Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
himself at his mother's feet, by many tears, at last, with much
ado, persuaded her that they should neither put her to death nor
divorce her from him. However, Cyrus was his mother's favorite,
and the son whom she most desired to settle in the throne. And
therefore, his father Darius now lying ill, he, being sent for
from the sea to the court, set out thence with full hopes that
by her means he was to be declared the successor to the kingdom.
For Parysatis had the specious plea in his behalf, which Xerxes
on the advice of Demaratus had of old made use of, that she had
borne him Arsicas when he was a subject, but Cyrus when a king.
Notwithstanding, she prevailed not with Darius, but the eldest
son Arsicas was proclaimed king, his name being changed into
Artaxerxes; and Cyrus remained satrap of Lydia, and commander in
the maritime provinces.
It was not long after the decease of Darius that the king, his
successor, went to Pasargadae, to have the ceremony of his
inauguration consummated by the Persian priests. There is a
temple dedicated to a warlike goddess, whom one might liken to
Minerva; into which when the royal person to be initiated has
passed, he must strip himself of his own robe, and put on that
which Cyrus the first wore before he was king; then, having
devoured a frail of figs, he must eat turpentine, and drink a
cup of sour milk. To which if they superadd any other rites, it
is unknown to any but those that are present at them. Now
Artaxerxes being about to address himself to this solemnity,
Tisaphernes came to him, bringing a certain priest, who, having
trained up Cyrus in his youth in the established discipline of
Persia, and having taught him the Magian philosophy, was likely
to be as much disappointed as any man that his pupil did not
succeed to the throne. And for that reason his veracity was the
less questioned when he charged Cyrus as though he had been
about to lie in wait for the king in the temple, and to assault
and assassinate him as he was putting off his garment. Some
affirm that he was apprehended upon this impeachment, others
that he had entered the temple and was pointed out there, as he
lay lurking, by the priest. But as he was on the point of being
put to death, his mother clasped him in her arms, and, entwining
him with the tresses of her hair, joined his neck close to her
own, and by her bitter lamentation and intercession to
Artaxerxes for him, succeeded in saving his life; and sent him
away again to the sea and to his former province. This,
however, could no longer content him; nor did he so well
remember his delivery as his arrest, his resentment for which
made him more eagerly desirous of the kingdom than before.
Some say that he revolted from his brother, because he had not a
revenue allowed him sufficient for his daily meals; but this is
on the face of it absurd. For had he had nothing else, yet he
had a mother ready to supply him with whatever he could desire
out of her own means. But the great number of soldiers who were
hired from all quarters and maintained, as Xenophon informs us,
for his service, by his friends and connections, is in itself a
sufficient proof of his riches. He did not assemble them
together in a body, desiring as yet to conceal his enterprise;
but he had agents everywhere, enlisting foreign soldiers upon
various pretenses; and, in the meantime, Parysatis, who was
with the king, did her best to put aside all suspicions, and
Cyrus himself always wrote in a humble and dutiful manner to
him, sometimes soliciting favor, sometimes making countercharges
against Tisaphernes, as if his jealousy and contest had been
wholly with him. Moreover, there was a certain natural
dilatoriness in the king, which was taken by many for clemency.
And, indeed, in the beginning of his reign, he did seem really
to emulate the gentleness of the first Artaxerxes, being very
accessible in his person, and liberal to a fault in the
distribution of honors and favors. Even in his punishments, no
contumely or vindictive pleasure could be seen; and those who
offered him presents were as much pleased with his manner of
accepting, as were those who received gifts from him with his
graciousness and amiability in giving them. Nor truly was there
anything, however inconsiderable, given him, which he did not
deign kindly to accept of; insomuch that when one Omises had
presented him with a very large pomegranate, "By Mithras," said
he, "this man, were he entrusted with it, would turn a small
city into a great one."
Once when some were offering him one thing, some another, as he
was on a progress, a certain poor laborer, having got nothing at
hand to bring him, ran to the river side, and, taking up water
in his hands, offered it to him; with which Artaxerxes was so
well pleased that he sent him a goblet of gold and a thousand
darics. To Euclidas, the Lacedaemonian, who had made a number
of bold and arrogant speeches to him, he sent word by one of his
officers, "You have leave to say what you please to me, and I,
you should remember, may both say and do what I please to you."
Teribazus once, when they were hunting, came up and pointed out
to the king that his royal robe was torn; the king asked him
what he wished him to do; and when Teribazus replied "May it
please you to put on another and give me that," the king did so,
saying withal, "I give it you, Teribazus, but I charge you not
to wear it." He, little regarding the injunction, being not a
bad, but a light-headed, thoughtless man, immediately the king
took it off, put it on, and bedecked himself further with royal
golden necklaces and women's ornaments, to the great scandal of
everybody, the thing being quite unlawful. But the king laughed
and told him, "You have my leave to wear the trinkets as a
woman, and the robe of state as a fool." And whereas none
usually sat down to eat with the king besides his mother and his
wedded wife, the former being placed above, the other below him,
Artaxerxes invited also to his table his two younger brothers,
Ostanes and Oxathres. But what was the most popular thing of
all among the Persians was the sight of his wife Statira's
chariot, which always appeared with its curtains down, allowing
her countrywomen to salute and approach her, which made the
queen a great favorite with the people.
Yet busy, factious men, that delighted in change, professed it
to be their opinion that the times needed Cyrus, a man of a
great spirit, an excellent warrior, and a lover of his friends,
and that the largeness of their empire absolutely required a
bold and enterprising prince. Cyrus, then; not only relying
upon those of his own province near the sea, but upon many of
those in the upper countries near the king, commenced the war
against him. He wrote to the Lacedaemonians, bidding them come
to his assistance and supply him with men, assuring them that to
those who came to him on foot he would give horses, and to the
horsemen chariots; that upon those who had farms he would bestow
villages, and those who were lords of villages he would make so
of cities; and that those who would be his soldiers should
receive their pay, not by count, but by weight. And among many
other high praises of himself, he said he had the stronger soul;
was more a philosopher and a better Magian; and could drink and
bear more wine than his brother, who, as he averred, was such a
coward and so little like a man, that he could neither sit his
horse in hunting nor his throne in time of danger. The
Lacedaemonians, his letter being read, sent a staff to
Clearchus, commanding him to obey Cyrus in all things. So Cyrus
marched towards the king, having under his conduct a numerous
host of barbarians, and but little less than thirteen thousand
stipendiary Grecians; alleging first one cause, then another,
for his expedition. Yet the true reason lay not long concealed,
but Tisaphernes went to the king in person to declare it.
Thereupon, the court was all in an uproar and tumult, the
queen-mother bearing almost the whole blame of the enterprise,
and her retainers being suspected and accused. Above all,
Statira angered her by bewailing the war and passionately
demanding where were now the pledges and the intercessions which
saved the life of him that conspired against his brother; "to
the end," she said, "that he might plunge us all into war and
trouble." For which words Parysatis hating Statira, and being
naturally implacable and savage in her anger and revenge,
consulted how she might destroy her. But since Dinon tells us
that her purpose took effect in the time of the war, and Ctesias
says it was after it, I shall keep the story for the place to
which the latter assigns it, as it is very unlikely that he, who
was actually present, should not know the time when it happened,
and there was no motive to induce him designedly to misplace its
date in his narrative of it, though it is not infrequent with
him in his history to make excursions from truth into mere
fiction and romance.
As Cyrus was upon the march, rumors and reports were brought
him, as though the king still deliberated, and were not minded
to fight and presently to join battle with him; but to wait in
the heart of his kingdom until his forces should have come in
thither from all parts of his dominions. He had cut a trench
through the plain ten fathoms in breadth, and as many in depth,
the length of it being no less than four hundred furlongs. Yet
he allowed Cyrus to pass across it, and to advance almost to the
city of Babylon. Then Teribazus, as the report goes, was the
first that had the boldness to tell the king that he ought not
to avoid the conflict, nor to abandon Media, Babylon, and even
Susa, and hide himself in Persis, when all the while he had an
army many times over more numerous than his enemies, and an
infinite company of governors and captains that were better
soldiers and politicians than Cyrus. So at last he resolved to
fight, as soon as it was possible for him. Making, therefore,
his first appearance, all on a sudden, at the head of nine
hundred thousand well-marshaled men, he so startled and
surprised the enemy, who with the confidence of contempt were
marching on their way in no order, and with their arms not ready
for use, that Cyrus, in the midst of much noise and tumult, was
scarce able to form them for battle. Moreover, the very manner
in which he led on his men, silently and slowly, made the
Grecians stand amazed at his good discipline; who had expected
irregular shouting and leaping, much confusion and separation
between one body of men and another, in so vast a multitude of
troops. He also placed the choicest of his armed chariots in
the front of his own phalanx over against the Grecian troops,
that a violent charge with these might cut open their ranks
before they closed with them.
But as this battle is described by many historians, and Xenophon
in particular as good as shows it us by eyesight, not as a past
event, but as a present action, and by his vivid account makes
his hearers feel all the passions and join in all the dangers of
it, it would be folly in me to give any larger account of it
than barely to mention any things omitted by him which yet
deserve to be recorded. The place, then, in which the two
armies were drawn out is called Cunaxa, being about five hundred
furlongs distant from Babylon. And here Clearchus beseeching
Cyrus before the fight to retire behind the combatants, and not
expose himself to hazard, they say he replied, "What is this,
Clearchus? Would you have me, who aspire to empire, show myself
unworthy of it?" But if Cyrus committed a great fault in
entering headlong into the midst of danger, and not paying any
regard to his own safety, Clearchus was as much to blame, if not