(1) Cyrus was involved in these things. When the Armenian heard from the messenger what Cyrus had said, he was stunned, as he reflected that he had been unjust in neglecting the tribute and in not sending the army. The greatest problem, which he especially feared, was that he was about to be discovered in the early stages of fortifying his palace so as to make it sufficient for armed resistance. (2) Hesitating because of all these things, he sent around to gather his own power, and at the same time he sent into the mountains his younger son Sabaris, his own wife, his son’s wife, and their daughters. He sent along also the jewelry and property of greatest value, and he gave them an escort. He himself sent out scouts to see what Cyrus was doing, and at the same time he marshaled those of the Armenians who were nearby. And soon there were others present who said that he himself was already close at hand. (3) At this point the Armenian no longer dared to come to blows, so he withdrew. When the Armenians saw him do this, each ran immediately to what was his own, wishing to get his possessions out of the way.1 When Cyrus saw the plain full of them running and hastening about, he sent out and said that he was not the enemy of anyone who stayed put, but if he caught anyone running away, he announced that he would treat him as an enemy. Consequently, many stayed, but there were some who withdrew with the king. (4) When those who were going forward with the women fell in amidst the troops on the mountain, they immediately raised a cry and many of them were captured as they tried to escape. Finally, the sons, wives, and daughters were captured, along with as many valuables as they happened to be carrying with them. The king himself, when he perceived what was going on, was at a loss as to where to turn and fled to a hill. (5) Seeing this, Cyrus encircled the hill with the army that was with him, and sending to Chrysantas, he ordered him to leave a guard on the mountain and come back. So the army was gathered together for Cyrus, and he sent a herald to the Armenian and asked the following: “Tell me, Armenian, do you wish to remain there and do battle against hunger and thirst, or to come down onto a level field and do battle against us?”
The Armenian answered that he did not wish to do battle against either.
(6) Sending again, Cyrus asked, “Why then are you sitting there and not coming down?”
“I am at a loss as to what I ought to do,” he said.
“But you ought not be at a loss,” said Cyrus, “for it is possible for you to come down to a trial.”
“Who will be the judge?” he asked.
“Clearly he to whom god granted to treat you as he wishes even without a trial.”
At this point, recognizing necessity, the Armenian came down. And Cyrus took him and everything else into their midst, and encamped his army around them, having already brought his whole force close together.
(7) Meanwhile, the older son of the Armenian, Tigranes, came back from a journey; it was he who was once a hunting partner with Cyrus. And when he heard what had happened, he went directly—just as he was—to Cyrus. When he saw that his father, mother, siblings, and his own wife had become captives, he broke into tears, as was to be expected. (8) On seeing him, Cyrus showed him no sign of friendship but said, “You have arrived at an opportune time, for you may attend and listen to the trial concerning your father.” And he directly called together the leaders of both the Persians and the Medes. And if any of the honored Armenians were present, he invited them too. He did not send away the women who were present in their carriages, but he allowed them to listen as well.
(9) When all was well, he began the discussion. “Armenian,” he said, “I advise you in the first place to tell the truth in your trial, so that you may avoid at least what is most hateful, for be assured that being detected in lying especially keeps people from obtaining sympathy. Besides, the children and wives here are aware of all you have done, as are all the Armenians who are present. If they perceive you saying things contrary to what has occurred, they will believe that even you yourself have condemned yourself to suffer all the most extreme things, if I learn the truth.”
“Ask what you wish, Cyrus,” he said, “on the assurance that I will speak the truth, and let come what may as a result.”
(10) “Tell me, then,” he said, “did you ever make war on Astyages, the father of my mother, and on the other Medes?”
“I did,” he said.
“When you were conquered by him, did you agree that you would pay tribute and send an army wherever he directed, and that you would not have fortifications?”
“This is so.”
“Then why were you neither paying the tribute nor sending an army, and why were you building fortifications?”
“I desired freedom, for it seemed to me to be noble both that I be free myself and that I leave freedom for my children.”
(11) “Yes,” said Cyrus, “it is noble to do battle never to become a slave. Yet if someone is conquered in war or enslaved in some other way, and is then detected trying to steal himself from his masters, do you, first of all, honor him as a good man and a doer of things noble, or do you punish him as unjust, if you catch him?”
“I punish him,” he said, “for you do not allow lying.”
(12) “Answer clearly on each of the following points,” said Cyrus. “If there happens to be a ruler beneath you and he does wrong, do you allow him to rule or do you put another in his place?”2
“I put another there.”
“But what further? If he has a lot of money, do you allow him to stay wealthy or do you make him poor?”
“I take away whatever he happens to have,” he said.
“And if you know that he is also in revolt to the enemy, what do you do?”
“I kill him,” he said. “For why should I die convicted of lying rather than tell the truth?”
(13) When his son heard this, he stripped off his tiara and rent his robes, and the women scratched their cheeks and cried out, as if their father were lost and they themselves already destroyed.3
Cyrus ordered them to be silent again and said, “So, this is your justice,4 Armenian. What do you advise us to do on this basis?”
The Armenian, of course, fell silent, at a loss as to whether he should advise Cyrus to kill him or teach him to do the opposite of what he said was his own practice.
(14) His son Tigranes said to Cyrus, “Tell me, Cyrus, since my father seems like one at a loss, shall I advise what I think is best for you regarding him?”
And having noted when Tigranes hunted with him that a certain wise man used to accompany him and was revered by Tigranes, Cyrus very much desired to hear whatever he would say, and he bade him express his judgment with confidence.5
(15) “If you admire my father for what he has advised or what he has done,” Tigranes said, “then I strongly advise you to imitate him. If, however, he seems to you to have done wrong in everything, I advise you not to imitate him.”
“For in doing what is just, I would least imitate one who does wrong,” said Cyrus.
“That is so,” he said.
“Then your father must be punished, at least according to your argument, if it is indeed just to punish the unjust.”
“Do you hold, Cyrus, that it is better to impose punishments that are in keeping with your good or those that are to your detriment?”
“I would then be punishing myself,” he said.
(16) “But you would be greatly punished,” said Tigranes, “if you should kill those who belong to you at the moment when they are most valuable to possess.”
“How,” said Cyrus, “would human beings be most valuable at the moment when they are caught being unjust?”
“Why, I think they would be, if they then become moderate, for it seems to me, Cyrus, to be like this: Without moderation, there is no benefit from any other virtue, for what use could anyone make of a strong or courageous person if he is not moderate, or of a knight, a wealthy person, or a master of a city? But with moderation, every friend becomes useful and every servant good.”
(17) “Are you saying, then,” he said, “that in this single day your father, who was immoderate, has become moderate?”6
“Certainly,” he said.
“Then you are saying that moderation is something the soul experiences, like pain, not something it learns;7 for certainly, if at least the one who is going to be moderate must become prudent, he could not become moderate immediately after having been immoderate.”
(18) “But Cyrus,” he said, “have you never perceived a man who, through his immoderation, undertook to do battle against someone superior to himself, and after he was defeated, ceased directly from his immoderation toward him? Again, have you never yet seen a city deployed against another city, which, after it is defeated, is immediately willing to obey it rather than doing battle?”
(19) “When you affirm so strongly that your father has been made moderate by a defeat, what defeat do you mean?” asked Cyrus.
“By Zeus,” he said, “the one he is conscious of in himself, that he desired freedom, but became a slave as never before, and that he was not competent to accomplish any of the things he thought he had to, whether by staying hidden, by anticipation, or by compulsion. Where you wished to deceive him, he knows that you did deceive him just as one would deceive those who are blind, deaf, and altogether incapable of thinking. Where you thought you ought to stay hidden from him, he knows that you stayed so hidden that you got to the places he thought were waiting as his own strongholds, and you secretly turned them into jails. In speed you so far surpassed him that you came from far off with a large expedition before he could gather around himself a power that was already nearby.”
(20) “Then does it seem to you,” asked Cyrus, “that knowing others to be better than themselves is a sufficient defeat to make people moderate?”
“Much more,” said Tigranes, “than when one is defeated in battle, for he who is conquered by strength sometimes thinks that by exercising his body, he will be ready to fight again, and captured cities think that by making additional alliances, they could fight again. Yet people are often willing to obey even without necessity those they hold to be better than they are themselves.”
(21) “You are not likely to think, then,” he said, “that the insolent know those who are more moderate than themselves, nor that thieves know those who do not steal, nor that liars know those who tell the truth, nor that the unjust know those who do what is just. Do you not know that your father just now lied and did not maintain his compact with us, although he knew that we were in no way violating the compact Astyages made?”
(22) “But I do not say that knowing one’s betters moderates by itself, without also being punished by one’s betters, as my father now is.”
“But,” said Cyrus, “your father has not yet suffered any evil whatsoever. Be assured that he fears, however, that he may suffer all the most extreme ones.”
(23) “Do you think,” said Tigranes, “that anything enslaves human beings more than intense fear? Do you not know that those who are beatenwith iron, which is believed to be the most severe tool of punishment, are nevertheless willing to do battle again with the same people? But human beings are not even able to look at those of whom they are thoroughly afraid, even if they are encouraging them to do so.”
“You say that fear punishes human beings more than does being harmed in deed,” he said.
(24) “And you know that what I say is true,” he said, “for you know that those who are afraid that they will be exiled from their fatherland, and those on the verge of battle who fear that they will be defeated, pass their time in despondency—as do sailors in fear of a shipwreck, and those who fear slavery or prison. Now these are not able to partake of either food or sleep because of their fear, but those who are already exiled, already defeated, or already enslaved are sometimes even more able to eat and sleep than are those who are happy. (25) It is still more evident what a burden fear is from the following, for some, fearing that they will be killed if caught, kill themselves in advance because of their fear—hurling themselves down, hanging themselves, or cutting their own throats. Thus, of all terrible things, fear especially subjugates souls. As for my father, how do you think his soul is now disposed, since he fears slavery not only for himself but also for me, his wife, and all his children?”
And Cyrus said, (26) “But I do not doubt that heisso disposed now. However, it seems to me to belong to the same man to turn insolent in good fortune and quickly to cower in fear if he blunders, and to think big again and cause trouble again, if he is again unconstrained.”
(27) “But by Zeus, Cyrus,” he said, “our wrongs offer excuses for you to distrust us. It is possible for you to fortify guard posts, to possess the strongholds, and to take whatever other precaution you wish. And you will nevertheless hold onto us without our feeling any great pain at these measures, for we shall remember that we are the causes of them. Yet if you give the reign to one who has done no wrong, and if you show that you do not trust them, beware that even as you benefit them, they will not believe that you are a friend. If, on the other hand, you protect yourself against being hated by not putting yokes on them against their turning insolent, beware that it not become necessary for you to moderate them still more than you just now needed to moderate us.”
(28) “But by the gods,” he said, “I think that I would be displeased to make use of such servants as I knew were serving out of necessity. Yet as for those of whom I should think I know that they contribute what they must out of goodwill and friendship for me, these I think I would endure more easily when they do wrong than those who hate me but labor greatly at all things out of necessity.”
And Tigranes said to this, “From whom could you ever receive so much friendship as it is now possible for you to acquire from us?”
“From those, I think,” he said, “who have never been enemies, if I should be willing to benefit them just as you now insist that I benefit you.”
(29) “And would you now be able, Cyrus,” he asked, “to find anyone else whom you could gratify in the present case as much as my father? For example, if you now allow someone to live who has never been unjust to you, what gratitude do you think he will feel to you for this? Further, if you do not take away his children and wife, who will befriend you for this more than one who believes that for him it is fitting that they be taken away? Do you know of anyone who, if he should not have the kingship over the Armenians, would feel more pain than we? Is it not then also clear that the one who feels most pain at not being king would also feel the greatest gratitude to you if he should obtain the reign? (30) If you care at all about leaving things as little confused as possible when you depart, consider whether you think things here would be more tranquil with a new reign beginning or with the customary one remaining. If you care at all about leading out as large an army as possible, whom do you think could levy it more correctly than he who has done so many times? If you also need money, whom do you believe could provide it better than he who both knows and possesses all there is?8 My good Cyrus, guard against punishing yourself more by throwing us away than by the harm my father was able to do to you.” So such is what he said.
(31) Cyrus was deeply pleased as he listened, because regarding everything he had promised to Cyaxares to do, he believed it all was being accomplished for him, for he remembered saying that he thought he would make [the Armenian] even more a friend than he was before. And after this he asked the Armenian, “If I am persuaded by you in these matters, Armenian,” he said, “tell me how large an army you will send with me, and how much money you will contribute toward the war.”
To this the Armenian said, (32) “Cyrus, I have nothing simpler or more just to propose than for me to show all the power there is and for you, after seeing it, to lead away as large an army as seems [good] to you, and to leave the rest as a guard for the country. Likewise about money, it is just to show to you all there is and for you yourself to judge the matter and carry away as much as you wish and leave as much as you wish.”
(33) And Cyrus said, “Come, tell me, how large is your power, and tell me also how much money you have.”
Here the Armenian said, “There are about eight thousand Armenian cavalry troops, and about forty thousand infantry. Along with the treasuries my father left, there is in property more than three thousand talents when calculated in silver.”
(34) And Cyrus did not hesitate but said, “Then since the Chal-daeans on your borders are making war, send along with me half of your army. As for the money, instead of the fifty talents that you paid as tribute, give double to Cyaxares, since you quit paying. Lend me another hundred. I promise you that, if god grants, in return for what you loan me, I will either benefit you in a way that is worth more or pay back the money, if I am able. If I am not able, I would come to light as incapable, I think, but I would not justly be judged to be unjust.”
(35) And the Armenian said, “By the gods, Cyrus, do not even speak like this. Otherwise, you will find me despondent. Believe instead that what you leave behind is no less yours than what you go away with.”
“Very well,” said Cyrus. “How much money would you give me to get your wife back?”
“As much as was within my power,” he said.
“How about for your children?”
“Also for them, as much as was within my power,” he said.
“This, then, is already double what you have,” said Cyrus. (36) “Now you, Tigranes, tell me what you would pay to get your wife back.”
He happened to be newly married and very much in love with his wife.9 “I would pay even with my life so that she never become a servant.”10
(37) “Then take her back,” he said, “for I do not believe that she was taken as a captive, since you, at least, never fled from us. You, Armenian, take back your wife and children without paying anything for them, that they may know that they return to you as free people. Now have dinner with us; after dinner go off where your spirit leads.” So they stayed.
(38) While in the tent after dinner, Cyrus asked, “Tell me, Tigranes, where is that man who used to hunt with us and whom you seemed to me to regard with such wonder?”
“Indeed, this father of mine killed him,” he said.
“After catching him in what injustice?”
“He said he was corrupting me. And yet, Cyrus, he was so noble and good that even when he was about to die he called me to him and said, ‘Tigranes, do not be harsh toward your father because he kills me; he does this not out of malice toward you but out of ignorance. I, at least, believe that the wrongs human beings commit out of ignorance are all involuntary.’“
(39) To this Cyrus said, “Such a man!”11
The Armenian said, “Cyrus, those who catch other men consorting with their wives do not kill them on the grounds that they cause their wives to be less sensible;12 but because they believe that they divert their affection toward themselves, they treat them as enemies. Similarly, I envied him, because he seemed to me to make my son wonder at himself more than at me.”
(40) And Cyrus said, “But by the gods, Armenian, the wrongs you have committed seem to me to be human. Tigranes, have sympathy for your father.” Having then discussed such things and shown such friendliness as was to be expected on account of the reconciliation, they went up on their chariots with their wives and rode away contented.
(41) When they went home, one spoke of Cyrus’ wisdom, another of his steadfastness, another of his gentleness, and someone else of his beauty and height. Then Tigranes asked his wife, “Did Cyrus seem to be beautiful to you too, my Armenian [bride]?”
“But by Zeus,” she said, “I did not even look at him.”
“At whom, then?” asked Tigranes.
“At the one who said, by Zeus, that he would pay with his own life so that I not be a slave.” Then, as was to be expected, after such [words and events], they went to rest with each other.
(42) On the next day, the Armenian sent presents to Cyrus and to his entire army, and he told those of his own troops who had to go on the campaign to report in three days. He counted out double the amount of money that Cyrus had stated, but Cyrus took just what he had stated and sent the rest back. He also asked whether he himself or his son would be the one who would lead the army. Speaking at the same time, the father said, “Whomever you command,” and the son said, “I will not leave you, Cyrus, not even if I must tag along as a camp follower.”
(43)And Cyrus said laughing, “And at what price would you be willing for your wife to hear that you are a camp follower?”
“But there is no need that she hear it,” he said, “for I shall bring her, so it will be possible for her to see whatever I do.”
“It is time, then, for you to get ready,” he said.
“Believe, then,” he said, “that after we make ready whatever my father gives us, we shall report.”
Then, after receiving their presents, the soldiers went to rest.