Horizon

Soft Countries Breed Soft Men I

If you skip to the end of Herodotus, you'll see this anecdote:

This Artaÿctes who suffered death by crucifixion had an ancestor named Artembares; and he it was who made the Persians a proposal which they readily accepted and passed on to Cyrus. "Since," they said, "God has given empire to the Persians, and among individuals to you, Cyrus, by your conquest of Astyages, let us leave this small and barren country of ours and take possession of a better. There are plenty to choose from — some near, some further off; if we take one of them, we shall be admired more than ever. It is the natural thing for a sovereign people to do; and when will there be a better opportunigy than now, when we are masters of many nations and all Asia?"

Cyrus did not think much of this suggestion; he replied that they might act upon it if they pleased, but added the warning that, if they did so, they must prepare themselves to rule no longer, but to be ruled by others. "Soft countries,' he said, "breed soft men. It is not the property of any one soil to produce fine fruits and good soldiers too." The Persians had to admit that this was true and that Cyrus was wiser than they; so they left him, and chose rather to live in a rugged land and rule than to culitvate rich plains and be subject to others.

It's a lovely story — the sort of origin myth you'd imagine Victor David Hanson quoting in the middle of one of his editorials about how American students shouldn't be awarded a high school diploma until they've killed a Helot. But is it true?

Posted by Ben Brumfield at May 10, 2006 08:25 AM