seer).
C1.24. Fear of exile; autobiographical touch? Is anything passing through the mind of Xenophon? I dare say there is. [Xenophon was banished from his native city of Athens because of his friendship with Sparta and with Cyrus the Younger. See Works, Vol. I. p. xcix.]
C1.33, fin. 3000 talents. Something under £750,000.
C1.35. Cyrus drives home the conscience of indebtedness /à la/ Portia v. Shylock. N.B.--Humorous also and an Oriental tinge.
C1.38. One can't help thinking of Socrates and the people of Athens here. If so, this is a quasi-apology for the Athenian /bons pères de famille/ who condemned Socrates. Beautiful story of the sophist teacher's last injunction to Tigranes.
C1.40-41. What smiles after tears! Like a sunny day succeeding clouds and blackness. A pretty story this, of the wife of Tigranes. /Xenophon's women:/ this one, Pantheia, Croesus' wife, the wife of Ischomachus (/Economist/), the daughter of Gobryas.
C2.12. Archaeologically interesting. N.B.--Humanity towards wounded, Hellenic. Xenophon's own strategy in the /Anabasis/ is probably the prototype.
C2.15. For Hellenic and Xenophontine religiousness. The incalculableness of human life: God fulfils himself in many unforeseen ways. N.B.--Irony also of the situation, since Cyrus doesn't intend the Armenian to triumph over the Chaldaean in the way he anticipates.
C2.20. Note how Socratically it is made to work itself out.
C3. Cyrus, the Archic Man, the 'born ruler,' is also the diplomatic man (cf., no doubt, Gladstone), a diplomacy based on organic economic sense and friendly-naturedness.
C3.10. Xenophon's theory of fraternity in action, all petty jealousies brushed aside.
[C3.11. The 'captains-of-twelve' and the 'captains-of-six' are the same officers as those called elsewhere 'captains-of-ten' and 'captains-of-five' (cf. above Bk. II. C2.21 note). The titles vary because sometimes the officers themselves are included in the squads and sometimes not.]
C3.19. Nice touch, quoting his father as an authority.
C3.40. With garlands, like the Spartans. Was it conceivably a Persian custom too?
C3.44. Assyrian's speech; not a bad one, though platitudinous. Xenophon's dramatic form is shown in the intellectual and emotional side of his characters, rather than by the diction in their mouths, is it not?
C3.51-52. Most important for Xenophon, Educationalist. Cyrus on the powerlessness of a speech to create valour in the soul of the untrained: there must be a physical, moral, and spiritual training there beforehand. The speech is in Xenophon's best earnest rhetorical style.
C3.57. The march into battle, /vide/ Milton. A beautiful bit of word- painting.
C3.58. Cf. the Prussian army singing a hymn [in 1870].
BOOK IV
[C.1] Cyrus waited, with his troops as they were, long enough to show that he was ready to do battle again if the enemy would come out; but as they did not stir he drew the soldiers off as far as he thought well, and there encamped. He had guards posted and scouts sent forward, and then he gathered his warriors round him and spoke to them as follows:
[2] 'Men of Persia, first and foremost I thank the gods of heaven with all my soul and strength; and I know you render thanks with me, for we have won salvation and victory, and it is meet and right to thank the gods for all that comes to us. But in the next place I must praise you, one and all; it is through you all that this glorious work has been accomplished, and when I have learnt what each man's part has been from those whose place it is to tell me, I will do my best to give each man his due, in word and deed. [3] But I need none to tell me the exploits of your brigadier Chrysantas; he was next to me in the battle and I could see that he bore himself as I believe you all have done. Moreover, at the very moment when I called on him to retire, he had just raised his sword to strike an Assyrian down, but he heard my voice, and at once he dropped his hand and did my bidding. He sent the word along the lines and led his division out of range before the enemy could lay one arrow to the string or let one javelin fly. Thus he brought himself and his men safely out of action, because he had learnt to obey. [4] But some of you, I see, are wounded, and when I hear at what moment they received their wounds I will pronounce my opinion on their deserts. Chrysantas I know already to be a true soldier and a man of sense, able to command because he is able to obey, and here and now I put him at the head of a thousand troops, nor shall I forget him on the day when God may please to give me other blessings. [5] There is one reminder I would make to all. Never let slip the lesson of this day's encounter, and judge for yourselves whether it is cowardice or courage that saves a man in war, whether the fighters or the shirkers have the better chance, and what the joy is that victory can yield. To-day of all days you can decide, for you have made the trial and the result is fresh. [6] With such thoughts as these in your hearts you will grow braver and better still. And now you may rest in the consciousness that you are dear to God and have done your duty bravely and steadily, and so take your meal and make your libations and sing the paean and be ready for the watchword.'
So saying, Cyrus mounted his horse and galloped on to Cyaxares, and the two rejoiced together as victors will. And then, after a glance at matters there and an inquiry if aught were needed, he rode back to his own detachment. Then the evening meal was taken and the watches were posted and Cyrus slept with his men.
[8] Meanwhile the Assyrians, finding that their king was among the slain and almost all his nobles with him, fell into utter despair, and many of them deserted during the night. And at this fear crept over Croesus and the allies; they saw dangers on every side, and heaviest of all was the knowledge that the leading nation, the head of the whole expedition, had received a mortal blow. Nothing remained but to abandon the encampment under cover of night. [9] Day broke, and the camp was seen to be deserted, and Cyrus, without more ado, led his Persians within the entrenchments, where they found the stores that the enemy had left: herds of sheep and goats and kine, and long rows of waggons laden with good things. Cyaxares and his Medes followed, and all arms took their breakfast in the camp. [10] But when the meal was over, Cyrus summoned his brigadiers and said to them:
'Think what blessings we are flinging away now, spurning, as it were, the very gifts of heaven! So at least it seems to me. The enemy have given us the slip, as you see with your own eyes. Is it likely that men who forsook the shelter of their own fortress will ever face us in fair field on level ground? Will those who shrink from us before they put our prowess to the test ever withstand us now when we have overthrown and shattered them? They have lost their best and bravest, and will the cowards dare to give us battle?'
[11] At that one of his officers cried, 'Why not pursue at once, if such triumphs are before us?'
And Cyrus answered, 'Because we have not the horses. The stoutest of our enemies, those whom we must seize or slay, are mounted on steeds that could sweep past us like the wind. God helping us, we can put them to flight, but we cannot overtake them.'
[12] 'Then,' said they, 'why not go and lay the matter before Cyaxares?'
And he answered, 'If so, you must all go with me, that Cyaxares may see it is the wish of all.'
So they all went together and spoke as they thought best. [13] Now Cyaxares felt, no doubt, a certain jealousy that the Persians should be the first to broach the matter, but he may also have felt that it was really wiser to run no further risks for the present; he had, moreover, abandoned himself to feasting and merrymaking, and he saw that most of his Medes were in like case. Whatever the reason, this was the answer he gave:
[14] 'My good nephew, I have always heard and always seen that you Persians of all men think it your duty never to be insatiate in the pursuit of any pleasure; and I myself believe that the greater the joy the more important is self-restraint. Now what greater joy could there be than the good fortune which waits on us to-day? [15] When fortune comes to us, if we guard her with discretion, we may live to grow old in peace, but if we are insatiate, if we use and abuse our pleasures, chasing first one and then another, we may well fear lest that fate be ours which, the proverb tells us, falls on those mariners who cannot forgo their voyages in the pursuit of wealth, and one day the deep sea swallows them. Thus has many a warrior achieved one victory only to clutch at another and lose the first. [16] If indeed, our enemies who have fled were weaker than we, it might be safe enough to pursue them. But now, bethink you, how small a portion of them we have fought and conquered; the mass have had no part in the battle, and they, if we do not force them to fight, will take themselves off through sheer cowardice and sloth. As yet they know nothing of our powers or their own, but if they learn that to fly is as dangerous as to hold their ground, we run the risk of driving them to be brave in spite of themselves. [17] You may be sure they are just as anxious to save
