IX

So died Cyrus; a man the kingliest[1] and most worthy to rule of all 1
the Persians who have lived since the elder Cyrus: according to the
concurrent testimony of all who are reputed to have known him
intimately. To begin from the beginning, when still a boy, and whilst
being brought up with his brother and the other lads, his unrivalled
excellence was recognised. For the sons of the noblest Persians, it
must be known, are brought up, one and all, at the king's portals.
Here lessons of sobriety and self-control may largely be laid to
heart, while there is nothing base or ugly for eye or ear to feed
upon. There is the daily spectacle ever before the boys of some
receiving honour from the king, and again of others receiving
dishonour; and the tale of all this is in their ears, so that from
earliest boyhood they learn how to rule and to be ruled.

[1] The character now to be drawn is afterwards elaborated into the
Cyrus of the Cyropaedeia.

In this courtly training Cyrus earned a double reputation; first he
was held to be a paragon of modesty among his fellows, rendering an
obedience to his elders which exceeded that of many of his own
inferiors; and next he bore away the palm for skill in horsemanship
and for love of the animal itself. Nor less in matters of war, in the
use of the bow and the javelin, was he held by men in general to be at 5
once the aptest of learners and the most eager practiser. As soon as
his age permitted, the same pre-eminence showed itself in his fondness
for the chase, not without a certain appetite for perilous adventure
in facing the wild beasts themselves. Once a bear made a furious rush
at him[2], and without wincing he grappled with her, and was pulled