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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.

Cyrus was thus employed; but when the[*](The Armenians hear of Cyrus’s approach) Armenian king heard from the envoy the message of Cyrus, he was alarmed, for he knew that he was doing wrong in witholding the tribute due and in failing to send the troops, and he was afraid most of all because he saw that he was sure to be detected in the act of beginning to build his palace in such a way as to render it strong enough for armed resistance.

Disturbed by the consciousness of all these faults, he sent around and collected his forces, and at the same time he sent away to the mountains his younger son, Sabaris, and the women, both his queen and his son’s wife, and his daughters. And he sent along with them his most valuable jewels and chattels and gave them an escort. At the same time he sent scouts to spy out what Cyrus was doing, while he went on assigning positions in his service to the Armenians as they came in to him. Presently still others arrived with the news that the man himself was quite near.

Then he no longer had the courage to join battle with him but retreated. When the Armenians saw him act thus, they dispersed at once, each to his own possessions, wishing to get their belongings out of the way. And when Cyrus saw the plain full of men running about and driving away, he sent secretly to say that he had no quarrel with any who remained; but he declared that if he caught any one trying to get away, he should treat him as an enemy. Accordingly, the most of them remained, but some retreated with the king.

Now as those with the women in charge went[*](Chrysantas captures the train of fugitives) forward they came upon the forces in the mountain. At once they raised a cry and as they tried to escape many of them were caught. And finally the young prince and the wives and daughters were captured and all the treasure that happened to be in the train. When the king himself learned what was going on, he was in a quandary which way to turn and took refuge upon a certain hill.

And when Cyrus saw[*](The king entrapped) this he surrounded the hill with the troops he had with him and sent orders to Chrysantas to leave a guard upon the mountains and come. Thus Cyrus’s army was being brought together. Then he sent a herald to the Armenian to ask him the following question: Tell me, king of Armenia, he said, whether you prefer to remain there and fight against hunger and thirst, or to come down into the plain and fight it out with us?The Armenian answered that he had no wish to fight against either.

Again Cyrus sent to him and asked: Why then do you sit there and refuse to come down? Because, he answered, I am in a quandary what to do.But said Cyrus, there is no occasion whatever for that; for you are free to come down for trial. And who, said he, will be my judge? He, to be sure, to whom God has given the power to deal with you as he will, even without a trial. Then the Armenian, recognizing the exigency of his case, came down. And Cyrus received both the king and all that belonged to him into the midst and set his camp round them, for by this time he had all his forces together.

Now at this juncture Tigranes, the king’s elder son, returned from a journey abroad. He it was who had been Cyrus’s companion once on a hunt; and when he heard what had occurred, he came at once, just as he was, to Cyrus. And when he saw his father and mother and brothers and sisters and his own wife all made prisoners, he wept, as might be expected.

But Cyrus, when he looked upon him, showed him no token of friendship, but merely remarked: You have come just in time to attend your father’s trial.And immediately he called together the officers of[*](The court martial of the king) both the Medes and the Persians and all the Armenian nobles who were present. And the women who were there in their carriages he did not exclude but permitted them to attend.

When everything was in order, he began his examination: King of Armenia, said he, I advise you in the first place in this trial to tell the truth, that you may be guiltless of that offence which is hated more cordially than any other. For let me assure you that being caught in a barefaced lie stands most seriously in the way of a man’s receiving any mercy. In the next place, said he, your children and your wives here and also the Armenians present are cognizant of everything that you have done; and if they hear you telling anything else than the facts, they will think that you are actually condemning your own self to suffer the extreme penalty, if ever I discover the truth. Well, Cyrus, said he, ask what you will, and be assured that I will tell the truth, let happen what will as a result of it.

Tell me then, said the other, did you ever have a war with Astyages, my mother’s father, and with the rest of the Medes?Yes, he answered, I did.And when you were conquered by him, did you agree to pay tribute and to join his army, wherever he should command you to go, and to own no forts? Those are the facts. Why, then, have you now failed to pay the tribute and to send the troops, and why have you been building forts? I longed for liberty; for it seemed to me to be a glorious thing both to be free myself and to bequeath liberty to my children.

You are right, said Cyrus; it is a noble thing to fight that one may never be in danger of becoming a slave. But if any one has been conquered in war or in any other way reduced to servitude and is then caught attempting to rob his masters of himself, are you the first man to reward him as an honest man and one who does right, or do you punish him as a malefactor if you catch him? I punish him, said he; for you will not let me[*](The king convicts himself) tell a lie.

Answer each of these questions explicitly then, said Cyrus; if any one happens to be an officer under you and does wrong, do you permit him to continue in office or do you put another in his place? I put another in his place. And what if he has great possessions—do you allow him to continue rich, or do you make him poor? I confiscate all that he may happen to possess, said he. And if you find out that he is trying to desert to the enemy, what do you do? I put him to death, said he; I may as well confess, for why should I convict myself of lying and be put him to death for that, instead of telling the truth?

Then his son, when he heard this, stripped off his turban and rent his garments, and the women cried aloud and tore their cheeks, as if it were all over with their father and they were already lost. But Cyrus bade them be silent and said: Very well, king of Armenia; so that is your idea of justice; in accordance with it, then, what do you advise us to do? Then the Armenian was silent, for he was in a quandary whether to advise Cyrus to put him to death or to propose to him a course opposite to that which he admitted he himself always took.

But[*](Tigranes pleads his father’s case) his son Tigranes put a question to Cyrus, saying: Tell me, Cyrus, since my father seems to be in doubt, may I advise you in regard to him what I think the best course for you? Now Cyrus had observed when Tigranes used to go hunting with him that there was a certain philosopher with him who was an object of admiration to Tigranes; consequently he was very eager to hear what he would say. So he bade him express his opinion with confidence.