"Take whomever you like," he answered, "and begone." [22] Now, as it chanced, among the officers present was the Mede who had claimed kinship with Cyrus long ago and won a kiss thereby. Cyrus pointed to him and said, "That man will do for me." "He shall go with you then," Cyaxares replied. And turning to the officer, "Tell your fellows," he said, "that he who lists may follow Cyrus." [23] Thus Cyrus chose his man and went forth. And when they were outside he said, "To-day you can show me if you spoke truth long ago when you told me that the sight of me was your joy." "If you say that," said the Mede, "I will never leave you." "And will you not do your best," added Cyrus, "to bring me others too?" "By the gods in heaven," cried the Mede, "that I will, until you say in your turn that to see me is your joy." Thereupon, with the authority of Cyaxares to support him, the officer went to the Medes and delivered with message with all diligence, adding that he for one would never forsake Cyrus, the bravest, noblest, and best of men, and a hero whose lineage was divine. [C.2] While Cyrus was busied with these matters, by some strange chance two ambassadors arrived from the Hyrcanians. These people are neighbours of the Assyrians, and being few in number, they were held in subjection. But they seemed then, as they seem now, to live on horseback. Hence the Assyrians used them as the Lacedaemonians employ the Skirites, for every toil and every danger, without sparing them. In fact, at that very moment they had ordered them to furnish a rear-guard of a thousand men and more, so as to bear the brunt of any rear attack. [2] The Hyrcanians, as they were to be the hindmost, had put their waggons and families in the rear, for, like most of the tribes in Asia, they take their entire households with them on the march. [3] But when they thought of the sorry treatment they got from the Assyrians and when they saw the king fallen, the army worsted and a prey to panic, the allies disheartened and ready to desert, they judged it a fine moment to revolt themselves, if only the Medes and Persians would make common cause with them. So they sent an embassy to Cyrus, for after the late battle there was no name like his. [4] They told him what good cause they had to hate the Assyrians, and how if he was willing to attack them now, they themselves would be his allies and show him the way. At the same time they gave a full account of the enemy's doings, being eager to get Cyrus on the road. [5] "Do you think," said Cyrus, "we should overtake the Assyrians before they reach their fortresses? We look on it as a great misfortune," he added, "that they ever slipped through our fingers and escaped." (This he said, wishing to give his hearers as high an opinion as possible of himself and his friends.) [6] "You should certainly catch them," they answered, "and that to-morrow, ere the day is old, if you gird up your loins: they move heavily because of their numbers and their