and thus provide two
cities of refuge to start with.

[20] Finally Cyrus, thus assured of the general consent to his
proposals, said, "If we really wish to carry out what we have set
ourselves, we must prepare battering-rams and siege engines, and get
together mechanics and builders for our own castles." [21] Thereupon
Cyaxares at once undertook to provide an engine at his own expense,
Gadatas and Gobryas made themselves responsible for a second, Tigranes
for a third, and Cyrus himself promised he would try to furnish two.
[22] That done, every one set to work to find engineers and artisans and
to collect material for the machines; and superintendents were appointed
from those best qualified for the work.

[23] Now Cyrus was aware that all this would take some time, and
therefore he encamped his troops in the healthiest spot he could find
and the easiest to supply, strengthening, wherever necessary, the
natural defences of the place, so that the detachment left in charge for
the time should always be in complete security, even though he might be
absent himself with the main body of his force. [24] Nor was this all;
he questioned those who knew the country best, and, learning where he
would be rewarded for his pains, he would lead his men out to forage,
and thus procure as large supplies as possible, keep his soldiers in the
best of health and strength, and fix their drill in their minds.

[25] So Cyrus spent his days, and meanwhile the deserters from Babylon
and the prisoners who were captured all told the same story: they said
that the king had gone off to Lydia, taking with him store of gold and
silver, and riches and treasures of every kind. [26] The mass of the
soldiers were convinced that he was storing his goods away from fear,
but Cyrus knew that he must have gone to raise, if possible, an opponent
who could face them, and therefore he pushed his preparations forward
vigorously, feeling that another battle must be fought. He filled up the
Persian cavalry to its full complement, getting the horses partly from
the prisoners, partly from his own friends. There were two gifts he
would never refuse, horses and good weapons. [27] He also procured
chariots, taking them from the enemy or wherever he could find them.
The old Trojan type of charioteering, still in use to this day among the
Cyrenaeans, he abolished; before his time the Medes, the Syrians, the
Arabians, and all Asiatics generally, used their chariots in th