IX


So died Cyrus; a man the kingliest[1] and most worthy to rule of all 1
the Persians who have lived since the elder Cyrus: according to the
concurrent testimony of all who are reputed to have known him
intimately. To begin from the beginning, when still a boy, and whilst
being brought up with his brother and the other lads, his unrivalled
excellence was recognised. For the sons of the noblest Persians, it
must be known, are brought up, one and all, at the king's portals.
Here lessons of sobreity and self-control may largely be laid to
heart, while there is nothing base or ugly for eye or ear to feed
upon. There is the daily spectacle ever before the boys of some
receiving honour from the king, and again of others receiving
dishonour; and the tale of all this is in their ears, so that from
earliest boyhood they learn how to rule and to be ruled.

[1] The character now to be drawn is afterwards elaborated into the
Cyrus of the Cyropaedeia.

In this courtly training Cyrus earned a double reputation; first he
was held to be a paragon of modesty among his fellows, rendering an
obedience to his elders which exceeded that of many of his own
inferiors; and next he bore away the palm for skill in horsemanship
and for love of the animal itself. Nor less in matters of war, in the
use of the bow and the javelin, was he held by men in general to be at 5
once the aptest of learners and the most eager practiser. As soon as
his age permitted, the same pre-eminence showed itself in his fondness
for the chase, not without a certain appetite for perilous adventure
in facing the wild beasts themselves. Once a bear made a furious rush
at him[2], and without wincing he grappled with her, and was pulled
from his horse, receiving wounds the scars of which were visible
through life; but in the end he slew the creature, nor did he forget
him who first came to his aid, but made him enviable in the eyes of
many.

[2] The elder Cyrus, when a boy, kills not a bear but a boar.

After he had been sent down by his father to be satrap of Lydia and
Great Phrygia and Cappadocia, and had been appointed general of the
forces, whose business it is to muster in the plain of the Castolus,
nothing was more noticeable in his conduct than the importance which
he attached to the faithful fulfilment of every treaty or compact or
undertaking entered into with others. He would tell no lies to any
one. Thus doubtless it was that he won the confidence alike of
individuals and of the communities entrusted to his care; or in case
of hostility, a treaty made with Cyrus was a guarantee sufficient to
the combatant that he would suffer nothing contrary to its terms.
Therefore, in the war with Tissaphernes, all the states of their own
accord chose Cyrus in lieu of Tissaphernes, except only the men of
Miletus, and these were only alienated through fear of him, because he
refused to abandon their exiled citizens; and his deeds and words bore
emphatic witness to his principle: even if they were weakened in
number or in fortune, he would never abandon those who had once become
his friends.

He made no secret of his endeavour to outdo his friends and his foes
alike in reciprocity of conduct. The prayer has been attributed to
him, "God grant I may live along enough to recompense my friends and
requite my foes with a strong arm." However this may be, no one, at
least in our days, ever drew together so ardent a following of
friends, eager to lay at his feet their money, their cities, their own
lives and persons; nor is it to be inferred from this that he suffered
the malefactor and the wrongdoer to laugh him to scorn; on the 13
contrary, these he punished most unflinchingly. It was no rare sight
to see on the well-trodden highways, men who had forfeited hand or
foot or eye; the result being that throughout the satrapy of Cyrus any
one, Hellene or barbarian, provided he were innocent, might fearlessly
travel wherever he pleased, and take with him whatever he felt
disposed. However, as all allowed, it was for the brave in war that he
reserved especial honour. To take the first instance to hand, he had a
war with the Pisidians and Mysians. Being himself at the head of an
expedition into those territories, he could observe those who
voluntarily encountered risks; these he made rulers of the territory
which he subjected, and afterwards honoured them with other gifts. So
that, if the good and brave were set on a pinnacle of fortune, cowards
were recognised as their natural slaves; and so it befell that Cyrus
never had lack of volunteers in any service of danger, whenever it was
expected that his eye would be upon them.

So again, wherever he might discover any one ready to distinguish
himself in the service of uprightness, his delight was to make this
man richer than those who seek for gain by unfair means. On the same
principle, his own administration was in all respects uprightly
conducted, and, in particular, he secured the services of an army
worthy of the name. Generals, and sabulterns alike, came to him from
across the seas, not merely to make money, but because they saw that
loyalty to Cyrus was a more profitable investment than so many pounds
a month. Let any man whatsoever render him willing service, such
enthusiasm was sure to win its reward. And so Cyrus could always
command the service of the best assistants, it was said, whatever the
work might be.

Or if he saw any skilful and just steward who furnished well the
country over which he ruled, and created revenues, so far from robbing
him at any time, to him who had, he delighted to give more. So that
toil was a pleasure, and gains were amassed with confidence, and least
of all from Cyrus would a man conceal the amount of his possessions,
seeing that he showed no jealousy of wealth openly avowed, but his 19
endeavour was rather to turn to account the riches of those who kept
them secret. Towards the friends he had made, whose kindliness he
knew, or whose fitness as fellow-workers with himself, in aught which
he might wish to carry out, he had tested, he showed himself in turn
an adept in the arts of courtesy. Just in proportion as he felt the
need of this friend or that to help him, so he tried to help each of
them in return in whatever seemed to be their heart's desire.

Many were the gifts bestowed on him, for many and diverse reasons; no
one man, perhaps, ever received more; no one, certainly, was ever more
ready to bestow them upon others, with an eye ever to the taste of
each, so as to gratify what he saw to be the individual requirement.
Many of these presents were sent to him to serve as personal
adornments of the body or for battle; and as touching these he would
say, "How am I to deck myself out in all these? to my mind a man's
chief ornament is the adornment of nobly-adorned friends." Indeed,
that he should triumph over his friends in the great matters of
welldoing is not surprising, seeing that he was much more powerful
than they, but that he should go beyond them in minute attentions, and
in an eager desire to give pleasure, seems to me, I must confess, more
admirable. Frequently when he had tasted some specially excellent
wine, he would send the half remaining flagon to some friend with a
message to say: "Cyrus says, this is the best wine he has tasted for a
long time, that is his excuse for sending it to you. He hopes you will
drink it up to-day with a choice party of friends." Or, perhaps, he
would send the remainder of a dish of geese, half loaves of bread, and
so forth, the bearer being instructed to say: "This is Cyrus's
favourite dish, he hopes you will taste it yourself." Or, perhaps,
there was a great dearth of provender, when, through the number of his
servants and his own careful forethought, he was enabled to get
supplies for himsefl; at such times he would send to his friends in
different parts, bidding them feed their horses on his hay, since it
would not do for the horses that carried his friends to go starving.
Then, on any long march or expedition, where the crowd of lookers-on 28
would be large, he would call his friends to him and entertain them
with serious talk, as much as to say, "These I delight to honour."

So that, for myself, and from all that I can hear, I should be
disposed to say that no one, Greek or barbarian, was ever so beloved.
In proof of this, I may cite the fact that, though Cyrus was the
king's vassal and slave, no one ever forsook him to join his master,
if I may except the attempt of Orontas, which was abortive. That man,
indeed, had to learn that Cyrus was closer to the heart of him on
whose fidelity he relied than he himself was. On the other hand, many
a man revolted from the king to Cyrus, after they went to war with one
another; nor were these nobodies, but rather persons high in the
king's affection; yet for all that, they believed that their virtues
would obtain a reward more adequate from Cyrus than from the king.
Another great proof at once of his own worth and of his capacity
rightly to discern all loyal, loving and firm friendship is afforded
by an incident which belongs to the last moment of his life. He was
slain, but fighting for his life beside him fell also every one of his
faithful bodyguard of friends and table-companions, with the sole
exception of Ariaeus, who was in command of the cavalry on the left,
and he no sooner perceived the fall of Cyrus than he betook himself to
flight, with the whole body of troops under his lead.