[14] Then the old man turned to Cyrus: "My boy, if you will stay with us, Sacas shall never stop you from coming to me: you shall be free to come whenever you choose, and the oftener you come the better it will please me.

You shall have horses to ride, my own and as many others as you like, and when you leave us you shall take them with you.

And at dinner you shall go your own away and follow your own path to your own goal of temperance just as you think right.

And I will make you a present of all the game in my parks and paradises, and collect more for you, and as soon as you have learnt to ride you shall hunt and shoot and hurl the javelin exactly like a man.

And you shall have boys to play with and anything else you wish for: you have only to ask me and it shall be yours." [15] Then his mother questioned the boy and asked him whether he would rather stay with his grandfather in Media, or go back home with her: and he said at once that he would rather stay.