[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.] |
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