Book 3
2.20
And tell me, Chaldaeans, said he, seeing that you have fine mountains, would you be willing to let the Armenians pasture their herds there, if the herdsmen would pay you what is fair?The Chaldaeans said they would; for they would get large profits by it, without any labour on their own part.And you, King of Armenia, said he, would you be willing to rent their pasture lands, if by letting the Chaldaeans have a little profit you were to get much greater profit for yourself? Why, of course, said he, if I thought I could pasture my cattle there in security. Well then, said he, could you pasture them there in security, if the heights were in the possession of your friends? Yes said the Armenian.
2.21
But, by Zeus, said the Chaldaeans, we could not even work our own farms in security, to say nothing of theirs, if they were to have possession of the heights. But said Cyrus, suppose on the other hand that the heights were in the possession of your friends? In that case, they answered, we should be all right. But, by Zeus, said the Armenian, we, on our part, should not be all right, if they are again to get possession of the heights, especially now that they have been fortified.
2.22
This then, said Cyrus, is what I shallCyrus guarantees peace between them do: I shall not give possession of the heights to either of you, but we shall keep a garrison there ourselves; and if either of you does wrong, we shall side with the injured party.
2.23
And when they heard this proposal, both sides gave it their approval and said that only in this way could the peace be effective; and upon these conditions they interchanged assurances of friendship, and agreed that each party should be independent of the other, that there should be the right of intermarriage and of mutual tillage and pasturage in each other’s territory, and that there should be a defensive alliance, in case any one should injure either party.
