[1]: Preface: the instability of government
[2]: Animals more tractable than men
[3]: Cyrus a king of men
[4]: The extent of his kingdom
[5]: The secret of his power
[6]: His parentage
[7]: The Persian system of education
[8]: Its organization
[9]: I.e., a Council of Elders, under the presidency of the king.
[10]: Its method and curriculum: A. Boys
[11]: B. Youths
[12]: The oriental bill was a tool or weapon with a curved blade, shorter than a sabre and corresponding very closely to the Spanish-American machete.
[13]: The chase a school for war
[14]: The Greeks ate but two meals a day: the first, ἄριστον, toward midday, the other, δεῖπνον, toward sun-down.
[15]: C. Mature men
[16]: D. Elders
[17]: The constitutional policy of Persia
[18]: This number is meant to include the nobility only, the so-called peers ὁμότιμοι, and not the total population of Persia.
[19]: Each class a prerequisite to the one above it
[20]: Cyrus goes to visit his grandfather
[21]: A Median dinner
[22]: Cyrus and the cupbearer
[23]: Cyrus’s temperance lecture
[24]: His antipathy toward Sacas
[25]: Mandane leaves Cyrus in Media
[26]: Why he wished to stay
[27]: His training in justice
[28]: Median vs. Persian ideals of justice
[29]: Cyrus’s popularity among the Medes
[30]: His talkativeness
[31]: His spirit of comradeship
[32]: He goes hunting
[33]: He distributes the game among his age-fellows
[34]: The boys lay schemes to go hunting
[35]: They have a great hunt
[36]: The Assyrian’s foray into Media
[37]: Cyrus goes to the front
[38]: His plan for the battle
[39]: His reckless daring
[40]: The victory due to him
[41]: His return to Persia
[42]: A sentimental story
[43]: Cyrus resumes his education in Persia
[44]: Assyria’s plans for world conquest
[45]: The Medes and Persians
[46]: make counter preparations
[47]: The peers, or equals-in-honour, were so called because they enjoyed equality of rights in matters of education, politics, and offices of honour and distinction. See Index, s.v.
[48]: Cyrus addresses his troops
[49]: The folly of wasting effort
[50]: The superior advantages of Persian discipline
[51]: The importance of divine omens
[52]: The secret of power in prayer
[53]: God helps those who help themselves
[54]: The ruler’s task
[55]: Supplies essential to success
[56]: An incompetent teacher of military science
[57]: Practical teaching of military science
[58]: Incentives to physical training and to moral enthusiasm
[59]: How obedience is best secured
[60]: Be what you would seem to be
[61]: The way to win affection
[62]: Taking advantage of the enemy
[63]: Training for taking unfair advantage
[64]: How to take advantage of the enemy
[65]: The lessons of the chase applied to the arts of war
[66]: Cambyses’s concluding suggestions
[67]: Obedience to divine guidance the first rule
[68]: Cyrus arrives in Media
[69]: Cyrus and Cyaxares discuss the situation
[70]: The probable number of the opposing forces
[71]: Their method of warfare
[72]: Proposed reorganization of the Persian commoners
[73]: Cyrus announces to the peers the proposed change
[74]: Cyrus announces the proposed reorganization to the commoners
[75]: The commoners accept
[76]: Preliminary drill
[77]: Competitive drill
[78]: The divisions of Cyrus’s army were as follows: 5 men to a corporal’s squad πεμπάς); officer: corporal (πεμπάδαρχος); total men: 5. 2 corporals’ squads to a 1 sergeant’s squad δεκάς; officer: sergeant δεκάδαρχος; total men: 10. 5 sergeants’ squads to a platoon λόχος; officer: lieutenant λοχαγός; total men: 50. 2 platoons to a company τάξις; officer: captain ταξίαρχος; total men: 100. 10 companies to a 1 regiment χιλιοστύς; officer: colonel χιλίαρχος; total men: 1,000. 10 regiments to a brigade μυριοστύς; officer: general μυρίαρχος); total men: 10,000.
[79]: Rewards of merit
[80]: Tenting by companies
[81]: Physical culture in Cyrus’s discipline
[82]: Cyrus’s invitations
[83]: The quartermasters
[84]: Cyrus’s entertainments
[85]: A story of bad manners
[86]: A comical result of literal obedience
[87]: Objections raised to both stories
[88]: Is it better to make men laugh than weep?
[89]: The proper basis for distributing prize money
[90]: Rewards according to merit
[91]: The vicious and lazy have no place in an army
[92]: How to fill vacant places in the ranks
[93]: The ugly favourite.
[94]: Xenophon here introduces a Greek custom; the Persians poured no libations. But at the conclusion of a dinner, the Greeks poured three libations: the first, to the gods; the second, to the heroes; the third to Zeus, or to Hermes.
[95]: The mass meeting
[96]: Cyrus proposes rewards on the basis of merit
[97]: Chrysantas seconds the proposal
[98]: Pheraulas adds his support
[99]: A sham battle: cudgels vs. clods
[100]: Military drill made pleasant
[101]: missing
[102]: An embassy from India
[103]: Cyrus presents himself and his army
[104]: The audience
[105]: Cyrus calls upon Cyaxares for funds
[106]: The Armenian defection
[107]: Cyrus’s scheme to entrap the Armenian
[108]: αἴσιος means, strictly speaking, auspicious, bringing (good) omens; and good omens came from the east, the home of light.
[109]: The hunt on the Armenian frontier
[110]: Cyrus lays his real design before his captains
[111]: His instructions to Chrysantas
[112]: Cyrus’s ultimatum
[113]: The Armenians hear of Cyrus’s approach
[114]: Chrysantas captures the train of fugitives
[115]: The king entrapped
[116]: The court martial of the king
[117]: The king convicts himself
[118]: Tigranes pleads his father’s case
[119]: The acquisition of discretion
[120]: Xenophon makes Cyrus apparently accept the Socratic doctrine that wisdom and the other virtues are matters for learning, the results of study and practice—not a mood, like sorrow, anger, or any other emotion.
[121]: How the king of Armenia learned discretion
[122]: Fear of harm worse than the reality
[123]: Tigranes discusses plans for adjustment
[124]: He argues for the continuance of his father’s reign
[125]: Cyrus takes a conciliatory attitude
[126]: His demands
[127]: His generosity
[128]: A Socrates in Armenia
[129]: Armenian appreciation of Cyrus
[130]: Tigranes joins Cyrus’s army
[131]: Preparations for the conquest of Chaldaea
[132]: He hurls his army into the Chaldaean mountains
[133]: The battle
[134]: He releases the prisoners
[135]: The Armenian king expresses his gratification
[136]: Cyrus guarantees peace between them
[137]: Chaldaean mercenaries
[138]: Cyrus proposes an embassy to India
[139]: Cyrus’s departure from Armenia
[140]: Rewards for the meritorious
[141]: Cyrus thinks of invading the enemy’s country
[142]: He rouses his army to take the offensive
[143]: οἱ ἐπικαίριοι are literally the most timely, the most important, the chief officers. It is consistently rendered by staff-officers in this translation, though the word may be applied to all who are in authority, whether military or civil.
[144]: He lays his plan before Cyaxares
[145]: Cyaxares approves
[146]: Cyrus invades Assyria
[147]: Cyrus and Cyaxares advance to meet the foe
[148]: A barbarian encampment
[149]: Cyrus and Cyaxares await an attack
[150]: Cyrus offers sacrifice and exhorts the peers
[151]: He exhorts also the rear-guard officers
[152]: The king of Assyria exhorts his troops
[153]: Cyaxares proposes an immediate attack
[154]: Cyrus wisely counsels delay
[155]: The value of exhortations to valour
[156]: Cyaxares orders a charge
[157]: The charge of the Persians
[158]: The Assyrians fail to withstand the charge
[159]: They flee into their entrenchments
[160]: The panic in the camp
[161]: Cyrus orders a retreat
[162]: Cyrus withdraws
[163]: His address to his troops
[164]: Chrysantas promoted
[165]: The lessons of the battle
[166]: The Assyrians decamp
[167]: Pursuit proposed
[168]: Cyaxares replies
[169]: Cyrus answers his uncle’s objections
[170]: Cyaxares accepts Cyrus’s proposal
[171]: I. iv. 27-28
[172]: The Hyrcanians
[173]: They send envoys to Cyrus
[174]: They report the enemy within striking distance
[175]: The volunteers to follow Cyrus
[176]: He assigns the order of marching
[177]: He comes up with the Hyrcanians
[178]: They all join his army
[179]: Cyrus outlines plans for a second attack
[180]: How to conserve the results of victory
[181]: The panic flight of the Assyrian army
[182]: How the victors behaved
[183]: Cyrus organizes his commissariat
[184]: Cyrus exhorts the Persians to self-denial and consideration of others
[185]: The Persians ready to put their training to the proof
[186]: The cavalry bring in spoils
[187]: The Persians handicapped without cavalry of their own
[188]: Cyrus proposes to have Persian cavalry
[189]: Chrysantas supports the proposition
[190]: The captains are unanimous
[191]: The allies return with prisoners of war
[192]: What to do with these prisoners
[193]: Cyrus offers them their liberty
[194]: General orders for dinner
[195]: How the night was spent by the Persians
[196]: by the Medes
[197]: by Cyaxares
[198]: The king’s message to Cyrus
[199]: Cyrus sends to Persia for reinforcements
[200]: The king’s message is received
[201]: Cyrus’s plans to meet the crisis
[202]: Cyrus’s answer to Cyaxares
[203]: Final directions to his envoy
[204]: IV. ii. 33
[205]: The Medes and Hyrcanians directed to divide the spoils
[206]: Cyrus asks for the horses for his Persians
[207]: He suggests suitable gifts for others
[208]: The Persians will be content with what is left
[209]: The spoils are divided
[210]: Cyrus finds squires for his Persians
[211]: The arrival of Gobryas
[212]: His story
[213]: The grief-stricken father’s recital is broken with sobs; the sentences begun are never finished.
[214]: The murder of his son
[215]: Cyrus and Gobryas make a compact
[216]: How the spoils were divided
[217]: Cyrus’s disposal of his prizes
[218]: I. iv. 26
[219]: Araspas describes Panthea
[220]: Cyrus declines to visit her
[221]: Araspas maintains that love is a matter of will
[222]: Cyrus maintains that it is a kind of slavery
[223]: Araspas claims that only the weakling is enslaved
[224]: He falls in love
[225]: Cyrus calls upon the Medes to answer Cyaxares
[226]: Artabazus leads the movement to stay I. iv. 27-28
[227]: I. iv. 25-28
[228]: The whole Median contingent stays with Cyrus
[229]: The Persian army visits Gobryas
[230]: Gobryas shows him his resources
[231]: IV. vi. 2f.
[232]: Cyrus renews his covenant with Gobryas
[233]: Cyrus’s pledge for the daughter of Gobryas
[234]: Gobryas is impressed by the simple life
[235]: Costly coverlets and couches were a special feature of oriental luxury.
[236]: Plain living and high thinking
[237]: Cyrus consults with Gobryas and the Hyrcanian king
[238]: Cyrus aims to effect a combination with other enemies of Assyria
[239]: The king and Gadatas
[240]: The Assyrians’ terror of Cyrus is disappearing
[241]: Cyrus proposes to march straight for Babylon
[242]: Cyrus’s grounds for confidence
[243]: The Persians prove to Gobryas their generosity
[244]: The Assyrian refuses battle
[245]: Cyrus plans to gain the secret support of Gadatas
[246]: Gadatas plays into Cyrus’s hands
[247]: Cyrus gains the desired stronghold
[248]: A base of operations established in the north-east
[249]: The king threatens to invade Gadatas’s country
[250]: Cyrus proposes that the whole army go to the relief of Gadatas
[251]: The whole army goes to help Gadatas
[252]: The army accepts the proposal
[253]: The order of march
[254]: Cyrus’s memory for names
[255]: The midnight march
[256]: The order by day
[257]: Conspiracy against Gadatas
[258]: The plot almost succeeds
[259]: Cyrus saves the day
[260]: Gadatas shows his gratitude
[261]: The Cadusian fiasco
[262]: Cyrus cares for the survivors
[263]: The lessons of the Cadusian blunder
[264]: Cyrus vows revenge
[265]: Cyrus proposes mutual protection of the farms
[266]: Gadatas brings gifts to Cyrus
[267]: Gadatas’s relations with the Assyrian king
[268]: Gadatas makes common cause with Cyrus
[269]: Cyrus’s tactics in passing Babylon
[270]: Cyrus captures three forts
[271]: Cyrus requests Cyaxares to come
[272]: Reinforcements arrive from Persia
[273]: IV. v. 31
[274]: Meeting between Cyrus and his uncle
[275]: Cyaxares’s jealous complaints
[276]: Cyrus reasons with his uncle
[277]: Cyrus reviews his own conduct
[278]: He establishes his innocence of wrong
[279]: Cyaxares submits his grounds of complaint
[280]: Cyaxares reconciled
[281]: He holds a reception
[282]: Cyrus organizes for the continuance of the war
[283]: The allies beg Cyrus to stay
[284]: The conference on the continuance of the war
[285]: I. iv. 27-28
[286]: Cyrus closes the debate
[287]: The battle against cold and hunger
[288]: Fortified posts in the enemy’s country
[289]: The unanimous decision for war
[290]: Measures for strength and health
[291]: The king leaves Babylon
[292]: Cyrus increases his cavalry
[293]: Cyrus introduces a corps of chariots of war
[294]: Araspas and Panthea
[295]: She appeals to Cyrus
[296]: Cyrus discusses with Araspas his fall
[297]: Cyrus sends him as a spy
[298]: Doctrine of the duality of the soul
[299]: Cyrus’s final instructions to Araspas
[300]: Panthea sends for Abradatas
[301]: Abradatas makes common cause with Cyrus
[302]: That is, about 1400 pounds; the Attic talent is equivalent to 55 3/4 pounds avoirdupois.
[303]: Envoys from India are sent as spies
[304]: Further preparations for the conflict
[305]: The report of the Indian spies
[306]: General alarm at the report
[307]: Cyrus calms their fears
[308]: and fills them with new enthusiasm
[309]: Chrysantas explains away the apparent fear
[310]: Cyrus proposes an immediate advance
[311]: The wine habit to be broken off gradually
[312]: General directions for equipment
[313]: Equipment for—(1) hospital,
[314]: (2) packs,
[315]: (3) arms,
[316]: (4) vehicles,
[317]: (5) commissary,
[318]: (6) engineers
[319]: Special arrangements for artisans
[320]: and merchants
[321]: The advance begins
[322]: The order of march
[323]: The enemy is sighted
[324]: Cyrus gets information about the enemy
[325]: The enemy reconnoitres
[326]: Araspas returns
[327]: He delivers his report
[328]: The enemy’s order of battle
[329]: The stadium is 600 feet; the ancient soldier was normally allowed 3 feet. That makes a front of 200 men per stadium, 8,000 for the entire front. That means, as they stood 30 deep, 240,000 in the army, and with the Egyptians 360,000.
[330]: Cyrus outlines his order of battle
[331]: He explains the advantages of his plan
[332]: He gives his final directions
[333]: Abradatas asks for the post of danger
[334]: They prepare for battle
[335]: Panthea arrays Abradatas for the battle
[336]: She exhorts him to bravery
[337]: The parting
[338]: Cyrus analyses the situation
[339]: Cyrus makes ready for the advance
[340]: His army moves forward
[341]: Croesus begins his flanking movement
[342]: missing
[343]: Cyrus gives orders how to meet it
[344]: He encourages his men
[345]: A common feast, ἔρανος, was a feast where all the participants contributed an equal share—a picnic. The ἔρανος might also be a society or club in which all the members contributed equally to some public cause.
[346]: His last interview with Abradatas
[347]: His confidence in the outcome
[348]: He exhorts other officers: (1) Hystaspas,
[349]: (2) the commander of the chariots,
[350]: (3) Pheraulas and Artagerses
[351]: Croesus orders his attack;
[352]: The point of Xenophon’s simile is clear, when we recall the marble tiling of the temple roofs of his time.
[353]: but Cyrus anticipates him on the right,
[354]: Artagerses on the left
[355]: Abradatas charges to his death
[356]: Compare Xen. Cyrop. 3.3.60; Xen. Cyrop. 6.1.27
[357]: The Persians charge the Egyptian phalanx
[358]: Cyrus falls upon their rear
[359]: Cyrus surveys the field from a movable tower
[360]: He spares the Egyptians
[361]: and wins their allegiance
[362]: Observations on the battle
[363]: The capture of Sardis
[364]: The Chaldaeans’ breach of discipline
[365]: Good discipline rewarded
[366]: Croesus before Cyrus
[367]: Cyrus proposes to spare Sardis
[368]: Croesus and the Pythian oracle
[369]: See Index, s.v. Croesus, note.
[370]: The secret of a happy life
[371]: There is a reference to the famous inscription on the temple at Delphi—γνῶθι σεαυτόν.
[372]: Gyges, the shepherd king of Lydia.
[373]: Cyrus restores to Croesus his household
[374]: Cyrus takes the Lydian treasures
[375]: He learns of the death of Abradatas
[376]: Panthea mourns over her dead
[377]: Cyrus tries to comfort her
[378]: Panthea’s death
[379]: Adusius settles a civil war in Caria
[380]: Peace is established between the factions
[381]: The conquest of the lesser Phrygia
[382]: Barbarians, from the Greek point of view,; that is, Persians.
[383]: Cyrus starts from Sardis
[384]: He marches still conquering to Babylon
[385]: Cyrus surrounds Babylon
[386]: See Index, s.v. Babylon, note.
[387]: He retires from the wall
[388]: See Appendix I.
[389]: Cyrus plans for a siege
[390]: He proposes to divert the Euphrates
[391]: The river is turned
[392]: Cyrus issues instructions for entering the city
[393]: Babylon falls
[394]: Gobryas and Gadatas avenge their wrongs
[395]: The entire city yields to Cyrus
[396]: Cyrus holds court
[397]: His personal friends are crowded out
[398]: He discusses organization of his court
[399]: Artabazus reviews his own relations with Cyrus
[400]: IV. i. 21-24
[401]: His hopes too long deferred
[402]: Chrysantas proposes a royal home for Cyrus
[403]: Cyrus moves into the palace
[404]: He selects his bodyguard
[405]: The palace guard
[406]: The city guards
[407]: Cyrus advocates the old morals for his new empire
[408]: He emphasizes the Persians’ need
[409]: The secret of happiness
[410]: Virtue the strongest safeguard
[411]: The Persian discipline in Babylon Xen. Cyrop. 1.2.4 ff.
[412]: Chrysantas emphasizes the importance of discipline
[413]: and the need of obedience to Cyrus
[414]: Duty of attendance at court
[415]: Policies adopted
[416]: Cyrus appoints many officers
[417]: The importance of wise appointments
[418]: He models his civil service after the army
[419]: How he enforced the discipline
[420]: Cyrus resolves to be a model in
[421]: (1) religion,
[422]: (2) uprightness,
[423]: (3) considerateness,
[424]: (4) obedience,
[425]: (5) temperance
[426]: The chase as a means of discipline
[427]: Excellence encouraged
[428]: He adopts the Median costume
[429]: His policy toward the servant class
[430]: His personal security
[431]: How Cyrus made himself popular
[432]: The nearest way to a man’s heart
[433]: Specialization desirable even in the kitchen
[434]: Cyrus lavish in his gifts
[435]: The king’s eyes and king’s ears
[436]: Hdt. i. 114; Aesch. Pers. 980
[437]: Cyrus excelled in generosity
[438]: Cyrus’s theory of wealth vs. that of Croesus
[439]: Cyrus also has his treasures
[440]: Why Cyrus wanted wealth
[441]: Cyrus establishes a board of health and a medical dispensary
[442]: How Cyrus guarded against coalitions
[443]: Cyrus plans to appear in state
[444]: Pheraulas is made grand marshal II. iii. 7 ff.
[445]: The formation of the line of the procession
[446]: The Persians were obliged, in the presence of the king, to thrust their hands inside the sleeves of their doublets in token of their submission to royalty: moreover, with the hands thus withdrawn, no act of violence was possible. Cyrus, the Younger, is said to have had two of his kinsmen executed for their failure to observe this regulation. Xen. Hell. 2.1.8
[447]: Cyrus appears in the procession
[448]: The Persians were obliged, in the presence of the king, to thrust their hands inside the sleeves of their doublets in token of their submission to royalty: moreover, with the hands thus withdrawn, no act of violence was possible. Cyrus, the Younger, is said to have had two of his kinsmen executed for their failure to observe this regulation. Xen. Hell. 2.1.8
[449]: The procession itself
[450]: How Cyrus received petitions
[451]: Discourtesy toward the king rebuked
[452]: The sacrifice and the races
[453]: Pheraulas gets a blow and a horse
[454]: The chariot race
[455]: The procession comes to an end
[456]: Pheraulas entertains the Sacian
[457]: Cf. Vergil, Georgics i. 4 Menander, Georgos 35
[458]: He complains of the burden of riches
[459]: Pheraulas gets rid of his burden of wealth
[460]: He delights to serve others
[461]: An unusual partnership
[462]: A royal banquet
[463]: Order of preferment at Cyrus’s dinners
[464]: Cyrus’s generosity
[465]: Why Hystaspas felt slighted
[466]: The Greek says: Speak words of good omen—i.e., preserve auspicious silence.
[467]: Why Cyrus preferred Chrysantas
[468]: What the Persian dance was is not known; hence we miss the whole point of the joke. Obviously, however it was a dance with many gesticulations. At all events, Artabazus introduces his jest about the dance only to cut short the maudlin talk of Hystaspas.
[469]: Hystaspas asks for the daughter of Gobryas
[470]: Cyrus sets up a matrimonial bureau
[471]: Cyrus’s frigid jokes
[472]: On the principle of opposites just described, the man who is ψυχρός frigid, cold-blooded should have a wife who is θερμή. In 23 ψυχρός is used in another sense—frigid or dull in his humour.
[473]: Hystaspas receives the hand of Gobryas’s daughter
[474]: Cyrus and the allies
[475]: He divides the Lydian spoils
[476]: The use vs. the abuse of wealth
[477]: ἐλευθέριος and ἀνελευθερία have both a double meaning: (1) of free or mean extraction, and (2) of free (liberal) or miserly character.
[478]: Cyrus exhibits his possessions
[479]: Cyrus goes to Persia
[480]: An oriental camp
[481]: Cyrus’s perfect organization
[482]: The arrangement of his camp
[483]: Cyrus as a tactician
[484]: We learn from Aelian (Tact. 27) that this was either a countermarch by files (κατὰ ξυλά), in which the wings only changed places, or a countermarch by companies (κατὰ λόχους or στίχους) when the whole line turned and the rearguard marched in front, so that there was a change of front as well as of wings. The object of the last-named movement was to put τοὺς κρατίστους the best men forward. (Holden.)
[485]: Cyrus visits his uncle
[486]: Cyaxares offers him his daughter’s hand and all Media
[487]: Cyrus arrives in Persepolis
[488]: Cambyses’s address to his people
[489]: Cyrus marries his cousin
[490]: Cyrus institutes satrapies
[491]: The duties and privileges of satraps
[492]: Cyrus appoints the satraps
[493]: Further duties of satraps
[494]: He gives them instructions
[495]: Plans adopted for the visitation of the provinces
[496]: Cyrus inaugurates a postal system
[497]: Cyrus completes his conquests
[498]: He locates his residences
[499]: His personal popularity
[500]: The passing of Cyrus
[501]: He is warned in a vision
[502]: Literally Be packing up; cf. Varro, de R.R. 1. 1: annus octogesimus admonet me ut sarcinas colligam antequam proficiscar e vita.
[503]: His prayer
[504]: His last words
[505]: He reviews his life
[506]: His services
[507]: He defines the succession
[508]: His words of counsel—(1) to Cambyses;
[509]: (2) to Tanaoxares
[510]: Cyrus on the immortality of the soul
[511]: He preaches the doctrine of reverence
[512]: He gives directions for his burial
[513]: The empire and its disintegration
[514]: The decline in moral standards
[515]: Tachos; see Index, s.v. Ariobarzanes.
[516]: Financial dishonesty
[517]: Physical deterioration
[518]: Decline of the old disciplines
[519]: The effeminacy of the orientals
[520]: The modern knighthood
[521]: Inefficiency of infantry and chariots
[522]: The barbarian helpless without Greek soldiers
[523]: Conclusion