he Armenian cried, "By all
the gods, Cyrus, speak not so, or you will put me out of heart. I beg
you to look on all I have as yours, what you leave behind as well as
what you take away."

"So be it then," answered Cyrus, "and to ransom your wife, how much
money would you give?" "All that I have," said he. "And for your sons?"
"For them too, all that I have." "Good," answered Cyrus, "but is not
that already twice as much as you possess? [36] And you, Tigranes," said
he, "at what price would you redeem your bride?" Now the youth was but
newly wedded, and his wife was beyond all things dear to him. "I would
give my life," said he, "to save her from slavery." [37] "Take her
then," said Cyrus, "she is yours. For I hold that she has never yet been
made a prisoner, seeing that her husband never deserted us. And you,
son of Armenia," said he, turning to the king, "you shall take home your
wife and children, and pay no ransom for them, so that they shall not
feel they come to you from slavery. But now," he added, "you shall stay
and sup with us, and afterwards you shall go wherever you wish."

And so the Armenians stayed. [38] But when the company broke up after
the evening meal, Cyrus asked Tigranes, "Tell me, where is that friend
of yours who used to hunt with us, and whom, as it seemed to me, you
admired so much?" "Do you not know," he said, "that my father put him
to death?" "And why?" said Cyrus, "what fault did he find in him?" "He
thought he corrupted me," said the youth; "and yet, I tell you, Cyrus,
he was so gentle and so brave, so beautiful in soul, that when he came
to die, he called me to him and said, 'Do not be angry with your father,
Tigranes, for putting me to death. What he does is not done from
malice, but from ignorance; and the sins of ignorance, I hold, are
unintentional.'"

[39] And at that Cyrus could not but say: "Poor soul! I grieve for him."
But the king spoke in his own defence: "Remember this, Cyrus, that the
man who finds another with his wife kills him not simply because he
believes that he has turned the woman to folly, but because he has
robbed him of her love. Even so I was jealous of that man who seemed to
put himself between my son and me and steal away his reverence." [40]
"May the gods be merciful to us!" said Cyrus, "you did wrong, but your
fault was human. And you, Tigranes," said he, turning to the son, "you
must forgive your father."

And so they talked in all friendliness and kindlin