Kitap 7
First of all, he began to build towers by the river, laying his foundations with the trunks of date-palms not less than a hundred feet long—and they grow even taller than that. And they were good material for this purpose, for it is a well known fact that date-palms, when under heavy pressure, bend upward like the backs of pack-asses.
These he used as mud-sills, in order that, even if the river should break into his trench above, it might not carry his towers away. And he erected many other towers besides upon the breast-works of earth, so that he might have as many watch-towers as possible.
Thus, then, his men were employed, while the enemy upon the walls laughed his siege-works to scorn, in the belief that they had provisions enough for more than twenty years. Upon hearing of this, Cyrus divided his army into twelve parts as if intending each part to be responsible for sentry duty during one month of each year;
but the Babylonians, in their turn, when they heard of that, laughed much more scornfully still, at the thought of Phrygians and Lydians and Arabians and Cappadocians keeping guard against them, for they considered all these to be more friendly to them than to the Persians.
At last the ditches were completed. Then,The river is turned when he heard that a certain festival had come round in Babylon, during which all Babylon was accustomed to drink and revel all night long, Cyrus took a large number of men, just as soon as it was dark, and opened up the heads of the trenches at the river.
As soon as that was done, the water flowed down through the ditches in the night, and the bed of the river, where it traversed the city, became passable for men.
When the problem of the river was thus solved, Cyrus gave orders to his Persian colonels, infantry and cavalry, to marshal their regiments two abreast and come to him, and the rest, the allies, to follow in their rear, drawn up as before.
They came, according to orders, and he bade his aides, both foot and horse, get into the dry channel of the river and see if it was possible to march in the bed of the river.
And when they brought back word that it was, he called together the generals of both infantry and cavalry and spoke as follows:
My friends, said he, the river has madeCyrus issues instructions for entering the city way for us and given us an entrance into the city. Let us, therefore, enter in with dauntless hearts, fearing nothing and remembering that those against whom we are now to march are the same men that we have repeatedly defeated, and that, too, when they were all drawn up in battle line with their allies at their side, and when they were all wide awake and sober and fully armed;
whereas now we are going to fall upon them at a time when many of them are asleep, many drunk, and none of them in battle array. And when they find out that we are inside the walls, in their panic fright they will be much more helpless still than they are now.
But if any one is apprehensive of that which is said to be a source of terror to those invading a city—namely, that the people may go up on the house-tops and hurl down missiles right and left, you need not be in the least afraid of that; for if any do go up upon their houses, we have a god on our side, Hephaestus. And their porticoes are very inflammable, for the doors are made of palm-wood and covered with bituminous varnish which will burn like tinder;
while we, on our side, have plenty of pine-wood for torches, which will quickly produce a mighty conflagration; we have also plenty of pitch and tow, which will quickly spread the flames everywhere, so that those upon the house-tops must either quickly leave their posts or quickly be consumed.
But come, to arms! and with the help of the gods I will lead you on. And do you, Gadatas and Gobryas, show the streets, for you are familiar with them. And when we get inside the walls, lead us by the quickest route to the royal palace.
Aye, answered Gobryas and his staff, in view of the revelry, it would not be at all surprising if the gates leading to the palace were open, for all the city is feasting this night. Still, we shall find a guard before the gates, for one is always posted there. We must lose no time, then, said Cyrus. Forward, that we may catch the men as unprepared as we can.
When these words were spoken, they advanced.Babylon falls And of those they met on the way, some fell by their swords, some fled back into their houses, some shouted to them; and Gobryas and his men shouted back to them, as if they were fellow-revellers. They advanced as fast as they could and were soon at the palace.
And Gobryas and Gadatas and their troops found the gates leading to the palace locked, and those who had been appointed to attack the guard fell upon them as they were drinking by a blazing fire, and without waiting they dealt with them as with foes.
But, as a noise and tumult ensued, those within heard the uproar, and at the king’s command to see what the matter was, some of them opened the gates and ran out.
And when GadatasGobryas and Gadatas avenge their wrongs and his men saw the gates open they dashed in in pursuit of the others as they fled back into the palace, and dealing blows right and left they came into the presence of the king; and they found him already risen with his dagger in his hand.
And Gadatas and Gobryas and their followers overpowered him; and those about the king perished also, one where he had sought some shelter, another while running away, another while actually trying to defend himself with whatever he could.
Cyrus then sent the companies of cavalry around through the streets and gave them orders to cut down all whom they found out of doors, while he directed those who understood Assyrian to proclaim to those in their houses that they should stay there, for if any one should be caught outside, he would be put to death.
While they were thus occupied, Gadatas and Gobryas came up; and first of all they did homage to the gods, seeing that they had avenged themselves upon the wicked king, and then they kissed Cyrus’s hands and his feet with many tears of joy.
And when day dawned and those in possessionThe entire city yields to Cyrus of the citadels discovered that the city was taken and the king slain, they surrendered the citadels, too.
And Cyrus at once took possession of the citadels and sent up to them guards and officers of the guards. As for the dead, he gave their relatives permission to bury them. He furthermore ordered the heralds to make proclamation that all Babylonians deliver up their arms; and he ordered that wherever arms should be found in any house, all the occupants should be put to the sword. So they delivered up their arms and Cyrus stored them in the citadels, so that they might be ready if he ever needed them for use.
When all this was finished, he first called the magi and requested them, inasmuch as the city had been taken by the sword, to select sanctuaries and the first fruits of the booty for the gods. Next he distributed the private houses and official residences among those whom he considered to have had a share in what had been achieved; and he made the division in the way that had been decided upon—the best to the most meritorious. And if any one thought he had less than he should, he bade him come and explain his reasons for thinking so.
He ordered the Babylonians, moreover, to go on tilling their lands, to pay their tribute, and to serve those to whom they had severally been assigned; and he directed the Persians who had shared in the expedition and as many of the allies as chose to remain with him to address those who had fallen to their share as a master would his servants.
After this, Cyrus conceived a desire to establishCyrus holds court himself as he thought became a king, but he decided to do it with the approval of his friends, in such a way that his public appearances should be rare and solemn and yet excite as little jealousy as possible. So he adopted the following plan: at day-break he would take his station in a place that seemed to him to be adapted to the purpose and there receive all who had any matter to bring before him, give them an answer, and send them away.
But when people learned that he was holding audience, they came in an unmanageable throng, and as they crowded up to get in there was no end of trickery and contention.
And his attendants would admit them, making the best discrimination they could. But whenever any of his personal friends managedHis personal friends are crowded out to push their way through the throng and catch his eye, Cyrus would stretch out his hand, draw them up to him, and say: Just wait, friends, until we get rid of the crowd, and then we will enjoy each other’s company quietly. So his friends would wait, but the throng would stream in greater and greater, so that evening would set in before he had leisure to share his friends’ company.
So Cyrus would say: Gentlemen, it is now time to separate; come tomorrow morning; for I, too, have something to talk over with you.Upon hearing this, his friends gladly departed, running from his presence, for they had paid the penalty for ignoring all the wants of nature. Thus then they went to rest.
On the following day, Cyrus went to the same place and long before his friends came, there was a much greater crowd of people standing there desiring audience with him. So Cyrus stationed a large circle of Persian lancers about him and gave orders that no one should be admitted except his friends and the officers of the Persians and the allies.
And when they had come together, Cyrus addressed them as follows: Friends and allies, we cannotHe discusses organization of his court possibly find any fault with the gods that all that we wished for so far has not been fulfilled. However, if great success is to have such consequences that a man is not to be able to have some leisure for himself nor time to enjoy himself with his friends, I am ready to bid farewell to that sort of happiness.
For yesterday, too, you saw, of course, that although we began at dawn to give audience to those who came to see us, we did not get through before evening; and now you see that these others, who are here in greater numbers than came yesterday, will give us even more trouble.
If, therefore, one is to sacrifice oneself to such affairs, I reckon that you will have but a small part in my society or I in yours; while in myself I know that I shall certainly have no part at all.
I see also, he went on, still another absurd feature in all this: while my affection for you is, as you know, what it naturally ought to be, of these who stand about here I know few or none; and yet all these have made up their minds that if they can get ahead of you in crowding in, they will obtain what they wish from me before you can. Now what I expected all such to do, if any one wanted anything from me, was to get into favour with you as my friends and ask you for an introduction.
Perhaps some one may ask why I did not adopt this arrangement in the beginning instead of making myself accessible to all. It was, I answer, because I realized that the demands of war made it necessary for a commander not to be behind others in finding out what he ought to know nor in doing what it is expedient that he should do. And I thought generals who were seldom to be seen often neglected much that needed to be done.
But now that this most toilsome war is really over, it seems to me that I, too, am entitled to find some relaxation of spirit. So, while I am in doubt as to what I could do to harmonize our interests and those of the others for whom we must care, let any one who sees what is to the best advantage give me a word of counsel.
Thus Cyrus spoke. After him Artabazus aroseArtabazus reviews his own relations with Cyrus—the man who had once claimed to be his kinsman—and said: I am very glad, Cyrus, that you have opened this discussion. For when you were still a lad, I was very anxious even from the first to be a friend of yours; but when I saw that I could be of no use to you, I shrank from approaching you.
But when you once happened to need even myIV. i. 21-24 services to publish among the Medes the concession obtained from Cyaxares, I reasoned that, if I gave you my earnest support in this, I then might be your intimate friend and talk with you as much as I pleased. Now that particular commission was executed in such a way as to call for your approval.
After that, the Hyrcanians were the first to become our friends, and at a time, too, when we were very hungry for allies, so that in our affection for them we all but carried them around in our arms. And after that, when the enemy’s camp was taken, you did not have any time to concern yourself about me, I suppose, and I did not blame you.