Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (56 page)

Thus he spoke, and they made answer: “Well, Cyrus, we have no men whom we could mount upon these horses; and if we had, we should not choose to make any other disposition of them, since this is what you desire. So now,” they added, “take them and do as you think best.”
[51]

“Well,” said he, “I accept them; may good fortune attend our turning into horsemen and your dividing the common spoils. In the first place, set apart for the gods whatever the magi direct, as they interpret the will of the gods. Next select for Cyaxares also whatever you think would be most acceptable to him.”
[52]

They laughed and said that they would have to choose women for him.

“Choose women then,” said he, “and whatever else you please. And when you have made your choice for him, then do you Hyrcanians do all you can to see that all those who volunteered to follow me have no cause to complain.
[53]

“And do you Medes, in your turn, show honour to those who first became our allies, that they may think that they have been well advised in becoming our friends. And allot his proper share of everything to the envoy who came from Cyaxares and to those who attended him; and invite him also to stay on with us (and give him to understand that this is my pleasure also), so that he may know better the true state of things and report the facts to Cyaxares concerning each particular.
[54]
As for the Persians with me,” he said, “what is left after you are amply provided for will suffice for us; for we have not been reared in any sort of luxury, but altogether in rustic fashion, so that you would perhaps laugh at us, if anything gorgeous were to be put upon us, even as we shall, I know, furnish you no little cause for laughter when we are seated upon our horses, and, I presume,” he added, “when we fall off upon the ground.”
[55]

Hereupon they proceeded to the division of the spoil, laughing heartily at his joke about the Persian horsemanship, while he called his captains and ordered them to take the horses and the grooms and the trappings of the horses, and to count them off and divide them by lot so that they should each have an equal share for each company.
[56]

And again Cyrus ordered proclamation to be made that if there were any one from Media or Persia or Bactria or Caria or Greece or anywhere else forced into service as a slave in the army of the Assyrians or Syrians or Arabians, he should show himself.
[57]
And when they heard the herald’s proclamation, many came forward gladly. And he selected the finest looking of them and told them that they should be made free, but that they would have to act as carriers of any arms given them to carry; and for their sustenance he himself, he said, would make provision.
[58]

And so he led them at once to his captains and presented them, bidding his men give them their shields and swords without belts, that they might carry them and follow after the horses. Furthermore, he bade his captains draw rations for them just as for the Persians under him. The Persians, moreover, he bade always ride on horseback with their corselets and lances, and he himself set the example of doing so. He also instructed each one of the newly-mounted officers to appoint some other peer to take his place of command over the infantry of the peers.

6.
Thus, then, they were occupied. Meanwhile Gobryas, an Assyrian, a man well advanced in years, came up on horseback with a cavalry escort; and they all carried cavalry weapons. And those who were assigned to the duty of receiving the weapons ordered them to surrender their spears, that they might burn them as they had done with the rest. But Gobryas said that he wished to see Cyrus first. Then the officers left the rest of the horsemen there, but Gobryas they conducted to Cyrus.
[2]
And when he saw Cyrus, he spoke as follows:

“Sire, I am by birth an Assyrian; I have also a castle, and wide are the domains which I govern. I have also about a thousand horse which I used to put at the disposal of the Assyrian king, and I used to be his most devoted friend. But since he has been slain by you, excellent man that he was, and since his son, who is my worst enemy, has succeeded to his crown, I have come to you and fall a suppliant at your feet. I offer myself to be your vassal and ally and ask that you will be my avenger; and thus, in the only way I may, I make you my son, for I have no male child more.
[3]
For he who was my son, my only son, a beautiful and brave young man, Sire, and one who loved me and paid me the filial reverence that would make a father happy — him this present king — when the old king, the father of the present ruler, invited my son to his court purposing to give him his daughter in marriage — and I let him go; for I was proud that, as I flattered myself, I should see my son wedded to the king’s daughter — then, I say, the man who is now king invited him to go hunting with him and gave him permission to do his best in the chase, for he thought that he himself was a much better rider than my son. And my boy went hunting with him as his friend, and when a bear came out, they both gave chase and the present ruler let fly his javelin but missed. Oh! would to God he had not! Then my son threw (as he should not have done) and brought down the bear.
[4]

And then that man was vexed, to be sure, as it proved, but covered his jealousy in darkness. But when again a lion appeared, he missed again. There was nothing remarkable in that, so far as I can see; but again a second time my son hit his mark and killed the lion and cried, ‘Have I not thrown twice in succession and brought an animal down each time!’ Then that villain no longer restrained his jealous wrath but, snatching a spear from one of the attendants, smote him in the breast — my son, my only, well-loved son — and took away his life.
[5]
And I, unhappy I, received back a corpse instead of a bridegroom, and, old man that I am, I buried with the first down upon his cheeks my best, my well-beloved son. But the murderer, as if he had slain an enemy, has never shown any repentance, nor has he, to make amends for his wicked deed, ever deigned to show any honour to him beneath the earth. His father, however, expressed his sorrow for me and showed that he sympathized with me in my affliction.
[6]
And so, if he were living, I should never have come to you in a way to do him harm; for I have received many kindnesses at his hands and I have done him many services. But since the sceptre has passed on to the murderer of my son, I could never be loyal to him and I am sure that he would never regard me as a friend. For he knows how I feel toward him and how dark my life now is, though once it was so bright; for now i am forsaken and am spending my old age in sorrow.
[7]

“If, therefore, you will receive me and I may find some hope of getting with your help some vengeance for my dear son, I think that I should find my youth again and, if I live, I should no longer live in shame; and if I die, I think that I should die without a regret.”
[8]

Thus he spoke; and Cyrus answered: “Well, Gobryas, if you prove that you really mean all that you say to us, I not only receive you as a suppliant, but promise you with the help of the gods to avenge the murder of your son. But tell me,” said he, “if we do this for you and let you keep your castle and your province and the power which you had before, what service will you do us in return for that?”
[9]

“The castle,” he answered, “I will give you for your quarters when you come; the tribute of the province, which before I used to pay to him, I will pay to you; and whithersoever you march I will march with you at the head of the forces of my province. Besides,” said he, “I have a daughter, a maiden well-beloved and already ripe for marriage. I used once to think that I was rearing her to be the bride of the present king. But now my daughter herself has besought me with many tears not to give her to her brother’s murderer; and I am so resolved myself. And now I leave it to you to deal with her as I shall prove to deal with you.”
[10]

“According as what you have said is true,” Cyrus then made answer, “I give you my right hand and take yours. The gods be our witnesses.”

When this was done he bade Gobryas go and keep his arms; he also asked him how far it was to his place, for he meant to go there. And he said: “If you start to-morrow early in the morning, you would spend the night of the second day with us.”
[11]

With these words he was gone, leaving a guide behind. And then the Medes came in, after they had delivered to the magi what the magi had directed them to set apart for the gods. And they had selected for Cyrus the most splendid tent and the lady of Susa, who was said to be the most beautiful woman in Asia, and two of the most accomplished music-girls; and afterward they had selected for Cyaxares the next best. They had also supplied themselves with such other things as they needed, so that they might continue the campaign in want of nothing; for there was an abundance of everything.
[12]

And the Hyrcanians also took what they wanted; and they made the messenger from Cyaxares share alike with them. And all the tents that were left over they delivered to Cyrus for the use of his Persians. The coin they said they would divide, as soon as it was all collected; and this they did.

BOOK V.

1.
Such were their words and deeds. Then Cyrus ordered the men whom he knew to be Cyaxares’s most intimate friends to divide among themselves the keeping of the king’s portion of the booty. “And what you offer me,” he added, “I accept with pleasure; but it shall always be at the service of any one of you who at any time is most in need of it.”

“If you please, then, Cyrus,” said one of the Medes who was fond of music, “when I listened last evening to the music-girls whom you now have, I was entranced; and if you will give me one of them, I should, I think, be more happy to go to war with you than to stay at home.”

“Well,” said Cyrus, “I will not only give her to you, but I believe that I am under greater obligation to you for your asking than you to me for receiving her; so thirsty am I to do you favours.”

So he that asked received her.
[2]

Then Cyrus called to him Araspas, a Mede, who had been his friend from boyhood — the same one to whom he had given his Median robe when he laid it off as he was returning from Astyages’s court to Persia — and bade him keep for him both the lady and the tent.
[3]
Now this woman was the wife of Abradatas of Susa; and when the Assyrian camp was taken, her husband happened not to be there, having gone on an embassy to the king of Bactria; for the Assyrian king had sent him thither to negotiate an alliance, because he chanced to be a guest-friend of the Bactrian king. This, then, was the lady that Cyrus placed in the charge of Araspas, until such a time as he himself should take her.
[4]
And when he received this commission Araspas asked: “And have you seen the lady, Cyrus, whom you give into my keeping?” said he.

“No, by Zeus,” said Cyrus; “not I.”

“But I have,” said the other. “I saw her when we selected her for you. And when we went into her tent, upon my word, we did not at first distinguish her from the rest; for she sat upon the ground and all her handmaids sat around her. And she was dressed withal just like her servants; but when we looked round upon them all in our desire to make out which one was the mistress, at once her superiority to all the rest was evident, even though she sat veiled, with her head bowed to the earth.
[5]
But when we bade her rise, all her attendants stood up with her, and then was she conspicuous among them both for her stature and for her nobility and her grace, even though she stood there in lowly garb. And she could not hide her tears as they fell, some down her dress, some even to her feet.
[6]
Then, when the oldest man in our company said: ‘Have no fear, lady; for though we understand that your husband also is a noble man, yet we are choosing you out for a man who, be assured, is not his inferior either in comeliness or intelligence or power, but, as we at least think, if there is any man in the world who deserves admiration, that man is Cyrus; and his you shall henceforth be.’ Now when the lady heard that, she rent her outer garment from top to bottom and wept aloud; and her servants also cried aloud with her.
[7]

“And then we had vision of most of her face and vision of her neck and arms. And let me tell you, Cyrus,” said he, “it seemed to me, as it did to all the rest who saw her, that there never was so beautiful a woman of mortal birth in Asia. But,” he added, “you must by all means see her for yourself.”
[8]

“No, by Zeus,” said Cyrus; “and all the less, if she is as beautiful as you say.”

“Why so?” asked the young man.

“Because,” said he, “if now I have heard from you that she is beautiful and am inclined just by your account of her to go and gaze on her, when I have no time to spare, I am afraid that she will herself much more readily persuade me to come again to gaze on her. And in consequence of that I might sit there, in neglect of my duties, idly gazing upon her.”
[9]

“Why Cyrus,” said the young man breaking into a laugh, “you do not think, do you, that human beauty is able to compel a man against his will to act contrary to his own best interests? Why,” said he, “if that were a law of nature, it would compel us all alike.
[10]
Do you observe,” said he, “how fire burns all alike? That is its nature. But of beautiful things we love some and some we do not; and one loves one, another another; for it is a matter of free will, and each one loves what he pleases. For example, a brother does not fall in love with his sister, but somebody else falls in love with her; neither does a father fall in love with his daughter, but somebody else does; for fear of God and the law of the land are sufficient to prevent such love.
[11]
But,” he went on, “if a law should be passed forbidding those who did not eat to be hungry, those who did not drink to be thirsty, forbidding people to be cold in winter or hot in summer, no such law could ever bring men to obey its provisions, for they are so constituted by nature as to be subject to the control of such circumstances. But love is a matter of free will; at any rate, every one loves what suits his taste, as he does his clothes or shoes.”
[12]