The accomplishment of these is the reward of effort, not of idleness;
in these it is only when we have done all that it is our duty to do
that we are justified in asking for blessings from the gods." [6] "I
remember very well," said Cyrus, "that you used to talk to me in that
way: and indeed I could not but agree with the arguments you gave. You
used to say that a man had no right to pray he might win a cavalry
charge if he had never learnt how to ride, or triumph over master-
bowmen if he could not draw a bow, or bring a ship safe home to
harbour if he did not know how to steer, or be rewarded with a
plenteous harvest if he had not so much as sown grain into the ground,
or come home safe from battle if he took no precautions whatsoever.
All such prayers as these, you said, were contrary to the very
ordinances of heaven, and those who asked for things forbidden could
not be surprised if they failed to win them from the gods. Even as a
petition in the face of law on earth would have no success with men."

[7] "And do you remember," said his father, "how we thought that it
would be a noble work enough if a man could train himself really and
truly to be beautiful and brave and earn all he needed for his
household and himself? That, we said, was a work of which a man might
well be proud; but if he went further still, if he had the skill and
the science to be the guide and governor of other men, supplying all
their wants and making them all they ought to be, that, it seemed to
us, would be indeed a marvel." [8] "Yes, my father," answered Cyrus,
"I remember it very well. I agreed with you that to rule well and
nobly was the greatest of all works, and I am of the same mind still,"
he went on, "whenever I think of government in itself. But when I look
on the world at large, when I see of what poor stuff those men are
made who contrive to uphold their rule and what sort of antagonists we
are likely to find in them, then I can only feel how disgraceful it