When everything was in order, he began his examination: King of Armenia , said he, I advise you in the first place in this trial to tell the truth, that you may be guiltless of that offence which is hated more cordially than any other. For let me assure you that being caught in a barefaced lie stands most seriously in the way of a man’s receiving any mercy. In the next place, said he, your children and your wives here and also the Armenians present are cognizant of everything that you have done; and if they hear you telling anything else than the facts, they will think that you are actually condemning your own self to suffer the extreme penalty, if ever I discover the truth.
Well, Cyrus, said he, ask what you will, and be assured that I will tell the truth, let happen what will as a result of it.
Cyropaedia. Xenophon. Walter Miller (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1914.
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