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Excerpt from The Whole Works of Xenophon, Vol. 1: Translated Astyages. Then Cyrus, laughing out, leaped up to his grandfather, and kissing him, cried out: O Sacian, you are undone! I Will turn you out Of your office: I will do the business better than you, and not drink the wine myself. For these cup-bearers, when they have given the cup, dip with a dish and take a little out, which, pouring into their left hand, they swallow; and this they do, that, in case they mix poison in the cup, it may be of no advantage to themselves. On this Astyages, in a jesting way, said And why, Cyrus, since you have imitated the Sacian in every thing else, did not you swallow some of the wine 1 Because, truly, said he, I was afraid there had been poison mixed in the cup; for when you feasted your friends on your birth day, I plainly found that he had poured you all poison. And how, child, said he, did you know this i Truly, said he, becausei saw you all disordered in body and mind: for, first, what you do not allow us boys to do, that you did yourselves: for you all bawled toge ther, and could learn nothing of each other: then you fell to singing very ridiculously and without attending to the singer, you swore he sung admirably then every one telling stories of his own strength, you rose up and fell to dancing; but without all rule or measure, for you could not so much as keep yourselves up right: then you all entirely forgot yourselves; you, that you were king, and they, that you were the governor; and then, for the first time, I discovered that you were celebrating a festival, where all were allowed to talk with equal liberty; for you never ceased talking. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairi