[3] Then his courage forsook him; he dared not come to blows and he withdrew.

As soon as the recruits saw this they took to their heels, each man bent on getting his own property safely out of the way.

When Cyrus saw the plains full of them, racing and riding everywhere, he sent out messengers privately to explain that he had no quarrel with any who stayed quietly in their homes, but if he caught a man in flight, he warned them he would treat him as an enemy.

Thus the greater part were persuaded to remain, though there were some who retreated with the king.
[4] But when the escort with the women came on the Persians in the mountain, they fled with cries of terror, and many of them were taken prisoners.

In the end the young prince himself was captured, and the wife of the king, and his daughters, and his daughter-in-law, and all the goods they had with them.