nd death have died before their day, have
hurled themselves from cliffs, hanged themselves, or set the knife to
their throats; so cruelly can fear, the prince of horrors, bind and
subjugate the souls of men. And what, think you, does my father feel at
this moment? He, whose fears are not for himself alone, but for us all,
for his wife, and for his children." [26] And Cyrus said, "To-day and
at this time, it may be with him as you say: but I still think that the
same man may well be insolent in good fortune and cringing in defeat:
let such an one go free again, and he will return to his arrogance and
trouble us once more." [27] "I do not deny it, Cyrus," said the prince.
"Our offences are such that you may well mistrust us: but you have it in
your power to set garrisons in our land and hold our strong places and
take what pledges you think best. And even so," he added, "you will not
find that we fret against our chains, for we shall remember we have only
ourselves to blame. Whereas, if you hand over the government to some
who have not offended, they may either think that you mistrust them, and
thus, although you are their benefactor, you cannot be their friend, or
else in your anxiety not to rouse their enmity you may leave no check
on their insolence, and in the end you will need to sober them even
more than us." [28] "Nay, but by all the gods," cried Cyrus, "little joy
should I ever take in those who served me from necessity alone. Only if
I recognise some touch of friendship or goodwill in the help it is their
duty to render, I could find it easier to forgive them all their faults
than to accept the full discharge of service paid upon compulsion by
those who hate me."

Then Tigranes answered, "You speak of friendship, but can you ever find
elsewhere so great a friendship as you may find with us?" "Surely I
can," he answered, "and with those who have never been my enemies, if
I choose to be their benefactor as you would have me yours." [29] "But
to-day, and now, can you find another man in the world whom you could
benefit as you can benefit my father? Say you let a man live who has
never done you wrong, will he be grateful for the boon? Say he need not
lose his children and his wife, will he love you for that more than one
who knows he well deserved the loss? Say he may not sit upon the throne
of Armenia, will he suffer from that as we shall suffer? And is it not
clear that the one who feels the pain of forfeiture the m