Chapter 2

(1) After rising at dawn, they marched toward Gobryas. Cyrus went on horseback, as did the Persian knights, who had become about two thousand strong. Those who carried their shields and scimitars followed after them, and they were equal in number. The rest of the army marched in order. He bade all say to their new servants that if _ any of them appeared behind the rear guard, or went in front of the forward troops, or was captured outside of those proceeding in formation along the flanks, they would be punished. (2) In the afternoon of the second day they came to Gobryas’ property. They saw that the fortress was exceedingly strong and that on its walls everything had been prepared so that one could fight from them with the greatest strength. They saw many cattle and very many sheep that had been led up under the fortifications. (3) Gobryas sent to Cyrus and bade him to ride around and see where the approach was easiest and to send to him some of his trusted troops, so these could see what was inside and report back to Cyrus. (4) So since Cyrus himself in fact wished to see if there was any place the wall could be taken, should Gobryas show himself to be false, he rode around everywhere, and he saw that everything was too strong to approach. Those sent in to Gobryas reported to Cyrus that, as it seemed to them, there were so many goods inside that the people inside could not consume them in a generation of human life.14

(5) Now Cyrus was in thought about what all this meant,15 when Gobryas himself came out to him and led out all those who were inside. They carried out wine, barley meal, and flour, while others drove out cattle, goats, sheep, pigs, and if there was anything else to eat, they brought it all in a quantity sufficient to feed the entire army with Cyrus. (6) Then those assigned to do so divided the food and made the dinner. When all his men were outside, Gobryas bade Cyrus enter in whatever way he believed to be safest. So after sending in scouts and an advance force, Cyrus himself also went in. After he went in, and while keeping the gates open wide, he called to him all of his friends and commanders of the troops with him. (7) When they were inside, Gobryas brought out golden cups, pitchers, vases, every sort of adornment, Darics without measure, and many other things, which were all beautiful.16 Finally he brought out his daughter, a marvel in beauty and stature, though she was in mourning for her dead brother. Then he spoke as follows, “Cyrus, I give you all these things as gifts, and I tum my daughter over to you to dispose of as you wish. Yet we both ask in supplication, I, even as before, that you avenge my son, she, now, that you avenge her brother.”

(8) Cyrus said to this, “But even then I promised you that if you did not play false, I would avenge you to the limit of my power.17 Now, when I see that you are speaking the truth, I owe already the repayment of my promise. I also promise to her that, with the gods’ [help], I will do just as I have promised to you. I accept these valuables, but I give them to this child of yours and to whoever may marry her. Yet I will go away with one gift from you, a gift in exchange for which I would not be more pleased even with the treasures of Babylon, which are the greatest, nor even with all those of everywhere else.”

(9) And Gobryas, wondering whatever this was and suspecting that he meant his daughter, asked him, “And what is this, Cyrus?”

And Cyrus answered, “Gobryas, I think there are many human beings who would not willingly be either impious or unjust, nor would they voluntarily play false, but because no one is willing to bestow upon them vast valuables, tyranny, fortified walls, or children who are worthy of love, they die before it becomes clear what sort of people they were. (10) But you have now put in my hands fortified walls, every sort of wealth, your forces, and your daughter, worthy to be acquired. You have made it clear to all human beings that I would not be willingly impious where hospitality is required, unjust for the sake of valuables, or voluntarily false in agreements. (11) Be assured that as long as I am just and am praised by human beings because I seem to be so, I shall never forget this but will try to honor you in return with all things noble. (12) And do not fear that you will be at a loss for a husband for your daughter, one worthy of her, for I have many good friends, and one of them will marry her. Whether, however, he will have as many valuables as you are now giving away, or even many times as many, I would not be able to say. Be assured, however, that there are some of [my friends here] who do not regard you with any more wonder because you are giving away these valuables. Rather, they are now jealous of me and pray to all the gods that it may sometime happen for them to show that they are not less faithful to their friends than I am, and that they would never, so long as they live, give in to their enemies, unless some god should cross them; and that in exchange for virtue and good reputation, they would not even choose all the possessions of the Syrians and Assyrians if they were added to yours. Be assured that such men are seated here.”

(13) Gobryas laughed and said, “By the gods, Cyrus, show me where they are, so I may ask one of them to become my son.”

And Cyrussaid, “Do not worry; you will not have to inquire of me: If you follow along with us, you’ll even be able to point out each of them to someone else.”

(14) Having said such things, he took Gobryas’ right hand, got up, and led out all those with him. Although Gobryas asked him many times, he was not willing to have dinner inside, but he dined in his camp and took Gobryas along as his tablemate. (15) Reclining on a mat, he asked him the following: “Tell me, Gobryas, do you think that you have more blankets than each of us?”

And he said, “By Zeus, I know well that you have both more blankets and more couches, and your house is much larger than mine: You use the earth and heaven as your house, and you have as many couches as there are places to sleep on the earth. You do not believe blankets to be the wool that sheep naturally grow but whatever twigs and leaves the mountains and plains yield up.”

(16) Now dining with them for the first time and seeing the coarseness of the food that was set beside them, Gobryas believed his people to be much freer than they. (17) But then he noted the restraint of his tablemates, for none of the educated Persian men became visibly distracted by any food or drink, neither in their eyes nor by grabbing nor in their minds, so as to fail to consider just what they would have even if they were not at table. Just as skilled horsemen, who are not rattled by being on horseback, are able to see, hear, and say what they must even while riding, so too when at table [the educated Persians] think it necessary to appear to be prudent and restrained. It seems to them that being excited by food and drink is very piggish and bestial. (18) So he took note of them and of how they asked each other such things as are more pleasing to be asked than not, and made such jests as are more pleasing to be made than not, and he noted how the jokes they made stayed very far from insolence, very far from anything shameful, and very far from irritating each other. (19) Yet what seemed to him of greatest importance was their thinking, when on campaign, that one must not be served more than the others who enter upon the same risk and, similarly, their believing that it is a most pleasant feast to render as good as possible those who are going to fight together as allies. (20) When Gobryas got up to go home, he is said to have said, “I no longer marvel, Cyrus, if we have acquired more cups, clothes, and gold than you, even though we ourselves are worth less than you, for we take care that we will have as much as possible of these possessions, while you seem to me to take care that you yourselves will be as good as possible.”

So this is what he said. (21) Cyrus replied, “See to it that you are here at dawn with your cavalry in their armor so we may see your force. You will also lead us through your country so we may know which parts we need to believe to be friendly and which parts hostile.” (22) After having said these things they went away, each to what was fitting for him.

When it became day, Gobryas reported with his cavalry, and he began to lead the way. Cyrus, as was fitting for a man who ruled, not only paid attention to marching along the road, but as he went forward he also considered whether it was at all possible to make his enemies weaker and his own troops stronger. (23) So summoning the Hyrcanian and Gobryas, for he believed that they especially knew what he thought he himself needed to learn, he said, “Men, friends, I do not think that it would be a mistake to deliberate about this war with you as with men I trust, for I see that you must examine even more than I how to keep the Assyrian from overcoming us. If I fail here, perhaps I have another refuge. But if he overcomes you, I see that all of what is yours will fall to others. (24) He is hostile to me, not because he hates me but because he thinks it to his disadvantage that we are great, and this is why he marches against us. But you he also hates, believing that he has suffered injustice at your hands.” They both responded to this in the same vein, that he should complete what he had to say and regard them as quite aware of their situation and as being most concerned about how events would unfold.

At this point he began as follows: (25) “Tell me, does the Assyrian believe that you alone are hostile toward him, or do you know of anyone else who is also hostile?”

“Yes, by Zeus,” said the Hyrcanian, “the Cadusians are extremely hostile to him, and they are a numerous and strong people. So are our neighbors the Sacians, who have suffered many evils at the hands of the Assyrian, for he tried to subdue them just as he did us.”

(26) “Then do you think,” he said, “that they would both be pleased to go with us against the Assyrian?”

“Exceedingly so,” they said, “if at least they were in some way able to join up with us.”

“What,” he said, “is in the way of our joining up?”

“Assyrians are,” they said, “the same nation through whose territory you are now marching.”

(27) When Cyrus heard this he said, “Gobryas, did you not accuse this young man who has now come into the kingship of being unusually arrogant in character?”

“Yes,” said Gobryas, “for I think I have suffered acts of this sort at his hands.”

“Then was he such only to you,” said Cyrus, “or also to others?”

(28) “Yes, by Zeus,” said Gobryas, “also to many others. Yet why even mention his insolence toward the weak? On one occasion, however, he was drinking with one of his companions (my son having been another such), the son of a man much more powerful than I. He had him seized and castrated, only because, as some say, his mistress had praised his companion saying that he was handsome and that the woman who was going to be his wife would be happy. But as he himself now says, it was because his companion had made an attempt on his mistress. So now he is a eunuch, but he is a ruler, for his father died.”

(29) “Do you think that he too would be pleased to see us, if he thought that we would help him?”

“I am quite sure of it,” said Gobryas, “but it is difficult to see him, Cyrus.”

“Why?” asked Cyrus.

“Because if someone is going to join with him, he must pass by Babylon itself.”

(30) “So why is this difficult?” he asked.

“Because, by Zeus,” said Gobryas, “I know that a force many times greater than the one you now have would attack from it. Be assured that the Assyrians now tend less than before to bring you their weapons and drive in their horses, and this is because your force seems small to those of them who saw it. This account of it has already circulated widely, so it seems better to me to proceed with caution.”

(31) And hearing the preceding from Gobryas, Cyrus said the following to him: “You seem to me to speak nobly, Gobryas, in ordering that we make our journey as safely as possible. Upon consideration I am unable to conceive that there is any journey safer for us than marching right up to Babylon itself, if the strongest part of our enemies is there. Yes, they are numerous, as you say; what I say is that if they become confident, they will also be terrible for us. (32) Now if they do not see us and think that we are out of sight because we are afraid of them, be quite assured that they will lose the fear that arose in them, and in its place will naturally arise a confidence that becomes ever greater as the time that they do not see us increases. But if we go against them now, we will find many of them still weeping over those who died at our hands, many who are still wearing bandages on the wounds they received from our troops, and all of them still mindful of the daring of this army and, on the other hand, of their own flight and disaster. (33) Be assured, Gobryas, that you may know this too: Large masses of human beings, when they are confident, offer an irresistible spirit. Yet whenever they grow afraid, to the extent that they are more numerous, so much the greater is their terror and its impact, (34) for the fear that accompanies them has grown great by many reports of evil suffered, by the pale complexions of many wretched [victims],18 and by many despondent and distraught faces. The result is that because of its greatness, it is not very easy to quench this fear with words, or to put strength into them by driving against the enemy, or to renew their spirit by retreating, but they will hold they are in greater danger to the extent that one exhorts them to be more confident.

(35) “By Zeus, let us, however, consider exactly how this matter stands, for if victories in military deeds will in the future belong to those with the vaster mob, you are correct to be afraid for us, and we really are in danger. If, however, battles are still determined now as they were before, by those who fight well, you would not err in being confident, for—as you will discover—those who fight willingly will, with the gods’ [help], be much more numerous on our side than on theirs. (36) That you may be still more confident, think this over: Our enemies are much fewer now than they were before they were defeated by us, and much fewer than they were when they ran away from us. We are both more numerous now, since we have conquered, and stronger, since you have joined us. Do not continue to dishonor your troops, since they are with us. Be assured, Gobryas, that even camp attendants are confident when they follow conquerors. (37) Nor let it escape your consideration that it is possible even now for our enemies to see us. Be assured that there is no way we could appear more terrible to them than by marching against them. As this is how I judge the matter, lead us to the route to Babylon.”

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