***
CYRUS THE COMMANDER
Cyrus was not content to play games in the Median parks, hunting tamed and fenced-off animals for sport. He repeatedly petitioned and petitioned his grandfather the king, and was eventually allowed to take to a wild hunt – and, despite severe risk to his life that might have ended that glorious career before it started, came home with many trophies.
When the Assyrians send a raiding party and start looting the lands, the Median soldiers form up and begin to go out to meet them on horseback. Cyrus, though only 15 years old, sees this and gets into the action –
“Now Cyrus, seeing that all the rest of the world was off to the rescue, boot and saddle, must needs ride out too, and so put on his armour for the first time, and could scarcely believe it was true, he had longed so often and so ardently to wear it all. And right beautiful it was, and right well it fitted the lad, the armour that his grandsire had had made for him. So he put on the whole accoutrement, mounted his charger, and galloped to the front. And Astyages, though he wondered who had sent the boy, bade him stay beside him, now that he had come. Cyrus, as he looked at the horsemen facing them, turned to his grandfather with the question, "Can those men yonder be our enemies, grandfather, those who are standing so quietly beside their horses?" "Enemies they are too for all that," said the king. "And are those enemies too?" the boy asked, "those who are riding over there?" "Yes, to be sure." "Well, grandfather, a sorry set they look, and sorry jades they ride to ravage our lands! It would be well for some of us to charge them!" "Not yet, my boy," answered his grandfather, "look at the mass of horsemen there. If we were to charge the others now, these friends of theirs would charge us, for our full strength is not yet on the field." "Yes, but," suggested the boy, "if you stay here yourself, ready to receive our supporters, those fellows will be afraid to stir either, and the cattle-lifters will drop their booty quick enough, as soon as they find they are attacked."”
Cyrus’s plan is followed, and he leads the attack himself, dispersing the Assyrian raiders and putting them to flight – a great victory for Media.
“The exploit of [King Astyages’s] 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.“
It is soon time for Cyrus to return to Persia –
“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 fulfillment of his duty, in the endurance of hardship, in the reverence he showed to age, and the obedience he paid to authority.”
He left a boy – he returned a nascent commander.
***
CYRUS IS CALLED TO ARMS
A messenger arrives at Croesus’s court, from the Assyrians, offering treasure and glory – if they will ally against the Medians.
Xenophon recounts –
“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. 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. ... 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.”
King Croesus begins gathering troops, readying to take his expeditions to the fight.
The Medians begin gathering their forces to resist the onslaught, and call on the Persians to send troops –
“… 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. 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.”
And Cyrus makes his first speech as Persian commander –
“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. 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. 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…”
And before they depart for battle, Cyrus makes sacrifices and follows the appropriate rituals for the day, and is advised by his father on discipline: economy in everything, always keeping the troops active and drilled and ready, sanitation and health as the first concern of keeping the army healthy and at war, ensure the soldiers under his command are neither under-fed due to lack of supplies, nor over-indulgent in extravagancies of food and drink, and to never keep the army idle, to find and promote good officers, to aim to always catch the enemy by surprise and in disarray, and to always cultivate wisdom first and foremost…
***
CROESUS VISITS THE ORACLE
King Croesus had joined the Assyrian alliance against the Medians, but Cyrus had broken-off a number of their allies through diplomacy, and then a lightning-quick strike while outnumbered had killed the King of the Assyrians.
The enemy alliance had been shattered, and Croesus had withdrawn from his mobilization.
As time passed, Cyrus became joint-ruler of the Medians and Persians. There are open questions as to how willingly control was ceded to him by Media; some sources have it that he defected and led an insurrection; other sources have it that, seeing his superiority in military matters and gathering Persian strength, the Medians willfully submitted, and married a Median princess to him. Regardless, either way, the Persian Empire began at this time with strong c
ohesion, and became a force in its area.
King Croesus was not satisfied; his whole life had been one set of glories after another, but none were enough.
The Persians, having conquered and subdued some of their neighbors, were now quite wealthy.
Croesus wants that wealth.
He travels to Delphi, to the famous Oracle, and asks what will happen if he attacks Cyrus and the Persians.
The answer –
“If Croesus made war on the Persians, he would destroy a mighty empire.”
Croesus is well-pleased, arms for combat, and declares war on the Persians.
***
THE BATTLE BETWEEN CROESUS AND CYRUS
The Persians had gone from individually disciplined, to disciplined as a group, and then become battle-hardened veterans in their campaigns.
Now they are drawing up to fight the Lydians.
Cyrus makes his orders to his second-in command that,
"[When] you see me close with the enemy on our right, then set upon those in front of you: take them in flank, where they are weakest, while you advance in line, at your full strength. Their lines, as you see, are closed by cavalry; hurl your camels at these, and you may be sure, even before the fighting begins, they will cut a comic figure." Thus, with all his dispositions made, Cyrus rode round the head of his right.”
Croesus marches his forces into combat. His armies had overrun little weak cities near him and made him master of much of the world near Lydia. He figured he would now do the same to the Persians –
“By this time Croesus, believing that the centre, where he himself was marching, must be nearer the enemy than the distant wings, had the signal raised for them to stop their advance, halt, and wheel round where they were. When they were in position opposite the Persian force, he signalled for them to charge, and thus three columns came at once against Cyrus, one facing his front and one on either flank. A tremor ran through the whole army; it was completely enclosed, like a little brick laid within a large, with the forces of the enemy all round it, on every side except the rear, cavalry and heavy infantry, targeteers, archers, and chariots. None the less, the instant Cyrus gave the word they swung round to confront the foe. There was deep silence through the ranks as they realised what they had to face, and then Cyrus, when the moment came, began the battle- hymn and it thundered through the host. And as it died away the war-cry rang out unto the God of Battles, and Cyrus swooped forward at the head of his cavalry, straight for the enemy's flank, and closed with them then and there, while the infantry behind him followed, swift and steady, wave on wave, sweeping out on either side, far out-flanking their opponents, for they attacked in line and the foe were in column, to the great gain of Cyrus. A short struggle, and the ranks broke and fled before him headlong.”
***
THE ECHOES OF SOLON
As Cyrus’s soldiers loot and pillage the fantastically wealthy Lydian capital, Croesus is tied to a stake, to be executed by being burned alive.
Suddenly, Solon’s words echo to him – consider no man happy until he is dead.
Croesus shudders and wails at the realization, crying out,
“Solon! Solon! Solon!”
***
TEMPORAL CONTROL #3: TRAINING AND HARDENING
We are three chapters into our investigation of Temporal Control.
Again, when you hear “Temporal Control,” think “Quality Control.” Time and space cannot be controlled any more than the laws of physics can be controlled – but, similar to how we can navigate physics to do engineering, we can navigate time to get what we want out of life.
Chapter #2 gave us the first important mental model for Temporal Control: finding a standard “Unit of Account.“
The Lydian Kings built a regional power on the strength of one simple, now-taken-for-granted technology – standardized precious metal coins.
We explored the implications of that concept a little last chapter, and suggested that perhaps it would be profitable to find a standard unit of account for completing the personals projects of our lives (I use 30-minute cycles for it). We explored how Nick Winter ranks his experiential happiness on a logarithmic scale, and how he set a “very ambitious target” of… going from 6.3 to 7.3 on the scale.
Next chapter, we’ll work towards having even more precise measurements – but, and I cannot emphasize this enough, measuring and optimizing for the wrong thing is a sure path to doom.
***
CONSIDER: CROESUS’S MERCENARIES VS CYRUS’S BATTLE-HARDENED LOYALISTS
Machiavelli would, many centuries later, admonish a ruler never to rely on mercenaries. They take your money when times are good, but are not willing to risk laying down their lives when they are truly needed.
This applies even to this day – peruse, if you will, the salary scales of companies who are the best in their field, and those who lag behind.
Right now in 2016, Apple and Google both pay less than Yahoo for the same seniority and talent of people. Why? Because for Yahoo to attract people away from Apple or Google, they have to pay more.
Bridgewater, the most successful hedge fund in the world, pays less guaranteed compensation than other hedge funds. Why? Because for other hedge funds to attract top talent, they have to pay more.
This is, of course, a vicious spiral for a company that isn’t the market leader and an excellent company. If you’re not the market leader, you probably have worse margins, worse market share, and lower economies of scale (and thus, higher costs). Then, to try to fight your way out of that swamp, you need to pay more to the same type of people that your competitors are getting more cheaply.
Cyrus’s loyalists shared generously in the rewards of Persian campaigns, but most likely received less pay in the short term than Croesus’s mercenaries – who turned out to be nearly useless against the Persians in combat.
Think this through as you build teams, friendships, alliances. It is easy to fixate on easy numbers like troop count, and easy to focus on how much money you have in the treasury to hire mercenaries, but what are the quality of those people serving with you, what is their commitment, what is their ferocity, how steadfastly will they hold themselves during a crisis? These, these are harder points to measure.
***
CONSIDER: CYRUS WAS HARD AND CROESUS WAS SOFT
Be careful wanting too much in the ways of perfumes and elegancies… this is all well and good in luxurious peacetimes, but not what is needed in more ferocious times.
Cyrus, from his time as a young boy, was becoming hardened. Despite royal blood in his veins, he trained ferociously. He slept outside.
As soon as he mastered the basic skills of a Persian boy – the Persians were primarily infantry and projectile soldiers – he immediately pressed to continue training in Median cavalry skills.
Having mastered those, he immediately started hunting in the wild.
After succeeding at his first hunts, he joined his first defensive campaign against raiders as soon as it presented itself.
I believe, and I don’t think this is controversial, that it would have been impossible for King Croesus to build the same quality of military as Cyrus had.
Cyrus hardened himself into an exceptional commander. Croesus was probably more fit to lead a mercantile empire, but by the time Cyrus reached early adulthood, he was on pace to be one of the finest military commanders of all-time. Cyrus had hardened those aspects into himself.
***
CONSIDER: MASTERY ORIENTATION
You would do well to read The Education of Cyrus by Xenophon. It is a masterpiece.
You can see the constant reverence for training in there, and the respect Xenophon and others have for Cyrus as someone who is never satisfied at his current level, and is going beyond.
He’s not going beyond in vanity – he’s putting in hard work and staying obsessed with mastery.
Hardness, solidness, mastery – these are very hard to measure, but undoubtedly part of gaining mastery and
control over your world.
We want to account for the things we can account for – and great power comes from having better measurements, indeed – but we must not neglect the things we can’t measure or easily account for.
***
CONSIDER: TRAINING
The world has obviously changed a little bit in 2,700 years.
But while technology has changed tremendously, human nature has not changed very much. Learning about Cyrus can give good ideas for character and solid fundamentals, but there is more modern and better literature on training.
You should of course read about “deliberate practice” – it’s currently en vogue and beyond the scope of this piece, but you should take the time to read up on James Clear and Cal Newport at least, who give popular and easily read takes on the state of practice and guidelines to getting started.
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