We think, furthermore, that we have observed 1 in Cyrus that he held the opinion that a ruler ought to excel his subjects not only in point of being actually better than they, but that he ought also to cast a sort of spell upon them. At any rate, he chose to wear the Median dress himself and persuaded his associates also to adopt it; for he thought that if any one had any personal defect, that dress would help to conceal it, and that it made the wearer look very tall and very handsome.
Cyropaedia. Xenophon. Walter Miller (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1914.
Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.
Funding provided by The Annenberg CPB/Project.