others infuse into their history indigenous Grecian ideas.
[438] Herodot. iii, 80-82. Herodotus, while he positively asserts
the genuineness of these deliberations, lets drop the intimation
that many of his contemporaries regarded them as of Grecian
coinage.
[439] Herodot. i, 96. Ἐόντων δὲ αὐτονόμων πάντων ἀνὰ τὴν ἤπειρον,
ὧδε αὖτις ἐς τυραννίδας περιῆλθον. Ἀνὴρ ἐν τοῖσι Μήδοισι ἐγένετο
σοφὸς, τῷ οὔνομα ἦν Δηϊόκης.... Οὗτος ὁ Δηϊόκης, ἐρασθεὶς
τυραννίδος, ἐποίεε τοιάδε, etc.... Ὁ δὲ δὴ, οἷα μνεώμενος ἀρχὴν,
ἰθύς τε καὶ δίκαιος ἦν.
[440] Compare the chapters above referred to in Herodotus with
the eighth book of the Cyropædia, wherein Xenophon describes
the manner in which the Median despotism was put in effective
order and turned to useful account by Cyrus, especially the
arrangements for imposing on the imagination of his subjects
(καταγοητεύειν, viii, 1, 40)—(it is a small thing, but marks
the cognate plan of Herodotus and Xenophon). Dêïokês forbids
his subjects to laugh or spit in his presence. Cyrus also
directs that no one shall spit, or wipe his nose, or turn
round to look at anything, when the king is present (Herodot.
i, 99; Xen. Cyrop. viii, 1, 42). Again, viii, 3, 1, about the
pompous procession of Cyrus when he rides out,—καὶ γὰρ αὐτῆς
τῆς ἐξελάσεως ἡ σεμνότης ἡμῖν δοκεῖ μία τῶν τεχνῶν εἶναι τῶν
μεμηχανημένων, τὴν ἀρχὴν μὴ εὐκαταφρόνητον εἶναι—analogous to
the Median Dêïokês in Herodotus—Ταῦτα δὲ περὶ ἑωυτὸν ἐσέμνυνε
τῶνδε εἵνεκεν, etc. _Cyrus_—ἐμφανίζων δὲ καὶ τοῦτο ὅτι περὶ
πολλοῦ ἐποιεῖτο, μηδένα μήτε φίλον ἀδικεῖν μήτε σύμμαχον, ἀλλὰ
τὸ δίκαιον ἰσχυρῶς ὁρῶν (Cyrop. viii, 1, 26). _Dêïokês_—ἦν τὸ
δίκαιον φυλάσσων χαλεπός (Herodot. i, 100). _Cyrus_ provides
numerous persons who serve to him as eyes and ears throughout the
country (Cyrop. viii, 2, 12), _Dêïokês_ has many κατάσκοποι and
κατήκοοι (Herodot. _ib._).
[441] When the Roman emperor Claudius sends the young Parthian
prince Meherdatês, who had been an hostage at Rome, to occupy
the kingdom which the Parthian envoys tendered to him, he gives
him some good advice, conceived in the school of Greek and Roman
politics: “Addidit præcepta, ut non dominationem ac servos, sed
rectorem et cives, cogitaret: clementiamque ac justitiam quanto
ignara barbaris, tanto toleratiora, capesseret.” (Tacit, Annal.
xii, 11.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account