their
theories, and you must apply them now, I take it, according to
circumstances and your need. [44] But," he added, "there is one lesson
that I would fain impress on you, and it is the greatest of them all.
Observe the sacrifices and pay heed to the omens; when they are against
you, never risk your army or yourself, for you must remember that men
undertake enterprises on the strength of probability alone and without
any real knowledge as to what will bring them happiness. [45] You may
learn this from all life and all history. How often have cities allowed
themselves to be persuaded into war, and that by advisers who were
thought the wisest of men, and then been utterly destroyed by those
whom they attacked! How often have statesmen helped to raise a city or a
leader to power, and then suffered the worst at the hands of those whom
they exalted! And many who could have treated others as friends and
equals, giving and receiving kindnesses, have chosen to use them as
slaves, and then paid the penalty at their hands; and many, not content
to enjoy their own share of good, have been swept on by the craving to
master all, and thereby lost everything that they once possessed; and
many have won the very wealth they prayed for and through it have found
destruction. [46] So little does human wisdom know how to choose the
best, helpless as a man who could but draw lots to see what he should
do. But the gods, my son, who live for ever, they know all things, the
things that have been and the things that are and the things that are to
be, and all that shall come from these; and to us mortals who ask their
counsel and whom they love they will show signs, to tell us what we
should do and what we should leave undone. Nor must we think it strange
if the gods will not vouchsafe their wisdom to all men equally; no
compulsion is laid on them to care for men, unless it be their will."

NOTES

[This work concludes the translation of Xenophon undertaken by Mr.
Dakyns. ("The Works of Xenophon," with maps, introductions, and notes,
Vols. I.-III., Macmillan.) From references in the earlier vols. (e.g.
Vol. I. pp. lvii., lxx., xc., cxiii., cxxxi.; Vol. III. Part I. pp.
v.-vii.) it is plain the translator considered that the historical
romance of the _Cyropaedia_ was written in Xenophon's old age (completed
_circa_ 365 B.C.) embodying many of his own experiences and his maturest
thoughts on education, on governm