And some say, Critobulus, that when the king makes gifts, he first invites those who have distinguished themselves in war, because it is useless to have broad acres under tillage unless there are men to defend them; and next to them, those who stock and cultivate the land best, saying that even stout-hearted warriors cannot live without the aid of workers.

There is a story that Cyrus, lately the most illustrious of princes, once said to the company invited to receive his gifts, I myself deserve to receive the gifts awarded in both classes; for I am the best at stocking land and the best at protecting the stock.

Well, if Cyrus said that, Socrates, he took as much pride in cultivating and stocking land as in being a warrior.

Yes, and, upon my word, if Cyrus had only lived, it seems that he would have proved an excellent ruler. One of the many proofs that he has given of this is the fact that, when he was on his way to fight his brother for the throne, it is said that not a man deserted from Cyrus to the king, whereas tens of thousands deserted from the king to Cyrus.

I think you have one clear proof of a ruler’s excellence, when men obey him willingly III. iii. 9. and choose to stand by him in moments of danger. Now his friends all fought at his side and fell at his side to a man, fighting round his body, with the one exception of Ariaeus, whose place in the battle was, in point of fact, on the left wing. I. ix. 31. Ariaeus fled when he saw that Cyrus had fallen.

Further, the story goes that when Lysander came to him bringing the gifts form the allies, this Cyrus showed him various marks of friendliness, as Lysander himself related once to a stranger at Megara, adding besides that Cyrus personally showed him round his paradise at Sardis.

Now Lysander admired the beauty of the trees in it, the accuracy of the spacing, the straightness of the rows, the regularity of the angles and the multitude of the sweet scents that clung round them as they walked; and for wonder of these things he cried, Cyrus, I really do admire all these lovely things, but I am far more impressed with your agent’s skill in measuring and arranging everything so exactly.

Cyrus was delighted to hear this and said: Well, Lysander, the whole of the measurement and arrangement is my own work, and I did some of the planting myself.

What, Cyrus? exclaimed Lysander, looking at him, and marking the beauty and perfume of his robes, and the splendour of the necklaces and bangles and other jewels that he was wearing; did you really plant part of this with your own hands?

Does that surprise you, Lysander? asked Cyrus in reply. I swear by the Sun-god that I never yet sat down to dinner when in sound health, without first working hard at some task of war or agriculture, or exerting myself somehow.

Lysander himself declared, I should add, that on hearing this, he congratulated him in these words: I think you deserve your happiness, Cyrus, for you earn it by your virtues.

Now I tell you this, continued Socrates, because even the wealthiest cannot hold aloof from husbandry. For the pursuit of it is in some sense a luxury as well as a means of increasing one’s estate and of training the body in all that a free man should be able to do.

For, in the first place, the earth yields to cultivators the food by which men live; she yields besides the luxuries they enjoy.

Secondly, she supplies all the things with which they decorate altars and statues and themselves, along with most pleasant sights and scents. Thirdly, she produces or feeds the ingredients of many delicate dishes; for the art of breeding stock is closely linked with husbandry; so that men have victims for propitiating the gods with sacrifice and cattle for their own use.

And though she supplies good things in abundance, she suffers them not to be won without toil, but accustoms men to endure winter’s cold and summer’s heat. She gives increased strength through exercise to the men that labour with their own hands, and hardens the overseers of the work by rousing them early and forcing them to move about briskly. For on a farm no less than in a town the most important operations have their fixed times.

Again, if a man wants to serve in the cavalry, farming is his most efficient partner in furnishing keep for his horse; if on foot, it makes his body brisk. And the land helps in some measure to arouse a liking for the toil of hunting, since it affords facilities for keeping hounds and at the same time supplies food for the wild game that preys on the land.

And if husbandry benefits horses and hounds, they benefit the farm no less, the horses by carrying the overseer early to the scene of his duties and enabling him to leave it late, the hounds by keeping the wild animals from injuring crops and sheep, and by helping to give safety to solitude.

The land also stimulates armed protection of the country on the part of the husbandmen, by nourishing her crops in the open for the strongest to take.

And what art produces better runners, throwers and jumpers than husbandry? What art rewards the labourer more generously? What art welcomes her follower more gladly, inviting him to come and take whatever he wants? What art entertains strangers more generously?