his men behind him, carrying wine and corn and barley, and driving oxen and goats and swine, enough to feast the entire host. [6] And his stewards fell to distributing the stores at once, and serving up a banquet. Then Gobryas invited Cyrus to enter the castle now that all the garrison had left it, using every precaution he might think wise; and Cyrus took him at his word, and sent in scouts and a strong detachment before he entered the palace himself. Once within, he had the gates thrown open and sent for all his own friends and officers. [7] And when they joined him, Gobryas had beakers of gold brought out, and pitchers, and goblets, and costly ornaments, and golden coins without end, and all manner of beautiful things, and last of all he sent for his own daughter, tall and fair, a marvel of beauty and stateliness, still wearing mourning for her brother. And her father said to Cyrus, 'All these riches I bestow on you for a gift, and I put my daughter in your hands, to deal with as you think best. We are your suppliants; I but three days gone for my son, and she this day for her brother; we beseech you to avenge him.'
[8] And Cyrus made answer:
'I gave you my promise before that if you kept faith with me I would avenge you, so far as in me lay, and to- day I see the debt is due, and the promise I made to you I repeat to your daughter; God helping me, I will perform it. As for these costly gifts,' he added, 'I accept them, and I give them for a dowry to your daughter, and to him who may win her hand in marriage. One gift only I will take with me when I go, but that is a thing so precious that if I changed it for all the wealth of Babylon or the whole world itself I could not go on my way with half so blithe a heart.'
[9] And Gobryas wondered what this rare thing could be, half suspecting it might be his daughter. 'What is it, my lord?' said he. And Cyrus answered, 'I will tell you. A man may hate injustice and impiety and lies, but if no one offers him vast wealth or unbridled power or impregnable fortresses or lovely children, he dies before he can show what manner of man he is. [10] But you have placed everything in my hands to-day, this mighty fortress, treasures of every kind, your own power, and a daughter most worthy to be won. And thus you have shown all men that I could not sin against my friend and my host, nor act unrighteously for the sake of wealth, nor break my plighted word of my own free will. [11] This is your gift, and, so long as I am a just man and known to be such, receiving the praise of my fellow- men, I will never forget it; I will strive to repay you with every honour I can give. [12] Doubt not,' he added, 'but that you will find a husband worthy of your daughter. I have many a good man and true among my friends, and one of them will win her hand; but I could not say whether he will have less wealth, or more, than what you offer me. Only of one thing you may be certain; there are those among them who will not admire you one whit the more because of the splendour of your gifts; they will only envy me and supplicate the gods that one day it will be given to them to show that they too are loyal to their friends, that they too will never yield to their foes while life is in them, unless some god strike them down; that they too would never sacrifice virtue and fair renown for all the wealth you proffer and all the treasure of Syria and Assyria to boot. Such is the nature, believe me, of some who are seated here.'
[13] And Gobryas smiled. 'By heaven, I wish you would point them out to me, and I would beg you to give me one of them to be my son-in- law.' And Cyrus said, 'You will not need to learn their names from me; follow us, and you will be able to point them out yourself.'
[14] With these words he rose, clasped the hand of Gobryas, and went out, all his men behind him. And though Gobryas pressed him to stay and sup in the citadel, he would not, but took his supper in the camp and constrained Gobryas to take his meal with them. [15] And there, lying on a couch of leaves, he put this question to him, 'Tell me, Gobryas, who has the largest store of coverlets, yourself, or each of us?' And the Assyrian answered, 'You, I know, have more than I, more coverlets, more couches, and a far larger dwelling-place, for your home is earth and heaven, and every nook may be a couch, and for your coverlets you need not count the fleeces of your flocks, but the brushwood, and the herbage of hill and plain.'
[16] Nevertheless, when the meal began, it must be said that Gobryas, seeing the poverty of what was set before him, thought at first that his own men were far more open-handed than the Persians. [17] But his mood changed as he watched the grace and decorum of the company; and saw that not a single Persian who had been schooled would ever gape, or snatch at the viands, or let himself be so absorbed in eating that he could attend to nothing else; these men prided themselves on showing their good sense and their intelligence while they took their food, just as a perfect rider sits his horse with absolute composure, and can look and listen and talk to some purpose while he puts him through his paces. To be excited or flustered by meat and drink was in their eyes something altogether swinish and bestial. [18] Nor did Gobryas fail to notice that they only asked questions which were pleasant to answer, and only jested in a manner to please; all their mirth was as far from impertinence and malice as it was from vulgarity and unseemliness. [19] And what struck him most was their evident feeling that on a campaign, since the danger was the same for all, no one was entitled to a larger share than any of his comrades; on the contrary, it was thought the perfection of the feast to perfect the condition of those who were to share the fighting. [20] And thus when he rose to return home, the story runs that he said:
'I begin to understand, Cyrus, how it is that while we have more goblets and more gold, more apparel and more wealth than you, yet we ourselves are not worth as much. We are always trying to increase what we possess, but you seem to set your hearts on perfecting your own souls.'
[21] But Cyrus only answered:
'My friend, be here without fail to-morrow, and bring all your cavalry in full armour, so that we may see your power, and then lead us through your country and show us who are hostile and who are friendly.'
[22] Thus they parted for the time and each saw to his own concerns.
But when the day dawned Gobryas appeared with his cavalry and led the way. And Cyrus, as a born general would, not only supervised the march, but watched for any chance to weaken the enemy and add to his own strength. [23] With this in view, he summoned the Hyrcanian chief and Gobryas himself; for they were the two he thought most likely to give him the information that he needed.
'My friends,' said he, 'I think I shall not err if I trust to your fidelity and consult you about the campaign. You, even more than I, are bound to see that the Assyrians do not overpower us. For myself, if I fail, there may well be some loophole of escape. But for you, if the king conquers, I see nothing but enmity on every side. [24] For, although he is my enemy, he bears me no malice, he only feels that it is against his interest for me to be powerful and therefore he attacks me. But you he hates with a bitter hatred, believing he is wronged by you.'
To this his companions answered that he must finish what he had to say; they were well aware of the facts, and had the deepest interest in the turn events might take.
[25] Thereupon Cyrus put his questions: 'Does the king suppose that you alone are his enemies, or do you know of others who hate him too?' 'Certainly we do,' replied the Hyrcanian, 'the Cadousians are his bitterest foes, and they are both numerous and warlike. Then there are the Sakians, our neighbours, who have suffered severely at his hands, for he tried to subdue them as he subdued us.'
[26] 'Then you think,' said Cyrus, 'that they would be glad to attack him in our company?' 'Much more than glad,' answered they; 'if they could manage to join us.' 'And what stands in their way?' asked he. 'The Assyrians themselves,' said they, 'the very people among whom you are marching now.' [27] At that Cyrus turned to Gobryas:
'And what of this lad who is now on the throne? Did you not charge him with unbridled insolence?'
'Even so,' replied Gobryas, 'and I think he gave me cause.' 'Tell me,' said Cyrus, 'were you the only man he treated thus, or did others suffer too?'
[28] 'Many others,' said Gobryas, 'but some of them were weak, and why should I weary you with the insults they endured? I will tell you of a young man whose father was a much greater personage than I, and who was himself, like my own son, a friend and comrade of the prince. One day at a drinking-bout this monster had the youth seized and mutilated, and why? Some say simply because a paramour of his own had praised the boy's beauty and said his bride was a woman to be envied. The king himself now asserts it was because he had tried to seduce his paramour. That young man, eunuch as he is, is now at the head of his province, for his father is dead.'
[29] 'Well,' rejoined Cyrus, 'I take it, you believe he would welcome us, if he thought we came to help him?' 'I am more than sure of that,' said Gobryas, 'but it is not so easy to set eyes on him.' 'And why?' asked Cyrus. 'Because if we are to join him at all, we must march right past Babylon itself.' [30] 'And where is the difficulty in that?' said Cyrus. 'Heaven help us!' cried Gobryas. 'The city has only to open her gates, and she can send out an army ten thousand times as large as yours. That is why,' he added, 'the Assyrians are less prompt than they were at bringing in their weapons and their horses, because those who have seen your army think it so very small, and their report has got about. So that in my opinion it would be better to advance with the utmost care.'
