Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)
Page 58
And so on his marches he always proceeded giving out his orders with a view to existing circumstances; but in camp his arrangements were made, for the most part, as has been described. [17]
As they continued their march and came near to Media, Cyrus turned aside to visit Cyaxares. And when they had exchanged greetings, the first thing Cyrus told Cyaxares was that a palace had been selected for him in Babylon, and official headquarters, so that he might occupy a residence of his own whenever he came there; and then he also gave him many splendid presents. [18] Cyaxares accepted them and then introduced to him his daughter, who brought him a golden crown and bracelets and a necklace and the most beautiful Median robe that could be found. [19] As the princess placed the crown on Cyrus’s head, Cyaxares said, “And the maiden herself, my own daughter, I offer you as well, Cyrus, to be your wife. Your father married my father’s daughter, whose son you are. This is she whom you used often to pet when you came to visit us when you were a boy. And whenever anybody asked her whom she was going to marry, she would say ‘Cyrus.’ And with her I offer you all Media as a dowry, for I have no legitimate male issue.” [20]
Thus he spoke, and Cyrus answered: “Well, Cyaxares, I heartily approve of your family and your daughter and your gifts. And I desire, with the approval of my father and mother, to accept your offer.”
Thus Cyrus answered; but still he made the young lady presents of everything that he thought would please Cyaxares as well as herself. And when he had done so, he proceeded on his way to Persia. [21]
And when, as he continued his journey, he came to the boundaries of Persia, he left the main body of his army there, while he went on with his friends to the capital; and he took along animals enough for all the Persians to sacrifice and make a feast, and brought with him such gifts as were appropriate for his father and mother and his friends besides and such as were suitable for the authorities and the elders and all the peers. And he gave presents also to all the Persians, men and women, such as even to this day the great king bestows whenever he comes to Persia. [22]
Then Cambyses assembled the Persian elders and the highest of the chief magistrates; he called in Cyrus also and then addressed them as follows: “Toward you, my Persian friends, I cherish, as is natural, feelings of good-will, for I am your king; and no less toward you, Cyrus, for you are my son. It is right, therefore, that I should declare frankly to you what I think I recognize to be for the good of both. [23]
“In the past you advanced the fortunes of Cyrus by giving him an army and placing him in command of it. And at its head Cyrus has with the help of the gods given you, Persians, a good report among all men and made you honoured throughout all Asia. Of those who went with him on his campaigns he has enriched the most deserving and to the commoners he has given wages and support; and by establishing a Persian cavalry force he has made the Persians masters also of the plains. [24]
“If, therefore, you continue to be of the same mind also in the future, you will be the cause of much good to each other. But, Cyrus, if you on your part become puffed up by your present successes and attempt to govern the Persians as you do those other nations, with a view to self-aggrandizement, or if you, fellow-citizens, become jealous of his power and attempt to depose him from his sovereignty, be sure that you will hinder one another from receiving much good. [25] And that this may not befall you, but the good, it seems best to me for you to perform a common sacrifice and to make a covenant, first calling the gods to witness. You, Cyrus, on your part, must covenant that if any one sets hostile foot in Persia or attempts to subvert the Persian constitution, you will come to her aid with all your strength; and you, Persians, on your part, are to covenant that if any one attempts to put an end to Cyrus’s sovereignty or if any one of his subjects attempts to revolt, you will come to your own rescue as well as Cyrus’s in whatsoever way he may call upon you. [26]
“As long as I live, the Persian throne continues to be mine own. But when I am dead, it will, of course, pass to Cyrus if he survives me. And as often as he comes to Persia, it should be a sacred custom with you that he sacrifice on your behalf even as I do now. And when he is away, it might be well for you, I think, that that one of our family who seems to you the most worthy should perform that sacred office.” [27]
When Cambyses had finished speaking, Cyrus and the Persian magistrates accepted his proposal. And as they then covenanted, with the gods as their witnesses, so the Persians and their king still continue to this day to act toward one another. And when this had all been completed, Cyrus took his departure. [28]
When, on his way back, he came to Media, Cyrus wedded the daughter of Cyaxares, for he had obtained the consent of his father and mother. And to this day people still tell of her wonderful beauty.
6. When he arrived in Babylon, he decided to send out satraps to govern the nations he had subdued. But the commanders of the garrisons in the citadels and the colonels in command of the guards throughout the country he wished to be responsible to no one but himself. This provision he made with the purpose that if any of the satraps, on the strength of the wealth or the men at their command, should break out into open insolence or attempt to refuse obedience, they might at once find opposition in their province. [2] In the wish, therefore, to secure this result, he resolved first to call together his chief officers and inform them in advance, so that when they went they might know on what understanding they were going; for he believed that if he did so, they would take it more kindly; whereas he thought that they might take it ill, if any of them discovered the conditions after being installed as satraps, for then they would think that this policy had been adopted from distrust of them personally. [3] And so he called them together and spoke as follows:
“My friends, we have in the subjugated states garrisons with their officers, whom we left behind there at the time; and when I came away I left them with orders not to trouble themselves with any business other than to hold the forts. These, therefore, I will not remove from their positions, for they have carried out my instructions faithfully; but I have decided to send satraps there, besides, to govern the people, receive the tribute, pay the militia, and attend to any other business that needs attention. [4] I have further decided that any of you who remain here, and to whom I may occasionally give the trouble of going on business for me to those nations, shall have lands and houses there; so that they may have tribute paid to them here and, whenever they go there, they may lodge in residences of their own.” [5]
Thus he spoke, and to many of his friends he gave houses and servants in the various states which he had subdued. And even to this day those properties, some in one land, some in another, continue in the possession of the descendants of those who then received them, while the owners themselves reside at court. [6]
“And then,” Cyrus resumed, “we must take care that those who go as satraps to such countries shall be men of the right sort, who will bear in mind to send back here what there is good and desirable in their several provinces, in order that we also who remain here may have a share of the good things that are to be found everywhere. And that will be no more than fair; for if any danger threatens anywhere, it is we who shall have to ward it off.” [7]
With these words he concluded his address on that occasion; and then he chose out from the number of his friends those whom he saw eager to go on the conditions named and who seemed to him best qualified, and sent them as satraps to the following countries: Megabyzus to Arabia, Artabatas to Cappadocia, Artacamas to Phrygia Major, Chrysantas to Lydia and Ionia, Adusius to Caria (it was he for whom the Carians had petitioned), and Pharnuchus to Aeolia and Phrygia on the Hellespont. [8]
He sent out no Persians as satraps over Cilicia or Cyprus or Paphlagonia, because these he thought joined his expedition against Babylon voluntarily; he did, however, require eve
n these nations to pay tribute. [9]
As Cyrus then organized the service, so is it even to this day: the garrisons upon the citadels are immediately under the king’s control, and the colonels in command of the garrisons receive their appointment from the king and are enrolled upon the king’s list. [10]
And he gave orders to all the satraps he sent out to imitate him in everything that they saw him do: they were, in the first place, to organize companies of cavalry and charioteers from the Persians who went with them and from the allies; to require as many as received lands and palaces to attend at the satrap’s court and exercising proper self-restraint to put themselves at his disposal in whatever he demanded; to have the boys that were born to them educated at the local court, just as was done at the royal court; and to take the retinue at his gates out hunting and to exercise himself and them in the arts of war. [11]
“And whoever I find has the largest number of chariots to show and the largest number of the most efficient horsemen in proportion to his power,” Cyrus added, “him will I honour as a valuable ally and as a valuable fellow-protector of the sovereignty of the Persians and myself. And with you also, just as with me, let the most deserving be set in the most honourable seats; and let your table, like mine, feed first your own household and then, too, be bountifully arrayed so as to give a share to your friends and to confer some distinction day by day upon any one who does some noble act. [12]
“Have parks, too, and keep wild animals in them; and do not have your food served you unless you have first taken exercise, nor have fodder given to your horses unless they have been exercised. For I should not be able with merely human strength single-handed to ensure the permanence of the fortunes of all of you; but as I must be valiant and have those about me valiant, in order to help you; so you likewise must be valiant yourselves and have those about you valiant, in order to be my allies. [13]
“Please observe also that among all the directions I am now giving you, I give no orders to slaves. I try to do myself everything that I say you ought to do. And even as I bid you follow my example, so do you also instruct those whom you appoint to office to follow yours.” [14]
And as Cyrus then effected his organization, even so unto this day all the garrisons under the king are kept up, and all the courts of the governors are attended with service in the same way; so all households, great and small, are managed; and by all men in authority the most deserving of their guests are given preference with seats of honour; all the official journeying are conducted on the same plan and all the political business is centralized in a few heads of departments. [15]
When he had told them how they should proceed to carry out his instructions, he gave each one a force of soldiers and sent them off; and he directed them all to make preparations, with the expectation that there would be an expedition the next year and a review of the men, arms, horses, and chariots. [16]
We have noticed also that this regulation is still in force, whether it was instituted by Cyrus, as they affirm, or not: year by year a man makes the circuit of the provinces with an army, to help any satrap that may need help, to humble any one that may be growing rebellious, and to adjust matters if any one is careless about seeing the taxes paid or protecting the inhabitants, or to see that the land is kept under cultivation, or if any one is neglectful of anything else that he has been ordered to attend to; but if he cannot set it right, it is his business to report it to the king, and he, when he hears of it, takes measures in regard to the offender. And those of whom the report often goes out that “the king’s son is coming,” or “the king’s brother” or “the king’s eye,” these belong to the circuit commissioners; though sometimes they do not put in an appearance at all, for each of them turns back, wherever he may be, when the king commands. [17]
We have observed still another device of Cyrus to cope with the magnitude of his empire; by means of this institution he would speedily discover the condition of affairs, no matter how far distant they might be from him: he experimented to find out how great a distance a horse could cover in a day when ridden hard but so as not to break down, and then he erected post-stations at just such distances and equipped them with horses and men to take care of them; at each one of the stations he had the proper official appointed to receive the letters that were delivered and to forward them on, to take in the exhausted horses and riders and send on fresh ones. [18] They say, moreover, that sometimes this express does not stop all night, but the night-messengers succeed the day-messengers in relays, and when that is the case, this express, some say, gets over the ground faster than the cranes. If their story is not literally true, it is at all events undeniable that this is the fastest overland travelling on earth; and it is a fine thing to have immediate intelligence of everything, in order to attend to it as quickly as possible. [19]
Now, when the year had gone round, he collected his army together at Babylon, containing, it is said, about one hundred and twenty thousand horse, about two thousand scythe-bearing chariots and about six hundred thousand foot. [20] And when these had been made ready for him, he started out on that expedition on which he is said to have subjugated all the nations that fill the earth from where one leaves Syria even to the Indian Ocean. His next expedition is said to have gone to Egypt and to have subjugated that country also. [21]
From that time on his empire was bounded on the east by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Black Sea, on the west by Cyprus and Egypt, and on the south by Ethiopia. The extremes of his empire are uninhabitable, on the one side because of the heat, on another because of the cold, on another because of too much water, and on the fourth because of too little. [22] Cyrus himself made his home in the centre of his domain, and in the winter season he spent seven months in Babylon, for there the climate is warm; in the spring he spent three months in Susa, and in the height of summer two months in Ecbatana. By so doing, they say, he enjoyed the warmth and coolness of perpetual spring-time. [23]
People, moreover, were so devoted to him that those of every nation thought they did themselves an injury if they did not send to Cyrus the most valuable productions of their country, whether the fruits of the earth, or animals bred there, or manufactures of their own arts; and every city did the same. And every private individual thought he should become a rich man if he should do something to please Cyrus. And his theory was correct; for Cyrus would always accept that of which the givers had an abundance, and he would give in return that of which he saw that they were in want.
7. When his life was far spent amid such achievements and Cyrus was now a very old man, he came back for the seventh time in his reign to Persia. His father and his mother were in the course of nature long since dead; so Cyrus performed the customary sacrifice and led the Persians in their national dance and distributed presents among them all, as had been his custom. [2]
As he slept in the palace, he saw a vision: a figure of more than human majesty appeared to him in a dream and said: “Make ready, Cyrus; for thou shalt soon depart to the gods.” When the vision was past, he awoke and seemed almost to know that the end of his life was at hand. [3] Accordingly, he at once took victims and offered sacrifice in the high places to ancestral Zeus, to Helius, and to the rest of the gods, even as the Persians are wont to make sacrifice; and as he sacrificed, he prayed, saying: “O ancestral Zeus and Helius and all the gods, accept these offerings as tokens of gratitude for help in achieving many glorious enterprises; for in omens in the sacrifice, in signs from heaven, in the flight of birds, and in ominous words, ye ever showed me what I ought to do and what I ought not to do. And I render heartfelt thanks to you that I have never failed to recognize your fostering care and never in my successes entertained proud thoughts transcending human bounds. And I beseech of you that ye will now also grant prosperity and happiness to my children, my wife, my friends, and my country, and to me myself an end befitting the life that ye have given me.” [4]
Then after he had concluded his rites and come home, he thought he wou
ld be glad to rest and so lay down; and when the hour came, those whose office it was came in and bade him go to his bath. But he told them that he was resting happily. And then again, when the hour came, those whose office it was set dinner before him. But his soul had no desire for food, but he seemed thirsty and drank with pleasure. [5]
And when the same thing befell him on the next day and the day after that, he summoned his sons; for they had accompanied him, as it chanced, and were still in Persia. He summoned also his friends and the Persian magistrates; and when they were all come, he began to speak as follows: [6]
“My sons, and all you my friends about me, the end of my life is now at hand; I am quite sure of this for many reasons; and when I am dead, you must always speak and act in regard to me as of one blessed of fortune. For when I was a boy, I think I plucked all the fruits that among boys count for the best; when I became a youth, I enjoyed what is accounted best among young men; and when I became a mature man, I had the best that men can have. And as time went on, it seemed to me that I recognized that my own strength was always increasing with my years, so that I never found my old age growing any more feeble than my youth had been; and, so far as I know, there is nothing that I ever attempted or desired and yet failed to secure. [7]
“Moreover, I have lived to see my friends made prosperous and happy through my efforts and my enemies reduced by me to subjection; and my country, which once played no great part in Asia, I now leave honoured above all. Of all my conquests, there is not once that I have not maintained. Throughout the past I have fared even as I have wished; but a fear that was ever at my side, lest in the time to come I might see or hear or experience something unpleasant, would not let me become overweeningly proud or extravagantly happy. [8]
“But now, if I die, I leave you, my sons, whom the gods have given me, to survive me, and I leave my friends and country happy; [9] and so why should I not be justly accounted blessed and enjoy an immortality of fame?