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instance,
your own grandfather has made himself master over all and sundry
among the Medes, but with the Persians equality is held to be an
essential part of justice: and first and foremost, your father himself
must perform his appointed services to the state and receive his
appointed dues: and the measure of these is not his own caprice but the
law. Have a care then, or you may be scourged to death when you come
home to Persia, if you learn in your grandfather's school to love not
kingship but tyranny, and hold the tyrant's belief that he and he alone
should have more than all the rest." "Ah, but, mother," said the boy,
"my grandfather is better at teaching people to have less than their
share, not more. Cannot you see," he cried, "how he has taught all the
Medes to have less than himself? So set your mind at rest, mother, my
grandfather will never make me, or any one else, an adept in the art of
getting too much."
[C.4] So the boy's tongue ran on. But at last his mother went home, and
Cyrus stayed behind and was brought up in Media. He soon made
friends with his companions and found his way to their hearts, and soon
won their parents by the charm of his address and the true affection he
bore their sons, so much so that when they wanted a favour from the
king they bade their children ask Cyrus to arrange the matter for them.
And whatever it might be, the kindliness of the lad's heart and the

eagerness of his ambition made him set the greatest store on getting it
done. [2] On his side, Astyages could not bring himself to refuse his
grandson's lightest wish. For once, when he was sick, nothing would
induce the boy to leave his side; he could not keep back his tears, and
his terror at the thought that his grandfather might die was plain for
every one to see. If the old man needed anything during the night Cyrus
was the first to notice it, it was he who sprang up first to wait upon him,
and bring him what he thought would please him. Thus the old king's
heart was his.
[3] During these early days, it must be allowed, the boy was something
too much of a talker, in part, may be, because of his bringing-up. He
had been trained by his master, whenever he sat in judgment, to give a
reason for what he did, and to look for the like reason from others. And
moreover, his curiosity and thirst for knowledge were such that he must
needs inquire from every one he met the explanation of this, that, and
the other; and his own wits were so lively that he was ever ready with
an answer himself for any question put to him, so that talkativeness had
become, as it were, his second nature. But, just as in the body when a
boy is overgrown, some touch of youthfulness is sure to show itself and
tell the secret of his age, so for all the lad's loquacity, the impression
left on the listener was not of arrogance, but of simplicity and
warm-heartedness, and one would gladly have heard his chatter to the
end rather than have sat beside him and found him dumb.
[4] However, as he grew in stature and the years led him to the time
when childhood passes into youth he became more chary of his words
and quieter in his tone: at times, indeed, he was so shy that he would
blush in the presence of his elders, and there was little sign left of the
old forwardness, the impulsiveness of the puppy who will jump up on
every one, master and stranger alike. Thus he grew more sedate, but his
company was still most fascinating, and little wonder: for whenever it
came to a trial of skill between himself and his comrades he would
never challenge his mates to those feats in which he himself excelled:
he would start precisely one where he felt his own inferiority, averring
that he would outdo them all,--indeed, he would spring to horse in
order to shoot or hurl the javelin before he had got a firm seat--and then,
when he was worsted, he would be the first to laugh at his own
discomfiture. [5] He had no desire to escape defeat by giving up the

effort, but took glory in the resolution to do better another time, and
thus he soon found himself as good a horseman as his peers, and
presently, such was his ardour, he surpassed them all, and at last the
thinning of the game in the king's preserves began to show what he
could do.