Cyropaedia

And when the hour for dinner came, Cyaxares summoned Cyrus and asked him, as he had not seen him for a long time, to dine with him. But Cyrus answered: Please, Cyaxares, do not ask me. Do you not see that all these who are here are here at our instance? I should not be doing right, then, if I should let them get the impression that I was neglecting them and pursuing my own pleasure. For when soldiers think they are being neglected, the good ones become much more despondent and the bad much more presuming.

But do you now go to dinner, especially as you have come a long way; and if any come to pay their respects to you, do you greet them kindly and entertain them well, so that they may feel confidence toward you also. For my part, I must go and attend to those matters of which I have been speaking to you.

And tomorrow morning my staff-officers will come with me to your headquarters, in order that we may all consult with you about what we should do next. Do you then and there lay before us the question whether it seems best to continue the campaign or whether it is now time to disband the armies.

After this Cyaxares attended to his dinner,[*](Cyrus organizes for the continuance of the war) while Cyrus collected those of his friends who were most able to think and to co-operate with him when occasion demanded, and addressed them as follows: My friends, with the help of the gods we have, you see, all that we prayed for at the first. For wherever we go, we are masters of the country. What is more, we see the enemy reduced, and ourselves increased in both numbers and strength.

Now, if the allies we have gained would only stay on with us, we should be able to accomplish much more both by force, when occasion calls for it, and by persuasion, when that is needed; and it is not my business a whit more than it is yours to see to it that as many of the allies as possible agree to stay;

but just as, when we are called upon to fight, the one who conquers the greatest number has the glory of being considered the most valorous, so also when we are called upon to use persuasion, he that converts the greatest number to our opinion would justly be accounted at once the most eloquent and the most efficient.

Do not, however, aim at displaying to us the arguments that you will address to each one of them, but set to work with the feeling that those who are persuaded by any one of you will show what they are by what they do.

Do you, therefore, see to this. And I, for my part, will try to see to it, as far as I can, that the soldiers are supplied with all that they need, while they are deliberating about going on with the campaign.