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Ancient Persian education

. The reflection once occurred to me, how many democracies have been dissolved by men who chose to live under some other government rather than it democracy; how many monarchies, and how many oligarchies, have been overthrown by the people; and how many indwiduals, who have tried to establish tyrannies, have, some of them, been at once entirely destroyed, while others, if they live continued to reign for any length of time, have been admired as wise and fortunate men. I had observed, too, I thought, many masters, in their own private houses, some indeed having many servants, but some only very few, and yet utterly unable to keep those few entirely obedient to their commands.

2. I considered also that herdsmen are the rulers of oxen, and horse-feeders of horses; and that, in general, all those called overseers of animals may properly be accounted the rulers of the animals of which they have the charge. I thought that I perceived all these herds more willing to obey their keepers than men their governors; for the herds go the way that their keepers direct them; they feed on those lahds to which their keepers drive them, and abstain from those from which they repel them; and they suffer their keepers to make what use they please of the profits that arise from them. Besides, I never saw a herd conspiring against its keeper, either with a view of not obeying him, or of not allowing him to enjoy the advantages arising from them; for herds are more refractory tovards strangers than they are towards their keepers, and those who make profit of them; but men conspire against none sooner than against those whom they perceive attempting to rule them.

3. While I was reflecting upon these things, I came to this judgement upon them; that to man, such is his nature, it was easier to rule every other sort of creature than to rule man. But when I considered that there was Cyrus the Persian, who had rendered many men, many cities, and many nations, obedient to him, I was then necessitated to change my opinion, and to think that to rule men is not among the things that are impossible, or even difficult, if a person undertakes it with understanding ahd skill. I knew that there were some who willingly obeyed Cyrus, that were many days' journey, and others that were even some months' journey, distant from him; some, too, who had never seen him, and some vho knew very well that they never should see him; and yet they readily submitted to his government;

4. for he so far excelled all other kings as well those that had received their dominion from their forefathers, as those that had acquired it by their own efforts, that the Scythian, for example, though his people be very numerous, is unable to obtain the dominion over any other nation, but rests satisfied if he can but continue to rule his own; so it is with the Thracian king in regard to the Thracians and with the Illyrian king in regard to the Illyrians; and so it is with other nations, as many as I have heard of; for the nations of Europe, at least, are said to be independent and detached from each other. But Cyrus, finding,in like manner,the nations of Asia independent, and setting out with a little army of Persians; obtained the dominion over the Medes by their own choice, and over the Hyrcanians in a similai manner; he subdued the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappadocians, both the Phrygians, the Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, and Babylonians; he had under his ru1e the Bactrians, Indians, and Cilicians, as well as the Sacians, Paphlagonians, ahd Magadidians, ahd many other nations of whom we cannot eummerate even the names. He had dominion over the Greeks that were settled in Asia; and, going down to the sea, ovcr the Cyprians and Egyptians.

5. These nations he ruled, though they spoke neither the same language with himself nor with one another; yet he was able to extend the fear of himself over 60 great a part of the world that he astonished all, and no one attempted anything against him. He was able to inspire all with so great a desire of pleasing him, that they ever desired to be governed by his opinion;and he attached to himself so many nations as it would be a labour to enumerate, which way soever we should Commence our course from his palace, whether towards the east, west, north, or south. 5. With respect to this man, therefore, as worthy of admiration, I have inquired what he was by birth, what qualities he possessed from nature, and with what education he was brought up, that he so eminently excelled in governing men. Whatever, accordingly, I have ascertained, or think that I understand, concerning him, I shall endeavour to relate.



CHAPTER II

l. Cyrus is said to have had for his father Cambvses, king of the Persians. Cambyses was of the race of the Perseidae, who were so called from Perseus. It is agreed that he was born of a mother nanied Mandane; and Mandane was the daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Cyrus is described, and is still celebrated by the Barbarians, as having been most handsome in person, most humane in diisposition, most eager for knowledge, and most ambitious of honour; so that he would undergo any labour, anid face any danger for the sake of obtaining praise.

2. Such is the constitution of mind and body that he is recorded to have had; and he was educated in conformity vith the laws of the Persians. These laws seem to begin with a provident care for the common good; not where they begin in most other governments; for most governments, leaving each individual to educate his children as he pleases, and the advanced in age to live as they please, enjoin their people not to steal, not to plunder, not to enter a house by violence, not to strike any one whom it is wrong to strike, not to be adulterous, not to disobey the magistiates, and other such things in like manner; and, if people transgress any of these precepts, they impose punishments upon them.

3. But the Persian laws, by anticipation, are careful to provide from the beginning, that their citizens shall not be such as to be inclined to any action that is bad and mean. This care they take in the following manner. They have An Agora,[1] called The Free, where the king's palace and other houses for magistrates are built; all things for sale, and the dealers in them, their cries and coarsenesses, are banished from hence to some other place; that the disorder of these may not interfere with the regularity of those who are under instruction.

4. This Agora, round the public courts, is divided into four parts; of these, one is for the boys, one for the youth, one for the full grown men, and one for those who are beyond the years for military'service. Each of these divisions, according to the law, attend in their sevelaI quarters; the boys and full-grown men as soon as it is day; the elders when they think convenient, except upon appointed days, when they are obliged to be present. The. youth pass the night round the courts, in their light arms, except such as are married; for these are"not required to do so, unless orders have been previously given them; nor is it becoming in them to be often absent.

5. Over each of the classes there are twelve presidents, for there are twelve distinct tribes of the Persians. Those over the boys are chosen from amongst the elders, and are such as are thought likely to make them the best boys; those over the youth are chosen from amongst the full-grown men, and are such as are thought likely to make them the best youth; and over the full-giown men, such as are thought likely to render them the most expert in performing their appointed duties, and in executing the orders given by the chief magistrate. There are likewise chosen. presidents over the elders, who take care that these also perform their duties. What it is prescribed to each age to do, we shall relate, that it may be the better understood how the Persians take precautions that excellent citizens may be produced.

6. The boys attending the public schools, pass their time in learning justice; and say that they go for this purpose, as those with us say who go to learn to read. Their presidents spend the most part of the day in dispensing justice amongst them; for there are among the boys, as among the men, accusations for theft, robbery, violence, deceit, calumny, and other such things as naturally occur; and such as they convict of doing wrong, in any of these respects, they punish.

7. They punish likewise such as they find guilty of false accusation; they appeal to justice also in the case of a crime for which men hate one another excessively, but for which they never go to law, that is, ingratitude; and whomsoever they find able to return a benefit, ahd not returning it, they puhish severely. for they think that the ungrateful are careless with regard to the gods, their parents, their country, and their friends; and upon ingratitude seems closely to follow shamelsssness, which appears to be the principal conductor of mankind into all that is dishohourable.

8. They also teach the boys self-control; and it contributes much towards their learning to control themselves, that they see every day their elders behaving themselves with discretion. They teach them also to obey their officers; and it contributes much to this end, that they see their elders constantly obedient to their officers. They teach them temporance with respect to eating and drinking; and it contributes much to this object, that they see that their elders do not quit their stations to satisfy their appetites, until their officers dismiss them, and that the boys themselves do not eat with their mothers, but with their teachers, and when the officers give the signal. They bring from home with them bread, and a sort of cresses to eat with it; and a clip to drink from, that, if any are thirsty, they may take water from the river.[2] They learn, besides, to shoot with the bow, and to throw the javelin. These exercises the boys practise till they are sixteen or seventeen years of age, when they enter the class of young men.

9. The young men pass their time thus : For ten years after they go from the class of boys, they pass the night round the courts, as I have said before, both for the security and guard or the city, and for the sake of practising self restraint; for this age seems most to need superintendence. During the day they keep themselves at the command of their officers, in case they want them for any public service; and when it is necessary they all wait at the courts. But whenever the king goes out to hunt, he takes half the guard out with him, and leaves half of it behind; and this he does several times every month. Those that go out must have their bow, with a quiver, a bill or small sword in a sheath, a light shield, and two javelins, one to throw, and the other, if necessary, to use at hand.

10. They attend to hunting as a matter of public interest, and the king, as in war, is their leader, hunting himself, and seeing that others do so; because it scems to them to be the most efficient exercise for all such things as relate to war. It accustoms them to rise early in the morning, ahd to bear heat and cold; it exercises them in long marches, and in running; it necessitates them to use their bow against the beast that they hunt, and to throw their javelin, wherever he falls in their way, their courage must, of necessity, be often sharpened in the hunt, when any of the strong and vigorous beasts present themselves; for they must come to blows with the animal if he comes up to them, and must be upon their guard as he approaches; so that it is not easy to find what single thing, of all that is practised in war, is not to be found in hunting.

11.. They go out to hunt provided with a dinner, larger, indeed, as is but right, than that of the boys, but in other respects the same; and during the hunt perhaps they may not eat it; but if it be necessary to remain on the ground to watch for the beast, or for any other reasn they wish to spend more time in the hunt, they sup upon this dinner, and hunt again the next day till supper-time, and reckon these two days as but one, because they eat the food of but one day. This abstinence they practise to accustom themselves to it, so that, should it be necessary in war, they may be able to observe it. Those of this age have what they catch for meat with their bread; or, if they catch nothing, their cresses. And, if any one think that they eat without pleasure when they have cresses only with their bread, and that they drink without pleasure when they drink on1y water, let him recollect how pleasant barley cake or bread is to eat to one who is hungry, and how pleasant water is to drink to one who is thirsty.

12. The parties that iemain at home pass their time in practising what they learned while they were boys, as well as other things, such as using the bow and throwing the javelin; and they pursue these exercises with mutual emulation, as there are public cohtests in their several accomplishments, and prizes offered; and in whichsoever of the tribes there are found the most who excel in skill, in courage, and in obedience, the citizens applaud and honour, not ohly the present commander of them, but also the person who had the instruction of them when they were boys. The magistrates likewise make use of the youth that remain at home, if they want them: to keep guard upon any occasion, to search for malefactors, to pursue robbers, or for any other business that requires strength and agility. In these occupations the youth are exercised. But when they have completed their ten years, they enter into the class of full-grown men. 13. From the time that they leave the class of youth, they pass five and twenty years in the following manner. First, like the youth, they keep themselves at the command of the magistrates, that they may use their services, if it shou1d be necessary, for the public good, in whatever employments require the exertions or such as have discretion, and are yet in vigour. If it be necessary to undertake any military expedition, they who are in this state of discipline do not march out with bows and javelins, but with what are called arms for close fight, a corslet over the breast, a shield in the left hand, and in the right, a large sword or bill. All the magistiates are chosen from this class, except the teachers of the boys; and, when they have completed five and twenty years in this class, they will then be something more than fifty years of age, and pass into the class of such as are elders, and are so called.

14. These elders no longer go on any military service abroad, but, remaining at home, have the dispensation of public and private justice; they take cognizance of matters of life and death, and have the choice of all magistrates; and, if any of the youth or full-grown men fail in anything enjoined by the 1aws, the several magistrates of the tribes, or any one that chooses, gives information of it, when the elders hear the cause, and pass sentence upon it; and the person that is condemned remains infamous for the rest of his life.

15. But that the whole Persian form of government may be shown more clearly, I shall go back a little; for, from what has been already said, it may now be set forth in a very few words. The Persians are said to be in number about a hundred and twenty thousand;[3] of these no individual is excluded by law from honours and magistracies, but all are at liberty to send their boys to the public schools of justice. Those who are able to maintain their children without putting them to work, send them to these schools; they who are unable, do not send them. Those who are thus educated under the public teachers, are at liberty to pass their youth in the class of young men; they who are not so educated, have not that liberty. They who pass their term among the young men, discharging all things enjoined by the law, are allowed to be incorporated amongst the full-grown men, and to partake of all honours and magistracies; but they who do not complete their course in the class uf youth, do not pass into that of the full-grown men. Those who make their progress through the order of full-grown men unexceptionably, are then enrolled among the elders; so that the order of elders stands composed of men who have pursued their course through all things good and excellent. Such is the form of government among the Persians, and such the care bestowed upon it, by the observance of which they think that they become the best citizens.

16. There remain to the present day proofs of the spare diet used among them, and of their carrying it off by exercise; for it is yet unbecoming among them to spit or to blow the nose, or to appear troubled with flatuency (i.e. to fart) ; it is unbecoming for anyone to be seen going aside to make water, or for any similar cause; and to these habits they could not possibly adhere, unless they used a very temperate diet, and exhausted their moisture by exercise, so that it may pass off some other way. These particulars I had to state concerning the Persians in general.



1. An open forum or square, free from buyers and sellers. Aristotle, Polit. 7. 12, suggests that a city should have such a forum. He also says there was one at a place in Thessaly; but Muretus supposes that he took the idea from Xenophon.

2. The Araxes, on wlhch Persepolis stood.

3. Xenophon means that this was the number of those of the upper class, educated in the way here deseribed.

From here:http://www.shsu.edu/%7Ehis_ncp/XenCyr.html