he brought out others, for he had stores of Median garments, +purple and scarlet and crimson and glowing red, and gave a share to each +of his generals and said to them, "Adorn your friends, as I have adorned +you." (4) Then one of them asked him, "And you, O Cyrus, when will you +adorn yourself?" But he answered, "Is it not adornment enough for me +to have adorned you? If I can but do good to my friends, I shall look +glorious enough, whatever robe I wear." +</p> +<p> +(5) So his nobles took their leave, and sent for their friends and +put the splendid raiment on them. Meanwhile Cyrus summoned Pheraulas, +knowing that, while he was a man of the people, he was also +quick-witted, a lover of the beautiful, prompt to understand and to +obey, and one who had ever an eye to please his master. It was he who +had supported Cyrus long ago when he proposed that honour should be +given in proportion to desert. And now Cyrus asked him how he thought +the procession might be made most beautiful in the eyes of friends and +most formidable in the sight of foes. (6) So they took counsel and were +of the same mind, and Cyrus bade Pheraulas see that all was done on the +morrow as they had agreed. +</p> +<p> +"I have issued orders," he added, "for all to obey you in the matter, +but to make them the more willing, take these tunics yourself and give +them to the captains of the guard, and these military cloaks for the +cavalry officers, and these tunics for those who command the chariots." +</p> +<p> +(7) So Pheraulas took the raiment and departed, and when the generals +saw him, they met him with shouts and cries, "A monstrous fine fellow +you are, Pheraulas!" said one: "you are to give us our orders, it +seems!" +</p> +<p> +"Oh, yes," said Pheraulas, "and carry your baggage too. Here I come with +two cloaks as it is, one for you and another for somebody else: you must +choose whichever you like the best." +</p> +<p> +(8) At that the officer put out his hand to take the cloak; he had clean +forgotten his jealousy, and fell to asking Pheraulas which he had +better choose. And Pheraulas gave his advice, adding, "But if you inform +against me, and let out that I gave you the choice, the next time I have +to wait upon you you will find me a very different sort of serving-man." +</p> +<p> +Thus he distributed the gifts he brought, and then he saw to the +arrangements for the procession so that everything should be as far as +possible. +</p> +<p> +(9) On the morrow all things were ready before day-break, ranks lining +the road on either hand, as they do to this day when the king is +expected to ride abroad—no one may pass within the lines unless he is +a man of mark—and constables were posted with whips, to use at any sign +of disturbance. +</p> +<p> +In front of the palace stood the imperial guard of lancers, four +thousand strong, drawn up four deep on either side of the gates. (10) +And all the cavalry were there, the men standing beside their horses, +with their hands wrapped in their cloaks, as is the custom to this day +for every subject when the king's eye is on him. The Persians stood on +the right, and the allies on the left, and the chariots were posted in +the same way, half on one side and half on the other. (11) Presently the +palace-gates were flung open, and at the head of the procession were +led out the bulls for sacrifice, beautiful creatures, four and four +together. They were to be offered to Zeus and to any other gods that the +Persian priests might name. For the Persians think it of more importance +to follow the guidance of the learned in matters pertaining to the gods +than in anything else whatever. +</p> +<p> +(12) After the oxen came horses, an offering to the Sun, then a white +chariot with a golden yoke, hung with garlands and dedicated to Zeus, +and after that the white car of the Sun, wreathed like the one before +it, and then a third chariot, the horses of which were caparisoned with +scarlet trappings, and behind walked men carrying fire upon a mighty +hearth. (13) And then at last Cyrus himself was seen, coming forth from +the gates in his chariot, wearing his tiara on his head, and a purple +tunic shot with white, such as none but the king may wear, and trews of +scarlet, and a cloak of purple. Round his tiara he wore a diadem, and +his kinsmen wore the same, even as the custom is to this day. (14) +And the king's hands hung free outside his cloak. Beside him stood a +charioteer—he was a tall man, but he seemed to be dwarfed by Cyrus; +whether it was really so, or whether there was some artifice at work, +Cyrus towered above him. At the sight of the king, the whole company +fell on their faces. Perhaps some had been ordered to do this and so +set the fashion, or perhaps the multitude were really overcome by the +splendour of the pageant and the sight of Cyrus himself, stately and +tall and fair. (15) For hitherto none of the Persians had done obeisance +to Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +And now, as the chariot moved onwards, the four thousand lancers went +before it, two thousand on either side, and close behind came the +mace-bearers, mounted on horseback, with javelins in their hands, three +hundred strong. (16) Then the royal steeds were led past, with golden +bridles and striped housings, two hundred and more, and then followed +two thousand spearmen and after them the squadron of cavalry first +formed, ten thousand men, a hundred deep and a hundred riding abreast, +with Chrysantas at their head. (17) And behind them the second body +of the Persian horse, ten thousand more, in the same order, under +Hystaspas, and then again ten thousand under Datamas, and others behind +them under Gadatas. (18) And after them the Median cavalry, and then +the Armenians, the Hyrcanians, the Cadousians, and the Sakians in their +order; and after the cavalry a squadron of war-chariots, drawn up four +deep, with Artabatas the Persian in command. +</p> +<p> +(19) All along the route thousands of men followed, outside the +barriers, with petitions to Cyrus. Accordingly he sent his mace-bearers, +who rode beside him for the purpose, three on either side of his +chariot, bidding them tell the crowd of suitors, if they had need of +anything, to acquaint one of the cavalry officers and he would speak for +them. So the petitioners withdrew, and fell to marching along the +lines of the cavalry, considering whom they should address. (20) Cyrus +meanwhile would send messengers to the friends he wished to be courted, +saying to them, "If any man appeals to you and you think nothing of what +he says, pay no heed to him, but if his request seems just, report it to +me, and we will discuss it together and arrange matters for him." (21) +As a rule the officers so summoned did not loiter, but dashed up at +full speed, glad to enhance the authority of Cyrus and to show their +own allegiance. But there was a certain Daïpharnes, a person of somewhat +boorish manners, who fancied that he would make a show of greater +independence if he did not hurry himself. (22) Cyrus noted this, and +quietly, before the man could reach him, sent another messenger to say +he had no further need of him; and that was the last time Daïpharnes +was ever summoned. (23) And when the next officer rode up, in front of +Daïpharnes though sent for after him, Cyrus presented him with a horse +from his train and bade one of the mace-bearers lead it wherever he +wished. The people saw in this a high mark of honour; and a greater +crowd than ever paid their court to the favoured man. +</p> +<p> +(24) When the procession reached the sacred precincts, sacrifice +was offered to Zeus, a whole burnt-offering of bulls, and a whole +burnt-offering of horses to the Sun; and then they sacrificed to the +Earth, slaying the victims as the Persian priests prescribed, and then +to the heroes who hold the Syrian land. (25) And when the rites were +done, Cyrus, seeing that the ground was suitable for racing, marked out +a goal, and a course half-a-mile in length, and bade the cavalry and +the chariots match their horses against each other, tribe by tribe. He +himself raced among his Persians, and won with ease, for he was far the +best horseman there. The winner among the Medes was Artabazus, the +horse he rode being a gift from Cyrus. The Syrian race was won by their +chieftain, the Armenian by Tigranes, the Hyrcanian by the general's son, +and the Sakian by a private soldier who left all his rivals half the +course behind him. +</p> +<p> +(26) Cyrus, so the story says, asked the young man if he would take a +kingdom for his horse. +</p> +<p> +"No kingdom for me," answered the soldier, "but I would take the thanks +of a gallant fellow." +</p> +<p> +(27) "Well," said Cyrus, "I would like to show you where you could +hardly fail to hit one, even if you shut your eyes." +</p> +<p> +"Be so good as to show me now," said the Sakian, "and I will take aim +with this clod," picking up one from the ground. +</p> +<p> +(28) Then Cyrus pointed to a group of his best friends, and the other +shut his eyes and flung the clod, and it struck Pheraulas as he galloped +by, bearing some message from Cyrus. But he never so much as turned, +flashing past on his errand. (29) Then the Sakian opened his eyes and +asked whom he had hit? +</p> +<p> +"Nobody, I assure you," said Cyrus, "who is here." +</p> +<p> +"And nobody who is not, of course," said the young man. +</p> +<p> +"Oh yes, you did," answered Cyrus, "you hit that officer over there who +is riding so swiftly paste the chariot-lines." +</p> +<p> +(30) "And how is it," asked the other, "that he does not even turn his +head?" +</p> +<p> +"Half-witted, probably," said Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +Whereat the young man rode off to see who it was, and found Pheraulas, +with his chin and beard all begrimed and bloody, gore trickling from his +nostrils were the clod had struck him. (31) The Sakian cried out to know +if he was hit. +</p> +<p> +"As you see," answered Pheraulas. +</p> +<p> +"Then," said the other, "let me give you my horse." +</p> +<p> +"But why?" asked Pheraulas. +</p> +<p> +And so the Sakian had to tell him all about the matter, adding, "And +after all, you see, I did not miss a gallant fellow." +</p> +<p> +(32) "Ah," said Pheraulas, "if you had been wise, you would have chosen +a richer one; but I take your gift with all my thanks. And I pray the +gods," he added, "who let me be your target, to help me now and see that +you may never regret your gift. For the present, mount my horse yourself +and ride back; I will be with you shortly." +</p> +<p> +So they exchanged steeds and parted. +</p> +<p> +The winner of the Cadousian race was Rathines. +</p> +<p> +(33) Then followed chariot-races, tribe by tribe as before: and to all +the winners Cyrus gave goblets of price, and oxen, that they might have +the wherewithal for sacrifice and feasting. He himself took an ox for +his own meed, but he gave all the goblets to Pheraulas to show his +approval of the arrangements for the march. (34) And the manner of that +procession, then first established by Cyrus, continues to this day, the +same in all things, save that the victims are absent when there is no +sacrifice. And when it was over, the soldiers went back to the city, and +took up their quarters for the night, some in houses and some with their +regiments. +</p> +<p> +(35) Now Pheraulas had invited the Sakian who had given him the horse, +and he entertained him with the best he had, and set before him a full +board, and after they had dined he filled the goblets Cyrus had given +him, and drank to his guest, and offered them all to him. (36) And +the Sakian looked round on the rich and costly rugs, and the beautiful +furniture, and the train of servants, and cried: +</p> +<p> +"Tell me, Pheraulas, do you belong to wealthy folk at home?" +</p> +<p> +(37) "Wealthy folk indeed!" cried Pheraulas, "men who live by their +hands, you mean. My father, I can tell you, had work enough to rear me +and get me a boy's schooling; he had to toil hard and live sparely, and +when I grew to be a lad he could not afford to keep me idle, he took me +to a farm in the country and set me there to work it. (38) Then it was +my turn, and I supported him while he lived, digging with my own hands +and sowing the seed in a ridiculous little plot of ground, and yet it +was not a bad bit of soil either, but as good and as honest earth as +ever you saw: whatever seed it got from me, it paid me back again, and +so prettily and carefully and duly, principal and interest both; not +that the interest was very much, I won't say it was, though once or +twice, out of pure generosity, that land gave me twice was much as I put +into it. That's how I used to live at home, in the old days: to-day it's +different, and all that you see here I owe to Cyrus." +</p> +<p> +(39) Then the Sakian cried: +</p> +<p> +"O lucky fellow! Lucky in everything, and most of all in coming to +wealth from beggary! I know your riches must taste the sweeter, because +you hungered for them first and now are full." +</p> +<p> +(40) But Pheraulas answered: +</p> +<p> +"Do you really think, my friend, that my joy in life has grown with the +growth of my wealth? Do you not know," he went on, "that I neither eat +nor drink nor sleep with any more zest than I did when I was poor? What +I get by all these goods is simply this: I have more to watch over, more +to distribute, and more trouble in looking after more. (41) I have a +host of servants now, one set asking me for food, another for drink, +another for clothing, and some must have the doctor, and then a herdsman +comes, carrying the carcase of some poor sheep mangled by the wolves, or +perhaps with an ox that has fallen down a precipice, or maybe he has to +tell me that a murrain has broken out among my flocks. It seems to me," +Pheraulas ended, "that I suffer more to-day through having much than +ever I did before through having nothing." +</p> +<p> +(42) "But—Heaven help us!" cried the Sakian, "surely, when it is all +safe, to see so much of your own must make you much happier than me?" +</p> +<p> +"I assure you, my friend," said Pheraulas, "the possession of riches +is nothing like so sweet as the loss of them is painful. And here is a +proof for you: no rich man lies awake from pure joy at his wealth, but +did you ever know a man who could close his eyes when he was losing?" +</p> +<p> +(43) "No," said the Sakian, "nor yet one who could drop asleep when he +was winning." +</p> +<p> +(44) "True enough," answered the other, "and if having were as sweet as +getting, the rich would be a thousand times more happy than the poor. +And remember, stranger," he added, "a man who has much must spend much +on the gods and his friends and his guests, and if he takes intense +delight in his riches, spending will cause him intense annoyance." +</p> +<p> +(45) "Upon my word," said the Sakian, "for myself, I am not that sort +of man at all: to have much and to spend much is just my idea of perfect +happiness." +</p> +<p> +(46) "Heavens!" cried Pheraulas, "what a chance for us both! You can win +perfect happiness now, this instant, and make me happy too! Here, take +all these things for your own, make what use of them you please; and +as for me, you can keep me as your guest, only much more cheaply if +you like: it will be quite enough for me to share whatever you have +yourself." +</p> +<p> +"You are jesting," said the Sakian. +</p> +<p> +(47) But Pheraulas swore with all solemnity that he spoke in earnest. +</p> +<p> +"Yes, my friend," he added, "and there are other matters that I can +arrange for you with Cyrus: freedom from military service or attendance +at the gates. All you will have to do will be to stay at home and grow +rich: I will do the rest on your behalf and mine. And if I win any +treasure through my service at court or on the field, I will bring it +home to you, and you will be lord of more; only," he added, "you must +free me from the responsibility of looking after it, for if you give me +leisure from these cares I believe you will be of great use to Cyrus and +myself." +</p> +<p> +(48) So the talk ended and they struck a bargain on these terms, and +kept it. And the Sakian thought he had found happiness because he was +the master of much wealth, and the other felt he was in bliss because he +had got a steward who would leave him leisure to do what he liked +best. (49) For the character of Pheraulas was amiable: he was a loving +comrade, and no service seemed so sweet to him or so helpful as the +service of man. Man, he believed, was the noblest of the animals and the +most grateful: praise, Pheraulas saw, will reap counter-praise, kindness +will stir kindness in return, and goodwill goodwill; those whom men know +to love them they cannot hate, and, in a way no other animals will, they +cherish their parents in life and in death and requite their care. All +other creatures, in short, compared with man, are lacking in gratitude +and heart. +</p> +<p> +(50) Thus Pheraulas was overjoyed to feel that he could now be quit of +anxiety for his wealth, and devote himself to his friends, while the +Sakian was delighted with all that he had and all that he could use. The +Sakian loved Pheraulas because he was for ever adding something to the +store, and Pheraulas loved the Sakian because he was willing to assume +the entire burden, and however much the cares increased he never broke +into the other's leisure. Thus those two lived their lives. +</p> +<p> +(C.4) Now Cyrus offered sacrifice and held high festival for his +victories, and he summoned to the feast those of his friends who bore +him most affection and had shown most desire to exalt him. With them +were bidden Artabazus the Mede, and Tigranes the Armenian, and the +commander of the Hyrcanian cavalry, and Gobryas. (2) Gadatas was the +chief of the mace-bearers, and the whole household was arranged as he +advised. When there were guests at dinner, Gadatas would not sit down, +but saw to everything, and when they were alone he sat at meat with +Cyrus, who took delight in his company, and in return for all his +services he was greatly honoured by Cyrus and that led to more honours +for others. (3) As the guests entered, Gadatas would show each man to +his seat, and the places were chosen with care: the friend whom Cyrus +honoured most was placed on his left hand (for that was the side +most open to attack), the second on his right, the third next to the +left-hand guest, and the fourth next to the right, and so on, whatever +the number of guests might be. (4) Cyrus thought it well it should be +known how much each man was honoured, for he saw that where the world +believes merit will win no crown and receive no proclamation, there the +spirit of emulation dies, but if all see that the best man gains most, +then the rivalry grows keen. (5) Thus it was that Cyrus marked out the +men he favoured by the seat of honour and the order of precedence. Nor +did he assign the honourable place to one friend for all time; he made +it a law that by good deeds a man might rise into a higher seat or +through sloth descend into a lower; and he would have felt ashamed if it +were not known that the guest most honoured at his table received most +favours at his hands. These customs that arose in the reign of Cyrus +continue to our time, as we can testify. +</p> +<p> +(6) While they were at the feast that day it struck Gobryas that though +there was nothing surprising in the abundance and variety at the table +of one who was lord over so vast an empire, yet it was strange that +Cyrus, who had done such mighty deeds, should never keep any dainty for +himself, but must always be at pains to share it with the company. More +than once also he saw Cyrus send off to an absent friend some dish that +had chanced to please him. (7) So that by the time they had finished +their meal all the viands had been given away by Cyrus, and the board +was bare. +</p> +<p> +Then Gobryas said, "Truly, Cyrus, until to-day I used to think it was in +generalship that you outshone other men the most, but, by heaven! I say +now it is not in generalship at all, it is generosity." +</p> +<p> +(8) "Maybe," said Cyrus, "at least I take far more pride in this work +than in the other." +</p> +<p> +"How can that be?" asked Gobryas. +</p> +<p> +"Because," said he, "the one does good to man and the other injury." +</p> +<p> +(9) Presently as the wine went round and round, Hystaspas turned to +Cyrus and said: +</p> +<p> +"Would you be angry, Cyrus, if I asked something I long to know?" +</p> +<p> +"On the contrary," answered Cyrus, "I should be vexed if I saw you +silent when you longed to ask." +</p> +<p> +"Tell me then," said the other, "have you ever called me and found I +refused to come?" +</p> +<p> +"What a question!" said Cyrus, "of course not." +</p> +<p> +"Well, have I ever been slow in coming?" +</p> +<p> +"No, never." +</p> +<p> +"Or failed to do anything you ordered?" +</p> +<p> +"No," said Cyrus, "I have no fault to find at all." +</p> +<p> +"Whatever I had to do, I always did it eagerly and with all my heart, +did I not?" +</p> +<p> +"Most assuredly," answered Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +(10) "Then why, Cyrus, why, in heaven's name, have you singled out +Chrysantas for a more honourable seat than me?" +</p> +<p> +"Shall I really tell you?" asked Cyrus in his turn. +</p> +<p> +"By all means," said the other. +</p> +<p> +"And you will not be annoyed if I tell you the plain truth?" +</p> +<p> +(11) "On the contrary, it will comfort me to know I have not been +wronged." +</p> +<p> +"Well, then, Chrysantas never waited to be called; he came of his own +accord on our behalf, and he made it his business to do, not merely what +he was ordered, but whatever he thought would help us. When something +had to be said to the allies, he would not only suggest what was fitting +for me to say myself, he would guess what I wanted the allies to know +but could not bring myself to utter, since it was about myself, and +he would say it for me as though it were his own opinion; in fact, for +everything of the kind he was nothing less to me than a second and a +better self. And now he is always insisting that what he has already +got is quite enough for himself, and always trying to discover something +more for me: he takes a greater pride and joy in all my triumphs than I +do myself." +</p> +<p> +(12) "By Hera," said Hystaspas, "I am right glad I asked you. Only one +thing puzzles me: how am I to show my joy at your success? Shall I clap +my hands and laugh, or what shall I do?" +</p> +<p> +"Dance the Persian dance, of course," said Artabazus. And all the +company laughed. +</p> +<p> +(13) And as the drinking deepened Cyrus put a question to Gobryas. +</p> +<p> +"Tell me, Gobryas, would you be better pleased to give your daughter to +one of our company to-day than the day when you met us first?" +</p> +<p> +"Well," said Gobryas, "am I also to tell the truth?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly," said Cyrus, "no question looks for a lie." +</p> +<p> +"Then," said Gobryas, "I assure you, I would far rather give her in +marriage to-day." +</p> +<p> +"Can you tell us why?" said Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +"That I can," said he. +</p> +<p> +(14) "Say on, then." +</p> +<p> +"At that time, I saw, it is true, the gallant manner in which your men +endured toil and danger, but to-day I see the modesty with which they +bear success. And I believe, Cyrus, that the man who takes good-fortune +well is further to seek than he who can endure adversity; for success +engenders insolence in many hearts, while suffering teaches sobriety and +fortitude." +</p> +<p> +(15) And Cyrus said, "Hystaspas, did you hear the saying of Gobryas?" +</p> +<p> +"I did indeed," he answered, "and if he has many more as good, he will +find me a suitor for his daughter, a far more eager one than if he had +shown me all his goblets." +</p> +<p> +(16) "Well," said Gobryas, "I have many such written down at home, +and you may have them all if you take my daughter to wife. And as for +goblets," he added, "since it seems you cannot away with them, perhaps +I might give them to Chrysantas to punish him for having filled your +seat." +</p> +<p> +(17) "Listen to me," said Cyrus, "Hystaspas, and all of you. If you +will but tell me, any of you, when you propose to marry, you would soon +discover what a clever advocate you had in me." +</p> +<p> +(18) But Gobryas interposed, "And if one of us wants to give his +daughter in marriage, to whom should he apply?" +</p> +<p> +"To me also," answered Cyrus; "I assure you, I am adept in the art." +</p> +<p> +"What art is that?" Chrysantas inquired. +</p> +<p> +(19) "The art of discerning the wife to suit each man." +</p> +<p> +"Then by all the gods," said Chrysantas, "tell me what sort of wife +would do for me?" +</p> +<p> +(20) "In the first place," he answered, "she must be short, for you are +not tall yourself, and if you married a tall maiden and wanted to give +her a kiss when she stood up straight, you would have to jump to reach +her like a little dog." +</p> +<p> +"Your advice is straight enough," said Chrysantas; "and I am but a sorry +jumper at the best." +</p> +<p> +(21) "In the next place," Cyrus went on, "a flat nose would suit you +very well." +</p> +<p> +"A flat nose?" said the other, "why?" +</p> +<p> +"Because your own is high enough, and flatness, you may be sure, will go +best with height." +</p> +<p> +"You might as well say," retorted Chrysantas, "that one who has dined +well, like myself, is best matched with the dinnerless." +</p> +<p> +"Quite so," answered Cyrus, "a full stomach is high and an empty paunch +is flat." +</p> +<p> +(22) "And now," said Chrysantas, "in heaven's name, tell us the bride +for a flat king?" +</p> +<p> +But at this Cyrus laughed outright, and all the others with him. (23) +And the laughter still rang loud when Hystaspas said: +</p> +<p> +"There is one thing, Cyrus, that I envy in your royal state more than +all the rest." +</p> +<p> +"And what is that?" said Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +"That though you are flat, you can raise a laugh." +</p> +<p> +"Ah," said Cyrus, "what would you give to have as much said of you? To +have it reported on all sides and wherever you wished to stand well that +you were a man of wit?" +</p> +<p> +Thus they bantered each other and gave jest for jest. +</p> +<p> +(24) Then Cyrus brought out a woman's attire and ornaments of price +and gave them to Tigranes as a present for his wife, because she had +followed her husband so manfully to the war, and he gave a golden goblet +to Artabazus, and a horse to the Hyrcanian leader, and many another +splendid gift among the company. +</p> +<p> +"And to you, Gobryas," said he, "I will give a husband for your +daughter." +</p> +<p> +(25) "Let me be the gift," said Hystaspas, "and then I shall get those +writings." +</p> +<p> +"But have you a fortune on your side," asked Cyrus, "to match the +bride's?" +</p> +<p> +"Certainly, I have," he answered, "I may say twenty times as great." +</p> +<p> +"And where," asked Cyrus, "may those treasures be?" +</p> +<p> +"At the foot of your throne," he answered, "my gracious lord." +</p> +<p> +"I ask no more," said Gobryas, and held out his right hand. "Give him to +me, Cyrus," he said; "I accept him." +</p> +<p> +(26) At that Cyrus took the right hand of Hystaspas and laid it in the +hand of Gobryas, and the pledge was given and received. Then Cyrus gave +beautiful gifts to Hystaspas for his bride, but he drew Chrysantas to +his breast and kissed him. (27) Thereupon Artabazus cried: +</p> +<p> +"Heaven help us, Cyrus! The goblet you gave me is not of the fine gold +you have given Chrysantas now!" +</p> +<p> +"Well," said Cyrus, "you shall have the same one day." +</p> +<p> +"When?" asked the other. +</p> +<p> +"Thirty years hence," said Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +"I will wait," said Artabazus: "I will not die: be ready for me." +</p> +<p> +And then the banquet came to an end: the guests rose, and Cyrus stood up +with them and conducted them to the door. +</p> +<p> +(28) But on the morrow he arranged that all the allies and all who had +volunteered should be sent back to their homes, all except those who +wished to take up their abode with him. To these he gave grants of land +and houses, still held by their descendants, Medes for the greater part, +and Hyrcanians. And to those who went home he gave many gifts and +sent them away well content, both officers and men. (29) After this +he distributed among his own soldiers all the wealth he had taken at +Sardis, choice gifts for the captains of ten thousand and for his own +staff in proportion to their deserts, and the rest in equal shares, +delivering to every captain one share with orders to divide it among +their subordinates as he had divided the whole among them. (30) +Thereupon each officer gave to the officers directly under him, judging +the worth of each, until it came to the captains of six, who considered +the cases of the privates in their own squads, and gave each man what +he deserved: and thus every soldier in the army received an equitable +share. (31) But after the distribution of it all there were some who +said: +</p> +<p> +"How rich Cyrus must be, to have given us all so much!" +</p> +<p> +"Rich?" cried others, "what do you mean? Cyrus is no money-maker: he is +more glad to give than to get." +</p> +<p> +(32) When Cyrus heard of this talk and the opinions held about him, he +gathered together his friends and the chief men of the state and spoke +as follows: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, I have known men who were anxious to +have it thought they possessed more than they really had, thinking this +would give them an air of freedom and nobility. But in my opinion the +result was the very opposite of what they wished. If it is thought that +a man has great riches and does not help his friends in proportion to +his wealth, he cannot but appear ignoble and niggardly. (33) There are +others," he went on, "who would have their wealth forgotten, and these I +look upon as traitors to their friends: for it must often happen that +a comrade is in need and yet hesitates to tell them because he does +not know how much they have, and so he is kept in the dark and left to +starve. (34) The straightforward course, it seems to me, is always to +make no secret of our own resources, but to use them all, whatever they +are, in our efforts to win the crown of honour. Accordingly I am anxious +to show you all my possessions so far as they can be seen, and to give +you a list of the rest." +</p> +<p> +(35) With these words he proceeded to point out his visible treasures, +and he gave an exact account of those that could not be shown. He ended +by saying: +</p> +<p> +(36) "All these things, gentlemen, you must consider yours as much as +mine. I have collected them, not that I might spend them on myself or +waste them in my own use: I could not do that if I tried. I keep them to +reward him who does a noble deed, and to help any of you who may be in +want of anything, so that you may come to me and take what ou require." +</p> +<p> +Such were the words of Cyrus. +</p> +<p> +(C.5) But now that all was well in Babylon and Cyrus felt he might leave +the land, he began to prepare for a march to Persia, and sent out orders +to his men. And when he had all he needed, the steeds were yoked, and +he set off. (2) And here we will explain how it was that so vast a host +could unpack and pack again without a break of order, and take up a +position with such speed wherever it was desired. When the king is on +the march his attendants, of course, are provided with tents and encamp +with him, winter and summer alike. (3) From the first the Cyrus made it +a custom to have his tent pitched facing east, and later on he fixed the +space to be left between himself and his lancers, and then he stationed +his bakers on the right and his cooks on the left, the cavalry on the +right again, and the baggage-train on the left. Everything else was so +arranged that each man knew his own quarters, their position and their +size. (4) When the army was packing up after a halt, each man put +together the baggage he used himself, and others placed it on the +animals: so that at one and the same moment all his bearers came to the +baggage-train and each man laid his load on his own beasts. Thus all the +tents could be struck in the same time as one. (5) And it was the +same when the baggage had to be unpacked. Again, in order that the +necessaries should be prepared in time, each man was told beforehand +what he had to do: and thus all the divisions could be provided for as +speedily as one. (6) And, just as the serving-men had their appointed +places, so the different regiments had their own stations, adapted to +their special style of fighting, and each detachment knew their quarters +and went to them without hesitation. (7) Even in a private house, +orderliness, Cyrus knew, was a most excellent thing: every one, if he +needed anything, would then know where to get it; but he held it still +more desirable for the arrangement of an army, seeing that the moment +for action passes far more quickly in war and the evil from being too +late is far more grave. Therefore he gave more thought and care to order +and arrangement than to anything else. +</p> +<p> +(8) His own position, to begin with, must be at the centre of the +camp, as this was the safest place, and next to him must come his most +faithful followers, as their habit was. Beyond these, in a ring, lay the +cavalry and the charioteers. (9) For Cyrus held to it that these troops +also needed a safe position: their equipment could not be kept at +hand for them, and if they were to be of any use at all they needed +considerable time for arming. (10) The targeteers were placed to +left and right of the cavalry, and the bowmen in front and rear. (11) +Finally, the heavy-armed troops and those who carried the huge shields +surrounded the whole encampment like a wall; so that in case of need, if +the cavalry had to mount, the steadiest troops would stand firm in front +and let them arm in safety. (12) He insisted that the targeteers and +archers should, like the soldiers of the line, sleep at their posts, in +case of alarm at night, and be ready at any moment, while the infantry +dealt with the assailant at close quarters, to hurl darts and javelins +at them over the others' heads. (13) Moreover, all the generals had +standards on their tents; and just as an intelligent serving-man in a +city will know most of the houses, at any rate of the most important +people, so the squires of Cyrus knew the ways of the camp and the +quarters of the generals and the standards of each. Thus, if Cyrus +needed any one they had not to search and seek, but could run by +the shortest road and summon him at once. (14) Owing to this clear +arrangement, it was easy to see where good discipline was kept and where +duty was neglected. With these dispositions Cyrus felt that if an attack +should be made, by night or day, the enemy would find not so much a +camp as an ambuscade. (15) Nor was it enough, he considered, for a real +master of tactics to know how to extend his front without confusion, or +deepen his ranks, or get from column into line, or wheel round quickly +when the enemy appeared on the right or the left or in the rear: the +true tactician must also be able to break up his troops into small +bodies, whenever necessary, and place each division exactly where it +would be of the greatest use; he must know how to quicken speed when +it was essential to forestall the enemy; these and a hundred other +operations are part of his science, and Cyrus studied them all with +equal care. (16) On the march he varied the order constantly to suit the +needs of the moment, but for the camp, as a rule, he adopted the plan we +have described. +</p> +<p> +(17) And now when the march had brought them into Media, Cyrus turned +aside to visit Cyaxares. After they had met and embraced, Cyrus began by +telling Cyaxares that a palace in Babylon, and an estate, had been set +aside for him so that he might have a residence of his own whenever he +came there, and he offered him other gifts, most rich and beautiful. +(18) And Cyaxares was glad to take them from his nephew, and then +he sent for his daughter, and she came, carrying a golden crown, and +bracelets, and a necklace of wrought gold, and a most beautiful Median +robe, as splendid as could be. (19) The maiden placed the crown upon the +head of Cyrus, and as she did so Cyaxares said: +</p> +<p> +"I will give her to you, Cyrus, my own daughter, to be your wife. Your +father wedded the daughter of my father, and you are their son; and this +is the little maid whom you carried in your arms when you were with us +as a lad, and whenever she was asked whom she meant to marry, she would +always answer 'Cyrus.' And for her dowry I will give her the whole of +Media: since I have no lawful son." +</p> +<p> +(20) So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: +</p> +<p> +"Cyaxares, I can but thank you myself for all you offer me, the kinship +and the maiden and the gifts, but I must lay the matter before my father +and my mother before I accept, and then we will thank you together." +</p> +<p> +That was what Cyrus said, but none the less he gave the maiden the gifts +he thought would please her father. And when he had done so, he marched +on home to Persia. +</p> +<p> +(21) And when he reached the borders of his fatherland, he left the mass +of his troops on the frontier, and went forward alone with his friends +to the city, leading victims enough for all the Persians to sacrifice +and hold high festival. And he brought special gifts for his father and +his mother and his friends of old, and for the high officers of state, +the elders, and all the Persian Peers; and he gave every Persian man and +every Persian woman such bounties as the king confers to-day whenever he +visits Persia. (22) After this Cambyses gathered together the elders +of the land and the chief officers, who have authority in the highest +matters, and spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +"Men of Persia, and Cyrus, my son, both of you are dear to me and must +needs be dear; I am the king of my people and the father of my son; +therefore I am bound to lay before you openly all that I believe to be +for the good of both. (23) In the past the nation has done great things +for Cyrus by giving him an army and appointing him the leader, and +Cyrus, God helping him, has made my Persians famous in all the world by +his leadership, and crowned you with glory in Asia. Of those who served +with him he has made the bravest wealthy for life, and given sustenance +and full pay to numbers. By founding the cavalry he has won the plains +for Persia. (24) If your hearts are still the same in future, all of you +will bless each other: but if you, my son, would be puffed up by your +present fortune and attempt to rule the Persians for your own advantage +as you rule the rest of the world, or if you, my people, should envy +this man's power and try to drive him from his throne, I tell you, you +will cut each other off from many precious things. (25) Therefore, that +this should never be, and only good be yours, I counsel you to offer +sacrifice together, and call the gods to witness and make a covenant. +You, Cyrus, shall vow to resist with all your strength any man who +attacks our land of Persia or tries to overthrow our laws; and you, my +people, must promise that if rebels attempt to depose Cyrus or if +his subjects revolt, you will render aid to him and to yourselves in +whatever way he wishes. (26) Now, so long as I live, the kingdom of +Persia is and continues mine, but when I die it passes to Cyrus if he +is still alive, and whenever he visits Persia it should be a holy custom +for him to offer sacrifice on your behalf, even as I do now; and when he +is abroad, it will be well for you, I think, if the member of our family +whom you count the noblest fulfils the sacred rites." +</p> +<p> +(27) Cambyses ended, and Cyrus and the officers of Persia agreed to all +he said. They made the covenant and called the gods to witness, and to +this day they keep it still, the Persians and the Great King. And when +it was done, Cyrus took his leave and came back to Media. (28) There, +with the full consent of his father and his mother, he wedded the +daughter of Cyaxares, the fame of whose beauty has lasted to this +day. And after the marriage his steeds were yoked and they set out for +Babylon. +</p> +<p> +(C.6) When he was in Babylon once more, he thought it would be well to +appoint satraps and set them over the conquered tribes. Yet he did not +wish the commandants in the citadels and the captains in charge of the +garrisons throughout the country to be under any authority but his own. +Herein he showed his foresight, realising that if any satrap became +insolent and rebellious, relying on his own wealth and the numbers at +his back, he would at once find a power to oppose him within his own +district. (2) In order to carry out this plan, Cyrus resolved to summon +a council of the leading men and explain the terms on which the +satraps who went would go. In this way, he thought, they would not feel +aggrieved, whereas, if a man found himself appointed and then learnt the +restrictions for the first time, he might well take it ill, fancying it +a sign of personal mistrust. (3) So it was that Cyrus called a council +and spoke as follows: +</p> +<p> +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, you are aware that we have garrisons and +commandants in the cities we conquered, stationed there at the time. I +left them with orders simply to guard the fortifications and not +meddle with anything else. Now I do not wish to remove them from their +commands, for they have done their duty nobly, but I propose to send +others, satraps, who will govern the inhabitants, receive the tribute, +give the garrisons their pay, and discharge all necessary dues. (4) +Further, I think it right that certain of you who live here and yet on +whom I may lay the task of travelling to these nations and working for +me among them, should possess houses there and estates, where tribute +may be brought them, and where they may find a place of their own to +lodge in." +</p> +<p> +(5) With these words he assigned houses and districts to many of +his friends among the lands he had subdued: and to this day their +descendants possess the estates, although they reside at court +themselves. (6) "Now," he added, "we must choose for the satraps who are +to go abroad persons who will not forget to send us anything of value in +their districts, so that we who are at home may share in all the wealth +of the world. For if any danger comes, it is we who must ward it off." +</p> +<p> +(7) With that he ended for the time, but later on when he came to +know what friends of his were ready and willing to go on the terms +prescribed, he selected those he thought best qualified for the work, +and sent Magabazus to Arabia, Artabatas to Cappadocia, Artacamas to +Greater Phrygia, Chrysantas to Lydia and Susia, Adousius, whom the +Carians had asked for themselves, to Caria, and Pharnouchus to Aeolia +and Phrygia by the Hellespont. +</p> +<p> +(8) But to Cilicia, Cyprus, and Paphlagonia, Cyrus sent no satraps, +because they had shown their willingness to march against Babylon; +tribute, however, was imposed on them as on the others. (9) In +accordance with the rules then laid down by Cyrus, the citadel garrisons +and the captains-of-the-guard are to this day appointed directly by +the king, and have their names on the royal list. (10) All satraps whom +Cyprus sent out were ordered to do as they saw him doing: each was to +raise a body of cavalry and a chariot-force from the Persians and the +allies who went out with him; and all who received grants of land and +official residences were to present themselves at the palace-gates, +study temperance and self-control, and hold themselves in readiness +for the service of their satrap. Their boys were to be educated at the +gates, as with Cyrus, and the satrap was to lead his nobles out to hunt, +and train himself and his followers in the art of war. (11) "Whichever +of you," Cyrus added, "can show the greatest number of chariots in +proportion to his power, and the largest and finest body of cavalry, I +will honour him as my best ally and most faithful fellow-guardian of +the Persian empire. Let the best men always have the preference at your +courts as they have at mine, give them seats of honour as I do, and let +your table be spread, as mine is, not only for your own household, but +for your friends also, and for the honour of him who may accomplish any +noble deed. (12) You must lay out parks and breed game, and never touch +food until you have toiled for it, nor give your horses fodder until +they have been exercised. I am but a single man, with only human +strength and human virtue, and I could not by myself preserve the good +things that are yours: I must have good comrades to help me in goodness, +and only thus can I be your defender; and you likewise, if you are to +help me, must be good yourselves and have good men at your side. (13) +Remember that I have not spoken unto you as unto slaves: what I say you +ought to do I strive to do myself. And even as I bid you follow me, so I +would have you teach those in authority under you to follow you." +</p> +<p> +(14) Such were the principles then laid down by Cyrus, and to this day +all the royal garrisons are appointed in the same manner, the gates of +all the governors are thronged in the same way, the houses, great +and small, are managed in the same fashion, everywhere the most +distinguished guests are given seats of honour, every province is +visited on the same system, and everywhere the threads of numberless +affairs are gathered into the hands of a few superiors. (15) Having +given these instructions, Cyrus assigned a body of troops to each of his +satraps, and sent them out to their provinces, bidding them to be ready +for a campaign in the new year and for a review of their soldiers, their +weapons, their horses, and their chariots. (16) And here I may notice +another custom, also instituted by Cyrus, it is said, and still in force +to-day: every year a progress of inspection is made by an officer at the +head of an army, to help any satrap who may require aid, or bring the +insolent to their senses; and, if there has been negligence in the +delivery of tribute, or the protection of the inhabitants, or the +cultivation of the soil, or indeed any omission of duty whatsoever, the +officer is there to put the matter right, or if he cannot do so himself, +to report it to the king, who decides what is to be done about the +offender. The announcements so often made, such as "the king's son is +coming down," or "the king's brother," or "the king's eye," refer to +these inspectors, but sometimes no one appears, for at any moment +the officer may be turned back at the king's command. (17) We hear of +another arrangement, devised to meet the huge size of the empire and +enable the king to learn with great celerity the state of affairs at any +distance. Cyrus first ascertained how far a horse could travel in +one day without being over-ridden, and then he had a series of +posting-stations built, one day's ride apart, with relays of horses, and +grooms to take care of them, and a proper man in charge of each station +to receive the despatches and hand them on, take over the jaded horses +and men, and furnish fresh ones. (18) Sometimes, we are told, this +post does not even halt at night: the night-messenger relieves the +day-messenger and rides on. Some say that, when this is done, the post +travels more quickly than the crane can fly, and, whether that is true +or not, there is no doubt it is the quickest way in which a human being +can travel on land. To learn of events so rapidly and be able to deal +with them at once is of course a great advantage. +</p> +<p> +(19) After a year had passed, Cyrus collected all his troops at Babylon, +amounting, it is said, to one hundred and twenty thousand horse, two +thousand scythe-bearing chariots, and six hundred thousand foot. (20) +Then, seeing that all was got together, he set out for that campaign of +his, on which, the story says, he subdued the nations from the borders +of Syria as far as the Red Sea. After that there followed, we are told, +the expedition against Egypt and its conquest. (21) From that time +forward his empire was bounded on the east by the Red Sea, on the north +by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and towards the south +by Ethiopia. Of these outlying districts, some were scarcely habitable, +owing to heat or cold, drought or excessive rain. (22) But Cyrus himself +always lived at the centre of his dominions, seven months in Babylon +during the winter season, where the land is warm and sunny, three months +at Susa in the spring, and during the height of summer in Ecbatana, +so that for him it was springtime all the year. (23) Towards him the +disposition of all men was such that every nation felt they had failed +unless they could send Cyrus the treasures of their land, plants, +or animals, or works of art. And every city felt the same, and every +private person counted himself on the road to riches if he could do +Cyrus some special service, for Cyrus took only such things as they had +in abundance, and gave them in return what he saw they lacked. +</p> +<p> +(C.7) Thus the years passed on, and Cyrus was now in a ripe old age, and +he journeyed to Persia for the seventh time in his reign. His father and +mother were long since dead in the course of nature, and Cyrus offered +sacrifice according to the law, and led the sacred dance of his Persians +after the manner of his forefathers, and gave gifts to every man +according to his wont. +</p> +<p> +(2) But one night, as he lay asleep in the royal palace, he dreamt a +dream. It seemed to him that some one met him, greater than a man, and +said to him, "Set your house in order, Cyrus: the time has come, and you +are going to the gods." +</p> +<p> +With that Cyrus awoke out of sleep, and he all but seemed to know that +the end of his life was at hand. (3) Straightway he took victims and +offered sacrifice to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and to the Sun, and +all the other gods, on the high places where the Persians sacrifice, and +then he made this prayer: +</p> +<p> +"Zeus, god of my fathers, and thou, O Sun, and all ye gods, accept this +sacrifice, my offering for many a noble enterprise, and suffer me to +thank you for the grace ye have shown me, telling me all my life, by +victims and by signs from heaven, by birds and by the voices of men, +what things I ought to do and what I ought to refrain from doing. Deep +is my thankfulness that I was able to recognise your care, and never +lifted up my heart too high even in my prosperity. I beseech you now to +bless my children also, and my wife, and my friends, and my fatherland; +and for myself, may my death be as my life has been." +</p> +<p> +(4) Then Cyrus went home again and lay down on his bed, for he longed +to rest. And when the hour was come, his attendants came to him and bade +him take his bath. But he said he would rather rest. And others came +afterwards, at the usual time, to set the meal before him; but he could +not bring himself to take food: he seemed only to thirst, and drank +readily. (5) It was the same the second day, and the third, and then +he called his sons to his side—it chanced they had followed him to +Persia—and he summoned his friends also and the chief magistrates of +the land, and when they were all met, he began: +</p> +<p> +(6) "My sons, and friends of mine, the end of my life is at hand: I know +it by many signs. And when I am dead, you must show by word and deed +that you think of me as happy. When I was a child, I had all the joys +and triumphs of a child, and I reaped the treasures of youth as I grew +up, and all the glories of a man when I came to man'e estate. And as the +years passed, I seemed to find my powers grow with them, so that I never +felt my old age weaker than my youth, nor can I think of anything I +attempted or desired wherein I failed. (7) Moreover, I have seen my +friends made happy by my means, and my enemies crushed beneath my hand. +This my fatherland, which was once of no account in Asia, I leave at +the height of power, and of all that I won I think I have lost nothing. +Throughout my whole life I have fared as I prayed to fare, and the dread +that was ever with me lest in days to come I might see or hear or suffer +evil, this dread would never let me think too highly of myself, or +rejoice as a fool rejoices. (8) And if I die now, I leave my sons +behind me, the sons the gods have given me; and I leave my fatherland +in happiness, and my friends. Surely I may hope that men will count me +blessed and cherish my memory. (9) And now I must leave instructions +about my kingdom, that there may be no dispute among you after my death. +Sons of mine, I love you both alike, but I choose the elder-born, the +one whose experience of life is the greater, to be the leader in +council and the guide in action. (10) Thus was I trained myself, in the +fatherland that is yours and mine, to yield to my elders, my brothers or +my fellow-citizens, in the street, or in the place of meeting, or in the +assembly for debate. And thus have I trained both of you, to honour your +elders and be honoured by those who are younger than yourselves. These +are the principles that I leave with you, sanctioned by time, ingrained +in our customs, embodied in our laws. (11) The sovereignty is yours, +Cambyses; the gods have given it to you, and I also, as far as in me +lies; and to you, Tanaoxares, I give the satrapy over the Medes and the +Armenians and the Cadousians, these three; and though I leave your elder +brother a larger empire and the name of king, your inheritance will +bring you, I believe, more perfect happiness than his. (12) I ask myself +what human joy will be lacking to you: all things which gladden the +hearts of men will be yours—but the craving for what is out of reach, +the load of cares, the restless passion to rival my achievements, the +plots and counterplots, they will follow him who wears the crown, +and they are things, be well assured, that leave little leisure for +happiness. (13) And you, Cambyses, you know of yourself, without words +from me, that your kingdom is not guarded by this golden sceptre, but +by faithful friends; their loyalty is your true staff, a sceptre which +shall not fail. But never think that loyal hearts grow up by nature as +the grass grows in the field: if that were so, the same men would be +loyal to all alike, even as all natural objects are the same to all +mankind. No, every leader must win his own followers for himself, and +the way to win them is not by violence but by loving-kindness. (14) And +if you would seek for friends to stand by you and guard your throne, who +so fit to be the first of them as he who is sprung from the self-same +loins? Our fellow-citizens are nearer to us than foreigners, and our +mess-mates dearer than strangers, and what of those who are sprung from +the same seed, suckled at the same breast, reared in the same home, +loved by the same parents, the same mother, the same father? (15) What +the gods have given to be the seal of brotherhood do not make of none +effect yourselves. But build upon it: make it the foundation for other +loving deeds, and thus the love between you shall never be overcome. The +man who takes thought for his brother cares for his own self. For who +but a brother can win glory from a brother's greatness? Who can be +honoured as a brother can through a brother's power? Or who so safe from +injury as the brother of the great? (16) Let no one, Tanaoxares, be more +eager than yourself to obey your brother and support him: to no one can +his triumph or his danger come so near. Ask yourself from whom you could +win a richer reward for any kindness. Who could give you stouter help +in return for your own support? And where is coldness so ugly as between +brothers? Or where is reverence so beautiful? And remember, Cambyses, +only the brother who holds pre-eminence in a brother's heart can be safe +from the jealousy of the world. (17) I implore you both, my sons, by the +gods of our fathers, hold each other in honour, if you care at all to do +me pleasure: and none of you can say you know that I shall cease to be +when I cease to live this life of ours. With your bodily eyes you have +never seen my soul, and yet you have discerned its presence through its +working. (18) And have you never marked the terrors which the spirits +of those who have suffered wrong can send into the hearts of their +murderers, and the avenging furies they let loose upon the wicked? +Think you the honours of the dead would still abide, if the souls of the +departed were altogether powerless? (19) Never yet, my sons, could I +be persuaded that the soul only lives so long as she dwells within this +mortal body, and falls dead so soon as she is quit of that. Nay, I +see for myself that it is the soul which lends life to it, while she +inhabits there. (20) I cannot believe that she must lose all sense on +her separation from the senseless body, but rather that she will reach +her highest wisdom when she is set free, pure and untrammelled at last. +And when this body crumbles in dissolution, we see the several parts +thereof return to their kindred elements, but we do not see the soul, +whether she stays or whether she departs. (21) Consider," he went on, +"how these two resemble one another, Death and his twin-brother Sleep, +and it is in sleep that the soul of a man shows her nature most divine, +and is able to catch a glimpse of what is about to be, for it is then, +perhaps, that she is nearest to her freedom. (22) Therefore, if these +things are as I believe, and the spirit leaves the body behind and is +set free, reverence my soul, O sons of mine, and do as I desire. And +even if it be not so, if the spirit must stay with the body and perish, +yet the everlasting gods abide, who behold all things, with whom is +all power, who uphold the order of this universe, unmarred, unaging, +unerring, unfathomable in beauty and in splendour. Fear them, my sons, +and never yield to sin or wickedness, in thought or word or deed. (23) +And after the gods, I would have you reverence the whole race of man, +as it renews itself for ever; for the gods have not hidden you in the +darkness, but your deeds will be manifest in the eyes of all mankind, +and if they be righteous deeds and pure from iniquity, they will blazon +forth your power: but if you meditate evil against each other, you will +forfeit the confidence of every man. For no man can trust you, even +though he should desire it, if he sees you wrong him whom above all +you are bound to love. (24) Therefore, if my words are strong enough to +teach you your duty to one another, it is well. But, if not, let history +teach you, and there is no better teacher. For the most part, parents +have shown kindness to their children and brothers to their brothers, +but it has been otherwise with some. Look, then, and see which conduct +has brought success, choose to follow that, and your choice will be +wise. (25) And now maybe I have said enough of this. As for my body, +when I am dead, I would not have you lay it up in gold or silver or any +coffin whatsoever, but give it back to the earth with all speed. What +could be more blessed than to lie in the lap of Earth, the mother of all +things beautiful, the nurse of all things good? I have been a lover of +men all my life, and methinks I would fain become a part of that which +does good to man. (26) And now," he added, "now it seems to me that my +life begins to ebb; I feel my spirit slipping away from those parts she +leaves the first. If you would take my hand once more, or look into my +eyes while life is there, draw near me now; but when I have covered my +face, let no man look on me again, not even you, my sons. (27) But you +shall bid the Persians come, and all our allies, to my sepulchre; and +you shall rejoice with me and congratulate me that I am safe at last, +free from suffering or sorrow, whether I am with God or whether I have +ceased to be. Give all who come the entertainment that is fitting in +honour of a man whose life on earth was happy, and so send them away. +(28) Remember my last saying: show kindness to your friends, and then +shall you have it in your power to chastise your enemies. Good-bye, my +dear sons, bid your mother good-bye for me. And all my friends, who are +here or far away, good-bye." +</p> +<p> +And with these words he gave his hand to them, and then he covered his +face and died. +</p> +<pre> + EPILOGUE +</pre> +<p> +(C.8) Of all the powers in Asia, the kingdom of Cyrus showed itself to +be the greatest and most glorious. On the east it was bounded by the Red +Sea, on the north by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and +on the south by Ethiopia. And yet the whole of this enormous empire was +governed by the mind and will of a single man, Cyrus: his subjects he +cared for and cherished as a father might care for his children, and +they who came beneath his rule reverenced him like a father. +</p> +<p> +(2) But no sooner was he dead than his sons were at strife, cities and +nations revolted, and all things began to decay. I can show that what I +say is true, and first I will speak of their impiety. In the early days, +I am aware, the king and those beneath him never failed to keep the +oaths they had sworn and fulfil the promises they had given, even to the +worst of criminals. (3) In fact, if such had not been their character +and such their reputation, none of the Hellenic generals who marched +up with the younger Cyrus could have felt the confidence they did: they +would not have trusted a Persian any more than one trusts them to-day, +now that their perfidy is known. As it was, they relied on their old +reputation and put themselves in their power, and many were taken up to +the king and there beheaded. And many of the Asiatics who served in the +same war perished as they did, deluded by one promise or another. +</p> +<p> +(4) In other ways also the Persians have degenerated. Noble achievement +in the old days was the avenue to fame: the man was honoured who risked +his life for the king, or brought a city or nation beneath his sway. But +now, if some Mithridates has betrayed his father Ariobarzanes, or some +Reomithres has left his wife and children and the sons of his friend as +hostages at the court of Egypt, and then has broken the most solemn of +all pledges—it is they and their like who are loaded with the highest +honours, if only they are thought to have gained some advantage for the +king. (5) With such examples before them, all the Asiatics have turned +to injustice and impiety. For what the leaders are, that, as a rule, +will the men below them be. Thus has lawlessness increased and grown +among them. (6) And injustice has grown, and thieving. Not only +criminals, but men who are absolutely innocent are arrested and forced +to pay fines for no reason whatsoever: to be known to have wealth is +more dangerous than guilt, so that the rich do not care to have any +dealings with the powerful, and dare not even risk appearing at the +muster of the royal troops. (7) Therefore, when any man makes war on +Persia, whoever he may be, he can roam up and down the country to his +heart's content without striking a blow, because they have forgotten the +gods and are unjust to their fellow-men. In every way their hearts and +minds are lower than in days gone by. +</p> +<p> +(8) Nor do they care for their bodies as they did of old. It was always +their custom neither to spit nor blow the nose, only it is clear this +was instituted not from concern for the humours of the body, but in +order to strengthen themselves by toil and sweat. But nowadays, though +this habit is still in vogue, to harden the body by exercise has quite +gone out of fashion. (9) Again, from the first it was their rule only to +take a single meal in the day, which left them free to give their time +to business and exercise. The single meal is still the rule, but it +commences at the earliest hour ever chosen for breakfast, and the eating +and drinking goes on till the last moment which the latest reveller +would choose for bed. (10) It was always forbidden to bring chamber-pots +into the banquet-hall, but the reason lay in their belief that the +right way to keep body and brain from weakness was to avoid drinking +in excess. But to-day, though as in the old time no such vessels may be +carried in, they drink so deep that they themselves are carried out, too +weak to stand on their own legs. (11) It was a national custom from the +first not to eat and drink on the march nor be seen satisfying the wants +of nature, but nowadays, though they still abstain, they make each march +so short that no man need wonder at their abstinence. +</p> +<p> +(12) In the old time they went out to hunt so often that the chase gave +enough exercise and training for man and horse alike. But when the day +came that Artaxerxes and all his court were the worse for wine, the old +custom of the king leading the hunt in person began to pass away. And if +any eager spirits hunted with their own followers it was easy to see the +jealousy, and even the hatred, aroused by such superiority. +</p> +<p> +(13) It is still the habit to bring up the boys at the palace-gates, but +fine horsemanship has disappeared, for there is no place where the lads +can win applause by their skill. The old belief that the children of +Persia would learn justice by hearing the judges decide the cases has +been turned upside down: the children have only to use their eyes and +they see that the verdict goes to the man with the longest purse. (14) +Children in former times were taught the properties of plants in order +to use the wholesome and avoid the harmful; but now they seem to learn +it for the mere sake of doing harm: at any rate, there is no country +where deaths from poison are so common. (15) And the Persian to-day is +far more luxurious than he was in the time of Cyrus. Then they still +clung to the Persian style of education and the Persian self-restraint, +merely adopting the Median dress and a certain grace of life. But now +the old Persian hardihood may perish for all they care, if only they +preserve the softness of the Mede. (16) I might give instances of their +luxury. They are not content with soft sheets and rugs for their beds, +they must have carpets laid under the bed-posts to prevent any jarring +from the floor. They have given up none of the cooked dishes invented +in former days; on the contrary, they are always devising new ones, and +condiments to boot: in fact, they keep men for the very purpose. (17) In +the winter it is not enough to have the body covered, and the head and +the feet, they must have warm sleeves as well and gloves for the hands: +and in the summer they are not content with the shade from the trees or +the rocks, they must have servants standing beside them with artificial +screens. (18) To have an endless array of cups and goblets is their +special pride: and if these are come by unjustly, and all the world +knows it, why, there is nothing to blush for in that: injustice has +grown too common among them, and ill-gotten gain. (19) Formerly no +Persian was ever to be seen on foot, but the sole object of the custom +was to make them perfect horsemen. Now they lay more rugs on their +horses' backs than on their own beds; it is not a firm seat they care +for, but a soft saddle. +</p> +<p> +(20) As soldiers we may imagine how they have sunk below the ancient +standard; in past times it was a national institution that the +land-owner should furnish troopers from his own estate, and men were +bound to go on active service, while the garrison troops in the country +received regular pay; but now the Persian grandees have manufactured +a new type of cavalry, who earn their pay as butlers and cooks and +confectioners and cupbearers and bathmen and flunkeys to serve at table +or remove the dishes, and serving-men to put their lords to bed and help +them to rise, and perfumers to anoint them and rub them and make them +beautiful. (21) In numbers they make a very splendid show, but they are +no use for fighting; as may be seen by what actually takes place: an +enemy can move about their country more freely than the inhabitants +themselves. (22) It will be remembered that Cyrus put a stop to the +old style of fighting at long range, and by arming men and horses with +breastplates and giving each trooper a short spear he taught them to +fight at close quarters. But nowadays they will fight in neither one +style nor the other. (23) The infantry still carry the large shields, +the battle-axes, and the swords, as if they meant to do battle as they +did in Cyrus' day. (24) But they will never close with the enemy. Nor do +they use the scythe-bearing chariots as Cyrus intended. By the +honours he gave he raised the dignity and improved the quality of his +charioteers till he had a body of men who would charge right into the +enemy's ranks; but the generals of to-day, though they do not even know +the charioteers by sight, flatter themselves that untrained men will +serve their purpose quite as well as trained. (25) So the charioteers +will dash off, but before they reach the enemy half the men have fallen +from their boxes, and the others will jump out of their own accord, +and the teams, left without their drivers, will do more harm to their +friends than to their foes. (26) And since in their hearts the Persians +of to-day are well aware what their fighting condition really is, they +always give up the struggle, and now none of them will take the field +at all without Hellenes to help them, whether they are fighting among +themselves or whether Hellenes are in arms against them: even then it +is a settled thing that they must have the aid of other Hellenes to face +them. +</p> +<p> +(27) I venture to think I have shown the truth of the statement that I +made. I asserted that the Persians of to-day and their allies are less +religious than they were of old, less dutiful to their kindred, less +just and righteous towards other men, and less valiant in war. And if +any man doubts me, let him examine their actions for himself, and he +will find full confirmation of all I say. +</p> +<pre> + NOTES +</pre> +<p> +C1. Xenophon puts into the mouth of Chrysantas his favourite theory of +monarchism, the relationship strongly cemented by obedience and trust +between subjects and king. +</p> +<p> +C1.4, med. On <i>willing</i> service. This again is one of the best +utterances in all Xenophon. It has a deep spiritual import. +</p> +<p> +C1.4, fin. He is thinking of Athens, perhaps. It is a choice: obey the +ruler or knock under to foreign foes. +</p> +<p> +C1.8. Surely a remark of the author. It is an old inveterate thought of +his: "the Master's eye." I feel the <i>old</i> man at times. +</p> +<p> +C1.9-10. This side of the Persian state-machine strongly impressed the +mind and imagination of Xenophon. Hence he works it into the treatise +on economy as well as here. In fact his expansion of the Socratic +reflections into the <i>Economist</i> has to do, I believe, with these +reflections on state economy. +</p> +<p> +C1.13. Hellenic aristocratic theory of existence. Leisure for the grand +duties which devolve on the lords of mankind. It doesn't seem to +strike Xenophon that this rigid system of self-absorption in the higher +selfhood of the social system might be destructive of individual life. +Of course he would say, "No, it enlarges the individual life." +</p> +<p> +C1.17-20. Seems to me to show Xenophon struggling with the hard parts +of the later Persian system. The theory of Persian feudalism is too +high-strung for these grand satraps, rulers of provinces as big as +ordinary kingdoms. It tends to snap, and from the beginning did. The +archic man has no charm to compel his followers to archic virtue. It is +a negative {episteme} after all. Does Xenophon realise this, or is hgd. +wrong? +</p> +<p> +C1.21. Cf. headmasters with preposters in a public school, based on the +same system of high aims and duties corresponding to rights. +</p> +<p> +C1.23, init. Cf. Louis Napoleon in Browning's poem (<i>Prince +Hohensteil-Schwangau</i>). +</p> +<p> +C1.23, med. The Magians, the Persian order of priests. Yet we have heard +of them throughout. +</p> +<p> +C1.27. A very true saying and very nice the feeling it gives us towards +Xenophon. We think of him with his wife and his little sons and his +friends and their friends. +</p> +<p> +C1.28. How true of women! +</p> +<p> +C1.33. A reduplication of the description in Bk. I., and also a +summing-up of Xenophon's own earthly paradise—quite Tennysonian. +</p> +<p> +C1.37. An important point or principle in Xenophon's political +theory—indeed the key and tone of it: no one has a right to command +except by virtue of personal superiority. +</p> +<p> +C1.40 foll. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the +morning!" The section, if, as I think it is, by Xenophon, throws +light on the nature and composition of the book. The author isn't so +disengaged from "history" that he can set aside obviously integral +parts of the Persian system traceable to Cyrus, or at any rate probably +original, and their false-seeming and bamboozling mode of keeping up +dignity has to be taken account of. It has its analogy in the admission +of thaumaturgy on the part of religious teachers, and no doubt a good +deal can be said for it. The archic man in low spirits, if he ever is +so, has some need of bamboozling himself. Titles do give some moral +support even nowadays to certain kinds of minds. +</p> +<p> +C1.46-48. The archic man's dealings by those of his subjects who are apt +to rule, the men of high thoughts and ambitions, with whom he must come +into constant personal contact. With them the spiritual dominance alone +will do. They shall be made to love him rather than themselves. +(The only thing just here that jars is a sort of Machiavellian +self-consciousness, resented in the archic man). +</p> +<p> +C1.46. A cumbrous disjointed sentence, but the thought of it is clear +enough. Even Xenophon's style breaks down when he tries to say in +a breath more than he naturally can. Is it a sign of senility, or +half-thought-out ideas, or what? +</p> +<p> +C2.2, fin. Does Xenophon feel the bathos of this, or is hdg. wrong and +there is no bathos? It may be said that the sacramental and spiritual +side is not in abeyance. Xenophon has to account for the "common board" +and he has the Spartan Lycurgan "common board" to encourage him, so that +imaginatively he provides this royal being with a sumptuous table at +which thousands will share alike. +</p> +<p> +C2.3. How far was this a custom among Hellenes? It reveals a curious +state of society, real or imaginary; but I suppose that at Rome in +imperial days (cf. <i>panem et circenses</i>) the theory of meat and drink +largesses being the best would hold. +</p> +<p> +C2.4, fin. The last remark is so silly (?) I am almost disposed to +follow Lincke and admit interpolation. Yet on the whole I think it is +the voice of the old man explaining in his Vicar-of-Wakefield style, +to his admiring auditors, wife, children, and grandsons, I fancy, and +slaves, the <i>raison d'être</i> of Persian dinner-largesse customs. +</p> +<p> +C2.6. Qy.: What was Xenophon's manner of composing? The style here +is loose, like that of a man talking. Perhaps he lectured and the +amanuensis took down what he said. +</p> +<p> +C2.8. Ineptitudes. One does somewhat sniff an editor here, I think, but +I am not sure. There's a similar touch of ineptitude (senility, perhaps) +in the <i>Memorabilia</i>, <i>ad fin</i>. On the other hand I can imagine Xenophon +purring over this side of Orientalism quite naturally. +</p> +<p> +C2.12. This slipshod style, how accounted for? The most puzzling thing +of all is the sort of mental confusion between Cyrus and the king in +general. +</p> +<p> +C2.15-16. Thoroughly Xenophontine and Ruskinian and eternal. +</p> +<p> +C2.24. Here is the germ of benefit societies and clubs and insurances +and hospitals. Xenophon probably learns it all from Ctesias, and others +of the sort. Cyrus provides doctors and instruments and medicines and +diet, in fact, all the requisites of a hospital, in his palace. Nor does +he forget to be grateful to the doctors who cured the sick. (Ctesias, +the Greek physician to the Persian king. See <i>Anabasis</i>, I. viii. Works, +Vol. I. p. 108.) +</p> +<p> +C2.26 ff. Xenophon's Machiavellianism. Does it work? +</p> +<p> +C2.17-28. It seems to me that all this is too elaborate for an +interpolator: it smacks of Xenophon in his arm-chair, theorising and +half-dreaming over his political philosophy. +</p> +<p> +C3.2. Prototype, a procession to Eleusis or elsewhere: the Panathenaic, +possibly. Xenophon's sumptuous taste and love of bright colours. +</p> +<p> +C3.3, fin., C3.4. What a curious prototypic sound! Truly this is the +very <i>modus</i> of the evangelist's type of sentence. His narrative must +run in this mould. +</p> +<p> +C3.4, fin. This is the old Cyrus. It comes in touchingly here, this +refrain of the old song, now an echo of the old life. +</p> +<p> +C3.14. Xenophon delights somewhat in this sort of scene. It is a +turning-point, a veritable moral peripety, though the decisive step was +taken long ago. What is Xenophon's intention with regard to it? Has he +any <i>parti pris</i>, for or against? Does he wish us to draw conclusions? +Or does it correspond to a moral meeting of the waters in his own mind? +Here love of Spartan simplicity, and there of splendour and regality +and monarchism? He does not give a hint that the sapping of the system +begins here, when the archic man ceases to depend on his own spiritual +archic qualities and begins to eke out his dignity by artificial means +and external shows of reverence. +</p> +<p> +C3.20. Is this worthy of the archic man? It is a method, no doubt, +of {arkhe}, but has it any spiritual "last" in it? The incident of +Daïpharnes somewhat diverts our attention from the justice of the system +in reference to the suitors. On the whole, I think Xenophon can't get +further. He is blinded and befogged by two things: (1) his (i.e. their) +aristocratism, and again (2) his satisfaction in splendour and get-up, +provided it is attached to moral greatness. We are in the same maze, I +fancy. Jesus was not, nor is Walt Whitman. +</p> +<p> +C3.23. Cyrus is made to behave rather like the autocratic father of a +goody story-book. +</p> +<p> +C3.25. Realistic and vivid detailing: our curiosity is satisfied. "Who +has won?" we ask. "Oh, so-and-so, Smith." Well, it's something to know +that Smith has won. Xenophon, the artist, 'cutely introduces the Sakian +to us. One scene takes up another, just as in real life. Quite soon +we know a great deal more about this young man, a mere Sakian private +soldier, who wins the race so easily on his splendid horse. Cyrus +and good fortune introduce him to the very man he is suited to: viz. +Pheraulas. +</p> +<p> +C3.37. Pheraulas' boyhood has already been sketched by himself (II. +C3.7), the active sturdy little youngster, snatching at a knife, and +hacking away <i>con amore</i>. We know him well: Xenophon's modernism comes +out in these things. Here we have the old father, a heart of oak, like +the old Acharnian in Aristophanes. One of the prettiest morsels in all +Xenophon. Xenophon's own father, is he there? +</p> +<p> +C3.47. The desire for "leisure" is as strong in Xenophon as in hgd. or +S. T. I., I think. (S. T. Irwin, also a master at Clifton.) +</p> +<p> +C4.1. Why is the Hyrcanian never named? Is it conceivable that Xenophon +shrinks from using a proper name except when he has some feeling for the +sound of the language? (Sic. Sakians, Cadousians, Indians, etc.) +</p> +<p> +C4.4 The "mark" system again which Xenophon believes in, but hgd. not. +Shows how he tried to foster competitiveness. It's after all a belief +in the central sun, a species of monarch-worship, logical and consistent +enough. +</p> +<p> +C4.8. Xenophon reveals himself and the Hellenic feeling with regard to +war and its use. The <i>pax Romana</i> is anticipated in their minds. +</p> +<p> +C4.9. Hystaspas is rather like the sons of Zebedee or the elder brother +of the Prodigal. +</p> +<p> +C4.12, fin. Looks rather like a Greek joke. But what is the joke? +</p> +<p> +C4.13-23. Broad type of joke, but not unhealthy or prurient. Prototype +probably Agesilaus and the younger Cyrus at the supper-table, with just +this touch of coarseness. +</p> +<p> +C4.32-36. This is = to the Comtist theory of the duties of capitalists, +and is one of the noblest disquisitions in all Xenophon, {os g' emoi +dokei}. Cyrus' theory is based on fraternal feeling among the <i>elite</i> of +the world, and that is the sole difference, a large one doubtless, +and measures the gap between Xenophon and A. C. and our advance in +Democracy. +</p> +<p> +C5.17. How far is this historical, i.e. semi-historical? I can't help +supposing that the commoner notion of a conquest of Media by Persia was +current and familiar to Xenophon apart from any other account, which for +his present purpose he chose to go upon and possibly believed in. +</p> +<p> +C5.18-20. Will Cyrus take her to wife, his old playmate? All this shows +once more Xenophon's love of children. +</p> +<p> +C5.23-25. The Persian Magna Charta, parallel to that between the Spartan +king and the ephorate. +</p> +<p> +C6.1-3. (a) Satraps; to be counterpoised by (b) military governors in +the citadels, and (c) visitors living at court, but possessed of lands +in the provinces. The object is, no doubt, to create a common +interest between the nobles and the king which will keep the satrap in +counterpoise. +</p> +<p> +C6.11. The Oriental feeling again. +</p> +<p> +C6.12, fin. One of the nicest (monarchical) remarks ever uttered. +</p> +<p> +C6.13. Marked Greek Testament parallel S. Joan. 13, 13. Surely the +evangelist had read this at school: I mean, the Greek scribe who +Hellenised the evangel. +</p> +<p> +C6.23. Free trade or favoured-nation principle and commercial treaty. +</p> +<p> +C7.10. Prototype: Socrates and his sons. Perhaps also Xenophon and his. +One seems to hear his own voice addressing Gryllus. +</p> +<p> +C7.14. A very noble passage. +</p> +<p> +C7.27. That's also nice: "Summon the Persians to rejoice with me at my +joyous release;" a refined form of funeral festival—"nothing is here +for tears"—nor have we, perhaps, arrived beyond it. +</p> +<p> +C7.28. His last remark is Xenophon-Hellenic, but less edifying; +fortunately it is only the penultimate, for there is the final +{khairete} (good-bye) and message to his wife. Why was she not present? +I suppose she was at home in Babylon. +</p> +<p> +(C8. It has been doubted whether C8 is by Xenophon at all. C8.3, with +its reference to the <i>Anabasis</i>, certainly looks as though it might have +been written after his death. Some scholars have also thought the style +unlike Xenophon's, but it is clear from his marginal notes that Mr. +Dakyns did not lean towards this view. To stress the degeneracy of the +Persians is, no doubt, to make a curious comment on the institutions of +"the born ruler," but on the other hand the preceding chapter (C7) is +full of grave warnings, and, throughout, Xenophon has been at pains to +insist that everything depends on the continuous and united effort of +the ruling classes towards virtue and self-control. Again, as Mr. Dakyns +pointed out (in his <i>Sketch of Xenophon's Life</i>, Works, Vol. I. p. +cxxxvii.), the epilogue bears a marked analogy to the account of Spartan +degeneracy in c. xiv. of the <i>Laconian Polity</i> (see Vol. II. p. 322), a +chapter he took to be genuine. On the whole, therefore, we may conclude +that he would have considered this epilogue to be genuine also.—F.M.S.) +</p> + + +<br><br><br><br> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cyropaedia, by Xenophon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CYROPAEDIA *** + +***** This file should be named 2085-h.htm or 2085-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/8/2085/ + +Produced by John Bickers, Dagny, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cyropaedia + The Education Of Cyrus + +Author: Xenophon + +Editor: F. M. Stawell + +Translator: Henry Graham Dakyns + +Release Date: February, 2000 [Etext #2085] +Posting Date: July 18, 2009 +[Last updated: August 9, 2011] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CYROPAEDIA *** + + + + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + + + + + +CYROPAEDIA + +THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS + +By Xenophon + + + +Translated By Henry Graham Dakyns + +Revised By F. M. Stawell + + + +DEDICATION + +To Clifton College + + + +PREPARER'S NOTE + +This was typed from an Everyman's Library edition. It seems that Dakyns +died before Cyropaedia could be included as the planned fourth and final +volume of his series, "The Works of Xenophon," published in the 1890s by +Macmillan and Co. The works in that series can all be found in Project +Gutenberg under their individual titles. The complete list of Xenophon's +works (though there is doubt about some of these) is: + + Work Number of books + + The Anabasis 7 + The Hellenica 7 + The Cyropaedia 8 + The Memorabilia 4 + The Symposium 1 + The Economist 1 + On Horsemanship 1 + The Sportsman 1 + The Cavalry General 1 + The Apology 1 + On Revenues 1 + The Hiero 1 + The Agesilaus 1 + The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2 + +Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English +using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical marks +have been lost. + + + + +INTRODUCTION + +A very few words may suffice by way of introduction to this translation +of the _Cyropaedia_. + +Professor Jowett, whose Plato represents the high-water mark of +classical translation, has given us the following reminders: "An English +translation ought to be idiomatic and interesting, not only to the +scholar, but also to the unlearned reader. It should read as an original +work, and should also be the most faithful transcript which can be made +of the language from which the translation is taken, consistently with +the first requirement of all, that it be English. The excellence of a +translation will consist, not merely in the faithful rendering of words, +or in the composition of a sentence only, or yet of a single paragraph, +but in the colour and style of the whole work." + +These tests may be safely applied to the work of Mr. Dakyns. An +accomplished Greek scholar, for many years a careful and sympathetic +student of Xenophon, and possessing a rare mastery of English idiom, +he was unusually well equipped for the work of a translator. And +his version will, as I venture to think, be found to satisfy those +requirements of an effective translation which Professor Jowett laid +down. It is faithful to the tone and spirit of the original, and it has +the literary quality of a good piece of original English writing. For +these and other reasons it should prove attractive and interesting +reading for the average Englishman. + +Xenophon, it must be admitted, is not, like Plato, Thucydides, or +Demosthenes, one of the greatest of Greek writers, but there are several +considerations which should commend him to the general reader. He is +more representative of the type of man whom the ordinary Englishman +specially admires and respects, than any other of the Greek authors +usually read. + +An Athenian of good social position, endowed with a gift of eloquence +and of literary style, a pupil of Socrates, a distinguished soldier, +an historian, an essayist, a sportsman, and a lover of the country, he +represents a type of country gentleman greatly honoured in English life, +and this should ensure a favourable reception for one of his chief works +admirably rendered into idiomatic English. And the substance of the +_Cyropaedia_, which is in fact a political romance, describing the +education of the ideal ruler, trained to rule as a benevolent despot +over his admiring and willing subjects, should add a further element of +enjoyment for the reader of this famous book in its English garb. + + J. HEREFORD. + + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + +In preparing this work for the press, I came upon some notes made by Mr. +Dakyns on the margin of his Xenophon. These were evidently for his own +private use, and are full of scholarly colloquialisms, impromptu words +humorously invented for the need of the moment, and individual turns of +phrase, such as the references to himself under his initials in small +letters, "hgd." Though plainly not intended for publication, the notes +are so vivid and illuminating as they stand that I have shrunk from +putting them into a more formal dress, believing that here, as in the +best letters, the personal element is bound up with what is most fresh +and living in the comment, most characteristic of the writer, and most +delightful both to those who knew him and to those who will wish they +had. I have, therefore, only altered a word here and there, and added +a note or two of my own (always in square brackets), where it seemed +necessary for the sake of clearness. + + F. M. S. + + + + + + +CYROPAEDIA + + +THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS + + + + +BOOK I + +[C.1] We have had occasion before now to reflect how often democracies +have been overthrown by the desire for some other type of government, +how often monarchies and oligarchies have been swept away by movements +of the people, how often would-be despots have fallen in their turn, +some at the outset by one stroke, while whose who have maintained their +rule for ever so brief a season are looked upon with wonder as marvels +of sagacity and success. + +The same lesson, we had little doubt, was to be learnt from the family: +the household might be great or small--even the master of few could +hardly count on the obedience of his little flock. [2] And so, one idea +leading to another, we came to shape our reflexions thus: Drovers may +certainly be called the rulers of their cattle and horse-breeders +the rulers of their studs--all herdsmen, in short, may reasonably be +considered the governors of the animals they guard. If, then, we were to +believe the evidence of our senses, was it not obvious that flocks and +herds were more ready to obey their keepers than men their rulers? Watch +the cattle wending their way wherever their herdsmen guide them, see +them grazing in the pastures where they are sent and abstaining from +forbidden grounds, the fruit of their own bodies they yield to their +master to use as he thinks best; nor have we ever seen one flock among +them all combining against their guardian, either to disobey him or to +refuse him the absolute control of their produce. On the contrary, they +are more apt to show hostility against other animals than against +the owner who derives advantage from them. But with man the rule is +converse; men unite against none so readily as against those whom they +see attempting to rule over them. [3] As long, therefore, as we followed +these reflexions, we could not but conclude that man is by nature fitted +to govern all creatures, except his fellow-man. But when we came to +realise the character of Cyrus the Persian, we were led to a change +of mind: here is a man, we said, who won for himself obedience from +thousands of his fellows, from cities and tribes innumerable: we must +ask ourselves whether the government of men is after all an impossible +or even a difficult task, provided one set about it in the right way. +Cyrus, we know, found the readiest obedience in his subjects, though +some of them dwelt at a distance which it would take days and months to +traverse, and among them were men who had never set eyes on him, and for +the matter of that could never hope to do so, and yet they were willing +to obey him. [4] Cyrus did indeed eclipse all other monarchs, before or +since, and I include not only those who have inherited their power, but +those who have won empire by their own exertions. How far he surpassed +them all may be felt if we remember that no Scythian, although +the Scythians are reckoned by their myriads, has ever succeeded in +dominating a foreign nation; indeed the Scythian would be well content +could he but keep his government unbroken over his own tribe and people. +The same is true of the Thracians and the Illyrians, and indeed of all +other nations within our ken; in Europe, at any rate, their condition is +even now one of independence, and of such separation as would seem to +be permanent. Now this was the state in which Cyrus found the tribes and +peoples of Asia when, at the head of a small Persian force, he started +on his career. The Medes and the Hyrcanians accepted his leadership +willingly, but it was through conquest that he won Syria, Assyria, +Arabia, Cappadocia, the two Phrygias, Lydia, Caria, Phoenicia, and +Babylonia. Then he established his rule over the Bactrians, Indians, and +Cilicians, over the Sakians, Paphlagonians, and Magadidians, over a +host of other tribes the very names of which defy the memory of the +chronicler; and last of all he brought the Hellenes in Asia beneath his +sway, and by a descent on the seaboard Cyprus and Egypt also. + +[5] It is obvious that among this congeries of nations few, if any, +could have spoken the same language as himself, or understood one +another, but none the less Cyrus was able so to penetrate that vast +extent of country by the sheer terror of his personality that the +inhabitants were prostrate before him: not one of them dared lift hand +against him. And yet he was able, at the same time, to inspire them all +with so deep a desire to please him and win his favour that all they +asked was to be guided by his judgment and his alone. Thus he knit to +himself a complex of nationalities so vast that it would have taxed a +man's endurance merely to traverse his empire in any one direction, east +or west or south or north, from the palace which was its centre. For +ourselves, considering his title to our admiration proved, we set +ourselves to inquire what his parentage might have been and his natural +parts, and how he was trained and brought up to attain so high a pitch +of excellence in the government of men. And all we could learn from +others about him or felt we might infer for ourselves we will here +endeavour to set forth. + +[C.2] The father of Cyrus, so runs the story, was Cambyses, a king +of the Persians, and one of the Perseidae, who look to Perseus as +the founder of their race. His mother, it is agreed, was Mandane, the +daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Of Cyrus himself, even now in +the songs and stories of the East the record lives that nature made him +most fair to look upon, and set in his heart the threefold love of +man, of knowledge, and of honour. He would endure all labours, he would +undergo all dangers, for the sake of glory. [2] Blest by nature with +such gifts of soul and body, his memory lives to this day in the mindful +heart of ages. It is true that he was brought up according to the laws +and customs of the Persians, and of these laws it must be noted that +while they aim, as laws elsewhere, at the common weal, their guiding +principle is far other than that which most nations follow. Most states +permit their citizens to bring up their own children at their own +discretion, and allow the grown men to regulate their own lives at their +own will, and then they lay down certain prohibitions, for example, not +to pick and steal, not to break into another man's house, not to strike +a man unjustly, not to commit adultery, not to disobey the magistrate, +and so forth; and on the transgressor they impose a penalty. [3] But the +Persian laws try, as it were, to steal a march on time, to make their +citizens from the beginning incapable of setting their hearts on any +wickedness or shameful conduct whatsoever. And this is how they set +about their object. + +In their cities they have an open place or square dedicated to Freedom +(Free Square they call it), where stand the palace and other public +buildings. From this place all goods for sale are rigidly excluded, and +all hawkers and hucksters with their yells and cries and vulgarities. +They must go elsewhere, so that their clamour may not mingle with and +mar the grace and orderliness of the educated classes. [4] This square, +where the public buildings stand, is divided into four quarters which +are assigned as follows: one for the boys, another for the youths, a +third for the grown men, and the last for those who are past the age +of military service. The law requires all the citizens to present +themselves at certain times and seasons in their appointed places. The +lads and the grown men must be there at daybreak; the elders may, as a +rule, choose their own time, except on certain fixed days, when they too +are expected to present themselves like the rest. Moreover, the young +men are bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, with their +arms at their side; only the married men among them are exempt, and need +not be on duty at night unless notice has been given, though even in +their case frequent absence is thought unseemly. [5] Over each of these +divisions are placed twelve governors, twelve being the number of the +Persian tribes. The governors of the boys are chosen from the elders, +and those are appointed who are thought best fitted to make the best of +their lads: the governors of the youths are selected from the grown men, +and on the same principle; and for the grown men themselves and their +own governors; the choice falls on those who will, it is hoped, make +them most prompt to carry out their appointed duties, and fulfil +the commands imposed by the supreme authority. Finally, the elders +themselves have presidents of their own, chosen to see that they too +perform their duty to the full. + +[6] We will now describe the services demanded from the different +classes, and thus it will appear how the Persians endeavour to improve +their citizens. The boys go to school and give their time to learning +justice and righteousness: they will tell you they come for that +purpose, and the phrase is as natural with them as it is for us to speak +of lads learning their letters. The masters spend the chief part of the +day in deciding cases for their pupils: for in this boy-world, as in the +grown-up world without, occasions of indictment are never far to seek. +There will be charges, we know, of picking and stealing, of violence, of +fraud, of calumny, and so forth. The case is heard and the offender, if +shown to be guilty, is punished. [7] Nor does he escape who is found to +have accused one of his fellows unfairly. And there is one charge the +judges do not hesitate to deal with, a charge which is the source of +much hatred among grown men, but which they seldom press in the courts, +the charge of ingratitude. The culprit convicted of refusing to repay +a debt of kindness when it was fully in his power meets with severe +chastisement. They reason that the ungrateful man is the most likely to +forget his duty to the gods, to his parents, to his fatherland, and +his friends. Shamelessness, they hold, treads close on the heels of +ingratitude, and thus ingratitude is the ringleader and chief instigator +to every kind of baseness. [8] Further, the boys are instructed in +temperance and self-restraint, and they find the utmost help towards +the attainment of this virtue in the self-respecting behaviour of +their elders, shown them day by day. Then they are taught to obey their +rulers, and here again nothing is of greater value than the studied +obedience to authority manifested by their elders everywhere. Continence +in meat and drink is another branch of instruction, and they have no +better aid in this than, first, the example of their elders, who never +withdraw to satisfy their carnal cravings until those in authority +dismiss them, and next, the rule that the boys must take their food, not +with their mother but with their master, and not till the governor gives +the sign. They bring from home the staple of their meal, dry bread +with nasturtium for a relish, and to slake their thirst they bring a +drinking-cup, to dip in the running stream. In addition, they are taught +to shoot with the bow and to fling the javelin. + +The lads follow their studies till the age of sixteen or seventeen, and +then they take their places as young men. + +[9] After that they spend their time as follows. For ten years they are +bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, as we said before, +and this for two reasons, to guard the community and to practise +self-restraint; because that season of life, the Persians conceive, +stands most in need of care. During the day they present themselves +before the governors for service to the state, and, whenever necessary, +they remain in a body round the public buildings. Moreover, when the +king goes out to hunt, which he will do several times a month, he takes +half the company with him, and each man must carry bow and arrows, a +sheathed dagger, or "sagaris," slung beside the quiver, a light shield, +and two javelins, one to hurl and the other to use, if need be, at close +quarters. [10] The reason of this public sanction for the chase is not +far to seek; the king leads just as he does in war, hunting in person +at the head of the field, and making his men follow, because it is felt +that the exercise itself is the best possible training for the needs of +war. It accustoms a man to early rising; it hardens him to endure heat +and cold; it teaches him to march and to run at the top of his speed; he +must perforce learn to let fly arrow and javelin the moment the quarry +is across his path; and, above all, the edge of his spirit must needs be +sharpened by encountering any of the mightier beasts: he must deal his +stroke when the creature closes, and stand on guard when it makes its +rush: indeed, it would be hard to find a case in war that has not its +parallel in the chase. [11] But to proceed: the young men set out +with provisions that are ampler, naturally, than the boys' fare, but +otherwise the same. During the chase itself they would not think of +breaking their fast, but if a halt is called, to beat up the game, or +for any hunter's reason, then they will make, as it were, a dinner of +their breakfast, and, hunting again on the morrow till dinner-time, they +will count the two days as one, because they have only eaten one day's +food. This they do in order that, if the like necessity should arise in +war, they may be found equal to it. As relish to their bread these +young men have whatever they may kill in the chase, or failing that, +nasturtium like the boys. And if one should ask how they can enjoy the +meal with nasturtium for their only condiment and water for their only +drink, let him bethink himself how sweet barley bread and wheaten can +taste to the hungry man and water to the thirsty. [12] As for the young +men who are left at home, they spend their time in shooting and hurling +the javelin, and practising all they learnt as boys, in one long trial +of skill. Beside this, public games are open to them and prizes are +offered; and the tribe which can claim the greatest number of lads +distinguished for skill and courage and faithfulness is given the meed +of praise from all the citizens, who honour, not only their present +governor, but the teacher who trained them when they were boys. +Moreover, these young men are also employed by the magistrates if +garrison work needs to be done or if malefactors are to be tracked or +robbers run down, or indeed on any errand which calls for strength of +limb and fleetness of foot. Such is the life of the youth. But when the +ten years are accomplished they are classed as grown men. [13] And from +this time forth for five-and-twenty years they live as follows. + +First they present themselves, as in youth, before the magistrates for +service to the state wherever there is need for strength and sound sense +combined. If an expedition be on foot the men of this grade march out, +not armed with the bow or the light shield any longer, but equipped with +what are called the close-combat arms, a breastplate up to the throat, +a buckler on the left arm (just as the Persian warrior appears in +pictures), and for the right hand a dagger or a sword. Lastly, it +is from this grade that all the magistrates are appointed except the +teachers for the boys. But when the five-and-twenty years are over and +the men have reached the age of fifty years or more, then they take rank +as elders, and the title is deserved. [14] These elders no longer go on +military service beyond the frontier; they stay at home and decide all +cases, public and private both. Even capital charges are left to their +decision, and it is they who choose all the magistrates. If a youth or +a grown man breaks the law he is brought into court by the governors of +his tribe, who act as suitors in the case, aided by any other citizen +who pleases. The cause is heard before the elders and they pronounce +judgment; and the man who is condemned is disenfranchised for the rest +of his days. + +[15] And now, to complete the picture of the whole Persian policy, I +will go back a little. With the help of what has been said before, the +account may now be brief; the Persians are said to number something +like one hundred and twenty thousand men: and of these no one is by +law debarred from honour or office. On the contrary, every Persian is +entitled to send his children to the public schools of righteousness +and justice. As a fact, all who can afford to bring up their children +without working do send them there: those who cannot must forego the +privilege. A lad who has passed through a public school has a right +to go and take his place among the youths, but those who have not gone +through the first course may not join them. In the same way the youths +who have fulfilled the duties of their class are entitled eventually +to rank with the men, and to share in office and honour: but they +must first spend their full time among the youths; if not, they go no +further. Finally, those who as grown men have lived without reproach may +take their station at last among the elders. Thus these elders form a +college, every member of which has passed through the full circle +of noble learning; and this is that Persian polity and that Persian +training which, in their belief, can win them the flower of excellence. +[16] And even to this day signs are left bearing witness to that ancient +temperance of theirs and the ancient discipline that preserved it. +To this day it is still considered shameful for a Persian to spit in +public, or wipe the nose, or show signs of wind, or be seen going apart +for his natural needs. And they could not keep to this standard unless +they were accustomed to a temperate diet, and were trained to exercise +and toil, so that the humours of the body were drawn off in other ways. +Hitherto we have spoken of the Persians as a whole: we will now go back +to our starting-point and recount the deeds of Cyrus from his childhood. + +[C.3] Until he was twelve years old or more, Cyrus was brought up in the +manner we have described, and showed himself to be above all his fellows +in his aptitude for learning and in the noble and manly performance of +every duty. But about this time, Astyages sent for his daughter and her +son, desiring greatly to see him because he had heard how noble and fair +he was. So it fell out that Mandane came to Astyages, bringing her son +Cyrus with her. [2] And as soon as they met, the boy, when he heard +that Astyages was his mother's father, fell on his neck and kissed him +without more ado, like the loving lad nature had made him, as though he +had been brought up at his grandfather's side from the first and the two +of them had been playmates of old. Then he looked closer and saw that +the king's eyes were stencilled and his cheeks painted, and that he +wore false curls after the fashion of the Medes in those days (for these +adornments, and the purple robes, the tunics, the necklaces, and the +bracelets, they are all Median first and last, not Persian; the Persian, +as you find him at home even now-a-days, still keeps to his +plainer dress and his plainer style of living.) The boy, seeing his +grandfather's splendour, kept his eyes fixed on him, and cried, "Oh, +mother, how beautiful my grandfather is!" Then his mother asked him +which he thought the handsomer, his father or his grandfather, and he +answered at once, "My father is the handsomest of all the Persians, but +my grandfather much the handsomest of all the Medes I ever set eyes on, +at home or abroad." [3] At that Astyages drew the child to his heart, +and gave him a beautiful robe and bracelets and necklaces in sign of +honour, and when he rode out, the boy must ride beside him on a horse +with a golden bridle, just like King Astyages himself. And Cyrus, who +had a soul as sensitive to beauty as to honour, was pleased with the +splendid robe, and overjoyed at learning to ride, for a horse is a rare +sight in Persia, a mountainous country, and one little suited to the +breed. + +[4] Now Cyrus and his mother sat at meat with the king, and Astyages, +wishing the lad to enjoy the feast and not regret his home, plied him +with dainties of every sort. At that, so says the story, Cyrus burst +out, "Oh, grandfather, what trouble you must give yourself reaching for +all these dishes and tasting all these wonderful foods!" "Ah, but," said +Astyages, "is not this a far better meal than you ever had in Persia?" +Thereupon, as the tale runs, Cyrus answered, "Our way, grandfather, is +much shorter than yours, and much simpler. We are hungry and wish to be +fed, and bread and meat brings us where we want to be at once, but you +Medes, for all your haste, take so many turns and wind about so much it +is a wonder if you ever find your way to the goal that we have reached +long ago." [5] "Well, my lad," said his grandfather, "we are not at all +averse to the length of the road: taste the dishes for yourself and see +how good they are." "One thing I do see," the boy said, "and that is +that you do not quite like them yourself." And when Astyages asked him +how he felt so sure of that, Cyrus answered, "Because when you touch an +honest bit of bread you never wipe your hands, but if you take one of +these fine kickshaws you turn to your napkin at once, as if you were +angry to find your fingers soiled." [6] "Well and good, my lad, well and +good," said the king, "only feast away yourself and make good cheer, +and we shall send you back to Persia a fine strong fellow." And with the +word he had dishes of meat and game set before his grandson. The boy was +taken aback by their profusion, and exclaimed, "Grandfather, do you give +me all this for myself, to do what I like with it?" "Certainly I do," +said the king. [7] Whereupon, without more ado, the boy Cyrus took first +one dish and then another and gave them to the attendants who stood +about his grandfather, and with each gift he made a little speech: "That +is for you, for so kindly teaching me to ride;" "And that is for you, in +return for the javelin you gave me, I have got it still;" "And this is +for you, because you wait on my grandfather so prettily;" "And this for +you, sir, because you honour my mother." And so on until he had got rid +of all the meat he had been given. [8] "But you do not give a single +piece to Sacas, my butler," quoth the grandfather, "and I honour +him more than all the rest." Now this Sacas, as one may guess, was a +handsome fellow, and he had the right to bring before the king all who +desired audience, to keep them back if he thought the time unseasonable. +But Cyrus, in answer to his grandfather's question retorted eagerly, +like a lad who did not know what fear meant, "And why should you honour +him so much, grandfather?" Then Astyages laughed and said, "Can you not +see how prettily he mixes the cup, and with what a grace he serves the +wine?" And indeed, these royal cup-bearers are neat-handed at their +task, mixing the bowl with infinite elegance, and pouring the wine into +the beakers without spilling a drop, and when they hand the goblet they +poise it deftly between thumb and finger for the banqueter to take. [9] +"Now, grandfather," said the boy, "tell Sacas to give me the bowl, +and let me pour out the wine as prettily as he if I can, and win your +favour." So the king bade the butler hand him the bowl, and Cyrus took +it and mixed the wine just as he had seen Sacas do, and then, showing +the utmost gravity and the greatest deftness and grace, he brought +the goblet to his grandfather and offered it with such an air that his +mother and Astyages, too, laughed outright, and then Cyrus burst out +laughing also, and flung his arms round his grandfather and kissed him, +crying, "Sacas, your day is done! I shall oust you from your office, you +may be sure. I shall make just as pretty a cup-bearer as you--and not +drink the wine myself!" For it is the fact that the king's butler when +he offers the wine is bound to dip a ladle in the cup first, and pour +a little in the hollow of his hand and sip it, so that if he has mixed +poison in the bowl it will do him no good himself. [10] Accordingly, +Astyages, to carry on the jest, asked the little lad why he had +forgotten to taste the wine though he had imitated Sacas in everything +else. And the boy answered, "Truly, I was afraid there might be poison +in the bowl. For when you gave your birthday feast to your friends I +could see quite plainly that Sacas had put in poison for you all." "And +how did you discover that, my boy?" asked the king. "Because I saw how +your wits reeled and how you staggered; and you all began doing what you +will not let us children do--you talked at the top of your voices, and +none of you understood a single word the others said, and then you began +singing in a way to make us laugh, and though you would not listen to +the singer you swore that it was right nobly sung, and then each of you +boasted of his own strength, and yet as soon as you got up to dance, so +far from keeping time to the measure, you could barely keep your legs. +And you seemed quite to have forgotten, grandfather, that you were +king, and your subjects that you were their sovereign. Then at last I +understood that you must be celebrating that 'free speech' we hear of; +at any rate, you were never silent for an instant." [11] "Well, but, +boy," said Astyages, "does your father never lose his head when he +drinks?" "Certainly not," said the boy. "What happens then?" asked the +king. "He quenches his thirst," answered Cyrus, "and that is all. No +harm follows. You see, he has no Sacas to mix his wine for him." "But, +Cyrus," put in his mother, "why are you so unkind to Sacas?" "Because I +do so hate him," answered the boy. "Time after time when I have wanted +to go to my grandfather this old villain has stopped me. Do please, +grandfather, let me manage him for three days." "And how would you set +about it?" Astyages asked. "Why," said the boy, "I will plant myself +in the doorway just as he does, and then when he wants to go in to +breakfast I will say 'You cannot have breakfast yet: HE is busy with +some people,' and when he comes for dinner I will say 'No dinner yet: HE +is in his bath,' and as he grows ravenous I will say 'Wait a little: HE +is with the ladies of the court,' until I have plagued and tormented him +as he torments me, keeping me away from you, grandfather, when I want to +come." [12] Thus the boy delighted his elders in the evening, and by +day if he saw that his grandfather or his uncle wanted anything, no one +could forestall him in getting it; indeed nothing seemed to give him +greater pleasure than to please them. + +[13] Now when Mandane began to think of going back to her husband, +Astyages begged her to leave the boy behind. She answered that though +she wished to please her father in everything, it would be hard to leave +the boy against his will. [14] Then the old man turned to Cyrus: "My +boy, if you will stay with us, Sacas shall never stop you from coming to +me: you shall be free to come whenever you choose, and the oftener you +come the better it will please me. You shall have horses to ride, my +own and as many others as you like, and when you leave us you shall take +them with you. And at dinner you shall go your own away and follow your +own path to your own goal of temperance just as you think right. And I +will make you a present of all the game in my parks and paradises, and +collect more for you, and as soon as you have learnt to ride you shall +hunt and shoot and hurl the javelin exactly like a man. And you shall +have boys to play with and anything else you wish for: you have only to +ask me and it shall be yours." [15] Then his mother questioned the +boy and asked him whether he would rather stay with his grandfather +in Media, or go back home with her: and he said at once that he would +rather stay. And when she went on to ask him the reason, he answered, so +the story says, "Because at home I am thought to be the best of the lads +at shooting and hurling the javelin, and so I think I am: but here I +know I am the worst at riding, and that you may be sure, mother, annoys +me exceedingly. Now if you leave me here and I learn to ride, when I am +back in Persia you shall see, I promise you, that I will outdo all our +gallant fellows on foot, and when I come to Media again I will try and +show my grandfather that, for all his splendid cavalry, he will not have +a stouter horseman than his grandson to fight his battles for him." [16] +Then said his mother, "But justice and righteousness, my son, how can +you learn them here when your teachers are at home?" "Oh," said Cyrus, +"I know all about them already." "How do you know that you do?" asked +Mandane. "Because," answered the boy, "before I left home my master +thought I had learnt enough to decide the cases, and he set me to try +the suits. Yes! and I remember once, said he, "I got a whipping for +misjudgment. [17] I will tell you about that case. There were two boys, +a big boy and a little boy, and the big boy's coat was small and the +small boy's coat was huge. So the big boy stripped the little boy and +gave him his own small coat, while he put on the big one himself. Now in +giving judgment I decided that it was better for both parties that each +should have the coat that fitted him best. But I never got any further +in my sentence, because the master thrashed me here, and said that the +verdict would have been excellent if I had been appointed to say what +fitted and what did not, but I had been called in to decide to whom the +coat belonged, and the point to consider was, who had a right to it: Was +he who took a thing by violence to keep it, or he who had had it made +and bought it for his own? And the master taught me that what is lawful +is just and what is in the teeth of law is based on violence, and +therefore, he said, the judge must always see that his verdict tallies +with the law. So you see, mother, I have the whole of justice at my +fingers' ends already. And if there should be anything more I need to +know, why, I have my grandfather beside me, and he will always give me +lessons." [18] "But," rejoined his mother, "what everyone takes to be +just and righteous at your grandfather's court is not thought to be so +in Persia. For instance, your own grandfather has made himself master +over all and sundry among the Medes, but with the Persians equality is +held to be an essential part of justice: and first and foremost, your +father himself must perform his appointed services to the state and +receive his appointed dues: and the measure of these is not his own +caprice but the law. Have a care then, or you may be scourged to death +when you come home to Persia, if you learn in your grandfather's school +to love not kingship but tyranny, and hold the tyrant's belief that he +and he alone should have more than all the rest." "Ah, but, mother," +said the boy, "my grandfather is better at teaching people to have +less than their share, not more. Cannot you see," he cried, "how he +has taught all the Medes to have less than himself? So set your mind +at rest, mother, my grandfather will never make me, or any one else, an +adept in the art of getting too much." + +[C.4] So the boy's tongue ran on. But at last his mother went home, and +Cyrus stayed behind and was brought up in Media. He soon made friends +with his companions and found his way to their hearts, and soon won +their parents by the charm of his address and the true affection he bore +their sons, so much so that when they wanted a favour from the king +they bade their children ask Cyrus to arrange the matter for them. +And whatever it might be, the kindliness of the lad's heart and the +eagerness of his ambition made him set the greatest store on getting it +done. [2] On his side, Astyages could not bring himself to refuse his +grandson's lightest wish. For once, when he was sick, nothing would +induce the boy to leave his side; he could not keep back his tears, and +his terror at the thought that his grandfather might die was plain for +every one to see. If the old man needed anything during the night Cyrus +was the first to notice it, it was he who sprang up first to wait upon +him, and bring him what he thought would please him. Thus the old king's +heart was his. + +[3] During these early days, it must be allowed, the boy was something +too much of a talker, in part, may be, because of his bringing-up. He +had been trained by his master, whenever he sat in judgment, to give a +reason for what he did, and to look for the like reason from others. And +moreover, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge were such that he must +needs inquire from every one he met the explanation of this, that, and +the other; and his own wits were so lively that he was ever ready with +an answer himself for any question put to him, so that talkativeness had +become, as it were, his second nature. But, just as in the body when a +boy is overgrown, some touch of youthfulness is sure to show itself +and tell the secret of his age, so for all the lad's loquacity, the +impression left on the listener was not of arrogance, but of simplicity +and warm-heartedness, and one would gladly have heard his chatter to the +end rather than have sat beside him and found him dumb. + +[4] However, as he grew in stature and the years led him to the time +when childhood passes into youth he became more chary of his words and +quieter in his tone: at times, indeed, he was so shy that he would blush +in the presence of his elders, and there was little sign left of the old +forwardness, the impulsiveness of the puppy who will jump up on every +one, master and stranger alike. Thus he grew more sedate, but his +company was still most fascinating, and little wonder: for whenever it +came to a trial of skill between himself and his comrades he would never +challenge his mates to those feats in which he himself excelled: he +would start precisely one where he felt his own inferiority, averring +that he would outdo them all,--indeed, he would spring to horse in order +to shoot or hurl the javelin before he had got a firm seat--and +then, when he was worsted, he would be the first to laugh at his own +discomfiture. [5] He had no desire to escape defeat by giving up the +effort, but took glory in the resolution to do better another time, +and thus he soon found himself as good a horseman as his peers, and +presently, such was his ardour, he surpassed them all, and at last the +thinning of the game in the king's preserves began to show what he could +do. What with the chasing and the shooting and the spearing, the stock +of animals ran so low that Astyages was hard put to it to collect enough +for him. Then Cyrus, seeing that his grandfather for all his goodwill +could never furnish him with enough, came to him one day and said, +"Grandfather, why should you take so much trouble in finding game for +me? If only you would let me go out to hunt with my uncle, I could fancy +every beast we came across had been reared for my particular delight!" +[6] But however anxious the lad might be to go out to the chase, he had +somehow lost the old childish art of winning what he wanted by coaxing: +and he hesitated a long time before approaching the king again. If in +the old days he had quarrelled with Sacas for not letting him in, now +he began to play the part of Sacas against himself, and could not summon +courage to intrude until he thought the right moment had come: indeed, +he implored the real Sacas to let him know when he might venture. So +that the old butler's heart was won, and he, like the rest of the world, +was completely in love with the young prince. + +[7] At last when Astyages saw that the lad's heart was really set on +hunting in the open country, he gave him leave to go out with his uncle, +taking care at the same time to send an escort of mounted veterans at +his heels, whose business it was to keep watch and ward over him in any +dangerous place or against any savage beast. Cyrus plied his retinue +with questions about the creatures they came across, which must he avoid +and which might he hunt? They told him he must be on his guard against +bears and wild-boars and lions and leopards: many a man had found +himself at too close quarters with these dangerous creatures, and been +torn to pieces: but antelopes, they said, and deer and mountain sheep +and wild asses were harmless enough. And the huntsman, they added, ought +to be as careful about dangerous places as about the beasts themselves: +many a time horse and rider had gone headlong down a precipice to death. +[8] The lad seemed to take all their lessons to heart at the time: but +then he saw a stag leap up, and forgot all the wise cautions he had +heard, giving chase forthwith, noticing nothing except the beast ahead +of him. His horse, in its furious plunge forward, slipped, and came down +on its knees, all but throwing the rider over its head. As luck would +have it the boy managed to keep his seat, and the horse recovered its +footing. When they reached the flat bottom, Cyrus let fly his javelin, +and the stag fell dead, a beautiful big creature. The lad was still +radiant with delight when up rode the guard and took him severely to +task. Could he not see the danger he had run? They would certainly tell +his grandfather, that they would. Cyrus, who had dismounted, stood quite +still and listened ruefully, hanging his head while they rated him. But +in the middle of it all he heard the view-halloo again: he sprang to his +horse as though frenzied--a wild-boar was charging down on them, and he +charged to meet it, and drawing his bow with the surest aim possible, +struck the beast in the forehead, and laid him low. [9] But now his +uncle thought it was high time to scold his nephew himself; the lad's +boldness was too much. Only, the more he scolded the more Cyrus begged +he would let him take back the spoil as a present for his grandfather. +To which appeal, says the story, his uncle made reply: "But if your +grandfather finds out that you have gone in chase yourself, he will not +only scold you for going but me for letting you go." "Well, let him whip +me if he likes," said the boy, "when once I have given him my beasts: +and you too, uncle," he went on, "punish me however you choose, only do +not refuse me this." So Cyaxares was forced to yield:--"Have it your own +way then, you are little less than our king already." [10] Thus it was +that Cyrus was allowed to bring his trophies home, and in due course +presented them to his grandfather. "See, grandfather, here are some +animals I have shot for you." But he did not show his weapons in +triumph: he only laid them down with the gore still on them where he +hoped his grandfather would see them. It is easy to guess the answer +Astyages gave:--"I must needs accept with pleasure every gift you bring +me, only I want none of them at the risk of your own life." And Cyrus +said, "If you really do not want them yourself, grandfather, will you +give them to me? And I will divide them among the lads." "With all my +heart," said the old man, "take them, or anything else you like; bestow +them where you will, and welcome." [11] So Cyrus carried off the spoil, +and divided it with his comrades, saying all the while, "What foolery +it was, when we used to hunt in the park! It was no better than hunting +creatures tied by a string. First of all, it was such a little bit of +a place, and then what scarecrows the poor beasts were, one halt, +and another maimed! But those real animals on the mountains and the +plains--what splendid beasts, so gigantic, so sleek and glossy! Why, +the stags leapt up against the sky as though they had wings, and the +wild-boars came rushing to close quarters like warriors in battle! And +thanks to their breadth and bulk one could not help hitting them. Why, +even as they lie dead there," cried he, "they look finer than those +poor walled-up creatures when alive! But you," he added, "could not your +fathers let you go out to hunt too?" "Gladly enough," answered they, "if +only the king gave the order." [12] "Well," said Cyrus, "who will speak +to Astyages for us?" "Why," answered they, "who so fit to persuade him +as yourself?" "No, by all that's holy, not I!" cried Cyrus. "I cannot +think what has come over me: I cannot speak to my grandfather any more; +I cannot look him straight in the face. If this fit grows on me, I am +afraid I shall become no better than an idiot. And yet, when I was a +little boy, they tell me, I was sharp enough at talking." To which the +other lads retorted, "Well, it is a bad business altogether: and if you +cannot bestir yourself for your friends, if you can do nothing for us +in our need, we must turn elsewhere." [13] When Cyrus heard that he was +stung to the quick: he went away in silence and urged himself to put on +a bold face, and so went in to his grandfather, not, however, without +planning first how he could best bring in the matter. Accordingly he +began thus: "Tell me, grandfather," said he, "if one of your slaves were +to run away, and you caught him, what would you do to him?" "What else +should I do," the old man answered, "but clap irons on him and set him +to work in chains?" "But if he came back of his own accord, how would +you treat him then?" "Why, I would give him a whipping, as a warning not +to do it again, and then treat him as though nothing had happened." "It +is high time then," said the boy, "that you began getting a birch ready +for your grandson: for I am planning to take my comrades and run away on +a hunting expedition." "Very kind of you to tell me, beforehand," said +Astyages. "And now listen, I forbid you to set foot outside the palace +grounds. A pretty thing," he added, "if for the sake of a day's hunting +I should let my daughter's lamb get lost." [14] So Cyrus did as he was +ordered and stayed at home, but he spent his days in silence and his +brow was clouded. At last Astyages saw how bitterly the lad felt it, +and he made up his mind to please him by leading out a hunting-party +himself. He held a great muster of horse and foot, and the other lads +were not forgotten: he had the beasts driven down into the flat country +where the horses could be taken easily, and then the hunt began in +splendid style. After the royal fashion--for he was present in person +himself--he gave orders that no one was to shoot until Cyrus had hunted +to his heart's content. But Cyrus would not hear of any such hindrance +to the others: "Grandfather," he cried, "if you wish me to enjoy myself, +let my friends hunt with me and each of us try our best." [15] Thereupon +Astyages let them all go, while he stood still and watched the sight, +and saw how they raced to attack the quarry and how their ambition +burned within them as they followed up the chase and let fly their +javelins. But above all he was overjoyed to see how his grandson could +not keep silence for sheer delight, calling upon his fellows by name +whenever he came up with the quarry, like a noble young hound, baying +from pure excitement. It gladdened the old man's heart to hear how +gleefully the boy would laugh at one of his comrades and how eagerly he +would applaud another without the slightest touch of jealousy. At +length it was time to turn, and home they went, laden with their mighty +trophies. And ever afterwards, so well pleased was the king with the +day's hunting, that whenever it was possible, out he must go with his +grandson, all his train behind him, and he never failed to take the boys +also, "to please Cyrus." Thus did Cyrus spend his early life, sharing in +and helping towards the happiness of all, and bringing no sorrow to any +man. + +[16] But when he was about fifteen years of age, it chanced that the +young Prince of Assyria, who was about to marry a wife, planned a +hunting-party of his own, in honour of the bridal. And, having heard +that on the frontiers of Assyria and Media there was much game to be +got, untouched and unmolested because of the war, the prince chose these +marches for his hunting-ground. But for safety sake he took with him +a large escort of cavalry and targeteers, who were to drive the beasts +down from their lairs into the cultivated levels below where it was +easy to ride. He set out to the place where the Assyrian outposts were +planted and a garrison on duty, and there he and his men prepared to +take their supper, intending to begin the hunt with the morrow's dawn. +[17] And as evening had fallen, it happened that the night-watch, a +considerable body of horse and foot, arrived from the city to relieve +the garrison on guard. Thus the prince found that he had something like +a large army at his call: the two garrisons as well as the troop of +horse and foot for the hunt. And then he asked himself whether it would +not be the best of plans to drive off booty from the country of the +Medes? In this way more lustre would be given to the chase, and there +would be great store of beasts for sacrifice. With this intent he rose +betimes and led his army out: the foot soldiers he massed together on +the frontier, while he himself, at the head of his cavalry, rode up to +the border fortresses of the Medes. Here he halted with the strongest +and largest part of his company, to prevent the garrisons from sallying +out, and meanwhile he sent picked men forward by detachments with orders +to raid the country in every direction, waylay everything they chanced +upon, and drive the spoil back to him. + +[18] While this was going on news was brought to Astyages that the enemy +was across the border, and he hastened to the rescue at once, himself at +the head of his own body-guard, and his son with such troopers as were +ready to hand, leaving word for others to follow with all despatch. But +when they were in sight of the Assyrians, and saw their serried ranks, +horse and foot, drawn up in order, compact and motionless, they came to +a halt themselves. [19] Now Cyrus, seeing that all the rest of the world +was off to the rescue, boot and saddle, must needs ride out too, and so +put on his armour for the first time, and could scarcely believe it was +true, he had longed so often and so ardently to wear it all. And right +beautiful it was, and right well it fitted the lad, the armour that his +grandsire had had made for him. So he put on the whole accoutrement, +mounted his charger, and galloped to the front. And Astyages, though he +wondered who had sent the boy, bade him stay beside him, now that he +had come. Cyrus, as he looked at the horsemen facing them, turned to +his grandfather with the question, "Can those men yonder be our enemies, +grandfather, those who are standing so quietly beside their horses?" +"Enemies they are too for all that," said the king. "And are those +enemies too?" the boy asked, "those who are riding over there?" "Yes, +to be sure." "Well, grandfather, a sorry set they look, and sorry jades +they ride to ravage our lands! It would be well for some of us to charge +them!" "Not yet, my boy," answered his grandfather, "look at the mass +of horsemen there. If we were to charge the others now, these friends of +theirs would charge us, for our full strength is not yet on the field." +"Yes, but," suggested the boy, "if you stay here yourself, ready to +receive our supporters, those fellows will be afraid to stir either, and +the cattle-lifters will drop their booty quick enough, as soon as they +find they are attacked." + +[20] Astyages felt there was much in what the boy said, and thinking all +the while what wonderful sense he showed and how wide-awake he was, gave +orders for his son to take a squadron of horse and charge the raiders. +"If the main body move to attack," he added, "I will charge myself and +give them enough to do here." Accordingly Cyaxares took a detachment of +horse and galloped to the field. Cyrus seeing the charge, darted forward +himself, and swept to the van, leading it with Cyaxares close at his +heels and the rest close behind them. As soon as the plunderers saw +them, they left their booty and took to flight. [21] The troopers, with +Cyrus at their head, dashed in to cut them off, and some they overtook +at once and hewed down then and there; others slipped past, and then +they followed in hot pursuit, and caught some of them too. And Cyrus was +ever in the front, like a young hound, untrained as yet but bred from +a gallant stock, charging a wild-boar recklessly; forward he swept, +without eyes or thought for anything but the quarry to be captured and +the blow to be struck. But when the Assyrian army saw their friends +in trouble they pushed forward, rank on rank, saying to themselves the +pursuit would stop when their own movement was seen. [22] But Cyrus +never slackened his pace a whit: in a transport of joy he called on his +uncle by name as he pressed forward, hanging hot-foot on the fugitives, +while Cyaxares still clung to his heels, thinking maybe what his father +Astyages would say if he hung back, and the others still followed close +behind them, even the faint-hearted changed into heroes for the nonce. + +Now Astyages, watching their furious onslaught, and seeing the enemy +move steadily forward in close array to meet them, decided to advance +without a moment's delay himself, for fear that his son and Cyrus might +come to harm, crashing in disorder against the solid battalions of the +foe. [23] The Assyrians saw the movement of the king and came to a halt, +spears levelled and bows bent, expecting that, when their assailants +came within range, they would halt likewise as they had usually done +before. For hitherto, whenever the armies met, they would only charge up +to a certain distance, and there take flying shots, and so keep up the +skirmish until evening fell. But now the Assyrians saw their own men +borne down on them in rout, with Cyrus and his comrades at their heels +in full career, while Astyages and his cavalry were already within +bowshot. It was more than they could face, and they turned and fled. +After them swept the Medes in full pursuit, and those they caught they +mowed down, horse and man, and those that fell they slew. There was no +pause until they came up with the Assyrian foot. [24] Here at last they +drew rein in fear of some hidden ambuscade, and Astyages led his army +off. The exploit of his cavalry pleased him beyond measure, but he did +not know what he could say to Cyrus. It was he to whom the engagement +was due, and the victory; but the boy's daring was on the verge of +madness. Even during the return home his behaviour was strange; he could +not forbear riding round alone to look into the faces of the slain, +and those whose duty it was could hardly drag him away to lead him to +Astyages: indeed, the youth was glad enough to keep them as a screen +between himself and the king, for he saw that the countenance of his +grandfather grew stern at the sight of him. + +[25] So matters passed in Media: and more and more the name of Cyrus was +on the lip of every man, in song and story everywhere, and Astyages, +who had always loved him, was astonished beyond all measure at the lad. +Meanwhile his father, Cambyses, rejoiced to hear such tidings of his +son; but, when he heard that he was already acting like a man of years, +he thought it full time to call him home again that he might complete +his training in the discipline of his fatherland. The story tells how +Cyrus answered the summons, saying he would rather return home at once +so that his father might not be vexed or his country blame him. And +Astyages, too, thought it his plain duty to send the boy back, but he +must needs give him horses to take with him, as many as he would care +to choose, and other gifts beside, not only for the love he bore him +but for the high hopes he had that the boy would one day prove a man of +mark, a blessing to his friends, and a terror to his foes. And when the +time came for Cyrus to go, the whole world poured out to speed him on +his journey--little children and lads of his own age, and grown men +and greybeards on their steeds, and Astyages the king. And, so says the +chronicle, the eyes of none were dry when they turned home again. [26] +Cyrus himself, they tell us, rode away in tears. He heaped gifts on all +his comrades, sharing with them what Astyages had given to himself; and +at last he took off the splendid Median cloak he wore and gave it to one +of them, to tell him, plainer than words could say, how his heart clung +to him above the rest. And his friends, they say, took the gifts he gave +them, but they brought them all back to Astyages, who sent them to Cyrus +again. But once more Cyrus sent them back to Media with this prayer to +his grandfather:--"If you would have me hold my head up when I come back +to you again, let my friends keep the gifts I gave them." And Astyages +did as the boy asked. + +[27] And here, if a tale of boyish love is not out of place, we might +tell how, when Cyrus was just about to depart and the last good-byes +were being said, each of his kinsmen in the Persian fashion--and to this +day the custom holds in Persia--kissed him on the lips as they bade him +god-speed. Now there was a certain Mede, as beautiful and brave a man +as ever lived, who had been enamoured of Cyrus for many a long day, +and, when he saw the kiss, he stayed behind, and after the others had +withdrawn he went up to Cyrus and said, "Me, and me alone, of all your +kindred, Cyrus, you refuse to recognize?" And Cyrus answered, "What, are +you my kinsman too?" "Yes, assuredly," the other answered, and the lad +rejoined, "Ah, then, that is why you looked at me so earnestly; and I +have seen you look at me like that, I think, more than once before." +"Yes," answered the Mede, "I have often longed to approach you, but as +often, heaven knows, my heart failed me." "But why should that be," said +Cyrus, "seeing you are my kinsman?" And with the word, he leant forward +and kissed him on the lips. [28] Then the Mede, emboldened by the kiss, +took heart and said, "So in Persia it is really the custom for relatives +to kiss?" "Truly yes," answered Cyrus, "when we see each other after a +long absence, or when we part for a journey." "Then the time has come," +said the other, "to give me a second kiss, for I must leave you now." +With that Cyrus kissed him again and so they parted. But the travellers +were not far on their way when suddenly the Mede came galloping after +them, his charger covered with foam. Cyrus caught sight of him:--"You +have forgotten something? There is something else you wanted to say?" +"No," said the Mede, "it is only such a long, long while since we met." +"Such a little, little while you mean, my kinsman," answered Cyrus. "A +little while!" repeated the other. "How can you say that? Cannot you +understand that the time it takes to wink is a whole eternity if it +severs me from the beauty of your face?" + +Then Cyrus burst out laughing in spite of his own tears, and bade the +unfortunate man take heart of grace and be gone. "I shall soon be back +with you again, and then you can stare at me to your heart's content, +and never wink at all." + +[C.5] Thus Cyrus left his grandfather's court and came home to Persia, +and there, so it is said, he spent one year more as a boy among boys. +At first the lads were disposed to laugh at him, thinking he must have +learnt luxurious ways in Media, but when they saw that he could take +the simple Persian food as happily as themselves, and how, whenever they +made good cheer at a festival, far from asking for any more himself he +was ready to give his own share of the dainties away, when they saw and +felt in this and in other things his inborn nobleness and superiority to +themselves, then the tide turned and once more they were at his feet. + +And when this part of his training was over, and the time was come for +him to join the younger men, it was the same tale once more. Once more +he outdid all his fellows, alike in the fulfilment of his duty, in +the endurance of hardship, in the reverence he showed to age, and the +obedience he paid to authority. + +[2] Now in the fullness of time Astyages died in Media, and Cyaxares +his son, the brother of Cyrus' mother, took the kingdom in his stead. +By this time the king of Assyria had subdued all the tribes of Syria, +subjugated the king of Arabia, brought the Hyrcanians under his rule, +and was holding the Bactrians in siege. Therefore he came to think that, +if he could but weaken the power of the Medes, it would be easy for him +to extend his empire over all the nations round him, since the Medes +were, without doubt, the strongest of them all. [3] Accordingly he +sent his messengers to every part of his dominions: to Croesus, king +of Lydia, to the king of Cappadocia, to both the Phrygias, to the +Paphlagonians and the Indians, to the Carians and the Cilicians. And he +bade them spread slanders abroad against the Persians and the Medes, and +say moreover that these were great and mighty kingdoms which had come +together and made alliance by marriage with one another, and unless a +man should be beforehand with them and bring down their power it could +not be but that they would fall on each of their neighbours in turn and +subdue them one by one. So the nations listened to the messengers and +made alliance with the king of Assyria: some were persuaded by what he +said and others were won over by gifts and gold, for the riches of the +Assyrian were great. [4] Now Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, was aware of +these plots and preparations, and he made ready on his side, so far as +in him lay, sending word to the Persian state and to Cambyses the king, +who had his sister to wife. And he sent to Cyrus also, begging him to +come with all speed at the head of any force that might be furnished, if +so be the Council of Persia would give him men-at-arms. For by this +time Cyrus had accomplished his ten years among the youths and was now +enrolled with the grown men. [5] He was right willing to go, and the +Council of Elders appointed him to command the force for Media. They +bade him choose two hundred men among the Peers, each of them to choose +four others from their fellows. Thus was formed a body of a thousand +Peers: and each of the thousand had orders to raise thirty men from the +commons--ten targeteers, ten slingers, and ten archers--and thus three +regiments were levied, 10,000 archers, 10,000 slingers, and 10,000 +targeteers, over and above the thousand Peers. The whole force was to +be put under the command of Cyrus. [6] As soon as he was appointed, +his first act had been to offer sacrifice, and when the omens were +favourable he had chosen his two hundred Peers, and each of them had +chosen their four comrades. Then he called the whole body together, and +for the first time spoke to them as follows:-- + +[7] "My friends, I have chosen you for this work, but this is not the +first time that I have formed my opinion of your worth: from my boyhood +I have watched your zeal for all that our country holds to be honourable +and your abhorrence for all that she counts base. And I wish to tell you +plainly why I accepted this office myself and why I ask your help. [8] I +have long felt sure that our forefathers were in their time as good men +as we. For their lives were one long effort towards the self-same deeds +of valour as are held in honour now; and still, for all their worth, +I fail to see what good they gained either for the state or for +themselves. [9] Yet I cannot bring myself to believe that there is a +single virtue practised among mankind merely in order that the brave and +good should fare no better than the base ones of the earth. Men do +not forego the pleasures of the moment to say good-bye to all joy for +evermore--no, this self-control is a training, so that we may reap the +fruits of a larger joy in the time to come. A man will toil day and +night to make himself an orator, yet oratory is not the one aim of +his existence: his hope is to influence men by his eloquence and thus +achieve some noble end. So too with us, and those like us, who are +drilled in the arts of war: we do not give our labours in order to fight +for ever, endlessly and hopelessly, we hope that we too one day, when we +have proved our mettle, may win and wear for ourselves and for our city +the threefold ornament of wealth, of happiness, of honour. [10] And if +there should be some who have worked hard all their lives and suddenly +old-age, they find, has stolen on them unawares, and taken away their +powers before they have gathered in the fruit of all their toil, such +men seem to me like those who desire to be thrifty husbandmen, and who +sow well and plant wisely, but when the time of harvest comes let the +fruit drop back ungarnered into the soil whence it sprang. Or as if an +athlete should train himself and reach the heights where victory may be +won and at the last forbear to enter the lists--such an one, I take it, +would but meet his deserts if all men cried out upon him for a fool. +[11] Let not such be our fate, my friends. Our own hearts bear us +witness that we, too, from our boyhood up, have been trained in the +school of beauty and nobleness and honour, and now let us go forward to +meet our foes. They, I know right well, when matched with us, will prove +but novices in war. He is no true warrior, though he be skilled with the +javelin and the bow and ride on horseback with the best, who, when the +call for endurance comes, is found to fail: toil finds him but a novice. +Nor are they warriors who, when they should wake and watch, give way to +slumber: sleep finds them novices. Even endurance will not avail, if a +man has not learnt to deal as a man should by friends and foes: such an +one is unschooled in the highest part of his calling. [12] But with you +it is not so: to you the night will be as the day; toil, your school +has taught you, is the guide to happiness; hunger has been your daily +condiment, and water you take to quench your thirst as the lion laps the +stream. And you have that within your hearts which is the rarest of all +treasures and the most akin to war: of all sweet sounds the sweetest +sound for you is the voice of fame. You are fair Honour's suitors, and +you must needs win your title to her favour. Therefore you undergo toil +and danger gladly. + +[13] "Now if I said all this of you, and my heart were not in my words, +I should but cheat myself. For in so far as you should fail to fulfil my +hopes of you, it is on me that the shame would fall. But I have faith in +you, bred of experience: I trust in your goodwill towards me, and in our +enemy's lack of wit; you will not belie my hopes. Let us go forth with a +light heart; we have no ill-fame to fear: none can say we covet +another man's goods unlawfully. Our enemy strikes the first blow in an +unrighteous cause, and our friends call us to protect them. What is more +lawful than self-defence? What is nobler than to succour those we love? +[14] And you have another ground of confidence--in opening this campaign +I have not been forgetful of the gods: you have gone in and out with me, +and you know how in all things, great and small, I strive to win their +blessing. And now," he added, "what need of further words? I will leave +you now to choose your own men, and when all is ready you will march +into Media at their head. Meanwhile I will return to my father and start +before you, so that I may learn what I can about the enemy as soon as +may be, and thus make all needful preparations, so that by God's help we +may win glory on the field." + +[C.6] Such were his orders and they set about them at once. But Cyrus +himself went home and prayed to the gods of his father's house, to +Hestia and Zeus, and to all who had watched over his race. And when he +had done so, he set out for the war, and his father went with him on +the road. They were no sooner clear of the city, so says the story, than +they met with favourable omens of thunder and lightning, and after that +they went forward without further divination, for they felt that no man +could mistake the signs from the Ruler of the gods. [2] And as they went +on their way Cyrus' father said to him, "My son, the gods are gracious +to us, and look with favour on your journey--they have shown it in the +sacrifices, and by their signs from heaven. You do not need another man +to tell you so, for I was careful to have you taught this art, so that +you might understand the counsels of the gods yourself and have no need +of an interpreter, seeing with your own eyes and hearing with your own +ears and taking the heavenly meaning for yourself. Thus you need not be +at the mercy of any soothsayers who might have a mind to deceive you, +speaking contrary to the omens vouchsafed from heaven, nor yet, should +you chance to be without a seer, drift in perplexity and know not how to +profit by the heavenly signs: you yourself through your own learning can +understand the warnings of the gods and follow them." + +[3] "Yes, father," answered Cyrus, "so far as in me lies, I bear your +words in mind, and pray to the gods continually that they may show us +favour and vouchsafe to counsel us. I remember," he went on, "how once I +heard you say that, as with men, so with the gods, it was but natural if +the prayer of him should prevail who did not turn to flatter them only +in time of need, but was mindful of them above all in the heyday of his +happiness. It was thus indeed, you said, that we ought to deal with our +earthly friends." [4] "True, my son," said his father, "and because of +all my teaching, you can now approach the gods in prayer with a lighter +heart and a more confident hope that they will grant you what you ask, +because your conscience bears you witness that you have never forgotten +them." "Even so," said Cyrus, "and in truth I feel towards them as +though they were my friends." [5] "And do you remember," asked his +father, "certain other conclusions on which we were agreed? How we +felt there were certain things that the gods had permitted us to attain +through learning and study and training? The accomplishment of these is +the reward of effort, not of idleness; in these it is only when we have +done all that it is our duty to do that we are justified in asking for +blessings from the gods." [6] "I remember very well," said Cyrus, "that +you used to talk to me in that way: and indeed I could not but agree +with the arguments you gave. You used to say that a man had no right to +pray he might win a cavalry charge if he had never learnt how to ride, +or triumph over master-bowmen if he could not draw a bow, or bring +a ship safe home to harbour if he did not know how to steer, or be +rewarded with a plenteous harvest if he had not so much as sown grain +into the ground, or come home safe from battle if he took no precautions +whatsoever. All such prayers as these, you said, were contrary to the +very ordinances of heaven, and those who asked for things forbidden +could not be surprised if they failed to win them from the gods. Even as +a petition in the face of law on earth would have no success with men." + +[7] "And do you remember," said his father, "how we thought that it +would be a noble work enough if a man could train himself really and +truly to be beautiful and brave and earn all he needed for his household +and himself? That, we said, was a work of which a man might well be +proud; but if he went further still, if he had the skill and the science +to be the guide and governor of other men, supplying all their wants and +making them all they ought to be, that, it seemed to us, would be indeed +a marvel." [8] "Yes, my father," answered Cyrus, "I remember it very +well. I agreed with you that to rule well and nobly was the greatest +of all works, and I am of the same mind still," he went on, "whenever +I think of government in itself. But when I look on the world at large, +when I see of what poor stuff those men are made who contrive to uphold +their rule and what sort of antagonists we are likely to find in them, +then I can only feel how disgraceful it would be to cringe before them +and not to face them myself and try conclusions with them on the field. +All of them, I perceive," he added, "beginning with our own friends +here, hold to it that the ruler should only differ from his subjects by +the splendour of his banquets, the wealth of gold in his coffers, the +length and depth of his slumbers, and his freedom from trouble and pain. +But my views are different: I hold that the ruler should be marked out +from other men, not by taking life easily, but by his forethought and +his wisdom and his eagerness for work." [9] "True, my son," the father +answered, "but you know the struggle must in part be waged not against +flesh and blood but against circumstances, and these may not be overcome +so easily. You know, I take it, that if supplies were not forthcoming, +farewell to this government of yours." "Yes," Cyrus answered, "and that +is why Cyaxares is undertaking to provide for all of us who join him, +whatever our numbers are." "So," said the father, "and you really mean, +my son, that you are relying only on these supplies of Cyaxares for this +campaign of yours?" "Yes," answered Cyrus. "And do you know what they +amount to?" "No," he said, "I cannot say that I do." "And yet," his +father went on, "you are prepared to rely on what you do not know? Do +you forget that the needs of the morrow must be high, not to speak +of the outlay for the day?" "Oh, no," said Cyrus, "I am well aware of +that." "Well," said the father, "suppose the cost is more than Cyaxares +can bear, or suppose he actually meant to deceive you, how would your +soldiers fare?" "Ill enough, no doubt," answered he. "And now tell +me, father, while we are still in friendly country, if you know of any +resources that I could make my own?" [10] "You want to know where you +could find resources of your own?" repeated his father. "And who is to +find that out, if not he who holds the keys of power? We have given you +a force of infantry that you would not exchange, I feel sure, for one +that was more than twice its size; and you will have the cavalry of +Media to support you, the finest in the world. I conceive there are none +of the nations round about who will not be ready to serve you, whether +to win your favour or because they fear disaster. These are matters +you must look into carefully, in concert with Cyaxares, so that nothing +should ever fail you of what you need, and, if only for habit's sake, +you should devise some means for supplying your revenue. Bear this maxim +in mind before all others--never put off the collecting of supplies +until the day of need, make the season of your abundance provide against +the time of dearth. You will gain better terms from those on whom you +must depend if you are not thought to be in straits, and, what is more, +you will be free from blame in the eyes of your soldiers. That in itself +will make you more respected; wherever you desire to help or to hurt, +your troops will follow you with greater readiness, so long as they have +all they need, and your words, you may be sure, will carry the greater +weight the fuller your display of power for weal or woe." + +[11] "Yes, father," Cyrus said, "I feel all you say is true, and the +more because as things now stand none of my soldiers will thank me for +the pay that is promised them. They are well aware of the terms Cyaxares +has offered for their help: but whatever they get over and above the +covenanted amount they will look upon as a free gift, and for that they +will, in all likelihood, feel most gratitude to the giver." "True," said +the father, "and really for a man to have a force with which he could +serve his friends and take vengeance on his foes, and yet neglect the +supplies for it, would be as disgraceful, would it not? as for a farmer +to hold lands and labourers and yet allow fields to lie barren for lack +of tillage." + +"No such neglect," answered the son, "shall ever be laid at my door. +Through friendly lands or hostile, trust me, in this business of +supplying my troops with all they need I will always play my part." + +[12] "Well, my son," the father resumed, "and do you remember certain +other points which we agreed must never be overlooked?" "Could I forget +them?" answered Cyrus. "I remember how I came to you for money to pay +the teacher who professed to have taught me generalship, and you gave it +me, but you asked me many questions. 'Now, my boy,' you said, 'did this +teacher you want to pay ever mention economy among the things a general +ought to understand? Soldiers, no less than servants in a house, are +dependent on supplies.' And I was forced to tell the truth and admit +that not a syllable had been mentioned on that score. Then you asked +me if anything had been taught about health and strength, since a true +general is bound to think of these matters no less than of tactics and +strategy. And when I was forced to say no, you asked me if he had taught +me any of the arts which give the best aid in war. Once again I had to +say no and then you asked whether he had ever taught me how to kindle +enthusiasm in my men. For in every undertaking, you said, there was all +the difference in the world between energy and lack of spirit. I shook +my head and your examination went on:--Had this teacher laid no stress +on the need for obedience in an army, or on the best means of securing +discipline? [14] And finally, when it was plain that even this had been +utterly ignored, you exclaimed, 'What in the world, then, does your +professor claim to have taught you under the name of generalship?' To +that I could at last give a positive answer: 'He taught me tactics.' +And then you gave a little laugh and ran through your list point by +point:--'And pray what will be the use of tactics to an army without +supplies, without health, without discipline, without knowledge of those +arts and inventions that are of use in war?' And so you made it clear +to me that tactics and manoeuvres and drill were only a small part of all +that is implied in generalship, and when I asked you if you could teach +me the rest of it you bade me betake myself to those who stood high in +repute as great generals, and talk with them and learn from their lips +how each thing should be done. [15] So I consorted with all I thought to +be of authority in these matters. As regards our present supplies I was +persuaded that what Cyaxares intended to provide was sufficient, and, as +for the health of the troops, I was aware that the cities where health +was valued appointed medical officers, and the generals who cared for +their soldiers took out a medical staff; and so when I found myself in +this office I gave my mind to the matter at once: and I flatter myself, +father," he added, "that I shall have with me an excellent staff of +surgeons and physicians." [16] To which the father made reply, "Well, +my son, but these excellent men are, after all, much the same as the +tailors who patch torn garments. When folk are ill, your doctors can +patch them up, but your own care for their health ought to go far deeper +than that: your prime object should be to save your men from falling ill +at all." "And pray, father," asked Cyrus, "how can I succeed in that?" +"Well," answered Cambyses, "I presume if you are to stay long in one +place you will do your best to discover a healthy spot for your camp, +and if you give your mind to the matter you can hardly fail to find it. +Men, we know, are forever discussing what places are healthy and what +are not, and their own complexions and the state of their own bodies is +the clearest evidence. But you will not content yourself with choosing a +site, you will remember the care you take yourself for your own health." +[17] "Well," said Cyrus, "my first rule is to avoid over-feeding as most +oppressive to the system, and my next to work off all that enters the +body: that seems the best way to keep health and gain strength." "My +son," Cambyses answered, "these are the principles you must apply to +others." "What!" said Cyrus; "do you think it will be possible for the +soldiers to diet and train themselves?" "Not only possible," said the +father, "but essential. For surely an army, if it is to fulfil its +function at all, must always be engaged in hurting the foe or helping +itself. A single man is hard enough to support in idleness, a household +is harder still, an army hardest of all. There are more mouths to be +filled, less wealth to start with, and greater waste; and therefore +an army should never be unemployed." [18] "If I take your meaning," +answered Cyrus, "you think an idle general as useless as an idle farmer. +And here and now I answer for the working general, and promise on his +behalf that with God's help he will show you that his troops have all +they need and their bodies are all they ought to be. And I think," he +added, "I know a way by which an officer might do much towards training +his men in the various branches of war. Let him propose competitions +of every kind and offer prizes; the standard of skill will rise, and +he will soon have a body of troops ready to his hand for any service he +requires." "Nothing could be better," answered the father. "Do this, and +you may be sure you will watch your regiments at their manoeuvres with as +much delight as if they were a chorus in the dance." + +[19] "And then," continued Cyrus, "to rouse enthusiasm in the men, there +can be nothing, I take it, like the power of kindling hope?" "True," +answered his father, "but that alone would be as though a huntsman were +for ever rousing his pack with the view-halloo. At first, of course, the +hounds will answer eagerly enough, but after they have been cheated +once or twice they will end by refusing the call even when the quarry +is really in sight. And so it is with hope. Let a man rouse false +expectations often enough, and in the end, even when hope is at the +door, he may cry the good news in vain. Rather ought he to refrain from +speaking positively himself when he cannot know precisely; his agents +may step in and do it in his place; but he should reserve his own appeal +for the supreme crises of supreme danger, and not dissipate his credit." + +"By heaven, a most admirable suggestion!" cried Cyrus, "and one much +more to my mind! [20] As for enforcing obedience, I hope I have had some +training in that already; you began my education yourself when I was a +child by teaching me to obey you, and then you handed me over to masters +who did as you had done, and afterwards, when we were lads, my fellows +and myself, there was nothing on which the governors laid more stress. +Our laws themselves, I think, enforce this double lesson:--'Rule thou +and be thou ruled.' And when I come to study the secret of it all, I +seem to see that the real incentive to obedience lies in the praise and +honour that it wins against the discredit and the chastisement which +fall on the disobedient." [21] "That, my son," said the father, "is the +road to the obedience of compulsion. But there is a shorter way to a +nobler goal, the obedience of the will. When the interests of mankind +are at stake, they will obey with joy the man whom they believe to be +wiser than themselves. You may prove this on all sides: you may see how +the sick man will beg the doctor to tell him what he ought to do, how a +whole ship's company will listen to the pilot, how travellers will +cling to the one who knows the way better, as they believe, than they do +themselves. But if men think that obedience will lead them to disaster, +then nothing, neither penalties, nor persuasion, nor gifts, will avail +to rouse them. For no man accepts a bribe to his own destruction." [22] +"You would have me understand," said Cyrus, "that the best way to +secure obedience is to be thought wiser than those we rule?" "Yes," said +Cambyses, "that is my belief." + +"And what is the quickest way," asked Cyrus, "to win that reputation?" + +"None quicker, my lad, than this: wherever you wish to seem wise, be +wise. Examine as many cases as you like, and you will find that what I +say is true. If you wished to be thought a good farmer, a good horseman, +a good physician, a good flute-player, or anything else whatever, +without really being so, just imagine what a world of devices you would +need to invent, merely to keep up the outward show! And suppose you did +get a following to praise you and cry you up, suppose you did burden +yourself with all kinds of paraphernalia for your profession, what +would come of it all? You succeed at first in a very pretty piece of +deception, and then by and by the test comes, and the impostor stands +revealed." + +[23] "But," said Cyrus, "how can a man really and truly attain to the +wisdom that will serve his turn?" + +"Well, my son, it is plain that where learning is the road to wisdom, +learn you must, as you learnt your battalion-drill, but when it comes to +matters which are not to be learnt by mortal men, nor foreseen by mortal +minds, there you can only become wiser than others by communicating with +the gods through the art of divination. But, always, wherever you know +that a thing ought to be done, see that it is done, and done with care; +for care, not carelessness, is the mark of the wise man." + +[24] "And now," said Cyrus, "to win the affection of those we rule--and +there is nothing, I take it, of greater importance--surely the path to +follow lies open to all who desire the love of their friends. We must, I +mean, show that we do them good." "Yes, my child, but to do good really +at all seasons to those we wish to help is not always possible: only one +way is ever open, and that is the way of sympathy; to rejoice with the +happy in the day of good things, to share their sorrow when ill befalls +them, to lend a hand in all their difficulties, to fear disaster for +them, and guard against it by foresight--these, rather than actual +benefits, are the true signs of comradeship. [25] And so in war; if the +campaign is in summer the general must show himself greedy for his share +of the sun and the heat, and in winter for the cold and the frost, and +in all labours for toil and fatigue. This will help to make him beloved +of his followers." "You mean, father," said Cyrus, "that a commander +should always be stouter-hearted in everything than those whom he +commands." "Yes, my son, that is my meaning," said he; "only be well +assured of this: the princely leader and the private soldier may be +alike in body, but their sufferings are not the same: the pains of the +leader are always lightened by the glory that is his and by the very +consciousness that all his acts are done in the public eye." + +[26] "But now, father, suppose the time has come, and you are satisfied +that your troops are well supplied, sound in wind and limb, well able to +endure fatigue, skilled in the arts of war, covetous of honour, eager to +show their mettle, anxious to follow, would you not think it well to try +the chance of battle without delay?" "By all means," said the father, +"if you are likely to gain by the move: but if not, for my own part, the +more I felt persuaded of my own superiority and the power of my troops, +the more I should be inclined to stand on my guard, just as we put our +greatest treasures in the safest place we have." [27] "But how can a man +make sure that he will gain?" "Ah, there you come," said the father, +"to a most weighty matter. This is no easy task, I can tell you. If your +general is to succeed he must prove himself an arch-plotter, a king of +craft, full of deceits and stratagems, a cheat, a thief, and a robber, +defrauding and overreaching his opponent at every turn." + +"Heavens!" said Cyrus, and burst out laughing, "is this the kind of man +you want your son to be!" "I want him to be," said the father, "as just +and upright and law-abiding as any man who ever lived." [28] "But how +comes it," said his son, "that the lessons you taught us in boyhood and +youth were exactly opposed to what you teach me now?" "Ah," said the +father, "those lessons were for friends and fellow-citizens, and for +them they still hold good, but for your enemies--do you not remember +that you were also taught to do much harm?" + +"No, father," he answered, "I should say certainly not." + +"Then why were you taught to shoot? Or to hurl the javelin? Or to trap +wild-boars? Or to snare stags with cords and caltrops? And why did you +never meet the lion or the bear or the leopard in fair fight on equal +terms, but were always trying to steal some advantage over them? Can you +deny that all that was craft and deceit and fraud and greed?" + +[29] "Why, of course," answered the young man, "in dealing with animals, +but with human beings it was different; if I was ever suspected of a +wish to cheat another, I was punished, I know, with many stripes." + +"True," said the father, "and for the matter of that we did not permit +you to draw bow or hurl javelin against human beings; we taught you +merely to aim at a mark. But why did we teach you that? Not so that you +might injure your friends, either then or now, but that in war you might +have the skill to make the bodies of living men your targets. So also we +taught you the arts of deceit and craft and greed and covetousness, not +among men it is true, but among beasts; we did not mean you ever to turn +these accomplishments against your friends, but in war we wished you to +be something better than raw recruits." + +[30] "But, father," Cyrus answered, "if to do men good and to do men +harm were both of them things we ought to learn, surely it would have +been better to teach them in actual practice?" + +[31] Then the father said, "My son, we are told that in the days of our +forefathers there was such a teacher once. This man did actually teach +his boys righteousness in the way you suggest, to lie and not to lie, +to cheat and not to cheat, to calumniate and not to calumniate, to be +grasping and not grasping. He drew the distinction between our duty to +friends and our duty to enemies; and he went further still; he taught +men that it was just and right to deceive even a friend for his own +good, or steal his property. [32] And with this he must needs teach +his pupils to practise on one another what he taught them, just as the +people of Hellas, we are told, teach lads in the wrestling-school to +fence and to feint, and train them by their practice with one another. +Now some of his scholars showed such excellent aptitudes for deception +and overreaching, and perhaps no lack of taste for common money-making, +that they did not even spare their friends, but used their arts on them. +[33] And so an unwritten law was framed by which we still abide, bidding +us teach our children as we teach our servants, simply and solely not to +lie, and not to cheat, and not to covert, and if they did otherwise to +punish them, hoping to make them humane and law-abiding citizens. [34] +But when they came to manhood, as you have come, then, it seemed, the +risk was over, and it would be time to teach them what is lawful against +our enemies. For at your age we do not believe you will break out into +savagery against your fellows with whom you have been knit together +since childhood in ties of friendship and respect. In the same way we do +not talk to the young about the mysteries of love, for if lightness were +added to desire, their passion might sweep them beyond all bounds." + +[35] "Then in heaven's name, father," said Cyrus, "remember that +your son is but a backward scholar and a late learner in this lore of +selfishness, and teach me all you can that may help me to overreach the +foe." + +"Well," said the father, "you must plot and you must plan, whatever the +size of his force and your own, to catch his men in disorder when yours +are all arrayed, unarmed when yours are armed, asleep when yours are +awake, or you must wait till he is visible to you and you invisible +to him, or till he is labouring over heavy ground and you are in your +fortress and can give him welcome there." + +[36] "But how," asked Cyrus, "can I catch him in all these blunders?" + +"Simply because both you and he are bound to be often in some such case; +both of you must take your meals sometime; both of you must sleep; your +men must scatter in the morning to satisfy the needs of nature, and, +for better for worse, whatever the roads are like, you will be forced +to make use of them. All these necessities you must lay to heart, and +wherever you are weaker, there you must be most on your guard, and +wherever your foe is most assailable, there you must press the attack." + +[37] Then Cyrus asked, "And are these the only cases where one can apply +the great principle of greed, or are there others?" + +"Oh, yes, there are many more; indeed in these simple cases any general +will be sure to keep good watch, knowing how necessary it is. But your +true cheat and prince of swindlers is he who can lure the enemy on +and throw him off his guard, suffer himself to be pursued and get the +pursuers into disorder, lead the foe into difficult ground and then +attack him there. [38] Indeed, as an ardent student, you must not +confine yourself to the lessons you have learnt; you must show yourself +a creator and discoverer, you must invent stratagems against the foe; +just as a real musician is not content with the mere elements of his +art, but sets himself to compose new themes. And if in music it is the +novel melody, the flower-like freshness, that wins popularity, still +more in military matters it is the newest contrivance that stands the +highest, for the simple reason that such will give you the best chance +of outwitting your opponent. [39] And yet, my son, I must say that if +you did no more than apply against human beings the devices you learnt +to use against the smallest game, you would have made considerable +progress in this art of overreaching. Do you not think so yourself? +Why, to snare birds you would get up by night in the depth of winter +and tramp off in the cold; your nets were laid before the creatures were +astir, and your tracks completely covered and you actually had birds of +your own, trained to serve you and decoy their kith and kin, while you +yourself lay in some hiding-place, seeing yet unseen, and you had learnt +by long practice to jerk in the net before the birds could fly away. +[40] Or you might be out after hares, and for a hare you had two breeds +of dogs, one to track her out by scent, because she feeds in the dusk +and takes to her form by day, and another to cut off her escape and run +her down, because she is so swift. And even if she escaped these, she +did not escape you; you had all her runs by heart and knew all her +hiding-places, and there you would spread your nets, so that they were +scarcely to be seen, and the very haste of her flight would fling her +into the snare. And to make sure of her you had men placed on the spot +to keep a look-out, and pounce on her at once. And there were you at her +heels, shouting and scaring her out of her wits, so that she was caught +from sheer terror, and there lay your men, as you had taught them, +silent and motionless in their ambuscade. [41] I say, therefore, that if +you chose to act like this against human beings, you would soon have no +enemies left to fight, or I am much mistaken. And even if, as well may +be, the necessity should arise for you to do battle on equal terms in +open field, even so, my son, there will still be power in those arts +which you have studied so long and which teach you to out-villain +villainy. And among them I include all that has served to train the +bodies and fire the courage of your men, all that has made them adepts +in every craft of war. One thing you must ever bear in mind: if you wish +your men to follow you, remember that they expect you to plan for them. +[42] Hence you must never know a careless mood; if it be night, you must +consider what your troops shall do when it is day; if day, how the night +had best be spent. [43] For the rest, you do not need me to tell you +now how you should draw up your troops or conduct your march by day or +night, along broad roads or narrow lanes, over hills or level ground, or +how you should encamp and post your pickets, or advance into battle +or retreat before the foe, or march past a hostile city, or attack a +fortress or retire from it, or cross a river or pass through a defile, +or guard against a charge of cavalry or an attack from lancers or +archers, or what you should do if the enemy comes into sight when you +are marching in column and how you are to take up position against him, +or how deploy into action if you are in line and he takes you in flank +or rear, and how you are to learn all you can about his movements, while +keeping your own as secret as may be; these are matters on which you +need no further word of mine; all that I know about them you have +heard a hundred times, and I am sure you have not neglected any other +authority on whom you thought you could rely. You know all their +theories, and you must apply them now, I take it, according to +circumstances and your need. [44] But," he added, "there is one lesson +that I would fain impress on you, and it is the greatest of them all. +Observe the sacrifices and pay heed to the omens; when they are against +you, never risk your army or yourself, for you must remember that men +undertake enterprises on the strength of probability alone and without +any real knowledge as to what will bring them happiness. [45] You may +learn this from all life and all history. How often have cities allowed +themselves to be persuaded into war, and that by advisers who were +thought the wisest of men, and then been utterly destroyed by those +whom they attacked! How often have statesmen helped to raise a city or a +leader to power, and then suffered the worst at the hands of those whom +they exalted! And many who could have treated others as friends and +equals, giving and receiving kindnesses, have chosen to use them as +slaves, and then paid the penalty at their hands; and many, not content +to enjoy their own share of good, have been swept on by the craving to +master all, and thereby lost everything that they once possessed; and +many have won the very wealth they prayed for and through it have found +destruction. [46] So little does human wisdom know how to choose the +best, helpless as a man who could but draw lots to see what he should +do. But the gods, my son, who live for ever, they know all things, the +things that have been and the things that are and the things that are to +be, and all that shall come from these; and to us mortals who ask their +counsel and whom they love they will show signs, to tell us what we +should do and what we should leave undone. Nor must we think it strange +if the gods will not vouchsafe their wisdom to all men equally; no +compulsion is laid on them to care for men, unless it be their will." + + + NOTES + +[This work concludes the translation of Xenophon undertaken by Mr. +Dakyns. ("The Works of Xenophon," with maps, introductions, and notes, +Vols. I.-III., Macmillan.) From references in the earlier vols. (e.g. +Vol. I. pp. lvii., lxx., xc., cxiii., cxxxi.; Vol. III. Part I. pp. +v.-vii.) it is plain the translator considered that the historical +romance of the _Cyropaedia_ was written in Xenophon's old age (completed +_circa_ 365 B.C.) embodying many of his own experiences and his maturest +thoughts on education, on government, on the type of man,--a rare type, +alone fitted for leadership. The figure of his hero, Cyrus the Great, +the founder of the Persian empire, known to him by story and legend, is +modelled on the Spartan king Agesilaus, whom he loved and admired, and +under whom he served in Persia and in Greece (op. cit. Vol. II., see +under _Agesilaus_, Index, and _Hellenica_, Bks. III.-V. _Agesilaus_, +_an Encomium_, passim). Certain traits are also taken from the younger +Cyrus, whom Xenophon followed in his famous march against his brother, +the Persian king, up from the coast of Asia Minor into the heart of +Babylonia (see the _Anabasis_, Bk. I., especially c. ix.; op. cit. Vol. +I. p. 109). Clearly, moreover, many of the customs and institutions +described in the work as Persian are really Dorian, and were still in +vogue among Xenophon's Spartan friends (vide e.g. _Hellenica_, Bk. IV., +i. S28; op. cit. Vol. II. p. 44).] + +C2.4. Qy. Were these tribal customs of the Persians, as doubtless of the +Dorians, or is it all a Dorian idealisation? + +C2.13. Good specimen of the "annotative" style with a parenthetic +comment. The passage in brackets might be a gloss, but is it? + +C3.3. When did Xenophon himself first learn to ride? Surely this is a +boyish reminiscence, full of sympathy with boy-nature. + +C3.12. Beautiful description of a child subject to his parents, growing +in stature and favour with God and man. + +C4.2. Perhaps his own grandson, Xenophon the son of Grylus, is the +prototype, and Xenophon himself a sort of ancient Victor Hugo in this +matter of fondness for children. + +C4.3. Contrast Autolycus in the _Symposium_, who had, however, reached +the more silent age [e.g. _Symp_., c. iii., fin. tr. Works, Vol. III. +Part I. p. 309]. + +C4.4. The touch about the puppy an instance of Xenophon's {katharotes} +[clear simplicity of style]. + +C4.8. Reads like a biographical incident in some hunt of Xenophon, boy +or father. + +C4.9-10. The rapidity, one topic introducing and taken up by another, +wave upon wave, {anerithmon lelasma} ["the multitudinous laughter of the +sea"]. + +C4.12. The truth of this due to sympathy (cf. Archidamus and his father +Agesilaus, _Hell_., V. c. iv.; tr. Works, Vol. II. p. 126). + +C4.22. Cyaxares recalls John Gilpin. + +C4.24. An Hellenic trait; madness of battle-rage, {menis}. Something of +the fierceness of the _Iliad_ here. + +C5.7. Cyrus. His first speech as a general; a fine one; a spirit +of athleticism breathes through it. Cf. _Memorabilia_ for a similar +rationalisation of virtuous self-restraint (e.g. _Mem_., Bk. I. c. 5, 6; +Bk. III. c. 8). Paleyan somewhat, perhaps Socratic, not devoid of common +sense. What is the end and aim of our training? Not only for an earthly +aim, but for a high spiritual reward, all this toil. + +C5.10. This is Dakyns. + +C5.11. "Up, Guards, and at 'em!" + +C6. This chapter might have been a separate work appended to the +_Memorabilia_ on Polemics or Archics ["Science of War" and "Science of +Rule"]. + +C6.3-6. Sounds like some Socratic counsel; the righteous man's +conception of prayer and the part he must himself play. + +C6.7. Personal virtue and domestic economy a sufficiently hard task, +let alone that still graver task, the art of grinding masses of men into +virtue. + +C6.8, fin. The false theory of ruling in vogue in Media: the _plus_ of +ease instead of the _plus_ of foresight and danger-loving endurance. Cf. +Walt Whitman. + +C6.30. Is like the logical remark of a disputant in a Socratic dialogue +of the Alcibiades type, and Sec.Sec. 31-33 a Socratic _mythos_ to escape +from the dilemma; the breakdown of this ideal _plus_ and _minus_ +righteousness due to the hardness of men's hearts and their feeble +intellects. + +C6.31. Who is this ancient teacher or who is his prototype if he is an +ideal being? A sort of Socrates-Lycurgus? Or is Xenophon thinking of the +Spartan Crypteia? + +C6.34. For _pleonexia_ and deceit in war, vide _Hipparch_., c. 5 [tr. +Works, Vol. III. Part II. p. 20]. Interesting and Hellenic, I think, +the mere raising of this sort of question; it might be done nowadays, +perhaps, with advantage _or_ disadvantage, less cant and more plain +brutality. + +C6.39. Hunting devices applied: throws light on the date of the +_Cyropaedia_, after the Scilluntine days, probably. [After Xenophon was +exiled from Athens, his Spartan friends gave him a house and farm +at Scillus, a township in the Peloponnese, not far from Olympia. See +_Sketch of Xenophon's Life_, Works, Vol. I., p. cxxvi.] + +C6.41, init. Colloquial exaggerated turn of phrase; almost "you could +wipe them off the earth." + + + + +BOOK II + +[C.1] Thus they talked together, and thus they journeyed on until they +reached the frontier, and there a good omen met them: an eagle swept +into view on the right, and went before them as though to lead the way, +and they prayed the gods and heroes of the land to show them favour and +grant them safe entry, and then they crossed the boundary. And when they +were across, they prayed once more that the gods of Media might receive +them graciously, and when they had done this they embraced each other, +as father and son will, and Cambyses turned back to his own city, but +Cyrus went forward again, to his uncle Cyaxares in the land of Media. +[2] And when his journey was done and he was face to face with him and +they had greeted each other as kinsmen may, then Cyaxares asked +the prince how great an armament he had brought with him? And Cyrus +answered, "I have 30,000 with me, men who have served with you before as +mercenaries; and more are coming on behind, fresh troops, from the Peers +of Persia." + +"How many of those?" asked Cyaxares. [3] And Cyrus answered, "Their +numbers will not please you, but remember these Peers of ours, though +they are few, find it easy to rule the rest of the Persians, who are +many. But now," he added, "have you any need of us at all? Perhaps +it was only a false alarm that troubled you, and the enemy are not +advancing?" + +"Indeed they are," said the other, "and in full force." + +[4] "How do you know?" asked Cyrus. + +"Because," said he, "many deserters come to us, and all of them, in one +fashion or another, tell the same tale." + +"Then we must give battle?" said Cyrus. + +"Needs must," Cyaxares replied. + +"Well," answered Cyrus, "but you have not told me yet how great their +power is, or our own either. I want to hear, if you can tell me, so that +we may make our plans." + +"Listen, then," said Cyaxares. [5] "Croesus the Lydian is coming, we +hear, with 10,000 horse and more than 40,000 archers and targeteers. +Artamas the governor of Greater Phrygia is bringing, they say, 8000 +horse, and lancers and targeteers also, 40,000 strong. Then there is +Aribaius the king of Cappadocia with 6000 horse and 30,000 archers +and targeteers. And Aragdus the Arabian with 10,000 horse, a hundred +chariots, and innumerable slingers. As for the Hellenes who dwell in +Asia, it is not clear as yet whether they will send a following or not. +But the Phrygians from the Hellespont, we are told, are mustering in the +Caystrian plain under Gabaidus, 6000 horse and 40,000 targeteers. Word +has been sent to the Carians, Cilicians, and Paphlagonians, but it is +said they will not rise; the Lord of Assyria and Babylon will himself, +I believe, bring not less than 20,000 horse, and I make no doubt as many +as 200 chariots, and thousands upon thousands of men on foot; such at +least has been his custom whenever he invaded us before." + +[6] Cyrus answered: "Then you reckon the numbers of the enemy to be, in +all, something like 60,000 horse and 200,000 archers and targeteers. And +what do you take your own to be?" + +"Well," he answered, "we ourselves can furnish over 10,000 horse and +perhaps, considering the state of the country, as many as 60,000 archers +and targeteers. And from our neighbours, the Armenians," he added, "we +look to get 4000 horse and 20,000 foot." + +"I see," said Cyrus, "you reckon our cavalry at less than a third of the +enemy's, and our infantry at less than half." + +[7] "Ah," said Cyaxares, "and perhaps you feel that the force you are +bringing from Persia is very small?" + +"We will consider that later on," answered Cyrus, "and see then if we +require more men or not. Tell me first the methods of fighting that the +different troops adopt." + +"They are much the same for all," answered Cyaxares, "that is to say, +their men and ours alike are armed with bows and javelins." + +"Well," replied Cyrus, "if such arms are used, skirmishing at long range +must be the order of the day." "True," said the other. [8] "And in that +case," went on Cyrus, "the victory is in the hands of the larger force; +for even if the same numbers fall on either side, the few would be +exhausted long before the many." "If that be so," cried Cyaxares, "there +is nothing left for us but to send to Persia, and make them see that if +disaster falls on Media it will fall on Persia next, and beg them for +a larger force." "Ah, but," said Cyrus, "you must remember that even if +every single Persian were to come at once, we could not outnumber our +enemies." [9] "But," said the other, "can you see anything else to be +done?" "For my part," answered Cyrus, "if I could have my way, I would +arm every Persian who is coming here in precisely the same fashion as +our Peers at home, that is to say, with a corslet for the breast, a +shield for the left arm, and a sword or battle-axe for the right hand. +If you will give us these you will make it quite safe for us to close +with the enemy, and our foes will find that flight is far pleasanter +than defence. But we Persians," he added, "will deal with those who do +stand firm, leaving the fugitives to you and to your cavalry, who must +give them no time to rally and no time to escape." + +[10] That was the counsel of Cyrus, and Cyaxares approved it. He thought +no more of sending for a larger force, but set about preparing the +equipment he had been asked for, and all was in readiness just about the +time when the Peers arrived from Persia at the head of their own troops. +[11] Then, so says the story, Cyrus called the Peers together and spoke +to them as follows: "Men of Persia, my friends and comrades, when I +looked at you first and saw the arms you bore and how you were all on +fire to meet the enemy, hand to hand, and when I remembered that your +squires are only equipped for fighting on the outskirts of the field, +I confess my mind misgave me. Few and forlorn they will be, I said to +myself, swallowed up in a host of enemies; no good can come of it. But +to-day you are here, and your men behind you, stalwart and stout of +limb, and to-morrow they shall have armour like our own. None could find +fault with their thews and sinews, and as for their spirit, it is for +us to see it does not fail. A leader must not only have a stout heart +himself; he must see to it that his followers are as valiant as he." + +[12] Thus Cyrus spoke, and the Peers were well satisfied at his words, +feeling that on the day of battle they would have more to help them in +the struggle. [13] And one of them said, "Perhaps it will seem strange +if I ask Cyrus to speak in our stead to our fellow-combatants when they +receive their arms, and yet I know well that the words of him who has +the greatest power for weal or woe sink deepest into the listener's +heart. His very gifts, though they should be less than the gifts of +equals, are valued more. These new comrades of ours," he went on, "would +rather be addressed by Cyrus himself than by us, and now that they are +to take their place among the Peers their title will seem to them +far more secure if it is given them by the king's own son and our +general-in-chief. Not that we have not still our own duties left. We are +bound to do our best in every way to rouse the spirit of our men. Shall +we not gain ourselves by all they gain in valour?" + +[14] So it came about that Cyrus had the new armour placed before him +and summoned a general meeting of the Persian soldiery, and spoke to +them as follows: + +[15] "Men of Persia, born and bred in the same land as ourselves, whose +limbs are as stout and as strong as our own, your hearts should be as +brave. I know they are; and yet at home in the land of our fathers you +did not share our rights; not that we drove you out ourselves, but +you were banished by the compulsion that lay upon you to find your +livelihood for yourselves. Now from this day forward, with heaven's +help, it shall be my care to provide it for you; and now, if so +you will, you have it in your power to take the armour that we wear +ourselves, face the same perils and win the same honours, if so be you +make any glorious deed your own. [16] In former days you were trained, +like ourselves, in the use of bow and javelin, and if you were at all +inferior to us in skill, that was not to be wondered at; you had not +the same leisure for practice as we; but now in this new accoutrement we +shall have no pre-eminence at all. Each of us will wear a corslet fitted +to his breast and carry a shield on his left arm of the type to which we +are all accustomed, and in his right hand a sabre or a battle-axe. With +these we shall smite the enemy before us, and need have no fear that we +shall miss the mark. [17] How can we differ from one another with these +arms? There can be no difference except in daring. And daring you may +foster in your hearts as much as we in ours. What greater right have we +than you to love victory and follow after her, victory who wins for us +and preserves to us all things that are beautiful and good? Why should +you, any more than we, be found lacking in that power which takes the +goods of weaklings and bestows them on the strong?" + +[18] He ended: "Now you have heard all. There lie your weapons; let him +who chooses take them up and write his name with the brigadier in the +same roll as ours. And if a man prefers to remain a mercenary, let him +do so; he carries the arms of a servant." + +[19] Thus spoke Cyrus; and the Persians, every man of them, felt they +would be ashamed for the rest of their days, and deservedly, if they +drew back now, when they were offered equal honour in return for equal +toil. One and all they inscribed their names and took up the new arms. + +[20] And now in the interval, before the enemy were actually at hand, +but while rumour said they were advancing, Cyrus took on himself a +three-fold task: to bring the physical strength of his men to the +highest pitch, to teach them tactics, and to rouse their spirit for +martial deeds. [21] He asked Cyaxares for a body of assistants whose +duty it should be to provide each of his soldiers with all they could +possibly need, thus leaving the men themselves free for the art of war. +He had learnt, he thought, that success, in whatever sphere, was only to +be won by refusing to attempt a multitude of tasks and concentrating the +mind on one. + +Thus in the military training itself he gave up the practice with bow +and javelin, leaving his men to perfect themselves in the use of sabre, +shield, and corslet, accustoming them from the very first to the thought +that they must close with the enemy, or confess themselves worthless as +fellow-combatants; a harsh conclusion for those who knew that they were +only protected in order to fight on behalf of their protectors. [22] And +further, being convinced that wherever the feeling of emulation can +be roused, there the eagerness to excel is greatest, he instituted +competitions for everything in which he thought his soldiers should be +trained. The private soldier was challenged to prove himself prompt +to obey, anxious to work, eager for danger, and yet ever mindful of +discipline, an expert in the science of war, an artist in the conduct +of his arms, and a lover of honour in all things. The petty officer +commanding a squad of five was not only to equal the leading private, he +must also do what he could to bring his men to the same perfection; the +captain of ten must do the same for his ten, and the company's captain +for the company, while the commander of the whole regiment, himself +above reproach, must take the utmost care with the officers under him so +that they in their turn should see that their subordinates were perfect +in all their duties. [23] For prizes, Cyrus announced that the brigadier +in command of the finest regiment should be raised to the rank of +general, the captain of the finest company should be made a brigadier, +the captain of the finest squad of ten captain of a company, and the +captain of the best five a captain of ten, while the best soldiers from +the ranks should become captains of five themselves. Every one of these +officers had the privilege of being served by those beneath him, and +various other honours also, suited to their several grades, while ampler +hopes were offered for any nobler exploits. [24] Finally prizes were +announced to be won by a regiment or a company or a squad taken as a +whole, by those who proved themselves most loyal to their leaders and +most zealous in the practice of their duty. These prizes, of course, +were such as to be suitable for men taken in the mass. + +Such were the orders of the Persian leader, and such the exercises of +the Persian troops. [25] For their quarters, he arranged that a separate +shelter should be assigned to every brigadier, and that it should be +large enough for the whole regiment he commanded; a regiment consisting +of 100 men. Thus they were encamped by regiments, and in the mere fact +of common quarters there was this advantage, Cyrus thought, for the +coming struggle, that the men saw they were all treated alike, and +therefore no one could pretend that he was slighted, and no one sink to +the confession that he was a worse man than his neighbours when it came +to facing the foe. Moreover the life in common would help the men to +know each other, and it is only by such knowledge, as a rule, that a +common conscience is engendered; those who live apart, unknowing and +unknown, seem far more apt for mischief, like those who skulk in the +dark. [26] Cyrus thought the common life would lead to the happiest +results in the discipline of the regiments. By this system all the +officers--brigadiers, company-captains, captains of the squads--could +keep their men in as perfect order as if they were marching before them +in single file. [27] Such precision in the ranks would do most to guard +against disorder and re-establish order if ever it were broken; just as +when timbers and stones have to be fitted together it is easy enough +to put them into place, wherever they chance to lie, provided only that +they are marked so as to leave no doubt where each belongs. [28] And +finally, he felt, there was the fact that those who live together are +the less likely to desert one another; even the wild animals, Cyrus +knew, who are reared together suffer terribly from loneliness when they +are severed from each other. + +[29] There was a further matter, to which he gave much care; he wished +no man to take his meal at morning or at night till he had sweated for +it. He would lead the men out to hunt, or invent games for them, or +if there was work to be done, he would so conduct it that they did not +leave it without sweat. He believed this regimen gave them zest for +their food, was good for their health, and increased their powers of +toil; and the toil itself was a blessed means for making the men more +gentle towards each other; just as horses that work together grow +gentle, and will stand quietly side by side. Moreover the knowledge of +having gone through a common training would increase tenfold the courage +with which they met the foe. + +[30] Cyrus had his own quarters built to hold all the guests he might +think it well to entertain, and, as a rule, he would invite such of the +brigadiers as the occasion seemed to call for, but sometimes he would +send for the company-captains and the officers in command of the smaller +squads, and even the private soldiers were summoned to his board, and +from time to time a squad of five, or of ten, or an entire company, or +even a whole regiment, or he would give a special invitation by way of +honour to any one whom he knew had undertaken some work he had at heart +himself. In every case there was no distinction whatever between the +meats for himself and for his guests. [31] Further he always insisted +that the army servants should share and share alike with the soldiers +in everything, for he held that those who did such service for the army +were as much to be honoured as heralds or ambassadors. They were bound, +he said, to be loyal and intelligent, alive to all a soldier's needs, +active, swift, unhesitating, and withal cool and imperturbable. Nor +was that all; he was convinced that they ought also to possess those +qualities which are thought to be peculiar to what we call "the better +classes," and yet never despise their work, but feel that everything +their commander laid upon them must be fit for them to do. + +[C.2] It was the constant aim of Cyrus whenever he and his soldiers +messed together, that the talk should be lively and full of grace, and +at the same time do the listeners good. Thus one day he brought the +conversation round to the following theme:-- + +"Do you think, gentlemen," said he, "that our new comrades appear +somewhat deficient in certain respects simply because they have not been +educated in the same fashion as ourselves? Or will they show themselves +our equals in daily life and on the field of battle when the time comes +to meet the foe?" + +[2] Hystaspas took up the challenge:--"What sort of warriors they will +prove I do not pretend to know, but this I do say, in private life some +of them are cross-grained fellows enough. Only the other day," he went +on, "Cyaxares sent a present of sacrificial meat to every regiment. +There was flesh enough for three courses apiece or more, and the +attendant had handed round the first, beginning with myself. So when he +came in again, I told him to begin at the other end of the board, and +serve the company in that order. [3] But I was greeted by a yell from +the centre: one of these men who was sitting there bawled out, 'Equality +indeed! There's not much of it here, if we who sit in the middle +are never served first at all!' It nettled me that they should fancy +themselves treated worse than we, so I called him up at once and made +him sit beside me. And I am bound to say he obeyed that order with the +most exemplary alacrity. But when the dish came round to us, we found, +not unnaturally, since we were the last to be served, that only a few +scraps were left. At this my man fell into the deepest dudgeon, and made +no attempt to conceal it, muttering to himself, 'Just like my ill-luck! +To be invited here just now and never before!' [4] I tried to comfort +him. 'Never mind,' I said, 'presently the servant will begin again with +us, and then you will help yourself first and you can take the biggest +piece.' Just then the third course, and, as it proved, the last, came +round, and so the poor fellow took his helping, but as he did so it +struck him that the piece he had chosen first was too small, and he put +it back, meaning to pick out another. But the carver, thinking he had +changed his mind and did not want any more, passed on to the next man +before he had time to secure his second slice. [5] At this our friend +took his loss so hard that he only made matters worse: his third course +was clean gone, and now in his rage and his bad luck he somehow managed +to overset the gravy, which was all that remained to him. The captain +next to us seeing how matters stood rubbed his hands with glee and went +into peals of laughter. And," said Hystaspas, "I took refuge in a fit +of coughing myself, for really I could not have controlled my laughter. +There, Cyrus," said he, "that is a specimen of our new comrades, as +nearly as I can draw his portrait." + +[6] The description, as may be guessed, was greeted with shouts of +laughter, and then another brigadier took up the word: "Well, Cyrus," +said he, "our friend here has certainly met with an absolute boor: my +own experience is somewhat different. You remember the admonitions you +gave us when you dismissed the regiments, and how you bade each of us +instruct his own men in the lessons we had learnt from you. Well, I, +like the rest of us, went off at once and set about instructing one of +the companies under me. I posted the captain in front with a fine young +fellow behind him, and after them the others in the order I thought +best; I took my stand facing them all, and waited, with my eyes fixed on +the captain, until I thought the right moment had come, and then I gave +the order to advance. [7] And what must my fine fellow do but get in +front of the captain and march off ahead of the whole troop. I cried +out, 'You, sir, what are you doing?' 'Advancing as you ordered.' 'I +never ordered you to advance alone,' I retorted, 'the order was given +to the whole company.' At which he turned right round and addressed the +ranks: 'Don't you hear the officer abusing you? The orders are for all +to advance!' Whereupon the rest of them marched right past their captain +and up to me. [8] Of course the captain called them back, and they began +to grumble and growl: 'Which of the two are we to obey? One tells us to +advance, the other won't let us move.' + +"Well, I had to take the whole matter very quietly and begin again from +the beginning, posting the company as they were, and explaining that no +one in the rear was to move until the front rank man led off: all they +had to do was to follow the man in front. [9] As I was speaking, up came +a friend of mine; he was going off to Persia, and had come to ask me for +a letter I had written home. So I turned to the captain who happened to +know where I had left the letter lying, and bade him fetch it for me. +Off he ran, and off ran my young fellow at his heels, breast-plate, +battle-axe, and all. The rest of the company thought they were bound to +follow suit, joined in the race, and brought my letter back in style. +That is how my company, you see, carries out your instructions to the +full." + +[10] He paused, and the listeners laughed to their hearts' content, as +well as they might, over the triumphant entry of the letter under its +armed escort. Then Cyrus spoke: + +"Now heaven be praised! A fine set they are, these new friends of ours, +a most rare race! So grateful are they for any little act of courtesy, +you may win a hundred hearts by a dish of meat! And so docile, some of +them must needs obey an order before they have understood it! For my +part I can only pray to be blest with an army like them all." + +[11] Thus he joined in the mirth, but he turned the laughter to the +praise of his new recruits. + +Then one of the company, a brigadier called Aglaitadas, a somewhat +sour-tempered man, turned to him and said: + +"Cyrus, do you really think the tales they tell are true?" + +"Certainly," he answered, "why should they say what is false?" + +"Why," repeated the other, "simply to raise a laugh, and make a brag +like the impostors that they are." [12] But Cyrus cut him short, "Hush! +hush! You must not use such ugly names. Let me tell you what an impostor +is. He is a man who claims to be wealthier or braver than he is in fact, +and who undertakes what he can never carry out, and all this for the +sake of gain. But he who contrives mirth for his friends, not for his +own profit, or his hearers' loss, or to injure any man, surely, if we +must needs give him a name, we ought to call him a man of taste and +breeding and a messenger of wit." + +[13] Such was the defence of Cyrus in behalf of the merrymakers. And the +officer who had begun the jest turned to Aglaitadas and said: + +"Just think, my dear sir, if we had tried to make you weep! What +fault you would have found with us! Suppose we had been like the +ballad-singers and story-tellers who put in lamentable tales in the hope +of reducing their audience to tears! What would you have said about us +then? Why, even now, when you know we only wish to amuse you, not to +make you suffer, you must needs hold us up to shame." + +[14] "And is not the shame justified?" Aglaitadas replied. "The man who +sets himself to make his fellows laugh does far less for them than he +who makes them weep. If you will but think, you will admit that what +I say is true. It is through tears our fathers teach self-control unto +their sons, and our tutors sound learning to their scholars, and the +laws themselves lead the grown man to righteousness by putting him to +sit in the place of penitence. But your mirth-makers, can you say they +benefit the body or edify the soul? Can smiles make a man a better +master or a better citizen? Can he learn economy or statesmanship from a +grin?" + +[15] But Hystaspas answered back: + +"Take my advice, Aglaitadas, pluck up heart and spend this precious gift +of yours on your enemies: make them sit in the seat of the sorrowful, +and fling away on us, your friends, that vile and worthless laughter. +You must have an ample store of it in reserve: it cannot be said you +have squandered it on yourself, or ever wasted a smile on friend or +foreigner if you could help it. So you have no excuse to be niggardly +now, and cannot refuse us a smile." + +"I see," said Aglaitadas, "you are trying to get a laugh out of me, are +you not?" + +But the brigadier interposed, "Then he is a fool for his pains, my +friend: one might strike fire out of you, perhaps, but not a laugh, not +a laugh." + +[16] At this sally all the others shouted with glee, and even Aglaitadas +could not help himself: he smiled. + +And Cyrus, seeing the sombre face light up said: + +"Brigadier, you are very wrong to corrupt so virtuous a man, luring him +to laughter, and that too when he is the sworn foe of gaiety." + +So they talked and jested. [17] And then Chrysantas began on another +theme. + +[18] "Cyrus," he said, "and gentlemen all, I cannot help seeing that +within our ranks are men of every kind, some better and some worse, and +yet if anything is won every man will claim an equal share. Now to my +mind nothing is more unfair than that the base man and the good should +be held of equal account." + +"Perhaps it would be best, gentlemen," said Cyrus in answer, "to bring +the matter before the army in council and put it to them, whether, +if God grant us success, we should let all share and share alike, or +distribute the rewards and honours in proportion to the deserts of +each." + +[19] "But why," asked Chrysantas, "why discuss the point? Why not simply +issue a general order that you intend to do this? Was not that enough in +the case of the competitions?" + +"Doubtless," Cyrus answered, "but this case is different. The troops, I +take it, will feel that all they win by their services on the campaign +should belong to them in common: but they hold that the actual command +of the expedition was mine by right even before we left home, so that I +was fully entitled, on their view, to appoint umpires and judges at my +own will." + +[20] "And do you really expect," asked Chrysantas, "that the mass of the +army will pass a resolution giving up the right of all to an equal share +in order that the best men should receive the most?" + +"Yes, I do," said Cyrus, "partly because we shall be there to argue for +that course, but chiefly because it would seem too base to deny that +he who works the hardest and does most for the common good deserves +the highest recompense. Even the worst of men must admit that the brave +should gain the most." + +[21] It was, however, as much for the sake of the Peers themselves as +for any other reason that Cyrus wished the resolution to be passed. +They would prove all the better men, he thought, if they too were to be +judged by their deeds and rewarded accordingly. And this was the right +moment, he felt, to raise the question and put it to the vote, now when +the Peers were disposed to resent being put on a level with the common +people. In the end it was agreed by all the company that the question +should be raised, and that every one who claimed to call himself a man +was bound to argue in its favour. + +[22] And on that one of the brigadiers smiled to himself and said: "I +know at least one son of the soil who will be ready to agree that the +principle of share and share alike should not be followed everywhere." + +"And who is he?" another asked. + +"Well," said the first, "he is a member of our quarters, I can tell you +that, and he is always hunting after the lion's share of every single +thing." + +"What? Of everything?" said a third. "Of work as well?" "Oh, no!" said +the first, "you have caught me there. I was wrong to say so much, I must +confess. When it comes to work, I must admit, he is quite ready to go +short: he will give up his own share of that, without a murmur, to any +man whatever." + +[23] "For my part, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "I hold that all such idlers +ought to be turned out of the army, that is, if we are ever to cultivate +obedience and energy in our men. The bulk of our soldiers, I take it, +are of the type to follow a given lead: they will seek after nobleness +and valour if their leaders are valiant and noble, but after baseness if +these are base. [24] And we know that only too often the worthless will +find more friends than the good. Vice, passing lightly along her path +of pleasure, wins the hearts of thousands with her gifts; but Virtue, +toiling up the steep ascent, has little skill to snare the souls of men +and draw them after her, when all the while their comrades are calling +to them on the easy downward way. [25] It is true there are degrees, +and where the evil springs only from sloth and lethargy, I look on the +creatures as mere drones, only injuring the hive by what they cost: but +there are others, backward in toil and forward in greed, and these are +the captains in villainy: for not seldom can they show that rascality +has its advantages. Such as they must be removed, cut out from among us, +root and branch. [26] And I would not have you fill their places from +our fellow-citizens alone, but, just as you choose your horses from +the best stocks, wherever you find them, not limiting yourselves to +the national breed, so you have all mankind before you, and you should +choose those, and those only, who will increase your power and add +to your honour. Let me clinch my argument by examples: no chariot can +travel fast if the horses in the team are slow, or run straight if they +will not be ruled; no house can stand firm if the household is evil: +better empty walls than traitors who will bring it to the ground. + +[27] "And be sure, my friends," he added, "the removal of the bad means +a benefit beyond the sheer relief that they are taken away and will +trouble us no more: those who are left and were ripe for contagion are +purified, and those who were worthy will cleave to virtue all the closer +when they see the dishonour that falls on wickedness." + +[28] So Cyrus spoke, and his words won the praise of all his friends, +and they set themselves to do as he advised. + +But after that Cyrus began to jest again. His eye fell on a certain +captain who had chosen for his comrade at the feast a great hairy lad, a +veritable monster of ugliness, and Cyrus called to the captain by name: +"How now, Sambulas? Have you adopted the Hellenic fashion too? And +will you roam the world together, you and the lad who sits beside you, +because there is none so fair as he?" "By heaven," answered Sambulas, +"you are not far wrong. It is bliss to me to feast my eyes upon him." +[29] At that all the guests turned and looked on the young man's +face, but when they saw how ugly it was, they could not help laughing +outright. "Heavens, Sambulas, tell us the valiant deed that knit your +souls together! How has he drawn you to himself?" [30] "Listen then," he +answered, "and I will tell you the whole truth. Every time I call +him, morning, noon, or night, he comes to me; never yet has he excused +himself, never been too busy to attend; and he comes at a run, he does +not walk. Whatever I have bidden him do, he has always done it, and at +the top of his speed. He has made all the petty captains under him the +very models of industry; he shows them, not by word but deed, what they +ought to be." [31] "And so," said another, "for all these virtues you +give him, I take it, the kiss of kinship?" But the ugly lad broke out: +"Not he! He has no great love for work. And to kiss me, if it came to +that, would mean more effort than all his exercises." + +[C.3] So the hours passed in the general's tent, from grave to gay, +until at last the third libation was poured out, and the company bent +in prayer to the gods--"Grant us all that is good"--and so broke up, and +went away to sleep. + +But the next day Cyrus assembled the soldiers in full conclave, and +spoke to them: [2] "My men," he said, "my friends, the day of struggle +is at hand, and the enemy are near. The prizes of victory, if victory +is to be ours--and we must believe it will be ours, we must make it +ours--the prizes of victory will be nothing short of the enemy himself +and all that he possesses. And if the victory should be his, then, in +like manner, all the goods of the vanquished must lie at the victor's +feet. [3] Therefore I would have you take this to your hearts: wherever +those who have joined together for war remember that unless each and +every one of them play his part with zeal nothing good can follow; there +we may look for glorious success. For there nothing that ought to be +done will be left undone. But if each man thinks 'My neighbour will +toil and fight, even though my own heart should fail and my own arm +fall slack,' then, believe me, disaster is at the door for each and all +alike, and no man shall escape. [4] Such is the ordinance of God: those +who will not work out their own salvation he gives into the hands of +other men to bear rule over them. And now I call on any man here," he +added, "to stand up and say whether he believes that virtue will best +be nourished among us if he who bears the greatest toil and takes the +heaviest risk shall receive the highest honours. Or whether we should +hold that cowardice makes no difference in the end, seeing that we all +must share alike?" + +[5] Thereupon Chrysantas of the Peers rose up. He was a man of +understanding, but his bodily presence was weak. And now he spoke thus: + +"I do not imagine, Cyrus, that you put this question with any belief +that cowards ought really to receive the same share as the brave. No, +you wished to make trial of us and see whether any man would dare to +claim an equal part in all that his fellows win by their nobleness, +though he never struck a single valiant stroke himself. [6] I myself," +he continued, "am neither fleet of foot nor stout of limb, and for aught +I can do with my body, I perceive that on the day of trial neither the +first place nor the second can be mine, no, nor yet the hundredth, nor +even, it may be, the thousandth. But this I know right well, that if +our mighty men put forth all their strength, I too shall receive such +portion of our blessings as I may deserve. But if the cowards sit at +ease and the good and brave are out of heart, then I fear that I shall +get a portion, a larger than I care to think, of something that is no +blessing but a curse." + +[7] And so spoke Chrysantas, and then Pheraulas stood up. He was a +man of the people, but well known to Cyrus in the old days at home and +well-beloved by him: no mean figure to look at, and in soul like a man +of noble birth. Now he spoke as follows: + +[8] "Cyrus, friends, and Persians, I hold to the belief that on this +day we all start equal in that race where valour is the goal. I speak of +what I see: we are trained on the same fare; we are held worthy of the +same comradeship; we contend for the same rewards. All of us alike are +told to obey our leaders, and he who obeys most frankly never fails +to meet with honour at the hands of Cyrus. Valour is no longer the +privilege of one class alone: it has become the fairest prize that can +fall to the lot of any man. [9] And to-day a battle is before us where +no man need teach us how to fight: we have the trick of it by nature, +as a bull knows how to use his horns, or a horse his hoofs, or a dog +his teeth, or a wild boar his tusks. The animals know well enough," he +added, "when and where to guard themselves: they need no master to tell +them that. [10] I myself, when I was a little lad, I knew by instinct +how to shield myself from the blow I saw descending: if I had nothing +else, I had my two fists, and used them with all my force against my +foe: no one taught me how to do it, on the contrary they beat me if they +saw me clench my fists. And a knife, I remember, I never could resist: +I clutched the thing whenever I caught sight of it: not a soul showed me +how to hold it, only nature herself, I do aver. I did it, not because I +was taught to do it, but in spite of being forbidden, like many another +thing to which nature drove me, in spite of my father and mother both. +Yes, and I was never tired of hacking and hewing with my knife whenever +I got the chance: it did not seem merely natural, like walking or +running, it was positive joy. [11] Well, to-day we are to fight in +this same simple fashion: energy, rather than skill, is called for, and +glorious it will be to match ourselves against our friends, the Peers of +Persia. And let us remember that the same prizes are offered to us +all, but the stakes differ: our friends give up a life of honour, +the sweetest life there can be, but we escape from years of toil and +ignominy, and there can be no life worse than that. [12] And what fires +me most of all, my friends, and sends me into the lists most gladly, is +the thought that Cyrus will be our judge: one who will give no partial +verdict. I call the gods to witness when I say that he loves a valiant +man as he loves his own soul: I have seen him give such an one more than +he ever keeps for himself. [13] And now," he added, "I know that our +friends here pride themselves upon their breeding and what it has done +for them. They have been brought up to endure hunger and thirst, cold +and nakedness, and yet they are aware that we too have been trained in +the self-same school and by a better master than they: we were taught by +Necessity, and there is no teacher so good, and none so strict. [14] How +did our friends here learn their endurance? By bearing arms, weapons +of war, tools that the wit of the whole human race has made as light as +well could be: but Necessity drove us, my fellows and myself, to stagger +under burdens so heavy that to-day, if I may speak for myself, these +weapons of mine seem rather wings to lift me than weights to bear. [15] +I for one am ready, Cyrus, to enter the lists, and, however I prove, I +will ask from you no more than I deserve: I would have you believe this. +And you," he added, turning to his fellows, "you, men of the people, I +would have you plunge into the battle and match yourselves with these +gentlemen-warriors: the fine fellows must meet us now, for this is the +people's day." + +[16] That is what Pheraulas said, and many rose to follow him and +support his views. And it was resolved that each man should be honoured +according to his deserts and that Cyrus should be the judge. So the +matter ended, and all was well. + +[17] Now Cyrus gave a banquet and a certain brigadier was the chief +guest, and his regiment with him. Cyrus had marked the officer one +day when he was drilling his men; he had drawn up the ranks in two +divisions, opposite each other, ready for the charge. They were all +wearing corslets and carrying light shields, but half were equipped +with stout staves of fennel, and half were ordered to snatch up clods of +earth and do what they could with these. [18] When all were ready, the +officer gave the signal and the artillery began, not without effect: the +missiles fell fast on shields and corslets, on thighs and greaves. But +when they came to close quarters the men of the staves had their turn: +they struck at thighs and hands and legs, or, if the adversary stooped +and twisted, they belaboured back and shoulders, till they put the foe +to utter rout, delivering their blows with shouts of laughter and the +glee of boys. Then there was an exchange of weapons, and the other side +had their revenge: they took the staves in their turn, and once more the +staff triumphed over the clod. [19] Cyrus was full of admiration, partly +at the inventiveness of the commander, partly at the discipline of the +men; it was good to see the active exercise, and the gaiety of heart, +and good to know that the upshot of the battle favoured those who fought +in the Persian style. In every way he was pleased, and then and there +he bade them all to dinner. But at the feast many of the guests wore +bandages, some on their hands, others on their legs, and Cyrus saw it +and asked what had befallen them. They told him they had been bruised +by the clods. [20] "At close quarters?" said he, "or at long range?" "At +long range," they answered, and all the club-bearers agreed that when +it came to close quarters, they had the finest sport. But here those who +had been carbonaded by that weapon broke in and protested loudly that +it was anything but sport to be clubbed at short range, and in proof +thereof they showed the weals on hand and neck and face. Thus they +laughed at one another as soldiers will; and on the next day the whole +plain was studded with combats of this type, and whenever the army had +nothing more serious in hand, this sport was their delight. + +[21] Another day Cyrus noticed a brigadier who was marching his regiment +up from the river back to their quarters. They were advancing in single +file on his left, and at the proper moment he ordered the second company +to wheel round and draw up to the front alongside the first, and then +the third, and then the fourth; and when the company-captains were +all abreast, he passed the word along, "Companies in twos," and the +captains-of-ten came into line; and then at the right moment he gave the +order, "Companies in fours," and the captains of five wheeled round and +came abreast, and when they reached the tent doors he called a halt, +made them fall into single file once more, and marched the first company +in first, and then the second at its heels, and the third and fourth +behind them, and as he introduced them, he seated them at the table, +keeping the order of their entry. What Cyrus commended was the quiet +method of instruction and the care the officer showed, and it was for +that he invited him and all his regiment to dinner in the royal tent. + +[22] Now it chanced that another brigadier was among the guests, and +he spoke up and said to Cyrus: "But will you never ask my men to dinner +too? Day after day, morning and evening, whenever we come in for a meal +we do just the same as they, and when the meal is over the hindmost +man of the last company leads out his men with their fighting-order +reversed, and the next company follows, led by their hindmost man, and +then the third, and then the fourth: so that all of them, if they have +to retire before an enemy, will know how to fall back in good order. +And as soon as we are drawn up on the parade-ground we set off marching +east, and I lead off with all my divisions behind me, in their regular +order, waiting for my word. By-and-by we march west, and then the +hindmost man of the last division leads the way, but they must still +look to me for commands, though I am marching last: and thus they learn +to obey with equal promptitude whether I am at the head or in the rear." + +[23] "Do you mean to tell me," said Cyrus, "that this is a regular rule +of yours?" + +"Truly yes," he answered, "as regular as our meals, heaven help us!" + +"Then I hereby invite you all to dinner, and for three good reasons; you +practice your drill in both forms, you do this morning and evening both, +and by your marching and counter-marching you train your bodies and +benefit your souls. And since you do it all twice over every day, it is +only fair to give you dinner twice." + +[24] "Not twice in one day, I beg you!" said the officer, "unless you +can furnish us with a second stomach apiece." + +And so the conversation ended for the time. But the next day Cyrus was +as good as his word. He had all the regiment to dinner; and the day +after he invited them again: and when the other regiments knew of it +they fell to doing as they did. + +[C.4] Now it chanced one day as Cyrus was holding a review, a messenger +came from Cyaxares to tell him that an embassy from India had just +arrived, and to bid him return with all despatch. + +"And I bring with me," said the messenger, "a suit of splendid apparel +sent from Cyaxares himself: my lord wishes you to appear in all possible +splendour, for the Indians will be there to see you." + +[2] At that Cyrus commanded the brigadier of the first regiment to draw +up to the front with his men behind him on the left in single file, and +to pass the order on to the second, and so throughout the army. Officers +and men were quick to obey; so that in a trice the whole force on the +field was drawn up, one hundred deep and three hundred abreast, with +their officers at the head. [3] When they were in position Cyrus bade +them follow his lead and off they went at a good round pace. However the +road leading to the royal quarters was too narrow to let them pass +with so wide a front and Cyrus sent word along the line that the first +detachment, one thousand strong, should follow as they were, and then +the second, and so on to the last, and as he gave the command he led +on without a pause and all the detachments followed in due order, one +behind the other. [4] But to prevent mistakes he sent two gallopers up +to the entrance with orders to explain what should be done in case the +men were at a loss. And when they reached the gates, Cyrus told the +leading brigadier to draw up his regiment round the palace, twelve deep, +the front rank facing the building, and this command he was to pass on +to the second, and the second to the third, and so on till the last. [5] +And while they saw to this he went in to Cyaxares himself, wearing his +simple Persian dress without a trace of pomp. Cyaxares was well pleased +at his celerity, but troubled by the plainness of his attire, and said +to him, "What is the meaning of this, Cyrus? How could you show yourself +in this guise to the Indians? I wished you to appear in splendour: +it would have done me honour for my sister's son to be seen in great +magnificence." + +[6] But Cyrus made answer: "Should I have done you more honour if I had +put on a purple robe, and bracelets for my arms, and a necklace about my +neck, and so presented myself at your call after long delay? Or as now, +when to show you respect I obey you with this despatch and bring you +so large and fine a force, although I wear no ornament but the dust and +sweat of speed, and make no display unless it be to show you these +men who are as obedient to you as I am myself." Such were the words of +Cyrus, and Cyaxares felt that they were just, and so sent for the +Indian ambassadors forthwith. [7] And when they entered they gave this +message:--The king of the Indians bade them ask what was the cause of +strife between the Assyrians and the Medes, "And when we have heard +you," they said, "our king bids us betake ourselves to the Assyrian and +put the same question to him, and in the end we are to tell you both +that the king of the Indians, when he has enquired into the justice of +the case, will uphold the cause of him who has been wronged." + +[8] To this Cyaxares replied: + +"Then take from me this answer: we do the Assyrian no wrong nor any +injustice whatsoever. And now go and make inquiry of him, if you are so +minded, and see what answer he will give." + +Then Cyrus, who was standing by, asked Cyaxares, "May I too say what +is in my mind?" "Say on," answered Cyaxares. Then Cyrus turned to the +ambassadors: "Tell your master," he said, "unless Cyaxares is otherwise +minded, that we are ready to do this: if the Assyrian lays any injustice +to our charge we choose the king of the Indians himself to be our judge, +and he shall decide between us." + +[9] With that the embassy departed. And when they had gone out Cyrus +turned to his uncle and began, "Cyaxares, when I came to you I had scant +wealth of my own and of the little I brought with me only a fragment is +left. I have spent it all on my soldiers. You may wonder at this," he +added, "when it is you who have supported them, but, believe me, the +money has not been wasted: it has all been spent on gifts and rewards +to the soldiers who deserved it. [10] And I am sure," he added, "if +we require good workers and good comrades in any task whatever, it is +better and pleasanter to encourage them by kind speeches and kindly acts +than to drive them by pains and penalties. And if it is for war that we +need such trusty helpers, we can only win the men we want by every charm +of word and grace of deed. For our true ally must be a friend and not a +foe, one who can never envy the prosperity of his leader nor betray him +in the day of disaster. [11] Such is my conviction, and such being so, +I do not hide from myself the need of money. But to look to you for +everything, when I know that you spend so much already, would be +monstrous in my eyes. I only ask that we should take counsel together so +as to prevent the failure of your funds. I am well aware that if you won +great wealth, I should be able to help myself at need, especially if I +used it for your own advantage. [12] Now I think you told me the other +day that the king of Armenia has begun to despise you, because he hears +we have an enemy, and therefore he will neither send you troops nor pay +the tribute which is due." [13] "Yes," answered Cyaxares, "such are his +tricks. And I cannot decide whether to march on him at once and try +to subdue him by force, or let the matter be for the time, for fear of +adding to the enemies we have." Then Cyrus asked, "Are his dwellings +strongly fortified, or could they be attacked?" And Cyaxares answered, +"The actual fortifications are not very strong: I took good care of +that. But he has the hill-country to which he can retire, and there for +the moment lie secure, knowing that he himself is safely out of reach, +with everything that he can convoy thither; unless we are prepared to +carry on a siege, as my father actually did." + +[14] Thereupon Cyrus said, "Now if you are willing to send me with +a moderate force of cavalry--I will not ask for many men--I believe, +heaven helping me, I could compel him to send the troops and the +tribute. And I even hope that in the future he may become a firmer +friend that he is now." [15] And Cyaxares said: "I think myself they are +more likely to listen to you than to me. I have been told that his sons +were your companions in the chase when you were lads, and possibly old +habits will return and they will come over to you. Once they were in our +power, everything could be done as we desire." "Then," said Cyrus, +"this plan of ours had better be kept secret, had it not?" "No doubt," +answered Cyaxares. "In that way they would be more likely to fall into +our hands, and if we attack them they would be taken unprepared." + +[16] "Listen then," said Cyrus, "and see what you think of this. I have +often hunted the marches between your country and Armenia with all +my men, and sometimes I have taken horsemen with me from our comrades +here." "I see," said Cyaxares, "and if you chose to do the like again +it would seem only natural, but if your force was obviously larger than +usual, suspicion would arise at once." [17] "But it is possible," said +Cyrus, "to frame a pretext which would find credit with us and with them +too, if any rumour reached them. We might give out that I intend to hold +a splendid hunt and I might ask you openly for a troop of horse." + +"Admirable!" said Cyaxares. "And I shall refuse to give you more than a +certain number, my reason being that I wish to visit the outposts on the +Syrian side. And as a matter of fact," he added, "I do wish to see them +and put them in as strong a state as possible. Then, as soon as you have +started with your men, and marched, let us say, for a couple of days, +I could send you a good round number of horse and foot from my own +detachment. And when you have them at your back, you could advance at +once, and I will follow with the rest of my men as near you as I may, +close enough to appear in time of need." + +[18] Accordingly, Cyaxares proceeded to muster horse and foot for his +own march, and sent provision-waggons forward to meet him on the road. +Meanwhile Cyrus offered sacrifice for the success of his expedition and +found an opportunity to ask Cyaxares for a troop of his junior cavalry. +But Cyaxares would only spare a few, though many wished to go. Soon +afterwards he started for the outposts himself with all his horse and +foot, and then Cyrus found the omens favourable for his enterprise, and +led his soldiers out as though he meant to hunt. [19] He was scarcely +on his way when a hare started up at their feet, and an eagle, flying on +the right, saw the creature as it fled, swooped down and struck it, +bore it aloft in its talons to a cliff hard by, and did its will upon it +there. The omen pleased Cyrus well, and he bowed in worship to Zeus the +King, and said to his company, "This shall be a right noble hunt, my +friends, if God so will." + +[20] When he came to the borders he began the hunt in his usual way, the +mass of horse and foot going on ahead in rows like reapers, beating out +the game, with picked men posted at intervals to receive the animals and +give them chase. And thus they took great numbers of boars and stags and +antelopes and wild-asses: even to this day wild-asses are plentiful in +those parts. [21] But when the chase was over, Cyrus had touched the +frontier of the Armenian land, and there he made the evening meal. The +next day he hunted till he reached the mountains which were his goal. +And there he halted again and made the evening meal. At this point he +knew that the army from Cyaxares was advancing, and he sent secretly to +them and bade them keep about eight miles off, and take their evening +meal where they were, since that would make for secrecy. And when their +meal was over he told them to send their officers to him, and after +supper he called his own brigadiers together and addressed them thus: + +[22] "My friends, in old days the Armenian was a faithful ally and +subject of Cyaxares, but now when he sees an enemy against us, he +assumes contempt: he neither sends the troops nor pays the tribute. He +is the game we have come to catch, if catch we can. And this, I think, +is the way. You, Chrysantas," said he, "will sleep for a few hours, and +then take half the Persians with you, make for the hill country, and +seize the heights which we hear are his places of refuge when alarmed. +I will give you guides. [23] The hills, they tell us, are covered with +trees and scrub, so that we may hope you will escape unseen: still you +might send a handful of scouts ahead of you, disguised as a band of +robbers. If they should come across any Armenians they can either make +them prisoners and prevent them from spreading the news, or at least +scare them out of the way, so that they will not realise the whole of +your force, and only take measures against a pack of thieves. [24] That +is your task, Chrysantas, and now for mine. At break of day I shall take +half the foot and all the cavalry and march along the level straight to +the king's residence. If he resists, we must fight, if he retreats +along the plain we must run him down, if he makes for the mountains, why +then," said Cyrus, "it will be your business to see that none of your +visitors escape. [25] Think of it as a hunt: we down below are the +beaters rounding up the game, and you are the men at the nets: only bear +in mind that the earths must all be stopped before the game is up, and +the men at the traps must be hidden, or they will turn back the flying +quarry. [26] One last word, Chrysantas: you must not behave now as I +have known you do in your passion for the chase: you must not sit up the +whole night long without a wink of sleep, you must let all your men have +the modicum of rest that they cannot do without. [27] Nor must you--just +because you scour the hills in the hunt without a guide, following the +lead of the quarry and that alone, checking and changing course wherever +it leads you--you must not now plunge into the wildest paths: you must +tell your guides to take you by the easiest road unless it is much the +longest. [28] In war, they say, the easiest way is the quickest. And +once more, because you can race up a mountain yourself you are not to +lead on your men at the double; suit your pace to the strength of all. +[29] Indeed, it were no bad thing if some of your best and bravest were +to fall behind here and there and cheer the laggards on: and it would +quicken the pace of all, when the column has gone ahead, to see them +racing back to their places past the marching files." + +[30] Chrysantas listened, and his heart beat high at the trust reposed +in him. He took the guides, and gave the necessary orders for those who +were to march with him, and then he lay down to rest. And when all his +men had had the sleep he thought sufficient he set out for the hills. +[31] Day dawned, and Cyrus sent a messenger to the Armenian with these +words: "Cyrus bids you see to it that you bring your tribute and troops +without delay." "And if he asks you where Cyrus is, tell the truth and +say I am on the frontier. And if he asks whether I am advancing myself, +tell the truth again and say that you do not know. And if he enquires +how many we are, bid him send some one with you to find out." + +[32] Having so charged the messenger he sent him on forthwith, holding +this to be more courteous than to attack without warning. Then he drew +up his troops himself in the order best suited for marching, and, if +necessary, for fighting, and so set forth. The soldiers had orders that +not a soul was to be wronged, and if they met any Armenians they were +to bid them to have no fear, but open a market wherever they wished, and +sell meat or drink as they chose. + + + NOTES + +C1.5. Is this historical, i.e. _quasi_-historical? Are any of the names +real or all invented to give verisimilitude? + +C1.13. Any touch of the sycophancy of the future in it? As in modern +Germany, a touch of that involved in the system of royalty. + +C1.15. The raw material is good, but not worked up. Important for +the conception of Hellenic democracy (cf. Sec. 17). Daring, courage, +virtue--there is no monopoly of these things. + +C1.21. (Cf. below VIII. C2.5) Worthy of Adam Smith. Xenophon has bump of +economy strongly developed; he resembles J. P.[*] in that respect. The +economic methodism, the mosaic interbedding, the architectonic structure +of it all, a part and parcel of Xenophon's genius. Was Alexander's +army a highly-organised, spiritually and materially built-up, vitalised +machine of this sort? What light does Arrian, that younger Xenophon, +throw upon it? + +[* "J. P." = John Percival, Bishop of Hereford (the writer of the +Introduction to this volume), at the time the notes were written +Headmaster of Clifton College.--F.M.S.] + +C1.25. Camaraderie encouraged and developed through a sense of equality +and fraternity, the life _au grand jour_ in common, producing a common +consciousness (cf. Comte and J. P.; Epaminondas and the Sacred Band at +Thebes). + +C2. Contrast of subject enlivening the style--light concrete as a foil +to the last drier abstract detail. Humorous also, with a dramatising +and development of the characters, Shakespeare-wise--Hystaspas, and the +rest. Aglaitadas, a type of educator we know well (cf. Eccles. "Cocker +not a child"), grim, dry person with no sense of humour. Xenophon's own +humour shines out. + +C2.12. The term given to the two stories {eis tagathon}. T. E. B.[*] +could do it, or Socrates, without dullness or seeming to preach. There +is a crispness in the voice which is anti-pedantic. + +[* "T. E. B." = T. E. Brown, the Manx poet, at that time a colleague of +Mr. Dakyns at Clifton.--F.M.S.] + +C2.19. Cyrus recognises the ideal principle of co-operation and +collective ownership. Xenophon, Economist, ahead of the moderns. + +C2.26. Xenophon's breadth of view: virtue is not confined to citizens, +but we have the pick of the whole world. Cosmopolitan Hellenism. + +C3.4. Xenophon's theory of rule (cf. Ruskin): a right, inalienable, +God-bestowed, of the virtuous; subjection an inevitable consequence on +lack of self-discipline. + +C3.5, init. Is this a carelessness, or what? Chrysantas has been +introduced before, but here he is described as if stepping on the stage +for the first time. The sentence itself suggests the mould for the New +Testament narrative. + +C3.7. Pheraulas, and of him we shall hear much. A sharp contrast to +Chrysantas, the Peer, with his pointed plebeian similes. His speech +important again for Xenophon's sympathetic knowledge of children and +also of the hard-working poor. + +C3.10. How true to nature this. Cannot one see the little boy doubling +his little fists, a knife in his pocket, possibly a ball of string? + +C3.11. Is there a touch of flunkeyism in this? Not so; it is the +clear-sighted scientific Greek, that is all. + +C3.14. Very Scotch all this. + +C3.21-22. _Locus classicus_ for regimental marching tactics. Qy.: Are +any of these tactical improvements by Xenophon himself? + +C3.21. The "regiment" of a hundred men was divided into four +"companies" of twenty-five, to each of these one company-captain and +twenty-four men, viz.: twenty privates, two captains-of-ten, and two +captains-of-five, the two captains of ten having also especial charge +over the two remaining squads of five. A condensed diagram may make +the little manoeuvre clear. An X represents one group of five plus its +captain, either a captain-of-five or a captain-of-ten. A C represents a +company-captain. + + First position--One long column. All in single file. + + Second position--Four columns. Single file for each company. + + Third position--Eight columns. Double files. + + Fourth position--Sixteen columns. Quadruple files. + + C C C C C C C + X X X -> X X X X -> X X X X X X X X + X -> X X X X X X + X X X + X X X + C + X + X + X + X] + +C4.15. Cyaxares means to kidnap them, doesn't he? That is not quite +Cyrus' method. If so, it contrasts Cyaxares and Cyrus again. + +C4.17. Cyaxares the old fox improves upon the plan. + +C4.30, init. It is these touches which give the thrilling subjective +feeling to the writings of Xenophon, or, rather, thus his nerves tingle, +just as the external touches give a sense of objective health (e.g. +above, C1.29). + +C4.32. All this is entirely modern, never yet excelled, I imagine. + + + + +BOOK III + + +[C.1] Thus Cyrus made his preparations. But the Armenian, when he heard +what the messenger had to say, was terror-stricken: he knew the wrong +he had done in neglecting the tribute and withholding the troops, and, +above all, he was afraid it would be discovered that he was beginning +to put his palace in a fit state for defence. [2] Therefore, with much +trepidation, he began to collect his own forces, and at the same time +he sent his younger son Sabaris into the hills with the women, his own +wife, and the wife of his elder son and his daughters, taking the best +of their ornaments and furniture with them and an escort to be their +guide. Meanwhile he despatched a party to discover what Cyrus was doing, +and organised all the Armenian contingents as they came in. But it was +not long before other messengers arrived, saying that Cyrus himself was +actually at hand. [3] Then his courage forsook him; he dared not come +to blows and he withdrew. As soon as the recruits saw this they took to +their heels, each man bent on getting his own property safely out of +the way. When Cyrus saw the plains full of them, racing and riding +everywhere, he sent out messengers privately to explain that he had no +quarrel with any who stayed quietly in their homes, but if he caught a +man in flight, he warned them he would treat him as an enemy. Thus +the greater part were persuaded to remain, though there were some who +retreated with the king. + +[4] But when the escort with the women came on the Persians in the +mountain, they fled with cries of terror, and many of them were taken +prisoners. In the end the young prince himself was captured, and the +wife of the king, and his daughters, and his daughter-in-law, and +all the goods they had with them. And when the king learnt what had +happened, scarcely knowing where to turn, he fled to the summit of a +certain hill. [5] Cyrus, when he saw it, surrounded the spot with his +troops and sent word to Chrysantas, bidding him leave a force to +guard the mountains and come down to him. So the mass of the army was +collected under Cyrus, and then he sent a herald to the king with this +enquiry: + +"Son of Armenia, will you wait here and fight with hunger and thirst, +or will you come down into the plain and fight it out with us?" But the +Armenian answered that he wished to fight with neither. [6] Cyrus sent +again and asked, "Why do you sit there, then, and refuse to come down?" +"Because I know not what to do," answered the other. "It is simple +enough," said Cyrus, "come down and take your trial." "And who shall try +me?" asked the king. "He," answered Cyrus, "to whom God has given the +power to treat you as he lists, without a trial at all." + +Thereupon the Armenian came down, yielding to necessity, and Cyrus took +him and all that he had and placed him in the centre of the camp, for +all his forces were now at hand. + +[7] Meanwhile Tigranes, the elder son of the king, was on his way home +from a far country. In old days he had hunted with Cyrus and been his +friend, and now, when he heard what had happened, he came forward just +as he was; but when he saw his father and his mother, his brother and +sisters, and his own wife all held as prisoners, he could not keep back +the tears. [8] But Cyrus gave him no sign of friendship or courtesy, and +only said, "You have come in time, you may be present now to hear your +father tried." With that he summoned the leaders of the Persians and the +Medes, and any Armenian of rank and dignity who was there, nor would +he send away the women as they sat in covered carriages, but let them +listen too. [9] When all was ready he began: "Son of Armenia, I would +counsel you, in the first place, to speak the truth, so that at least +you may stand free from what deserves the utmost hate: beyond all +else, be assured, manifest lying checks the sympathy of man and man. +Moreover," said he, "your own sons, your daughters, and your wife are +well aware of all that you have done, and so are your own Armenians +who are here: if they perceive that you say what is not true, they must +surely feel that out of your own lips you condemn yourself to suffer +the uttermost penalty when I learn the truth." "Nay," answered the king, +"ask me whatever you will, and I will answer truly, come what come may." +[10] "Answer then," said Cyrus, "did you once make war upon Astyages, +my mother's father, and his Medes?" "I did," he answered. "And were you +conquered by him, and did you agree to pay tribute and furnish troops +whenever he required, and promise not to fortify your dwellings?" "Even +so," he said. "Why is it, then, that to-day you have neither brought the +tribute nor sent the troops, and are building forts?" "I set my heart on +liberty: it seemed to me so fair a thing to be free myself and to leave +freedom to my sons." [11] "And fair and good it is," said Cyrus, "to +fight for freedom and choose death rather than slavery, but if a man is +worsted in war or enslaved by any other means and then attempts to rid +himself of his lord, tell me yourself, would you honour such a man as +upright, and a doer of noble deeds, or would you, if you got him in +your power, chastise him as a malefactor?" "I would chastise him," he +answered, "since you drive me to the truth." [12] "Then answer me now, +point by point," said Cyrus. "If you have an officer and he does wrong, +do you suffer him to remain in office, or do you set up another in his +stead?" "I set up another." "And if he have great riches, to you leave +him all his wealth, or do you make him a beggar?" "I take away from him +all that he has." "And if you found him deserting to your enemies, what +would you do?" "I would kill him," he said: "why should I perish with a +lie on my lips rather than speak the truth and die?" + +[13] But at this his son rent his garments and dashed the tiara from his +brows, and the women lifted up their voices in wailing and tore their +cheeks, as though their father was dead already, and they themselves +undone. But Cyrus bade them keep silence, and spoke again. "Son of +Armenia, we have heard your own judgment in this case, and now tell us, +what ought we to do?" But the king sat silent and perplexed, wondering +whether he should bid Cyrus put him to death, or act in the teeth of the +rule he had laid down for himself. [14] Then his son Tigranes turned to +Cyrus and said, "Tell me, Cyrus, since my father sits in doubt, may I +give counsel in his place and say what I think best for you?" + +Now Cyrus remembered that, in the old hunting days, he had noticed a +certain man of wisdom who went about with Tigranes and was much admired +by him, and he was curious to know what the youth would say. So he +readily agreed and bade him speak his mind. + +[15] "In my view, then," said Tigranes, "if you approve of all that my +father has said and done, certainly you ought to do as he did, but if +you think he has done wrong, then you must not copy him." + +"But surely," said Cyrus, "the best way to avoid copying the wrongdoer +is to practise what is right?" + +"True enough," answered the prince. + +"Then on your own reasoning, I am bound to punish your father, if it is +right to punish wrong." + +"But would you wish your vengeance to do you harm instead of good?" + +"Nay," said Cyrus, "for then my vengeance would fall upon myself." + +[16] "Even so," said Tigranes, "and you will do yourself the greatest +harm if you put your own subjects to death just when they are most +valuable to you." + +"Can they have any value," asked Cyrus, "when they are detected doing +wrong?" + +"Yes," answered Tigranes, "if that is when they turn to good and learn +sobriety. For it is my belief, Cyrus, that without this virtue all +others are in vain. What good will you get from a strong man or a brave +if he lack sobriety, be he never so good a horseman, never so rich, +never so powerful in the state? But with sobriety every friend is a +friend in need and every servant a blessing." + +[17] "I take your meaning," answered Cyrus; "your father, you would have +me think, has been changed in this one day from a fool into a wise and +sober-minded man?" + +"Exactly," said the prince. + +"Then you would call sober-mindedness a condition of our nature, such +as pain, not a matter of reason that can be learnt? For certainly, if +he who is to be sober-minded must learn wisdom first, he could not be +converted from folly in a day." + +[18] "Nay, but, Cyrus," said the prince, "surely you yourself have +known one man at least who out of sheer folly has set himself to fight +a stronger man than he, and on the day of defeat his senselessness has +been cured. And surely you have known a city ere now that has marshalled +her battalions against a rival state, but with defeat she changes +suddenly and is willing to obey and not resist?" + +[19] "But what defeat," said Cyrus, "can you find in your father's case +to make you so sure that he has come to a sober mind?" + +"A defeat," answered the young man, "of which he is well aware in the +secret chambers of his soul. He set his heart on liberty, and he has +found himself a slave as never before: he had designs that needed +stealth and speed and force, and not one of them has he been able to +carry through. With you he knows that design and fulfilment went hand +in hand; when you wished to outwit him, outwit him you did, as though he +had been blind and deaf and dazed; when stealth was needed, your stealth +was such that the fortresses he thought his own you turned into traps +for him; and your speed was such that you were upon him from miles away +with all your armament before he found time to muster the forces at his +command." + +[20] "So you think," said Cyrus, "that merely to learn another is +stronger than himself is defeat enough to bring a man to his senses?" + +"I do," answered Tigranes, "and far more truly than mere defeat in +battle. For he who is conquered by force may fancy that if he trains +he can renew the war, and captured cities dream that with the help of +allies they will fight again one day, but if we meet with men who are +better than ourselves and whom we recognise to be so, we are ready to +obey them of our own free will." [21] "You imagine then," said +Cyrus, "that the bully and the tyrant cannot recognise the man +of self-restraint, nor the thief the honest man, nor the liar the +truth-speaker, nor the unjust man the upright? Has not your own father +lied even now and broken his word with us, although he knew that we had +faithfully observed every jot and tittle of the compact Astyages made?" +[22] "Ah, but," replied the prince, "I do not pretend that the bare +knowledge alone will bring a man to his senses, it cannot cure him +unless he pays the penalty as my father pays it to-day." "But," answered +Cyrus, "your father has suffered nothing at all so far: although he +fears, I know, that the worst suffering may be his." [23] "Do you +suppose then," asked Tigranes, "that anything can enslave a man more +utterly than fear? Do you not know that even the men who are beaten with +the iron rod of war, the heaviest rod in all the world, may still be +ready to fight again, while the victims of terror cannot be brought to +look their conquerors in the face, even when they try to comfort them?" +"Then, you maintain," said Cyrus, "that fear will subdue a man more than +suffering?" [24] "Yes," he answered, "and you of all men know that what +I say is true: you know the despondency men feel in dread of banishment, +or on the eve of battle facing defeat, or sailing the sea in peril of +shipwreck--they cannot touch their food or take their rest because +of their alarm: while it may often be that the exiles themselves, the +conquered, or the enslaved, can eat and sleep better than men who have +not known adversity. [25] Think of those panic-stricken creatures who +through fear of capture and death have died before their day, have +hurled themselves from cliffs, hanged themselves, or set the knife to +their throats; so cruelly can fear, the prince of horrors, bind and +subjugate the souls of men. And what, think you, does my father feel at +this moment? He, whose fears are not for himself alone, but for us all, +for his wife, and for his children." [26] And Cyrus said, "To-day and +at this time, it may be with him as you say: but I still think that the +same man may well be insolent in good fortune and cringing in defeat: +let such an one go free again, and he will return to his arrogance and +trouble us once more." [27] "I do not deny it, Cyrus," said the prince. +"Our offences are such that you may well mistrust us: but you have it in +your power to set garrisons in our land and hold our strong places and +take what pledges you think best. And even so," he added, "you will not +find that we fret against our chains, for we shall remember we have only +ourselves to blame. Whereas, if you hand over the government to some +who have not offended, they may either think that you mistrust them, and +thus, although you are their benefactor, you cannot be their friend, or +else in your anxiety not to rouse their enmity you may leave no check +on their insolence, and in the end you will need to sober them even +more than us." [28] "Nay, but by all the gods," cried Cyrus, "little joy +should I ever take in those who served me from necessity alone. Only if +I recognise some touch of friendship or goodwill in the help it is their +duty to render, I could find it easier to forgive them all their faults +than to accept the full discharge of service paid upon compulsion by +those who hate me." + +Then Tigranes answered, "You speak of friendship, but can you ever find +elsewhere so great a friendship as you may find with us?" "Surely I +can," he answered, "and with those who have never been my enemies, if +I choose to be their benefactor as you would have me yours." [29] "But +to-day, and now, can you find another man in the world whom you could +benefit as you can benefit my father? Say you let a man live who has +never done you wrong, will he be grateful for the boon? Say he need not +lose his children and his wife, will he love you for that more than one +who knows he well deserved the loss? Say he may not sit upon the throne +of Armenia, will he suffer from that as we shall suffer? And is it not +clear that the one who feels the pain of forfeiture the most will be the +one most grateful for the granting of the gift? [30] And if you have it +at all at heart to leave matters settled here, think for yourself, and +see where tranquillity will lie when your back is turned. Will it be +with the new dynasty, or with the old familiar house? And if you want +as large a force as possible at your command, where will you find a man +better fitted to test the muster-roll than the general who has used it +time and again? If you need money, who will provide the ways and means +better than he who knows and can command all the resources of the +country? I warn you as a friend," he added, "that if you throw us aside +you will do yourself more harm than ever my father could have done." + +[31] Such were the pleadings of the prince, and Cyrus, as he listened, +was overjoyed, for he felt he would accomplish to the full all he had +promised Cyaxares; his own words came back to him, "I hope to make the +Armenian a better friend than before." + +Thereupon he turned to the king and said, "Son of Armenia, if I were +indeed to hearken unto you and yours in this, tell me, how large an army +would you send me and how much money for the war?" + +[32] And the king replied, "The simplest answer I can make and the most +straightforward is to tell you what my power is, and then you may take +the men you choose, and leave the rest to garrison the country. And so +with the money: it is only fair that you should know the whole of our +wealth, and with that knowledge to guide you, you will take what you +like and leave what you like." [33] And Cyrus said, "Tell me then, and +tell me true: how great is your power and your wealth?" Whereupon the +Armenian replied: "Our cavalry is 8000 strong and our infantry 40,000; +and our wealth," said he, "if I include the treasures which my father +left, amounts in silver to more than 3000 talents." + +[34] And Cyrus, without more ado, said at once, "Of your whole armament +you shall give me half, not more, since your neighbours the Chaldaeans +are at war with you: but for the tribute, instead of the fifty talents +which you paid before, you shall hand over twice as much to Cyaxares +because you made default; and you will lend me another hundred for +myself, and I hereby promise you, if God be bountiful, I will requite +you for the loan with things of higher worth, or I will pay the money +back in full, if I can; and if I cannot, you may blame me for want of +ability, but not for want of will." [35] But the Armenian cried, "By all +the gods, Cyrus, speak not so, or you will put me out of heart. I beg +you to look on all I have as yours, what you leave behind as well as +what you take away." + +"So be it then," answered Cyrus, "and to ransom your wife, how much +money would you give?" "All that I have," said he. "And for your sons?" +"For them too, all that I have." "Good," answered Cyrus, "but is not +that already twice as much as you possess? [36] And you, Tigranes," said +he, "at what price would you redeem your bride?" Now the youth was but +newly wedded, and his wife was beyond all things dear to him. "I would +give my life," said he, "to save her from slavery." [37] "Take her +then," said Cyrus, "she is yours. For I hold that she has never yet been +made a prisoner, seeing that her husband never deserted us. And you, +son of Armenia," said he, turning to the king, "you shall take home your +wife and children, and pay no ransom for them, so that they shall not +feel they come to you from slavery. But now," he added, "you shall stay +and sup with us, and afterwards you shall go wherever you wish." + +And so the Armenians stayed. [38] But when the company broke up after +the evening meal, Cyrus asked Tigranes, "Tell me, where is that friend +of yours who used to hunt with us, and whom, as it seemed to me, you +admired so much?" "Do you not know," he said, "that my father put him +to death?" "And why?" said Cyrus, "what fault did he find in him?" "He +thought he corrupted me," said the youth; "and yet, I tell you, Cyrus, +he was so gentle and so brave, so beautiful in soul, that when he came +to die, he called me to him and said, 'Do not be angry with your father, +Tigranes, for putting me to death. What he does is not done from +malice, but from ignorance; and the sins of ignorance, I hold, are +unintentional.'" + +[39] And at that Cyrus could not but say: "Poor soul! I grieve for him." +But the king spoke in his own defence: "Remember this, Cyrus, that the +man who finds another with his wife kills him not simply because he +believes that he has turned the woman to folly, but because he has +robbed him of her love. Even so I was jealous of that man who seemed to +put himself between my son and me and steal away his reverence." [40] +"May the gods be merciful to us!" said Cyrus, "you did wrong, but your +fault was human. And you, Tigranes," said he, turning to the son, "you +must forgive your father." + +And so they talked in all friendliness and kindliness, as befitted +that time of reconciliation; and then the father and son mounted their +carriages, with their dear ones beside them, and drove away rejoicing. + +[41] But when they were home again, they all spoke of Cyrus, one +praising his wisdom, another his endurance, a third the gentleness +of his nature, and a fourth his stature and his beauty. Then Tigranes +turned to his wife and asked, "Did Cyrus seem so beautiful in your +eyes?" But she answered, "Ah, my lord, he was not the man I saw." "Who +was it then?" asked Tigranes. "He," she answered, "who offered his own +life to free me from slavery." + +And so they took their delight together, as lovers will, after all their +sufferings. + +[42] But on the morrow the king of Armenia sent gifts of hospitality to +Cyrus and all his army, and bade his own contingent make ready to march +on the third day, and himself brought Cyrus twice the sum which he had +named. But Cyrus would take no more than he had fixed, and gave the +rest back to the king, only asking whether he or his son was to lead the +force. And the father answered that it should be as Cyrus chose, but the +son said, "I will not leave you, Cyrus, if I must carry the baggage to +follow you." [43] And Cyrus laughed and said, "What will you take to let +us tell your wife that you have become a baggage-bearer?" "She will not +need to be told," he answered, "I mean to bring her with me, and she can +see for herself all that her husband does." "Then it is high time," said +Cyrus, "that you got your own baggage together now." "We will come," +said he, "be sure of that, in good time, with whatever baggage my father +gives." + +So the soldiers were the guests of Armenia for the day, and rested for +that night. + +[C.2] But on the day following Cyrus took Tigranes and the best of the +Median cavalry, with chosen followers of his own, and scoured the whole +country to decide where he should build a fort. He halted on the top of +a mountain-pass and asked Tigranes where the heights lay down which the +Chaldaeans swept when they came to plunder. Tigranes showed him. Then +Cyrus asked him if the mountains were quite uninhabited. "No, indeed," +said the prince, "there are always men on the look-out, who signal to +the others if they catch sight of anything." "And what do they do," he +asked, "when they see the signal?" "They rush to the rescue," he said, +"as quickly as they can." [2] Cyrus listened and looked, and he could +see that large tracts lay desolate and untilled because of the war. That +day they came back to camp and took their supper and slept. [3] But the +next morning Tigranes presented himself with all his baggage in order +and ready for the march, 4000 cavalry at his back, 10,000 bowmen, and as +many targeteers. While they were marching up, Cyrus offered sacrifice, +and finding that the victims were favourable, he called the leaders of +the Persians together and the chief captains of the Medes and spoke to +them thus: + +[4] "My friends, there lie the Chaldaean hills. If we could seize +them and set a garrison to hold the pass, we should compel them both, +Chaldaeans and Armenians alike, to behave themselves discreetly. The +victims are favourable; and to help a man in such a work as this there +is no ally half so good as speed. If we scale the heights before the +enemy have time to gather, we may take the position out of hand without +a blow, and at most we shall only find a handful of weak and scattered +forces to oppose us. [5] Steady speed is all I ask for, and surely I +could ask for nothing easier or less dangerous. To arms then! The Medes +will march on our left, half the Armenians on our right, and the rest +in the van to lead the way, the cavalry in our rear, to cheer us on and +push us forward and let none of us give way." + +[6] With that Cyrus led the advance, the army in column behind him. +As soon as the Chaldaeans saw them sweeping up from the plain, they +signalled to their fellows till the heights re-echoed with answering +shouts, and the tribesmen gathered on every side. Then Cyrus sent word +along his lines, "Soldiers of Persia, they are signalling to us to make +haste. If only we reach the top before them, all they can do will be in +vain." + +[7] Now the Chaldaeans were said to be the most warlike of all the +tribes in that country, and each of them was armed with a shield and a +brace of javelins. They fight for pay wherever they are needed, partly +because they are warriors born, but partly through poverty; for their +country is mountainous, and the fertile part of it small. [8] As Cyrus +and his force drew near the head of the pass, Tigranes, who was marching +at his side, said: + +"Do you know, Cyrus, that before long we shall be in the thick of the +fight ourselves? Our Armenians will never stand the charge." Cyrus +answered that he was well aware of that, and immediately sent word that +the Persians should be ready to give chase at once, "as soon as we see +the Armenians decoying the enemy by feigning flight and drawing them +within our reach." + +[9] Thus they marched up with the Armenians in the van: and the +Chaldaeans who had collected waited till they were almost on them, +and then charged with a tremendous shout, as their custom was, and the +Armenians, as was ever theirs, turned and ran. [10] But in the midst +of the pursuit the Chaldaeans met new opponents streaming up the pass, +armed with short swords, and some of them were cut to pieces at once +before they could withdraw, while others were taken prisoners and the +rest fled, and in a few moments the heights were won. From the top +of the pass Cyrus and his staff looked down and saw below them the +Chaldaean villages with fugitives pouring from the nearest houses. [11] +Soon the rest of the army came up, and Cyrus ordered them all to take +the morning meal. When it was over, and he had ascertained that the +look-out was really in a strong position, and well supplied with water, +he set about fortifying a post without more ado, and he bade Tigranes +send to his father and bid him come at once with all the carpenters and +stonemasons he could fetch, and while a messenger went off to the king +Cyrus did all he could with what he had at hand. + +[12] Meanwhile they brought up the prisoners, all of them bound in +chains and some wounded. But Cyrus when he saw their plight ordered the +chains to be struck off, and sent for surgeons to dress their wounds, +and then he told them that he came neither to destroy them nor to war +against them, but to make peace between them and the Armenians. "I +know," he said, "before your pass was taken you did not wish for peace. +Your own land was in safety and you could harry the Armenians: but you +can see for yourselves how things stand to-day. [13] Accordingly I will +let you all go back to your homes in freedom, and I will allow you and +your fellows to take counsel together and choose whether you will have +us for your enemies or your friends. If you decide on war, you had +better not come here again without your weapons, but if you choose +peace, come unarmed and welcome: it shall be my care to see that all is +well with you, if you are my friends." + +[14] And when the Chaldaeans heard that, they poured out praises and +thanks, and then they turned homewards and departed. + +Meanwhile the king, receiving the call of Cyrus, and hearing the +business that was at hand, had gathered his workmen together and took +what he thought necessary and came with all speed. [15] And when he +caught sight of Cyrus, he cried: "Ah, my lord, blind mortals that we +are! How little can we see of the future, and how much we take in hand +to do! I set myself to win freedom and I made myself a slave, and now, +when we were captured and said to ourselves that we were utterly undone, +suddenly we find a safety we never had before. Those who troubled us are +taken now, even as I would have them. [16] Be well assured, Cyrus," he +added, "that I would have paid the sum you had from me over and over +again simply to dislodge the Chaldaeans from these heights. The things +of worth you promised me when you took the money have been paid in full +already, and we discover that we are not your creditors, but deep in +your debt for many kindnesses; and we shall be ashamed not to return +them, or we should be base indeed, for try as we may, we shall never be +able to requite in full so great a benefactor." + +[17] Such thanks the Armenian gave. + +Then the Chaldaeans came back, begging Cyrus to make peace with them. +And Cyrus asked them: "Am I right in thinking that you desire peace +to-day because you believe it will be safer for you than war, now that +we hold these heights?" + +And the Chaldaeans said that so it was. [18] "Well and good," said he. +"And what if other benefits were gained by peace?" "We should be all the +better pleased," said they. "Is there any other reason," he asked, "for +your present poverty, except your lack of fertile soil?" They said that +there was none. "Well then," Cyrus went on, "would you be willing to pay +the same dues as the Armenians, if you were allowed to cultivate as much +of their land as you desired?" And the Chaldaeans said they would, if +only they could rely on being fairly treated. [19] "Now," said Cyrus, +turning to the Armenian king, "would you like that land of yours which +is now lying idle to be tilled and made productive, supposing the +workers paid you the customary dues?" "I would, indeed," said the king, +"so much so that I am ready to pay a large sum for it. It would mean a +great increase to my revenue." [20] "And you, Chaldaeans," said Cyrus, +"with your splendid mountains, would you let the Armenians use them for +pasture if the graziers paid you what was fair?" "Surely yes," said the +Chaldaeans, "it would mean much profit and no pains." + +"Son of Armenia," said Cyrus, "would you take this land for grazing, +if by paying a small sum to the Chaldaeans you got a far greater return +yourself?" + +"Right willingly," said he, "if I thought my flocks could feed in +safety." + +"And would they not be safe enough," suggested Cyrus, "if this pass were +held for you?" To which the king agreed. [21] But the Chaldaeans cried, +"Heaven help us! We could not till our own fields in safety, not to +speak of theirs, if the Armenians held the pass." "True," answered +Cyrus, "but how would it be if the pass were held for you?" "Ah, then," +said they, "all would be well enough." "Heaven help us!" cried the +Armenian in his turn, "all might be well enough for them, but it would +be ill for us if these neighbours of ours recovered the post, especially +now that it is fortified." [22] Then Cyrus said, "See, then, this is +what I will do: I will hand over the pass to neither of you: we Persians +will guard it ourselves, and if either of you injure the other, we will +step in and side with the sufferers." + +[23] Then both parties applauded the decision, and said that only thus +could they establish a lasting peace, and on these terms they exchanged +pledges, and a covenant was made that both nations alike were to be free +and independent, but with common rights of marriage, and tillage, and +pasturage, and help in time of war if either were attacked. [24] Thus +the matter was concluded, and to this day the treaty holds between the +Chaldaeans and Armenia. + +Peace was no sooner made than both parties began building what they now +considered their common fortress, working side by side and bringing up +all that was needed. [25] And when evening fell, Cyrus summoned them all +as fellow-guests to his board, saying that they were friends already. +At the supper as they sat together, one of the Chaldaeans said to Cyrus +that the mass of his nation would feel they had received all they +could desire, "But there are men among us," he added, "who live as +freebooters: they do not know how to labour in the field, and they could +not learn, accustomed as they are from youth up to get their livelihood +either by plundering for themselves or serving as mercenaries, often +under the king of India, for he is a man of much wealth, but sometimes +under Astyages." [26] Then Cyrus said: "Why should they not take service +with me? I undertake to give them at least as much as they ever got +elsewhere." The Chaldaeans readily agreed with him and prophesied that +he would have many volunteers. + +[27] So this matter was settled to the mind of all. But Cyrus, on +hearing that the Chaldaeans were in the habit of going to India, +remembered how Indian ambassadors had come to the Medes to spy out their +affairs, and how they had gone on to their enemies--doubtless to do the +same there--and he felt a wish that they should hear something of +what he had achieved himself. [28] So he said to the company: "Son of +Armenia, and men of the Chaldaeans, I have something to ask you. Tell +me, if I were to send ambassadors to India, would you send some of your +own folk with them to show them the way, and support them in gaining +for us all that I desire? I still need more money if I am to pay all the +wages, as I wish, in full, and give rewards and make presents to such of +my soldiers as deserve them. It is for such things I need all the money +I can get, for I believe them to be essential. It would be pleasanter +for me not to draw on you, because I look on you already as my friends, +but I should be glad to take from the Indian as much as he will give me. +My messenger--the one for whom I ask guides and coadjutors--will go to +the king and say: 'Son of India, my master has sent me to you, bidding +me say that he has need of more money. He is expecting another army from +Persia,' and indeed I do expect one," Cyrus added. "Then my messenger +will proceed, 'If you can send my master all that you have at hand he +will do his best, if God grant him success, that you should feel your +kindness has not been ill-advised.' [30] That is what my emissary will +say: and you must give such instructions to yours as you think fit +yourselves. If I get money from the king, I shall have abundance at my +disposal: if I fail, at least we shall owe him no gratitude, and as far +as he is concerned we may look to our own interests alone." + +[31] So Cyrus spoke, convinced that the ambassadors from Armenia and +Chaldaea would speak of him as he desired all men might do. And then, as +the hour was come, they broke up the meeting and took their rest. + +[C.3] But on the next day Cyrus despatched his messenger with +the instructions, and the Armenians and Chaldaeans sent their own +ambassadors, choosing the men they thought would help Cyrus most and +speak of his exploits in the most fitting terms. Cyrus put a strong +garrison in the fort and stored it with supplies, and left an officer in +command, a Mede, whose appointment, he thought, would gratify Cyaxares, +and then he turned homewards, taking with him not only the troops he had +brought, but the force the Armenians had furnished, and a picked body +of Chaldaeans who considered themselves stronger than all the rest +together. [2] And as he come down from the hills into the cultivated +land, not one of the Armenians, man or woman, stayed indoors: with one +accord they all went out to meet him, rejoicing that peace was made, and +bringing him offerings from their best, driving before them the animals +they valued most. The king himself was not ill-pleased at this, for he +thought that Cyrus would take delight in the honour the people showed +him. Last of all came the queen herself, with her daughters and her +younger son, bearing many gifts, and among them the golden treasure that +Cyrus had refused before. [3] But when he saw it he said: "Nay, you must +not make me a mercenary and a benefactor for pay; take this treasure +back and hie you home, but do not give it to your lord that he may bury +it again; spend it on your son, and send him forth gloriously equipped +for war, and with the residue buy yourself and for your husband and your +children such precious things as shall endure, and bring joy and beauty +into all your days. As for burying, let us only bury our bodies on the +day when each must die." + +[4] With that he rode away, the king and all his people escorting him, +like a guard of honour, calling him their saviour, their benefactor, and +their hero, and heaping praises on him until he had left the land. +And the king sent with him a larger army than ever he had sent before, +seeing that now he had peace at home. [5] Thus Cyrus took his departure, +having gained not only the actual money he took away with him, but a far +ampler store of wealth, won by his own graciousness, on which he could +draw in time of need. + +For the first night he encamped on the borders of Armenia, but the next +day he sent an army and the money to Cyaxares, who was close at hand, +as he had promised to be, while he himself took his pleasure in hunting +wherever he could find the game, in company with Tigranes and the flower +of the Persian force. + +[6] And when he came back to Media he gave gifts of money to his chief +officers, sufficient for each to reward their own subordinates, for he +held to it that, if every one made his own division worthy of praise, +all would be well with the army as a whole. He himself secured anything +that he thought of value for the campaign, and divided it among the most +meritorious, convinced that every gain to the army was an adornment to +himself. + +[7] At every distribution he would take occasion to address the officers +and all whom he chose to honour in some such words as these: "My +friends, the god of mirth must be with us to-day: we have found a source +of plenty, and we have the wherewithal to honour whom we wish and as +they may deserve. [8] Let us call to mind, all of us, the only way +in which these blessings can be won. We shall find it is by toil, and +watchfulness, and speed, and the resolve never to yield to our foes. +After this pattern must we prove ourselves to be men, knowing that +all high delights and all great joys are only gained by obedience and +hardihood, and through pains endured and dangers confronted in their +proper season." + +[9] But presently, when Cyrus saw that his men were strong enough for +all the work of war, and bold enough to meet their enemies with scorn, +expert and skilful in the use of the weapons each man bore, and all of +them perfect in obedience and discipline, the desire grew in his heart +to be up and doing and achieve something against the foe. He knew well +how often a general has found delay ruin his fairest armament. [10] He +noticed, moreover, that in the eagerness of rivalry and the strain of +competition many of the soldiers grew jealous of each other; and for +this, if for no other reason, he desired to lead them into the enemy's +country without delay, feeling that common dangers awaken comradeship +among those who are fighting in a common cause, and then all such +bickerings cease, and no man is galled by the splendour of his comrade's +arms, or the passion of his desire for glory: envy is swallowed up +in praise, and each competitor greets his rivals with delight as +fellow-workers for the common good. + +[11] Therefore Cyrus ordered his whole force to assemble under arms, and +drew them up into battle-array, using all his skill to make the display +a wonder of beauty and perfection. Then he summoned his chief officers, +his generals, his brigadiers, and his company-captains. These men were +not bound to be always in the ranks, and some were always free to +wait on the commander-in-chief or carry orders along the lines without +leaving the troops unofficered: for the captains-of-twelve and the +captains-of-six stepped into the gaps, and absolute order was preserved. +[12] So Cyrus assembled his staff and led them along the lines, pointing +out the merits of the combined forces and the special strength of each, +and thus he kindled in their hearts the passion for achievement, and +then he bade them return to their regiments and repeat the lessons he +had taught them, trying to implant in their own men the same desire for +action, so that one and all might sally out in the best of heart; and +the next morning they were to present themselves at Cyaxares' gates. +[13] So the officers went away and did as he commanded, and the next +morning at daybreak they assembled at the trysting-place, and Cyrus met +them and came before Cyaxares and said to him: + +"I know well that what I am about to say must often have been in your +own mind, but you have shrunk from suggesting it yourself lest it seem +that you were weary of supporting us. [14] Therefore since you must keep +silence, let me speak for both of us. We are all agreed that since our +preparations are complete we should not wait until the enemy invades our +territory before we give him battle, nor loiter here in a friendly land, +but attack him on his own ground with what speed we may. [15] For while +we linger here, we injure your property in spite of ourselves, but once +on the enemy's soil, we can damage his, and that with the best will in +the world. [16] As things are, you must maintain us, and the cost is +great; but once launched on foreign service, we can maintain ourselves, +and at our foe's expense. [17] Possibly, if it were more dangerous to go +forward than to stay here, the more cautious might seem the wiser plan. +But whether we stay or whether we go, the enemy's numbers will be the +same, and so will ours, whether we receive them here or join battle with +them there. [18] Moreover, the spirit of our soldiers will be all the +higher and all the bolder if they feel that they are marching against +the foe and not cowering before him; and his alarm will be all the +greater when he hears that we are not crouching at home in terror but +coming out to meet him as soon as we have heard of his advance, eager to +close at once, not holding back until our territory suffers, but prompt +to seize the moment and ravage his own land first. [19] Indeed," he +added, "if we do no more than quicken our own courage and his fears, I +would reckon it a substantial gain, and count it so much the less danger +for us and so much the more for him. My father never tires of telling me +what I have heard you say yourself, and what all the world admits, that +battles are decided more by the character of the troops than by their +bodily strength." + +[20] He ended, and Cyaxares answered: + +"Cyrus, both you and all my Persian friends may feel sure that I find +it no trouble to maintain you; do not imagine such a thing; but I agree +with you that the time is ripe for an advance on the enemy's land." + +"Then," said Cyrus, "since we are all of one mind, let us make our final +preparations, and, if heaven will, let us set forth without delay." + +[21] So they bade the soldiers prepare for the start, and Cyrus offered +sacrifices to Zeus the Lord and to the other gods in due order, and +prayed, "Look on us with favour, and be gracious to us; guide our army, +stand beside us in the battle, aid us in council, help us in action, be +the comrades of the brave." Also he called upon the Heroes of Media, +who dwell in the land and guard it. [22] Then, when the signs were +favourable and his army was mustered on the frontier, he felt that the +moment had come, and with all good omens to support him, he invaded +the enemy's land. And so soon as he had crossed the border he offered +libations to the Earth and victims to the gods, and sought to win the +favour of the Heroes who guard Assyria. And having so done, once more he +sacrificed to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and was careful to reverence +every other god who came before his mind. + +[23] But when these duties were fulfilled, there was no further pause. +He pushed his infantry on at once, a short day's march, and then +encamped, while the cavalry made a swift descent and captured much spoil +of every kind. For the future they had only to shift their camp from +time to time, and they found supplies in abundance, and could ravage the +enemy's land at their ease while waiting his approach. [24] Presently +news came of his advance: he was said to be barely ten days' off, and +at that Cyrus went to Cyaxares and said: "The hour has come, and we +must face the enemy. Let it not seem to friend or foe that we fear the +encounter: let us show them that we enjoy the fight." + +[25] Cyaxares agreed, and they moved forward in good order, marching +each day as far as appeared desirable. They were careful to take their +evening meal by daylight, and at night they lit no fires in the camp: +they made them in front of it, so that in case of attack they might see +their assailants, while they themselves remained unseen. And often they +lit other fires in their rear as well, to deceive the enemy; so that +at times the Assyrian scouts actually fell in with the advance-guard, +having fancied from the distance of the fires that they were still some +way from the encampment. + +[26] Meanwhile the Assyrians and their allies, as the two armies came +into touch, halted, and threw up an entrenchment, just as all barbarian +leaders do to-day, whenever they encamp, finding no difficulty in the +work because of the vast numbers at their command, and knowing that +cavalry may easily be thrown into confusion and become unmanageable, +especially if they are barbarians. [27] The horses must be tethered +at their stalls, and in case of attack a dozen difficulties arise: the +soldier must loose his steed in the dark, bridle and saddle him, put on +his own armour, mount, and then gallop through the camp, and this +last it is quite impossible to do. Therefore the Assyrians, like all +barbarians, throw up entrenchments round their position, and the mere +fact of being inside a fastness leaves them, they consider, the choice +of fighting at any moment they think fit. [28] So the two armies drew +nearer and nearer, and when they were about four miles apart, the +Assyrians proceeded to encamp in the manner described: their position +was completely surrounded by a trench, but also perfectly visible, +while Cyrus took all the cover he could find, screening himself behind +villages and hillocks, in the conviction that the more sudden the +disclosure of a hostile force the greater will be the enemy's alarm. + +[29] During the first night neither army did more than post the +customary guards before they went to sleep, and on the next day the +king of Assyria, and Croesus, and their officers, still kept the troops +within their lines. But Cyrus and Cyaxares drew up their men, prepared +to fight if the enemy advanced. + +Ere long it was plain that they would not venture out that day, and +Cyaxares summoned Cyrus and his staff and said: + +[30] "I think, gentlemen, it would be well for us to march up to the +breastworks in our present order, and show them that we wish to fight. +If we do so," he added, "and they refuse our challenge, it will increase +the confidence of our own men, and the mere sight of our boldness will +add to the enemy's alarm." + +[31] So it seemed to Cyaxares, but Cyrus protested: "In the name of +heaven, Cyaxares, let us do no such thing. By such an advance we should +only reveal our numbers to them: they would watch us at their ease, +conscious that they are safe from any danger, and when we retire without +doing them any harm they will have another look at us and despise us +because of our inferiority in numbers, and to-morrow they will come +out much emboldened. [32] At present," he added, "they know that we are +here, but they have not seen us, and you may be sure they do not despise +us; they are asking what all this means, and they never cease discussing +the problem; of that I am convinced. They ought not to see us until +they sally out, and in that moment we ought to come to grips with them, +thankful to have caught them as we have so long desired." + +[33] So Cyrus spoke, and Cyaxares and the others were convinced, and +waited. In the evening they took their meal, and posted their pickets +and lit watch-fires in front of their outposts, and so turned to sleep. +[34] But early the next morning Cyrus put a garland on his head and went +out to offer sacrifice, and sent word to all the Peers of Persia to +join him, wearing garlands like himself. And when the rite was over, he +called them together and said: "Gentlemen, the soothsayers tell us, and +I agree, that the gods announce by the signs in the victims that the +battle is at hand, and they assure us of victory, they promise us +salvation. [35] I should be ashamed to admonish you at such a season, or +tell you how to bear yourselves: I do not forget that we have all been +brought up in the same school, you have learnt the same lessons as I, +and practised them day by day, and you might well instruct others. But +you may not have noticed one point, and for this I would ask a hearing. +[36] Our new comrades, the men we desire to make our peers--it may be +well to remind them of the terms on which Cyaxares has kept us and of +our daily discipline, the goal for which we asked their help, and the +race in which they promised to be our friendly rivals. [37] Remind them +also that this day will test the worth of every man. With learners late +in life, we cannot wonder if now and then a prompter should be needed: +it is much to be thankful for if they show themselves good men and true +with the help of a reminder. [38] Moreover, while you help them you will +be putting your own powers to the test. He who can give another strength +at such a crisis may well have confidence in his own, whereas one who +keeps his ideal to himself and is content with that, ought to remember +that he is only half a man. [39] There is another reason," he added, +"why I do not speak to them myself, but ask you to do so. I want them to +try to please you: you are nearer to them than I, each of you to the +men of his own division: and be well assured that if you show yourselves +stout-hearted you will be teaching them courage, and others too, by +deeds as well as words." + +[40] With that Cyrus dismissed them, and bade them break their fast and +make libation, and then take their places in the ranks, still wearing +their garlands on their heads. As they went away he summoned the leaders +of the rearguard and gave them his instructions: + +[41] "Men of Persia, you have been made Peers and chosen for special +duties, because we think you equal to the best in other matters, and +wiser than most in virtue of your age. The post that you hold is every +whit as honourable as theirs who form the front: from your position in +the rear you can single out the gallant fighters, and your praise will +make them outdo themselves in valour, while if any man should be tempted +to give way, your eyes will be upon him and you will not suffer it. [42] +Victory will mean even more to you than to the others, because of your +age and the weight of your equipment. If the men in front call on you to +follow, answer readily, and let them see that you can hold your own with +them, shout back to them, and bid them lead on quicker still. And now," +said he, "go back and take your breakfast, and then join your ranks with +the rest, wearing your garlands on your heads." + +[43] Thus Cyrus and his men made their preparations, and meanwhile the +Assyrians on their side took their breakfast, and then sallied forth +boldly and drew up in gallant order. It was the king himself who +marshalled them, driving past in his chariot and encouraging his troops. + +[44] "Men of Assyria," he said, "to-day you must show your valour. +To-day you fight for your lives and your land, the land where you were +born and the homes where you were bred, and for your wives and your +children, and all the blessings that are yours. If you win, you +will possess them all in safety as before, but if you lose, you must +surrender them into the hands of your enemies. [45] Abide, therefore, +and do battle as though you were enamoured of victory. It would be folly +for her lovers to turn their backs to the foe, sightless, handless, +helpless, and a fool is he who flies because he longs to live, for he +must know that safety comes to those who conquer, but death to those +who flee; and fools are they whose hearts are set on riches, but whose +spirits are ready to admit defeat. It is the victor who preserves his +own possessions and wins the property of those whom he overcomes: the +conquered lose themselves and all they call their own." + +[46] Thus spoke the king of Assyria. + +But meanwhile Cyaxares sent to Cyrus saying that the moment for attack +had come. "Although," he added, "there are as yet but few of them +outside the trenches, by the time we have advanced there will be quite +enough. Let us not wait until they outnumber us, but charge at once +while we are satisfied we can master them easily." + +[47] But Cyrus answered him, "Unless those we conquer are more than half +their number, they are sure to say that we attacked when they were few, +because we were afraid of their full force, and in their hearts they +will not feel that they are beaten; and we shall have to fight another +battle, when perhaps they will make a better plan than they have made +to-day, delivering themselves into our hands one by one, to fight with +as we choose." + +[48] So the messengers took back his reply, but meanwhile Chrysantas and +certain other Peers came to Cyrus bringing Assyrian deserters with +them, and Cyrus, as a general would, questioned the fugitives about the +enemy's doings, and they told him that the Assyrians were marching out +in force and that the king himself had crossed the trenches and was +marshalling his troops, addressing them in stirring words, as all the +listeners said. [49] Then Chrysantas turned to Cyrus: + +"What if you also were to summon our men, while there is yet time, and +inspire them with your words?" + +[50] But Cyrus answered: + +"Do not be disturbed by the thought of the Assyrian's exhortations; +there are no words so fine that they can turn cowards into brave men +on the day of hearing, nor make good archers out of bad, nor doughty +spearmen, nor skilful riders, no, nor even teach men to use their arms +and legs if they have not learnt before." + +[51] "But," replied Chrysantas, "could you not make the brave men braver +still, and the good better?" + +"What!" cried Cyrus, "can one solitary speech fill the hearer's soul on +the selfsame day with honour and uprightness, guard him from all that is +base, spur him to undergo, as he ought, for the sake of glory every +toil and every danger, implant in him the faith that it is better to die +sword in hand than to escape by flight? [52] If such thoughts are ever +to be engraved in the hearts of men and there abide, we must begin with +the laws, and frame them so that the righteous can count on a life of +honour and liberty, while the bad have to face humiliation, suffering, +and pain, and a life that is no life at all. [53] And then we ought to +have tutors and governors to instruct and teach and train our citizens +until the belief is engendered in their souls that the righteous and +the honourable are the happiest of all men born, and the bad and the +infamous the most miserable. This is what our men must feel if they are +to show that their schooling can triumph over their terror of the foe. +[54] Surely, if in the moment of onset, amid the clash of arms, at a +time when lessons long learnt seem suddenly wiped away, it were possible +for any speaker, by stringing a few fine sentiments together, to +manufacture warriors out of hand, why, it would be the easiest thing in +all the world to teach men the highest virtue man can know. [55] For my +own part," he added, "I would not trust our new comrades yonder, whom +we have trained ourselves, to stand firm this day unless they saw you at +their side, to be examples unto them and to remind them if they forget. +As for men who are utterly undisciplined, I should be astonished if any +speech, however splendid, did one whit more to encourage valour in their +hearts than a song well sung could do to make a musician of a man who +had no music in his soul." + +[56] But while they were speaking, Cyaxares sent again, saying that +Cyrus did ill to loiter instead of advancing against the enemy with all +speed. And Cyrus sent back word there and then by the messengers: + +"Tell Cyaxares once more, that even now there are not as many before us +as we need. And tell him this so that all may hear. But add that, if it +so please him, I will advance at once." + +[57] So saying and with one prayer to the gods, he led his troops into +battle. + +Once the advance began he quickened the pace, and his men followed +in perfect order, steadily, swiftly, joyously, brimful of emulation, +hardened by toil, trained by their long discipline, every man in the +front a leader, and all of them alert. They had laid to heart the lesson +of many a day that it was always safest and easiest to meet enemies at +close quarters, especially archers, javelin-men, and cavalry. [58] While +they were still out of range, Cyrus sent the watchword along the lines, +"Zeus our help and Zeus our leader." And as soon as it was returned to +him, he sounded the first notes of the battle-paean, and the men took +up the hymn devoutly, in one mighty chorus. For at such times those +who fear the gods have less fear of their fellow-men. [59] And when the +chant was over, the Peers of Persia went forward side by side, radiant, +high-bred, disciplined, a band of gallant comrades; they looked into +each other's eyes, they called each other by name, with many a cheery +cry, "Forward, friends, forward, gallant gentlemen!" And the rear-ranks +heard the call, and sent back a ringing cheer, bidding the van lead on. +The whole army of Cyrus was brimming with courage and zeal and strength +and hardihood and comradeship and self-control; more terrible, I +imagine, to an opponent than aught else could be. [60] On the Assyrian +side, those in the van who fought from the chariots, as soon as the mass +of the Persian force drew near, leapt back and drove to their own main +body; but the archers, javelin-men, and slingers, let fly long before +they were in range. [61] And as the Persians steadily advanced, stepping +over the spent missiles, Cyrus called to his men: + +"Forward now, bravest of the brave! Show us what your pace can be!" + +They caught the word and passed it on, and in their eagerness and +passion for the fray some of the leaders broke into a run, and the whole +phalanx followed at their heels. [62] Cyrus himself gave up the regular +march and dashed forward at their head, shouting: + +"Brave men to the front! Who follows me? Who will lay the first Assyrian +low?" + +At this the men behind took up the shout till it rang through the field +like a battle-cry: "Who follows? Brave men to the front!" [63] Thus the +Persians closed. But the enemy could not hold their ground; they turned +and fled to their entrenchments. [64] The Persians swept after them, +many a warrior falling as they crowded in at the gates or tumbled into +the trenches. For in the rout some of the chariots were carried into the +fosse, and the Persians sprang down after them and slew man and horse +where they fell. [65] Then the Median troopers, seeing how matters +stood, charged the Assyrian cavalry, who swerved and broke before them, +chased and slaughtered, horse and rider, by their conquerors. [66] +Meanwhile the Assyrians within the camp, though they stood upon the +breastworks, had neither wit nor power to draw bow or fling spear +against the destroyers, dazed as they were by their panic and the horror +of the sight. Then came the tidings that the Persians had cut their way +through to the gates, and at that they fled from the breastworks. +[67] The women, seeing the rout in the camp, fell to wailing and +lamentations, running hither and thither in utter dismay, young maidens, +and mothers with children in their arms, rending their garments and +tearing their cheeks and crying on all they met, "Leave us not, save us, +save your children and yourselves!" [68] Then the princes gathered +the trustiest men and stood at the gates, fighting on the breastworks +themselves, and urging their troops to make a stand. [69] Cyrus, seeing +this, and fearing that if his handful of Persians forced their way into +the camp they would be overborne by numbers, gave the order to fall back +out of range. [70] Then was shown the perfect discipline of the Peers; +at once they obeyed the order and passed it on at once. And when they +were all out of range they halted and reformed their ranks, better than +any chorus could have done, every man of them knowing exactly where he +ought to be. + + + NOTES + +C1.6. Oriental in feeling; situation well realised. Hellenic = Oriental, +also in part perhaps. Also, we know the Oriental through the medium of +Greek to a great extent (cf. Greek Testament, and earlier still LXX.). + +C1.8, init. Cf. Joseph and his brethren for this hardening of his heart. + +C1.11. Hellenic political ethics = modern in this matter, apart from +modern theory of nationalism, i.e. right of nations to exist free. + +C1.12. Quite after the manner of an advocate in a Greek law-court, but +also Oriental (cf. David and Nathan the seer). + +C1.24. Fear of exile; autobiographical touch? Is anything passing +through the mind of Xenophon? I dare say there is. [Xenophon was +banished from his native city of Athens because of his friendship with +Sparta and with Cyrus the Younger. See Works, Vol. I. p. xcix.] + +C1.33, fin. 3000 talents. Something under L750,000. + +C1.35. Cyrus drives home the conscience of indebtedness _a la_ Portia v. +Shylock. N.B.--Humorous also and an Oriental tinge. + +C1.38. One can't help thinking of Socrates and the people of Athens +here. If so, this is a quasi-apology for the Athenian _bons peres +de famille_ who condemned Socrates. Beautiful story of the sophist +teacher's last injunction to Tigranes. + +C1.40-41. What smiles after tears! Like a sunny day succeeding clouds +and blackness. A pretty story this, of the wife of Tigranes. _Xenophon's +women:_ this one, Pantheia, Croesus' wife, the wife of Ischomachus +(_Economist_), the daughter of Gobryas. + +C2.12. Archaeologically interesting. N.B.--Humanity towards wounded, +Hellenic. Xenophon's own strategy in the _Anabasis_ is probably the +prototype. + +C2.15. For Hellenic and Xenophontine religiousness. The incalculableness +of human life: God fulfils himself in many unforeseen ways. N.B.--Irony +also of the situation, since Cyrus doesn't intend the Armenian to +triumph over the Chaldaean in the way he anticipates. + +C2.20. Note how Socratically it is made to work itself out. + +C3. Cyrus, the Archic Man, the "born ruler," is also the diplomatic man +(cf., no doubt, Gladstone), a diplomacy based on organic economic sense +and friendly-naturedness. + +C3.10. Xenophon's theory of fraternity in action, all petty jealousies +brushed aside. + +[C3.11. The "captains-of-twelve" and the "captains-of-six" are the +same officers as those called elsewhere "captains-of-ten" and +"captains-of-five" (cf. above Bk. II. C2.21 note). The titles vary +because sometimes the officers themselves are included in the squads and +sometimes not.] + +C3.19. Nice touch, quoting his father as an authority. + +C3.40. With garlands, like the Spartans. Was it conceivably a Persian +custom too? + +C3.44. Assyrian's speech; not a bad one, though platitudinous. +Xenophon's dramatic form is shown in the intellectual and emotional side +of his characters, rather than by the diction in their mouths, is it +not? + +C3.51-52. Most important for Xenophon, Educationalist. Cyrus on the +powerlessness of a speech to create valour in the soul of the +untrained: there must be a physical, moral, and spiritual training there +beforehand. The speech is in Xenophon's best earnest rhetorical style. + +C3.57. The march into battle, _vide_ Milton. A beautiful bit of +word-painting. + +C3.58. Cf. the Prussian army singing a hymn [in 1870]. + + + + +BOOK IV + +[C.1] Cyrus waited, with his troops as they were, long enough to show +that he was ready to do battle again if the enemy would come out; but +as they did not stir he drew the soldiers off as far as he thought well, +and there encamped. He had guards posted and scouts sent forward, and +then he gathered his warriors round him and spoke to them as follows: + +[2] "Men of Persia, first and foremost I thank the gods of heaven with +all my soul and strength; and I know you render thanks with me, for we +have won salvation and victory, and it is meet and right to thank the +gods for all that comes to us. But in the next place I must praise you, +one and all; it is through you all that this glorious work has been +accomplished, and when I have learnt what each man's part has been from +those whose place it is to tell me, I will do my best to give each man +his due, in word and deed. [3] But I need none to tell me the exploits +of your brigadier Chrysantas; he was next to me in the battle and I +could see that he bore himself as I believe you all have done. Moreover, +at the very moment when I called on him to retire, he had just raised +his sword to strike an Assyrian down, but he heard my voice, and at once +he dropped his hand and did my bidding. He sent the word along the lines +and led his division out of range before the enemy could lay one arrow +to the string or let one javelin fly. Thus he brought himself and his +men safely out of action, because he had learnt to obey. [4] But some +of you, I see, are wounded, and when I hear at what moment they received +their wounds I will pronounce my opinion on their deserts. Chrysantas +I know already to be a true soldier and a man of sense, able to command +because he is able to obey, and here and now I put him at the head of a +thousand troops, nor shall I forget him on the day when God may please +to give me other blessings. [5] There is one reminder I would make to +all. Never let slip the lesson of this day's encounter, and judge for +yourselves whether it is cowardice or courage that saves a man in war, +whether the fighters or the shirkers have the better chance, and what +the joy is that victory can yield. To-day of all days you can decide, +for you have made the trial and the result is fresh. [6] With such +thoughts as these in your hearts you will grow braver and better still. +And now you may rest in the consciousness that you are dear to God and +have done your duty bravely and steadily, and so take your meal and make +your libations and sing the paean and be ready for the watchword." + +So saying, Cyrus mounted his horse and galloped on to Cyaxares, and +the two rejoiced together as victors will. And then, after a glance at +matters there and an inquiry if aught were needed, he rode back to his +own detachment. Then the evening meal was taken and the watches were +posted and Cyrus slept with his men. + +[8] Meanwhile the Assyrians, finding that their king was among the slain +and almost all his nobles with him, fell into utter despair, and many of +them deserted during the night. And at this fear crept over Croesus and +the allies; they saw dangers on every side, and heaviest of all was the +knowledge that the leading nation, the head of the whole expedition, had +received a mortal blow. Nothing remained but to abandon the encampment +under cover of night. [9] Day broke, and the camp was seen to be +deserted, and Cyrus, without more ado, led his Persians within the +entrenchments, where they found the stores that the enemy had left: +herds of sheep and goats and kine, and long rows of waggons laden with +good things. Cyaxares and his Medes followed, and all arms took their +breakfast in the camp. [10] But when the meal was over, Cyrus summoned +his brigadiers and said to them: + +"Think what blessings we are flinging away now, spurning, as it were, +the very gifts of heaven! So at least it seems to me. The enemy have +given us the slip, as you see with your own eyes. Is it likely that men +who forsook the shelter of their own fortress will ever face us in fair +field on level ground? Will those who shrink from us before they put our +prowess to the test ever withstand us now when we have overthrown and +shattered them? They have lost their best and bravest, and will the +cowards dare to give us battle?" + +[11] At that one of his officers cried, "Why not pursue at once, if such +triumphs are before us?" + +And Cyrus answered, "Because we have not the horses. The stoutest of our +enemies, those whom we must seize or slay, are mounted on steeds that +could sweep past us like the wind. God helping us, we can put them to +flight, but we cannot overtake them." + +[12] "Then," said they, "why not go and lay the matter before Cyaxares?" + +And he answered, "If so, you must all go with me, that Cyaxares may see +it is the wish of all." + +So they all went together and spoke as they thought best. [13] Now +Cyaxares felt, no doubt, a certain jealousy that the Persians should be +the first to broach the matter, but he may also have felt that it was +really wiser to run no further risks for the present; he had, moreover, +abandoned himself to feasting and merrymaking, and he saw that most of +his Medes were in like case. Whatever the reason, this was the answer he +gave: + +[14] "My good nephew, I have always heard and always seen that you +Persians of all men think it your duty never to be insatiate in the +pursuit of any pleasure; and I myself believe that the greater the joy +the more important is self-restraint. Now what greater joy could there +be than the good fortune which waits on us to-day? [15] When fortune +comes to us, if we guard her with discretion, we may live to grow old +in peace, but if we are insatiate, if we use and abuse our pleasures, +chasing first one and then another, we may well fear lest that fate be +ours which, the proverb tells us, falls on those mariners who cannot +forgo their voyages in the pursuit of wealth, and one day the deep sea +swallows them. Thus has many a warrior achieved one victory only to +clutch at another and lose the first. [16] If indeed, our enemies who +have fled were weaker than we, it might be safe enough to pursue them. +But now, bethink you, how small a portion of them we have fought and +conquered; the mass have had no part in the battle, and they, if we +do not force them to fight, will take themselves off through sheer +cowardice and sloth. As yet they know nothing of our powers or their +own, but if they learn that to fly is as dangerous as to hold their +ground, we run the risk of driving them to be brave in spite of +themselves. [17] You may be sure they are just as anxious to save their +wives and children as you can be to capture them. Take a lesson from +hunting: the wild sow when she is sighted will scamper away with her +young, though she be feeding with the herd; but if you attack her little +ones she will never fly, even if she is all alone; she will turn on the +hunters. [18] Yesterday the enemy shut themselves up in a fort, and then +handed themselves over to us to choose how many we cared to fight. But +if we meet them in open country, and they learn how to divide their +forces and take us in front and flank and rear, I wonder how many pairs +of eyes and hands each man of us would need! Finally," he added, "I have +no great wish myself to disturb my Medes in their enjoyment, and drive +them out to further dangers." + +[19] Then Cyrus took him up: "Nay, I would not have you put pressure on +any man; only let those who are willing follow me, and perhaps we shall +come back with something for all of you to enjoy. The mass of the enemy +we should not think of pursuing; indeed, how could we overtake them? But +if we cut off any stragglers, we could clap hands on them and bring them +back to you. [20] Remember," he added, "when you sent for us, we came +a long way to do you service; is it not fair that you should do us a +kindness in return, and let us have something to take back with us for +ourselves, and not stand here agape at all your treasures?" + +[21] At that Cyaxares answered, "Ah, if any will follow you of their own +free will, I can but be most grateful." + +"Send some one with me then," said Cyrus, "from these trusty men of +yours, to carry your commands." + +"Take whomever you like," he answered, "and begone." + +[22] Now, as it chanced, among the officers present was the Mede who +had claimed kinship with Cyrus long ago and won a kiss thereby. Cyrus +pointed to him and said, "That man will do for me." "He shall go with +you then," Cyaxares replied. And turning to the officer, "Tell your +fellows," he said, "that he who lists may follow Cyrus." [23] Thus +Cyrus chose his man and went forth. And when they were outside he said, +"To-day you can show me if you spoke truth long ago when you told me +that the sight of me was your joy." + +"If you say that," said the Mede, "I will never leave you." + +"And will you not do your best," added Cyrus, "to bring me others too?" +"By the gods in heaven," cried the Mede, "that I will, until you say in +your turn that to see me is your joy." Thereupon, with the authority +of Cyaxares to support him, the officer went to the Medes and delivered +with message with all diligence, adding that he for one would never +forsake Cyrus, the bravest, noblest, and best of men, and a hero whose +lineage was divine. + +[C.2] While Cyrus was busied with these matters, by some strange chance +two ambassadors arrived from the Hyrcanians. These people are neighbours +of the Assyrians, and being few in number, they were held in subjection. +But they seemed then, as they seem now, to live on horseback. Hence the +Assyrians used them as the Lacedaemonians employ the Skirites, for +every toil and every danger, without sparing them. In fact, at that very +moment they had ordered them to furnish a rear-guard of a thousand +men and more, so as to bear the brunt of any rear attack. [2] The +Hyrcanians, as they were to be the hindmost, had put their waggons and +families in the rear, for, like most of the tribes in Asia, they take +their entire households with them on the march. [3] But when they +thought of the sorry treatment they got from the Assyrians and when they +saw the king fallen, the army worsted and a prey to panic, the allies +disheartened and ready to desert, they judged it a fine moment to revolt +themselves, if only the Medes and Persians would make common cause with +them. So they sent an embassy to Cyrus, for after the late battle there +was no name like his. [4] They told him what good cause they had to +hate the Assyrians, and how if he was willing to attack them now, they +themselves would be his allies and show him the way. At the same time +they gave a full account of the enemy's doings, being eager to get Cyrus +on the road. [5] "Do you think," said Cyrus, "we should overtake the +Assyrians before they reach their fortresses? We look on it as a great +misfortune," he added, "that they ever slipped through our fingers and +escaped." (This he said, wishing to give his hearers as high an opinion +as possible of himself and his friends.) [6] "You should certainly catch +them," they answered, "and that to-morrow, ere the day is old, if you +gird up your loins: they move heavily because of their numbers and their +train of waggons, and to-day, since they did not sleep last night, +they have only gone a little way ahead, and are now encamped for the +evening." + +[7] "Can you give us any guarantee," said Cyrus, "that what you say is +true?" + +"We will give you hostages," they said; "we will ride off at once and +bring them back this very night. Only do you on your side call the gods +to witness and give us the pledge of your own right hand, that we may +give our people the assurance we have received from you ourselves." + +[8] Thereupon Cyrus gave them his pledge that if they would make good +what they promised he would treat them as his true friends and faithful +followers, of no less account than the Persians and the Medes. And to +this day one may see Hyrcanians treated with trust and holding office on +an equal footing with Persians and Medes of high distinction. + +[9] Now Cyrus and his men took their supper and then while it was still +daylight he led his army out, having made the two Hyrcanians wait so +that they might go with them. The Persians, of course, were with him to +a man, and Tigranes was there, with his own contingent, and the Median +volunteers, who had joined for various reasons. [10] Some had been +friends of Cyrus in boyhood, others had hunted with him and learnt to +admire his character, others were grateful, feeling he had lifted a load +of fear from them, others were flushed with hope, nothing doubting that +great things were reserved for the man who had proved so brave and so +fortunate already. Others remembered the time when he was brought up in +Media, and were glad to return the kindnesses that he had shown +them; many could recall the favours the boy had won for them from his +grandfather through his sheer goodness of heart; and many, now that they +had seen the Hyrcanians and heard say they were leading them to untold +treasures, went out from simple love of gain. [11] So they sallied +forth, the entire body of the Persians and all the Medes, except those +who were quartered with Cyaxares: these stayed behind, and their men +with them. But all the rest went out with radiant faces and eager +hearts, not following him from constraint, but offering willing service +in their gratitude. [12] So, as soon as they were well afield, Cyrus +went to the Medes and thanked them, praying that the gods in their mercy +might guide them all, and that he himself might have power given him to +reward their zeal. He ended by saying that the infantry would lead the +van, while they would follow with the cavalry, and whenever the column +halted on the march they were to send him gallopers to receive his +orders. [13] Then he bade the Hyrcanians lead the way, but they +exclaimed, "What? Are you not going to wait until we bring the hostages? +Then you could begin the march with pledges from us in return for +yours." + +But he answered, as the story says, "If I am not mistaken, we hold the +pledges now, in our own hearts and our own right hands. We believe that +if you are true to us we can do you service, and if you play us false, +you will not have us at your mercy; God willing, we shall hold you at +ours. Nevertheless," he added, "since you tell us your own folk follow +in the Assyrian rear, point them out to us as soon as you set eyes upon +them, that we may spare their lives." + +[14] When the Hyrcanians heard this they led the way as he ordered, +marvelling at his strength of soul. Their own fear of the Assyrians, the +Lydians, and their allies, had altogether gone; their dread now was lest +Cyrus should regard themselves as mere dust in the balance, and count it +of no importance whether they stayed with him or not. + +[15] As night closed in on their march, the legend runs that a strange +light shone out, far off in the sky, upon Cyrus and his host, filling +them with awe of the heavenly powers and courage to meet the foe. +Marching as they did, their loins girt and their pace swift, they +covered a long stretch of road in little time, and with the half light +of the morning they were close to the Hyrcanian rear-guard. [16] As soon +as the guides saw it, they told Cyrus that these were their own men: +they knew this, they added, from the number of their fires, and the fact +that they were in the rear. [17] Therefore Cyrus sent one of the guides +to them, bidding them come out at once, if they were friendly, with +their right hands raised. And he sent one of his own men also to say, +"According as you make your approach, so shall we Persians comport +ourselves." + +Thus one of the two messengers stayed with Cyrus while the other rode up +to his fellows. [18] Cyrus halted his army to watch what the tribe would +do, and Tigranes and the Median officers rode along the ranks to ask +for orders. Cyrus explained that the troops nearest to them were the +Hyrcanians, and that one of the ambassadors had gone, and a Persian with +him, to bid them come out at once, if they were friendly, with their +right hands raised. "If they do so," he added, "you must welcome them +as they come, each of you at your post, and take them by the hand and +encourage them, but if they draw sword or try to escape, you must make +an example of them: not a man of them must be left." + +Such were his orders. [19] However, as soon as the Hyrcanians heard the +message, they were overjoyed: springing to their steeds they galloped up +to Cyrus, holding out their right hands as he had bidden. Then the Medes +and Persians gave them the right hand of fellowship in return, and bade +them be of courage. [20] And Cyrus spoke: + +"Sons of the Hyrcanians, we have shown our trust in you already, and +you must trust us in return. And now tell me, how far from here do +the Assyrian headquarters lie, and their main body?" "About four miles +hence," they answered. + +[21] "Forward then, my men," said Cyrus, "Persians, Medes, and +Hyrcanians. I have learnt already, you see, to call you friends and +comrades. All of you must remember that the moment has come when, if +hand falters or heart fails, we meet with utter disaster: our enemies +know why we are here. But if we summon our strength and charge home, +you shall see them caught like a pack of runaway slaves, some on their +knees, others in full flight, and the rest unable to do even so much for +themselves. They are beaten already, and they will see their conquerors +fall on them before they dream of an approach, before their ranks are +formed or their preparations made, and the sight will paralyse them. +[22] If we wish to sleep and eat and live in peace and happiness from +this time forth, let us not give them leisure to take counsel or arrange +defence, or so much as see that we are men, and not a storm of shields +and battle-axes and flashing swords, sweeping on them in one rain of +blows. [23] You Hyrcanians must go in front of us as a screen, that we +may lie behind you as long as may be. And as soon as I close with them, +you must give me, each of you, a squadron of horse, to use in case of +need while I am waiting at the camp. [24] I would advise the older men +among you and the officers, to ride in close order, so that your ranks +should not be broken, if you come across a compact body of the foe; let +the younger men give chase, and do the killing; our safest plan to-day +is to leave as few of the enemy alive as possible. [25] And if we +conquer," he added, "we must beware of what has overset the fortune +of many a conqueror ere now, I mean the lust for plunder. The man who +plunders is no longer a man, he is a machine for porterage, and all +who list may treat him as a slave. [26] One thing we must bear in mind: +nothing can bring such gain as victory; at one clutch the victor seizes +all, men and women, and wealth, and territory. Therefore make it your +one object to secure the victory; if he is conquered, the greatest +plunderer is caught. One more word--remember, even in the heat of +pursuit to rejoin me while it is still daylight, for when darkness has +fallen we will not admit a soul within the lines." + +[27] With these words he sent them off to their appointed stations, +bidding them repeat his instructions on the way to their own +lieutenants, who were posted in front to receive the orders, and make +each of them pass down the word to his own file of ten. Thereupon the +advance began, the Hyrcanians leading off, Cyrus holding the centre +himself, marching with his Persians, and the cavalry in the usual way, +drawn up on either flank. + +[28] As the day broke the enemy saw them for the first time: some simply +stared at what was happening, others began to realise the truth, calling +and shouting to each other, unfastening their horses, getting their +goods together, tearing what they needed off the beasts of burden, and +others arming themselves, harnessing their steeds, leaping to horse, +others helping the women into their carriages, or seizing their +valuables, some caught in the act of burying them, others, and by far +the greatest number, in sheer headlong flight. Many and divers were +their shifts, as one may well conceive, save only that not one man stood +at bay: they perished without a blow. [29] Now Croesus, king of Lydia, +seeing that it was summer-time, had sent his women on during the night, +so that they might travel more pleasantly in the cool, and he himself +had followed with his cavalry to escort them. [30] The Lord of +Hellespontine Phrygia, it is said, had done the same. And these two, +when they heard what was happening from the fugitives who overtook them, +fled for their lives with the rest. [31] But it was otherwise with the +kings of Cappadocia and Arabia; they had not gone far, and they stood +their ground, but they had not even time to put on their corslets, and +were cut down by the Hyrcanians. Indeed, the mass of those who fell were +Assyrians and Arabians, for, being in their own country, they had +taken no precautions on the march. [32] The victorious Medes and the +Hyrcanians had their hands full with the chase, and meanwhile Cyrus made +the cavalry who were left with him ride all round the camp and cut down +any man who left it with weapons in his hands. Then he sent a herald to +those who remained, bidding the horsemen and targeteers and archers come +out on foot, with their weapons tied in bundles, and deliver them up to +him, leaving their horses in their stalls: he who disobeyed should lose +his head, and a cordon of Persian troops stood round with their swords +drawn. [33] At that the weapons were brought at once, and flung down, +and Cyrus had the whole pile burnt. + +[34] Meanwhile he did not forget that his own troops had come without +food or drink, that nothing could be done without provisions, and that +to obtain these in the quickest way, it was necessary on every campaign +to have some one to see that quarters were prepared and supplies ready +for the men on their return. [35] It occurred to him it was more than +likely that such officers, of all others, would be left behind in the +Assyrian camp, because they would have been delayed by the packing. + +Accordingly, he sent out a proclamation that all the stewards should +present themselves before him, and if there was no such officer left, +the oldest man in every tent must take his place; any one failing to +obey would suffer the severest penalties. The stewards, following the +example of their masters, obeyed at once. And when they came before him +he ordered those who had more than two months' rations in their quarters +to sit down on the ground, and then those who had provisions for one +month. [36] Thereupon very few were left standing. [37] Having thus got +the information he needed, he spoke to them as follows: + +"Gentlemen, if any of you dislike hard blows and desire gentle treatment +at our hands, make it your business to provide twice as much meat and +drink in every tent as you have been wont to do, with all things that +are needed for a fine repast. The victors, whoever they are, will be +here anon, and will expect an overflowing board. You may rest assured +it will not be against your interests to give them a welcome they can +approve." + +[38] At that the stewards went off at once and set to work with all zeal +to carry out their instructions. Then Cyrus summoned his own officers +and said to them: + +"My friends, it is clear that we have it in our power, now that our +allies' backs are turned, to help ourselves to breakfast, and take our +choice of the most delicate dishes and the rarest wines. But I scarcely +think this would do us so much good as to show that we study the +interest of our friends: the best of cheer will not give us half the +strength we could draw from the zeal of loyal allies whose gratitude we +had won. [39] If we forget those who are toiling for us now, pursuing +our foes, slaying them, and fighting wherever they resist, if they see +that we sit down to enjoy ourselves and devour our meal before we know +how it goes with them, I fear we shall cut a sorry figure in their eyes, +and our strength will turn to weakness through lack of friends. The true +banquet for us is to study the wants of those who have run the risk and +done the work, to see that they have all they need when they come home, +a banquet that will give us richer delight than any gorging of the +belly. [40] And remember, that even if the thought of them were not +enough to shame us from it, in no case is this a moment for gluttony +and drunkenness: the thing we set our minds to do is not yet done: +everything is full of danger still, and calls for carefulness. We have +enemies in this camp ten times more numerous than ourselves, and they +are all at large: we need both to guard against them and to guard them, +so that we may have servants to furnish us with supplies. Our cavalry +are not yet back, and we must ask ourselves where they are and whether +they mean to stay with us when they return. [41] Therefore, gentlemen, I +would say, for the present let us above all be careful to avoid the +food and drink that leads to slumber and stupefaction. [42] And there is +another matter: this camp contains vast treasures, and I am well aware +we have it in our power to pick and choose as much as we like for +ourselves out of what belongs by right to all who helped in its capture. +But it does not seem to me that grasping will be so lucrative as proving +ourselves just toward our allies, and so binding them closer. [43] I go +further: I say that we should leave the distribution of the spoil to the +Medes, the Hyrcanians, and Tigranes, and count it gain if they allot us +the smaller share, for then they will be all the more willing to stay +with us. [44] Selfishness now could only secure us riches for the +moment, while to let these vanities go in order to obtain the very fount +of wealth, that, I take it, will ensure for us and all whom we call ours +a far more enduring gain. [45] Was it not," he continued, "for this very +reason that we trained ourselves at home to master the belly and its +appetites, so that, if ever the need arose, we might turn our education +to account? And where, I ask, shall we find a nobler opportunity than +this, to show what we have learnt?" + +[46] Such were his words and Hystaspas the Persian rose to support him, +saying: + +"Truly, Cyrus, it would be a monstrous thing if we could go fasting when +we hunt, and keep from food so often and so long merely to lay some poor +beast low, worth next to nothing, maybe, and yet, when a world of wealth +is our quarry, let ourselves be baulked by one of those temptations +which flee before the noble and rule the bad. Such conduct, methinks, +would be little worthy of our race." + +[47] So Hystaspas spoke, and the rest approved him, one and all. Then +Cyrus said: + +"Come now, since we are all of one mind, each of you give me five of the +trustiest fellows in his company, and let them go the rounds, and see +how the supplies are furnished; let them praise the active servants, +and where they see neglect, chastise them more severely than their own +masters could." + +Thus they dealt with these matters. + +[C.3] But it was not long before some of the Medes returned: one set had +overtaken the waggons that had gone ahead, seized them and turned them +back, and were now driving them to the camp, laden with all that an army +could require, and others had captured the covered carriages in which +the women rode, the wives of the Assyrian grandees or their concubines, +whom they had taken with them because of their beauty. [2] Indeed, to +this day the tribes of Asia never go on a campaign without their most +precious property: they say they can fight better in the presence of +their beloved, feeling they must defend their treasures, heart and soul. +It may be so, but it may also be that the desire for pleasure is the +cause. + +[3] And when Cyrus saw the feats of arms that the Medes and the +Hyrcanians had performed, he came near reproaching himself and those +that were with him; the others, he felt, had risen with the time, had +shown their strength and won their prizes, while he and his had stayed +behind like sluggards. Indeed it was a sight to watch the victors riding +home, driving their spoil before them, pointing it out with some +display to Cyrus, and then dashing off again at once in search of more, +according to the instructions they had received. + +But though he ate out his heart with envy Cyrus was careful to set all +their booty apart; and then he summoned his own officers again, and +standing where they could all hear what he had to propose, he spoke as +follows: + +[4] "My friends, you would all agree, I take it, that if the spoils +displayed to us now were our own to keep, wealth would be showered on +every Persian in the land, and we ourselves, no doubt, through whom it +was won, would receive the most. But what I do not see is how we are +to get possession of such prizes unless we have cavalry of our own. [5] +Consider the facts," he continued, "we Persians have weapons with which, +we hope, we can rout the enemy at close quarters: but when we do rout +them, what sort of horsemen or archers or light-armed troops could ever +be caught and killed, if we can only pursue them on foot? Why should +they ever be afraid to dash up and harry us, when they know full well +that they run no greater risk at our hands than if we were stumps in +their orchards? [6] And if this be so, it is plain that the cavalry now +with us consider every gain to be as much theirs as ours, and possibly +even more, God wot! [7] At present things must be so: there is no help +for it. But suppose we were to provide ourselves with as good a force +as our friends, it must be pretty evident to all of us, I think, that we +could then deal with the enemy by ourselves precisely as we do now with +their help, and then perhaps we should find that they would carry their +heads less high. It would be of less importance to us whether they chose +to stay or go, we should be sufficient for ourselves without them. [8] +So far then I expect that no one will disagree: if we could get a body +of Persian cavalry it would make all the difference to us; but no doubt +you feel the question is, how are we to get it? Well, let us consider +first, suppose we decide to raise the force, exactly what we have to +start with and what we need. [9] We certainly have hundreds of horses +now captured in this camp, with their bridles and all their gear. +Besides these, we have all the accoutrements for a mounted force, +breast-plates to protect the trunk, and light spears to be flung or +wielded at close quarters. What else do we need? It is plain we need +men. [10] But that is just what we have already at our own command. For +nothing is so much ours as our own selves. Only, some will say, we have +not the necessary skill. No, of course not, and none of those who have +it now had it either before they learnt to get it. Ah, you object, but +they learnt when they were boys. [11] Maybe; but are boys more capable +of learning what they are taught then grown men? Which are the better at +heavy physical tasks, boys or men? [12] Besides, we, of all pupils, have +advantages that neither boys nor other men possess: we have not to be +taught the use of the bow as boys have, we are skilled in that already; +nor yet the use of the javelin, we are versed in that; our time has not +been taken up like other men's with toiling on the land or labouring at +some craft or managing household matters; we have not only had leisure +for war, it has been our life. [13] Moreover, one cannot say of riding +as of so many warlike exercises that it is useful but disagreeable. To +ride a-horseback is surely pleasanter than to trudge a-foot? And as for +speed--how pleasant to join a friend betimes whenever you wish, or +come up with your quarry be it man or beast! And then, the ease and +satisfaction of it! Whatever weapon the rider carries his horse must +help to bear the load: 'wear arms' and 'bear arms,'--they are the same +thing on horseback. [14] But now, to meet the worst we can apprehend: +suppose, before we are adepts, we are called upon to run some risk, and +then find that we are neither infantry nor thoroughgoing cavalry? This +may be a danger, but we can guard against it. We have it always in our +power to turn into infantry again at a moment's notice. I do not propose +that by learning to ride we should unlearn the arts of men on foot." + +[15] Thus spoke Cyrus, and Chrysantas rose to support him, saying: + +"For my part I cannot say I so much desire to be a horseman as flatter +myself that once I can ride I shall be a sort of flying man. [16] At +present when I race I am quiet content if, with a fair start, I can beat +one of my rivals by the head, or when I sight my game I am happy if, by +laying legs to the ground, I can get close enough to let fly javelin or +arrow before he is clean out of range. But when once I am a horseman +I shall be able to overhaul my man as far as I can see him, or come up +with the beasts I chase and knock them over myself or else spear them +as though they stood stock still, for when hunter and hunted are both +of them racing, if they are only side by side, it is as good as though +neither of them moved. [17] And the creature I have always envied," he +continued, "the centaur--if only he had the intelligence and forethought +of a man, the adroit skill and the cunning hand, with the swiftness and +strength of a horse, so as to overtake all that fled before him, and +overthrow all that resisted--why, all these powers I shall collect +and gather in my own person when once I am a rider. [18] Forethought I +intend to keep with my human wits, my hands can wield my weapons, and my +horse's legs will follow up the foe, and my horse's rush overthrow him. +Only I shall not be tied and fettered to my steed, flesh of his flesh, +and blood of his blood, like the old centaur. [19] And that I count +a great improvement on the breed, far better than being united to the +animal, body and soul. The old centaur, I imagine, must have been +for ever in difficulties; as a horse, he could not use the wonderful +inventions of man, and as a man, he could not enjoy the proper pleasures +of a horse. [20] But I, if I learn to ride, once set me astride my +horse, and I will do all that the centaur can, and yet, when I dismount, +I can dress myself as a human being, and dine, and sleep in my bed, like +the rest of my kind: in short, I shall be a jointed centaur that can be +taken to pieces and put together again. [21] And I shall gain another +point or so over the original beast: he, we know, had only two eyes to +see with and two ears to hear with, but I shall watch with four eyes and +with four ears I shall listen. You know, they tell us a horse can often +see quicker than any man, and hear a sound before his master, and give +him warning in some way. Have the goodness, therefore," he added, "to +write my name down among those who want to ride." + +[22] "And ours too," they all cried, "ours too, in heaven's name!" + +Then Cyrus spoke: "Gentlemen, since we are all so well agreed, suppose +we make it a rule that every one who receives a horse from me shall +be considered to disgrace himself if he is seen trudging afoot, be his +journey long or short?" + +[23] Thus Cyrus put the question, and one and all assented; and hence it +is that even to this day the custom is retained, and no Persian of the +gentle class would willingly be seen anywhere on foot. + +[C.4] In this debate their time was spent, and when it was past midday +the Median cavalry and the Hyrcanians came galloping home, bringing in +men and horses from the enemy, for they had spared all who surrendered +their arms. [2] As they rode up the first inquiry of Cyrus was whether +all of them were safe, and when they answered yes, he asked what they +had achieved. And they told their exploits in detail, and how bravely +they had borne themselves, magnifying it all. [3] Cyrus heard their +story through with a pleasant smile, and praised them for their work. +"I can see for myself," he said, "that you have done gallant deeds. You +seem to have grown taller and fairer and more terrible to look on than +when we saw you last." + +[4] Then he made them tell him how far they had gone, and whether they +had found the country inhabited. They said they had ridden a long way, +and that the whole country was inhabited, and full of sheep and goats +and cattle and horses, and rich in corn and every good thing. + +[5] "Then there are two matters," he said, "to which we must attend; +first we must become masters of those who own all this, and next we must +ensure that they do not run away. A well-populated country is a rich +possession, but a deserted land will soon become a desert. [6] You have +put the defenders to the sword, I know, and rightly--for that is the +only safe road to victory; but you have brought in as prisoners those +who laid down their arms. Now if we let these men go, I maintain we +should do the very best thing for ourselves. [7] We gain two points; +first, we need neither be on our guard against them nor mount guard over +them nor find them victuals (and we do not propose to starve them, I +presume), and in the next place, their release means more prisoners +to-morrow. [8] For if we dominate the country all the inhabitants are +ours, and if they see that these men are still alive and at large they +will be more disposed to stay where they are, and prefer obedience to +battle. That is my own view, but if any one sees a better course, let +him point it out." + +[9] However, all his hearers approved the plan proposed. Thus it came to +pass that Cyrus summoned the prisoners and said to them: + +[10] "Gentlemen, you owe it to your own obedience this day that your +lives are safe; and for the future if you continue in this conduct, no +evil whatsoever shall befall you; true, you will not have the same ruler +as before, but you will dwell in the same houses, you will cultivate the +same land, you will live with your wives and govern your children as you +do now. Moreover you will not have us to fight with, nor any one else. +[11] On the contrary, if any wrong is done you, it is we who will fight +on your behalf. And to prevent any one from ordering you to take the +field, you will bring your arms to us and hand them over. Those who do +this can count on peace and the faithful fulfilment of our promises; +those who will not, must expect war, and that at once. [12] Further, +if any man of you comes to us and shows a friendly spirit, giving +us information and helping us in any way, we will treat him not as a +servant, but as a friend and benefactor. This," he added, "we wish you +to understand yourselves and make known among your fellows. [13] And if +it should appear that you yourselves are willing to comply but others +hinder you, lead us against them, and you shall be their masters, not +they yours." + +Such were his words; and they made obeisance and promised to do as he +bade. + +[C.5] And when they were gone, Cyrus turned to the Medes and the men of +Armenia, and said, "It is high time, gentlemen, that we should dine, +one and all of us; food and drink are prepared for you, the best we had +skill to find. Send us, if you will, the half of the bread that has +been baked; there is ample, I know, for both of us; but do not send any +relish with it, nor any drink, we have quite enough at hand. [2] And do +you," he added, turning to the Hyrcanians, "conduct our friends to +their quarters, the officers to the largest tents--you know where they +are--and the rest where you think best. For yourselves, you may dine +where you like; your quarters are intact, and you will find everything +there prepared for you exactly as it is for the others. [3] All of you +alike must understand that during the night we Persians will guard the +camp outside, but you must keep an eye over what goes on within; and see +that your arms are ready to hand; our messmates are not our friends as +yet." + +[4] So the Medes and Tigranes with his men washed away the stains of +battle, and put on the apparel that was laid out for them, and fell to +dinner, and the horses had their provender too. They sent half the bread +to the Persians but no relish with it and no wine, thinking that Cyrus +and his men possessed a store, because he had said they had enough and +to spare. But Cyrus meant the relish of hunger, and the draught from the +running river. [5] Thus he regaled his Persians, and when the darkness +fell he sent them out by fives and tens and ordered them to lie in +ambush around the camp, so as to form a double guard, against attack +from without, and absconders from within; any one attempting to make off +with treasures would be caught in the act. And so it befell; for many +tried to escape, and all of them were seized. [6] As for the treasures, +Cyrus allowed the captors to keep them, but he had the absconders +beheaded out of hand, so that for the future a thief by night was hardly +to be found. Thus the Persians passed their time. [7] But the Medes +drank and feasted and made music and took their fill of good cheer and +all delights; there was plenty to serve their purpose, and work enough +for those who did not sleep. + +[8] Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, on the very night when Cyrus set +forth, drank himself drunk in company with the officers in his own +quarters to celebrate their good fortune. Hearing uproar all about him, +he thought that the rest of the Medes must have stayed behind in the +camp, except perhaps a few, but the fact was that their domestics, +finding the masters gone, had fallen to drinking in fine style and +were making a din to their hearts' content, the more so that they had +procured wine and dainties from the Assyrian camp. [9] But when it was +broad day and no one knocked at the palace gate except the guests +of last night's revel, and when Cyaxares heard that the camp was +deserted--the Medes gone, the cavalry gone--and when he went out and saw +for himself that it was so, then he fumed with indignation against Cyrus +and his own men, to think that they had gone off and left him in the +lurch. It is said that without more ado, savage and mad with anger as he +was, he ordered one of his staff to take his troopers and ride at once +to Cyrus and his men, and there deliver this message: + +[10] "I should never have dreamed that Cyrus could have acted towards +me with such scant respect, or, if he could have thought of it, that the +Medes could have borne to desert me in this way. And now, whether Cyrus +will or no, I command the Medes to present themselves before me without +delay." + +[11] Such was the message. But he who was to take it said, "And how +shall I find them, my lord?" + +"Why," said Cyaxares, "as Cyrus and his men found those they went to +seek." + +"I only asked," continued the messenger, "because I was told that some +Hyrcanians who had revolted from the enemy came here, and went off with +him to act as guides." + +[12] When Cyaxares heard that, he was the more enraged to think that +Cyrus had never told him, and the more urgent to have his Medes removed +from him at once, and he summoned them home under fiercer threats +than ever; threatening the officer as well if he failed to deliver the +message in full force. + +[13] So the emissary set off with his troopers, about one hundred +strong, fervently regretting that he had not gone with Cyrus himself. On +the way they took a turning which led them wrong, and they did not +reach the Persians until they had chanced upon some of the Assyrians +in retreat and forced them to be their guides, and so at last arrived, +sighting the watch-fires about midnight. [14] But though they had got to +the camp, the pickets, acting on the orders of Cyrus, would not let them +in till dawn. With the first faint gleam of morning Cyrus summoned +the Persian Priests, who are called Magians, and bade them choose the +offerings due to the gods for the blessings they had vouchsafed. [15] +And while they were about this, Cyrus called the Peers together and said +to them: + +"Gentlemen, God has put before us many blessings, but at present we +Persians are but a scant company to keep them. If we fail to guard what +we have toiled for, it will soon fall back into other hands, and if we +leave some of our number to watch our gains, it will soon be seen that +we have no strength in us. [16] I propose therefore that one of you +should go home to Persia without loss of time, and explain what I need +and bid them despatch an army forthwith, if they desire Persia to +win the empire of Asia and the fruits thereof. [17] Do you," said he, +turning to one of the Peers, "do you, who are the eldest, go and repeat +these words, and tell them that it shall be my care to provide for the +soldiers they send me as soon as they are here. And as to what we have +won--you have seen it yourself--keep nothing back, and ask my father how +much I ought to send home for an offering to the gods, if I wish to act +in honour and according to the law, and ask the magistrates how much is +due to the commonwealth. And let them send commissioners to watch all +that we do and answer all that we ask. So, sir," he ended, "you will get +your baggage together, and take your company with you as an escort. Fare +you well." + +[18] With that message he turned to the Medes and at the same moment the +messenger from Cyaxares presented himself, and in the midst of the whole +assembly announced the anger of the king against Cyrus, and his threats +against the Medes, and so bade the latter return home at once, even if +Cyrus wished them to stay. [19] The Medes listened, but were silent; for +they were sore bested; they could hardly disobey the summons, and +yet they were afraid to go back after his threats, being all too well +acquainted with the savage temper of their lord. [20] But Cyrus spoke: + +"Herald," said he, "and sons of the Medes, I am not surprised that +Cyaxares, who saw the host of the enemy so lately, and knows so little +of what we have done now, should tremble for us and for himself. But +when he learns how many have fallen, and that all have been dispersed, +his fears will vanish, and he will recognise that he is not deserted on +this day of all days when his friends are destroying his foes. [21] Can +we deserve blame for doing him a service? And that not even without his +own consent? I am acting as I am, only after having gained his leave +to take you out; it is not as though you had come to me in your own +eagerness, and begged me to let you go, and so were here now; he himself +ordered you out, those of you who did not find it a burthen. Therefore, +I feel sure, his anger will melt in the sunshine of success, and, when +his fears are gone, it will vanish too. [22] For the moment then," he +added, turning to the messenger, "you must recruit yourself; you have +had a heavy task; and for ourselves," said he, turning to the Persians, +"since we are waiting for an enemy who will either offer us battle +or render us submission, we must draw up in our finest style; the +spectacle, perhaps, will bring us more than we could dare to hope. And +do you," he said, taking the Hyrcanian chieftain aside, "after you +have told your officers to arm their men, come back and wait with me a +moment." + +[23] So the Hyrcanian went and returned. Then Cyrus said to him, "Son +of Hyrcania, it gives me pleasure to see that you show not only +friendliness, but sagacity. It is clear that our interests are the same; +the Assyrians are my foes as well as yours, only they hate you now even +more bitterly than they hate me. [24] We must consult together and see +that not one of our present allies turns his back on us, and we must do +what we can to acquire more. You heard the Mede summon the cavalry to +return, and if they go, we shall be left with nothing but infantry. [25] +This is what we must do, you and I; we must make this messenger, who is +sent to recall them, desirous to stay here himself. You must find him +quarters where he will have a merry time and everything heart can wish, +and I will offer him work which he will like far better than going back. +And do you talk to him yourself, and dilate on all the wonders we expect +for our friends if things go well. And when you have done this, come +back again and tell me." + +[26] So the chieftain took the Mede away to his own quarters, and +meanwhile the messenger from Persia presented himself equipped for the +journey, and Cyrus bade him tell the Persians all that had happened, +as it has been set out in this story, and then he gave him a letter to +Cyaxares. "I would like to read you the very words," he added, "so that +what you say yourself may agree with it, in case you have questions +asked you." + +[27] The letter ran as follows:--"Cyrus to Cyaxares, greeting. We do not +admit that we have deserted you; for no one is deserted when he is being +made the master of his enemies. Nor do we consider that we put you in +jeopardy by our departure; on the contrary, the greater the distance +between us the greater the security we claim to have won for you. [28] +It is not the friend at a man's elbow who serves him and puts him out of +danger, but he who drives his enemies farthest and furthest away. [29] +And I pray you to remember what I have done for you, and you for me, +before you blame me. I brought you allies, not limiting myself to those +you asked for, but pressing in every man that I could find; you allowed +me while we were on friendly soil only to take those whom I could +persuade to follow me, and now that I am in hostile territory you insist +that they must all return; you do not leave it to their own choice. [30] +Yesterday I felt that I owed both you and them a debt of gratitude, +but to-day you drive me to forget your share, you make me wish to repay +those, and those only, who followed me. [31] Not that I could bring +myself to return you like for like; even now I am sending to Persia for +more troops, and instructing all the men who come that, if you need them +before we return, they must hold themselves at your service absolutely, +to act not as they wish, but as you may care to use them. [32] In +conclusion, I would advise you, though I am younger than yourself, not +to take back with one hand what you give with the other, or else you +will win hatred instead of gratitude; nor to use threats if you wish +men to come to you speedily; nor to speak of being deserted when you +threaten an army, unless you would teach them to despise you. [33] +For ourselves, we will do our best to rejoin you as soon as we have +concluded certain matters which we believe will prove a common blessing +to yourself and us. Farewell." + +[34] "Deliver this," said Cyrus, "to Cyaxares, and whatever questions he +puts to you, answer in accordance with it. My injunctions to you about +the Persians agree exactly with what is written here." With that he gave +him the letter and sent him off, bidding him remember that speed was of +importance. + +[35] Then he turned to review his troops, who were already fully armed, +Medes, Hyrcanians, the men Tigranes had brought, and the whole body of +the Persians. And already some of the neighbouring folk were coming up, +to bring in their horses or hand over their arms. [36] The javelins +were then piled in a heap as before and burnt at his command, after his +troops had taken what they needed for themselves, but he bade the owners +stay with their horses until they received fresh orders. This done, +Cyrus called together the officers of the Hyrcanians and of the cavalry, +and spoke as follows: + +[37] "My friends and allies, you must not be surprised that I summon +you so often. Our circumstances are so novel that much still needs +adjustment, and we must expect difficulty until everything has found +its place. [38] At present we have a mass of spoil, and prisoners set to +guard it. But we do not ourselves know what belongs to each of us, nor +could the guards say who the owners are: and thus it is impossible for +them to be exact in their duties, since scarcely any of them know what +these duties may be. [39] To amend this, you must divide the spoil. +There will be no difficulty where a man has won a tent that is fully +supplied with meat and drink, and servants to boot, bedding, apparel, +and everything to make it a comfortable home; he has only to understand +that this is now his private property, and he must look after it +himself. But where the quarters are not furnished so well, there you +must make it your business to supply what is lacking. [40] There will be +more than enough for this; of that I am sure; the enemy had a stock +of everything quite out of proportion to our scanty numbers. Moreover, +certain treasurers have come to me, men who were in the service of the +king of Assyria and other potentates, and according to what they tell +me, they have a supply of gold coin, the produce of certain tributes +they can name. [41] You will send out a proclamation that this deposit +must be delivered up to you in your quarters; you must terrify those who +fail to execute the order, and then you must distribute the money; the +mounted men should have two shares apiece for the foot-soldier's one; +and you should keep the surplus, so that in case of need you may have +wherewith to make your purchases. [42] With regard to the camp-market, +proclamation must be made at once, forbidding any injustice; the +hucksters must be allowed to sell the goods they have brought, and when +these are disposed of they may bring more, so that the camp may be duly +supplied." + +[43] So the proclamations were issued forthwith. But the Medes and the +Hyrcanians asked Cyrus: + +"How are we to distribute the spoil alone, without your men and +yourself?" + +[44] But Cyrus met question by question: "Do you really think, +gentlemen, that we must all preside over every detail, each and all of +us together? Can I never act for you, and you for me? I could scarcely +conceive a surer way of creating trouble, or of reducing results. See," +said he, "I will take a case in point. [45] We Persians guarded this +booty for you, and you believe that we guarded it well: now it is for +you to distribute it, and we will trust you to be fair. [46] And there +is another benefit that I should be glad to obtain for us all. You see +what a number of horses we have got already, and more are being brought +in. If they are left riderless we shall get no profit out of them; we +shall only have the burden of looking after them. But if we set riders +on them, we shall be quit of the trouble and add to our strength. [47] +Now if you have other men in view, men whom you would choose before us +to share the brunt of danger with you, by all means give these horses +to them. But if you would rather have us fight at your side than any +others, bestow them upon us. [48] To-day when you dashed ahead to meet +danger all alone, great was our fear lest you might come to harm, and +bitter our shame to think that where you were we were not. But if once +we have horses, we can follow at your heels. [49] And if it is clear +that we do more good so mounted, shoulder to shoulder with yourselves, +we shall not fail in zeal; or if it appears better to support you on +foot, why, to dismount is but the work of a moment, and you will have +your infantry marching by your side at once, and we will find men to +hold our horses for us." + +[50] To which they answered: + +"In truth, Cyrus, we have not men for these horses ourselves, and even +if we had them, we should not do anything against your wish. Take them, +we beg you, and use them as you think best." + +[51] "I will," said he, "and gladly, and may good fortune bless us all, +you in your division of the spoil and us in our horsemanship. In the +first place," he added, "you will set apart for the gods whatever our +priests prescribe, and after that you must select for Cyaxares what you +think will please him most." + +[52] At that they laughed, and said they must choose him a bevy of fair +women. "So let it be," said Cyrus, "fair women, and anything else you +please. And when you have chosen his share, the Hyrcanians must see to +it that our friends among the Medes who followed us of their own free +will shall have no cause to find fault with their own portion. [53] And +the Medes on their side must show honour to the first allies we have +won, and make them feel their decision was wise when they chose us +for their friends. And be sure to give a share of everything to the +messenger who came from Cyaxares and to his retinue; persuade him +to stay on with us, say that I would like it, and that he could tell +Cyaxares all the better how matters stood. [54] As for my Persians," he +added, "we shall be quite content with what is left over, after you are +all provided for; we are not used to luxury, we were brought up in a +very simple fashion, and I think you would laugh at us if you saw us +tricked out in grand attire, just as I am sure you will when you see us +seated on our horses, or, rather, rolling off them." + +[55] So they dispersed to make the distribution, in great mirth over the +thought of the riding; and then Cyrus called his own officers and bade +them take the horses and their gear, and the grooms with them, number +them all, and then distribute them by lot in equal shares for each +division. [56] Finally he sent out another proclamation, saying that if +there was any slave among the Syrians, Assyrians, or Arabians who was +a Mede, a Persian, a Bactrian, a Carian, a Cilician, or a Hellene, or a +member of any other nation, and who had been forcibly enrolled, he +was to come forward and declare himself. [57] And when they heard the +herald, many came forward gladly, and out of their number Cyrus selected +the strongest and fairest, and told them they were now free, and would +be required to bear arms, with which he would furnish them, and as to +necessaries, he would see himself that they were not stinted. [58] With +that he brought them to the officers and had them enrolled forthwith, +saying they were to be armed with shields and light swords, so as to +follow the troopers, and were to receive supplies exactly as if they +were his own Persians. The Persian officers themselves, wearing corslets +and carrying lances, were for the future to appear on horseback, he +himself setting the example, and each one was to appoint another of the +Peers to lead the infantry for him. + +[C.6] While they were concerned with these matters, an old Assyrian +prince, Gobryas by name, presented himself before Cyrus, mounted on +horseback and with a mounted retinue behind him, all of them armed as +cavalry. The Persian officers who were appointed to receive the weapons +bade them hand over their lances and have them burnt with the rest, but +Gobryas said he wished to see Cyrus first. At that the adjutants led him +in, but they made his escort stay where they were. [2] When the old man +came before Cyrus, he addressed him at once, saying: + +"My lord, I am an Assyrian by birth; I have a strong fortress in my +territory, and I rule over a wide domain; I have cavalry at my command, +two thousand three hundred of them, all of which I offered to the king +of Assyria; and if ever he had a friend, that friend was I. But he +has fallen at your hands, the gallant heart, and his son, who is my +bitterest foe, reigns in his stead. Therefore I have come to you, a +suppliant at your feet. I am ready to be your slave and your ally, and +I implore you to be my avenger. You yourself will be a son to me, for +I have no male children now. [3] He whom I had, my only son, he was +beautiful and brave, my lord, and loved me and honoured me as a father +rejoices to be loved. And this vile king--his father, my old master, had +sent for my son, meaning to give him his own daughter in marriage; and +I let my boy go, with high hopes and a proud heart, thinking that when +I saw him again the king's daughter would be his bride. And the prince, +who is now king, invited him to the chase, and bade him do his best, +for he thought himself far the finer horseman of the two. So they hunted +together, side by side, as though they were friends, and suddenly a bear +appeared, and the two of them gave chase, and the king's son let fly his +javelin, but alas! he missed his aim, and then my son threw--oh, that he +never had!--and laid the creature low. [4] The prince was stung to the +quick, though for the moment he kept his rancour hidden. But, soon after +that, they roused a lion, and then he missed a second time--no unusual +thing for him, I imagine--but my son's spear went home, and he brought +the beast down, and cried, 'See, I have shot but twice, and killed +each time!' And at this the monster could not contain his jealousy; he +snatched a spear from one of his followers and ran my son through the +body, my only son, my darling, and took his life. [5] And I, unhappy +that I am, I, who thought to welcome a bride-groom, carried home a +corpse. I, who am old, buried my boy with the first down on his chin, my +brave boy, my well-beloved. And his assassin acted as though it were an +enemy that he had done to death. He never showed one sign of remorse, he +never paid one tribute of honour to the dead, in atonement for his cruel +deed. Yet his own father pitied me, and showed that he could share the +burden of my grief. [6] Had he lived, my old master, I would never have +come to you to do him harm; many a kindness have I received from +him, and many a service have I done him. But now that his kingdom has +descended to my boy's murderer--I could never be loyal to that man, and +he, I know, could never regard me as a friend. He knows too well how I +feel towards him, and how, after my former splendour, I pass my days in +mourning, growing old in loneliness and grief. [7] If you can receive +me, if you can give me some hope of vengeance for my dear son, I think +I should grow young again, I should not feel ashamed to live, and when I +came to die I should not die in utter wretchedness." + +[8] So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: + +"Gobryas, if your heart be set towards us as you say, I receive you as +my suppliant, and I promise, God helping me, to avenge your son. But +tell me," he added, "if we do this for you, and if we suffer you to keep +your stronghold, your land, your arms, and the power which you had, how +will you serve us in return?" + +[9] And the old man answered: + +"My stronghold shall be yours, to live in as often as you come to me; +the tribute which I used to pay to Assyria shall be paid to you; and +whenever you march out to war, I will march at your side with the men +from my own land. Moreover, I have a daughter, a well-beloved maiden, +ripe for marriage; once I thought of bringing her up to be the bride of +the man who is now king; but she besought me herself, with tears, not +to give her to her brother's murderer, and I have no mind to oppose her. +And now I will put her in your hands, to deal with as I shall deal with +you." + +[10] So it came to pass that Cyrus said, "On the faith that you have +spoken truly and with true intent, I take your hand and I give you mine; +let the gods be witness." + +And when this was done, Cyrus bade the old man depart in peace, without +surrendering his arms, and then he asked him how far away he lived, +"Since," said he, "I am minded to visit you." And Gobryas answered, "If +you set off early to-morrow, the next day you may lodge with us." [11] +With that he took his own departure, leaving a guide for Cyrus. + +Then the Medes presented themselves; they had set apart for the gods +what the Persian Priests thought right, and had left it in their hands, +and they had chosen for Cyrus the finest of all the tents, and a lady +from Susa, of whom the story says that in all Asia there was never a +woman so fair as she, and two singing-girls with her, the most skilful +among the musicians. The second choice was for Cyaxares, and for +themselves they had taken their fill of all they could need on the +campaign, since there was abundance of everything. [12] The Hyrcanians +had all they wanted too, and they made the messenger from Cyaxares share +and share alike with them. The tents which were left over they delivered +to Cyrus for his Persians; and the coined money they said should be +divided as soon as it was all collected, and divided it was. + + + NOTES + +C1.10. Two theories of hedonism: (1) Cyaxares' "Economise the greatest +joy when you have got it," and by contrast (2) Cyrus' roaming from joy +to joy. + +C1.22. Xenophon the Artist: the "kinsman" of Cyrus again, and the light +by-play to enliven the severe history. The economic organising genius of +Cyrus is also brought out. + +C2.25. No looting, an order of the Duke of Wellington, Napier, Wolseley. + +C2.32. Cf. modern times; humane orders, but strict. + +C2.34. The question of commissariat. Would a modern force storm a camp +without taking rations? I dare say they would. + +C2.37. Notice the tone he adopts to these slaves; no bullying, but +appealing to appetite and lower motives. This is doubtless Xenophontine +and Hellenic. + +C2.38. Important as illustrating the stern Spartan self-denial of +the man and his followers. There is a hedonistic test, but the higher +hedonism prevails against the lower: ignoble and impolitic to sit here +feasting while they are fighting, and we don't even know how it fares +with them, our allies. The style rises and is at times Pauline. St. +Paul, of course, is moving on a higher spiritual plane, but still-- + +C2.45, fin. The Education of Cyrus, Cyropaedia, {Keroupaideia}; the name +justified. + +C2.46. Hystaspas' simple response: important, with other passages, to +show how naturally it came to them (i.e. the Hellenes and Xenophon) +to give a spiritual application to their rules of bodily and mental +training. These things to them are an allegory. The goal is lofty, if +not so sublime as St. Paul's or Comte's, the Christians or Positivists +(there has been an alteration for the better in the spiritual plane, and +Socrates helped to bring it about, I believe), but _ceteris paribus_, +the words of St. Paul are the words of Hystaspas and Xenophon. They for +a corruptible crown, and we for an incorruptible--and one might find a +still happier parable! + +C2.46. Fine sentiment, this _noblesse oblige_ (cf. the archangelic +dignity in Milton, _Paradise Lost_, I think). + +C2.47. The aristocratic theory (cf. modern English "nigger" theory, +Anglo-Indian, etc.). + +C3.3. Xenophon's dramatic skill. We are made to feel the touch of +something galling in the manner of these Median and Hyrcanian troopers. + +C3.4. A 'cute beginning rhetorically, because in the most graceful +way possible, and without egotism _versus_ Medes and Hyrcanians, it +postulates the Persian superiority, moral, as against the accidental +inferiority of the moment caused by want of cavalry and the dependence +on others which that involves. I suppose it's no reflection on Cyrus' +military acumen not to foreseen this need. It would have been premature +then, now it organically grows; and there's no great crisis to pass +through. + +C3.11. I should have thought this was a dangerous argument; obviously +boys do learn better than men certain things. + +C3.12. Short sharp snap of argumentative style. + +C3.19. The antithetic balance and word-jingle, with an exquisite, +puristic, precise, and delicate lisp, as of one tasting the flavour of +his words throughout. + +C3.23. I think one sees how Xenophon built up his ideal structure on a +basis of actual living facts. The actual diverts the creator of Cyrus +from the ideal at times, as here. It is a slight declension in the +character of Cyrus to lay down this law, "equestrian once, equestrian +always." Xenophon has to account for the actual Persian horror of +pedestrianism: Cyrus himself can dismount, and so can the Persian nobles +with Cyrus the Younger, but still the rule is "never be seen walking;" +and without the concluding paragraph the dramatic narrative that +precedes would seem a little bit unfinished and pointless: with the +explanation it floats, and we forgive "the archic man" his partiality to +equestrianism, as later on we have to forgive him his Median get-up and +artificiality generally, which again is contrary to the Xenophontine and +the ideal Spartan spirit. + +C4. Xenophon has this theory of mankind: some are fit to rule, the +rest to be ruled. It is parallel to the Hellenic slavery theory. Some +moderns, e.g. Carlyle (Ruskin perhaps) inherit it, and in lieu of +Hellenic slavery we have a good many caste-distinction crotchets still +left. + +C4.13, fin. The first salaam, ominous of the advent of imperialism; the +sun's rim visible, and a ray shot up to the zenith. + +C5. Here the question forces itself in the midst of all this "ironic" +waiting on the part of the Persians in Spartan durance for a future +apotheosis of splendour and luxuriance,--what is the moral? "Hunger +now and thirst, for ye shall be filled"--is that it? Well, anyhow it's +parallel to the modern popular Christianity, reward-in-heaven theory, +only on a less high level, but exactly the same logicality. + +C5.6. A point, this reward to the catcher, and this rigid _couvrefeu_ +habit (cf. modern military law). + +C5.8. A dramatic contrast, the Median Cyaxares who follows Pleasure, +and the Persian Cyrus who follows Valour, _vide_ Heracles' choice +[_Memorabilia_, II. i. 21]. This allegorising tendency is engrained in +Xenophon: it is his view of life; one of the best things he got from +Socrates, no doubt. Later (Sec. 12) the "ironic" suicidal self-assertion of +Cyaxares is contrasted with the health-giving victorious self-repression +of Cyrus. + +C5.9-10. Xenophon can depict character splendidly: this is the crapulous +{orge} of the somewhat "hybristic" nature, seeing how the land lies, +_siccis luminibus_, the day after the premature revel. Theophrastus +couldn't better have depicted the irascible man. These earliest +portraits of character are, according to Xenophon's genius, all sketched +in the concrete, as it were. The character is not philosophised and then +illustrated by concrete instances after the manner of Theophrastus, +but we see the man moving before us and are made aware of his nature at +once. + +C5.17. {kalos ka nomimos}, "in all honour, and according to the +law," almost a Xenophontine motto, and important in reference to the +"questionable" conduct on his part in exile--"questionable" from a +modern rather than an "antique" standard. [The chief reference is to +Xenophon's presence on the Spartan side at the battle of Coronea against +his native city of Athens. See _Sketch_, Works, Vol. I. pp. cxxiii. ff.] + +C5.20. The "archic man" does not recognise the littleness of soul of +the inferior nature, he winks at it, and so disarms at once and triumphs +over savagery, and this not through cunning and pride, but a kind of +godlike imperturbable sympathy, as of a fearless man with a savage +hound. Still there is a good dash of diplomacy. + +C5.21, fin. Pretty sentence. Xenophon's words: some of these are +prettily-sounding words, some are rare and choice and exquisite, some +are charged with feeling, you can't touch them with your finger-tips +without feeling an "affective" thrill. That is in part the _goeteia_, +the witchery, of his style. + +C5.30-31. A brilliant stroke of diplomacy worthy of the archic man. This +{arkinoia} of the Hellene is the necessary sharp shrewdness of a brain, +which, however "affectively" developed, is at bottom highly organised +intellectually. H. S.[*] has it, all 'cute people and nations have it, +the Americans, e.g.--every proposition must, however else it presents +itself, be apprehended in its logical bearings: the result may be +logically damaging to the supporter of it, but does not necessarily +banish an affective sympathetic attitude on the part of the common-sense +antagonist, who is not bound, in other words, to be a sharp practitioner +because he sees clearly. Affection is the inspirer, intellect the +up-and-doing agent of the soul. The Hellenes and all 'cute people put +the agent to the fore in action, but if besides being 'cute they +are affective, the operations of the agent will be confined within +prescribed limits. + +[* "H. S." = Henry Sidgwick, the philosopher, author of _Methods of +Ethics_, etc., a life-long friend of Mr. Dakyns.] + +C5.32. This is almost pummelling, but it's fair: it's rather, "See, I +have you now in Chancery, I could pummel if I would." + +C5.37. These constant masters' meetings! + +C5.38 ff. The mind of Xenophon: guiding principles, rule of Health, rule +of Forethought. Religious trust in the divine, and for things beyond +man's control; orderly masterly working out of problems within his +power. Economic, diplomatic, anchinoetic, archic manhood. Moral theory, +higher hedonism. + +C5.45. The archic man trusts human nature: this appeal to their good +faith is irresistible. The archic is also the diplomatic method. + +C5.54. N.B.--Rhetorical artifice of winding-up a speech with a joke. +This is the popular orator. Xenophon the prototype himself perhaps. + +C6.3. Is this by chance a situation in Elizabethan or other drama? It's +tragic enough for anything. + +C6.4. Admirable colloquial style: "well done, me!" + +C6.6, fin. Beautifully-sounding sentence [in the Greek]. Like harp or +viol with its dying mournful note. + +C6.8. A new tributary for the archic man, and a foothold in the enemy's +country. + +C6.9, fin. As to this daughter, _vide infra_. Who do you think will win +her? We like her much already. + +C6.11. The first flutings of this tale. The lady of Susa, +quasi-historic, or wholly imaginative, or mixed? + + + + +BOOK V + +[C.1] Such were the deeds they did and such the words they spoke. +Then Cyrus bade them set a guard over the share chosen for Cyaxares, +selecting those whom he knew were most attached to their lord, "And what +you have given me," he added, "I accept with pleasure, but I hold it at +the service of those among you who would enjoy it the most." + +At that one of the Medes who was passionately fond of music said, "In +truth, Cyrus, yesterday evening I listened to the singing-girls who are +yours to-day, and if you could give me one of them, I would far rather +be serving on this campaign than sitting at home." + +And Cyrus said, "Most gladly I will give her; she is yours. And I +believe I am more grateful to you for asking than you can be to me for +giving; I am so thirsty to gratify you all." + +So this suitor carried off his prize. [2] And then Cyrus called to his +side Araspas the Mede, who had been his comrade in boyhood. It was he +to whom Cyrus gave the Median cloak he was wearing when he went back to +Persia from his grandfather's court. Now he summoned him, and asked him +to take care of the tent and the lady from Susa. [3] She was the wife of +Abradatas, a Susian, and when the Assyrian army was captured it happened +that her husband was away: his master had sent him on an embassy to +Bactria to conclude an alliance there, for he was the friend and host of +the Bactrian king. And now Cyrus asked Araspas to guard the captive +lady until her husband could take her back himself. [4] To that Araspas +replied, "Have you seen the lady whom you bid me guard?" + +"No, indeed," said Cyrus, "certainly I have not." + +"But I have," rejoined the other, "I saw here when we chose her for you. +When we came into the tent, we did not make her out at first, for she +was seated on the ground with all her maidens round her, and she was +clad in the same attire as her slaves, but when we looked at them all +to discover the mistress, we soon saw that one outshone the others, +although she was veiled and kept her eyes on the ground. [5] And when we +bade her rise, all her women rose with her, and then we saw that she was +marked out from them all by her height, and her noble bearing, and her +grace, and the beauty that shone through her mean apparel. And, under +her veil, we could see the big tear-drops trickling down her garments to +her feet. [6] At that sight the eldest of us said, 'Take comfort, lady, +we know that your husband was beautiful and brave, but we have chosen +you a man to-day who is no whit inferior to him in face or form or mind +or power; Cyrus, we believe, is more to be admired than any soul on +earth, and you shall be his from this day forward.' But when the lady +heard that, she rent the veil that covered her head and gave a pitiful +cry, while her maidens lifted up their voice and wept with their +mistress. [7] And thus we could see her face, and her neck, and her +arms, and I tell you, Cyrus," he added, "I myself, and all who looked +on her, felt that there never was, and never had been, in broad Asia +a mortal woman half so fair as she. Nay, but you must see her for +yourself." + +[8] "Say, rather, I must not," answered Cyrus, "if she be such as you +describe." + +"And why not?" asked the young man. + +"Because," said he, "if the mere report of her beauty could persuade me +to go and gaze on her to-day, when I have not a moment to spare, I fear +she would win me back again and perhaps I should neglect all I have to +do, and sit and gaze at her for ever." + +[9] At that the young man laughed outright and said: + +"So you think, Cyrus, that the beauty of any human creature can compel +a man to do wrong against his will? Surely if that were the nature of +beauty, all men would feel its force alike. [10] See how fire burns +all men equally; it is the nature of it so to do; but these flowers of +beauty, one man loves them, and another loves them not, nor does every +man love the same. For love is voluntary, and each man loves what he +chooses to love. The brother is not enamoured of his own sister, nor the +father of his own daughter; some other man must be the lover. Reverence +and law are strong enough to break the heart of passion. [11] But if a +law were passed saying, 'Eat not, and thou shalt not starve; Drink not, +and thou shalt not thirst; Let not cold bite thee in winter nor heat +inflame thee in summer,' I say there is no law that could compel us to +obey; for it is our nature to be swayed by these forces. But love is +voluntary; each man loves to himself alone, and according as he chooses, +just as he chooses his cloak or his sandals." + +[12] "Then," said Cyrus, "if love be voluntary, why cannot a man cease +to love when he wishes? I have seen men in love," said he, "who have +wept for very agony, who were the very slaves of those they loved, +though before the fever took them they thought slavery the worst of +evils. I have seen them make gifts of what they ill could spare, I have +seen them praying, yes, praying, to be rid of their passion, as though +it were any other malady, and yet unable to shake it off; they were +bound hand and foot by a chain of something stronger than iron. There +they stood at the beck and call of their idols, and that without rhyme +or reason; and yet, poor slaves, they make no attempt to run away, in +spite of all they suffer; on the contrary, they mount guard over their +tyrants, for fear these should escape." + +[13] But the young man spoke in answer: "True," he said, "there are such +men, but they are worthless scamps, and that is why, though they are +always praying to die and be put out of their misery and though ten +thousand avenues lie open by which to escape from life, they never +take one of them. These are the very men who are prepared to steal and +purloin the goods of others, and yet you know yourself, when they do it, +you are the first to say stealing is not done under compulsion, and you +blame the thief and the robber; you do not pity him, you punish him. +[14] In the same way, beautiful creatures do not compel others to +love them or pursue them when it is wrong, but these good-for-nothing +scoundrels have no self-control, and then they lay the blame on love. +But the nobler type of man, the true gentleman, beautiful and brave, +though he desire gold and splendid horses and lovely women, can still +abstain from each and all alike, and lay no finger on them against the +law of honour. [15] Take my own case," he added, "I have seen this lady +myself, and passing fair I found her, and yet here I stand before you, +and am still your trooper and can still perform my duty." + +[16] "I do not deny it," said Cyrus; "probably you came away in time. +Love takes a little while to seize and carry off his victim. A man may +touch fire for a moment and not be burnt; a log will not kindle all at +once; and yet for all that, I am not disposed to play with fire or look +on beauty. You yourself, my friend, if you will follow my advice, will +not let your own eyes linger there too long; burning fuel will only burn +those who touch it, but beauty can fire the beholder from afar, until he +is all aflame with love." + +[17] "Oh, fear me not, Cyrus," answered he; "if I looked till the end of +time I could not be made to do what ill befits a man." + +"A fair answer," said Cyrus. "Guard her then, as I bid you, and be +careful of her. This lady may be of service to us all one day." + +[18] With these words they parted. But afterwards, after the young man +saw from day to day how marvellously fair the woman was, and how noble +and gracious in herself, after he took care of her, and fancied that she +was not insensible to what he did, after she set herself, through her +attendants, to care for his wants and see that all things were ready for +him when he came in, and that he should lack for nothing if ever he were +sick, after all this, love entered his heart and took possession, and it +may be there was nothing surprising in his fate. So at least it was. + +[19] Meanwhile Cyrus, who was anxious that the Medes and the allies +should stay with him of their own free choice, called a meeting of their +leading men, and when they were come together he spoke as follows: + +[20] "Sons of the Medes and gentlemen all, I am well aware it was not +from need of money that you went out with me, nor yet in order to serve +Cyaxares; you came for my sake. You marched with me by night, you ran +into danger at my side, simply to do me honour. [21] Unless I were a +miscreant, I could not but be grateful for such kindness. But I must +confess that at present I lack the ability to make a fit requital. This +I am not ashamed to tell you, but I would feel ashamed to add, 'If you +will stay with me, I will be sure to repay you,' for that would look +as though I spoke to bribe you into remaining. Therefore I will not say +that; I will say instead, 'Even if you listen to Cyaxares and go back +to-day, I will still act so that you shall praise me, I will not forget +you in the day of my good fortune.' [22] For myself, I will never go +back; I cannot, for I must confirm my oath to the Hyrcanians and the +pledge I gave them; they are my friends and I shall never be found a +traitor to them. Moreover, I am bound to Gobryas, who has offered us the +use of his castle, his territory, and his power; and I would not have +him repent that he came to me. [23] Last of all, and more than all, when +the great gods have showered such blessings on us, I fear them and I +reverence them too much to turn my back on all they have given us. This, +then, is what I myself must do; it is for you to decide as you think +best, and you will acquaint me with your decision." + +[24] So he spoke, and the first to answer was the Mede who had claimed +kinship with Cyrus in the old days. + +"Listen to me," he said, "O king! For king I take you to be by right of +nature; even as the king of the hive among the bees, whom all the bees +obey and take for their leader of their own free will; where he stays +they stay also, not one of them departs, and where he goes, not one of +them fails to follow; so deep a desire is in them to be ruled by him. +[25] Even thus, I believe, do our men feel towards you. Do you remember +the day you left us to go home to Persia? Was there one of us, young or +old, who did not follow you until Astyages turned us back? And later, +when you returned to bring us aid, did we not see for ourselves how your +friends poured after you? And again, when you had set your heart on this +expedition, we know that the Medes flocked to your standard with one +consent. [26] To-day we have learnt to feel that even in an enemy's +country we may be of good heart if you are with us, but, without you, +we should be afraid even to return to our homes. The rest may speak for +themselves, and tell you how they will act, but for myself, Cyrus, and +for those under me, I say we will stand by you; we shall not grow weary +of gazing at you, and we will continue to endure your benefits." + +[27] Thereupon Tigranes spoke: + +"Do not wonder, Cyrus, if I am silent now. The soul within me is ready, +not to offer counsel, but to do your bidding." [28] And the Hyrcanian +chieftain said, "For my part, if you Medes turn back to-day I shall say +it was the work of some evil genius, who could not brook the fulfilment +of your happiness. For no human heart could think of retiring when the +foe is in flight, refusing to receive his sword when he surrenders it, +rejecting him when he offers himself and all that he calls his own; +above all, when we have a prince of men for our leader, one who, I +swear it by the holy gods, takes delight to do us service, not to enrich +himself." + +[29] Thereupon the Medes cried with one consent: + +"It was you, Cyrus, who led us out, and it is you who must lead us home +again, when the right moment comes." + +And when Cyrus heard that, he prayed aloud: + +"O most mighty Zeus, I supplicate thee, suffer me to outdo these friends +of mine in courtesy and kindly dealing." + +[30] Upon that he gave his orders. The rest of the army were to place +their outposts and see to their own concerns, while the Persians took +the tents allotted to them, and divided them among their cavalry and +infantry, to suit the needs of either arm. Then they arranged for the +stewards to wait on them in future, bring them all they needed, and keep +their horses groomed, so that they themselves might be free for the work +of war. Thus they spent that day. + +[C.2] But on the morrow they set out for their march to Gobryas. Cyrus +rode on horseback at the head of his new Persian cavalry, two thousand +strong, with as many more behind them, carrying their shields and +swords, and the rest of the army followed in due order. The cavalry were +told to make their new attendants understand that they would be punished +if they were caught falling behind the rear-guard, or riding in advance +of the column, or straggling on either flank. [2] Towards evening of the +second day the army found themselves before the castle of Gobryas, and +they saw that the place was exceedingly strong and that all preparations +had been made for the stoutest possible defence. They noticed also that +great herds of cattle and endless flocks of sheep and goats had been +driven up under the shelter of the castle walls. [3] Then Gobryas +sent word to Cyrus, bidding him ride round and see where the place was +easiest of approach, and meanwhile send his trustiest Persians to enter +the fortress and bring him word what they found within. [4] Cyrus, who +really wished to see if the citadel admitted of attack in case Gobryas +proved false, rode all round the walls, and found they were too strong +at every point. Presently the messengers who had gone in brought back +word that there were supplies enough to last a whole generation and +still not fail the garrison. [5] While Cyrus was wondering what this +could mean, Gobryas himself came out, and all his men behind him, +carrying wine and corn and barley, and driving oxen and goats and +swine, enough to feast the entire host. [6] And his stewards fell to +distributing the stores at once, and serving up a banquet. Then Gobryas +invited Cyrus to enter the castle now that all the garrison had left it, +using every precaution he might think wise; and Cyrus took him at his +word, and sent in scouts and a strong detachment before he entered the +palace himself. Once within, he had the gates thrown open and sent for +all his own friends and officers. [7] And when they joined him, Gobryas +had beakers of gold brought out, and pitchers, and goblets, and costly +ornaments, and golden coins without end, and all manner of beautiful +things, and last of all he sent for his own daughter, tall and fair, +a marvel of beauty and stateliness, still wearing mourning for her +brother. And her father said to Cyrus, "All these riches I bestow on +you for a gift, and I put my daughter in your hands, to deal with as you +think best. We are your suppliants; I but three days gone for my son, +and she this day for her brother; we beseech you to avenge him." + +[8] And Cyrus made answer: + +"I gave you my promise before that if you kept faith with me I would +avenge you, so far as in me lay, and to-day I see the debt is due, and +the promise I made to you I repeat to your daughter; God helping me, I +will perform it. As for these costly gifts," he added, "I accept them, +and I give them for a dowry to your daughter, and to him who may win her +hand in marriage. One gift only I will take with me when I go, but +that is a thing so precious that if I changed it for all the wealth of +Babylon or the whole world itself I could not go on my way with half so +blithe a heart." + +[9] And Gobryas wondered what this rare thing could be, half suspecting +it might be his daughter. "What is it, my lord?" said he. And Cyrus +answered, "I will tell you. A man may hate injustice and impiety +and lies, but if no one offers him vast wealth or unbridled power or +impregnable fortresses or lovely children, he dies before he can show +what manner of man he is. [10] But you have placed everything in my +hands to-day, this mighty fortress, treasures of every kind, your own +power, and a daughter most worthy to be won. And thus you have shown +all men that I could not sin against my friend and my host, nor act +unrighteously for the sake of wealth, nor break my plighted word of my +own free will. [11] This is your gift, and, so long as I am a just man +and known to be such, receiving the praise of my fellow-men, I will +never forget it; I will strive to repay you with every honour I can +give. [12] Doubt not," he added, "but that you will find a husband +worthy of your daughter. I have many a good man and true among my +friends, and one of them will win her hand; but I could not say whether +he will have less wealth, or more, than what you offer me. Only of one +thing you may be certain; there are those among them who will not admire +you one whit the more because of the splendour of your gifts; they will +only envy me and supplicate the gods that one day it will be given to +them to show that they too are loyal to their friends, that they too +will never yield to their foes while life is in them, unless some god +strike them down; that they too would never sacrifice virtue and fair +renown for all the wealth you proffer and all the treasure of Syria and +Assyria to boot. Such is the nature, believe me, of some who are seated +here." + +[13] And Gobryas smiled. "By heaven, I wish you would point them out to +me, and I would beg you to give me one of them to be my son-in-law." And +Cyrus said, "You will not need to learn their names from me; follow us, +and you will be able to point them out yourself." + +[14] With these words he rose, clasped the hand of Gobryas, and went +out, all his men behind him. And though Gobryas pressed him to stay and +sup in the citadel, he would not, but took his supper in the camp and +constrained Gobryas to take his meal with them. [15] And there, lying on +a couch of leaves, he put this question to him, 'Tell me, Gobryas, who +has the largest store of coverlets, yourself, or each of us?" And the +Assyrian answered, "You, I know, have more than I, more coverlets, more +couches, and a far larger dwelling-place, for your home is earth and +heaven, and every nook may be a couch, and for your coverlets you need +not count the fleeces of your flocks, but the brushwood, and the herbage +of hill and plain." + +[16] Nevertheless, when the meal began, it must be said that Gobryas, +seeing the poverty of what was set before him, thought at first that his +own men were far more open-handed than the Persians. [17] But his mood +changed as he watched the grace and decorum of the company; and saw that +not a single Persian who had been schooled would ever gape, or snatch at +the viands, or let himself be so absorbed in eating that he could attend +to nothing else; these men prided themselves on showing their good sense +and their intelligence while they took their food, just as a perfect +rider sits his horse with absolute composure, and can look and listen +and talk to some purpose while he puts him through his paces. To be +excited or flustered by meat and drink was in their eyes something +altogether swinish and bestial. [18] Nor did Gobryas fail to notice that +they only asked questions which were pleasant to answer, and only jested +in a manner to please; all their mirth was as far from impertinence and +malice as it was from vulgarity and unseemliness. [19] And what struck +him most was their evident feeling that on a campaign, since the danger +was the same for all, no one was entitled to a larger share than any +of his comrades; on the contrary, it was thought the perfection of the +feast to perfect the condition of those who were to share the fighting. +[20] And thus when he rose to return home, the story runs that he said: + +"I begin to understand, Cyrus, how it is that while we have more goblets +and more gold, more apparel and more wealth than you, yet we ourselves +are not worth as much. We are always trying to increase what we possess, +but you seem to set your hearts on perfecting your own souls." + +[21] But Cyrus only answered: + +"My friend, be here without fail to-morrow, and bring all your cavalry +in full armour, so that we may see your power, and then lead us through +your country and show us who are hostile and who are friendly." + +[22] Thus they parted for the time and each saw to his own concerns. + +But when the day dawned Gobryas appeared with his cavalry and led the +way. And Cyrus, as a born general would, not only supervised the march, +but watched for any chance to weaken the enemy and add to his own +strength. [23] With this in view, he summoned the Hyrcanian chief and +Gobryas himself; for they were the two he thought most likely to give +him the information that he needed. + +"My friends," said he, "I think I shall not err if I trust to your +fidelity and consult you about the campaign. You, even more than I, are +bound to see that the Assyrians do not overpower us. For myself, if I +fail, there may well be some loophole of escape. But for you, if +the king conquers, I see nothing but enmity on every side. [24] For, +although he is my enemy, he bears me no malice, he only feels that it is +against his interest for me to be powerful and therefore he attacks me. +But you he hates with a bitter hatred, believing he is wronged by you." + +To this his companions answered that he must finish what he had to say; +they were well aware of the facts, and had the deepest interest in the +turn events might take. + +[25] Thereupon Cyrus put his questions: "Does the king suppose that +you alone are his enemies, or do you know of others who hate him too?" +"Certainly we do," replied the Hyrcanian, "the Cadousians are his +bitterest foes, and they are both numerous and warlike. Then there are +the Sakians, our neighbours, who have suffered severely at his hands, +for he tried to subdue them as he subdued us." + +[26] "Then you think," said Cyrus, "that they would be glad to attack +him in our company?" "Much more than glad," answered they; "if they +could manage to join us." "And what stands in their way?" asked he. "The +Assyrians themselves," said they, "the very people among whom you are +marching now." [27] At that Cyrus turned to Gobryas: + +"And what of this lad who is now on the throne? Did you not charge him +with unbridled insolence?" + +"Even so," replied Gobryas, "and I think he gave me cause." "Tell me," +said Cyrus, "were you the only man he treated thus, or did others suffer +too?" + +[28] "Many others," said Gobryas, "but some of them were weak, and why +should I weary you with the insults they endured? I will tell you of a +young man whose father was a much greater personage than I, and who was +himself, like my own son, a friend and comrade of the prince. One day +at a drinking-bout this monster had the youth seized and mutilated, and +why? Some say simply because a paramour of his own had praised the boy's +beauty and said his bride was a woman to be envied. The king himself now +asserts it was because he had tried to seduce his paramour. That young +man, eunuch as he is, is now at the head of his province, for his father +is dead." + +[29] "Well," rejoined Cyrus, "I take it, you believe he would welcome +us, if he thought we came to help him?" "I am more than sure of that," +said Gobryas, "but it is not so easy to set eyes on him." "And why?" +asked Cyrus. "Because if we are to join him at all, we must march right +past Babylon itself." [30] "And where is the difficulty in that?" said +Cyrus. "Heaven help us!" cried Gobryas. "The city has only to open +her gates, and she can send out an army ten thousand times as large as +yours. That is why," he added, "the Assyrians are less prompt than they +were at bringing in their weapons and their horses, because those who +have seen your army think it so very small, and their report has got +about. So that in my opinion it would be better to advance with the +utmost care." + +[31] Cyrus listened and replied. + +"You do well, Gobryas, my friend, in urging as much care as possible. +But I cannot myself see a safer route for us than the direct advance +on Babylon, if Babylon is the centre of the enemy's strength. They are +numerous, you say, and if they are in good heart, we shall soon know it. +[32] Now, if they cannot find us and imagine that we have disappeared +from fear of them, you may take it as certain that they will be quit of +the terror we have inspired. Courage will spring up in its place, and +grow the greater the longer we lie hid. But if we march straight on +then, we shall find them still mourning for the dead whom we have slain, +still nursing the wounds we have inflicted, still trembling at the +daring of our troops, still mindful of their own discomfiture and +flight. [33] Gobryas," he added, "be assured of this; men in the mass, +when aflame with courage, are irresistible, and when their hearts fail +them, the more numerous they are the worse the panic that seizes them. +[34] It comes upon them magnified by a thousand lies, blanched by a +thousand pallors, it gathers head from a thousand terror-stricken looks, +until it grows so great that no orator can allay it by his words, no +general arouse the old courage by a charge, or revive the old confidence +by retreat; the more their leader cheers them on, the worse do the +soldiers take their case to be. [35] Now by all means let us see exactly +how things stand with us. If from henceforward victory must fall +to those who can reckon the largest numbers, your fears for us are +justified, and we are indeed in fearful danger; but if the old rule +still holds, and battles are decided by the qualities of those who +fight, then, I say, take heart and you will never fail. You will find +far more stomach for the fight among our ranks than theirs. [36] And to +hearten you the more, take note of this: our enemies are far fewer now +than when we worsted them, far weaker than when they fled from us, while +we are stronger because we are conquerors, and greater because fortune +has been ours; yes, and actually more numerous because you and yours +have joined us, for I would not have you hold your men too low, now that +they are side by side with us. In the company of conquerors, Gobryas, +the hearts of the followers beat high. [37] Nor should you forget," he +added, "that the enemy is well able to see us as it is, and the sight of +us will certainly not be more alarming if we wait for him where we are +than if we advance against him. That is my opinion, and now you must +lead us straight for Babylon." + +[C.3] And so the march continued, and on the fourth day they found +themselves at the limit of the territory over which Gobryas ruled. Since +they were now in the enemy's country Cyrus changed the disposition of +his men, taking the infantry immediately under his own command, with +sufficient cavalry to support them, and sending the rest of the mounted +troops to scour the land. Their orders were to cut down every one with +arms in his hands, and drive in the rest, with all the cattle they could +find. The Persians were ordered to take part in this raid, and though +many came home with nothing for their trouble but a toss from their +horses, others brought back a goodly store of booty. + +[2] When the spoil was all brought in, Cyrus summoned the officers of +the Medes and the Hyrcanians, as well as his own peers, and spoke as +follows: + +"My friends, Gobryas has entertained us nobly; he has showered good +things upon us. What say you then? After we have set aside the customary +portion for the gods and a fair share for the army, shall we not give +all the rest of the spoil to him? Would it not be a noble thing, a sign +and symbol at the outset that we desire to outdo in well-doing those who +do good to us?" + +[3] At that all his hearers with one consent applauded, and a certain +officer rose and said: + +"By all means, Cyrus, let us do so. I myself cannot but feel that +Gobryas must have thought us almost beggars because we were not laden +with coins of gold and did not drink from golden goblets. But if we do +this, he will understand that men may be free and liberal without the +help of gold." + +[4] "Come then," said Cyrus, "let us pay the priests our debt to heaven, +select what the army requires, and then summon Gobryas and give the rest +to him." + +So they took what they needed and gave all the rest to Gobryas. + +[5] Forthwith Cyrus pressed on towards Babylon, his troops in battle +order. But as the Assyrians did not come out to meet them, he bade +Gobryas ride forward and deliver this message: + +"If the king will come out to fight for his land, I, Gobryas, will fight +for him, but, if he will not defend his own country, we must yield to +the conquerors." + +[6] So Gobryas rode forward, just far enough to deliver the message in +safety. And the king sent a messenger to answer him: + +"Thy master says to thee: 'It repents me, Gobryas, not that I slew thy +son, but that I stayed my hand from slaying thee. And now if ye will do +battle, come again on the thirtieth day from hence. We have no leisure +now, our preparations are still on foot.'" + +[7] And Gobryas made answer: + +"It repents thee: may that repentance never cease! I have begun to make +thee suffer, since the day repentance took hold on thee." + +[8] Then Gobryas brought back the words of the king to Cyrus, and Cyrus +led his army off, and then he summoned Gobryas and said to him: + +"Surely you told me that you thought the man who was made an eunuch by +the king would be upon our side?" + +"And I am sure he will," answered Gobryas, "for we have spoken freely to +each other many a time, he and I." [9] "Then," said Cyrus, "you must go +to him when you think the right moment has come: and you must so act at +first that only he and you may know what he intends, and when you are +closeted with him, if you find he really wishes to be a friend, you +must contrive that his friendship remain a secret: for in war a man can +scarcely do his friends more good than by a semblance of hostility, or +his enemies more harm than under the guise of friendship." [10] "Aye," +answered Gobryas, "and I know that Gadatas would pay a great price to +punish the king of Assyria. But it is for us to consider what he can +best do." [11] "Tell me now," rejoined Cyrus, "you spoke of an outpost, +built against the Hyrcanians and the Sakians, which was to protect +Assyria in time of war,--could the eunuch be admitted there by the +commandant if he came with a force at his back?" "Certainly he could," +said Gobryas, "if he were as free from suspicion as he is to-day." +[12] "And free he would be," Cyrus went on, "if I were to attack his +strongholds as though in earnest, and he were to repel me in force. +I might capture some of his men, and he some of my soldiers, or some +messengers sent by me to those you say are the enemies of Assyria, and +these prisoners would let it be known that they were on their way to +fetch an army with scaling-ladders to attack this fortress, and the +eunuch, hearing their story, would pretend that he came to warn the +commandant in time." [13] "Undoubtedly," said Gobryas, "if things went +thus, the commandant would admit him; he would even beg him to stay +there until you withdrew." + +"And then," Cyrus continued, "once inside the walls, he could put the +place into our hands?" [14] "We may suppose so," said Gobryas. "He +would be there to settle matters within, and you would be redoubling the +pressure from without." + +"Then be off at once," said Cyrus, "and do your best to teach him his +part, and when you have arranged affairs, come back to me; and as for +pledges of good faith, you could offer him none better than those you +received from us yourself." + +[15] Then Gobryas made haste and was gone, and the eunuch welcomed +him gladly; he agreed to everything and helped to arrange all that was +needed. Presently Gobryas brought back word that he thought the eunuch +had everything in readiness, and so, without more ado, Cyrus made his +feigned attack on the following day, and was beaten off. [16] But on +the other hand there was a fortress, indicated by Gadatas himself, that +Cyrus took. The messengers Cyrus had sent out, telling them exactly +where to go, fell into the hands of Gadatas: some were allowed +to escape--their business was to fetch the troops and carry the +scaling-ladders--but the rest were narrowly examined in the presence of +many witnesses, and when Gadatas heard the object of their journey he +got his equipment together and set out in the night at full speed +to take the news. [17] In the end he made his way into the fortress, +trusted and welcomed as a deliverer, and for a time he helped the +commandant to the best of his ability. But as soon as Cyrus appeared he +seized the place, aided by the Persian prisoners he had taken. [18] This +done, and having set things in order within the fortress, Gadatas went +out to Cyrus, bowed before him according to the custom of his land, and +said, "Cyrus, may joy be yours!" + +[19] "Joy is mine already," answered he, "for you, God helping you, have +brought it to me. You must know," he added, "that I set great store by +this fortress, and rejoice to leave it in the hands of my allies here. +And for yourself, Gadatas," he added, "if the Assyrian has robbed you of +the ability to beget children, remember he has not stolen your power to +win friends; you have made us yours, I tell you, by this deed, and we +will stand by as faithfully as sons and grandsons of your own." + +[20] So Cyrus spoke. And at that instant the Hyrcanian chief, who had +only just learnt what had happened, came running up to him, and seizing +him by the hand cried out: + +"O Cyrus, you godsend to your friends! How often you make me thank the +gods for bringing me to you!" + +[21] "Off with you, then," said Cyrus, "and occupy this fortress for +which you bless me so. Take it and make the best use of it you can, for +your own nation, and for all our allies, and above all for Gadatas, our +friend, who won it and surrenders it to us." + +[22] "Then," said the chieftain, "as soon as the Cadousians arrive and +the Sakians and my countrymen, we must, must we not? call a council of +them all, so that we may consult together, and see how best to turn it +to account." + +[23] Cyrus thought the proposal good, and when they met together it was +decided to garrison the post with a common force, chosen from all who +were concerned that it should remain friendly and be an outer balwark to +overawe the Assyrians. [24] This heightened the enthusiasm of them all, +Cadousians, Sakians, and Hyrcanians, and their levies rose high, until +the Cadousians sent in 20,000 light infantry and 4000 cavalry, and +the Sakians 11,000 bowmen, 10,000 on foot and 1000 mounted, while the +Hyrcanians were free to despatch all their reserves of infantry and make +up their horsemen to a couple of thousand strong, whereas previously +the larger portion of their cavalry had been left at home to support the +Cadousians and Sakians against Assyria. + +[25] And while Cyrus was kept in the fortress, organising and arranging +everything, many of the Assyrians from the country round brought in +their horses and handed over their arms, being by this time in great +dread of their neighbours. + +[26] Soon after this Gadatas came to Cyrus and told him that messengers +had come to say that the king of Assyria, learning what had happened to +the fortress, was beside himself with anger, and was preparing to attack +his territory. "If you, Cyrus," said he, "will let me go now, I will try +to save my fortresses: the rest is of less account." [27] Cyrus said, +"If you go now, when will you reach home?" And Gadatas answered, "On the +third day from this I can sup in my own house." "Do you think," asked +Cyrus, "that you will find the Assyrian already there?" "I am sure of +it," he answered, "for he will make haste while he thinks you are still +far off." [28] "And I," said Cyrus, "when could I be there with my +army?" But to this Gadatas made answer, "The army you have now, my lord, +is very large, and you could not reach my home in less than six days or +seven." "Well," Cyrus replied, "be off yourself: make all speed, and I +will follow as best I can." + +[29] So Gadatas was gone, and Cyrus called together all the officers of +the allies, and a great and goodly company they seemed, noble gentlemen, +beautiful and brave. And Cyrus stood up among them all and said: + +[30] "My allies and my friends, Gadatas has done deeds that we all feel +worthy of high reward, and that too before ever he had received any +benefit from us. The Assyrians, we hear, have now invaded his territory, +to take vengeance for the monstrous injury they consider he has done +them, and moreover, they doubtless argue that if those who revolt to us +escape scot-free, while those who stand by them are cut to pieces, ere +long they will not have a single supporter on their side. [31] To-day, +gentlemen, we may do a gallant deed, if we rescue Gadatas, our friend +and benefactor; and truly it is only just and right thus to repay +gift for gift, and boon for boon. Moreover, as it seems to me, what we +accomplish will be much to our own interest. [32] If all men see that we +are ready to give blow for blow and sting for sting, while we outdo our +benefactors in generous deeds, it is only natural that multitudes will +long to be our friends, and no man care to be our foe. [33] Whereas, if +it be thought that we left Gadatas in the lurch, how in heaven's name +shall we persuade another to show us any kindness? How shall we dare to +think well of ourselves again? How shall one of us look Gadatas in +the face, when all of us, so many and so strong, showed ourselves less +generous than he, one single man and in so sore a plight?" + +[34] Thus Cyrus spoke, and all of them assented right willingly, and +said it must be done. + +"Come then," concluded Cyrus, "since you are all of one mind with me, +let each of us choose an escort for our waggons and beasts of burden. +[35] Let us leave them behind us, and put Gobryas at their head. He is +acquainted with the roads, and for the rest he is a man of skill. But we +ourselves will push on with our stoutest men and our strongest horses, +taking provision for three days and no more: the lighter and cheaper +our gear the more gaily shall we break our fast and take our supper and +sleep on the road. [36] And now," said he, "let us arrange the order +of the march. You, Chrysantas, must lead the van with your cuirassiers, +since the road is broad and smooth, and you must put your brigadiers +in the first line, each regiment marching in file, for if we keep close +order we shall travel all the quicker and be all the safer. [37] I put +the cuirassiers in the front," he added, "because they are our heaviest +troops, and if the heaviest are leading, the lighter cannot find it hard +to follow: whereas where the swiftest lead and the march is at night, +it is no wonder if the column fall to pieces: the vanguard is always +running away. [38] And behind the cuirassiers," he went on, "Artabazas +is to follow with the Persian targeteers and the bowmen, and behind +them Andamyas the Mede with the Median infantry, and then Embas and +the Armenian infantry, and then Artouchas with the Hyrcanians, and +then Thambradas with the Sakian foot, and finally Datamas with the +Cadousians. [39] All these officers will put their brigadiers in the +first line, their targeteers on the right, and their bowmen on the left +of their own squares: this is the order in which they will be of most +use. [40] All the baggage-bearers are to follow in the rear: and their +officers must see that they get everything together before they sleep, +and present themselves betimes in the morning, with all their gear, +and always keep good order on the march. [41] In support of the +baggage-train," he added, "there will be, first, Madatas the Persian +with the Persian cavalry, and he too must put his brigadiers in the +front, each regiment following in single file, as with the infantry. +[42] Behind them Rambacas the Mede and his cavalry, in the same order, +and then you, Tigranes, and yours, and after you the other cavalry +leaders with the men they brought. The Sakians will follow you, and last +of all will come the Cadousians, who were the last to join us, and +you, Alkeunas, who are to command them, for the present you will take +complete control of the rear, and allow no one to fall behind your men. +[43] All of you alike, officers, and all who respect yourselves, must be +most careful to march in silence. At night the ears, and not the eyes, +are the channels of information and the guides for action, and at night +any confusion is a far more serious matter than by day, and far more +difficult to put right. For this reason silence must be studied and +order absolutely maintained. [44] Whenever you mean to rise before +daybreak, you must make the night-watches as short and as numerous as +possible, so that no one may suffer on the march because of his long +vigil before it; and when the hour for the start arrives the horn must +be blown. [45] Gentlemen, I expect you all to present yourselves on +the road to Babylon with everything you require, and as each detachment +starts, let them pass down the word for those in the rear to follow." + +[46] So the officers went to their quarters, and as they went they +talked of Cyrus, and what a marvellous memory he had, always naming +each officer as he assigned him his post. [47] The fact was Cyrus took +special pains over this: it struck him as odd that a mere mechanic could +know the names of all his tools, and a physician the names of all his +instruments, but a general be such a simpleton that he could not name +his own officers, the very tools he had to depend on each time he wanted +to seize a point or fortify a post or infuse courage or inspire terror. +Moreover it seemed to him only courteous to address a man by name when +he wished to honour him. [48] And he was sure that the man who feels he +is personally known to his commander is more eager to be seen performing +some noble feat of arms, and more careful to refrain from all that is +unseemly and base. [49] Cyrus thought it would be quite foolish for him +to give his orders in the style of certain householders: "Somebody fetch +the water, some one split the wood." [50] After a command of that kind, +every one looks at every one else, and no one carries it out, every one +is to blame, and no one is ashamed or afraid, because there are so many +beside himself. Therefore Cyrus always named the officers whenever he +gave an order. + +[51] That, then, was his view of the matter. The army now took supper +and posted their guards and got their necessaries together and went to +rest. [52] And at midnight the horn was blown. Cyrus had told Chrysantas +he would wait for him at a point on the road in advance of the troops, +and therefore he went on in front himself with his own staff, and +waited till Chrysantas appeared shortly afterwards at the head of his +cuirassiers. [53] Then Cyrus put the guides under his command, and told +him to march on, but to go slowly until he received a message, for all +the troops were not yet on the road. This done, Cyrus took his stand on +the line of march, and as each division came up, hurried it forward to +its place, sending messengers meanwhile to summon those who were still +behind. [54] When all had started, he despatched gallopers to Chrysantas +to tell him that the whole army was now under way, and that he might +lead on as quick as he could. [55] Then he galloped to the front +himself, reined up, and quietly watched the ranks defile before him. +Whenever a division advanced silently and in good order, he would ride +up and ask their names and pay them compliments; and if he saw any sign +of confusion he would inquire the reason and restore tranquillity. [56] +One point remains to add in describing his care that night; he sent +forward a small but picked body of infantry, active fellows all of them, +in advance of the whole army. They were to keep Chrysantas in sight, and +he was not to lose sight of them; they were to use their ears and all +their wits, and report at once to Chrysantas if they thought there +was any need. They had an officer to direct their movements, announce +anything of importance, and not trouble about trifles. + +[57] Thus they pressed forward through the night, and when day broke +Cyrus ordered the mass of the cavalry to the front, the Cadousians alone +remaining with their own infantry, who brought up the rear, and who +were as much in need as others of cavalry support. But the rest of the +horsemen he sent ahead because it was ahead that the enemy lay, and in +case of resistance he was anxious to oppose them in battle-order, while +if they fled he wished no time to be lost in following up the pursuit. +[58] It was always arranged who were to give chase and who were to stay +with himself: he never allowed the whole army to be broken up. [59] Thus +Cyrus conducted the advance, but it is not to be thought that he kept +to one particular spot; he was always galloping backwards and forwards, +first at one point and then at another, supervising everything and +supplying any defect as it arose. Thus Cyrus and his men marched +forward. + +[C.4] Now there was a certain officer in the cavalry with Gadatas, a man +of power and influence, who, when he saw that his master had revolted +from Assyria, thought to himself, "If anything should happen to him, I +myself could get from the king all that he possessed." + +Accordingly he sent forward a man he could trust, with instructions +that, if he found the Assyrian army already in the territory of Gadatas, +he was to tell the king that he could capture Gadatas and all who were +with him, if he thought fit to make an ambuscade. [2] And the messenger +was also to say what force Gadatas had at his command and to announce +that Cyrus was not with him. Moreover, the officer stated the road by +which Gadatas was coming. Finally, to win the greater confidence, he +sent word to his own dependents and bade them deliver up to the king of +Assyria the castle which he himself commanded in the province, with all +that it contained: he would come himself, he added, if possible, after +he had slain Gadatas, and, even if he failed in that, he would always +stand by the king. + +[3] Now the emissary rode as hard as he could and came before the king +and told his errand, and, hearing it, the king at once took over the +castle and formed an ambuscade, with a large body of horse and many +chariots, in a dense group of villages that lay upon the road. [4] +Gadatas, when he came near the spot, sent scouts ahead to explore, +and the king, as soon as he sighted them, ordered two or three of his +chariots and a handful of horsemen to dash away as though in flight, +giving the impression that they were few in number and panic-stricken. +At this the scouting party swept after them, signalling to Gadatas, who +also fell into the trap and gave himself up to the chase. + +The Assyrians waited till the quarry was within their grasp and then +sprang out from their ambuscade. [5] The men, with Gadatas, seeing +what had happened, turned back and fled, as one might expect, with +the Assyrians at their heels, while the officer who had planned it all +stabbed Gadatas himself. He struck him in the shoulder, but the blow was +not mortal. Thereupon the traitor fled to the pursuers, and when +they found out who he was he galloped on with them, his horse at full +stretch, side by side with the king. [6] Naturally the men with the +slower horses were overtaken by the better mounted, and the fugitives, +already wearied by their long journey, were at the last extremity when +suddenly they caught sight of Cyrus advancing at the head of his army, +and were swept into safety, as glad and thankful, we may well believe, +as shipwrecked mariners into port. + +[7] The first feeling of Cyrus was sheer astonishment, but he soon saw +how matters stood. The whole force of the Assyrian cavalry was rolling +on him, and he met it with his own army in perfect order, till the +enemy, realising what had happened, turned and fled. Then Cyrus ordered +his pursuing party to charge, while he followed more slowly at the pace +he thought the safest. [8] The enemy were utterly routed: many of the +chariots were taken, some had lost their charioteers, others were seized +in the sudden change of front, others surrounded by the Persian cavalry. +Right and left the conquerors cut down their foes, and among them fell +the officer who had dealt the blow at Gadatas. [9] But of the Assyrian +infantry, those who were besieging the fortress of Gadatas escaped +to the stronghold that had revolted from him, or managed to reach an +important city belonging to the king, where he himself, his horsemen, +and his chariots had taken refuge. + +[10] After this exploit Cyrus went on to the territory of Gadatas, and +as soon as he had given orders to those who guarded the prisoners, he +went himself to visit the eunuch and see how it was with him after his +wound. Gadatas came out to meet him, his wound already bandaged. And +Cyrus was gladdened and said, "I came myself to see how it was with +you." [11] "And I," said Gadatas, "heaven be my witness, I came out to +see how a man would look who had a soul like yours. I cannot tell what +need you had of me, or what promise you ever gave me, to make you do as +you have done. I had shown you no kindness for your private self: it was +because you thought I had been of some little service to your friends, +that you came to help me thus, and help me you did, from death to life. +Left to myself I was lost. [12] By heaven above, I swear it, Cyrus, if +I had been a father as I was born to be, God knows whether I could +have found in the son of my loins so true a friend as you. I know of +sons--this king of ours is such an one, who has caused his own father +ten thousand times more trouble than ever he causes you." + +[13] And Cyrus made answer: + +"You have overlooked a much more wonderful thing, Gadatas, to turn and +wonder at me." + +"Nay," said Gadatas, "what could that be?" + +"That all these Persians," he answered, "are so zealous in your behalf, +and all these Medes and Hyrcanians, and every one of our allies, +Armenians, Sakians, Cadousians." + +[14] Then Gadatas prayed aloud: + +"O Father Zeus, may the gods heap blessings on them also, but above +all on him who has made them what they are! And now, Cyrus, that I may +entertain as they deserve these men you praise, take the gifts I bring +you as their host, the best I have it in my power to bring." + +And with the word he brought out stores of every kind, enough for all +to over sacrifice who listed; and the whole army was entertained in a +manner worthy of their feat and their success. + +[15] Meanwhile the Cadousians had been always in the rear, unable to +share in the pursuit, and they longed to achieve some exploit of their +own. So their chieftain, with never a word to Cyrus, led them forth +alone, and raided the country towards Babylon. But, as soon as they +were scattered the Assyrians came out from their city of refuge in good +battle-order. [16] When they saw that the Cadousians were unsupported +they attacked them, killing the leader himself and numbers of his men, +capturing many of their horses and retaking the spoil they were in the +act of driving away. The king pursued as far as he thought safe, and +then turned back, and the Cadousians at last found safety in their own +camp, though even the vanguard only reached it late in the afternoon. +[17] When Cyrus saw what had happened he went out to meet them, +succouring every wounded man and sending him off to Gadatas at once, to +have his wounds dressed, while he helped to house the others in their +quarters, and saw that they had all they needed, his Peers aiding him, +for at such times noble natures will give help with all their hearts. +[18] Still it was plain to see that he was sorely vexed, and when the +hour for dinner came, and the others went away, he was still there on +the ground with the attendants and the surgeons; not a soul would he +leave uncared for if anything could be done: he either saw to it himself +or sent for the proper aid. + +[19] So for that night they rested. But with daybreak Cyrus sent out +a herald and summoned a gathering of all the officers and the whole +Cadousian army, and spoke as follows: + +"My friends and allies, what has happened is only natural; for it is +human nature to err, and I cannot find it astonishing. Still we may gain +at least one advantage from what has occurred, if we learn that we must +never cut off from our main body a detachment weaker than the force of +the enemy. [20] I do not say that one is never to march anywhere, if +necessary, with an even smaller fraction than the Cadousians had; but, +before doing so you must communicate with some one able to bring up +reinforcements, and then, though you may be trapped yourself, it is at +least probable that your friends behind you may foil the foilers, and +divert them from your own party: there are fifty ways in which one can +embarrass the enemy and save one's friends. Thus separation need not +mean isolation, and union with the main force may still be kept, whereas +if you sally forth without telling your plan, you are no better off than +if you were alone in the field. [21] However, God willing, we shall take +our revenge for this ere long; indeed, as soon as you have breakfasted, +I will lead you out to the scene of yesterday's skirmish, and there we +will bury those who fell, and show our enemies that the very field where +they thought themselves victorious is held by those who are stronger +than they: they shall never look again with joy upon the spot where they +slew our comrades. Or else, if they refuse to come out and meet us, we +will burn their villages and harry all their land, so that in lieu of +rejoicing at the sight of what they did to us, they shall gnash their +teeth at the spectacle of their own disasters. [22] Go now," said +he, "the rest of you, and take your breakfast forthwith, but let the +Cadousians first elect a leader in accordance with their own laws, and +one who will guide them well and wisely, by the grace of God, and with +our human help, if they should need it. And when you have chosen your +leader, and had your breakfast, send him hither to me." + +[23] So they did as Cyrus bade them, and when he led the army out, he +stationed their new general close to his own person, and told him to +keep his detachment there, "So that you and I," said he, "may rekindle +the courage in their souls." + +In this order they marched out, and thus they buried the Cadousian dead +and ravaged the country. Which done, they went back to the province of +Gadatas, laden with supplies taken from the foe. + +[24] Now Cyrus felt that those who had come over to his side and who +dwelt in the neighbourhood of Babylon would be sure to suffer unless he +were constantly there himself, and so he bade all the prisoners he set +free take a message to the king, and he himself despatched a herald +to say that he would leave all the tillers of the soil unmolested and +unhurt if the Assyrian would let those who had come over to him continue +their work in peace. [25] "And remember," he added, "that even if you +try to hinder my friends, it is only a few whom you could stop, whereas +there is a vast territory of yours that I could allow to be cultivated. +As for the crops," he added, "if we have war, it will be the conqueror, +I make no doubt, who will reap them, but if we have peace, it will be +you. If, however, any of my people take up arms against you, or any of +yours against me, we must, of course, each of us, defend ourselves as +best we can." + +[26] With this message Cyrus despatched the herald, and when the +Assyrians heard it, they urged the king to accept the proposal, and so +limit the war as much as possible. [27] And he, whether influenced by +his own people or because he desired it himself, consented to the terms. +So an agreement was drawn up, proclaiming peace to the tillers of the +soil and war to all who carried arms. + +[28] Thus Cyrus arranged matters for the husbandmen, and he asked his +own supporters among the drovers to bring their herds, if they liked, +into his dominions and leave them there, while he treated the enemy's +cattle as booty wherever he could, so that his allies found attraction +in the campaign. For the risk was no greater if they took what they +needed, while the knowledge that they were living at the enemy's expense +certainly seemed to lighten the labour of the war. + +[29] When the time came for Cyrus to go back, and the final preparations +were being made, Gadatas brought him gifts of every kind, the produce +of a vast estate, and among the cattle a drove of horses, taken from +cavalry of his own, whom he distrusted owing to the late conspiracy. +[30] And when he brought them he said, "Cyrus, this day I give you these +for your own, and I would pray you to make such use of them as you think +best, but I would have you remember that all else which I call mine +is yours as well. For there is no son of mine, nor can there ever be, +sprung from my own loins, to whom I may leave my wealth: when I die +myself, my house must perish with me, my family and my name. [31] And I +must suffer this, Cyrus, I swear to you by the great gods above us, who +see all things and hear all things, though never by word or deed did I +commit injustice or foulness of any kind." + +But here the words died on his lips; he burst into tears over his +sorrows, and could say no more. [32] Cyrus was touched with pity at his +suffering and said to him: + +"Let me accept the horses, for in that I can help you, if I set loyal +riders on them, men of a better mind, methinks, than those who had them +before, and I myself can satisfy a wish that has long been mine, to +bring my Persian cavalry up to ten thousand men. But take back, I pray +you, all these other riches, and guard them safely against the time +when you may find me able to vie with you in gifts. If I left you now so +hugely in your debt, heaven help me if I could hold up my head again for +very shame." + +[33] Thereto Gadatas made answer, "In all things I trust you, and will +trust you, for I see your heart. But consider whether I am competent +to guard all this myself. [34] While I was at peace with the king, the +inheritance I had from my father was, it may be, the fairest in all the +land: it was near that mighty Babylon, and all the good things that can +be gathered from a great city fell into our laps, and yet from all the +trouble of it, the noise and the bustle, we could be free at once by +turning our backs and coming home here. But now that we are at war, the +moment you have left us we are sure to be attacked, ourselves and all +our wealth, and methinks we shall have a sorry life of it, our enemies +at our elbow and far stronger than ourselves. [35] I seem to hear +some one say, why did you not think of this before you revolted? But I +answer, Cyrus, because the soul within me was stung beyond endurance by +my wrongs; I could not sit and ponder the safest course, I was always +brooding over one idea, always in travail of one dream, praying for +the day of vengeance on the miscreant, the enemy of God and man, whose +hatred never rested, once aroused, once he suspected a man, not of +doing wrong, but of being better than himself. [36] And because he is a +villain, he will always find, I know, worse villains that himself to +aid him, but if one day a nobler rival should appear--have no concern, +Cyrus, you will never need to do battle with such an one, yonder fiend +would deal with him and never cease to plot against him until he had +dragged him in the dust, only because he was the better man. And to work +me trouble and disaster, he and his wicked tools will, I fear me, have +strength enough and to spare." + +[37] Cyrus thought there was much in what he said, and he answered +forthwith: + +"Tell me, Gadatas, did we not put a stout garrison in your fortress, +so as to make it safe for you whenever you needed it, and are you not +taking the field with us now, so that, if the gods be on our side as +they are to-day, that scoundrel may fear you, not you him? Go now, bring +with you all you have that is sweet to look on and to love, and then +join our march: you shall be, I am persuaded, of the utmost service to +me, and I, so far as in me lies, will give you help for help." + +[38] When Gadatas heard that, he breathed again, and he said: + +"Could I really be in time to make my preparations and be back before +you leave? I would fain take my mother with me on the march." + +"Assuredly," said Cyrus, "you will be in time: for I will wait until you +say that all is ready." + +[39] So it came to pass that Gadatas went his way, and with the aid of +Cyrus put a strong garrison in his fortress, and got together the +wealth of his broad estates. And moreover he brought with him in his own +retinue servants he could trust and in whom he took delight, as well as +many others in whom he put no trust at all, and these he compelled to +bring their wives with them, and their sisters, that so they might be +bound to his service. + +[40] Thus Gadatas went with Cyrus, and Cyrus kept him ever at his side, +to show him the roads and the places for water and fodder and food, and +lead them where there was most abundance. + +[41] At last they came in sight of Babylon once more, and it seemed +to Cyrus that the road they were following led under the very walls. +Therefore he summoned Gobryas and Gadatas, and asked them if there was +not another way, so that he need not pass so close to the ramparts. [42] +"There are many other ways, my lord," answered Gobryas, "but I thought +you would certainly want to pass as near the city as possible, and +display the size and splendour of your army to the king. I knew that +when your force was weaker you advanced to his walls, and let him +see us, few as we were, and I am persuaded that if he has made any +preparation for battle now, as he said he would, when he sees the +power you have brought with you, he will think once more that he is +unprepared." + +[435] But Cyrus said: + +"Does it seem strange to you, Gobryas, that when I had a far smaller +army I took it right up to the enemy's walls, and to-day when my force +is greater I will not venture there? [44] You need not think it strange: +to march up is not the same as to march past. Every leader will march up +with his troops disposed in the best order for battle and a wise leader +will draw them off so as to secure safety rather than sped. [45] But +in marching past there is no means of avoiding long straggling lines of +waggons, long strings of baggage-bearers, and all these must be screened +by the fighting-force so as never to leave the baggage unprotected. [46] +But this must mean a thin weak order for the fighting-men, and if the +enemy choose to attack at any point with their full force, they can +strike with far more weight than any of the troops available to meet +them at the moment. [47] Again, the length of line means a long delay in +bringing up relief, whereas the enemy have only a handsbreadth to cover +as they rush out from the walls or retire. [48] But now, if we leave +a distance between ourselves and them as wide as our line is long, +not only with they realise our numbers plainly enough, but our veil of +glittering armour will make the whole multitude more formidable in +their eyes. [49] And, if they do attack us anywhere, we shall be able to +foresee their advance a long way off and be quite prepared to give them +welcome. But it is far more likely, gentlemen," he added, "that they +will not make the attempt, with all that ground to cover from the walls, +unless they imagine that their whole force is superior to the whole of +ours: they know that retreat will be difficult and dangerous." + +[50] So Cyrus spoke, and his listeners felt that he was right, and +Gobryas led the army by the way that he advised. And as one detachment +after another passed the city, Cyrus strengthened the protection for the +rear and so withdrew in safety. + +[51] Marching in this order, he came back at last to his first +starting-point, on the frontier between Assyria and Media. Here he dealt +with three Assyrian fortresses: one, the weakest, he attacked and took +by force, while the garrisons of the other two, what with the eloquence +of Gadatas and the terror inspired by Cyrus, were persuaded to +surrender. + +[C.5] And now that his expedition was completed, Cyrus sent to Cyaxares +and urged him to come to the camp in order that they might decide best +how to use the forts which they had taken, and perhaps Cyaxares, after +reviewing the army, would advise him what the next move ought to be, or, +Cyrus added to the messenger, "if he bids me, say I will come to him +and take up my encampment there." [2] So the emissary went off with the +message, and meanwhile Cyrus gave orders that the Assyrian tent chosen +for Cyaxares should be furnished as splendidly as possible, and the +woman brought to her apartment there, and the two singing-girls also, +whom they had set aside for him. + +[3] And while they were busied with these things the envoy went to +Cyaxares and delivered his message, and Cyaxares listened and decided +it was best for Cyrus and his men to stay on the frontier. The Persians +whom Cyrus had sent for had already arrived, forty thousand bowmen and +targeteers. [4] To watch these eating up the land was bad enough, and +Cyaxares thought he would rather be quit of one horde before he received +another. On his side the officer in command of the Persian levy, +following the instructions from Cyrus, asked Cyaxares if he had any need +of the men, and Cyaxares said he had not. Thereupon, and hearing that +Cyrus had arrived, the Persian put himself at the head of his troops and +went off at once to join him. [5] Cyaxares himself waited till the next +day and then set out with the Median troopers who had stayed behind. And +when Cyrus knew of his approach he took his Persian cavalry, who were +now a large body of men, and all the Medes, Hyrcanians, and Armenians, +and the best-mounted and best-armed among the rest, and so went out to +meet Cyaxares and show the power he had won. [6] But when Cyaxares saw +so large a following of gallant gentlemen with Cyrus, and with +himself so small and mean a retinue, it seemed to him an insult, and +mortification filled his heart. And when Cyrus sprang from his horse +and came up to give him the kiss of greeting, Cyaxares, though he +dismounted, turned away his head and gave him no kiss, while the tears +came into his eyes. [7] Whereupon Cyrus told the others to stand aside +and rest, and then he took Cyaxares by the hand and led him apart under +a grove of palm-trees, and bade the attendants spread Median carpets for +them, and made Cyaxares sit down, and then, seating himself beside him, +he said: + +[8] "Uncle of mine, tell me, in heaven's name, I implore you, why are +you angry with me? What bitter sight have you seen to make you feel such +bitterness?" + +And then Cyaxares answered: + +"Listen, Cyrus; I have been reputed royal and of royal lineage as far +back as the memory of man can go; my father was a king and a king I +myself was thought to be; and now I see myself riding here, meanly +and miserably attended, while you come before me in splendour and +magnificence, followed by the retinue that once was mine and all your +other forces. [9] That would be bitter enough, methinks, from the hand +of an enemy, but--O gods above us!--how much more bitter at the hands of +those from whom we least deserve it! Far rather would I be swallowed in +the earth than live to be seen so low, aye, and to see my own kinsfolk +turn against me and make a mock of me. And well I know," said he, "that +not only you but my own slaves are now stronger and greater than myself: +they come out equipt to do me far more mischief than ever I could +repay." + +[10] But here he stopped, overcome by a passion of weeping, so much so +that for very pity Cyrus' own eyes filled with tears. There was silence +between them for a while, and then Cyrus said: + +"Nay, Cyaxares, what you say is not true, and what you think is not +right, if you imagine that because I am here, your Medes have been +equipt to do you any harm. [11] I do not wonder that you are pained, and +I will not ask if you have cause or not for your anger against them: +you will ill brook apologies for them from me. Only it seems to me a +grievous error in a ruler to quarrel with all his subjects at once. +Widespread terror must needs be followed by widespread hate: anger with +all creates unity among all. [12] It was for this reason, take my word +for it, that I would not send them back to you without myself, fearing +that your wrath might be the cause of what would injure all of us. +Through my presence here and by the blessing of heaven, all is safe for +you: but that you should regard yourself as wronged by me,--I cannot but +feel it bitter, when I am doing all in my power to help my friends, to +be accused of plotting against them. [13] However," he continued, "let +us not accuse each other in this useless way; if possible, let us see +exactly in what I have offended. And as between friend and friend, I +will lay down the only rule that is just and fair: if I can be shown to +have done you harm, I will confess I am to blame, but if it appears that +I have never injured you, not even in thought, will you not acquit me of +all injustice towards you?" + +"Needs must I," answered Cyaxares. + +[14] "And if I can show that I have done you service, and been zealous +in your cause to the utmost of my power, may I not claim, instead of +rebuke, some little meed of praise?" + +"That were only fair," said Cyaxares. + +[15] "Then," said Cyrus, "let us go through all I have done, point by +point, and see what is good in it and what is evil. [16] Let us begin +from the time when I assumed my generalship, if that is early enough. +I think I am right in saying that it was because you saw your enemies +gathering together against you, and ready to sweep over your land and +you, that you sent to Persia asking for help, and to me in private, +praying me to come, if I could, myself, at the head of any forces they +might send. Was I not obedient to your word? Did I not come myself with +the best and bravest I could bring?" + +[17] "You did indeed," answered Cyaxares. + +"Tell me, then, before we go further, did you see any wrong in this? Was +it not rather a service and a kindly act?" "Certainly," said Cyaxares, +"so far as that went, I saw nothing but kindliness." [18] "Well, after +the enemy had come, and we had to fight the matter out, did you ever see +me shrink from toil or try to escape from danger?" "That I never did," +said Cyaxares, "quite the contrary." + +[19] "And afterwards, when, through the help of heaven, victory was +ours, and the enemy retreated, and I implored you to let us pursue them +together, take vengeance on them together, win together the fruits +of any gallant exploit we might achieve, can you accuse me then of +self-seeking or self-aggrandisement?" + +[20] But at that Cyaxares was silent. Then Cyrus spoke again. "If you +would rather not reply to that, tell me if you thought yourself injured +because, when you considered pursuit unsafe, I relieved you of the risk, +and only begged you to lend me some of your cavalry? If my offence lay +in asking for that, when I had already offered to work with you, side by +side, you must prove it to me; and it will need some eloquence." + +[21] He paused, but Cyaxares still kept silence. "Nay," said Cyrus, "if +you will not answer that either, tell me at least if my offence lay in +what followed, when you said that you did not care to stop your Medes in +their merry-making and drive them out into danger, do you think it was +wrong in me, without waiting to quarrel on that score, to ask you for +what I knew was the lightest boon you could grant and the lightest +command you could lay on your soldiers? For I only asked that he who +wished it might be allowed to follow me. [22] And thus, when I had +won your permission, I had won nothing, unless I could win them too. +Therefore I went and tried persuasion, and some listened to me, and with +these I set off on my march, holding my commission from your own self. +So that, if you look on this act as blameworthy, it would seem that not +even the acceptance of your own gifts can be free from blame. [23] It +was thus we started, and after we had gone, was there, I ask you, a +single deed of mine that was not done in the light of day? Has not the +enemy's camp been taken? Have not hundreds of your assailants fallen? +And hundreds been deprived of their horses and their arms? Is not the +spoiler spoiled? The cattle and the goods of those who harried your land +are now in the hands of your friends, they are brought to you, or to +your subjects. [24] And, above all and beyond all, you see your own +country growing great and powerful and the land of your enemy brought +low. Strongholds of his are in your power, and your own that were torn +from you in other days by the Syrian domination are now restored to you +again. I cannot say I should be glad to learn that any of these things +can be bad for you, or short of good, but I am ready to listen, if so it +is. [25] Speak, tell me your judgment of it all." + +Then Cyrus paused, and Cyaxares made answer: + +"To call what you have done evil, Cyrus, is impossible. But your +benefits are of such a kind that the more they multiply upon me, the +heavier burden do they bring. [26] I would far rather," he went on, +"have made your country great by own power than see mine exalted in this +way by you. These deeds of yours are a crown of glory to you; but they +bring dishonour to me. [27] And for the wealth, I would rather have made +largess of it to yourself than receive it at your hands in the way +you give it now. Goods so gotten only leave me the poorer. And for my +subjects--I think I would have suffered less if you had injured them +a little than I suffer now when I see how much they owe you. [28] +Perhaps," he added, "you find it inhuman of me to feel thus, but I would +ask you to forget me and imagine that you are in my place and see how it +would appear to you then. Suppose a friend of yours were to take care of +your dogs, dogs that you bred up to guard yourself and your house, such +care that he made them fonder of him than of yourself, would you be +pleased with him for his attention? [29] Or take another instance, if +that one seems too slight: suppose a friend of yours were to do so much +for your own followers, men you kept to guard you and to fight for +you, that they would rather serve in his train than yours, would you be +grateful to him for his kindness? [30] Or let me take the tenderest of +human ties: suppose a friend of yours paid court to the wife of your +bosom so that in the end he made her love him more than yourself, would +he rejoice your heart by his courtesy? Far from it, I trow; he who did +this, you would say, did you the greatest wrong in all the world. [31] +And now, to come nearest to my own case, suppose some one paid such +attention to your Persians that they learnt to follow him instead of +you, would you reckon that man your friend? No; but a worse enemy +than if he had slain a thousand. [32] Or again, say you spoke in all +friendship to a friend and bade him take what he wished, and straightway +he took all he could lay hands on and carried it off, and so grew rich +with your wealth, and you were left in utter poverty, could you say that +friend was altogether blameless? [33] And I, Cyrus, I feel that you have +treated me, if not in that way, yet in a way exactly like it. What you +say is true enough: I did allow you to take what you liked and go, and +you took the whole of my power and went, leaving me desolate, and to-day +you bring the spoil you have won with my forces, and lay it so grandly +at my feet--magnificent! And you make my country great through the help +of my own might, while I have no part or lot in the performance, but +must step in at the end, like a woman, to receive your favours, while in +the eyes of all men, not least my faithful subjects yonder, you are the +man, and I--I am not fit to wear a crown. [34] Are these, I ask you, +Cyrus, are these the deeds of a benefactor? Nay, had you been kind as +you are kin, above all else you would have been careful not to rob me +of my dignity and honour. What advantage is it to me for my lands to be +made broad if I myself am dishonoured? When I ruled the Medes, I ruled +them not because I was stronger than all of them, but because they +themselves thought that our race was in all things better than theirs." + +[35] But while he was still speaking Cyrus broke in on his words, +crying: + +"Uncle of mine, by the heaven above us, if I have ever shown you any +kindness, be kind to me now. Do not find fault with me any more, wait, +and put me to the test, and learn how I feel towards you, and if you see +that what I have done has really brought you good, then, when I embrace +you, embrace me in return and call me your benefactor, and if not, you +may blame me as you please." + +[36] "Perhaps," answered Cyaxares, "you are right. I will do as you +wish." + +"Then I may kiss you?" said Cyrus. + +"Yes, if it pleases you. "And you will not turn aside as you did just +now?" "No, I will not turn aside." And he kissed him. + +[37] And when the Medes saw it and the Persians and all the allies--for +all were watching to see how matters would shape--joy came into their +hearts and gladness lit up their faces. Then Cyrus and Cyaxares mounted +their horses and rode back, and the Medes fell in behind Cyaxares, at +a nod from Cyrus, and behind Cyrus the Persians, and the others behind +them. [38] And when they reached the camp and brought Cyaxares to the +splendid tent, those who were appointed made everything ready for him, +and while he was waiting for the banquet his Medes presented themselves, +some of their own accord, it is true, but most were sent by Cyrus. +[39] And they brought him gifts; one came with a beautiful cup-bearer, +another with an admirable cook, a third with a baker, a fourth with a +musician, while others brought cups and goblets and beautiful apparel; +almost every one gave something out of the spoils they had won. [40] So +that the mood of Cyaxares changed, and he seemed to see that Cyrus had +not stolen his subjects from him, and that they made no less account of +him than they used to do. + +[41] Now when the hour came for the banquet, Cyaxares sent to Cyrus and +begged him to share it: it was so long, he said, since they had met. +But Cyrus answered, "Bid me not to the feast, good uncle. Do you not see +that all these soldiers of ours have been raised by us to the pitch of +expectation? And it were ill on my part if I seemed to neglect them for +the sake of my private pleasure. If soldiers feel themselves neglected +even the good become faint-hearted, and the bad grow insolent. [42] With +yourself it is different, you have come a long journey and you must fall +to without delay, and if your subjects do you honour, welcome them and +give them good cheer, that there may be confidence between you and them, +but I must go and attend to the matters of which I speak. [43] +Early to-morrow morning," he added, "our chief officers will present +themselves at your gate to hear from you what you think our next step +ought to be. You will tell us whether we ought to pursue the campaign +further or whether the time has now come to disband our army." + +[44] Thereupon Cyaxares betook himself to the banquet and Cyrus called +a council of his friends, the shrewdest and the best fitted to act with +him, and spoke to them as follows: + +"My friends, thanks to the gods, our first prayers are granted. Wherever +we set foot now we are the masters of the country: we see our enemies +brought low and ourselves increasing day by day in numbers and in +strength. [45] And if only our present allies would consent to stay with +us a little longer, our achievements could be greater still, whether +force were needed or persuasion. Now it must be your work as much as +mine to make as many of them as possible willing and anxious to remain. +[46] Remember that, just as the soldier who overthrows the greatest +number in the day of battle is held to be the bravest, so the speaker, +when the time has come for persuasion, who brings most men to his side +will be thought the most eloquent, the best orator and the ablest man of +action. [47] Do not, however, prepare your speeches as though we asked +you to give a rhetorical display: remember that those whom you convince +will show it well enough by what they do. [48] I leave you then," he +added, "to the careful study of your parts: mine is to see, so far as in +me lies, that our troops are provided with all they need, before we hold +the council of war." + + + NOTES + +C.1. Cyrus' generosity: he is not cold, not incapable of soft pleasure, +but too pre-occupied with greater things. On the whole, if a hedonist, +this type of man, a hedonist that = a stoic (cf. Socrates, H. Sidgwick, +also J. P.). + +C1.4, init. Well told: we feel the character of Araspas at once, as soon +as he opens his lips. + +C1.4, med. An Eastern picture. She is one of the Bible women, as Gadatas +and Gobryas are brothers of Barzillai; she is sister of Ruth or Susanna +or Judith or Bathsheba. Perhaps she is nobler than any of them. She +is also the sister of the Greek tragedy women, Antigone, Alcestis; +especially Euripidean is she: no doubt she is sister to the great women +of all lands. + +C1.10 ff. Xenophon, Moralist. Cf. _Memorabilia_ for a similar +philosophical difficulty about the will and knowledge. And for this +raising of ethical problems in an artistic setting of narrative, cf. +Lyly. I see a certain resemblance between the times and the writers' +minds. _Vide_ J. A. Symonds on the predecessors of Shakespeare. +Araspas' point is that these scamps have only themselves to blame, being +{akrateis}, and then they turn round and accuse love. (We are thrown +back on the origin of {akrasia}: _vide Memorabilia_ [e.g. I. ii. v.; IV. +v.] for such answer as we can get to that question.) Whereas the {kaloi +kagathoi} desire strongly but can curb their desires. + +C1.13. Shows a confidence in the healthy action of the will. When +Araspas himself is caught later on he develops the theory of a double +self, a higher and a lower (so hgd., and so, I think, Xenophon and +Socrates. _Vide Memorabilia_). + +C1.16, fin. Cyrus || Socrates, his prototype here. + +C1.18. Very natural and beautiful. Xenophon sympathetic with such a +beautiful humanity. The woman's nature brought out by these touches. +Xenophon, Dramatist: the moral problem is subordinate, that is to say, +is made to grow out of the dramatic action and characterisation. + +C1.20. Notice the absolutely fair and warrantable diplomatic advantage +given to the archic man: each step he takes opens up new avenues of +progress. Herein is fulfilled "to him who hath shall be given," but +Cyrus plays his part also, he has the wisdom of serpents with the +gentleness of doves. + +C1.21. This is the true rhetoric, the right road to persuasiveness, to +be absolutely frank. + +C1.24. The desire to be ruled by the archic man, which the +archomenoi--i.e. all men--feel, is thus manifest. Notice again how the +Mede's own character is maintained: he speaks as he felt then. + +C2.8. The bridegroom will be found to be Hystaspas; but we have no +suspicion as yet, without looking on. + +C2.9. In this interview Cyrus' character still further developed. _Ex +ore Cyri._, Xenophon propounds his theory of the latent virtue in man, +which only needs an opportunity to burst forth, but, this lacking, +remains unrevealed. Now it is a great godsend to get such a chance. It +is thoroughly Hellenic, or Xenophon-Socratic, this feeling, "Give me +a chance to show my virtue." (But has Cyrus a touch of superhuman +conscious rectitude?) + +C2.12. The same thought again: it is full of delicacy and spiritual +discernment: the more one ponders it the more one feels that. + +C2.12, fin. For Hellenic or Xenophontine or old-world theory of the +misfortunes which befall the virtuous, _vide_ Homer, _vide_ Book of Job +(Satan), _vide_ Tragedians. + +C2.15. Cf. the _Economist_ for praise of rural simplicity. It is +Xenophon _ipsissimus_. + +C2.17. Whose bad manners is Xenophon thinking of? Thebans'? + +C2.20, fin. A very noble sentence. The man who utters it and the people +whose heart and mind it emanates from must be of a high order; and in +the _Memorabilia_ Socrates has this highest praise, that he studied to +make himself and _all others also_ as good as possible. + +C2.21. Notice the practical answer of Cyrus to this panegyric (cf. J. +P.). + +C2.32. Prolix, Xenophontic. + +C3.6 ff. Here also I feel the mind of Xenophon shimmering under +various lights. The _Cyropaedia_ is shot with Orientalism. Homeric +Epicism--antique Hellenism and modern Hellenism are both there. Spartan +simplicity and Eastern quaintness both say their say. In this passage +the biblical element seems almost audible. + +C3.7. This is in the grand style, Oriental, dilatory, ponderous, +savouring of times when battles were affairs of private arrangement +between monarchs and hedged about by all the punctilios of an affair of +honour. + +C3.12. N.B.--The archic man shows a very ready wit and inventiveness in +the great art of "grab" in war, though as he said to his father he was +"a late learner" in such matters. Cf. in modern times the duties of a +detective or some such disagreeable office. G. O. Trevelyan as Irish +secretary. Interesting for _war ethics_ in the abstract, and for +Xenophon's view, which is probably Hellenic. Cyrus now has the +opportunity of carrying out the selfish decalogue, the topsy-turvy +morality set forth in I. C.6, C.26 ff. + +C3.13. Cf. Old Testament for the sort of subterfuges and preparations, +e.g. the Gibeonites. + +C3.15. The archic man has no time. Cyrus {ou skholazei}. Cf. J. P. It +comes from energy combined with high gifts of organisation, economic, +architectonic. + +C3.19. Nice, I think, this contrasting of spiritual and natural +productiveness. + +C3.32. Here is the rule of conduct clearly expressed, nor do I see how a +military age could frame for itself any other. Christianity only emerged +_sub pace Romana_, which for fraternal brotherhood was the fullness of +time; and even in the commercial age the nations tumble back practically +into the old system. + +C3.36 ff. An army on forced march: are there any novelties here? + +C3.53. These minute details probably not boring at the time, but +interesting rather, perhaps useful. + +C4.13. Cyrus resembles Fawcett in his unselfish self-estimate. Gadatas +is like the British public, or hgd. + +C4.16. Here we feel that the Assyrian is not a mere weakling: he can +play his part well enough if he gets a good chance. It needs an Archic +and Strategic Man to overpower him. + +C4.17. ANCIENT and MODERN parallelism in treatment of wounded. + +C4.24. Hellenic war ethics: non-combatant tillers of the soil to be let +alone. Is this a novelty? If not, what is the prototype? Did the modern +rights of non-combatants so originate? + +C4.27, fin. A touch which gives the impression of real history: that is +the art of it. + +C4.34. Almost autobiographical: the advantage of having a country +seat in the neighbourhood of a big town. Here we feel the MODERNISM +of XENOPHON. The passage which Stevenson chose for the motto to his +_Silverado Squatters_ would suit Xenophon very well (Cicero, De Off. I. +xx.). Xenophon || Alfred Tennyson. [Mr. Dakyns used the geometric sign +|| to indicate parallelism of any sort. The passage from Cicero might +be translated thus: "Some have lived in the country, content with the +happiness of home. These men have enjoyed all that kings could claim, +needing nothing, under the dominion of no man, untrammelled and in +freedom; for the free man lives as he chooses."] + +C4.36. The wicked man as conceived in Hellenico-Xenophontine fashion, +charged with the spirit of meanness, envy, and hatred, which cannot +brook the existence of another better than itself. + +C4.38. A nice touch: we learn to know Gadatas and Xenophon also, and the +Hellenic mind. + +C5.10. Pathos well drawn: _vide_ Richard II. and Bolingbroke. Euripidean +quality. + +C5.12. The archic man has got so far he can play the part of intercessor +between Cyaxares and his Medes. The discussion involves the whole +difficulty of suppression ("he must increase, but I must decrease" is +one solution, not touched here). + +C5.34. Perhaps this is the very point which Xenophon, Philosopher, +wishes to bring out, the pseudo-archic man and the archic man +contrasted, but Xenophon, lover of man and artist, draws the situation +admirably and truthfully without any doctrinal purpose. It is +{anthropinon} human essentially, this jealousy and humiliation of +spirit. + +C5.35. Cyrus' tone of voice and manner must have some compelling charm +in them: the dialectic debate is not pursued, but by a word and look the +archic man wins his way. + +C5.36. Oriental and antique Hellenic, also _modern_, formalities. I can +imagine some of those crowned heads, emperors of Germany and Austria, +going through similar ceremonies, walking arm-in-arm, kissing on both +cheeks fraternally, etc. + +C5.39-40. This reveals the incorrigible weakness of Cyaxares. He can +never hold his own against the archic man. As a matter of philosophic +"historising," probably Xenophon conceives the Median element as the +corrupting and sapping one in the Persian empire (_vide_ Epilogue), only +he to some extent justifies and excuses Cyrus in his imitations of it. +That is a difficulty. + +C5.41. The archic man shows self-command again: his energy somewhat +relieves ignobler actors of responsibility and so far saps their wills. +His up-and-doingness a foil to their indolence. + + + + +BOOK VI + +[C.1] So the day ended, and they supped and went to rest. But early +the next morning all the allies flocked to Cyaxares' gates, and while +Cyaxares dressed and adorned himself, hearing that a great multitude +were waiting, Cyrus gave audience to the suitors his own friends had +brought. First came the Cadousians, imploring him to stay, and then +the Hyrcanians, and after them the Sakians, and then some one presented +Gobryas, and Hystaspas brought in Gadatas the eunuch, whose entreaty was +still the same. [2] At that Cyrus, who knew already that for many a day +Gadatas had been half-dead with fear lest the army should be disbanded, +laughed outright and said, "Ah, Gadatas, you cannot conceal it: you have +been bribed by my friend Hystaspas to take this view." + +[3] But Gadatas lifted up his hands to heaven and swore most solemnly +that Hystaspas had not influenced him. + +"Nay," said he, "it is because I know myself that, if you depart, I am +ruined utterly. And therefore it was that I took it upon me to speak +with Hystaspas myself, and ask him if he knew what was in your mind +about the disbanding of the army." + +[4] And Cyrus said, "It would be unjust then, I suppose, to lay the +blame on Hystaspas." "Yes, Cyrus, most unjust," said Hystaspas, "for I +only said to Gadatas that it would be impossible for you to carry on the +campaign, as your father wanted you home, and had sent for you." + +[5] "What?" cried Cyrus, "you dared to let that be known whether I +wished it or not?" + +"Certainly I did," he answered, "for I can see that you are mad to be +home in Persia, the cynosure of every eye, telling your father how you +wrought this and accomplished that." + +"Well," said Cyrus, "are you not longing to go home yourself?" + +"No," said the other. "I am not. Nor have I any intention of going: here +I shall stay and be general-in-chief until I make our friend Gadatas the +lord and the Assyrian his slave." + +[6] Thus half in jest and half in earnest they played with one another, +and meanwhile Cyaxares had finished adorning himself and came forth in +great splendour and solemnity, and sat down on a Median throne. And when +all were assembled and silence was proclaimed, Cyaxares said: + +"My friends and allies, perhaps, since I am present and older than +Cyrus, it is suitable that I should address you first. It appears to me +that the moment has come to discuss one question before all others, +the question whether we ought to go on with the campaign or disband the +army. Be pleased," he added, "to state your opinions on the matter." + +[7] Then the leader of the Hyrcanians stood up at once and said: + +"Friends and allies, I hardly think that words are needed when facts +themselves show us the path to take. All of us know that while we stand +together we give our enemy more trouble than we get: but when we stood +alone it was they who dealt with us as they liked best and we liked +least." + +[8] Then the Cadousian followed. + +"The less we talk," said he, "about breaking-up and going home +separately the better; separation has done us anything but good, it +seems to me, even on the march. My men and I, at any rate, very soon +paid the penalty for private excursions; as I dare say you have not +forgotten." + +[9] Upon that Artabazus rode, the Mede who had claimed kinship with +Cyrus in the old days. + +"Cyaxares," said he, "in one respect I differ from those who have spoken +before me: they think we should stay here in order to go on with the +campaign, but I think I am always on campaign at home. [10] I was for +ever out on some expedition or other, because our people were being +harried, or our fortresses threatened, and a world of trouble I had, +what with fears within and fighting without, and all too at my own +expense. As it is now, I occupy the enemy's forts, my fear of them is +gone, I make good cheer on their own good things, and I drink their own +good wine. Since home means fighting and service here means feasting, I +am not in favour myself," said he, "of breaking up the company." + +[11] Then Gobryas spoke. + +"Friends," said he, "I have trusted Cyrus' word and had no fault to +find with him: what he promises that he performs: but if he leaves the +country now, the Assyrian will be reprieved, he will never be punished +for the wrongs he tried to inflict on you and did inflict on me: I shall +be punished instead, because I have been your friend." + +[12] At that Cyrus rose at last and said: + +"Gentlemen, I am well aware that the disbanding of our forces must mean +the decrease of our power and the increase of theirs. If some of them +have given up their weapons, they will soon procure others; if some have +lost their horses, the loss will soon be made good; if some have fallen +in battle, others, younger and stronger, will take their place. We need +not be surprised if they are soon in a condition to cause us trouble +again. [13] Why, then, did I ask Cyaxares to put the question to debate? +Because, I answer, I am afraid of the future. I see opponents against +us whom we cannot fight, if we conduct the campaign as we are doing now. +[14] Winter is advancing against us, and though we may have shelter for +ourselves we have nothing, heaven knows, for our horses and our servants +and the great mass of our soldiery, without whom we cannot even think +of a campaign. As to provisions, up to the limits of our advance and +because of that advance they have been exhausted; and beyond that line, +owing to the terror we inspire, the inhabitants will have stowed their +supplies away in strong places where they can enjoy them and we cannot +get them. [15] Where is the warrior, stout of heart and strong of will, +who can wage war with cold and hunger? If our style of soldiering is to +be only what it has been, I say we ought to disband at once of our own +accord, and not wait to be driven from the field against our will by +sheer lack of means. If we do wish to go forward, this is what we must +do: we must detach from the enemy all the fortresses we can and secure +all we can for our own: if this is done, the larger supply will be in +the hands of those who can stow away the larger store, and the weaker +will suffer siege. [16] At present we are like mariners on the ocean: +they may sail on for ever, but the seas they have crossed are no +more theirs than those that are still unsailed. But if we hold the +fortresses, the enemy will find they are living in a hostile land, +while we have halcyon weather. [17] Some of you may dread the thought of +garrison duty far from home; if so, dispel your doubts. We Persians, +who must, as it is, be exiles for the time, will undertake the positions +that are nearest to the foe, while it will be for you to occupy the land +on the marches between Assyria and yourselves and put it under tillage. +[18] For, if we can hold his inner line, your peace will not be +disturbed in the outlying parts: he will scarcely neglect the danger at +his door to attack you out in the distance." + +[19] At this the whole assembly rose to express their eagerness and +assent, and Cyaxares stood up with them. And both Gadatas and Gobryas +offered to fortify a post if the allies wished, and thus provide two +cities of refuge to start with. + +[20] Finally Cyrus, thus assured of the general consent to his +proposals, said, "If we really wish to carry out what we have set +ourselves, we must prepare battering-rams and siege engines, and get +together mechanics and builders for our own castles." [21] Thereupon +Cyaxares at once undertook to provide an engine at his own expense, +Gadatas and Gobryas made themselves responsible for a second, Tigranes +for a third, and Cyrus himself promised he would try to furnish two. +[22] That done, every one set to work to find engineers and artisans and +to collect material for the machines; and superintendents were appointed +from those best qualified for the work. + +[23] Now Cyrus was aware that all this would take some time, and +therefore he encamped his troops in the healthiest spot he could find +and the easiest to supply, strengthening, wherever necessary, the +natural defences of the place, so that the detachment left in charge for +the time should always be in complete security, even though he might be +absent himself with the main body of his force. [24] Nor was this all; +he questioned those who knew the country best, and, learning where he +would be rewarded for his pains, he would lead his men out to forage, +and thus procure as large supplies as possible, keep his soldiers in the +best of health and strength, and fix their drill in their minds. + +[25] So Cyrus spent his days, and meanwhile the deserters from Babylon +and the prisoners who were captured all told the same story: they said +that the king had gone off to Lydia, taking with him store of gold and +silver, and riches and treasures of every kind. [26] The mass of the +soldiers were convinced that he was storing his goods away from fear, +but Cyrus knew that he must have gone to raise, if possible, an opponent +who could face them, and therefore he pushed his preparations forward +vigorously, feeling that another battle must be fought. He filled up the +Persian cavalry to its full complement, getting the horses partly from +the prisoners, partly from his own friends. There were two gifts he +would never refuse, horses and good weapons. [27] He also procured +chariots, taking them from the enemy or wherever he could find them. +The old Trojan type of charioteering, still in use to this day among the +Cyrenaeans, he abolished; before his time the Medes, the Syrians, the +Arabians, and all Asiatics generally, used their chariots in the same +way as the Cyrenaeans do now. [28] The fault of the system to his mind +was that the very flower of the army, if the picked men were in the +chariots, could only act at long range and so contribute little after +all to the victory. Three hundred chariots meant twelve hundred horses +and three hundred fighting-men, besides the charioteers, who would +naturally be men above the common, in whom the warriors could place +confidence: and that meant another three hundred debarred from injuring +the enemy in any kind of way. [29] Such was the system he abolished in +favour of the war-chariot proper, with strong wheels to resist the shock +of collision, and long axles, on the principle that a broad base is the +firmer, while the driver's seat was changed into what might be called +a turret, stoutly built of timber and reaching up to the elbow, +leaving the driver room to manage the horses above the rim. The drivers +themselves were all fully armed, only their eyes uncovered. [30] He had +iron scythes about two feet long attached to the axles on either side, +and others, under the tree, pointing to the ground, for use in a charge. +Such was the type of chariot invented by Cyrus, and it is still in use +to-day among the subjects of the Great King. Beside the chariots he had +a large number of camels, collected from his friends or captured +from the enemy. [31] Moreover, he decided to send a spy into Lydia to +ascertain the movements of the king, and he thought that the right man +for this purpose was Araspas, the officer in charge of the fair lady +from Susa. Matters had gone ill with Araspas: he had fallen passionately +in love with his prisoner, and been led to entreat her to be his +paramour. [32] She had refused, faithful to her husband who was far +away, for she loved him dearly, but she forbore to accuse Araspas to +Cyrus, being unwilling to set friend at strife with friend. [33] But +when at length Araspas, thinking it would help him in his desires, began +to threaten her, saying that if she would not yield he would have his +will of her by force, then in her dread of violence she could keep the +matter hid no longer, and she sent her eunuch to Cyrus with orders to +tell him everything. [34] And when Cyrus heard it he smiled over the man +who had boasted that he was superior to love, and sent Artabazus back +with the eunuch to tell Araspas that he must use no violence against +such a woman, but if he could persuade her, he might do so. [35] But +Artabazus, when he saw Araspas, rebuked him sternly, saying that the +woman was a sacred trust, and his conduct disgraceful, impious, and +wicked, till Araspas burst into tears of misery and shame, and was half +dead at the thought of what Cyrus would do. [36] Learning this, Cyrus +sent for him, saw him alone, and said to him face to face: + +"Araspas, I know that you are afraid of me and in an agony of shame. +Be comforted; we are told that the gods themselves are made subject to +desire, and I could tell you what love has forced some men to undergo, +men who seemed most lofty and most wise. Did I not pass sentence on +myself, when I confessed I was too weak to consort with loveliness and +remain unmoved? Indeed it is I who am most to blame in the matter, for I +shut you up myself with this irresistible power." + +[37] But Araspas broke in on his words: + +"Ah, Cyrus, you are ever the same, gentle and compassionate to human +weaknesses. But all the rest of the world has no pity on me; they drown +me in wretchedness. As soon as the tattlers got wind of my misfortune, +all my enemies exulted, and my friends came to me, advising me to make +away with myself for fear of you, because my iniquity was so great." + +[38] Then Cyrus said, "Now listen: this opinion about you may be the +means by which you can do me a great kindness and your comrades a great +service." "Oh, that it were possible!" said Araspas, "for me ever to +be of service to you!" [39] "Well," said the other, "if you went to the +enemy, feigning that you had fled from me, I think they would believe +you." "I am sure they would," said Araspas, "I know even my own friends +would think that of course I ran away." [40] "Then you will come back +to us," Cyrus went on, "with full information about the enemy's affairs; +for, if I am right in my expectation, they will trust you and let you +see all their plans, so that you need miss nothing of what we wish to +know." "I will be off this moment," said Araspas; "it will be my best +credential to have it thought I was just in time to escape punishment +from you." + +[41] "Then you can really bring yourself to leave the beautiful +Pantheia?" + +"Yes, Cyrus," he answered, "I can; for I see now that we have two souls. +This is the lesson of philosophy that I have learnt from the wicked +sophist Love. If we had but a single soul, how could she be at once evil +and good? How could she be enamoured at once of nobleness and baseness, +or at once desire and not desire one deed and the same? No, it is clear +that we have two souls, and when the beautiful soul prevails, all fair +things are wrought, and when the evil soul has the mastery, she lays her +hand to shame and wickedness. But to-day my good soul conquers, because +she has you to help her." + +[42] "Well," said Cyrus, "if you have decided on going, it is thus you +had better go. Thus you will win their confidence, and then you must +tell them what we are doing, but in such a way as to hinder their own +designs. It would hinder them, for example, if you said that we were +preparing an attack on their territory at a point not yet decided; for +this would check the concentration of their forces, each leader being +most concerned for the safety of his own home. [43] Stay with them," he +added, "till the last moment possible: what they do when they are close +at hand is just what is most important for us to know. Advise them how +to dispose their forces in the way that really seems the best, for then, +after you are gone and although it may be known that you are aware of +their order, they will be forced to keep to it, they will not dare to +change it, and should they do so at the last moment they will be thrown +into confusion." + +[44] Thereupon Araspas took his leave, called together his trustiest +attendants, said what he thought necessary for the occasion, and +departed. + +[45] Now Pantheia, when she heard that Araspas had fled, sent a +messenger to Cyrus, saying: + +"Grieve not, Cyrus, that Araspas has gone to join the foe: I will +bring you a far trustier friend than he, if you will let me send for my +husband, and I know he will bring with him all the power that he has. It +is true that the old king was my husband's friend, but he who reigns now +tried to tear us two asunder, and my husband knows him for a tyrant and +a miscreant, and would gladly be quit of him and take service with such +a man as you." + +[46] When Cyrus heard that, he bade Pantheia send word to her husband, +and she did so. Now when Abradatas saw the tokens from his wife, and +learnt how matters stood, he was full of joy, and set out for Cyrus' +camp immediately, with a thousand horsemen in his train. And when he +came to the Persian outposts he sent to Cyrus saying who he was, and +Cyrus gave orders that he should be taken to Pantheia forthwith. [47] So +husband and wife met again after hope had well-nigh vanished, and were +in each other's arms once more. And then Pantheia spoke of Cyrus, +his nobleness, his honour, and the compassion he had shown her, and +Abradatas cried: + +"Tell me, tell me, how can I repay him all I owe him in your name and +mine!" And she answered: + +"So deal with him, my husband, as he has dealt with you." + +[48] And thus Abradatas went to Cyrus, and took him by the hand, and +said: + +"Cyrus, in return for the kindness you have shown us, I can say no more +than this: I give myself to you, I will be your friend, your servant, +and your ally: whatever you desire, I will help you to win, your +fellow-worker always, so far as in me lies." + +[49] Then Cyrus answered: + +"And I will take your gift: but for the moment you must leave me, and +sup with your wife: another day you will let me play the host, and give +you lodging with your friends and mine." + +[50] Afterwards Abradatas perceived how much Cyrus had at heart the +scythe-bearing chariots and the cavalry and the war-horses with their +armour, and he resolved to equip a hundred chariots for him out of his +own cavalry force. [51] These he proposed to lead himself in a chariot +of his own, four-poled and drawn by eight horses, all the eight +protected by chest-plates of bronze. [52] So Abradatas set to work, and +this four-poled chariot of his gave Cyrus the idea of making a car +with eight poles, drawn by eight yoke of oxen, to carry the lowest +compartment of the battering engines, which stood, with its wheels, +about twenty-seven feet from the ground. [53] Cyrus felt that he had a +series of such towers brought into the field at a fair pace they would +be of immense service to him, and inflict as much damage on the enemy. +The towers were built with galleries and parapets, and each of them +could carry twenty men. [54] When the whole was put together he tested +it and found that the eight yoke of oxen could draw the whole tower with +the men more easily than one yoke by itself could manage the ordinary +weight of baggage, which came to about five-and-twenty talents apiece, +whereas the tower, build of planks about as thick as the boards for +a stage, weighed less than fifteen for each yoke. [55] Thus, having +satisfied himself that the attempt was perfectly possible, he arranged +to take the towers into action, believing that in war selfishness meant +salvation, justice, and happiness. + +[C.2] About this time ambassadors came to Cyrus from India with gifts of +courtesy and a message from their king, saying: + +"I send you greeting, Cyrus, and I rejoice that you told me of your +needs. I desire to be your friend and I offer you gifts; and if you have +need of anything more, I bid you say the word, and it shall be yours. I +have told my men to do whatever you command." + +[2] Then Cyrus answered: + +"This, then, is my bidding: the rest of you shall stay where you have +pitched your tents; you shall guard your treasures and live as you +choose: but three of you shall go to the enemy and make believe that you +have come to him about an alliance with your king, and thus you shall +learn how matters stand, and all they say and all they do, and so bring +me word again with speed. And if you serve me well in this, I shall owe +you even more than I could owe you for these gifts. There are some spies +who are no better than slaves, and have no skill to find out anything +more than is known already, but there are men of another sort, men of +your stamp, who can discover plans that are not yet disclosed." + +[3] The Indians listened gladly, and for the moment made themselves at +home as the guests of Cyrus: but the next day they got ready and set +off on their journey, promising to find out as much as they could of the +enemy's secrets and bring him word again with all possible speed. + +[4] Meanwhile Cyrus continued his preparations for the war on +a magnificent scale, like one who meant to accomplish no small +achievement. Not only did he carry out all the resolutions of the +allies, but he breathed a spirit of emulation into his own friends +and followers, till each strove to outshine his fellows in arms +and accoutrements, in horsemanship and spearmanship and archery, in +endurance of toil and danger. [5] Cyrus would lead them out to the +chase, and show especial honour to those who distinguished themselves in +any way: he would whet the ambition of the officers by praising all who +did their best to improve their men, and by gratifying them in every way +he could. [6] At every sacrifice and festival he instituted games and +contests in all martial exercises, and lavished prizes on the victors, +till the whole army was filled with enthusiasm and confidence. [7] By +this time Cyrus had almost everything in readiness for the campaign, +except the battering-machines. The Persian cavalry was made up to its +full number of ten thousand men, and the scythed chariots were complete, +a hundred of his own, and a hundred that Abradatas of Susa had provided. +[8] Beside these there were a hundred of the old Median chariots which +Cyrus had persuaded Cyaxares to remodel on his own type, giving up +the Trojan and Lydian style. The camels were ready also, each animal +carrying a couple of mounted archers. + +The bulk of the great army felt almost as though they had already +conquered, and the enemy's power was held of no account. + +[9] While matters were thus, the Indians whom Cyrus had sent out +returned with their report. Croesus had been chosen leader and +general-in-chief; a resolution had been passed, calling on all the +allied kings to bring up their entire forces, raise enormous sums for +the war, and spend them in hiring mercenaries where they could and +making presents where they must. [10] Large numbers of Thracians, armed +with the short sword, had already been enrolled, and a body of Egyptians +were coming by sea, amounting--so said the Indians--to 120,000 men, +armed with long shields reaching to their feet, huge spears (such as +they carry to this day), and sabres. Beside these, an army was expected +from Cyprus, and there were already on the spot all the Cilicians, the +men of both the Phrygias, of Lycaonia, Paphlagonia, and Cappadocia, +the Arabians, the Phoenicians, and all the Assyrians under the king of +Babylon. Moreover, the Ionians, and Aeolians, and indeed nearly all the +Hellenic colonists on the coast were compelled to follow in the train of +Croesus. [11] Croesus himself had already sent to Lacedaemon to propose +an alliance with the Spartans. The armament was mustering on the banks +of the Pactolus, and they were to push forward presently to Thymbrara +(the place which is still the mustering-ground for all the Asiatic +subjects of the Great King west of Syria), and orders had been issued to +open a market there. This report agreed with the accounts given by the +prisoners, for Cyrus was always at pains to gave men captured from +whom he could get some information, and he would also send out spies +disguised as runaway slaves. + +[12] Such were the tidings, and when the army heard the news there was +much anxiety and concern, as one may well suppose. The men went about +their work with an unusual quietness, their faces clouded over, or +gathered in knots and clusters everywhere, anxiously asking each other +the news and discussing the report. [13] When Cyrus saw that fear was in +the camp, he called a meeting of his generals, and indeed of all +whose dejection might injure the cause and whose confidence assist it. +Moreover, he sent word that any of the attendants, or any of the rank +and file, who wished to hear what he had to say, would be allowed to +come and listen. When they met, he spoke as follows: + +[14] "My friends and allies, I make no secret of the reason I have +called you here. It was because I saw that some of you, when the reports +of the enemy reached us, looked like men who were panic-stricken. But I +must say I am astonished that any of you should feel alarm because the +enemy is mustering his forces, and not be reassured by remembering that +our own is far larger than it was when we conquered him before, and far +better provided, under heaven, with all we need. [15] I ask you how you +would have felt, you who are afraid now, if you had been told that a +force exactly like our own was marching upon us, if you had heard that +men who had conquered us already were coming now, carrying in their +hearts the victory they had won, if you knew that those who made short +work then of all our bows and javelins were advancing again, and others +with them, ten thousand times as many? [16] Suppose you heard that the +very men who had routed our infantry once were coming on now equipt as +before, but this time on horseback, scorning arms and javelins, each man +armed with one stout spear, ready to charge home? [17] Suppose you heard +of chariots, made on a new pattern, not to be kept motionless, standing, +as hitherto, with their backs turned to the foe as if for flight, but +with the horses shielded by armour, and the drivers sheltered by wooden +walls and protected by breastplates and helmets, and the axles fitted +with iron scythes so that they can charge straight into the ranks of the +foe? [18] And suppose you heard that they have camels to ride on, each +one of which would scare a hundred horses, and that they will bring +up towers from which to help their own friends, and overwhelm us with +volleys of darts so that we cannot fight them on level ground? [19] If +this were what you had heard of the enemy, I as you, once again, you who +are now so fearful what would you have done? You who turn pale when +told that Croesus has been chosen commander-in-chief, Croesus who proved +himself so much more cowardly than the Syrians, that when they were +worsted in battle and fled, instead of helping them, his own allies, he +took to his heels himself. [20] We are told, moreover, that the enemy +himself does not feel equal to facing you alone, he is hiring others +to fight for him better than he could for himself. I can only say, +gentlemen, that if any individual considers our position as I describe +it alarming or unfavourable, he had better leave us. Let him join our +opponents, he will do us far more service there than here." + +[21] When Cyrus had ended, Chrysantas the Persian stood up and said: + +"Cyrus, you must not wonder if the faces of some were clouded when they +heard the news. The cloud was a sign of annoyance, not of fear. Just as +if," he went on, "a company were expecting breakfast immediately, and +then were told there was some business that must be got through first, I +do not suppose any of them would be particularly pleased. Here we were, +saying to ourselves that our fortunes were made, and now we are informed +there is still something to be done, and of course our countenances +fell, not because we were afraid, but because we could have wished it +all over and done with. [22] However, since it now appears that Syria +is not to be the only prize--though there is much to be got in Syria, +flocks and herds and corn and palm-trees yielding fruit--but Lydia as +well, Lydia the land of wine and oil and fig-trees, Lydia, to whose +shores the sea brings more good things than eyes can feast on, I say +that once we realise this we can mope no longer, our spirits will rise +apace, and we shall hasten to lay our hands on the Lydian wealth without +delay." + +So he spoke, and the allies were well pleased at his words and gave him +loud applause. + +[23] "Truly, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "as Chrysantas says, I think we +ought to march without delay, if only to be beforehand with our foes, +and reach their magazines before they do themselves; and besides, the +quicker we are, the fewer resources we shall find with them. [24] That +is how I put the matter, but if any one sees a safer or an easier way, +let him instruct us." + +But many speakers followed, all urging an immediate march, without one +speech in opposition, and so Cyrus took up the word again and said: + +[25] "My friends and allies, God helping us, our hearts, our bodies, +and our weapons have now been long prepared: all that remains is to get +together what we need for ourselves and our animals on a march of at +least twenty days. I reckon that the journey itself must take more than +fifteen, and not a vestige of food shall we find from end to end. It has +all been made away with, partly by ourselves, partly by our foes, so far +as they could. [26] We must collect enough corn, without which one can +neither fight nor live: and as for wine, every man must carry just +so much as will accustom him to drink water: the greater part of the +country will be absolutely devoid of wine, and the largest supply we +could take with us would not hold out. [27] But to avoid too sudden a +change and the sickness that might follow, this is what we must do. We +must begin by taking water with our food: we can do this without any +great change in our habits. [28] For every one who eats porridge has +the oatmeal mixed with water, and every one who eats bread has the wheat +soaked in water, and all boiled meat is prepared in water. We shall not +miss the wine if we drink a little after the meal is done. [29] Then we +must gradually lessen the amount, until we find that, without knowing +it, we have become water-drinkers. Gradual change enables every creature +to go through a complete conversion; and this is taught us by God, who +leads us little by little out of winter until we can bear the blazing +heat of summer, and out of heat back again into the depths of winter. So +should we follow God, and take one step after another until we reach our +goal. [30] What you might spend on heavy rugs and coverlets spend rather +on food: any superfluity there will not be wasted: and you will not +sleep less soundly for lack of bedclothes; if you do, I give you leave +to blame me. But with clothing the case is different: a man can hardly +have too much of that in sickness or in health. [31] And for seasoning +you should take what is sharp and dry and salted, for such meats +are more appetising and more satisfying. And since we may come into +districts as yet unravaged where we may find growing corn, we ought to +take handmills for grinding: these are the lightest machines for +the purpose. [32] Nor must we forget to supply ourselves with +medicines--they are small in bulk and, if need arises, invaluable. And +we ought to have a large supply of straps--I wonder what is not fastened +by a strap to man or horse? But straps wear out and get broken and then +things are at a standstill unless there are spare ones to be had. [33] +Some of you have learnt to shave spears, so that it would be as well not +to forget a plane, and also to carry a rasp, for the man who sharpens a +spearhead will sharpen his spirit too. He will feel ashamed to whet the +edge and be a coward. And we must take plenty of timber for chariots and +waggons; there is bound to be many a breakdown on the road. [34] Also +we shall need the most necessary tools for repairs, since smiths and +carpenters are not to be found at every turn, but there are few who +cannot patch up a makeshift for the time. Then there should be a mattock +and a shovel apiece for every waggon, and on every beast of burden a +billhook and an axe, always useful to the owner and sometimes a boon +to all. [35] The provisions must be seen to by the officers of the +fighting-line; they must inspect the men under their command and see +that nothing is omitted which any man requires; the omission would be +felt by us all. Those of you who are in command of the baggage-train +will inspect what I have ordered for the animals and insist upon every +man being provided who is not already supplied. [36] You, gentlemen, who +are in command of the road-makers, you have the lists of the soldiers I +have disqualified from serving as javelin-men, bowmen, or slingers, and +you will make the old javelin men march with axes for felling timber, +the bowmen with mattocks, and the slingers with shovels. They will +advance by squads in front of the waggons so that if there is any +road-making to be done you may set to work at once, and in case of need +I may know where to get the men I want. [37] I mean also to take a corps +of smiths, carpenters, and cobblers, men of military age, provided with +the proper tools, to supply any possible need. These men will not be +in the fighting-line, but they will have a place assigned to them where +they can be hired by any one who likes. [38] If any huckster wishes +to follow the army with his wares, he may do so, but if caught selling +anything during the fifteen days for which provisions have been ordered, +he will be deprived of all his goods: after the fifteen days are done he +may sell what he likes. Any merchant who offers us a well-stocked market +will receive recompense and honour from the allies and myself. [39] +And if any one needs an advance of money for trading, he must send me +guarantors who will undertake that he will march with the army, and then +he can draw on our funds. These are the general orders: and I will ask +any of you who think that anything has been omitted to point it out +to me. [40] You will now go back to your quarters and make your +preparations, and while you do so I will offer sacrifice for our journey +and when the signs are favourable we will give the signal. At that +you must present yourselves, with everything I have ordered, at the +appointed place, under your own officers. [41] And you, gentlemen," said +he, turning to the officers, "when your divisions are all in line, you +will come to me in a body to receive your final orders." + +[C.3] With these instructions the army went to make their preparations +while Cyrus offered sacrifice. + +As soon as the victims were favourable, he set out with his force. + +On the first day they encamped as near by as possible, so that anything +left behind could easily be fetched and any omission readily supplied. +[2] Cyaxares stayed in Media with a third of the Median troops in order +not to leave their own country undefended. Cyrus himself pushed forward +with all possible speed, keeping his cavalry in the van and constantly +sending explorers and scouts ahead to some look-out. Behind the cavalry +came the baggage, and on the plains he had long strings of waggons and +beasts of burden, and the main army behind them, so that if any of the +baggage-train fell back, the officers who caught them up would see that +they did not lose their places in the march. [3] But where the road was +narrower the fighting-men marched on either side with the baggage in the +middle, and in case of any block it was the business of the soldiers +on the spot to attend to the matter. As a rule, the different regiments +would be marching alongside their own baggage, orders having been +given that all members of the train should advance by regiments +unless absolutely prevented. [4] To help matters the brigadier's own +body-servant led the way with an ensign known to his men, so that each +regiment marched together, the men doing their best to keep up with +their comrades. Thus there was no need to search for each other, +everything was to hand, there was greater security, and the soldiers +could get what they wanted more quickly. + +[5] After some days the scouts ahead thought they could see people in +the plain collecting fodder and timber, and then they made out beasts of +burden, some grazing and others already laden, and as they scanned the +distance they felt sure they could distinguish something that was either +smoke rising or clouds of dust; and from all this they concluded +that the enemy's army was not far off. [6] Whereupon their commander +despatched a messenger with the news to Cyrus, who sent back word that +the scouts should stay where they were, on their look-out, and tell him +if they saw anything more, while he ordered a squadron of cavalry to +ride forward, and intercept, if they could, some of the men on the plain +and so discover the actual state of affairs. [7] While the detachment +carried out this order Cyrus halted the rest of his army to make such +dispositions as he thought necessary before coming to close quarters. +His first order was for the troops to take their breakfast: after +breakfast they were to fall in and wait for the word of command. [8] +When breakfast was over he sent for all the officers from the cavalry, +the infantry, and the chariot brigade, and for the commanders of the +battering engines and the baggage train, and they came to him. [9] +Meanwhile the troop of horse had dashed into the plain, cut off some +of the men, and now brought them in captive. The prisoners, on being +questioned by Cyrus, said they belonged to the camp and had gone out +to forage or cut wood and so had passed beyond their own pickets, for, +owing to the size of their army, everything was scarce. + +[10] "How far is your army from here?" asked Cyrus. "About seven miles," +said they. "Was there any talk about us down there?" said he. "We should +think there was," they answered; "it was all over the camp that you were +coming." "Ah," said Cyrus, "I suppose they were glad to hear we were +coming so soon?" (putting this question for his officers to hear the +answer). "That they were not," said the prisoners, "they were anything +but glad; they were miserable." [11] "And what are they doing now?" +asked Cyrus. "Forming their line of battle," answered they; "yesterday +and the day before they did the same." + +"And their commander?" said Cyrus, "who is he?" "Croesus himself," said +they, "and with him a Greek, and also another man, a Mede, who is said +to be a deserter from you." + +"Ah," cried Cyrus, "is that so? Most mighty Zeus, may I deal with him as +I wish!" + +[12] Then he had the prisoners led away and turned to speak to his +officers, but at this moment another scout appeared, saying that a large +force of cavalry was in the plain. "We think," he added, "that they are +trying to get a sight of our army. For about thirty of them are riding +ahead at a good round pace and they seem to be coming straight for our +little company, perhaps to capture our look-out if they can, for there +are only ten of us there." + +[13] At that Cyrus sent off a detachment from his own bodyguard, +bidding them gallop up to the place, unseen by the enemy, and stay there +motionless. "Wait," he said, "until our own ten must leave the spot and +then dash out on the thirty as they come up the hill. And to prevent any +injury from the larger body, do you, Hystaspas," said he, turning to the +latter, "ride out with a thousand horse, and let them see you suddenly, +face to face. But remember not to pursue them out of sight, come back as +soon as you have secured our post. And if any of your opponents ride up +with their right hands raised, welcome them as friends." + +[14] Accordingly Hystaspas went off and got under arms, while the +bodyguard galloped to the spot. But before they reached the scouts, some +one met them with his squires, the man who had been sent out as a spy, +the guardian of the lady from Susa, Araspas himself. [15] When the news +reached Cyrus, he sprang up from his seat, went to meet him himself, +and clasped his hand, but the others, who of course knew nothing, were +utterly dumbfounded, until Cyrus said: + +"Gentlemen, the best of our friends has come back to us. It is high +time that all men should know what he has done. It was not through any +baseness, or any weakness, or any fear of me, that he left us; it was +because I sent him to be my messenger, to learn the enemy's doings and +bring us word. [16] Araspas, I have not forgotten what I promised you, +I will repay you, we will all repay you. For, gentlemen, it is only +just that all of you should pay him honour. Good and true I call him who +risked himself for our good, and took upon himself a reproach that was +heavy to bear." + +[17] At that all crowded round Araspas and took him by the hand and made +him welcome. Then Cyrus spoke again: + +"Enough, my friends, Araspas has news for us, and it is time to hear it. +Tell us your tale, Araspas, keep back nothing of the truth, and do not +make out the power of the enemy less than it really is. It is far better +that we should find it smaller than we looked for rather than strong +beyond our expectations." [18] "Well," began Araspas, "in order to +learn their numbers, I managed to be present at the marshalling of their +troops." "Then you can tell us," said Cyrus, "not only their numbers but +their disposition in the field." "That I can," answered Araspas, "and +also how they propose to fight." "Good," said Cyrus, "but first let us +hear their numbers in brief." [19] "Well," he answered, "they are drawn +up thirty deep, infantry and cavalry alike, all except the Egyptians, +and they cover about five miles; for I was at great pains," he added, +"to find out how much ground they occupied." + +[20] "And the Egyptians?" Cyrus said, "how are they drawn up? I noticed +you said, 'all except the Egyptians.'" + +"The Egyptians," he answered, "are drawn up in companies of ten +thousand, under their own officers, a hundred deep, and a hundred +broad: that, they insisted, was their usual formation at home. Croesus, +however, was very loth to let them have their own way in this: he wished +to outflank you as much as possible." "Why?" Cyrus asked, "what was his +object?" "To encircle you, I imagine, with his wings." "He had better +take care," said Cyrus, "or his circle may find itself in the centre. +[21] But now you have told us what we most needed to know, and you, +gentlemen," said he to the officers, "on leaving this meeting, you will +look to your weapons and your harness. It often happens that the lack +of some little thing makes man or horse or chariot useless. To-morrow +morning early, while I am offering sacrifice, do you take your breakfast +and give your steeds their provender, so that when the moment comes to +strike you may not be found wanting. And then you, Araspas, must hold +the right wing in the position it has now, and the rest of you who +command a thousand men must do the same with your divisions: it is no +time to be changing horses when the race is being run; and you will send +word to the brigadiers and captains under you to draw up the phalanx +with each company two deep." (Now a company consisted of four-and-twenty +men.) + +[22] Then one of the officers, a captain of ten thousand, said: + +"Do you think, Cyrus, that with so shallow a depth we can stand against +their tremendous phalanx?" + +"But do you suppose," rejoined he, "that any phalanx so deep that the +rear-ranks cannot close with the enemy could do much either for friend +or foe? [23] I myself," he added, "would rather this heavy infantry of +theirs were drawn up, not a hundred, but ten thousand deep: we should +have all the fewer to fight. Whereas with the depth that I propose, I +believe we shall not waste a man: every part of our army will work with +every other. [24] I will post the javelin-men behind the cuirassiers, +and the archers behind them: it would be absurd to place in the van +troops who admit that they are not made for hand-to-hand fighting; +but with the cuirassiers thrown in front of them they will stand firm +enough, and harass the enemy over the heads of our own men with their +arrows and their darts. And every stroke that falls on the enemy means +so much relief to our friends. [25] In the very rear of all I will post +our reserve. A house is useless without a foundation as well as a roof, +and our phalanx will be no use unless it has a rear-guard and a van, and +both of them good. [26] You," he added, "will draw up the ranks to suit +these orders, and you who command the targeteers will follow with your +companies in the same depth, and you who command the archers will follow +the targeteers. [27] Gentlemen of the reserve, you will hold your men in +the rear, and pass the word down to your own subordinates to watch the +men in front, cheer on those who do their duty, threaten him who plays +the coward, and if any man show signs of treachery, see that he dies the +death. It is for those in the van to hearten those behind them by word +and deed; it is for you, the reserve, to make the cowards dread you more +than the foe. [28] You know your work, and you will do it. Euphratus," +he added, turning to the officer in command of the artillery, "see that +the waggons with the towers keep as close to the phalanx as possible. +[29] And you, Daouchus, bring up the whole of your baggage-train under +cover of the towers and make your squires punish severely any man who +breaks the line. [30] You, Carouchas, keep the women's carriages close +behind the baggage-train. This long line of followers should give +an impression of vast numbers, allow our own men opportunity for +ambuscades, and force the enemy, if he try to surround us, to widen his +circuit, and the wider he makes it the weaker he will be. [31] That, +then, is your business; and you, gentlemen, Artaozus and Artagersas, +each of you take your thousand foot and guard the baggage. [32] And you, +Pharnouchus and Asiadatas, neither of you must lead your thousand horse +into the fighting-line, you must get them under arms by themselves +behind the carriages: and then come to me with the other officers as +fully-equipt as if you were to be the first to fight. [53] You, sir, who +command the camel-corps will take up your post behind the carriages +and look for further orders to Artagersas. [34] Officers of the +war-chariots, you will draw lots among yourselves, and he on whom the +lot falls will bring his hundred chariots in front of the fighting-line, +while the other two centuries will support our flanks on the right and +left." + +[35] Such were the dispositions made by Cyrus; but Abradatas, the lord +of Susa, cried: + +"Cyrus, let me, I pray you, volunteer for the post in front." + +[36] And Cyrus, struck with admiration for the man, took him by the +hand, and turning to the Persians in command of the other centuries +said: + +"Perhaps, gentlemen, you will allow this?" + +But they answered that it was hard to resign the post of honour, and so +they all drew lots, and the lot fell on Abradatas, and his post was +face to face with the Egyptians. Then the officers left the council and +carried out the orders given, and took their evening meal and posted the +pickets and went to rest. + +[C.4] But early on the morrow Cyrus offered sacrifice, and meanwhile the +rest of the army took their breakfast, and after the libation they armed +themselves, a great and goodly company in bright tunics and splendid +breastplates and shining helmets. All the horses had frontlets and +chest-plates, the chargers had armour on their shoulders, and the +chariot-horses on their flanks; so that the whole army flashed with +bronze, and shone like a flower with scarlet. [2] The eight-horse +chariot of Abradatas was a marvel of beauty and richness; and just as he +was about to put on the linen corslet of his native land, Pantheia came, +bringing him a golden breastplate and a helmet of gold, and armlets and +broad bracelets for his wrists, and a full flowing purple tunic, and +a hyacinth-coloured helmet-plume. All these she had made for him in +secret, taking the measure of his armour without his knowledge. [3] And +when he saw them, he gazed in wonder and said: + +"Dear wife, and did you destroy your own jewels to make this armour for +me?" + +But she said, "No, my lord, at least not the richest of them all, for +you shall be my loveliest jewel, when others see you as I see you now." + +As she spoke, she put the armour on him, but then, though she tried to +hide it, the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +[4] And truly, when Abradatas was arrayed in the new panoply, he, who +had been fair enough to look upon before, was now a sight of splendour, +noble and beautiful and free, as indeed his nature was. [5] He took the +reins from the charioteer, and was about to set foot on the car, when +Pantheia bade the bystanders withdraw, and said to him, "My own lord, +little need to tell you what you know already, yet this I say, if any +woman loved her husband more than her own soul, I am of her company. Why +should I try to speak? Our lives say more than any words of mine. [6] +And yet, feeling for you what you know, I swear to you by the love +between us that I would rather go down to the grave beside you after a +hero's death than live on with you in shame. I have thought you worthy +of the highest, and believed myself worthy to follow you. [7] And I +bear in mind the great gratitude we owe to Cyrus, who, when I was his +captive, chosen for his spoil, was too high-minded to treat me as a +slave, or dishonour me as a free woman; he took me and saved me for +you, as though I had been his brother's wife. [8] And when Araspas, my +warder, turned from him, I promised, if he would let me send for you, +I would bring him a friend in the other's place, far nobler and more +faithful." + +[9] And as Pantheia spoke, Abradatas listened with rapture to her words, +and when she ended, he laid his hand upon her head, and looking up to +heaven he prayed aloud: + +"O most mighty Zeus, make me worthy to be Pantheia's husband, and the +friend of Cyrus who showed us honour!" + +[10] Then he opened the driver's seat and mounted the car, and the +driver shut the door, and Pantheia could not take him in her arms again, +so she bent and kissed the chariot-box. Then the car rolled forward and +she followed unseen till Abradatas turned and saw her and cried, "Be +strong, Pantheia, be of a good heart! Farewell, and hie thee home!" + +[11] Thereupon her chamberlains and her maidens took her and brought her +back to her own carriage, and laid her down and drew the awning. But +no man, of all who was there that day, splendid as Abradatas was in his +chariot, had eyes to look on him until Pantheia had gone. + +[12] Meanwhile Cyrus had found the victims favourable, and his army was +already drawn up in the order he had fixed. He had scouts posted ahead, +one behind the other, and then he called his officers together for his +final words: + +[13] "Gentlemen, my friends and allies, the sacred signs from heaven are +as they were the day the gods gave us victory before, and I would call +to your minds thoughts to bring you gladness and confidence for the +fight. [14] You are far better trained than your enemies, you have +lived together and worked together far longer than they, you have won +victories together. What they have shared with one another has been +defeat, and those who have not fought as yet feel they have traitors to +right and left of them, while our recruits know that they enter battle +in company with men who help their allies. [15] Those who trust each +other will stand firm and fight without flinching, but when confidence +has gone no man thinks of anything but flight. [16] Forward then, +gentlemen, against the foe; drive our scythed chariots against their +defenceless cars, let our armed cavalry charge their unprotected horse, +and charge them home. [17] The mass of their infantry you have met +before; and as for the Egyptians, they are armed in much the same way as +they are marshalled; they carry shields too big to let them stir or see, +they are drawn up a hundred deep, which will prevent all but the merest +handful fighting. [18] If they count on forcing us back by their weigh, +they must first withstand our steel and the charge of our cavalry. And +if any of them do hold firm, how can they fight at once against cavalry, +infantry, and turrets of artillery? For our men on the towers will be +there to help us, they will smite the enemy until he flies instead of +fighting. [19] If you think there is anything wanting, tell me now; God +helping us, we will lack nothing. And if any man wishes to say anything, +let him speak now; if not, go to the altar and there pray to the gods to +whom we have sacrificed, and then fall in. [20] Let each man say to his +own men what I have said to him, let him show the men he rules that he +is fit to rule, let them see the fearlessness in his face, his bearing, +and his words." + + + NOTES + +C1.9. Artabazus "the kinsman" named now for the first time, why? + +C1.11. Cf. Anglice "his word": a delicate appeal to a man of honour. It +suits G.'s character. + +C1.14-15. Speech full of metaphor: winter stalking on, with hunter and +frost attendant on either side; a stealthy, but august advance. + +C1.16. A happy simile: _vide_ Book of Wisdom [c. 5, 10, "And as a ship +that passeth over the waves of the water," etc.]. + +C1.38. How a fault may be turned to account: Hellenic stool of +repentance. + +C1.41. Theory of two souls, to account for the yielding to base desires. +It works, but is it not the theory of a man whose will is weak, as we +say, or whose sympathetic nature has been developed at the expense +of his self-regulative? There is another way of putting it in +_Memorabilia_, Bk. I. c. ii., Sec.Sec. 19-28. Xenophon is not more a +philosopher than a "philanthropist." He is full of compassion for human +weaknesses. + +C1.44. Exit Araspas, to be baptised under this cloud of ignominy into +the sunshine of recognised joyous serviceableness. + +C1.45. We grow fonder than ever of Pantheia. + +C1.50. Irony: the chariots that are to cost Abradatas his life +hereafter. Is this tale "historic" at all? I mean, did Xenophon find +or hear any such story current? What is the relation, if any, to it of +Xenophon Ephesius, Antheia, and Abrocomas? [_Xenophon Ephesius_, a late +writer of romances.] Had that writer any echo of the names in his head? +What language are "Pantheia" and "Abradatas"? + +C1.52. All very well, but the author hasn't told us anything about the +construction of these {mekhanai}, these battering engines, before, to +prepare us for this. Is that a slip, or how explainable? I think he +is betrayed into the description by reason of his interest in such +strategic matters. The expression is intelligible enough to any one +who knows about engines, just as we might speak of the butt or the +stanchion, or whatever it be. + +C2.1-3. The Medians bring back the bread that was cast upon the waters. +Cyrus turns this gain to new account. He sacrifices the present natural +gain, i.e. the wealth, to the harder spiritual gain, viz., their +positive as opposed to their merely negative alliance. Cyrus _is_ the +archic man. + +C2.4. I have a sort of idea, or feeling that here the writer takes up +his pen afresh after a certain interval. C4-6 are a reduplication, not +unnatural indeed, but _pro tanto_ tautological. + +C2.7. Semi-historical basis. Prototype, when Agesilaus meditated the +advance on Persia, just before his recall. [See _Hellenica_, III. iv., +Works II. p. 29.] + +C2.13 foll. The archic man can by a word of his mouth still the flutter +and incipient heave of terror-stricken hearts. + +C2.15-18. A review of the improvements amounting to a complete +revolution in arms and attack effected by Cyrus. This is imagined as an +ideal accompaniment to the archic man and conqueror. Xenophon nowadays +on the relative advantages of the bayonet and the sword, cavalry and +infantry, etc., would have been very interesting. Cf. a writer like +Forbes. + +[C2.19. "Syrians." The word is used loosely, including the Assyrians +and their kindred. See below C.22. "Syria" = Assyria and the adjacent +country.] + +C2.21, fin. Xenophon has more than once witnessed this clouding of the +brow, the scowl or sulk of the less stalwart moral-fibred men (notably +in _Hellenica_). + +C2.26 ff. How to give up wine: the art in it. Now listen, all you +blue-ribbonists! Xenophon, Hygienist. + +C2.37. One would like to know how the price was regulated. Does any +learned German know? Note the orderliness and economy of it all. Is it, +as far as the army goes, novel in any respect, do you suppose, or only +idealised Hellenic? Spartan? + +C3.14. A slight (intentional?) aposiopesis. Did H. have to drive back +the great cavalry division of the enemy? + +C3.17. How quickly the archic man passes on! Cf. J. P. + +C3.19. Notice the part given to the Egyptians to play. Why? (Agesilaus +died on his last campaign in Egypt.) + +C3.25. Is it dramatic to make Cyrus speak in this way as if he were +lecturing a class on strategics? + +C3.30. The advantage even of sutlers and women. This +several-times-repeated remark surprises me. But no doubt the arrangement +would give the enemy pause, and waste his time in out-flanking +movements: viola tout, hgd. At Cunaxa, however, the Persian did get +behind the Greek camp. No prototype there, then. [Xenophon, _Anabasis_, +Bk. I. c. 10.] + +C4.2. We are more and more enamoured of Pantheia. + +C4.7. As delicate as any modern in the respect for wedded womanhood. + +C4.13 ff. Notice how in this stirring and inspiriting speech Cyrus by +dealing with the Egyptians (the only unknown quantity) strikes a new +note and sets up a new motive, as it were, preparing us for the tragic +struggle which is to come, which will cost Abradatas and other good +men dear, not to speak of the brave Egyptians themselves (cf. Sudanese +Arabs). Also note Xenophon's enthusiasm in reference to the new arming +and the odds of encounter between cavalry and infantry (cf. Napier, +Forbes, etc.). + + + + +BOOK VII + +[C.1] So they prayed to the gods and went to their place, and the +squires brought food and drink to Cyrus and his staff as they stood +round the sacrifice. And he took his breakfast where he stood, after +making the due offering, sharing what he had with all who needed it, and +he poured out the libation and prayed, and then drank, and his men with +him. + +Then he supplicated Zeus, the god of his fathers, to be his leader and +helper in the fight, and so he mounted his horse and bade those about +him follow. [2] All his squires were equipped as he was, with scarlet +tunics, breastplates of bronze, and brazen helmets plumed with white, +short swords, and a lance of cornel-wood apiece. Their horses had +frontlets, chest-plates, and armour for their shoulders, all of bronze, +and the shoulder-pieces served as leg-guards for the riders. In one +thing only the arms of Cyrus differed from the rest: theirs was covered +with a golden varnish and his flashed like a mirror. [3] As he sat on +his steed, gazing into the distance, where he meant to go, a peal of +thunder rang out on the right, and he cried, "We will follow thee, O +Zeus most high!" + +So he set forth with Chrysantas on his right at the head of cavalry and +Arsamas on his left with infantry. [4] And the word went down the lines, +"Eyes on the standard and steady marching." + +The standard was a golden eagle, with outspread wings, borne aloft on +a long spear-shaft, and to this day such is the standard of the Persian +king. + +Before they came in full sight of the Assyrians Cyrus halted the army +thrice. [5] And when they had gone about two miles or more, they began +to see the enemy advancing. As soon as both armies were in full view +of each other, and the Assyrians could see how much they outflanked +the Persians on either side, Croesus halted, in order to prepare an +encircling movement, and pushed out a column on the right wing and the +left, so that the Persian forces might be attacked on every side at +once. + +[6] Cyrus saw it, but gave no sign of stopping; he led straight on as +before. Meanwhile he noticed that the turning-point where the Assyrians +had pushed out on either flank was an immense distance from their +centre, and he said to Chrysantas: + +"Do you see where they have fixed their angle?" "Yes, I do," answered +Chrysantas, "and I am surprised at it: it seems to me they are drawing +their wings too far away from their centre." "Just so," said Cyrus, +"and from ours too." [7] "Why are they doing that?" asked the other. +"Clearly," said Cyrus, "they are afraid we shall attack, if their wings +are in touch with us while their centre is still some way off." +"But," went on Chrysantas, "how can they support each other at such a +distance?" "Doubtless," said Cyrus, "as soon as their wings are opposite +our flanks, they will wheel round, and then advance at once on every +side and so set us fighting everywhere at once." [8] "Well," said +Chrysantas, "do you think the movement wise?" "Yes," said Cyrus, "it +is good enough in view of what they can see, but, in view of what they +cannot, it is worse for them than if they had advanced in a single +column. Do you," he said, turning to Arsamas, "advance with your +infantry, slowly, taking your pace from me, and do you, Chrysantas, +march beside him with your cavalry, step for step. I will make for their +angle myself, where I propose to join battle, first riding round the +army to see how things are with all our men. [9] When I reach the point, +and we are on the verge of action, I will raise the paean and then +you must quicken your pace. You will know when we have closed with the +enemy, the din will be loud enough. At the same moment Abradatas will +dash out upon them: such will be his orders; your duty is to follow, +keeping as close to the chariots as possible. Thus we shall fall on the +enemy at the height of his confusion. And, God helping me, I shall be +with you also, cutting my way through the rout by the quickest road I +can. + +[10] So he spoke, and sent the watchword down the lines, "Zeus our +saviour, and Zeus our leader," and went forward. As he passed between +the chariots and the cuirassiers, he would say to some, "My men, the +look on your faces rejoices my heart," and to others, "You understand, +gentlemen, that this battle is not for the victory of a day, but for all +that we have won ere now, and for all our happiness to come." [11] And +to others, "My friends, we can never reproach the gods again: to-day +they have put all blessings in our hands. [12] Let us show ourselves +good men and true." Or else, "Gentlemen, can we invite each other to a +more glorious feast than this? This day all gallant hearts are bidden; +this day they may feast their friends." [13] Or again, "You know, I +think, the prizes in this game: the victors pursue and smite and slay, +and win wealth and fame and freedom and empire: the cowards lose them +all. He who loves his own soul let him fight beside me: for I will have +no disgrace." [14] But if he met soldiers who had fought for him before, +he only said, "To you, gentlemen, what need I say? You know the brave +man's part in battle, and the craven's." [15] And when he came to +Abradatas, he halted, and Abradatas gave the reins to his charioteer +and came up to him, and others gathered round from the infantry and the +chariots, and Cyrus said: + +"God has rewarded you, Abradatas, according to your prayer, you and +yours. You hold the first rank among our friends. And you will not +forget, when the moment for action comes, that those who watch you will +be Persians, and those who follow you, and they will not let you bear +the brunt alone." + +[16] And Abradatas answered: + +"Even so, Cyrus; and with us here, methinks, all looks well enough: but +the state of our flanks troubles me: the enemy's wings are strong and +stretch far: he has chariots there, and every kind of arm as well, while +we have nothing else with which to oppose him. So that for myself," said +he, "if I had not won by lot the post I hold, I should feel ashamed to +be here in the safest place of all." + +[17] "Nay," answered Cyrus, "if it is well with you, have no concern for +the rest. God willing, I mean to relieve our flanks. But you yourself, +I conjure you, do not attack until you see the rout of those detachments +that you fear." + +So much of boasting did Cyrus allow himself on the eve of action, though +he was the last man to boast at other times. + +"When you see them routed," he said, "you may take it that I am there, +and then make your rush, for that is the moment when you will find the +enemy weakest and your own men strongest. [18] And while there is time, +Abradatas, be sure to drive along your front and prepare your men for +the charge, kindle their courage by your looks, lift up their hearts by +your hopes. Breathe a spirit of emulation into them, to make them prove +themselves the flower of the chariot-force. Be assured if things go well +with us all men will say nothing is so profitable as valour." + +[19] Accordingly Abradatas mounted his chariot and drove along the lines +to do as Cyrus bade. + +Meanwhile Cyrus went on to the left where Hystaspas was posted with half +the Persian cavalry, and he called to him and said: + +"Hystaspas, here is work to test your pace! If we are quick enough in +cutting off their heads, none of us will be slaughtered first." + +[20] And Hystaspas answered with a laugh: + +"Leave it to us! We'll see to the men opposite. But set some one to deal +with the fellows on our flank: it would be a pity for them to be idle." + +And Cyrus answered, "I am going to them myself. But remember, Hystaspas, +to which ever of us God grants the victory, so long as a single foeman +is on the field, attack we must, again and again, until the last has +yielded." + +[21] With that he passed on, and as he came to the flank he went up to +the officer in command of the chariots and said to him: + +"Good, I intend to support you myself. And when you hear me fall on +the wing, at that instant do your best to charge straight through your +opponents; you will be far safer once outside their ranks than if you +are caught half-way." + +[22] Then he went on to the rear and the carriages, where the two +detachments were stationed, a thousand horse and a thousand foot, and +told Artagersas and Pharnouchus, their leaders, to keep the men where +they were. + +"But when," he added, "you see me close with the enemy on our right, +then set upon those in front of you: take them in flank, where they are +weakest, while you advance in line, at your full strength. Their lines, +as you see, are closed by cavalry; hurl your camels at these, and you +may be sure, even before the fighting begins, they will cut a comic +figure." + +[23] Thus, with all his dispositions made, Cyrus rode round the head +of his right. By this time Croesus, believing that the centre, where he +himself was marching, must be nearer the enemy than the distant wings, +had the signal raised for them to stop their advance, halt, and wheel +round where they were. When they were in position opposite the Persian +force, he signalled for them to charge, and thus three columns came at +once against Cyrus, one facing his front and one on either flank. [24] +A tremor ran through the whole army; it was completely enclosed, like a +little brick laid within a large, with the forces of the enemy all +round it, on every side except the rear, cavalry and heavy infantry, +targeteers, archers, and chariots. [25] None the less, the instant +Cyrus gave the word they swung round to confront the foe. There was deep +silence through the ranks as they realised what they had to face, and +then Cyrus, when the moment came, began the battle-hymn and it thundered +through the host. [26] And as it died away the war-cry rang out unto the +God of Battles, and Cyrus swooped forward at the head of his cavalry, +straight for the enemy's flank, and closed with them then and there, +while the infantry behind him followed, swift and steady, wave on wave, +sweeping out on either side, far out-flanking their opponents, for they +attacked in line and the foe were in column, to the great gain of Cyrus. +A short struggle, and the ranks broke and fled before him headlong. [27] +Artagersas, seeing that Cyrus had got to work, made his own charge on +the left, hurling his camels forward as Cyrus had advised. Even at a +distance the horses could not face the camels: they seemed to go mad +with fear, and galloped off in terror, rearing and falling foul of one +another: such is the strange effect of camels upon horses. [28] So that +Artagersas, his own troops well in hand, had easy work with the enemy's +bewildered masses. At the same moment the war-chariots dashed in, right +and left, so that many, flying from the chariots, were cut down by the +troopers, and many, flying from these, were caught by the chariots. +[29] And now Abradatas could wait no longer. "Follow me, my friends," +he shouted, and drove straight at the enemy, lashing his good steeds +forward till their flanks were bloody with the goad, the other +charioteers racing hard behind him. The enemy's chariots fled before +them instantly, some not even waiting to take up their fighting-men. +[30] But Abradatas drove on through them, straight into the main body of +the Egyptians, his rush shared by his comrades on either hand. And then, +what has often been shown elsewhere was shown here, namely, that of +all strong formations the strongest is a band of friends. His +brothers-in-arms and his mess-mates charged with him, but the others, +when they saw that the solid ranks of the Egyptians stood firm, swung +round and pursued the flying chariots. [31] Meanwhile Abradatas and his +companions could make no further way: there was not a gap through the +Egyptian lines on either hand, and they could but charge the single +soldiers where they stood, overthrow them by the sheer weight of horse +and car, and crush them and their arms beneath the hoofs and wheels. And +where the scythes caught them, men and weapons were cut to shreds. [32] +In the midst of indescribable confusion, the chariots rocking among the +weltering mounds, Abradatas was thrown out and some of his comrades with +him. There they stood, and fought like men, and there they were cut +down and died. The Persians, pouring in after them, dealt slaughter +and destruction where Abradatas and his men had charged and shaken the +ranks, but elsewhere the Egyptians, who were still unscathed, and they +were many, moved steadily on to meet them. + +[33] There followed a desperate struggle with lance and spear and sword, +and still the Egyptians had the advantage, because of their numbers and +their weapons. Their spears were immensely stout and long, such as they +carry to this day, and the huge shield not only gave more protection +than corslet and buckler, but aided the thrust of the fighter, slung as +it was from the shoulder. + +[34] Shield locked into shield, they thrust their way forward; and the +Persians could not drive them back, with their light bucklers borne on +the forearm only. Step by step they gave ground, dealing blow for blow, +till they came under cover of their own artillery. Then at last a second +shower of blows fell on the Egyptians, while the reserves would allow no +flight of the archers or the javelin-men: at the sword's point they made +them do their duty. [35] Thick was the slaughter, and loud the din of +clashing weapons and whirring darts, and shouting warriors, cheering +each other and calling on the gods. + +[36] At this moment Cyrus appeared, cutting his way through his own +opponents. To see the Persians thrust from their position was misery +to him, but he knew he could check the enemy's advance most quickly by +galloping round to their rear, and thither he dashed, bidding his troops +follow, and there they fell upon them and smote them as they were gazing +ahead, and there they mowed them down. + +[37] The Egyptians, seeing what had happened, cried out that the enemy +had taken them in the rear, and wheeled round under a storm of blows. At +this the confusion reached its height, cavalry and infantry struggling +all together. An Egyptian fell under Cyrus' horse, and as the hoofs +struck him he stabbed the creature in the belly. The charger reared +at the blow and Cyrus was thrown. [38] Then was seen what it is for +a leader to be loved by his men. With a terrible cry the men dashed +forward, conquering thrust with thrust and blow with blow. One of his +squires leapt down and set Cyrus on his own charger. [39] And as Cyrus +sprang on the horse he saw the Egyptians worsted everywhere. For by now +Hystaspas was on the ground with his cavalry, and Chrysantas also. Still +Cyrus would not allow them to charge the Egyptian phalanx: the archers +and javelin-men were to play on them from outside. Then he made his way +along the lines to the artillery, and there he mounted one of the towers +to take a survey of the field, and see if any of the foe still held +their ground and kept up the fight. [40] But he saw the plain one chaos +of flying horses and men and chariots, pursuers and pursued, conquerors +and conquered, and nowhere any who still stood firm, save only the +Egyptians. These, in sore straits as they were, formed themselves into +a circle behind a ring of steel, and sat down under cover of their +enormous shields. They no longer attempted to act, but they suffered, +and suffered heavily. [41] Cyrus, in admiration and pity, unwilling that +men so brave should be done to death, drew off his soldiers who were +fighting round them, and would not let another man lift sword. + +Then he sent them a herald asking if they wished to be cut to pieces for +the sake of those who had betrayed them, or save their lives and keep +their reputation for gallantry? And they answered, "Is it possible that +we can be saved and yet keep our reputation untarnished?" [42] And Cyrus +said, "Surely yes, for we ourselves have seen that you alone have held +your ground and been ready to fight." "But even so," said the Egyptians, +"how can we act in honour if we save ourselves?" + +"By betraying none of those at whose side you fought," answered Cyrus: +"only surrender your arms to us, and become our friends, the friends of +men who chose to save you when they might have destroyed you." [43] "And +if we become your friends," said they, "how will you treat us?" "As you +treat us," answered he, "and the treatment shall be good." + +"And what will that good treatment be?" they asked once more. "This," +said Cyrus: "better pay than you have had, so long as the war lasts, and +when peace comes, if you choose to stay with me, lands and cities and +women and servants." [44] Then they asked him if he would excuse them +from one duty, service against Croesus. Croesus, they said, was the only +leader who knew them; for the rest, they were content to agree. And so +they came to terms, and took and gave pledges of good faith. [45] Thus +it came about that their descendants are to this day faithful subjects +of the king, and Cyrus gave them cities, some in the interior, which are +still called the cities of the Egyptians, beside Larissa and Kyllene and +Kyme on the coast, still held by their descendants. + +When this matter was arranged darkness had already fallen, and Cyrus +drew off his army and encamped at Thymbrara. + +[46] In this engagement the Egyptians alone among the enemy won +themselves renown, and of the troops under Cyrus the Persian cavalry was +held to have done the best, so much so that to this day they are still +armed in the manner that Cyrus devised. [47] High praise also was given +to the scythe-bearing chariots, and this engine of war is still employed +by the reigning king. [48] As for the camels, all they did was to scare +the horses; their riders could take no part in the slaughter, and were +never touched themselves by the enemy's cavalry. For not a horse would +come near the camels. [49] It was a useful arm, certainly, but no +gallant gentleman would dream of breeding camels for his own use or +learning to fight on camel-back. And so they returned to their old +position among the baggage-train. + +[C.2] Then Cyrus and his men took their evening meal and posted their +pickets and went to rest. But Croesus and his army fled in haste to +Sardis, and the other tribes hurried away homewards under cover of +night as fast and as far as they could. [2] When day broke Cyrus marched +straight for Sardis, and when he came before the citadel he set up +his engines as though for the assault and got out his ladders. But the +following night he sent a scaling party of Persians and Chaldaeans to +climb the fortifications at the steepest point. The guide was a Persian +who had served as a slave to one of the garrison in the citadel, and who +knew a way down to the river by which one could get up. [4] As soon as +it became clear that the heights had been taken, all the Lydians without +exception fled from the walls and hid wherever they could. At daybreak +Cyrus entered the city and gave orders that not a man was to leave the +ranks. [5] Croesus, who had shut himself up inside his palace, cried +out on Cyrus, and Cyrus left a guard round the building while he himself +went to inspect the captured citadel. Here he found the Persians keeping +guard in perfect order, but the Chaldaean quarters were deserted, for +the men had rushed down to pillage the town. Immediately he summoned +their officers, and bade them leave his army at once. [6] "I could never +endure," he said, "to have undisciplined fellows seizing the best of +everything. You know well enough," he added, "all that was in store for +you. I meant to make all who served with me the envy of their fellows; +but now," he said, "you cannot be surprised if you encounter some one +stronger than yourselves on your way home." + +[7] Fear fell on the Chaldaeans at this, and they intreated him to lay +aside his anger and vowed they would give back all the booty they had +taken. He answered that he had no need of it himself. "But if," he +added, "you wish to appease me, you will hand it over to those who +stayed and guarded the citadel. For if my soldiers see that discipline +means reward, all will be well with us." + +[8] So the Chaldaeans did as he bade them, and the faithful and obedient +received all manner of good things. + +Then Cyrus made his troops encamp in the most convenient quarter of +the town, and told them to stay at their posts and take their breakfast +there. [9] That done, he gave orders that Croesus should be brought to +him, and when he came into his presence, Croesus cried: + +"Hail, Cyrus, my lord and master! Fate has given you that title from now +henceforward, and thus must I salute you." + +[20] "All hail to you likewise," answered Cyrus: "we are both of us men. +And tell me now," he continued, "would you be more willing to advise me +as a friend?" "I should be more than glad," said Croesus, "to do you +any good. It would mean good for myself, I know." [11] "Listen, then," +answered Cyrus: "I see that my soldiers have endured much toil and +encountered many dangers, and now they are persuaded that they have +taken the wealthiest city in all Asia, after Babylon. I would not have +them cheated of their recompense, seeing that if they win nothing by +their labour, I know not how I can keep them obedient to me for long. +Yet I am unwilling to give them this city over to plunder. I believe +it would be utterly destroyed, and moreover I know full well that in +plunder the worst villains win the most." + +[12] To this Croesus answered, "Suffer me then to tell what Lydians I +please that I have won your promise that the city shall not be sacked, +nor their women and children made away with. [13] I promise you in +return that my men will bring you willingly everything that is costly +and beautiful in Sardis. If I can announce such terms, I am certain +there is not one treasure belonging to man or woman that will not be +yours to-morrow. Further, on this day year, the city will overflow once +more with wealth and beauty. But if you sack it, you will destroy +the crafts in its ruin, and they, we know, are the well-spring of all +loveliness. [14] Howbeit, you need not decide at once, wait and see what +is brought to you. Send first," he added, "to my own treasuries, and let +your guards take some of my own men with them." + +To all this Cyrus consented, and then he said: + +[15] "And now, O Croesus, tell me one thing more. How did matters go +between you and the oracle at Delphi? It is said that you did much +reverence to Apollo and obeyed him in all things." + +[16] "I could wish it had been so," said Croesus, "but, truth to say, +from the beginning I have acted in all things against him." "How can +that be?" said Cyrus. "Explain it to me: for your words seem strange +indeed." [17] "Because," he answered, "in the first place, instead of +asking the god for all I wanted I must needs put him to the test, to see +if he could speak the truth. This," he added, "no man of honour could +endure, let be the godhead. Those who are doubted cannot love their +doubters. [18] And yet he stood the test; for though the things I did +were strange, and I was many leagues from Delphi, he knew them all. And +so I resolved to consult him about my children. [19] At first he would +not so much as answer me, but I sent him many an offering, some of gold +and some of silver, and I propitiated him, as I deemed, by countless +sacrifices, and at last he answered me when I asked him what I must do +that sons might be born to me. He said they should be born. [20] And so +they were; in that he uttered no lie, but they brought me no joy. One +of them was dumb his whole life long, and the noblest perished in the +flower of his youth. And I, crushed by these sorrows, sent again to the +god and asked him how I could live in happiness for the rest of my days, +and he answered: + + "'Know thyself, O Croesus, and happiness shall be thine.' + +"And when I heard the oracle, I was comforted. [21] I said to myself, +the god has laid the lightest of tasks upon me, and promised me +happiness in return. Some of his neighbours a man may know and others +not: but every one can know himself. [22] So I thought, and in truth so +long as I was at peace I had no fault to find with my lot after my +son's death; but when the Assyrian persuaded me to march against you +I encountered every danger. Yet I was saved, I came to no harm. Once +again, therefore, I have no charge to bring against the god: when I +_knew myself_ incapable of warring against you, he came to my help +and saved mine and me. [23] But afterwards, intoxicated by my wealth, +cajoled by those who begged me to be their leader, tempted by the gifts +they showered on me, flattered by all who said that if I would but lead +them they would obey me to a man, and that I would be the greatest ruler +in all the world, and that all their kings had met together and chosen +me for their champion in the war, I undertook the generalship as though +I were born to be the monarch of the world, for I did not _know myself_. +[24] I thought myself able to fight against you, you who are sprung from +the seed of the gods, born of a royal line, trained in valour and virtue +from your youth, while I--I believe that the first of my ancestors to +reign won his freedom and his crown on the self-same day. For this dull +ignorance of mine I see I am justly punished. [25] But now at last, O +Cyrus," he cried, "now I _know myself_. And tell me, do you think the +god will still speak truth? Do you think that, knowing myself, I can be +happy now? I ask you, because you of all men have it in your power to +answer best. Happiness is yours to give." + +[26] Cyrus answered, "Give me time to deliberate, Croesus. I bear in +mind your former happiness and I pity you. I give you back at once your +wife and your daughters (for they tell me you have daughters), and your +friends and your attendants; they are yours once more. And yours it is +to sit at your own table as you used to live. But battles and wars I +must put out of your power." + +[27] "Now by the gods above us," cried Croesus, "you need take no +further thought about your answer: if you will do for me what you say, +I shall live the life that all men called the happiest of lives, and I +knew that they were right." [28] "And who," said Cyrus, "who was it that +lived that life of happiness?" "My own wife," said Croesus; "she shared +all my good things with me, my luxuries, my softest joys; but in the +cares on which those joys were based, in war and battle and strife, she +had no part or lot. Methinks, you will provide for me as I provided for +her whom I loved beyond all others in the world, and I must needs send +to Apollo again, and send thank-offerings." + +[29] And as Cyrus listened he marvelled at the man's contentedness of +soul, and for the future wherever he went he took Croesus with him, +either because he thought he might be useful or perhaps because he felt +it was safer so. + +[C.3] So for that night they rested. But the next day Cyrus called his +friends and generals together and told some to make an inventory of +their treasures and others to receive all the wealth that Croesus +brought in. First they were to set aside for the gods all that the +Persian priests thought fit, and then store the rest in coffers, weight +them, and pack them on waggons, distributing the waggons by lot to take +with them on the march, so that they could receive their proper share at +any convenient time. [2] So they set about the work. + +Then Cyrus called some of his squires and said: + +"Tell me, have any of you seen Abradatas? I wonder that he who used to +come to me so often is nowhere to be found." + +[3] Then one of the squires made answer, "My lord, he is dead: he fell +in the battle, charging straight into the Egyptian ranks: the rest, all +but his own companions, swerved before their close array. [4] And now," +he added, "we hear that his wife has found his body and laid it in her +own car, and has brought it here to the banks of the Pactolus. [5] Her +chamberlains and her attendants are digging a grave for the dead man +upon a hill, and she, they say, has put her fairest raiment on him +and her jewels, and she is seated on the ground with his head upon her +knees." + +[6] Then Cyrus smote his hand upon his thigh and leapt up and sprang to +horse, galloping to the place of sorrow, with a thousand troopers at his +back. [7] He bade Gadatas and Gobryas take what jewels they could find +to honour the dear friend and brave warrior who had fallen, and follow +with all speed: and he bade the keepers of the herds, the cattle, and +the horses drive up their flocks wherever they heard he was, that he +might sacrifice on the grave. + +[8] But when he saw Pantheia seated on the ground and the dead man lying +there, the tears ran down his cheeks and he cried: + +"O noble and loyal spirit, have you gone from us?" + +Then he took the dead man by the hand, but the hand came away with his +own: it had been hacked by an Egyptian blade. [9] And when he saw that, +his sorrow grew, and Pantheia sobbed aloud and took the hand from Cyrus +and kissed it and laid it in its place, as best she could, and said: + +[10] "It is all like that, Cyrus. But why should you see it?" And +presently she said, "All this, I know, he suffered for my sake, and for +yours too, Cyrus, perhaps as much. I was a fool: I urged him so to bear +himself as became a faithful friend of yours, and he, I know, he never +thought once of his own safety, but only of what he might do to show his +gratitude. Now he has fallen, without a stain upon his valour: and I, +who urged him, I live on to sit beside his grave." + +[11] And Cyrus wept silently for a while, and then he said: + +"Lady, his end was the noblest and the fairest that could be: he died +in the hour of victory. Take these gifts that I have brought and adorn +him." + +For now Gobryas and Gadatas appeared with store of jewels and rich +apparel. "He shall not lack for honour," Cyrus said; "many hands will +raise his monument: it shall be a royal one; and we will offer such +sacrifice as befits a hero. [12] And you, lady," he added, "you shall +not be left desolate. I reverence your chastity and your nobleness, and +I will give you a guardian to lead you withersoever you choose, if you +will but tell me to whom you wish to go." + +[13] And Pantheia answered: + +"Be at rest, Cyrus, I will not hide from you to whom I long to go." + +[14] Therewith Cyrus took his leave of her and went, pitying from his +heart the woman who had lost so brave a husband, and the dead man in his +grave, taken from so sweet a wife, never to see her more. Then Pantheia +bade her chamberlains stand aside "until," she said, "I have wept over +him as I would." But she made her nurse stay with her and she said: + +"Nurse, when I am dead, cover us with the same cloak." And the nurse +entreated and besought her, but she could not move her, and when she +saw that she did but vex her mistress, she sat down and wept in silence. +Then Pantheia took the scimitar, that had been ready for her so long, +and drew it across her throat, and dropped her head upon her husband's +breast and died. And the nurse cried bitterly, but she covered the two +with one cloak as her mistress had bidden her. + +[15] And when Cyrus heard what Pantheia had done he rushed out in horror +to see if he could save her. And when the three chamberlains saw what +had happened they drew their own scimitars and killed themselves, there +where she had bidden them stand. [16, 17] And when Cyrus came to that +place of sorrow, he looked with wonder and reverence on the woman, and +wept for her and went his way and saw that all due honour was paid to +those who lay there dead, and a mighty sepulchre was raised above them, +mightier, men say, than had been seen in all the world before. + +[C.4] After this the Carians, who were always at war and strife with one +another, because their dwellings were fortified, sent to Cyrus and +asked for aid. Cyrus himself was unwilling to leave Sardis, where he +was having engines of artillery made and battering-rams to overthrow +the walls of those who would not listen to him. But he sent Adousius, a +Persian, in his place, a man of sound judgment and a stout soldier +and withal a person of winning presence. He gave him an army; and the +Cilicians and Cypriotes were very ready to serve under him. [2] That +was why Cyrus never sent a Persian satrap to govern either Cilicia or +Cyprus; he was always satisfied with the native kings; only he exacted +tribute and levied troops whenever he needed them. + +[3] So Adousius took his army and marched into Caria, where he was met +by the men of both parties, ready to receive him inside their walls to +the detriment of their opponents. Adousius treated each in exactly the +same way, he told whichever side was pleading that he thought their case +was just, but it was essential that the others should not realise he +was their friend, "for thus, you perceive, I will take them unprepared +whenever I attack." + +He insisted they should give him pledges of good faith, and the Carians +had to swear they would receive him without fraud or guile within their +walls and for the welfare of Cyrus and the Persians; and on his side he +was willing to swear that he would enter without fraud or guile himself +and for the welfare of those who received him. [4] Having imposed these +terms on either party without the knowledge of the other, he fixed on +the same night with both, entered the walls, and had the strongholds +of both parties in his hands. At break of day he took his place in the +midst with his army, and sent for the leading men on either side. Thus +confronted with each other they were more than a little vexed, and both +imagined they had been cheated. [5] However, Adousius began: + +"Gentlemen, I took an oath to you that I would enter your walls without +fraud or guile and for the welfare of those who received me. Now if I am +forced to destroy either of you, I am persuaded I shall have entered to +the detriment of the Carians. But if I give you peace, so that you can +till your lands in safety, I imagine I shall have come for your welfare. +Therefore from this day forwards you must meet on friendly terms, +cultivate your fields without fear, give your children to each other, +and if any one offends against these laws, Cyrus and ourselves will be +his enemies." + +[6] At that the city gates were flung wide open, the roads were filled +with folk hurrying to one another, the fields were thronged with +labourers. They held high festival together, and the land was full of +peace and joyfulness. + +[7] Meanwhile messengers came from Cyrus inquiring whether there was +need for more troops or siege-engines, but Adousius answered, on the +contrary his present force was at Cyrus' service to employ elsewhere +if he wished, and so drew off his army, only leaving a garrison in the +citadels. Thereupon the Carians implored him to remain, and when he +would not, they sent to Cyrus begging him to make Adousius their satrap. + +[8] Meanwhile Cyrus had sent Hystaspas with an army into Phrygia on +the Hellespont, and when Adousius came back he bade him follow, for the +Phrygians would be more willing to obey Hystaspas if they heard that +another army was advancing. + +[9] Now the Hellenes on the seaboard offered many gifts and bargained +not to receive the Asiatics within their walls, but only to pay tribute +and serve wherever Cyrus commanded. [10] But the king of Phrygia made +preparations to hold his fortresses and not yield, and sent out orders +to that effect. However, when his lieutenants deserted him and he found +himself all alone, he had to put himself in the hands of Hystaspas, and +leave his fate to the judgment of Cyrus. Then Hystaspas stationed strong +Persian garrisons in all the citadels, and departed, taking with him not +only his own troops but many mounted men and targeteers from Phrygia. +[11] And Cyrus sent word to Adousius to join Hystaspas, put himself at +the head of those who had submitted and allow them to retain their arms, +while those who showed a disposition to resist were to be deprived of +their horses and their weapons and made to follow the army as slingers. + +[12] While his lieutenants were thus employed, Cyrus set out from +Sardis, leaving a large force of infantry to garrison the place, and +taking Croesus with him, and a long train of waggons laden with riches +of every kind. Croesus presented an accurate inventory of everything in +each waggon, and said, as he delivered the scrolls: + +"With these in your possession, Cyrus, you can tell whether your +officers are handing over their freights in full or not." + +[13] And Cyrus answered: + +"It was kindly done, Croesus, on your part, to take thought for this: +but I have arranged that the freights should be in charge of those who +are entitled to them, so that if the men steal, they steal their own +property." + +With these words he handed the documents to his friends and officers to +serve as checks on their own stewards. + +[14] Cyrus also took Lydians in his train; allowing some to carry arms, +those, namely, who were at pains to keep their weapons in good order, +and their horses and chariots, and who did their best to please him, but +if they gave themselves ungracious airs, he took away their horses and +bestowed them on the Persians who had served him from the beginning of +the campaign, burnt their weapons, and forced them to follow the army +as slingers. [15] Indeed, as a rule, he compelled all the subject +population who had been disarmed to practise the use of the sling: it +was, he considered, a weapon for slaves. No doubt there are occasions +when a body of slingers, working with other detachments, can do +excellent service, but, taken alone, not all the slingers in the world +could face a mere handful armed with steel. + +[16] Cyrus was marching to Babylon, but on his way he subdued the +Phrygians of Greater Phrygia and the Cappadocians, and reduced the +Arabians to subjection. These successes enabled him to increase his +Persian cavalry till it was not far short of forty thousand men, and he +had still horses left over to distribute among his allies at large. + +At length he came before Babylon with an immense body of cavalry, +archers, and javelin-men, beside slingers innumerable. + +[C.5] When Cyrus reached the city he surrounded it entirely with his +forces, and then rode round the walls himself, attended by his friends +and the leading officers of the allies. [2] Having surveyed the +fortifications, he prepared to lead off his troops, and at that moment +a deserter came to inform him that the Assyrians intended to attack as +soon as he began to withdraw, for they had inspected his forces from the +walls and considered them very weak. This was not surprising, for the +circuit of the city was so enormous that it was impossible to surround +it without seriously thinning the lines. [3] When Cyrus heard of their +intention, he took up his post in the centre of his troops with his own +staff round him and sent orders to the infantry for the wings to double +back on either side, marching past the stationary centre of the line, +until they met in the rear exactly opposite himself. [4] Thus the men +in front were immediately encouraged by the doubling of their depth, +and those who retired were equally cheered, for they saw that the others +would encounter the enemy first. The two wings being united, the power +of the whole force was strengthened, those behind being protected by +those in front and those in front supported by those behind. [5] When +the phalanx was thus folded back on itself, both the front and the rear +ranks were formed of picked men, a disposition that seemed calculated +to encourage valour and check flight. On the flanks, the cavalry and the +light infantry were drawn nearer and nearer to the commander as the line +contracted. [6] When the whole phalanx was in close order, they fell +back from the walls, slowly, facing the foe, until they were out of +range; then they turned, marched a few paces, and then wheeled round +again to the left, and halted, facing the walls, but the further they +got the less often they paused, until, feeling themselves secure, they +quickened their pace and went off in an uninterrupted march until they +reached their quarters. + +[7] When they were encamped, Cyrus called a council of his officers and +said, "My friends and allies, we have surveyed the city on every side, +and for my part I fail to see any possibility of taking by assault walls +so lofty and so strong: on the other hand, the greater the population +the more quickly must they yield to hunger, unless they come out to +fight. If none of you have any other scheme to suggest, I propose that +we reduce them by blockade." + +[8] Then Chrysantas spoke: + +"Does not the river flow through the middle of the city, and it is not +at least a quarter of a mile in width?" + +"To be sure it is," answered Gobryas, "and so deep that the water would +cover two men, one standing on the other's shoulders; in fact the city +is even better protected by its river than by its walls." + +[9] At which Cyrus said, "Well, Chrysantas, we must forego what is +beyond our power: but let us measure off at once the work for each of +us, set to, and dig a trench as wide and as deep as we can, that we may +need as few guards as possible." + +[10] Thereupon Cyrus took his measurements all round the city, and, +leaving a space on either bank of the river large enough for a lofty +tower, he had a gigantic trench dug from end to end of the wall, his +men heaping up the earth on their own side. [11] Then he set to work +to build his towers by the river. The foundations were of palm-trees, a +hundred feet long and more--the palm-tree grows to a greater height than +that, and under pressure it will curve upwards like the spine of an +ass beneath a load. [12] He laid these foundations in order to give the +impression that he meant to besiege the town, and was taking precautions +so that the river, even if it found its way into his trench, should not +carry off his towers. Then he had other towers built along the mound, +so as to have as many guard-posts as possible. [13] Thus his army was +employed, but the men within the walls laughed at his preparations, +knowing they had supplies to last them more than twenty years. When +Cyrus heard that, he divided his army into twelve, each division to keep +guard for one month in the year. [14] At this the Babylonians laughed +louder still, greatly pleased at the idea of being guarded by Phrygians +and Lydians and Arabians and Cappadocians, all of whom, they thought, +would be more friendly to themselves than to the Persians. + +[15] However by this time the trenches were dug. And Cyrus heard that it +was a time of high festival in Babylon when the citizens drink and make +merry the whole night long. As soon as the darkness fell, he set his +men to work. [16] The mouths of the trenches were opened, and during the +night the water poured in, so that the river-bed formed a highway into +the heart of the town. + +[17] When the great stream had taken to its new channel, Cyrus ordered +his Persian officers to bring up their thousands, horse and foot alike, +each detachment drawn up two deep, the allies to follow in their old +order. [18] They lined up immediately, and Cyrus made his own bodyguard +descend into the dry channel first, to see if the bottom was firm enough +for marching. [19] When they said it was, he called a council of all his +generals and spoke as follows: + +[20] "My friends, the river has stepped aside for us; he offers us a +passage by his own high-road into Babylon. We must take heart and enter +fearlessly, remembering that those against whom we are to march this +night are the very men we have conquered before, and that too when they +had their allies to help them, when they were awake, alert, and sober, +armed to the teeth, and in their battle order. [21] To-night we go +against them when some are asleep and some are drunk, and all are +unprepared: and when they learn that we are within the walls, sheer +astonishment will make them still more helpless than before. [22] If any +of you are troubled by the thought of volleys from the roofs when the +army enters the city, I bid you lay these fears aside: if our enemies +do climb their roofs we have a god to help us, the god of Fire. Their +porches are easily set aflame, for the doors are made of palm-wood and +varnished with bitumen, the very food of fire. [23] And we shall come +with the pine-torch to kindle it, and with pitch and tow to feed it. +They will be forced to flee from their homes or be burnt to death. [24] +Come, take your swords in your hand: God helping me, I will lead you on. +Do you," he said, turning to Gadatas and Gobryas, "show us the streets, +you know them; and once we are inside, lead us straight to the palace." + +[25] "So we will," said Gobryas and his men, "and it would not surprise +us to find the palace-gates unbarred, for this night the whole city is +given over to revelry. Still, we are sure to find a guard, for one is +always stationed there." + +"Then," said Cyrus, "there is no time for lingering; we must be off at +once and take them unprepared." + +[26] Thereupon they entered: and of those they met some were struck down +and slain, and others fled into their houses, and some raised the hue +and cry, but Gobryas and his friends covered the cry with their shouts, +as though they were revellers themselves. And thus, making their way by +the quickest route, they soon found themselves before the king's palace. +[27] Here the detachment under Gobryas and Gadatas found the gates +closed, but the men appointed to attack the guards rushed on them as +they lay drinking round a blazing fire, and closed with them then and +there. [28] As the din grew louder and louder, those within became aware +of the tumult, till, the king bidding them see what it meant, some of +them opened the gates and ran out. [29] Gadatas and his men, seeing the +gates swing wide, darted in, hard on the heels of the others who fled +back again, and they chased them at the sword's point into the presence +of the king. + +[30] They found him on his feet, with his drawn scimitar in his hand. By +sheer weight of numbers they overwhelmed him: and not one of his retinue +escaped, they were all cut down, some flying, others snatching up +anything to serve as a shield and defending themselves as best they +could. [31] Cyrus sent squadrons of cavalry down the different roads +with orders to kill all they found in the street, while those who knew +Assyrian were to warn the inhabitants to stay indoors under pain of +death. [32] While they carried out these orders, Gobryas and Gadatas +returned, and first they gave thanks to the gods and did obeisance +because they had been suffered to take vengeance on their unrighteous +king, and then they fell to kissing the hands and feet of Cyrus, +shedding tears of joy and gratitude. [33] And when it was day and those +who held the heights knew that the city was taken and the king slain, +they were persuaded to surrender the citadel themselves. [34] Cyrus took +it over forthwith, and sent in a commandant and a garrison, while he +delivered the bodies of the fallen to their kinsfolk for burial, and +bade his heralds make proclamation that all the citizens must deliver +up their arms: wherever weapons were discovered in any house all the +inmates would be put to death. So the arms were surrendered, and Cyrus +had them placed in the citadel for use in case of need. [35] When all +was done he summoned the Persian priests and told them the city was the +captive of his spear and bade them set aside the first-fruits of the +booty as an offering to the gods and mark out land for sacred demesnes. +Then he distributed the houses and the public buildings to those whom +he counted his partners in the exploit; and the distribution was on +the principle accepted, the best prizes to the bravest men: and if any +thought they had not received their deserts they were invited to come +and tell him. [36] At the same time he issued a proclamation to the +Babylonians, bidding them till the soil and pay the dues and render +willing service to those under whose rule they were placed. As for his +partners the Persians, and such of his allies as elected to remain +with him, he gave them to understand they were to treat as subjects the +captives they received. + +[37] After this Cyrus felt that the time was come to assume the style +and manner that became a king: and he wished this to be done with the +goodwill and concurrence of his friends and in such a way that, without +seeming ungracious, he might appear but seldom in public and always with +a certain majesty. Therefore he devised the following scheme. At break +of day he took his station at some convenient place, and received all +who desired speech with him, and then dismissed them. [38] The people, +when they heard that he gave audience, thronged to him in multitudes, +and in the struggle to gain access there was much jostling and scheming +and no little fighting. [39] His attendants did their best to divide +the suitors, and introduce them in some order, and whenever any of his +personal friends appeared, thrusting their way through the crowd, Cyrus +would stretch out his hand and draw them to his side and say, "Wait, my +friends, until we have finished with this crowd, and then we can talk at +our ease." So his friends would wait, but the multitude would pour on, +growing greater and greater, until the evening would fall before there +had been a moment's leisure for his friends. [40] All that Cyrus could +do then was to say, "Perhaps, gentlemen, it is a little late this +evening and time that we broke up. Be sure to come early to-morrow. I am +very anxious myself to speak with you." With that his friends were only +too glad to be dismissed, and made off without more ado. They had done +penance enough, fasting and waiting and standing all day long. [41] So +they would get to rest at last, but the next morning Cyrus was at the +same spot and a much greater concourse of suitors round him than before, +already assembled long before his friends arrived. Accordingly Cyrus had +a cordon of Persian lancers stationed round him, and gave out that no +one except his personal friends and the generals were to be allowed +access, and as soon as they were admitted he said: + +[42] "My friends, we cannot exclaim against the gods as though they had +failed to fulfil our prayers. They have granted all we asked. But if +success means that a man must forfeit his own leisure and the good +company of all his friends, why, to that kind of happiness I would +rather bid farewell. [43] Yesterday," he added, "I make no doubt you +observed yourselves that from early dawn till late evening I never +ceased listening to petitioners, and to-day you see this crowd before +us, larger still than yesterday's, ready with business for me. [44] If +this must be submitted to, I calculate that what you will get of me +and I of you will be little enough, and what I shall get of myself will +simply be nothing at all. Further," he added, "I foresee another absurd +consequence. [45] I, personally, have a feeling towards you which I need +not state, but, of that audience yonder, scarcely one of them do I know +at all, and yet they are all prepared to thrust themselves in front of +you, transact their business, and get what they want out of me before +any of you have a chance. I should have thought it more suitable myself +that men of that class, if they wanted anything from me, should pay some +court to you, my friends, in the hopes of an introduction. [46] Perhaps +you will ask why I did not so arrange matters from the first, instead of +always appearing in public. Because in war it is the first business of +a commander not to be behindhand in knowing what ought to be done and +seeing that it is done, and the general who is seldom seen is apt to let +things slip. [47] But to-day, when war with its insatiable demands is +over, I feel as if I had some claim myself to rest and refreshment. I am +in some perplexity, however, as to how I can arrange matters so that +all goes well, not only with you and me, but also with those whom we are +bound to care for. Therefore I seek your advice and counsel, and I would +be glad to learn from any of you the happiest solution." + +[48] Cyrus paused, and up rose Artabazus the Mede, who had claimed to be +his kinsman, and said: + +"You did well, Cyrus, to open this matter. Years ago, when you were +still a boy, from the very first I longed to be your friend, but I saw +you did not need me, and so I shrank from approaching you. [49] Then +came a lucky moment when you did have need of me to be your good +messenger among the Medes with the order from Cyaxares, and I said to +myself that if I did the work well, if I really helped you, I might +become your comrade and have the right to talk with you as often as I +wished. [50] Well, the work was done, and done so as to win your praise. +After that the Hyrcanians joined us, the first friends we made, when we +were hungry and thirsty for allies, and we loved them so much we almost +carried them about with us in our arms wherever we went. Then the +enemy's camp was taken, and I scarcely think you had the leisure to +trouble your head with me--oh, I quite forgave you. [51] The next thing +was that Gobryas became your friend, and I had to take my leave, and +after him Gadatas, and by that time it was a real task to get hold of +you. Then came the alliances with the Sakians, and the Cadousians, and +no doubt you had to pay them court; if they danced attendance on you, +you must dance attendance on them. [52] So that there I was, back again +at my starting-point, and yet all the while, as I saw you busy with +horses and chariots and artillery, I consoled myself by thinking, 'when +he is done with this he will have a little leisure for me.' And then +came the terrible news that the whole world was gathering in arms +against us; I could not deny that these were important matters, but +still I felt certain, if all went well, a time would come at last when +you need not grudge me your company, and we should be together to +my heart's content, you and I. [53] Now, the day has come; we have +conquered in the great battle; we have taken Sardis and Babylon; the +world is at our feet, and yesterday, by Mithras! unless I had used my +fists a hundred times, I swear I could never have got near you at all. +Well, you grasped my hand and gave me greeting, and bade me wait beside +you, and there I waited, the cynosure of every eye, the envy of every +man, standing there all day long, without a scrap to eat or a drop to +drink. [54] So now, if any way can be found by which we who have served +you longest can get the most of you, well and good: but, if not, pray +send me as your messenger once more, and this time I will tell them they +can all leave you, except those who were your friends of old." + +[55] This appeal set them all laughing, Cyrus with the rest. Then +Chrysantas the Persian stood up and spoke as follows: + +"Formerly, Cyrus, it was natural and right that you should appear in +public, for the reasons you have given us yourself, and also because +we were not the folk you had to pay your court to. We did not need +inviting: we were with you for our own sakes. It was necessary to win +over the masses by every means, if they were to share our toils and our +dangers willingly. [56] But now you have won them, and not them alone; +you have it in your power to gain others, and the moment has come when +you ought to have a house to yourself. What would your empire profit +you if you alone were left without hearth or home? Man has nothing more +sacred than his home, nothing sweeter, nothing more truly his. And do +you not think," he added, "that we ourselves would be ashamed if we saw +you bearing the hardships of the camp while we sat at home by our own +firesides? Should we not feel we had done you wrong, and taken advantage +of you?" + +[57] When Chrysantas had spoken thus, many others followed him, and all +to the same effect. And so it came about that Cyrus entered the palace, +and those in charge brought the treasures from Sardis thither, and +handed them over. And Cyrus when he entered sacrificed to Hestia, the +goddess of the Hearth, and to Zeus the Lord, and to any other gods named +by the Persian priests. + +[58] This done, he set himself to regulate the matters that remained. +Thinking over his position, and the attempt he was making to govern an +enormous multitude, preparing at the same time to take up his abode in +the greatest of all famous cities, but yet a city that was as hostile to +him as a city could be, pondering all this, he concluded that he could +not dispense with a bodyguard for himself. [59] He knew well enough that +a man can most easily be assassinated at his meals, or in his bath, or +in bed, or when he is asleep, and he asked himself who were most to +be trusted of those he had about him. A man, he believed, can never be +loyal or trustworthy who is likely to love another more than the one +who requires his guardianship. [60] He knew that men with children, or +wives, or favourites in whom they delight, must needs love them most: +while eunuchs, who are deprived of all such dear ones, would surely make +most account of him who could enrich them, or help them if they were +injured, or crown them with honour. And in the conferring of such +benefits he was disposed to think he could outbid the world. [61] +Moreover the eunuch, being degraded in the eyes of other men, is driven +to seek the assistance of some lord and master. Without some such +protection there is not a man in the world who would not think he +had the right to over-reach a eunuch: while there was every reason to +suppose that the eunuch would be the most faithful of all servants. [62] +As for the customary notion that the eunuch must be weak and cowardly, +Cyrus was not disposed to accept it. He studied the indications to be +observed in animals: a vicious horse, if gelded, will cease to bite and +be restive, but he will charge as gallantly as ever; a bull that has +been cut will become less fierce and less intractable, but he will not +lose his strength, he will be as good as ever for work; castration +may cure a dog of deserting his master, but it will not ruin him as a +watch-dog or spoil him for the chase. [63] So, too, with men; when cut +off from this passion, they become gentler, no doubt, but not less quick +to obey, not less daring as horsemen, not less skilful with the javelin, +not less eager for honour. [64] In war and in the chase they show +plainly enough that the fire of ambition is still burning in their +hearts. And they have stood the last test of loyalty in the downfall +of their masters. No men have shown more faithfulness than eunuchs when +ruin has fallen on their lords. [65] In bodily strength, perhaps, the +eunuchs seem to be lacking, but steel is a great leveller, and makes +the weak man equal to the strong in war. Holding this in mind, Cyrus +resolved that his personal attendants, from his doorkeepers onwards, +should be eunuchs one and all. + +[66] This guard, however, he felt was hardly sufficient against the +multitude of enemies, and he asked himself whom he could choose among +the rest. [67] He remembered how his Persians led the sorriest of lives +at home owing to their poverty, working long and hard on the niggard +soil, and he felt sure they were the men who would most value the life +at his court. [68] Accordingly he selected ten thousand lancers from +among them, to keep guard round the palace, night and day, whenever +he was at home, and to march beside him whenever he went abroad. [69] +Moreover, he felt that Babylon must always have an adequate garrison, +whether he was in the country or not, and therefore he stationed a +considerable body of troops in the city; and he bade the Babylonians +provide their pay, his object being to make the citizens helpless, +and therefore humble and submissive. [70] This royal guard that he +established there, and the city guard for Babylon, survive to this day +unaltered. + +Lastly, as he pondered how the whole empire was to be kept together, and +possibly another added to it, he felt convinced that his mercenaries did +not make up for the smallness of their numbers by their superiority +to the subject peoples. Therefore he must keep together those brave +warriors, to whom with heaven's help the victory was due, and he must +take all care that they did not lose their valour, hardihood, and skill. +[71] To avoid the appearance of dictating to them and to bring it about +that they should see for themselves it was best to stay with him and +remember their valour and their training, he called a council of the +Peers and of the leading men who seemed to him most worthy of sharing +their dangers and their rewards. [72] And when they were met he began: + +"Gentlemen, my friends and allies, we owe the utmost thanks to the gods +because they have given us what we believed that we deserved. We are +masters to-day of a great country and a good; and those who till it will +support us; we have houses of our own, and all the furniture that is in +them is ours. [73] For you need not think that what you hold belongs to +others. It is an eternal law the wide world over, that when a city is +taken in war, the citizens, their persons, and all their property fall +into the hands of the conquerors. It is not by injustice, therefore, +that you hold what you have taken, rather it is through your own human +kindness that the citizens are allowed to keep whatever they do retain. + +[74] "Yet I foresee that if we betake ourselves to the life of indolence +and luxury, the life of the degenerate who think that labour is the +worst of evils and freedom from toil the height of happiness, the day +will come, and speedily, when we shall be unworthy of ourselves, and +with the loss of honour will come the loss of wealth. [75] Once to have +been valiant is not enough; no man can keep his valour unless he watch +over it to the end. As the arts decay through neglect, as the body, once +healthy and alert, will grow weak through sloth and indolence, even so +the powers of the spirit, temperance, self-control, and courage, if we +grow slack in training, fall back once more to rottenness and death. +[76] We must watch ourselves; we must not surrender to the sweetness +of the day. It is a great work, methinks, to found an empire, but a +far greater to keep it safe. To seize it may be the fruit of daring and +daring only, but to hold it is impossible without self-restraint and +self-command and endless care. [77] We must not forget this; we must +train ourselves in virtue from now henceforward with even greater +diligence than before we won this glory, remembering that the more a man +possesses, the more there are to envy him, to plot against him, and +be his enemies, above all when the wealth he wins and the services +he receives are yielded by reluctant hands. But the gods, we need not +doubt, will be upon our side; we have not triumphed through injustice; +we were not the aggressors, it was we who were attacked and we avenged +ourselves. [78] The gods are with us, I say; but next to that supreme +support there is a defence we must provide out of our own powers alone; +and that is the righteous claim to rule our subjects because we are +better men than they. Needs must that we share with our slaves in heat +and cold and food and drink and toil and slumber, and we must strive to +prove our superiority even in such things as these, and first in these. +[79] But in the science of war and the art of it we can admit no share; +those whom we mean to make our labourers and our tributaries can have no +part in that; we will set ourselves to defraud them there; we know that +such exercises are the very tools of freedom and happiness, given by the +gods to mortal men. We have taken their arms away from our slaves, +and we must never lay our own aside, knowing well that the nearer the +sword-hilt the closer the heart's desire. So. Does any man ask himself +what profit he has gained from the fulfilment of his dreams, if he must +still endure, still undergo hunger and thirst and toil and trouble and +care? Let him learn the lesson that a man's enjoyment of all good things +is in exact proportion to the pains he has undergone to gain them. +Toil is the seasoning of delight; without desire and longing, no dish, +however costly, could be sweet. [81] Yes, if some spirit were to set +before us what men desire most, and we were left to add for ourselves +that final touch of sweetness, I say that we could only gain above the +poorest of the poor in so far as we could bring hunger for the most +delicious foods, and thirst for the richest wines, and weariness to make +us woo the deepest slumber. [82] Therefore, we must strain every nerve +to win and to keep manhood and nobleness; so that we may gain that +satisfaction which is the sweetest and the best, and be saved from the +bitterest of sorrows; since to fail of good altogether is not so hard as +to lose the good that has once been ours. [83] And let us ask ourselves +what excuse we could offer for being unworthy of our past. Shall we say +it is because we have won an empire? Surely it is hardly fitting that +the ruler should be baser than the ruled. Or is it that we seem to +be happier to-day than heretofore? Is cowardice, then, an adjunct of +happiness? Or is it simply because we have slaves and must punish them +if they do wrong? But by what right can a man, who is bad himself, +punish others for badness or stupidity? [84] Remember, too, that we have +arranged for the maintenance of a whole multitude, to guard our persons +and our houses, and it would be shameful for us to depend for safety on +the weapons of others and refuse to carry weapons for ourselves. Surely +we ought to know that there can be no defence so strong as a man's own +gallantry. Courage should be our companion all our days. For if virtue +leave us, nothing else whatever can go well with us. [85] What, then, +would I have you do? How are we to remember our valour and train our +skill? Gentlemen, I have nothing novel to suggest; at home in Persia the +Peers spend their days at the public buildings and here we should do the +same. Here we are the men of rank and honour, as we are there, and we +should hold to the same customs. You must keep your eyes on me and watch +whether I am diligent in my duty, and I shall give heed to you, and +honour him who trains himself in what is beautiful and brave. [86] And +here too let us educate our sons, if sons are born to us. We cannot but +become better ourselves if we strive to set the best example we can to +our children, and our children could hardly grow up to be unworthy, even +if they wished, when they see nothing base before them, and hear nothing +shameful, but live in the practice of all that is beautiful and good." + + + NOTES + +C1. Notice the epic tone now adopted, or rather swum into, or rather +which floats the writer up of its own motion. + +C1.2 ff. On the whole this description of the battle is, for Xenophon, +obscure. + +C1.5-6. Xenophon, Artist. This military criticism and technical +discussion juxtaposed to the epic prelude and the epic sequel is a +clever device enough. We are pleased. + +C1.8-9. Final injunctions somewhat obscure, I think. + +C1.24 ff. The epic and Homeric vein. + +C1.33. The Egyptians have the advantage. This is noticeable in reference +to Cyrus' criticisms of their arms before battle. That is not a slip, +but a dramatic touch on the part of the author, I think. And Cyrus is +speaking of cavalry there, and anticipates the result. + +C1.34 fin. A singular feature this in ancient battles. Is it simply +and solely Oriental, or general, and Hellenic also? Has it any analogue +nowadays anywhere? Probably with Egyptian troops in the Soudan it has +(hgd. 1884). + +C2.6-7. The archic man through an act of bad discipline makes good +discipline more acceptable. + +C2.13. The civilised method of dealing with a conquered city. Instead of +pillage and rapine, an indemnity, which will bring in to the conquerors +wealth, and yet not destroy the arts of the population, which are the +fountain-heads of beauty. || Modern. So the archic man asserts his +superiority once more. + +C2.24. Is this also Xenophon's view? If so, it throws light on his +theory of rank and caste. + +C3.2. Curious Cyrus should be so little suspicious of Abradatas' death, +is it not? Because the victory was not bloodless. Notice, too, +how little is said of the bloodshed; that is Hellenic as well as +Xenophontine, I fancy. + +C3.7. Something epic in all this. Cf. Archilles sacrificing at the tomb +of Patroklos. + +C3.8 ff. The pathos of the situation and the _Eironeia_ at its maximum. +"Euripidean" touches throughout. + +C3.16. [This is bracketed in most editions, no doubt rightly, as an +interpolation. It was not translated in Mr. Dakyns' manuscript, but his +marginal note is characteristic, and evidently he would have translated +the section in a footnote. It may be rendered thus: "It is said that a +monument was raised above the eunuchs and is in existence to this day. +On the upper slab the names of the husband and the wife are written +in Syrian letters, and below are three other slabs, inscribed 'To the +chamberlains.'"] + +C3.16. Interesting, especially if of later insertion, and perhaps given +the historical basis of the story in some monument on the Pactolus, +known to Xenophon. I wish a new Schliemann would find it. hgd. + +C4. Semi-historical? The version is to be found, I think, in C4.2, which +is the _piece justicative_. The episode itself is full of humour, as +good as a play: Xenophon has seen these duplicities often. Brer Fox +outwitted by Brer Rabbit. + +C4.4. Can these rival fastnesses of the Carians be identified? All this +country is well known to Xenophon (_vide Hellenica_, III. c. 4, etc.). + +C4.6. Beautiful renewal of the peaceful arts, festivals, and +merry-makings after the internecine party strife. + +C4.9. This again is a district Xenophon is well acquainted with. Has he +one eye on the old insurrection against Persia, _tempore_ Histiaeus, and +another on the new arrangements, _tempore_ Antalcidas? + +C4.12-13. Croesus and his bills of lading. Some humour. It also brings +out the archic man in opposition to the shop-keeper man of the mere +business type. But still the bills of lading are needed. Croesus only +doesn't "twig" the right persons to check. It's the opposition between +Despot and true Ruler. + +C5.9. Cyrus has an idea, the nature of which we shall discover later. + +C5.15. Belshazzar's feast, _vide_ Daniel, cf. Hdt. Why plural, "the +trenches"? Is Xenophon obscure? His obscurity is mostly this: he expects +his reader intelligently to follow him. + +C5.32. Jars somewhat on our feelings, perhaps, in its thirst for +revenge: but cf. the feeling against the assassins of Lord Frederick +Cavendish and Mr. Burke. [Written at the time of the Phoenix Park +murders.] + +C5.37. Is a turning-point in the rise of the archic man (and yet hardly +yet, but at C5.58 we shall come to bodyguards and eunuchs). At this +highest pinnacle of {arkhe} Cyrus desires to furnish himself as befits +a king. It is an historical difficulty which Xenophon has to get over +or round, or is Xenophon himself in the same condemnation, so to speak? +Does he also desire his archic man to be got up in a manner befitting +royalty at a certain date? Consider. + +C5.42-47. These sections pose the difficulty well, and it is a +difficulty, and no mistake. + +C5.42 ff. Xenophon-Hellenic theory of life. The leisure to invite +one's own soul and see one's friends which is needed to make life worth +living, versus _negotia_, _negotia_, _negotia_. How far are we to be +consciously self-regarding? Cyrus versus Buddha. The Hellenic hero is +not equal to absolute non-self-regarding devotion to mere work. The +Buddha might be. + +C5.48. Perhaps nothing is cleverer in the neat and skilful mosaic work +of this composition than the fitting-in here of Artabazus' personal view +with the--at last necessary--impersonal or public theory of leadership. +It is pretty also that Artabazus should at length get his reward, and +humorous that he doesn't, after all, get it in the old form. + +C5.49 ff. He keenly remembers each tantalizing moment of approach and +separation. A splendid speech of the humorous type. Xenophon himself +must be credited with so much fun, and real fun it is. + +C5.56 ff. Curious on this page (a) Xenophon's domestic hearth theory +without which {arkhe} is a tinkling cymbal and empire no burthen to +be borne. His feeling for the sweetness of home || modern. In this the +secret of his happiness, || hgd. (b) His _justification_ or _raison +d'etre_ explanation of the eunuch system. Why doesn't he point out its +hollowness also? Not from any lack of sympathy with this barren mankind. +Cf. Gadatas. I think this all logically follows if the {arkhon} is +to rule political enemies as well as friends: to do so {epistamenos} +["asian expert"] some strange devices must be resorted to--what think +you, Dakyns? + +C5.58. The need of a bodyguard. The dragon-fly must wing his flight in +armour cased: that is the law of his development. So Cyrus must be in +the end an ideal "tyrannus," the one spoken of by Simonides the poet to +Hiero [_vide_ the dialogue _Hiero_, and the notes thereto in Mr. Dakyns' +translation, Vol. III.]. + +C5.64. The faithfulness of the eunuch has its parallel in that of the +old negro slave. + +C5.67. These are the sort of fellows Xenophon would have chosen himself, +I take it. Again the historical basis has to be taken account of. +Xenophon has to explain to himself the existence of their body and how +the archic man came to invent it. Throughout we must compare the +_Hiero_ for Xenophon's own political theory apart from his romantic and +philosophical interest in Cyrus. + +C5.69. Not a pleasant picture of subject and ruling race. Cf. the +Austrians in Italy. + +C5.73. The Hellenic || the modern theory, but more rudely expressed. The +conquerors right to the land he has taken, and what Cyrus proceeds to +say is quite up to the modern mark. + +C5.74. Of course this is precisely what the Persians as they degenerated +did come to, nor did the good example of the archic man nor his precepts +nor his institutions save them. + +C5.77-79. "Military" theory of virtue: almost barbaric (_ex mea +sententia_ hgd.). But Xenophon is not absolutely = Cyrus. + +C5.80 ff. This is the Socratico-Xenophontine hedonism-and-stoicism +combined. + +C5.82 ff. A noble sermon on the need of straining every nerve to +virtuous training. Splendidly rhetorical and forceful. + +C5.84. Cyrus (i.e. Xenophon) is aware of the crisis he and his are going +through. If externalism has to be adopted to hedge royalty, still +a further inner change is demanded: there must be a corresponding +spiritual growth. + +C5.86. One of the noblest sayings in all Xenophon. The one somehow which +touches me most. The best way to improve ourselves is to see that we set +our boys the best examples. + + + + +BOOK VIII + +[C.1] Such were the words of Cyrus; and Chrysantas rose up after him, +saying, "Gentlemen, this is not the first time I have had occasion to +observe that a good ruler differs in no respect from a good father. Even +as a father takes thought that blessings may never fail his children, +so Cyrus would commend to us the ways by which we can preserve our +happiness. And yet, on one point, it seemed to me he had spoken less +fully than he might; and I will try to explain it for the benefit of +those who have not learnt it. [2] I would have you ask yourselves, was +ever a hostile city captured by an undisciplined force? Did ever an +undisciplined garrison save a friendly town? When discipline was gone, +did ever an army conquer? Is ever disaster nearer than when each solider +thinks about his private safety only? Nay, in peace as in war, can any +good be gained if men will not obey their betters? What city could be at +rest, lawful, and orderly? What household could be safe? What ship sail +home to her haven? [3] And we, to what do we owe our triumph, if not to +our obedience? We obeyed; we were ready to follow the call by night and +day; we marched behind our leader, ranks that nothing could resist; we +left nothing half-done of all we were told to do. If obedience is the +one path to win the highest good, remember it is also the one way to +preserve it. [4] Now in the old days, doubtless, many of us ruled no one +else, we were simply ruled. But to-day you find yourselves rulers, one +and all of you, some over many and some over few. And just as you would +wish your subjects to obey you, so we must obey those who are set over +us. Yet there should be this difference between ourselves and slaves; a +slave renders unwilling service to his lord, but we, if we claim to be +freemen, must do of our own free will that which we see to be the best. +And you will find," he added, "that even when no single man is ruler, +that city which is most careful to obey authority is the last to bow to +the will of her enemies. [5] Let us listen to the words of Cyrus. Let +us gather round the public buildings and train ourselves, so that we may +keep our hold on all we care for, and offer ourselves to Cyrus for his +noble ends. Of one thing we may be sure: Cyrus will never put us to any +service which can make for his own good and not for ours. Our needs are +the same as his, and our foes the same." + +[6] When Chrysantas had said his say, many others followed to support +him, Persians and allies alike, and it was agreed that the men of rank +and honour should be in attendance continually at the palace gates, +ready for Cyrus to employ, until he gave them their dismissal. That +custom is still in force, and to this day the Asiatics under the Great +King wait at the door of their rulers. [7] And the measures that Cyrus +instituted to preserve his empire, as set forth in this account, are +still the law of the land, maintained by all the kings who followed him. +[8] Only as in other matters, so here; with a good ruler, the government +is pure; with a bad one, corrupt. Thus it came about that the nobles of +Cyrus and all his honourable men waited at his gates, with their weapons +and their horses, according to the common consent of the gallant men who +had helped to lay the empire at his feet. + +[9] Then Cyrus turned to other matters, and appointed various overseers: +he had receivers of revenue, controllers of finance, ministers of works, +guardians of property, superintendents of the household. Moreover, he +chose managers for his horses and his dogs, men who could be trusted +to keep the creatures in the best condition and ready for use at +any moment. [10] But when it came to those who were to be his +fellow-guardians for the commonwealth, he would not leave the care and +the training of these to others; he regarded that as his own personal +task. He knew, if he were ever to fight a battle, he would have to +choose his comrades and supporters, the men on his right hand and +left, from these and these alone; it was from them he must appoint his +officers for horse and foot. [11] If he had to send out a general alone +it would be from them that one must be sent: he must depend on them for +satraps and governors over cities and nations; he would require them for +ambassadors, and an embassy was, he knew, the best means for obtaining +what he wanted without war. [12] He foresaw that nothing could go well +if the agents in his weightiest affairs were not what they ought to be, +while, if they were, everything would prosper. This charge, therefore, +he took upon his own shoulders, and he was persuaded that the training +he demanded of others should also be undergone by himself. No man could +rouse others to noble deeds if he fell short of what he ought to be +himself. [13] The more he pondered the matter, the more he felt the need +of leisure, if he were to deal worthily with the highest matters. +It was, he felt, impossible to neglect the revenues, in view of the +enormous funds necessary for so vast an empire, yet he foresaw that if +he was always to be occupied with the multitude of his possessions he +would never have time to watch over the safety of the whole. [14] As +he pondered how he could compass both objects, the prosperity of the +finances and the leisure he required, the old military organisation +came into his mind. He remembered how the captains of ten supervised the +squads of ten, and were supervised themselves by the company-captains, +and they by the captains of the thousands, and these by the captains +of ten thousand, and thus even with hundreds of thousands not a man +was left without supervision, and when the general wished to employ his +troops one order to the captains of ten thousand was enough. [15] On +this principle Cyrus arranged his finances and held his departments +together; in this way, by conferring with a few officers he could keep +the whole system under his control, and actually have more leisure for +himself than the manager of a single household or the master of a single +ship. Finally, having thus ordered his own affairs, he taught those +about him to adopt the same system. + +[16] Accordingly, having gained the leisure he needed for himself +and his friends, he could devote himself to his work of training his +partners and colleagues. In the first place he dealt with those who, +enabled as they were to live on the labour of others, yet failed to +present themselves at the palace; he would send for them and seek them +out, convinced that attendance would be wholesome for them; they would +be unwilling to do anything base or evil in the presence of their king +and under the eye of their noblest men; those who were absent were so +through self-indulgence or wrong-doing or carelessness. [17] And I will +now set forth how he brought them to attend. He would go to one of +his most intimate friends and bid him lay hands on the property of the +offender, asserting that it was his own. Then of course the truants +would appear at once crying out that they had been robbed. [18] But +somehow for many days Cyrus could never find leisure to hear their +complaints, and when he did listen he took care to defer judgment for +many more. [19] This was one way he had of teaching them to attend; +another was to assign the lightest and most profitable tasks to +those who were punctual, and a third to give nothing whatever to the +offenders. [20] But the most effective of all, for those who paid no +heed to gentler measures, was to deprive the truant of what he possessed +and bestow it on him who would come when he was needed. By this process +Cyrus gave up a useless friend and gained a serviceable one. To this +day the king sends for and seeks out those who do not present themselves +when they should. + +[21] Such was his method with the truants; with those who came forward +he felt, since he was their rightful leader, that he could best incite +them to noble deeds by trying to show that he himself had all the +virtues that became a man. [22] He believed that men do grow better +through written laws, and he held that the good ruler is a living law +with eyes that see, inasmuch as he is competent to guide and also to +detect the sinner and chastise him. [23] Thus he took pains to show +that he was the more assiduous in his service to the gods the higher +his fortunes rose. It was at this time that the Persian priests, the +Magians, were first established as an order, and always at break of day +Cyrus chanted a hymn and sacrificed to such of the gods as they might +name. [24] And the ordinances he established service to this day at the +court of the reigning king. These were the first matters in which the +Persians set themselves to copy their prince; feeling their own fortune +would be the higher if they did reverence to the gods, following the man +who was fortune's favourite and their own monarch. At the same time, no +doubt, they thought they would please Cyrus by this. [25] On his side +Cyrus looked on the piety of his subjects as a blessing to himself, +reckoning as they do who prefer to sail in the company of pious men +rather than with those who are suspected of wicked deeds, and he +reckoned further that if all his partners were god-fearing, they would +be the less prone to crime against each other or against himself, for he +knew he was the benefactor of his fellows. [26] And by showing plainly +his own deep desire never to be unfair to friend or fellow-combatant or +ally, but always to fix his eyes on justice and rectitude, he believed +he could induce others to keep from base actions and walk in the paths +of righteousness. [27] And he would bring more modesty, he hoped, into +the hearts of all men if it were plain that he himself reverenced all +the world and would never say a shameful word to any man or woman or do +a shameful deed. [28] He looked for this because he saw that, apart +from kings and governors who may be supposed to inspire fear, men will +reverence the modest and not the shameless, and modesty in women will +inspire modesty in the men who behold them. [29] And his people, he +thought, would learn to obey if it were plain that he honoured frank and +prompt obedience even above virtues that made a grander show and were +harder to attain. [30] Such was his belief, and his practice went with +it to the end. His own temperance and the knowledge of it made others +more temperate. When they saw moderation and self-control in the man who +above all others had licence to be insolent, lesser men were the more +ready to abjure all insolence of their own. [31] But there was this +difference, Cyrus held, between modesty and self-control: the modest +man will do nothing shameful in the light of day, but the man of +self-control nothing base, not even in secret. [32] Self-restrain, he +believed, would best be cultivated if he made men see in himself one who +could not be dragged from the pursuit of virtue by the pleasure of the +moment, one who chose to toil first for the happy-hearted joys that go +hand-in-hand with beauty and nobleness. [33] Thus, being the man he +was, he established at his gates a stately company, where the lower gave +place to the higher, and they in their turn showed reverence to each +other, and courtesy, and perfect harmony. Among them all there was never +a cry of anger to be heard, nor a burst of insolent laughter; to look at +them was to know that they lived for honour and loveliness. + +[34] Such was the life at the palace-gates, and to practise his nobles +in martial exercises he would lead them out to the hunt whenever he +thought it well, holding the chase to be the best training for war and +the surest way to excellence in horsemanship. [35] A man learns to keep +his seat, no matter what the ground may be, as he follows the flying +quarry, learns to hurl and strike on horseback in his eagerness to bring +down the game and win applause. [36] And here, above all, was the field +in which to inure his colleagues to toil and hardship and cold and heat +and hunger and thirst. Thus to this day the Persian monarch and his +court spend their leisure in the chase. [37] From all that has been +said, it is clear Cyrus was convinced that no one has a right to rule +who is not superior to his subjects, and he held that by imposing +such exercises as these on those about him, he would lead them to +self-control and bring to perfection the art and discipline of war. [38] +Accordingly he would put himself at the head of the hunting-parties and +take them out himself unless he was bound to stay at home, and, if he +was, he would hunt in his parks among the wild creatures he had reared. +He would never touch the evening meal himself until he had sweated for +it, nor give his horses their corn until they had been exercised, and +he would invite his own mace-bearers to join him in the chase. [39] +Therefore he excelled in all knightly accomplishments, he and those +about him, because of their constant practice. Such was the example he +set before his friends. But he also kept his eye on others, and would +single out those who worshipped noble deeds, and reward them with gifts, +and high commands, and seats at festivals, and every kind of honour. +And thus their hearts were filled with ambition, and every man longed to +outdo his fellows in the eyes of Cyrus. + +[40] But we seem to learn also that Cyrus thought it necessary for the +ruler not only to surpass his subjects by his own native worth, but also +to charm them through deception and artifice. At any rate he adopted the +Median dress, and persuaded his comrades to do likewise; he thought it +concealed any bodily defect, enhancing the beauty and stature of the +wearer. [41] The shoe, for instance, was so devised that a sole could be +added without notice, and the man would seem taller than he really was. +So also Cyrus encouraged the use of ointments to make the eyes more +brilliant and pigments to make the skin look fairer. [42] And he trained +his courtiers never to spit or blow the nose in public or turn aside +to stare at anything; they were to keep the stately air of persons +whom nothing can surprise. These were all means to one end; to make it +impossible for the subjects to despise their rulers. + +[43] Thus he moulded the men he considered worthy of command by his own +example, by the training he gave them, and by the dignity of his own +leadership. But the treatment of those he prepared for slavery was +widely different. Not one of them would he incite to any noble toil, he +would not even let them carry arms, and he was careful that they should +never lack food or drink in any manly sort. [44] When the beaters drove +the wild creatures into the plain he would allow food to be brought for +the servants, but not for the free men; on a march he would lead the +slaves to the water-springs as he led the beasts of burden. Or when it +was the hour of breakfast he would wait himself till they had taken a +snatch of food and stayed their wolfish hunger; and the end of it was +they called him their father even as the nobles did, because he cared +for them, but the object of his care was to keep them slaves for ever. + +[45] Thus he secured the safety of the Persian empire. He himself, he +felt sure, ran no danger from the massages of the conquered people; he +saw they had no courage, no unity, and no discipline, and, moreover, not +one of them could ever come near him, day or night. [46] But there were +others whom he knew to be true warriors, who carried arms, and who +held by one another, commanders of horse and foot, many of them men of +spirit, confident, as he could plainly see, of their own power to rule, +men who were in close touch with his own guards, and many of them in +constant intercourse with himself; as indeed was essential if he was +to make any use of them at all. It was from them that danger was to be +feared; and that in a thousand ways. [47] How was he to guard against +it? He rejected the idea of disarming them; he thought this unjust, +and that it would lead to the dissolution of the empire. To refuse them +admission into his presence, to show them his distrust, would be, he +considered, a declaration of war. [48] But there was one method, he +felt, worth all the rest, an honourable method and one that would secure +his safety absolutely; to win their friendship if he could, and make +them more devoted to himself than to each other. I will now endeavour +to set forth the methods, so far as I conceive them, by which he gained +their love. + +[C.2] In the first place he never lost an opportunity of showing +kindliness wherever he could, convinced that just as it is not easy to +love those who hate us, so it is scarcely possible to feel enmity for +those who love us and wish us well. [2] So long as he had lacked the +power to confer benefits by wealth, all he could do then was to show +his personal care for his comrades and his soldiers, to labour in their +behalf, manifest his joy in their good fortune and his sympathy in their +sorrows, and try to win them in that way. But when the time came for the +gifts of wealth, he realised that of all the kindnesses between man +and man none come with a more natural grace than the gifts of meat and +drink. [3] Accordingly he arranged that his table should be spread every +day for many guests in exactly the same way as for himself; and all that +was set before him, after he and his guests had dined, he would send out +to his absent friends, in token of affection and remembrance. He would +include those who had won his approval by their work on guard, or in +attendance on himself, or in any other service, letting them see that no +desire to please him could ever escape his eyes. [4] He would show the +same honour to any servant he wished to praise; and he had all the +food for them placed at his own board, believing this would win their +fidelity, as it would a dog's. Or, if he wished some friend of his to be +courted by the people, he would single him out for such gifts; even to +this day the world will pay court to those who have dishes sent them +from the Great King's table, thinking they must be in high favour at +the palace and can get things done for others. But no doubt there was +another reason for the pleasure in such gifts, and that was the sheer +delicious taste of the royal meats. [5] Nor should that surprise us; +for if we remember to what a pitch of perfection the other crafts are +brought in great communities, we ought to expect the royal dishes to be +wonders of finished art. In a small city the same man must make beds +and chairs and ploughs and tables, and often build houses as well; and +indeed he will be only too glad if he can find enough employers in all +trades to keep him. Now it is impossible that a single man working at a +dozen crafts can do them all well; but in the great cities, owing to the +wide demand for each particular thing, a single craft will suffice for a +means of livelihood, and often enough even a single department of that; +there are shoe-makers who will only make sandals for men and others only +for women. Or one artisan will get his living merely by stitching shoes, +another by cutting them out, a third by shaping the upper leathers, and +a fourth will do nothing but fit the parts together. Necessarily the man +who spends all his time and trouble on the smallest task will do that +task the best. [6] The arts of the household must follow the same law. +If one and the same servant makes the bed, spreads the table, kneads the +dough, and cooks the various dishes, the master must take things as they +come, there is no help for it. But when there is work enough for one man +to boil the pot, and another to roast the meat, and a third to stew the +fish, and a fourth to fry it, while some one else must bake the bread, +and not all of it either, for the loaves must be of different kinds, +and it will be quite enough if the baker can serve up one kind to +perfection--it is obvious, I think, that in this way a far higher +standard of excellence will be attained in every branch of the work. + +[7] Thus it is easy to see how Cyrus could outdo all competitors in the +grace of hospitality, and I will now explain how he came to triumph +in all other services. Far as he excelled mankind in the scale of his +revenues, he excelled them even more in the grandeur of his gifts. It +was Cyrus who set the fashion; and we are familiar to this day with the +open-handedness of Oriental kings. [8] There is no one, indeed, in all +the world whose friends are seen to be as wealthy as the friends of the +Persian monarch: no one adorns his followers in such splendour of +rich attire, no gifts are so well known as his, the bracelets, and the +necklaces, and the chargers with the golden bridles. For in that country +no one can have such treasures unless the king has given them. [9] And +of whom but the Great King could it be said that through the splendour +of his presents he could steal the hearts of men and turn them to +himself, away from brothers, fathers, sons? Who but he could stretch out +an arm and take vengeance on his enemies when yet they were months and +months away? Who but Cyrus ever won an empire in war, and when he died +was called father by the people he overcame?--a title that proclaims the +benefactor and not the robber. [10] Indeed, we are led to think that the +offices called "the king's eyes" and "the king's ears" came into being +through this system of gifts and honours. Cyrus' munificence toward +all who told him what it was well for him to know set countless people +listening with all their ears and watching with all their eyes for news +that might be of service to him. [11] Thus there sprang up a host of +"king's eyes" and "king's ears," as they were called, known and reputed +to be such. But it is a mistake to suppose that the king has one chosen +"eye." It is little that one man can see or one man hear, and to hand +over the office to one single person would be to bid all others go to +sleep. Moreover, his subjects would feel they must be on their guard +before the man they knew was "the king's eye." The contrary is the case; +the king will listen to any man who asserts that he has heard or seen +anything that needs attention. [12] Hence the saying that the king has +a thousand eyes and a thousand ears; and hence the fear of uttering +anything against his interest since "he is sure to hear," or doing +anything that might injure him "since he may be there to see." So far, +therefore, from venturing to breathe a syllable against Cyrus, every man +felt that he was under the eye and within the hearing of a king who was +always present. For this universal feeling towards him I can give no +other reason than his resolve to be a benefactor on a most mighty scale. + +[13] It is not surprising, no doubt, that being the wealthiest of men, +he could outdo the world in the splendour of his gifts. The remarkable +thing was to find a king outstrip his courtiers in courtesy and +kindness. There was nothing, so the story runs, that could ever shame +him more than to be outdone in courtesy. [14] Indeed, a saying of his is +handed down comparing a good king to a good shepherd--the shepherd must +manage his flock by giving them all they need, and the king must satisfy +the needs of his cities and his subjects if he is to manage them. We +need not wonder, then, that with such opinions his ambition was to excel +mankind in courtesy and care. [15] There was a noble illustration of his +philosophy in the answer we are told he gave to Croesus, who had +taken him to task, saying his lavish gifts would bring him to beggary, +although he could lay by more treasures for himself than any man had +ever had before. Cyrus, it is said, asked him in return, "How much +wealth do you suppose I could have amassed already, had I collected +gold, as you bid me, ever since I came into my empire?" + +[16] And Croesus named an enormous sum. Then Cyrus said, "Listen, +Croesus, here is my friend, Hystaspas, and you must send with him a man +that you can trust." Then, turning to Hystaspas, "Do you," he said, +"go round to my friends and tell them that I need money for a certain +enterprise--and that is true, I do need it. Bid each of them write down +the amount he can give me, seal the letter, and hand it to the messenger +of Croesus, who will bring it here." [17] Thereupon Cyrus wrote his +wishes and put his seal on the letter, and gave it to Hystaspas to carry +round, only he added a request that they should all welcome Hystaspas +as a friend of his. And when the messengers came back, the officer of +Croesus carrying the answers, Hystaspas cried, "Cyrus, my lord, you must +know I am a rich man now! I have made my fortune, thanks to your letter! +They have loaded me with gifts." [18] And Cyrus said, "There, Croesus, +that is treasure number one; and now run through the rest, and count +what sums I have in hand, in case I need them." And Croesus counted, +and found, so the story tells us, that the sum was far larger than the +amount he had said would have been lying in the treasury if only Cyrus +had made a hoard. [19] At this discovery Cyrus said, so we are told, +"You see, Croesus, I have my treasures too. Only you advise me to +collect them and hide them, and be envied and hated because of them, and +set mercenaries to guard them, putting my trust in hirelings. But I +hold to it that if I make my friends rich they will be my treasures +themselves, and far better guards too, for me and all we have, than if I +set hired watchmen over my wealth. [20] And I have somewhat else to say; +I tell you, Croesus, there is something the gods have implanted in our +souls, and there they have made us all beggars alike, something I can +never overcome. [21] I too, like all the rest, am insatiate of riches, +only in one respect I fancy I am different. Most men when they have more +wealth than they require bury some of it underground, and let some of it +rot, and some they count and measure, and they guard it and they air +it, and give themselves a world of trouble, and yet for all their +wealth they cannot eat more than they have stomach for--they would burst +asunder if they did--nor wear more clothes than they can carry--they +would die of suffocation--and so their extra wealth means nothing but +extra work. [22] For my part, I serve the gods, and I stretch out my +hands for more and more; only when I have got what is beyond my own +requirements I piece out the wants of my friends, and so, helping my +fellows, I purchase their love and their goodwill, and out of these I +garner security and renown, fruits that can never rot, rich meats that +can work no mischief; for glory, the more it grows, the grander it +becomes, and the fairer, and the lighter to be borne; it even gives a +lighter step to those who bear it. [23] One thing more, Croesus, I would +have you know; the happiest men, in my judgment, are not the holders +of vast riches and the masters who have the most to guard; else the +sentinels of our citadels would be the happiest of mortals, seeing they +guard the whole wealth of the state. He, I hold, has won the crown +of happiness who has had the skill to gain wealth by the paths of +righteousness and use it for all that is honourable and fair." + +[24] That was the doctrine Cyrus preached, and all men could see that +his practice matched his words. + +Moreover, he observed that the majority of mankind, if they live in good +health for long, will only lay by such stores and requisites as may be +used by a healthy man, and hardly care at all to have appliances at hand +in case of sickness. But Cyrus was at the pains to provide these; he +encouraged the ablest physicians of the day by his liberal payments, and +if ever they recommended an instrument or a drug or a special kind of +food or drink, he never failed to procure it and have it stored in the +palace. + +[25] And whenever any one fell sick among those who had peculiar claims +on his attentions, he would visit them and bring them all they needed, +and he showed especial gratitude to the doctors if they cured their +patients by the help of his own stores. [26] These measures, and others +like them, he adopted to win the first place in the hearts of those +whose friendship he desired. Moreover, the contests he proclaimed and +the prizes he offered to awaken ambition and desire for gallant deeds +all redounded to his own glory as a man who had the pursuit of nobleness +at heart, while they bred strife and bitter rivalry among the champions +themselves. [27] Further, he laid it down that in every matter needing +arbitration, whether it were a suit-at-law or a trial of skill, the +parties should concur in their choice of a judge. Each would try to +secure the most powerful man he knew and the one most friendly to +himself, and if he lost he envied his successful rival and hated the +judge who had declared against him, while the man who won claimed to win +because his case was just and felt he owed no gratitude to anybody. +[28] Thus all who wished to be first in the affections of Cyrus, just as +others in democratic states, were full of rancour against each other, in +fact most of them would sooner have seen their rivals exterminated than +join with them for any common good. Such are some of the devices by +which he made the ablest of his subjects more attached to himself than +to one another. + +[C.3] I will now describe the first public progress that Cyrus made. For +the very solemnity of the ceremony was one of the artifices by which +he won reverence for his government. The day before it he summoned the +officers of state, the Persians and the others, and gave them all the +splendid Median dress. This was the first time the Persians wore it, +and as they received the robes he said that he wished to drive in his +chariot to the sacred precincts and offer sacrifice with them. [2] "You +will present yourselves at my gates," he added, "before the sun rises, +attired in these robes, and you will take your places where Pheraulas +the Persian bids you on my behalf. As soon as I lead the way you will +follow in your appointed order. And if any of you should think of some +change to heighten the beauty and stateliness of our procession, you +will acquaint me with it, I pray, on our return; it is for us to see +that all is done in the manner you feel to be most beautiful and best." + +[3] With that Cyrus gave the most splendid robes to his chief notables, +and then he brought out others, for he had stores of Median garments, +purple and scarlet and crimson and glowing red, and gave a share to each +of his generals and said to them, "Adorn your friends, as I have adorned +you." [4] Then one of them asked him, "And you, O Cyrus, when will you +adorn yourself?" But he answered, "Is it not adornment enough for me +to have adorned you? If I can but do good to my friends, I shall look +glorious enough, whatever robe I wear." + +[5] So his nobles took their leave, and sent for their friends and +put the splendid raiment on them. Meanwhile Cyrus summoned Pheraulas, +knowing that, while he was a man of the people, he was also +quick-witted, a lover of the beautiful, prompt to understand and to +obey, and one who had ever an eye to please his master. It was he who +had supported Cyrus long ago when he proposed that honour should be +given in proportion to desert. And now Cyrus asked him how he thought +the procession might be made most beautiful in the eyes of friends and +most formidable in the sight of foes. [6] So they took counsel and were +of the same mind, and Cyrus bade Pheraulas see that all was done on the +morrow as they had agreed. + +"I have issued orders," he added, "for all to obey you in the matter, +but to make them the more willing, take these tunics yourself and give +them to the captains of the guard, and these military cloaks for the +cavalry officers, and these tunics for those who command the chariots." + +[7] So Pheraulas took the raiment and departed, and when the generals +saw him, they met him with shouts and cries, "A monstrous fine fellow +you are, Pheraulas!" said one: "you are to give us our orders, it +seems!" + +"Oh, yes," said Pheraulas, "and carry your baggage too. Here I come with +two cloaks as it is, one for you and another for somebody else: you must +choose whichever you like the best." + +[8] At that the officer put out his hand to take the cloak; he had clean +forgotten his jealousy, and fell to asking Pheraulas which he had +better choose. And Pheraulas gave his advice, adding, "But if you inform +against me, and let out that I gave you the choice, the next time I have +to wait upon you you will find me a very different sort of serving-man." + +Thus he distributed the gifts he brought, and then he saw to the +arrangements for the procession so that everything should be as far as +possible. + +[9] On the morrow all things were ready before day-break, ranks lining +the road on either hand, as they do to this day when the king is +expected to ride abroad--no one may pass within the lines unless he is +a man of mark--and constables were posted with whips, to use at any sign +of disturbance. + +In front of the palace stood the imperial guard of lancers, four +thousand strong, drawn up four deep on either side of the gates. [10] +And all the cavalry were there, the men standing beside their horses, +with their hands wrapped in their cloaks, as is the custom to this day +for every subject when the king's eye is on him. The Persians stood on +the right, and the allies on the left, and the chariots were posted in +the same way, half on one side and half on the other. [11] Presently the +palace-gates were flung open, and at the head of the procession were +led out the bulls for sacrifice, beautiful creatures, four and four +together. They were to be offered to Zeus and to any other gods that the +Persian priests might name. For the Persians think it of more importance +to follow the guidance of the learned in matters pertaining to the gods +than in anything else whatever. + +[12] After the oxen came horses, an offering to the Sun, then a white +chariot with a golden yoke, hung with garlands and dedicated to Zeus, +and after that the white car of the Sun, wreathed like the one before +it, and then a third chariot, the horses of which were caparisoned with +scarlet trappings, and behind walked men carrying fire upon a mighty +hearth. [13] And then at last Cyrus himself was seen, coming forth from +the gates in his chariot, wearing his tiara on his head, and a purple +tunic shot with white, such as none but the king may wear, and trews of +scarlet, and a cloak of purple. Round his tiara he wore a diadem, and +his kinsmen wore the same, even as the custom is to this day. [14] +And the king's hands hung free outside his cloak. Beside him stood a +charioteer--he was a tall man, but he seemed to be dwarfed by Cyrus; +whether it was really so, or whether there was some artifice at work, +Cyrus towered above him. At the sight of the king, the whole company +fell on their faces. Perhaps some had been ordered to do this and so +set the fashion, or perhaps the multitude were really overcome by the +splendour of the pageant and the sight of Cyrus himself, stately and +tall and fair. [15] For hitherto none of the Persians had done obeisance +to Cyrus. + +And now, as the chariot moved onwards, the four thousand lancers went +before it, two thousand on either side, and close behind came the +mace-bearers, mounted on horseback, with javelins in their hands, three +hundred strong. [16] Then the royal steeds were led past, with golden +bridles and striped housings, two hundred and more, and then followed +two thousand spearmen and after them the squadron of cavalry first +formed, ten thousand men, a hundred deep and a hundred riding abreast, +with Chrysantas at their head. [17] And behind them the second body +of the Persian horse, ten thousand more, in the same order, under +Hystaspas, and then again ten thousand under Datamas, and others behind +them under Gadatas. [18] And after them the Median cavalry, and then +the Armenians, the Hyrcanians, the Cadousians, and the Sakians in their +order; and after the cavalry a squadron of war-chariots, drawn up four +deep, with Artabatas the Persian in command. + +[19] All along the route thousands of men followed, outside the +barriers, with petitions to Cyrus. Accordingly he sent his mace-bearers, +who rode beside him for the purpose, three on either side of his +chariot, bidding them tell the crowd of suitors, if they had need of +anything, to acquaint one of the cavalry officers and he would speak for +them. So the petitioners withdrew, and fell to marching along the +lines of the cavalry, considering whom they should address. [20] Cyrus +meanwhile would send messengers to the friends he wished to be courted, +saying to them, "If any man appeals to you and you think nothing of what +he says, pay no heed to him, but if his request seems just, report it to +me, and we will discuss it together and arrange matters for him." [21] +As a rule the officers so summoned did not loiter, but dashed up at +full speed, glad to enhance the authority of Cyrus and to show their +own allegiance. But there was a certain Daipharnes, a person of somewhat +boorish manners, who fancied that he would make a show of greater +independence if he did not hurry himself. [22] Cyrus noted this, and +quietly, before the man could reach him, sent another messenger to say +he had no further need of him; and that was the last time Daipharnes +was ever summoned. [23] And when the next officer rode up, in front of +Daipharnes though sent for after him, Cyrus presented him with a horse +from his train and bade one of the mace-bearers lead it wherever he +wished. The people saw in this a high mark of honour; and a greater +crowd than ever paid their court to the favoured man. + +[24] When the procession reached the sacred precincts, sacrifice +was offered to Zeus, a whole burnt-offering of bulls, and a whole +burnt-offering of horses to the Sun; and then they sacrificed to the +Earth, slaying the victims as the Persian priests prescribed, and then +to the heroes who hold the Syrian land. [25] And when the rites were +done, Cyrus, seeing that the ground was suitable for racing, marked out +a goal, and a course half-a-mile in length, and bade the cavalry and +the chariots match their horses against each other, tribe by tribe. He +himself raced among his Persians, and won with ease, for he was far the +best horseman there. The winner among the Medes was Artabazus, the +horse he rode being a gift from Cyrus. The Syrian race was won by their +chieftain, the Armenian by Tigranes, the Hyrcanian by the general's son, +and the Sakian by a private soldier who left all his rivals half the +course behind him. + +[26] Cyrus, so the story says, asked the young man if he would take a +kingdom for his horse. + +"No kingdom for me," answered the soldier, "but I would take the thanks +of a gallant fellow." + +[27] "Well," said Cyrus, "I would like to show you where you could +hardly fail to hit one, even if you shut your eyes." + +"Be so good as to show me now," said the Sakian, "and I will take aim +with this clod," picking up one from the ground. + +[28] Then Cyrus pointed to a group of his best friends, and the other +shut his eyes and flung the clod, and it struck Pheraulas as he galloped +by, bearing some message from Cyrus. But he never so much as turned, +flashing past on his errand. [29] Then the Sakian opened his eyes and +asked whom he had hit? + +"Nobody, I assure you," said Cyrus, "who is here." + +"And nobody who is not, of course," said the young man. + +"Oh yes, you did," answered Cyrus, "you hit that officer over there who +is riding so swiftly paste the chariot-lines." + +[30] "And how is it," asked the other, "that he does not even turn his +head?" + +"Half-witted, probably," said Cyrus. + +Whereat the young man rode off to see who it was, and found Pheraulas, +with his chin and beard all begrimed and bloody, gore trickling from his +nostrils were the clod had struck him. [31] The Sakian cried out to know +if he was hit. + +"As you see," answered Pheraulas. + +"Then," said the other, "let me give you my horse." + +"But why?" asked Pheraulas. + +And so the Sakian had to tell him all about the matter, adding, "And +after all, you see, I did not miss a gallant fellow." + +[32] "Ah," said Pheraulas, "if you had been wise, you would have chosen +a richer one; but I take your gift with all my thanks. And I pray the +gods," he added, "who let me be your target, to help me now and see that +you may never regret your gift. For the present, mount my horse yourself +and ride back; I will be with you shortly." + +So they exchanged steeds and parted. + +The winner of the Cadousian race was Rathines. + +[33] Then followed chariot-races, tribe by tribe as before: and to all +the winners Cyrus gave goblets of price, and oxen, that they might have +the wherewithal for sacrifice and feasting. He himself took an ox for +his own meed, but he gave all the goblets to Pheraulas to show his +approval of the arrangements for the march. [34] And the manner of that +procession, then first established by Cyrus, continues to this day, the +same in all things, save that the victims are absent when there is no +sacrifice. And when it was over, the soldiers went back to the city, and +took up their quarters for the night, some in houses and some with their +regiments. + +[35] Now Pheraulas had invited the Sakian who had given him the horse, +and he entertained him with the best he had, and set before him a full +board, and after they had dined he filled the goblets Cyrus had given +him, and drank to his guest, and offered them all to him. [36] And +the Sakian looked round on the rich and costly rugs, and the beautiful +furniture, and the train of servants, and cried: + +"Tell me, Pheraulas, do you belong to wealthy folk at home?" + +[37] "Wealthy folk indeed!" cried Pheraulas, "men who live by their +hands, you mean. My father, I can tell you, had work enough to rear me +and get me a boy's schooling; he had to toil hard and live sparely, and +when I grew to be a lad he could not afford to keep me idle, he took me +to a farm in the country and set me there to work it. [38] Then it was +my turn, and I supported him while he lived, digging with my own hands +and sowing the seed in a ridiculous little plot of ground, and yet it +was not a bad bit of soil either, but as good and as honest earth as +ever you saw: whatever seed it got from me, it paid me back again, and +so prettily and carefully and duly, principal and interest both; not +that the interest was very much, I won't say it was, though once or +twice, out of pure generosity, that land gave me twice was much as I put +into it. That's how I used to live at home, in the old days: to-day it's +different, and all that you see here I owe to Cyrus." + +[39] Then the Sakian cried: + +"O lucky fellow! Lucky in everything, and most of all in coming to +wealth from beggary! I know your riches must taste the sweeter, because +you hungered for them first and now are full." + +[40] But Pheraulas answered: + +"Do you really think, my friend, that my joy in life has grown with the +growth of my wealth? Do you not know," he went on, "that I neither eat +nor drink nor sleep with any more zest than I did when I was poor? What +I get by all these goods is simply this: I have more to watch over, more +to distribute, and more trouble in looking after more. [41] I have a +host of servants now, one set asking me for food, another for drink, +another for clothing, and some must have the doctor, and then a herdsman +comes, carrying the carcase of some poor sheep mangled by the wolves, or +perhaps with an ox that has fallen down a precipice, or maybe he has to +tell me that a murrain has broken out among my flocks. It seems to me," +Pheraulas ended, "that I suffer more to-day through having much than +ever I did before through having nothing." + +[42] "But--Heaven help us!" cried the Sakian, "surely, when it is all +safe, to see so much of your own must make you much happier than me?" + +"I assure you, my friend," said Pheraulas, "the possession of riches +is nothing like so sweet as the loss of them is painful. And here is a +proof for you: no rich man lies awake from pure joy at his wealth, but +did you ever know a man who could close his eyes when he was losing?" + +[43] "No," said the Sakian, "nor yet one who could drop asleep when he +was winning." + +[44] "True enough," answered the other, "and if having were as sweet as +getting, the rich would be a thousand times more happy than the poor. +And remember, stranger," he added, "a man who has much must spend much +on the gods and his friends and his guests, and if he takes intense +delight in his riches, spending will cause him intense annoyance." + +[45] "Upon my word," said the Sakian, "for myself, I am not that sort +of man at all: to have much and to spend much is just my idea of perfect +happiness." + +[46] "Heavens!" cried Pheraulas, "what a chance for us both! You can win +perfect happiness now, this instant, and make me happy too! Here, take +all these things for your own, make what use of them you please; and +as for me, you can keep me as your guest, only much more cheaply if +you like: it will be quite enough for me to share whatever you have +yourself." + +"You are jesting," said the Sakian. + +[47] But Pheraulas swore with all solemnity that he spoke in earnest. + +"Yes, my friend," he added, "and there are other matters that I can +arrange for you with Cyrus: freedom from military service or attendance +at the gates. All you will have to do will be to stay at home and grow +rich: I will do the rest on your behalf and mine. And if I win any +treasure through my service at court or on the field, I will bring it +home to you, and you will be lord of more; only," he added, "you must +free me from the responsibility of looking after it, for if you give me +leisure from these cares I believe you will be of great use to Cyrus and +myself." + +[48] So the talk ended and they struck a bargain on these terms, and +kept it. And the Sakian thought he had found happiness because he was +the master of much wealth, and the other felt he was in bliss because he +had got a steward who would leave him leisure to do what he liked +best. [49] For the character of Pheraulas was amiable: he was a loving +comrade, and no service seemed so sweet to him or so helpful as the +service of man. Man, he believed, was the noblest of the animals and the +most grateful: praise, Pheraulas saw, will reap counter-praise, kindness +will stir kindness in return, and goodwill goodwill; those whom men know +to love them they cannot hate, and, in a way no other animals will, they +cherish their parents in life and in death and requite their care. All +other creatures, in short, compared with man, are lacking in gratitude +and heart. + +[50] Thus Pheraulas was overjoyed to feel that he could now be quit of +anxiety for his wealth, and devote himself to his friends, while the +Sakian was delighted with all that he had and all that he could use. The +Sakian loved Pheraulas because he was for ever adding something to the +store, and Pheraulas loved the Sakian because he was willing to assume +the entire burden, and however much the cares increased he never broke +into the other's leisure. Thus those two lived their lives. + +[C.4] Now Cyrus offered sacrifice and held high festival for his +victories, and he summoned to the feast those of his friends who bore +him most affection and had shown most desire to exalt him. With them +were bidden Artabazus the Mede, and Tigranes the Armenian, and the +commander of the Hyrcanian cavalry, and Gobryas. [2] Gadatas was the +chief of the mace-bearers, and the whole household was arranged as he +advised. When there were guests at dinner, Gadatas would not sit down, +but saw to everything, and when they were alone he sat at meat with +Cyrus, who took delight in his company, and in return for all his +services he was greatly honoured by Cyrus and that led to more honours +for others. [3] As the guests entered, Gadatas would show each man to +his seat, and the places were chosen with care: the friend whom Cyrus +honoured most was placed on his left hand (for that was the side +most open to attack), the second on his right, the third next to the +left-hand guest, and the fourth next to the right, and so on, whatever +the number of guests might be. [4] Cyrus thought it well it should be +known how much each man was honoured, for he saw that where the world +believes merit will win no crown and receive no proclamation, there the +spirit of emulation dies, but if all see that the best man gains most, +then the rivalry grows keen. [5] Thus it was that Cyrus marked out the +men he favoured by the seat of honour and the order of precedence. Nor +did he assign the honourable place to one friend for all time; he made +it a law that by good deeds a man might rise into a higher seat or +through sloth descend into a lower; and he would have felt ashamed if it +were not known that the guest most honoured at his table received most +favours at his hands. These customs that arose in the reign of Cyrus +continue to our time, as we can testify. + +[6] While they were at the feast that day it struck Gobryas that though +there was nothing surprising in the abundance and variety at the table +of one who was lord over so vast an empire, yet it was strange that +Cyrus, who had done such mighty deeds, should never keep any dainty for +himself, but must always be at pains to share it with the company. More +than once also he saw Cyrus send off to an absent friend some dish that +had chanced to please him. [7] So that by the time they had finished +their meal all the viands had been given away by Cyrus, and the board +was bare. + +Then Gobryas said, "Truly, Cyrus, until to-day I used to think it was in +generalship that you outshone other men the most, but, by heaven! I say +now it is not in generalship at all, it is generosity." + +[8] "Maybe," said Cyrus, "at least I take far more pride in this work +than in the other." + +"How can that be?" asked Gobryas. + +"Because," said he, "the one does good to man and the other injury." + +[9] Presently as the wine went round and round, Hystaspas turned to +Cyrus and said: + +"Would you be angry, Cyrus, if I asked something I long to know?" + +"On the contrary," answered Cyrus, "I should be vexed if I saw you +silent when you longed to ask." + +"Tell me then," said the other, "have you ever called me and found I +refused to come?" + +"What a question!" said Cyrus, "of course not." + +"Well, have I ever been slow in coming?" + +"No, never." + +"Or failed to do anything you ordered?" + +"No," said Cyrus, "I have no fault to find at all." + +"Whatever I had to do, I always did it eagerly and with all my heart, +did I not?" + +"Most assuredly," answered Cyrus. + +[10] "Then why, Cyrus, why, in heaven's name, have you singled out +Chrysantas for a more honourable seat than me?" + +"Shall I really tell you?" asked Cyrus in his turn. + +"By all means," said the other. + +"And you will not be annoyed if I tell you the plain truth?" + +[11] "On the contrary, it will comfort me to know I have not been +wronged." + +"Well, then, Chrysantas never waited to be called; he came of his own +accord on our behalf, and he made it his business to do, not merely what +he was ordered, but whatever he thought would help us. When something +had to be said to the allies, he would not only suggest what was fitting +for me to say myself, he would guess what I wanted the allies to know +but could not bring myself to utter, since it was about myself, and +he would say it for me as though it were his own opinion; in fact, for +everything of the kind he was nothing less to me than a second and a +better self. And now he is always insisting that what he has already +got is quite enough for himself, and always trying to discover something +more for me: he takes a greater pride and joy in all my triumphs than I +do myself." + +[12] "By Hera," said Hystaspas, "I am right glad I asked you. Only one +thing puzzles me: how am I to show my joy at your success? Shall I clap +my hands and laugh, or what shall I do?" + +"Dance the Persian dance, of course," said Artabazus. And all the +company laughed. + +[13] And as the drinking deepened Cyrus put a question to Gobryas. + +"Tell me, Gobryas, would you be better pleased to give your daughter to +one of our company to-day than the day when you met us first?" + +"Well," said Gobryas, "am I also to tell the truth?" + +"Certainly," said Cyrus, "no question looks for a lie." + +"Then," said Gobryas, "I assure you, I would far rather give her in +marriage to-day." + +"Can you tell us why?" said Cyrus. + +"That I can," said he. + +[14] "Say on, then." + +"At that time, I saw, it is true, the gallant manner in which your men +endured toil and danger, but to-day I see the modesty with which they +bear success. And I believe, Cyrus, that the man who takes good-fortune +well is further to seek than he who can endure adversity; for success +engenders insolence in many hearts, while suffering teaches sobriety and +fortitude." + +[15] And Cyrus said, "Hystaspas, did you hear the saying of Gobryas?" + +"I did indeed," he answered, "and if he has many more as good, he will +find me a suitor for his daughter, a far more eager one than if he had +shown me all his goblets." + +[16] "Well," said Gobryas, "I have many such written down at home, +and you may have them all if you take my daughter to wife. And as for +goblets," he added, "since it seems you cannot away with them, perhaps +I might give them to Chrysantas to punish him for having filled your +seat." + +[17] "Listen to me," said Cyrus, "Hystaspas, and all of you. If you +will but tell me, any of you, when you propose to marry, you would soon +discover what a clever advocate you had in me." + +[18] But Gobryas interposed, "And if one of us wants to give his +daughter in marriage, to whom should he apply?" + +"To me also," answered Cyrus; "I assure you, I am adept in the art." + +"What art is that?" Chrysantas inquired. + +[19] "The art of discerning the wife to suit each man." + +"Then by all the gods," said Chrysantas, "tell me what sort of wife +would do for me?" + +[20] "In the first place," he answered, "she must be short, for you are +not tall yourself, and if you married a tall maiden and wanted to give +her a kiss when she stood up straight, you would have to jump to reach +her like a little dog." + +"Your advice is straight enough," said Chrysantas; "and I am but a sorry +jumper at the best." + +[21] "In the next place," Cyrus went on, "a flat nose would suit you +very well." + +"A flat nose?" said the other, "why?" + +"Because your own is high enough, and flatness, you may be sure, will go +best with height." + +"You might as well say," retorted Chrysantas, "that one who has dined +well, like myself, is best matched with the dinnerless." + +"Quite so," answered Cyrus, "a full stomach is high and an empty paunch +is flat." + +[22] "And now," said Chrysantas, "in heaven's name, tell us the bride +for a flat king?" + +But at this Cyrus laughed outright, and all the others with him. [23] +And the laughter still rang loud when Hystaspas said: + +"There is one thing, Cyrus, that I envy in your royal state more than +all the rest." + +"And what is that?" said Cyrus. + +"That though you are flat, you can raise a laugh." + +"Ah," said Cyrus, "what would you give to have as much said of you? To +have it reported on all sides and wherever you wished to stand well that +you were a man of wit?" + +Thus they bantered each other and gave jest for jest. + +[24] Then Cyrus brought out a woman's attire and ornaments of price +and gave them to Tigranes as a present for his wife, because she had +followed her husband so manfully to the war, and he gave a golden goblet +to Artabazus, and a horse to the Hyrcanian leader, and many another +splendid gift among the company. + +"And to you, Gobryas," said he, "I will give a husband for your +daughter." + +[25] "Let me be the gift," said Hystaspas, "and then I shall get those +writings." + +"But have you a fortune on your side," asked Cyrus, "to match the +bride's?" + +"Certainly, I have," he answered, "I may say twenty times as great." + +"And where," asked Cyrus, "may those treasures be?" + +"At the foot of your throne," he answered, "my gracious lord." + +"I ask no more," said Gobryas, and held out his right hand. "Give him to +me, Cyrus," he said; "I accept him." + +[26] At that Cyrus took the right hand of Hystaspas and laid it in the +hand of Gobryas, and the pledge was given and received. Then Cyrus gave +beautiful gifts to Hystaspas for his bride, but he drew Chrysantas to +his breast and kissed him. [27] Thereupon Artabazus cried: + +"Heaven help us, Cyrus! The goblet you gave me is not of the fine gold +you have given Chrysantas now!" + +"Well," said Cyrus, "you shall have the same one day." + +"When?" asked the other. + +"Thirty years hence," said Cyrus. + +"I will wait," said Artabazus: "I will not die: be ready for me." + +And then the banquet came to an end: the guests rose, and Cyrus stood up +with them and conducted them to the door. + +[28] But on the morrow he arranged that all the allies and all who had +volunteered should be sent back to their homes, all except those who +wished to take up their abode with him. To these he gave grants of land +and houses, still held by their descendants, Medes for the greater part, +and Hyrcanians. And to those who went home he gave many gifts and +sent them away well content, both officers and men. [29] After this +he distributed among his own soldiers all the wealth he had taken at +Sardis, choice gifts for the captains of ten thousand and for his own +staff in proportion to their deserts, and the rest in equal shares, +delivering to every captain one share with orders to divide it among +their subordinates as he had divided the whole among them. [30] +Thereupon each officer gave to the officers directly under him, judging +the worth of each, until it came to the captains of six, who considered +the cases of the privates in their own squads, and gave each man what +he deserved: and thus every soldier in the army received an equitable +share. [31] But after the distribution of it all there were some who +said: + +"How rich Cyrus must be, to have given us all so much!" + +"Rich?" cried others, "what do you mean? Cyrus is no money-maker: he is +more glad to give than to get." + +[32] When Cyrus heard of this talk and the opinions held about him, he +gathered together his friends and the chief men of the state and spoke +as follows: + +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, I have known men who were anxious to +have it thought they possessed more than they really had, thinking this +would give them an air of freedom and nobility. But in my opinion the +result was the very opposite of what they wished. If it is thought that +a man has great riches and does not help his friends in proportion to +his wealth, he cannot but appear ignoble and niggardly. [33] There are +others," he went on, "who would have their wealth forgotten, and these I +look upon as traitors to their friends: for it must often happen that +a comrade is in need and yet hesitates to tell them because he does +not know how much they have, and so he is kept in the dark and left to +starve. [34] The straightforward course, it seems to me, is always to +make no secret of our own resources, but to use them all, whatever they +are, in our efforts to win the crown of honour. Accordingly I am anxious +to show you all my possessions so far as they can be seen, and to give +you a list of the rest." + +[35] With these words he proceeded to point out his visible treasures, +and he gave an exact account of those that could not be shown. He ended +by saying: + +[36] "All these things, gentlemen, you must consider yours as much as +mine. I have collected them, not that I might spend them on myself or +waste them in my own use: I could not do that if I tried. I keep them to +reward him who does a noble deed, and to help any of you who may be in +want of anything, so that you may come to me and take what ou require." + +Such were the words of Cyrus. + +[C.5] But now that all was well in Babylon and Cyrus felt he might leave +the land, he began to prepare for a march to Persia, and sent out orders +to his men. And when he had all he needed, the steeds were yoked, and +he set off. [2] And here we will explain how it was that so vast a host +could unpack and pack again without a break of order, and take up a +position with such speed wherever it was desired. When the king is on +the march his attendants, of course, are provided with tents and encamp +with him, winter and summer alike. [3] From the first the Cyrus made it +a custom to have his tent pitched facing east, and later on he fixed the +space to be left between himself and his lancers, and then he stationed +his bakers on the right and his cooks on the left, the cavalry on the +right again, and the baggage-train on the left. Everything else was so +arranged that each man knew his own quarters, their position and their +size. [4] When the army was packing up after a halt, each man put +together the baggage he used himself, and others placed it on the +animals: so that at one and the same moment all his bearers came to the +baggage-train and each man laid his load on his own beasts. Thus all the +tents could be struck in the same time as one. [5] And it was the +same when the baggage had to be unpacked. Again, in order that the +necessaries should be prepared in time, each man was told beforehand +what he had to do: and thus all the divisions could be provided for as +speedily as one. [6] And, just as the serving-men had their appointed +places, so the different regiments had their own stations, adapted to +their special style of fighting, and each detachment knew their quarters +and went to them without hesitation. [7] Even in a private house, +orderliness, Cyrus knew, was a most excellent thing: every one, if he +needed anything, would then know where to get it; but he held it still +more desirable for the arrangement of an army, seeing that the moment +for action passes far more quickly in war and the evil from being too +late is far more grave. Therefore he gave more thought and care to order +and arrangement than to anything else. + +[8] His own position, to begin with, must be at the centre of the +camp, as this was the safest place, and next to him must come his most +faithful followers, as their habit was. Beyond these, in a ring, lay the +cavalry and the charioteers. [9] For Cyrus held to it that these troops +also needed a safe position: their equipment could not be kept at +hand for them, and if they were to be of any use at all they needed +considerable time for arming. [10] The targeteers were placed to +left and right of the cavalry, and the bowmen in front and rear. [11] +Finally, the heavy-armed troops and those who carried the huge shields +surrounded the whole encampment like a wall; so that in case of need, if +the cavalry had to mount, the steadiest troops would stand firm in front +and let them arm in safety. [12] He insisted that the targeteers and +archers should, like the soldiers of the line, sleep at their posts, in +case of alarm at night, and be ready at any moment, while the infantry +dealt with the assailant at close quarters, to hurl darts and javelins +at them over the others' heads. [13] Moreover, all the generals had +standards on their tents; and just as an intelligent serving-man in a +city will know most of the houses, at any rate of the most important +people, so the squires of Cyrus knew the ways of the camp and the +quarters of the generals and the standards of each. Thus, if Cyrus +needed any one they had not to search and seek, but could run by +the shortest road and summon him at once. [14] Owing to this clear +arrangement, it was easy to see where good discipline was kept and where +duty was neglected. With these dispositions Cyrus felt that if an attack +should be made, by night or day, the enemy would find not so much a +camp as an ambuscade. [15] Nor was it enough, he considered, for a real +master of tactics to know how to extend his front without confusion, or +deepen his ranks, or get from column into line, or wheel round quickly +when the enemy appeared on the right or the left or in the rear: the +true tactician must also be able to break up his troops into small +bodies, whenever necessary, and place each division exactly where it +would be of the greatest use; he must know how to quicken speed when +it was essential to forestall the enemy; these and a hundred other +operations are part of his science, and Cyrus studied them all with +equal care. [16] On the march he varied the order constantly to suit the +needs of the moment, but for the camp, as a rule, he adopted the plan we +have described. + +[17] And now when the march had brought them into Media, Cyrus turned +aside to visit Cyaxares. After they had met and embraced, Cyrus began by +telling Cyaxares that a palace in Babylon, and an estate, had been set +aside for him so that he might have a residence of his own whenever he +came there, and he offered him other gifts, most rich and beautiful. +[18] And Cyaxares was glad to take them from his nephew, and then +he sent for his daughter, and she came, carrying a golden crown, and +bracelets, and a necklace of wrought gold, and a most beautiful Median +robe, as splendid as could be. [19] The maiden placed the crown upon the +head of Cyrus, and as she did so Cyaxares said: + +"I will give her to you, Cyrus, my own daughter, to be your wife. Your +father wedded the daughter of my father, and you are their son; and this +is the little maid whom you carried in your arms when you were with us +as a lad, and whenever she was asked whom she meant to marry, she would +always answer 'Cyrus.' And for her dowry I will give her the whole of +Media: since I have no lawful son." + +[20] So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: + +"Cyaxares, I can but thank you myself for all you offer me, the kinship +and the maiden and the gifts, but I must lay the matter before my father +and my mother before I accept, and then we will thank you together." + +That was what Cyrus said, but none the less he gave the maiden the gifts +he thought would please her father. And when he had done so, he marched +on home to Persia. + +[21] And when he reached the borders of his fatherland, he left the mass +of his troops on the frontier, and went forward alone with his friends +to the city, leading victims enough for all the Persians to sacrifice +and hold high festival. And he brought special gifts for his father and +his mother and his friends of old, and for the high officers of state, +the elders, and all the Persian Peers; and he gave every Persian man and +every Persian woman such bounties as the king confers to-day whenever he +visits Persia. [22] After this Cambyses gathered together the elders +of the land and the chief officers, who have authority in the highest +matters, and spoke as follows: + +"Men of Persia, and Cyrus, my son, both of you are dear to me and must +needs be dear; I am the king of my people and the father of my son; +therefore I am bound to lay before you openly all that I believe to be +for the good of both. [23] In the past the nation has done great things +for Cyrus by giving him an army and appointing him the leader, and +Cyrus, God helping him, has made my Persians famous in all the world by +his leadership, and crowned you with glory in Asia. Of those who served +with him he has made the bravest wealthy for life, and given sustenance +and full pay to numbers. By founding the cavalry he has won the plains +for Persia. [24] If your hearts are still the same in future, all of you +will bless each other: but if you, my son, would be puffed up by your +present fortune and attempt to rule the Persians for your own advantage +as you rule the rest of the world, or if you, my people, should envy +this man's power and try to drive him from his throne, I tell you, you +will cut each other off from many precious things. [25] Therefore, that +this should never be, and only good be yours, I counsel you to offer +sacrifice together, and call the gods to witness and make a covenant. +You, Cyrus, shall vow to resist with all your strength any man who +attacks our land of Persia or tries to overthrow our laws; and you, my +people, must promise that if rebels attempt to depose Cyrus or if +his subjects revolt, you will render aid to him and to yourselves in +whatever way he wishes. [26] Now, so long as I live, the kingdom of +Persia is and continues mine, but when I die it passes to Cyrus if he +is still alive, and whenever he visits Persia it should be a holy custom +for him to offer sacrifice on your behalf, even as I do now; and when he +is abroad, it will be well for you, I think, if the member of our family +whom you count the noblest fulfils the sacred rites." + +[27] Cambyses ended, and Cyrus and the officers of Persia agreed to all +he said. They made the covenant and called the gods to witness, and to +this day they keep it still, the Persians and the Great King. And when +it was done, Cyrus took his leave and came back to Media. [28] There, +with the full consent of his father and his mother, he wedded the +daughter of Cyaxares, the fame of whose beauty has lasted to this +day. And after the marriage his steeds were yoked and they set out for +Babylon. + +[C.6] When he was in Babylon once more, he thought it would be well to +appoint satraps and set them over the conquered tribes. Yet he did not +wish the commandants in the citadels and the captains in charge of the +garrisons throughout the country to be under any authority but his own. +Herein he showed his foresight, realising that if any satrap became +insolent and rebellious, relying on his own wealth and the numbers at +his back, he would at once find a power to oppose him within his own +district. [2] In order to carry out this plan, Cyrus resolved to summon +a council of the leading men and explain the terms on which the +satraps who went would go. In this way, he thought, they would not feel +aggrieved, whereas, if a man found himself appointed and then learnt the +restrictions for the first time, he might well take it ill, fancying it +a sign of personal mistrust. [3] So it was that Cyrus called a council +and spoke as follows: + +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, you are aware that we have garrisons and +commandants in the cities we conquered, stationed there at the time. I +left them with orders simply to guard the fortifications and not +meddle with anything else. Now I do not wish to remove them from their +commands, for they have done their duty nobly, but I propose to send +others, satraps, who will govern the inhabitants, receive the tribute, +give the garrisons their pay, and discharge all necessary dues. [4] +Further, I think it right that certain of you who live here and yet on +whom I may lay the task of travelling to these nations and working for +me among them, should possess houses there and estates, where tribute +may be brought them, and where they may find a place of their own to +lodge in." + +[5] With these words he assigned houses and districts to many of +his friends among the lands he had subdued: and to this day their +descendants possess the estates, although they reside at court +themselves. [6] "Now," he added, "we must choose for the satraps who are +to go abroad persons who will not forget to send us anything of value in +their districts, so that we who are at home may share in all the wealth +of the world. For if any danger comes, it is we who must ward it off." + +[7] With that he ended for the time, but later on when he came to +know what friends of his were ready and willing to go on the terms +prescribed, he selected those he thought best qualified for the work, +and sent Magabazus to Arabia, Artabatas to Cappadocia, Artacamas to +Greater Phrygia, Chrysantas to Lydia and Susia, Adousius, whom the +Carians had asked for themselves, to Caria, and Pharnouchus to Aeolia +and Phrygia by the Hellespont. + +[8] But to Cilicia, Cyprus, and Paphlagonia, Cyrus sent no satraps, +because they had shown their willingness to march against Babylon; +tribute, however, was imposed on them as on the others. [9] In +accordance with the rules then laid down by Cyrus, the citadel garrisons +and the captains-of-the-guard are to this day appointed directly by +the king, and have their names on the royal list. [10] All satraps whom +Cyprus sent out were ordered to do as they saw him doing: each was to +raise a body of cavalry and a chariot-force from the Persians and the +allies who went out with him; and all who received grants of land and +official residences were to present themselves at the palace-gates, +study temperance and self-control, and hold themselves in readiness +for the service of their satrap. Their boys were to be educated at the +gates, as with Cyrus, and the satrap was to lead his nobles out to hunt, +and train himself and his followers in the art of war. [11] "Whichever +of you," Cyrus added, "can show the greatest number of chariots in +proportion to his power, and the largest and finest body of cavalry, I +will honour him as my best ally and most faithful fellow-guardian of +the Persian empire. Let the best men always have the preference at your +courts as they have at mine, give them seats of honour as I do, and let +your table be spread, as mine is, not only for your own household, but +for your friends also, and for the honour of him who may accomplish any +noble deed. [12] You must lay out parks and breed game, and never touch +food until you have toiled for it, nor give your horses fodder until +they have been exercised. I am but a single man, with only human +strength and human virtue, and I could not by myself preserve the good +things that are yours: I must have good comrades to help me in goodness, +and only thus can I be your defender; and you likewise, if you are to +help me, must be good yourselves and have good men at your side. [13] +Remember that I have not spoken unto you as unto slaves: what I say you +ought to do I strive to do myself. And even as I bid you follow me, so I +would have you teach those in authority under you to follow you." + +[14] Such were the principles then laid down by Cyrus, and to this day +all the royal garrisons are appointed in the same manner, the gates of +all the governors are thronged in the same way, the houses, great +and small, are managed in the same fashion, everywhere the most +distinguished guests are given seats of honour, every province is +visited on the same system, and everywhere the threads of numberless +affairs are gathered into the hands of a few superiors. [15] Having +given these instructions, Cyrus assigned a body of troops to each of his +satraps, and sent them out to their provinces, bidding them to be ready +for a campaign in the new year and for a review of their soldiers, their +weapons, their horses, and their chariots. [16] And here I may notice +another custom, also instituted by Cyrus, it is said, and still in force +to-day: every year a progress of inspection is made by an officer at the +head of an army, to help any satrap who may require aid, or bring the +insolent to their senses; and, if there has been negligence in the +delivery of tribute, or the protection of the inhabitants, or the +cultivation of the soil, or indeed any omission of duty whatsoever, the +officer is there to put the matter right, or if he cannot do so himself, +to report it to the king, who decides what is to be done about the +offender. The announcements so often made, such as "the king's son is +coming down," or "the king's brother," or "the king's eye," refer to +these inspectors, but sometimes no one appears, for at any moment +the officer may be turned back at the king's command. [17] We hear of +another arrangement, devised to meet the huge size of the empire and +enable the king to learn with great celerity the state of affairs at any +distance. Cyrus first ascertained how far a horse could travel in +one day without being over-ridden, and then he had a series of +posting-stations built, one day's ride apart, with relays of horses, and +grooms to take care of them, and a proper man in charge of each station +to receive the despatches and hand them on, take over the jaded horses +and men, and furnish fresh ones. [18] Sometimes, we are told, this +post does not even halt at night: the night-messenger relieves the +day-messenger and rides on. Some say that, when this is done, the post +travels more quickly than the crane can fly, and, whether that is true +or not, there is no doubt it is the quickest way in which a human being +can travel on land. To learn of events so rapidly and be able to deal +with them at once is of course a great advantage. + +[19] After a year had passed, Cyrus collected all his troops at Babylon, +amounting, it is said, to one hundred and twenty thousand horse, two +thousand scythe-bearing chariots, and six hundred thousand foot. [20] +Then, seeing that all was got together, he set out for that campaign of +his, on which, the story says, he subdued the nations from the borders +of Syria as far as the Red Sea. After that there followed, we are told, +the expedition against Egypt and its conquest. [21] From that time +forward his empire was bounded on the east by the Red Sea, on the north +by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and towards the south +by Ethiopia. Of these outlying districts, some were scarcely habitable, +owing to heat or cold, drought or excessive rain. [22] But Cyrus himself +always lived at the centre of his dominions, seven months in Babylon +during the winter season, where the land is warm and sunny, three months +at Susa in the spring, and during the height of summer in Ecbatana, +so that for him it was springtime all the year. [23] Towards him the +disposition of all men was such that every nation felt they had failed +unless they could send Cyrus the treasures of their land, plants, +or animals, or works of art. And every city felt the same, and every +private person counted himself on the road to riches if he could do +Cyrus some special service, for Cyrus took only such things as they had +in abundance, and gave them in return what he saw they lacked. + +[C.7] Thus the years passed on, and Cyrus was now in a ripe old age, and +he journeyed to Persia for the seventh time in his reign. His father and +mother were long since dead in the course of nature, and Cyrus offered +sacrifice according to the law, and led the sacred dance of his Persians +after the manner of his forefathers, and gave gifts to every man +according to his wont. + +[2] But one night, as he lay asleep in the royal palace, he dreamt a +dream. It seemed to him that some one met him, greater than a man, and +said to him, "Set your house in order, Cyrus: the time has come, and you +are going to the gods." + +With that Cyrus awoke out of sleep, and he all but seemed to know that +the end of his life was at hand. [3] Straightway he took victims and +offered sacrifice to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and to the Sun, and +all the other gods, on the high places where the Persians sacrifice, and +then he made this prayer: + +"Zeus, god of my fathers, and thou, O Sun, and all ye gods, accept this +sacrifice, my offering for many a noble enterprise, and suffer me to +thank you for the grace ye have shown me, telling me all my life, by +victims and by signs from heaven, by birds and by the voices of men, +what things I ought to do and what I ought to refrain from doing. Deep +is my thankfulness that I was able to recognise your care, and never +lifted up my heart too high even in my prosperity. I beseech you now to +bless my children also, and my wife, and my friends, and my fatherland; +and for myself, may my death be as my life has been." + +[4] Then Cyrus went home again and lay down on his bed, for he longed +to rest. And when the hour was come, his attendants came to him and bade +him take his bath. But he said he would rather rest. And others came +afterwards, at the usual time, to set the meal before him; but he could +not bring himself to take food: he seemed only to thirst, and drank +readily. [5] It was the same the second day, and the third, and then +he called his sons to his side--it chanced they had followed him to +Persia--and he summoned his friends also and the chief magistrates of +the land, and when they were all met, he began: + +[6] "My sons, and friends of mine, the end of my life is at hand: I know +it by many signs. And when I am dead, you must show by word and deed +that you think of me as happy. When I was a child, I had all the joys +and triumphs of a child, and I reaped the treasures of youth as I grew +up, and all the glories of a man when I came to man'e estate. And as the +years passed, I seemed to find my powers grow with them, so that I never +felt my old age weaker than my youth, nor can I think of anything I +attempted or desired wherein I failed. [7] Moreover, I have seen my +friends made happy by my means, and my enemies crushed beneath my hand. +This my fatherland, which was once of no account in Asia, I leave at +the height of power, and of all that I won I think I have lost nothing. +Throughout my whole life I have fared as I prayed to fare, and the dread +that was ever with me lest in days to come I might see or hear or suffer +evil, this dread would never let me think too highly of myself, or +rejoice as a fool rejoices. [8] And if I die now, I leave my sons +behind me, the sons the gods have given me; and I leave my fatherland +in happiness, and my friends. Surely I may hope that men will count me +blessed and cherish my memory. [9] And now I must leave instructions +about my kingdom, that there may be no dispute among you after my death. +Sons of mine, I love you both alike, but I choose the elder-born, the +one whose experience of life is the greater, to be the leader in +council and the guide in action. [10] Thus was I trained myself, in the +fatherland that is yours and mine, to yield to my elders, my brothers or +my fellow-citizens, in the street, or in the place of meeting, or in the +assembly for debate. And thus have I trained both of you, to honour your +elders and be honoured by those who are younger than yourselves. These +are the principles that I leave with you, sanctioned by time, ingrained +in our customs, embodied in our laws. [11] The sovereignty is yours, +Cambyses; the gods have given it to you, and I also, as far as in me +lies; and to you, Tanaoxares, I give the satrapy over the Medes and the +Armenians and the Cadousians, these three; and though I leave your elder +brother a larger empire and the name of king, your inheritance will +bring you, I believe, more perfect happiness than his. [12] I ask myself +what human joy will be lacking to you: all things which gladden the +hearts of men will be yours--but the craving for what is out of reach, +the load of cares, the restless passion to rival my achievements, the +plots and counterplots, they will follow him who wears the crown, +and they are things, be well assured, that leave little leisure for +happiness. [13] And you, Cambyses, you know of yourself, without words +from me, that your kingdom is not guarded by this golden sceptre, but +by faithful friends; their loyalty is your true staff, a sceptre which +shall not fail. But never think that loyal hearts grow up by nature as +the grass grows in the field: if that were so, the same men would be +loyal to all alike, even as all natural objects are the same to all +mankind. No, every leader must win his own followers for himself, and +the way to win them is not by violence but by loving-kindness. [14] And +if you would seek for friends to stand by you and guard your throne, who +so fit to be the first of them as he who is sprung from the self-same +loins? Our fellow-citizens are nearer to us than foreigners, and our +mess-mates dearer than strangers, and what of those who are sprung from +the same seed, suckled at the same breast, reared in the same home, +loved by the same parents, the same mother, the same father? [15] What +the gods have given to be the seal of brotherhood do not make of none +effect yourselves. But build upon it: make it the foundation for other +loving deeds, and thus the love between you shall never be overcome. The +man who takes thought for his brother cares for his own self. For who +but a brother can win glory from a brother's greatness? Who can be +honoured as a brother can through a brother's power? Or who so safe from +injury as the brother of the great? [16] Let no one, Tanaoxares, be more +eager than yourself to obey your brother and support him: to no one can +his triumph or his danger come so near. Ask yourself from whom you could +win a richer reward for any kindness. Who could give you stouter help +in return for your own support? And where is coldness so ugly as between +brothers? Or where is reverence so beautiful? And remember, Cambyses, +only the brother who holds pre-eminence in a brother's heart can be safe +from the jealousy of the world. [17] I implore you both, my sons, by the +gods of our fathers, hold each other in honour, if you care at all to do +me pleasure: and none of you can say you know that I shall cease to be +when I cease to live this life of ours. With your bodily eyes you have +never seen my soul, and yet you have discerned its presence through its +working. [18] And have you never marked the terrors which the spirits +of those who have suffered wrong can send into the hearts of their +murderers, and the avenging furies they let loose upon the wicked? +Think you the honours of the dead would still abide, if the souls of the +departed were altogether powerless? [19] Never yet, my sons, could I +be persuaded that the soul only lives so long as she dwells within this +mortal body, and falls dead so soon as she is quit of that. Nay, I +see for myself that it is the soul which lends life to it, while she +inhabits there. [20] I cannot believe that she must lose all sense on +her separation from the senseless body, but rather that she will reach +her highest wisdom when she is set free, pure and untrammelled at last. +And when this body crumbles in dissolution, we see the several parts +thereof return to their kindred elements, but we do not see the soul, +whether she stays or whether she departs. [21] Consider," he went on, +"how these two resemble one another, Death and his twin-brother Sleep, +and it is in sleep that the soul of a man shows her nature most divine, +and is able to catch a glimpse of what is about to be, for it is then, +perhaps, that she is nearest to her freedom. [22] Therefore, if these +things are as I believe, and the spirit leaves the body behind and is +set free, reverence my soul, O sons of mine, and do as I desire. And +even if it be not so, if the spirit must stay with the body and perish, +yet the everlasting gods abide, who behold all things, with whom is +all power, who uphold the order of this universe, unmarred, unaging, +unerring, unfathomable in beauty and in splendour. Fear them, my sons, +and never yield to sin or wickedness, in thought or word or deed. [23] +And after the gods, I would have you reverence the whole race of man, +as it renews itself for ever; for the gods have not hidden you in the +darkness, but your deeds will be manifest in the eyes of all mankind, +and if they be righteous deeds and pure from iniquity, they will blazon +forth your power: but if you meditate evil against each other, you will +forfeit the confidence of every man. For no man can trust you, even +though he should desire it, if he sees you wrong him whom above all +you are bound to love. [24] Therefore, if my words are strong enough to +teach you your duty to one another, it is well. But, if not, let history +teach you, and there is no better teacher. For the most part, parents +have shown kindness to their children and brothers to their brothers, +but it has been otherwise with some. Look, then, and see which conduct +has brought success, choose to follow that, and your choice will be +wise. [25] And now maybe I have said enough of this. As for my body, +when I am dead, I would not have you lay it up in gold or silver or any +coffin whatsoever, but give it back to the earth with all speed. What +could be more blessed than to lie in the lap of Earth, the mother of all +things beautiful, the nurse of all things good? I have been a lover of +men all my life, and methinks I would fain become a part of that which +does good to man. [26] And now," he added, "now it seems to me that my +life begins to ebb; I feel my spirit slipping away from those parts she +leaves the first. If you would take my hand once more, or look into my +eyes while life is there, draw near me now; but when I have covered my +face, let no man look on me again, not even you, my sons. [27] But you +shall bid the Persians come, and all our allies, to my sepulchre; and +you shall rejoice with me and congratulate me that I am safe at last, +free from suffering or sorrow, whether I am with God or whether I have +ceased to be. Give all who come the entertainment that is fitting in +honour of a man whose life on earth was happy, and so send them away. +[28] Remember my last saying: show kindness to your friends, and then +shall you have it in your power to chastise your enemies. Good-bye, my +dear sons, bid your mother good-bye for me. And all my friends, who are +here or far away, good-bye." + +And with these words he gave his hand to them, and then he covered his +face and died. + + + EPILOGUE + +[C.8] Of all the powers in Asia, the kingdom of Cyrus showed itself to +be the greatest and most glorious. On the east it was bounded by the Red +Sea, on the north by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and +on the south by Ethiopia. And yet the whole of this enormous empire was +governed by the mind and will of a single man, Cyrus: his subjects he +cared for and cherished as a father might care for his children, and +they who came beneath his rule reverenced him like a father. + +[2] But no sooner was he dead than his sons were at strife, cities and +nations revolted, and all things began to decay. I can show that what I +say is true, and first I will speak of their impiety. In the early days, +I am aware, the king and those beneath him never failed to keep the +oaths they had sworn and fulfil the promises they had given, even to the +worst of criminals. [3] In fact, if such had not been their character +and such their reputation, none of the Hellenic generals who marched +up with the younger Cyrus could have felt the confidence they did: they +would not have trusted a Persian any more than one trusts them to-day, +now that their perfidy is known. As it was, they relied on their old +reputation and put themselves in their power, and many were taken up to +the king and there beheaded. And many of the Asiatics who served in the +same war perished as they did, deluded by one promise or another. + +[4] In other ways also the Persians have degenerated. Noble achievement +in the old days was the avenue to fame: the man was honoured who risked +his life for the king, or brought a city or nation beneath his sway. But +now, if some Mithridates has betrayed his father Ariobarzanes, or some +Reomithres has left his wife and children and the sons of his friend as +hostages at the court of Egypt, and then has broken the most solemn of +all pledges--it is they and their like who are loaded with the highest +honours, if only they are thought to have gained some advantage for the +king. [5] With such examples before them, all the Asiatics have turned +to injustice and impiety. For what the leaders are, that, as a rule, +will the men below them be. Thus has lawlessness increased and grown +among them. [6] And injustice has grown, and thieving. Not only +criminals, but men who are absolutely innocent are arrested and forced +to pay fines for no reason whatsoever: to be known to have wealth is +more dangerous than guilt, so that the rich do not care to have any +dealings with the powerful, and dare not even risk appearing at the +muster of the royal troops. [7] Therefore, when any man makes war on +Persia, whoever he may be, he can roam up and down the country to his +heart's content without striking a blow, because they have forgotten the +gods and are unjust to their fellow-men. In every way their hearts and +minds are lower than in days gone by. + +[8] Nor do they care for their bodies as they did of old. It was always +their custom neither to spit nor blow the nose, only it is clear this +was instituted not from concern for the humours of the body, but in +order to strengthen themselves by toil and sweat. But nowadays, though +this habit is still in vogue, to harden the body by exercise has quite +gone out of fashion. [9] Again, from the first it was their rule only to +take a single meal in the day, which left them free to give their time +to business and exercise. The single meal is still the rule, but it +commences at the earliest hour ever chosen for breakfast, and the eating +and drinking goes on till the last moment which the latest reveller +would choose for bed. [10] It was always forbidden to bring chamber-pots +into the banquet-hall, but the reason lay in their belief that the +right way to keep body and brain from weakness was to avoid drinking +in excess. But to-day, though as in the old time no such vessels may be +carried in, they drink so deep that they themselves are carried out, too +weak to stand on their own legs. [11] It was a national custom from the +first not to eat and drink on the march nor be seen satisfying the wants +of nature, but nowadays, though they still abstain, they make each march +so short that no man need wonder at their abstinence. + +[12] In the old time they went out to hunt so often that the chase gave +enough exercise and training for man and horse alike. But when the day +came that Artaxerxes and all his court were the worse for wine, the old +custom of the king leading the hunt in person began to pass away. And if +any eager spirits hunted with their own followers it was easy to see the +jealousy, and even the hatred, aroused by such superiority. + +[13] It is still the habit to bring up the boys at the palace-gates, but +fine horsemanship has disappeared, for there is no place where the lads +can win applause by their skill. The old belief that the children of +Persia would learn justice by hearing the judges decide the cases has +been turned upside down: the children have only to use their eyes and +they see that the verdict goes to the man with the longest purse. [14] +Children in former times were taught the properties of plants in order +to use the wholesome and avoid the harmful; but now they seem to learn +it for the mere sake of doing harm: at any rate, there is no country +where deaths from poison are so common. [15] And the Persian to-day is +far more luxurious than he was in the time of Cyrus. Then they still +clung to the Persian style of education and the Persian self-restraint, +merely adopting the Median dress and a certain grace of life. But now +the old Persian hardihood may perish for all they care, if only they +preserve the softness of the Mede. [16] I might give instances of their +luxury. They are not content with soft sheets and rugs for their beds, +they must have carpets laid under the bed-posts to prevent any jarring +from the floor. They have given up none of the cooked dishes invented +in former days; on the contrary, they are always devising new ones, and +condiments to boot: in fact, they keep men for the very purpose. [17] In +the winter it is not enough to have the body covered, and the head and +the feet, they must have warm sleeves as well and gloves for the hands: +and in the summer they are not content with the shade from the trees or +the rocks, they must have servants standing beside them with artificial +screens. [18] To have an endless array of cups and goblets is their +special pride: and if these are come by unjustly, and all the world +knows it, why, there is nothing to blush for in that: injustice has +grown too common among them, and ill-gotten gain. [19] Formerly no +Persian was ever to be seen on foot, but the sole object of the custom +was to make them perfect horsemen. Now they lay more rugs on their +horses' backs than on their own beds; it is not a firm seat they care +for, but a soft saddle. + +[20] As soldiers we may imagine how they have sunk below the ancient +standard; in past times it was a national institution that the +land-owner should furnish troopers from his own estate, and men were +bound to go on active service, while the garrison troops in the country +received regular pay; but now the Persian grandees have manufactured +a new type of cavalry, who earn their pay as butlers and cooks and +confectioners and cupbearers and bathmen and flunkeys to serve at table +or remove the dishes, and serving-men to put their lords to bed and help +them to rise, and perfumers to anoint them and rub them and make them +beautiful. [21] In numbers they make a very splendid show, but they are +no use for fighting; as may be seen by what actually takes place: an +enemy can move about their country more freely than the inhabitants +themselves. [22] It will be remembered that Cyrus put a stop to the +old style of fighting at long range, and by arming men and horses with +breastplates and giving each trooper a short spear he taught them to +fight at close quarters. But nowadays they will fight in neither one +style nor the other. [23] The infantry still carry the large shields, +the battle-axes, and the swords, as if they meant to do battle as they +did in Cyrus' day. [24] But they will never close with the enemy. Nor do +they use the scythe-bearing chariots as Cyrus intended. By the +honours he gave he raised the dignity and improved the quality of his +charioteers till he had a body of men who would charge right into the +enemy's ranks; but the generals of to-day, though they do not even know +the charioteers by sight, flatter themselves that untrained men will +serve their purpose quite as well as trained. [25] So the charioteers +will dash off, but before they reach the enemy half the men have fallen +from their boxes, and the others will jump out of their own accord, +and the teams, left without their drivers, will do more harm to their +friends than to their foes. [26] And since in their hearts the Persians +of to-day are well aware what their fighting condition really is, they +always give up the struggle, and now none of them will take the field +at all without Hellenes to help them, whether they are fighting among +themselves or whether Hellenes are in arms against them: even then it +is a settled thing that they must have the aid of other Hellenes to face +them. + +[27] I venture to think I have shown the truth of the statement that I +made. I asserted that the Persians of to-day and their allies are less +religious than they were of old, less dutiful to their kindred, less +just and righteous towards other men, and less valiant in war. And if +any man doubts me, let him examine their actions for himself, and he +will find full confirmation of all I say. + + + NOTES + +C1. Xenophon puts into the mouth of Chrysantas his favourite theory of +monarchism, the relationship strongly cemented by obedience and trust +between subjects and king. + +C1.4, med. On _willing_ service. This again is one of the best +utterances in all Xenophon. It has a deep spiritual import. + +C1.4, fin. He is thinking of Athens, perhaps. It is a choice: obey the +ruler or knock under to foreign foes. + +C1.8. Surely a remark of the author. It is an old inveterate thought of +his: "the Master's eye." I feel the _old_ man at times. + +C1.9-10. This side of the Persian state-machine strongly impressed the +mind and imagination of Xenophon. Hence he works it into the treatise +on economy as well as here. In fact his expansion of the Socratic +reflections into the _Economist_ has to do, I believe, with these +reflections on state economy. + +C1.13. Hellenic aristocratic theory of existence. Leisure for the grand +duties which devolve on the lords of mankind. It doesn't seem to +strike Xenophon that this rigid system of self-absorption in the higher +selfhood of the social system might be destructive of individual life. +Of course he would say, "No, it enlarges the individual life." + +C1.17-20. Seems to me to show Xenophon struggling with the hard parts +of the later Persian system. The theory of Persian feudalism is too +high-strung for these grand satraps, rulers of provinces as big as +ordinary kingdoms. It tends to snap, and from the beginning did. The +archic man has no charm to compel his followers to archic virtue. It is +a negative {episteme} after all. Does Xenophon realise this, or is hgd. +wrong? + +C1.21. Cf. headmasters with preposters in a public school, based on the +same system of high aims and duties corresponding to rights. + +C1.23, init. Cf. Louis Napoleon in Browning's poem [_Prince +Hohensteil-Schwangau_]. + +C1.23, med. The Magians, the Persian order of priests. Yet we have heard +of them throughout. + +C1.27. A very true saying and very nice the feeling it gives us towards +Xenophon. We think of him with his wife and his little sons and his +friends and their friends. + +C1.28. How true of women! + +C1.33. A reduplication of the description in Bk. I., and also a +summing-up of Xenophon's own earthly paradise--quite Tennysonian. + +C1.37. An important point or principle in Xenophon's political +theory--indeed the key and tone of it: no one has a right to command +except by virtue of personal superiority. + +C1.40 foll. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the +morning!" The section, if, as I think it is, by Xenophon, throws +light on the nature and composition of the book. The author isn't so +disengaged from "history" that he can set aside obviously integral +parts of the Persian system traceable to Cyrus, or at any rate probably +original, and their false-seeming and bamboozling mode of keeping up +dignity has to be taken account of. It has its analogy in the admission +of thaumaturgy on the part of religious teachers, and no doubt a good +deal can be said for it. The archic man in low spirits, if he ever is +so, has some need of bamboozling himself. Titles do give some moral +support even nowadays to certain kinds of minds. + +C1.46-48. The archic man's dealings by those of his subjects who are apt +to rule, the men of high thoughts and ambitions, with whom he must come +into constant personal contact. With them the spiritual dominance alone +will do. They shall be made to love him rather than themselves. +(The only thing just here that jars is a sort of Machiavellian +self-consciousness, resented in the archic man). + +C1.46. A cumbrous disjointed sentence, but the thought of it is clear +enough. Even Xenophon's style breaks down when he tries to say in +a breath more than he naturally can. Is it a sign of senility, or +half-thought-out ideas, or what? + +C2.2, fin. Does Xenophon feel the bathos of this, or is hdg. wrong and +there is no bathos? It may be said that the sacramental and spiritual +side is not in abeyance. Xenophon has to account for the "common board" +and he has the Spartan Lycurgan "common board" to encourage him, so that +imaginatively he provides this royal being with a sumptuous table at +which thousands will share alike. + +C2.3. How far was this a custom among Hellenes? It reveals a curious +state of society, real or imaginary; but I suppose that at Rome in +imperial days (cf. _panem et circenses_) the theory of meat and drink +largesses being the best would hold. + +C2.4, fin. The last remark is so silly (?) I am almost disposed to +follow Lincke and admit interpolation. Yet on the whole I think it is +the voice of the old man explaining in his Vicar-of-Wakefield style, +to his admiring auditors, wife, children, and grandsons, I fancy, and +slaves, the _raison d'etre_ of Persian dinner-largesse customs. + +C2.6. Qy.: What was Xenophon's manner of composing? The style here +is loose, like that of a man talking. Perhaps he lectured and the +amanuensis took down what he said. + +C2.8. Ineptitudes. One does somewhat sniff an editor here, I think, but +I am not sure. There's a similar touch of ineptitude (senility, perhaps) +in the _Memorabilia_, _ad fin_. On the other hand I can imagine Xenophon +purring over this side of Orientalism quite naturally. + +C2.12. This slipshod style, how accounted for? The most puzzling thing +of all is the sort of mental confusion between Cyrus and the king in +general. + +C2.15-16. Thoroughly Xenophontine and Ruskinian and eternal. + +C2.24. Here is the germ of benefit societies and clubs and insurances +and hospitals. Xenophon probably learns it all from Ctesias, and others +of the sort. Cyrus provides doctors and instruments and medicines and +diet, in fact, all the requisites of a hospital, in his palace. Nor does +he forget to be grateful to the doctors who cured the sick. [Ctesias, +the Greek physician to the Persian king. See _Anabasis_, I. viii. Works, +Vol. I. p. 108.] + +C2.26 ff. Xenophon's Machiavellianism. Does it work? + +C2.17-28. It seems to me that all this is too elaborate for an +interpolator: it smacks of Xenophon in his arm-chair, theorising and +half-dreaming over his political philosophy. + +C3.2. Prototype, a procession to Eleusis or elsewhere: the Panathenaic, +possibly. Xenophon's sumptuous taste and love of bright colours. + +C3.3, fin., C3.4. What a curious prototypic sound! Truly this is the +very _modus_ of the evangelist's type of sentence. His narrative must +run in this mould. + +C3.4, fin. This is the old Cyrus. It comes in touchingly here, this +refrain of the old song, now an echo of the old life. + +C3.14. Xenophon delights somewhat in this sort of scene. It is a +turning-point, a veritable moral peripety, though the decisive step was +taken long ago. What is Xenophon's intention with regard to it? Has he +any _parti pris_, for or against? Does he wish us to draw conclusions? +Or does it correspond to a moral meeting of the waters in his own mind? +Here love of Spartan simplicity, and there of splendour and regality +and monarchism? He does not give a hint that the sapping of the system +begins here, when the archic man ceases to depend on his own spiritual +archic qualities and begins to eke out his dignity by artificial means +and external shows of reverence. + +C3.20. Is this worthy of the archic man? It is a method, no doubt, +of {arkhe}, but has it any spiritual "last" in it? The incident of +Daipharnes somewhat diverts our attention from the justice of the system +in reference to the suitors. On the whole, I think Xenophon can't get +further. He is blinded and befogged by two things: (1) his (i.e. their) +aristocratism, and again (2) his satisfaction in splendour and get-up, +provided it is attached to moral greatness. We are in the same maze, I +fancy. Jesus was not, nor is Walt Whitman. + +C3.23. Cyrus is made to behave rather like the autocratic father of a +goody story-book. + +C3.25. Realistic and vivid detailing: our curiosity is satisfied. "Who +has won?" we ask. "Oh, so-and-so, Smith." Well, it's something to know +that Smith has won. Xenophon, the artist, 'cutely introduces the Sakian +to us. One scene takes up another, just as in real life. Quite soon +we know a great deal more about this young man, a mere Sakian private +soldier, who wins the race so easily on his splendid horse. Cyrus +and good fortune introduce him to the very man he is suited to: viz. +Pheraulas. + +C3.37. Pheraulas' boyhood has already been sketched by himself (II. +C3.7), the active sturdy little youngster, snatching at a knife, and +hacking away _con amore_. We know him well: Xenophon's modernism comes +out in these things. Here we have the old father, a heart of oak, like +the old Acharnian in Aristophanes. One of the prettiest morsels in all +Xenophon. Xenophon's own father, is he there? + +C3.47. The desire for "leisure" is as strong in Xenophon as in hgd. or +S. T. I., I think. [S. T. Irwin, also a master at Clifton.] + +C4.1. Why is the Hyrcanian never named? Is it conceivable that Xenophon +shrinks from using a proper name except when he has some feeling for the +sound of the language? (Sic. Sakians, Cadousians, Indians, etc.) + +C4.4 The "mark" system again which Xenophon believes in, but hgd. not. +Shows how he tried to foster competitiveness. It's after all a belief +in the central sun, a species of monarch-worship, logical and consistent +enough. + +C4.8. Xenophon reveals himself and the Hellenic feeling with regard to +war and its use. The _pax Romana_ is anticipated in their minds. + +C4.9. Hystaspas is rather like the sons of Zebedee or the elder brother +of the Prodigal. + +C4.12, fin. Looks rather like a Greek joke. But what is the joke? + +C4.13-23. Broad type of joke, but not unhealthy or prurient. Prototype +probably Agesilaus and the younger Cyrus at the supper-table, with just +this touch of coarseness. + +C4.32-36. This is = to the Comtist theory of the duties of capitalists, +and is one of the noblest disquisitions in all Xenophon, {os g' emoi +dokei}. Cyrus' theory is based on fraternal feeling among the _elite_ of +the world, and that is the sole difference, a large one doubtless, +and measures the gap between Xenophon and A. C. and our advance in +Democracy. + +C5.17. How far is this historical, i.e. semi-historical? I can't help +supposing that the commoner notion of a conquest of Media by Persia was +current and familiar to Xenophon apart from any other account, which for +his present purpose he chose to go upon and possibly believed in. + +C5.18-20. Will Cyrus take her to wife, his old playmate? All this shows +once more Xenophon's love of children. + +C5.23-25. The Persian Magna Charta, parallel to that between the Spartan +king and the ephorate. + +C6.1-3. (a) Satraps; to be counterpoised by (b) military governors in +the citadels, and (c) visitors living at court, but possessed of lands +in the provinces. The object is, no doubt, to create a common +interest between the nobles and the king which will keep the satrap in +counterpoise. + +C6.11. The Oriental feeling again. + +C6.12, fin. One of the nicest (monarchical) remarks ever uttered. + +C6.13. Marked Greek Testament parallel S. Joan. 13, 13. Surely the +evangelist had read this at school: I mean, the Greek scribe who +Hellenised the evangel. + +C6.23. Free trade or favoured-nation principle and commercial treaty. + +C7.10. Prototype: Socrates and his sons. Perhaps also Xenophon and his. +One seems to hear his own voice addressing Gryllus. + +C7.14. A very noble passage. + +C7.27. That's also nice: "Summon the Persians to rejoice with me at my +joyous release;" a refined form of funeral festival--"nothing is here +for tears"--nor have we, perhaps, arrived beyond it. + +C7.28. His last remark is Xenophon-Hellenic, but less edifying; +fortunately it is only the penultimate, for there is the final +{khairete} [good-bye] and message to his wife. Why was she not present? +I suppose she was at home in Babylon. + +[C8. It has been doubted whether C8 is by Xenophon at all. C8.3, with +its reference to the _Anabasis_, certainly looks as though it might have +been written after his death. Some scholars have also thought the style +unlike Xenophon's, but it is clear from his marginal notes that Mr. +Dakyns did not lean towards this view. To stress the degeneracy of the +Persians is, no doubt, to make a curious comment on the institutions of +"the born ruler," but on the other hand the preceding chapter (C7) is +full of grave warnings, and, throughout, Xenophon has been at pains to +insist that everything depends on the continuous and united effort of +the ruling classes towards virtue and self-control. Again, as Mr. Dakyns +pointed out (in his _Sketch of Xenophon's Life_, Works, Vol. I. p. +cxxxvii.), the epilogue bears a marked analogy to the account of Spartan +degeneracy in c. xiv. of the _Laconian Polity_ (see Vol. II. p. 322), a +chapter he took to be genuine. On the whole, therefore, we may conclude +that he would have considered this epilogue to be genuine also.--F.M.S.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cyropaedia, by Xenophon + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CYROPAEDIA *** + +***** This file should be named 2085.txt or 2085.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/0/8/2085/ + +Produced by John Bickers, and Dagny + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..39b606d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #2085 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2085) diff --git a/old/cyrus.gut b/old/cyrus.gut new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2ae8be9 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cyrus.gut @@ -0,0 +1,11092 @@ +CYROPAEDIA +By Xenophon (transl. H. G. Dakyns, M.A.) + +Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz + and Dagny, dagnyj@hotmail.com + + + + CYROPAEDIA + THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS + + BY + + XENOPHON + + + + Translated By + Henry Graham Dakyns + + Revised By + F. M. Stawell + + + + DEDICATION + + To Clifton College + + + + PREPARER'S NOTE + +This was typed from an Everyman's Library edition. It seems that +Dakyns died before Cyropaedia could be included as the planned fourth +and final volume of his series, "The Works of Xenophon," published in +the 1890s by Macmillan and Co. The works in that series can all be +found in Project Gutenberg under their individual titles. The complete +list of Xenophon's works (though there is doubt about some of these) +is: + + Work Number of books + + The Anabasis 7 + The Hellenica 7 + The Cyropaedia 8 + The Memorabilia 4 + The Symposium 1 + The Economist 1 + On Horsemanship 1 + The Sportsman 1 + The Cavalry General 1 + The Apology 1 + On Revenues 1 + The Hiero 1 + The Agesilaus 1 + The Polity of the Athenians and the Lacedaemonians 2 + +Text in brackets "{}" is my transliteration of Greek text into English +using an Oxford English Dictionary alphabet table. The diacritical +marks have been lost. + + + + INTRODUCTION + +A very few words may suffice by way of introduction to this +translation of the /Cyropaedia/. + +Professor Jowett, whose Plato represents the high-water mark of +classical translation, has given us the following reminders: "An +English translation ought to be idiomatic and interesting, not only to +the scholar, but also to the unlearned reader. It should read as an +original work, and should also be the most faithful transcript which +can be made of the language from which the translation is taken, +consistently with the first requirement of all, that it be English. +The excellence of a translation will consist, not merely in the +faithful rendering of words, or in the composition of a sentence only, +or yet of a single paragraph, but in the colour and style of the whole +work." + +These tests may be safely applied to the work of Mr. Dakyns. An +accomplished Greek scholar, for many years a careful and sympathetic +student of Xenophon, and possessing a rare mastery of English idiom, +he was unusually well equipped for the work of a translator. And his +version will, as I venture to think, be found to satisfy those +requirements of an effective translation which Professor Jowett laid +down. It is faithful to the tone and spirit of the original, and it +has the literary quality of a good piece of original English writing. +For these and other reasons it should prove attractive and interesting +reading for the average Englishman. + +Xenophon, it must be admitted, is not, like Plato, Thucydides, or +Demosthenes, one of the greatest of Greek writers, but there are +several considerations which should commend him to the general reader. +He is more representative of the type of man whom the ordinary +Englishman specially admires and respects, than any other of the Greek +authors usually read. + +An Athenian of good social position, endowed with a gift of eloquence +and of literary style, a pupil of Socrates, a distinguished soldier, +an historian, an essayist, a sportsman, and a lover of the country, he +represents a type of country gentleman greatly honoured in English +life, and this should ensure a favourable reception for one of his +chief works admirably rendered into idiomatic English. And the +substance of the /Cyropaedia/, which is in fact a political romance, +describing the education of the ideal ruler, trained to rule as a +benevolent despot over his admiring and willing subjects, should add a +further element of enjoyment for the reader of this famous book in its +English garb. + + J. HEREFORD. + + + + EDITOR'S NOTE + +In preparing this work for the press, I came upon some notes made by +Mr. Dakyns on the margin of his Xenophon. These were evidently for his +own private use, and are full of scholarly colloquialisms, impromptu +words humorously invented for the need of the moment, and individual +turns of phrase, such as the references to himself under his initials +in small letters, "hgd." Though plainly not intended for publication, +the notes are so vivid and illuminating as they stand that I have +shrunk from putting them into a more formal dress, believing that +here, as in the best letters, the personal element is bound up with +what is most fresh and living in the comment, most characteristic of +the writer, and most delightful both to those who knew him and to +those who will wish they had. I have, therefore, only altered a word +here and there, and added a note or two of my own (always in square +brackets), where it seemed necessary for the sake of clearness. + + F. M. S. + + + + + + CYROPAEDIA + + THE EDUCATION OF CYRUS + + + + BOOK I + +[C.1] We have had occasion before now to reflect how often democracies +have been overthrown by the desire for some other type of government, +how often monarchies and oligarchies have been swept away by movements +of the people, how often would-be despots have fallen in their turn, +some at the outset by one stroke, while whose who have maintained +their rule for ever so brief a season are looked upon with wonder as +marvels of sagacity and success. + +The same lesson, we had little doubt, was to be learnt from the +family: the household might be great or small--even the master of few +could hardly count on the obedience of his little flock. [2] And so, +one idea leading to another, we came to shape our reflexions thus: +Drovers may certainly be called the rulers of their cattle and horse- +breeders the rulers of their studs--all herdsmen, in short, may +reasonably be considered the governors of the animals they guard. If, +then, we were to believe the evidence of our senses, was it not +obvious that flocks and herds were more ready to obey their keepers +than men their rulers? Watch the cattle wending their way wherever +their herdsmen guide them, see them grazing in the pastures where they +are sent and abstaining from forbidden grounds, the fruit of their own +bodies they yield to their master to use as he thinks best; nor have +we ever seen one flock among them all combining against their +guardian, either to disobey him or to refuse him the absolute control +of their produce. On the contrary, they are more apt to show hostility +against other animals than against the owner who derives advantage +from them. But with man the rule is converse; men unite against none +so readily as against those whom they see attempting to rule over +them. [3] As long, therefore, as we followed these reflexions, we +could not but conclude that man is by nature fitted to govern all +creatures, except his fellow-man. But when we came to realise the +character of Cyrus the Persian, we were led to a change of mind: here +is a man, we said, who won for himself obedience from thousands of his +fellows, from cities and tribes innumerable: we must ask ourselves +whether the government of men is after all an impossible or even a +difficult task, provided one set about it in the right way. Cyrus, we +know, found the readiest obedience in his subjects, though some of +them dwelt at a distance which it would take days and months to +traverse, and among them were men who had never set eyes on him, and +for the matter of that could never hope to do so, and yet they were +willing to obey him. [4] Cyrus did indeed eclipse all other monarchs, +before or since, and I include not only those who have inherited their +power, but those who have won empire by their own exertions. How far +he surpassed them all may be felt if we remember that no Scythian, +although the Scythians are reckoned by their myriads, has ever +succeeded in dominating a foreign nation; indeed the Scythian would be +well content could he but keep his government unbroken over his own +tribe and people. The same is true of the Thracians and the Illyrians, +and indeed of all other nations within our ken; in Europe, at any +rate, their condition is even now one of independence, and of such +separation as would seem to be permanent. Now this was the state in +which Cyrus found the tribes and peoples of Asia when, at the head of +a small Persian force, he started on his career. The Medes and the +Hyrcanians accepted his leadership willingly, but it was through +conquest that he won Syria, Assyria, Arabia, Cappadocia, the two +Phrygias, Lydia, Caria, Phoenicia, and Babylonia. Then he established +his rule over the Bactrians, Indians, and Cilicians, over the Sakians, +Paphlagonians, and Magadidians, over a host of other tribes the very +names of which defy the memory of the chronicler; and last of all he +brought the Hellenes in Asia beneath his sway, and by a descent on the +seaboard Cyprus and Egypt also. + +[5] It is obvious that among this congeries of nations few, if any, +could have spoken the same language as himself, or understood one +another, but none the less Cyrus was able so to penetrate that vast +extent of country by the sheer terror of his personality that the +inhabitants were prostrate before him: not one of them dared lift hand +against him. And yet he was able, at the same time, to inspire them +all with so deep a desire to please him and win his favour that all +they asked was to be guided by his judgment and his alone. Thus he +knit to himself a complex of nationalities so vast that it would have +taxed a man's endurance merely to traverse his empire in any one +direction, east or west or south or north, from the palace which was +its centre. For ourselves, considering his title to our admiration +proved, we set ourselves to inquire what his parentage might have been +and his natural parts, and how he was trained and brought up to attain +so high a pitch of excellence in the government of men. And all we +could learn from others about him or felt we might infer for ourselves +we will here endeavour to set forth. + +[C.2] The father of Cyrus, so runs the story, was Cambyses, a king of +the Persians, and one of the Perseidae, who look to Perseus as the +founder of their race. His mother, it is agreed, was Mandane, the +daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Of Cyrus himself, even now in +the songs and stories of the East the record lives that nature made +him most fair to look upon, and set in his heart the threefold love of +man, of knowledge, and of honour. He would endure all labours, he +would undergo all dangers, for the sake of glory. [2] Blest by nature +with such gifts of soul and body, his memory lives to this day in the +mindful heart of ages. It is true that he was brought up according to +the laws and customs of the Persians, and of these laws it must be +noted that while they aim, as laws elsewhere, at the common weal, +their guiding principle is far other than that which most nations +follow. Most states permit their citizens to bring up their own +children at their own discretion, and allow the grown men to regulate +their own lives at their own will, and then they lay down certain +prohibitions, for example, not to pick and steal, not to break into +another man's house, not to strike a man unjustly, not to commit +adultery, not to disobey the magistrate, and so forth; and on the +transgressor they impose a penalty. [3] But the Persian laws try, as +it were, to steal a march on time, to make their citizens from the +beginning incapable of setting their hearts on any wickedness or +shameful conduct whatsoever. And this is how they set about their +object. + +In their cities they have an open place or square dedicated to Freedom +(Free Square they call it), where stand the palace and other public +buildings. From this place all goods for sale are rigidly excluded, +and all hawkers and hucksters with their yells and cries and +vulgarities. They must go elsewhere, so that their clamour may not +mingle with and mar the grace and orderliness of the educated classes. +[4] This square, where the public buildings stand, is divided into +four quarters which are assigned as follows: one for the boys, another +for the youths, a third for the grown men, and the last for those who +are past the age of military service. The law requires all the +citizens to present themselves at certain times and seasons in their +appointed places. The lads and the grown men must be there at +daybreak; the elders may, as a rule, choose their own time, except on +certain fixed days, when they too are expected to present themselves +like the rest. Moreover, the young men are bound to sleep at night +round the public buildings, with their arms at their side; only the +married men among them are exempt, and need not be on duty at night +unless notice has been given, though even in their case frequent +absence is thought unseemly. [5] Over each of these divisions are +placed twelve governors, twelve being the number of the Persian +tribes. The governors of the boys are chosen from the elders, and +those are appointed who are thought best fitted to make the best of +their lads: the governors of the youths are selected from the grown +men, and on the same principle; and for the grown men themselves and +their own governors; the choice falls on those who will, it is hoped, +make them most prompt to carry out their appointed duties, and fulfil +the commands imposed by the supreme authority. Finally, the elders +themselves have presidents of their own, chosen to see that they too +perform their duty to the full. + +[6] We will now describe the services demanded from the different +classes, and thus it will appear how the Persians endeavour to improve +their citizens. The boys go to school and give their time to learning +justice and righteousness: they will tell you they come for that +purpose, and the phrase is as natural with them as it is for us to +speak of lads learning their letters. The masters spend the chief part +of the day in deciding cases for their pupils: for in this boy-world, +as in the grown-up world without, occasions of indictment are never +far to seek. There will be charges, we know, of picking and stealing, +of violence, of fraud, of calumny, and so forth. The case is heard and +the offender, if shown to be guilty, is punished. [7] Nor does he +escape who is found to have accused one of his fellows unfairly. And +there is one charge the judges do not hesitate to deal with, a charge +which is the source of much hatred among grown men, but which they +seldom press in the courts, the charge of ingratitude. The culprit +convicted of refusing to repay a debt of kindness when it was fully in +his power meets with severe chastisement. They reason that the +ungrateful man is the most likely to forget his duty to the gods, to +his parents, to his fatherland, and his friends. Shamelessness, they +hold, treads close on the heels of ingratitude, and thus ingratitude +is the ringleader and chief instigator to every kind of baseness. [8] +Further, the boys are instructed in temperance and self-restraint, and +they find the utmost help towards the attainment of this virtue in the +self-respecting behaviour of their elders, shown them day by day. Then +they are taught to obey their rulers, and here again nothing is of +greater value than the studied obedience to authority manifested by +their elders everywhere. Continence in meat and drink is another +branch of instruction, and they have no better aid in this than, +first, the example of their elders, who never withdraw to satisfy +their carnal cravings until those in authority dismiss them, and next, +the rule that the boys must take their food, not with their mother but +with their master, and not till the governor gives the sign. They +bring from home the staple of their meal, dry bread with nasturtium +for a relish, and to slake their thirst they bring a drinking-cup, to +dip in the running stream. In addition, they are taught to shoot with +the bow and to fling the javelin. + +The lads follow their studies till the age of sixteen or seventeen, +and then they take their places as young men. + +[9] After that they spend their time as follows. For ten years they +are bound to sleep at night round the public buildings, as we said +before, and this for two reasons, to guard the community and to +practise self-restraint; because that season of life, the Persians +conceive, stands most in need of care. During the day they present +themselves before the governors for service to the state, and, +whenever necessary, they remain in a body round the public buildings. +Moreover, when the king goes out to hunt, which he will do several +times a month, he takes half the company with him, and each man must +carry bow and arrows, a sheathed dagger, or "sagaris," slung beside +the quiver, a light shield, and two javelins, one to hurl and the +other to use, if need be, at close quarters. [10] The reason of this +public sanction for the chase is not far to seek; the king leads just +as he does in war, hunting in person at the head of the field, and +making his men follow, because it is felt that the exercise itself is +the best possible training for the needs of war. It accustoms a man to +early rising; it hardens him to endure head and cold; it teaches him +to march and to run at the top of his speed; he must perforce learn to +let fly arrow and javelin the moment the quarry is across his path; +and, above all, the edge of his spirit must needs be sharpened by +encountering any of the mightier beasts: he must deal his stroke when +the creature closes, and stand on guard when it makes its rush: +indeed, it would be hard to find a case in war that has not its +parallel in the chase. [11] But to proceed: the young men set out with +provisions that are ampler, naturally, than the boys' fare, but +otherwise the same. During the chase itself they would not think of +breaking their fast, but if a halt is called, to beat up the game, or +for any hunter's reason, then they will make, as it were, a dinner of +their breakfast, and, hunting again on the morrow till dinner-time, +they will count the two days as one, because they have only eaten one +day's food. This they do in order that, if the like necessity should +arise in war, they may be found equal to it. As relish to their bread +these young men have whatever they may kill in the chase, or failing +that, nasturtium like the boys. And if one should ask how they can +enjoy the meal with nasturtium for their only condiment and water for +their only drink, let him bethink himself how sweet barley bread and +wheaten can taste to the hungry man and water to the thirsty. [12] As +for the young men who are left at home, they spend their time in +shooting and hurling the javelin, and practising all they learnt as +boys, in one long trial of skill. Beside this, public games are open +to them and prizes are offered; and the tribe which can claim the +greatest number of lads distinguished for skill and courage and +faithfulness is given the meed of praise from all the citizens, who +honour, not only their present governor, but the teacher who trained +them when they were boys. Moreover, these young men are also employed +by the magistrates if garrison work needs to be done or if malefactors +are to be tracked or robbers run down, or indeed on any errand which +calls for strength of limb and fleetness of foot. Such is the life of +the youth. But when the ten years are accomplished they are classed as +grown men. [13] And from this time forth for five-and-twenty years +they live as follows. + +First they present themselves, as in youth, before the magistrates for +service to the state wherever there is need for strength and sound +sense combined. If an expedition be on foot the men of this grade +march out, not armed with the bow or the light shield any longer, but +equipped with what are called the close-combat arms, a breastplate up +to the throat, a buckler on the left arm (just as the Persian warrior +appears in pictures), and for the right hand a dagger or a sword. +Lastly, it is from this grade that all the magistrates are appointed +except the teachers for the boys. But when the five-and-twenty years +are over and the men have reached the age of fifty years or more, then +they take rank as elders, and the title is deserved. [14] These elders +no longer go on military service beyond the frontier; they stay at +home and decide all cases, public and private both. Even capital +charges are left to their decision, and it is they who choose all the +magistrates. If a youth or a grown man breaks the law he is brought +into court by the governors of his tribe, who act as suitors in the +case, aided by any other citizen who pleases. The cause is heard +before the elders and they pronounce judgment; and the man who is +condemned is disenfranchised for the rest of his days. + +[15] And now, to complete the picture of the whole Persian policy, I +will go back a little. With the help of what has been said before, the +account may now be brief; the Persians are said to number something +like one hundred and twenty thousand men: and of these no one is by +law debarred from honour or office. On the contrary, every Persian is +entitled to send his children to the public schools of righteousness +and justice. As a fact, all who can afford to bring up their children +without working do send them there: those who cannot must forego the +privilege. A lad who has passed through a public school has a right to +go and take his place among the youths, but those who have not gone +through the first course may not join them. In the same way the youths +who have fulfilled the duties of their class are entitled eventually +to rank with the men, and to share in office and honour: but they must +first spend their full time among the youths; if not, they go no +further. Finally, those who as grown men have lived without reproach +may take their station at last among the elders. Thus these elders +form a college, every member of which has passed through the full +circle of noble learning; and this is that Persian polity and that +Persian training which, in their belief, can win them the flower of +excellence. [16] And even to this day signs are left bearing witness +to that ancient temperance of theirs and the ancient discipline that +preserved it. To this day it is still considered shameful for a +Persian to spit in public, or wipe the nose, or show signs of wind, or +be seen going apart for his natural needs. And they could not keep to +this standard unless they were accustomed to a temperate diet, and +were trained to exercise and toil, so that the humours of the body +were drawn off in other ways. Hitherto we have spoken of the Persians +as a whole: we will now go back to our starting-point and recount the +deeds of Cyrus from his childhood. + +[C.3] Until he was twelve years old or more, Cyrus was brought up in +the manner we have described, and showed himself to be above all his +fellows in his aptitude for learning and in the noble and manly +performance of every duty. But about this time, Astyages sent for his +daughter and her son, desiring greatly to see him because he had heard +how noble and fair he was. So it fell out that Mandane came to +Astyages, bringing her son Cyrus with her. [2] And as soon as they +met, the boy, when he heard that Astyages was his mother's father, +fell on his neck and kissed him without more ado, like the loving lad +nature had made him, as though he had been brought up at his +grandfather's side from the first and the two of them had been +playmates of old. Then he looked closer and saw that the king's eyes +were stencilled and his cheeks painted, and that he wore false curls +after the fashion of the Medes in those days (for these adornments, +and the purple robes, the tunics, the necklaces, and the bracelets, +they are all Median first and last, not Persian; the Persian, as you +find him at home even now-a-days, still keeps to his plainer dress and +his plainer style of living.) The boy, seeing his grandfather's +splendour, kept his eyes fixed on him, and cried, "Oh, mother, how +beautiful my grandfather is!" Then his mother asked him which he +thought the handsomer, his father or his grandfather, and he answered +at once, "My father is the handsomest of all the Persians, but my +grandfather much the handsomest of all the Medes I ever set eyes on, +at home or abroad." [3] At that Astyages drew the child to his heart, +and gave him a beautiful robe and bracelets and necklaces in sign of +honour, and when he rode out, the boy must ride beside him on a horse +with a golden bridle, just like King Astyages himself. And Cyrus, who +had a soul as sensitive to beauty as to honour, was pleased with the +splendid robe, and overjoyed at learning to ride, for a horse is a +rare sight in Persia, a mountainous country, and one little suited to +the breed. + +[4] Now Cyrus and his mother sat at meat with the king, and Astyages, +wishing the lad to enjoy the feast and not regret his home, plied him +with dainties of every sort. At that, so says the story, Cyrus burst +out, "Oh, grandfather, what trouble you must give yourself reaching +for all these dishes and tasting all these wonderful foods!" "Ah, +but," said Astyages, "is not this a far better meal than you ever had +in Persia?" Thereupon, as the tale runs, Cyrus answered, "Our way, +grandfather, is much shorter than yours, and much simpler. We are +hungry and wish to be fed, and bread and meat brings us where we want +to be at once, but you Medes, for all your haste, take so many turns +and wind about so much it is a wonder if you ever find your way to the +goal that we have reached long ago." [5] "Well, my lad," said his +grandfather, "we are not at all averse to the length of the road: +taste the dishes for yourself and see how good they are." "One thing I +do see," the boy said, "and that is that you do not quite like them +yourself." And when Astyages asked him how he felt so sure of that, +Cyrus answered, "Because when you touch an honest bit of bread you +never wipe your hands, but if you take one of these fine kickshaws you +turn to your napkin at once, as if you were angry to find your fingers +soiled." [6] "Well and good, my lad, well and good," said the king, +"only feast away yourself and make good cheer, and we shall send you +back to Persia a fine strong fellow." And with the word he had dishes +of meat and game set before his grandson. The boy was taken aback by +their profusion, and exclaimed, "Grandfather, do you give me all this +for myself, to do what I like with it?" "Certainly I do," said the +king. [7] Whereupon, without more ado, the boy Cyrus took first one +dish and then another and gave them to the attendants who stood about +his grandfather, and with each gift he made a little speech: "That is +for you, for so kindly teaching me to ride;" "And that is for you, in +return for the javelin you gave me, I have got it still;" "And this is +for you, because you wait on my grandfather so prettily;" "And this +for you, sir, because you honour my mother." And so on until he had +got rid of all the meat he had been given. [8] "But you do not give a +single piece to Sacas, my butler," quoth the grandfather, "and I +honour him more than all the rest." Now this Sacas, as one may guess, +was a handsome fellow, and he had the right to bring before the king +all who desired audience, to keep them back if he thought the time +unseasonable. But Cyrus, in answer to his grandfather's question +retorted eagerly, like a lad who did not know what fear meant, "And +why should you honour him so much, grandfather?" Then Astyages laughed +and said, "Can you not see how prettily he mixes the cup, and with +what a grace he serves the wine?" And indeed, these royal cup-bearers +are neat-handed at their task, mixing the bowl with infinite elegance, +and pouring the wine into the beakers without spilling a drop, and +when they hand the goblet they poise it deftly between thumb and +finger for the banqueter to take. [9] "Now, grandfather," said the +boy, "tell Sacas to give me the bowl, and let me pour out the wine as +prettily as he if I can, and win your favour." So the king bade the +butler hand him the bowl, and Cyrus took it and mixed the wine just as +he had seen Sacas do, and then, showing the utmost gravity and the +greatest deftness and grace, he brought the goblet to his grandfather +and offered it with such an air that his mother and Astyages, too, +laughed outright, and then Cyrus burst out laughing also, and flung +his arms round his grandfather and kissed him, crying, "Sacas, your +day is done! I shall oust you from your office, you may be sure. I +shall make just as pretty a cup-bearer as you--and not drink the wine +myself!" For it is the fact that the king's butler when he offers the +wine is bound to dip a ladle in the cup first, and pour a little in +the hollow of his hand and sip it, so that if he has mixed poison in +the bowl it will do him no good himself. [10] Accordingly, Astyages, +to carry on the jest, asked the little lad why he had forgotten to +taste the wine though he had imitated Sacas in everything else. And +the boy answered, "Truly, I was afraid there might be poison in the +bowl. For when you gave your birthday feast to your friends I could +see quite plainly that Sacas had put in poison for you all." "And how +did you discover that, my boy?" asked the king. "Because I saw how +your wits reeled and how you staggered; and you all began doing what +you will not let us children do--you talked at the top of your voices, +and none of you understood a single word the others said, and then you +began singing in a way to make us laugh, and though you would not +listen to the singer you swore that it was right nobly sung, and then +each of you boasted of his own strength, and yet as soon as you got up +to dance, so far from keeping time to the measure, you could barely +keep your legs. And you seemed quite to have forgotten, grandfather, +that you were king, and your subjects that you were their sovereign. +Then at last I understood that you must be celebrating that 'free +speech' we hear of; at any rate, you were never silent for an +instant." [11] "Well, but, boy," said Astyages, "does your father +never lose his head when he drinks?" "Certainly not," said the boy. +"What happens then?" asked the king. "He quenches his thirst," +answered Cyrus, "and that is all. No harm follows. You see, he has no +Sacas to mix his wine for him." "But, Cyrus," put in his mother, "why +are you so unkind to Sacas?" "Because I do so hate him," answered the +boy. "Time after time when I have wanted to go to my grandfather this +old villain has stopped me. Do please, grandfather, let me manage him +for three days." "And how would you set about it?" Astyages asked. +"Why," said the boy, "I will plant myself in the doorway just as he +does, and then when he wants to go in to breakfast I will say 'You +cannot have breakfast yet: HE is busy with some people,' and when he +comes for dinner I will say 'No dinner yet: HE is in his bath,' and as +he grows ravenous I will say 'Wait a little: HE is with the ladies of +the court,' until I have plagued and tormented him as he torments me, +keeping me away from you, grandfather, when I want to come." [12] Thus +the boy delighted his elders in the evening, and by day if he saw that +his grandfather or his uncle wanted anything, no one could forestall +him in getting it; indeed nothing seemed to give him greater pleasure +than to please them. + +[13] Now when Mandane began to think of going back to her husband, +Astyages begged her to leave the boy behind. She answered that though +she wished to please her father in everything, it would be hard to +leave the boy against his will. [14] Then the old man turned to Cyrus: +"My boy, if you will stay with us, Sacas shall never stop you from +coming to me: you shall be free to come whenever you choose, and the +oftener you come the better it will please me. You shall have horses +to ride, my own and as many others as you like, and when you leave us +you shall take them with you. And at dinner you shall go your own away +and follow your own path to your own goal of temperance just as you +think right. And I will make you a present of all the game in my parks +and paradises, and collect more for you, and as soon as you have +learnt to ride you shall hunt and shoot and hurl the javelin exactly +like a man. And you shall have boys to play with and anything else you +wish for: you have only to ask me and it shall be yours." [15] Then +his mother questioned the boy and asked him whether he would rather +stay with his grandfather in Media, or go back home with her: and he +said at once that he would rather stay. And when she went on to ask +him the reason, he answered, so the story says, "Because at home I am +thought to be the best of the lads at shooting and hurling the +javelin, and so I think I am: but here I know I am the worst at +riding, and that you may be sure, mother, annoys me exceedingly. Now +if you leave me here and I learn to ride, when I am back in Persia you +shall see, I promise you, that I will outdo all our gallant fellows on +foot, and when I come to Media again I will try and show my +grandfather that, for all his splendid cavalry, he will not have a +stouter horseman than his grandson to fight his battles for him." [16] +Then said his mother, "But justice and righteousness, my son, how can +you learn them here when your teachers are at home?" "Oh," said Cyrus, +"I know all about them already." "How do you know that you do?" asked +Mandane. "Because," answered the boy, "before I left home my master +thought I had learnt enough to decide the cases, and he set me to try +the suits. Yes! and I remember once, said he, "I got a whipping for +misjudgment. [17] I will tell you about that case. There were two +boys, a big boy and a little boy, and the big boy's coat was small and +the small boy's coat was huge. So the big boy stripped the little boy +and gave him his own small coat, while he put on the big one himself. +Now in giving judgment I decided that it was better for both parties +that each should have the coat that fitted him best. But I never got +any further in my sentence, because the master thrashed me here, and +said that the verdict would have been excellent if I had been +appointed to say what fitted and what did not, but I had been called +in to decide to whom the coat belonged, and the point to consider was, +who had a right to it: Was he who took a thing by violence to keep it, +or he who had had it made and bought it for his own? And the master +taught me that what is lawful is just and what is in the teeth of law +is based on violence, and therefore, he said, the judge must always +see that his verdict tallies with the law. So you see, mother, I have +the whole of justice at my fingers' ends already. And if there should +be anything more I need to know, why, I have my grandfather beside me, +and he will always give me lessons." [18] "But," rejoined his mother, +"what everyone takes to be just and righteous at your grandfather's +court is not thought to be so in Persia. For instance, your own +grandfather has made himself master over all and sundry among the +Medes, but with the Persians equality is held to be an essential part +of justice: and first and foremost, your father himself must perform +his appointed services to the state and receive his appointed dues: +and the measure of these is not his own caprice but the law. Have a +care then, or you may be scourged to death when you come home to +Persia, if you learn in your grandfather's school to love not kingship +but tyranny, and hold the tyrant's belief that he and he alone should +have more than all the rest." "Ah, but, mother," said the boy, "my +grandfather is better at teaching people to have less than their +share, not more. Cannot you see," he cried, "how he has taught all the +Medes to have less than himself? So set your mind at rest, mother, my +grandfather will never make me, or any one else, an adept in the art +of getting too much." + +[C.4] So the boy's tongue ran on. But at last his mother went home, +and Cyrus stayed behind and was brought up in Media. He soon made +friends with his companions and found his way to their hearts, and +soon won their parents by the charm of his address and the true +affection he bore their sons, so much so that when they wanted a +favour from the king they bade their children ask Cyrus to arrange the +matter for them. And whatever it might be, the kindliness of the lad's +heart and the eagerness of his ambition made him set the greatest +store on getting it done. [2] On his side, Astyages could not bring +himself to refuse his grandson's lightest wish. For once, when he was +sick, nothing would induce the boy to leave his side; he could not +keep back his tears, and his terror at the thought that his +grandfather might die was plain for every one to see. If the old man +needed anything during the night Cyrus was the first to notice it, it +was he who sprang up first to wait upon him, and bring him what he +thought would please him. Thus the old king's heart was his. + +[3] During these early days, it must be allowed, the boy was something +too much of a talker, in part, may be, because of his bringing-up. He +had been trained by his master, whenever he sat in judgment, to give a +reason for what he did, and to look for the like reason from others. +And moreover, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge were such that he +must needs inquire from every one he met the explanation of this, +that, and the other; and his own wits were so lively that he was ever +ready with an answer himself for any question put to him, so that +talkativeness had become, as it were, his second nature. But, just as +in the body when a boy is overgrown, some touch of youthfulness is +sure to show itself and tell the secret of his age, so for all the +lad's loquacity, the impression left on the listener was not of +arrogance, but of simplicity and warm-heartedness, and one would +gladly have heard his chatter to the end rather than have sat beside +him and found him dumb. + +[4] However, as he grew in stature and the years led him to the time +when childhood passes into youth he became more chary of his words and +quieter in his tone: at times, indeed, he was so shy that he would +blush in the presence of his elders, and there was little sign left of +the old forwardness, the impulsiveness of the puppy who will jump up +on every one, master and stranger alike. Thus he grew more sedate, but +his company was still most fascinating, and little wonder: for +whenever it came to a trial of skill between himself and his comrades +he would never challenge his mates to those feats in which he himself +excelled: he would start precisely one where he felt his own +inferiority, averring that he would outdo them all,--indeed, he would +spring to horse in order to shoot or hurl the javelin before he had +got a firm seat--and then, when he was worsted, he would be the first +to laugh at his own discomfiture. [5] He had no desire to escape +defeat by giving up the effort, but took glory in the resolution to do +better another time, and thus he soon found himself as good a horseman +as his peers, and presently, such was his ardour, he surpassed them +all, and at last the thinning of the game in the king's preserves +began to show what he could do. What with the chasing and the shooting +and the spearing, the stock of animals ran so low that Astyages was +hard put to it to collect enough for him. Then Cyrus, seeing that his +grandfather for all his goodwill could never furnish him with enough, +came to him one day and said, "Grandfather, why should you take so +much trouble in finding game for me? If only you would let me go out +to hunt with my uncle, I could fancy every beast we came across had +been reared for my particular delight!" [6] But however anxious the +lad might be to go out to the chase, he had somehow lost the old +childish art of winning what he wanted by coaxing: and he hesitated a +long time before approaching the king again. If in the old days he had +quarrelled with Sacas for not letting him in, now he began to play the +part of Sacas against himself, and could not summon courage to intrude +until he thought the right moment had come: indeed, he implored the +real Sacas to let him know when he might venture. So that the old +butler's heart was won, and he, like the rest of the world, was +completely in love with the young prince. + +[7] At last when Astyages saw that the lad's heart was really set on +hunting in the open country, he gave him leave to go out with his +uncle, taking care at the same time to send an escort of mounted +veterans at his heels, whose business it was to keep watch and ward +over him in any dangerous place or against any savage beast. Cyrus +plied his retinue with questions about the creatures they came across, +which must he avoid and which might he hunt? They told him he must be +on his guard against bears and wild-boars and lions and leopards: many +a man had found himself at too close quarters with these dangerous +creatures, and been torn to pieces: but antelopes, they said, and deer +and mountain sheep and wild asses were harmless enough. And the +huntsman, they added, ought to be as careful about dangerous places as +about the beasts themselves: many a time horse and rider had gone +headlong down a precipice to death. [8] The lad seemed to take all +their lessons to heart at the time: but then he saw a stag leap up, +and forgot all the wise cautions he had heard, giving chase forthwith, +noticing nothing except the beast ahead of him. His horse, in its +furious plunge forward, slipped, and came down on its knees, all but +throwing the rider over its head. As luck would have it the boy +managed to keep his seat, and the horse recovered its footing. When +they reached the flat bottom, Cyrus let fly his javelin, and the stag +fell dead, a beautiful big creature. The lad was still radiant with +delight when up rode the guard and took him severely to task. Could he +not see the danger he had run? They would certainly tell his +grandfather, that they would. Cyrus, who had dismounted, stood quite +still and listened ruefully, hanging his head while they rated him. +But in the middle of it all he heard the view-halloo again: he sprang +to his horse as though frenzied--a wild-boar was charging down on +them, and he charged to meet it, and drawing his bow with the surest +aim possible, struck the beast in the forehead, and laid him low. [9] +But now his uncle thought it was high time to scold his nephew +himself; the lad's boldness was too much. Only, the more he scolded +the more Cyrus begged he would let him take back the spoil as a +present for his grandfather. To which appeal, says the story, his +uncle made reply: "But if your grandfather finds out that you have +gone in chase yourself, he will not only scold you for going but me +for letting you go." "Well, let him whip me if he likes," said the +boy, "when once I have given him my beasts: and you too, uncle," he +went on, "punish me however you choose, only do not refuse me this." +So Cyaxares was forced to yield:--"Have it your own way then, you are +little less than our king already." [10] Thus it was that Cyrus was +allowed to bring his trophies home, and in due course presented them +to his grandfather. "See, grandfather, here are some animals I have +shot for you." But he did not show his weapons in triumph: he only +laid them down with the gore still on them where he hoped his +grandfather would see them. It is easy to guess the answer Astyages +gave:--"I must needs accept with pleasure every gift you bring me, +only I want none of them at the risk of your own life." And Cyrus +said, "If you really do not want them yourself, grandfather, will you +give them to me? And I will divide them among the lads." "With all my +heart," said the old man, "take them, or anything else you like; +bestow them where you will, and welcome." [11] So Cyrus carried off +the spoil, and divided it with his comrades, saying all the while, +"What foolery it was, when we used to hunt in the park! It was no +better than hunting creatures tied by a string. First of all, it was +such a little bit of a place, and then what scarecrows the poor beasts +were, one halt, and another maimed! But those real animals on the +mountains and the plains--what splendid beasts, so gigantic, so sleek +and glossy! Why, the stags leapt up against the sky as though they had +wings, and the wild-boars came rushing to close quarters like warriors +in battle! And thanks to their breadth and bulk one could not help +hitting them. Why, even as they lie dead there," cried he, "they look +finer than those poor walled-up creatures when alive! But you," he +added, "could not your fathers let you go out to hunt too?" "Gladly +enough," answered they, "if only the king gave the order." [12] +"Well," said Cyrus, "who will speak to Astyages for us?" "Why," +answered they, "who so fit to persuade him as yourself?" "No, by all +that's holy, not I!" cried Cyrus. "I cannot think what has come over +me: I cannot speak to my grandfather any more; I cannot look him +straight in the face. If this fit grows on me, I am afraid I shall +become no better than an idiot. And yet, when I was a little boy, they +tell me, I was sharp enough at talking." To which the other lads +retorted, "Well, it is a bad business altogether: and if you cannot +bestir yourself for your friends, if you can do nothing for us in our +need, we must turn elsewhere." [13] When Cyrus heard that he was stung +to the quick: he went away in silence and urged himself to put on a +bold face, and so went in to his grandfather, not, however, without +planning first how he could best bring in the matter. Accordingly he +began thus: "Tell me, grandfather," said he, "if one of your slaves +were to run away, and you caught him, what would you do to him?" "What +else should I do," the old man answered, "but clap irons on him and +set him to work in chains?" "But if he came back of his own accord, +how would you treat him then?" "Why, I would give him a whipping, as a +warning not to do it again, and then treat him as though nothing had +happened." "It is high time then," said the boy, "that you began +getting a birch ready for your grandson: for I am planning to take my +comrades and run away on a hunting expedition." "Very kind of you to +tell me, beforehand," said Astyages. "And now listen, I forbid you to +set foot outside the palace grounds. A pretty thing," he added, "if +for the sake of a day's hunting I should let my daughter's lamb get +lost." [14] So Cyrus did as he was ordered and stayed at home, but he +spent his days in silence and his brow was clouded. At last Astyages +saw how bitterly the lad felt it, and he made up his mind to please +him by leading out a hunting-party himself. He held a great muster of +horse and foot, and the other lads were not forgotten: he had the +beasts driven down into the flat country where the horses could be +taken easily, and then the hunt began in splendid style. After the +royal fashion--for he was present in person himself--he gave orders +that no one was to shoot until Cyrus had hunted to his heart's +content. But Cyrus would not hear of any such hindrance to the others: +"Grandfather," he cried, "if you wish me to enjoy myself, let my +friends hunt with me and each of us try our best." [15] Thereupon +Astyages let them all go, while he stood still and watched the sight, +and saw how they raced to attack the quarry and how their ambition +burned within them as they followed up the chase and let fly their +javelins. But above all he was overjoyed to see how his grandson could +not keep silence for sheer delight, calling upon his fellows by name +whenever he came up with the quarry, like a noble young hound, baying +from pure excitement. It gladdened the old man's heart to hear how +gleefully the boy would laugh at one of his comrades and how eagerly +he would applaud another without the slightest touch of jealousy. At +length it was time to turn, and home they went, laden with their +mighty trophies. And ever afterwards, so well pleased was the king +with the day's hunting, that whenever it was possible, out he must go +with his grandson, all his train behind him, and he never failed to +take the boys also, "to please Cyrus." Thus did Cyrus spend his early +life, sharing in and helping towards the happiness of all, and +bringing no sorrow to any man. + +[16] But when he was about fifteen years of age, it chanced that the +young Prince of Assyria, who was about to marry a wife, planned a +hunting-party of his own, in honour of the bridal. And, having heard +that on the frontiers of Assyria and Media there was much game to be +got, untouched and unmolested because of the war, the prince chose +these marches for his hunting-ground. But for safety sake he took with +him a large escort of cavalry and targeteers, who were to drive the +beasts down from their lairs into the cultivated levels below where it +was easy to ride. He set out to the place where the Assyrian outposts +were planted and a garrison on duty, and there he and his men prepared +to take their supper, intending to begin the hunt with the morrow's +dawn. [17] And as evening had fallen, it happened that the night- +watch, a considerable body of horse and foot, arrived from the city to +relieve the garrison on guard. Thus the prince found that he had +something like a large army at his call: the two garrisons as well as +the troop of horse and foot for the hunt. And then he asked himself +whether it would not be the best of plans to drive off booty from the +country of the Medes? In this way more lustre would be given to the +chase, and there would be great store of beasts for sacrifice. With +this intent he rose betimes and led his army out: the foot soldiers he +massed together on the frontier, while he himself, at the head of his +cavalry, rode up to the border fortresses of the Medes. Here he halted +with the strongest and largest part of his company, to prevent the +garrisons from sallying out, and meanwhile he sent picked men forward +by detachments with orders to raid the country in every direction, +waylay everything they chanced upon, and drive the spoil back to him. + +[18] While this was going on news was brought to Astyages that the +enemy was across the border, and he hastened to the rescue at once, +himself at the head of his own body-guard, and his son with such +troopers as were ready to hand, leaving word for others to follow with +all despatch. But when they were in sight of the Assyrians, and saw +their serried ranks, horse and foot, drawn up in order, compact and +motionless, they came to a halt themselves. [19] Now Cyrus, seeing +that all the rest of the world was off to the rescue, boot and saddle, +must needs ride out too, and so put on his armour for the first time, +and could scarcely believe it was true, he had longed so often and so +ardently to wear it all. And right beautiful it was, and right well it +fitted the lad, the armour that his grandsire had had made for him. So +he put on the whole accoutrement, mounted his charger, and galloped to +the front. And Astyages, though he wondered who had sent the boy, bade +him stay beside him, now that he had come. Cyrus, as he looked at the +horsemen facing them, turned to his grandfather with the question, +"Can those men yonder be our enemies, grandfather, those who are +standing so quietly beside their horses?" "Enemies they are too for +all that," said the king. "And are those enemies too?" the boy asked, +"those who are riding over there?" "Yes, to be sure." "Well, +grandfather, a sorry set they look, and sorry jades they ride to +ravage our lands! It would be well for some of us to charge them!" +"Not yet, my boy," answered his grandfather, "look at the mass of +horsemen there. If we were to charge the others now, these friends of +theirs would charge us, for our full strength is not yet on the +field." "Yes, but," suggested the boy, "if you stay here yourself, +ready to receive our supporters, those fellows will be afraid to stir +either, and the cattle-lifters will drop their booty quick enough, as +soon as they find they are attacked." + +[20] Astyages felt there was much in what the boy said, and thinking +all the while what wonderful sense he showed and how wide-awake he +was, gave orders for his son to take a squadron of horse and charge +the raiders. "If the main body move to attack," he added, "I will +charge myself and give them enough to do here." Accordingly Cyaxares +took a detachment of horse and galloped to the field. Cyrus seeing the +charge, darted forward himself, and swept to the van, leading it with +Cyaxares close at his heels and the rest close behind them. As soon as +the plunderers saw them, they left their booty and took to flight. +[21] The troopers, with Cyrus at their head, dashed in to cut them +off, and some they overtook at once and hewed down then and there; +others slipped past, and then they followed in hot pursuit, and caught +some of them too. And Cyrus was ever in the front, like a young hound, +untrained as yet but bred from a gallant stock, charging a wild-boar +recklessly; forward he swept, without eyes or thought for anything but +the quarry to be captured and the blow to be struck. But when the +Assyrian army saw their friends in trouble they pushed forward, rank +on rank, saying to themselves the pursuit would stop when their own +movement was seen. [22] But Cyrus never slackened his pace a whit: in +a transport of joy he called on his uncle by name as he pressed +forward, hanging hot-foot on the fugitives, while Cyaxares still clung +to his heels, thinking maybe what his father Astyages would say if he +hung back, and the others still followed close behind them, even the +faint-hearted changed into heroes for the nonce. + +Now Astyages, watching their furious onslaught, and seeing the enemy +move steadily forward in close array to meet them, decided to advance +without a moment's delay himself, for fear that his son and Cyrus +might come to harm, crashing in disorder against the solid battalions +of the foe. [23] The Assyrians saw the movement of the king and came +to a halt, spears levelled and bows bent, expecting that, when their +assailants came within range, they would halt likewise as they had +usually done before. For hitherto, whenever the armies met, they would +only charge up to a certain distance, and there take flying shots, and +so keep up the skirmish until evening fell. But now the Assyrians saw +their own men borne down on them in rout, with Cyrus and his comrades +at their heels in full career, while Astyages and his cavalry were +already within bowshot. It was more than they could face, and they +turned and fled. After them swept the Medes in full pursuit, and those +they caught they mowed down, horse and man, and those that fell they +slew. There was no pause until they came up with the Assyrian foot. +[24] Here at last they drew rein in fear of some hidden ambuscade, and +Astyages led his army off. The exploit of his cavalry pleased him +beyond measure, but he did not know what he could say to Cyrus. It was +he to whom the engagement was due, and the victory; but the boy's +daring was on the verge of madness. Even during the return home his +behaviour was strange; he could not forbear riding round alone to look +into the faces of the slain, and those whose duty it was could hardly +drag him away to lead him to Astyages: indeed, the youth was glad +enough to keep them as a screen between himself and the king, for he +saw that the countenance of his grandfather grew stern at the sight of +him. + +[25] So matters passed in Media: and more and more the name of Cyrus +was on the lip of every man, in song and story everywhere, and +Astyages, who had always loved him, was astonished beyond all measure +at the lad. Meanwhile his father, Cambyses, rejoiced to hear such +tidings of his son; but, when he heard that he was already acting like +a man of years, he thought it full time to call him home again that he +might complete his training in the discipline of his fatherland. The +story tells how Cyrus answered the summons, saying he would rather +return home at once so that his father might not be vexed or his +country blame him. And Astyages, too, thought it his plain duty to +send the boy back, but he must needs give him horses to take with him, +as many as he would care to choose, and other gifts beside, not only +for the love he bore him but for the high hopes he had that the boy +would one day prove a man of mark, a blessing to his friends, and a +terror to his foes. And when the time came for Cyrus to go, the whole +world poured out to speed him on his journey--little children and lads +of his own age, and grown men and greybeards on their steeds, and +Astyages the king. And, so says the chronicle, the eyes of none were +dry when they turned home again. [26] Cyrus himself, they tell us, +rode away in tears. He heaped gifts on all his comrades, sharing with +them what Astyages had given to himself; and at last he took off the +splendid Median cloak he wore and gave it to one of them, to tell him, +plainer than words could say, how his heart clung to him above the +rest. And his friends, they say, took the gifts he gave them, but they +brought them all back to Astyages, who sent them to Cyrus again. But +once more Cyrus sent them back to Media with this prayer to his +grandfather:--"If you would have me hold my head up when I come back +to you again, let my friends keep the gifts I gave them." And Astyages +did as the boy asked. + +[27] And here, if a tale of boyish love is not out of place, we might +tell how, when Cyrus was just about to depart and the last good-byes +were being said, each of his kinsmen in the Persian fashion--and to +this day the custom holds in Persia--kissed him on the lips as they +bade him god-speed. Now there was a certain Mede, as beautiful and +brave a man as ever lived, who had been enamoured of Cyrus for many a +long day, and, when he saw the kiss, he stayed behind, and after the +others had withdrawn he went up to Cyrus and said, "Me, and me alone, +of all your kindred, Cyrus, you refuse to recognize?" And Cyrus +answered, "What, are you my kinsman too?" "Yes, assuredly," the other +answered, and the lad rejoined, "Ah, then, that is why you looked at +me so earnestly; and I have seen you look at me like that, I think, +more than once before." "Yes," answered the Mede, "I have often longed +to approach you, but as often, heaven knows, my heart failed me." "But +why should that be," said Cyrus, "seeing you are my kinsman?" And with +the word, he leant forward and kissed him on the lips. [28] Then the +Mede, emboldened by the kiss, took heart and said, "So in Persia it is +really the custom for relatives to kiss?" "Truly yes," answered Cyrus, +"when we see each other after a long absence, or when we part for a +journey." "Then the time has come," said the other, "to give me a +second kiss, for I must leave you now." With that Cyrus kissed him +again and so they parted. But the travellers were not far on their way +when suddenly the Mede came galloping after them, his charger covered +with foam. Cyrus caught sight of him:--"You have forgotten something? +There is something else you wanted to say?" "No," said the Mede, "it +is only such a long, long while since we met." "Such a little, little +while you mean, my kinsman," answered Cyrus. "A little while!" +repeated the other. "How can you say that? Cannot you understand that +the time it takes to wink is a whole eternity if it severs me from the +beauty of your face?" + +Then Cyrus burst out laughing in spite of his own tears, and bade the +unfortunate man take heart of grace and be gone. "I shall soon be back +with you again, and then you can stare at me to your heart's content, +and never wink at all." + +[C.5] Thus Cyrus left his grandfather's court and came home to Persia, +and there, so it is said, he spent one year more as a boy among boys. +At first the lads were disposed to laugh at him, thinking he must have +learnt luxurious ways in Media, but when they saw that he could take +the simple Persian food as happily as themselves, and how, whenever +they made good cheer at a festival, far from asking for any more +himself he was ready to give his own share of the dainties away, when +they saw and felt in this and in other things his inborn nobleness and +superiority to themselves, then the tide turned and once more they +were at his feet. + +And when this part of his training was over, and the time was come for +him to join the younger men, it was the same tale once more. Once more +he outdid all his fellows, alike in the fulfilment of his duty, in the +endurance of hardship, in the reverence he showed to age, and the +obedience he paid to authority. + +[2] Now in the fullness of time Astyages died in Media, and Cyaxares +his son, the brother of Cyrus' mother, took the kingdom in his stead. +By this time the king of Assyria had subdued all the tribes of Syria, +subjugated the king of Arabia, brought the Hyrcanians under his rule, +and was holding the Bactrians in siege. Therefore he came to think +that, if he could but weaken the power of the Medes, it would be easy +for him to extend his empire over all the nations round him, since the +Medes were, without doubt, the strongest of them all. [3] Accordingly +he sent his messengers to every part of his dominions: to Croesus, +king of Lydia, to the king of Cappadocia, to both the Phrygias, to the +Paphlagonians and the Indians, to the Carians and the Cilicians. And +he bade them spread slanders abroad against the Persians and the +Medes, and say moreover that these were great and mighty kingdoms +which had come together and made alliance by marriage with one +another, and unless a man should be beforehand with them and bring +down their power it could not be but that they would fall on each of +their neighbours in turn and subdue them one by one. So the nations +listened to the messengers and made alliance with the king of Assyria: +some were persuaded by what he said and others were won over by gifts +and gold, for the riches of the Assyrian were great. [4] Now Cyaxares, +the son of Astyages, was aware of these plots and preparations, and he +made ready on his side, so far as in him lay, sending word to the +Persian state and to Cambyses the king, who had his sister to wife. +And he sent to Cyrus also, begging him to come with all speed at the +head of any force that might be furnished, if so be the Council of +Persia would give him men-at-arms. For by this time Cyrus had +accomplished his ten years among the youths and was now enrolled with +the grown men. [5] He was right willing to go, and the Council of +Elders appointed him to command the force for Media. They bade him +choose two hundred men among the Peers, each of them to choose four +others from their fellows. Thus was formed a body of a thousand Peers: +and each of the thousand had orders to raise thirty men from the +commons--ten targeteers, ten slingers, and ten archers--and thus three +regiments were levied, 10,000 archers, 10,000 slingers, and 10,000 +targeteers, over and above the thousand Peers. The whole force was to +be put under the command of Cyrus. [6] As soon as he was appointed, +his first act had been to offer sacrifice, and when the omens were +favourable he had chosen his two hundred Peers, and each of them had +chosen their four comrades. Then he called the whole body together, +and for the first time spoke to them as follows:-- + +[7] "My friends, I have chosen you for this work, but this is not the +first time that I have formed my opinion of your worth: from my +boyhood I have watched your zeal for all that our country holds to be +honourable and your abhorrence for all that she counts base. And I +wish to tell you plainly why I accepted this office myself and why I +ask your help. [8] I have long felt sure that our forefathers were in +their time as good men as we. For their lives were one long effort +towards the self-same deeds of valour as are held in honour now; and +still, for all their worth, I fail to see what good they gained either +for the state or for themselves. [9] Yet I cannot bring myself to +believe that there is a single virtue practised among mankind merely +in order that the brave and good should fare no better than the base +ones of the earth. Men do not forego the pleasures of the moment to +say good-bye to all joy for evermore--no, this self-control is a +training, so that we may reap the fruits of a larger joy in the time +to come. A man will toil day and night to make himself an orator, yet +oratory is not the one aim of his existence: his hope is to influence +men by his eloquence and thus achieve some noble end. So too with us, +and those like us, who are drilled in the arts of war: we do not give +our labours in order to fight for ever, endlessly and hopelessly, we +hope that we too one day, when we have proved our mettle, may win and +wear for ourselves and for our city the threefold ornament of wealth, +of happiness, of honour. [10] And if there should be some who have +worked hard all their lives and suddenly old-age, they find, has +stolen on them unawares, and taken away their powers before they have +gathered in the fruit of all their toil, such men seem to me like +those who desire to be thrifty husbandmen, and who sow well and plant +wisely, but when the time of harvest comes let the fruit drop back +ungarnered into the soil whence it sprang. Or as if an athlete should +train himself and reach the heights where victory may be won and at +the last forbear to enter the lists--such an one, I take it, would but +meet his deserts if all men cried out upon him for a fool. [11] Let +not such be our fate, my friends. Our own hearts bear us witness that +we, too, from our boyhood up, have been trained in the school of +beauty and nobleness and honour, and now let us go forward to meet our +foes. They, I know right well, when matched with us, will prove but +novices in war. He is no true warrior, though he be skilled with the +javelin and the bow and ride on horseback with the best, who, when the +call for endurance comes, is found to fail: toil finds him but a +novice. Nor are they warriors who, when they should wake and watch, +give way to slumber: sleep finds them novices. Even endurance will not +avail, if a man has not learnt to deal as a man should by friends and +foes: such an one is unschooled in the highest part of his calling. +[12] But with you it is not so: to you the night will be as the day; +toil, your school has taught you, is the guide to happiness; hunger +has been your daily condiment, and water you take to quench your +thirst as the lion laps the stream. And you have that within your +hearts which is the rarest of all treasures and the most akin to war: +of all sweet sounds the sweetest sound for you is the voice of fame. +You are fair Honour's suitors, and you must needs win your title to +her favour. Therefore you undergo toil and danger gladly. + +[13] "Now if I said all this of you, and my heart were not in my +words, I should but cheat myself. For in so far as you should fail to +fulfil my hopes of you, it is on me that the shame would fall. But I +have faith in you, bred of experience: I trust in your goodwill +towards me, and in our enemy's lack of wit; you will not belie my +hopes. Let us go forth with a light heart; we have no ill-fame to +fear: none can say we covet another man's goods unlawfully. Our enemy +strikes the first blow in an unrighteous cause, and our friends call +us to protect them. What is more lawful than self-defence? What is +nobler than to succour those we love? [14] And you have another ground +of confidence--in opening this campaign I have not been forgetful of +the gods: you have gone in and out with me, and you know how in all +things, great and small, I strive to win their blessing. And now," he +added, "what need of further words? I will leave you now to choose +your own men, and when all is ready you will march into Media at their +head. Meanwhile I will return to my father and start before you, so +that I may learn what I can about the enemy as soon as may be, and +thus make all needful preparations, so that by God's help we may win +glory on the field." + +[C.6] Such were his orders and they set about them at once. But Cyrus +himself went home and prayed to the gods of his father's house, to +Hestia and Zeus, and to all who had watched over his race. And when he +had done so, he set out for the war, and his father went with him on +the road. They were no sooner clear of the city, so says the story, +than they met with favourable omens of thunder and lightning, and +after that they went forward without further divination, for they felt +that no man could mistake the signs from the Ruler of the gods. [2] +And as they went on their way Cyrus' father said to him, "My son, the +gods are gracious to us, and look with favour on your journey--they +have shown it in the sacrifices, and by their signs from heaven. You +do not need another man to tell you so, for I was careful to have you +taught this art, so that you might understand the counsels of the gods +yourself and have no need of an interpreter, seeing with your own eyes +and hearing with your own ears and taking the heavenly meaning for +yourself. Thus you need not be at the mercy of any soothsayers who +might have a mind to deceive you, speaking contrary to the omens +vouchsafed from heaven, nor yet, should you chance to be without a +seer, drift in perplexity and know not how to profit by the heavenly +signs: you yourself through your own learning can understand the +warnings of the gods and follow them." + +[3] "Yes, father," answered Cyrus, "so far as in me lies, I bear your +words in mind, and pray to the gods continually that they may show us +favour and vouchsafe to counsel us. I remember," he went on, "how once +I heard you say that, as with men, so with the gods, it was but +natural if the prayer of him should prevail who did not turn to +flatter them only in time of need, but was mindful of them above all +in the heyday of his happiness. It was thus indeed, you said, that we +ought to deal with our earthly friends." [4] "True, my son," said his +father, "and because of all my teaching, you can now approach the gods +in prayer with a lighter heart and a more confident hope that they +will grant you what you ask, because your conscience bears you witness +that you have never forgotten them." "Even so," said Cyrus, "and in +truth I feel towards them as though they were my friends." [5] "And do +you remember," asked his father, "certain other conclusions on which +we were agreed? How we felt there were certain things that the gods +had permitted us to attain through learning and study and training? +The accomplishment of these is the reward of effort, not of idleness; +in these it is only when we have done all that it is our duty to do +that we are justified in asking for blessings from the gods." [6] "I +remember very well," said Cyrus, "that you used to talk to me in that +way: and indeed I could not but agree with the arguments you gave. You +used to say that a man had no right to pray he might win a cavalry +charge if he had never learnt how to ride, or triumph over master- +bowmen if he could not draw a bow, or bring a ship safe home to +harbour if he did not know how to steer, or be rewarded with a +plenteous harvest if he had not so much as sown grain into the ground, +or come home safe from battle if he took no precautions whatsoever. +All such prayers as these, you said, were contrary to the very +ordinances of heaven, and those who asked for things forbidden could +not be surprised if they failed to win them from the gods. Even as a +petition in the face of law on earth would have no success with men." + +[7] "And do you remember," said his father, "how we thought that it +would be a noble work enough if a man could train himself really and +truly to be beautiful and brave and earn all he needed for his +household and himself? That, we said, was a work of which a man might +well be proud; but if he went further still, if he had the skill and +the science to be the guide and governor of other men, supplying all +their wants and making them all they ought to be, that, it seemed to +us, would be indeed a marvel." [8] "Yes, my father," answered Cyrus, +"I remember it very well. I agreed with you that to rule well and +nobly was the greatest of all works, and I am of the same mind still," +he went on, "whenever I think of government in itself. But when I look +on the world at large, when I see of what poor stuff those men are +made who contrive to uphold their rule and what sort of antagonists we +are likely to find in them, then I can only feel how disgraceful it +would be to cringe before them and not to face them myself and try +conclusions with them on the field. All of them, I perceive," he +added, "beginning with our own friends here, hold to it that the ruler +should only differ from his subjects by the splendour of his banquets, +the wealth of gold in his coffers, the length and depth of his +slumbers, and his freedom from trouble and pain. But my views are +different: I hold that the ruler should be marked out from other men, +not by taking life easily, but by his forethought and his wisdom and +his eagerness for work." [9] "True, my son," the father answered, "but +you know the struggle must in part be waged not against flesh and +blood but against circumstances, and these may not be overcome so +easily. You know, I take it, that if supplies were not forthcoming, +farewell to this government of yours." "Yes," Cyrus answered, "and +that is why Cyaxares is undertaking to provide for all of us who join +him, whatever our numbers are." "So," said the father, "and you really +mean, my son, that you are relying only on these supplies of Cyaxares +for this campaign of yours?" "Yes," answered Cyrus. "And do you know +what they amount to?" "No," he said, "I cannot say that I do." "And +yet," his father went on, "you are prepared to rely on what you do not +know? Do you forget that the needs of the morrow must be high, not to +speak of the outlay for the day?" "Oh, no," said Cyrus, "I am well +aware of that." "Well," said the father, "suppose the cost is more +than Cyaxares can bear, or suppose he actually meant to deceive you, +how would your soldiers fare?" "Ill enough, no doubt," answered he. +"And now tell me, father, while we are still in friendly country, if +you know of any resources that I could make my own?" [10] "You want to +know where you could find resources of your own?" repeated his father. +"And who is to find that out, if not he who holds the keys of power? +We have given you a force of infantry that you would not exchange, I +feel sure, for one that was more than twice its size; and you will +have the cavalry of Media to support you, the finest in the world. I +conceive there are none of the nations round about who will not be +ready to serve you, whether to win your favour or because they fear +disaster. These are matters you must look into carefully, in concert +with Cyaxares, so that nothing should ever fail you of what you need, +and, if only for habit's sake, you should devise some means for +supplying your revenue. Bear this maxim in mind before all others-- +never put off the collecting of supplies until the day of need, make +the season of your abundance provide against the time of dearth. You +will gain better terms from those on whom you must depend if you are +not thought to be in straits, and, what is more, you will be free from +blame in the eyes of your soldiers. That in itself will make you more +respected; wherever you desire to help or to hurt, your troops will +follow you with greater readiness, so long as they have all they need, +and your words, you may be sure, will carry the greater weight the +fuller your display of power for weal or woe." + +[11] "Yes, father," Cyrus said, "I feel all you say is true, and the +more because as things now stand none of my soldiers will thank me for +the pay that is promised them. They are well aware of the terms +Cyaxares has offered for their help: but whatever they get over and +above the covenanted amount they will look upon as a free gift, and +for that they will, in all likelihood, feel most gratitude to the +giver." "True," said the father, "and really for a man to have a force +with which he could serve his friends and take vengeance on his foes, +and yet neglect the supplies for it, would be as disgraceful, would it +not? as for a farmer to hold lands and labourers and yet allow fields +to lie barren for lack of tillage." + +"No such neglect," answered the son, "shall ever be laid at my door. +Through friendly lands or hostile, trust me, in this business of +supplying my troops with all they need I will always play my part." + +[12] "Well, my son," the father resumed, "and do you remember certain +other points which we agreed must never be overlooked?" "Could I +forget them?" answered Cyrus. "I remember how I came to you for money +to pay the teacher who professed to have taught me generalship, and +you gave it me, but you asked me many questions. 'Now, my boy,' you +said, 'did this teacher you want to pay ever mention economy among the +things a general ought to understand? Soldiers, no less than servants +in a house, are dependent on supplies.' And I was forced to tell the +truth and admit that not a syllable had been mentioned on that score. +Then you asked me if anything had been taught about health and +strength, since a true general is bound to think of these matters no +less than of tactics and strategy. And when I was forced to say no, +you asked me if he had taught me any of the arts which give the best +aid in war. Once again I had to say no and then you asked whether he +had ever taught me how to kindle enthusiasm in my men. For in every +undertaking, you said, there was all the difference in the world +between energy and lack of spirit. I shook my head and your +examination went on:--Had this teacher laid no stress on the need for +obedience in an army, or on the best means of securing discipline? +[14] And finally, when it was plain that even this had been utterly +ignored, you exclaimed, 'What in the world, then, does your professor +claim to have taught you under the name of generalship?' To that I +could at last give a positive answer: 'He taught me tactics.' And then +you gave a little laugh and ran through your list point by point:-- +'And pray what will be the use of tactics to an army without supplies, +without health, without discipline, without knowledge of those arts +and inventions that are of use in war?' And so you made it clear to me +that tactics and manœuvres and drill were only a small part of all +that is implied in generalship, and when I asked you if you could +teach me the rest of it you bade me betake myself to those who stood +high in repute as great generals, and talk with them and learn from +their lips how each thing should be done. [15] So I consorted with all +I thought to be of authority in these matters. As regards our present +supplies I was persuaded that what Cyaxares intended to provide was +sufficient, and, as for the health of the troops, I was aware that the +cities where health was valued appointed medical officers, and the +generals who cared for their soldiers took out a medical staff; and so +when I found myself in this office I gave my mind to the matter at +once: and I flatter myself, father," he added, "that I shall have with +me an excellent staff of surgeons and physicians." [16] To which the +father made reply, "Well, my son, but these excellent men are, after +all, much the same as the tailors who patch torn garments. When folk +are ill, your doctors can patch them up, but your own care for their +health ought to go far deeper than that: your prime object should be +to save your men from falling ill at all." "And pray, father," asked +Cyrus, "how can I succeed in that?" "Well," answered Cambyses, "I +presume if you are to stay long in one place you will do your best to +discover a healthy spot for your camp, and if you give your mind to +the matter you can hardly fail to find it. Men, we know, are forever +discussing what places are healthy and what are not, and their own +complexions and the state of their own bodies is the clearest +evidence. But you will not content yourself with choosing a site, you +will remember the care you take yourself for your own health." [17] +"Well," said Cyrus, "my first rule is to avoid over-feeding as most +oppressive to the system, and my next to work off all that enters the +body: that seems the best way to keep health and gain strength." "My +son," Cambyses answered, "these are the principles you must apply to +others." "What!" said Cyrus; "do you think it will be possible for the +soldiers to diet and train themselves?" "Not only possible," said the +father, "but essential. For surely an army, if it is to fulfil its +function at all, must always be engaged in hurting the foe or helping +itself. A single man is hard enough to support in idleness, a +household is harder still, an army hardest of all. There are more +mouths to be filled, less wealth to start with, and greater waste; and +therefore an army should never be unemployed." [18] "If I take your +meaning," answered Cyrus, "you think an idle general as useless as an +idle farmer. And here and now I answer for the working general, and +promise on his behalf that with God's help he will show you that his +troops have all they need and their bodies are all they ought to be. +And I think," he added, "I know a way by which an officer might do +much towards training his men in the various branches of war. Let him +propose competitions of every kind and offer prizes; the standard of +skill will rise, and he will soon have a body of troops ready to his +hand for any service he requires." "Nothing could be better," answered +the father. "Do this, and you may be sure you will watch your +regiments at their manœuvres with as much delight as if they were a +chorus in the dance." + +[19] "And then," continued Cyrus, "to rouse enthusiasm in the men, +there can be nothing, I take it, like the power of kindling hope?" +"True," answered his father, "but that alone would be as though a +huntsman were for ever rousing his pack with the view-halloo. At +first, of course, the hounds will answer eagerly enough, but after +they have been cheated once or twice they will end by refusing the +call even when the quarry is really in sight. And so it is with hope. +Let a man rouse false expectations often enough, and in the end, even +when hope is at the door, he may cry the good news in vain. Rather +ought he to refrain from speaking positively himself when he cannot +know precisely; his agents may step in and do it in his place; but he +should reserve his own appeal for the supreme crises of supreme +danger, and not dissipate his credit." + +"By heaven, a most admirable suggestion!" cried Cyrus, "and one much +more to my mind! [20] As for enforcing obedience, I hope I have had +some training in that already; you began my education yourself when I +was a child by teaching me to obey you, and then you handed me over to +masters who did as you had done, and afterwards, when we were lads, my +fellows and myself, there was nothing on which the governors laid more +stress. Our laws themselves, I think, enforce this double lesson:-- +'Rule thou and be thou ruled.' And when I come to study the secret of +it all, I seem to see that the real incentive to obedience lies in the +praise and honour that it wins against the discredit and the +chastisement which fall on the disobedient." [21] "That, my son," said +the father, "is the road to the obedience of compulsion. But there is +a shorter way to a nobler goal, the obedience of the will. When the +interests of mankind are at stake, they will obey with joy the man +whom they believe to be wiser than themselves. You may prove this on +all sides: you may see how the sick man will beg the doctor to tell +him what he ought to do, how a whole ship's company will listen to the +pilot, how travellers will cling to the one who knows the way better, +as they believe, than they do themselves. But if men think that +obedience will lead them to disaster, then nothing, neither penalties, +nor persuasion, nor gifts, will avail to rouse them. For no man +accepts a bribe to his own destruction." [22] "You would have me +understand," said Cyrus, "that the best way to secure obedience is to +be thought wiser than those we rule?" "Yes," said Cambyses, "that is +my belief." + +"And what is the quickest way," asked Cyrus, "to win that reputation?" + +"None quicker, my lad, than this: wherever you wish to seem wise, be +wise. Examine as many cases as you like, and you will find that what I +say is true. If you wished to be thought a good farmer, a good +horseman, a good physician, a good flute-player, or anything else +whatever, without really being so, just imagine what a world of +devices you would need to invent, merely to keep up the outward show! +And suppose you did get a following to praise you and cry you up, +suppose you did burden yourself with all kinds of paraphernalia for +your profession, what would come of it all? You succeed at first in a +very pretty piece of deception, and then by and by the test comes, and +the impostor stands revealed." + +[23] "But," said Cyrus, "how can a man really and truly attain to the +wisdom that will serve his turn?" + +"Well, my son, it is plain that where learning is the road to wisdom, +learn you must, as you learnt your battalion-drill, but when it comes +to matters which are not to be learnt by mortal men, nor foreseen by +mortal minds, there you can only become wiser than others by +communicating with the gods through the art of divination. But, +always, wherever you know that a thing ought to be done, see that it +is done, and done with care; for care, not carelessness, is the mark +of the wise man." + +[24] "And now," said Cyrus, "to win the affection of those we rule-- +and there is nothing, I take it, of greater importance--surely the +path to follow lies open to all who desire the love of their friends. +We must, I mean, show that we do them good." "Yes, my child, but to do +good really at all seasons to those we wish to help is not always +possible: only one way is ever open, and that is the way of sympathy; +to rejoice with the happy in the day of good things, to share their +sorrow when ill befalls them, to lend a hand in all their +difficulties, to fear disaster for them, and guard against it by +foresight--these, rather than actual benefits, are the true signs of +comradeship. [25] And so in war; if the campaign is in summer the +general must show himself greedy for his share of the sun and the +heat, and in winter for the cold and the frost, and in all labours for +toil and fatigue. This will help to make him beloved of his +followers." "You mean, father," said Cyrus, "that a commander should +always be stouter-hearted in everything than those whom he commands." +"Yes, my son, that is my meaning," said he; "only be well assured of +this: the princely leader and the private soldier may be alike in +body, but their sufferings are not the same: the pains of the leader +are always lightened by the glory that is his and by the very +consciousness that all his acts are done in the public eye." + +[26] "But now, father, suppose the time has come, and you are +satisfied that your troops are well supplied, sound in wind and limb, +well able to endure fatigue, skilled in the arts of war, covetous of +honour, eager to show their mettle, anxious to follow, would you not +think it well to try the chance of battle without delay?" "By all +means," said the father, "if you are likely to gain by the move: but +if not, for my own part, the more I felt persuaded of my own +superiority and the power of my troops, the more I should be inclined +to stand on my guard, just as we put our greatest treasures in the +safest place we have." [27] "But how can a man make sure that he will +gain?" "Ah, there you come," said the father, "to a most weighty +matter. This is no easy task, I can tell you. If your general is to +succeed he must prove himself an arch-plotter, a king of craft, full +of deceits and stratagems, a cheat, a thief, and a robber, defrauding +and overreaching his opponent at every turn." + +"Heavens!" said Cyrus, and burst out laughing, "is this the kind of +man you want your son to be!" "I want him to be," said the father, "as +just and upright and law-abiding as any man who ever lived." [28] "But +how comes it," said his son, "that the lessons you taught us in +boyhood and youth were exactly opposed to what you teach me now?" +"Ah," said the father, "those lessons were for friends and fellow- +citizens, and for them they still hold good, but for your enemies--do +you not remember that you were also taught to do much harm?" + +"No, father," he answered, "I should say certainly not." + +"Then why were you taught to shoot? Or to hurl the javelin? Or to trap +wild-boars? Or to snare stags with cords and caltrops? And why did you +never meet the lion or the bear or the leopard in fair fight on equal +terms, but were always trying to steal some advantage over them? Can +you deny that all that was craft and deceit and fraud and greed?" + +[29] "Why, of course," answered the young man, "in dealing with +animals, but with human beings it was different; if I was ever +suspected of a wish to cheat another, I was punished, I know, with +many stripes." + +"True," said the father, "and for the matter of that we did not permit +you to draw bow or hurl javelin against human beings; we taught you +merely to aim at a mark. But why did we teach you that? Not so that +you might injure your friends, either then or now, but that in war you +might have the skill to make the bodies of living men your targets. So +also we taught you the arts of deceit and craft and greed and +covetousness, not among men it is true, but among beasts; we did not +mean you ever to turn these accomplishments against your friends, but +in war we wished you to be something better than raw recruits." + +[30] "But, father," Cyrus answered, "if to do men good and to do men +harm were both of them things we ought to learn, surely it would have +been better to teach them in actual practice?" + +[31] Then the father said, "My son, we are told that in the days of +our forefathers there was such a teacher once. This man did actually +teach his boys righteousness in the way you suggest, to lie and not to +lie, to cheat and not to cheat, to calumniate and not to calumniate, +to be grasping and not grasping. He drew the distinction between our +duty to friends and our duty to enemies; and he went further still; he +taught men that it was just and right to deceive even a friend for his +own good, or steal his property. [32] And with this he must needs +teach his pupils to practise on one another what he taught them, just +as the people of Hellas, we are told, teach lads in the wrestling- +school to fence and to feint, and train them by their practice with +one another. Now some of his scholars showed such excellent aptitudes +for deception and overreaching, and perhaps no lack of taste for +common money-making, that they did not even spare their friends, but +used their arts on them. [33] And so an unwritten law was framed by +which we still abide, bidding us teach our children as we teach our +servants, simply and solely not to lie, and not to cheat, and not to +covert, and if they did otherwise to punish them, hoping to make them +humane and law-abiding citizens. [34] But when they came to manhood, +as you have come, then, it seemed, the risk was over, and it would be +time to teach them what is lawful against our enemies. For at your age +we do not believe you will break out into savagery against your +fellows with whom you have been knit together since childhood in ties +of friendship and respect. In the same way we do not talk to the young +about the mysteries of love, for if lightness were added to desire, +their passion might sweep them beyond all bounds." + +[35] "Then in heaven's name, father," said Cyrus, "remember that your +son is but a backward scholar and a late learner in this lore of +selfishness, and teach me all you can that may help me to overreach +the foe." + +"Well," said the father, "you must plot and you must plan, whatever +the size of his force and your own, to catch his men in disorder when +yours are all arrayed, unarmed when yours are armed, asleep when yours +are awake, or you must wait till he is visible to you and you +invisible to him, or till he is labouring over heavy ground and you +are in your fortress and can give him welcome there." + +[36] "But how," asked Cyrus, "can I catch him in all these blunders?" + +"Simply because both you and he are bound to be often in some such +case; both of you must take your meals sometime; both of you must +sleep; your men must scatter in the morning to satisfy the needs of +nature, and, for better for worse, whatever the roads are like, you +will be forced to make use of them. All these necessities you must lay +to heart, and wherever you are weaker, there you must be most on your +guard, and wherever your foe is most assailable, there you must press +the attack." + +[37] Then Cyrus asked, "And are these the only cases where one can +apply the great principle of greed, or are there others?" + +"Oh, yes, there are many more; indeed in these simple cases any +general will be sure to keep good watch, knowing how necessary it is. +But your true cheat and prince of swindlers is he who can lure the +enemy on and throw him off his guard, suffer himself to be pursued and +get the pursuers into disorder, lead the foe into difficult ground and +then attack him there. [38] Indeed, as an ardent student, you must not +confine yourself to the lessons you have learnt; you must show +yourself a creator and discoverer, you must invent stratagems against +the foe; just as a real musician is not content with the mere elements +of his art, but sets himself to compose new themes. And if in music it +is the novel melody, the flower-like freshness, that wins popularity, +still more in military matters it is the newest contrivance that +stands the highest, for the simple reason that such will give you the +best chance of outwitting your opponent. [39] And yet, my son, I must +say that if you did no more than apply against human beings the +devices you learnt to use against the smallest game, you would have +made considerable progress in this art of overreaching. Do you not +think so yourself? Why, to snare birds you would get up by night in +the depth of winter and tramp off in the cold; your nets were laid +before the creatures were astir, and your tracks completely covered +and you actually had birds of your own, trained to serve you and decoy +their kith and kin, while you yourself lay in some hiding-place, +seeing yet unseen, and you had learnt by long practice to jerk in the +net before the birds could fly away. [40] Or you might be out after +hares, and for a hare you had two breeds of dogs, one to track her out +by scent, because she feeds in the dusk and takes to her form by day, +and another to cut off her escape and run her down, because she is so +swift. And even if she escaped these, she did not escape you; you had +all her runs by heart and knew all her hiding-places, and there you +would spread your nets, so that they were scarcely to be seen, and the +very haste of her flight would fling her into the snare. And to make +sure of her you had men placed on the spot to keep a look-out, and +pounce on her at once. And there were you at her heels, shouting and +scaring her out of her wits, so that she was caught from sheer terror, +and there lay your men, as you had taught them, silent and motionless +in their ambuscade. [41] I say, therefore, that if you chose to act +like this against human beings, you would soon have no enemies left to +fight, or I am much mistaken. And even if, as well may be, the +necessity should arise for you to do battle on equal terms in open +field, even so, my son, there will still be power in those arts which +you have studied so long and which teach you to out-villain villainy. +And among them I include all that has served to train the bodies and +fire the courage of your men, all that has made them adepts in every +craft of war. One thing you must ever bear in mind: if you wish your +men to follow you, remember that they expect you to plan for them. +[42] Hence you must never know a careless mood; if it be night, you +must consider what your troops shall do when it is day; if day, how +the night had best be spent. [43] For the rest, you do not need me to +tell you now how you should draw up your troops or conduct your march +by day or night, along broad roads or narrow lanes, over hills or +level ground, or how you should encamp and post your pickets, or +advance into battle or retreat before the foe, or march past a hostile +city, or attack a fortress or retire from it, or cross a river or pass +through a defile, or guard against a charge of cavalry or an attack +from lancers or archers, or what you should do if the enemy comes into +sight when you are marching in column and how you are to take up +position against him, or how deploy into action if you are in line and +he takes you in flank or rear, and how you are to learn all you can +about his movements, while keeping your own as secret as may be; these +are matters on which you need no further word of mine; all that I know +about them you have heard a hundred times, and I am sure you have not +neglected any other authority on whom you thought you could rely. You +know all their theories, and you must apply them now, I take it, +according to circumstances and your need. [44] But," he added, "there +is one lesson that I would fain impress on you, and it is the greatest +of them all. Observe the sacrifices and pay heed to the omens; when +they are against you, never risk your army or yourself, for you must +remember that men undertake enterprises on the strength of probability +alone and without any real knowledge as to what will bring them +happiness. [45] You may learn this from all life and all history. How +often have cities allowed themselves to be persuaded into war, and +that by advisers who were thought the wisest of men, and then been +utterly destroyed by those whom they attacked! How often have +statesmen helped to raise a city or a leader to power, and then +suffered the worst at the hands of those whom they exalted! And many +who could have treated others as friends and equals, giving and +receiving kindnesses, have chosen to use them as slaves, and then paid +the penalty at their hands; and many, not content to enjoy their own +share of good, have been swept on by the craving to master all, and +thereby lost everything that they once possessed; and many have won +the very wealth they prayed for and through it have found destruction. +[46] So little does human wisdom know how to choose the best, helpless +as a man who could but draw lots to see what he should do. But the +gods, my son, who live for ever, they know all things, the things that +have been and the things that are and the things that are to be, and +all that shall come from these; and to us mortals who ask their +counsel and whom they love they will show signs, to tell us what we +should do and what we should leave undone. Nor must we think it +strange if the gods will not vouchsafe their wisdom to all men +equally; no compulsion is laid on them to care for men, unless it be +their will." + + + NOTES + +[This work concludes the translation of Xenophon undertaken by Mr. +Dakyns. ("The Works of Xenophon," with maps, introductions, and notes, +Vols. I.-III., Macmillan.) From references in the earlier vols. (e.g. +Vol. I. pp. lvii., lxx., xc., cxiii., cxxxi.; Vol. III. Part I. pp. +v.-vii.) it is plain the translator considered that the historical +romance of the /Cyropaedia/ was written in Xenophon's old age +(completed /circa/ 365 B.C.) embodying many of his own experiences and +his maturest thoughts on education, on government, on the type of man, +--a rare type, alone fitted for leadership. The figure of his hero, +Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian empire, known to him by +story and legend, is modelled on the Spartan king Agesilaus, whom he +loved and admired, and under whom he served in Persia and in Greece +(op. cit. Vol. II., see under /Agesilaus/, Index, and /Hellenica/, +Bks. III.-V. /Agesilaus/, /an Encomium/, passim). Certain traits are +also taken from the younger Cyrus, whom Xenophon followed in his +famous march against his brother, the Persian king, up from the coast +of Asia Minor into the heart of Babylonia (see the /Anabasis/, Bk. I., +especially c. ix.; op. cit. Vol. I. p. 109). Clearly, moreover, many +of the customs and institutions described in the work as Persian are +really Dorian, and were still in vogue among Xenophon's Spartan +friends (vide e.g. /Hellenica/, Bk. IV., i. S28; op. cit. Vol. II. p. +44).] + +C2.4. Qy. Were these tribal customs of the Persians, as doubtless of +the Dorians, or is it all a Dorian idealisation? + +C2.13. Good specimen of the "annotative" style with a parenthetic +comment. The passage in brackets might be a gloss, but is it? + +C3.3. When did Xenophon himself first learn to ride? Surely this is a +boyish reminiscence, full of sympathy with boy-nature. + +C3.12. Beautiful description of a child subject to his parents, +growing in stature and favour with God and man. + +C4.2. Perhaps his own grandson, Xenophon the son of Grylus, is the +prototype, and Xenophon himself a sort of ancient Victor Hugo in this +matter of fondness for children. + +C4.3. Contrast Autolycus in the /Symposium/, who had, however, reached +the more silent age [e.g. /Symp/., c. iii., fin. tr. Works, Vol. III. +Part I. p. 309]. + +C4.4. The touch about the puppy an instance of Xenophon's {katharotes} +[clear simplicity of style]. + +C4.8. Reads like a biographical incident in some hunt of Xenophon, boy +or father. + +C4.9-10. The rapidity, one topic introducing and taken up by another, +wave upon wave, {anerithmon lelasma} ["the multitudinous laughter of +the sea"]. + +C4.12. The truth of this due to sympathy (cf. Archidamus and his +father Agesilaus, /Hell/., V. c. iv.; tr. Works, Vol. II. p. 126). + +C4.22. Cyaxares recalls John Gilpin. + +C4.24. An Hellenic trait; madness of battle-rage, {menis}. Something +of the fierceness of the /Iliad/ here. + +C5.7. Cyrus. His first speech as a general; a fine one; a spirit of +athleticism breathes through it. Cf. /Memorabilia/ for a similar +rationalisation of virtuous self-restraint (e.g. /Mem/., Bk. I. c. 5, +6; Bk. III. c. 8). Paleyan somewhat, perhaps Socratic, not devoid of +common sense. What is the end and aim of our training? Not only for an +earthly aim, but for a high spiritual reward, all this toil. + +C5.10. This is Dakyns. + +C5.11. "Up, Guards, and at 'em!" + +C6. This chapter might have been a separate work appended to the +/Memorabilia/ on Polemics or Archics ["Science of War" and "Science of +Rule"]. + +C6.3-6. Sounds like some Socratic counsel; the righteous man's +conception of prayer and the part he must himself play. + +C6.7. Personal virtue and domestic economy a sufficiently hard task, +let alone that still graver task, the art of grinding masses of men +into virtue. + +C6.8, fin. The false theory of ruling in vogue in Media: the /plus/ of +ease instead of the /plus/ of foresight and danger-loving endurance. +Cf. Walt Whitman. + +C6.30. Is like the logical remark of a disputant in a Socratic +dialogue of the Alcibiades type, and §§ 31-33 a Socratic /mythos/ to +escape from the dilemma; the breakdown of this ideal /plus/ and +/minus/ righteousness due to the hardness of men's hearts and their +feeble intellects. + +C6.31. Who is this ancient teacher or who is his prototype if he is an +ideal being? A sort of Socrates-Lycurgus? Or is Xenophon thinking of +the Spartan Crypteia? + +C6.34. For /pleonexia/ and deceit in war, vide /Hipparch/., c. 5 [tr. +Works, Vol. III. Part II. p. 20]. Interesting and Hellenic, I think, +the mere raising of this sort of question; it might be done nowadays, +perhaps, with advantage /or/ disadvantage, less cant and more plain +brutality. + +C6.39. Hunting devices applied: throws light on the date of the +/Cyropaedia/, after the Scilluntine days, probably. [After Xenophon +was exiled from Athens, his Spartan friends gave him a house and farm +at Scillus, a township in the Peloponnese, not far from Olympia. See +/Sketch of Xenophon's Life/, Works, Vol. I., p. cxxvi.] + +C6.41, init. Colloquial exaggerated turn of phrase; almost "you could +wipe them off the earth." + + + + BOOK II + +[C.1] Thus they talked together, and thus they journeyed on until they +reached the frontier, and there a good omen met them: an eagle swept +into view on the right, and went before them as though to lead the +way, and they prayed the gods and heroes of the land to show them +favour and grant them safe entry, and then they crossed the boundary. +And when they were across, they prayed once more that the gods of +Media might receive them graciously, and when they had done this they +embraced each other, as father and son will, and Cambyses turned back +to his own city, but Cyrus went forward again, to his uncle Cyaxares +in the land of Media. [2] And when his journey was done and he was +face to face with him and they had greeted each other as kinsmen may, +then Cyaxares asked the prince how great an armament he had brought +with him? And Cyrus answered, "I have 30,000 with me, men who have +served with you before as mercenaries; and more are coming on behind, +fresh troops, from the Peers of Persia." + +"How many of those?" asked Cyaxares. [3] And Cyrus answered, "Their +numbers will not please you, but remember these Peers of ours, though +they are few, find it easy to rule the rest of the Persians, who are +many. But now," he added, "have you any need of us at all? Perhaps it +was only a false alarm that troubled you, and the enemy are not +advancing?" + +"Indeed they are," said the other, "and in full force." + +[4] "How do you know?" asked Cyrus. + +"Because," said he, "many deserters come to us, and all of them, in +one fashion or another, tell the same tale." + +"Then we must give battle?" said Cyrus. + +"Needs must," Cyaxares replied. + +"Well," answered Cyrus, "but you have not told me yet how great their +power is, or our own either. I want to hear, if you can tell me, so +that we may make our plans." + +"Listen, then," said Cyaxares. [5] "Croesus the Lydian is coming, we +hear, with 10,000 horse and more than 40,000 archers and targeteers. +Artamas the governor of Greater Phrygia is bringing, they say, 8000 +horse, and lancers and targeteers also, 40,000 strong. Then there is +Aribaius the king of Cappadocia with 6000 horse and 30,000 archers and +targeteers. And Aragdus the Arabian with 10,000 horse, a hundred +chariots, and innumerable slingers. As for the Hellenes who dwell in +Asia, it is not clear as yet whether they will send a following or +not. But the Phrygians from the Hellespont, we are told, are mustering +in the Caystrian plain under Gabaidus, 6000 horse and 40,000 +targeteers. Word has been sent to the Carians, Cilicians, and +Paphlagonians, but it is said they will not rise; the Lord of Assyria +and Babylon will himself, I believe, bring not less than 20,000 horse, +and I make no doubt as many as 200 chariots, and thousands upon +thousands of men on foot; such at least has been his custom whenever +he invaded us before." + +[6] Cyrus answered: "Then you reckon the numbers of the enemy to be, +in all, something like 60,000 horse and 200,000 archers and +targeteers. And what do you take your own to be?" + +"Well," he answered, "we ourselves can furnish over 10,000 horse and +perhaps, considering the state of the country, as many as 60,000 +archers and targeteers. And from our neighbours, the Armenians," he +added, "we look to get 4000 horse and 20,000 foot." + +"I see," said Cyrus, "you reckon our cavalry at less than a third of +the enemy's, and our infantry at less than half." + +[7] "Ah," said Cyaxares, "and perhaps you feel that the force you are +bringing from Persia is very small?" + +"We will consider that later on," answered Cyrus, "and see then if we +require more men or not. Tell me first the methods of fighting that +the different troops adopt." + +"They are much the same for all," answered Cyaxares, "that is to say, +their men and ours alike are armed with bows and javelins." + +"Well," replied Cyrus, "if such arms are used, skirmishing at long +range must be the order of the day." "True," said the other. [8] "And +in that case," went on Cyrus, "the victory is in the hands of the +larger force; for even if the same numbers fall on either side, the +few would be exhausted long before the many." "If that be so," cried +Cyaxares, "there is nothing left for us but to send to Persia, and +make them see that if disaster falls on Media it will fall on Persia +next, and beg them for a larger force." "Ah, but," said Cyrus, "you +must remember that even if every single Persian were to come at once, +we could not outnumber our enemies." [9] "But," said the other, "can +you see anything else to be done?" "For my part," answered Cyrus, "if +I could have my way, I would arm every Persian who is coming here in +precisely the same fashion as our Peers at home, that is to say, with +a corslet for the breast, a shield for the left arm, and a sword or +battle-axe for the right hand. If you will give us these you will make +it quite safe for us to close with the enemy, and our foes will find +that flight is far pleasanter than defence. But we Persians," he +added, "will deal with those who do stand firm, leaving the fugitives +to you and to your cavalry, who must give them no time to rally and no +time to escape." + +[10] That was the counsel of Cyrus, and Cyaxares approved it. He +thought no more of sending for a larger force, but set about preparing +the equipment he had been asked for, and all was in readiness just +about the time when the Peers arrived from Persia at the head of their +own troops. [11] Then, so says the story, Cyrus called the Peers +together and spoke to them as follows: "Men of Persia, my friends and +comrades, when I looked at you first and saw the arms you bore and how +you were all on fire to meet the enemy, hand to hand, and when I +remembered that your squires are only equipped for fighting on the +outskirts of the field, I confess my mind misgave me. Few and forlorn +they will be, I said to myself, swallowed up in a host of enemies; no +good can come of it. But to-day you are here, and your men behind you, +stalwart and stout of limb, and to-morrow they shall have armour like +our own. None could find fault with their thews and sinews, and as for +their spirit, it is for us to see it does not fail. A leader must not +only have a stout heart himself; he must see to it that his followers +are as valiant as he." + +[12] Thus Cyrus spoke, and the Peers were well satisfied at his words, +feeling that on the day of battle they would have more to help them in +the struggle. [13] And one of them said, "Perhaps it will seem strange +if I ask Cyrus to speak in our stead to our fellow-combatants when +they receive their arms, and yet I know well that the words of him who +has the greatest power for weal or woe sink deepest into the +listener's heart. His very gifts, though they should be less than the +gifts of equals, are valued more. These new comrades of ours," he went +on, "would rather be addressed by Cyrus himself than by us, and now +that they are to take their place among the Peers their title will +seem to them far more secure if it is given them by the king's own son +and our general-in-chief. Not that we have not still our own duties +left. We are bound to do our best in every way to rouse the spirit of +our men. Shall we not gain ourselves by all they gain in valour?" + +[14] So it came about that Cyrus had the new armour placed before him +and summoned a general meeting of the Persian soldiery, and spoke to +them as follows: + +[15] "Men of Persia, born and bred in the same land as ourselves, +whose limbs are as stout and as strong as our own, your hearts should +be as brave. I know they are; and yet at home in the land of our +fathers you did not share our rights; not that we drove you out +ourselves, but you were banished by the compulsion that lay upon you +to find your livelihood for yourselves. Now from this day forward, +with heaven's help, it shall be my care to provide it for you; and +now, if so you will, you have it in your power to take the armour that +we wear ourselves, face the same perils and win the same honours, if +so be you make any glorious deed your own. [16] In former days you +were trained, like ourselves, in the use of bow and javelin, and if +you were at all inferior to us in skill, that was not to be wondered +at; you had not the same leisure for practice as we; but now in this +new accoutrement we shall have no pre-eminence at all. Each of us will +wear a corslet fitted to his breast and carry a shield on his left arm +of the type to which we are all accustomed, and in his right hand a +sabre or a battle-axe. With these we shall smite the enemy before us, +and need have no fear that we shall miss the mark. [17] How can we +differ from one another with these arms? There can be no difference +except in daring. And daring you may foster in your hearts as much as +we in ours. What greater right have we than you to love victory and +follow after her, victory who wins for us and preserves to us all +things that are beautiful and good? Why should you, any more than we, +be found lacking in that power which takes the goods of weaklings and +bestows them on the strong?" + +[18] He ended: "Now you have heard all. There lie your weapons; let +him who chooses take them up and write his name with the brigadier in +the same roll as ours. And if a man prefers to remain a mercenary, let +him do so; he carries the arms of a servant." + +[19] Thus spoke Cyrus; and the Persians, every man of them, felt they +would be ashamed for the rest of their days, and deservedly, if they +drew back now, when they were offered equal honour in return for equal +toil. One and all they inscribed their names and took up the new arms. + +[20] And now in the interval, before the enemy were actually at hand, +but while rumour said they were advancing, Cyrus took on himself a +three-fold task: to bring the physical strength of his men to the +highest pitch, to teach them tactics, and to rouse their spirit for +martial deeds. [21] He asked Cyaxares for a body of assistants whose +duty it should be to provide each of his soldiers with all they could +possibly need, thus leaving the men themselves free for the art of +war. He had learnt, he thought, that success, in whatever sphere, was +only to be won by refusing to attempt a multitude of tasks and +concentrating the mind on one. + +Thus in the military training itself he gave up the practice with bow +and javelin, leaving his men to perfect themselves in the use of +sabre, shield, and corslet, accustoming them from the very first to +the thought that they must close with the enemy, or confess themselves +worthless as fellow-combatants; a harsh conclusion for those who knew +that they were only protected in order to fight on behalf of their +protectors. [22] And further, being convinced that wherever the +feeling of emulation can be roused, there the eagerness to excel is +greatest, he instituted competitions for everything in which he +thought his soldiers should be trained. The private soldier was +challenged to prove himself prompt to obey, anxious to work, eager for +danger, and yet ever mindful of discipline, an expert in the science +of war, an artist in the conduct of his arms, and a lover of honour in +all things. The petty officer commanding a squad of five was not only +to equal the leading private, he must also do what he could to bring +his men to the same perfection; the captain of ten must do the same +for his ten, and the company's captain for the company, while the +commander of the whole regiment, himself above reproach, must take the +utmost care with the officers under him so that they in their turn +should see that their subordinates were perfect in all their duties. +[23] For prizes, Cyrus announced that the brigadier in command of the +finest regiment should be raised to the rank of general, the captain +of the finest company should be made a brigadier, the captain of the +finest squad of ten captain of a company, and the captain of the best +five a captain of ten, while the best soldiers from the ranks should +become captains of five themselves. Every one of these officers had +the privilege of being served by those beneath him, and various other +honours also, suited to their several grades, while ampler hopes were +offered for any nobler exploits. [24] Finally prizes were announced to +be won by a regiment or a company or a squad taken as a whole, by +those who proved themselves most loyal to their leaders and most +zealous in the practice of their duty. These prizes, of course, were +such as to be suitable for men taken in the mass. + +Such were the orders of the Persian leader, and such the exercises of +the Persian troops. [25] For their quarters, he arranged that a +separate shelter should be assigned to every brigadier, and that it +should be large enough for the whole regiment he commanded; a regiment +consisting of 100 men. Thus they were encamped by regiments, and in +the mere fact of common quarters there was this advantage, Cyrus +thought, for the coming struggle, that the men saw they were all +treated alike, and therefore no one could pretend that he was +slighted, and no one sink to the confession that he was a worse man +than his neighbours when it came to facing the foe. Moreover the life +in common would help the men to know each other, and it is only by +such knowledge, as a rule, that a common conscience is engendered; +those who live apart, unknowing and unknown, seem far more apt for +mischief, like those who skulk in the dark. [26] Cyrus thought the +common life would lead to the happiest results in the discipline of +the regiments. By this system all the officers--brigadiers, company- +captains, captains of the squads--could keep their men in as perfect +order as if they were marching before them in single file. [27] Such +precision in the ranks would do most to guard against disorder and +re-establish order if ever it were broken; just as when timbers and +stones have to be fitted together it is easy enough to put them into +place, wherever they chance to lie, provided only that they are marked +so as to leave no doubt where each belongs. [28] And finally, he felt, +there was the fact that those who live together are the less likely to +desert one another; even the wild animals, Cyrus knew, who are reared +together suffer terribly from loneliness when they are severed from +each other. + +[29] There was a further matter, to which he gave much care; he wished +no man to take his meal at morning or at night till he had sweated for +it. He would lead the men out to hunt, or invent games for them, or if +there was work to be done, he would so conduct it that they did not +leave it without sweat. He believed this regimen gave them zest for +their food, was good for their health, and increased their powers of +toil; and the toil itself was a blessed means for making the men more +gentle towards each other; just as horses that work together grow +gentle, and will stand quietly side by side. Moreover the knowledge of +having gone through a common training would increase tenfold the +courage with which they met the foe. + +[30] Cyrus had his own quarters built to hold all the guests he might +think it well to entertain, and, as a rule, he would invite such of +the brigadiers as the occasion seemed to call for, but sometimes he +would send for the company-captains and the officers in command of the +smaller squads, and even the private soldiers were summoned to his +board, and from time to time a squad of five, or of ten, or an entire +company, or even a whole regiment, or he would give a special +invitation by way of honour to any one whom he knew had undertaken +some work he had at heart himself. In every case there was no +distinction whatever between the meats for himself and for his guests. +[31] Further he always insisted that the army servants should share +and share alike with the soldiers in everything, for he held that +those who did such service for the army were as much to be honoured as +heralds or ambassadors. They were bound, he said, to be loyal and +intelligent, alive to all a soldier's needs, active, swift, +unhesitating, and withal cool and imperturbable. Nor was that all; he +was convinced that they ought also to possess those qualities which +are thought to be peculiar to what we call "the better classes," and +yet never despise their work, but feel that everything their commander +laid upon them must be fit for them to do. + +[C.2] It was the constant aim of Cyrus whenever he and his soldiers +messed together, that the talk should be lively and full of grace, and +at the same time do the listeners good. Thus one day he brought the +conversation round to the following theme:-- + +"Do you think, gentlemen," said he, "that our new comrades appear +somewhat deficient in certain respects simply because they have not +been educated in the same fashion as ourselves? Or will they show +themselves our equals in daily life and on the field of battle when +the time comes to meet the foe?" + +[2] Hystaspas took up the challenge:--"What sort of warriors they will +prove I do not pretend to know, but this I do say, in private life +some of them are cross-grained fellows enough. Only the other day," he +went on, "Cyaxares sent a present of sacrificial meat to every +regiment. There was flesh enough for three courses apiece or more, and +the attendant had handed round the first, beginning with myself. So +when he came in again, I told him to begin at the other end of the +board, and serve the company in that order. [3] But I was greeted by a +yell from the centre: one of these men who was sitting there bawled +out, 'Equality indeed! There's not much of it here, if we who sit in +the middle are never served first at all!' It nettled me that they +should fancy themselves treated worse than we, so I called him up at +once and made him sit beside me. And I am bound to say he obeyed that +order with the most exemplary alacrity. But when the dish came round +to us, we found, not unnaturally, since we were the last to be served, +that only a few scraps were left. At this my man fell into the deepest +dudgeon, and made no attempt to conceal it, muttering to himself, +'Just like my ill-luck! To be invited here just now and never before!' +[4] I tried to comfort him. 'Never mind,' I said, 'presently the +servant will begin again with us, and then you will help yourself +first and you can take the biggest piece.' Just then the third course, +and, as it proved, the last, came round, and so the poor fellow took +his helping, but as he did so it struck him that the piece he had +chosen first was too small, and he put it back, meaning to pick out +another. But the carver, thinking he had changed his mind and did not +want any more, passed on to the next man before he had time to secure +his second slice. [5] At this our friend took his loss so hard that he +only made matters worse: his third course was clean gone, and now in +his rage and his bad luck he somehow managed to overset the gravy, +which was all that remained to him. The captain next to us seeing how +matters stood rubbed his hands with glee and went into peals of +laughter. And," said Hystaspas, "I took refuge in a fit of coughing +myself, for really I could not have controlled my laughter. There, +Cyrus," said he, "that is a specimen of our new comrades, as nearly as +I can draw his portrait." + +[6] The description, as may be guessed, was greeted with shouts of +laughter, and then another brigadier took up the word: "Well, Cyrus," +said he, "our friend here has certainly met with an absolute boor: my +own experience is somewhat different. You remember the admonitions you +gave us when you dismissed the regiments, and how you bade each of us +instruct his own men in the lessons we had learnt from you. Well, I, +like the rest of us, went off at once and set about instructing one of +the companies under me. I posted the captain in front with a fine +young fellow behind him, and after them the others in the order I +thought best; I took my stand facing them all, and waited, with my +eyes fixed on the captain, until I thought the right moment had come, +and then I gave the order to advance. [7] And what must my fine fellow +do but get in front of the captain and march off ahead of the whole +troop. I cried out, 'You, sir, what are you doing?' 'Advancing as you +ordered.' 'I never ordered you to advance alone,' I retorted, 'the +order was given to the whole company.' At which he turned right round +and addressed the ranks: 'Don't you hear the officer abusing you? The +orders are for all to advance!' Whereupon the rest of them marched +right past their captain and up to me. [8] Of course the captain +called them back, and they began to grumble and growl: 'Which of the +two are we to obey? One tells us to advance, the other won't let us +move.' + +"Well, I had to take the whole matter very quietly and begin again +from the beginning, posting the company as they were, and explaining +that no one in the rear was to move until the front rank man led off: +all they had to do was to follow the man in front. [9] As I was +speaking, up came a friend of mine; he was going off to Persia, and +had come to ask me for a letter I had written home. So I turned to the +captain who happened to know where I had left the letter lying, and +bade him fetch it for me. Off he ran, and off ran my young fellow at +his heels, breast-plate, battle-axe, and all. The rest of the company +thought they were bound to follow suit, joined in the race, and +brought my letter back in style. That is how my company, you see, +carries out your instructions to the full." + +[10] He paused, and the listeners laughed to their hearts' content, as +well as they might, over the triumphant entry of the letter under its +armed escort. Then Cyrus spoke: + +"Now heaven be praised! A fine set they are, these new friends of +ours, a most rare race! So grateful are they for any little act of +courtesy, you may win a hundred hearts by a dish of meat! And so +docile, some of them must needs obey an order before they have +understood it! For my part I can only pray to be blest with an army +like them all." + +[11] Thus he joined in the mirth, but he turned the laughter to the +praise of his new recruits. + +Then one of the company, a brigadier called Aglaïtadas, a somewhat +sour-tempered man, turned to him and said: + +"Cyrus, do you really think the tales they tell are true?" + +"Certainly," he answered, "why should they say what is false?" + +"Why," repeated the other, "simply to raise a laugh, and make a brag +like the impostors that they are." [12] But Cyrus cut him short, +"Hush! hush! You must not use such ugly names. Let me tell you what an +impostor is. He is a man who claims to be wealthier or braver than he +is in fact, and who undertakes what he can never carry out, and all +this for the sake of gain. But he who contrives mirth for his friends, +not for his own profit, or his hearers' loss, or to injure any man, +surely, if we must needs give him a name, we ought to call him a man +of taste and breeding and a messenger of wit." + +[13] Such was the defence of Cyrus in behalf of the merrymakers. And +the officer who had begun the jest turned to Aglaïtadas and said: + +"Just think, my dear sir, if we had tried to make you weep! What fault +you would have found with us! Suppose we had been like the ballad- +singers and story-tellers who put in lamentable tales in the hope of +reducing their audience to tears! What would you have said about us +then? Why, even now, when you know we only wish to amuse you, not to +make you suffer, you must needs hold us up to shame." + +[14] "And is not the shame justified?" Aglaïtadas replied. "The man +who sets himself to make his fellows laugh does far less for them than +he who makes them weep. If you will but think, you will admit that +what I say is true. It is through tears our fathers teach self-control +unto their sons, and our tutors sound learning to their scholars, and +the laws themselves lead the grown man to righteousness by putting him +to sit in the place of penitence. But your mirth-makers, can you say +they benefit the body or edify the soul? Can smiles make a man a +better master or a better citizen? Can he learn economy or +statesmanship from a grin?" + +[15] But Hystaspas answered back: + +"Take my advice, Aglaïtadas, pluck up heart and spend this precious +gift of yours on your enemies: make them sit in the seat of the +sorrowful, and fling away on us, your friends, that vile and worthless +laughter. You must have an ample store of it in reserve: it cannot be +said you have squandered it on yourself, or ever wasted a smile on +friend or foreigner if you could help it. So you have no excuse to be +niggardly now, and cannot refuse us a smile." + +"I see," said Aglaïtadas, "you are trying to get a laugh out of me, +are you not?" + +But the brigadier interposed, "Then he is a fool for his pains, my +friend: one might strike fire out of you, perhaps, but not a laugh, +not a laugh." + +[16] At this sally all the others shouted with glee, and even +Aglaïtadas could not help himself: he smiled. + +And Cyrus, seeing the sombre face light up said: + +"Brigadier, you are very wrong to corrupt so virtuous a man, luring +him to laughter, and that too when he is the sworn foe of gaiety." + +So they talked and jested. [17] And then Chrysantas began on another +theme. + +[18] "Cyrus," he said, "and gentlemen all, I cannot help seeing that +within our ranks are men of every kind, some better and some worse, +and yet if anything is won every man will claim an equal share. Now to +my mind nothing is more unfair than that the base man and the good +should be held of equal account." + +"Perhaps it would be best, gentlemen," said Cyrus in answer, "to bring +the matter before the army in council and put it to them, whether, if +God grant us success, we should let all share and share alike, or +distribute the rewards and honours in proportion to the deserts of +each." + +[19] "But why," asked Chrysantas, "why discuss the point? Why not +simply issue a general order that you intend to do this? Was not that +enough in the case of the competitions?" + +"Doubtless," Cyrus answered, "but this case is different. The troops, +I take it, will feel that all they win by their services on the +campaign should belong to them in common: but they hold that the +actual command of the expedition was mine by right even before we left +home, so that I was fully entitled, on their view, to appoint umpires +and judges at my own will." + +[20] "And do you really expect," asked Chrysantas, "that the mass of +the army will pass a resolution giving up the right of all to an equal +share in order that the best men should receive the most?" + +"Yes, I do," said Cyrus, "partly because we shall be there to argue +for that course, but chiefly because it would seem too base to deny +that he who works the hardest and does most for the common good +deserves the highest recompense. Even the worst of men must admit that +the brave should gain the most." + +[21] It was, however, as much for the sake of the Peers themselves as +for any other reason that Cyrus wished the resolution to be passed. +They would prove all the better men, he thought, if they too were to +be judged by their deeds and rewarded accordingly. And this was the +right moment, he felt, to raise the question and put it to the vote, +now when the Peers were disposed to resent being put on a level with +the common people. In the end it was agreed by all the company that +the question should be raised, and that every one who claimed to call +himself a man was bound to argue in its favour. + +[22] And on that one of the brigadiers smiled to himself and said: "I +know at least one son of the soil who will be ready to agree that the +principle of share and share alike should not be followed everywhere." + +"And who is he?" another asked. + +"Well," said the first, "he is a member of our quarters, I can tell +you that, and he is always hunting after the lion's share of every +single thing." + +"What? Of everything?" said a third. "Of work as well?" "Oh, no!" said +the first, "you have caught me there. I was wrong to say so much, I +must confess. When it comes to work, I must admit, he is quite ready +to go short: he will give up his own share of that, without a murmur, +to any man whatever." + +[23] "For my part, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "I hold that all such +idlers ought to be turned out of the army, that is, if we are ever to +cultivate obedience and energy in our men. The bulk of our soldiers, I +take it, are of the type to follow a given lead: they will seek after +nobleness and valour if their leaders are valiant and noble, but after +baseness if these are base. [24] And we know that only too often the +worthless will find more friends than the good. Vice, passing lightly +along her path of pleasure, wins the hearts of thousands with her +gifts; but Virtue, toiling up the steep ascent, has little skill to +snare the souls of men and draw them after her, when all the while +their comrades are calling to them on the easy downward way. [25] It +is true there are degrees, and where the evil springs only from sloth +and lethargy, I look on the creatures as mere drones, only injuring +the hive by what they cost: but there are others, backward in toil and +forward in greed, and these are the captains in villainy: for not +seldom can they show that rascality has its advantages. Such as they +must be removed, cut out from among us, root and branch. [26] And I +would not have you fill their places from our fellow-citizens alone, +but, just as you choose your horses from the best stocks, wherever you +find them, not limiting yourselves to the national breed, so you have +all mankind before you, and you should choose those, and those only, +who will increase your power and add to your honour. Let me clinch my +argument by examples: no chariot can travel fast if the horses in the +team are slow, or run straight if they will not be ruled; no house can +stand firm if the household is evil: better empty walls than traitors +who will bring it to the ground. + +[27] "And be sure, my friends," he added, "the removal of the bad +means a benefit beyond the sheer relief that they are taken away and +will trouble us no more: those who are left and were ripe for +contagion are purified, and those who were worthy will cleave to +virtue all the closer when they see the dishonour that falls on +wickedness." + +[28] So Cyrus spoke, and his words won the praise of all his friends, +and they set themselves to do as he advised. + +But after that Cyrus began to jest again. His eye fell on a certain +captain who had chosen for his comrade at the feast a great hairy lad, +a veritable monster of ugliness, and Cyrus called to the captain by +name: "How now, Sambulas? Have you adopted the Hellenic fashion too? +And will you roam the world together, you and the lad who sits beside +you, because there is none so fair as he?" "By heaven," answered +Sambulas, "you are not far wrong. It is bliss to me to feast my eyes +upon him." [29] At that all the guests turned and looked on the young +man's face, but when they saw how ugly it was, they could not help +laughing outright. "Heavens, Sambulas, tell us the valiant deed that +knit your souls together! How has he drawn you to himself?" [30] +"Listen then," he answered, "and I will tell you the whole truth. +Every time I call him, morning, noon, or night, he comes to me; never +yet has he excused himself, never been too busy to attend; and he +comes at a run, he does not walk. Whatever I have bidden him do, he +has always done it, and at the top of his speed. He has made all the +petty captains under him the very models of industry; he shows them, +not by word but deed, what they ought to be." [31] "And so," said +another, "for all these virtues you give him, I take it, the kiss of +kinship?" But the ugly lad broke out: "Not he! He has no great love +for work. And to kiss me, if it came to that, would mean more effort +than all his exercises." + +[C.3] So the hours passed in the general's tent, from grave to gay, +until at last the third libation was poured out, and the company bent +in prayer to the gods--"Grant us all that is good"--and so broke up, +and went away to sleep. + +But the next day Cyrus assembled the soldiers in full conclave, and +spoke to them: [2] "My men," he said, "my friends, the day of struggle +is at hand, and the enemy are near. The prizes of victory, if victory +is to be ours--and we must believe it will be ours, we must make it +ours--the prizes of victory will be nothing short of the enemy himself +and all that he possesses. And if the victory should be his, then, in +like manner, all the goods of the vanquished must lie at the victor's +feet. [3] Therefore I would have you take this to your hearts: +wherever those who have joined together for war remember that unless +each and every one of them play his part with zeal nothing good can +follow; there we may look for glorious success. For there nothing that +ought to be done will be left undone. But if each man thinks 'My +neighbour will toil and fight, even though my own heart should fail +and my own arm fall slack,' then, believe me, disaster is at the door +for each and all alike, and no man shall escape. [4] Such is the +ordinance of God: those who will not work out their own salvation he +gives into the hands of other men to bear rule over them. And now I +call on any man here," he added, "to stand up and say whether he +believes that virtue will best be nourished among us if he who bears +the greatest toil and takes the heaviest risk shall receive the +highest honours. Or whether we should hold that cowardice makes no +difference in the end, seeing that we all must share alike?" + +[5] Thereupon Chrysantas of the Peers rose up. He was a man of +understanding, but his bodily presence was weak. And now he spoke +thus: + +"I do not imagine, Cyrus, that you put this question with any belief +that cowards ought really to receive the same share as the brave. No, +you wished to make trial of us and see whether any man would dare to +claim an equal part in all that his fellows win by their nobleness, +though he never struck a single valiant stroke himself. [6] I myself," +he continued, "am neither fleet of foot nor stout of limb, and for +aught I can do with my body, I perceive that on the day of trial +neither the first place nor the second can be mine, no, nor yet the +hundredth, nor even, it may be, the thousandth. But this I know right +well, that if our mighty men put forth all their strength, I too shall +receive such portion of our blessings as I may deserve. But if the +cowards sit at ease and the good and brave are out of heart, then I +fear that I shall get a portion, a larger than I care to think, of +something that is no blessing but a curse." + +[7] And so spoke Chrysantas, and then Pheraulas stood up. He was a man +of the people, but well known to Cyrus in the old days at home and +well-beloved by him: no mean figure to look at, and in soul like a man +of noble birth. Now he spoke as follows: + +[8] "Cyrus, friends, and Persians, I hold to the belief that on this +day we all start equal in that race where valour is the goal. I speak +of what I see: we are trained on the same fare; we are held worthy of +the same comradeship; we contend for the same rewards. All of us alike +are told to obey our leaders, and he who obeys most frankly never +fails to meet with honour at the hands of Cyrus. Valour is no longer +the privilege of one class alone: it has become the fairest prize that +can fall to the lot of any man. [9] And to-day a battle is before us +where no man need teach us how to fight: we have the trick of it by +nature, as a bull knows how to use his horns, or a horse his hoofs, or +a dog his teeth, or a wild boar his tusks. The animals know well +enough," he added, "when and where to guard themselves: they need no +master to tell them that. [10] I myself, when I was a little lad, I +knew by instinct how to shield myself from the blow I saw descending: +if I had nothing else, I had my two fists, and used them with all my +force against my foe: no one taught me how to do it, on the contrary +they beat me if they saw me clench my fists. And a knife, I remember, +I never could resist: I clutched the thing whenever I caught sight of +it: not a soul showed me how to hold it, only nature herself, I do +aver. I did it, not because I was taught to do it, but in spite of +being forbidden, like many another thing to which nature drove me, in +spite of my father and mother both. Yes, and I was never tired of +hacking and hewing with my knife whenever I got the chance: it did not +seem merely natural, like walking or running, it was positive joy. +[11] Well, to-day we are to fight in this same simple fashion: energy, +rather than skill, is called for, and glorious it will be to match +ourselves against our friends, the Peers of Persia. And let us +remember that the same prizes are offered to us all, but the stakes +differ: our friends give up a life of honour, the sweetest life there +can be, but we escape from years of toil and ignominy, and there can +be no life worse than that. [12] And what fires me most of all, my +friends, and sends me into the lists most gladly, is the thought that +Cyrus will be our judge: one who will give no partial verdict. I call +the gods to witness when I say that he loves a valiant man as he loves +his own soul: I have seen him give such an one more than he ever keeps +for himself. [13] And now," he added, "I know that our friends here +pride themselves upon their breeding and what it has done for them. +They have been brought up to endure hunger and thirst, cold and +nakedness, and yet they are aware that we too have been trained in the +self-same school and by a better master than they: we were taught by +Necessity, and there is no teacher so good, and none so strict. [14] +How did our friends here learn their endurance? By bearing arms, +weapons of war, tools that the wit of the whole human race has made as +light as well could be: but Necessity drove us, my fellows and myself, +to stagger under burdens so heavy that to-day, if I may speak for +myself, these weapons of mine seem rather wings to lift me than +weights to bear. [15] I for one am ready, Cyrus, to enter the lists, +and, however I prove, I will ask from you no more than I deserve: I +would have you believe this. And you," he added, turning to his +fellows, "you, men of the people, I would have you plunge into the +battle and match yourselves with these gentlemen-warriors: the fine +fellows must meet us now, for this is the people's day." + +[16] That is what Pheraulas said, and many rose to follow him and +support his views. And it was resolved that each man should be +honoured according to his deserts and that Cyrus should be the judge. +So the matter ended, and all was well. + +[17] Now Cyrus gave a banquet and a certain brigadier was the chief +guest, and his regiment with him. Cyrus had marked the officer one day +when he was drilling his men; he had drawn up the ranks in two +divisions, opposite each other, ready for the charge. They were all +wearing corslets and carrying light shields, but half were equipped +with stout staves of fennel, and half were ordered to snatch up clods +of earth and do what they could with these. [18] When all were ready, +the officer gave the signal and the artillery began, not without +effect: the missiles fell fast on shields and corslets, on thighs and +greaves. But when they came to close quarters the men of the staves +had their turn: they struck at thighs and hands and legs, or, if the +adversary stooped and twisted, they belaboured back and shoulders, +till they put the foe to utter rout, delivering their blows with +shouts of laughter and the glee of boys. Then there was an exchange of +weapons, and the other side had their revenge: they took the staves in +their turn, and once more the staff triumphed over the clod. [19] +Cyrus was full of admiration, partly at the inventiveness of the +commander, partly at the discipline of the men; it was good to see the +active exercise, and the gaiety of heart, and good to know that the +upshot of the battle favoured those who fought in the Persian style. +In every way he was pleased, and then and there he bade them all to +dinner. But at the feast many of the guests wore bandages, some on +their hands, others on their legs, and Cyrus saw it and asked what had +befallen them. They told him they had been bruised by the clods. [20] +"At close quarters?" said he, "or at long range?" "At long range," +they answered, and all the club-bearers agreed that when it came to +close quarters, they had the finest sport. But here those who had been +carbonaded by that weapon broke in and protested loudly that it was +anything but sport to be clubbed at short range, and in proof thereof +they showed the weals on hand and neck and face. Thus they laughed at +one another as soldiers will; and on the next day the whole plain was +studded with combats of this type, and whenever the army had nothing +more serious in hand, this sport was their delight. + +[21] Another day Cyrus noticed a brigadier who was marching his +regiment up from the river back to their quarters. They were advancing +in single file on his left, and at the proper moment he ordered the +second company to wheel round and draw up to the front alongside the +first, and then the third, and then the fourth; and when the company- +captains were all abreast, he passed the word along, "Companies in +twos," and the captains-of-ten came into line; and then at the right +moment he gave the order, "Companies in fours," and the captains of +five wheeled round and came abreast, and when they reached the tent +doors he called a halt, made them fall into single file once more, and +marched the first company in first, and then the second at its heels, +and the third and fourth behind them, and as he introduced them, he +seated them at the table, keeping the order of their entry. What Cyrus +commended was the quiet method of instruction and the care the officer +showed, and it was for that he invited him and all his regiment to +dinner in the royal tent. + +[22] Now it chanced that another brigadier was among the guests, and +he spoke up and said to Cyrus: "But will you never ask my men to +dinner too? Day after day, morning and evening, whenever we come in +for a meal we do just the same as they, and when the meal is over the +hindmost man of the last company leads out his men with their +fighting-order reversed, and the next company follows, led by their +hindmost man, and then the third, and then the fourth: so that all of +them, if they have to retire before an enemy, will know how to fall +back in good order. And as soon as we are drawn up on the parade- +ground we set off marching east, and I lead off with all my divisions +behind me, in their regular order, waiting for my word. By-and-by we +march west, and then the hindmost man of the last division leads the +way, but they must still look to me for commands, though I am marching +last: and thus they learn to obey with equal promptitude whether I am +at the head or in the rear." + +[23] "Do you mean to tell me," said Cyrus, "that this is a regular +rule of yours?" + +"Truly yes," he answered, "as regular as our meals, heaven help us!" + +"Then I hereby invite you all to dinner, and for three good reasons; +you practice your drill in both forms, you do this morning and evening +both, and by your marching and counter-marching you train your bodies +and benefit your souls. And since you do it all twice over every day, +it is only fair to give you dinner twice." + +[24] "Not twice in one day, I beg you!" said the officer, "unless you +can furnish us with a second stomach apiece." + +And so the conversation ended for the time. But the next day Cyrus was +as good as his word. He had all the regiment to dinner; and the day +after he invited them again: and when the other regiments knew of it +they fell to doing as they did. + +[C.4] Now it chanced one day as Cyrus was holding a review, a +messenger came from Cyaxares to tell him that an embassy from India +had just arrived, and to bid him return with all despatch. + +"And I bring with me," said the messenger, "a suit of splendid apparel +sent from Cyaxares himself: my lord wishes you to appear in all +possible splendour, for the Indians will be there to see you." + +[2] At that Cyrus commanded the brigadier of the first regiment to +draw up to the front with his men behind him on the left in single +file, and to pass the order on to the second, and so throughout the +army. Officers and men were quick to obey; so that in a trice the +whole force on the field was drawn up, one hundred deep and three +hundred abreast, with their officers at the head. [3] When they were +in position Cyrus bade them follow his lead and off they went at a +good round pace. However the road leading to the royal quarters was +too narrow to let them pass with so wide a front and Cyrus sent word +along the line that the first detachment, one thousand strong, should +follow as they were, and then the second, and so on to the last, and +as he gave the command he led on without a pause and all the +detachments followed in due order, one behind the other. [4] But to +prevent mistakes he sent two gallopers up to the entrance with orders +to explain what should be done in case the men were at a loss. And +when they reached the gates, Cyrus told the leading brigadier to draw +up his regiment round the palace, twelve deep, the front rank facing +the building, and this command he was to pass on to the second, and +the second to the third, and so on till the last. [5] And while they +saw to this he went in to Cyaxares himself, wearing his simple Persian +dress without a trace of pomp. Cyaxares was well pleased at his +celerity, but troubled by the plainness of his attire, and said to +him, "What is the meaning of this, Cyrus? How could you show yourself +in this guise to the Indians? I wished you to appear in splendour: it +would have done me honour for my sister's son to be seen in great +magnificence." + +[6] But Cyrus made answer: "Should I have done you more honour if I +had put on a purple robe, and bracelets for my arms, and a necklace +about my neck, and so presented myself at your call after long delay? +Or as now, when to show you respect I obey you with this despatch and +bring you so large and fine a force, although I wear no ornament but +the dust and sweat of speed, and make no display unless it be to show +you these men who are as obedient to you as I am myself." Such were +the words of Cyrus, and Cyaxares felt that they were just, and so sent +for the Indian ambassadors forthwith. [7] And when they entered they +gave this message:--The king of the Indians bade them ask what was the +cause of strife between the Assyrians and the Medes, "And when we have +heard you," they said, "our king bids us betake ourselves to the +Assyrian and put the same question to him, and in the end we are to +tell you both that the king of the Indians, when he has enquired into +the justice of the case, will uphold the cause of him who has been +wronged." + +[8] To this Cyaxares replied: + +"Then take from me this answer: we do the Assyrian no wrong nor any +injustice whatsoever. And now go and make inquiry of him, if you are +so minded, and see what answer he will give." + +Then Cyrus, who was standing by, asked Cyaxares, "May I too say what +is in my mind?" "Say on," answered Cyaxares. Then Cyrus turned to the +ambassadors: "Tell your master," he said, "unless Cyaxares is +otherwise minded, that we are ready to do this: if the Assyrian lays +any injustice to our charge we choose the king of the Indians himself +to be our judge, and he shall decide between us." + +[9] With that the embassy departed. And when they had gone out Cyrus +turned to his uncle and began, "Cyaxares, when I came to you I had +scant wealth of my own and of the little I brought with me only a +fragment is left. I have spent it all on my soldiers. You may wonder +at this," he added, "when it is you who have supported them, but, +believe me, the money has not been wasted: it has all been spent on +gifts and rewards to the soldiers who deserved it. [10] And I am +sure," he added, "if we require good workers and good comrades in any +task whatever, it is better and pleasanter to encourage them by kind +speeches and kindly acts than to drive them by pains and penalties. +And if it is for war that we need such trusty helpers, we can only win +the men we want by every charm of word and grace of deed. For our true +ally must be a friend and not a foe, one who can never envy the +prosperity of his leader nor betray him in the day of disaster. [11] +Such is my conviction, and such being so, I do not hide from myself +the need of money. But to look to you for everything, when I know that +you spend so much already, would be monstrous in my eyes. I only ask +that we should take counsel together so as to prevent the failure of +your funds. I am well aware that if you won great wealth, I should be +able to help myself at need, especially if I used it for your own +advantage. [12] Now I think you told me the other day that the king of +Armenia has begun to despise you, because he hears we have an enemy, +and therefore he will neither send you troops nor pay the tribute +which is due." [13] "Yes," answered Cyaxares, "such are his tricks. +And I cannot decide whether to march on him at once and try to subdue +him by force, or let the matter be for the time, for fear of adding to +the enemies we have." Then Cyrus asked, "Are his dwellings strongly +fortified, or could they be attacked?" And Cyaxares answered, "The +actual fortifications are not very strong: I took good care of that. +But he has the hill-country to which he can retire, and there for the +moment lie secure, knowing that he himself is safely out of reach, +with everything that he can convoy thither; unless we are prepared to +carry on a siege, as my father actually did." + +[14] Thereupon Cyrus said, "Now if you are willing to send me with a +moderate force of cavalry--I will not ask for many men--I believe, +heaven helping me, I could compel him to send the troops and the +tribute. And I even hope that in the future he may become a firmer +friend that he is now." [15] And Cyaxares said: "I think myself they +are more likely to listen to you than to me. I have been told that his +sons were your companions in the chase when you were lads, and +possibly old habits will return and they will come over to you. Once +they were in our power, everything could be done as we desire." +"Then," said Cyrus, "this plan of ours had better be kept secret, had +it not?" "No doubt," answered Cyaxares. "In that way they would be +more likely to fall into our hands, and if we attack them they would +be taken unprepared." + +[16] "Listen then," said Cyrus, "and see what you think of this. I +have often hunted the marches between your country and Armenia with +all my men, and sometimes I have taken horsemen with me from our +comrades here." "I see," said Cyaxares, "and if you chose to do the +like again it would seem only natural, but if your force was obviously +larger than usual, suspicion would arise at once." [17] "But it is +possible," said Cyrus, "to frame a pretext which would find credit +with us and with them too, if any rumour reached them. We might give +out that I intend to hold a splendid hunt and I might ask you openly +for a troop of horse." + +"Admirable!" said Cyaxares. "And I shall refuse to give you more than +a certain number, my reason being that I wish to visit the outposts on +the Syrian side. And as a matter of fact," he added, "I do wish to see +them and put them in as strong a state as possible. Then, as soon as +you have started with your men, and marched, let us say, for a couple +of days, I could send you a good round number of horse and foot from +my own detachment. And when you have them at your back, you could +advance at once, and I will follow with the rest of my men as near you +as I may, close enough to appear in time of need." + +[18] Accordingly, Cyaxares proceeded to muster horse and foot for his +own march, and sent provision-waggons forward to meet him on the road. +Meanwhile Cyrus offered sacrifice for the success of his expedition +and found an opportunity to ask Cyaxares for a troop of his junior +cavalry. But Cyaxares would only spare a few, though many wished to +go. Soon afterwards he started for the outposts himself with all his +horse and foot, and then Cyrus found the omens favourable for his +enterprise, and led his soldiers out as though he meant to hunt. [19] +He was scarcely on his way when a hare started up at their feet, and +an eagle, flying on the right, saw the creature as it fled, swooped +down and struck it, bore it aloft in its talons to a cliff hard by, +and did its will upon it there. The omen pleased Cyrus well, and he +bowed in worship to Zeus the King, and said to his company, "This +shall be a right noble hunt, my friends, if God so will." + +[20] When he came to the borders he began the hunt in his usual way, +the mass of horse and foot going on ahead in rows like reapers, +beating out the game, with picked men posted at intervals to receive +the animals and give them chase. And thus they took great numbers of +boars and stags and antelopes and wild-asses: even to this day wild- +asses are plentiful in those parts. [21] But when the chase was over, +Cyrus had touched the frontier of the Armenian land, and there he made +the evening meal. The next day he hunted till he reached the mountains +which were his goal. And there he halted again and made the evening +meal. At this point he knew that the army from Cyaxares was advancing, +and he sent secretly to them and bade them keep about eight miles off, +and take their evening meal where they were, since that would make for +secrecy. And when their meal was over he told them to send their +officers to him, and after supper he called his own brigadiers +together and addressed them thus: + +[22] "My friends, in old days the Armenian was a faithful ally and +subject of Cyaxares, but now when he sees an enemy against us, he +assumes contempt: he neither sends the troops nor pays the tribute. He +is the game we have come to catch, if catch we can. And this, I think, +is the way. You, Chrysantas," said he, "will sleep for a few hours, +and then take half the Persians with you, make for the hill country, +and seize the heights which we hear are his places of refuge when +alarmed. I will give you guides. [23] The hills, they tell us, are +covered with trees and scrub, so that we may hope you will escape +unseen: still you might send a handful of scouts ahead of you, +disguised as a band of robbers. If they should come across any +Armenians they can either make them prisoners and prevent them from +spreading the news, or at least scare them out of the way, so that +they will not realise the whole of your force, and only take measures +against a pack of thieves. [24] That is your task, Chrysantas, and now +for mine. At break of day I shall take half the foot and all the +cavalry and march along the level straight to the king's residence. If +he resists, we must fight, if he retreats along the plain we must run +him down, if he makes for the mountains, why then," said Cyrus, "it +will be your business to see that none of your visitors escape. [25] +Think of it as a hunt: we down below are the beaters rounding up the +game, and you are the men at the nets: only bear in mind that the +earths must all be stopped before the game is up, and the men at the +traps must be hidden, or they will turn back the flying quarry. [26] +One last word, Chrysantas: you must not behave now as I have known you +do in your passion for the chase: you must not sit up the whole night +long without a wink of sleep, you must let all your men have the +modicum of rest that they cannot do without. [27] Nor must you--just +because you scour the hills in the hunt without a guide, following the +lead of the quarry and that alone, checking and changing course +wherever it leads you--you must not now plunge into the wildest paths: +you must tell your guides to take you by the easiest road unless it is +much the longest. [28] In war, they say, the easiest way is the +quickest. And once more, because you can race up a mountain yourself +you are not to lead on your men at the double; suit your pace to the +strength of all. [29] Indeed, it were no bad thing if some of your +best and bravest were to fall behind here and there and cheer the +laggards on: and it would quicken the pace of all, when the column has +gone ahead, to see them racing back to their places past the marching +files." + +[30] Chrysantas listened, and his heart beat high at the trust reposed +in him. He took the guides, and gave the necessary orders for those +who were to march with him, and then he lay down to rest. And when all +his men had had the sleep he thought sufficient he set out for the +hills. [31] Day dawned, and Cyrus sent a messenger to the Armenian +with these words: "Cyrus bids you see to it that you bring your +tribute and troops without delay." "And if he asks you where Cyrus is, +tell the truth and say I am on the frontier. And if he asks whether I +am advancing myself, tell the truth again and say that you do not +know. And if he enquires how many we are, bid him send some one with +you to find out." + +[32] Having so charged the messenger he sent him on forthwith, holding +this to be more courteous than to attack without warning. Then he drew +up his troops himself in the order best suited for marching, and, if +necessary, for fighting, and so set forth. The soldiers had orders +that not a soul was to be wronged, and if they met any Armenians they +were to bid them to have no fear, but open a market wherever they +wished, and sell meat or drink as they chose. + + + NOTES + +C1.5. Is this historical, i.e. /quasi/-historical? Are any of the +names real or all invented to give verisimilitude? + +C1.13. Any touch of the sycophancy of the future in it? As in modern +Germany, a touch of that involved in the system of royalty. + +C1.15. The raw material is good, but not worked up. Important for the +conception of Hellenic democracy (cf. § 17). Daring, courage, virtue-- +there is no monopoly of these things. + +C1.21. (Cf. below VIII. C2.5) Worthy of Adam Smith. Xenophon has bump +of economy strongly developed; he resembles J. P.[*] in that respect. +The economic methodism, the mosaic interbedding, the architectonic +structure of it all, a part and parcel of Xenophon's genius. Was +Alexander's army a highly-organised, spiritually and materially +built-up, vitalised machine of this sort? What light does Arrian, that +younger Xenophon, throw upon it? + +[* "J. P." = John Percival, Bishop of Hereford (the writer of the +Introduction to this volume), at the time the notes were written +Headmaster of Clifton College.--F.M.S.] + +C1.25. Camaraderie encouraged and developed through a sense of +equality and fraternity, the life /au grand jour/ in common, producing +a common consciousness (cf. Comte and J. P.; Epaminondas and the +Sacred Band at Thebes). + +C2. Contrast of subject enlivening the style--light concrete as a foil +to the last drier abstract detail. Humorous also, with a dramatising +and development of the characters, Shakespeare-wise--Hystaspas, and +the rest. Aglaïtadas, a type of educator we know well (cf. Eccles. +"Cocker not a child"), grim, dry person with no sense of humour. +Xenophon's own humour shines out. + +C2.12. The term given to the two stories {eis tagathon}. T. E. B.[*] +could do it, or Socrates, without dullness or seeming to preach. There +is a crispness in the voice which is anti-pedantic. + +[* "T. E. B." = T. E. Brown, the Manx poet, at that time a colleague +of Mr. Dakyns at Clifton.--F.M.S.] + +C2.19. Cyrus recognises the ideal principle of co-operation and +collective ownership. Xenophon, Economist, ahead of the moderns. + +C2.26. Xenophon's breadth of view: virtue is not confined to citizens, +but we have the pick of the whole world. Cosmopolitan Hellenism. + +C3.4. Xenophon's theory of rule (cf. Ruskin): a right, inalienable, +God-bestowed, of the virtuous; subjection an inevitable consequence on +lack of self-discipline. + +C3.5, init. Is this a carelessness, or what? Chrysantas has been +introduced before, but here he is described as if stepping on the +stage for the first time. The sentence itself suggests the mould for +the New Testament narrative. + +C3.7. Pheraulas, and of him we shall hear much. A sharp contrast to +Chrysantas, the Peer, with his pointed plebeian similes. His speech +important again for Xenophon's sympathetic knowledge of children and +also of the hard-working poor. + +C3.10. How true to nature this. Cannot one see the little boy doubling +his little fists, a knife in his pocket, possibly a ball of string? + +C3.11. Is there a touch of flunkeyism in this? Not so; it is the +clear-sighted scientific Greek, that is all. + +C3.14. Very Scotch all this. + +C3.21-22. /Locus classicus/ for regimental marching tactics. Qy.: Are +any of these tactical improvements by Xenophon himself? + +[C3.21. The "regiment" of a hundred men was divided into four +"companies" of twenty-five, to each of these one company-captain and +twenty-four men, viz.: twenty privates, two captains-of-ten, and two +captains-of-five, the two captains of ten having also especial charge +over the two remaining squads of five. A condensed diagram may make +the little manœuvre clear. An X represents one group of five plus its +captain, either a captain-of-five or a captain-of-ten. A C represents +a company-captain. + + First position--One long column. All in single file. + + Second position--Four columns. Single file for each company. + + Third position--Eight columns. Double files. + + Fourth position--Sixteen columns. Quadruple files. + + C C C C C C C + X X X -> X X X X -> X X X X X X X X + X -> X X X X X X + X X X + X X X + C + X + X + X + X] + +C4.15. Cyaxares means to kidnap them, doesn't he? That is not quite +Cyrus' method. If so, it contrasts Cyaxares and Cyrus again. + +C4.17. Cyaxares the old fox improves upon the plan. + +C4.30, init. It is these touches which give the thrilling subjective +feeling to the writings of Xenophon, or, rather, thus his nerves +tingle, just as the external touches give a sense of objective health +(e.g. above, C1.29). + +C4.32. All this is entirely modern, never yet excelled, I imagine. + + + + BOOK III + +[C.1] Thus Cyrus made his preparations. But the Armenian, when he +heard what the messenger had to say, was terror-stricken: he knew the +wrong he had done in neglecting the tribute and withholding the +troops, and, above all, he was afraid it would be discovered that he +was beginning to put his palace in a fit state for defence. [2] +Therefore, with much trepidation, he began to collect his own forces, +and at the same time he sent his younger son Sabaris into the hills +with the women, his own wife, and the wife of his elder son and his +daughters, taking the best of their ornaments and furniture with them +and an escort to be their guide. Meanwhile he despatched a party to +discover what Cyrus was doing, and organised all the Armenian +contingents as they came in. But it was not long before other +messengers arrived, saying that Cyrus himself was actually at hand. +[3] Then his courage forsook him; he dared not come to blows and he +withdrew. As soon as the recruits saw this they took to their heels, +each man bent on getting his own property safely out of the way. When +Cyrus saw the plains full of them, racing and riding everywhere, he +sent out messengers privately to explain that he had no quarrel with +any who stayed quietly in their homes, but if he caught a man in +flight, he warned them he would treat him as an enemy. Thus the +greater part were persuaded to remain, though there were some who +retreated with the king. + +[4] But when the escort with the women came on the Persians in the +mountain, they fled with cries of terror, and many of them were taken +prisoners. In the end the young prince himself was captured, and the +wife of the king, and his daughters, and his daughter-in-law, and all +the goods they had with them. And when the king learnt what had +happened, scarcely knowing where to turn, he fled to the summit of a +certain hill. [5] Cyrus, when he saw it, surrounded the spot with his +troops and sent word to Chrysantas, bidding him leave a force to guard +the mountains and come down to him. So the mass of the army was +collected under Cyrus, and then he sent a herald to the king with this +enquiry: + +"Son of Armenia, will you wait here and fight with hunger and thirst, +or will you come down into the plain and fight it out with us?" But +the Armenian answered that he wished to fight with neither. [6] Cyrus +sent again and asked, "Why do you sit there, then, and refuse to come +down?" "Because I know not what to do," answered the other. "It is +simple enough," said Cyrus, "come down and take your trial." "And who +shall try me?" asked the king. "He," answered Cyrus, "to whom God has +given the power to treat you as he lists, without a trial at all." + +Thereupon the Armenian came down, yielding to necessity, and Cyrus +took him and all that he had and placed him in the centre of the camp, +for all his forces were now at hand. + +[7] Meanwhile Tigranes, the elder son of the king, was on his way home +from a far country. In old days he had hunted with Cyrus and been his +friend, and now, when he heard what had happened, he came forward just +as he was; but when he saw his father and his mother, his brother and +sisters, and his own wife all held as prisoners, he could not keep +back the tears. [8] But Cyrus gave him no sign of friendship or +courtesy, and only said, "You have come in time, you may be present +now to hear your father tried." With that he summoned the leaders of +the Persians and the Medes, and any Armenian of rank and dignity who +was there, nor would he send away the women as they sat in covered +carriages, but let them listen too. [9] When all was ready he began: +"Son of Armenia, I would counsel you, in the first place, to speak the +truth, so that at least you may stand free from what deserves the +utmost hate: beyond all else, be assured, manifest lying checks the +sympathy of man and man. Moreover," said he, "your own sons, your +daughters, and your wife are well aware of all that you have done, and +so are your own Armenians who are here: if they perceive that you say +what is not true, they must surely feel that out of your own lips you +condemn yourself to suffer the uttermost penalty when I learn the +truth." "Nay," answered the king, "ask me whatever you will, and I +will answer truly, come what come may." [10] "Answer then," said +Cyrus, "did you once make war upon Astyages, my mother's father, and +his Medes?" "I did," he answered. "And were you conquered by him, and +did you agree to pay tribute and furnish troops whenever he required, +and promise not to fortify your dwellings?" "Even so," he said. "Why +is it, then, that to-day you have neither brought the tribute nor sent +the troops, and are building forts?" "I set my heart on liberty: it +seemed to me so fair a thing to be free myself and to leave freedom to +my sons." [11] "And fair and good it is," said Cyrus, "to fight for +freedom and choose death rather than slavery, but if a man is worsted +in war or enslaved by any other means and then attempts to rid himself +of his lord, tell me yourself, would you honour such a man as upright, +and a doer of noble deeds, or would you, if you got him in your power, +chastise him as a malefactor?" "I would chastise him," he answered, +"since you drive me to the truth." [12] "Then answer me now, point by +point," said Cyrus. "If you have an officer and he does wrong, do you +suffer him to remain in office, or do you set up another in his +stead?" "I set up another." "And if he have great riches, to you leave +him all his wealth, or do you make him a beggar?" "I take away from +him all that he has." "And if you found him deserting to your enemies, +what would you do?" "I would kill him," he said: "why should I perish +with a lie on my lips rather than speak the truth and die?" + +[13] But at this his son rent his garments and dashed the tiara from +his brows, and the women lifted up their voices in wailing and tore +their cheeks, as though their father was dead already, and they +themselves undone. But Cyrus bade them keep silence, and spoke again. +"Son of Armenia, we have heard your own judgment in this case, and now +tell us, what ought we to do?" But the king sat silent and perplexed, +wondering whether he should bid Cyrus put him to death, or act in the +teeth of the rule he had laid down for himself. [14] Then his son +Tigranes turned to Cyrus and said, "Tell me, Cyrus, since my father +sits in doubt, may I give counsel in his place and say what I think +best for you?" + +Now Cyrus remembered that, in the old hunting days, he had noticed a +certain man of wisdom who went about with Tigranes and was much +admired by him, and he was curious to know what the youth would say. +So he readily agreed and bade him speak his mind. + +[15] "In my view, then," said Tigranes, "if you approve of all that my +father has said and done, certainly you ought to do as he did, but if +you think he has done wrong, then you must not copy him." + +"But surely," said Cyrus, "the best way to avoid copying the wrongdoer +is to practise what is right?" + +"True enough," answered the prince. + +"Then on your own reasoning, I am bound to punish your father, if it +is right to punish wrong." + +"But would you wish your vengeance to do you harm instead of good?" + +"Nay," said Cyrus, "for then my vengeance would fall upon myself." + +[16] "Even so," said Tigranes, "and you will do yourself the greatest +harm if you put your own subjects to death just when they are most +valuable to you." + +"Can they have any value," asked Cyrus, "when they are detected doing +wrong?" + +"Yes," answered Tigranes, "if that is when they turn to good and learn +sobriety. For it is my belief, Cyrus, that without this virtue all +others are in vain. What good will you get from a strong man or a +brave if he lack sobriety, be he never so good a horseman, never so +rich, never so powerful in the state? But with sobriety every friend +is a friend in need and every servant a blessing." + +[17] "I take your meaning," answered Cyrus; "your father, you would +have me think, has been changed in this one day from a fool into a +wise and sober-minded man?" + +"Exactly," said the prince. + +"Then you would call sober-mindedness a condition of our nature, such +as pain, not a matter of reason that can be learnt? For certainly, if +he who is to be sober-minded must learn wisdom first, he could not be +converted from folly in a day." + +[18] "Nay, but, Cyrus," said the prince, "surely you yourself have +known one man at least who out of sheer folly has set himself to fight +a stronger man than he, and on the day of defeat his senselessness has +been cured. And surely you have known a city ere now that has +marshalled her battalions against a rival state, but with defeat she +changes suddenly and is willing to obey and not resist?" + +[19] "But what defeat," said Cyrus, "can you find in your father's +case to make you so sure that he has come to a sober mind?" + +"A defeat," answered the young man, "of which he is well aware in the +secret chambers of his soul. He set his heart on liberty, and he has +found himself a slave as never before: he had designs that needed +stealth and speed and force, and not one of them has he been able to +carry through. With you he knows that design and fulfilment went hand +in hand; when you wished to outwit him, outwit him you did, as though +he had been blind and deaf and dazed; when stealth was needed, your +stealth was such that the fortresses he thought his own you turned +into traps for him; and your speed was such that you were upon him +from miles away with all your armament before he found time to muster +the forces at his command." + +[20] "So you think," said Cyrus, "that merely to learn another is +stronger than himself is defeat enough to bring a man to his senses?" + +"I do," answered Tigranes, "and far more truly than mere defeat in +battle. For he who is conquered by force may fancy that if he trains +he can renew the war, and captured cities dream that with the help of +allies they will fight again one day, but if we meet with men who are +better than ourselves and whom we recognise to be so, we are ready to +obey them of our own free will." [21] "You imagine then," said Cyrus, +"that the bully and the tyrant cannot recognise the man of self- +restraint, nor the thief the honest man, nor the liar the truth- +speaker, nor the unjust man the upright? Has not your own father lied +even now and broken his word with us, although he knew that we had +faithfully observed every jot and tittle of the compact Astyages +made?" [22] "Ah, but," replied the prince, "I do not pretend that the +bare knowledge alone will bring a man to his senses, it cannot cure +him unless he pays the penalty as my father pays it to-day." "But," +answered Cyrus, "your father has suffered nothing at all so far: +although he fears, I know, that the worst suffering may be his." [23] +"Do you suppose then," asked Tigranes, "that anything can enslave a +man more utterly than fear? Do you not know that even the men who are +beaten with the iron rod of war, the heaviest rod in all the world, +may still be ready to fight again, while the victims of terror cannot +be brought to look their conquerors in the face, even when they try to +comfort them?" "Then, you maintain," said Cyrus, "that fear will +subdue a man more than suffering?" [24] "Yes," he answered, "and you +of all men know that what I say is true: you know the despondency men +feel in dread of banishment, or on the eve of battle facing defeat, or +sailing the sea in peril of shipwreck--they cannot touch their food or +take their rest because of their alarm: while it may often be that the +exiles themselves, the conquered, or the enslaved, can eat and sleep +better than men who have not known adversity. [25] Think of those +panic-stricken creatures who through fear of capture and death have +died before their day, have hurled themselves from cliffs, hanged +themselves, or set the knife to their throats; so cruelly can fear, +the prince of horrors, bind and subjugate the souls of men. And what, +think you, does my father feel at this moment? He, whose fears are not +for himself alone, but for us all, for his wife, and for his +children." [26] And Cyrus said, "To-day and at this time, it may be +with him as you say: but I still think that the same man may well be +insolent in good fortune and cringing in defeat: let such an one go +free again, and he will return to his arrogance and trouble us once +more." [27] "I do not deny it, Cyrus," said the prince. "Our offences +are such that you may well mistrust us: but you have it in your power +to set garrisons in our land and hold our strong places and take what +pledges you think best. And even so," he added, "you will not find +that we fret against our chains, for we shall remember we have only +ourselves to blame. Whereas, if you hand over the government to some +who have not offended, they may either think that you mistrust them, +and thus, although you are their benefactor, you cannot be their +friend, or else in your anxiety not to rouse their enmity you may +leave no check on their insolence, and in the end you will need to +sober them even more than us." [28] "Nay, but by all the gods," cried +Cyrus, "little joy should I ever take in those who served me from +necessity alone. Only if I recognise some touch of friendship or +goodwill in the help it is their duty to render, I could find it +easier to forgive them all their faults than to accept the full +discharge of service paid upon compulsion by those who hate me." + +Then Tigranes answered, "You speak of friendship, but can you ever +find elsewhere so great a friendship as you may find with us?" "Surely +I can," he answered, "and with those who have never been my enemies, +if I choose to be their benefactor as you would have me yours." [29] +"But to-day, and now, can you find another man in the world whom you +could benefit as you can benefit my father? Say you let a man live who +has never done you wrong, will he be grateful for the boon? Say he +need not lose his children and his wife, will he love you for that +more than one who knows he well deserved the loss? Say he may not sit +upon the throne of Armenia, will he suffer from that as we shall +suffer? And is it not clear that the one who feels the pain of +forfeiture the most will be the one most grateful for the granting of +the gift? [30] And if you have it at all at heart to leave matters +settled here, think for yourself, and see where tranquillity will lie +when your back is turned. Will it be with the new dynasty, or with the +old familiar house? And if you want as large a force as possible at +your command, where will you find a man better fitted to test the +muster-roll than the general who has used it time and again? If you +need money, who will provide the ways and means better than he who +knows and can command all the resources of the country? I warn you as +a friend," he added, "that if you throw us aside you will do yourself +more harm than ever my father could have done." + +[31] Such were the pleadings of the prince, and Cyrus, as he listened, +was overjoyed, for he felt he would accomplish to the full all he had +promised Cyaxares; his own words came back to him, "I hope to make the +Armenian a better friend than before." + +Thereupon he turned to the king and said, "Son of Armenia, if I were +indeed to hearken unto you and yours in this, tell me, how large an +army would you send me and how much money for the war?" + +[32] And the king replied, "The simplest answer I can make and the +most straightforward is to tell you what my power is, and then you may +take the men you choose, and leave the rest to garrison the country. +And so with the money: it is only fair that you should know the whole +of our wealth, and with that knowledge to guide you, you will take +what you like and leave what you like." [33] And Cyrus said, "Tell me +then, and tell me true: how great is your power and your wealth?" +Whereupon the Armenian replied: "Our cavalry is 8000 strong and our +infantry 40,000; and our wealth," said he, "if I include the treasures +which my father left, amounts in silver to more than 3000 talents." + +[34] And Cyrus, without more ado, said at once, "Of your whole +armament you shall give me half, not more, since your neighbours the +Chaldaeans are at war with you: but for the tribute, instead of the +fifty talents which you paid before, you shall hand over twice as much +to Cyaxares because you made default; and you will lend me another +hundred for myself, and I hereby promise you, if God be bountiful, I +will requite you for the loan with things of higher worth, or I will +pay the money back in full, if I can; and if I cannot, you may blame +me for want of ability, but not for want of will." [35] But the +Armenian cried, "By all the gods, Cyrus, speak not so, or you will put +me out of heart. I beg you to look on all I have as yours, what you +leave behind as well as what you take away." + +"So be it then," answered Cyrus, "and to ransom your wife, how much +money would you give?" "All that I have," said he. "And for your +sons?" "For them too, all that I have." "Good," answered Cyrus, "but +is not that already twice as much as you possess? [36] And you, +Tigranes," said he, "at what price would you redeem your bride?" Now +the youth was but newly wedded, and his wife was beyond all things +dear to him. "I would give my life," said he, "to save her from +slavery." [37] "Take her then," said Cyrus, "she is yours. For I hold +that she has never yet been made a prisoner, seeing that her husband +never deserted us. And you, son of Armenia," said he, turning to the +king, "you shall take home your wife and children, and pay no ransom +for them, so that they shall not feel they come to you from slavery. +But now," he added, "you shall stay and sup with us, and afterwards +you shall go wherever you wish." + +And so the Armenians stayed. [38] But when the company broke up after +the evening meal, Cyrus asked Tigranes, "Tell me, where is that friend +of yours who used to hunt with us, and whom, as it seemed to me, you +admired so much?" "Do you not know," he said, "that my father put him +to death?" "And why?" said Cyrus, "what fault did he find in him?" "He +thought he corrupted me," said the youth; "and yet, I tell you, Cyrus, +he was so gentle and so brave, so beautiful in soul, that when he came +to die, he called me to him and said, 'Do not be angry with your +father, Tigranes, for putting me to death. What he does is not done +from malice, but from ignorance; and the sins of ignorance, I hold, +are unintentional.'" + +[39] And at that Cyrus could not but say: "Poor soul! I grieve for +him." But the king spoke in his own defence: "Remember this, Cyrus, +that the man who finds another with his wife kills him not simply +because he believes that he has turned the woman to folly, but because +he has robbed him of her love. Even so I was jealous of that man who +seemed to put himself between my son and me and steal away his +reverence." [40] "May the gods be merciful to us!" said Cyrus, "you +did wrong, but your fault was human. And you, Tigranes," said he, +turning to the son, "you must forgive your father." + +And so they talked in all friendliness and kindliness, as befitted +that time of reconciliation; and then the father and son mounted their +carriages, with their dear ones beside them, and drove away rejoicing. + +[41] But when they were home again, they all spoke of Cyrus, one +praising his wisdom, another his endurance, a third the gentleness of +his nature, and a fourth his stature and his beauty. Then Tigranes +turned to his wife and asked, "Did Cyrus seem so beautiful in your +eyes?" But she answered, "Ah, my lord, he was not the man I saw." "Who +was it then?" asked Tigranes. "He," she answered, "who offered his own +life to free me from slavery." + +And so they took their delight together, as lovers will, after all +their sufferings. + +[42] But on the morrow the king of Armenia sent gifts of hospitality +to Cyrus and all his army, and bade his own contingent make ready to +march on the third day, and himself brought Cyrus twice the sum which +he had named. But Cyrus would take no more than he had fixed, and gave +the rest back to the king, only asking whether he or his son was to +lead the force. And the father answered that it should be as Cyrus +chose, but the son said, "I will not leave you, Cyrus, if I must carry +the baggage to follow you." [43] And Cyrus laughed and said, "What +will you take to let us tell your wife that you have become a baggage- +bearer?" "She will not need to be told," he answered, "I mean to bring +her with me, and she can see for herself all that her husband does." +"Then it is high time," said Cyrus, "that you got your own baggage +together now." "We will come," said he, "be sure of that, in good +time, with whatever baggage my father gives." + +So the soldiers were the guests of Armenia for the day, and rested for +that night. + +[C.2] But on the day following Cyrus took Tigranes and the best of the +Median cavalry, with chosen followers of his own, and scoured the +whole country to decide where he should build a fort. He halted on the +top of a mountain-pass and asked Tigranes where the heights lay down +which the Chaldaeans swept when they came to plunder. Tigranes showed +him. Then Cyrus asked him if the mountains were quite uninhabited. +"No, indeed," said the prince, "there are always men on the look-out, +who signal to the others if they catch sight of anything." "And what +do they do," he asked, "when they see the signal?" "They rush to the +rescue," he said, "as quickly as they can." [2] Cyrus listened and +looked, and he could see that large tracts lay desolate and untilled +because of the war. That day they came back to camp and took their +supper and slept. [3] But the next morning Tigranes presented himself +with all his baggage in order and ready for the march, 4000 cavalry at +his back, 10,000 bowmen, and as many targeteers. While they were +marching up, Cyrus offered sacrifice, and finding that the victims +were favourable, he called the leaders of the Persians together and +the chief captains of the Medes and spoke to them thus: + +[4] "My friends, there lie the Chaldaean hills. If we could seize them +and set a garrison to hold the pass, we should compel them both, +Chaldaeans and Armenians alike, to behave themselves discreetly. The +victims are favourable; and to help a man in such a work as this there +is no ally half so good as speed. If we scale the heights before the +enemy have time to gather, we may take the position out of hand +without a blow, and at most we shall only find a handful of weak and +scattered forces to oppose us. [5] Steady speed is all I ask for, and +surely I could ask for nothing easier or less dangerous. To arms then! +The Medes will march on our left, half the Armenians on our right, and +the rest in the van to lead the way, the cavalry in our rear, to cheer +us on and push us forward and let none of us give way." + +[6] With that Cyrus led the advance, the army in column behind him. As +soon as the Chaldaeans saw them sweeping up from the plain, they +signalled to their fellows till the heights re-echoed with answering +shouts, and the tribesmen gathered on every side. Then Cyrus sent word +along his lines, "Soldiers of Persia, they are signalling to us to +make haste. If only we reach the top before them, all they can do will +be in vain." + +[7] Now the Chaldaeans were said to be the most warlike of all the +tribes in that country, and each of them was armed with a shield and a +brace of javelins. They fight for pay wherever they are needed, partly +because they are warriors born, but partly through poverty; for their +country is mountainous, and the fertile part of it small. [8] As Cyrus +and his force drew near the head of the pass, Tigranes, who was +marching at his side, said: + +"Do you know, Cyrus, that before long we shall be in the thick of the +fight ourselves? Our Armenians will never stand the charge." Cyrus +answered that he was well aware of that, and immediately sent word +that the Persians should be ready to give chase at once, "as soon as +we see the Armenians decoying the enemy by feigning flight and drawing +them within our reach." + +[9] Thus they marched up with the Armenians in the van: and the +Chaldaeans who had collected waited till they were almost on them, and +then charged with a tremendous shout, as their custom was, and the +Armenians, as was ever theirs, turned and ran. [10] But in the midst +of the pursuit the Chaldaeans met new opponents streaming up the pass, +armed with short swords, and some of them were cut to pieces at once +before they could withdraw, while others were taken prisoners and the +rest fled, and in a few moments the heights were won. From the top of +the pass Cyrus and his staff looked down and saw below them the +Chaldaean villages with fugitives pouring from the nearest houses. +[11] Soon the rest of the army came up, and Cyrus ordered them all to +take the morning meal. When it was over, and he had ascertained that +the look-out was really in a strong position, and well supplied with +water, he set about fortifying a post without more ado, and he bade +Tigranes send to his father and bid him come at once with all the +carpenters and stonemasons he could fetch, and while a messenger went +off to the king Cyrus did all he could with what he had at hand. + +[12] Meanwhile they brought up the prisoners, all of them bound in +chains and some wounded. But Cyrus when he saw their plight ordered +the chains to be struck off, and sent for surgeons to dress their +wounds, and then he told them that he came neither to destroy them nor +to war against them, but to make peace between them and the Armenians. +"I know," he said, "before your pass was taken you did not wish for +peace. Your own land was in safety and you could harry the Armenians: +but you can see for yourselves how things stand to-day. [13] +Accordingly I will let you all go back to your homes in freedom, and I +will allow you and your fellows to take counsel together and choose +whether you will have us for your enemies or your friends. If you +decide on war, you had better not come here again without your +weapons, but if you choose peace, come unarmed and welcome: it shall +be my care to see that all is well with you, if you are my friends." + +[14] And when the Chaldaeans heard that, they poured out praises and +thanks, and then they turned homewards and departed. + +Meanwhile the king, receiving the call of Cyrus, and hearing the +business that was at hand, had gathered his workmen together and took +what he thought necessary and came with all speed. [15] And when he +caught sight of Cyrus, he cried: "Ah, my lord, blind mortals that we +are! How little can we see of the future, and how much we take in hand +to do! I set myself to win freedom and I made myself a slave, and now, +when we were captured and said to ourselves that we were utterly +undone, suddenly we find a safety we never had before. Those who +troubled us are taken now, even as I would have them. [16] Be well +assured, Cyrus," he added, "that I would have paid the sum you had +from me over and over again simply to dislodge the Chaldaeans from +these heights. The things of worth you promised me when you took the +money have been paid in full already, and we discover that we are not +your creditors, but deep in your debt for many kindnesses; and we +shall be ashamed not to return them, or we should be base indeed, for +try as we may, we shall never be able to requite in full so great a +benefactor." + +[17] Such thanks the Armenian gave. + +Then the Chaldaeans came back, begging Cyrus to make peace with them. +And Cyrus asked them: "Am I right in thinking that you desire peace +to-day because you believe it will be safer for you than war, now that +we hold these heights?" + +And the Chaldaeans said that so it was. [18] "Well and good," said he. +"And what if other benefits were gained by peace?" "We should be all +the better pleased," said they. "Is there any other reason," he asked, +"for your present poverty, except your lack of fertile soil?" They +said that there was none. "Well then," Cyrus went on, "would you be +willing to pay the same dues as the Armenians, if you were allowed to +cultivate as much of their land as you desired?" And the Chaldaeans +said they would, if only they could rely on being fairly treated. [19] +"Now," said Cyrus, turning to the Armenian king, "would you like that +land of yours which is now lying idle to be tilled and made +productive, supposing the workers paid you the customary dues?" "I +would, indeed," said the king, "so much so that I am ready to pay a +large sum for it. It would mean a great increase to my revenue." [20] +"And you, Chaldaeans," said Cyrus, "with your splendid mountains, +would you let the Armenians use them for pasture if the graziers paid +you what was fair?" "Surely yes," said the Chaldaeans, "it would mean +much profit and no pains." + +"Son of Armenia," said Cyrus, "would you take this land for grazing, +if by paying a small sum to the Chaldaeans you got a far greater +return yourself?" + +"Right willingly," said he, "if I thought my flocks could feed in +safety." + +"And would they not be safe enough," suggested Cyrus, "if this pass +were held for you?" To which the king agreed. [21] But the Chaldaeans +cried, "Heaven help us! We could not till our own fields in safety, +not to speak of theirs, if the Armenians held the pass." "True," +answered Cyrus, "but how would it be if the pass were held for you?" +"Ah, then," said they, "all would be well enough." "Heaven help us!" +cried the Armenian in his turn, "all might be well enough for them, +but it would be ill for us if these neighbours of ours recovered the +post, especially now that it is fortified." [22] Then Cyrus said, +"See, then, this is what I will do: I will hand over the pass to +neither of you: we Persians will guard it ourselves, and if either of +you injure the other, we will step in and side with the sufferers." + +[23] Then both parties applauded the decision, and said that only thus +could they establish a lasting peace, and on these terms they +exchanged pledges, and a covenant was made that both nations alike +were to be free and independent, but with common rights of marriage, +and tillage, and pasturage, and help in time of war if either were +attacked. [24] Thus the matter was concluded, and to this day the +treaty holds between the Chaldaeans and Armenia. + +Peace was no sooner made than both parties began building what they +now considered their common fortress, working side by side and +bringing up all that was needed. [25] And when evening fell, Cyrus +summoned them all as fellow-guests to his board, saying that they were +friends already. At the supper as they sat together, one of the +Chaldaeans said to Cyrus that the mass of his nation would feel they +had received all they could desire, "But there are men among us," he +added, "who live as freebooters: they do not know how to labour in the +field, and they could not learn, accustomed as they are from youth up +to get their livelihood either by plundering for themselves or serving +as mercenaries, often under the king of India, for he is a man of much +wealth, but sometimes under Astyages." [26] Then Cyrus said: "Why +should they not take service with me? I undertake to give them at +least as much as they ever got elsewhere." The Chaldaeans readily +agreed with him and prophesied that he would have many volunteers. + +[27] So this matter was settled to the mind of all. But Cyrus, on +hearing that the Chaldaeans were in the habit of going to India, +remembered how Indian ambassadors had come to the Medes to spy out +their affairs, and how they had gone on to their enemies--doubtless to +do the same there--and he felt a wish that they should hear something +of what he had achieved himself. [28] So he said to the company: "Son +of Armenia, and men of the Chaldaeans, I have something to ask you. +Tell me, if I were to send ambassadors to India, would you send some +of your own folk with them to show them the way, and support them in +gaining for us all that I desire? I still need more money if I am to +pay all the wages, as I wish, in full, and give rewards and make +presents to such of my soldiers as deserve them. It is for such things +I need all the money I can get, for I believe them to be essential. It +would be pleasanter for me not to draw on you, because I look on you +already as my friends, but I should be glad to take from the Indian as +much as he will give me. My messenger--the one for whom I ask guides +and coadjutors--will go to the king and say: 'Son of India, my master +has sent me to you, bidding me say that he has need of more money. He +is expecting another army from Persia,' and indeed I do expect one," +Cyrus added. "Then my messenger will proceed, 'If you can send my +master all that you have at hand he will do his best, if God grant him +success, that you should feel your kindness has not been ill-advised.' +[30] That is what my emissary will say: and you must give such +instructions to yours as you think fit yourselves. If I get money from +the king, I shall have abundance at my disposal: if I fail, at least +we shall owe him no gratitude, and as far as he is concerned we may +look to our own interests alone." + +[31] So Cyrus spoke, convinced that the ambassadors from Armenia and +Chaldaea would speak of him as he desired all men might do. And then, +as the hour was come, they broke up the meeting and took their rest. + +[C.3] But on the next day Cyrus despatched his messenger with the +instructions, and the Armenians and Chaldaeans sent their own +ambassadors, choosing the men they thought would help Cyrus most and +speak of his exploits in the most fitting terms. Cyrus put a strong +garrison in the fort and stored it with supplies, and left an officer +in command, a Mede, whose appointment, he thought, would gratify +Cyaxares, and then he turned homewards, taking with him not only the +troops he had brought, but the force the Armenians had furnished, and +a picked body of Chaldaeans who considered themselves stronger than +all the rest together. [2] And as he come down from the hills into the +cultivated land, not one of the Armenians, man or woman, stayed +indoors: with one accord they all went out to meet him, rejoicing that +peace was made, and bringing him offerings from their best, driving +before them the animals they valued most. The king himself was not +ill-pleased at this, for he thought that Cyrus would take delight in +the honour the people showed him. Last of all came the queen herself, +with her daughters and her younger son, bearing many gifts, and among +them the golden treasure that Cyrus had refused before. [3] But when +he saw it he said: "Nay, you must not make me a mercenary and a +benefactor for pay; take this treasure back and hie you home, but do +not give it to your lord that he may bury it again; spend it on your +son, and send him forth gloriously equipped for war, and with the +residue buy yourself and for your husband and your children such +precious things as shall endure, and bring joy and beauty into all +your days. As for burying, let us only bury our bodies on the day when +each must die." + +[4] With that he rode away, the king and all his people escorting him, +like a guard of honour, calling him their saviour, their benefactor, +and their hero, and heaping praises on him until he had left the land. +And the king sent with him a larger army than ever he had sent before, +seeing that now he had peace at home. [5] Thus Cyrus took his +departure, having gained not only the actual money he took away with +him, but a far ampler store of wealth, won by his own graciousness, on +which he could draw in time of need. + +For the first night he encamped on the borders of Armenia, but the +next day he sent an army and the money to Cyaxares, who was close at +hand, as he had promised to be, while he himself took his pleasure in +hunting wherever he could find the game, in company with Tigranes and +the flower of the Persian force. + +[6] And when he came back to Media he gave gifts of money to his chief +officers, sufficient for each to reward their own subordinates, for he +held to it that, if every one made his own division worthy of praise, +all would be well with the army as a whole. He himself secured +anything that he thought of value for the campaign, and divided it +among the most meritorious, convinced that every gain to the army was +an adornment to himself. + +[7] At every distribution he would take occasion to address the +officers and all whom he chose to honour in some such words as these: +"My friends, the god of mirth must be with us to-day: we have found a +source of plenty, and we have the wherewithal to honour whom we wish +and as they may deserve. [8] Let us call to mind, all of us, the only +way in which these blessings can be won. We shall find it is by toil, +and watchfulness, and speed, and the resolve never to yield to our +foes. After this pattern must we prove ourselves to be men, knowing +that all high delights and all great joys are only gained by obedience +and hardihood, and through pains endured and dangers confronted in +their proper season." + +[9] But presently, when Cyrus saw that his men were strong enough for +all the work of war, and bold enough to meet their enemies with scorn, +expert and skilful in the use of the weapons each man bore, and all of +them perfect in obedience and discipline, the desire grew in his heart +to be up and doing and achieve something against the foe. He knew well +how often a general has found delay ruin his fairest armament. [10] He +noticed, moreover, that in the eagerness of rivalry and the strain of +competition many of the soldiers grew jealous of each other; and for +this, if for no other reason, he desired to lead them into the enemy's +country without delay, feeling that common dangers awaken comradeship +among those who are fighting in a common cause, and then all such +bickerings cease, and no man is galled by the splendour of his +comrade's arms, or the passion of his desire for glory: envy is +swallowed up in praise, and each competitor greets his rivals with +delight as fellow-workers for the common good. + +[11] Therefore Cyrus ordered his whole force to assemble under arms, +and drew them up into battle-array, using all his skill to make the +display a wonder of beauty and perfection. Then he summoned his chief +officers, his generals, his brigadiers, and his company-captains. +These men were not bound to be always in the ranks, and some were +always free to wait on the commander-in-chief or carry orders along +the lines without leaving the troops unofficered: for the captains-of- +twelve and the captains-of-six stepped into the gaps, and absolute +order was preserved. [12] So Cyrus assembled his staff and led them +along the lines, pointing out the merits of the combined forces and +the special strength of each, and thus he kindled in their hearts the +passion for achievement, and then he bade them return to their +regiments and repeat the lessons he had taught them, trying to implant +in their own men the same desire for action, so that one and all might +sally out in the best of heart; and the next morning they were to +present themselves at Cyaxares' gates. [13] So the officers went away +and did as he commanded, and the next morning at daybreak they +assembled at the trysting-place, and Cyrus met them and came before +Cyaxares and said to him: + +"I know well that what I am about to say must often have been in your +own mind, but you have shrunk from suggesting it yourself lest it seem +that you were weary of supporting us. [14] Therefore since you must +keep silence, let me speak for both of us. We are all agreed that +since our preparations are complete we should not wait until the enemy +invades our territory before we give him battle, nor loiter here in a +friendly land, but attack him on his own ground with what speed we +may. [15] For while we linger here, we injure your property in spite +of ourselves, but once on the enemy's soil, we can damage his, and +that with the best will in the world. [16] As things are, you must +maintain us, and the cost is great; but once launched on foreign +service, we can maintain ourselves, and at our foe's expense. [17] +Possibly, if it were more dangerous to go forward than to stay here, +the more cautious might seem the wiser plan. But whether we stay or +whether we go, the enemy's numbers will be the same, and so will ours, +whether we receive them here or join battle with them there. [18] +Moreover, the spirit of our soldiers will be all the higher and all +the bolder if they feel that they are marching against the foe and not +cowering before him; and his alarm will be all the greater when he +hears that we are not crouching at home in terror but coming out to +meet him as soon as we have heard of his advance, eager to close at +once, not holding back until our territory suffers, but prompt to +seize the moment and ravage his own land first. [19] Indeed," he +added, "if we do no more than quicken our own courage and his fears, I +would reckon it a substantial gain, and count it so much the less +danger for us and so much the more for him. My father never tires of +telling me what I have heard you say yourself, and what all the world +admits, that battles are decided more by the character of the troops +than by their bodily strength." + +[20] He ended, and Cyaxares answered: + +"Cyrus, both you and all my Persian friends may feel sure that I find +it no trouble to maintain you; do not imagine such a thing; but I +agree with you that the time is ripe for an advance on the enemy's +land." + +"Then," said Cyrus, "since we are all of one mind, let us make our +final preparations, and, if heaven will, let us set forth without +delay." + +[21] So they bade the soldiers prepare for the start, and Cyrus +offered sacrifices to Zeus the Lord and to the other gods in due +order, and prayed, "Look on us with favour, and be gracious to us; +guide our army, stand beside us in the battle, aid us in council, help +us in action, be the comrades of the brave." Also he called upon the +Heroes of Media, who dwell in the land and guard it. [22] Then, when +the signs were favourable and his army was mustered on the frontier, +he felt that the moment had come, and with all good omens to support +him, he invaded the enemy's land. And so soon as he had crossed the +border he offered libations to the Earth and victims to the gods, and +sought to win the favour of the Heroes who guard Assyria. And having +so done, once more he sacrificed to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and +was careful to reverence every other god who came before his mind. + +[23] But when these duties were fulfilled, there was no further pause. +He pushed his infantry on at once, a short day's march, and then +encamped, while the cavalry made a swift descent and captured much +spoil of every kind. For the future they had only to shift their camp +from time to time, and they found supplies in abundance, and could +ravage the enemy's land at their ease while waiting his approach. [24] +Presently news came of his advance: he was said to be barely ten days' +off, and at that Cyrus went to Cyaxares and said: "The hour has come, +and we must face the enemy. Let it not seem to friend or foe that we +fear the encounter: let us show them that we enjoy the fight." + +[25] Cyaxares agreed, and they moved forward in good order, marching +each day as far as appeared desirable. They were careful to take their +evening meal by daylight, and at night they lit no fires in the camp: +they made them in front of it, so that in case of attack they might +see their assailants, while they themselves remained unseen. And often +they lit other fires in their rear as well, to deceive the enemy; so +that at times the Assyrian scouts actually fell in with the advance- +guard, having fancied from the distance of the fires that they were +still some way from the encampment. + +[26] Meanwhile the Assyrians and their allies, as the two armies came +into touch, halted, and threw up an entrenchment, just as all +barbarian leaders do to-day, whenever they encamp, finding no +difficulty in the work because of the vast numbers at their command, +and knowing that cavalry may easily be thrown into confusion and +become unmanageable, especially if they are barbarians. [27] The +horses must be tethered at their stalls, and in case of attack a dozen +difficulties arise: the soldier must loose his steed in the dark, +bridle and saddle him, put on his own armour, mount, and then gallop +through the camp, and this last it is quite impossible to do. +Therefore the Assyrians, like all barbarians, throw up entrenchments +round their position, and the mere fact of being inside a fastness +leaves them, they consider, the choice of fighting at any moment they +think fit. [28] So the two armies drew nearer and nearer, and when +they were about four miles apart, the Assyrians proceeded to encamp in +the manner described: their position was completely surrounded by a +trench, but also perfectly visible, while Cyrus took all the cover he +could find, screening himself behind villages and hillocks, in the +conviction that the more sudden the disclosure of a hostile force the +greater will be the enemy's alarm. + +[29] During the first night neither army did more than post the +customary guards before they went to sleep, and on the next day the +king of Assyria, and Croesus, and their officers, still kept the +troops within their lines. But Cyrus and Cyaxares drew up their men, +prepared to fight if the enemy advanced. + +Ere long it was plain that they would not venture out that day, and +Cyaxares summoned Cyrus and his staff and said: + +[30] "I think, gentlemen, it would be well for us to march up to the +breastworks in our present order, and show them that we wish to fight. +If we do so," he added, "and they refuse our challenge, it will +increase the confidence of our own men, and the mere sight of our +boldness will add to the enemy's alarm." + +[31] So it seemed to Cyaxares, but Cyrus protested: "In the name of +heaven, Cyaxares, let us do no such thing. By such an advance we +should only reveal our numbers to them: they would watch us at their +ease, conscious that they are safe from any danger, and when we retire +without doing them any harm they will have another look at us and +despise us because of our inferiority in numbers, and to-morrow they +will come out much emboldened. [32] At present," he added, "they know +that we are here, but they have not seen us, and you may be sure they +do not despise us; they are asking what all this means, and they never +cease discussing the problem; of that I am convinced. They ought not +to see us until they sally out, and in that moment we ought to come to +grips with them, thankful to have caught them as we have so long +desired." + +[33] So Cyrus spoke, and Cyaxares and the others were convinced, and +waited. In the evening they took their meal, and posted their pickets +and lit watch-fires in front of their outposts, and so turned to +sleep. [34] But early the next morning Cyrus put a garland on his head +and went out to offer sacrifice, and sent word to all the Peers of +Persia to join him, wearing garlands like himself. And when the rite +was over, he called them together and said: "Gentlemen, the +soothsayers tell us, and I agree, that the gods announce by the signs +in the victims that the battle is at hand, and they assure us of +victory, they promise us salvation. [35] I should be ashamed to +admonish you at such a season, or tell you how to bear yourselves: I +do not forget that we have all been brought up in the same school, you +have learnt the same lessons as I, and practised them day by day, and +you might well instruct others. But you may not have noticed one +point, and for this I would ask a hearing. [36] Our new comrades, the +men we desire to make our peers--it may be well to remind them of the +terms on which Cyaxares has kept us and of our daily discipline, the +goal for which we asked their help, and the race in which they +promised to be our friendly rivals. [37] Remind them also that this +day will test the worth of every man. With learners late in life, we +cannot wonder if now and then a prompter should be needed: it is much +to be thankful for if they show themselves good men and true with the +help of a reminder. [38] Moreover, while you help them you will be +putting your own powers to the test. He who can give another strength +at such a crisis may well have confidence in his own, whereas one who +keeps his ideal to himself and is content with that, ought to remember +that he is only half a man. [39] There is another reason," he added, +"why I do not speak to them myself, but ask you to do so. I want them +to try to please you: you are nearer to them than I, each of you to +the men of his own division: and be well assured that if you show +yourselves stout-hearted you will be teaching them courage, and others +too, by deeds as well as words." + +[40] With that Cyrus dismissed them, and bade them break their fast +and make libation, and then take their places in the ranks, still +wearing their garlands on their heads. As they went away he summoned +the leaders of the rearguard and gave them his instructions: + +[41] "Men of Persia, you have been made Peers and chosen for special +duties, because we think you equal to the best in other matters, and +wiser than most in virtue of your age. The post that you hold is every +whit as honourable as theirs who form the front: from your position in +the rear you can single out the gallant fighters, and your praise will +make them outdo themselves in valour, while if any man should be +tempted to give way, your eyes will be upon him and you will not +suffer it. [42] Victory will mean even more to you than to the others, +because of your age and the weight of your equipment. If the men in +front call on you to follow, answer readily, and let them see that you +can hold your own with them, shout back to them, and bid them lead on +quicker still. And now," said he, "go back and take your breakfast, +and then join your ranks with the rest, wearing your garlands on your +heads." + +[43] Thus Cyrus and his men made their preparations, and meanwhile the +Assyrians on their side took their breakfast, and then sallied forth +boldly and drew up in gallant order. It was the king himself who +marshalled them, driving past in his chariot and encouraging his +troops. + +[44] "Men of Assyria," he said, "to-day you must show your valour. +To-day you fight for your lives and your land, the land where you were +born and the homes where you were bred, and for your wives and your +children, and all the blessings that are yours. If you win, you will +possess them all in safety as before, but if you lose, you must +surrender them into the hands of your enemies. [45] Abide, therefore, +and do battle as though you were enamoured of victory. It would be +folly for her lovers to turn their backs to the foe, sightless, +handless, helpless, and a fool is he who flies because he longs to +live, for he must know that safety comes to those who conquer, but +death to those who flee; and fools are they whose hearts are set on +riches, but whose spirits are ready to admit defeat. It is the victor +who preserves his own possessions and wins the property of those whom +he overcomes: the conquered lose themselves and all they call their +own." + +[46] Thus spoke the king of Assyria. + +But meanwhile Cyaxares sent to Cyrus saying that the moment for attack +had come. "Although," he added, "there are as yet but few of them +outside the trenches, by the time we have advanced there will be quite +enough. Let us not wait until they outnumber us, but charge at once +while we are satisfied we can master them easily." + +[47] But Cyrus answered him, "Unless those we conquer are more than +half their number, they are sure to say that we attacked when they +were few, because we were afraid of their full force, and in their +hearts they will not feel that they are beaten; and we shall have to +fight another battle, when perhaps they will make a better plan than +they have made to-day, delivering themselves into our hands one by +one, to fight with as we choose." + +[48] So the messengers took back his reply, but meanwhile Chrysantas +and certain other Peers came to Cyrus bringing Assyrian deserters with +them, and Cyrus, as a general would, questioned the fugitives about +the enemy's doings, and they told him that the Assyrians were marching +out in force and that the king himself had crossed the trenches and +was marshalling his troops, addressing them in stirring words, as all +the listeners said. [49] Then Chrysantas turned to Cyrus: + +"What if you also were to summon our men, while there is yet time, and +inspire them with your words?" + +[50] But Cyrus answered: + +"Do not be disturbed by the thought of the Assyrian's exhortations; +there are no words so fine that they can turn cowards into brave men +on the day of hearing, nor make good archers out of bad, nor doughty +spearmen, nor skilful riders, no, nor even teach men to use their arms +and legs if they have not learnt before." + +[51] "But," replied Chrysantas, "could you not make the brave men +braver still, and the good better?" + +"What!" cried Cyrus, "can one solitary speech fill the hearer's soul +on the selfsame day with honour and uprightness, guard him from all +that is base, spur him to undergo, as he ought, for the sake of glory +every toil and every danger, implant in him the faith that it is +better to die sword in hand than to escape by flight? [52] If such +thoughts are ever to be engraved in the hearts of men and there abide, +we must begin with the laws, and frame them so that the righteous can +count on a life of honour and liberty, while the bad have to face +humiliation, suffering, and pain, and a life that is no life at all. +[53] And then we ought to have tutors and governors to instruct and +teach and train our citizens until the belief is engendered in their +souls that the righteous and the honourable are the happiest of all +men born, and the bad and the infamous the most miserable. This is +what our men must feel if they are to show that their schooling can +triumph over their terror of the foe. [54] Surely, if in the moment of +onset, amid the clash of arms, at a time when lessons long learnt seem +suddenly wiped away, it were possible for any speaker, by stringing a +few fine sentiments together, to manufacture warriors out of hand, +why, it would be the easiest thing in all the world to teach men the +highest virtue man can know. [55] For my own part," he added, "I would +not trust our new comrades yonder, whom we have trained ourselves, to +stand firm this day unless they saw you at their side, to be examples +unto them and to remind them if they forget. As for men who are +utterly undisciplined, I should be astonished if any speech, however +splendid, did one whit more to encourage valour in their hearts than a +song well sung could do to make a musician of a man who had no music +in his soul." + +[56] But while they were speaking, Cyaxares sent again, saying that +Cyrus did ill to loiter instead of advancing against the enemy with +all speed. And Cyrus sent back word there and then by the messengers: + +"Tell Cyaxares once more, that even now there are not as many before +us as we need. And tell him this so that all may hear. But add that, +if it so please him, I will advance at once." + +[57] So saying and with one prayer to the gods, he led his troops into +battle. + +Once the advance began he quickened the pace, and his men followed in +perfect order, steadily, swiftly, joyously, brimful of emulation, +hardened by toil, trained by their long discipline, every man in the +front a leader, and all of them alert. They had laid to heart the +lesson of many a day that it was always safest and easiest to meet +enemies at close quarters, especially archers, javelin-men, and +cavalry. [58] While they were still out of range, Cyrus sent the +watchword along the lines, "Zeus our help and Zeus our leader." And as +soon as it was returned to him, he sounded the first notes of the +battle-paean, and the men took up the hymn devoutly, in one mighty +chorus. For at such times those who fear the gods have less fear of +their fellow-men. [59] And when the chant was over, the Peers of +Persia went forward side by side, radiant, high-bred, disciplined, a +band of gallant comrades; they looked into each other's eyes, they +called each other by name, with many a cheery cry, "Forward, friends, +forward, gallant gentlemen!" And the rear-ranks heard the call, and +sent back a ringing cheer, bidding the van lead on. The whole army of +Cyrus was brimming with courage and zeal and strength and hardihood +and comradeship and self-control; more terrible, I imagine, to an +opponent than aught else could be. [60] On the Assyrian side, those in +the van who fought from the chariots, as soon as the mass of the +Persian force drew near, leapt back and drove to their own main body; +but the archers, javelin-men, and slingers, let fly long before they +were in range. [61] And as the Persians steadily advanced, stepping +over the spent missiles, Cyrus called to his men: + +"Forward now, bravest of the brave! Show us what your pace can be!" + +They caught the word and passed it on, and in their eagerness and +passion for the fray some of the leaders broke into a run, and the +whole phalanx followed at their heels. [62] Cyrus himself gave up the +regular march and dashed forward at their head, shouting: + +"Brave men to the front! Who follows me? Who will lay the first +Assyrian low?" + +At this the men behind took up the shout till it rang through the +field like a battle-cry: "Who follows? Brave men to the front!" [63] +Thus the Persians closed. But the enemy could not hold their ground; +they turned and fled to their entrenchments. [64] The Persians swept +after them, many a warrior falling as they crowded in at the gates or +tumbled into the trenches. For in the rout some of the chariots were +carried into the fosse, and the Persians sprang down after them and +slew man and horse where they fell. [65] Then the Median troopers, +seeing how matters stood, charged the Assyrian cavalry, who swerved +and broke before them, chased and slaughtered, horse and rider, by +their conquerors. [66] Meanwhile the Assyrians within the camp, though +they stood upon the breastworks, had neither wit nor power to draw bow +or fling spear against the destroyers, dazed as they were by their +panic and the horror of the sight. Then came the tidings that the +Persians had cut their way through to the gates, and at that they fled +from the breastworks. [67] The women, seeing the rout in the camp, +fell to wailing and lamentations, running hither and thither in utter +dismay, young maidens, and mothers with children in their arms, +rending their garments and tearing their cheeks and crying on all they +met, "Leave us not, save us, save your children and yourselves!" [68] +Then the princes gathered the trustiest men and stood at the gates, +fighting on the breastworks themselves, and urging their troops to +make a stand. [69] Cyrus, seeing this, and fearing that if his handful +of Persians forced their way into the camp they would be overborne by +numbers, gave the order to fall back out of range. [70] Then was shown +the perfect discipline of the Peers; at once they obeyed the order and +passed it on at once. And when they were all out of range they halted +and reformed their ranks, better than any chorus could have done, +every man of them knowing exactly where he ought to be. + + + NOTES + +C1.6. Oriental in feeling; situation well realised. Hellenic = +Oriental, also in part perhaps. Also, we know the Oriental through the +medium of Greek to a great extent (cf. Greek Testament, and earlier +still LXX.). + +C1.8, init. Cf. Joseph and his brethren for this hardening of his +heart. + +C1.11. Hellenic political ethics = modern in this matter, apart from +modern theory of nationalism, i.e. right of nations to exist free. + +C1.12. Quite after the manner of an advocate in a Greek law-court, but +also Oriental (cf. David and Nathan the seer). + +C1.24. Fear of exile; autobiographical touch? Is anything passing +through the mind of Xenophon? I dare say there is. [Xenophon was +banished from his native city of Athens because of his friendship with +Sparta and with Cyrus the Younger. See Works, Vol. I. p. xcix.] + +C1.33, fin. 3000 talents. Something under £750,000. + +C1.35. Cyrus drives home the conscience of indebtedness /à la/ Portia +v. Shylock. N.B.--Humorous also and an Oriental tinge. + +C1.38. One can't help thinking of Socrates and the people of Athens +here. If so, this is a quasi-apology for the Athenian /bons pères de +famille/ who condemned Socrates. Beautiful story of the sophist +teacher's last injunction to Tigranes. + +C1.40-41. What smiles after tears! Like a sunny day succeeding clouds +and blackness. A pretty story this, of the wife of Tigranes. +/Xenophon's women:/ this one, Pantheia, Croesus' wife, the wife of +Ischomachus (/Economist/), the daughter of Gobryas. + +C2.12. Archaeologically interesting. N.B.--Humanity towards wounded, +Hellenic. Xenophon's own strategy in the /Anabasis/ is probably the +prototype. + +C2.15. For Hellenic and Xenophontine religiousness. The +incalculableness of human life: God fulfils himself in many unforeseen +ways. N.B.--Irony also of the situation, since Cyrus doesn't intend +the Armenian to triumph over the Chaldaean in the way he anticipates. + +C2.20. Note how Socratically it is made to work itself out. + +C3. Cyrus, the Archic Man, the "born ruler," is also the diplomatic +man (cf., no doubt, Gladstone), a diplomacy based on organic economic +sense and friendly-naturedness. + +C3.10. Xenophon's theory of fraternity in action, all petty jealousies +brushed aside. + +[C3.11. The "captains-of-twelve" and the "captains-of-six" are the +same officers as those called elsewhere "captains-of-ten" and +"captains-of-five" (cf. above Bk. II. C2.21 note). The titles vary +because sometimes the officers themselves are included in the squads +and sometimes not.] + +C3.19. Nice touch, quoting his father as an authority. + +C3.40. With garlands, like the Spartans. Was it conceivably a Persian +custom too? + +C3.44. Assyrian's speech; not a bad one, though platitudinous. +Xenophon's dramatic form is shown in the intellectual and emotional +side of his characters, rather than by the diction in their mouths, is +it not? + +C3.51-52. Most important for Xenophon, Educationalist. Cyrus on the +powerlessness of a speech to create valour in the soul of the +untrained: there must be a physical, moral, and spiritual training +there beforehand. The speech is in Xenophon's best earnest rhetorical +style. + +C3.57. The march into battle, /vide/ Milton. A beautiful bit of word- +painting. + +C3.58. Cf. the Prussian army singing a hymn [in 1870]. + + + + BOOK IV + +[C.1] Cyrus waited, with his troops as they were, long enough to show +that he was ready to do battle again if the enemy would come out; but +as they did not stir he drew the soldiers off as far as he thought +well, and there encamped. He had guards posted and scouts sent +forward, and then he gathered his warriors round him and spoke to them +as follows: + +[2] "Men of Persia, first and foremost I thank the gods of heaven with +all my soul and strength; and I know you render thanks with me, for we +have won salvation and victory, and it is meet and right to thank the +gods for all that comes to us. But in the next place I must praise +you, one and all; it is through you all that this glorious work has +been accomplished, and when I have learnt what each man's part has +been from those whose place it is to tell me, I will do my best to +give each man his due, in word and deed. [3] But I need none to tell +me the exploits of your brigadier Chrysantas; he was next to me in the +battle and I could see that he bore himself as I believe you all have +done. Moreover, at the very moment when I called on him to retire, he +had just raised his sword to strike an Assyrian down, but he heard my +voice, and at once he dropped his hand and did my bidding. He sent the +word along the lines and led his division out of range before the +enemy could lay one arrow to the string or let one javelin fly. Thus +he brought himself and his men safely out of action, because he had +learnt to obey. [4] But some of you, I see, are wounded, and when I +hear at what moment they received their wounds I will pronounce my +opinion on their deserts. Chrysantas I know already to be a true +soldier and a man of sense, able to command because he is able to +obey, and here and now I put him at the head of a thousand troops, nor +shall I forget him on the day when God may please to give me other +blessings. [5] There is one reminder I would make to all. Never let +slip the lesson of this day's encounter, and judge for yourselves +whether it is cowardice or courage that saves a man in war, whether +the fighters or the shirkers have the better chance, and what the joy +is that victory can yield. To-day of all days you can decide, for you +have made the trial and the result is fresh. [6] With such thoughts as +these in your hearts you will grow braver and better still. And now +you may rest in the consciousness that you are dear to God and have +done your duty bravely and steadily, and so take your meal and make +your libations and sing the paean and be ready for the watchword." + +So saying, Cyrus mounted his horse and galloped on to Cyaxares, and +the two rejoiced together as victors will. And then, after a glance at +matters there and an inquiry if aught were needed, he rode back to his +own detachment. Then the evening meal was taken and the watches were +posted and Cyrus slept with his men. + +[8] Meanwhile the Assyrians, finding that their king was among the +slain and almost all his nobles with him, fell into utter despair, and +many of them deserted during the night. And at this fear crept over +Croesus and the allies; they saw dangers on every side, and heaviest +of all was the knowledge that the leading nation, the head of the +whole expedition, had received a mortal blow. Nothing remained but to +abandon the encampment under cover of night. [9] Day broke, and the +camp was seen to be deserted, and Cyrus, without more ado, led his +Persians within the entrenchments, where they found the stores that +the enemy had left: herds of sheep and goats and kine, and long rows +of waggons laden with good things. Cyaxares and his Medes followed, +and all arms took their breakfast in the camp. [10] But when the meal +was over, Cyrus summoned his brigadiers and said to them: + +"Think what blessings we are flinging away now, spurning, as it were, +the very gifts of heaven! So at least it seems to me. The enemy have +given us the slip, as you see with your own eyes. Is it likely that +men who forsook the shelter of their own fortress will ever face us in +fair field on level ground? Will those who shrink from us before they +put our prowess to the test ever withstand us now when we have +overthrown and shattered them? They have lost their best and bravest, +and will the cowards dare to give us battle?" + +[11] At that one of his officers cried, "Why not pursue at once, if +such triumphs are before us?" + +And Cyrus answered, "Because we have not the horses. The stoutest of +our enemies, those whom we must seize or slay, are mounted on steeds +that could sweep past us like the wind. God helping us, we can put +them to flight, but we cannot overtake them." + +[12] "Then," said they, "why not go and lay the matter before +Cyaxares?" + +And he answered, "If so, you must all go with me, that Cyaxares may +see it is the wish of all." + +So they all went together and spoke as they thought best. [13] Now +Cyaxares felt, no doubt, a certain jealousy that the Persians should +be the first to broach the matter, but he may also have felt that it +was really wiser to run no further risks for the present; he had, +moreover, abandoned himself to feasting and merrymaking, and he saw +that most of his Medes were in like case. Whatever the reason, this +was the answer he gave: + +[14] "My good nephew, I have always heard and always seen that you +Persians of all men think it your duty never to be insatiate in the +pursuit of any pleasure; and I myself believe that the greater the joy +the more important is self-restraint. Now what greater joy could there +be than the good fortune which waits on us to-day? [15] When fortune +comes to us, if we guard her with discretion, we may live to grow old +in peace, but if we are insatiate, if we use and abuse our pleasures, +chasing first one and then another, we may well fear lest that fate be +ours which, the proverb tells us, falls on those mariners who cannot +forgo their voyages in the pursuit of wealth, and one day the deep sea +swallows them. Thus has many a warrior achieved one victory only to +clutch at another and lose the first. [16] If indeed, our enemies who +have fled were weaker than we, it might be safe enough to pursue them. +But now, bethink you, how small a portion of them we have fought and +conquered; the mass have had no part in the battle, and they, if we do +not force them to fight, will take themselves off through sheer +cowardice and sloth. As yet they know nothing of our powers or their +own, but if they learn that to fly is as dangerous as to hold their +ground, we run the risk of driving them to be brave in spite of +themselves. [17] You may be sure they are just as anxious to save +their wives and children as you can be to capture them. Take a lesson +from hunting: the wild sow when she is sighted will scamper away with +her young, though she be feeding with the herd; but if you attack her +little ones she will never fly, even if she is all alone; she will +turn on the hunters. [18] Yesterday the enemy shut themselves up in a +fort, and then handed themselves over to us to choose how many we +cared to fight. But if we meet them in open country, and they learn +how to divide their forces and take us in front and flank and rear, I +wonder how many pairs of eyes and hands each man of us would need! +Finally," he added, "I have no great wish myself to disturb my Medes +in their enjoyment, and drive them out to further dangers." + +[19] Then Cyrus took him up: "Nay, I would not have you put pressure +on any man; only let those who are willing follow me, and perhaps we +shall come back with something for all of you to enjoy. The mass of +the enemy we should not think of pursuing; indeed, how could we +overtake them? But if we cut off any stragglers, we could clap hands +on them and bring them back to you. [20] Remember," he added, "when +you sent for us, we came a long way to do you service; is it not fair +that you should do us a kindness in return, and let us have something +to take back with us for ourselves, and not stand here agape at all +your treasures?" + +[21] At that Cyaxares answered, "Ah, if any will follow you of their +own free will, I can but be most grateful." + +"Send some one with me then," said Cyrus, "from these trusty men of +yours, to carry your commands." + +"Take whomever you like," he answered, "and begone." + +[22] Now, as it chanced, among the officers present was the Mede who +had claimed kinship with Cyrus long ago and won a kiss thereby. Cyrus +pointed to him and said, "That man will do for me." "He shall go with +you then," Cyaxares replied. And turning to the officer, "Tell your +fellows," he said, "that he who lists may follow Cyrus." [23] Thus +Cyrus chose his man and went forth. And when they were outside he +said, "To-day you can show me if you spoke truth long ago when you +told me that the sight of me was your joy." + +"If you say that," said the Mede, "I will never leave you." + +"And will you not do your best," added Cyrus, "to bring me others +too?" "By the gods in heaven," cried the Mede, "that I will, until you +say in your turn that to see me is your joy." Thereupon, with the +authority of Cyaxares to support him, the officer went to the Medes +and delivered with message with all diligence, adding that he for one +would never forsake Cyrus, the bravest, noblest, and best of men, and +a hero whose lineage was divine. + +[C.2] While Cyrus was busied with these matters, by some strange +chance two ambassadors arrived from the Hyrcanians. These people are +neighbours of the Assyrians, and being few in number, they were held +in subjection. But they seemed then, as they seem now, to live on +horseback. Hence the Assyrians used them as the Lacedaemonians employ +the Skirites, for every toil and every danger, without sparing them. +In fact, at that very moment they had ordered them to furnish a rear- +guard of a thousand men and more, so as to bear the brunt of any rear +attack. [2] The Hyrcanians, as they were to be the hindmost, had put +their waggons and families in the rear, for, like most of the tribes +in Asia, they take their entire households with them on the march. [3] +But when they thought of the sorry treatment they got from the +Assyrians and when they saw the king fallen, the army worsted and a +prey to panic, the allies disheartened and ready to desert, they +judged it a fine moment to revolt themselves, if only the Medes and +Persians would make common cause with them. So they sent an embassy to +Cyrus, for after the late battle there was no name like his. [4] They +told him what good cause they had to hate the Assyrians, and how if he +was willing to attack them now, they themselves would be his allies +and show him the way. At the same time they gave a full account of the +enemy's doings, being eager to get Cyrus on the road. [5] "Do you +think," said Cyrus, "we should overtake the Assyrians before they +reach their fortresses? We look on it as a great misfortune," he +added, "that they ever slipped through our fingers and escaped." (This +he said, wishing to give his hearers as high an opinion as possible of +himself and his friends.) [6] "You should certainly catch them," they +answered, "and that to-morrow, ere the day is old, if you gird up your +loins: they move heavily because of their numbers and their train of +waggons, and to-day, since they did not sleep last night, they have +only gone a little way ahead, and are now encamped for the evening." + +[7] "Can you give us any guarantee," said Cyrus, "that what you say is +true?" + +"We will give you hostages," they said; "we will ride off at once and +bring them back this very night. Only do you on your side call the +gods to witness and give us the pledge of your own right hand, that we +may give our people the assurance we have received from you +ourselves." + +[8] Thereupon Cyrus gave them his pledge that if they would make good +what they promised he would treat them as his true friends and +faithful followers, of no less account than the Persians and the +Medes. And to this day one may see Hyrcanians treated with trust and +holding office on an equal footing with Persians and Medes of high +distinction. + +[9] Now Cyrus and his men took their supper and then while it was +still daylight he led his army out, having made the two Hyrcanians +wait so that they might go with them. The Persians, of course, were +with him to a man, and Tigranes was there, with his own contingent, +and the Median volunteers, who had joined for various reasons. [10] +Some had been friends of Cyrus in boyhood, others had hunted with him +and learnt to admire his character, others were grateful, feeling he +had lifted a load of fear from them, others were flushed with hope, +nothing doubting that great things were reserved for the man who had +proved so brave and so fortunate already. Others remembered the time +when he was brought up in Media, and were glad to return the +kindnesses that he had shown them; many could recall the favours the +boy had won for them from his grandfather through his sheer goodness +of heart; and many, now that they had seen the Hyrcanians and heard +say they were leading them to untold treasures, went out from simple +love of gain. [11] So they sallied forth, the entire body of the +Persians and all the Medes, except those who were quartered with +Cyaxares: these stayed behind, and their men with them. But all the +rest went out with radiant faces and eager hearts, not following him +from constraint, but offering willing service in their gratitude. [12] +So, as soon as they were well afield, Cyrus went to the Medes and +thanked them, praying that the gods in their mercy might guide them +all, and that he himself might have power given him to reward their +zeal. He ended by saying that the infantry would lead the van, while +they would follow with the cavalry, and whenever the column halted on +the march they were to send him gallopers to receive his orders. [13] +Then he bade the Hyrcanians lead the way, but they exclaimed, "What? +Are you not going to wait until we bring the hostages? Then you could +begin the march with pledges from us in return for yours." + +But he answered, as the story says, "If I am not mistaken, we hold the +pledges now, in our own hearts and our own right hands. We believe +that if you are true to us we can do you service, and if you play us +false, you will not have us at your mercy; God willing, we shall hold +you at ours. Nevertheless," he added, "since you tell us your own folk +follow in the Assyrian rear, point them out to us as soon as you set +eyes upon them, that we may spare their lives." + +[14] When the Hyrcanians heard this they led the way as he ordered, +marvelling at his strength of soul. Their own fear of the Assyrians, +the Lydians, and their allies, had altogether gone; their dread now +was lest Cyrus should regard themselves as mere dust in the balance, +and count it of no importance whether they stayed with him or not. + +[15] As night closed in on their march, the legend runs that a strange +light shone out, far off in the sky, upon Cyrus and his host, filling +them with awe of the heavenly powers and courage to meet the foe. +Marching as they did, their loins girt and their pace swift, they +covered a long stretch of road in little time, and with the half light +of the morning they were close to the Hyrcanian rear-guard. [16] As +soon as the guides saw it, they told Cyrus that these were their own +men: they knew this, they added, from the number of their fires, and +the fact that they were in the rear. [17] Therefore Cyrus sent one of +the guides to them, bidding them come out at once, if they were +friendly, with their right hands raised. And he sent one of his own +men also to say, "According as you make your approach, so shall we +Persians comport ourselves." + +Thus one of the two messengers stayed with Cyrus while the other rode +up to his fellows. [18] Cyrus halted his army to watch what the tribe +would do, and Tigranes and the Median officers rode along the ranks to +ask for orders. Cyrus explained that the troops nearest to them were +the Hyrcanians, and that one of the ambassadors had gone, and a +Persian with him, to bid them come out at once, if they were friendly, +with their right hands raised. "If they do so," he added, "you must +welcome them as they come, each of you at your post, and take them by +the hand and encourage them, but if they draw sword or try to escape, +you must make an example of them: not a man of them must be left." + +Such were his orders. [19] However, as soon as the Hyrcanians heard +the message, they were overjoyed: springing to their steeds they +galloped up to Cyrus, holding out their right hands as he had bidden. +Then the Medes and Persians gave them the right hand of fellowship in +return, and bade them be of courage. [20] And Cyrus spoke: + +"Sons of the Hyrcanians, we have shown our trust in you already, and +you must trust us in return. And now tell me, how far from here do the +Assyrian headquarters lie, and their main body?" "About four miles +hence," they answered. + +[21] "Forward then, my men," said Cyrus, "Persians, Medes, and +Hyrcanians. I have learnt already, you see, to call you friends and +comrades. All of you must remember that the moment has come when, if +hand falters or heart fails, we meet with utter disaster: our enemies +know why we are here. But if we summon our strength and charge home, +you shall see them caught like a pack of runaway slaves, some on their +knees, others in full flight, and the rest unable to do even so much +for themselves. They are beaten already, and they will see their +conquerors fall on them before they dream of an approach, before their +ranks are formed or their preparations made, and the sight will +paralyse them. [22] If we wish to sleep and eat and live in peace and +happiness from this time forth, let us not give them leisure to take +counsel or arrange defence, or so much as see that we are men, and not +a storm of shields and battle-axes and flashing swords, sweeping on +them in one rain of blows. [23] You Hyrcanians must go in front of us +as a screen, that we may lie behind you as long as may be. And as soon +as I close with them, you must give me, each of you, a squadron of +horse, to use in case of need while I am waiting at the camp. [24] I +would advise the older men among you and the officers, to ride in +close order, so that your ranks should not be broken, if you come +across a compact body of the foe; let the younger men give chase, and +do the killing; our safest plan to-day is to leave as few of the enemy +alive as possible. [25] And if we conquer," he added, "we must beware +of what has overset the fortune of many a conqueror ere now, I mean +the lust for plunder. The man who plunders is no longer a man, he is a +machine for porterage, and all who list may treat him as a slave. [26] +One thing we must bear in mind: nothing can bring such gain as +victory; at one clutch the victor seizes all, men and women, and +wealth, and territory. Therefore make it your one object to secure the +victory; if he is conquered, the greatest plunderer is caught. One +more word--remember, even in the heat of pursuit to rejoin me while it +is still daylight, for when darkness has fallen we will not admit a +soul within the lines." + +[27] With these words he sent them off to their appointed stations, +bidding them repeat his instructions on the way to their own +lieutenants, who were posted in front to receive the orders, and make +each of them pass down the word to his own file of ten. Thereupon the +advance began, the Hyrcanians leading off, Cyrus holding the centre +himself, marching with his Persians, and the cavalry in the usual way, +drawn up on either flank. + +[28] As the day broke the enemy saw them for the first time: some +simply stared at what was happening, others began to realise the +truth, calling and shouting to each other, unfastening their horses, +getting their goods together, tearing what they needed off the beasts +of burden, and others arming themselves, harnessing their steeds, +leaping to horse, others helping the women into their carriages, or +seizing their valuables, some caught in the act of burying them, +others, and by far the greatest number, in sheer headlong flight. Many +and divers were their shifts, as one may well conceive, save only that +not one man stood at bay: they perished without a blow. [29] Now +Croesus, king of Lydia, seeing that it was summer-time, had sent his +women on during the night, so that they might travel more pleasantly +in the cool, and he himself had followed with his cavalry to escort +them. [30] The Lord of Hellespontine Phrygia, it is said, had done the +same. And these two, when they heard what was happening from the +fugitives who overtook them, fled for their lives with the rest. [31] +But it was otherwise with the kings of Cappadocia and Arabia; they had +not gone far, and they stood their ground, but they had not even time +to put on their corslets, and were cut down by the Hyrcanians. Indeed, +the mass of those who fell were Assyrians and Arabians, for, being in +their own country, they had taken no precautions on the march. [32] +The victorious Medes and the Hyrcanians had their hands full with the +chase, and meanwhile Cyrus made the cavalry who were left with him +ride all round the camp and cut down any man who left it with weapons +in his hands. Then he sent a herald to those who remained, bidding the +horsemen and targeteers and archers come out on foot, with their +weapons tied in bundles, and deliver them up to him, leaving their +horses in their stalls: he who disobeyed should lose his head, and a +cordon of Persian troops stood round with their swords drawn. [33] At +that the weapons were brought at once, and flung down, and Cyrus had +the whole pile burnt. + +[34] Meanwhile he did not forget that his own troops had come without +food or drink, that nothing could be done without provisions, and that +to obtain these in the quickest way, it was necessary on every +campaign to have some one to see that quarters were prepared and +supplies ready for the men on their return. [35] It occurred to him it +was more than likely that such officers, of all others, would be left +behind in the Assyrian camp, because they would have been delayed by +the packing. + +Accordingly, he sent out a proclamation that all the stewards should +present themselves before him, and if there was no such officer left, +the oldest man in every tent must take his place; any one failing to +obey would suffer the severest penalties. The stewards, following the +example of their masters, obeyed at once. And when they came before +him he ordered those who had more than two months' rations in their +quarters to sit down on the ground, and then those who had provisions +for one month. [36] Thereupon very few were left standing. [37] Having +thus got the information he needed, he spoke to them as follows: + +"Gentlemen, if any of you dislike hard blows and desire gentle +treatment at our hands, make it your business to provide twice as much +meat and drink in every tent as you have been wont to do, with all +things that are needed for a fine repast. The victors, whoever they +are, will be here anon, and will expect an overflowing board. You may +rest assured it will not be against your interests to give them a +welcome they can approve." + +[38] At that the stewards went off at once and set to work with all +zeal to carry out their instructions. Then Cyrus summoned his own +officers and said to them: + +"My friends, it is clear that we have it in our power, now that our +allies' backs are turned, to help ourselves to breakfast, and take our +choice of the most delicate dishes and the rarest wines. But I +scarcely think this would do us so much good as to show that we study +the interest of our friends: the best of cheer will not give us half +the strength we could draw from the zeal of loyal allies whose +gratitude we had won. [39] If we forget those who are toiling for us +now, pursuing our foes, slaying them, and fighting wherever they +resist, if they see that we sit down to enjoy ourselves and devour our +meal before we know how it goes with them, I fear we shall cut a sorry +figure in their eyes, and our strength will turn to weakness through +lack of friends. The true banquet for us is to study the wants of +those who have run the risk and done the work, to see that they have +all they need when they come home, a banquet that will give us richer +delight than any gorging of the belly. [40] And remember, that even if +the thought of them were not enough to shame us from it, in no case is +this a moment for gluttony and drunkenness: the thing we set our minds +to do is not yet done: everything is full of danger still, and calls +for carefulness. We have enemies in this camp ten times more numerous +than ourselves, and they are all at large: we need both to guard +against them and to guard them, so that we may have servants to +furnish us with supplies. Our cavalry are not yet back, and we must +ask ourselves where they are and whether they mean to stay with us +when they return. [41] Therefore, gentlemen, I would say, for the +present let us above all be careful to avoid the food and drink that +leads to slumber and stupefaction. [42] And there is another matter: +this camp contains vast treasures, and I am well aware we have it in +our power to pick and choose as much as we like for ourselves out of +what belongs by right to all who helped in its capture. But it does +not seem to me that grasping will be so lucrative as proving ourselves +just toward our allies, and so binding them closer. [43] I go further: +I say that we should leave the distribution of the spoil to the Medes, +the Hyrcanians, and Tigranes, and count it gain if they allot us the +smaller share, for then they will be all the more willing to stay with +us. [44] Selfishness now could only secure us riches for the moment, +while to let these vanities go in order to obtain the very fount of +wealth, that, I take it, will ensure for us and all whom we call ours +a far more enduring gain. [45] Was it not," he continued, "for this +very reason that we trained ourselves at home to master the belly and +its appetites, so that, if ever the need arose, we might turn our +education to account? And where, I ask, shall we find a nobler +opportunity than this, to show what we have learnt?" + +[46] Such were his words and Hystaspas the Persian rose to support +him, saying: + +"Truly, Cyrus, it would be a monstrous thing if we could go fasting +when we hunt, and keep from food so often and so long merely to lay +some poor beast low, worth next to nothing, maybe, and yet, when a +world of wealth is our quarry, let ourselves be baulked by one of +those temptations which flee before the noble and rule the bad. Such +conduct, methinks, would be little worthy of our race." + +[47] So Hystaspas spoke, and the rest approved him, one and all. Then +Cyrus said: + +"Come now, since we are all of one mind, each of you give me five of +the trustiest fellows in his company, and let them go the rounds, and +see how the supplies are furnished; let them praise the active +servants, and where they see neglect, chastise them more severely than +their own masters could." + +Thus they dealt with these matters. + +[C.3] But it was not long before some of the Medes returned: one set +had overtaken the waggons that had gone ahead, seized them and turned +them back, and were now driving them to the camp, laden with all that +an army could require, and others had captured the covered carriages +in which the women rode, the wives of the Assyrian grandees or their +concubines, whom they had taken with them because of their beauty. [2] +Indeed, to this day the tribes of Asia never go on a campaign without +their most precious property: they say they can fight better in the +presence of their beloved, feeling they must defend their treasures, +heart and soul. It may be so, but it may also be that the desire for +pleasure is the cause. + +[3] And when Cyrus saw the feats of arms that the Medes and the +Hyrcanians had performed, he came near reproaching himself and those +that were with him; the others, he felt, had risen with the time, had +shown their strength and won their prizes, while he and his had stayed +behind like sluggards. Indeed it was a sight to watch the victors +riding home, driving their spoil before them, pointing it out with +some display to Cyrus, and then dashing off again at once in search of +more, according to the instructions they had received. + +But though he ate out his heart with envy Cyrus was careful to set all +their booty apart; and then he summoned his own officers again, and +standing where they could all hear what he had to propose, he spoke as +follows: + +[4] "My friends, you would all agree, I take it, that if the spoils +displayed to us now were our own to keep, wealth would be showered on +every Persian in the land, and we ourselves, no doubt, through whom it +was won, would receive the most. But what I do not see is how we are +to get possession of such prizes unless we have cavalry of our own. +[5] Consider the facts," he continued, "we Persians have weapons with +which, we hope, we can rout the enemy at close quarters: but when we +do rout them, what sort of horsemen or archers or light-armed troops +could ever be caught and killed, if we can only pursue them on foot? +Why should they ever be afraid to dash up and harry us, when they know +full well that they run no greater risk at our hands than if we were +stumps in their orchards? [6] And if this be so, it is plain that the +cavalry now with us consider every gain to be as much theirs as ours, +and possibly even more, God wot! [7] At present things must be so: +there is no help for it. But suppose we were to provide ourselves with +as good a force as our friends, it must be pretty evident to all of +us, I think, that we could then deal with the enemy by ourselves +precisely as we do now with their help, and then perhaps we should +find that they would carry their heads less high. It would be of less +importance to us whether they chose to stay or go, we should be +sufficient for ourselves without them. [8] So far then I expect that +no one will disagree: if we could get a body of Persian cavalry it +would make all the difference to us; but no doubt you feel the +question is, how are we to get it? Well, let us consider first, +suppose we decide to raise the force, exactly what we have to start +with and what we need. [9] We certainly have hundreds of horses now +captured in this camp, with their bridles and all their gear. Besides +these, we have all the accoutrements for a mounted force, breast- +plates to protect the trunk, and light spears to be flung or wielded +at close quarters. What else do we need? It is plain we need men. [10] +But that is just what we have already at our own command. For nothing +is so much ours as our own selves. Only, some will say, we have not +the necessary skill. No, of course not, and none of those who have it +now had it either before they learnt to get it. Ah, you object, but +they learnt when they were boys. [11] Maybe; but are boys more capable +of learning what they are taught then grown men? Which are the better +at heavy physical tasks, boys or men? [12] Besides, we, of all pupils, +have advantages that neither boys nor other men possess: we have not +to be taught the use of the bow as boys have, we are skilled in that +already; nor yet the use of the javelin, we are versed in that; our +time has not been taken up like other men's with toiling on the land +or labouring at some craft or managing household matters; we have not +only had leisure for war, it has been our life. [13] Moreover, one +cannot say of riding as of so many warlike exercises that it is useful +but disagreeable. To ride a-horseback is surely pleasanter than to +trudge a-foot? And as for speed--how pleasant to join a friend betimes +whenever you wish, or come up with your quarry be it man or beast! And +then, the ease and satisfaction of it! Whatever weapon the rider +carries his horse must help to bear the load: 'wear arms' and 'bear +arms,'--they are the same thing on horseback. [14] But now, to meet +the worst we can apprehend: suppose, before we are adepts, we are +called upon to run some risk, and then find that we are neither +infantry nor thoroughgoing cavalry? This may be a danger, but we can +guard against it. We have it always in our power to turn into infantry +again at a moment's notice. I do not propose that by learning to ride +we should unlearn the arts of men on foot." + +[15] Thus spoke Cyrus, and Chrysantas rose to support him, saying: + +"For my part I cannot say I so much desire to be a horseman as flatter +myself that once I can ride I shall be a sort of flying man. [16] At +present when I race I am quiet content if, with a fair start, I can +beat one of my rivals by the head, or when I sight my game I am happy +if, by laying legs to the ground, I can get close enough to let fly +javelin or arrow before he is clean out of range. But when once I am a +horseman I shall be able to overhaul my man as far as I can see him, +or come up with the beasts I chase and knock them over myself or else +spear them as though they stood stock still, for when hunter and +hunted are both of them racing, if they are only side by side, it is +as good as though neither of them moved. [17] And the creature I have +always envied," he continued, "the centaur--if only he had the +intelligence and forethought of a man, the adroit skill and the +cunning hand, with the swiftness and strength of a horse, so as to +overtake all that fled before him, and overthrow all that resisted-- +why, all these powers I shall collect and gather in my own person when +once I am a rider. [18] Forethought I intend to keep with my human +wits, my hands can wield my weapons, and my horse's legs will follow +up the foe, and my horse's rush overthrow him. Only I shall not be +tied and fettered to my steed, flesh of his flesh, and blood of his +blood, like the old centaur. [19] And that I count a great improvement +on the breed, far better than being united to the animal, body and +soul. The old centaur, I imagine, must have been for ever in +difficulties; as a horse, he could not use the wonderful inventions of +man, and as a man, he could not enjoy the proper pleasures of a horse. +[20] But I, if I learn to ride, once set me astride my horse, and I +will do all that the centaur can, and yet, when I dismount, I can +dress myself as a human being, and dine, and sleep in my bed, like the +rest of my kind: in short, I shall be a jointed centaur that can be +taken to pieces and put together again. [21] And I shall gain another +point or so over the original beast: he, we know, had only two eyes to +see with and two ears to hear with, but I shall watch with four eyes +and with four ears I shall listen. You know, they tell us a horse can +often see quicker than any man, and hear a sound before his master, +and give him warning in some way. Have the goodness, therefore," he +added, "to write my name down among those who want to ride." + +[22] "And ours too," they all cried, "ours too, in heaven's name!" + +Then Cyrus spoke: "Gentlemen, since we are all so well agreed, suppose +we make it a rule that every one who receives a horse from me shall be +considered to disgrace himself if he is seen trudging afoot, be his +journey long or short?" + +[23] Thus Cyrus put the question, and one and all assented; and hence +it is that even to this day the custom is retained, and no Persian of +the gentle class would willingly be seen anywhere on foot. + +[C.4] In this debate their time was spent, and when it was past midday +the Median cavalry and the Hyrcanians came galloping home, bringing in +men and horses from the enemy, for they had spared all who surrendered +their arms. [2] As they rode up the first inquiry of Cyrus was whether +all of them were safe, and when they answered yes, he asked what they +had achieved. And they told their exploits in detail, and how bravely +they had borne themselves, magnifying it all. [3] Cyrus heard their +story through with a pleasant smile, and praised them for their work. +"I can see for myself," he said, "that you have done gallant deeds. +You seem to have grown taller and fairer and more terrible to look on +than when we saw you last." + +[4] Then he made them tell him how far they had gone, and whether they +had found the country inhabited. They said they had ridden a long way, +and that the whole country was inhabited, and full of sheep and goats +and cattle and horses, and rich in corn and every good thing. + +[5] "Then there are two matters," he said, "to which we must attend; +first we must become masters of those who own all this, and next we +must ensure that they do not run away. A well-populated country is a +rich possession, but a deserted land will soon become a desert. [6] +You have put the defenders to the sword, I know, and rightly--for that +is the only safe road to victory; but you have brought in as prisoners +those who laid down their arms. Now if we let these men go, I maintain +we should do the very best thing for ourselves. [7] We gain two +points; first, we need neither be on our guard against them nor mount +guard over them nor find them victuals (and we do not propose to +starve them, I presume), and in the next place, their release means +more prisoners to-morrow. [8] For if we dominate the country all the +inhabitants are ours, and if they see that these men are still alive +and at large they will be more disposed to stay where they are, and +prefer obedience to battle. That is my own view, but if any one sees a +better course, let him point it out." + +[9] However, all his hearers approved the plan proposed. Thus it came +to pass that Cyrus summoned the prisoners and said to them: + +[10] "Gentlemen, you owe it to your own obedience this day that your +lives are safe; and for the future if you continue in this conduct, no +evil whatsoever shall befall you; true, you will not have the same +ruler as before, but you will dwell in the same houses, you will +cultivate the same land, you will live with your wives and govern your +children as you do now. Moreover you will not have us to fight with, +nor any one else. [11] On the contrary, if any wrong is done you, it +is we who will fight on your behalf. And to prevent any one from +ordering you to take the field, you will bring your arms to us and +hand them over. Those who do this can count on peace and the faithful +fulfilment of our promises; those who will not, must expect war, and +that at once. [12] Further, if any man of you comes to us and shows a +friendly spirit, giving us information and helping us in any way, we +will treat him not as a servant, but as a friend and benefactor. +This," he added, "we wish you to understand yourselves and make known +among your fellows. [13] And if it should appear that you yourselves +are willing to comply but others hinder you, lead us against them, and +you shall be their masters, not they yours." + +Such were his words; and they made obeisance and promised to do as he +bade. + +[C.5] And when they were gone, Cyrus turned to the Medes and the men +of Armenia, and said, "It is high time, gentlemen, that we should +dine, one and all of us; food and drink are prepared for you, the best +we had skill to find. Send us, if you will, the half of the bread that +has been baked; there is ample, I know, for both of us; but do not +send any relish with it, nor any drink, we have quite enough at hand. +[2] And do you," he added, turning to the Hyrcanians, "conduct our +friends to their quarters, the officers to the largest tents--you know +where they are--and the rest where you think best. For yourselves, you +may dine where you like; your quarters are intact, and you will find +everything there prepared for you exactly as it is for the others. [3] +All of you alike must understand that during the night we Persians +will guard the camp outside, but you must keep an eye over what goes +on within; and see that your arms are ready to hand; our messmates are +not our friends as yet." + +[4] So the Medes and Tigranes with his men washed away the stains of +battle, and put on the apparel that was laid out for them, and fell to +dinner, and the horses had their provender too. They sent half the +bread to the Persians but no relish with it and no wine, thinking that +Cyrus and his men possessed a store, because he had said they had +enough and to spare. But Cyrus meant the relish of hunger, and the +draught from the running river. [5] Thus he regaled his Persians, and +when the darkness fell he sent them out by fives and tens and ordered +them to lie in ambush around the camp, so as to form a double guard, +against attack from without, and absconders from within; any one +attempting to make off with treasures would be caught in the act. And +so it befell; for many tried to escape, and all of them were seized. +[6] As for the treasures, Cyrus allowed the captors to keep them, but +he had the absconders beheaded out of hand, so that for the future a +thief by night was hardly to be found. Thus the Persians passed their +time. [7] But the Medes drank and feasted and made music and took +their fill of good cheer and all delights; there was plenty to serve +their purpose, and work enough for those who did not sleep. + +[8] Cyaxares, the king of the Medes, on the very night when Cyrus set +forth, drank himself drunk in company with the officers in his own +quarters to celebrate their good fortune. Hearing uproar all about +him, he thought that the rest of the Medes must have stayed behind in +the camp, except perhaps a few, but the fact was that their domestics, +finding the masters gone, had fallen to drinking in fine style and +were making a din to their hearts' content, the more so that they had +procured wine and dainties from the Assyrian camp. [9] But when it was +broad day and no one knocked at the palace gate except the guests of +last night's revel, and when Cyaxares heard that the camp was deserted +--the Medes gone, the cavalry gone--and when he went out and saw for +himself that it was so, then he fumed with indignation against Cyrus +and his own men, to think that they had gone off and left him in the +lurch. It is said that without more ado, savage and mad with anger as +he was, he ordered one of his staff to take his troopers and ride at +once to Cyrus and his men, and there deliver this message: + +[10] "I should never have dreamed that Cyrus could have acted towards +me with such scant respect, or, if he could have thought of it, that +the Medes could have borne to desert me in this way. And now, whether +Cyrus will or no, I command the Medes to present themselves before me +without delay." + +[11] Such was the message. But he who was to take it said, "And how +shall I find them, my lord?" + +"Why," said Cyaxares, "as Cyrus and his men found those they went to +seek." + +"I only asked," continued the messenger, "because I was told that some +Hyrcanians who had revolted from the enemy came here, and went off +with him to act as guides." + +[12] When Cyaxares heard that, he was the more enraged to think that +Cyrus had never told him, and the more urgent to have his Medes +removed from him at once, and he summoned them home under fiercer +threats than ever; threatening the officer as well if he failed to +deliver the message in full force. + +[13] So the emissary set off with his troopers, about one hundred +strong, fervently regretting that he had not gone with Cyrus himself. +On the way they took a turning which led them wrong, and they did not +reach the Persians until they had chanced upon some of the Assyrians +in retreat and forced them to be their guides, and so at last arrived, +sighting the watch-fires about midnight. [14] But though they had got +to the camp, the pickets, acting on the orders of Cyrus, would not let +them in till dawn. With the first faint gleam of morning Cyrus +summoned the Persian Priests, who are called Magians, and bade them +choose the offerings due to the gods for the blessings they had +vouchsafed. [15] And while they were about this, Cyrus called the +Peers together and said to them: + +"Gentlemen, God has put before us many blessings, but at present we +Persians are but a scant company to keep them. If we fail to guard +what we have toiled for, it will soon fall back into other hands, and +if we leave some of our number to watch our gains, it will soon be +seen that we have no strength in us. [16] I propose therefore that one +of you should go home to Persia without loss of time, and explain what +I need and bid them despatch an army forthwith, if they desire Persia +to win the empire of Asia and the fruits thereof. [17] Do you," said +he, turning to one of the Peers, "do you, who are the eldest, go and +repeat these words, and tell them that it shall be my care to provide +for the soldiers they send me as soon as they are here. And as to what +we have won--you have seen it yourself--keep nothing back, and ask my +father how much I ought to send home for an offering to the gods, if I +wish to act in honour and according to the law, and ask the +magistrates how much is due to the commonwealth. And let them send +commissioners to watch all that we do and answer all that we ask. So, +sir," he ended, "you will get your baggage together, and take your +company with you as an escort. Fare you well." + +[18] With that message he turned to the Medes and at the same moment +the messenger from Cyaxares presented himself, and in the midst of the +whole assembly announced the anger of the king against Cyrus, and his +threats against the Medes, and so bade the latter return home at once, +even if Cyrus wished them to stay. [19] The Medes listened, but were +silent; for they were sore bested; they could hardly disobey the +summons, and yet they were afraid to go back after his threats, being +all too well acquainted with the savage temper of their lord. [20] But +Cyrus spoke: + +"Herald," said he, "and sons of the Medes, I am not surprised that +Cyaxares, who saw the host of the enemy so lately, and knows so little +of what we have done now, should tremble for us and for himself. But +when he learns how many have fallen, and that all have been dispersed, +his fears will vanish, and he will recognise that he is not deserted +on this day of all days when his friends are destroying his foes. [21] +Can we deserve blame for doing him a service? And that not even +without his own consent? I am acting as I am, only after having gained +his leave to take you out; it is not as though you had come to me in +your own eagerness, and begged me to let you go, and so were here now; +he himself ordered you out, those of you who did not find it a +burthen. Therefore, I feel sure, his anger will melt in the sunshine +of success, and, when his fears are gone, it will vanish too. [22] For +the moment then," he added, turning to the messenger, "you must +recruit yourself; you have had a heavy task; and for ourselves," said +he, turning to the Persians, "since we are waiting for an enemy who +will either offer us battle or render us submission, we must draw up +in our finest style; the spectacle, perhaps, will bring us more than +we could dare to hope. And do you," he said, taking the Hyrcanian +chieftain aside, "after you have told your officers to arm their men, +come back and wait with me a moment." + +[23] So the Hyrcanian went and returned. Then Cyrus said to him, "Son +of Hyrcania, it gives me pleasure to see that you show not only +friendliness, but sagacity. It is clear that our interests are the +same; the Assyrians are my foes as well as yours, only they hate you +now even more bitterly than they hate me. [24] We must consult +together and see that not one of our present allies turns his back on +us, and we must do what we can to acquire more. You heard the Mede +summon the cavalry to return, and if they go, we shall be left with +nothing but infantry. [25] This is what we must do, you and I; we must +make this messenger, who is sent to recall them, desirous to stay here +himself. You must find him quarters where he will have a merry time +and everything heart can wish, and I will offer him work which he will +like far better than going back. And do you talk to him yourself, and +dilate on all the wonders we expect for our friends if things go well. +And when you have done this, come back again and tell me." + +[26] So the chieftain took the Mede away to his own quarters, and +meanwhile the messenger from Persia presented himself equipped for the +journey, and Cyrus bade him tell the Persians all that had happened, +as it has been set out in this story, and then he gave him a letter to +Cyaxares. "I would like to read you the very words," he added, "so +that what you say yourself may agree with it, in case you have +questions asked you." + +[27] The letter ran as follows:--"Cyrus to Cyaxares, greeting. We do +not admit that we have deserted you; for no one is deserted when he is +being made the master of his enemies. Nor do we consider that we put +you in jeopardy by our departure; on the contrary, the greater the +distance between us the greater the security we claim to have won for +you. [28] It is not the friend at a man's elbow who serves him and +puts him out of danger, but he who drives his enemies farthest and +furthest away. [29] And I pray you to remember what I have done for +you, and you for me, before you blame me. I brought you allies, not +limiting myself to those you asked for, but pressing in every man that +I could find; you allowed me while we were on friendly soil only to +take those whom I could persuade to follow me, and now that I am in +hostile territory you insist that they must all return; you do not +leave it to their own choice. [30] Yesterday I felt that I owed both +you and them a debt of gratitude, but to-day you drive me to forget +your share, you make me wish to repay those, and those only, who +followed me. [31] Not that I could bring myself to return you like for +like; even now I am sending to Persia for more troops, and instructing +all the men who come that, if you need them before we return, they +must hold themselves at your service absolutely, to act not as they +wish, but as you may care to use them. [32] In conclusion, I would +advise you, though I am younger than yourself, not to take back with +one hand what you give with the other, or else you will win hatred +instead of gratitude; nor to use threats if you wish men to come to +you speedily; nor to speak of being deserted when you threaten an +army, unless you would teach them to despise you. [33] For ourselves, +we will do our best to rejoin you as soon as we have concluded certain +matters which we believe will prove a common blessing to yourself and +us. Farewell." + +[34] "Deliver this," said Cyrus, "to Cyaxares, and whatever questions +he puts to you, answer in accordance with it. My injunctions to you +about the Persians agree exactly with what is written here." With that +he gave him the letter and sent him off, bidding him remember that +speed was of importance. + +[35] Then he turned to review his troops, who were already fully +armed, Medes, Hyrcanians, the men Tigranes had brought, and the whole +body of the Persians. And already some of the neighbouring folk were +coming up, to bring in their horses or hand over their arms. [36] The +javelins were then piled in a heap as before and burnt at his command, +after his troops had taken what they needed for themselves, but he +bade the owners stay with their horses until they received fresh +orders. This done, Cyrus called together the officers of the +Hyrcanians and of the cavalry, and spoke as follows: + +[37] "My friends and allies, you must not be surprised that I summon +you so often. Our circumstances are so novel that much still needs +adjustment, and we must expect difficulty until everything has found +its place. [38] At present we have a mass of spoil, and prisoners set +to guard it. But we do not ourselves know what belongs to each of us, +nor could the guards say who the owners are: and thus it is impossible +for them to be exact in their duties, since scarcely any of them know +what these duties may be. [39] To amend this, you must divide the +spoil. There will be no difficulty where a man has won a tent that is +fully supplied with meat and drink, and servants to boot, bedding, +apparel, and everything to make it a comfortable home; he has only to +understand that this is now his private property, and he must look +after it himself. But where the quarters are not furnished so well, +there you must make it your business to supply what is lacking. [40] +There will be more than enough for this; of that I am sure; the enemy +had a stock of everything quite out of proportion to our scanty +numbers. Moreover, certain treasurers have come to me, men who were in +the service of the king of Assyria and other potentates, and according +to what they tell me, they have a supply of gold coin, the produce of +certain tributes they can name. [41] You will send out a proclamation +that this deposit must be delivered up to you in your quarters; you +must terrify those who fail to execute the order, and then you must +distribute the money; the mounted men should have two shares apiece +for the foot-soldier's one; and you should keep the surplus, so that +in case of need you may have wherewith to make your purchases. [42] +With regard to the camp-market, proclamation must be made at once, +forbidding any injustice; the hucksters must be allowed to sell the +goods they have brought, and when these are disposed of they may bring +more, so that the camp may be duly supplied." + +[43] So the proclamations were issued forthwith. But the Medes and the +Hyrcanians asked Cyrus: + +"How are we to distribute the spoil alone, without your men and +yourself?" + +[44] But Cyrus met question by question: "Do you really think, +gentlemen, that we must all preside over every detail, each and all of +us together? Can I never act for you, and you for me? I could scarcely +conceive a surer way of creating trouble, or of reducing results. +See," said he, "I will take a case in point. [45] We Persians guarded +this booty for you, and you believe that we guarded it well: now it is +for you to distribute it, and we will trust you to be fair. [46] And +there is another benefit that I should be glad to obtain for us all. +You see what a number of horses we have got already, and more are +being brought in. If they are left riderless we shall get no profit +out of them; we shall only have the burden of looking after them. But +if we set riders on them, we shall be quit of the trouble and add to +our strength. [47] Now if you have other men in view, men whom you +would choose before us to share the brunt of danger with you, by all +means give these horses to them. But if you would rather have us fight +at your side than any others, bestow them upon us. [48] To-day when +you dashed ahead to meet danger all alone, great was our fear lest you +might come to harm, and bitter our shame to think that where you were +we were not. But if once we have horses, we can follow at your heels. +[49] And if it is clear that we do more good so mounted, shoulder to +shoulder with yourselves, we shall not fail in zeal; or if it appears +better to support you on foot, why, to dismount is but the work of a +moment, and you will have your infantry marching by your side at once, +and we will find men to hold our horses for us." + +[50] To which they answered: + +"In truth, Cyrus, we have not men for these horses ourselves, and even +if we had them, we should not do anything against your wish. Take +them, we beg you, and use them as you think best." + +[51] "I will," said he, "and gladly, and may good fortune bless us +all, you in your division of the spoil and us in our horsemanship. In +the first place," he added, "you will set apart for the gods whatever +our priests prescribe, and after that you must select for Cyaxares +what you think will please him most." + +[52] At that they laughed, and said they must choose him a bevy of +fair women. "So let it be," said Cyrus, "fair women, and anything else +you please. And when you have chosen his share, the Hyrcanians must +see to it that our friends among the Medes who followed us of their +own free will shall have no cause to find fault with their own +portion. [53] And the Medes on their side must show honour to the +first allies we have won, and make them feel their decision was wise +when they chose us for their friends. And be sure to give a share of +everything to the messenger who came from Cyaxares and to his retinue; +persuade him to stay on with us, say that I would like it, and that he +could tell Cyaxares all the better how matters stood. [54] As for my +Persians," he added, "we shall be quite content with what is left +over, after you are all provided for; we are not used to luxury, we +were brought up in a very simple fashion, and I think you would laugh +at us if you saw us tricked out in grand attire, just as I am sure you +will when you see us seated on our horses, or, rather, rolling off +them." + +[55] So they dispersed to make the distribution, in great mirth over +the thought of the riding; and then Cyrus called his own officers and +bade them take the horses and their gear, and the grooms with them, +number them all, and then distribute them by lot in equal shares for +each division. [56] Finally he sent out another proclamation, saying +that if there was any slave among the Syrians, Assyrians, or Arabians +who was a Mede, a Persian, a Bactrian, a Carian, a Cilician, or a +Hellene, or a member of any other nation, and who had been forcibly +enrolled, he was to come forward and declare himself. [57] And when +they heard the herald, many came forward gladly, and out of their +number Cyrus selected the strongest and fairest, and told them they +were now free, and would be required to bear arms, with which he would +furnish them, and as to necessaries, he would see himself that they +were not stinted. [58] With that he brought them to the officers and +had them enrolled forthwith, saying they were to be armed with shields +and light swords, so as to follow the troopers, and were to receive +supplies exactly as if they were his own Persians. The Persian +officers themselves, wearing corslets and carrying lances, were for +the future to appear on horseback, he himself setting the example, and +each one was to appoint another of the Peers to lead the infantry for +him. + +[C.6] While they were concerned with these matters, an old Assyrian +prince, Gobryas by name, presented himself before Cyrus, mounted on +horseback and with a mounted retinue behind him, all of them armed as +cavalry. The Persian officers who were appointed to receive the +weapons bade them hand over their lances and have them burnt with the +rest, but Gobryas said he wished to see Cyrus first. At that the +adjutants led him in, but they made his escort stay where they were. +[2] When the old man came before Cyrus, he addressed him at once, +saying: + +"My lord, I am an Assyrian by birth; I have a strong fortress in my +territory, and I rule over a wide domain; I have cavalry at my +command, two thousand three hundred of them, all of which I offered to +the king of Assyria; and if ever he had a friend, that friend was I. +But he has fallen at your hands, the gallant heart, and his son, who +is my bitterest foe, reigns in his stead. Therefore I have come to +you, a suppliant at your feet. I am ready to be your slave and your +ally, and I implore you to be my avenger. You yourself will be a son +to me, for I have no male children now. [3] He whom I had, my only +son, he was beautiful and brave, my lord, and loved me and honoured me +as a father rejoices to be loved. And this vile king--his father, my +old master, had sent for my son, meaning to give him his own daughter +in marriage; and I let my boy go, with high hopes and a proud heart, +thinking that when I saw him again the king's daughter would be his +bride. And the prince, who is now king, invited him to the chase, and +bade him do his best, for he thought himself far the finer horseman of +the two. So they hunted together, side by side, as though they were +friends, and suddenly a bear appeared, and the two of them gave chase, +and the king's son let fly his javelin, but alas! he missed his aim, +and then my son threw--oh, that he never had!--and laid the creature +low. [4] The prince was stung to the quick, though for the moment he +kept his rancour hidden. But, soon after that, they roused a lion, and +then he missed a second time--no unusual thing for him, I imagine--but +my son's spear went home, and he brought the beast down, and cried, +'See, I have shot but twice, and killed each time!' And at this the +monster could not contain his jealousy; he snatched a spear from one +of his followers and ran my son through the body, my only son, my +darling, and took his life. [5] And I, unhappy that I am, I, who +thought to welcome a bride-groom, carried home a corpse. I, who am +old, buried my boy with the first down on his chin, my brave boy, my +well-beloved. And his assassin acted as though it were an enemy that +he had done to death. He never showed one sign of remorse, he never +paid one tribute of honour to the dead, in atonement for his cruel +deed. Yet his own father pitied me, and showed that he could share the +burden of my grief. [6] Had he lived, my old master, I would never +have come to you to do him harm; many a kindness have I received from +him, and many a service have I done him. But now that his kingdom has +descended to my boy's murderer--I could never be loyal to that man, +and he, I know, could never regard me as a friend. He knows too well +how I feel towards him, and how, after my former splendour, I pass my +days in mourning, growing old in loneliness and grief. [7] If you can +receive me, if you can give me some hope of vengeance for my dear son, +I think I should grow young again, I should not feel ashamed to live, +and when I came to die I should not die in utter wretchedness." + +[8] So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: + +"Gobryas, if your heart be set towards us as you say, I receive you as +my suppliant, and I promise, God helping me, to avenge your son. But +tell me," he added, "if we do this for you, and if we suffer you to +keep your stronghold, your land, your arms, and the power which you +had, how will you serve us in return?" + +[9] And the old man answered: + +"My stronghold shall be yours, to live in as often as you come to me; +the tribute which I used to pay to Assyria shall be paid to you; and +whenever you march out to war, I will march at your side with the men +from my own land. Moreover, I have a daughter, a well-beloved maiden, +ripe for marriage; once I thought of bringing her up to be the bride +of the man who is now king; but she besought me herself, with tears, +not to give her to her brother's murderer, and I have no mind to +oppose her. And now I will put her in your hands, to deal with as I +shall deal with you." + +[10] So it came to pass that Cyrus said, "On the faith that you have +spoken truly and with true intent, I take your hand and I give you +mine; let the gods be witness." + +And when this was done, Cyrus bade the old man depart in peace, +without surrendering his arms, and then he asked him how far away he +lived, "Since," said he, "I am minded to visit you." And Gobryas +answered, "If you set off early to-morrow, the next day you may lodge +with us." [11] With that he took his own departure, leaving a guide +for Cyrus. + +Then the Medes presented themselves; they had set apart for the gods +what the Persian Priests thought right, and had left it in their +hands, and they had chosen for Cyrus the finest of all the tents, and +a lady from Susa, of whom the story says that in all Asia there was +never a woman so fair as she, and two singing-girls with her, the most +skilful among the musicians. The second choice was for Cyaxares, and +for themselves they had taken their fill of all they could need on the +campaign, since there was abundance of everything. [12] The Hyrcanians +had all they wanted too, and they made the messenger from Cyaxares +share and share alike with them. The tents which were left over they +delivered to Cyrus for his Persians; and the coined money they said +should be divided as soon as it was all collected, and divided it was. + + + NOTES + +C1.10. Two theories of hedonism: (1) Cyaxares' "Economise the greatest +joy when you have got it," and by contrast (2) Cyrus' roaming from joy +to joy. + +C1.22. Xenophon the Artist: the "kinsman" of Cyrus again, and the +light by-play to enliven the severe history. The economic organising +genius of Cyrus is also brought out. + +C2.25. No looting, an order of the Duke of Wellington, Napier, +Wolseley. + +C2.32. Cf. modern times; humane orders, but strict. + +C2.34. The question of commissariat. Would a modern force storm a camp +without taking rations? I dare say they would. + +C2.37. Notice the tone he adopts to these slaves; no bullying, but +appealing to appetite and lower motives. This is doubtless +Xenophontine and Hellenic. + +C2.38. Important as illustrating the stern Spartan self-denial of the +man and his followers. There is a hedonistic test, but the higher +hedonism prevails against the lower: ignoble and impolitic to sit here +feasting while they are fighting, and we don't even know how it fares +with them, our allies. The style rises and is at times Pauline. St. +Paul, of course, is moving on a higher spiritual plane, but still-- + +C2.45, fin. The Education of Cyrus, Cyropaedia, {Keroupaideia}; the +name justified. + +C2.46. Hystaspas' simple response: important, with other passages, to +show how naturally it came to them (i.e. the Hellenes and Xenophon) to +give a spiritual application to their rules of bodily and mental +training. These things to them are an allegory. The goal is lofty, if +not so sublime as St. Paul's or Comte's, the Christians or Positivists +(there has been an alteration for the better in the spiritual plane, +and Socrates helped to bring it about, I believe), but /ceteris +paribus/, the words of St. Paul are the words of Hystaspas and +Xenophon. They for a corruptible crown, and we for an incorruptible-- +and one might find a still happier parable! + +C2.46. Fine sentiment, this /noblesse oblige/ (cf. the archangelic +dignity in Milton, /Paradise Lost/, I think). + +C2.47. The aristocratic theory (cf. modern English "nigger" theory, +Anglo-Indian, etc.). + +C3.3. Xenophon's dramatic skill. We are made to feel the touch of +something galling in the manner of these Median and Hyrcanian +troopers. + +C3.4. A 'cute beginning rhetorically, because in the most graceful way +possible, and without egotism /versus/ Medes and Hyrcanians, it +postulates the Persian superiority, moral, as against the accidental +inferiority of the moment caused by want of cavalry and the dependence +on others which that involves. I suppose it's no reflection on Cyrus' +military acumen not to foreseen this need. It would have been +premature then, now it organically grows; and there's no great crisis +to pass through. + +C3.11. I should have thought this was a dangerous argument; obviously +boys do learn better than men certain things. + +C3.12. Short sharp snap of argumentative style. + +C3.19. The antithetic balance and word-jingle, with an exquisite, +puristic, precise, and delicate lisp, as of one tasting the flavour of +his words throughout. + +C3.23. I think one sees how Xenophon built up his ideal structure on a +basis of actual living facts. The actual diverts the creator of Cyrus +from the ideal at times, as here. It is a slight declension in the +character of Cyrus to lay down this law, "equestrian once, equestrian +always." Xenophon has to account for the actual Persian horror of +pedestrianism: Cyrus himself can dismount, and so can the Persian +nobles with Cyrus the Younger, but still the rule is "never be seen +walking;" and without the concluding paragraph the dramatic narrative +that precedes would seem a little bit unfinished and pointless: with +the explanation it floats, and we forgive "the archic man" his +partiality to equestrianism, as later on we have to forgive him his +Median get-up and artificiality generally, which again is contrary to +the Xenophontine and the ideal Spartan spirit. + +C4. Xenophon has this theory of mankind: some are fit to rule, the +rest to be ruled. It is parallel to the Hellenic slavery theory. Some +moderns, e.g. Carlyle (Ruskin perhaps) inherit it, and in lieu of +Hellenic slavery we have a good many caste-distinction crotchets still +left. + +C4.13, fin. The first salaam, ominous of the advent of imperialism; +the sun's rim visible, and a ray shot up to the zenith. + +C5. Here the question forces itself in the midst of all this "ironic" +waiting on the part of the Persians in Spartan durance for a future +apotheosis of splendour and luxuriance,--what is the moral? "Hunger +now and thirst, for ye shall be filled"--is that it? Well, anyhow it's +parallel to the modern popular Christianity, reward-in-heaven theory, +only on a less high level, but exactly the same logicality. + +C5.6. A point, this reward to the catcher, and this rigid /couvrefeu/ +habit (cf. modern military law). + +C5.8. A dramatic contrast, the Median Cyaxares who follows Pleasure, +and the Persian Cyrus who follows Valour, /vide/ Heracles' choice +[/Memorabilia/, II. i. 21]. This allegorising tendency is engrained in +Xenophon: it is his view of life; one of the best things he got from +Socrates, no doubt. Later (§ 12) the "ironic" suicidal self-assertion +of Cyaxares is contrasted with the health-giving victorious self- +repression of Cyrus. + +C5.9-10. Xenophon can depict character splendidly: this is the +crapulous {orge} of the somewhat "hybristic" nature, seeing how the +land lies, /siccis luminibus/, the day after the premature revel. +Theophrastus couldn't better have depicted the irascible man. These +earliest portraits of character are, according to Xenophon's genius, +all sketched in the concrete, as it were. The character is not +philosophised and then illustrated by concrete instances after the +manner of Theophrastus, but we see the man moving before us and are +made aware of his nature at once. + +C5.17. {kalos ka nomimos}, "in all honour, and according to the law," +almost a Xenophontine motto, and important in reference to the +"questionable" conduct on his part in exile--"questionable" from a +modern rather than an "antique" standard. [The chief reference is to +Xenophon's presence on the Spartan side at the battle of Coronea +against his native city of Athens. See /Sketch/, Works, Vol. I. pp. +cxxiii. ff.] + +C5.20. The "archic man" does not recognise the littleness of soul of +the inferior nature, he winks at it, and so disarms at once and +triumphs over savagery, and this not through cunning and pride, but a +kind of godlike imperturbable sympathy, as of a fearless man with a +savage hound. Still there is a good dash of diplomacy. + +C5.21, fin. Pretty sentence. Xenophon's words: some of these are +prettily-sounding words, some are rare and choice and exquisite, some +are charged with feeling, you can't touch them with your finger-tips +without feeling an "affective" thrill. That is in part the /goeteia/, +the witchery, of his style. + +C5.30-31. A brilliant stroke of diplomacy worthy of the archic man. +This {arkinoia} of the Hellene is the necessary sharp shrewdness of a +brain, which, however "affectively" developed, is at bottom highly +organised intellectually. H. S.[*] has it, all 'cute people and +nations have it, the Americans, e.g.--every proposition must, however +else it presents itself, be apprehended in its logical bearings: the +result may be logically damaging to the supporter of it, but does not +necessarily banish an affective sympathetic attitude on the part of +the common-sense antagonist, who is not bound, in other words, to be a +sharp practitioner because he sees clearly. Affection is the inspirer, +intellect the up-and-doing agent of the soul. The Hellenes and all +'cute people put the agent to the fore in action, but if besides being +'cute they are affective, the operations of the agent will be confined +within prescribed limits. + +[* "H. S." = Henry Sidgwick, the philosopher, author of /Methods of +Ethics/, etc., a life-long friend of Mr. Dakyns.] + +C5.32. This is almost pummelling, but it's fair: it's rather, "See, I +have you now in Chancery, I could pummel if I would." + +C5.37. These constant masters' meetings! + +C5.38 ff. The mind of Xenophon: guiding principles, rule of Health, +rule of Forethought. Religious trust in the divine, and for things +beyond man's control; orderly masterly working out of problems within +his power. Economic, diplomatic, anchinoetic, archic manhood. Moral +theory, higher hedonism. + +C5.45. The archic man trusts human nature: this appeal to their good +faith is irresistible. The archic is also the diplomatic method. + +C5.54. N.B.--Rhetorical artifice of winding-up a speech with a joke. +This is the popular orator. Xenophon the prototype himself perhaps. + +C6.3. Is this by chance a situation in Elizabethan or other drama? +It's tragic enough for anything. + +C6.4. Admirable colloquial style: "well done, me!" + +C6.6, fin. Beautifully-sounding sentence [in the Greek]. Like harp or +viol with its dying mournful note. + +C6.8. A new tributary for the archic man, and a foothold in the +enemy's country. + +C6.9, fin. As to this daughter, /vide infra/. Who do you think will +win her? We like her much already. + +C6.11. The first flutings of this tale. The lady of Susa, quasi- +historic, or wholly imaginative, or mixed? + + + + BOOK V + +[C.1] Such were the deeds they did and such the words they spoke. Then +Cyrus bade them set a guard over the share chosen for Cyaxares, +selecting those whom he knew were most attached to their lord, "And +what you have given me," he added, "I accept with pleasure, but I hold +it at the service of those among you who would enjoy it the most." + +At that one of the Medes who was passionately fond of music said, "In +truth, Cyrus, yesterday evening I listened to the singing-girls who +are yours to-day, and if you could give me one of them, I would far +rather be serving on this campaign than sitting at home." + +And Cyrus said, "Most gladly I will give her; she is yours. And I +believe I am more grateful to you for asking than you can be to me for +giving; I am so thirsty to gratify you all." + +So this suitor carried off his prize. [2] And then Cyrus called to his +side Araspas the Mede, who had been his comrade in boyhood. It was he +to whom Cyrus gave the Median cloak he was wearing when he went back +to Persia from his grandfather's court. Now he summoned him, and asked +him to take care of the tent and the lady from Susa. [3] She was the +wife of Abradatas, a Susian, and when the Assyrian army was captured +it happened that her husband was away: his master had sent him on an +embassy to Bactria to conclude an alliance there, for he was the +friend and host of the Bactrian king. And now Cyrus asked Araspas to +guard the captive lady until her husband could take her back himself. +[4] To that Araspas replied, "Have you seen the lady whom you bid me +guard?" + +"No, indeed," said Cyrus, "certainly I have not." + +"But I have," rejoined the other, "I saw here when we chose her for +you. When we came into the tent, we did not make her out at first, for +she was seated on the ground with all her maidens round her, and she +was clad in the same attire as her slaves, but when we looked at them +all to discover the mistress, we soon saw that one outshone the +others, although she was veiled and kept her eyes on the ground. [5] +And when we bade her rise, all her women rose with her, and then we +saw that she was marked out from them all by her height, and her noble +bearing, and her grace, and the beauty that shone through her mean +apparel. And, under her veil, we could see the big tear-drops +trickling down her garments to her feet. [6] At that sight the eldest +of us said, 'Take comfort, lady, we know that your husband was +beautiful and brave, but we have chosen you a man to-day who is no +whit inferior to him in face or form or mind or power; Cyrus, we +believe, is more to be admired than any soul on earth, and you shall +be his from this day forward.' But when the lady heard that, she rent +the veil that covered her head and gave a pitiful cry, while her +maidens lifted up their voice and wept with their mistress. [7] And +thus we could see her face, and her neck, and her arms, and I tell +you, Cyrus," he added, "I myself, and all who looked on her, felt that +there never was, and never had been, in broad Asia a mortal woman half +so fair as she. Nay, but you must see her for yourself." + +[8] "Say, rather, I must not," answered Cyrus, "if she be such as you +describe." + +"And why not?" asked the young man. + +"Because," said he, "if the mere report of her beauty could persuade +me to go and gaze on her to-day, when I have not a moment to spare, I +fear she would win me back again and perhaps I should neglect all I +have to do, and sit and gaze at her for ever." + +[9] At that the young man laughed outright and said: + +"So you think, Cyrus, that the beauty of any human creature can compel +a man to do wrong against his will? Surely if that were the nature of +beauty, all men would feel its force alike. [10] See how fire burns +all men equally; it is the nature of it so to do; but these flowers of +beauty, one man loves them, and another loves them not, nor does every +man love the same. For love is voluntary, and each man loves what he +chooses to love. The brother is not enamoured of his own sister, nor +the father of his own daughter; some other man must be the lover. +Reverence and law are strong enough to break the heart of passion. +[11] But if a law were passed saying, 'Eat not, and thou shalt not +starve; Drink not, and thou shalt not thirst; Let not cold bite thee +in winter nor heat inflame thee in summer,' I say there is no law that +could compel us to obey; for it is our nature to be swayed by these +forces. But love is voluntary; each man loves to himself alone, and +according as he chooses, just as he chooses his cloak or his sandals." + +[12] "Then," said Cyrus, "if love be voluntary, why cannot a man cease +to love when he wishes? I have seen men in love," said he, "who have +wept for very agony, who were the very slaves of those they loved, +though before the fever took them they thought slavery the worst of +evils. I have seen them make gifts of what they ill could spare, I +have seen them praying, yes, praying, to be rid of their passion, as +though it were any other malady, and yet unable to shake it off; they +were bound hand and foot by a chain of something stronger than iron. +There they stood at the beck and call of their idols, and that without +rhyme or reason; and yet, poor slaves, they make no attempt to run +away, in spite of all they suffer; on the contrary, they mount guard +over their tyrants, for fear these should escape." + +[13] But the young man spoke in answer: "True," he said, "there are +such men, but they are worthless scamps, and that is why, though they +are always praying to die and be put out of their misery and though +ten thousand avenues lie open by which to escape from life, they never +take one of them. These are the very men who are prepared to steal and +purloin the goods of others, and yet you know yourself, when they do +it, you are the first to say stealing is not done under compulsion, +and you blame the thief and the robber; you do not pity him, you +punish him. [14] In the same way, beautiful creatures do not compel +others to love them or pursue them when it is wrong, but these good- +for-nothing scoundrels have no self-control, and then they lay the +blame on love. But the nobler type of man, the true gentleman, +beautiful and brave, though he desire gold and splendid horses and +lovely women, can still abstain from each and all alike, and lay no +finger on them against the law of honour. [15] Take my own case," he +added, "I have seen this lady myself, and passing fair I found her, +and yet here I stand before you, and am still your trooper and can +still perform my duty." + +[16] "I do not deny it," said Cyrus; "probably you came away in time. +Love takes a little while to seize and carry off his victim. A man may +touch fire for a moment and not be burnt; a log will not kindle all at +once; and yet for all that, I am not disposed to play with fire or +look on beauty. You yourself, my friend, if you will follow my advice, +will not let your own eyes linger there too long; burning fuel will +only burn those who touch it, but beauty can fire the beholder from +afar, until he is all aflame with love." + +[17] "Oh, fear me not, Cyrus," answered he; "if I looked till the end +of time I could not be made to do what ill befits a man." + +"A fair answer," said Cyrus. "Guard her then, as I bid you, and be +careful of her. This lady may be of service to us all one day." + +[18] With these words they parted. But afterwards, after the young man +saw from day to day how marvellously fair the woman was, and how noble +and gracious in herself, after he took care of her, and fancied that +she was not insensible to what he did, after she set herself, through +her attendants, to care for his wants and see that all things were +ready for him when he came in, and that he should lack for nothing if +ever he were sick, after all this, love entered his heart and took +possession, and it may be there was nothing surprising in his fate. So +at least it was. + +[19] Meanwhile Cyrus, who was anxious that the Medes and the allies +should stay with him of their own free choice, called a meeting of +their leading men, and when they were come together he spoke as +follows: + +[20] "Sons of the Medes and gentlemen all, I am well aware it was not +from need of money that you went out with me, nor yet in order to +serve Cyaxares; you came for my sake. You marched with me by night, +you ran into danger at my side, simply to do me honour. [21] Unless I +were a miscreant, I could not but be grateful for such kindness. But I +must confess that at present I lack the ability to make a fit +requital. This I am not ashamed to tell you, but I would feel ashamed +to add, 'If you will stay with me, I will be sure to repay you,' for +that would look as though I spoke to bribe you into remaining. +Therefore I will not say that; I will say instead, 'Even if you listen +to Cyaxares and go back to-day, I will still act so that you shall +praise me, I will not forget you in the day of my good fortune.' [22] +For myself, I will never go back; I cannot, for I must confirm my oath +to the Hyrcanians and the pledge I gave them; they are my friends and +I shall never be found a traitor to them. Moreover, I am bound to +Gobryas, who has offered us the use of his castle, his territory, and +his power; and I would not have him repent that he came to me. [23] +Last of all, and more than all, when the great gods have showered such +blessings on us, I fear them and I reverence them too much to turn my +back on all they have given us. This, then, is what I myself must do; +it is for you to decide as you think best, and you will acquaint me +with your decision." + +[24] So he spoke, and the first to answer was the Mede who had claimed +kinship with Cyrus in the old days. + +"Listen to me," he said, "O king! For king I take you to be by right +of nature; even as the king of the hive among the bees, whom all the +bees obey and take for their leader of their own free will; where he +stays they stay also, not one of them departs, and where he goes, not +one of them fails to follow; so deep a desire is in them to be ruled +by him. [25] Even thus, I believe, do our men feel towards you. Do you +remember the day you left us to go home to Persia? Was there one of +us, young or old, who did not follow you until Astyages turned us +back? And later, when you returned to bring us aid, did we not see for +ourselves how your friends poured after you? And again, when you had +set your heart on this expedition, we know that the Medes flocked to +your standard with one consent. [26] To-day we have learnt to feel +that even in an enemy's country we may be of good heart if you are +with us, but, without you, we should be afraid even to return to our +homes. The rest may speak for themselves, and tell you how they will +act, but for myself, Cyrus, and for those under me, I say we will +stand by you; we shall not grow weary of gazing at you, and we will +continue to endure your benefits." + +[27] Thereupon Tigranes spoke: + +"Do not wonder, Cyrus, if I am silent now. The soul within me is +ready, not to offer counsel, but to do your bidding." [28] And the +Hyrcanian chieftain said, "For my part, if you Medes turn back to-day +I shall say it was the work of some evil genius, who could not brook +the fulfilment of your happiness. For no human heart could think of +retiring when the foe is in flight, refusing to receive his sword when +he surrenders it, rejecting him when he offers himself and all that he +calls his own; above all, when we have a prince of men for our leader, +one who, I swear it by the holy gods, takes delight to do us service, +not to enrich himself." + +[29] Thereupon the Medes cried with one consent: + +"It was you, Cyrus, who led us out, and it is you who must lead us +home again, when the right moment comes." + +And when Cyrus heard that, he prayed aloud: + +"O most mighty Zeus, I supplicate thee, suffer me to outdo these +friends of mine in courtesy and kindly dealing." + +[30] Upon that he gave his orders. The rest of the army were to place +their outposts and see to their own concerns, while the Persians took +the tents allotted to them, and divided them among their cavalry and +infantry, to suit the needs of either arm. Then they arranged for the +stewards to wait on them in future, bring them all they needed, and +keep their horses groomed, so that they themselves might be free for +the work of war. Thus they spent that day. + +[C.2] But on the morrow they set out for their march to Gobryas. Cyrus +rode on horseback at the head of his new Persian cavalry, two thousand +strong, with as many more behind them, carrying their shields and +swords, and the rest of the army followed in due order. The cavalry +were told to make their new attendants understand that they would be +punished if they were caught falling behind the rear-guard, or riding +in advance of the column, or straggling on either flank. [2] Towards +evening of the second day the army found themselves before the castle +of Gobryas, and they saw that the place was exceedingly strong and +that all preparations had been made for the stoutest possible defence. +They noticed also that great herds of cattle and endless flocks of +sheep and goats had been driven up under the shelter of the castle +walls. [3] Then Gobryas sent word to Cyrus, bidding him ride round and +see where the place was easiest of approach, and meanwhile send his +trustiest Persians to enter the fortress and bring him word what they +found within. [4] Cyrus, who really wished to see if the citadel +admitted of attack in case Gobryas proved false, rode all round the +walls, and found they were too strong at every point. Presently the +messengers who had gone in brought back word that there were supplies +enough to last a whole generation and still not fail the garrison. [5] +While Cyrus was wondering what this could mean, Gobryas himself came +out, and all his men behind him, carrying wine and corn and barley, +and driving oxen and goats and swine, enough to feast the entire host. +[6] And his stewards fell to distributing the stores at once, and +serving up a banquet. Then Gobryas invited Cyrus to enter the castle +now that all the garrison had left it, using every precaution he might +think wise; and Cyrus took him at his word, and sent in scouts and a +strong detachment before he entered the palace himself. Once within, +he had the gates thrown open and sent for all his own friends and +officers. [7] And when they joined him, Gobryas had beakers of gold +brought out, and pitchers, and goblets, and costly ornaments, and +golden coins without end, and all manner of beautiful things, and last +of all he sent for his own daughter, tall and fair, a marvel of beauty +and stateliness, still wearing mourning for her brother. And her +father said to Cyrus, "All these riches I bestow on you for a gift, +and I put my daughter in your hands, to deal with as you think best. +We are your suppliants; I but three days gone for my son, and she this +day for her brother; we beseech you to avenge him." + +[8] And Cyrus made answer: + +"I gave you my promise before that if you kept faith with me I would +avenge you, so far as in me lay, and to-day I see the debt is due, and +the promise I made to you I repeat to your daughter; God helping me, I +will perform it. As for these costly gifts," he added, "I accept them, +and I give them for a dowry to your daughter, and to him who may win +her hand in marriage. One gift only I will take with me when I go, but +that is a thing so precious that if I changed it for all the wealth of +Babylon or the whole world itself I could not go on my way with half +so blithe a heart." + +[9] And Gobryas wondered what this rare thing could be, half +suspecting it might be his daughter. "What is it, my lord?" said he. +And Cyrus answered, "I will tell you. A man may hate injustice and +impiety and lies, but if no one offers him vast wealth or unbridled +power or impregnable fortresses or lovely children, he dies before he +can show what manner of man he is. [10] But you have placed everything +in my hands to-day, this mighty fortress, treasures of every kind, +your own power, and a daughter most worthy to be won. And thus you +have shown all men that I could not sin against my friend and my host, +nor act unrighteously for the sake of wealth, nor break my plighted +word of my own free will. [11] This is your gift, and, so long as I am +a just man and known to be such, receiving the praise of my fellow- +men, I will never forget it; I will strive to repay you with every +honour I can give. [12] Doubt not," he added, "but that you will find +a husband worthy of your daughter. I have many a good man and true +among my friends, and one of them will win her hand; but I could not +say whether he will have less wealth, or more, than what you offer me. +Only of one thing you may be certain; there are those among them who +will not admire you one whit the more because of the splendour of your +gifts; they will only envy me and supplicate the gods that one day it +will be given to them to show that they too are loyal to their +friends, that they too will never yield to their foes while life is in +them, unless some god strike them down; that they too would never +sacrifice virtue and fair renown for all the wealth you proffer and +all the treasure of Syria and Assyria to boot. Such is the nature, +believe me, of some who are seated here." + +[13] And Gobryas smiled. "By heaven, I wish you would point them out +to me, and I would beg you to give me one of them to be my son-in- +law." And Cyrus said, "You will not need to learn their names from me; +follow us, and you will be able to point them out yourself." + +[14] With these words he rose, clasped the hand of Gobryas, and went +out, all his men behind him. And though Gobryas pressed him to stay +and sup in the citadel, he would not, but took his supper in the camp +and constrained Gobryas to take his meal with them. [15] And there, +lying on a couch of leaves, he put this question to him, 'Tell me, +Gobryas, who has the largest store of coverlets, yourself, or each of +us?" And the Assyrian answered, "You, I know, have more than I, more +coverlets, more couches, and a far larger dwelling-place, for your +home is earth and heaven, and every nook may be a couch, and for your +coverlets you need not count the fleeces of your flocks, but the +brushwood, and the herbage of hill and plain." + +[16] Nevertheless, when the meal began, it must be said that Gobryas, +seeing the poverty of what was set before him, thought at first that +his own men were far more open-handed than the Persians. [17] But his +mood changed as he watched the grace and decorum of the company; and +saw that not a single Persian who had been schooled would ever gape, +or snatch at the viands, or let himself be so absorbed in eating that +he could attend to nothing else; these men prided themselves on +showing their good sense and their intelligence while they took their +food, just as a perfect rider sits his horse with absolute composure, +and can look and listen and talk to some purpose while he puts him +through his paces. To be excited or flustered by meat and drink was in +their eyes something altogether swinish and bestial. [18] Nor did +Gobryas fail to notice that they only asked questions which were +pleasant to answer, and only jested in a manner to please; all their +mirth was as far from impertinence and malice as it was from vulgarity +and unseemliness. [19] And what struck him most was their evident +feeling that on a campaign, since the danger was the same for all, no +one was entitled to a larger share than any of his comrades; on the +contrary, it was thought the perfection of the feast to perfect the +condition of those who were to share the fighting. [20] And thus when +he rose to return home, the story runs that he said: + +"I begin to understand, Cyrus, how it is that while we have more +goblets and more gold, more apparel and more wealth than you, yet we +ourselves are not worth as much. We are always trying to increase what +we possess, but you seem to set your hearts on perfecting your own +souls." + +[21] But Cyrus only answered: + +"My friend, be here without fail to-morrow, and bring all your cavalry +in full armour, so that we may see your power, and then lead us +through your country and show us who are hostile and who are +friendly." + +[22] Thus they parted for the time and each saw to his own concerns. + +But when the day dawned Gobryas appeared with his cavalry and led the +way. And Cyrus, as a born general would, not only supervised the +march, but watched for any chance to weaken the enemy and add to his +own strength. [23] With this in view, he summoned the Hyrcanian chief +and Gobryas himself; for they were the two he thought most likely to +give him the information that he needed. + +"My friends," said he, "I think I shall not err if I trust to your +fidelity and consult you about the campaign. You, even more than I, +are bound to see that the Assyrians do not overpower us. For myself, +if I fail, there may well be some loophole of escape. But for you, if +the king conquers, I see nothing but enmity on every side. [24] For, +although he is my enemy, he bears me no malice, he only feels that it +is against his interest for me to be powerful and therefore he attacks +me. But you he hates with a bitter hatred, believing he is wronged by +you." + +To this his companions answered that he must finish what he had to +say; they were well aware of the facts, and had the deepest interest +in the turn events might take. + +[25] Thereupon Cyrus put his questions: "Does the king suppose that +you alone are his enemies, or do you know of others who hate him too?" +"Certainly we do," replied the Hyrcanian, "the Cadousians are his +bitterest foes, and they are both numerous and warlike. Then there are +the Sakians, our neighbours, who have suffered severely at his hands, +for he tried to subdue them as he subdued us." + +[26] "Then you think," said Cyrus, "that they would be glad to attack +him in our company?" "Much more than glad," answered they; "if they +could manage to join us." "And what stands in their way?" asked he. +"The Assyrians themselves," said they, "the very people among whom you +are marching now." [27] At that Cyrus turned to Gobryas: + +"And what of this lad who is now on the throne? Did you not charge him +with unbridled insolence?" + +"Even so," replied Gobryas, "and I think he gave me cause." "Tell me," +said Cyrus, "were you the only man he treated thus, or did others +suffer too?" + +[28] "Many others," said Gobryas, "but some of them were weak, and why +should I weary you with the insults they endured? I will tell you of a +young man whose father was a much greater personage than I, and who +was himself, like my own son, a friend and comrade of the prince. One +day at a drinking-bout this monster had the youth seized and +mutilated, and why? Some say simply because a paramour of his own had +praised the boy's beauty and said his bride was a woman to be envied. +The king himself now asserts it was because he had tried to seduce his +paramour. That young man, eunuch as he is, is now at the head of his +province, for his father is dead." + +[29] "Well," rejoined Cyrus, "I take it, you believe he would welcome +us, if he thought we came to help him?" "I am more than sure of that," +said Gobryas, "but it is not so easy to set eyes on him." "And why?" +asked Cyrus. "Because if we are to join him at all, we must march +right past Babylon itself." [30] "And where is the difficulty in +that?" said Cyrus. "Heaven help us!" cried Gobryas. "The city has only +to open her gates, and she can send out an army ten thousand times as +large as yours. That is why," he added, "the Assyrians are less prompt +than they were at bringing in their weapons and their horses, because +those who have seen your army think it so very small, and their report +has got about. So that in my opinion it would be better to advance +with the utmost care." + +[31] Cyrus listened and replied. + +"You do well, Gobryas, my friend, in urging as much care as possible. +But I cannot myself see a safer route for us than the direct advance +on Babylon, if Babylon is the centre of the enemy's strength. They are +numerous, you say, and if they are in good heart, we shall soon know +it. [32] Now, if they cannot find us and imagine that we have +disappeared from fear of them, you may take it as certain that they +will be quit of the terror we have inspired. Courage will spring up in +its place, and grow the greater the longer we lie hid. But if we march +straight on then, we shall find them still mourning for the dead whom +we have slain, still nursing the wounds we have inflicted, still +trembling at the daring of our troops, still mindful of their own +discomfiture and flight. [33] Gobryas," he added, "be assured of this; +men in the mass, when aflame with courage, are irresistible, and when +their hearts fail them, the more numerous they are the worse the panic +that seizes them. [34] It comes upon them magnified by a thousand +lies, blanched by a thousand pallors, it gathers head from a thousand +terror-stricken looks, until it grows so great that no orator can +allay it by his words, no general arouse the old courage by a charge, +or revive the old confidence by retreat; the more their leader cheers +them on, the worse do the soldiers take their case to be. [35] Now by +all means let us see exactly how things stand with us. If from +henceforward victory must fall to those who can reckon the largest +numbers, your fears for us are justified, and we are indeed in fearful +danger; but if the old rule still holds, and battles are decided by +the qualities of those who fight, then, I say, take heart and you will +never fail. You will find far more stomach for the fight among our +ranks than theirs. [36] And to hearten you the more, take note of +this: our enemies are far fewer now than when we worsted them, far +weaker than when they fled from us, while we are stronger because we +are conquerors, and greater because fortune has been ours; yes, and +actually more numerous because you and yours have joined us, for I +would not have you hold your men too low, now that they are side by +side with us. In the company of conquerors, Gobryas, the hearts of the +followers beat high. [37] Nor should you forget," he added, "that the +enemy is well able to see us as it is, and the sight of us will +certainly not be more alarming if we wait for him where we are than if +we advance against him. That is my opinion, and now you must lead us +straight for Babylon." + +[C.3] And so the march continued, and on the fourth day they found +themselves at the limit of the territory over which Gobryas ruled. +Since they were now in the enemy's country Cyrus changed the +disposition of his men, taking the infantry immediately under his own +command, with sufficient cavalry to support them, and sending the rest +of the mounted troops to scour the land. Their orders were to cut down +every one with arms in his hands, and drive in the rest, with all the +cattle they could find. The Persians were ordered to take part in this +raid, and though many came home with nothing for their trouble but a +toss from their horses, others brought back a goodly store of booty. + +[2] When the spoil was all brought in, Cyrus summoned the officers of +the Medes and the Hyrcanians, as well as his own peers, and spoke as +follows: + +"My friends, Gobryas has entertained us nobly; he has showered good +things upon us. What say you then? After we have set aside the +customary portion for the gods and a fair share for the army, shall we +not give all the rest of the spoil to him? Would it not be a noble +thing, a sign and symbol at the outset that we desire to outdo in +well-doing those who do good to us?" + +[3] At that all his hearers with one consent applauded, and a certain +officer rose and said: + +"By all means, Cyrus, let us do so. I myself cannot but feel that +Gobryas must have thought us almost beggars because we were not laden +with coins of gold and did not drink from golden goblets. But if we do +this, he will understand that men may be free and liberal without the +help of gold." + +[4] "Come then," said Cyrus, "let us pay the priests our debt to +heaven, select what the army requires, and then summon Gobryas and +give the rest to him." + +So they took what they needed and gave all the rest to Gobryas. + +[5] Forthwith Cyrus pressed on towards Babylon, his troops in battle +order. But as the Assyrians did not come out to meet them, he bade +Gobryas ride forward and deliver this message: + +"If the king will come out to fight for his land, I, Gobryas, will +fight for him, but, if he will not defend his own country, we must +yield to the conquerors." + +[6] So Gobryas rode forward, just far enough to deliver the message in +safety. And the king sent a messenger to answer him: + +"Thy master says to thee: 'It repents me, Gobryas, not that I slew thy +son, but that I stayed my hand from slaying thee. And now if ye will +do battle, come again on the thirtieth day from hence. We have no +leisure now, our preparations are still on foot.'" + +[7] And Gobryas made answer: + +"It repents thee: may that repentance never cease! I have begun to +make thee suffer, since the day repentance took hold on thee." + +[8] Then Gobryas brought back the words of the king to Cyrus, and +Cyrus led his army off, and then he summoned Gobryas and said to him: + +"Surely you told me that you thought the man who was made an eunuch by +the king would be upon our side?" + +"And I am sure he will," answered Gobryas, "for we have spoken freely +to each other many a time, he and I." [9] "Then," said Cyrus, "you +must go to him when you think the right moment has come: and you must +so act at first that only he and you may know what he intends, and +when you are closeted with him, if you find he really wishes to be a +friend, you must contrive that his friendship remain a secret: for in +war a man can scarcely do his friends more good than by a semblance of +hostility, or his enemies more harm than under the guise of +friendship." [10] "Aye," answered Gobryas, "and I know that Gadatas +would pay a great price to punish the king of Assyria. But it is for +us to consider what he can best do." [11] "Tell me now," rejoined +Cyrus, "you spoke of an outpost, built against the Hyrcanians and the +Sakians, which was to protect Assyria in time of war,--could the +eunuch be admitted there by the commandant if he came with a force at +his back?" "Certainly he could," said Gobryas, "if he were as free +from suspicion as he is to-day." [12] "And free he would be," Cyrus +went on, "if I were to attack his strongholds as though in earnest, +and he were to repel me in force. I might capture some of his men, and +he some of my soldiers, or some messengers sent by me to those you say +are the enemies of Assyria, and these prisoners would let it be known +that they were on their way to fetch an army with scaling-ladders to +attack this fortress, and the eunuch, hearing their story, would +pretend that he came to warn the commandant in time." [13] +"Undoubtedly," said Gobryas, "if things went thus, the commandant +would admit him; he would even beg him to stay there until you +withdrew." + +"And then," Cyrus continued, "once inside the walls, he could put the +place into our hands?" [14] "We may suppose so," said Gobryas. "He +would be there to settle matters within, and you would be redoubling +the pressure from without." + +"Then be off at once," said Cyrus, "and do your best to teach him his +part, and when you have arranged affairs, come back to me; and as for +pledges of good faith, you could offer him none better than those you +received from us yourself." + +[15] Then Gobryas made haste and was gone, and the eunuch welcomed him +gladly; he agreed to everything and helped to arrange all that was +needed. Presently Gobryas brought back word that he thought the eunuch +had everything in readiness, and so, without more ado, Cyrus made his +feigned attack on the following day, and was beaten off. [16] But on +the other hand there was a fortress, indicated by Gadatas himself, +that Cyrus took. The messengers Cyrus had sent out, telling them +exactly where to go, fell into the hands of Gadatas: some were allowed +to escape--their business was to fetch the troops and carry the +scaling-ladders--but the rest were narrowly examined in the presence +of many witnesses, and when Gadatas heard the object of their journey +he got his equipment together and set out in the night at full speed +to take the news. [17] In the end he made his way into the fortress, +trusted and welcomed as a deliverer, and for a time he helped the +commandant to the best of his ability. But as soon as Cyrus appeared +he seized the place, aided by the Persian prisoners he had taken. [18] +This done, and having set things in order within the fortress, Gadatas +went out to Cyrus, bowed before him according to the custom of his +land, and said, "Cyrus, may joy be yours!" + +[19] "Joy is mine already," answered he, "for you, God helping you, +have brought it to me. You must know," he added, "that I set great +store by this fortress, and rejoice to leave it in the hands of my +allies here. And for yourself, Gadatas," he added, "if the Assyrian +has robbed you of the ability to beget children, remember he has not +stolen your power to win friends; you have made us yours, I tell you, +by this deed, and we will stand by as faithfully as sons and grandsons +of your own." + +[20] So Cyrus spoke. And at that instant the Hyrcanian chief, who had +only just learnt what had happened, came running up to him, and +seizing him by the hand cried out: + +"O Cyrus, you godsend to your friends! How often you make me thank the +gods for bringing me to you!" + +[21] "Off with you, then," said Cyrus, "and occupy this fortress for +which you bless me so. Take it and make the best use of it you can, +for your own nation, and for all our allies, and above all for +Gadatas, our friend, who won it and surrenders it to us." + +[22] "Then," said the chieftain, "as soon as the Cadousians arrive and +the Sakians and my countrymen, we must, must we not? call a council of +them all, so that we may consult together, and see how best to turn it +to account." + +[23] Cyrus thought the proposal good, and when they met together it +was decided to garrison the post with a common force, chosen from all +who were concerned that it should remain friendly and be an outer +balwark to overawe the Assyrians. [24] This heightened the enthusiasm +of them all, Cadousians, Sakians, and Hyrcanians, and their levies +rose high, until the Cadousians sent in 20,000 light infantry and 4000 +cavalry, and the Sakians 11,000 bowmen, 10,000 on foot and 1000 +mounted, while the Hyrcanians were free to despatch all their reserves +of infantry and make up their horsemen to a couple of thousand strong, +whereas previously the larger portion of their cavalry had been left +at home to support the Cadousians and Sakians against Assyria. + +[25] And while Cyrus was kept in the fortress, organising and +arranging everything, many of the Assyrians from the country round +brought in their horses and handed over their arms, being by this time +in great dread of their neighbours. + +[26] Soon after this Gadatas came to Cyrus and told him that +messengers had come to say that the king of Assyria, learning what had +happened to the fortress, was beside himself with anger, and was +preparing to attack his territory. "If you, Cyrus," said he, "will let +me go now, I will try to save my fortresses: the rest is of less +account." [27] Cyrus said, "If you go now, when will you reach home?" +And Gadatas answered, "On the third day from this I can sup in my own +house." "Do you think," asked Cyrus, "that you will find the Assyrian +already there?" "I am sure of it," he answered, "for he will make +haste while he thinks you are still far off." [28] "And I," said +Cyrus, "when could I be there with my army?" But to this Gadatas made +answer, "The army you have now, my lord, is very large, and you could +not reach my home in less than six days or seven." "Well," Cyrus +replied, "be off yourself: make all speed, and I will follow as best I +can." + +[29] So Gadatas was gone, and Cyrus called together all the officers +of the allies, and a great and goodly company they seemed, noble +gentlemen, beautiful and brave. And Cyrus stood up among them all and +said: + +[30] "My allies and my friends, Gadatas has done deeds that we all +feel worthy of high reward, and that too before ever he had received +any benefit from us. The Assyrians, we hear, have now invaded his +territory, to take vengeance for the monstrous injury they consider he +has done them, and moreover, they doubtless argue that if those who +revolt to us escape scot-free, while those who stand by them are cut +to pieces, ere long they will not have a single supporter on their +side. [31] To-day, gentlemen, we may do a gallant deed, if we rescue +Gadatas, our friend and benefactor; and truly it is only just and +right thus to repay gift for gift, and boon for boon. Moreover, as it +seems to me, what we accomplish will be much to our own interest. [32] +If all men see that we are ready to give blow for blow and sting for +sting, while we outdo our benefactors in generous deeds, it is only +natural that multitudes will long to be our friends, and no man care +to be our foe. [33] Whereas, if it be thought that we left Gadatas in +the lurch, how in heaven's name shall we persuade another to show us +any kindness? How shall we dare to think well of ourselves again? How +shall one of us look Gadatas in the face, when all of us, so many and +so strong, showed ourselves less generous than he, one single man and +in so sore a plight?" + +[34] Thus Cyrus spoke, and all of them assented right willingly, and +said it must be done. + +"Come then," concluded Cyrus, "since you are all of one mind with me, +let each of us choose an escort for our waggons and beasts of burden. +[35] Let us leave them behind us, and put Gobryas at their head. He is +acquainted with the roads, and for the rest he is a man of skill. But +we ourselves will push on with our stoutest men and our strongest +horses, taking provision for three days and no more: the lighter and +cheaper our gear the more gaily shall we break our fast and take our +supper and sleep on the road. [36] And now," said he, "let us arrange +the order of the march. You, Chrysantas, must lead the van with your +cuirassiers, since the road is broad and smooth, and you must put your +brigadiers in the first line, each regiment marching in file, for if +we keep close order we shall travel all the quicker and be all the +safer. [37] I put the cuirassiers in the front," he added, "because +they are our heaviest troops, and if the heaviest are leading, the +lighter cannot find it hard to follow: whereas where the swiftest lead +and the march is at night, it is no wonder if the column fall to +pieces: the vanguard is always running away. [38] And behind the +cuirassiers," he went on, "Artabazas is to follow with the Persian +targeteers and the bowmen, and behind them Andamyas the Mede with the +Median infantry, and then Embas and the Armenian infantry, and then +Artouchas with the Hyrcanians, and then Thambradas with the Sakian +foot, and finally Datamas with the Cadousians. [39] All these officers +will put their brigadiers in the first line, their targeteers on the +right, and their bowmen on the left of their own squares: this is the +order in which they will be of most use. [40] All the baggage-bearers +are to follow in the rear: and their officers must see that they get +everything together before they sleep, and present themselves betimes +in the morning, with all their gear, and always keep good order on the +march. [41] In support of the baggage-train," he added, "there will +be, first, Madatas the Persian with the Persian cavalry, and he too +must put his brigadiers in the front, each regiment following in +single file, as with the infantry. [42] Behind them Rambacas the Mede +and his cavalry, in the same order, and then you, Tigranes, and yours, +and after you the other cavalry leaders with the men they brought. The +Sakians will follow you, and last of all will come the Cadousians, who +were the last to join us, and you, Alkeunas, who are to command them, +for the present you will take complete control of the rear, and allow +no one to fall behind your men. [43] All of you alike, officers, and +all who respect yourselves, must be most careful to march in silence. +At night the ears, and not the eyes, are the channels of information +and the guides for action, and at night any confusion is a far more +serious matter than by day, and far more difficult to put right. For +this reason silence must be studied and order absolutely maintained. +[44] Whenever you mean to rise before daybreak, you must make the +night-watches as short and as numerous as possible, so that no one may +suffer on the march because of his long vigil before it; and when the +hour for the start arrives the horn must be blown. [45] Gentlemen, I +expect you all to present yourselves on the road to Babylon with +everything you require, and as each detachment starts, let them pass +down the word for those in the rear to follow." + +[46] So the officers went to their quarters, and as they went they +talked of Cyrus, and what a marvellous memory he had, always naming +each officer as he assigned him his post. [47] The fact was Cyrus took +special pains over this: it struck him as odd that a mere mechanic +could know the names of all his tools, and a physician the names of +all his instruments, but a general be such a simpleton that he could +not name his own officers, the very tools he had to depend on each +time he wanted to seize a point or fortify a post or infuse courage or +inspire terror. Moreover it seemed to him only courteous to address a +man by name when he wished to honour him. [48] And he was sure that +the man who feels he is personally known to his commander is more +eager to be seen performing some noble feat of arms, and more careful +to refrain from all that is unseemly and base. [49] Cyrus thought it +would be quite foolish for him to give his orders in the style of +certain householders: "Somebody fetch the water, some one split the +wood." [50] After a command of that kind, every one looks at every one +else, and no one carries it out, every one is to blame, and no one is +ashamed or afraid, because there are so many beside himself. Therefore +Cyrus always named the officers whenever he gave an order. + +[51] That, then, was his view of the matter. The army now took supper +and posted their guards and got their necessaries together and went to +rest. [52] And at midnight the horn was blown. Cyrus had told +Chrysantas he would wait for him at a point on the road in advance of +the troops, and therefore he went on in front himself with his own +staff, and waited till Chrysantas appeared shortly afterwards at the +head of his cuirassiers. [53] Then Cyrus put the guides under his +command, and told him to march on, but to go slowly until he received +a message, for all the troops were not yet on the road. This done, +Cyrus took his stand on the line of march, and as each division came +up, hurried it forward to its place, sending messengers meanwhile to +summon those who were still behind. [54] When all had started, he +despatched gallopers to Chrysantas to tell him that the whole army was +now under way, and that he might lead on as quick as he could. [55] +Then he galloped to the front himself, reined up, and quietly watched +the ranks defile before him. Whenever a division advanced silently and +in good order, he would ride up and ask their names and pay them +compliments; and if he saw any sign of confusion he would inquire the +reason and restore tranquillity. [56] One point remains to add in +describing his care that night; he sent forward a small but picked +body of infantry, active fellows all of them, in advance of the whole +army. They were to keep Chrysantas in sight, and he was not to lose +sight of them; they were to use their ears and all their wits, and +report at once to Chrysantas if they thought there was any need. They +had an officer to direct their movements, announce anything of +importance, and not trouble about trifles. + +[57] Thus they pressed forward through the night, and when day broke +Cyrus ordered the mass of the cavalry to the front, the Cadousians +alone remaining with their own infantry, who brought up the rear, and +who were as much in need as others of cavalry support. But the rest of +the horsemen he sent ahead because it was ahead that the enemy lay, +and in case of resistance he was anxious to oppose them in battle- +order, while if they fled he wished no time to be lost in following up +the pursuit. [58] It was always arranged who were to give chase and +who were to stay with himself: he never allowed the whole army to be +broken up. [59] Thus Cyrus conducted the advance, but it is not to be +thought that he kept to one particular spot; he was always galloping +backwards and forwards, first at one point and then at another, +supervising everything and supplying any defect as it arose. Thus +Cyrus and his men marched forward. + +[C.4] Now there was a certain officer in the cavalry with Gadatas, a +man of power and influence, who, when he saw that his master had +revolted from Assyria, thought to himself, "If anything should happen +to him, I myself could get from the king all that he possessed." + +Accordingly he sent forward a man he could trust, with instructions +that, if he found the Assyrian army already in the territory of +Gadatas, he was to tell the king that he could capture Gadatas and all +who were with him, if he thought fit to make an ambuscade. [2] And the +messenger was also to say what force Gadatas had at his command and to +announce that Cyrus was not with him. Moreover, the officer stated the +road by which Gadatas was coming. Finally, to win the greater +confidence, he sent word to his own dependents and bade them deliver +up to the king of Assyria the castle which he himself commanded in the +province, with all that it contained: he would come himself, he added, +if possible, after he had slain Gadatas, and, even if he failed in +that, he would always stand by the king. + +[3] Now the emissary rode as hard as he could and came before the king +and told his errand, and, hearing it, the king at once took over the +castle and formed an ambuscade, with a large body of horse and many +chariots, in a dense group of villages that lay upon the road. [4] +Gadatas, when he came near the spot, sent scouts ahead to explore, and +the king, as soon as he sighted them, ordered two or three of his +chariots and a handful of horsemen to dash away as though in flight, +giving the impression that they were few in number and panic-stricken. +At this the scouting party swept after them, signalling to Gadatas, +who also fell into the trap and gave himself up to the chase. + +The Assyrians waited till the quarry was within their grasp and then +sprang out from their ambuscade. [5] The men, with Gadatas, seeing +what had happened, turned back and fled, as one might expect, with the +Assyrians at their heels, while the officer who had planned it all +stabbed Gadatas himself. He struck him in the shoulder, but the blow +was not mortal. Thereupon the traitor fled to the pursuers, and when +they found out who he was he galloped on with them, his horse at full +stretch, side by side with the king. [6] Naturally the men with the +slower horses were overtaken by the better mounted, and the fugitives, +already wearied by their long journey, were at the last extremity when +suddenly they caught sight of Cyrus advancing at the head of his army, +and were swept into safety, as glad and thankful, we may well believe, +as shipwrecked mariners into port. + +[7] The first feeling of Cyrus was sheer astonishment, but he soon saw +how matters stood. The whole force of the Assyrian cavalry was rolling +on him, and he met it with his own army in perfect order, till the +enemy, realising what had happened, turned and fled. Then Cyrus +ordered his pursuing party to charge, while he followed more slowly at +the pace he thought the safest. [8] The enemy were utterly routed: +many of the chariots were taken, some had lost their charioteers, +others were seized in the sudden change of front, others surrounded by +the Persian cavalry. Right and left the conquerors cut down their +foes, and among them fell the officer who had dealt the blow at +Gadatas. [9] But of the Assyrian infantry, those who were besieging +the fortress of Gadatas escaped to the stronghold that had revolted +from him, or managed to reach an important city belonging to the king, +where he himself, his horsemen, and his chariots had taken refuge. + +[10] After this exploit Cyrus went on to the territory of Gadatas, and +as soon as he had given orders to those who guarded the prisoners, he +went himself to visit the eunuch and see how it was with him after his +wound. Gadatas came out to meet him, his wound already bandaged. And +Cyrus was gladdened and said, "I came myself to see how it was with +you." [11] "And I," said Gadatas, "heaven be my witness, I came out to +see how a man would look who had a soul like yours. I cannot tell what +need you had of me, or what promise you ever gave me, to make you do +as you have done. I had shown you no kindness for your private self: +it was because you thought I had been of some little service to your +friends, that you came to help me thus, and help me you did, from +death to life. Left to myself I was lost. [12] By heaven above, I +swear it, Cyrus, if I had been a father as I was born to be, God knows +whether I could have found in the son of my loins so true a friend as +you. I know of sons--this king of ours is such an one, who has caused +his own father ten thousand times more trouble than ever he causes +you." + +[13] And Cyrus made answer: + +"You have overlooked a much more wonderful thing, Gadatas, to turn and +wonder at me." + +"Nay," said Gadatas, "what could that be?" + +"That all these Persians," he answered, "are so zealous in your +behalf, and all these Medes and Hyrcanians, and every one of our +allies, Armenians, Sakians, Cadousians." + +[14] Then Gadatas prayed aloud: + +"O Father Zeus, may the gods heap blessings on them also, but above +all on him who has made them what they are! And now, Cyrus, that I may +entertain as they deserve these men you praise, take the gifts I bring +you as their host, the best I have it in my power to bring." + +And with the word he brought out stores of every kind, enough for all +to over sacrifice who listed; and the whole army was entertained in a +manner worthy of their feat and their success. + +[15] Meanwhile the Cadousians had been always in the rear, unable to +share in the pursuit, and they longed to achieve some exploit of their +own. So their chieftain, with never a word to Cyrus, led them forth +alone, and raided the country towards Babylon. But, as soon as they +were scattered the Assyrians came out from their city of refuge in +good battle-order. [16] When they saw that the Cadousians were +unsupported they attacked them, killing the leader himself and numbers +of his men, capturing many of their horses and retaking the spoil they +were in the act of driving away. The king pursued as far as he thought +safe, and then turned back, and the Cadousians at last found safety in +their own camp, though even the vanguard only reached it late in the +afternoon. [17] When Cyrus saw what had happened he went out to meet +them, succouring every wounded man and sending him off to Gadatas at +once, to have his wounds dressed, while he helped to house the others +in their quarters, and saw that they had all they needed, his Peers +aiding him, for at such times noble natures will give help with all +their hearts. [18] Still it was plain to see that he was sorely vexed, +and when the hour for dinner came, and the others went away, he was +still there on the ground with the attendants and the surgeons; not a +soul would he leave uncared for if anything could be done: he either +saw to it himself or sent for the proper aid. + +[19] So for that night they rested. But with daybreak Cyrus sent out a +herald and summoned a gathering of all the officers and the whole +Cadousian army, and spoke as follows: + +"My friends and allies, what has happened is only natural; for it is +human nature to err, and I cannot find it astonishing. Still we may +gain at least one advantage from what has occurred, if we learn that +we must never cut off from our main body a detachment weaker than the +force of the enemy. [20] I do not say that one is never to march +anywhere, if necessary, with an even smaller fraction than the +Cadousians had; but, before doing so you must communicate with some +one able to bring up reinforcements, and then, though you may be +trapped yourself, it is at least probable that your friends behind you +may foil the foilers, and divert them from your own party: there are +fifty ways in which one can embarrass the enemy and save one's +friends. Thus separation need not mean isolation, and union with the +main force may still be kept, whereas if you sally forth without +telling your plan, you are no better off than if you were alone in the +field. [21] However, God willing, we shall take our revenge for this +ere long; indeed, as soon as you have breakfasted, I will lead you out +to the scene of yesterday's skirmish, and there we will bury those who +fell, and show our enemies that the very field where they thought +themselves victorious is held by those who are stronger than they: +they shall never look again with joy upon the spot where they slew our +comrades. Or else, if they refuse to come out and meet us, we will +burn their villages and harry all their land, so that in lieu of +rejoicing at the sight of what they did to us, they shall gnash their +teeth at the spectacle of their own disasters. [22] Go now," said he, +"the rest of you, and take your breakfast forthwith, but let the +Cadousians first elect a leader in accordance with their own laws, and +one who will guide them well and wisely, by the grace of God, and with +our human help, if they should need it. And when you have chosen your +leader, and had your breakfast, send him hither to me." + +[23] So they did as Cyrus bade them, and when he led the army out, he +stationed their new general close to his own person, and told him to +keep his detachment there, "So that you and I," said he, "may rekindle +the courage in their souls." + +In this order they marched out, and thus they buried the Cadousian +dead and ravaged the country. Which done, they went back to the +province of Gadatas, laden with supplies taken from the foe. + +[24] Now Cyrus felt that those who had come over to his side and who +dwelt in the neighbourhood of Babylon would be sure to suffer unless +he were constantly there himself, and so he bade all the prisoners he +set free take a message to the king, and he himself despatched a +herald to say that he would leave all the tillers of the soil +unmolested and unhurt if the Assyrian would let those who had come +over to him continue their work in peace. [25] "And remember," he +added, "that even if you try to hinder my friends, it is only a few +whom you could stop, whereas there is a vast territory of yours that I +could allow to be cultivated. As for the crops," he added, "if we have +war, it will be the conqueror, I make no doubt, who will reap them, +but if we have peace, it will be you. If, however, any of my people +take up arms against you, or any of yours against me, we must, of +course, each of us, defend ourselves as best we can." + +[26] With this message Cyrus despatched the herald, and when the +Assyrians heard it, they urged the king to accept the proposal, and so +limit the war as much as possible. [27] And he, whether influenced by +his own people or because he desired it himself, consented to the +terms. So an agreement was drawn up, proclaiming peace to the tillers +of the soil and war to all who carried arms. + +[28] Thus Cyrus arranged matters for the husbandmen, and he asked his +own supporters among the drovers to bring their herds, if they liked, +into his dominions and leave them there, while he treated the enemy's +cattle as booty wherever he could, so that his allies found attraction +in the campaign. For the risk was no greater if they took what they +needed, while the knowledge that they were living at the enemy's +expense certainly seemed to lighten the labour of the war. + +[29] When the time came for Cyrus to go back, and the final +preparations were being made, Gadatas brought him gifts of every kind, +the produce of a vast estate, and among the cattle a drove of horses, +taken from cavalry of his own, whom he distrusted owing to the late +conspiracy. [30] And when he brought them he said, "Cyrus, this day I +give you these for your own, and I would pray you to make such use of +them as you think best, but I would have you remember that all else +which I call mine is yours as well. For there is no son of mine, nor +can there ever be, sprung from my own loins, to whom I may leave my +wealth: when I die myself, my house must perish with me, my family and +my name. [31] And I must suffer this, Cyrus, I swear to you by the +great gods above us, who see all things and hear all things, though +never by word or deed did I commit injustice or foulness of any kind." + +But here the words died on his lips; he burst into tears over his +sorrows, and could say no more. [32] Cyrus was touched with pity at +his suffering and said to him: + +"Let me accept the horses, for in that I can help you, if I set loyal +riders on them, men of a better mind, methinks, than those who had +them before, and I myself can satisfy a wish that has long been mine, +to bring my Persian cavalry up to ten thousand men. But take back, I +pray you, all these other riches, and guard them safely against the +time when you may find me able to vie with you in gifts. If I left you +now so hugely in your debt, heaven help me if I could hold up my head +again for very shame." + +[33] Thereto Gadatas made answer, "In all things I trust you, and will +trust you, for I see your heart. But consider whether I am competent +to guard all this myself. [34] While I was at peace with the king, the +inheritance I had from my father was, it may be, the fairest in all +the land: it was near that mighty Babylon, and all the good things +that can be gathered from a great city fell into our laps, and yet +from all the trouble of it, the noise and the bustle, we could be free +at once by turning our backs and coming home here. But now that we are +at war, the moment you have left us we are sure to be attacked, +ourselves and all our wealth, and methinks we shall have a sorry life +of it, our enemies at our elbow and far stronger than ourselves. [35] +I seem to hear some one say, why did you not think of this before you +revolted? But I answer, Cyrus, because the soul within me was stung +beyond endurance by my wrongs; I could not sit and ponder the safest +course, I was always brooding over one idea, always in travail of one +dream, praying for the day of vengeance on the miscreant, the enemy of +God and man, whose hatred never rested, once aroused, once he +suspected a man, not of doing wrong, but of being better than himself. +[36] And because he is a villain, he will always find, I know, worse +villains that himself to aid him, but if one day a nobler rival should +appear--have no concern, Cyrus, you will never need to do battle with +such an one, yonder fiend would deal with him and never cease to plot +against him until he had dragged him in the dust, only because he was +the better man. And to work me trouble and disaster, he and his wicked +tools will, I fear me, have strength enough and to spare." + +[37] Cyrus thought there was much in what he said, and he answered +forthwith: + +"Tell me, Gadatas, did we not put a stout garrison in your fortress, +so as to make it safe for you whenever you needed it, and are you not +taking the field with us now, so that, if the gods be on our side as +they are to-day, that scoundrel may fear you, not you him? Go now, +bring with you all you have that is sweet to look on and to love, and +then join our march: you shall be, I am persuaded, of the utmost +service to me, and I, so far as in me lies, will give you help for +help." + +[38] When Gadatas heard that, he breathed again, and he said: + +"Could I really be in time to make my preparations and be back before +you leave? I would fain take my mother with me on the march." + +"Assuredly," said Cyrus, "you will be in time: for I will wait until +you say that all is ready." + +[39] So it came to pass that Gadatas went his way, and with the aid of +Cyrus put a strong garrison in his fortress, and got together the +wealth of his broad estates. And moreover he brought with him in his +own retinue servants he could trust and in whom he took delight, as +well as many others in whom he put no trust at all, and these he +compelled to bring their wives with them, and their sisters, that so +they might be bound to his service. + +[40] Thus Gadatas went with Cyrus, and Cyrus kept him ever at his +side, to show him the roads and the places for water and fodder and +food, and lead them where there was most abundance. + +[41] At last they came in sight of Babylon once more, and it seemed to +Cyrus that the road they were following led under the very walls. +Therefore he summoned Gobryas and Gadatas, and asked them if there was +not another way, so that he need not pass so close to the ramparts. +[42] "There are many other ways, my lord," answered Gobryas, "but I +thought you would certainly want to pass as near the city as possible, +and display the size and splendour of your army to the king. I knew +that when your force was weaker you advanced to his walls, and let him +see us, few as we were, and I am persuaded that if he has made any +preparation for battle now, as he said he would, when he sees the +power you have brought with you, he will think once more that he is +unprepared." + +[435] But Cyrus said: + +"Does it seem strange to you, Gobryas, that when I had a far smaller +army I took it right up to the enemy's walls, and to-day when my force +is greater I will not venture there? [44] You need not think it +strange: to march up is not the same as to march past. Every leader +will march up with his troops disposed in the best order for battle +and a wise leader will draw them off so as to secure safety rather +than sped. [45] But in marching past there is no means of avoiding +long straggling lines of waggons, long strings of baggage-bearers, and +all these must be screened by the fighting-force so as never to leave +the baggage unprotected. [46] But this must mean a thin weak order for +the fighting-men, and if the enemy choose to attack at any point with +their full force, they can strike with far more weight than any of the +troops available to meet them at the moment. [47] Again, the length of +line means a long delay in bringing up relief, whereas the enemy have +only a handsbreadth to cover as they rush out from the walls or +retire. [48] But now, if we leave a distance between ourselves and +them as wide as our line is long, not only with they realise our +numbers plainly enough, but our veil of glittering armour will make +the whole multitude more formidable in their eyes. [49] And, if they +do attack us anywhere, we shall be able to foresee their advance a +long way off and be quite prepared to give them welcome. But it is far +more likely, gentlemen," he added, "that they will not make the +attempt, with all that ground to cover from the walls, unless they +imagine that their whole force is superior to the whole of ours: they +know that retreat will be difficult and dangerous." + +[50] So Cyrus spoke, and his listeners felt that he was right, and +Gobryas led the army by the way that he advised. And as one detachment +after another passed the city, Cyrus strengthened the protection for +the rear and so withdrew in safety. + +[51] Marching in this order, he came back at last to his first +starting-point, on the frontier between Assyria and Media. Here he +dealt with three Assyrian fortresses: one, the weakest, he attacked +and took by force, while the garrisons of the other two, what with the +eloquence of Gadatas and the terror inspired by Cyrus, were persuaded +to surrender. + +[C.5] And now that his expedition was completed, Cyrus sent to +Cyaxares and urged him to come to the camp in order that they might +decide best how to use the forts which they had taken, and perhaps +Cyaxares, after reviewing the army, would advise him what the next +move ought to be, or, Cyrus added to the messenger, "if he bids me, +say I will come to him and take up my encampment there." [2] So the +emissary went off with the message, and meanwhile Cyrus gave orders +that the Assyrian tent chosen for Cyaxares should be furnished as +splendidly as possible, and the woman brought to her apartment there, +and the two singing-girls also, whom they had set aside for him. + +[3] And while they were busied with these things the envoy went to +Cyaxares and delivered his message, and Cyaxares listened and decided +it was best for Cyrus and his men to stay on the frontier. The +Persians whom Cyrus had sent for had already arrived, forty thousand +bowmen and targeteers. [4] To watch these eating up the land was bad +enough, and Cyaxares thought he would rather be quit of one horde +before he received another. On his side the officer in command of the +Persian levy, following the instructions from Cyrus, asked Cyaxares if +he had any need of the men, and Cyaxares said he had not. Thereupon, +and hearing that Cyrus had arrived, the Persian put himself at the +head of his troops and went off at once to join him. [5] Cyaxares +himself waited till the next day and then set out with the Median +troopers who had stayed behind. And when Cyrus knew of his approach he +took his Persian cavalry, who were now a large body of men, and all +the Medes, Hyrcanians, and Armenians, and the best-mounted and best- +armed among the rest, and so went out to meet Cyaxares and show the +power he had won. [6] But when Cyaxares saw so large a following of +gallant gentlemen with Cyrus, and with himself so small and mean a +retinue, it seemed to him an insult, and mortification filled his +heart. And when Cyrus sprang from his horse and came up to give him +the kiss of greeting, Cyaxares, though he dismounted, turned away his +head and gave him no kiss, while the tears came into his eyes. [7] +Whereupon Cyrus told the others to stand aside and rest, and then he +took Cyaxares by the hand and led him apart under a grove of palm- +trees, and bade the attendants spread Median carpets for them, and +made Cyaxares sit down, and then, seating himself beside him, he said: + +[8] "Uncle of mine, tell me, in heaven's name, I implore you, why are +you angry with me? What bitter sight have you seen to make you feel +such bitterness?" + +And then Cyaxares answered: + +"Listen, Cyrus; I have been reputed royal and of royal lineage as far +back as the memory of man can go; my father was a king and a king I +myself was thought to be; and now I see myself riding here, meanly and +miserably attended, while you come before me in splendour and +magnificence, followed by the retinue that once was mine and all your +other forces. [9] That would be bitter enough, methinks, from the hand +of an enemy, but--O gods above us!--how much more bitter at the hands +of those from whom we least deserve it! Far rather would I be +swallowed in the earth than live to be seen so low, aye, and to see my +own kinsfolk turn against me and make a mock of me. And well I know," +said he, "that not only you but my own slaves are now stronger and +greater than myself: they come out equipt to do me far more mischief +than ever I could repay." + +[10] But here he stopped, overcome by a passion of weeping, so much so +that for very pity Cyrus' own eyes filled with tears. There was +silence between them for a while, and then Cyrus said: + +"Nay, Cyaxares, what you say is not true, and what you think is not +right, if you imagine that because I am here, your Medes have been +equipt to do you any harm. [11] I do not wonder that you are pained, +and I will not ask if you have cause or not for your anger against +them: you will ill brook apologies for them from me. Only it seems to +me a grievous error in a ruler to quarrel with all his subjects at +once. Widespread terror must needs be followed by widespread hate: +anger with all creates unity among all. [12] It was for this reason, +take my word for it, that I would not send them back to you without +myself, fearing that your wrath might be the cause of what would +injure all of us. Through my presence here and by the blessing of +heaven, all is safe for you: but that you should regard yourself as +wronged by me,--I cannot but feel it bitter, when I am doing all in my +power to help my friends, to be accused of plotting against them. [13] +However," he continued, "let us not accuse each other in this useless +way; if possible, let us see exactly in what I have offended. And as +between friend and friend, I will lay down the only rule that is just +and fair: if I can be shown to have done you harm, I will confess I am +to blame, but if it appears that I have never injured you, not even in +thought, will you not acquit me of all injustice towards you?" + +"Needs must I," answered Cyaxares. + +[14] "And if I can show that I have done you service, and been zealous +in your cause to the utmost of my power, may I not claim, instead of +rebuke, some little meed of praise?" + +"That were only fair," said Cyaxares. + +[15] "Then," said Cyrus, "let us go through all I have done, point by +point, and see what is good in it and what is evil. [16] Let us begin +from the time when I assumed my generalship, if that is early enough. +I think I am right in saying that it was because you saw your enemies +gathering together against you, and ready to sweep over your land and +you, that you sent to Persia asking for help, and to me in private, +praying me to come, if I could, myself, at the head of any forces they +might send. Was I not obedient to your word? Did I not come myself +with the best and bravest I could bring?" + +[17] "You did indeed," answered Cyaxares. + +"Tell me, then, before we go further, did you see any wrong in this? +Was it not rather a service and a kindly act?" "Certainly," said +Cyaxares, "so far as that went, I saw nothing but kindliness." [18] +"Well, after the enemy had come, and we had to fight the matter out, +did you ever see me shrink from toil or try to escape from danger?" +"That I never did," said Cyaxares, "quite the contrary." + +[19] "And afterwards, when, through the help of heaven, victory was +ours, and the enemy retreated, and I implored you to let us pursue +them together, take vengeance on them together, win together the +fruits of any gallant exploit we might achieve, can you accuse me then +of self-seeking or self-aggrandisement?" + +[20] But at that Cyaxares was silent. Then Cyrus spoke again. "If you +would rather not reply to that, tell me if you thought yourself +injured because, when you considered pursuit unsafe, I relieved you of +the risk, and only begged you to lend me some of your cavalry? If my +offence lay in asking for that, when I had already offered to work +with you, side by side, you must prove it to me; and it will need some +eloquence." + +[21] He paused, but Cyaxares still kept silence. "Nay," said Cyrus, +"if you will not answer that either, tell me at least if my offence +lay in what followed, when you said that you did not care to stop your +Medes in their merry-making and drive them out into danger, do you +think it was wrong in me, without waiting to quarrel on that score, to +ask you for what I knew was the lightest boon you could grant and the +lightest command you could lay on your soldiers? For I only asked that +he who wished it might be allowed to follow me. [22] And thus, when I +had won your permission, I had won nothing, unless I could win them +too. Therefore I went and tried persuasion, and some listened to me, +and with these I set off on my march, holding my commission from your +own self. So that, if you look on this act as blameworthy, it would +seem that not even the acceptance of your own gifts can be free from +blame. [23] It was thus we started, and after we had gone, was there, +I ask you, a single deed of mine that was not done in the light of +day? Has not the enemy's camp been taken? Have not hundreds of your +assailants fallen? And hundreds been deprived of their horses and +their arms? Is not the spoiler spoiled? The cattle and the goods of +those who harried your land are now in the hands of your friends, they +are brought to you, or to your subjects. [24] And, above all and +beyond all, you see your own country growing great and powerful and +the land of your enemy brought low. Strongholds of his are in your +power, and your own that were torn from you in other days by the +Syrian domination are now restored to you again. I cannot say I should +be glad to learn that any of these things can be bad for you, or short +of good, but I am ready to listen, if so it is. [25] Speak, tell me +your judgment of it all." + +Then Cyrus paused, and Cyaxares made answer: + +"To call what you have done evil, Cyrus, is impossible. But your +benefits are of such a kind that the more they multiply upon me, the +heavier burden do they bring. [26] I would far rather," he went on, +"have made your country great by own power than see mine exalted in +this way by you. These deeds of yours are a crown of glory to you; but +they bring dishonour to me. [27] And for the wealth, I would rather +have made largess of it to yourself than receive it at your hands in +the way you give it now. Goods so gotten only leave me the poorer. And +for my subjects--I think I would have suffered less if you had injured +them a little than I suffer now when I see how much they owe you. [28] +Perhaps," he added, "you find it inhuman of me to feel thus, but I +would ask you to forget me and imagine that you are in my place and +see how it would appear to you then. Suppose a friend of yours were to +take care of your dogs, dogs that you bred up to guard yourself and +your house, such care that he made them fonder of him than of +yourself, would you be pleased with him for his attention? [29] Or +take another instance, if that one seems too slight: suppose a friend +of yours were to do so much for your own followers, men you kept to +guard you and to fight for you, that they would rather serve in his +train than yours, would you be grateful to him for his kindness? [30] +Or let me take the tenderest of human ties: suppose a friend of yours +paid court to the wife of your bosom so that in the end he made her +love him more than yourself, would he rejoice your heart by his +courtesy? Far from it, I trow; he who did this, you would say, did you +the greatest wrong in all the world. [31] And now, to come nearest to +my own case, suppose some one paid such attention to your Persians +that they learnt to follow him instead of you, would you reckon that +man your friend? No; but a worse enemy than if he had slain a +thousand. [32] Or again, say you spoke in all friendship to a friend +and bade him take what he wished, and straightway he took all he could +lay hands on and carried it off, and so grew rich with your wealth, +and you were left in utter poverty, could you say that friend was +altogether blameless? [33] And I, Cyrus, I feel that you have treated +me, if not in that way, yet in a way exactly like it. What you say is +true enough: I did allow you to take what you liked and go, and you +took the whole of my power and went, leaving me desolate, and to-day +you bring the spoil you have won with my forces, and lay it so grandly +at my feet--magnificent! And you make my country great through the +help of my own might, while I have no part or lot in the performance, +but must step in at the end, like a woman, to receive your favours, +while in the eyes of all men, not least my faithful subjects yonder, +you are the man, and I--I am not fit to wear a crown. [34] Are these, +I ask you, Cyrus, are these the deeds of a benefactor? Nay, had you +been kind as you are kin, above all else you would have been careful +not to rob me of my dignity and honour. What advantage is it to me for +my lands to be made broad if I myself am dishonoured? When I ruled the +Medes, I ruled them not because I was stronger than all of them, but +because they themselves thought that our race was in all things better +than theirs." + +[35] But while he was still speaking Cyrus broke in on his words, +crying: + +"Uncle of mine, by the heaven above us, if I have ever shown you any +kindness, be kind to me now. Do not find fault with me any more, wait, +and put me to the test, and learn how I feel towards you, and if you +see that what I have done has really brought you good, then, when I +embrace you, embrace me in return and call me your benefactor, and if +not, you may blame me as you please." + +[36] "Perhaps," answered Cyaxares, "you are right. I will do as you +wish." + +"Then I may kiss you?" said Cyrus. + +"Yes, if it pleases you. "And you will not turn aside as you did just +now?" "No, I will not turn aside." And he kissed him. + +[37] And when the Medes saw it and the Persians and all the allies-- +for all were watching to see how matters would shape--joy came into +their hearts and gladness lit up their faces. Then Cyrus and Cyaxares +mounted their horses and rode back, and the Medes fell in behind +Cyaxares, at a nod from Cyrus, and behind Cyrus the Persians, and the +others behind them. [38] And when they reached the camp and brought +Cyaxares to the splendid tent, those who were appointed made +everything ready for him, and while he was waiting for the banquet his +Medes presented themselves, some of their own accord, it is true, but +most were sent by Cyrus. [39] And they brought him gifts; one came +with a beautiful cup-bearer, another with an admirable cook, a third +with a baker, a fourth with a musician, while others brought cups and +goblets and beautiful apparel; almost every one gave something out of +the spoils they had won. [40] So that the mood of Cyaxares changed, +and he seemed to see that Cyrus had not stolen his subjects from him, +and that they made no less account of him than they used to do. + +[41] Now when the hour came for the banquet, Cyaxares sent to Cyrus +and begged him to share it: it was so long, he said, since they had +met. But Cyrus answered, "Bid me not to the feast, good uncle. Do you +not see that all these soldiers of ours have been raised by us to the +pitch of expectation? And it were ill on my part if I seemed to +neglect them for the sake of my private pleasure. If soldiers feel +themselves neglected even the good become faint-hearted, and the bad +grow insolent. [42] With yourself it is different, you have come a +long journey and you must fall to without delay, and if your subjects +do you honour, welcome them and give them good cheer, that there may +be confidence between you and them, but I must go and attend to the +matters of which I speak. [43] Early to-morrow morning," he added, +"our chief officers will present themselves at your gate to hear from +you what you think our next step ought to be. You will tell us whether +we ought to pursue the campaign further or whether the time has now +come to disband our army." + +[44] Thereupon Cyaxares betook himself to the banquet and Cyrus called +a council of his friends, the shrewdest and the best fitted to act +with him, and spoke to them as follows: + +"My friends, thanks to the gods, our first prayers are granted. +Wherever we set foot now we are the masters of the country: we see our +enemies brought low and ourselves increasing day by day in numbers and +in strength. [45] And if only our present allies would consent to stay +with us a little longer, our achievements could be greater still, +whether force were needed or persuasion. Now it must be your work as +much as mine to make as many of them as possible willing and anxious +to remain. [46] Remember that, just as the soldier who overthrows the +greatest number in the day of battle is held to be the bravest, so the +speaker, when the time has come for persuasion, who brings most men to +his side will be thought the most eloquent, the best orator and the +ablest man of action. [47] Do not, however, prepare your speeches as +though we asked you to give a rhetorical display: remember that those +whom you convince will show it well enough by what they do. [48] I +leave you then," he added, "to the careful study of your parts: mine +is to see, so far as in me lies, that our troops are provided with all +they need, before we hold the council of war." + + + NOTES + +C.1. Cyrus' generosity: he is not cold, not incapable of soft +pleasure, but too pre-occupied with greater things. On the whole, if a +hedonist, this type of man, a hedonist that = a stoic (cf. Socrates, +H. Sidgwick, also J. P.). + +C1.4, init. Well told: we feel the character of Araspas at once, as +soon as he opens his lips. + +C1.4, med. An Eastern picture. She is one of the Bible women, as +Gadatas and Gobryas are brothers of Barzillai; she is sister of Ruth +or Susanna or Judith or Bathsheba. Perhaps she is nobler than any of +them. She is also the sister of the Greek tragedy women, Antigone, +Alcestis; especially Euripidean is she: no doubt she is sister to the +great women of all lands. + +C1.10 ff. Xenophon, Moralist. Cf. /Memorabilia/ for a similar +philosophical difficulty about the will and knowledge. And for this +raising of ethical problems in an artistic setting of narrative, cf. +Lyly. I see a certain resemblance between the times and the writers' +minds. /Vide/ J. A. Symonds on the predecessors of Shakespeare. +Araspas' point is that these scamps have only themselves to blame, +being {akrateis}, and then they turn round and accuse love. (We are +thrown back on the origin of {akrasia}: /vide Memorabilia/ [e.g. I. +ii. v.; IV. v.] for such answer as we can get to that question.) +Whereas the {kaloi kagathoi} desire strongly but can curb their +desires. + +C1.13. Shows a confidence in the healthy action of the will. When +Araspas himself is caught later on he develops the theory of a double +self, a higher and a lower (so hgd., and so, I think, Xenophon and +Socrates. /Vide Memorabilia/). + +C1.16, fin. Cyrus || Socrates, his prototype here. + +C1.18. Very natural and beautiful. Xenophon sympathetic with such a +beautiful humanity. The woman's nature brought out by these touches. +Xenophon, Dramatist: the moral problem is subordinate, that is to say, +is made to grow out of the dramatic action and characterisation. + +C1.20. Notice the absolutely fair and warrantable diplomatic advantage +given to the archic man: each step he takes opens up new avenues of +progress. Herein is fulfilled "to him who hath shall be given," but +Cyrus plays his part also, he has the wisdom of serpents with the +gentleness of doves. + +C1.21. This is the true rhetoric, the right road to persuasiveness, to +be absolutely frank. + +C1.24. The desire to be ruled by the archic man, which the archomenoi +--i.e. all men--feel, is thus manifest. Notice again how the Mede's +own character is maintained: he speaks as he felt then. + +C2.8. The bridegroom will be found to be Hystaspas; but we have no +suspicion as yet, without looking on. + +C2.9. In this interview Cyrus' character still further developed. /Ex +ore Cyri./, Xenophon propounds his theory of the latent virtue in man, +which only needs an opportunity to burst forth, but, this lacking, +remains unrevealed. Now it is a great godsend to get such a chance. It +is thoroughly Hellenic, or Xenophon-Socratic, this feeling, "Give me a +chance to show my virtue." (But has Cyrus a touch of superhuman +conscious rectitude?) + +C2.12. The same thought again: it is full of delicacy and spiritual +discernment: the more one ponders it the more one feels that. + +C2.12, fin. For Hellenic or Xenophontine or old-world theory of the +misfortunes which befall the virtuous, /vide/ Homer, /vide/ Book of +Job (Satan), /vide/ Tragedians. + +C2.15. Cf. the /Economist/ for praise of rural simplicity. It is +Xenophon /ipsissimus/. + +C2.17. Whose bad manners is Xenophon thinking of? Thebans'? + +C2.20, fin. A very noble sentence. The man who utters it and the +people whose heart and mind it emanates from must be of a high order; +and in the /Memorabilia/ Socrates has this highest praise, that he +studied to make himself and /all others also/ as good as possible. + +C2.21. Notice the practical answer of Cyrus to this panegyric (cf. J. +P.). + +C2.32. Prolix, Xenophontic. + +C3.6 ff. Here also I feel the mind of Xenophon shimmering under +various lights. The /Cyropaedia/ is shot with Orientalism. Homeric +Epicism--antique Hellenism and modern Hellenism are both there. +Spartan simplicity and Eastern quaintness both say their say. In this +passage the biblical element seems almost audible. + +C3.7. This is in the grand style, Oriental, dilatory, ponderous, +savouring of times when battles were affairs of private arrangement +between monarchs and hedged about by all the punctilios of an affair +of honour. + +C3.12. N.B.--The archic man shows a very ready wit and inventiveness +in the great art of "grab" in war, though as he said to his father he +was "a late learner" in such matters. Cf. in modern times the duties +of a detective or some such disagreeable office. G. O. Trevelyan as +Irish secretary. Interesting for /war ethics/ in the abstract, and for +Xenophon's view, which is probably Hellenic. Cyrus now has the +opportunity of carrying out the selfish decalogue, the topsy-turvy +morality set forth in I. C.6, C.26 ff. + +C3.13. Cf. Old Testament for the sort of subterfuges and preparations, +e.g. the Gibeonites. + +C3.15. The archic man has no time. Cyrus {ou skholazei}. Cf. J. P. It +comes from energy combined with high gifts of organisation, economic, +architectonic. + +C3.19. Nice, I think, this contrasting of spiritual and natural +productiveness. + +C3.32. Here is the rule of conduct clearly expressed, nor do I see how +a military age could frame for itself any other. Christianity only +emerged /sub pace Romana/, which for fraternal brotherhood was the +fullness of time; and even in the commercial age the nations tumble +back practically into the old system. + +C3.36 ff. An army on forced march: are there any novelties here? + +C3.53. These minute details probably not boring at the time, but +interesting rather, perhaps useful. + +C4.13. Cyrus resembles Fawcett in his unselfish self-estimate. Gadatas +is like the British public, or hgd. + +C4.16. Here we feel that the Assyrian is not a mere weakling: he can +play his part well enough if he gets a good chance. It needs an Archic +and Strategic Man to overpower him. + +C4.17. ANCIENT and MODERN parallelism in treatment of wounded. + +C4.24. Hellenic war ethics: non-combatant tillers of the soil to be +let alone. Is this a novelty? If not, what is the prototype? Did the +modern rights of non-combatants so originate? + +C4.27, fin. A touch which gives the impression of real history: that +is the art of it. + +C4.34. Almost autobiographical: the advantage of having a country seat +in the neighbourhood of a big town. Here we feel the MODERNISM of +XENOPHON. The passage which Stevenson chose for the motto to his +/Silverado Squatters/ would suit Xenophon very well (Cicero, De Off. +I. xx.). Xenophon || Alfred Tennyson. [Mr. Dakyns used the geometric +sign || to indicate parallelism of any sort. The passage from Cicero +might be translated thus: "Some have lived in the country, content +with the happiness of home. These men have enjoyed all that kings +could claim, needing nothing, under the dominion of no man, +untrammelled and in freedom; for the free man lives as he chooses."] + +C4.36. The wicked man as conceived in Hellenico-Xenophontine fashion, +charged with the spirit of meanness, envy, and hatred, which cannot +brook the existence of another better than itself. + +C4.38. A nice touch: we learn to know Gadatas and Xenophon also, and +the Hellenic mind. + +C5.10. Pathos well drawn: /vide/ Richard II. and Bolingbroke. +Euripidean quality. + +C5.12. The archic man has got so far he can play the part of +intercessor between Cyaxares and his Medes. The discussion involves +the whole difficulty of suppression ("he must increase, but I must +decrease" is one solution, not touched here). + +C5.34. Perhaps this is the very point which Xenophon, Philosopher, +wishes to bring out, the pseudo-archic man and the archic man +contrasted, but Xenophon, lover of man and artist, draws the situation +admirably and truthfully without any doctrinal purpose. It is +{anthropinon} human essentially, this jealousy and humiliation of +spirit. + +C5.35. Cyrus' tone of voice and manner must have some compelling charm +in them: the dialectic debate is not pursued, but by a word and look +the archic man wins his way. + +C5.36. Oriental and antique Hellenic, also /modern/, formalities. I +can imagine some of those crowned heads, emperors of Germany and +Austria, going through similar ceremonies, walking arm-in-arm, kissing +on both cheeks fraternally, etc. + +C5.39-40. This reveals the incorrigible weakness of Cyaxares. He can +never hold his own against the archic man. As a matter of philosophic +"historising," probably Xenophon conceives the Median element as the +corrupting and sapping one in the Persian empire (/vide/ Epilogue), +only he to some extent justifies and excuses Cyrus in his imitations +of it. That is a difficulty. + +C5.41. The archic man shows self-command again: his energy somewhat +relieves ignobler actors of responsibility and so far saps their +wills. His up-and-doingness a foil to their indolence. + + + + BOOK VI + +[C.1] So the day ended, and they supped and went to rest. But early +the next morning all the allies flocked to Cyaxares' gates, and while +Cyaxares dressed and adorned himself, hearing that a great multitude +were waiting, Cyrus gave audience to the suitors his own friends had +brought. First came the Cadousians, imploring him to stay, and then +the Hyrcanians, and after them the Sakians, and then some one +presented Gobryas, and Hystaspas brought in Gadatas the eunuch, whose +entreaty was still the same. [2] At that Cyrus, who knew already that +for many a day Gadatas had been half-dead with fear lest the army +should be disbanded, laughed outright and said, "Ah, Gadatas, you +cannot conceal it: you have been bribed by my friend Hystaspas to take +this view." + +[3] But Gadatas lifted up his hands to heaven and swore most solemnly +that Hystaspas had not influenced him. + +"Nay," said he, "it is because I know myself that, if you depart, I am +ruined utterly. And therefore it was that I took it upon me to speak +with Hystaspas myself, and ask him if he knew what was in your mind +about the disbanding of the army." + +[4] And Cyrus said, "It would be unjust then, I suppose, to lay the +blame on Hystaspas." "Yes, Cyrus, most unjust," said Hystaspas, "for I +only said to Gadatas that it would be impossible for you to carry on +the campaign, as your father wanted you home, and had sent for you." + +[5] "What?" cried Cyrus, "you dared to let that be known whether I +wished it or not?" + +"Certainly I did," he answered, "for I can see that you are mad to be +home in Persia, the cynosure of every eye, telling your father how you +wrought this and accomplished that." + +"Well," said Cyrus, "are you not longing to go home yourself?" + +"No," said the other. "I am not. Nor have I any intention of going: +here I shall stay and be general-in-chief until I make our friend +Gadatas the lord and the Assyrian his slave." + +[6] Thus half in jest and half in earnest they played with one +another, and meanwhile Cyaxares had finished adorning himself and came +forth in great splendour and solemnity, and sat down on a Median +throne. And when all were assembled and silence was proclaimed, +Cyaxares said: + +"My friends and allies, perhaps, since I am present and older than +Cyrus, it is suitable that I should address you first. It appears to +me that the moment has come to discuss one question before all others, +the question whether we ought to go on with the campaign or disband +the army. Be pleased," he added, "to state your opinions on the +matter." + +[7] Then the leader of the Hyrcanians stood up at once and said: + +"Friends and allies, I hardly think that words are needed when facts +themselves show us the path to take. All of us know that while we +stand together we give our enemy more trouble than we get: but when we +stood alone it was they who dealt with us as they liked best and we +liked least." + +[8] Then the Cadousian followed. + +"The less we talk," said he, "about breaking-up and going home +separately the better; separation has done us anything but good, it +seems to me, even on the march. My men and I, at any rate, very soon +paid the penalty for private excursions; as I dare say you have not +forgotten." + +[9] Upon that Artabazus rode, the Mede who had claimed kinship with +Cyrus in the old days. + +"Cyaxares," said he, "in one respect I differ from those who have +spoken before me: they think we should stay here in order to go on +with the campaign, but I think I am always on campaign at home. [10] I +was for ever out on some expedition or other, because our people were +being harried, or our fortresses threatened, and a world of trouble I +had, what with fears within and fighting without, and all too at my +own expense. As it is now, I occupy the enemy's forts, my fear of them +is gone, I make good cheer on their own good things, and I drink their +own good wine. Since home means fighting and service here means +feasting, I am not in favour myself," said he, "of breaking up the +company." + +[11] Then Gobryas spoke. + +"Friends," said he, "I have trusted Cyrus' word and had no fault to +find with him: what he promises that he performs: but if he leaves the +country now, the Assyrian will be reprieved, he will never be punished +for the wrongs he tried to inflict on you and did inflict on me: I +shall be punished instead, because I have been your friend." + +[12] At that Cyrus rose at last and said: + +"Gentlemen, I am well aware that the disbanding of our forces must +mean the decrease of our power and the increase of theirs. If some of +them have given up their weapons, they will soon procure others; if +some have lost their horses, the loss will soon be made good; if some +have fallen in battle, others, younger and stronger, will take their +place. We need not be surprised if they are soon in a condition to +cause us trouble again. [13] Why, then, did I ask Cyaxares to put the +question to debate? Because, I answer, I am afraid of the future. I +see opponents against us whom we cannot fight, if we conduct the +campaign as we are doing now. [14] Winter is advancing against us, and +though we may have shelter for ourselves we have nothing, heaven +knows, for our horses and our servants and the great mass of our +soldiery, without whom we cannot even think of a campaign. As to +provisions, up to the limits of our advance and because of that +advance they have been exhausted; and beyond that line, owing to the +terror we inspire, the inhabitants will have stowed their supplies +away in strong places where they can enjoy them and we cannot get +them. [15] Where is the warrior, stout of heart and strong of will, +who can wage war with cold and hunger? If our style of soldiering is +to be only what it has been, I say we ought to disband at once of our +own accord, and not wait to be driven from the field against our will +by sheer lack of means. If we do wish to go forward, this is what we +must do: we must detach from the enemy all the fortresses we can and +secure all we can for our own: if this is done, the larger supply will +be in the hands of those who can stow away the larger store, and the +weaker will suffer siege. [16] At present we are like mariners on the +ocean: they may sail on for ever, but the seas they have crossed are +no more theirs than those that are still unsailed. But if we hold the +fortresses, the enemy will find they are living in a hostile land, +while we have halcyon weather. [17] Some of you may dread the thought +of garrison duty far from home; if so, dispel your doubts. We +Persians, who must, as it is, be exiles for the time, will undertake +the positions that are nearest to the foe, while it will be for you to +occupy the land on the marches between Assyria and yourselves and put +it under tillage. [18] For, if we can hold his inner line, your peace +will not be disturbed in the outlying parts: he will scarcely neglect +the danger at his door to attack you out in the distance." + +[19] At this the whole assembly rose to express their eagerness and +assent, and Cyaxares stood up with them. And both Gadatas and Gobryas +offered to fortify a post if the allies wished, and thus provide two +cities of refuge to start with. + +[20] Finally Cyrus, thus assured of the general consent to his +proposals, said, "If we really wish to carry out what we have set +ourselves, we must prepare battering-rams and siege engines, and get +together mechanics and builders for our own castles." [21] Thereupon +Cyaxares at once undertook to provide an engine at his own expense, +Gadatas and Gobryas made themselves responsible for a second, Tigranes +for a third, and Cyrus himself promised he would try to furnish two. +[22] That done, every one set to work to find engineers and artisans +and to collect material for the machines; and superintendents were +appointed from those best qualified for the work. + +[23] Now Cyrus was aware that all this would take some time, and +therefore he encamped his troops in the healthiest spot he could find +and the easiest to supply, strengthening, wherever necessary, the +natural defences of the place, so that the detachment left in charge +for the time should always be in complete security, even though he +might be absent himself with the main body of his force. [24] Nor was +this all; he questioned those who knew the country best, and, learning +where he would be rewarded for his pains, he would lead his men out to +forage, and thus procure as large supplies as possible, keep his +soldiers in the best of health and strength, and fix their drill in +their minds. + +[25] So Cyrus spent his days, and meanwhile the deserters from Babylon +and the prisoners who were captured all told the same story: they said +that the king had gone off to Lydia, taking with him store of gold and +silver, and riches and treasures of every kind. [26] The mass of the +soldiers were convinced that he was storing his goods away from fear, +but Cyrus knew that he must have gone to raise, if possible, an +opponent who could face them, and therefore he pushed his preparations +forward vigorously, feeling that another battle must be fought. He +filled up the Persian cavalry to its full complement, getting the +horses partly from the prisoners, partly from his own friends. There +were two gifts he would never refuse, horses and good weapons. [27] He +also procured chariots, taking them from the enemy or wherever he +could find them. The old Trojan type of charioteering, still in use to +this day among the Cyrenaeans, he abolished; before his time the +Medes, the Syrians, the Arabians, and all Asiatics generally, used +their chariots in the same way as the Cyrenaeans do now. [28] The +fault of the system to his mind was that the very flower of the army, +if the picked men were in the chariots, could only act at long range +and so contribute little after all to the victory. Three hundred +chariots meant twelve hundred horses and three hundred fighting-men, +besides the charioteers, who would naturally be men above the common, +in whom the warriors could place confidence: and that meant another +three hundred debarred from injuring the enemy in any kind of way. +[29] Such was the system he abolished in favour of the war-chariot +proper, with strong wheels to resist the shock of collision, and long +axles, on the principle that a broad base is the firmer, while the +driver's seat was changed into what might be called a turret, stoutly +built of timber and reaching up to the elbow, leaving the driver room +to manage the horses above the rim. The drivers themselves were all +fully armed, only their eyes uncovered. [30] He had iron scythes about +two feet long attached to the axles on either side, and others, under +the tree, pointing to the ground, for use in a charge. Such was the +type of chariot invented by Cyrus, and it is still in use to-day among +the subjects of the Great King. Beside the chariots he had a large +number of camels, collected from his friends or captured from the +enemy. [31] Moreover, he decided to send a spy into Lydia to ascertain +the movements of the king, and he thought that the right man for this +purpose was Araspas, the officer in charge of the fair lady from Susa. +Matters had gone ill with Araspas: he had fallen passionately in love +with his prisoner, and been led to entreat her to be his paramour. +[32] She had refused, faithful to her husband who was far away, for +she loved him dearly, but she forbore to accuse Araspas to Cyrus, +being unwilling to set friend at strife with friend. [33] But when at +length Araspas, thinking it would help him in his desires, began to +threaten her, saying that if she would not yield he would have his +will of her by force, then in her dread of violence she could keep the +matter hid no longer, and she sent her eunuch to Cyrus with orders to +tell him everything. [34] And when Cyrus heard it he smiled over the +man who had boasted that he was superior to love, and sent Artabazus +back with the eunuch to tell Araspas that he must use no violence +against such a woman, but if he could persuade her, he might do so. +[35] But Artabazus, when he saw Araspas, rebuked him sternly, saying +that the woman was a sacred trust, and his conduct disgraceful, +impious, and wicked, till Araspas burst into tears of misery and +shame, and was half dead at the thought of what Cyrus would do. [36] +Learning this, Cyrus sent for him, saw him alone, and said to him face +to face: + +"Araspas, I know that you are afraid of me and in an agony of shame. +Be comforted; we are told that the gods themselves are made subject to +desire, and I could tell you what love has forced some men to undergo, +men who seemed most lofty and most wise. Did I not pass sentence on +myself, when I confessed I was too weak to consort with loveliness and +remain unmoved? Indeed it is I who am most to blame in the matter, for +I shut you up myself with this irresistible power." + +[37] But Araspas broke in on his words: + +"Ah, Cyrus, you are ever the same, gentle and compassionate to human +weaknesses. But all the rest of the world has no pity on me; they +drown me in wretchedness. As soon as the tattlers got wind of my +misfortune, all my enemies exulted, and my friends came to me, +advising me to make away with myself for fear of you, because my +iniquity was so great." + +[38] Then Cyrus said, "Now listen: this opinion about you may be the +means by which you can do me a great kindness and your comrades a +great service." "Oh, that it were possible!" said Araspas, "for me +ever to be of service to you!" [39] "Well," said the other, "if you +went to the enemy, feigning that you had fled from me, I think they +would believe you." "I am sure they would," said Araspas, "I know even +my own friends would think that of course I ran away." [40] "Then you +will come back to us," Cyrus went on, "with full information about the +enemy's affairs; for, if I am right in my expectation, they will trust +you and let you see all their plans, so that you need miss nothing of +what we wish to know." "I will be off this moment," said Araspas; "it +will be my best credential to have it thought I was just in time to +escape punishment from you." + +[41] "Then you can really bring yourself to leave the beautiful +Pantheia?" + +"Yes, Cyrus," he answered, "I can; for I see now that we have two +souls. This is the lesson of philosophy that I have learnt from the +wicked sophist Love. If we had but a single soul, how could she be at +once evil and good? How could she be enamoured at once of nobleness +and baseness, or at once desire and not desire one deed and the same? +No, it is clear that we have two souls, and when the beautiful soul +prevails, all fair things are wrought, and when the evil soul has the +mastery, she lays her hand to shame and wickedness. But to-day my good +soul conquers, because she has you to help her." + +[42] "Well," said Cyrus, "if you have decided on going, it is thus you +had better go. Thus you will win their confidence, and then you must +tell them what we are doing, but in such a way as to hinder their own +designs. It would hinder them, for example, if you said that we were +preparing an attack on their territory at a point not yet decided; for +this would check the concentration of their forces, each leader being +most concerned for the safety of his own home. [43] Stay with them," +he added, "till the last moment possible: what they do when they are +close at hand is just what is most important for us to know. Advise +them how to dispose their forces in the way that really seems the +best, for then, after you are gone and although it may be known that +you are aware of their order, they will be forced to keep to it, they +will not dare to change it, and should they do so at the last moment +they will be thrown into confusion." + +[44] Thereupon Araspas took his leave, called together his trustiest +attendants, said what he thought necessary for the occasion, and +departed. + +[45] Now Pantheia, when she heard that Araspas had fled, sent a +messenger to Cyrus, saying: + +"Grieve not, Cyrus, that Araspas has gone to join the foe: I will +bring you a far trustier friend than he, if you will let me send for +my husband, and I know he will bring with him all the power that he +has. It is true that the old king was my husband's friend, but he who +reigns now tried to tear us two asunder, and my husband knows him for +a tyrant and a miscreant, and would gladly be quit of him and take +service with such a man as you." + +[46] When Cyrus heard that, he bade Pantheia send word to her husband, +and she did so. Now when Abradatas saw the tokens from his wife, and +learnt how matters stood, he was full of joy, and set out for Cyrus' +camp immediately, with a thousand horsemen in his train. And when he +came to the Persian outposts he sent to Cyrus saying who he was, and +Cyrus gave orders that he should be taken to Pantheia forthwith. [47] +So husband and wife met again after hope had well-nigh vanished, and +were in each other's arms once more. And then Pantheia spoke of Cyrus, +his nobleness, his honour, and the compassion he had shown her, and +Abradatas cried: + +"Tell me, tell me, how can I repay him all I owe him in your name and +mine!" And she answered: + +"So deal with him, my husband, as he has dealt with you." + +[48] And thus Abradatas went to Cyrus, and took him by the hand, and +said: + +"Cyrus, in return for the kindness you have shown us, I can say no +more than this: I give myself to you, I will be your friend, your +servant, and your ally: whatever you desire, I will help you to win, +your fellow-worker always, so far as in me lies." + +[49] Then Cyrus answered: + +"And I will take your gift: but for the moment you must leave me, and +sup with your wife: another day you will let me play the host, and +give you lodging with your friends and mine." + +[50] Afterwards Abradatas perceived how much Cyrus had at heart the +scythe-bearing chariots and the cavalry and the war-horses with their +armour, and he resolved to equip a hundred chariots for him out of his +own cavalry force. [51] These he proposed to lead himself in a chariot +of his own, four-poled and drawn by eight horses, all the eight +protected by chest-plates of bronze. [52] So Abradatas set to work, +and this four-poled chariot of his gave Cyrus the idea of making a car +with eight poles, drawn by eight yoke of oxen, to carry the lowest +compartment of the battering engines, which stood, with its wheels, +about twenty-seven feet from the ground. [53] Cyrus felt that he had a +series of such towers brought into the field at a fair pace they would +be of immense service to him, and inflict as much damage on the enemy. +The towers were built with galleries and parapets, and each of them +could carry twenty men. [54] When the whole was put together he tested +it and found that the eight yoke of oxen could draw the whole tower +with the men more easily than one yoke by itself could manage the +ordinary weight of baggage, which came to about five-and-twenty +talents apiece, whereas the tower, build of planks about as thick as +the boards for a stage, weighed less than fifteen for each yoke. [55] +Thus, having satisfied himself that the attempt was perfectly +possible, he arranged to take the towers into action, believing that +in war selfishness meant salvation, justice, and happiness. + +[C.2] About this time ambassadors came to Cyrus from India with gifts +of courtesy and a message from their king, saying: + +"I send you greeting, Cyrus, and I rejoice that you told me of your +needs. I desire to be your friend and I offer you gifts; and if you +have need of anything more, I bid you say the word, and it shall be +yours. I have told my men to do whatever you command." + +[2] Then Cyrus answered: + +"This, then, is my bidding: the rest of you shall stay where you have +pitched your tents; you shall guard your treasures and live as you +choose: but three of you shall go to the enemy and make believe that +you have come to him about an alliance with your king, and thus you +shall learn how matters stand, and all they say and all they do, and +so bring me word again with speed. And if you serve me well in this, I +shall owe you even more than I could owe you for these gifts. There +are some spies who are no better than slaves, and have no skill to +find out anything more than is known already, but there are men of +another sort, men of your stamp, who can discover plans that are not +yet disclosed." + +[3] The Indians listened gladly, and for the moment made themselves at +home as the guests of Cyrus: but the next day they got ready and set +off on their journey, promising to find out as much as they could of +the enemy's secrets and bring him word again with all possible speed. + +[4] Meanwhile Cyrus continued his preparations for the war on a +magnificent scale, like one who meant to accomplish no small +achievement. Not only did he carry out all the resolutions of the +allies, but he breathed a spirit of emulation into his own friends and +followers, till each strove to outshine his fellows in arms and +accoutrements, in horsemanship and spearmanship and archery, in +endurance of toil and danger. [5] Cyrus would lead them out to the +chase, and show especial honour to those who distinguished themselves +in any way: he would whet the ambition of the officers by praising all +who did their best to improve their men, and by gratifying them in +every way he could. [6] At every sacrifice and festival he instituted +games and contests in all martial exercises, and lavished prizes on +the victors, till the whole army was filled with enthusiasm and +confidence. [7] By this time Cyrus had almost everything in readiness +for the campaign, except the battering-machines. The Persian cavalry +was made up to its full number of ten thousand men, and the scythed +chariots were complete, a hundred of his own, and a hundred that +Abradatas of Susa had provided. [8] Beside these there were a hundred +of the old Median chariots which Cyrus had persuaded Cyaxares to +remodel on his own type, giving up the Trojan and Lydian style. The +camels were ready also, each animal carrying a couple of mounted +archers. + +The bulk of the great army felt almost as though they had already +conquered, and the enemy's power was held of no account. + +[9] While matters were thus, the Indians whom Cyrus had sent out +returned with their report. Croesus had been chosen leader and +general-in-chief; a resolution had been passed, calling on all the +allied kings to bring up their entire forces, raise enormous sums for +the war, and spend them in hiring mercenaries where they could and +making presents where they must. [10] Large numbers of Thracians, +armed with the short sword, had already been enrolled, and a body of +Egyptians were coming by sea, amounting--so said the Indians--to +120,000 men, armed with long shields reaching to their feet, huge +spears (such as they carry to this day), and sabres. Beside these, an +army was expected from Cyprus, and there were already on the spot all +the Cilicians, the men of both the Phrygias, of Lycaonia, Paphlagonia, +and Cappadocia, the Arabians, the Phoenicians, and all the Assyrians +under the king of Babylon. Moreover, the Ionians, and Aeolians, and +indeed nearly all the Hellenic colonists on the coast were compelled +to follow in the train of Croesus. [11] Croesus himself had already +sent to Lacedaemon to propose an alliance with the Spartans. The +armament was mustering on the banks of the Pactolus, and they were to +push forward presently to Thymbrara (the place which is still the +mustering-ground for all the Asiatic subjects of the Great King west +of Syria), and orders had been issued to open a market there. This +report agreed with the accounts given by the prisoners, for Cyrus was +always at pains to gave men captured from whom he could get some +information, and he would also send out spies disguised as runaway +slaves. + +[12] Such were the tidings, and when the army heard the news there was +much anxiety and concern, as one may well suppose. The men went about +their work with an unusual quietness, their faces clouded over, or +gathered in knots and clusters everywhere, anxiously asking each other +the news and discussing the report. [13] When Cyrus saw that fear was +in the camp, he called a meeting of his generals, and indeed of all +whose dejection might injure the cause and whose confidence assist it. +Moreover, he sent word that any of the attendants, or any of the rank +and file, who wished to hear what he had to say, would be allowed to +come and listen. When they met, he spoke as follows: + +[14] "My friends and allies, I make no secret of the reason I have +called you here. It was because I saw that some of you, when the +reports of the enemy reached us, looked like men who were panic- +stricken. But I must say I am astonished that any of you should feel +alarm because the enemy is mustering his forces, and not be reassured +by remembering that our own is far larger than it was when we +conquered him before, and far better provided, under heaven, with all +we need. [15] I ask you how you would have felt, you who are afraid +now, if you had been told that a force exactly like our own was +marching upon us, if you had heard that men who had conquered us +already were coming now, carrying in their hearts the victory they had +won, if you knew that those who made short work then of all our bows +and javelins were advancing again, and others with them, ten thousand +times as many? [16] Suppose you heard that the very men who had routed +our infantry once were coming on now equipt as before, but this time +on horseback, scorning arms and javelins, each man armed with one +stout spear, ready to charge home? [17] Suppose you heard of chariots, +made on a new pattern, not to be kept motionless, standing, as +hitherto, with their backs turned to the foe as if for flight, but +with the horses shielded by armour, and the drivers sheltered by +wooden walls and protected by breastplates and helmets, and the axles +fitted with iron scythes so that they can charge straight into the +ranks of the foe? [18] And suppose you heard that they have camels to +ride on, each one of which would scare a hundred horses, and that they +will bring up towers from which to help their own friends, and +overwhelm us with volleys of darts so that we cannot fight them on +level ground? [19] If this were what you had heard of the enemy, I as +you, once again, you who are now so fearful what would you have done? +You who turn pale when told that Croesus has been chosen commander-in- +chief, Croesus who proved himself so much more cowardly than the +Syrians, that when they were worsted in battle and fled, instead of +helping them, his own allies, he took to his heels himself. [20] We +are told, moreover, that the enemy himself does not feel equal to +facing you alone, he is hiring others to fight for him better than he +could for himself. I can only say, gentlemen, that if any individual +considers our position as I describe it alarming or unfavourable, he +had better leave us. Let him join our opponents, he will do us far +more service there than here." + +[21] When Cyrus had ended, Chrysantas the Persian stood up and said: + +"Cyrus, you must not wonder if the faces of some were clouded when +they heard the news. The cloud was a sign of annoyance, not of fear. +Just as if," he went on, "a company were expecting breakfast +immediately, and then were told there was some business that must be +got through first, I do not suppose any of them would be particularly +pleased. Here we were, saying to ourselves that our fortunes were +made, and now we are informed there is still something to be done, and +of course our countenances fell, not because we were afraid, but +because we could have wished it all over and done with. [22] However, +since it now appears that Syria is not to be the only prize--though +there is much to be got in Syria, flocks and herds and corn and palm- +trees yielding fruit--but Lydia as well, Lydia the land of wine and +oil and fig-trees, Lydia, to whose shores the sea brings more good +things than eyes can feast on, I say that once we realise this we can +mope no longer, our spirits will rise apace, and we shall hasten to +lay our hands on the Lydian wealth without delay." + +So he spoke, and the allies were well pleased at his words and gave +him loud applause. + +[23] "Truly, gentlemen," said Cyrus, "as Chrysantas says, I think we +ought to march without delay, if only to be beforehand with our foes, +and reach their magazines before they do themselves; and besides, the +quicker we are, the fewer resources we shall find with them. [24] That +is how I put the matter, but if any one sees a safer or an easier way, +let him instruct us." + +But many speakers followed, all urging an immediate march, without one +speech in opposition, and so Cyrus took up the word again and said: + +[25] "My friends and allies, God helping us, our hearts, our bodies, +and our weapons have now been long prepared: all that remains is to +get together what we need for ourselves and our animals on a march of +at least twenty days. I reckon that the journey itself must take more +than fifteen, and not a vestige of food shall we find from end to end. +It has all been made away with, partly by ourselves, partly by our +foes, so far as they could. [26] We must collect enough corn, without +which one can neither fight nor live: and as for wine, every man must +carry just so much as will accustom him to drink water: the greater +part of the country will be absolutely devoid of wine, and the largest +supply we could take with us would not hold out. [27] But to avoid too +sudden a change and the sickness that might follow, this is what we +must do. We must begin by taking water with our food: we can do this +without any great change in our habits. [28] For every one who eats +porridge has the oatmeal mixed with water, and every one who eats +bread has the wheat soaked in water, and all boiled meat is prepared +in water. We shall not miss the wine if we drink a little after the +meal is done. [29] Then we must gradually lessen the amount, until we +find that, without knowing it, we have become water-drinkers. Gradual +change enables every creature to go through a complete conversion; and +this is taught us by God, who leads us little by little out of winter +until we can bear the blazing heat of summer, and out of heat back +again into the depths of winter. So should we follow God, and take one +step after another until we reach our goal. [30] What you might spend +on heavy rugs and coverlets spend rather on food: any superfluity +there will not be wasted: and you will not sleep less soundly for lack +of bedclothes; if you do, I give you leave to blame me. But with +clothing the case is different: a man can hardly have too much of that +in sickness or in health. [31] And for seasoning you should take what +is sharp and dry and salted, for such meats are more appetising and +more satisfying. And since we may come into districts as yet unravaged +where we may find growing corn, we ought to take handmills for +grinding: these are the lightest machines for the purpose. [32] Nor +must we forget to supply ourselves with medicines--they are small in +bulk and, if need arises, invaluable. And we ought to have a large +supply of straps--I wonder what is not fastened by a strap to man or +horse? But straps wear out and get broken and then things are at a +standstill unless there are spare ones to be had. [33] Some of you +have learnt to shave spears, so that it would be as well not to forget +a plane, and also to carry a rasp, for the man who sharpens a +spearhead will sharpen his spirit too. He will feel ashamed to whet +the edge and be a coward. And we must take plenty of timber for +chariots and waggons; there is bound to be many a breakdown on the +road. [34] Also we shall need the most necessary tools for repairs, +since smiths and carpenters are not to be found at every turn, but +there are few who cannot patch up a makeshift for the time. Then there +should be a mattock and a shovel apiece for every waggon, and on every +beast of burden a billhook and an axe, always useful to the owner and +sometimes a boon to all. [35] The provisions must be seen to by the +officers of the fighting-line; they must inspect the men under their +command and see that nothing is omitted which any man requires; the +omission would be felt by us all. Those of you who are in command of +the baggage-train will inspect what I have ordered for the animals and +insist upon every man being provided who is not already supplied. [36] +You, gentlemen, who are in command of the road-makers, you have the +lists of the soldiers I have disqualified from serving as javelin-men, +bowmen, or slingers, and you will make the old javelin men march with +axes for felling timber, the bowmen with mattocks, and the slingers +with shovels. They will advance by squads in front of the waggons so +that if there is any road-making to be done you may set to work at +once, and in case of need I may know where to get the men I want. [37] +I mean also to take a corps of smiths, carpenters, and cobblers, men +of military age, provided with the proper tools, to supply any +possible need. These men will not be in the fighting-line, but they +will have a place assigned to them where they can be hired by any one +who likes. [38] If any huckster wishes to follow the army with his +wares, he may do so, but if caught selling anything during the fifteen +days for which provisions have been ordered, he will be deprived of +all his goods: after the fifteen days are done he may sell what he +likes. Any merchant who offers us a well-stocked market will receive +recompense and honour from the allies and myself. [39] And if any one +needs an advance of money for trading, he must send me guarantors who +will undertake that he will march with the army, and then he can draw +on our funds. These are the general orders: and I will ask any of you +who think that anything has been omitted to point it out to me. [40] +You will now go back to your quarters and make your preparations, and +while you do so I will offer sacrifice for our journey and when the +signs are favourable we will give the signal. At that you must present +yourselves, with everything I have ordered, at the appointed place, +under your own officers. [41] And you, gentlemen," said he, turning to +the officers, "when your divisions are all in line, you will come to +me in a body to receive your final orders." + +[C.3] With these instructions the army went to make their preparations +while Cyrus offered sacrifice. + +As soon as the victims were favourable, he set out with his force. + +On the first day they encamped as near by as possible, so that +anything left behind could easily be fetched and any omission readily +supplied. [2] Cyaxares stayed in Media with a third of the Median +troops in order not to leave their own country undefended. Cyrus +himself pushed forward with all possible speed, keeping his cavalry in +the van and constantly sending explorers and scouts ahead to some +look-out. Behind the cavalry came the baggage, and on the plains he +had long strings of waggons and beasts of burden, and the main army +behind them, so that if any of the baggage-train fell back, the +officers who caught them up would see that they did not lose their +places in the march. [3] But where the road was narrower the fighting- +men marched on either side with the baggage in the middle, and in case +of any block it was the business of the soldiers on the spot to attend +to the matter. As a rule, the different regiments would be marching +alongside their own baggage, orders having been given that all members +of the train should advance by regiments unless absolutely prevented. +[4] To help matters the brigadier's own body-servant led the way with +an ensign known to his men, so that each regiment marched together, +the men doing their best to keep up with their comrades. Thus there +was no need to search for each other, everything was to hand, there +was greater security, and the soldiers could get what they wanted more +quickly. + +[5] After some days the scouts ahead thought they could see people in +the plain collecting fodder and timber, and then they made out beasts +of burden, some grazing and others already laden, and as they scanned +the distance they felt sure they could distinguish something that was +either smoke rising or clouds of dust; and from all this they +concluded that the enemy's army was not far off. [6] Whereupon their +commander despatched a messenger with the news to Cyrus, who sent back +word that the scouts should stay where they were, on their look-out, +and tell him if they saw anything more, while he ordered a squadron of +cavalry to ride forward, and intercept, if they could, some of the men +on the plain and so discover the actual state of affairs. [7] While +the detachment carried out this order Cyrus halted the rest of his +army to make such dispositions as he thought necessary before coming +to close quarters. His first order was for the troops to take their +breakfast: after breakfast they were to fall in and wait for the word +of command. [8] When breakfast was over he sent for all the officers +from the cavalry, the infantry, and the chariot brigade, and for the +commanders of the battering engines and the baggage train, and they +came to him. [9] Meanwhile the troop of horse had dashed into the +plain, cut off some of the men, and now brought them in captive. The +prisoners, on being questioned by Cyrus, said they belonged to the +camp and had gone out to forage or cut wood and so had passed beyond +their own pickets, for, owing to the size of their army, everything +was scarce. + +[10] "How far is your army from here?" asked Cyrus. "About seven +miles," said they. "Was there any talk about us down there?" said he. +"We should think there was," they answered; "it was all over the camp +that you were coming." "Ah," said Cyrus, "I suppose they were glad to +hear we were coming so soon?" (putting this question for his officers +to hear the answer). "That they were not," said the prisoners, "they +were anything but glad; they were miserable." [11] "And what are they +doing now?" asked Cyrus. "Forming their line of battle," answered +they; "yesterday and the day before they did the same." + +"And their commander?" said Cyrus, "who is he?" "Croesus himself," +said they, "and with him a Greek, and also another man, a Mede, who is +said to be a deserter from you." + +"Ah," cried Cyrus, "is that so? Most mighty Zeus, may I deal with him +as I wish!" + +[12] Then he had the prisoners led away and turned to speak to his +officers, but at this moment another scout appeared, saying that a +large force of cavalry was in the plain. "We think," he added, "that +they are trying to get a sight of our army. For about thirty of them +are riding ahead at a good round pace and they seem to be coming +straight for our little company, perhaps to capture our look-out if +they can, for there are only ten of us there." + +[13] At that Cyrus sent off a detachment from his own bodyguard, +bidding them gallop up to the place, unseen by the enemy, and stay +there motionless. "Wait," he said, "until our own ten must leave the +spot and then dash out on the thirty as they come up the hill. And to +prevent any injury from the larger body, do you, Hystaspas," said he, +turning to the latter, "ride out with a thousand horse, and let them +see you suddenly, face to face. But remember not to pursue them out of +sight, come back as soon as you have secured our post. And if any of +your opponents ride up with their right hands raised, welcome them as +friends." + +[14] Accordingly Hystaspas went off and got under arms, while the +bodyguard galloped to the spot. But before they reached the scouts, +some one met them with his squires, the man who had been sent out as a +spy, the guardian of the lady from Susa, Araspas himself. [15] When +the news reached Cyrus, he sprang up from his seat, went to meet him +himself, and clasped his hand, but the others, who of course knew +nothing, were utterly dumbfounded, until Cyrus said: + +"Gentlemen, the best of our friends has come back to us. It is high +time that all men should know what he has done. It was not through any +baseness, or any weakness, or any fear of me, that he left us; it was +because I sent him to be my messenger, to learn the enemy's doings and +bring us word. [16] Araspas, I have not forgotten what I promised you, +I will repay you, we will all repay you. For, gentlemen, it is only +just that all of you should pay him honour. Good and true I call him +who risked himself for our good, and took upon himself a reproach that +was heavy to bear." + +[17] At that all crowded round Araspas and took him by the hand and +made him welcome. Then Cyrus spoke again: + +"Enough, my friends, Araspas has news for us, and it is time to hear +it. Tell us your tale, Araspas, keep back nothing of the truth, and do +not make out the power of the enemy less than it really is. It is far +better that we should find it smaller than we looked for rather than +strong beyond our expectations." [18] "Well," began Araspas, "in order +to learn their numbers, I managed to be present at the marshalling of +their troops." "Then you can tell us," said Cyrus, "not only their +numbers but their disposition in the field." "That I can," answered +Araspas, "and also how they propose to fight." "Good," said Cyrus, +"but first let us hear their numbers in brief." [19] "Well," he +answered, "they are drawn up thirty deep, infantry and cavalry alike, +all except the Egyptians, and they cover about five miles; for I was +at great pains," he added, "to find out how much ground they +occupied." + +[20] "And the Egyptians?" Cyrus said, "how are they drawn up? I +noticed you said, 'all except the Egyptians.'" + +"The Egyptians," he answered, "are drawn up in companies of ten +thousand, under their own officers, a hundred deep, and a hundred +broad: that, they insisted, was their usual formation at home. +Croesus, however, was very loth to let them have their own way in +this: he wished to outflank you as much as possible." "Why?" Cyrus +asked, "what was his object?" "To encircle you, I imagine, with his +wings." "He had better take care," said Cyrus, "or his circle may find +itself in the centre. [21] But now you have told us what we most +needed to know, and you, gentlemen," said he to the officers, "on +leaving this meeting, you will look to your weapons and your harness. +It often happens that the lack of some little thing makes man or horse +or chariot useless. To-morrow morning early, while I am offering +sacrifice, do you take your breakfast and give your steeds their +provender, so that when the moment comes to strike you may not be +found wanting. And then you, Araspas, must hold the right wing in the +position it has now, and the rest of you who command a thousand men +must do the same with your divisions: it is no time to be changing +horses when the race is being run; and you will send word to the +brigadiers and captains under you to draw up the phalanx with each +company two deep." (Now a company consisted of four-and-twenty men.) + +[22] Then one of the officers, a captain of ten thousand, said: + +"Do you think, Cyrus, that with so shallow a depth we can stand +against their tremendous phalanx?" + +"But do you suppose," rejoined he, "that any phalanx so deep that the +rear-ranks cannot close with the enemy could do much either for friend +or foe? [23] I myself," he added, "would rather this heavy infantry of +theirs were drawn up, not a hundred, but ten thousand deep: we should +have all the fewer to fight. Whereas with the depth that I propose, I +believe we shall not waste a man: every part of our army will work +with every other. [24] I will post the javelin-men behind the +cuirassiers, and the archers behind them: it would be absurd to place +in the van troops who admit that they are not made for hand-to-hand +fighting; but with the cuirassiers thrown in front of them they will +stand firm enough, and harass the enemy over the heads of our own men +with their arrows and their darts. And every stroke that falls on the +enemy means so much relief to our friends. [25] In the very rear of +all I will post our reserve. A house is useless without a foundation +as well as a roof, and our phalanx will be no use unless it has a +rear-guard and a van, and both of them good. [26] You," he added, +"will draw up the ranks to suit these orders, and you who command the +targeteers will follow with your companies in the same depth, and you +who command the archers will follow the targeteers. [27] Gentlemen of +the reserve, you will hold your men in the rear, and pass the word +down to your own subordinates to watch the men in front, cheer on +those who do their duty, threaten him who plays the coward, and if any +man show signs of treachery, see that he dies the death. It is for +those in the van to hearten those behind them by word and deed; it is +for you, the reserve, to make the cowards dread you more than the foe. +[28] You know your work, and you will do it. Euphratus," he added, +turning to the officer in command of the artillery, "see that the +waggons with the towers keep as close to the phalanx as possible. [29] +And you, Daouchus, bring up the whole of your baggage-train under +cover of the towers and make your squires punish severely any man who +breaks the line. [30] You, Carouchas, keep the women's carriages close +behind the baggage-train. This long line of followers should give an +impression of vast numbers, allow our own men opportunity for +ambuscades, and force the enemy, if he try to surround us, to widen +his circuit, and the wider he makes it the weaker he will be. [31] +That, then, is your business; and you, gentlemen, Artaozus and +Artagersas, each of you take your thousand foot and guard the baggage. +[32] And you, Pharnouchus and Asiadatas, neither of you must lead your +thousand horse into the fighting-line, you must get them under arms by +themselves behind the carriages: and then come to me with the other +officers as fully-equipt as if you were to be the first to fight. [53] +You, sir, who command the camel-corps will take up your post behind +the carriages and look for further orders to Artagersas. [34] Officers +of the war-chariots, you will draw lots among yourselves, and he on +whom the lot falls will bring his hundred chariots in front of the +fighting-line, while the other two centuries will support our flanks +on the right and left." + +[35] Such were the dispositions made by Cyrus; but Abradatas, the lord +of Susa, cried: + +"Cyrus, let me, I pray you, volunteer for the post in front." + +[36] And Cyrus, struck with admiration for the man, took him by the +hand, and turning to the Persians in command of the other centuries +said: + +"Perhaps, gentlemen, you will allow this?" + +But they answered that it was hard to resign the post of honour, and +so they all drew lots, and the lot fell on Abradatas, and his post was +face to face with the Egyptians. Then the officers left the council +and carried out the orders given, and took their evening meal and +posted the pickets and went to rest. + +[C.4] But early on the morrow Cyrus offered sacrifice, and meanwhile +the rest of the army took their breakfast, and after the libation they +armed themselves, a great and goodly company in bright tunics and +splendid breastplates and shining helmets. All the horses had +frontlets and chest-plates, the chargers had armour on their +shoulders, and the chariot-horses on their flanks; so that the whole +army flashed with bronze, and shone like a flower with scarlet. [2] +The eight-horse chariot of Abradatas was a marvel of beauty and +richness; and just as he was about to put on the linen corslet of his +native land, Pantheia came, bringing him a golden breastplate and a +helmet of gold, and armlets and broad bracelets for his wrists, and a +full flowing purple tunic, and a hyacinth-coloured helmet-plume. All +these she had made for him in secret, taking the measure of his armour +without his knowledge. [3] And when he saw them, he gazed in wonder +and said: + +"Dear wife, and did you destroy your own jewels to make this armour +for me?" + +But she said, "No, my lord, at least not the richest of them all, for +you shall be my loveliest jewel, when others see you as I see you +now." + +As she spoke, she put the armour on him, but then, though she tried to +hide it, the tears rolled down her cheeks. + +[4] And truly, when Abradatas was arrayed in the new panoply, he, who +had been fair enough to look upon before, was now a sight of +splendour, noble and beautiful and free, as indeed his nature was. [5] +He took the reins from the charioteer, and was about to set foot on +the car, when Pantheia bade the bystanders withdraw, and said to him, +"My own lord, little need to tell you what you know already, yet this +I say, if any woman loved her husband more than her own soul, I am of +her company. Why should I try to speak? Our lives say more than any +words of mine. [6] And yet, feeling for you what you know, I swear to +you by the love between us that I would rather go down to the grave +beside you after a hero's death than live on with you in shame. I have +thought you worthy of the highest, and believed myself worthy to +follow you. [7] And I bear in mind the great gratitude we owe to +Cyrus, who, when I was his captive, chosen for his spoil, was too +high-minded to treat me as a slave, or dishonour me as a free woman; +he took me and saved me for you, as though I had been his brother's +wife. [8] And when Araspas, my warder, turned from him, I promised, if +he would let me send for you, I would bring him a friend in the +other's place, far nobler and more faithful." + +[9] And as Pantheia spoke, Abradatas listened with rapture to her +words, and when she ended, he laid his hand upon her head, and looking +up to heaven he prayed aloud: + +"O most mighty Zeus, make me worthy to be Pantheia's husband, and the +friend of Cyrus who showed us honour!" + +[10] Then he opened the driver's seat and mounted the car, and the +driver shut the door, and Pantheia could not take him in her arms +again, so she bent and kissed the chariot-box. Then the car rolled +forward and she followed unseen till Abradatas turned and saw her and +cried, "Be strong, Pantheia, be of a good heart! Farewell, and hie +thee home!" + +[11] Thereupon her chamberlains and her maidens took her and brought +her back to her own carriage, and laid her down and drew the awning. +But no man, of all who was there that day, splendid as Abradatas was +in his chariot, had eyes to look on him until Pantheia had gone. + +[12] Meanwhile Cyrus had found the victims favourable, and his army +was already drawn up in the order he had fixed. He had scouts posted +ahead, one behind the other, and then he called his officers together +for his final words: + +[13] "Gentlemen, my friends and allies, the sacred signs from heaven +are as they were the day the gods gave us victory before, and I would +call to your minds thoughts to bring you gladness and confidence for +the fight. [14] You are far better trained than your enemies, you have +lived together and worked together far longer than they, you have won +victories together. What they have shared with one another has been +defeat, and those who have not fought as yet feel they have traitors +to right and left of them, while our recruits know that they enter +battle in company with men who help their allies. [15] Those who trust +each other will stand firm and fight without flinching, but when +confidence has gone no man thinks of anything but flight. [16] Forward +then, gentlemen, against the foe; drive our scythed chariots against +their defenceless cars, let our armed cavalry charge their unprotected +horse, and charge them home. [17] The mass of their infantry you have +met before; and as for the Egyptians, they are armed in much the same +way as they are marshalled; they carry shields too big to let them +stir or see, they are drawn up a hundred deep, which will prevent all +but the merest handful fighting. [18] If they count on forcing us back +by their weigh, they must first withstand our steel and the charge of +our cavalry. And if any of them do hold firm, how can they fight at +once against cavalry, infantry, and turrets of artillery? For our men +on the towers will be there to help us, they will smite the enemy +until he flies instead of fighting. [19] If you think there is +anything wanting, tell me now; God helping us, we will lack nothing. +And if any man wishes to say anything, let him speak now; if not, go +to the altar and there pray to the gods to whom we have sacrificed, +and then fall in. [20] Let each man say to his own men what I have +said to him, let him show the men he rules that he is fit to rule, let +them see the fearlessness in his face, his bearing, and his words." + + + NOTES + +C1.9. Artabazus "the kinsman" named now for the first time, why? + +C1.11. Cf. Anglicè "his word": a delicate appeal to a man of honour. +It suits G.'s character. + +C1.14-15. Speech full of metaphor: winter stalking on, with hunter and +frost attendant on either side; a stealthy, but august advance. + +C1.16. A happy simile: /vide/ Book of Wisdom [c. 5, 10, "And as a ship +that passeth over the waves of the water," etc.]. + +C1.38. How a fault may be turned to account: Hellenic stool of +repentance. + +C1.41. Theory of two souls, to account for the yielding to base +desires. It works, but is it not the theory of a man whose will is +weak, as we say, or whose sympathetic nature has been developed at the +expense of his self-regulative? There is another way of putting it in +/Memorabilia/, Bk. I. c. ii., §§ 19-28. Xenophon is not more a +philosopher than a "philanthropist." He is full of compassion for +human weaknesses. + +C1.44. Exit Araspas, to be baptised under this cloud of ignominy into +the sunshine of recognised joyous serviceableness. + +C1.45. We grow fonder than ever of Pantheia. + +C1.50. Irony: the chariots that are to cost Abradatas his life +hereafter. Is this tale "historic" at all? I mean, did Xenophon find +or hear any such story current? What is the relation, if any, to it of +Xenophon Ephesius, Antheia, and Abrocomas? [/Xenophon Ephesius/, a +late writer of romances.] Had that writer any echo of the names in his +head? What language are "Pantheia" and "Abradatas"? + +C1.52. All very well, but the author hasn't told us anything about the +construction of these {mekhanai}, these battering engines, before, to +prepare us for this. Is that a slip, or how explainable? I think he is +betrayed into the description by reason of his interest in such +strategic matters. The expression is intelligible enough to any one +who knows about engines, just as we might speak of the butt or the +stanchion, or whatever it be. + +C2.1-3. The Medians bring back the bread that was cast upon the +waters. Cyrus turns this gain to new account. He sacrifices the +present natural gain, i.e. the wealth, to the harder spiritual gain, +viz., their positive as opposed to their merely negative alliance. +Cyrus /is/ the archic man. + +C2.4. I have a sort of idea, or feeling that here the writer takes up +his pen afresh after a certain interval. C4-6 are a reduplication, not +unnatural indeed, but /pro tanto/ tautological. + +C2.7. Semi-historical basis. Prototype, when Agesilaus meditated the +advance on Persia, just before his recall. [See /Hellenica/, III. iv., +Works II. p. 29.] + +C2.13 foll. The archic man can by a word of his mouth still the +flutter and incipient heave of terror-stricken hearts. + +C2.15-18. A review of the improvements amounting to a complete +revolution in arms and attack effected by Cyrus. This is imagined as +an ideal accompaniment to the archic man and conqueror. Xenophon +nowadays on the relative advantages of the bayonet and the sword, +cavalry and infantry, etc., would have been very interesting. Cf. a +writer like Forbes. + +[C2.19. "Syrians." The word is used loosely, including the Assyrians +and their kindred. See below C.22. "Syria" = Assyria and the adjacent +country.] + +C2.21, fin. Xenophon has more than once witnessed this clouding of the +brow, the scowl or sulk of the less stalwart moral-fibred men (notably +in /Hellenica/). + +C2.26 ff. How to give up wine: the art in it. Now listen, all you +blue-ribbonists! Xenophon, Hygienist. + +C2.37. One would like to know how the price was regulated. Does any +learned German know? Note the orderliness and economy of it all. Is +it, as far as the army goes, novel in any respect, do you suppose, or +only idealised Hellenic? Spartan? + +C3.14. A slight (intentional?) aposiopesis. Did H. have to drive back +the great cavalry division of the enemy? + +C3.17. How quickly the archic man passes on! Cf. J. P. + +C3.19. Notice the part given to the Egyptians to play. Why? (Agesilaus +died on his last campaign in Egypt.) + +C3.25. Is it dramatic to make Cyrus speak in this way as if he were +lecturing a class on strategics? + +C3.30. The advantage even of sutlers and women. This several-times- +repeated remark surprises me. But no doubt the arrangement would give +the enemy pause, and waste his time in out-flanking movements: violà +tout, hgd. At Cunaxa, however, the Persian did get behind the Greek +camp. No prototype there, then. [Xenophon, /Anabasis/, Bk. I. c. 10.] + +C4.2. We are more and more enamoured of Pantheia. + +C4.7. As delicate as any modern in the respect for wedded womanhood. + +C4.13 ff. Notice how in this stirring and inspiriting speech Cyrus by +dealing with the Egyptians (the only unknown quantity) strikes a new +note and sets up a new motive, as it were, preparing us for the tragic +struggle which is to come, which will cost Abradatas and other good +men dear, not to speak of the brave Egyptians themselves (cf. Sudanese +Arabs). Also note Xenophon's enthusiasm in reference to the new arming +and the odds of encounter between cavalry and infantry (cf. Napier, +Forbes, etc.). + + + + BOOK VII + +[C.1] So they prayed to the gods and went to their place, and the +squires brought food and drink to Cyrus and his staff as they stood +round the sacrifice. And he took his breakfast where he stood, after +making the due offering, sharing what he had with all who needed it, +and he poured out the libation and prayed, and then drank, and his men +with him. + +Then he supplicated Zeus, the god of his fathers, to be his leader and +helper in the fight, and so he mounted his horse and bade those about +him follow. [2] All his squires were equipped as he was, with scarlet +tunics, breastplates of bronze, and brazen helmets plumed with white, +short swords, and a lance of cornel-wood apiece. Their horses had +frontlets, chest-plates, and armour for their shoulders, all of +bronze, and the shoulder-pieces served as leg-guards for the riders. +In one thing only the arms of Cyrus differed from the rest: theirs was +covered with a golden varnish and his flashed like a mirror. [3] As he +sat on his steed, gazing into the distance, where he meant to go, a +peal of thunder rang out on the right, and he cried, "We will follow +thee, O Zeus most high!" + +So he set forth with Chrysantas on his right at the head of cavalry +and Arsamas on his left with infantry. [4] And the word went down the +lines, "Eyes on the standard and steady marching." + +The standard was a golden eagle, with outspread wings, borne aloft on +a long spear-shaft, and to this day such is the standard of the +Persian king. + +Before they came in full sight of the Assyrians Cyrus halted the army +thrice. [5] And when they had gone about two miles or more, they began +to see the enemy advancing. As soon as both armies were in full view +of each other, and the Assyrians could see how much they outflanked +the Persians on either side, Croesus halted, in order to prepare an +encircling movement, and pushed out a column on the right wing and the +left, so that the Persian forces might be attacked on every side at +once. + +[6] Cyrus saw it, but gave no sign of stopping; he led straight on as +before. Meanwhile he noticed that the turning-point where the +Assyrians had pushed out on either flank was an immense distance from +their centre, and he said to Chrysantas: + +"Do you see where they have fixed their angle?" "Yes, I do," answered +Chrysantas, "and I am surprised at it: it seems to me they are drawing +their wings too far away from their centre." "Just so," said Cyrus, +"and from ours too." [7] "Why are they doing that?" asked the other. +"Clearly," said Cyrus, "they are afraid we shall attack, if their +wings are in touch with us while their centre is still some way off." +"But," went on Chrysantas, "how can they support each other at such a +distance?" "Doubtless," said Cyrus, "as soon as their wings are +opposite our flanks, they will wheel round, and then advance at once +on every side and so set us fighting everywhere at once." [8] "Well," +said Chrysantas, "do you think the movement wise?" "Yes," said Cyrus, +"it is good enough in view of what they can see, but, in view of what +they cannot, it is worse for them than if they had advanced in a +single column. Do you," he said, turning to Arsamas, "advance with +your infantry, slowly, taking your pace from me, and do you, +Chrysantas, march beside him with your cavalry, step for step. I will +make for their angle myself, where I propose to join battle, first +riding round the army to see how things are with all our men. [9] When +I reach the point, and we are on the verge of action, I will raise the +paean and then you must quicken your pace. You will know when we have +closed with the enemy, the din will be loud enough. At the same moment +Abradatas will dash out upon them: such will be his orders; your duty +is to follow, keeping as close to the chariots as possible. Thus we +shall fall on the enemy at the height of his confusion. And, God +helping me, I shall be with you also, cutting my way through the rout +by the quickest road I can. + +[10] So he spoke, and sent the watchword down the lines, "Zeus our +saviour, and Zeus our leader," and went forward. As he passed between +the chariots and the cuirassiers, he would say to some, "My men, the +look on your faces rejoices my heart," and to others, "You understand, +gentlemen, that this battle is not for the victory of a day, but for +all that we have won ere now, and for all our happiness to come." [11] +And to others, "My friends, we can never reproach the gods again: +to-day they have put all blessings in our hands. [12] Let us show +ourselves good men and true." Or else, "Gentlemen, can we invite each +other to a more glorious feast than this? This day all gallant hearts +are bidden; this day they may feast their friends." [13] Or again, +"You know, I think, the prizes in this game: the victors pursue and +smite and slay, and win wealth and fame and freedom and empire: the +cowards lose them all. He who loves his own soul let him fight beside +me: for I will have no disgrace." [14] But if he met soldiers who had +fought for him before, he only said, "To you, gentlemen, what need I +say? You know the brave man's part in battle, and the craven's." [15] +And when he came to Abradatas, he halted, and Abradatas gave the reins +to his charioteer and came up to him, and others gathered round from +the infantry and the chariots, and Cyrus said: + +"God has rewarded you, Abradatas, according to your prayer, you and +yours. You hold the first rank among our friends. And you will not +forget, when the moment for action comes, that those who watch you +will be Persians, and those who follow you, and they will not let you +bear the brunt alone." + +[16] And Abradatas answered: + +"Even so, Cyrus; and with us here, methinks, all looks well enough: +but the state of our flanks troubles me: the enemy's wings are strong +and stretch far: he has chariots there, and every kind of arm as well, +while we have nothing else with which to oppose him. So that for +myself," said he, "if I had not won by lot the post I hold, I should +feel ashamed to be here in the safest place of all." + +[17] "Nay," answered Cyrus, "if it is well with you, have no concern +for the rest. God willing, I mean to relieve our flanks. But you +yourself, I conjure you, do not attack until you see the rout of those +detachments that you fear." + +So much of boasting did Cyrus allow himself on the eve of action, +though he was the last man to boast at other times. + +"When you see them routed," he said, "you may take it that I am there, +and then make your rush, for that is the moment when you will find the +enemy weakest and your own men strongest. [18] And while there is +time, Abradatas, be sure to drive along your front and prepare your +men for the charge, kindle their courage by your looks, lift up their +hearts by your hopes. Breathe a spirit of emulation into them, to make +them prove themselves the flower of the chariot-force. Be assured if +things go well with us all men will say nothing is so profitable as +valour." + +[19] Accordingly Abradatas mounted his chariot and drove along the +lines to do as Cyrus bade. + +Meanwhile Cyrus went on to the left where Hystaspas was posted with +half the Persian cavalry, and he called to him and said: + +"Hystaspas, here is work to test your pace! If we are quick enough in +cutting off their heads, none of us will be slaughtered first." + +[20] And Hystaspas answered with a laugh: + +"Leave it to us! We'll see to the men opposite. But set some one to +deal with the fellows on our flank: it would be a pity for them to be +idle." + +And Cyrus answered, "I am going to them myself. But remember, +Hystaspas, to which ever of us God grants the victory, so long as a +single foeman is on the field, attack we must, again and again, until +the last has yielded." + +[21] With that he passed on, and as he came to the flank he went up to +the officer in command of the chariots and said to him: + +"Good, I intend to support you myself. And when you hear me fall on +the wing, at that instant do your best to charge straight through your +opponents; you will be far safer once outside their ranks than if you +are caught half-way." + +[22] Then he went on to the rear and the carriages, where the two +detachments were stationed, a thousand horse and a thousand foot, and +told Artagersas and Pharnouchus, their leaders, to keep the men where +they were. + +"But when," he added, "you see me close with the enemy on our right, +then set upon those in front of you: take them in flank, where they +are weakest, while you advance in line, at your full strength. Their +lines, as you see, are closed by cavalry; hurl your camels at these, +and you may be sure, even before the fighting begins, they will cut a +comic figure." + +[23] Thus, with all his dispositions made, Cyrus rode round the head +of his right. By this time Croesus, believing that the centre, where +he himself was marching, must be nearer the enemy than the distant +wings, had the signal raised for them to stop their advance, halt, and +wheel round where they were. When they were in position opposite the +Persian force, he signalled for them to charge, and thus three columns +came at once against Cyrus, one facing his front and one on either +flank. [24] A tremor ran through the whole army; it was completely +enclosed, like a little brick laid within a large, with the forces of +the enemy all round it, on every side except the rear, cavalry and +heavy infantry, targeteers, archers, and chariots. [25] None the less, +the instant Cyrus gave the word they swung round to confront the foe. +There was deep silence through the ranks as they realised what they +had to face, and then Cyrus, when the moment came, began the battle- +hymn and it thundered through the host. [26] And as it died away the +war-cry rang out unto the God of Battles, and Cyrus swooped forward at +the head of his cavalry, straight for the enemy's flank, and closed +with them then and there, while the infantry behind him followed, +swift and steady, wave on wave, sweeping out on either side, far out- +flanking their opponents, for they attacked in line and the foe were +in column, to the great gain of Cyrus. A short struggle, and the ranks +broke and fled before him headlong. [27] Artagersas, seeing that Cyrus +had got to work, made his own charge on the left, hurling his camels +forward as Cyrus had advised. Even at a distance the horses could not +face the camels: they seemed to go mad with fear, and galloped off in +terror, rearing and falling foul of one another: such is the strange +effect of camels upon horses. [28] So that Artagersas, his own troops +well in hand, had easy work with the enemy's bewildered masses. At the +same moment the war-chariots dashed in, right and left, so that many, +flying from the chariots, were cut down by the troopers, and many, +flying from these, were caught by the chariots. [29] And now Abradatas +could wait no longer. "Follow me, my friends," he shouted, and drove +straight at the enemy, lashing his good steeds forward till their +flanks were bloody with the goad, the other charioteers racing hard +behind him. The enemy's chariots fled before them instantly, some not +even waiting to take up their fighting-men. [30] But Abradatas drove +on through them, straight into the main body of the Egyptians, his +rush shared by his comrades on either hand. And then, what has often +been shown elsewhere was shown here, namely, that of all strong +formations the strongest is a band of friends. His brothers-in-arms +and his mess-mates charged with him, but the others, when they saw +that the solid ranks of the Egyptians stood firm, swung round and +pursued the flying chariots. [31] Meanwhile Abradatas and his +companions could make no further way: there was not a gap through the +Egyptian lines on either hand, and they could but charge the single +soldiers where they stood, overthrow them by the sheer weight of horse +and car, and crush them and their arms beneath the hoofs and wheels. +And where the scythes caught them, men and weapons were cut to shreds. +[32] In the midst of indescribable confusion, the chariots rocking +among the weltering mounds, Abradatas was thrown out and some of his +comrades with him. There they stood, and fought like men, and there +they were cut down and died. The Persians, pouring in after them, +dealt slaughter and destruction where Abradatas and his men had +charged and shaken the ranks, but elsewhere the Egyptians, who were +still unscathed, and they were many, moved steadily on to meet them. + +[33] There followed a desperate struggle with lance and spear and +sword, and still the Egyptians had the advantage, because of their +numbers and their weapons. Their spears were immensely stout and long, +such as they carry to this day, and the huge shield not only gave more +protection than corslet and buckler, but aided the thrust of the +fighter, slung as it was from the shoulder. + +[34] Shield locked into shield, they thrust their way forward; and the +Persians could not drive them back, with their light bucklers borne on +the forearm only. Step by step they gave ground, dealing blow for +blow, till they came under cover of their own artillery. Then at last +a second shower of blows fell on the Egyptians, while the reserves +would allow no flight of the archers or the javelin-men: at the +sword's point they made them do their duty. [35] Thick was the +slaughter, and loud the din of clashing weapons and whirring darts, +and shouting warriors, cheering each other and calling on the gods. + +[36] At this moment Cyrus appeared, cutting his way through his own +opponents. To see the Persians thrust from their position was misery +to him, but he knew he could check the enemy's advance most quickly by +galloping round to their rear, and thither he dashed, bidding his +troops follow, and there they fell upon them and smote them as they +were gazing ahead, and there they mowed them down. + +[37] The Egyptians, seeing what had happened, cried out that the enemy +had taken them in the rear, and wheeled round under a storm of blows. +At this the confusion reached its height, cavalry and infantry +struggling all together. An Egyptian fell under Cyrus' horse, and as +the hoofs struck him he stabbed the creature in the belly. The charger +reared at the blow and Cyrus was thrown. [38] Then was seen what it is +for a leader to be loved by his men. With a terrible cry the men +dashed forward, conquering thrust with thrust and blow with blow. One +of his squires leapt down and set Cyrus on his own charger. [39] And +as Cyrus sprang on the horse he saw the Egyptians worsted everywhere. +For by now Hystaspas was on the ground with his cavalry, and +Chrysantas also. Still Cyrus would not allow them to charge the +Egyptian phalanx: the archers and javelin-men were to play on them +from outside. Then he made his way along the lines to the artillery, +and there he mounted one of the towers to take a survey of the field, +and see if any of the foe still held their ground and kept up the +fight. [40] But he saw the plain one chaos of flying horses and men +and chariots, pursuers and pursued, conquerors and conquered, and +nowhere any who still stood firm, save only the Egyptians. These, in +sore straits as they were, formed themselves into a circle behind a +ring of steel, and sat down under cover of their enormous shields. +They no longer attempted to act, but they suffered, and suffered +heavily. [41] Cyrus, in admiration and pity, unwilling that men so +brave should be done to death, drew off his soldiers who were fighting +round them, and would not let another man lift sword. + +Then he sent them a herald asking if they wished to be cut to pieces +for the sake of those who had betrayed them, or save their lives and +keep their reputation for gallantry? And they answered, "Is it +possible that we can be saved and yet keep our reputation +untarnished?" [42] And Cyrus said, "Surely yes, for we ourselves have +seen that you alone have held your ground and been ready to fight." +"But even so," said the Egyptians, "how can we act in honour if we +save ourselves?" + +"By betraying none of those at whose side you fought," answered Cyrus: +"only surrender your arms to us, and become our friends, the friends +of men who chose to save you when they might have destroyed you." [43] +"And if we become your friends," said they, "how will you treat us?" +"As you treat us," answered he, "and the treatment shall be good." + +"And what will that good treatment be?" they asked once more. "This," +said Cyrus: "better pay than you have had, so long as the war lasts, +and when peace comes, if you choose to stay with me, lands and cities +and women and servants." [44] Then they asked him if he would excuse +them from one duty, service against Croesus. Croesus, they said, was +the only leader who knew them; for the rest, they were content to +agree. And so they came to terms, and took and gave pledges of good +faith. [45] Thus it came about that their descendants are to this day +faithful subjects of the king, and Cyrus gave them cities, some in the +interior, which are still called the cities of the Egyptians, beside +Larissa and Kyllene and Kyme on the coast, still held by their +descendants. + +When this matter was arranged darkness had already fallen, and Cyrus +drew off his army and encamped at Thymbrara. + +[46] In this engagement the Egyptians alone among the enemy won +themselves renown, and of the troops under Cyrus the Persian cavalry +was held to have done the best, so much so that to this day they are +still armed in the manner that Cyrus devised. [47] High praise also +was given to the scythe-bearing chariots, and this engine of war is +still employed by the reigning king. [48] As for the camels, all they +did was to scare the horses; their riders could take no part in the +slaughter, and were never touched themselves by the enemy's cavalry. +For not a horse would come near the camels. [49] It was a useful arm, +certainly, but no gallant gentleman would dream of breeding camels for +his own use or learning to fight on camel-back. And so they returned +to their old position among the baggage-train. + +[C.2] Then Cyrus and his men took their evening meal and posted their +pickets and went to rest. But Croesus and his army fled in haste to +Sardis, and the other tribes hurried away homewards under cover of +night as fast and as far as they could. [2] When day broke Cyrus +marched straight for Sardis, and when he came before the citadel he +set up his engines as though for the assault and got out his ladders. +But the following night he sent a scaling party of Persians and +Chaldaeans to climb the fortifications at the steepest point. The +guide was a Persian who had served as a slave to one of the garrison +in the citadel, and who knew a way down to the river by which one +could get up. [4] As soon as it became clear that the heights had been +taken, all the Lydians without exception fled from the walls and hid +wherever they could. At daybreak Cyrus entered the city and gave +orders that not a man was to leave the ranks. [5] Croesus, who had +shut himself up inside his palace, cried out on Cyrus, and Cyrus left +a guard round the building while he himself went to inspect the +captured citadel. Here he found the Persians keeping guard in perfect +order, but the Chaldaean quarters were deserted, for the men had +rushed down to pillage the town. Immediately he summoned their +officers, and bade them leave his army at once. [6] "I could never +endure," he said, "to have undisciplined fellows seizing the best of +everything. You know well enough," he added, "all that was in store +for you. I meant to make all who served with me the envy of their +fellows; but now," he said, "you cannot be surprised if you encounter +some one stronger than yourselves on your way home." + +[7] Fear fell on the Chaldaeans at this, and they intreated him to lay +aside his anger and vowed they would give back all the booty they had +taken. He answered that he had no need of it himself. "But if," he +added, "you wish to appease me, you will hand it over to those who +stayed and guarded the citadel. For if my soldiers see that discipline +means reward, all will be well with us." + +[8] So the Chaldaeans did as he bade them, and the faithful and +obedient received all manner of good things. + +Then Cyrus made his troops encamp in the most convenient quarter of +the town, and told them to stay at their posts and take their +breakfast there. [9] That done, he gave orders that Croesus should be +brought to him, and when he came into his presence, Croesus cried: + +"Hail, Cyrus, my lord and master! Fate has given you that title from +now henceforward, and thus must I salute you." + +[20] "All hail to you likewise," answered Cyrus: "we are both of us +men. And tell me now," he continued, "would you be more willing to +advise me as a friend?" "I should be more than glad," said Croesus, +"to do you any good. It would mean good for myself, I know." [11] +"Listen, then," answered Cyrus: "I see that my soldiers have endured +much toil and encountered many dangers, and now they are persuaded +that they have taken the wealthiest city in all Asia, after Babylon. I +would not have them cheated of their recompense, seeing that if they +win nothing by their labour, I know not how I can keep them obedient +to me for long. Yet I am unwilling to give them this city over to +plunder. I believe it would be utterly destroyed, and moreover I know +full well that in plunder the worst villains win the most." + +[12] To this Croesus answered, "Suffer me then to tell what Lydians I +please that I have won your promise that the city shall not be sacked, +nor their women and children made away with. [13] I promise you in +return that my men will bring you willingly everything that is costly +and beautiful in Sardis. If I can announce such terms, I am certain +there is not one treasure belonging to man or woman that will not be +yours to-morrow. Further, on this day year, the city will overflow +once more with wealth and beauty. But if you sack it, you will destroy +the crafts in its ruin, and they, we know, are the well-spring of all +loveliness. [14] Howbeit, you need not decide at once, wait and see +what is brought to you. Send first," he added, "to my own treasuries, +and let your guards take some of my own men with them." + +To all this Cyrus consented, and then he said: + +[15] "And now, O Croesus, tell me one thing more. How did matters go +between you and the oracle at Delphi? It is said that you did much +reverence to Apollo and obeyed him in all things." + +[16] "I could wish it had been so," said Croesus, "but, truth to say, +from the beginning I have acted in all things against him." "How can +that be?" said Cyrus. "Explain it to me: for your words seem strange +indeed." [17] "Because," he answered, "in the first place, instead of +asking the god for all I wanted I must needs put him to the test, to +see if he could speak the truth. This," he added, "no man of honour +could endure, let be the godhead. Those who are doubted cannot love +their doubters. [18] And yet he stood the test; for though the things +I did were strange, and I was many leagues from Delphi, he knew them +all. And so I resolved to consult him about my children. [19] At first +he would not so much as answer me, but I sent him many an offering, +some of gold and some of silver, and I propitiated him, as I deemed, +by countless sacrifices, and at last he answered me when I asked him +what I must do that sons might be born to me. He said they should be +born. [20] And so they were; in that he uttered no lie, but they +brought me no joy. One of them was dumb his whole life long, and the +noblest perished in the flower of his youth. And I, crushed by these +sorrows, sent again to the god and asked him how I could live in +happiness for the rest of my days, and he answered: + + "'Know thyself, O Croesus, and happiness shall be thine.' + +"And when I heard the oracle, I was comforted. [21] I said to myself, +the god has laid the lightest of tasks upon me, and promised me +happiness in return. Some of his neighbours a man may know and others +not: but every one can know himself. [22] So I thought, and in truth +so long as I was at peace I had no fault to find with my lot after my +son's death; but when the Assyrian persuaded me to march against you I +encountered every danger. Yet I was saved, I came to no harm. Once +again, therefore, I have no charge to bring against the god: when I +/knew myself/ incapable of warring against you, he came to my help and +saved mine and me. [23] But afterwards, intoxicated by my wealth, +cajoled by those who begged me to be their leader, tempted by the +gifts they showered on me, flattered by all who said that if I would +but lead them they would obey me to a man, and that I would be the +greatest ruler in all the world, and that all their kings had met +together and chosen me for their champion in the war, I undertook the +generalship as though I were born to be the monarch of the world, for +I did not /know myself/. [24] I thought myself able to fight against +you, you who are sprung from the seed of the gods, born of a royal +line, trained in valour and virtue from your youth, while I--I believe +that the first of my ancestors to reign won his freedom and his crown +on the self-same day. For this dull ignorance of mine I see I am +justly punished. [25] But now at last, O Cyrus," he cried, "now I +/know myself/. And tell me, do you think the god will still speak +truth? Do you think that, knowing myself, I can be happy now? I ask +you, because you of all men have it in your power to answer best. +Happiness is yours to give." + +[26] Cyrus answered, "Give me time to deliberate, Croesus. I bear in +mind your former happiness and I pity you. I give you back at once +your wife and your daughters (for they tell me you have daughters), +and your friends and your attendants; they are yours once more. And +yours it is to sit at your own table as you used to live. But battles +and wars I must put out of your power." + +[27] "Now by the gods above us," cried Croesus, "you need take no +further thought about your answer: if you will do for me what you say, +I shall live the life that all men called the happiest of lives, and I +knew that they were right." [28] "And who," said Cyrus, "who was it +that lived that life of happiness?" "My own wife," said Croesus; "she +shared all my good things with me, my luxuries, my softest joys; but +in the cares on which those joys were based, in war and battle and +strife, she had no part or lot. Methinks, you will provide for me as I +provided for her whom I loved beyond all others in the world, and I +must needs send to Apollo again, and send thank-offerings." + +[29] And as Cyrus listened he marvelled at the man's contentedness of +soul, and for the future wherever he went he took Croesus with him, +either because he thought he might be useful or perhaps because he +felt it was safer so. + +[C.3] So for that night they rested. But the next day Cyrus called his +friends and generals together and told some to make an inventory of +their treasures and others to receive all the wealth that Croesus +brought in. First they were to set aside for the gods all that the +Persian priests thought fit, and then store the rest in coffers, +weight them, and pack them on waggons, distributing the waggons by lot +to take with them on the march, so that they could receive their +proper share at any convenient time. [2] So they set about the work. + +Then Cyrus called some of his squires and said: + +"Tell me, have any of you seen Abradatas? I wonder that he who used to +come to me so often is nowhere to be found." + +[3] Then one of the squires made answer, "My lord, he is dead: he fell +in the battle, charging straight into the Egyptian ranks: the rest, +all but his own companions, swerved before their close array. [4] And +now," he added, "we hear that his wife has found his body and laid it +in her own car, and has brought it here to the banks of the Pactolus. +[5] Her chamberlains and her attendants are digging a grave for the +dead man upon a hill, and she, they say, has put her fairest raiment +on him and her jewels, and she is seated on the ground with his head +upon her knees." + +[6] Then Cyrus smote his hand upon his thigh and leapt up and sprang +to horse, galloping to the place of sorrow, with a thousand troopers +at his back. [7] He bade Gadatas and Gobryas take what jewels they +could find to honour the dear friend and brave warrior who had fallen, +and follow with all speed: and he bade the keepers of the herds, the +cattle, and the horses drive up their flocks wherever they heard he +was, that he might sacrifice on the grave. + +[8] But when he saw Pantheia seated on the ground and the dead man +lying there, the tears ran down his cheeks and he cried: + +"O noble and loyal spirit, have you gone from us?" + +Then he took the dead man by the hand, but the hand came away with his +own: it had been hacked by an Egyptian blade. [9] And when he saw +that, his sorrow grew, and Pantheia sobbed aloud and took the hand +from Cyrus and kissed it and laid it in its place, as best she could, +and said: + +[10] "It is all like that, Cyrus. But why should you see it?" And +presently she said, "All this, I know, he suffered for my sake, and +for yours too, Cyrus, perhaps as much. I was a fool: I urged him so to +bear himself as became a faithful friend of yours, and he, I know, he +never thought once of his own safety, but only of what he might do to +show his gratitude. Now he has fallen, without a stain upon his +valour: and I, who urged him, I live on to sit beside his grave." + +[11] And Cyrus wept silently for a while, and then he said: + +"Lady, his end was the noblest and the fairest that could be: he died +in the hour of victory. Take these gifts that I have brought and adorn +him." + +For now Gobryas and Gadatas appeared with store of jewels and rich +apparel. "He shall not lack for honour," Cyrus said; "many hands will +raise his monument: it shall be a royal one; and we will offer such +sacrifice as befits a hero. [12] And you, lady," he added, "you shall +not be left desolate. I reverence your chastity and your nobleness, +and I will give you a guardian to lead you withersoever you choose, if +you will but tell me to whom you wish to go." + +[13] And Pantheia answered: + +"Be at rest, Cyrus, I will not hide from you to whom I long to go." + +[14] Therewith Cyrus took his leave of her and went, pitying from his +heart the woman who had lost so brave a husband, and the dead man in +his grave, taken from so sweet a wife, never to see her more. Then +Pantheia bade her chamberlains stand aside "until," she said, "I have +wept over him as I would." But she made her nurse stay with her and +she said: + +"Nurse, when I am dead, cover us with the same cloak." And the nurse +entreated and besought her, but she could not move her, and when she +saw that she did but vex her mistress, she sat down and wept in +silence. Then Pantheia took the scimitar, that had been ready for her +so long, and drew it across her throat, and dropped her head upon her +husband's breast and died. And the nurse cried bitterly, but she +covered the two with one cloak as her mistress had bidden her. + +[15] And when Cyrus heard what Pantheia had done he rushed out in +horror to see if he could save her. And when the three chamberlains +saw what had happened they drew their own scimitars and killed +themselves, there where she had bidden them stand. [16, 17] And when +Cyrus came to that place of sorrow, he looked with wonder and +reverence on the woman, and wept for her and went his way and saw that +all due honour was paid to those who lay there dead, and a mighty +sepulchre was raised above them, mightier, men say, than had been seen +in all the world before. + +[C.4] After this the Carians, who were always at war and strife with +one another, because their dwellings were fortified, sent to Cyrus and +asked for aid. Cyrus himself was unwilling to leave Sardis, where he +was having engines of artillery made and battering-rams to overthrow +the walls of those who would not listen to him. But he sent Adousius, +a Persian, in his place, a man of sound judgment and a stout soldier +and withal a person of winning presence. He gave him an army; and the +Cilicians and Cypriotes were very ready to serve under him. [2] That +was why Cyrus never sent a Persian satrap to govern either Cilicia or +Cyprus; he was always satisfied with the native kings; only he exacted +tribute and levied troops whenever he needed them. + +[3] So Adousius took his army and marched into Caria, where he was met +by the men of both parties, ready to receive him inside their walls to +the detriment of their opponents. Adousius treated each in exactly the +same way, he told whichever side was pleading that he thought their +case was just, but it was essential that the others should not realise +he was their friend, "for thus, you perceive, I will take them +unprepared whenever I attack." + +He insisted they should give him pledges of good faith, and the +Carians had to swear they would receive him without fraud or guile +within their walls and for the welfare of Cyrus and the Persians; and +on his side he was willing to swear that he would enter without fraud +or guile himself and for the welfare of those who received him. [4] +Having imposed these terms on either party without the knowledge of +the other, he fixed on the same night with both, entered the walls, +and had the strongholds of both parties in his hands. At break of day +he took his place in the midst with his army, and sent for the leading +men on either side. Thus confronted with each other they were more +than a little vexed, and both imagined they had been cheated. [5] +However, Adousius began: + +"Gentlemen, I took an oath to you that I would enter your walls +without fraud or guile and for the welfare of those who received me. +Now if I am forced to destroy either of you, I am persuaded I shall +have entered to the detriment of the Carians. But if I give you peace, +so that you can till your lands in safety, I imagine I shall have come +for your welfare. Therefore from this day forwards you must meet on +friendly terms, cultivate your fields without fear, give your children +to each other, and if any one offends against these laws, Cyrus and +ourselves will be his enemies." + +[6] At that the city gates were flung wide open, the roads were filled +with folk hurrying to one another, the fields were thronged with +labourers. They held high festival together, and the land was full of +peace and joyfulness. + +[7] Meanwhile messengers came from Cyrus inquiring whether there was +need for more troops or siege-engines, but Adousius answered, on the +contrary his present force was at Cyrus' service to employ elsewhere +if he wished, and so drew off his army, only leaving a garrison in the +citadels. Thereupon the Carians implored him to remain, and when he +would not, they sent to Cyrus begging him to make Adousius their +satrap. + +[8] Meanwhile Cyrus had sent Hystaspas with an army into Phrygia on +the Hellespont, and when Adousius came back he bade him follow, for +the Phrygians would be more willing to obey Hystaspas if they heard +that another army was advancing. + +[9] Now the Hellenes on the seaboard offered many gifts and bargained +not to receive the Asiatics within their walls, but only to pay +tribute and serve wherever Cyrus commanded. [10] But the king of +Phrygia made preparations to hold his fortresses and not yield, and +sent out orders to that effect. However, when his lieutenants deserted +him and he found himself all alone, he had to put himself in the hands +of Hystaspas, and leave his fate to the judgment of Cyrus. Then +Hystaspas stationed strong Persian garrisons in all the citadels, and +departed, taking with him not only his own troops but many mounted men +and targeteers from Phrygia. [11] And Cyrus sent word to Adousius to +join Hystaspas, put himself at the head of those who had submitted and +allow them to retain their arms, while those who showed a disposition +to resist were to be deprived of their horses and their weapons and +made to follow the army as slingers. + +[12] While his lieutenants were thus employed, Cyrus set out from +Sardis, leaving a large force of infantry to garrison the place, and +taking Croesus with him, and a long train of waggons laden with riches +of every kind. Croesus presented an accurate inventory of everything +in each waggon, and said, as he delivered the scrolls: + +"With these in your possession, Cyrus, you can tell whether your +officers are handing over their freights in full or not." + +[13] And Cyrus answered: + +"It was kindly done, Croesus, on your part, to take thought for this: +but I have arranged that the freights should be in charge of those who +are entitled to them, so that if the men steal, they steal their own +property." + +With these words he handed the documents to his friends and officers +to serve as checks on their own stewards. + +[14] Cyrus also took Lydians in his train; allowing some to carry +arms, those, namely, who were at pains to keep their weapons in good +order, and their horses and chariots, and who did their best to please +him, but if they gave themselves ungracious airs, he took away their +horses and bestowed them on the Persians who had served him from the +beginning of the campaign, burnt their weapons, and forced them to +follow the army as slingers. [15] Indeed, as a rule, he compelled all +the subject population who had been disarmed to practise the use of +the sling: it was, he considered, a weapon for slaves. No doubt there +are occasions when a body of slingers, working with other detachments, +can do excellent service, but, taken alone, not all the slingers in +the world could face a mere handful armed with steel. + +[16] Cyrus was marching to Babylon, but on his way he subdued the +Phrygians of Greater Phrygia and the Cappadocians, and reduced the +Arabians to subjection. These successes enabled him to increase his +Persian cavalry till it was not far short of forty thousand men, and +he had still horses left over to distribute among his allies at large. + +At length he came before Babylon with an immense body of cavalry, +archers, and javelin-men, beside slingers innumerable. + +[C.5] When Cyrus reached the city he surrounded it entirely with his +forces, and then rode round the walls himself, attended by his friends +and the leading officers of the allies. [2] Having surveyed the +fortifications, he prepared to lead off his troops, and at that moment +a deserter came to inform him that the Assyrians intended to attack as +soon as he began to withdraw, for they had inspected his forces from +the walls and considered them very weak. This was not surprising, for +the circuit of the city was so enormous that it was impossible to +surround it without seriously thinning the lines. [3] When Cyrus heard +of their intention, he took up his post in the centre of his troops +with his own staff round him and sent orders to the infantry for the +wings to double back on either side, marching past the stationary +centre of the line, until they met in the rear exactly opposite +himself. [4] Thus the men in front were immediately encouraged by the +doubling of their depth, and those who retired were equally cheered, +for they saw that the others would encounter the enemy first. The two +wings being united, the power of the whole force was strengthened, +those behind being protected by those in front and those in front +supported by those behind. [5] When the phalanx was thus folded back +on itself, both the front and the rear ranks were formed of picked +men, a disposition that seemed calculated to encourage valour and +check flight. On the flanks, the cavalry and the light infantry were +drawn nearer and nearer to the commander as the line contracted. [6] +When the whole phalanx was in close order, they fell back from the +walls, slowly, facing the foe, until they were out of range; then they +turned, marched a few paces, and then wheeled round again to the left, +and halted, facing the walls, but the further they got the less often +they paused, until, feeling themselves secure, they quickened their +pace and went off in an uninterrupted march until they reached their +quarters. + +[7] When they were encamped, Cyrus called a council of his officers +and said, "My friends and allies, we have surveyed the city on every +side, and for my part I fail to see any possibility of taking by +assault walls so lofty and so strong: on the other hand, the greater +the population the more quickly must they yield to hunger, unless they +come out to fight. If none of you have any other scheme to suggest, I +propose that we reduce them by blockade." + +[8] Then Chrysantas spoke: + +"Does not the river flow through the middle of the city, and it is not +at least a quarter of a mile in width?" + +"To be sure it is," answered Gobryas, "and so deep that the water +would cover two men, one standing on the other's shoulders; in fact +the city is even better protected by its river than by its walls." + +[9] At which Cyrus said, "Well, Chrysantas, we must forego what is +beyond our power: but let us measure off at once the work for each of +us, set to, and dig a trench as wide and as deep as we can, that we +may need as few guards as possible." + +[10] Thereupon Cyrus took his measurements all round the city, and, +leaving a space on either bank of the river large enough for a lofty +tower, he had a gigantic trench dug from end to end of the wall, his +men heaping up the earth on their own side. [11] Then he set to work +to build his towers by the river. The foundations were of palm-trees, +a hundred feet long and more--the palm-tree grows to a greater height +than that, and under pressure it will curve upwards like the spine of +an ass beneath a load. [12] He laid these foundations in order to give +the impression that he meant to besiege the town, and was taking +precautions so that the river, even if it found its way into his +trench, should not carry off his towers. Then he had other towers +built along the mound, so as to have as many guard-posts as possible. +[13] Thus his army was employed, but the men within the walls laughed +at his preparations, knowing they had supplies to last them more than +twenty years. When Cyrus heard that, he divided his army into twelve, +each division to keep guard for one month in the year. [14] At this +the Babylonians laughed louder still, greatly pleased at the idea of +being guarded by Phrygians and Lydians and Arabians and Cappadocians, +all of whom, they thought, would be more friendly to themselves than +to the Persians. + +[15] However by this time the trenches were dug. And Cyrus heard that +it was a time of high festival in Babylon when the citizens drink and +make merry the whole night long. As soon as the darkness fell, he set +his men to work. [16] The mouths of the trenches were opened, and +during the night the water poured in, so that the river-bed formed a +highway into the heart of the town. + +[17] When the great stream had taken to its new channel, Cyrus ordered +his Persian officers to bring up their thousands, horse and foot +alike, each detachment drawn up two deep, the allies to follow in +their old order. [18] They lined up immediately, and Cyrus made his +own bodyguard descend into the dry channel first, to see if the bottom +was firm enough for marching. [19] When they said it was, he called a +council of all his generals and spoke as follows: + +[20] "My friends, the river has stepped aside for us; he offers us a +passage by his own high-road into Babylon. We must take heart and +enter fearlessly, remembering that those against whom we are to march +this night are the very men we have conquered before, and that too +when they had their allies to help them, when they were awake, alert, +and sober, armed to the teeth, and in their battle order. [21] +To-night we go against them when some are asleep and some are drunk, +and all are unprepared: and when they learn that we are within the +walls, sheer astonishment will make them still more helpless than +before. [22] If any of you are troubled by the thought of volleys from +the roofs when the army enters the city, I bid you lay these fears +aside: if our enemies do climb their roofs we have a god to help us, +the god of Fire. Their porches are easily set aflame, for the doors +are made of palm-wood and varnished with bitumen, the very food of +fire. [23] And we shall come with the pine-torch to kindle it, and +with pitch and tow to feed it. They will be forced to flee from their +homes or be burnt to death. [24] Come, take your swords in your hand: +God helping me, I will lead you on. Do you," he said, turning to +Gadatas and Gobryas, "show us the streets, you know them; and once we +are inside, lead us straight to the palace." + +[25] "So we will," said Gobryas and his men, "and it would not +surprise us to find the palace-gates unbarred, for this night the +whole city is given over to revelry. Still, we are sure to find a +guard, for one is always stationed there." + +"Then," said Cyrus, "there is no time for lingering; we must be off at +once and take them unprepared." + +[26] Thereupon they entered: and of those they met some were struck +down and slain, and others fled into their houses, and some raised the +hue and cry, but Gobryas and his friends covered the cry with their +shouts, as though they were revellers themselves. And thus, making +their way by the quickest route, they soon found themselves before the +king's palace. [27] Here the detachment under Gobryas and Gadatas +found the gates closed, but the men appointed to attack the guards +rushed on them as they lay drinking round a blazing fire, and closed +with them then and there. [28] As the din grew louder and louder, +those within became aware of the tumult, till, the king bidding them +see what it meant, some of them opened the gates and ran out. [29] +Gadatas and his men, seeing the gates swing wide, darted in, hard on +the heels of the others who fled back again, and they chased them at +the sword's point into the presence of the king. + +[30] They found him on his feet, with his drawn scimitar in his hand. +By sheer weight of numbers they overwhelmed him: and not one of his +retinue escaped, they were all cut down, some flying, others snatching +up anything to serve as a shield and defending themselves as best they +could. [31] Cyrus sent squadrons of cavalry down the different roads +with orders to kill all they found in the street, while those who knew +Assyrian were to warn the inhabitants to stay indoors under pain of +death. [32] While they carried out these orders, Gobryas and Gadatas +returned, and first they gave thanks to the gods and did obeisance +because they had been suffered to take vengeance on their unrighteous +king, and then they fell to kissing the hands and feet of Cyrus, +shedding tears of joy and gratitude. [33] And when it was day and +those who held the heights knew that the city was taken and the king +slain, they were persuaded to surrender the citadel themselves. [34] +Cyrus took it over forthwith, and sent in a commandant and a garrison, +while he delivered the bodies of the fallen to their kinsfolk for +burial, and bade his heralds make proclamation that all the citizens +must deliver up their arms: wherever weapons were discovered in any +house all the inmates would be put to death. So the arms were +surrendered, and Cyrus had them placed in the citadel for use in case +of need. [35] When all was done he summoned the Persian priests and +told them the city was the captive of his spear and bade them set +aside the first-fruits of the booty as an offering to the gods and +mark out land for sacred demesnes. Then he distributed the houses and +the public buildings to those whom he counted his partners in the +exploit; and the distribution was on the principle accepted, the best +prizes to the bravest men: and if any thought they had not received +their deserts they were invited to come and tell him. [36] At the same +time he issued a proclamation to the Babylonians, bidding them till +the soil and pay the dues and render willing service to those under +whose rule they were placed. As for his partners the Persians, and +such of his allies as elected to remain with him, he gave them to +understand they were to treat as subjects the captives they received. + +[37] After this Cyrus felt that the time was come to assume the style +and manner that became a king: and he wished this to be done with the +goodwill and concurrence of his friends and in such a way that, +without seeming ungracious, he might appear but seldom in public and +always with a certain majesty. Therefore he devised the following +scheme. At break of day he took his station at some convenient place, +and received all who desired speech with him, and then dismissed them. +[38] The people, when they heard that he gave audience, thronged to +him in multitudes, and in the struggle to gain access there was much +jostling and scheming and no little fighting. [39] His attendants did +their best to divide the suitors, and introduce them in some order, +and whenever any of his personal friends appeared, thrusting their way +through the crowd, Cyrus would stretch out his hand and draw them to +his side and say, "Wait, my friends, until we have finished with this +crowd, and then we can talk at our ease." So his friends would wait, +but the multitude would pour on, growing greater and greater, until +the evening would fall before there had been a moment's leisure for +his friends. [40] All that Cyrus could do then was to say, "Perhaps, +gentlemen, it is a little late this evening and time that we broke up. +Be sure to come early to-morrow. I am very anxious myself to speak +with you." With that his friends were only too glad to be dismissed, +and made off without more ado. They had done penance enough, fasting +and waiting and standing all day long. [41] So they would get to rest +at last, but the next morning Cyrus was at the same spot and a much +greater concourse of suitors round him than before, already assembled +long before his friends arrived. Accordingly Cyrus had a cordon of +Persian lancers stationed round him, and gave out that no one except +his personal friends and the generals were to be allowed access, and +as soon as they were admitted he said: + +[42] "My friends, we cannot exclaim against the gods as though they +had failed to fulfil our prayers. They have granted all we asked. But +if success means that a man must forfeit his own leisure and the good +company of all his friends, why, to that kind of happiness I would +rather bid farewell. [43] Yesterday," he added, "I make no doubt you +observed yourselves that from early dawn till late evening I never +ceased listening to petitioners, and to-day you see this crowd before +us, larger still than yesterday's, ready with business for me. [44] If +this must be submitted to, I calculate that what you will get of me +and I of you will be little enough, and what I shall get of myself +will simply be nothing at all. Further," he added, "I foresee another +absurd consequence. [45] I, personally, have a feeling towards you +which I need not state, but, of that audience yonder, scarcely one of +them do I know at all, and yet they are all prepared to thrust +themselves in front of you, transact their business, and get what they +want out of me before any of you have a chance. I should have thought +it more suitable myself that men of that class, if they wanted +anything from me, should pay some court to you, my friends, in the +hopes of an introduction. [46] Perhaps you will ask why I did not so +arrange matters from the first, instead of always appearing in public. +Because in war it is the first business of a commander not to be +behindhand in knowing what ought to be done and seeing that it is +done, and the general who is seldom seen is apt to let things slip. +[47] But to-day, when war with its insatiable demands is over, I feel +as if I had some claim myself to rest and refreshment. I am in some +perplexity, however, as to how I can arrange matters so that all goes +well, not only with you and me, but also with those whom we are bound +to care for. Therefore I seek your advice and counsel, and I would be +glad to learn from any of you the happiest solution." + +[48] Cyrus paused, and up rose Artabazus the Mede, who had claimed to +be his kinsman, and said: + +"You did well, Cyrus, to open this matter. Years ago, when you were +still a boy, from the very first I longed to be your friend, but I saw +you did not need me, and so I shrank from approaching you. [49] Then +came a lucky moment when you did have need of me to be your good +messenger among the Medes with the order from Cyaxares, and I said to +myself that if I did the work well, if I really helped you, I might +become your comrade and have the right to talk with you as often as I +wished. [50] Well, the work was done, and done so as to win your +praise. After that the Hyrcanians joined us, the first friends we +made, when we were hungry and thirsty for allies, and we loved them so +much we almost carried them about with us in our arms wherever we +went. Then the enemy's camp was taken, and I scarcely think you had +the leisure to trouble your head with me--oh, I quite forgave you. +[51] The next thing was that Gobryas became your friend, and I had to +take my leave, and after him Gadatas, and by that time it was a real +task to get hold of you. Then came the alliances with the Sakians, and +the Cadousians, and no doubt you had to pay them court; if they danced +attendance on you, you must dance attendance on them. [52] So that +there I was, back again at my starting-point, and yet all the while, +as I saw you busy with horses and chariots and artillery, I consoled +myself by thinking, 'when he is done with this he will have a little +leisure for me.' And then came the terrible news that the whole world +was gathering in arms against us; I could not deny that these were +important matters, but still I felt certain, if all went well, a time +would come at last when you need not grudge me your company, and we +should be together to my heart's content, you and I. [53] Now, the day +has come; we have conquered in the great battle; we have taken Sardis +and Babylon; the world is at our feet, and yesterday, by Mithras! +unless I had used my fists a hundred times, I swear I could never have +got near you at all. Well, you grasped my hand and gave me greeting, +and bade me wait beside you, and there I waited, the cynosure of every +eye, the envy of every man, standing there all day long, without a +scrap to eat or a drop to drink. [54] So now, if any way can be found +by which we who have served you longest can get the most of you, well +and good: but, if not, pray send me as your messenger once more, and +this time I will tell them they can all leave you, except those who +were your friends of old." + +[55] This appeal set them all laughing, Cyrus with the rest. Then +Chrysantas the Persian stood up and spoke as follows: + +"Formerly, Cyrus, it was natural and right that you should appear in +public, for the reasons you have given us yourself, and also because +we were not the folk you had to pay your court to. We did not need +inviting: we were with you for our own sakes. It was necessary to win +over the masses by every means, if they were to share our toils and +our dangers willingly. [56] But now you have won them, and not them +alone; you have it in your power to gain others, and the moment has +come when you ought to have a house to yourself. What would your +empire profit you if you alone were left without hearth or home? Man +has nothing more sacred than his home, nothing sweeter, nothing more +truly his. And do you not think," he added, "that we ourselves would +be ashamed if we saw you bearing the hardships of the camp while we +sat at home by our own firesides? Should we not feel we had done you +wrong, and taken advantage of you?" + +[57] When Chrysantas had spoken thus, many others followed him, and +all to the same effect. And so it came about that Cyrus entered the +palace, and those in charge brought the treasures from Sardis thither, +and handed them over. And Cyrus when he entered sacrificed to Hestia, +the goddess of the Hearth, and to Zeus the Lord, and to any other gods +named by the Persian priests. + +[58] This done, he set himself to regulate the matters that remained. +Thinking over his position, and the attempt he was making to govern an +enormous multitude, preparing at the same time to take up his abode in +the greatest of all famous cities, but yet a city that was as hostile +to him as a city could be, pondering all this, he concluded that he +could not dispense with a bodyguard for himself. [59] He knew well +enough that a man can most easily be assassinated at his meals, or in +his bath, or in bed, or when he is asleep, and he asked himself who +were most to be trusted of those he had about him. A man, he believed, +can never be loyal or trustworthy who is likely to love another more +than the one who requires his guardianship. [60] He knew that men with +children, or wives, or favourites in whom they delight, must needs +love them most: while eunuchs, who are deprived of all such dear ones, +would surely make most account of him who could enrich them, or help +them if they were injured, or crown them with honour. And in the +conferring of such benefits he was disposed to think he could outbid +the world. [61] Moreover the eunuch, being degraded in the eyes of +other men, is driven to seek the assistance of some lord and master. +Without some such protection there is not a man in the world who would +not think he had the right to over-reach a eunuch: while there was +every reason to suppose that the eunuch would be the most faithful of +all servants. [62] As for the customary notion that the eunuch must be +weak and cowardly, Cyrus was not disposed to accept it. He studied the +indications to be observed in animals: a vicious horse, if gelded, +will cease to bite and be restive, but he will charge as gallantly as +ever; a bull that has been cut will become less fierce and less +intractable, but he will not lose his strength, he will be as good as +ever for work; castration may cure a dog of deserting his master, but +it will not ruin him as a watch-dog or spoil him for the chase. [63] +So, too, with men; when cut off from this passion, they become +gentler, no doubt, but not less quick to obey, not less daring as +horsemen, not less skilful with the javelin, not less eager for +honour. [64] In war and in the chase they show plainly enough that the +fire of ambition is still burning in their hearts. And they have stood +the last test of loyalty in the downfall of their masters. No men have +shown more faithfulness than eunuchs when ruin has fallen on their +lords. [65] In bodily strength, perhaps, the eunuchs seem to be +lacking, but steel is a great leveller, and makes the weak man equal +to the strong in war. Holding this in mind, Cyrus resolved that his +personal attendants, from his doorkeepers onwards, should be eunuchs +one and all. + +[66] This guard, however, he felt was hardly sufficient against the +multitude of enemies, and he asked himself whom he could choose among +the rest. [67] He remembered how his Persians led the sorriest of +lives at home owing to their poverty, working long and hard on the +niggard soil, and he felt sure they were the men who would most value +the life at his court. [68] Accordingly he selected ten thousand +lancers from among them, to keep guard round the palace, night and +day, whenever he was at home, and to march beside him whenever he went +abroad. [69] Moreover, he felt that Babylon must always have an +adequate garrison, whether he was in the country or not, and therefore +he stationed a considerable body of troops in the city; and he bade +the Babylonians provide their pay, his object being to make the +citizens helpless, and therefore humble and submissive. [70] This +royal guard that he established there, and the city guard for Babylon, +survive to this day unaltered. + +Lastly, as he pondered how the whole empire was to be kept together, +and possibly another added to it, he felt convinced that his +mercenaries did not make up for the smallness of their numbers by +their superiority to the subject peoples. Therefore he must keep +together those brave warriors, to whom with heaven's help the victory +was due, and he must take all care that they did not lose their +valour, hardihood, and skill. [71] To avoid the appearance of +dictating to them and to bring it about that they should see for +themselves it was best to stay with him and remember their valour and +their training, he called a council of the Peers and of the leading +men who seemed to him most worthy of sharing their dangers and their +rewards. [72] And when they were met he began: + +"Gentlemen, my friends and allies, we owe the utmost thanks to the +gods because they have given us what we believed that we deserved. We +are masters to-day of a great country and a good; and those who till +it will support us; we have houses of our own, and all the furniture +that is in them is ours. [73] For you need not think that what you +hold belongs to others. It is an eternal law the wide world over, that +when a city is taken in war, the citizens, their persons, and all +their property fall into the hands of the conquerors. It is not by +injustice, therefore, that you hold what you have taken, rather it is +through your own human kindness that the citizens are allowed to keep +whatever they do retain. + +[74] "Yet I foresee that if we betake ourselves to the life of +indolence and luxury, the life of the degenerate who think that labour +is the worst of evils and freedom from toil the height of happiness, +the day will come, and speedily, when we shall be unworthy of +ourselves, and with the loss of honour will come the loss of wealth. +[75] Once to have been valiant is not enough; no man can keep his +valour unless he watch over it to the end. As the arts decay through +neglect, as the body, once healthy and alert, will grow weak through +sloth and indolence, even so the powers of the spirit, temperance, +self-control, and courage, if we grow slack in training, fall back +once more to rottenness and death. [76] We must watch ourselves; we +must not surrender to the sweetness of the day. It is a great work, +methinks, to found an empire, but a far greater to keep it safe. To +seize it may be the fruit of daring and daring only, but to hold it is +impossible without self-restraint and self-command and endless care. +[77] We must not forget this; we must train ourselves in virtue from +now henceforward with even greater diligence than before we won this +glory, remembering that the more a man possesses, the more there are +to envy him, to plot against him, and be his enemies, above all when +the wealth he wins and the services he receives are yielded by +reluctant hands. But the gods, we need not doubt, will be upon our +side; we have not triumphed through injustice; we were not the +aggressors, it was we who were attacked and we avenged ourselves. [78] +The gods are with us, I say; but next to that supreme support there is +a defence we must provide out of our own powers alone; and that is the +righteous claim to rule our subjects because we are better men than +they. Needs must that we share with our slaves in heat and cold and +food and drink and toil and slumber, and we must strive to prove our +superiority even in such things as these, and first in these. [79] But +in the science of war and the art of it we can admit no share; those +whom we mean to make our labourers and our tributaries can have no +part in that; we will set ourselves to defraud them there; we know +that such exercises are the very tools of freedom and happiness, given +by the gods to mortal men. We have taken their arms away from our +slaves, and we must never lay our own aside, knowing well that the +nearer the sword-hilt the closer the heart's desire. So. Does any man +ask himself what profit he has gained from the fulfilment of his +dreams, if he must still endure, still undergo hunger and thirst and +toil and trouble and care? Let him learn the lesson that a man's +enjoyment of all good things is in exact proportion to the pains he +has undergone to gain them. Toil is the seasoning of delight; without +desire and longing, no dish, however costly, could be sweet. [81] Yes, +if some spirit were to set before us what men desire most, and we were +left to add for ourselves that final touch of sweetness, I say that we +could only gain above the poorest of the poor in so far as we could +bring hunger for the most delicious foods, and thirst for the richest +wines, and weariness to make us woo the deepest slumber. [82] +Therefore, we must strain every nerve to win and to keep manhood and +nobleness; so that we may gain that satisfaction which is the sweetest +and the best, and be saved from the bitterest of sorrows; since to +fail of good altogether is not so hard as to lose the good that has +once been ours. [83] And let us ask ourselves what excuse we could +offer for being unworthy of our past. Shall we say it is because we +have won an empire? Surely it is hardly fitting that the ruler should +be baser than the ruled. Or is it that we seem to be happier to-day +than heretofore? Is cowardice, then, an adjunct of happiness? Or is it +simply because we have slaves and must punish them if they do wrong? +But by what right can a man, who is bad himself, punish others for +badness or stupidity? [84] Remember, too, that we have arranged for +the maintenance of a whole multitude, to guard our persons and our +houses, and it would be shameful for us to depend for safety on the +weapons of others and refuse to carry weapons for ourselves. Surely we +ought to know that there can be no defence so strong as a man's own +gallantry. Courage should be our companion all our days. For if virtue +leave us, nothing else whatever can go well with us. [85] What, then, +would I have you do? How are we to remember our valour and train our +skill? Gentlemen, I have nothing novel to suggest; at home in Persia +the Peers spend their days at the public buildings and here we should +do the same. Here we are the men of rank and honour, as we are there, +and we should hold to the same customs. You must keep your eyes on me +and watch whether I am diligent in my duty, and I shall give heed to +you, and honour him who trains himself in what is beautiful and brave. +[86] And here too let us educate our sons, if sons are born to us. We +cannot but become better ourselves if we strive to set the best +example we can to our children, and our children could hardly grow up +to be unworthy, even if they wished, when they see nothing base before +them, and hear nothing shameful, but live in the practice of all that +is beautiful and good." + + + NOTES + +C1. Notice the epic tone now adopted, or rather swum into, or rather +which floats the writer up of its own motion. + +C1.2 ff. On the whole this description of the battle is, for Xenophon, +obscure. + +C1.5-6. Xenophon, Artist. This military criticism and technical +discussion juxtaposed to the epic prelude and the epic sequel is a +clever device enough. We are pleased. + +C1.8-9. Final injunctions somewhat obscure, I think. + +C1.24 ff. The epic and Homeric vein. + +C1.33. The Egyptians have the advantage. This is noticeable in +reference to Cyrus' criticisms of their arms before battle. That is +not a slip, but a dramatic touch on the part of the author, I think. +And Cyrus is speaking of cavalry there, and anticipates the result. + +C1.34 fin. A singular feature this in ancient battles. Is it simply +and solely Oriental, or general, and Hellenic also? Has it any +analogue nowadays anywhere? Probably with Egyptian troops in the +Soudan it has (hgd. 1884). + +C2.6-7. The archic man through an act of bad discipline makes good +discipline more acceptable. + +C2.13. The civilised method of dealing with a conquered city. Instead +of pillage and rapine, an indemnity, which will bring in to the +conquerors wealth, and yet not destroy the arts of the population, +which are the fountain-heads of beauty. || Modern. So the archic man +asserts his superiority once more. + +C2.24. Is this also Xenophon's view? If so, it throws light on his +theory of rank and caste. + +C3.2. Curious Cyrus should be so little suspicious of Abradatas' +death, is it not? Because the victory was not bloodless. Notice, too, +how little is said of the bloodshed; that is Hellenic as well as +Xenophontine, I fancy. + +C3.7. Something epic in all this. Cf. Archilles sacrificing at the +tomb of Patroklos. + +C3.8 ff. The pathos of the situation and the /Eironeia/ at its +maximum. "Euripidean" touches throughout. + +C3.16. [This is bracketed in most editions, no doubt rightly, as an +interpolation. It was not translated in Mr. Dakyns' manuscript, but +his marginal note is characteristic, and evidently he would have +translated the section in a footnote. It may be rendered thus: "It is +said that a monument was raised above the eunuchs and is in existence +to this day. On the upper slab the names of the husband and the wife +are written in Syrian letters, and below are three other slabs, +inscribed 'To the chamberlains.'"] + +C3.16. Interesting, especially if of later insertion, and perhaps +given the historical basis of the story in some monument on the +Pactolus, known to Xenophon. I wish a new Schliemann would find it. +hgd. + +C4. Semi-historical? The version is to be found, I think, in C4.2, +which is the /pièce justicative/. The episode itself is full of +humour, as good as a play: Xenophon has seen these duplicities often. +Brer Fox outwitted by Brer Rabbit. + +C4.4. Can these rival fastnesses of the Carians be identified? All +this country is well known to Xenophon (/vide Hellenica/, III. c. 4, +etc.). + +C4.6. Beautiful renewal of the peaceful arts, festivals, and merry- +makings after the internecine party strife. + +C4.9. This again is a district Xenophon is well acquainted with. Has +he one eye on the old insurrection against Persia, /tempore/ +Histiaeus, and another on the new arrangements, /tempore/ Antalcidas? + +C4.12-13. Croesus and his bills of lading. Some humour. It also brings +out the archic man in opposition to the shop-keeper man of the mere +business type. But still the bills of lading are needed. Croesus only +doesn't "twig" the right persons to check. It's the opposition between +Despot and true Ruler. + +C5.9. Cyrus has an idea, the nature of which we shall discover later. + +C5.15. Belshazzar's feast, /vide/ Daniel, cf. Hdt. Why plural, "the +trenches"? Is Xenophon obscure? His obscurity is mostly this: he +expects his reader intelligently to follow him. + +C5.32. Jars somewhat on our feelings, perhaps, in its thirst for +revenge: but cf. the feeling against the assassins of Lord Frederick +Cavendish and Mr. Burke. [Written at the time of the Phoenix Park +murders.] + +C5.37. Is a turning-point in the rise of the archic man (and yet +hardly yet, but at C5.58 we shall come to bodyguards and eunuchs). At +this highest pinnacle of {arkhe} Cyrus desires to furnish himself as +befits a king. It is an historical difficulty which Xenophon has to +get over or round, or is Xenophon himself in the same condemnation, so +to speak? Does he also desire his archic man to be got up in a manner +befitting royalty at a certain date? Consider. + +C5.42-47. These sections pose the difficulty well, and it is a +difficulty, and no mistake. + +C5.42 ff. Xenophon-Hellenic theory of life. The leisure to invite +one's own soul and see one's friends which is needed to make life +worth living, versus /negotia/, /negotia/, /negotia/. How far are we +to be consciously self-regarding? Cyrus versus Buddha. The Hellenic +hero is not equal to absolute non-self-regarding devotion to mere +work. The Buddha might be. + +C5.48. Perhaps nothing is cleverer in the neat and skilful mosaic work +of this composition than the fitting-in here of Artabazus' personal +view with the--at last necessary--impersonal or public theory of +leadership. It is pretty also that Artabazus should at length get his +reward, and humorous that he doesn't, after all, get it in the old +form. + +C5.49 ff. He keenly remembers each tantalizing moment of approach and +separation. A splendid speech of the humorous type. Xenophon himself +must be credited with so much fun, and real fun it is. + +C5.56 ff. Curious on this page (a) Xenophon's domestic hearth theory +without which {arkhe} is a tinkling cymbal and empire no burthen to be +borne. His feeling for the sweetness of home || modern. In this the +secret of his happiness, || hgd. (b) His /justification/ or /raison +d'être/ explanation of the eunuch system. Why doesn't he point out its +hollowness also? Not from any lack of sympathy with this barren +mankind. Cf. Gadatas. I think this all logically follows if the +{arkhon} is to rule political enemies as well as friends: to do so +{epistamenos} ["asian expert"] some strange devices must be resorted +to--what think you, Dakyns? + +C5.58. The need of a bodyguard. The dragon-fly must wing his flight in +armour cased: that is the law of his development. So Cyrus must be in +the end an ideal "tyrannus," the one spoken of by Simonides the poet +to Hiero [/vide/ the dialogue /Hiero/, and the notes thereto in Mr. +Dakyns' translation, Vol. III.]. + +C5.64. The faithfulness of the eunuch has its parallel in that of the +old negro slave. + +C5.67. These are the sort of fellows Xenophon would have chosen +himself, I take it. Again the historical basis has to be taken account +of. Xenophon has to explain to himself the existence of their body and +how the archic man came to invent it. Throughout we must compare the +/Hiero/ for Xenophon's own political theory apart from his romantic +and philosophical interest in Cyrus. + +C5.69. Not a pleasant picture of subject and ruling race. Cf. the +Austrians in Italy. + +C5.73. The Hellenic || the modern theory, but more rudely expressed. +The conquerors right to the land he has taken, and what Cyrus proceeds +to say is quite up to the modern mark. + +C5.74. Of course this is precisely what the Persians as they +degenerated did come to, nor did the good example of the archic man +nor his precepts nor his institutions save them. + +C5.77-79. "Military" theory of virtue: almost barbaric (/ex mea +sententia/ hgd.). But Xenophon is not absolutely = Cyrus. + +C5.80 ff. This is the Socratico-Xenophontine hedonism-and-stoicism +combined. + +C5.82 ff. A noble sermon on the need of straining every nerve to +virtuous training. Splendidly rhetorical and forceful. + +C5.84. Cyrus (i.e. Xenophon) is aware of the crisis he and his are +going through. If externalism has to be adopted to hedge royalty, +still a further inner change is demanded: there must be a +corresponding spiritual growth. + +C5.86. One of the noblest sayings in all Xenophon. The one somehow +which touches me most. The best way to improve ourselves is to see +that we set our boys the best examples. + + + + BOOK VIII + +[C.1] Such were the words of Cyrus; and Chrysantas rose up after him, +saying, "Gentlemen, this is not the first time I have had occasion to +observe that a good ruler differs in no respect from a good father. +Even as a father takes thought that blessings may never fail his +children, so Cyrus would commend to us the ways by which we can +preserve our happiness. And yet, on one point, it seemed to me he had +spoken less fully than he might; and I will try to explain it for the +benefit of those who have not learnt it. [2] I would have you ask +yourselves, was ever a hostile city captured by an undisciplined +force? Did ever an undisciplined garrison save a friendly town? When +discipline was gone, did ever an army conquer? Is ever disaster nearer +than when each solider thinks about his private safety only? Nay, in +peace as in war, can any good be gained if men will not obey their +betters? What city could be at rest, lawful, and orderly? What +household could be safe? What ship sail home to her haven? [3] And we, +to what do we owe our triumph, if not to our obedience? We obeyed; we +were ready to follow the call by night and day; we marched behind our +leader, ranks that nothing could resist; we left nothing half-done of +all we were told to do. If obedience is the one path to win the +highest good, remember it is also the one way to preserve it. [4] Now +in the old days, doubtless, many of us ruled no one else, we were +simply ruled. But to-day you find yourselves rulers, one and all of +you, some over many and some over few. And just as you would wish your +subjects to obey you, so we must obey those who are set over us. Yet +there should be this difference between ourselves and slaves; a slave +renders unwilling service to his lord, but we, if we claim to be +freemen, must do of our own free will that which we see to be the +best. And you will find," he added, "that even when no single man is +ruler, that city which is most careful to obey authority is the last +to bow to the will of her enemies. [5] Let us listen to the words of +Cyrus. Let us gather round the public buildings and train ourselves, +so that we may keep our hold on all we care for, and offer ourselves +to Cyrus for his noble ends. Of one thing we may be sure: Cyrus will +never put us to any service which can make for his own good and not +for ours. Our needs are the same as his, and our foes the same." + +[6] When Chrysantas had said his say, many others followed to support +him, Persians and allies alike, and it was agreed that the men of rank +and honour should be in attendance continually at the palace gates, +ready for Cyrus to employ, until he gave them their dismissal. That +custom is still in force, and to this day the Asiatics under the Great +King wait at the door of their rulers. [7] And the measures that Cyrus +instituted to preserve his empire, as set forth in this account, are +still the law of the land, maintained by all the kings who followed +him. [8] Only as in other matters, so here; with a good ruler, the +government is pure; with a bad one, corrupt. Thus it came about that +the nobles of Cyrus and all his honourable men waited at his gates, +with their weapons and their horses, according to the common consent +of the gallant men who had helped to lay the empire at his feet. + +[9] Then Cyrus turned to other matters, and appointed various +overseers: he had receivers of revenue, controllers of finance, +ministers of works, guardians of property, superintendents of the +household. Moreover, he chose managers for his horses and his dogs, +men who could be trusted to keep the creatures in the best condition +and ready for use at any moment. [10] But when it came to those who +were to be his fellow-guardians for the commonwealth, he would not +leave the care and the training of these to others; he regarded that +as his own personal task. He knew, if he were ever to fight a battle, +he would have to choose his comrades and supporters, the men on his +right hand and left, from these and these alone; it was from them he +must appoint his officers for horse and foot. [11] If he had to send +out a general alone it would be from them that one must be sent: he +must depend on them for satraps and governors over cities and nations; +he would require them for ambassadors, and an embassy was, he knew, +the best means for obtaining what he wanted without war. [12] He +foresaw that nothing could go well if the agents in his weightiest +affairs were not what they ought to be, while, if they were, +everything would prosper. This charge, therefore, he took upon his own +shoulders, and he was persuaded that the training he demanded of +others should also be undergone by himself. No man could rouse others +to noble deeds if he fell short of what he ought to be himself. [13] +The more he pondered the matter, the more he felt the need of leisure, +if he were to deal worthily with the highest matters. It was, he felt, +impossible to neglect the revenues, in view of the enormous funds +necessary for so vast an empire, yet he foresaw that if he was always +to be occupied with the multitude of his possessions he would never +have time to watch over the safety of the whole. [14] As he pondered +how he could compass both objects, the prosperity of the finances and +the leisure he required, the old military organisation came into his +mind. He remembered how the captains of ten supervised the squads of +ten, and were supervised themselves by the company-captains, and they +by the captains of the thousands, and these by the captains of ten +thousand, and thus even with hundreds of thousands not a man was left +without supervision, and when the general wished to employ his troops +one order to the captains of ten thousand was enough. [15] On this +principle Cyrus arranged his finances and held his departments +together; in this way, by conferring with a few officers he could keep +the whole system under his control, and actually have more leisure for +himself than the manager of a single household or the master of a +single ship. Finally, having thus ordered his own affairs, he taught +those about him to adopt the same system. + +[16] Accordingly, having gained the leisure he needed for himself and +his friends, he could devote himself to his work of training his +partners and colleagues. In the first place he dealt with those who, +enabled as they were to live on the labour of others, yet failed to +present themselves at the palace; he would send for them and seek them +out, convinced that attendance would be wholesome for them; they would +be unwilling to do anything base or evil in the presence of their king +and under the eye of their noblest men; those who were absent were so +through self-indulgence or wrong-doing or carelessness. [17] And I +will now set forth how he brought them to attend. He would go to one +of his most intimate friends and bid him lay hands on the property of +the offender, asserting that it was his own. Then of course the +truants would appear at once crying out that they had been robbed. +[18] But somehow for many days Cyrus could never find leisure to hear +their complaints, and when he did listen he took care to defer +judgment for many more. [19] This was one way he had of teaching them +to attend; another was to assign the lightest and most profitable +tasks to those who were punctual, and a third to give nothing whatever +to the offenders. [20] But the most effective of all, for those who +paid no heed to gentler measures, was to deprive the truant of what he +possessed and bestow it on him who would come when he was needed. By +this process Cyrus gave up a useless friend and gained a serviceable +one. To this day the king sends for and seeks out those who do not +present themselves when they should. + +[21] Such was his method with the truants; with those who came forward +he felt, since he was their rightful leader, that he could best incite +them to noble deeds by trying to show that he himself had all the +virtues that became a man. [22] He believed that men do grow better +through written laws, and he held that the good ruler is a living law +with eyes that see, inasmuch as he is competent to guide and also to +detect the sinner and chastise him. [23] Thus he took pains to show +that he was the more assiduous in his service to the gods the higher +his fortunes rose. It was at this time that the Persian priests, the +Magians, were first established as an order, and always at break of +day Cyrus chanted a hymn and sacrificed to such of the gods as they +might name. [24] And the ordinances he established service to this day +at the court of the reigning king. These were the first matters in +which the Persians set themselves to copy their prince; feeling their +own fortune would be the higher if they did reverence to the gods, +following the man who was fortune's favourite and their own monarch. +At the same time, no doubt, they thought they would please Cyrus by +this. [25] On his side Cyrus looked on the piety of his subjects as a +blessing to himself, reckoning as they do who prefer to sail in the +company of pious men rather than with those who are suspected of +wicked deeds, and he reckoned further that if all his partners were +god-fearing, they would be the less prone to crime against each other +or against himself, for he knew he was the benefactor of his fellows. +[26] And by showing plainly his own deep desire never to be unfair to +friend or fellow-combatant or ally, but always to fix his eyes on +justice and rectitude, he believed he could induce others to keep from +base actions and walk in the paths of righteousness. [27] And he would +bring more modesty, he hoped, into the hearts of all men if it were +plain that he himself reverenced all the world and would never say a +shameful word to any man or woman or do a shameful deed. [28] He +looked for this because he saw that, apart from kings and governors +who may be supposed to inspire fear, men will reverence the modest and +not the shameless, and modesty in women will inspire modesty in the +men who behold them. [29] And his people, he thought, would learn to +obey if it were plain that he honoured frank and prompt obedience even +above virtues that made a grander show and were harder to attain. [30] +Such was his belief, and his practice went with it to the end. His own +temperance and the knowledge of it made others more temperate. When +they saw moderation and self-control in the man who above all others +had licence to be insolent, lesser men were the more ready to abjure +all insolence of their own. [31] But there was this difference, Cyrus +held, between modesty and self-control: the modest man will do nothing +shameful in the light of day, but the man of self-control nothing +base, not even in secret. [32] Self-restrain, he believed, would best +be cultivated if he made men see in himself one who could not be +dragged from the pursuit of virtue by the pleasure of the moment, one +who chose to toil first for the happy-hearted joys that go hand-in- +hand with beauty and nobleness. [33] Thus, being the man he was, he +established at his gates a stately company, where the lower gave place +to the higher, and they in their turn showed reverence to each other, +and courtesy, and perfect harmony. Among them all there was never a +cry of anger to be heard, nor a burst of insolent laughter; to look at +them was to know that they lived for honour and loveliness. + +[34] Such was the life at the palace-gates, and to practise his nobles +in martial exercises he would lead them out to the hunt whenever he +thought it well, holding the chase to be the best training for war and +the surest way to excellence in horsemanship. [35] A man learns to +keep his seat, no matter what the ground may be, as he follows the +flying quarry, learns to hurl and strike on horseback in his eagerness +to bring down the game and win applause. [36] And here, above all, was +the field in which to inure his colleagues to toil and hardship and +cold and heat and hunger and thirst. Thus to this day the Persian +monarch and his court spend their leisure in the chase. [37] From all +that has been said, it is clear Cyrus was convinced that no one has a +right to rule who is not superior to his subjects, and he held that by +imposing such exercises as these on those about him, he would lead +them to self-control and bring to perfection the art and discipline of +war. [38] Accordingly he would put himself at the head of the hunting- +parties and take them out himself unless he was bound to stay at home, +and, if he was, he would hunt in his parks among the wild creatures he +had reared. He would never touch the evening meal himself until he had +sweated for it, nor give his horses their corn until they had been +exercised, and he would invite his own mace-bearers to join him in the +chase. [39] Therefore he excelled in all knightly accomplishments, he +and those about him, because of their constant practice. Such was the +example he set before his friends. But he also kept his eye on others, +and would single out those who worshipped noble deeds, and reward them +with gifts, and high commands, and seats at festivals, and every kind +of honour. And thus their hearts were filled with ambition, and every +man longed to outdo his fellows in the eyes of Cyrus. + +[40] But we seem to learn also that Cyrus thought it necessary for the +ruler not only to surpass his subjects by his own native worth, but +also to charm them through deception and artifice. At any rate he +adopted the Median dress, and persuaded his comrades to do likewise; +he thought it concealed any bodily defect, enhancing the beauty and +stature of the wearer. [41] The shoe, for instance, was so devised +that a sole could be added without notice, and the man would seem +taller than he really was. So also Cyrus encouraged the use of +ointments to make the eyes more brilliant and pigments to make the +skin look fairer. [42] And he trained his courtiers never to spit or +blow the nose in public or turn aside to stare at anything; they were +to keep the stately air of persons whom nothing can surprise. These +were all means to one end; to make it impossible for the subjects to +despise their rulers. + +[43] Thus he moulded the men he considered worthy of command by his +own example, by the training he gave them, and by the dignity of his +own leadership. But the treatment of those he prepared for slavery was +widely different. Not one of them would he incite to any noble toil, +he would not even let them carry arms, and he was careful that they +should never lack food or drink in any manly sort. [44] When the +beaters drove the wild creatures into the plain he would allow food to +be brought for the servants, but not for the free men; on a march he +would lead the slaves to the water-springs as he led the beasts of +burden. Or when it was the hour of breakfast he would wait himself +till they had taken a snatch of food and stayed their wolfish hunger; +and the end of it was they called him their father even as the nobles +did, because he cared for them, but the object of his care was to keep +them slaves for ever. + +[45] Thus he secured the safety of the Persian empire. He himself, he +felt sure, ran no danger from the massages of the conquered people; he +saw they had no courage, no unity, and no discipline, and, moreover, +not one of them could ever come near him, day or night. [46] But there +were others whom he knew to be true warriors, who carried arms, and +who held by one another, commanders of horse and foot, many of them +men of spirit, confident, as he could plainly see, of their own power +to rule, men who were in close touch with his own guards, and many +of them in constant intercourse with himself; as indeed was essential +if he was to make any use of them at all. It was from them that danger +was to be feared; and that in a thousand ways. [47] How was he to +guard against it? He rejected the idea of disarming them; he thought +this unjust, and that it would lead to the dissolution of the empire. +To refuse them admission into his presence, to show them his distrust, +would be, he considered, a declaration of war. [48] But there was one +method, he felt, worth all the rest, an honourable method and one that +would secure his safety absolutely; to win their friendship if he +could, and make them more devoted to himself than to each other. I +will now endeavour to set forth the methods, so far as I conceive +them, by which he gained their love. + +[C.2] In the first place he never lost an opportunity of showing +kindliness wherever he could, convinced that just as it is not easy to +love those who hate us, so it is scarcely possible to feel enmity for +those who love us and wish us well. [2] So long as he had lacked the +power to confer benefits by wealth, all he could do then was to show +his personal care for his comrades and his soldiers, to labour in +their behalf, manifest his joy in their good fortune and his sympathy +in their sorrows, and try to win them in that way. But when the time +came for the gifts of wealth, he realised that of all the kindnesses +between man and man none come with a more natural grace than the gifts +of meat and drink. [3] Accordingly he arranged that his table should +be spread every day for many guests in exactly the same way as for +himself; and all that was set before him, after he and his guests had +dined, he would send out to his absent friends, in token of affection +and remembrance. He would include those who had won his approval by +their work on guard, or in attendance on himself, or in any other +service, letting them see that no desire to please him could ever +escape his eyes. [4] He would show the same honour to any servant he +wished to praise; and he had all the food for them placed at his own +board, believing this would win their fidelity, as it would a dog's. +Or, if he wished some friend of his to be courted by the people, he +would single him out for such gifts; even to this day the world will +pay court to those who have dishes sent them from the Great King's +table, thinking they must be in high favour at the palace and can get +things done for others. But no doubt there was another reason for the +pleasure in such gifts, and that was the sheer delicious taste of the +royal meats. [5] Nor should that surprise us; for if we remember to +what a pitch of perfection the other crafts are brought in great +communities, we ought to expect the royal dishes to be wonders of +finished art. In a small city the same man must make beds and chairs +and ploughs and tables, and often build houses as well; and indeed he +will be only too glad if he can find enough employers in all trades to +keep him. Now it is impossible that a single man working at a dozen +crafts can do them all well; but in the great cities, owing to the +wide demand for each particular thing, a single craft will suffice for +a means of livelihood, and often enough even a single department of +that; there are shoe-makers who will only make sandals for men and +others only for women. Or one artisan will get his living merely by +stitching shoes, another by cutting them out, a third by shaping the +upper leathers, and a fourth will do nothing but fit the parts +together. Necessarily the man who spends all his time and trouble on +the smallest task will do that task the best. [6] The arts of the +household must follow the same law. If one and the same servant makes +the bed, spreads the table, kneads the dough, and cooks the various +dishes, the master must take things as they come, there is no help for +it. But when there is work enough for one man to boil the pot, and +another to roast the meat, and a third to stew the fish, and a fourth +to fry it, while some one else must bake the bread, and not all of it +either, for the loaves must be of different kinds, and it will be +quite enough if the baker can serve up one kind to perfection--it is +obvious, I think, that in this way a far higher standard of excellence +will be attained in every branch of the work. + +[7] Thus it is easy to see how Cyrus could outdo all competitors in +the grace of hospitality, and I will now explain how he came to +triumph in all other services. Far as he excelled mankind in the scale +of his revenues, he excelled them even more in the grandeur of his +gifts. It was Cyrus who set the fashion; and we are familiar to this +day with the open-handedness of Oriental kings. [8] There is no one, +indeed, in all the world whose friends are seen to be as wealthy as +the friends of the Persian monarch: no one adorns his followers in +such splendour of rich attire, no gifts are so well known as his, the +bracelets, and the necklaces, and the chargers with the golden +bridles. For in that country no one can have such treasures unless the +king has given them. [9] And of whom but the Great King could it be +said that through the splendour of his presents he could steal the +hearts of men and turn them to himself, away from brothers, fathers, +sons? Who but he could stretch out an arm and take vengeance on his +enemies when yet they were months and months away? Who but Cyrus ever +won an empire in war, and when he died was called father by the people +he overcame?--a title that proclaims the benefactor and not the +robber. [10] Indeed, we are led to think that the offices called "the +king's eyes" and "the king's ears" came into being through this system +of gifts and honours. Cyrus' munificence toward all who told him what +it was well for him to know set countless people listening with all +their ears and watching with all their eyes for news that might be of +service to him. [11] Thus there sprang up a host of "king's eyes" and +"king's ears," as they were called, known and reputed to be such. But +it is a mistake to suppose that the king has one chosen "eye." It is +little that one man can see or one man hear, and to hand over the +office to one single person would be to bid all others go to sleep. +Moreover, his subjects would feel they must be on their guard before +the man they knew was "the king's eye." The contrary is the case; the +king will listen to any man who asserts that he has heard or seen +anything that needs attention. [12] Hence the saying that the king has +a thousand eyes and a thousand ears; and hence the fear of uttering +anything against his interest since "he is sure to hear," or doing +anything that might injure him "since he may be there to see." So far, +therefore, from venturing to breathe a syllable against Cyrus, every +man felt that he was under the eye and within the hearing of a king +who was always present. For this universal feeling towards him I can +give no other reason than his resolve to be a benefactor on a most +mighty scale. + +[13] It is not surprising, no doubt, that being the wealthiest of men, +he could outdo the world in the splendour of his gifts. The remarkable +thing was to find a king outstrip his courtiers in courtesy and +kindness. There was nothing, so the story runs, that could ever shame +him more than to be outdone in courtesy. [14] Indeed, a saying of his +is handed down comparing a good king to a good shepherd--the shepherd +must manage his flock by giving them all they need, and the king must +satisfy the needs of his cities and his subjects if he is to manage +them. We need not wonder, then, that with such opinions his ambition +was to excel mankind in courtesy and care. [15] There was a noble +illustration of his philosophy in the answer we are told he gave to +Croesus, who had taken him to task, saying his lavish gifts would +bring him to beggary, although he could lay by more treasures for +himself than any man had ever had before. Cyrus, it is said, asked him +in return, "How much wealth do you suppose I could have amassed +already, had I collected gold, as you bid me, ever since I came into +my empire?" + +[16] And Croesus named an enormous sum. Then Cyrus said, "Listen, +Croesus, here is my friend, Hystaspas, and you must send with him a +man that you can trust." Then, turning to Hystaspas, "Do you," he +said, "go round to my friends and tell them that I need money for a +certain enterprise--and that is true, I do need it. Bid each of them +write down the amount he can give me, seal the letter, and hand it to +the messenger of Croesus, who will bring it here." [17] Thereupon +Cyrus wrote his wishes and put his seal on the letter, and gave it to +Hystaspas to carry round, only he added a request that they should all +welcome Hystaspas as a friend of his. And when the messengers came +back, the officer of Croesus carrying the answers, Hystaspas cried, +"Cyrus, my lord, you must know I am a rich man now! I have made my +fortune, thanks to your letter! They have loaded me with gifts." [18] +And Cyrus said, "There, Croesus, that is treasure number one; and now +run through the rest, and count what sums I have in hand, in case I +need them." And Croesus counted, and found, so the story tells us, +that the sum was far larger than the amount he had said would have +been lying in the treasury if only Cyrus had made a hoard. [19] At +this discovery Cyrus said, so we are told, "You see, Croesus, I have +my treasures too. Only you advise me to collect them and hide them, +and be envied and hated because of them, and set mercenaries to guard +them, putting my trust in hirelings. But I hold to it that if I make +my friends rich they will be my treasures themselves, and far better +guards too, for me and all we have, than if I set hired watchmen over +my wealth. [20] And I have somewhat else to say; I tell you, Croesus, +there is something the gods have implanted in our souls, and there +they have made us all beggars alike, something I can never overcome. +[21] I too, like all the rest, am insatiate of riches, only in one +respect I fancy I am different. Most men when they have more wealth +than they require bury some of it underground, and let some of it rot, +and some they count and measure, and they guard it and they air it, +and give themselves a world of trouble, and yet for all their wealth +they cannot eat more than they have stomach for--they would burst +asunder if they did--nor wear more clothes than they can carry--they +would die of suffocation--and so their extra wealth means nothing but +extra work. [22] For my part, I serve the gods, and I stretch out my +hands for more and more; only when I have got what is beyond my own +requirements I piece out the wants of my friends, and so, helping my +fellows, I purchase their love and their goodwill, and out of these I +garner security and renown, fruits that can never rot, rich meats that +can work no mischief; for glory, the more it grows, the grander it +becomes, and the fairer, and the lighter to be borne; it even gives a +lighter step to those who bear it. [23] One thing more, Croesus, I +would have you know; the happiest men, in my judgment, are not the +holders of vast riches and the masters who have the most to guard; +else the sentinels of our citadels would be the happiest of mortals, +seeing they guard the whole wealth of the state. He, I hold, has won +the crown of happiness who has had the skill to gain wealth by the +paths of righteousness and use it for all that is honourable and +fair." + +[24] That was the doctrine Cyrus preached, and all men could see that +his practice matched his words. + +Moreover, he observed that the majority of mankind, if they live in +good health for long, will only lay by such stores and requisites as +may be used by a healthy man, and hardly care at all to have +appliances at hand in case of sickness. But Cyrus was at the pains to +provide these; he encouraged the ablest physicians of the day by his +liberal payments, and if ever they recommended an instrument or a drug +or a special kind of food or drink, he never failed to procure it and +have it stored in the palace. + +[25] And whenever any one fell sick among those who had peculiar +claims on his attentions, he would visit them and bring them all they +needed, and he showed especial gratitude to the doctors if they cured +their patients by the help of his own stores. [26] These measures, and +others like them, he adopted to win the first place in the hearts of +those whose friendship he desired. Moreover, the contests he +proclaimed and the prizes he offered to awaken ambition and desire for +gallant deeds all redounded to his own glory as a man who had the +pursuit of nobleness at heart, while they bred strife and bitter +rivalry among the champions themselves. [27] Further, he laid it down +that in every matter needing arbitration, whether it were a suit-at- +law or a trial of skill, the parties should concur in their choice of +a judge. Each would try to secure the most powerful man he knew and +the one most friendly to himself, and if he lost he envied his +successful rival and hated the judge who had declared against him, +while the man who won claimed to win because his case was just and +felt he owed no gratitude to anybody. [28] Thus all who wished to be +first in the affections of Cyrus, just as others in democratic states, +were full of rancour against each other, in fact most of them would +sooner have seen their rivals exterminated than join with them for any +common good. Such are some of the devices by which he made the ablest +of his subjects more attached to himself than to one another. + +[C.3] I will now describe the first public progress that Cyrus made. +For the very solemnity of the ceremony was one of the artifices by +which he won reverence for his government. The day before it he +summoned the officers of state, the Persians and the others, and gave +them all the splendid Median dress. This was the first time the +Persians wore it, and as they received the robes he said that he +wished to drive in his chariot to the sacred precincts and offer +sacrifice with them. [2] "You will present yourselves at my gates," he +added, "before the sun rises, attired in these robes, and you will +take your places where Pheraulas the Persian bids you on my behalf. As +soon as I lead the way you will follow in your appointed order. And if +any of you should think of some change to heighten the beauty and +stateliness of our procession, you will acquaint me with it, I pray, +on our return; it is for us to see that all is done in the manner you +feel to be most beautiful and best." + +[3] With that Cyrus gave the most splendid robes to his chief +notables, and then he brought out others, for he had stores of Median +garments, purple and scarlet and crimson and glowing red, and gave a +share to each of his generals and said to them, "Adorn your friends, +as I have adorned you." [4] Then one of them asked him, "And you, O +Cyrus, when will you adorn yourself?" But he answered, "Is it not +adornment enough for me to have adorned you? If I can but do good to +my friends, I shall look glorious enough, whatever robe I wear." + +[5] So his nobles took their leave, and sent for their friends and put +the splendid raiment on them. Meanwhile Cyrus summoned Pheraulas, +knowing that, while he was a man of the people, he was also quick- +witted, a lover of the beautiful, prompt to understand and to obey, +and one who had ever an eye to please his master. It was he who had +supported Cyrus long ago when he proposed that honour should be given +in proportion to desert. And now Cyrus asked him how he thought the +procession might be made most beautiful in the eyes of friends and +most formidable in the sight of foes. [6] So they took counsel and +were of the same mind, and Cyrus bade Pheraulas see that all was done +on the morrow as they had agreed. + +"I have issued orders," he added, "for all to obey you in the matter, +but to make them the more willing, take these tunics yourself and give +them to the captains of the guard, and these military cloaks for the +cavalry officers, and these tunics for those who command the +chariots." + +[7] So Pheraulas took the raiment and departed, and when the generals +saw him, they met him with shouts and cries, "A monstrous fine fellow +you are, Pheraulas!" said one: "you are to give us our orders, it +seems!" + +"Oh, yes," said Pheraulas, "and carry your baggage too. Here I come +with two cloaks as it is, one for you and another for somebody else: +you must choose whichever you like the best." + +[8] At that the officer put out his hand to take the cloak; he had +clean forgotten his jealousy, and fell to asking Pheraulas which he +had better choose. And Pheraulas gave his advice, adding, "But if you +inform against me, and let out that I gave you the choice, the next +time I have to wait upon you you will find me a very different sort of +serving-man." + +Thus he distributed the gifts he brought, and then he saw to the +arrangements for the procession so that everything should be as far as +possible. + +[9] On the morrow all things were ready before day-break, ranks lining +the road on either hand, as they do to this day when the king is +expected to ride abroad--no one may pass within the lines unless he is +a man of mark--and constables were posted with whips, to use at any +sign of disturbance. + +In front of the palace stood the imperial guard of lancers, four +thousand strong, drawn up four deep on either side of the gates. [10] +And all the cavalry were there, the men standing beside their horses, +with their hands wrapped in their cloaks, as is the custom to this day +for every subject when the king's eye is on him. The Persians stood on +the right, and the allies on the left, and the chariots were posted in +the same way, half on one side and half on the other. [11] Presently +the palace-gates were flung open, and at the head of the procession +were led out the bulls for sacrifice, beautiful creatures, four and +four together. They were to be offered to Zeus and to any other gods +that the Persian priests might name. For the Persians think it of more +importance to follow the guidance of the learned in matters pertaining +to the gods than in anything else whatever. + +[12] After the oxen came horses, an offering to the Sun, then a white +chariot with a golden yoke, hung with garlands and dedicated to Zeus, +and after that the white car of the Sun, wreathed like the one before +it, and then a third chariot, the horses of which were caparisoned +with scarlet trappings, and behind walked men carrying fire upon a +mighty hearth. [13] And then at last Cyrus himself was seen, coming +forth from the gates in his chariot, wearing his tiara on his head, +and a purple tunic shot with white, such as none but the king may +wear, and trews of scarlet, and a cloak of purple. Round his tiara he +wore a diadem, and his kinsmen wore the same, even as the custom is to +this day. [14] And the king's hands hung free outside his cloak. +Beside him stood a charioteer--he was a tall man, but he seemed to be +dwarfed by Cyrus; whether it was really so, or whether there was some +artifice at work, Cyrus towered above him. At the sight of the king, +the whole company fell on their faces. Perhaps some had been ordered +to do this and so set the fashion, or perhaps the multitude were +really overcome by the splendour of the pageant and the sight of Cyrus +himself, stately and tall and fair. [15] For hitherto none of the +Persians had done obeisance to Cyrus. + +And now, as the chariot moved onwards, the four thousand lancers went +before it, two thousand on either side, and close behind came the +mace-bearers, mounted on horseback, with javelins in their hands, +three hundred strong. [16] Then the royal steeds were led past, with +golden bridles and striped housings, two hundred and more, and then +followed two thousand spearmen and after them the squadron of cavalry +first formed, ten thousand men, a hundred deep and a hundred riding +abreast, with Chrysantas at their head. [17] And behind them the +second body of the Persian horse, ten thousand more, in the same +order, under Hystaspas, and then again ten thousand under Datamas, and +others behind them under Gadatas. [18] And after them the Median +cavalry, and then the Armenians, the Hyrcanians, the Cadousians, and +the Sakians in their order; and after the cavalry a squadron of war- +chariots, drawn up four deep, with Artabatas the Persian in command. + +[19] All along the route thousands of men followed, outside the +barriers, with petitions to Cyrus. Accordingly he sent his mace- +bearers, who rode beside him for the purpose, three on either side of +his chariot, bidding them tell the crowd of suitors, if they had need +of anything, to acquaint one of the cavalry officers and he would +speak for them. So the petitioners withdrew, and fell to marching +along the lines of the cavalry, considering whom they should address. +[20] Cyrus meanwhile would send messengers to the friends he wished to +be courted, saying to them, "If any man appeals to you and you think +nothing of what he says, pay no heed to him, but if his request seems +just, report it to me, and we will discuss it together and arrange +matters for him." [21] As a rule the officers so summoned did not +loiter, but dashed up at full speed, glad to enhance the authority of +Cyrus and to show their own allegiance. But there was a certain +Daïpharnes, a person of somewhat boorish manners, who fancied that he +would make a show of greater independence if he did not hurry himself. +[22] Cyrus noted this, and quietly, before the man could reach him, +sent another messenger to say he had no further need of him; and that +was the last time Daïpharnes was ever summoned. [23] And when the next +officer rode up, in front of Daïpharnes though sent for after him, +Cyrus presented him with a horse from his train and bade one of the +mace-bearers lead it wherever he wished. The people saw in this a high +mark of honour; and a greater crowd than ever paid their court to the +favoured man. + +[24] When the procession reached the sacred precincts, sacrifice was +offered to Zeus, a whole burnt-offering of bulls, and a whole burnt- +offering of horses to the Sun; and then they sacrificed to the Earth, +slaying the victims as the Persian priests prescribed, and then to the +heroes who hold the Syrian land. [25] And when the rites were done, +Cyrus, seeing that the ground was suitable for racing, marked out a +goal, and a course half-a-mile in length, and bade the cavalry and the +chariots match their horses against each other, tribe by tribe. He +himself raced among his Persians, and won with ease, for he was far +the best horseman there. The winner among the Medes was Artabazus, the +horse he rode being a gift from Cyrus. The Syrian race was won by +their chieftain, the Armenian by Tigranes, the Hyrcanian by the +general's son, and the Sakian by a private soldier who left all his +rivals half the course behind him. + +[26] Cyrus, so the story says, asked the young man if he would take a +kingdom for his horse. + +"No kingdom for me," answered the soldier, "but I would take the +thanks of a gallant fellow." + +[27] "Well," said Cyrus, "I would like to show you where you could +hardly fail to hit one, even if you shut your eyes." + +"Be so good as to show me now," said the Sakian, "and I will take aim +with this clod," picking up one from the ground. + +[28] Then Cyrus pointed to a group of his best friends, and the other +shut his eyes and flung the clod, and it struck Pheraulas as he +galloped by, bearing some message from Cyrus. But he never so much as +turned, flashing past on his errand. [29] Then the Sakian opened his +eyes and asked whom he had hit? + +"Nobody, I assure you," said Cyrus, "who is here." + +"And nobody who is not, of course," said the young man. + +"Oh yes, you did," answered Cyrus, "you hit that officer over there +who is riding so swiftly paste the chariot-lines." + +[30] "And how is it," asked the other, "that he does not even turn his +head?" + +"Half-witted, probably," said Cyrus. + +Whereat the young man rode off to see who it was, and found Pheraulas, +with his chin and beard all begrimed and bloody, gore trickling from +his nostrils were the clod had struck him. [31] The Sakian cried out +to know if he was hit. + +"As you see," answered Pheraulas. + +"Then," said the other, "let me give you my horse." + +"But why?" asked Pheraulas. + +And so the Sakian had to tell him all about the matter, adding, "And +after all, you see, I did not miss a gallant fellow." + +[32] "Ah," said Pheraulas, "if you had been wise, you would have +chosen a richer one; but I take your gift with all my thanks. And I +pray the gods," he added, "who let me be your target, to help me now +and see that you may never regret your gift. For the present, mount my +horse yourself and ride back; I will be with you shortly." + +So they exchanged steeds and parted. + +The winner of the Cadousian race was Rathines. + +[33] Then followed chariot-races, tribe by tribe as before: and to all +the winners Cyrus gave goblets of price, and oxen, that they might +have the wherewithal for sacrifice and feasting. He himself took an ox +for his own meed, but he gave all the goblets to Pheraulas to show his +approval of the arrangements for the march. [34] And the manner of +that procession, then first established by Cyrus, continues to this +day, the same in all things, save that the victims are absent when +there is no sacrifice. And when it was over, the soldiers went back to +the city, and took up their quarters for the night, some in houses and +some with their regiments. + +[35] Now Pheraulas had invited the Sakian who had given him the horse, +and he entertained him with the best he had, and set before him a full +board, and after they had dined he filled the goblets Cyrus had given +him, and drank to his guest, and offered them all to him. [36] And the +Sakian looked round on the rich and costly rugs, and the beautiful +furniture, and the train of servants, and cried: + +"Tell me, Pheraulas, do you belong to wealthy folk at home?" + +[37] "Wealthy folk indeed!" cried Pheraulas, "men who live by their +hands, you mean. My father, I can tell you, had work enough to rear me +and get me a boy's schooling; he had to toil hard and live sparely, +and when I grew to be a lad he could not afford to keep me idle, he +took me to a farm in the country and set me there to work it. [38] +Then it was my turn, and I supported him while he lived, digging with +my own hands and sowing the seed in a ridiculous little plot of +ground, and yet it was not a bad bit of soil either, but as good and +as honest earth as ever you saw: whatever seed it got from me, it paid +me back again, and so prettily and carefully and duly, principal and +interest both; not that the interest was very much, I won't say it +was, though once or twice, out of pure generosity, that land gave me +twice was much as I put into it. That's how I used to live at home, in +the old days: to-day it's different, and all that you see here I owe +to Cyrus." + +[39] Then the Sakian cried: + +"O lucky fellow! Lucky in everything, and most of all in coming to +wealth from beggary! I know your riches must taste the sweeter, +because you hungered for them first and now are full." + +[40] But Pheraulas answered: + +"Do you really think, my friend, that my joy in life has grown with +the growth of my wealth? Do you not know," he went on, "that I neither +eat nor drink nor sleep with any more zest than I did when I was poor? +What I get by all these goods is simply this: I have more to watch +over, more to distribute, and more trouble in looking after more. [41] +I have a host of servants now, one set asking me for food, another for +drink, another for clothing, and some must have the doctor, and then a +herdsman comes, carrying the carcase of some poor sheep mangled by the +wolves, or perhaps with an ox that has fallen down a precipice, or +maybe he has to tell me that a murrain has broken out among my flocks. +It seems to me," Pheraulas ended, "that I suffer more to-day through +having much than ever I did before through having nothing." + +[42] "But--Heaven help us!" cried the Sakian, "surely, when it is all +safe, to see so much of your own must make you much happier than me?" + +"I assure you, my friend," said Pheraulas, "the possession of riches +is nothing like so sweet as the loss of them is painful. And here is a +proof for you: no rich man lies awake from pure joy at his wealth, but +did you ever know a man who could close his eyes when he was losing?" + +[43] "No," said the Sakian, "nor yet one who could drop asleep when he +was winning." + +[44] "True enough," answered the other, "and if having were as sweet +as getting, the rich would be a thousand times more happy than the +poor. And remember, stranger," he added, "a man who has much must +spend much on the gods and his friends and his guests, and if he takes +intense delight in his riches, spending will cause him intense +annoyance." + +[45] "Upon my word," said the Sakian, "for myself, I am not that sort +of man at all: to have much and to spend much is just my idea of +perfect happiness." + +[46] "Heavens!" cried Pheraulas, "what a chance for us both! You can +win perfect happiness now, this instant, and make me happy too! Here, +take all these things for your own, make what use of them you please; +and as for me, you can keep me as your guest, only much more cheaply +if you like: it will be quite enough for me to share whatever you have +yourself." + +"You are jesting," said the Sakian. + +[47] But Pheraulas swore with all solemnity that he spoke in earnest. + +"Yes, my friend," he added, "and there are other matters that I can +arrange for you with Cyrus: freedom from military service or +attendance at the gates. All you will have to do will be to stay at +home and grow rich: I will do the rest on your behalf and mine. And if +I win any treasure through my service at court or on the field, I will +bring it home to you, and you will be lord of more; only," he added, +"you must free me from the responsibility of looking after it, for if +you give me leisure from these cares I believe you will be of great +use to Cyrus and myself." + +[48] So the talk ended and they struck a bargain on these terms, and +kept it. And the Sakian thought he had found happiness because he was +the master of much wealth, and the other felt he was in bliss because +he had got a steward who would leave him leisure to do what he liked +best. [49] For the character of Pheraulas was amiable: he was a loving +comrade, and no service seemed so sweet to him or so helpful as the +service of man. Man, he believed, was the noblest of the animals and +the most grateful: praise, Pheraulas saw, will reap counter-praise, +kindness will stir kindness in return, and goodwill goodwill; those +whom men know to love them they cannot hate, and, in a way no other +animals will, they cherish their parents in life and in death and +requite their care. All other creatures, in short, compared with man, +are lacking in gratitude and heart. + +[50] Thus Pheraulas was overjoyed to feel that he could now be quit of +anxiety for his wealth, and devote himself to his friends, while the +Sakian was delighted with all that he had and all that he could use. +The Sakian loved Pheraulas because he was for ever adding something to +the store, and Pheraulas loved the Sakian because he was willing to +assume the entire burden, and however much the cares increased he +never broke into the other's leisure. Thus those two lived their +lives. + +[C.4] Now Cyrus offered sacrifice and held high festival for his +victories, and he summoned to the feast those of his friends who bore +him most affection and had shown most desire to exalt him. With them +were bidden Artabazus the Mede, and Tigranes the Armenian, and the +commander of the Hyrcanian cavalry, and Gobryas. [2] Gadatas was the +chief of the mace-bearers, and the whole household was arranged as he +advised. When there were guests at dinner, Gadatas would not sit down, +but saw to everything, and when they were alone he sat at meat with +Cyrus, who took delight in his company, and in return for all his +services he was greatly honoured by Cyrus and that led to more honours +for others. [3] As the guests entered, Gadatas would show each man to +his seat, and the places were chosen with care: the friend whom Cyrus +honoured most was placed on his left hand (for that was the side most +open to attack), the second on his right, the third next to the left- +hand guest, and the fourth next to the right, and so on, whatever the +number of guests might be. [4] Cyrus thought it well it should be +known how much each man was honoured, for he saw that where the world +believes merit will win no crown and receive no proclamation, there +the spirit of emulation dies, but if all see that the best man gains +most, then the rivalry grows keen. [5] Thus it was that Cyrus marked +out the men he favoured by the seat of honour and the order of +precedence. Nor did he assign the honourable place to one friend for +all time; he made it a law that by good deeds a man might rise into a +higher seat or through sloth descend into a lower; and he would have +felt ashamed if it were not known that the guest most honoured at his +table received most favours at his hands. These customs that arose in +the reign of Cyrus continue to our time, as we can testify. + +[6] While they were at the feast that day it struck Gobryas that +though there was nothing surprising in the abundance and variety at +the table of one who was lord over so vast an empire, yet it was +strange that Cyrus, who had done such mighty deeds, should never keep +any dainty for himself, but must always be at pains to share it with +the company. More than once also he saw Cyrus send off to an absent +friend some dish that had chanced to please him. [7] So that by the +time they had finished their meal all the viands had been given away +by Cyrus, and the board was bare. + +Then Gobryas said, "Truly, Cyrus, until to-day I used to think it was +in generalship that you outshone other men the most, but, by heaven! I +say now it is not in generalship at all, it is generosity." + +[8] "Maybe," said Cyrus, "at least I take far more pride in this work +than in the other." + +"How can that be?" asked Gobryas. + +"Because," said he, "the one does good to man and the other injury." + +[9] Presently as the wine went round and round, Hystaspas turned to +Cyrus and said: + +"Would you be angry, Cyrus, if I asked something I long to know?" + +"On the contrary," answered Cyrus, "I should be vexed if I saw you +silent when you longed to ask." + +"Tell me then," said the other, "have you ever called me and found I +refused to come?" + +"What a question!" said Cyrus, "of course not." + +"Well, have I ever been slow in coming?" + +"No, never." + +"Or failed to do anything you ordered?" + +"No," said Cyrus, "I have no fault to find at all." + +"Whatever I had to do, I always did it eagerly and with all my heart, +did I not?" + +"Most assuredly," answered Cyrus. + +[10] "Then why, Cyrus, why, in heaven's name, have you singled out +Chrysantas for a more honourable seat than me?" + +"Shall I really tell you?" asked Cyrus in his turn. + +"By all means," said the other. + +"And you will not be annoyed if I tell you the plain truth?" + +[11] "On the contrary, it will comfort me to know I have not been +wronged." + +"Well, then, Chrysantas never waited to be called; he came of his own +accord on our behalf, and he made it his business to do, not merely +what he was ordered, but whatever he thought would help us. When +something had to be said to the allies, he would not only suggest what +was fitting for me to say myself, he would guess what I wanted the +allies to know but could not bring myself to utter, since it was about +myself, and he would say it for me as though it were his own opinion; +in fact, for everything of the kind he was nothing less to me than a +second and a better self. And now he is always insisting that what he +has already got is quite enough for himself, and always trying to +discover something more for me: he takes a greater pride and joy in +all my triumphs than I do myself." + +[12] "By Hera," said Hystaspas, "I am right glad I asked you. Only one +thing puzzles me: how am I to show my joy at your success? Shall I +clap my hands and laugh, or what shall I do?" + +"Dance the Persian dance, of course," said Artabazus. And all the +company laughed. + +[13] And as the drinking deepened Cyrus put a question to Gobryas. + +"Tell me, Gobryas, would you be better pleased to give your daughter +to one of our company to-day than the day when you met us first?" + +"Well," said Gobryas, "am I also to tell the truth?" + +"Certainly," said Cyrus, "no question looks for a lie." + +"Then," said Gobryas, "I assure you, I would far rather give her in +marriage to-day." + +"Can you tell us why?" said Cyrus. + +"That I can," said he. + +[14] "Say on, then." + +"At that time, I saw, it is true, the gallant manner in which your men +endured toil and danger, but to-day I see the modesty with which they +bear success. And I believe, Cyrus, that the man who takes good- +fortune well is further to seek than he who can endure adversity; for +success engenders insolence in many hearts, while suffering teaches +sobriety and fortitude." + +[15] And Cyrus said, "Hystaspas, did you hear the saying of Gobryas?" + +"I did indeed," he answered, "and if he has many more as good, he will +find me a suitor for his daughter, a far more eager one than if he had +shown me all his goblets." + +[16] "Well," said Gobryas, "I have many such written down at home, and +you may have them all if you take my daughter to wife. And as for +goblets," he added, "since it seems you cannot away with them, perhaps +I might give them to Chrysantas to punish him for having filled your +seat." + +[17] "Listen to me," said Cyrus, "Hystaspas, and all of you. If you +will but tell me, any of you, when you propose to marry, you would +soon discover what a clever advocate you had in me." + +[18] But Gobryas interposed, "And if one of us wants to give his +daughter in marriage, to whom should he apply?" + +"To me also," answered Cyrus; "I assure you, I am adept in the art." + +"What art is that?" Chrysantas inquired. + +[19] "The art of discerning the wife to suit each man." + +"Then by all the gods," said Chrysantas, "tell me what sort of wife +would do for me?" + +[20] "In the first place," he answered, "she must be short, for you +are not tall yourself, and if you married a tall maiden and wanted to +give her a kiss when she stood up straight, you would have to jump to +reach her like a little dog." + +"Your advice is straight enough," said Chrysantas; "and I am but a +sorry jumper at the best." + +[21] "In the next place," Cyrus went on, "a flat nose would suit you +very well." + +"A flat nose?" said the other, "why?" + +"Because your own is high enough, and flatness, you may be sure, will +go best with height." + +"You might as well say," retorted Chrysantas, "that one who has dined +well, like myself, is best matched with the dinnerless." + +"Quite so," answered Cyrus, "a full stomach is high and an empty +paunch is flat." + +[22] "And now," said Chrysantas, "in heaven's name, tell us the bride +for a flat king?" + +But at this Cyrus laughed outright, and all the others with him. [23] +And the laughter still rang loud when Hystaspas said: + +"There is one thing, Cyrus, that I envy in your royal state more than +all the rest." + +"And what is that?" said Cyrus. + +"That though you are flat, you can raise a laugh." + +"Ah," said Cyrus, "what would you give to have as much said of you? To +have it reported on all sides and wherever you wished to stand well +that you were a man of wit?" + +Thus they bantered each other and gave jest for jest. + +[24] Then Cyrus brought out a woman's attire and ornaments of price +and gave them to Tigranes as a present for his wife, because she had +followed her husband so manfully to the war, and he gave a golden +goblet to Artabazus, and a horse to the Hyrcanian leader, and many +another splendid gift among the company. + +"And to you, Gobryas," said he, "I will give a husband for your +daughter." + +[25] "Let me be the gift," said Hystaspas, "and then I shall get those +writings." + +"But have you a fortune on your side," asked Cyrus, "to match the +bride's?" + +"Certainly, I have," he answered, "I may say twenty times as great." + +"And where," asked Cyrus, "may those treasures be?" + +"At the foot of your throne," he answered, "my gracious lord." + +"I ask no more," said Gobryas, and held out his right hand. "Give him +to me, Cyrus," he said; "I accept him." + +[26] At that Cyrus took the right hand of Hystaspas and laid it in the +hand of Gobryas, and the pledge was given and received. Then Cyrus +gave beautiful gifts to Hystaspas for his bride, but he drew +Chrysantas to his breast and kissed him. [27] Thereupon Artabazus +cried: + +"Heaven help us, Cyrus! The goblet you gave me is not of the fine gold +you have given Chrysantas now!" + +"Well," said Cyrus, "you shall have the same one day." + +"When?" asked the other. + +"Thirty years hence," said Cyrus. + +"I will wait," said Artabazus: "I will not die: be ready for me." + +And then the banquet came to an end: the guests rose, and Cyrus stood +up with them and conducted them to the door. + +[28] But on the morrow he arranged that all the allies and all who had +volunteered should be sent back to their homes, all except those who +wished to take up their abode with him. To these he gave grants of +land and houses, still held by their descendants, Medes for the +greater part, and Hyrcanians. And to those who went home he gave many +gifts and sent them away well content, both officers and men. [29] +After this he distributed among his own soldiers all the wealth he had +taken at Sardis, choice gifts for the captains of ten thousand and for +his own staff in proportion to their deserts, and the rest in equal +shares, delivering to every captain one share with orders to divide it +among their subordinates as he had divided the whole among them. [30] +Thereupon each officer gave to the officers directly under him, +judging the worth of each, until it came to the captains of six, who +considered the cases of the privates in their own squads, and gave +each man what he deserved: and thus every soldier in the army received +an equitable share. [31] But after the distribution of it all there +were some who said: + +"How rich Cyrus must be, to have given us all so much!" + +"Rich?" cried others, "what do you mean? Cyrus is no money-maker: he +is more glad to give than to get." + +[32] When Cyrus heard of this talk and the opinions held about him, he +gathered together his friends and the chief men of the state and spoke +as follows: + +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, I have known men who were anxious to +have it thought they possessed more than they really had, thinking +this would give them an air of freedom and nobility. But in my opinion +the result was the very opposite of what they wished. If it is thought +that a man has great riches and does not help his friends in +proportion to his wealth, he cannot but appear ignoble and niggardly. +[33] There are others," he went on, "who would have their wealth +forgotten, and these I look upon as traitors to their friends: for it +must often happen that a comrade is in need and yet hesitates to tell +them because he does not know how much they have, and so he is kept in +the dark and left to starve. [34] The straightforward course, it seems +to me, is always to make no secret of our own resources, but to use +them all, whatever they are, in our efforts to win the crown of +honour. Accordingly I am anxious to show you all my possessions so far +as they can be seen, and to give you a list of the rest." + +[35] With these words he proceeded to point out his visible treasures, +and he gave an exact account of those that could not be shown. He +ended by saying: + +[36] "All these things, gentlemen, you must consider yours as much as +mine. I have collected them, not that I might spend them on myself or +waste them in my own use: I could not do that if I tried. I keep them +to reward him who does a noble deed, and to help any of you who may be +in want of anything, so that you may come to me and take what ou +require." + +Such were the words of Cyrus. + +[C.5] But now that all was well in Babylon and Cyrus felt he might +leave the land, he began to prepare for a march to Persia, and sent +out orders to his men. And when he had all he needed, the steeds were +yoked, and he set off. [2] And here we will explain how it was that so +vast a host could unpack and pack again without a break of order, and +take up a position with such speed wherever it was desired. When the +king is on the march his attendants, of course, are provided with +tents and encamp with him, winter and summer alike. [3] From the first +the Cyrus made it a custom to have his tent pitched facing east, and +later on he fixed the space to be left between himself and his +lancers, and then he stationed his bakers on the right and his cooks +on the left, the cavalry on the right again, and the baggage-train on +the left. Everything else was so arranged that each man knew his own +quarters, their position and their size. [4] When the army was packing +up after a halt, each man put together the baggage he used himself, +and others placed it on the animals: so that at one and the same +moment all his bearers came to the baggage-train and each man laid his +load on his own beasts. Thus all the tents could be struck in the same +time as one. [5] And it was the same when the baggage had to be +unpacked. Again, in order that the necessaries should be prepared in +time, each man was told beforehand what he had to do: and thus all the +divisions could be provided for as speedily as one. [6] And, just as +the serving-men had their appointed places, so the different regiments +had their own stations, adapted to their special style of fighting, +and each detachment knew their quarters and went to them without +hesitation. [7] Even in a private house, orderliness, Cyrus knew, was +a most excellent thing: every one, if he needed anything, would then +know where to get it; but he held it still more desirable for the +arrangement of an army, seeing that the moment for action passes far +more quickly in war and the evil from being too late is far more +grave. Therefore he gave more thought and care to order and +arrangement than to anything else. + +[8] His own position, to begin with, must be at the centre of the +camp, as this was the safest place, and next to him must come his most +faithful followers, as their habit was. Beyond these, in a ring, lay +the cavalry and the charioteers. [9] For Cyrus held to it that these +troops also needed a safe position: their equipment could not be kept +at hand for them, and if they were to be of any use at all they needed +considerable time for arming. [10] The targeteers were placed to left +and right of the cavalry, and the bowmen in front and rear. [11] +Finally, the heavy-armed troops and those who carried the huge shields +surrounded the whole encampment like a wall; so that in case of need, +if the cavalry had to mount, the steadiest troops would stand firm in +front and let them arm in safety. [12] He insisted that the targeteers +and archers should, like the soldiers of the line, sleep at their +posts, in case of alarm at night, and be ready at any moment, while +the infantry dealt with the assailant at close quarters, to hurl darts +and javelins at them over the others' heads. [13] Moreover, all the +generals had standards on their tents; and just as an intelligent +serving-man in a city will know most of the houses, at any rate of the +most important people, so the squires of Cyrus knew the ways of the +camp and the quarters of the generals and the standards of each. Thus, +if Cyrus needed any one they had not to search and seek, but could run +by the shortest road and summon him at once. [14] Owing to this clear +arrangement, it was easy to see where good discipline was kept and +where duty was neglected. With these dispositions Cyrus felt that if +an attack should be made, by night or day, the enemy would find not so +much a camp as an ambuscade. [15] Nor was it enough, he considered, +for a real master of tactics to know how to extend his front without +confusion, or deepen his ranks, or get from column into line, or wheel +round quickly when the enemy appeared on the right or the left or in +the rear: the true tactician must also be able to break up his troops +into small bodies, whenever necessary, and place each division exactly +where it would be of the greatest use; he must know how to quicken +speed when it was essential to forestall the enemy; these and a +hundred other operations are part of his science, and Cyrus studied +them all with equal care. [16] On the march he varied the order +constantly to suit the needs of the moment, but for the camp, as a +rule, he adopted the plan we have described. + +[17] And now when the march had brought them into Media, Cyrus turned +aside to visit Cyaxares. After they had met and embraced, Cyrus began +by telling Cyaxares that a palace in Babylon, and an estate, had been +set aside for him so that he might have a residence of his own +whenever he came there, and he offered him other gifts, most rich and +beautiful. [18] And Cyaxares was glad to take them from his nephew, +and then he sent for his daughter, and she came, carrying a golden +crown, and bracelets, and a necklace of wrought gold, and a most +beautiful Median robe, as splendid as could be. [19] The maiden placed +the crown upon the head of Cyrus, and as she did so Cyaxares said: + +"I will give her to you, Cyrus, my own daughter, to be your wife. Your +father wedded the daughter of my father, and you are their son; and +this is the little maid whom you carried in your arms when you were +with us as a lad, and whenever she was asked whom she meant to marry, +she would always answer 'Cyrus.' And for her dowry I will give her the +whole of Media: since I have no lawful son." + +[20] So he spoke, and Cyrus answered: + +"Cyaxares, I can but thank you myself for all you offer me, the +kinship and the maiden and the gifts, but I must lay the matter before +my father and my mother before I accept, and then we will thank you +together." + +That was what Cyrus said, but none the less he gave the maiden the +gifts he thought would please her father. And when he had done so, he +marched on home to Persia. + +[21] And when he reached the borders of his fatherland, he left the +mass of his troops on the frontier, and went forward alone with his +friends to the city, leading victims enough for all the Persians to +sacrifice and hold high festival. And he brought special gifts for his +father and his mother and his friends of old, and for the high +officers of state, the elders, and all the Persian Peers; and he gave +every Persian man and every Persian woman such bounties as the king +confers to-day whenever he visits Persia. [22] After this Cambyses +gathered together the elders of the land and the chief officers, who +have authority in the highest matters, and spoke as follows: + +"Men of Persia, and Cyrus, my son, both of you are dear to me and must +needs be dear; I am the king of my people and the father of my son; +therefore I am bound to lay before you openly all that I believe to be +for the good of both. [23] In the past the nation has done great +things for Cyrus by giving him an army and appointing him the leader, +and Cyrus, God helping him, has made my Persians famous in all the +world by his leadership, and crowned you with glory in Asia. Of those +who served with him he has made the bravest wealthy for life, and +given sustenance and full pay to numbers. By founding the cavalry he +has won the plains for Persia. [24] If your hearts are still the same +in future, all of you will bless each other: but if you, my son, would +be puffed up by your present fortune and attempt to rule the Persians +for your own advantage as you rule the rest of the world, or if you, +my people, should envy this man's power and try to drive him from his +throne, I tell you, you will cut each other off from many precious +things. [25] Therefore, that this should never be, and only good be +yours, I counsel you to offer sacrifice together, and call the gods to +witness and make a covenant. You, Cyrus, shall vow to resist with all +your strength any man who attacks our land of Persia or tries to +overthrow our laws; and you, my people, must promise that if rebels +attempt to depose Cyrus or if his subjects revolt, you will render aid +to him and to yourselves in whatever way he wishes. [26] Now, so long +as I live, the kingdom of Persia is and continues mine, but when I die +it passes to Cyrus if he is still alive, and whenever he visits Persia +it should be a holy custom for him to offer sacrifice on your behalf, +even as I do now; and when he is abroad, it will be well for you, I +think, if the member of our family whom you count the noblest fulfils +the sacred rites." + +[27] Cambyses ended, and Cyrus and the officers of Persia agreed to +all he said. They made the covenant and called the gods to witness, +and to this day they keep it still, the Persians and the Great King. +And when it was done, Cyrus took his leave and came back to Media. +[28] There, with the full consent of his father and his mother, he +wedded the daughter of Cyaxares, the fame of whose beauty has lasted +to this day. And after the marriage his steeds were yoked and they set +out for Babylon. + +[C.6] When he was in Babylon once more, he thought it would be well to +appoint satraps and set them over the conquered tribes. Yet he did not +wish the commandants in the citadels and the captains in charge of the +garrisons throughout the country to be under any authority but his +own. Herein he showed his foresight, realising that if any satrap +became insolent and rebellious, relying on his own wealth and the +numbers at his back, he would at once find a power to oppose him +within his own district. [2] In order to carry out this plan, Cyrus +resolved to summon a council of the leading men and explain the terms +on which the satraps who went would go. In this way, he thought, they +would not feel aggrieved, whereas, if a man found himself appointed +and then learnt the restrictions for the first time, he might well +take it ill, fancying it a sign of personal mistrust. [3] So it was +that Cyrus called a council and spoke as follows: + +"Gentlemen and friends of mine, you are aware that we have garrisons +and commandants in the cities we conquered, stationed there at the +time. I left them with orders simply to guard the fortifications and +not meddle with anything else. Now I do not wish to remove them from +their commands, for they have done their duty nobly, but I propose to +send others, satraps, who will govern the inhabitants, receive the +tribute, give the garrisons their pay, and discharge all necessary +dues. [4] Further, I think it right that certain of you who live here +and yet on whom I may lay the task of travelling to these nations and +working for me among them, should possess houses there and estates, +where tribute may be brought them, and where they may find a place of +their own to lodge in." + +[5] With these words he assigned houses and districts to many of his +friends among the lands he had subdued: and to this day their +descendants possess the estates, although they reside at court +themselves. [6] "Now," he added, "we must choose for the satraps who +are to go abroad persons who will not forget to send us anything of +value in their districts, so that we who are at home may share in all +the wealth of the world. For if any danger comes, it is we who must +ward it off." + +[7] With that he ended for the time, but later on when he came to know +what friends of his were ready and willing to go on the terms +prescribed, he selected those he thought best qualified for the work, +and sent Magabazus to Arabia, Artabatas to Cappadocia, Artacamas to +Greater Phrygia, Chrysantas to Lydia and Susia, Adousius, whom the +Carians had asked for themselves, to Caria, and Pharnouchus to Aeolia +and Phrygia by the Hellespont. + +[8] But to Cilicia, Cyprus, and Paphlagonia, Cyrus sent no satraps, +because they had shown their willingness to march against Babylon; +tribute, however, was imposed on them as on the others. [9] In +accordance with the rules then laid down by Cyrus, the citadel +garrisons and the captains-of-the-guard are to this day appointed +directly by the king, and have their names on the royal list. [10] All +satraps whom Cyprus sent out were ordered to do as they saw him doing: +each was to raise a body of cavalry and a chariot-force from the +Persians and the allies who went out with him; and all who received +grants of land and official residences were to present themselves at +the palace-gates, study temperance and self-control, and hold +themselves in readiness for the service of their satrap. Their boys +were to be educated at the gates, as with Cyrus, and the satrap was to +lead his nobles out to hunt, and train himself and his followers in +the art of war. [11] "Whichever of you," Cyrus added, "can show the +greatest number of chariots in proportion to his power, and the +largest and finest body of cavalry, I will honour him as my best ally +and most faithful fellow-guardian of the Persian empire. Let the best +men always have the preference at your courts as they have at mine, +give them seats of honour as I do, and let your table be spread, as +mine is, not only for your own household, but for your friends also, +and for the honour of him who may accomplish any noble deed. [12] You +must lay out parks and breed game, and never touch food until you have +toiled for it, nor give your horses fodder until they have been +exercised. I am but a single man, with only human strength and human +virtue, and I could not by myself preserve the good things that are +yours: I must have good comrades to help me in goodness, and only thus +can I be your defender; and you likewise, if you are to help me, must +be good yourselves and have good men at your side. [13] Remember that +I have not spoken unto you as unto slaves: what I say you ought to do +I strive to do myself. And even as I bid you follow me, so I would +have you teach those in authority under you to follow you." + +[14] Such were the principles then laid down by Cyrus, and to this day +all the royal garrisons are appointed in the same manner, the gates of +all the governors are thronged in the same way, the houses, great and +small, are managed in the same fashion, everywhere the most +distinguished guests are given seats of honour, every province is +visited on the same system, and everywhere the threads of numberless +affairs are gathered into the hands of a few superiors. [15] Having +given these instructions, Cyrus assigned a body of troops to each of +his satraps, and sent them out to their provinces, bidding them to be +ready for a campaign in the new year and for a review of their +soldiers, their weapons, their horses, and their chariots. [16] And +here I may notice another custom, also instituted by Cyrus, it is +said, and still in force to-day: every year a progress of inspection +is made by an officer at the head of an army, to help any satrap who +may require aid, or bring the insolent to their senses; and, if there +has been negligence in the delivery of tribute, or the protection of +the inhabitants, or the cultivation of the soil, or indeed any +omission of duty whatsoever, the officer is there to put the matter +right, or if he cannot do so himself, to report it to the king, who +decides what is to be done about the offender. The announcements so +often made, such as "the king's son is coming down," or "the king's +brother," or "the king's eye," refer to these inspectors, but +sometimes no one appears, for at any moment the officer may be turned +back at the king's command. [17] We hear of another arrangement, +devised to meet the huge size of the empire and enable the king to +learn with great celerity the state of affairs at any distance. Cyrus +first ascertained how far a horse could travel in one day without +being over-ridden, and then he had a series of posting-stations built, +one day's ride apart, with relays of horses, and grooms to take care +of them, and a proper man in charge of each station to receive the +despatches and hand them on, take over the jaded horses and men, and +furnish fresh ones. [18] Sometimes, we are told, this post does not +even halt at night: the night-messenger relieves the day-messenger and +rides on. Some say that, when this is done, the post travels more +quickly than the crane can fly, and, whether that is true or not, +there is no doubt it is the quickest way in which a human being can +travel on land. To learn of events so rapidly and be able to deal with +them at once is of course a great advantage. + +[19] After a year had passed, Cyrus collected all his troops at +Babylon, amounting, it is said, to one hundred and twenty thousand +horse, two thousand scythe-bearing chariots, and six hundred thousand +foot. [20] Then, seeing that all was got together, he set out for that +campaign of his, on which, the story says, he subdued the nations from +the borders of Syria as far as the Red Sea. After that there followed, +we are told, the expedition against Egypt and its conquest. [21] From +that time forward his empire was bounded on the east by the Red Sea, +on the north by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and +towards the south by Ethiopia. Of these outlying districts, some were +scarcely habitable, owing to heat or cold, drought or excessive rain. +[22] But Cyrus himself always lived at the centre of his dominions, +seven months in Babylon during the winter season, where the land is +warm and sunny, three months at Susa in the spring, and during the +height of summer in Ecbatana, so that for him it was springtime all +the year. [23] Towards him the disposition of all men was such that +every nation felt they had failed unless they could send Cyrus the +treasures of their land, plants, or animals, or works of art. And +every city felt the same, and every private person counted himself on +the road to riches if he could do Cyrus some special service, for +Cyrus took only such things as they had in abundance, and gave them in +return what he saw they lacked. + +[C.7] Thus the years passed on, and Cyrus was now in a ripe old age, +and he journeyed to Persia for the seventh time in his reign. His +father and mother were long since dead in the course of nature, and +Cyrus offered sacrifice according to the law, and led the sacred dance +of his Persians after the manner of his forefathers, and gave gifts to +every man according to his wont. + +[2] But one night, as he lay asleep in the royal palace, he dreamt a +dream. It seemed to him that some one met him, greater than a man, and +said to him, "Set your house in order, Cyrus: the time has come, and +you are going to the gods." + +With that Cyrus awoke out of sleep, and he all but seemed to know that +the end of his life was at hand. [3] Straightway he took victims and +offered sacrifice to Zeus, the god of his fathers, and to the Sun, and +all the other gods, on the high places where the Persians sacrifice, +and then he made this prayer: + +"Zeus, god of my fathers, and thou, O Sun, and all ye gods, accept +this sacrifice, my offering for many a noble enterprise, and suffer me +to thank you for the grace ye have shown me, telling me all my life, +by victims and by signs from heaven, by birds and by the voices of +men, what things I ought to do and what I ought to refrain from doing. +Deep is my thankfulness that I was able to recognise your care, and +never lifted up my heart too high even in my prosperity. I beseech you +now to bless my children also, and my wife, and my friends, and my +fatherland; and for myself, may my death be as my life has been." + +[4] Then Cyrus went home again and lay down on his bed, for he longed +to rest. And when the hour was come, his attendants came to him and +bade him take his bath. But he said he would rather rest. And others +came afterwards, at the usual time, to set the meal before him; but he +could not bring himself to take food: he seemed only to thirst, and +drank readily. [5] It was the same the second day, and the third, and +then he called his sons to his side--it chanced they had followed him +to Persia--and he summoned his friends also and the chief magistrates +of the land, and when they were all met, he began: + +[6] "My sons, and friends of mine, the end of my life is at hand: I +know it by many signs. And when I am dead, you must show by word and +deed that you think of me as happy. When I was a child, I had all the +joys and triumphs of a child, and I reaped the treasures of youth as I +grew up, and all the glories of a man when I came to man'e estate. And +as the years passed, I seemed to find my powers grow with them, so +that I never felt my old age weaker than my youth, nor can I think of +anything I attempted or desired wherein I failed. [7] Moreover, I have +seen my friends made happy by my means, and my enemies crushed beneath +my hand. This my fatherland, which was once of no account in Asia, I +leave at the height of power, and of all that I won I think I have +lost nothing. Throughout my whole life I have fared as I prayed to +fare, and the dread that was ever with me lest in days to come I might +see or hear or suffer evil, this dread would never let me think too +highly of myself, or rejoice as a fool rejoices. [8] And if I die now, +I leave my sons behind me, the sons the gods have given me; and I +leave my fatherland in happiness, and my friends. Surely I may hope +that men will count me blessed and cherish my memory. [9] And now I +must leave instructions about my kingdom, that there may be no dispute +among you after my death. Sons of mine, I love you both alike, but I +choose the elder-born, the one whose experience of life is the +greater, to be the leader in council and the guide in action. [10] +Thus was I trained myself, in the fatherland that is yours and mine, +to yield to my elders, my brothers or my fellow-citizens, in the +street, or in the place of meeting, or in the assembly for debate. And +thus have I trained both of you, to honour your elders and be honoured +by those who are younger than yourselves. These are the principles +that I leave with you, sanctioned by time, ingrained in our customs, +embodied in our laws. [11] The sovereignty is yours, Cambyses; the +gods have given it to you, and I also, as far as in me lies; and to +you, Tanaoxares, I give the satrapy over the Medes and the Armenians +and the Cadousians, these three; and though I leave your elder brother +a larger empire and the name of king, your inheritance will bring you, +I believe, more perfect happiness than his. [12] I ask myself what +human joy will be lacking to you: all things which gladden the hearts +of men will be yours--but the craving for what is out of reach, the +load of cares, the restless passion to rival my achievements, the +plots and counterplots, they will follow him who wears the crown, and +they are things, be well assured, that leave little leisure for +happiness. [13] And you, Cambyses, you know of yourself, without words +from me, that your kingdom is not guarded by this golden sceptre, but +by faithful friends; their loyalty is your true staff, a sceptre which +shall not fail. But never think that loyal hearts grow up by nature as +the grass grows in the field: if that were so, the same men would be +loyal to all alike, even as all natural objects are the same to all +mankind. No, every leader must win his own followers for himself, and +the way to win them is not by violence but by loving-kindness. [14] +And if you would seek for friends to stand by you and guard your +throne, who so fit to be the first of them as he who is sprung from +the self-same loins? Our fellow-citizens are nearer to us than +foreigners, and our mess-mates dearer than strangers, and what of +those who are sprung from the same seed, suckled at the same breast, +reared in the same home, loved by the same parents, the same mother, +the same father? [15] What the gods have given to be the seal of +brotherhood do not make of none effect yourselves. But build upon it: +make it the foundation for other loving deeds, and thus the love +between you shall never be overcome. The man who takes thought for his +brother cares for his own self. For who but a brother can win glory +from a brother's greatness? Who can be honoured as a brother can +through a brother's power? Or who so safe from injury as the brother +of the great? [16] Let no one, Tanaoxares, be more eager than yourself +to obey your brother and support him: to no one can his triumph or his +danger come so near. Ask yourself from whom you could win a richer +reward for any kindness. Who could give you stouter help in return for +your own support? And where is coldness so ugly as between brothers? +Or where is reverence so beautiful? And remember, Cambyses, only the +brother who holds pre-eminence in a brother's heart can be safe from +the jealousy of the world. [17] I implore you both, my sons, by the +gods of our fathers, hold each other in honour, if you care at all to +do me pleasure: and none of you can say you know that I shall cease to +be when I cease to live this life of ours. With your bodily eyes you +have never seen my soul, and yet you have discerned its presence +through its working. [18] And have you never marked the terrors which +the spirits of those who have suffered wrong can send into the hearts +of their murderers, and the avenging furies they let loose upon the +wicked? Think you the honours of the dead would still abide, if the +souls of the departed were altogether powerless? [19] Never yet, my +sons, could I be persuaded that the soul only lives so long as she +dwells within this mortal body, and falls dead so soon as she is quit +of that. Nay, I see for myself that it is the soul which lends life to +it, while she inhabits there. [20] I cannot believe that she must lose +all sense on her separation from the senseless body, but rather that +she will reach her highest wisdom when she is set free, pure and +untrammelled at last. And when this body crumbles in dissolution, we +see the several parts thereof return to their kindred elements, but we +do not see the soul, whether she stays or whether she departs. [21] +Consider," he went on, "how these two resemble one another, Death and +his twin-brother Sleep, and it is in sleep that the soul of a man +shows her nature most divine, and is able to catch a glimpse of what +is about to be, for it is then, perhaps, that she is nearest to her +freedom. [22] Therefore, if these things are as I believe, and the +spirit leaves the body behind and is set free, reverence my soul, O +sons of mine, and do as I desire. And even if it be not so, if the +spirit must stay with the body and perish, yet the everlasting gods +abide, who behold all things, with whom is all power, who uphold the +order of this universe, unmarred, unaging, unerring, unfathomable in +beauty and in splendour. Fear them, my sons, and never yield to sin or +wickedness, in thought or word or deed. [23] And after the gods, I +would have you reverence the whole race of man, as it renews itself +for ever; for the gods have not hidden you in the darkness, but your +deeds will be manifest in the eyes of all mankind, and if they be +righteous deeds and pure from iniquity, they will blazon forth your +power: but if you meditate evil against each other, you will forfeit +the confidence of every man. For no man can trust you, even though he +should desire it, if he sees you wrong him whom above all you are +bound to love. [24] Therefore, if my words are strong enough to teach +you your duty to one another, it is well. But, if not, let history +teach you, and there is no better teacher. For the most part, parents +have shown kindness to their children and brothers to their brothers, +but it has been otherwise with some. Look, then, and see which conduct +has brought success, choose to follow that, and your choice will be +wise. [25] And now maybe I have said enough of this. As for my body, +when I am dead, I would not have you lay it up in gold or silver or +any coffin whatsoever, but give it back to the earth with all speed. +What could be more blessed than to lie in the lap of Earth, the mother +of all things beautiful, the nurse of all things good? I have been a +lover of men all my life, and methinks I would fain become a part of +that which does good to man. [26] And now," he added, "now it seems to +me that my life begins to ebb; I feel my spirit slipping away from +those parts she leaves the first. If you would take my hand once more, +or look into my eyes while life is there, draw near me now; but when I +have covered my face, let no man look on me again, not even you, my +sons. [27] But you shall bid the Persians come, and all our allies, to +my sepulchre; and you shall rejoice with me and congratulate me that I +am safe at last, free from suffering or sorrow, whether I am with God +or whether I have ceased to be. Give all who come the entertainment +that is fitting in honour of a man whose life on earth was happy, and +so send them away. [28] Remember my last saying: show kindness to your +friends, and then shall you have it in your power to chastise your +enemies. Good-bye, my dear sons, bid your mother good-bye for me. And +all my friends, who are here or far away, good-bye." + +And with these words he gave his hand to them, and then he covered his +face and died. + + + EPILOGUE + +[C.8] Of all the powers in Asia, the kingdom of Cyrus showed itself to +be the greatest and most glorious. On the east it was bounded by the +Red Sea, on the north by the Euxine, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, +and on the south by Ethiopia. And yet the whole of this enormous +empire was governed by the mind and will of a single man, Cyrus: his +subjects he cared for and cherished as a father might care for his +children, and they who came beneath his rule reverenced him like a +father. + +[2] But no sooner was he dead than his sons were at strife, cities and +nations revolted, and all things began to decay. I can show that what +I say is true, and first I will speak of their impiety. In the early +days, I am aware, the king and those beneath him never failed to keep +the oaths they had sworn and fulfil the promises they had given, even +to the worst of criminals. [3] In fact, if such had not been their +character and such their reputation, none of the Hellenic generals who +marched up with the younger Cyrus could have felt the confidence they +did: they would not have trusted a Persian any more than one trusts +them to-day, now that their perfidy is known. As it was, they relied +on their old reputation and put themselves in their power, and many +were taken up to the king and there beheaded. And many of the Asiatics +who served in the same war perished as they did, deluded by one +promise or another. + +[4] In other ways also the Persians have degenerated. Noble +achievement in the old days was the avenue to fame: the man was +honoured who risked his life for the king, or brought a city or nation +beneath his sway. But now, if some Mithridates has betrayed his father +Ariobarzanes, or some Reomithres has left his wife and children and +the sons of his friend as hostages at the court of Egypt, and then has +broken the most solemn of all pledges--it is they and their like who +are loaded with the highest honours, if only they are thought to have +gained some advantage for the king. [5] With such examples before +them, all the Asiatics have turned to injustice and impiety. For what +the leaders are, that, as a rule, will the men below them be. Thus has +lawlessness increased and grown among them. [6] And injustice has +grown, and thieving. Not only criminals, but men who are absolutely +innocent are arrested and forced to pay fines for no reason +whatsoever: to be known to have wealth is more dangerous than guilt, +so that the rich do not care to have any dealings with the powerful, +and dare not even risk appearing at the muster of the royal troops. +[7] Therefore, when any man makes war on Persia, whoever he may be, he +can roam up and down the country to his heart's content without +striking a blow, because they have forgotten the gods and are unjust +to their fellow-men. In every way their hearts and minds are lower +than in days gone by. + +[8] Nor do they care for their bodies as they did of old. It was +always their custom neither to spit nor blow the nose, only it is +clear this was instituted not from concern for the humours of the +body, but in order to strengthen themselves by toil and sweat. But +nowadays, though this habit is still in vogue, to harden the body by +exercise has quite gone out of fashion. [9] Again, from the first it +was their rule only to take a single meal in the day, which left them +free to give their time to business and exercise. The single meal is +still the rule, but it commences at the earliest hour ever chosen for +breakfast, and the eating and drinking goes on till the last moment +which the latest reveller would choose for bed. [10] It was always +forbidden to bring chamber-pots into the banquet-hall, but the reason +lay in their belief that the right way to keep body and brain from +weakness was to avoid drinking in excess. But to-day, though as in the +old time no such vessels may be carried in, they drink so deep that +they themselves are carried out, too weak to stand on their own legs. +[11] It was a national custom from the first not to eat and drink on +the march nor be seen satisfying the wants of nature, but nowadays, +though they still abstain, they make each march so short that no man +need wonder at their abstinence. + +[12] In the old time they went out to hunt so often that the chase +gave enough exercise and training for man and horse alike. But when +the day came that Artaxerxes and all his court were the worse for +wine, the old custom of the king leading the hunt in person began to +pass away. And if any eager spirits hunted with their own followers it +was easy to see the jealousy, and even the hatred, aroused by such +superiority. + +[13] It is still the habit to bring up the boys at the palace-gates, +but fine horsemanship has disappeared, for there is no place where the +lads can win applause by their skill. The old belief that the children +of Persia would learn justice by hearing the judges decide the cases +has been turned upside down: the children have only to use their eyes +and they see that the verdict goes to the man with the longest purse. +[14] Children in former times were taught the properties of plants in +order to use the wholesome and avoid the harmful; but now they seem to +learn it for the mere sake of doing harm: at any rate, there is no +country where deaths from poison are so common. [15] And the Persian +to-day is far more luxurious than he was in the time of Cyrus. Then +they still clung to the Persian style of education and the Persian +self-restraint, merely adopting the Median dress and a certain grace +of life. But now the old Persian hardihood may perish for all they +care, if only they preserve the softness of the Mede. [16] I might +give instances of their luxury. They are not content with soft sheets +and rugs for their beds, they must have carpets laid under the bed- +posts to prevent any jarring from the floor. They have given up none +of the cooked dishes invented in former days; on the contrary, they +are always devising new ones, and condiments to boot: in fact, they +keep men for the very purpose. [17] In the winter it is not enough to +have the body covered, and the head and the feet, they must have warm +sleeves as well and gloves for the hands: and in the summer they are +not content with the shade from the trees or the rocks, they must have +servants standing beside them with artificial screens. [18] To have an +endless array of cups and goblets is their special pride: and if these +are come by unjustly, and all the world knows it, why, there is +nothing to blush for in that: injustice has grown too common among +them, and ill-gotten gain. [19] Formerly no Persian was ever to be +seen on foot, but the sole object of the custom was to make them +perfect horsemen. Now they lay more rugs on their horses' backs than +on their own beds; it is not a firm seat they care for, but a soft +saddle. + +[20] As soldiers we may imagine how they have sunk below the ancient +standard; in past times it was a national institution that the land- +owner should furnish troopers from his own estate, and men were bound +to go on active service, while the garrison troops in the country +received regular pay; but now the Persian grandees have manufactured a +new type of cavalry, who earn their pay as butlers and cooks and +confectioners and cupbearers and bathmen and flunkeys to serve at +table or remove the dishes, and serving-men to put their lords to bed +and help them to rise, and perfumers to anoint them and rub them and +make them beautiful. [21] In numbers they make a very splendid show, +but they are no use for fighting; as may be seen by what actually +takes place: an enemy can move about their country more freely than +the inhabitants themselves. [22] It will be remembered that Cyrus put +a stop to the old style of fighting at long range, and by arming men +and horses with breastplates and giving each trooper a short spear he +taught them to fight at close quarters. But nowadays they will fight +in neither one style nor the other. [23] The infantry still carry the +large shields, the battle-axes, and the swords, as if they meant to do +battle as they did in Cyrus' day. [24] But they will never close with +the enemy. Nor do they use the scythe-bearing chariots as Cyrus +intended. By the honours he gave he raised the dignity and improved +the quality of his charioteers till he had a body of men who would +charge right into the enemy's ranks; but the generals of to-day, +though they do not even know the charioteers by sight, flatter +themselves that untrained men will serve their purpose quite as well +as trained. [25] So the charioteers will dash off, but before they +reach the enemy half the men have fallen from their boxes, and the +others will jump out of their own accord, and the teams, left without +their drivers, will do more harm to their friends than to their foes. +[26] And since in their hearts the Persians of to-day are well aware +what their fighting condition really is, they always give up the +struggle, and now none of them will take the field at all without +Hellenes to help them, whether they are fighting among themselves or +whether Hellenes are in arms against them: even then it is a settled +thing that they must have the aid of other Hellenes to face them. + +[27] I venture to think I have shown the truth of the statement that I +made. I asserted that the Persians of to-day and their allies are less +religious than they were of old, less dutiful to their kindred, less +just and righteous towards other men, and less valiant in war. And if +any man doubts me, let him examine their actions for himself, and he +will find full confirmation of all I say. + + + NOTES + +C1. Xenophon puts into the mouth of Chrysantas his favourite theory of +monarchism, the relationship strongly cemented by obedience and trust +between subjects and king. + +C1.4, med. On /willing/ service. This again is one of the best +utterances in all Xenophon. It has a deep spiritual import. + +C1.4, fin. He is thinking of Athens, perhaps. It is a choice: obey the +ruler or knock under to foreign foes. + +C1.8. Surely a remark of the author. It is an old inveterate thought +of his: "the Master's eye." I feel the /old/ man at times. + +C1.9-10. This side of the Persian state-machine strongly impressed the +mind and imagination of Xenophon. Hence he works it into the treatise +on economy as well as here. In fact his expansion of the Socratic +reflections into the /Economist/ has to do, I believe, with these +reflections on state economy. + +C1.13. Hellenic aristocratic theory of existence. Leisure for the +grand duties which devolve on the lords of mankind. It doesn't seem to +strike Xenophon that this rigid system of self-absorption in the +higher selfhood of the social system might be destructive of +individual life. Of course he would say, "No, it enlarges the +individual life." + +C1.17-20. Seems to me to show Xenophon struggling with the hard parts +of the later Persian system. The theory of Persian feudalism is too +high-strung for these grand satraps, rulers of provinces as big as +ordinary kingdoms. It tends to snap, and from the beginning did. The +archic man has no charm to compel his followers to archic virtue. It +is a negative {episteme} after all. Does Xenophon realise this, or is +hgd. wrong? + +C1.21. Cf. headmasters with preposters in a public school, based on +the same system of high aims and duties corresponding to rights. + +C1.23, init. Cf. Louis Napoleon in Browning's poem [/Prince +Hohensteil-Schwangau/]. + +C1.23, med. The Magians, the Persian order of priests. Yet we have +heard of them throughout. + +C1.27. A very true saying and very nice the feeling it gives us +towards Xenophon. We think of him with his wife and his little sons +and his friends and their friends. + +C1.28. How true of women! + +C1.33. A reduplication of the description in Bk. I., and also a +summing-up of Xenophon's own earthly paradise--quite Tennysonian. + +C1.37. An important point or principle in Xenophon's political theory +--indeed the key and tone of it: no one has a right to command except +by virtue of personal superiority. + +C1.40 foll. "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the +morning!" The section, if, as I think it is, by Xenophon, throws light +on the nature and composition of the book. The author isn't so +disengaged from "history" that he can set aside obviously integral +parts of the Persian system traceable to Cyrus, or at any rate +probably original, and their false-seeming and bamboozling mode of +keeping up dignity has to be taken account of. It has its analogy in +the admission of thaumaturgy on the part of religious teachers, and no +doubt a good deal can be said for it. The archic man in low spirits, +if he ever is so, has some need of bamboozling himself. Titles do give +some moral support even nowadays to certain kinds of minds. + +C1.46-48. The archic man's dealings by those of his subjects who are +apt to rule, the men of high thoughts and ambitions, with whom he must +come into constant personal contact. With them the spiritual dominance +alone will do. They shall be made to love him rather than themselves. +(The only thing just here that jars is a sort of Machiavellian self- +consciousness, resented in the archic man). + +C1.46. A cumbrous disjointed sentence, but the thought of it is clear +enough. Even Xenophon's style breaks down when he tries to say in a +breath more than he naturally can. Is it a sign of senility, or half- +thought-out ideas, or what? + +C2.2, fin. Does Xenophon feel the bathos of this, or is hdg. wrong and +there is no bathos? It may be said that the sacramental and spiritual +side is not in abeyance. Xenophon has to account for the "common +board" and he has the Spartan Lycurgan "common board" to encourage +him, so that imaginatively he provides this royal being with a +sumptuous table at which thousands will share alike. + +C2.3. How far was this a custom among Hellenes? It reveals a curious +state of society, real or imaginary; but I suppose that at Rome in +imperial days (cf. /panem et circenses/) the theory of meat and drink +largesses being the best would hold. + +C2.4, fin. The last remark is so silly (?) I am almost disposed to +follow Lincke and admit interpolation. Yet on the whole I think it is +the voice of the old man explaining in his Vicar-of-Wakefield style, +to his admiring auditors, wife, children, and grandsons, I fancy, and +slaves, the /raison d'être/ of Persian dinner-largesse customs. + +C2.6. Qy.: What was Xenophon's manner of composing? The style here is +loose, like that of a man talking. Perhaps he lectured and the +amanuensis took down what he said. + +C2.8. Ineptitudes. One does somewhat sniff an editor here, I think, +but I am not sure. There's a similar touch of ineptitude (senility, +perhaps) in the /Memorabilia/, /ad fin/. On the other hand I can +imagine Xenophon purring over this side of Orientalism quite +naturally. + +C2.12. This slipshod style, how accounted for? The most puzzling thing +of all is the sort of mental confusion between Cyrus and the king in +general. + +C2.15-16. Thoroughly Xenophontine and Ruskinian and eternal. + +C2.24. Here is the germ of benefit societies and clubs and insurances +and hospitals. Xenophon probably learns it all from Ctesias, and +others of the sort. Cyrus provides doctors and instruments and +medicines and diet, in fact, all the requisites of a hospital, in his +palace. Nor does he forget to be grateful to the doctors who cured the +sick. [Ctesias, the Greek physician to the Persian king. See +/Anabasis/, I. viii. Works, Vol. I. p. 108.] + +C2.26 ff. Xenophon's Machiavellianism. Does it work? + +C2.17-28. It seems to me that all this is too elaborate for an +interpolator: it smacks of Xenophon in his arm-chair, theorising and +half-dreaming over his political philosophy. + +C3.2. Prototype, a procession to Eleusis or elsewhere: the +Panathenaic, possibly. Xenophon's sumptuous taste and love of bright +colours. + +C3.3, fin., C3.4. What a curious prototypic sound! Truly this is the +very /modus/ of the evangelist's type of sentence. His narrative must +run in this mould. + +C3.4, fin. This is the old Cyrus. It comes in touchingly here, this +refrain of the old song, now an echo of the old life. + +C3.14. Xenophon delights somewhat in this sort of scene. It is a +turning-point, a veritable moral peripety, though the decisive step +was taken long ago. What is Xenophon's intention with regard to it? +Has he any /parti pris/, for or against? Does he wish us to draw +conclusions? Or does it correspond to a moral meeting of the waters in +his own mind? Here love of Spartan simplicity, and there of splendour +and regality and monarchism? He does not give a hint that the sapping +of the system begins here, when the archic man ceases to depend on his +own spiritual archic qualities and begins to eke out his dignity by +artificial means and external shows of reverence. + +C3.20. Is this worthy of the archic man? It is a method, no doubt, of +{arkhe}, but has it any spiritual "last" in it? The incident of +Daïpharnes somewhat diverts our attention from the justice of the +system in reference to the suitors. On the whole, I think Xenophon +can't get further. He is blinded and befogged by two things: (1) his +(i.e. their) aristocratism, and again (2) his satisfaction in +splendour and get-up, provided it is attached to moral greatness. We +are in the same maze, I fancy. Jesus was not, nor is Walt Whitman. + +C3.23. Cyrus is made to behave rather like the autocratic father of a +goody story-book. + +C3.25. Realistic and vivid detailing: our curiosity is satisfied. "Who +has won?" we ask. "Oh, so-and-so, Smith." Well, it's something to know +that Smith has won. Xenophon, the artist, 'cutely introduces the +Sakian to us. One scene takes up another, just as in real life. Quite +soon we know a great deal more about this young man, a mere Sakian +private soldier, who wins the race so easily on his splendid horse. +Cyrus and good fortune introduce him to the very man he is suited to: +viz. Pheraulas. + +C3.37. Pheraulas' boyhood has already been sketched by himself (II. +C3.7), the active sturdy little youngster, snatching at a knife, and +hacking away /con amore/. We know him well: Xenophon's modernism comes +out in these things. Here we have the old father, a heart of oak, like +the old Acharnian in Aristophanes. One of the prettiest morsels in all +Xenophon. Xenophon's own father, is he there? + +C3.47. The desire for "leisure" is as strong in Xenophon as in hgd. or +S. T. I., I think. [S. T. Irwin, also a master at Clifton.] + +C4.1. Why is the Hyrcanian never named? Is it conceivable that +Xenophon shrinks from using a proper name except when he has some +feeling for the sound of the language? (Sic. Sakians, Cadousians, +Indians, etc.) + +C4.4 The "mark" system again which Xenophon believes in, but hgd. not. +Shows how he tried to foster competitiveness. It's after all a belief +in the central sun, a species of monarch-worship, logical and +consistent enough. + +C4.8. Xenophon reveals himself and the Hellenic feeling with regard to +war and its use. The /pax Romana/ is anticipated in their minds. + +C4.9. Hystaspas is rather like the sons of Zebedee or the elder +brother of the Prodigal. + +C4.12, fin. Looks rather like a Greek joke. But what is the joke? + +C4.13-23. Broad type of joke, but not unhealthy or prurient. Prototype +probably Agesilaus and the younger Cyrus at the supper-table, with +just this touch of coarseness. + +C4.32-36. This is = to the Comtist theory of the duties of +capitalists, and is one of the noblest disquisitions in all Xenophon, +{os g' emoi dokei}. Cyrus' theory is based on fraternal feeling among +the /elite/ of the world, and that is the sole difference, a large one +doubtless, and measures the gap between Xenophon and A. C. and our +advance in Democracy. + +C5.17. How far is this historical, i.e. semi-historical? I can't help +supposing that the commoner notion of a conquest of Media by Persia +was current and familiar to Xenophon apart from any other account, +which for his present purpose he chose to go upon and possibly +believed in. + +C5.18-20. Will Cyrus take her to wife, his old playmate? All this +shows once more Xenophon's love of children. + +C5.23-25. The Persian Magna Charta, parallel to that between the +Spartan king and the ephorate. + +C6.1-3. (a) Satraps; to be counterpoised by (b) military governors in +the citadels, and (c) visitors living at court, but possessed of lands +in the provinces. The object is, no doubt, to create a common interest +between the nobles and the king which will keep the satrap in +counterpoise. + +C6.11. The Oriental feeling again. + +C6.12, fin. One of the nicest (monarchical) remarks ever uttered. + +C6.13. Marked Greek Testament parallel S. Joan. 13, 13. Surely the +evangelist had read this at school: I mean, the Greek scribe who +Hellenised the evangel. + +C6.23. Free trade or favoured-nation principle and commercial treaty. + +C7.10. Prototype: Socrates and his sons. Perhaps also Xenophon and +his. One seems to hear his own voice addressing Gryllus. + +C7.14. A very noble passage. + +C7.27. That's also nice: "Summon the Persians to rejoice with me at my +joyous release;" a refined form of funeral festival--"nothing is here +for tears"--nor have we, perhaps, arrived beyond it. + +C7.28. His last remark is Xenophon-Hellenic, but less edifying; +fortunately it is only the penultimate, for there is the final +{khairete} [good-bye] and message to his wife. Why was she not +present? I suppose she was at home in Babylon. + +[C8. It has been doubted whether C8 is by Xenophon at all. C8.3, with +its reference to the /Anabasis/, certainly looks as though it might +have been written after his death. Some scholars have also thought the +style unlike Xenophon's, but it is clear from his marginal notes that +Mr. Dakyns did not lean towards this view. To stress the degeneracy of +the Persians is, no doubt, to make a curious comment on the +institutions of "the born ruler," but on the other hand the preceding +chapter (C7) is full of grave warnings, and, throughout, Xenophon has +been at pains to insist that everything depends on the continuous and +united effort of the ruling classes towards virtue and self-control. +Again, as Mr. Dakyns pointed out (in his /Sketch of Xenophon's Life/, +Works, Vol. I. p. cxxxvii.), the epilogue bears a marked analogy to +the account of Spartan degeneracy in c. xiv. of the /Laconian Polity/ +(see Vol. II. p. 322), a chapter he took to be genuine. On the whole, +therefore, we may conclude that he would have considered this epilogue +to be genuine also.--F.M.S.] diff --git a/old/cyrus10.zip b/old/cyrus10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e50694 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cyrus10.zip |