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And when he stopped hunting, he marched up to the Armenian border and dined; and on the following day, he went up to the mountains toward which he was aiming and hunted again. And when again he stopped, he sat down to dinner; but when he saw the army from Cyaxares approaching, he sent to them secretly and bade them take their dinner at a distance of about two parasangs, for he foresaw that this also would contribute to the secrecy of his design; but he ordered their commander to come to him when they had finished their dinner. Then, after dinner, he called together his captains; and when they had come he addressed them as follows:

My friends, the Armenian king formerly was[*](Cyrus lays his real design before his captains) both an ally and a dependent of Cyaxares; but now since he has seen the enemy coming upon us, he is insolent and neither sends us his complement of soldiers nor pays his tribute. Now, therefore, he is the game we have come to catch, if we can. And here is the plan that I think we should pursue: do you, Chrysantas, when you[*](His instructions to Chrysantas) have had as much rest as you reasonably need, take half of the Persians who are with us, and following the mountain road take possession of the heights to which they say he flees for refuge when anything alarms him. I will furnish you with guides.

Now they say that these mountains are thickly wooded, and so I have hopes of your not being seen. Nevertheless, suppose you send ahead of your army some active men, in the guise of brigands both as to numbers and accountrements; these, if they met any Armenians, would capture them and so prevent their spreading any reports; or, if they failed to capture them, they would frighten them away and so prevent their seeing the whole of your army, and would thus cause them to take precautions as against only a band of thieves.

Do you, then, said he, do this; but I, at break of day, with half the infantry and all the cavalry, will proceed through the plain straight toward the capital. And if he resists, we shall have to fight, of course; and if he abandons the field, of course we shall have to chase him; but if he flees to the mountain, then it is your business not to let any one of those who come your way escape.

And bear in mind that, just as in hunting, we shall be the ones beating out the game, you the man in charge of the nets. Remember this, then, that the runs must be blocked before the game starts; and those at the entrance to those runs must keep out of sight, if they are not to turn the animals aside as they come on.

However, he added, do not in this case do as you sometimes do, Chrysantas, in your fondness for hunting: you often keep yourself busy all night without sleeping; but now you should let your men rest long enough, so that they may be able to resist drowsiness.

Again, do not, because you personally are accustomed to wander up and down the mountains without following human guides but running after the game wherever it leads you—do not now go into such dangerous and difficult places, but order your guides to lead you by the easiest road, unless it is much too long; for the easiest road is the shortest for an army.

And do not lead your men at a run because you are used to running up mountains, but lead with moderate haste, that your army may be able to follow you easily.

And it is a good thing for some of the strongest and most zealous to fall back sometimes and encourage the rest; and when the column has passed by them, it is an incentive to all to hasten when these are seen running past them as they walk.

On hearing this, Chrysantas was elated with his commission from Cyrus; he took his guides and went away, and after giving what orders he thought necessary to those who were to go with him he went to rest. And when they had slept as long as he thought reasonable, he started for the mountains.

And when it was day, Cyrus sent forward a[*](Cyrus’s ultimatum) messenger to the Armenian with instructions to speak to him as follows: King of Armenia, Cyrus bids you take steps as quickly as possible to deliver to him the tribute and the troops. And if he asks where I am, tell the truth and say that I am at the frontier. And if he asks whether I also am coming in person, tell the truth in that case also and say that you do not know. But if he inquires how many men we are, bid him send some one along with you and find out.

With such instructions he sent the messenger off, for he thought that this was a more friendly course than to march upon him without notice. And he himself set out with his army in the formation which he thought best adapted both for covering distance and for fighting if necessary. He ordered his soldiers to molest no one, and, if any one met any Armenians, to bid them have no fear but to say that if any one of them wished to sell food or drink, he should feel free to bring it wherever they were and open a market.