Xenophon’s Education of Cyrus
Explain Cambyses’ teaching to Cyrus regarding justice between friends and enemies in Book 1 Chapter 6 of the Education of Cyrus. How does Cambyses’ teaching complicate the teaching about the injustice of deception given to boys in Persia? Why is this more complicated teaching not given to the young? What do Persians have to have learned before they are given this more complicated teaching? How do the Persians distinguish between friends and enemies? Is this distinction simply or altogether just? In what ways and to what extent does Cyrus break with the Persians’ customary conception of friends and enemies? What does this reveal about the limits and possibilities of peace and justice among nations?
