Biographical fiction; Cyrus, King of Persia, -529 B.C. -- Fiction; Education of princes -- Fiction
elders and be honoured by those who are younger than yourselves. These
are the principles that I leave with you, sanctioned by time, ingrained
in our customs, embodied in our laws. [11] The sovereignty is yours,
Cambyses; the gods have given it to you, and I also, as far as in me
lies; and to you, Tanaoxares, I give the satrapy over the Medes and the
Armenians and the Cadousians, these three; and though I leave your elder
brother a larger empire and the name of king, your inheritance will
bring you, I believe, more perfect happiness than his. [12] I ask myself
what human joy will be lacking to you: all things which gladden the
hearts of men will be yours--but the craving for what is out of reach,
the load of cares, the restless passion to rival my achievements, the
plots and counterplots, they will follow him who wears the crown,
and they are things, be well assured, that leave little leisure for
happiness. [13] And you, Cambyses, you know of yourself, without words
from me, that your kingdom is not guarded by this golden sceptre, but
by faithful friends; their loyalty is your true staff, a sceptre which
shall not fail. But never think that loyal hearts grow up by nature as
the grass grows in the field: if that were so, the same men would be
loyal to all alike, even as all natural objects are the same to all
mankind. No, every leader must win his own followers for himself, and
the way to win them is not by violence but by loving-kindness. [14] And
if you would seek for friends to stand by you and guard your throne, who
so fit to be the first of them as he who is sprung from the self-same
loins? Our fellow-citizens are nearer to us than foreigners, and our
mess-mates dearer than strangers, and what of those who are sprung from
the same seed, suckled at the same breast, reared in the same home,
loved by the same parents, the same mother, the same father? [15] What
the gods have given to be the seal of brotherhood do not make of none
effect yourselves. But build upon it: make it the foundation for other
loving deeds, and thus the love between you shall never be overcome. The
man who takes thought for his brother cares for his own self. For who
but a brother can win glory from a brother's greatness? Who can be
honoured as a brother can through a brother's power? Or who so safe from
injury as the brother of the great? [16] Let no one, Tanaoxares, be more
eager than yourself to obey your brother and support him: to no one can
his triumph or his danger come so near. Ask yourself from whom you could
win a richer reward for any kindness. Who could give you stouter help
in return for your own support? And where is coldness so ugly as between
brothers? Or where is reverence so beautiful? And remember, Cambyses,
only the brother who holds pre-eminence in a brother's heart can be safe
from the jealousy of the world. [17] I implore you both, my sons, by the
gods of our fathers, hold each other in honour, if you care at all to do
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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