According to Xenophon in his book The Education of Cyrus, "It is easier, given his nature, for a human being to rule all the other kinds of animals than to rule human beings" (p. 22). This quote sums up perfectly the difficulties of rule; one's followers, unlike animals, have the ability to revolt and to disagree with the way a ruler runs things. How can this go right and go wrong? Xerophon's philosophy of stable political rule is shown through the actions and attitudes of three rules in The Education of Cyrus: Cyrus himself, his foolish uncle Cyaxares, and the evil king of the Assyrians. These three rules have three different attitudes toward rule, but by overcoming the bad parts of human nature, Cyrus was able to conquer and best both of those other rulers to gain a huge, loyal kingdom of followers.
Cyrus was described by Xenophon as being the most kinglike of all the Persians who came after him, and the one who deserved the empire most justifiably. In response to the aforementioned quote, Xerophon says of Cyrus, "When we reflected that there was Cyrus, a Persian, who acquired very many people, very many cities, and very many nations, all obedient to himself, we were thus compelled to change our mind to the view that ruling human beings does not belong among those tasks that are impossible, or even among those that are difficult, if one does it with knowledge" (p. 22). To that end, Xerophon thinks that Cyrus is one of the few kings who could accomplish that difficult end of ruling human beings.
This success was accomplished through a number of factors. First, Cyrus, after exploring Asia, found that they were a bunch of independent nations with little to no unity. Seeing the potential for a bigger empire, Cyrus set out with a small army and successfully gained rule over all of these culturally different countries. This was done even though many of these countries could not communicate with each other effectively. Cyrus managed to gain the trust and the loyalty of all of these nations through fear, using his empire to show himself to be a fierce warrior, and not someone to be crossed. No one even tried, and Cyrus supplemented this fear-based rule through a tight sense of loyalty that made sure people wanted to gratify him. Due to the sheer number of nations he had on his side, to threaten him would be to face the response of all of these allies. With these allies, he made himself nearly invincible (pp. 22-23).
The comparison of Cyrus to other rulers shows just how effective Cyrus' own method of ruling was. Cyaxares, Cyrus' uncle, ruler of the Medians, was foolish and insensitive to the needsof his people. Instead of caring about fair and strong rule, Cyaxares just wanted to live the good life, indulging himself with all the amenities of kinghood without the wisdom to rule. As it is difficult to rule human beings, Cyaxares seemed to take no pleasure in the act itself, and coasted on his own accomplishments. This meant that Cyrus could easily take over the Mede Empire and overwhelm his uncle with his own hard work.
The way in which Cyrus took over Cyaxares' army was sly and effective, demonstrating the value of hard work and effort in a king. While Cyaxares, an old man at the time, had a small role in the conquering of Babylon in 539 BC, Cyrus was in charge of the army and the campaign. Through this sheer exposure to the army and his incredible command tactics and attitude, the army regarded Cyrus as their king. Cyrus was then able to use that leverage to marry the king's daughter and his kingdom as well.
In addition to Cyrus and Cyaxares, we also get to learn about the ruling style of the king of the Assyrians. Cyrus considers the king of Assyria his nemesis, a completely evil man who is totally without worth. The king of Assyria does not acknowledge the worth of others, either, merely attempting to strong-arm everyone else into doing what he wants. The king is vindictive and vengeful, castrating people for the slightest wrongs - when Cyrus finally executes him, it is an action that is rewarded and celebrated. Unlike Cyaxares, who is merely incompetent and does not participate in the act of ruling his people, the king of Assyria instead rules immorally and with an iron fist.
How does this comparison of rulers in The Education of Cyrus apply to today's politics? Cyrus, Cyaxares and the king of Assyria all possess different positions in the spectrum of ruling, especially through the perspective that it takes hard work and dedication to rule human beings, more so than anything else. Xerophon says that the difficulties in ruling over human beings happen due to "his nature." This means that humankind can be very selfish and vengeful, and may be very much tempted to abuse the power given to them without working according to the responsibilities they hold. In the case of Cyaxares, his big mistake was in being lazy; he wanted to just enjoy the benefits of being the king without having to work for it or earning the loyalty of the people. As for the king of the Assyrians, he was a competent ruler, but simply wanted to use that power to deal with his own anger and vengeful nature - he crushed his own citizens and got them to resent his rule.
These principles are very much in effect today. In order to be an effective ruler, you have to have the trust and loyalty of the people. This is done through two things - first, they have to work hard, and show the people that they are committed to pursuing their interests. Cyrus did this through his constant image of hard work and dedication, always looking to bring his people forward and advancing them in power and status. Furthermore, a good ruler has to have a good sense of right and wrong, and show the people that they will have justice and prosperity under their rule. Unlike the cruel Assyrian king, Cyrus presented himself as likable and morally just, particularly when he brought justice to the king.
Cyrus manages to show the ideal way to rule, in keeping with Xerophon's theory that ruling human beings is harder than ruling anything else. This is because the people have to have confidence in their kind in order to rule, and they also have to trust that the king will rule in a moral way. Cyaxeres is a fool who just wants to be able to enjoy the fruits of power without having to earn it or work for it. On the other hand, the king of Assyria works hard to rule, but he does so by subjugating his subjects and making himself hated by them. Cyrus manages to do better than the both of them by working hard and having a moral claim to the power that he held; he had the appearance of holding power for the good of everyone else. These concepts can be extended to human politics of all eras - in order to be an effective leader, one must both work hard and have a strong moral compass, working for the collective benefit of one's citizens.
References
Zenophon of Athens (1914). Dakyns, Henry Graham, trans., Stawell, F. M., ed. Cyropaedia: The
Education of Cyrus. London: Macmillan.
