XENOPHON

Book One of the Anabasis of Cyrus lit. "The March Up-Country"

First

Two sons were born to Darius and Parysatis: the elder, Artaxerxes, and the younger, Cyrus. When Darius fell ill and suspected the end of his life was approaching, he wished for both of his sons to be present. The elder was already there. He summoned Cyrus from the province where he had made him satrap governor, and he also appointed him commander of all those who assemble in the plain of Castolus. Cyrus went up, taking Tissaphernes with him as a friend, and he also brought three hundred Greek hoplites heavily armed infantry, with Xenias the Parrhasian as their commander.

When Darius died and Artaxerxes was established in the kingdom, Tissaphernes slandered Cyrus to his brother, claiming that he was plotting against him. The king was persuaded and arrested Cyrus, intending to execute him. His mother begged for his life and sent him back to his province. When he had departed, having faced danger and been dishonored, he deliberated how he might never again be subject to his brother, but rather, if he were able, rule in his place.

Parysatis, the mother, supported Cyrus, as she loved him more than she loved the reigning King Artaxerxes. Whoever came to him from the King, he would send back having so disposed them that they were more friendly to him than to the King. He also cared for the barbarians non-Greeks in his own service, so that they might be capable of war and well-disposed toward him. He gathered the Greek force as secretly as he could,