Biographical fiction; Cyrus, King of Persia, -529 B.C. -- Fiction; Education of princes -- Fiction
anything of importance, and not trouble about trifles.
[57] Thus they pressed forward through the night, and when day broke
Cyrus ordered the mass of the cavalry to the front, the Cadousians alone
remaining with their own infantry, who brought up the rear, and who
were as much in need as others of cavalry support. But the rest of the
horsemen he sent ahead because it was ahead that the enemy lay, and in
case of resistance he was anxious to oppose them in battle-order, while
if they fled he wished no time to be lost in following up the pursuit.
[58] It was always arranged who were to give chase and who were to stay
with himself: he never allowed the whole army to be broken up. [59] Thus
Cyrus conducted the advance, but it is not to be thought that he kept
to one particular spot; he was always galloping backwards and forwards,
first at one point and then at another, supervising everything and
supplying any defect as it arose. Thus Cyrus and his men marched
forward.
[C.4] Now there was a certain officer in the cavalry with Gadatas, a man
of power and influence, who, when he saw that his master had revolted
from Assyria, thought to himself, "If anything should happen to him, I
myself could get from the king all that he possessed."
Accordingly he sent forward a man he could trust, with instructions
that, if he found the Assyrian army already in the territory of Gadatas,
he was to tell the king that he could capture Gadatas and all who were
with him, if he thought fit to make an ambuscade. [2] And the messenger
was also to say what force Gadatas had at his command and to announce
that Cyrus was not with him. Moreover, the officer stated the road by
which Gadatas was coming. Finally, to win the greater confidence, he
sent word to his own dependents and bade them deliver up to the king of
Assyria the castle which he himself commanded in the province, with all
that it contained: he would come himself, he added, if possible, after
he had slain Gadatas, and, even if he failed in that, he would always
stand by the king.
[3] Now the emissary rode as hard as he could and came before the king
and told his errand, and, hearing it, the king at once took over the
castle and formed an ambuscade, with a large body of horse and many
chariots, in a dense group of villages that lay upon the road. [4]
Gadatas, when he came near the spot, sent scouts ahead to explore,
and the king, as soon as he sighted them, ordered two or three of his
chariots and a handful of horsemen to dash away as though in flight,
giving the impression that they were few in number and panic-stricken.
At this the scouting party swept after them, signalling to Gadatas, who
also fell into the trap and gave himself up to the chase.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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