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πολλοὺς παῖδας. Cf. Vend. Farg. 4. 47; iv. 46, ‘He who has children is far above the childless man.’ Large families were both commended for religious motives (Ormazd is the Lord of Life), and politically were all-important to a small ruling caste.


ἱππεύειν. Xenophon (Cyr. i. 3. 3) says that Cyrus made the Persians a nation of horsemen; this is thought by some (e.g. Meyer, iii. 9) to be a pure invention; it is argued that Xenophon, as a cavalry officer, wished his countrymen to develop that arm of their forces; hence Cyrus' supposed development is merely an object-lesson to the Greeks. But as the Persians were largely a race of mountaineers, cavalry can hardly have played much part among them till Cyrus began a career of conquest. Hence Xenophon may be right on this point.

ἀληθίζεσθαι. The importance of ‘Truth’ is brought out in the B. I. i. 10, ‘The lie became abounding in the land’; iv. 13, (Ormazd helps Darius) ‘because I was not wicked nor was I a liar’ (cf. also col. iv. 4, 5, 6, 8). The liar is a ‘Mithra-drug’; he offends against the allseeing sun-god, who is the guardian of contracts (cf. 138. 1). For a transgression of the rule as to Truth cf. iii. 72 n. H. is right in crediting the Persians with the virtues of chivalry.

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