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Men of Persia, you also have now taken your places among the peers, and you have been selected for your positions because you are considered in every way equal to the bravest, and by virtue of your years even more discreet than they. And so you occupy a place not at all less honourable than that of our front-rank men. For as you are behind, you can observe those who are valiant and by exhorting them make them still more valiant; and if any one should be inclined to hang back and you should see it, you would not permit it.

And because of your years and because of the weight of your armour it is more to your advantage than to any others’ that we should be victorious. And if those in front call to you and bid you follow, obey them and see that you be not outdone by them even in this respect but give them a counter cheer to lead on faster against the enemy. Now go and get your luncheon and then go with your chaplets on your heads with the others to your posts.

Thus Cyrus and his men were occupied; and the Assyrians, when they had lunched, came out boldly and bravely drew up in line. And the king in person rode along in his chariot and marshalled the lines and exhorted them as follows:

Men of[*](The king of Assyria exhorts his troops) Assyria, now is the time for you to be brave men; for the struggle now impending is one for your lives, for the land in which you were born, for the homes in which you were bred, for your wives and children and all the blessings you enjoy. For if you are victorious, you will have possession of all that, as before; but if you are defeated, be well assured that you will surrender it all to the enemy.

Therefore, as you desire victory, stand and fight; for it would be folly for men who desire to win a battle to turn their backs and offer to the enemy the side of their body that is without eyes or hands or weapons; and any one who wishes to live would be a fool if he tried to run away, when he knows that it is the victors who save their lives, while those who try to run away are more likely to meet their death than those who stand their ground. And if any one desires wealth, he also is foolish if he submits to defeat. For who does not know that the victors not only save what is their own but take in addition the property of the vanquished, while the vanquished throw both themselves and all they have away? Thus the Assyrian was occupied;

and Cyaxares[*](Cyaxares proposes an immediate attack) sent to Cyrus to say that now was the time to advance upon the enemy. For said he, although those outside the fortifications are as yet but few, they will become many while we are advancing; let us therefore not wait until their numbers are more than our own, but let us go while yet we think we could defeat them easily.

But, Cyaxares,Cyrus answered, if it is[*](Cyrus wisely counsels delay) not more than half of them that are defeated, you may rest assured that they will say that we attacked only a few because we were afraid of their main body, and they will maintain that they have not been defeated; the result will be that you will find another battle necessary; and then they may perhaps plan better than they have now in delivering themselves so completely to our disposal that we may fight as many or as few of them as we please.

The messengers received this answer and were gone. And at this juncture Chrysantas, the Persian, and certain other peers came up with some deserters. And Cyrus, as a matter of course, asked the deserters what was going on among the enemy; and they said that the troops were already coming out under arms and that the king was out in person marshalling them and addressing them with many earnest words of exhortation as they came out in succession. So, they said, those reported who heard him.

How would it do, Cyrus, Chrysantas then[*](The value of exhortations to valour) asked, for you to get your men together, too, while yet you may, and exhort them, and see if you also might make your soldiers better men.

Do not let the exhortations of the Assyrian trouble you in the least, Chrysantas,Cyrus answered; for no speech of admonition can be so fine that it will all at once make those who hear it good men if they are not good already; it would surely not make archers good if they had not had previous practice in shooting; neither could it make lancers good, nor horsemen; it cannot even make men able to endure bodily labour, unless they have been trained to it before.