ess, as befitted
that time of reconciliation; and then the father and son mounted their
carriages, with their dear ones beside them, and drove away rejoicing.

[41] But when they were home again, they all spoke of Cyrus, one
praising his wisdom, another his endurance, a third the gentleness
of his nature, and a fourth his stature and his beauty. Then Tigranes
turned to his wife and asked, "Did Cyrus seem so beautiful in your
eyes?" But she answered, "Ah, my lord, he was not the man I saw." "Who
was it then?" asked Tigranes. "He," she answered, "who offered his own
life to free me from slavery."

And so they took their delight together, as lovers will, after all their
sufferings.

[42] But on the morrow the king of Armenia sent gifts of hospitality to
Cyrus and all his army, and bade his own contingent make ready to march
on the third day, and himself brought Cyrus twice the sum which he had
named. But Cyrus would take no more than he had fixed, and gave the
rest back to the king, only asking whether he or his son was to lead the
force. And the father answered that it should be as Cyrus chose, but the
son said, "I will not leave you, Cyrus, if I must carry the baggage to
follow you." [43] And Cyrus laughed and said, "What will you take to let
us tell your wife that you have become a baggage-bearer?" "She will not
need to be told," he answered, "I mean to bring her with me, and she can
see for herself all that her husband does." "Then it is high time," said
Cyrus, "that you got your own baggage together now." "We will come,"
said he, "be sure of that, in good time, with whatever baggage my father
gives."

So the soldiers were the guests of Armenia for the day, and rested for
that night.

[C.2] But on the day following Cyrus took Tigranes and the best of the
Median cavalry, with chosen followers of his own, and scoured the whole
country to decide where he should build a fort. He halted on the top of
a mountain-pass and asked Tigranes where the heights lay down which the
Chaldaeans swept when they came to plunder. Tigranes showed him. Then
Cyrus asked him if the mountains were quite uninhabited. "No, indeed,"
said the prince, "there are always men on the look-out, who signal to
the others if they catch sight of anything." "And what do they do," he
asked, "when they see the signal?" "They rush to the rescue," he said,
"as quickly as they can." [2] Cyrus listened and looked, and he could
see that large tracts lay desola