Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

The Persians are enamoured of hook-nosed persons, because of the fact that Cyrus, the best loved of their kings, had a nose of that shape. [*](Cf. Moralia, 821 E.)

Cyrus said that those who are unwilling to procure good things for themselves must of necessity procure them for others. He also said that no man has any right to rule who is not better than the people over whom he rules.[*](Cf. Xenophon, Cyropaedia, i. 6. 8, and vii. 5. 83. The sentiment is not novel, and may be found in other writers.)

When the Persians wished to acquire a level and tractable land in place of their own, which was mountainous and rugged, Cyrus would not allow them to do so, saying that both the seeds of plants and the lives of men are bound to be like the land of their origin.[*](Plutarch probably took this from Herodotus, ix. 122, who in turn may have drawn upon Hippocrates; cf. Airs, Waters, and Places, chap. xxiv. (Hippocrates in L.C.L.; pp. 132-136). Cf. also Plato, Laws, p. 695 A; Livy, xxiv. 25. The idea is not novel, and may be found in other writers. It was again repeated in 1926 by Calvin Coolidge in regard to the rugged hills of Vermont.)

Darius, the father of Xerxes, said in praise of himself that in battles and in the face of formidable dangers he became more cool and collected. [*](Cf. Moralia, 792 C.)

After fixing the amount of the taxes which his subjects were to pay, he sent for the leading men of the provinces, and asked them if the taxes were not perhaps heavy; and when the men said that the taxes were moderate, he ordered that each should pay only half as much. [*](The same story with variations may be found in Polyaenus, Strategemata, vii. 11. 3. Nothing to this effect is to be found in Herodotus’s account of Darius’s taxation, iii. 86-95.)

As Darius was opening a big pomegranate, someone inquired what there was of which he would like to have as many in number as the multitude of seeds in the pomegranate, and he replied, Men like Zopyrus. [*](The same story is found in Herodotus, iv. 143, but with the name of Megabazus instead of Zopyrus.) Zopyrus was a brave man and a friend of his.