[41] You will send out a proclamation that this deposit must be delivered up to you in your quarters; you must terrify those who fail to execute the order, and then you must distribute the money; the mounted men should have two shares apiece for the foot-soldier's one; and you should keep the surplus, so that in case of need you may have wherewith to make your purchases.

[42] With regard to the camp-market, proclamation must be made at once, forbidding any injustice; the hucksters must be allowed to sell the goods they have brought, and when these are disposed of they may bring more, so that the camp may be duly supplied." [43] So the proclamations were issued forthwith.

But the Medes and the Hyrcanians asked Cyrus: "How are we to distribute the spoil alone, without your men and yourself ?" [44] But Cyrus met question by question: "Do you really think, gentlemen, that we must all preside over every detail, each and all of us together?
Can I never act for you, and you for me?
I could scarcely conceive a surer way of creating trouble, or of reducing results.

See," said he, "I will take a case in point.

[45] We Persians guarded this booty for you, and you believe that we guarded it well: now it is for you to distribute it, and we will trust you to be fair.