(1) Cyrus was educated in this education until the age of twelve or a bit more, and he clearly surpassed all his agemates both in quickly learning what was necessary and in doing everything in a noble and manly way. But after this time Astyages sent for his daughter and her son, for he desired to see him because he heard that Cyrus was noble and good.25 So Mandane herself went to her father and took her son Cyrus with her. (2) As soon as he arrived and Cyrus knew Astyages to be his mother’s father, he immediately—since he was by nature an affectionate boy26—hugged him as one would have done if he had been raised with him and had been friendly with him for a long time. And he saw him adorned with eye shadow, rouge, and a wig—as was, of course, customary among the Medes (for all these things were Median: purple coats, cloaks, necklaces, and bracelets on their wrists; but among the Persians who are at home, their clothes are even now much more ordinary and their diet much cheaper). So seeing the adornment of his grandfather, he said while looking at him, “Mother, how hand-some27 my grandfather is!”
And when his mother asked him whom he thought more handsome, Astyages or his father, Cyrus then answered, “Of the Persians, my father is the most handsome by far; of the Medes, however, this grandfather of mine is by far the most handsome of those I have seen both in the streets and at court.”
(3) Hugging him in return, the grandfather put a beautiful robe on him and honored and adorned him with necklaces and bracelets, and if ever he went out somewhere, he took him along on a horse with a golden bridle, in just the way he himself was accustomed to travel. Since he was a boy who loved beauty and honor,28 Cyrus was pleased with the robe and exceedingly delighted at learning how to ride a horse. For among the Persians, it was very rare even to see a horse, because it is difficult to raise horses and difficult to ride them in so mountainous a country.
(4) When at dinner with his daughter and Cyrus, Astyages wished the boy to dine as pleasantly as possible so that he might yearn less for what he had left at home. He thus put before him fancy side dishes and all sorts of sauces and meats; and they say29 that Cyrus said, “Grandfather, how many troubles you have at dinner, if it is necessary for you to stretch out your hands to all these little dishes and taste all these different sorts of meat!”
“What?” Astyages said. “Does it not seem to you that this dinner is much finer than that among the Persians?”30
To this Cyrus answered, “No, grandfather, for the road to satisfaction is much more simple and direct among us than among you, for bread and meat take us to it. You hurry to the same place as we do, yet only after wandering back and forth on many curves do you arrive with difficulty at the point we reached long ago.”
(5) “But child,” Astyages said, “we are not distressed to wander as we do. Taste them, and you too will realize that they are pleasant.”
“And yet I see that even you, grandfather, are disgusted with these meats,” he said.
And Astyages asked again, “And on what evidence do you say this, my child?”
“Because,” he said, “I see that you too, whenever you touch your bread, do not wipe your hand on anything; but whenever you touch any of these, you wipe your hand on your napkin as if you were most distressed that it became soiled with them.”
(6) To this Astyages said, “If you are so resolved, my child, feast at least upon these meats, so that you may go home a vigorous youth.” As he was saying this, he had a great deal of meat brought to him, of both wild and tame animals.
When he saw all this meat, Cyrus said, “Are you giving me all this meat, grandfather, to use however I want?”
“Yes, my child, by Zeus I am,” he said.
(7) Then Cyrus, taking the meat, distributed it to his grandfather’s servants and said to each, “This is for you, because you teach me to ride with enthusiasm; for you, because you gave me a javelin, and now I have it; for you, because you serve my grandfather nobly; for you, because you honor my mother.” He proceeded like this until he distributed all the meat that he received.
(8) “But to Sakas,31 my cupbearer, whom I honor most,” Astyages said, “do you give nothing?” Now Sakas happened to be handsome and to have the honor of admitting those who sought Astyages and of excluding such as he did not think it opportune to admit.
And Cyrus answered rashly, as would a boy not yet afraid.32 “Why, grandfather, do you honor him so?”
And Astyages replied jokingly, “Do you not see how nobly and gracefully he pours out my wine?” The cupbearers of these kings carry the cup with refinement, pour the wine cleanly, hand over the cup while holding it with three fingers, and present the cup in the way it is most easily grasped by the one who is about to drink.
(9) “Order Sakas to give me the cup, grandfather,” he said, “that I too, by nobly pouring wine for you to drink, may win you over if I can.” And he ordered him to give it. Cyrus, they say, taking the cup, rinsed it so well, as he had seen Sakas do, made such a serious face, and brought and presented it to his grandfather so gracefully that he afforded much laughter to his mother and Astyages. Cyrus himself laughed out loud, leaped up onto his grandfather, kissed him, and said, “Sakas, you are done for; I will cast you out of honor, for I will both pour the wine more nobly than you in other respects and I will not drink of the wine myself.” Now the cupbearers of the kings, when they present the cup, draw out some of it with a small cup and, pouring it into their left hand, swallow it down, so that they might not profit if they have added poison.
(10) Upon this Astyages said jokingly, “Cyrus, since you imitated Sakas in other respects, why did you not swallow some of the wine?”
“Because, by Zeus,” he said, “I was afraid there might have been some poison mixed in the cup, for when you entertained your friends on your birthday, I learned quite clearly that he had added poison for you all.”
“And how, my child,” he said, “did you come to know this?”
“Because, by Zeus, I saw you all making mistakes, both in your judgments and with your bodies, for in the first place, you yourselves were doing such things as you do not allow us boys to do, for you all shouted at the same time, and you did not comprehend each other at all. Then you sang very ridiculously, and even though you did not listen to the singer, you all swore that he sang most excellently. Then, after each spoke of his own strength, when you stood up to dance, far from dancing in time with the rhythm, you were not even able to stand up straight. You all forgot yourselves entirely, you that you were king, the others that you were their ruler. Then I learned for the first time that what you were practicing was that liberty of speech; at least you were never silent.”
(11) And Astyages said, “My child, has not your father gotten drunk from drinking?”
“No, by Zeus,” he said.
“But what does he do?”
“He quenches his thirst and suffers no harm, for a Sakas, grandfather, certainly does not pour his wine.”
And his mother said, “But why ever, my child, do you make war on Sakas like this?”
“Because I hate him, by Zeus,” said Cyrus, “for often when I desire to run up to my grandfather, this most wretched fellow33 shuts me out. But I beg you, grandfather, give me three days to rule over him.”
And Astyages said, “And how would you rule him?”
And it is said that Cyrus said, “Standing at the entrance, just as he does, whenever he wished to come in for lunch, I would say that it is not possible to have lunch yet, ‘for he is busy with certain others.’ Then, when he came for supper, I would say, ‘He is washing.’ If he were very much in earnest to eat, I would say, ‘He is with his women.’ I would detain him so long, just as he detains me, keeping me from you.”
(12) Such amusement did he afford them at meals. At other times of the day, if he perceived either his grandfather or his mother’s brother in need of anything, it was difficult for anyone else to take care of it before he did, for Cyrus was extremely delighted to gratify them in any way within his power.
(13) When Mandane was preparing to go back to her husband again, Astyages asked her to leave Cyrus behind. She answered that she wished to gratify her father in all things, but that she believed it to be difficult to leave the boy behind against his will. At this point Astyages said to Cyrus, (14) “My child, if you stay with me, in the first place, Sakas will not govern your access to me, but it will be up to you to come to me whenever you wish. And I will be more grateful to you to the extent that you come to me more often. Next, you will use my horses and as many others as you wish, and when you leave, you may take the ones you yourself want. Next, at meals, you may take whatever path you wish to what seems to you to be a measured [diet]. Next, I give you the wild animals that are now in the park, and I will collect others of all kinds, which, as soon as you learn how to ride a horse, you may pursue and strike down with your bow and spear, just as the grown men do. I will also get you boys for playmates, and, if only you tell me, you will not fail to get whatever else you wish.”
(15) After Astyages said this, his mother asked Cyrus whether he wished to stay or go. He did not hesitate but quickly said that he wished to stay. Again being asked by his mother as to why, it is said that he said,34 “Because at home, mother, among those of my age, I both am and am thought to be the best at throwing spears and shooting the bow, but here I know quite well that I am inferior to those of my age at riding. Be well assured, mother, that this vexes me greatly. But if you leave me here and I learn how to ride a horse, when I am in Persia, I think that I will easily be victorious for you over those who are good on foot; but when I come to Media, I shall try for grandfather to be an ally to him by being the best horseman among these good horsemen.”
His mother said, (16) “But, my child, how will you learn justice here when your teachers are there [in Persia]?”
And Cyrus said, “But mother, this, at least, I know accurately already.”
“How do you know it?” Mandane asked.
“Because,” he said, “the teacher appointed me to be judge for others, on the ground that I was already accurately versed in justice. And then, in one case, I was beaten because I did not judge correctly. (17) The case was like this: A big boy with a little tunic took off the big tunic of a little boy, and he dressed him in his own tunic, while he himself put on that of the other. Now I, in judging it for them, recognized that it was better for both that each have the fitting tunic. Upon this the teacher beat me, saying that whenever I should be appointed judge of the fitting, I must do as I did; but when one must judge to whom the tunic belongs, then one must examine, he said, what is just possession, whether it is to have what is taken away by force or to possess what [one has] made or purchased. Since, he said, the lawful is just, and the unlawful violent, he ordered that the judge always cast his vote in conformity with the law. So, mother, I am by all means already accurately versed for you at least in what justice is. If I need anything further in this, grandfather here will teach me.”
(18) “But, my child,” she said, “the same things are not agreed to be just here with your grandfather and in Persia, for among the Medes, he has made himself the master of everything, but in Persia to have what is equal is believed to be just. And your father is the first both to do what has been ordered by the city and to accept what has been ordered, and not his soul but the law is his measure.35 How will you avoid being beaten to death when you come home if you arrive after having learned from him not the kingly [way] but the tyrannical, where the thought is that one ought to have more than all?”
“But mother,” said Cyrus, “your father is more clever at teaching one to have less than to have more. Or do you not see that he has taught all the Medes to have less than himself? So take heart: Your father will not send any pupil onward, neither me nor anyone else, who will have learned how to be greedy.”36