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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.

Well said Tigranes, if you approve either of my father’s theory or his practice, then I advise you by all means to imitate him. But if you think he has done wrong throughout, I advise you not to imitate him.Well then, said Cyrus, if I should do what is right, I should surely not be imitating the one who does wrong. That is true, said he. Then, according to your reasoning, your father must be punished, if indeed it is right that the one who does wrong should be punished. Which do you think is better for you, Cyrus, to mete out your punishments to your benefit or to your own injury? In the latter case, at least, said he, I should be punishing myself.

Aye, but you would be doing yourself a great injury, said Tigranes, if you should put your friends to death just at the time when it was of the greatest advantage to you to have them. How said Cyrus, could men be of the greatest advantage to me just at the time when they were caught doing wrong?They would be, I think, if at that time they[*](The acquisition of discretion) should become discreet. For it seems to me to be true, Cyrus, said he, that without discretion there is no advantage at all in any other virtue; for what, he continued, could one do with a strong man or a brave man, or what with a rich man or a man of power in the state if he lacked discretion? But every friend is useful and every servant good, if he be endowed with discretion.

Do you mean to say, then,Cyrus answered, that in one day’s time your father has become discreet when he was indiscreet before? Yes said he, I do, indeed. By that you mean to say that discretion is an affection of the soul, as sorrow is, and not an acquisition.[*](Xenophon makes Cyrus apparently accept the Socratic doctrine that wisdom and the other virtues are matters for learning, the results of study and practice—not a mood, like sorrow, anger, or any other emotion.) For I do not suppose that a man could instantly pass from being indiscreet to being discreet, if indeed the one who is to be discreet must first have become wise.

What, have you never observed, Cyrus, said he, that when a man indiscreetly ventures to fight a stronger man than himself and has been worsted, he is instantly cured of his indiscretion toward that particular man? And again, he continued, have you never seen how when one state is in arms against another it is at once willing, when defeated, to submit to the victor instead of continuing the fight?

To what defeat of your father’s do you refer, said Cyrus, that you are so confident that he has been brought to discretion by it? Why that, by Zeus, Tigranes answered, which[*](How the king of Armenia learned discretion) he is conscious of having sustained, inasmuch as when he aimed at securing liberty he has become more of a slave than ever, and as he has not been able to accomplish a single thing of all that he thought he should effect by secrecy or by surprise or by actual force. And he knows that when you desired to outwit him, you did it as effectually as one could do who set out to deceive men blind or deaf or deprived of all their senses; and when you thought you ought to act secretly, you acted with such secrecy that the fortified places which he thought he had provided for his own safety you had secretly turned into prisons for him in advance. And so much did you surpass him in dispatch, that you came from a distance with a large army before he could muster the forces he had at home.

Well said Cyrus, do you really think that such a defeat is adequate to make men discreet—I mean, when they find out that others are their superiors? Yes said Tigranes, much more than when they are defeated in combat. For the one who is overcome by strength sometimes conceives the idea that, if he trains his body, he may renew the combat. Even cities too, when captured, think that by taking on new allies they might renew the fight. But if people are convinced that others are superior to themselves, they are often ready even without compulsion to submit to them.

You seem to think, said the other, that the insolent do not recognize those more discreet than they, that thieves do not recognize the truthful, and wrong-doers those who do right. Do you not know, he continued, that even now your father has played false and has not kept his agreement with us, although he knew that we have not been violating any of the agreements made by Astyages?

Yes; but neither do I mean that simply recognizing their superiors makes people discreet, unless they are punished by those superiors, as my father now is.But said Cyrus, your father has not yet suffered the least harm; but he is afraid, to be sure, that he will suffer the worst.

Do you think, then, said Tigranes, that[*](Fear of harm worse than the reality) anything breaks a man’s spirit sooner than object fear? Do you not know that those who are beaten with the sword, which is considered the most potent instrument of correction, are nevertheless ready to fight the same enemy again; but when people really fear anyone very much, then they cannot look him in the face, even when he tries to cheer them? You mean to say, said he, that fear is a heavier punishment to men than real correction.

And you, said he, know that what I say is true; for you are aware that, on the one hand, those who are afraid that they are to be exiled from their native land, and those who on the eve of battle are afraid that they shall be defeated, and those who fear slavery or bondage, all such can neither eat nor sleep for fear; whereas those who are already in exile or already defeated or already in slavery can sometimes eat and sleep better than those enjoying a happier lot.