They had done penance enough, fasting and waiting and standing all day long.

[41] So they would get to rest at last, but the next morning Cyrus was at the same spot and a much greater concourse of suitors round him than before, already assembled long before his friends arrived.

Accordingly Cyrus had a cordon of Persian lancers stationed round him, and gave out that no one except his personal friends and the generals were to be allowed access, and as soon as they were admitted he said: [42] "My friends, we cannot exclaim against the gods as though they had failed to fulfil our prayers.

They have granted all we asked.

But if success means that a man must forfeit his own leisure and the good company of all his friends, why, to that kind of happiness I would rather bid farewell.