Book 2
2.9
But when a certain man who was about to start for Persia came up and asked me for the letter which I had written home, I bade the lieutenant run and fetch it, for he knew where it had been placed. So he started off on a run, and that young recruit followed, as he was, breastplate and sword; and then the whole fifty, seeing him run, ran after. And the men came back bringing the letter. So exactly, you see, does my company, at least, carry out all your orders.
2.10
The rest, of course, laughed over the military escort of the letter, and Cyrus said: O Zeus and all the gods! What sort of men we have then as our comrades; they are so easily won by kindness that we can make many of them our firm friends with even a little piece of meat; and they are so obedient that they obey even before the orders are given. I, for my part, do not know what sort of soldiers one could ask to have in preference to these!
2.11
Thus Cyrus praised his soldiers, laughing atObjections raised to both stories the same time. But one of his captains, Aglaïtadas by name, one of the most austere of men, happened to be in Cyrus’s tent at the same time and he spoke somewhat as follows: You don’t mean to say, Cyrus, that you think what these fellows have been telling is true? Well said Cyrus, what object could they have, pray, in telling a lie? What object, indeed, said the other, except that they wanted to raise a laugh; and so they tell these stories and try to humbug us.
