OEN: Why not? All he did was tell the story of how the Greeks defeated the Persians, a small country of free men…
Cyrus: Nurse! It’s alright. I can talk about it now. Just took me by surprise, that’s all. I’ve gotten used to the fact that sometimes the real story does get out. Those runners in Boston should try doing 26 miles in full armor like the Athenians did. Everyone’s grown soft these days.
OEN: Well, Herodotus’s theme was that even the most powerful rulers engineer their own decline and fall because they never recognize their own limits. In Persia, the emperor was the one free man and reigned over an empire of slaves, and your vast armies were beaten by a free people. Do you think that lesson applies today?
Cyrus: Herodotus was right. The Imperial standard will eventually lie in the dust and all empires must fall, usually because the leaders become power-addicts and the people grow passive and too comfortable. By the time they realize the road they’ve been led down, it’s too late. All those fortresses in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Turkey, and Central Asia will mean nothing when the empire erodes from within. Then it won’t matter if your opponents love liberty or, as it appears today, are totalitarian religious fanatics oppressing their own lands. An Empire’s worst enemy is its leaders and the irrational belief of its people that they are somehow beyond the reach of history.
OEN: You’re giving me the creeps.
Cyrus: Well of course I am. I’ve been dead over 2500 years.(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
