[19] 'But what defeat,' said Cyrus, 'can you find in your father's case to make you so sure that he has come to a sober mind?'
'A defeat,' answered the young man, 'of which he is well aware in the secret chambers of his soul. He set his heart on liberty, and he has found himself a slave as never before: he had designs that needed stealth and speed and force, and not one of them has he been able to carry through. With you he knows that design and fulfilment went hand in hand; when you wished to outwit him, outwit him you did, as though he had been blind and deaf and dazed; when stealth was needed, your stealth was such that the fortresses he thought his own you turned into traps for him; and your speed was such that you were upon him from miles away with all your armament before he found time to muster the forces at his command.'
[20] 'So you think,' said Cyrus, 'that merely to learn another is stronger than himself is defeat enough to bring a man to his senses?'
'I do,' answered Tigranes, 'and far more truly than mere defeat in battle. For he who is conquered by force may fancy that if he trains he can renew the war, and captured cities dream that with the help of allies they will fight again one day, but if we meet with men who are better than ourselves and whom we recognise to be so, we are ready to obey them of our own free will.' [21] 'You imagine then,' said Cyrus, 'that the bully and the tyrant cannot recognise the man of self- restraint, nor the thief the honest man, nor the liar the truth- speaker, nor the unjust man the upright? Has not your own father lied even now and broken his word with us, although he knew that we had faithfully observed every jot and tittle of the compact Astyages made?' [22] 'Ah, but,' replied the prince, 'I do not pretend that the bare knowledge alone will bring a man to his senses, it cannot cure him unless he pays the penalty as my father pays it to-day.' 'But,' answered Cyrus, 'your father has suffered nothing at all so far: although he fears, I know, that the worst suffering may be his.' [23] 'Do you suppose then,' asked Tigranes, 'that anything can enslave a man more utterly than fear? Do you not know that even the men who are beaten with the iron rod of war, the heaviest rod in all the world, may still be ready to fight again, while the victims of terror cannot be brought to look their conquerors in the face, even when they try to comfort them?' 'Then, you maintain,' said Cyrus, 'that fear will subdue a man more than suffering?' [24] 'Yes,' he answered, 'and you of all men know that what I say is true: you know the despondency men feel in dread of banishment, or on the eve of battle facing defeat, or sailing the sea in peril of shipwreck--they cannot touch their food or take their rest because of their alarm: while it may often be that the exiles themselves, the conquered, or the enslaved, can eat and sleep better than men who have not known adversity. [25] Think of those panic-stricken creatures who through fear of capture and death have died before their day, have hurled themselves from cliffs, hanged themselves, or set the knife to their throats; so cruelly can fear, the prince of horrors, bind and subjugate the souls of men. And what, think you, does my father feel at this moment? He, whose fears are not for himself alone, but for us all, for his wife, and for his children.' [26] And Cyrus said, 'To-day and at this time, it may be with him as you say: but I still think that the same man may well be insolent in good fortune and cringing in defeat: let such an one go free again, and he will return to his arrogance and trouble us once more.' [27] 'I do not deny it, Cyrus,' said the prince. 'Our offences are such that you may well mistrust us: but you have it in your power to set garrisons in our land and hold our strong places and take what pledges you think best. And even so,' he added, 'you will not find that we fret against our chains, for we shall remember we have only ourselves to blame. Whereas, if you hand over the government to some who have not offended, they may either think that you mistrust them, and thus, although you are their benefactor, you cannot be their friend, or else in your anxiety not to rouse their enmity you may leave no check on their insolence, and in the end you will need to sober them even more than us.' [28] 'Nay, but by all the gods,' cried Cyrus, 'little joy should I ever take in those who served me from necessity alone. Only if I recognise some touch of friendship or goodwill in the help it is their duty to render, I could find it easier to forgive them all their faults than to accept the full discharge of service paid upon compulsion by those who hate me.'
Then Tigranes answered, 'You speak of friendship, but can you ever find elsewhere so great a friendship as you may find with us?' 'Surely I can,' he answered, 'and with those who have never been my enemies, if I choose to be their benefactor as you would have me yours.' [29] 'But to-day, and now, can you find another man in the world whom you could benefit as you can benefit my father? Say you let a man live who has never done you wrong, will he be grateful for the boon? Say he need not lose his children and his wife, will he love you for that more than one who knows he well deserved the loss? Say he may not sit upon the throne of Armenia, will he suffer from that as we shall suffer? And is it not clear that the one who feels the pain of forfeiture the most will be the one most grateful for the granting of the gift? [30] And if you have it at all at heart to leave matters settled here, think for yourself, and see where tranquillity will lie when your back is turned. Will it be with the new dynasty, or with the old familiar house? And if you want as large a force as possible at your command, where will you find a man better fitted to test the muster-roll than the general who has used it time and again? If you need money, who will provide the ways and means better than he who knows and can command all the resources of the country? I warn you as a friend,' he added, 'that if you throw us aside you will do yourself more harm than ever my father could have done.'
[31] Such were the pleadings of the prince, and Cyrus, as he listened, was overjoyed, for he felt he would accomplish to the full all he had promised Cyaxares; his own words came back to him, 'I hope to make the Armenian a better friend than before.'
Thereupon he turned to the king and said, 'Son of Armenia, if I were indeed to hearken unto you and yours in this, tell me, how large an army would you send me and how much money for the war?'
[32] And the king replied, 'The simplest answer I can make and the most straightforward is to tell you what my power is, and then you may take the men you choose, and leave the rest to garrison the country. And so with the money: it is only fair that you should know the whole of our wealth, and with that knowledge to guide you, you will take what you like and leave what you like.' [33] And Cyrus said, 'Tell me then, and tell me true: how great is your power and your wealth?' Whereupon the Armenian replied: 'Our cavalry is 8000 strong and our infantry 40,000; and our wealth,' said he, 'if I include the treasures which my father left, amounts in silver to more than 3000 talents.'
[34] And Cyrus, without more ado, said at once, 'Of your whole armament you shall give me half, not more, since your neighbours the Chaldaeans are at war with you: but for the tribute, instead of the fifty talents which you paid before, you shall hand over twice as much to Cyaxares because you made default; and you will lend me another hundred for myself, and I hereby promise you, if God be bountiful, I will requite you for the loan with things of higher worth, or I will pay the money back in full, if I can; and if I cannot, you may blame me for want of ability, but not for want of will.' [35] But the Armenian cried, 'By all the gods, Cyrus, speak not so, or you will put me out of heart. I beg you to look on all I have as yours, what you leave behind as well as what you take away.'
'So be it then,' answered Cyrus, 'and to ransom your wife, how much money would you give?' 'All that I have,' said he. 'And for your sons?' 'For them too, all that I have.' 'Good,' answered Cyrus, 'but is not that already twice as much as you possess? [36] And you, Tigranes,' said he, 'at what price would you redeem your bride?' Now the youth was but newly wedded, and his wife was beyond all things dear to him. 'I would give my life,' said he, 'to save her from slavery.' [37] 'Take her then,' said Cyrus, 'she is yours. For I hold that she has never yet been made a prisoner, seeing that her husband never deserted us. And you, son of Armenia,' said he, turning to the king, 'you shall take home your wife and children, and pay no ransom for them, so that they shall not feel they come to you from slavery. But now,' he added, 'you shall stay and sup with us, and afterwards you shall go wherever you wish.'
And so the Armenians stayed. [38] But when the company broke up after the evening meal, Cyrus asked Tigranes, 'Tell me, where is that friend of yours who used to hunt with us, and whom, as it seemed to me, you admired so much?' 'Do you not know,' he said, 'that my father put him to death?' 'And why?' said Cyrus, 'what fault did he find in him?' 'He thought he corrupted me,' said the youth; 'and yet, I tell you, Cyrus, he was so gentle and so brave, so beautiful in soul, that when he came to die, he called me to him and said, 'Do not be angry with your father, Tigranes, for putting me to death. What he does is not done from malice, but from ignorance; and the sins of ignorance, I hold, are unintentional.''
[39] And at that Cyrus could not but say: 'Poor soul! I grieve for him.' But the king spoke in his own defence: 'Remember this, Cyrus, that the man who finds another with his wife kills him not simply because he believes that he has turned the woman to folly, but because he has robbed him of her love. Even so I was jealous of that man who seemed to put himself between my son and me and steal away his reverence.' [40] 'May the gods be merciful to us!' said Cyrus, 'you did wrong, but your fault was human. And you, Tigranes,' said he, turning to the son, 'you must forgive your father.'
And so they talked in all friendliness and kindliness, as befitted that time of reconciliation; and then the father
