I.

THE CHILDHOOD OF CYRUS.

From Xenophon's Cyropaedia, Book I.

Cyrus is said to have been born of a father, Cambyses, king of the Persians. This Cambyses was of the lineage of the Perseidae (the Perseidae are so named from Perseus). It is agreed that he was born of a mother, Mandane; this Mandane was the daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Cyrus is said and still sung of even now by the barbarians to have been most beautiful in appearance, most philanthropic in soul, and most fond of learning, and most ambitious, so that he endured every labor and underwent every danger for the sake of being praised.

He is remembered as having such a nature of soul and form; yet he was educated in the laws of the Persians. These laws seem to begin by taking care of the common good; for they do not begin like most cities. Most cities, having allowed one to educate one’s own children as one wishes, and the elders themselves to conduct their lives as they wish, then command them not to steal, not to plunder, not to enter a house by force, not to strike one whom it is not just to strike, not to commit adultery, not to disobey a ruler, and the other things like these. If anyone transgresses any of these, they have imposed a penalty upon them.