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### Book:In 559 B.C., a young man named Cyrus gathered an immense army from

### Book:the scattered tribes of Persia and marched against his grandfather

### Book:Astyages, king of the Medes. He defeated Astyages with ease, had

### Book:himself crowned king of Medea and Persia, and began to forge the

### Book:Persian Empire. Victory followed victory in quick succession. Cyrus

### Book:defeated Croesus, ruler of Lydia, then conquered the Ionian islands and

### Book:other smaller kingdoms; he marched on Babylon and crushed it. Now he

### Book:was known as Cyrus the Great, King of the World.

### Book:After capturing the riches of Babylon, Cyrus set his sights on the east,

### Book:on the half-barbaric tribes of the Massagetai, a vast realm on the Caspian

### Book:Sea. A fierce warrior race led by Queen Tomyris, the Massagetai lacked

### Book:the riches of Babylon, but Cyrus decided to attack them anyway,

### Book:believing himself superhuman and incapable of defeat. The Massagetai

### Book:would fall easily to his vast armies, making his empire immense.In 529 B.C., then, Cyrus marched to the wide river Araxes, gateway to

### Book:the kingdom of the Massagetai. As he set up camp on the western bank,

### Book:he received a message from Queen Tomyris: “King of the Medes,” she

### Book:told him, “I advise you to abandon this enterprise, for you cannot know

### Book:if in the end it will do you any good. Rule your own people, and try to

### Book:bear the sight of me ruling mine. But of course you will refuse my

### Book:advice, as the last thing you wish for is to live in peace.” Tomyris,

### Book:confident of her army’s strength and not wishing to delay the inevitable

### Book:battle, offered to withdraw the troops on her side of the river, allowing

### Book:Cyrus to cross its waters safely and fight her army on the eastern side, if

### Book:that was his desire.

### Book:Cyrus agreed, but instead of engaging the enemy directly he decided

### Book:to play a trick. The Massagetai knew few luxuries. Once Cyrus had

### Book:crossed the river and made his camp on the eastern side, he set the table

### Book:for an elaborate banquet, full of meat, delicacies, and strong wine. Then

### Book:he left his weakest troops in the camp and withdrew the rest of the army

### Book:to the river. A large Massagetai detachment soon attacked the camp and

### Book:killed all of the Persian soldiers in a fierce battle. Then, overwhelmed by

### Book:the fabulous feast that had been left behind, they ate and drank to their

### Book:hearts’ content. Later, inevitably, they fell asleep. The Persian army

### Book:returned to the camp that night, killing many of the sleeping soldiers and

### Book:capturing the rest. Among the prisoners was their general, a youth named

### Book:Spargapises, son of Queen Tomyris.

### Book:When the queen learned what had happened, she sent a message to

### Book:Cyrus, chiding him for using tricks to defeat her army. “Now listen to

### Book:me,” she wrote, “and I will advise you for your own good: Give me back

### Book:my son and leave my country with your forces intact, and be content

### Book:with your triumph over a third part of the Massagetai. If you refuse, I

### Book:swear by the sun our master to give you more blood than you can drink,

### Book:for all your gluttony.” Cyrus scoffed at her: He would not release her

### Book:son. He would crush these barbarians.

### Book:HELL CO

### Book:Two cockerels fought on a dungheap. One cockerel was the stronger: he

### Book:vanquished the other and drove him from the dungheap. All the hens

### Book:gathered around the cockerel, and began to laud him. The cockerel

### Book:wanted his strength and glory to be known in the next yard. He flew on

### Book:top of the barn, flapped his wings, and crowed in a load voice: “Look at

### Book:me, all of you. I am a victorious cockerel. No other cockerel in the worldhas such strength as I. ” The cockerel had not finished, when an eagle

### Book:killed him, seized him in his claws, and carried him to his nest.

### Book:FABLES. LEO TOLSIOY. 1828-1910

### Book:The queen’s son, seeing he would not be released, could not stand the

### Book:humiliation, and so he killed himself. The news of her son’s death

### Book:overwhelmed Tomyris. She gathered all the forces that she could muster

### Book:in her kingdom, and whipping them into a vengeful frenzy, engaged

### Book:Cyrus’s troops in a violent and bloody battle. Finally, the Massagetai

### Book:prevailed. In their anger they decimated the Persian army, killing Cyrus

### Book:himself.

### Book:After the battle, Tomyris and her soldiers searched the battlefield for

### Book:Cyrus’s corpse. When she found it she cut off his head and shoved it into

### Book:a wineskin full of human blood, crying out, “Though I have conquered

### Book:you and live, yet you have ruined me by treacherously taking my son.

### Book:See now—I fulfill my threat: You have your fill of blood.” After Cyrus’s

### Book:death, the Persian Empire quickly unraveled. One act of arrogance undid

### Book:all of Cyrus’s good work.

### Book:Interpretation

### Book:There is nothing more intoxicating than victory, and nothing more

### Book:dangerous.

### Book:Cyrus had built his great empire on the ruins of a previous one. A

### Book:hundred years earlier, the powerful Assyrian Empire had been totally

### Book:destroyed, its once splendid capital of Nineveh but ruins in the sand. The

### Book:Assyrians had suffered this fate because they had pushed too far,

### Book:destroying one city-state after another until they lost sight of the

### Book:purposes of their victories, and also of the costs. They overextended

### Book:themselves and made many enemies who were finally able to band

### Book:together and destroy them.

### Book:Cyrus ignored the lesson of Assyria. He paid no heed to the warnings

### Book:of oracles and advisers. He did not worry about offending a queen. His

### Book:many victories had gone to his head, clouding his reason. Instead of

### Book:consolidating his already vast empire, he pushed forward. Instead of

### Book:recognizing each situation as different, he thought each new war would

### Book:bring the same result as the one before as long as he used the methods he

### Book:knew: ruthless force and cunning.Understand: In the realm of power, you must be guided by reason. To

### Book:let a momentary thrill or an emotional victory influence or guide your

### Book:moves will prove fatal. When you attain success, step back. Be cautious.

### Book:When you gain victory, understand the part played by the particular

### Book:circumstances of a situation, and never simply repeat the same actions

### Book:again and again. History is littered with the ruins of victorious empires

### Book:and the corpses of leaders who could not learn to stop and consolidate

### Book:their gains.

### Book:THE SEQUENCE OF CROSS-EXAMINATION

### Book:In all your cross-examinations …, most important of all, let me repeat

### Book:the injunction to be ever on the alert for a good place to stop. Nothing

### Book:can be more important than to close your examination with a triumph. So

### Book:many lawyers succeed in catching a witness in a serious contradiction;

### Book:but, not satisfied with this, go on asking questions, and taper off their

### Book:examination until the effect upon the jury of their former advantage is

### Book:lost altogether.