SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: Cyropaedia 8.7 and Anabasis 1.9 Paula Winsor Sage C YRUS THE GREAT, according to Xenophon, died peacefully at home after a long, illustrious life (529 B.C.). Over a cen­ tury later (401), his namesake and distant relative, Cyrus the Younger, died violently in battle while still a young man, as he attempted to overthrow his brother Artaxerxes II. Their deaths, in Cyr. 8.7 and An. 1.9 respectively, occasion Xen­ ophon's extended tributes to each. He adopts for these accounts narrative techniques that, on the surface, appear very different: at the conclusion of the Cyropaedia, Cyrus the Great, im­ mediately before his death, summarizes his accomplishments in direct speech; when Cyrus the Younger dies, early in the Anabasis, Xenophon interrupts his third-person account of the battle at Cunaxa to summarize his virtues. Apart from some notice of verbal and thematic parallels, there has been no extensive comparison of these passages. 1 A closer examination reveals that, despite their differences in purpose, they also share common rhetorical strategies and a complex intertextual relationship that merit exploration. Sustained allusions-both to a popular tradition and to a genre -constitute a vital part of Xenophon's compositional method here. 2 Specifically, allusions to Solon's well-known discussion of 1 Inter alios, H. A. Holden, The Cyropaedia of Xenophon, Books VI, VII, VIII (Cambridge 1890) 147, 19M; J. J. Owen, ed., The Anabasis of Xenophon (New York 1843) ad 1.9.24; S. liIRSCH, The Friendship of the Barbarians (Hanover, N.H., 1985: hereafter 'Hirsch') 72; J. TATUM, Xenophon '5 Imperial Fiction (Princeton 1989: 'Tatum') 41. 2 I use 'allusion' as Gian Biagio CONTE characterizes the term (The Rhetoric of Imitation, ed. and tr. C. Segal [Ithaca 1986: hereafter 'Conte'] 23-99): "Allusion, I suggest, functions like the trope of classical rhetoric. A rhetorical 61 SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 62 CYROPAEDIA 8.7 AND ANABASIS 1.9 true happiness (Hdt. 1.29-34) and to the rhetorical genre of the encomium control the relationship between these texts. J The implicit presence of these allusions explains the verbal and topical parallels and suggests a way of understanding Xenophon's direct association of the two men. My concern is the intertextual relationship between the accounts rather than source criticism, priority of composition, or their respective historici ty. 4 trope is usually defined as the figure created by dislodging of a term from its old sense and its previous usage and by transferring to a new, improper, or 'strange' sense and usage. The gap between the letter and the sense in figuration is the same as the gap produced between the immediate, surface meaning of the word or phrase in the text and the thought evoked by the allusion. The effect could also be described as a tension between the literal and the figurative meaning .... In both allusion and the trope, the poetic dimension is created by the simultaneous presence of two different realities whose competition with one another produces a single more complex reality. Such literary allusion produces the simultaneous coexistence of both a denotative and a connotative semiotic." Conte is concerned with poetry, but the same dynamic is evident in Xenophon's prose. 3 I use 'encomium' (after T. BURGESS, "Epideictic Literature," Studies in Classical Philology III [Chicago 1902: hereafter 'Burgess'] 89-261) not merely to indicate laudatory style in general, but to refer to a distinct division of epideictic literature with an established point of view and method of treatment according to conventional rules. Later handbooks divide epideictic oratory into sub-categories (e.g. epitaphios, basilikos logos, panegyrikos). Aristotle (Rh. 2.22, 1396a12-15) treats the epitaphios and encomium as subdivisions of epideictic oratory, drawing no distinction between them. Cf [Dion. Hal.] Rhet. 6.2. I am not arguing for exact imitatio of a specific genre or sub-genre, but for allusion to the general encomiastic form through style and the in­ clusion of characterizing topoi. • I use 'intertextual' in two ways: the first refers to the relationship between Herodotus and Cyr. 8.7 and to that between the encomiastic genre and both passages of Xenophon. I have defined this type of intertextual relationship as 'allusion' in Conte's sense (supra n.2). There is a clear chronological direction in the case of these allusions-one passage is prior to the other, and the influence is unidirectional. The second sense refers to the relationship between Cyr. 8.7 and An. 1.9. Although I do not assume priority of composition of one of the passages, it is generally accepted that the An. antedates the Cyr.: cf ]. K. Anderson, Xenophon (London 1974) 152 n.l. I begin discussing the relation­ ship between the passages when each already exists as a finished text, without regard for which was written first, which records the earlier event, or which SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 PAULA WINSOR SAGE 63 Some general hypotheses advanced to explain Xenophon's parallels go beyond the content of Cyr. 8.7 and An. 1.9 to sug­ gest the influence of Xenophon's personal experience with Cyrus the Younger on his portrayal of Cyrus the Great. Delebecque sees the Cyropaedia as a projection of how things might have been if the younger Cyrus had survived and become king. 5 Tatum, though arguing for greater complexity in the relationship, also views Xenophon's Cyrus the Great as a fic­ tionalized revision of the younger Cyrus. 6 Hirsch suggests that Xenophon relied heavily on his experience with Cyrus the Younger and the practices of contemporary Persia for his portrait of the elder Cyrus in order to compensate for the absence of primary sources. 7 He further sees the possibility of an actual propaganda campaign to lend legitimacy to Cyrus the any given reader reads first. (For these two passages, the first two chronologies are antithetical, and the third always in flux.) Important here is the relationship that exists between these texts apart from any consideration of chronology: each suggests the other, regardless of the order in which one encounters them. For a discussion of various approaches to intertextuality see T. E. Morgan, "Is There an Intertext in This Text? Literary and Interdisciplinary Approaches to Intertextuality," American Journal of Semiotics 3.4 (1985) 1-40. P. Pucci, Odysseus Polutropos: Intertextual Readings in the Odyssey and the Iliad (Ithaca 1987) 42f, takes a position similar to mine: "suppose, for instance, that we could determine for certain which of the two texts precedes the other. The certainty would be of extraordinary importance for all the historical questions that the two poems raise, but it would scarcely affect our specifically intertextual reading. The specularity of polemic gestures that we read in the two passages would remain untouched, even if we knew which of the two texts initiated the exchange, since by a sort of apres coup the second text's reading would enforce this specularity on the earlier text." By intertextual (first type) allusion to the Solon-Croesus logos and to the encomiastic genre, Cyr. 8.7 and An. 1.9 are brought more closely into direct intertextual (second type) relationship with each other. 5 E. Delebecque, Essai sur la vie de Xenophon (Paris 1957) 394. 6 Tatum 41£, who also quite rightly sees (180ff) similarities between the deaths of Cyrus the Younger and another youthful hero, Abratadas (at Cyr. 7.1.29-32). 7 Hirsch 72-75, who further claims (85) that An. 1.9.2-6 is literally a "Cyro­ paedia" that prefigures the title and content of the larger work. SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 64 CYROPAEDIA 8.7 AND ANABASIS 1.9 Younger's venture by connecting him to his distant relative. 8 Although these theories offer possible reasons for Xenophon's association of the two Cyruses, they do not explore the relation­ ship between the texts and therefore are not directly relevant to my purpose here. One of the sources and influences mentioned for sections of Cyr. 8.7 and An. 1.9 independently is relevant, however: 9 the influence of Solon's advice to Croesus (Hdt. 1.30-33) on Cyrus the Great's statements at Cyr. 8.7.7ff, although the implications of this relationship remain largely unexplored. 10 The tacit presence of the Herodotean logos in Cyrus the Great's speech-far more pervasive and significant than previously noticed-affects, through the interconnections of these texts, Xenophon's characterization of the younger Cyrus. Xeno­ phon's allusion at Cyr. 8.7 to the Solon-Croesus interchange 8 Hirsch 72f, whose arguments suggest priority of composition for An. (see also supra n.7), are not illogical in light of Xenophon's career, and are generally accepted, even if not actually provable; Tatum 40f suggests the likely possibility of Xenophon's simultaneous composition and/or revision of his work. My argument does not depend on the assignment of chronological priority: see supra n.4. 9 J. Luccioni, Xenophon et le socratisme (Paris 1953) 132, concentrates on what he sees as Socratic influence on the portrait of the younger Cyrus at An. 1. 9; Tatum 38-41 summarizes with reservations the view that the idealization of Cyrus in the Cyropaedia as a whole is a response to Plato's Republic. He also notes (and qualifies) the view that "a trio of ideal leaders" -Agesilaus, Socrates, and Cyrus the Younger-were thought to inspire the literary persona of Cyrus (254f n.30). Hirsch (68f, 83f) argues for Ctesias (FGrHist 688F9) as a source for the death of Cyrus the Great, as well as for origins of the account in Iranian tradition. Both Tatum (109) and Hirsch (148) see the possible in­ fluence of ancient Iranian tradition in the dying king's instructions to his successors about the disposition of the kingdom. 10 Hirsch 83 notes echoes of Solon's advice to Croesus at Hdt. 1.30-33 in Cyr. 8.7.7f. Others have noted correspondences between the Herodotean logos and Cyrus' deathbed speech, without exploring the implications: W. J. Keller, ·Xenophon's Acquaintance with the History of Herodotus," C] 6 (1911) 256, links Hdt. 1.30ff with Cyr. 8.7.7, 9, saying that Xenophon "intends to have his hero, Cyrus, fulfill the requirements of Solon's happiest man"; similarly, E. LEFEvRE, "Die Frage nach dem ~lo~ £u&Xi~C!)v. Die Begegnung zwischen Kyros und Kroisos," Hermes 99 (1971: hereafter 'Lefevre') 283-96, at 296; Anderson (supra n.4: 38) credits the influence of the logos with Cyrus' waiting until his deathbed to make the speech; for a more detailed explication see P. W. Sage, Solon, Croesus, and the Theme of the Ideal Life (diss.Johns Hopkins 1985) 134-60. SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 PAULA WINSOR SAGE 65 should not surprise, given his productive use of Herodotus elsewhere.11 In Herodotus' well-known account of Solon's discourse on happiness, Croesus is dismayed that Solon, citing divine envy of human prosperity, does not count him truly happy. Solon's happiest man, Tellus the Athenian, was of comfortable means, had thriving children and grandchildren, and died a glorious death, witnessed and celebrated, before suffering a reversal of fortune. The brothers Cleobis and Biton, awarded second place, were from a well-known city, possessed modest but adequate means, and died young at the peak of their fame, having performed an outstanding feat for which they were celebrated with a lasting memorial. Solon emphasizes the uncertainty of life, the impossibility of one person's having everything, and the necessity of waiting until the completion of life to pronounce someone happy. In the face of life's uncertainties, retention of one's goods to the end marks the difference between temporary good fortune and true happiness. After Cyrus conquered Croesus, both Herodotus (1.86-91, 207) and Xenophon (Cyr. 7.2.9-29, 8.2.13-23) have this pair conversing on happiness and the uncertainty of life. Xenophon omits Croesus' meeting with Solon, but he clearly relied, at least in part, on the Herodotean version: similarities in Cyrus' dying speech to Solon's words are quite evident (Lefevre 296). Cyropaedia 8.7 At the outset of 8.7, Xenophon presents an agmg Cyrus, having lived a long, successful life, returning to Persia for the seventh time. At home in his palace he dreams on three successive nights of his approaching death. On each occasion he sacrifices and prays to the gods, thanking them for their care, reminding them that he was never arrogant despite his success, asking prosperity and happiness for his children, wife, friends, 11 See Tatum esp. 68f, 146-55, 171£; Lefevre 296; V. Gray, The Character of Xenophon's Hellenica (Baltimore 1989) 2f, notes that Dionysius of Halicar­ nassus believed that Xenophon's An., Cyr., and Hell. were inspired by Herodotus, and also argues (6, 17-22) for the pervasive influence of Herodotean story patterns in the Hell. Cf also V. Gray, "Xenophon's Hiero and the Meeting of the Wise Man and Tyrant in Greek Literature," CQ N.S. 36 (1986) 115-23; Sage (supra n.10) 71f, 134ff, 189ff. SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 66 CYROPAEDIA 8.7 AND ANABASIS 1.9 and country, and for himself an end befitting his life (8.7.1-5). Summoning his sons, his philoi,12 and the Persian magistrates, he then delivers a lengthy speech, opening with the announcement that he knows he is about to die and the following injunction (8.7.6): Vilas OE xPll, o'tUV n: AE'l>'tll 000 , cOs 1tEPl EUOUtllOVOs EIlOU KUl Af.:ynv KUl1tOtElV 1t(XV'tu. 13 Cyrus next lists the reasons for this request, claiming that when he was a boy, he plucked all the fruits that boys count as best; when a youth, he enjoyed what was counted best among young men; and when a mature man, he had the best that man can have. As time passed, he continues, he recognized that his strength had increased with his years, so that he was not more feeble in old age than in youth, and as far as he knew had attempted nothing that he failed to secure. He claims, moreover, to have lived to see his philoi made happy, his enemies sub­ jected, and his country, once of little account, now honored -through his own efforts-above all in Asia; and he adds that he has maintained all his conquests. Cyrus next boasts that, despite his continual faring as he wished, the ever-present fear that he might see or hear or suffer something difficult kept him from being arrogant or excessively happy. He concludes his summary of his accomplishments (8.7.8f): VUV 0' flv 'tEAE'l>'tllcroo, Ku'tuAd1too IlEV Vilas, cb 1tUlOEs, ~wv'tus OU01tEP E'oooav 1l0t Ot 8wl "(Ev£cr8at· KU'tUAEl1tOO oE 1tu'tptOU KUl cptAOUs EUOUtIlOVOUV­ 'tUs' WaH 1tWs OUK UV £yw OtKuioos IlUKUpt~6IlEVOs 'tOY ad Xp6vov Ilvllll1l<; 'tu"(xavotllt;14 12 Xenophon's use of philoi in Cyr. implies a systematic network of rela­ tionships between leader and subordinates, with an emphasis on mutual benefit rather than affection. Elements of trust, devotion. and good will are present, and one could have 'friends' among one's philoi, but the two are not necessarily synonymous. Elsewhere Xenophon uses the term variously to refer to relatives, personal friends, and military, political, and business allies. It is unclear precisely which categories apply here. For further discussion of the concept in Xenophon and his contemporaries see L. Pearson, Popular Ethics in Ancient Greece (Stanford 1962) 14off, 246 n.2; J.-c. Fraisse, Philia: la notion d'amitie dans la philosophie antique (Paris 1974) 107ff. \J "You must, when I die, both speak and act in every way about me as if I were happy." H "Now if I die, I leave you, my sons, whom the gods have given. surviving. And I leave my fatherland and philoi happy. Why then should I not justly be called truly happy and be remembered for all time?" SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 PAULA WINSOR SAGE 67 After speaking to his sons about the succession to the throne and related contingencies (8.7.9-16), on the immortality of the soul (17-23), further instructions to his sons (24), and funeral arrangements (25ff), Cyrus then adds (28): "Remember this final thing from me, treat your friends well and you will also be able to punish your enemies. And now farewell, my children, and say farewell to your mother for me. And farewell, friends, present and absent." "Saying these things," Xenophon recounts, "and shaking hands with all, he covered himself up and thus completed his life."15 Cyrus' dying speech serves as a capstone to and summary of the detailed account of his upbringing, virtues, and accom­ plishments presented in the Cyropaedia. Cyrus' summary of his achievements also rarallels closely both the Herodotean Solon's characterization 0 Tellus and his subsequent summary of the requirements for happiness. Cyrus claims that (1) he has kept health and strength to old age, (2) he is at the peak of his power, having succeeded at all he attempted at each stage of his life, (3) he has made his friends happy and prosperous and subdued his enemies, (4) he leaves his fatherland flourishing, (5) he has retained all his wealth to his deathbed, (6) he has not boasted prematurely about being excessively rich or happy, (7) he leaves sons surviving, (8) his philoi and his fatherland happy, and (9) he asks that his funeral be conducted as for one considered happy and that he have undying fame. Without mentioning Solon or Herodotus, Xenophon has Cyrus' self-assessment meet or surpass nearly all Solon's re­ quirements for true happiness, at the same time that he pre­ empts Solon's cautions. Cyrus' assertion, both in his prayer (8.7.2) and at the end of the first section of his speech (8.7.7), that he never boasted prematurely about being rich or happy because of his fear of retribution, appears as if in response to Solon's warning. His behavior contrasts to, and perhaps 15 The reliability of Xenophon's account has been much discussed. Despite Hirsch's arguments for veracity (79, 83f), real doubts remain. Xenophon makes no explicit attempt to defend his radical revision of the Herodotean version of Cyrus' death (1.214): see Tatum 39, 217, and n.18 infra. Xenophon's text is perhaps rendered further suspect by the utter lack of any attempt at verisimilitude: the speech seems far too robust and protracted to reflect realistically that of a dying man, and there are no narrative interventions (cf e.g. Tacitus' description of Seneca's death at Ann. 15.61-64). SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 68 CYROPAEDIA 8.7 AND ANABASIS 1.9 corrects, the Herodotean Croesus stricken by powerful divine retribution (El( SEQU vE~£crlC;; ~qaAll) for prematurely thinking himself the happiest of men (1.34). Xenophon's Cyrus appears to have been acutely aware of the Herodotean Solon's cautions about life's uncertainty, the difficulties of retaining one's goods, and the danger of calling anyone happy before death. He has chosen his words carefully. He first asks the gods for an end be­ fitting his life (8.7.3). Subsequently, he emphasizes the reten­ tion of his health, strength, and all his acquired goods (8.7.6£); and instead of pronouncing himself happy, he asks rather to be deemed so after he is dead (8.7.6, 9). Xenophon's Cyrus covers every point raised by Solon and includes others as wel1. 16 In addition, Cyrus possesses the ad­ vantages of the very rich man in Solon's comparison (1.32): he is the richest man in the world and the ruler of an empire, making him in Solon's view better able to achieve his desires and sur­ vive ruin than those merely fortunate and of moderate means; he has all of Croesus' wealth and more; and he has had the good fortune to retain it to his deathbed. With one exception Xenophon's Cyrus has surpassed in happiness both Croesus' claims and Solon's requirements-his sons. Tellus had thriving children and grandchildren. Xenophon has Cyrus mention his sons but not grandchildren, and he does not say that he leaves them happy, as he does his philoi and fatherland. Close parallels to the rest of Solon's list make Cyrus' single departure from it more noticeable. The next section (Cyr. 8.8) reveals, in fact, that neither his sons nor his fatherland 16 The emphasis on maintaining and benefiting philoi, absent in Herodotus, appears frequently in Xenophon as a quality of effective leaders and as a criterion for a happy life. In addition to Cyr. 8.7 and An. 1.9, see Cyr. 8.1.48, 2.9, 13f, 28, 3.48ff; Ages. 1.17ff, 6.4, 11.3-13; Hiero 3.1-5, 11.13ff; Hell. 5.1.3, 13, 18; Mem. 2.4, 6. Gray (8) connects friendship, "one of the particular concerns of the Xenophontic philosopher," to securing willing obedience, which she regards as a focus of the Oee., Mem., Cyr., and Hiero. I see Xenophon's concern with the reciprocal benefits of philia partly as a response to Solon's warning that no person is self-sufficient. Philia also figures significantly in Aristotle's definition of happiness: Rh. 1.5.4,16 (1360b19, 1361b35). SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 PAULA WINSOR SAGE 69 continued to thrive after his death. 17 Cyrus' sons apparently failed either to heed the sage advice he offers in his dying speech or to follow his example. The sustained allusion to Solon's definition of the supremely happy man prompts readers to evaluate Cyrus against a traditional standard for true happiness. Despite the subtle qualification hinting that Cyrus was aware that not even he possessed all the possible goods, the potency of his case for happiness is strengthened by the allusion. To enhance his portrait of the ideal leader, Xenophon as narrator has assumed a position similar to Solon and has presented Cyrus the Great as his exemplum of true happiness. Anabasis 1.9 The same allusion is less obvious in An. 1.9. We have noted the marked difference in Xenophon's narrative strategies for the deaths of the younger Cyrus and the elder:18 Cyrus the Great makes a speech, while Xenophon as narrator eulogizes Cyrus the Younger in the third person. Cyrus the Great's speech, preceded by a description of his homecoming, sacrifices, and gradual weakening, is followed by a simple statement of his peaceful death. Xenophon's tribute to Cyrus the Younger is abruptly inserted between the sudden and simply stated facts of his death and his subsequent mutilation. Tranquillity and time­ liness surround the former; violence and prematurity, the latter. The attention of Xenophon's readers, however, would not be drawn to either comparison or contrast without the thematic and stylistic parallels in his tributes to the two men. At An. 1.8.27ff Xenophon breaks off his fast-paced narrative of the battle to present a eulogistic summary of the younger 17 The authenticity of Cyr. 8.8 continues to be controversial. I argue for Xenophon's authorship in "Xenophon's Ideal Leader and the End of the Cyropaedia" (forthcoming). His audience would have, in addition to the mention of Cyrus' sons here, the very different account of Herodotus (Books 2-3) and the possibility of other accounts of Cyrus. 18 Although not directly involved in this discussion, the ironic similarity between the Herodotean version of Cyrus the Great's death (1.214) and that of Cyrus the Younger should be noted, as it would hardly have been lost on Xenophon's audience. Both die as the aggressors in battle, defeated in (overly bold) attempts to conquer, and both are mutilated by their victors. SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 70 CYROPAEDIA 8.7 AND ANABASIS 1.9 Cyrus, precisely when this youth still in his twenties dies pre­ maturely, after catching sight of the king and rashly charging into the enemy. The summary of Cyrus the Younger's virtues and achievements is understandably fuller than the elder Cyrus' list. An. 1.9 is the only presentation of the younger Cyrus' achievements, whereas those of the elder Cyrus have received extended treatment throughout the Cyropaedia. 19 Similar topics and order of presentation in the two texts, however, sustain Xenophon's initial invitation to compare the two men, as the following reveals. Xenophon opens his summary of the younger Cyrus' ac­ complishments with a direct reference to Cyrus the Elder (1. 9.1) :20 Ku po<; !lEV ouv ou'tw<; E'tEA(1)'tTlO'EV, avit p roy ITEPO'roV 'trov !lE'ta Kupov 'tOY apxatov YEVO!lEVWV ~aO'tAtKcl)'ta't6t;; 'tE Kat apxEtV a.~to)'ta'tot;;, rot;; napa 1t(XV'tWV OIlOAoYEt'tat 'trov Kupo'U ()OKOUV'tWV EV nElP't YEvEcr8at. 21 Xenophon continues with a catalogue of superlatives: first, while still a boy, and being educated at court with the other boys, Cyrus was regarded best in all respects (2). He learned discretion and self-control, and observed those whom the King honored and dishonored, thus learning to rule and to be ruled (3f). Cyrus was the most modest, most obedient to his elders, most devoted to horses and skilled at managing them, most eager to learn, most diligentin 19 Youth and natural abilities: e.g. Cyr. 1.1.6, 2.2, 3.1 with An. 1.9.2-5; rashness in youth/courage: 1.4.2-24 with An. 1.9.6; philia: supra n.16 with An. 1.9.7-30. These parallels are not exhaustive, but an audience reading 8.7 would have already been exposed earlier in the Cyr. to the specific information that informs Cyrus the Great's condensed characterization of his achievements. For more complete lists of specific parallels see Holden and Owen (supra n.1). 20 Not the only passage where Xenophon explicitly linked the two Cyruses. On his frequently-noted ,confusion of them at Oec. 4.16-19 see A. Pelletier, "Le deux Cyrus dans I'Economique de Xenophon," RPhil SER. 3 18 (1944) 84-93; Hirsch 175 with n.47. I am reluctant to believe that Xenophon's confusion was unintentional. 21 "Thus then Cyrus ended his life, a man, of the Persians born after Cyrus the Elder, most kingly and most worthy to rule, as is agreed by all reputed to have personal experience with him." SAGE, PAULA WINSOR, Tradition, Genre, and Character Portrayal: "Cyropaedia" 8.7 and "Anabasis" 1.9 , Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies, 32:1 (1991:Spring) p.61 PAULA WINSOR SAGE 71 practising military accomplishments. When of suitable age, he was fondest of hunting and of incurring danger in pursuit of wild animals (1.9.2-6).22 Sent by his father to be satrap of a province, he showed that he thought it most important not to prove false to his word, causing cities to trust him and put themselves under his pro­ tection. He showed his loyalty and trust to his philoi in word and deed. His striving as much to outdo people in benefits as to be merciless in punishments, with the prayer that he might excel all, prompts Xenophon's claim tht he had a greater following than any single man of his day (1.9.7-12). Xenophon emphasizes that he honored especially the brave in war, claiming that generals and captains came from afar (as Xenophon did) to serve him-initially for money, but in time staying because of the loyalty and obedience Cyrus inspired (1.9.13-19). An extended account of Cyrus' generous treatment of his phi/oi (20-27) follows, after which Xenophon concludes (28): "no man, Greek or Barbarian, has ever been loved by a greater number of people.» As proof of Cyrus' abilities in establishing loyalty and assessing character, Xenophon points out (30f) that no one but Orontas deserted Cyrus for the King, while many deserted the King to join Cyrus, and that when Cyrus died, all his philoi and tablemates died fighting around him (except Ariaeus, who fled with the cavalry). At this point, as suddenly as he had broken off his narrative to deliver this obituary, Xenophon returns to the battle. Unusually stark and simple statements of Cyrus' death and mutilation and of the death of his companions both precede and follow the rhetorically embellished account of his life. After Xenophon's eulogy, instead of next hearing about honors paid by the Persians to the fallen leader, we are told quite abruptly (1.10.1) that Ev'tcxu8cx b1) K upou a1to't£!lV£'tCXl i1 K£