Selecta capita ex scriptoribus Graecis in usum classis quintae Carolinae

clothed the other in his own. I, therefore, judging these boys, decided that it was better for both that each should have the tunic that fit him. But for this, the teacher struck me, saying that whenever I was made a judge of what is fitting, I should act this way. But whenever it is necessary to decide to whom the tunic belongs, he said, one must investigate what is a just possession: whether he who took it by force should have it, or he who had it made or purchased. Then, he said, the lawful is just, but the lawless is violent. always Therefore, he ordered that a judge must cast his vote in accordance with the law. Thus, mother, I know at least the requirements of justice perfectly well; but if I should ever need something more, this grandfather of mine, he said, will teach me further.

"But," she said, "child, justice is not agreed upon in the same way at your grandfather's house as it is among the Persians. For he has made himself master of all in Media, whereas among the Persians, it is considered just to have an equal share. And your father acts according to the fixed rules of the city, and receives only what is fixed. His measure is not his own desire, but the law. So, in order that you do not perish under the lash when you return home, see that you do not come back having learned from this man not the royal way, but the tyrannical way, in which it is thought one must have more than everyone else." "But your husband, mother," said Cyrus, "is very clever at teaching one to have less rather than more. Or do you not see," he said, "that he has even taught all the Medes to have less than he does? So take heart; your husband will not send me back having taught me to be covetous, neither to me nor to any other."