Winning the Hearts and Minds

This famous notion of winning the hearts and minds of the locals was again manifested when I refused to implement Aristotle’s advice of enslaving the captured non-Greeks. Like Aristotle, I did believe that non-Greeks were Barbarians that needed to adopt Greek ways, but I did not believe in subjecting them to slavery.

I did not fully adhere to Cyrus’ theory of totally barring slavery, for in the face of dissent I would kill or enslave the captured with no qualms. I had to set an example for others. No one could test my will. This was an important consideration at all times.

I did not care about being liked as much as I wanted to be feared. If you are liked, well good for you. But if you are liked too much, you might want to pause and ask yourself why that is and whether you are seen as a weak person who is taken advantage of.

Either way, on the matter of slavery, when the conquered were considering shifting allegiance to me, I believed that enslavement would only enflame resistance and endanger my men, any novice would recognize this. Especially when one’s army is badly outnumbered to begin with.

I was racing against time and looking forward to becoming King of Kings. But I knew that to attain such a lofty goal, I would have to get rid of Darius for he stood in my way. Problem was that I could not kill him outright.