Cyropaedia: The Education of Cyrus

by Xenophon

(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?"