[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 kindliness, 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.