[44] Selfishness now could only secure us riches for the moment, while to let these vanities go in order to obtain the very fount of wealth, that, I take it, will ensure for us and all whom we call ours a far more enduring gain.

[45] Was it not," he continued, "for this very reason that we trained ourselves at home to master the belly and its appetites, so that, if ever the need arose, we might turn our education to account?
And where, I ask, shall we find a nobler opportunity than this, to show what we have learnt ?" [46] Such were his words and Hystaspas the Persian rose to support him, saying: "Truly, Cyrus, it would be a monstrous thing if we could go fasting when we hunt, and keep from food so often and so long merely to lay some poor beast low, worth next to nothing, maybe, and yet, when a world of wealth is our quarry, let ourselves be baulked by one of those temptations which flee before the noble and rule the bad.

Such conduct, methinks, would be little worthy of our race." [47] So Hystaspas spoke, and the rest approved him, one and all.

Then Cyrus said: "Come now, since we are all of one mind, each of you give me five of the trustiest fellows in his company, and let them go the rounds, and see how the supplies are furnished; let them praise the active servants, and where they see neglect, chastise them more severely than their own masters could." Thus they dealt with these matters.
[C.3] But it was not long before some of the Medes returned: one set had overtaken the waggons that had gone ahead, seized them and turned them back, and were now driving them to the camp, laden with all that an army could require, and others had captured the covered carriages in which the women rode, the wives of the Assyrian grandees or their concubines, whom they had taken with them because of their beauty.

[2] Indeed, to this day the tribes of Asia never go on a campaign without their most precious property: they say they can fight better in the presence of their beloved, feeling they must defend their treasures, heart and soul.
It may be so, but it may also be that the desire for pleasure is the cause.
[3] And when Cyrus saw the feats of arms that the Medes and the Hyrcanians had performed, he came near reproaching himself and those that were with him; the others, he felt, had risen with the time, had shown their strength and won their prizes, while he and his had stayed behind like sluggards.