Cyropaedia

Now a part of the Medes were already bringing[*](The cavalry bring in spoils) in the wagons which had been hurried forward and which they had overtaken and turned back packed full of what an army needs; others were bringing in the carriages that conveyed the most high-born women, not only wedded wives but also concubines, who on account of their beauty had been brought along; these also they captured and brought in.

For even unto this day all who go to war in Asia take with them to the field what they prize most highly; for they say that they would do battle the more valiantly, if all that they hold dearest were there; for these, they say, they must do their best to protect. This may, perhaps, be true; but perhaps also they follow this custom for their own sensual gratification.

When Cyrus saw what the Medes and Hyrcanians were doing, he poured reproach, as it were, upon himself and his men, because during this time the others seemed to be surpassing them in strenuous activity and gaining something by it, too, while he and his men remained in a position where there was little or nothing to do. And it did seem so; for when the horsemen brought in and showed to Cyrus what they brought, they rode away again in pursuit of the others; for, they said, they had been instructed by their officers so to do. Though Cyrus was naturally nettled at this, still he assigned a place to the spoil. And again he called his captains together and standing where they would all be sure to hear his words of counsel, he spoke as follows:

Friends, we all appreciate, I am sure, that if we could but make our own the good fortune that is now dawning upon us, great blessings would come to all the Persians and above all, as is reasonable, to us by whom they are secured. But I fail to see how we are to establish a valid claim to the spoil if we cannot gain it by[*](The Persians handicapped without cavalry of their own) our own strength; and this we cannot do, unless the Persians have cavalry of their own.

Just think of it, he went on; we Persians have arms with which, it seems, we go into close quarters and put the enemy to flight; and then when we have routed them, how could we without horses capture or kill horsemen or bowmen or targeteers in their flight? And what bowmen or spearmen or horsemen would be afraid to come up and inflict loss upon us, when they are perfectly sure that they are in no more danger of being harmed by us than by the trees growing yonder?

And if this is so, is it not evident that the horsemen who are now with us consider that everything that has fallen into our hands is theirs no less than ours, and perhaps, by Zeus, even more so?

As things are now, therefore, this is necessarily the case. But suppose we acquired a body of cavalry not inferior to theirs, is it not patent to us all that we should be able even without them to do to the enemy what we are now doing with their aid, and that we should find them then less presumptuous toward us? For whenever they chose to remain or to go away, we should care less, if we were sufficient unto ourselves without them. Well and good.