Cyrus: How Does Empire Affect Stability And Human Happiness?

Since Xenophon poses the problem of The Education of Cyrus as the problem of political stability, we would expect a discourse on obedience, justice, and political authority. Instead, Xenophon retells the founding of a great empire. What are we to think of this? How does empire affect stability and human happiness? Should we yearn for universal rule? How could it be achieved? The question as to how Cyrus established his empire and was able to so easily rule human beings receives a complicated answer from Xenophon. There are some obvious points: the democratization of the army, and the preference for shock combat, whether in the case of infantry or chariots, obviously played a large role in defeating the enemy. There is also constant maintenance of alliances

Cyrus was raised in the Spartan-like regime of the Persians, learning the arts of combat and endurance. While he with the other Persians boys “learned justice” the way most boys learn grammar, meaning they learned to be lawful, Cyrus supplemented his education by learning the Median way of life, a tyrannical way of life. Thus we might suggest that Cyrus’ blending of Persian lawfulness and Median tyranny is one element in his style of successful leadership. More obviously, Xenophon points to Cyrus skill in handling alliances as a necessary aspect of his empire building. Cyrus never misses an opportunity to enlarge his coalition, either by subjugating the Armenian rebels or detaching Assyrian noblemen from their king. But not only did Cyrus enlarge his coalition, he then changed that coalition into his own empire by being an object of love for all his subjects. Xenophon notices the tangible benefits to being ruled by Cyrus. Thus Xenophon is not necessarily arguing that selfless love was the basis of Cyrus’ rule – he at least partly bought the love of the ruled. To attain love, the basis of political stability of empire, one must give good things to the