Spring 2007 - Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy

1 3 0 I nterpretation
rule (1.1.1-2; Prince, ch. 9). But if, as Xenophon suggests, human beings resist
being ruled by anyone they perceive trying to rule over them, then one way
for an aspiring ruler to avoid this seemingly inevitable resistance would be to
disguise his true intentions. As the prologue implies and the Cyropaedia as a
whole confirms, one way for a potential ruler to avoid others’ resistance is to
deceive them, which explains why, as this paper endeavors to show, along the
way in his meteoric rise to power Cyrus of necessity deceives both friend and
foe alike at every turn.
I. CYRUS’ S D ECEPTION OF C YAXARES
Cyaxares, Cyrus’s uncle on his mother Mandane’s side, who at
the outset of the narrative is the heir to the Median throne (1.4.7, 1.5.2; 5.5.8),
is one of the most prominent and important characters in the Cyropaedia.
According to Walter Miller, the translator of the Loeb edition of the
Cyropaedia, “Cyaxares, the son of Astyages, is probably not a historical
personage, but was invented by Xenophon to bring out Cyrus’s perfect
discipline in obedience as well as in ruling” (Miller 1994, 468). While Miller is
right to stress Cyaxares’ general importance, his assessment of Cyaxares’
specific role is problematic to the extent that Cyrus does not in fact obey
Cyaxares and, to the contrary, repeatedly and quite deliberately seeks to deceive
him and undermine his authority. In contrast to Miller’s reading, Machiavelli’s
interpretation in the Discourses of the role that Cyaxares plays in the
Cyropaedia is far more accurate. On Machiavelli’s reading, Xenophon makes
his Cyrus “deceive Cyaxares…in several modes; without which fraud he shows
that Cyrus could not have attained that greatness he came to” (Discourses,
2.13.1). As Machiavelli recognized, Cyrus’s repeated deception of Cyaxares
brings to light as clearly as any passages in the Cyropaedia the lengths to which
Cyrus is willing to go in order to secure power for himself.
The first time Xenophon mentions Cyaxares by name and the
first time he speaks is at 1.4.9, which is to say that Xenophon did not see fit to
give him a proper introduction until slightly past the midpoint of Cyrus’s
childhood visit in Media (1.3.1-1.4.28). On the one hand, the fact that
Xenophon does not introduce Cyaxares until approximately halfway through
his account of Media is odd, given Cyaxares’ importance as the heir to the
Median throne. On the other hand, by delaying the introduction of Cyaxares,
Xenophon reinforces the suggestion he makes in the prologue that what is
most important about the account of Media is the education Cyrus received
there (1.1.6). As he does throughout the Cyropaedia, in the account of Media
Xenophon keeps the focus almost entirely on Cyrus, such that other characters