This pointer pattern extracts book and chapter and section
This pointer pattern extracts book and chapter
This pointer pattern extracts book
The elder, as it chanced, was with him already; but
troops of
the line
in Greek warfare. In this instance, of course,
they are serving
Now when
Again, when any of the King’s court came to visit him, he treated
them all in such a way that when he sent them back they were more
devoted to him than to the King. He also took care that the
barbarians
Lastly, as regards his Greek force, he proceeded to collect it with
the utmost secrecy, so that he might take the King as completely
unprepared as possible.
The people of
Meanwhile he sent to the King and urged, on the ground that he was
his brother, that these Ionian cities should be given to him instead
of remaining under the rule of Tissaphernes, and his mother
co-operated with him in this. The result was that the King failed to
perceive the plot against himself, but believed that
He likewise summoned the troops which were besieging
And when the King heard from Tissaphernes about
After crossing the Maeander he marched through
Thence he marched three stages, twenty parasangs, to Celaenae, an
inhabited city of
There is likewise a palace of the Great King
It was here also, report has it, that Xerxes, when he was on his
retreat from
Thence he marched three stages, thirty parasangs, to
Caystru-pedion,
At this juncture arrived Epyaxa, the wife of Syennesis, the kingKing
in name, but in fact a
dependent of the king of
Thence he marched two stages, ten parasangs, to Tyriaeum, an
inhabited city. There he remained three days. And the Cilician
queen, as the report ran, asked
He ordered the Greeks to form their lines and take their positions just as they were accustomed to do for battle, each general marshalling his own men. So they formed the line four deep, Menon and his troops occupying the right wing, Clearchus and his troops the left, and the other generals the centre.
When he had driven past them all, he halted his chariot in front of the centre of the phalanx, and sending his interpreter Pigres to the generals of the Greeks, gave orders that the troops should advance arms and the phalanx move forward in a body. The generals transmitted these orders to the soldiers, and when the trumpet sounded, they advanced arms and charged. And then, as they went on faster and faster, at length with a shout the troops broke into a run of their own accord, in the direction of the camp.
As for the barbarians, they were terribly frightened; the Cilician
queen took to flight in her carriage, and the people in the
market
From there
to show themselves as good friends to him as he
had been to them in their war against
(
At any rate
After descending he marched through this plain four stages,
twenty-five parasangs, to
The inhabitants of this city had abandoned it and fled, with
Syennesis, to a stronghold upon the mountains—all of them, at least,
except the tavern-keepers; and there remained also those who dwelt
on the sea-coast, in
And when the rest of Menon’s troops reached
When the two men finally met one another, Syennesis gave
At that time Clearchus narrowly escaped being stoned to death; but afterwards, when he realized that he could not accomplish anything by force, he called a meeting of his own troops. And first he stood and wept for a long time, while his men watched him in wonder and were silent; then he spoke as follows:
But
One man in particular, pretending to be in a hurry to proceed back to
After he had spoken another man arose to point out the foolishness of
the speaker who had urged them to ask for vessels, just as if
Upon hearing this reply the deputies reported it to the soldiers, and
they, while suspecting that
There they remained three days; and the ships from
Cheirisophus the Lacedaemonian also arrived with this fleet, coming
in response to
It was because of this pass that
and Xenias the Arcadian and Pasion the Megarian embarked upon a ship,
put on board their most valuable effects, and sailed away; they were
moved to do this, as most people thought, by a feeling of jealous
pride, because their soldiers had gone over to Clearchus
Such were his words; as for the Greeks, even those who had been
somewhat despondent in regard to the upward march, when they heard
of the magnanimity of pin-money.
From there
Thence he marched three stages, fifteen parasangs, to the Euphrates
river, the width of which was four stadia; and on the river was
situated a large and prosperous city named
So the generals called an assembly and made this announcement; and
the soldiers were angry with the generals, and said that they had
known about this for a long time, but had been keeping it from the
troops; furthermore, they refused to go on unless they were given
money,
All these things the generals reported back to
Upon hearing these words the soldiers were persuaded, and made the
crossing before the rest gave their answer. When
So Menon’s troops cherished high hopes and prayed that he might be
successful, while to Menon himself
The people of
trees there were none, but wild animals of all sorts, vast numbers of wild asses and many ostriches, besides bustards and gazelles. These animals were sometimes chased by the horsemen. As for the asses, whenever one chased them, they would run on ahead and stop—for they ran much faster than the horses—and then, when the horses came near, they would do the same thing again, and it was impossible to catch them unless the horsemen posted themselves at intervals and hunted them in relays. The flesh of those that were captured was like venison, but more tender.
But no ostrich was captured by anyone, and any horseman who chased one speedily desisted; for it would distance him at once in its flight, not merely plying its feet, but hoisting its wings and using them like a sail. The bustards, on the other hand, can be caught if one is quick in starting them up, for they fly only a short distance, like partridges, and soon tire; and their flesh was delicious.
There they remained three days and provisioned the army. Thence
As for the troops, their supply of grain gave out, and it was not
possible to buy any except in the Lydian
And
But it seemed to him that they took their time with the work; accordingly, as if in anger, he directed the Persian nobles who accompanied him to take a hand in hurrying on the wagons. And then one might have beheld a sample of good discipline: they each threw off their purple cloaks where they chanced to be standing, and rushed, as a man would run to win a victory, down a most exceedingly steep hill, wearing their costly tunics and coloured trousers, some of them, indeed, with necklaces around their necks and bracelets on their arms; and leaping at once, with all this finery, into the mud, they lifted the wagons high and dry and brought them out more quickly than one would have thought possible.
In general, it was clear that
On the same day Clearchus, after going to the place where they
crossed the river and there inspecting the market, was riding back
to his own tent through Menon’s army, having only a few men with
him; and
Clearchus escaped to his own army and at once called his troops to
arms; he ordered his hoplites to remain where they were, resting
their shields against their knees,
But Proxenus—for he chanced to be now coming up, later than the others, with a battalion of hoplites following him—straightway led his troops into the space between the two parties, halted them under arms, and began to beg Clearchus not to proceed with his attack. Clearchus, however, was angry, because, when he had barely escaped being stoned to death, Proxenus was talking lightly of his grievance, and he ordered him to remove himself from between them.
At this moment
On hearing these words Clearchus came to his senses, and both parties ceased from their quarrel and returned to their quarters.
He now said to
Then Orontas, thinking that his horsemen were assured him, wrote a
letter to the King saying that he would come to him with as many
horsemen as he could get; and he urged the King to direct his own
cavalry to receive him as a friend. The letter also contained
reminders of his former friendship and fidelity. This letter he gave
to a man whom he supposed to be faithful to him; but this man took
it and gave it to
When
He said that
Then
In this opinion Clearchus said that the others also
concurred.
Now after he had been conducted into the tent of Artapates, the most
faithful of
On the morning following the review, at daybreak, there came
deserters from the great King and brought reports to
Upon hearing these words
When they heard these words, the officers were far more eager
themselves and carried the news away with them to the other Greeks.
Then some of the others also sought
Now all alike who conversed with him urged him not to take part in
the fighting, but to station himself in their rear. Taking this
opportunity Clearchus asked
The enemy, it was reported, numbered one million two hundred
thousand
And the King’s army had four commanders, each at the head of three
hundred thousand men, namely, Abrocomas, Tissaphernes, Gobryas, and
Arbaces. But of the forces just enumerated only nine hundred
thousand, with one hundred and fifty scythe-bearing chariots, were
present at the battle; for Abrocomas, marching from
Such were the reports brought to
This trench extended up through the plain for a distance of twelve
parasangs, reaching to the wall of Media,
and the trench
Now on that day the King did not offer battle, but tracks of both horses and men in retreat were to be seen in great numbers.
Then
But since the King did not appear at the trench and try to prevent
the passage of
and on the third day he was making the march seated in his chariot and with only a small body of troops drawn up in line in front of him, while the greater part of the army was proceeding in disorder and many of the soldiers’ arms and accoutrements were being carried in wagons and on pack-animals.
Then ensued great confusion; for the thought of the Greeks, and of all the rest in fact, was that he would fall upon them immediately, while they were in disorder;
and
Thereupon they proceeded in great haste to take their places,
Clearchus occupying the right end of the Greek wing,
As for the barbarians, Paphlagonian horsemen to the number of a
thousand took station beside Clearchus on the right wing, as did the
Greek peltasts, on the left was Ariaeus,
and in the centre
And all their horses [with
There were horsemen in white cuirasses on the left wing of the enemy, under the command, it was reported, of Tissaphernes; next to them were troops with wicker shields and, farther on, hoplites with wooden shields which reached to their feet, these latter being Egyptians, people said; and then more horsemen and more bowmen. All these troops were marching in national divisions, each nation in a solid square.
In front of them were the so-called scythe-bearing chariots, at some distance from one another; and the scythes they carried reached out sideways from the axles and were also set under the chariot bodies, pointing towards the ground, so as to cut to pieces whatever they met; the intention, then, was that they should drive into the ranks of the Greeks and cut the troops to pieces.
As for the statement, however, which
Clearchus, however, since he saw the compact body at the enemy’s
centre and heard from
Then Xenophon,
While saying this he heard a noise running through the ranks, and
asked what the noise was. Xenophon replied that the watchword was
now passing along for the second time.
And upon hearing this
And when, as they proceeded, a part of the phalanx billowed out,
those who were thus left behind began to run; at the same moment
they all set up the sort of war-cry which they raise to
Enyalius,
And before an arrow reached them, the barbarians broke and fled. Thereupon the Greeks pursued with all their might, but shouted meanwhile to one another not to run at a headlong pace, but to keep their ranks in the pursuit.
As for the enemy’s chariots, some of them plunged through the lines of their own troops, others, however, through the Greek lines, but without charioteers. And whenever the Greeks saw them coming, they would open a gap for their passage; one fellow, to be sure, was caught, like a befuddled man on a race-course, yet it was said that even he was not hurt in the least, nor, for that matter, did any other single man among the Greeks get any hurt whatever in this battle, save that some one on the left wing was reported to have been hit by an arrow.
in fact, all the generals of the barbarians hold their own centre when they are in command, for they think that this is the safest position, namely, with their forces on either side of them, and also that if they want to pass along an order, the army will get it in half the time;
so in this instance the King held the centre of the army under his
command, but still he found himself beyond the left wing of
But when they turned to flight,
While attended by these only, he caught sight of the King and the
compact body around him; and on the instant he lost control of
himself and, with the cry
Of Artapates, the one among
And one report is that the King ordered someone to slay him upon the
body of
For firstly, while he was still a boy and was being educated with his brother and the other boys, he was regarded as the best of them all in all respects.
For all the sons of the noblest Persians are educated at the King’s court. There one may learn discretion and self-control in full measure, and nothing that is base can be either heard or seen.
The boys have before their eyes the spectacle of men honoured by the King and of others dishonoured; they likewise hear of them; and so from earliest boyhood they are learning how to rule and how to submit to rule.
Here, then,
Then, when he was of suitable age, he was the fondest of hunting and, more than that, the fondest of incurring danger in his pursuit of wild animals. On one occasion, when a bear charged upon him, he did not take to flight, but grappled with her and was dragged from his horse; he received some injuries, the scars of which he retained, but in the end he killed the bear; and, furthermore, the man who was the first to come to his assistance he made an object of envy to many.
It was for this reason, then, that the cities trusted him and put
themselves under his protection,
Consequently, when he came to hostilities with Tissaphernes, all the
cities of their own accord chose
For he showed repeatedly, by deed as well as by word, that he would never abandon them when once he had come to be their friend, not even if they should become still fewer in number and should meet with still worse misfortune.
Hence it was that he had a greater following than any other one man of our time of friends who eagerly desired to entrust to him both treasure and cities and their very bodies.
Yet, on the other hand, none could say that he permitted malefactors
and wicked men to laugh at him; on the contrary, he was merciless to
the last degree in punishing them, and one might often see along the
travelled roads people who had lost feet or hands or eyes; thus in
Thus the brave were seen to be most prosperous, while cowards were
deemed fit to be their slaves. Consequently
As for uprightness, if a man showed that he desired to distinguish
himself in that quality,
Hence he not only had many and various functions performed for him
with fidelity, but, in particular, he secured the services of an
army worthy of the name. For generals and captains who came overseas
to serve him for the sake of money judged that loyal obedience to
Again, so surely as a man performed with credit any service that he
assigned him,
For, just as the precise object for which he thought he needed friends himself was that he might have co-workers, so he tried on his own part to be a most vigorous co-worker with his friends to secure that which he found each one of them desired.
Again, he received more gifts, I presume, than any other one man, and for many reasons; and surely he of all men distributed gifts most generously among his friends, with an eye to the tastes of each one and to whatever particular need he noted in each case.
As for all the gifts which people sent him to wear upon his person, whether intended for war or merely for show, it is reported that he said of them that his own person could not be adorned with all these things, but that in his opinion friends nobly adorned were a man’s greatest ornament.
To be sure, the fact that he outdid his friends in the greatness of the benefits he conferred is nothing surprising, for the manifest reason that he had greater means than they; but that he surpassed them in solicitude and in eagerness to do favours, this in my opinion is more admirable.
For example, when
So he would often send halves of geese and of loaves and so forth,
instructing the bearer to add the message:
And wherever fodder was exceedingly scarce and he was able to get it for his own use because of the large number of his servants and because of his good planning, he would distribute this fodder among his friends and tell them to give it to the horses that carried their own bodies, that they might not be hungry while carrying his friends.
And whenever he was on the march and was likely to be seen by very many people, he would call his friends to him and engage them in earnest conversation, in order to show whom he honoured. Hence, as I at least conclude from what comes to my ears, no man, Greek or barbarian, has ever been loved by a greater number of people.
Here is a fact to confirm that conclusion: although
Furthermore, what happened to
When he died, namely, all his bodyguard of friends and table
companions died fighting in his defence, with the exception of
Ariaeus; he, it chanced, was stationed on the left wing at the head
of the cavalry, and when he learned that
So the King and his troops proceeded to secure plunder of various
sorts in abundance, while in particular he captured the Phocaean
woman,
The Milesian woman, however, the younger one, after being seized by the King’s men made her escape, lightly clad, to some Greeks who had chanced to be standing guard amid the baggage train and, forming themselves in line against the enemy, had killed many of the plunderers, although some of their own number had been killed also; nevertheless, they did not take to flight, but they saved this woman and, furthermore, whatever else came within their lines, whether persons or property, they saved all alike.
When, however, the Greeks learned that the King and his forces were in their baggage train, and the King, on the other hand, heard from Tissaphernes that the Greeks were victorious over the division opposite them and had gone on ahead in pursuit, then the King proceeded to gather his troops together and form them in line of battle, and Clearchus called Proxenus (for he was nearest him in the line) and took counsel with him as to whether they should send a detachment or go in full force to the camp, for the purpose of lending aid.
Meanwhile the Greeks saw the King advancing again, as it seemed, from
their rear, and they accordingly countermarched and made ready to
meet his attack in case he should advance in that direction
For Tissaphernes had not taken to flight in the first encounter, but
had charged along the river through the Greek peltasts
At any rate, after Tissaphernes had thus come off with the worst of it, he did not wheel round again, but went on to the camp of the Greeks and there fell in with the King; so it was that, after forming their lines once more, they were proceeding together.
the left wing
of the Greeks that which had
been the left wing in the original formation, but had now become
the right.
But while they were taking counsel about this matter, the King had
already changed his line of battle to the same form as theirs and
brought it into position opposite them, just as when he had met them
for battle the first time.
and the barbarians once again failed to await the attack, but took to flight when at a greater distance from the Greeks than they were the first time.
The Greeks pursued as far as a certain village, and there they halted; for above the village was a hill, upon which the King and his followers rallied; and they were not now foot-soldiers, but the hill was covered with horsemen, so that the Greeks could not perceive what was going on. They did see, they said, the royal standard, a kind of golden eagle on a shield, raised aloft upon a pole.
But when at this point also the Greeks resumed their forward movement, the horsemen at once proceeded to leave the hill; they did not keep together, however, as they went, but scattered in different directions; so the hill became gradually cleared of the horsemen, till at last they were all gone.
Clearchus, accordingly, did not lead the army up the hill, but halted at its foot and sent Lycius the Syracusan and another man to the summit, directing them to observe what was beyond the hill and report back to him.
And Lycius, after riding up and looking, brought back word that the enemy were in headlong flight.
At about this time the sun set.
So they took counsel for themselves as to whether they should remain where they were and bring the baggage train thither, or return to their camp. The decision was to return, and they reached their tents about supper-time.
Such was the conclusion of this day. They found most of their
property pillaged, in particular whatever there was to eat or drink,
and as for the wagons loaded with flour and wine which
The result was that most of the Greeks had no dinner; and they had had no breakfast, either, for the King had appeared before the time when the army was to halt for breakfast. Thus it was, then that they got through this night.
When they were on the point of setting out, and just as the sun was
rising, came Procles, the ruler of Teuthrania, a descendant of
Damaratus,
The generals upon hearing this message, and the rest of the Greeks as
they learned of it, were greatly distressed. Clearchus, however,
said:
With these words he sent back the messengers, sending with them Cheirisophus the Laconian and Menon the Thessalian; for this was Menon’s own wish, inasmuch as he was an intimate and guest-friend of Ariaeus.
When these heralds came up, they called for the leaders of the Greeks
and said that the King, since victory had fallen to him and he had
slain
Such was the message of the King’s heralds. The Greeks received it
with anger, but nevertheless Clearchus said as much as this, that it
was not victors who gave up their arms;
In reply to this Phalinus said:
When he heard this, Phalinus laughed and said:
There were some others, so the story goes, who weakened a little, and
said that, just as they had proved themselves faithful to
Clearchus replied:
Now Clearchus was making this crafty suggestion in the hope that the very man who was acting as the King’s ambassador might advise them not to give up their arms, and that thus the Greeks might be made more hopeful. But, contrary to his expectation, Phalinus also made a crafty turn, and said:
In reply to this Clearchus said:
And Phalinus said:
Clearchus replied:
And Phalinus asked again,
And Clearchus said:
Upon hearing these words the generals and captains went away and proceeded to do as Clearchus had directed. And thenceforth he commanded and they obeyed, not that they had chosen him, but because they saw that he alone possessed the wisdom which a commander should have, while the rest were without experience.
But Clearchus put himself at the head of the rest of the troops,
following out the plan of his previous orders, and they followed;
and they reached the first stopping-place,
These oaths they sealed by sacrificing a bull, a boar, and a ram over a shield, the Greeks dipping a sword in the blood and the barbarians a lance.
After the pledges had been given, Clearchus said:
Ariaeus replied:
But while it was still afternoon they thought that they saw horsemen of the enemy; and such of the Greeks as chanced not to be in the lines proceeded to run to the lines, while Ariaeus, who was making the journey in a wagon because he was wounded, got down and put on his breastplate, and his attendants followed his example.
While they were arming themselves, however, the scouts who had been sent ahead returned with the report that it was not horsemen, but pack animals grazing. Straightway everybody realized that the King was encamping somewhere in the neighbourhood—in fact, smoke was seen in villages not far away.
The van nevertheless encamped after a fashion, but the men who were further back, coming up in the dark, had to bivouac each as best they could, and they made a great uproar with calling one another, so that the enemy also heard it; the result was that the nearest of the enemy actually took to flight from their quarters.
This became clear on the following day, for not a pack animal was any more to be seen nor camp nor smoke anywhere near. Even the King, so it seems, was terrified by the approach of the army. He made this evident by what he did the next day.
However, as the night went on a panic fell upon the Greeks also, and there was confusion and din of the sort that may be expected when panic has seized an army.
Clearchus, however, directed Tolmides the Elean, who chanced to be
with him as herald and was the best herald of his time, to make this
proclamation, after he had ordered silence:
When this proclamation had been made, the soldiers realized that their fears were groundless and their commanders safe. And at dawn Clearchus ordered the Greeks to get under arms in line of battle just as they were when the battle took place.
When these heralds reached the outposts, they asked for the commanders. And when the outposts reported, Clearchus, who chanced at the time to be inspecting the ranks, told the outposts to direct the heralds to wait till he should be at leisure.
Then after he had arranged the army so that it should present a fine appearance from every side as a compact phalanx, with no one to be seen outside the lines of the hoplites, he summoned the messengers; and he himself came forward with the best armed and best looking of his own troops and told the other generals to do likewise.
Once face to face with the messengers, he inquired what they wanted. They replied that they had come to negotiate for a truce, and were empowered to report the King’s proposals to the Greeks and the Greeks’ proposals to the King.
And Clearchus answered:
Upon hearing these words the messengers rode away, but were speedily back again, which made it evident that the King, or someone else who had been charged with carrying on these negotiations, was somewhere near. They stated that what the Greeks said seemed to the King reasonable, and that they had now brought guides with them who would lead the Greeks, in case a truce should be concluded, to a place where they could get provisions.
Thereupon Clearchus asked whether he was making a truce merely with
the men who were coming and going, or whether the truce would bind
the others also.
When they had said this, Clearchus had them retire and took counsel about the matter; and it was thought best to conclude the truce speedily, so that they could go and get the provisions without being molested.
And Clearchus said:
And here one could well observe how Clearchus commanded; he had his spear in his left hand and in his right a stick, and whenever he thought that anyone of the men assigned to this task was shirking, he would pick out the right man and deal him a blow, while at the same time he would get into the mud and lend a hand himself; the result was that everyone was ashamed not to match him in energy.
The men detailed to the work were all those up to thirty years of age, but the older men also took hold when they saw Clearchus in such energetic haste.
Now Clearchus was in a far greater hurry because he suspected that the trenches were not always full of water in this way, for it was not a proper time to be irrigating the plain; his suspicion was, then, that the King had let the water into the plain just in order that the Greeks might have before their eyes at the very start many things to make them fearful about their journey.
As for the dates themselves of the palm, the sort that one can see in
Here also the soldiers ate for the first time the crown of the palm, and most of them were surprised not alone at its appearance, but at the peculiar nature of its flavour. This, too, however, was exceedingly apt to cause headache. And when the crown was removed from a palm, the whole tree would wither.
So he spoke, and upon hearing his words Tissaphernes said:
In conclusion he said:
This was resolved upon, and Tissaphernes and the brother of the King’s wife made oath and gave their right hands in pledge to the generals and captains of the Greeks, receiving the same also from the Greeks.
After this Tissaphernes said:
While these things were going on, it was evident that Ariaeus and his followers paid less regard to the Greeks; this, accordingly, was another reason why the greater part of the Greeks were not pleased with them, and they would go to Clearchus and the other generals and say:
To those who talked in this way Clearchus replied:
the battle
of I. viii., long
before they were within striking distance. Horsemen, of
course, were at their best in following up a routed
enemy.
Then they finally began the march, Tissaphernes taking the lead and
providing a market; and Ariaeus with
The Greeks, however, viewing them all with suspicion, proceeded by themselves, with their own guides. And the two parties encamped in every case a parasang or more from one another, and kept guard each against the other, as though against enemies—a fact which at once occasioned suspicion.
Sometimes, moreover, when Greeks and barbarians were getting firewood from the same place or collecting fodder or other such things, they would come to blows with one another, and this also occasioned ill-will.
within it,
i.e. to the south-eastern, or
Babylonian, side of it.
From there they proceeded two stages, eight parasangs, crossing on
their way two canals, one by a stationary bridge and the other by a
bridge made of seven boats. These canals issued from the Tigris
river, and from them, again, ditches had been cut that ran into the
country, at first large, then smaller, and finally little channels,
such as run to the millet fields in
The Greeks accordingly encamped beside this city, near a large and
beautiful park, thickly covered with all sorts of trees, while the
barbarians had crossed the
After the evening meal Proxenus and Xenophon chanced to be walking in front of the place where the arms were stacked, when a man came up and asked the outposts where he could see Proxenus or Clearchus—he did not ask for Menon, despite the fact that he came from Ariaeus, Menon’s friend.
And when Proxenus said
Upon hearing these words they took him to Clearchus and repeated his message. And when Clearchus heard it, he was exceedingly agitated and full of fear.
Then it was perceived that the barbarians had sent the man with a false message out of fear that the Greeks might destroy the bridge and establish themselves permanently on the island, with the Tigris for a defence on one side and the canal on the other; in that case, they thought, the Greeks might get provisions from the territory between the river and the canal, since it was extensive and fertile and there were men in it to cultivate it; and furthermore, the spot might also become a place of refuge for anyone who might desire to do harm to the King.
When dawn came, they proceeded to cross the bridge, which was made of thirty-seven boats, as guardedly as possible; for they had reports from some of the Greeks who were with Tissaphernes that the enemy would attack them while they were crossing. But these reports were false. To be sure, in the course of their passage Glus did appear, with some others, watching to see if they were crossing the river, but once he had seen, he went riding off.
Clearchus led them two abreast, and halted now and then in his march; and whatever the length of time for which he halted the van of the army, just so long a time the halt would necessarily last through the entire army; the result was that even to the Greeks themselves their army seemed to be very large, and the Persian was astounded as he watched them.
From there they marched through Media, six desert stages, thirty
parasangs, to the villages of Parysatis,loved him better
than her reigning son Artaxerxes
(
From there they marched four desert stages, twenty parasangs, keeping the Tigris river on the left. Across the river on the first stage was situated a large and prosperous city named Caenae, from which the barbarians brought over loaves, cheeses and wine, crossing upon rafts made of skins.
Clearchus resolved, therefore, to have a meeting with Tissaphernes and put a stop to these suspicions, if he possibly could, before hostilities resulted from them; so he sent a messenger to say that he desired to meet him.
And Tissaphernes readily bade him come.
Now Clearchus suspected that the author of these slanders was Menon, for he was aware that Menon had not only had meetings with Tissaphernes, in company with Ariaeus, but was also organizing opposition to his own leadership and plotting against him, with the intention of winning over to himself the entire army and thereby securing the friendship of Tissaphernes.
Clearchus desired, however, to have the entire army devoted to him and to put the refractory out of the way. As for the soldiers, some of them made objections to Clearchus’ proposal, urging that the captains and generals should not all go and that they should not trust Tissaphernes.
But Clearchus vehemently insisted, until he secured an agreement that five generals should go and twenty captains; and about two hundred of the soldiers also followed along, with the intention of going to market.
Not long afterward, at the same signal, those within were seized and those outside were cut down. After this some of the barbarian horsemen rode about over the plain and killed every Greek they met, whether slave or freeman.
And the Greeks wondered at this riding about, as they saw it from their camp, and were puzzled to know what the horsemen were doing, until Nicarchus the Arcadian reached the camp in flight, wounded in his belly and holding his bowels in his hands, and told all that had happened.
Thereupon the Greeks, one and all, ran to their arms, panic-stricken and believing that the enemy would come at once against the camp.
As soon as this party had come near, they directed whatever Greek general or captain there might be to come forward, in order that they might deliver a message from the King.
After this two generals went forth from the Greek lines under guard, Cleanor the Orchomenian and Sophaenetus the Stymphalian, and with them Xenophon the Athenian, who wished to learn the fate of Proxenus; Cheirisophus, however, chanced to be away in a village in company with others who were getting provisions.
And when the Greeks got within hearing distance, Ariaeus said:
To this the Greeks replied as follows, Cleanor the Orchomenian acting
as spokesman:
And Ariaeus said:
To this the barbarians made no answer, but, after talking for a long time with one another, they departed.
For, in the first place, as long as the Lacedaemonians were at war
with the Athenians, he bore his part with them; then, as soon as
peace had come, he persuaded his state that the Thracians were
injuring the Greek,
When, however, the ephors changed their minds for some reason or
other and, after he had already gone, tried to turn him back from
the Isthmus of
As a result he was condemned to death by the authorities at
and he, upon receiving this money, did not turn his thoughts to
comfortable idleness, but used it to collect an army and proceeded
to make war upon the Thracians. He defeated them in battle and from
that time on plundered them in every way, and he kept up the war
until
such a lover he was of war. On the other hand, he seemed to be fitted for war in that he was fond of danger, ready by day or night to lead his troops against the enemy, and self-possessed amid terrors, as all who were with him on all occasions agreed.
He was likewise said to be fitted for command, so far as that was possible for a man of such a disposition as his was. For example, he was competent, if ever a man was, in devising ways by which his army might get provisions and in procuring them, and he was competent also to impress it upon those who were with him that Clearchus must be obeyed.
This result he accomplished by being severe; for he was gloomy in appearance and harsh in voice, and he used to punish severely, sometimes in anger, so that on occasion he would be sorry afterwards.
Yet he also punished on principle, for he believed there was no good in an army that went without punishment; in fact, he used to say, it was reported, that a soldier must fear his commander more than the enemy if he were to perform guard duty or keep his hands from friends or without making excuses advance against the enemy.
In the midst of dangers, therefore, the troops were ready to obey him implicitly and would choose no other to command them; for they said that at such times his gloominess appeared to be brightness, and his severity seemed to be resolution against the enemy, so that it appeared to betoken safety and to be no longer severity.
But when they had got past the danger and could go off to serve under another commander, many would desert him; for there was no attractiveness about him, but he was always severe and rough, so that the soldiers had the same feeling toward him that boys have toward a schoolmaster.
For this reason, also, he never had men following him out of friendship and good-will, but such as were under him because they had been put in his hands by a government or by their own need or were under the compulsion of any other necessity, yielded him implicit obedience.
And as soon as they began in his service to overcome the enemy, from that moment there were weighty reasons which made his soldiers efficient; for they had the feeling of confidence in the face of the enemy, and their fear of punishment at his hands kept them in a fine state of discipline.
Such he was as a commander, but being commanded by others was not especially to his liking, so people said. He was about fifty years old at the time of his death.
After having studied under him and reaching the conclusion that he
had now become competent to rule and, through friendship with the
foremost men of his day, to hold his own in conferring benefits, he
embarked upon this enterprise with
but while vehemently desiring these great ends, he nevertheless made it evident also that he would not care to gain any one of them unjustly; rather, he thought that he must secure them justly and honourably, or not at all.
As a leader, he was qualified to command gentlemen, but he was not capable of inspiring his soldiers with either respect for himself or fear; on the contrary, he really stood in greater awe of his men than they, whom he commanded, did of him, and it was manifest that he was more afraid of incurring the hatred of his soldiers than they were of disobeying him.
His idea was that, for a man to be and to be thought fit to command, it was enough that he should praise the one who did right and withhold praise from the one who did wrong. Consequently all among his associates who were gentlemen were attached to him, but the unprincipled would plot against him in the thought that he was easy to deal with. At the time of his death he was about thirty years old.
Again, for the accomplishment of the objects upon which his heart was set, he imagined that the shortest route was by way of perjury and falsehood and deception, while he counted straightforwardness and truth the same thing as folly.
Affection he clearly felt for nobody, and if he said that he was a friend to anyone, it would become plain that this man was the one he was plotting against. He would never ridicule an enemy, but he always gave the impression in conversation of ridiculing all his associates.
Neither would he devise schemes against his enemies’ property, for he saw difficulty in getting hold of the possessions of people who were on their guard; but he thought he was the only one who knew that it was easiest to get hold of the property of friends—just because it was unguarded.
Again, all whom he found to be perjurers and wrongdoers he would fear, regarding them as well armed, while those who were pious and practised truth he would try to make use of, regarding them as weaklings.
And just as a man prides himself upon piety, truthfulness, and justice, so Menon prided himself upon ability to deceive, the fabrication of lies, and the mocking of friends; but the man who was not a rascal he always thought of as belonging to the uneducated. Again, if he were attempting to be first in the friendship of anybody, he thought that slandering those who were already first was the proper way of gaining this end.
As for making his soldiers obedient, he managed that by bearing a share in their wrongdoing. He expected, indeed, to gain honour and attention by showing that he had the ability and would have the readiness to do the most wrongs; and he set it down as a kindness, whenever anyone broke off with him, that he had not, while still on terms with such a one, destroyed him.
Now when his fellow-generals were put to death for joining
Full of these reflections and despondent as they were, but few of them tasted food at evening, few kindled a fire, and many did not come that night to their quarters, but lay down wherever they each chanced to be, unable to sleep for grief and longing for their native states and parents, their wives and children, whom they thought they should never see again. Such was the state of mind in which they all lay down to rest.
After reading Proxenus’ letter Xenophon conferred with
So Xenophon went and asked Apollo to what one of the gods he should sacrifice and pray in order best and most successfully to perform the journey which he had in mind and, after meeting with good fortune, to return home in safety; and Apollo in his response told him to what gods he must sacrifice.
When Xenophon came back from
And not only did Proxenus urge him to stay with them, but
It was in this way, then, that Xenophon came to go on the expedition,
quite deceived about its purpose—not, however, by Proxenus, for he
did not know that the attack was directed against the King, nor did
anyone else among the Greeks with the exception of Clearchus; but by
the time they reached
He awoke at once in great fear, and judged the dream in one way an
auspicious one, because in the midst of hardships and perils he had
seemed to behold a great light from Zeus; but looking at it in
another way he was fearful, since the dream came, as he thought,
from Zeus the King and the fire appeared to blaze all about, lest he
might not be able to escape out of the King’s country,
Now what it really means to have such a dream one may learn from the
events which followed the dream—and they were these: Firstly, on the
moment of his awakening the thought occurred to him:
In fact, it was so. He, therefore, was driven away, but the others
proceeded to visit the various divisions
When all had come together, they seated themselves at the front of the encampment, and the generals and captains thus assembled amounted in number to about one hundred. By this time it was nearly midnight.
Then Hieronymus the Elean, who was the eldest of Proxenus’ captains,
began to speak as follows:
With these words Xenophon ceased speaking.
With these words he got up at once, that there might be no delay in carrying out the needful measures. Thereupon the commanders were chosen, Timasion the Dardanian in place of Clearchus, Xanthicles the Achaean in place of Socrates, Cleanor the Arcadian in place of Agias, Philesius the Achaean in place of Menon, and Xenophon the Athenian in place of Proxenus.
They all raised their hands.
The generals held council and voted to return the following answer,
Cheirisophus acting as spokesman:
Thereupon Mithradates undertook to show that there was no possibility of their effecting a safe return unless the King so pleased. Then it became clear to the Greeks that his mission was a treacherous one; indeed, one of Tissaphernes’ relatives had followed along, to see that he kept faith.
The generals consequently decided that it was best to pass a decree that there should be no negotiations with the enemy in this war so long as they should be in the enemy’s country. For the barbarians kept coming and trying to corrupt the soldiers; in the case of one captain, Nicarchus the Arcadian, they actually succeeded, and he decamped during the night, taking with him about twenty men.
He approached the Greeks as if he were a friend, but when his party
had got close at hand, on a sudden some of them, horse and foot
alike, began shooting with their bows and others with slings, and
they inflicted wounds. And the Greek rearguard, while suffering
severely, could not retaliate at all; for the Cretan
Xenophon consequently decided that they must pursue the Persians, and this they did, with such of the hoplites and peltasts as were guarding the rear with him; but in their pursuit they failed to catch a single man of the enemy.
For the Greeks had no horsemen, and their foot-soldiers were not able to overtake the enemy’s foot-soldiers—since the latter had a long start in their flight—within a short distance; and a long pursuit, far away from the main Greek army, was not possible.
Again, the barbarian horsemen even while they were in flight would inflict wounds by shooting behind them from their horses; and whatever distance the Greeks might at any time cover in their pursuit, all that distance they were obliged to fall back fighting.
The result was that during the whole day they travelled not more than
twenty-five stadia. They did arrive, however, towards evening at the
villages.
When Xenophon heard their words, he replied that they were right in
finding fault with him, and that the outcome bore witness of itself
for their view.
These proposals also were adopted, and in the course of that night a company of two hundred slingers was organized, while on the following day horses and horsemen to the number of fifty were examined and accepted, and jerkins and cuirasses were provided for them; and Lycius, the son of Polystratus, an Athenian, was put in command of the troop.
It was only after they had crossed it, however, that Mithradates appeared again, accompanied by a thousand horsemen and about four thousand bowmen and slingers. For these were the numbers he had requested from Tissaphernes, and these numbers he had obtained upon his promise that, if such a force were given him, he would deliver the Greeks into Tissaphernes’ hands; for he had come to despise them, seeing that in his earlier attack with a small force he had done a great deal of harm, as he thought, without suffering any loss himself.
When, accordingly, the Greeks were across the gorge and about eight stadia beyond it, Mithradates also proceeded to make the crossing with his troops. Now orders had already been given to such of the Greek peltasts and hoplites as were to pursue the enemy, and the horsemen had been directed to be bold in urging the pursuit, in the assurance that an adequate force would follow at their heels.
As soon, then, as Mithradates had caught up, so that his sling-stones and arrows were just beginning to reach their marks, the trumpet gave its signal to the Greeks, and on the instant the foot-soldiers who were under orders rushed upon the enemy and the horsemen charged; and the enemy did not await their attack, but fled towards the gorge.
In this pursuit the barbarians had many of their infantry killed, while of their cavalry no less than eighteen were taken alive in the gorge. And the Greek troops, unbidden save by their own impulse, disfigured the bodies of the dead, in order that the sight of them might inspire the utmost terror in the enemy.
Here was a large deserted cityLarisa,
was the
great Assyrian city of
This city was besieged by the king
Near by this city was a pyramid of stone, a plethrum in breadth and two plethra in height; and upon this pyramid were many barbarians who had fled away from the neighbouring villages.
it was once inhabited by
the Medes.
In fact, the capture of
Upon this foundation was built a wall of brick, fifty feet in breadth
and a hundred in height; and the circuit of the wall was six
parasangs. Here, as the story goes, Medea, the king’s
To this city also the king of the Persians laid siege, but he was unable to capture it either by length of siege or by storm; Zeus, however, terrified the inhabitants with thunder, and thus the city was taken.
When he got near the Greeks, he stationed some of his battalions in their rear and moved others into position on their flanks; then, although he could not muster up the courage to close with them and had no desire to risk a decisive battle, he ordered his men to discharge their slings and let fly their arrows.
But when the Rhodian slingers and the bowmen, posted at intervals
here and there, sent back an answering volley, and not a man among
them missed his mark (for even if he had been very eager to do so,
it would not have been easy),
The Persian bows are alsoalso
(consequently
(
As for that day’s doings, when the Greeks came upon some villages and proceeded to encamp, the barbarians withdrew, having had the worst of it in the skirmishing. The following day the Greeks remained quiet and collected supplies, for there was an abundance of corn in the villages. On the day thereafter they continued their march through the plain, and Tissaphernes hung upon their rear and kept up the skirmishing.
Furthermore, when the wings draw apart again, those who were lately squeezed out are inevitably scattered, the space between the wings is left unoccupied, and the men affected are out of spirits when an enemy is close behind them. Again, as often as the army had to pass over a bridge or make any other crossing, every man would hurry, in the desire to be the first one across, and that gave the enemy a fine chance to make an attack.
When the generals came to realize these difficulties, they formed six
companies of a hundred men each and put a captain at the head of
each company, adding also platoon and squad commanders.
and when the flanks of the square drew apart again, they would fill
up the space between the wings, by companies in case this space was
rather narrow, by platoons in case it was broader, or, if it was
very broad, by squadsby companies,
by platoons,
and by
squads.
Again, if the army had to make some crossing or to pass over a bridge, there was no confusion, but each company crossed over in its turn; and if any help was needed in any part of the army, these troops would make their way to the spot. In this fashion the Greeks proceeded four stages.
when, however, in their march out of the plain they had mounted to
the top of the first hill, and were descending it, so as to ascend
the next, at this moment the barbarians came upon them and down from
the hilltop discharged their missiles and sling-stones and arrows,
fighting under the lash.
They not only inflicted many wounds, but they got the better of the Greek light troops and shut them up within the lines of the hoplites, so that these troops, being mingled with the non-combatants, were entirely useless throughout that day, slingers and bowmen alike.
And when the Greeks, hard-pressed as they were, undertook to pursue the attacking force, they reached the hilltop but slowly, being heavy troops, while the enemy sprang quickly out of reach;
and every time they returned from a pursuit to join the main army,
they suffered again in the same way.
As soon as this force had got above the hostile troops that were hanging upon the Greek rear, the latter desisted from attacking the Greek army in its descent, for fear that they might be cut off and find themselves enclosed on both sides by their foes.
In this way the Greeks continued their march for the remainder of the day, the one division by the road leading over the hills while the other followed a parallel course along the mountain slope, and so arrived at the villages. There they appointed eight surgeons, for the wounded were many.
On the fourth day they proceeded to descend into the plain. But when Tissaphernes and his command overtook them, necessity taught them to encamp in the first village they caught sight of, and not to continue the plan of marching and fighting at the same time; for a large number of the Greeks were hors de combat, not only the wounded, but also those who were carrying them and the men who took in charge the arms of these carriers.
When they had encamped, and the barbarians, approaching toward the village, essayed to attack them at long range, the Greeks had much the better of it; for to occupy a position and therefrom ward off an attack was a very different thing from being on the march and fighting with the enemy as they followed after.
For a Persian army at night is a sorry thing. Their horses are tethered, and usually hobbled also to prevent their running away if they get loose from the tether, and hence in case of any alarm a Persian has to put saddle-cloth and bridle on his horse, and then has also to put on his own breastplate and mount his horse—and all these things are difficult at night and in the midst of confusion. It was for this reason that the Persians encamped at a considerable distance from the Greeks.
When the Greeks saw at length that they were manifestly departing, they broke camp and took the road themselves, and accomplished a march of no less than sixty stadia. Thus the two armies got so far apart that on the next day the enemy did not appear, nor yet on the third; on the fourth day, however, after pushing forward by night the barbarians occupied a high position on the right of the road by which the Greeks were to pass, a spur of the mountain, namely, along the base of which ran the route leading down into the plain.
Xenophon, however, would not bring the peltasts, for he could see
Tissaphernes and his whole army coming into view;
Then Xenophon observed that the summit of the mountain was close
above their own army and that from this summit there was a way of
approach to the hill where the enemy were; and he said,
Cheirisophus accordingly sent with him the peltasts at the front,
replacing them with those that were inside the square; he also
ordered the three hundred picked men
Then there was a deal of shouting from the Greek army as they urged on their friends, and just as much shouting from Tissaphernes’ troops to urge on their men.
And Xenophon, riding along the lines upon his horse, cheered his
troops forward:
But Soteridas the Sicyonian said:
When Xenophon heard that, he leaped down from his horse and pushed Soteridas out of his place in the line, then took his shield away from him and marched on with it as fast as he could; he had on also, as it happened, his cavalry breastplate, and the result was that he was heavily burdened. And he urged the men in front of him to keep going, while he told those who were behind to pass along by him, for he found it hard to keep up.
The rest of the soldiers, however, struck and pelted and abused Soteridas until they forced him to take back his shield and march on. Then Xenophon remounted, and as long as riding was possible, led the way on horseback, but when the ground became too difficult, he left his horse behind and hurried forward on foot. And they reached the summit before the enemy.
When it came to be late in the day, all of a sudden the enemy appeared in the plain and cut to pieces some of the Greeks who were scattered about there in quest of plunder; in fact, many herds of cattle had been captured while they were being taken across to the other side of the river.
Then Tissaphernes and his followers attempted to burn the villages; and some of the Greeks got exceedingly despondent, out of apprehension that they would not have a place from which to get provisions in case the enemy should succeed in this attempt.
Meanwhile Cheirisophus and his men, who had gone to the rescue of the plunderers, were returning; and when Xenophon had come down from the mountain, he rode along the lines upon falling in with the Greeks of the rescuing party and said:
In the midst of their perplexity a Rhodian came to them and said:
Upon being asked what his requirements were, he replied:
At the close of the day, while the rest of the army went after provisions, the generals held another meeting, at which they brought together the prisoners that had been taken and enquired of them about each district of all the surrounding country.
The prisoners said that the region to the south lay on the road
towards
These Carduchians, they said, dwelt up among the mountains, were a warlike people, and were not subjects of the King; in fact, a royal army of one hundred and twenty thousand men had once invaded them, and, by reason of the ruggedness of the country, not a man of all that number came back. Still, whenever they made a treaty with the satrap in the plain, some of the people of the plain did have dealings with the Carduchians and some of the Carduchians with them.
Thereupon the generals offered sacrifice, so that they could begin
the march at the moment they thought best
When the Greeks finally reached a point where the Tigris river was quite impassable by reason of its depth and width, and where there was no passage-way alongside the river, since the Carduchian mountains hung sheer and close above it, the generals were forced to the conclusion that they must make their way through the mountains.
For they heard from the prisoners who were taken that once they had
passed through the Carduchian mountains and reached
Now they conducted their invasion of the country of the Carduchians in the following way, since they were seeking not only to escape observation, but at the same time to reach the heights before the enemy could take possession of them.]
Here Cheirisophus, with his own division and all the light-armed
troops, led the van, while Xenophon followed behind with the
hoplites of the rearguard, but without any light troops at all; for
there seemed to be no danger of any pursuit from behind while they
were proceeding uphill.
And Cheirisophus reached the summit of the pass before any of the enemy perceived him; then he led on slowly, and each division of the army as it passed over the summit followed along to the villages which lay in the hollows and nooks of the mountains.
Then it was that the Carduchians abandoned their houses and fled to the mountains with their wives and children. As for provisions, there was an abundance for the Greeks to take, and the houses were also supplied with bronze vessels in great numbers; the Greeks, however, did not carry off any of these, and did not pursue the people themselves, refraining from harshness on the chance that the Carduchians might perhaps be willing to let them pass through their country in friendship, seeing that they also were enemies of the King;
but they did take whatever they chanced upon in the way of provisions, for that was necessary. The Carduchians, however, would neither listen when they called to them nor give any other sign of friendliness.
And when the rearguard of the Greeks was descending from the summit of the pass to the villages—and by this time it was dark, for on account of the road being narrow their ascent and descent lasted through the entire day—at this moment some of the Carduchians gathered together and attacked the hindmost Greeks; and they killed some and wounded others severely with stones and arrows, though they were themselves but few in number; for the Greek army had come upon them unexpectedly.
If, however, a larger number of them had gathered together at that time, a great part of the army would have been in danger of being destroyed. Thus the Greeks bivouacked for that night in the villages, while the Carduchians kindled many fires round about upon the mountains and kept shouting to one another.
For the baggage animals and the captives, numerous as they were, made the march slow, and the large number of men who had charge of them were thus taken out of the fighting line; besides, with so many people to feed it was necessary to procure and to carry twice the amount of provisions. This decision once reached, they published the order to carry it into effect.
On the next day there was a heavy storm, but they had to continue their march, for they had not an adequate supply of provisions; and Cheirisophus led the way while Xenophon commanded the rearguard.
Here the enemy began a vigorous attack, and in the narrow places on the road came close up to discharge their bows and slings. The result was that the Greeks were forced to give chase and then fall back, and hence made but slow progress; and time after time, when the enemy pressed them hard, Xenophon would send word to Cheirisophus to wait a little.
Now while Cheirisophus was accustomed to wait whenever such word was given, on this occasion he did not do so, but led on rapidly and passed back the order to keep up with him. It was evident, therefore, that something was the matter, but there was no time to go forward and find out the reason for his haste; consequently the progress of the rearguard became more like a flight than a march.
Then it was that a brave man was killed, Leonymus the Laconian, who was pierced in the side by an arrow that went through his shield and cuirass; also Basias the Arcadian, who was shot clean through the head.
Cheirisophus’ reply was,
And Xenophon answered,
The latter now said that the reason why this first man had maintained that he did not know any other road, was because he chanced to have a daughter living in that neighbourhood with a husband to whom he had given her; but as for himself, he said that he would lead the Greeks by a road that could be traversed even by baggage animals.
Upon being asked whether there was any point on it which was difficult to pass, he replied that there was a height which they could not possibly pass unless they should seize it beforehand.
Volunteers came forward, from the hoplites Aristonymus of
Then they asked whether any one among the captains of light troops wanted to join in the march. The volunteer was Aristeas of Chios, who on many occasions proved himself valuable to the army for such services.
This agreement concluded, the volunteers, about two thousand in
number, set out on their march; and there was a heavy downpour of
rain; at the same time Xenophon with the rearguard began advancing
toward the visible way out, in order that the enemy might be giving
their attention to that road and that the party
But as soon as the troops of the rearguard were at a gorge which they had to cross before marching up the steep hill, at that moment the barbarians began to roll down round stones large enough for a wagon-load, with larger and smaller ones also; they came down with a crash upon the rocks below and the fragments of them flew in all directions, so that it was quite impossible even to approach the ascending road.
Then some of the captains, unable to proceed by this route, would try another, and they kept this up until darkness came on. It was not until they imagined that their withdrawal would be unobserved that they went back to dinner—and it chanced that they had had no breakfast either. The enemy, however, never stopped rolling down their stones all through the night, as one could judge from the noise.
the guards
whom they expected to find upon the
height
mentioned (
In fact, they were not holding it, for it was a round hill above them
and past it ran this narrow road upon which the guards had been
sitting. Nevertheless, from the place they did hold there was a way
of approach to the spot, upon the visible road,
At this place, then, they passed the night, and when day was
beginning to break, they took up their march silently in battle
array against the enemy; for there was a mist, and consequently they
got close up to them without being observed. When they did catch
sight of one another, the trumpet
Meanwhile Cheirisophus and his command, hearing the trumpet, charged immediately up the visible road; and some of the other generals made their way without following any road from the points where they severally chanced to be and, clambering up as best they could, pulled one another up with their spears;
and it was they who were first to join the troops that had already
gained possession of the place.
As they proceeded they came upon a hill above the road which had been
seized by the enemy, and found themselves compelled either to
dislodge them or be completely separated from the rest of the
Greeks; and while, so far as the troops themselves were concerned,
they might have taken the same route that the restcould be traversed even by baggage animals,
Then and there, accordingly, with words of cheer to one another, they charged upon the hill with their companies in column, not surrounding it, but leaving the enemy a way of retreat in case they chose to use it.
For a while, as the Greeks were climbing up by whatever way they severally could, the barbarians discharged arrows and other missiles upon them; they did not let them get near, however, but took to flight and abandoned the place. No sooner had the Greeks passed by this hill, than they saw a second one ahead similarly occupied by the enemy, and decided to proceed against this one in its turn.
Xenophon, however, becoming apprehensive lest, if he should leave unoccupied the hill he had just captured, the enemy might take possession of it again and attack the baggage train as it passed (and the train stretched out a long way because of the narrowness of the road it was following), left three captains upon the hill, Cephisodorus, son of Cephisophon, an Athenian, Amphicrates, son of Amphidemus, also an Athenian, and Archagoras, an Argive exile; while he himself with the rest of the troops proceeded against the second hill, which they captured in the same fashion as the first.
But when the Greeks got near this hill, the barbarians abandoned it
without striking a blow, so that everybody was filled with surprise
and imagined that they had quit the place out of fear that they
might be surrounded and blockaded. As it proved, however, they had
seen, looking down from their height, what was going on farther
back, and were all setting out to attack the Greek rearguard.
Meanwhile Xenophon proceeded to climb the abandoned height with his
youngest troops, ordering the rest to move on slowly in order that
the hindmost companies might catch up; then they were to advance
along the road and halt under arms on the plateau
After accomplishing this achievement the barbarians came to a hill
opposite the round hill,
They replied that they would give them back on condition that the Greeks should not burn their houses. To this Xenophon agreed. But while the rest of the army was passing by and they were engaged in this conference, all the enemy from that neighbourhood had streamed together to the spot;
and as soon as Xenophon and his men began to descend from the round hill, in order to join the rest of the Greeks at the place where they were halted under arms, the enemy took this opportunity to rush upon them in great force and with a great deal of uproar. When they had reached the crest of the hill from which Xenophon was descending, they proceeded to roll down stones. They broke one man’s leg, and Xenophon found himself deserted by the servant who was carrying his shield;
but Eurylochus of
Meanwhile Xenophon and Cheirisophus effected an arrangement by which they recovered the bodies of their dead and gave back the guide; and they rendered to the dead, so far as their means permitted, all the usual honours that are paid to brave men.
Accordingly, whenever they blocked the march of the van, Xenophon would push forward from the rear to the mountains and break the blockade of the road for the van by trying to get higher than those who were halting it,
and whenever they attacked the rear, Cheirisophus would sally forth and, by trying to get higher than the obstructing force, would break the blockade of the passage-way for the rear; in this way they continually aided one another and took zealous care for one another.
There were times, indeed, when the barbarians caused a great deal of trouble even to the troops who had climbed to a higher position, when they were coming down again; for their men were so agile that even if they took to flight from close at hand, they could escape; for they had nothing to carry except bows and slings.
As bowmen they were most excellent; they had bows nearly three cubits
long and their arrows were more than two cubits, and when they shot,
they would draw their strings by pressing with the left foot against
the lower end of the bow; and their arrows would go straight through
shields and breastplates.
At the time, then, they went into their quarters very happily, for they had provisions and likewise many recollections of the hardships that were now past. For during all the seven days of their march through the land of the Carduchians they were continually fighting, and they suffered more evils than all which they had suffered taken together at the hands of the King and Tissaphernes. In the feeling, therefore, that they were rid of these troubles they lay down happily to rest.
All these were the troops of Orontas
Now the bluffs just mentioned, upon which these troops were drawn up,
were distant three or four plethra from the river, and there was
only one road to be seen that led up them, apparently an artificial
road; so at this point
When they made the attempt, however, the water proved to be more than breast deep and the river bed was rough with large, slippery stones; furthermore, they could not carry their shields in the water, for if they tried that, the current would snatch them away, while if a man carried them on his head, his body was left unprotected against arrows and other missiles; so they turned back and went into camp there by the side of the river.
Meanwhile, at the point where they had themselves spent the previous night, on the mountain side, they could see the Carduchians gathered together under arms in great numbers. Then it was that deep despondency fell upon the Greeks, as they saw before them a river difficult to cross, beyond it troops that would obstruct their crossing, and behind them the Carduchians, ready to fall upon their rear when they tried to cross.
Cheirisophus was pleased, and as soon as day began to break, all the generals were at hand and proceeded to offer sacrifices. And with the very first victim the omens were favourable. Then the generals and captains withdrew from the sacrifice and gave orders to the troops to get their breakfasts.
In the present case the young men reported that they had happened to be gathering dry sticks for the purpose of making a fire, and that while so occupied they had descried across the river, among some rocks that reached down to the very edge of the river, an old man and a woman and some little girls putting away what looked like bags of clothes in a cavernous rock.
When they saw this proceeding, they said, they made up their minds that it was safe for them to cross, for this was a place that was not accesible to the enemy’s cavalry. They accordingly stripped, keeping only their daggers, and started across naked, supposing that they would have to swim; but they went on and got across without wetting themselves up to the middle; once on the other side, they took the clothes and came back again.
And upon hearing it Cheirisophus also made libation. Thereafter they gave orders to the troops to pack up their baggage, while they themselves called together the generals and took counsel as to how they might best effect a crossing so as to defeat the enemy in front without suffering any harm from those in their rear.
The decision was, that Cheirisophus should take the lead with half the army and attempt a crossing, that the other half with Xenophon should stay behind for a while, and that the baggage animals and camp followers should cross between the two divisions.
As they proceeded, the squadrons of the enemy’s cavalry kept along
opposite to them. When they reached the ford, they halted under
arms, and Cheirisophus put a wreath upon his head,
and the enemy were shooting arrows and discharging slings,
but not yet reaching their mark; and when the sacrifices proved favourable, all the soldiers struck up the paean and raised the war shout, while the women, everyone of them, joined their cries with the shouting of the men—for there were a large number of women in the camp.
The enemy thereupon, when they saw Cheirisophus and his division crossing the river without difficulty and likewise saw Xenophon and his men running back, were seized with fear that they might be cut off, and they fled at full speed to reach the road which led up from the river. This road once gained, they hastened on upward in the direction of the mountain.
Then Lycius, who commanded the squadron of Greek cavalry, and Aeschines, commander of the battalion of peltasts that was with Cheirisophus, upon seeing the enemy in full flight set off in pursuit, while the rest of the Greek troops shouted to them not to fall behind, but to follow the fugitives right up to the mountain.
As for Cheirisophus, after getting across he chose not to pursue the
hostile cavalry, but immediately pushed up over the bluffs that
reached down to the river against the infantry on top of them.
Meanwhile Cheirisophus was in possession of the bluffs, and Lycius,
venturing a pursuit with his small squadron,
And now, with the Greek baggage train and the camp followers in the
very act of crossing, Xenophon wheeled his troops so that they took
a position facing the Carduchians, and gave orders to the captains
that each man of them should form his own company by squads,
But as soon as the Carduchians saw the rearguard stripped of the crowd of camp followers and looking now like a small body, they advanced to the attack all the more rapidly, singing a kind of songs. As for Cheirisophus, since everything was safe on his side, he sent back to Xenophon the peltasts, slingers, and bowmen, and directed them to do whatever Xenophon might order.
But when he saw them beginning to cross, Xenophon sent a messenger and directed them to stay where they were, on the bank of the river, without crossing; at the moment, however, when his own men should begin to cross, they were to enter the river opposite them, on this side and that, as though they were going to cross it, the javelin men with hand on the thong and the bowmen with arrow on the string; but they were not to proceed far into the river.
The orders he gave to his own men were, that when sling-stones
reached them and shields rang, they were to strike up the paean and
charge upon the enemy, and when the enemy turned to flight and the
trumpeter on the river-bank sounded the charge,
Then the Greeks struck up the paean and charged at them on the run, and they did not meet the attack; for while they were equipped well enough for attack and retreat in the mountains, their equipment was not adequate for hand-to-hand fighting.
At that instant the Greek trumpeter sounded his signal; and while the enemy began to flee much faster than before, the Greeks turned about and set out on their own flight through the river at top speed.
Some few of the enemy, perceiving this movement, ran back to the river and wounded a few Greeks with arrows, but most of them, even when the Greeks were on the other side, could still be seen continuing their flight.
But the troops that came to meet Xenophon, behaving like men and advancing farther than they should have gone, crossed back again in the rear of Xenophon’s command; and some of them also were wounded.
The village which they finally reached was a large one and had a palace for the satrap, while most of the houses were surmounted by turrets; and provisions were plentiful.
From there they marched two stages, ten parasangs, until they passed the headwaters of the Tigris river. From there they marched three stages, fifteen parasangs, to the Teleboas river. This was a beautiful river, though not a large one, and there were many villages about it.
This region was called Western
He rode up to the Greeks with a body of horsemen, and sending forward an interpreter, said that he wished to confer with their commanders. The generals decided to hear what he had to say, and, after approaching within hearing distance, they asked him what he wanted.
He replied that he wished to conclude a treaty with these conditions, that he on his side would not harm the Greeks, and that they should not burn the houses, but might take all the provisions they needed. This proposition was accepted by the generals, and they concluded a treaty on these terms.
While they were in camp there, there was a heavy fall of snow
There they had all possible good things in the way of supplies—animals for sacrifice, grain, old wines with a fine bouquet, dried grapes, and beans of all sorts. But some men who straggled away from their quarters reported that they saw in the night the gleam of a great many fires.
The generals accordingly decided that it was unsafe to have their divisions in separate quarters, and that they must bring all the troops together again; so they came together, especially as the storm seemed to be clearing up.
But there came such a tremendous fall of snow while they were bivouacked there that it completely covered both the arms and the men as they slept, besides hampering the baggage animals; and everybody was very reluctant to get up, for as the men lay there the snow that had fallen upon them—in case it did not slip off—was a source of warmth.
But once Xenophon had mustered the courage to get up without his cloak and set about splitting wood, another man also speedily got up, took the axe away from him, and went on with the splitting. Thereupon still others got up and proceeded to build fires and anoint themselves;
for they found ointment there in abundance which they used in place of olive oil—made of pork fat, sesame, bitter almonds, or turpentine. They found also a fragrant oil made out of these same ingredients.
After this they sent Democrates of Temnus with a body of troops during the night to the mountains where the stragglers said they had seen the fires; for this Democrates enjoyed the reputation of having made accurate reports in many previous cases of the same sort, describing what were facts as facts and what were fictions as fictions.
Upon his return he stated that he had not seen the fires; he had captured, however, and brought back with him a man with a Persian bow and quiver and a battleaxe of the same sort that Amazons carry.
When this man was asked from what country he came, he said he was a Persian and was on his way from the camp of Tiribazus to get provisions. They asked him how large Tiribazus’ army was and for what purpose it had been gathered.
He replied that it was Tiribazus with his own forces and Chalybian and Taochian mercenaries, and that he had made his preparations with the idea of taking a position upon the mountain pass, in the defile through which ran the only road, and there attacking the Greeks.
As soon as they had begun to cross the mountains, the peltasts, pushing on ahead and descrying the enemy’s camp, did not wait for the hoplites, but raised a shout and charged upon the camp.
When the barbarians heard the uproar, they did not wait to offer resistance, but took to flight; nevertheless, some of them were killed, about twenty horses were captured, and likewise Tiribazus’ tent, with silver-footed couches in it, and drinking cups, and people who said they were his bakers and his cup-bearers.
As soon as the generals of the hoplites learned of these results, they deemed it best to go back as speedily as possible to their own camp, lest some attack might be made upon those they had left behind. So they immediately sounded the recall with the trumpet and set out on the return journey, arriving at their camp on the same day.
From there they marched three stages through desert country, fifteen parasangs, to the Euphrates river, and crossed it, wetting themselves up to the navel;
and report was that the sources of the river were not far
distant.
Then it was that one of the soothsayers bade them offer sacrifice to the wind, and sacrifice was offered; and it seemed quite clear to everybody that the violence of the wind abated. But the depth of the snow was a fathom, so that many of the baggage animals and slaves perished, and about thirty of the soldiers.
They got through that night by keeping up fires, for there was wood in abundance at the halting-place; those who came up late, however, had none, and consequently the men who had arrived early and were keeping a fire would not allow the late comers to get near it unless they gave them a share of their wheat or anything else they had that was edible.
So then they shared with one another what they severally possessed. Now where the fire was kindled the snow melted, and the result was great holes clear down to the ground; and there, of course, one could measure the depth of the snow.
But as soon as a person who was acquainted with the disease had told him that they manifestly had hunger-faintness, and if they were given something to eat would be able to get up, he went around among the baggage animals, and wherever he saw anything that was edible, he would distribute it among the sick men, or send hither and thither people who had the strength to run along the lines, to give it to them.
And when they had eaten something, they would get up and continue the
march.
They asked the Greeks who they were, and the interpreter replied in Persian that they were on their way from the King to the satrap. The women answered that he was not there, but about a parasang away. Then, inasmuch as it was late, the Greeks accompanied the water-carriers within the wall to visit the village chief.
So it was that Cheirisophus and all the troops who could muster strength enough to reach the village, went into quarters there, but such of the others as were unable to complete the journey spent the night in the open without food or fire; and in this way some of the soldiers perished.
It was a protection to the eyes against the snow if a man marched with something black in front of them, and a protection to the feet if one kept moving and never quiet, and if he took off his shoes for the night;
but in all cases where men slept with their shoes on, the straps sunk into their flesh and the shoes froze on their feet; for what they were wearing, since their old shoes had given out, were brogues made of freshly flayed ox-hides.
But when Xenophon with some of the rearguard observed them, he begged them by all manner of means not to be left behind, telling them that a large body of the enemy had gathered and were pursuing, and finally he became angry. They told him, however, to kill them, for they could not go on.
In this situation it seemed to be best to frighten the pursuing enemy, if they could, in order to prevent their falling upon the sick men. It was dark by this time, and the enemy were coming on with a great uproar, quarrelling over the booty they had.
Then the men of the rearguard, since they were sound and well, started up and charged upon the enemy, while the invalids raised as big a shout as they could and clashed their shields against their spears. And the enemy, seized with fear, threw themselves down over the snow into the dell, and not a sound was heard from them afterwards.
Xenophon accordingly passed along and, sending forward the strongest of the peltasts, directed them to see what the hindrance was. They reported back that the whole army was resting in this way.
Thereupon Xenophon also and his party bivouacked where they were, without a fire and without dinner, after stationing such guards as they could. When it came toward morning, Xenophon sent the youngest of his troops to the sick men with orders to make them get up and force them to proceed.
When all had come together, the generals decided that it was safe for the different divisions of the army to take up quarters in the several villages. Cheirisophus accordingly remained where he was, while the other generals distributed by lot the villages within sight, and all set off with their respective commands.
Then it was that Polycrates, an Athenian captain, asked to be detached from his division; and with an active group of men he ran to the village which had fallen to Xenophon’s lot and there took possession of all the villagers, the village chief included, seventeen colts which were being reared for tribute to the King, and the village chief’s daughter, who had been married eight days before; her husband, however, was off hunting hares, and was not taken in the village.
Here were also wheat, barley, and beans, and barleywine in large bowls. Floating on the top of this drink were the barley-grains and in it were straws, some larger and others smaller, without joints;
and when one was thirsty, he had to take these straws into his mouth and suck. It was an extremely strong drink unless one diluted it with water, and extremely good when one was used to it.
He promised to do this, and in a spirit of kindliness told them where there was wine buried. For that night, then, all Xenophon’s soldiers, in this village where they were thus separately quartered, went to bed amid an abundance of everything, keeping the village chief under guard and his children all together within sight.
and no place where they did not serve on the same table lamb, kid, pork, veal, and poultry, together with many loaves of bread, some of wheat and some of barley.
And whenever a man wanted out of good fellowship to drink another’s health, he would draw him to the bowl, and then one had to stoop over and drink from it, sucking like an ox. To the village chief they offered the privilege of taking whatever he wanted. He declined for the most part to accept anything, but whenever he caught sight of one of his kinsmen, he would always take the man to his side.
Again, when they reached Cheirisophus, they found his troops also feasting in their quarters, crowned with wreaths of hay and served by Armenian boys in their strange, foreign dress; and they were showing the boys what to do by signs, as if they were deaf and dumb.
Then Xenophon took the village chief back for the time to his own
household, and gave him a horse that he had got when it was rather
old, to fatten up and sacrifice, for he understood that it was
sacred to the Sun-god. He did this out of fear that the horse might
die, for it had been injured by the journey; and he took for himself
one of the colts
The horses of this region were smaller than the Persian horses, but very much more spirited. It was here also that the village chief instructed them about wrapping small bags round the feet of their horses and beasts of burden when they were going through the snow; for without these bags the animals would sink in up to their bellies.
The village chief, who was not bound,
Then Cheirisophus struck him, but neglected to bind him. The result was that he stole away during the night, leaving his son behind. And this was the only cause of difference between Cheirisophus and Xenophon during the course of the march, this ill-treatment of the guide and carelessness in not guarding him. Pleisthenes, however, fell in love with the boy, took him home with him, and found him absolutely faithful.
From there they marched two stages, ten parasangs; and on the pass leading over to the plain they encountered a body of Chalybians, Taochians, and Phasians.
As soon as Cheirisophus caught sight of the enemy on the pass, he
halted, while still at a distance of about thirty stadia, in order
not to get near the enemy while his troops were marching in column;
and he gave orders to the other officers also to move along their
companies so as to bring the army into line of battle.
When the rearguard had come up, he called generals and captains
together and spoke as follows:
Then Cheirisophus said:
At that, Aristonymus of
This agreement concluded, they proceeded to take breakfast; and immediately after breakfast Cheirisophus led the whole army forward about ten stadia toward the enemy, in order to make them quite certain that he was going to advance upon them by this road.
As soon as day came Cheirisophus offered sacrifice and led the army forward along the road, while the party that had seized the mountain, advanced along the heights.
As for the enemy, the majority remained at the pass over the mountain, but a part of them went to meet the detachment on the heights. Now before the two main bodies got near one another, those upon the heights came to close combat, and the Greeks were victorious and began their pursuit.
Meanwhile the main body of the Greeks was moving upward from the plain, the peltasts charging at a run upon the enemy’s battleline and Cheirisophus following at a quick-step with the hoplites.
But the enemy on the road no sooner saw their detachment on the heights being defeated than they took to flight; and while not many of them were killed, a great number of wicker shields were captured, which the Greeks rendered useless by slashing them with their sabres.
When they had climbed to the top of the pass, after offering sacrifice and setting up a trophy they descended into the plain on the farther side, and reached villages full of many good things.
Now when the Greeks arrived at one of them which contained no town nor houses, but was only a place where men and women and a great number of cattle were gathered, Cheirisophus proceeded to attack this stronghold as soon as he reached it; and when his first battalion grew weary, another advanced to the attack, and yet another; for it was not possible for them to surround the place in continuous line, because its sides were precipitous.
Then they took counsel together, and when Xenophon asked what it was
that prevented their effecting an entrance, Cheirisophus replied:
But Agasias of Stymphalus and Aristonymus of Methydrium, who were
likewise captains of the rearguard, and others also, took places
outside the cover of the trees, for not more than the one
company
At that moment Callimachus hit upon a scheme: he would run forward two or three steps from the particular tree he was under and, when the stones began to fly, would draw back without any trouble; and at every one of his dashes more than ten cart-loads of stones would be used up.
But when Agasias saw what Callimachus was doing, with the whole army
for spectators, he became fearful that the other would be the first
to make the run across to the stronghold; so without asking
Aristonymus or Eurylochus of
Callimachus, however, when he saw him going by, seized the rim of his
shield; and at that moment Aristonymus of
but the man dragged Aeneas along after him, and both went flying down the cliffs and were killed. In this stronghold only a very few human beings were captured, but they secured cattle and asses in large numbers and sheep.
They had greaves also and helmets, and at the girdle a knife about as
long as a Laconian dagger, with which they would slaughter whomever
they might be able to vanquish; then they would cut off their heads
and carry them along on their march, and they would sing and dance
whenever they were likely to be seen by the enemy. They carried also
a spear about five cubits long, with a point at only one end.
These people would stay within their towns, and when the Greeks had passed by, they would follow them, always ready to fight. Their dwellings were in strongholds, and therein they had stored away all their provisions; hence the Greeks could get nothing in this country, but they subsisted on the cattle they had taken from the Taochians.
Leaving this land, the Greeks arrived at the Harpasus river, which was four plethra in width. From there they marched through the territory of the Scythinians four stages, twenty parasangs, over a level plain, and they arrived at some villages, and there remained for three days and collected provisions.
When the guide came, he said that he would lead them within five days
to a place from which they could see the sea;
On the fifth day they did in fact reach the mountain;
And when Xenophon and the rearguard heard it, they imagined that other enemies were attacking in front; for enemies were following behind them from the district that was in flames, and the rearguard had killed some of them and captured others by setting an ambush, and had also taken about twenty wicker shields covered with raw, shaggy ox-hides.
But as the shout kept getting louder and nearer, as the successive ranks that came up all began to run at full speed toward the ranks ahead that were one after another joining in the shout, and as the shout kept growing far louder as the number of men grew steadily greater, it became quite clear to Xenophon that here was something of unusual importance;
so he mounted a horse, took with him Lycius and the cavalry, and
pushed ahead to lend aid; and in a moment they heard the soldiers
shouting,
And when all had reached the summit, then indeed they fell to embracing one another, and generals and captains as well, with tears in their eyes. And on a sudden, at the bidding of some one or other, the soldiers began to bring stones and to build a great cairn.
Thereon they placed as offerings a quantity of raw ox-hides and
walking-sticks and the captured wicker shields; and the guide not
only cut these shields to pieces himself, but urged the others to do
so.
After this the Greeks dismissed the guide with gifts from the common stock—a horse, a silver cup, a Persian dress, and ten darics; but what he particularly asked the men for was their rings, and he got a considerable number of them. Then he showed them a village to encamp in and the road they were to follow to the country of the Macronians, and, as soon as evening came, took his departure.
There they had on the right, above them, an exceedingly difficult bit of ground, and on the left another river, into which the boundary stream that they had to cross emptied. Now this stream was fringed with trees, not large ones, but of thick growth, and when the Greeks came up, they began felling them in their haste to get out of the place as speedily as possible.
But the Macronians, armed with wicker shields and lances and hair tunics, were drawn up in line of battle opposite the place where the Greeks must cross, and they were cheering one another on and throwing stones, which fell into the stream; for they never reached the Greeks or did them any harm.
They replied,
The Macronians asked whether they would give pledges to this effect. They replied that they were ready both to give and to receive pledges. Thereupon the Macronians gave the Greeks a barbarian lance and the Greeks gave them a Greek lance, for the Macronians said that these were pledges; and both sides called the gods to witness.
At this place was a great mountain, and upon this mountain the Colchians were drawn up in line of battle. At first the Greeks formed an opposing line of battle, with the intention of advancing in this way upon the mountain, but afterwards the generals decided to gather together and take counsel as to how they could best make the contest.
After this the generals passed along the order to offer prayer, and
when they had prayed and sung the paean they set forth. Now
Cheirisophus and Xenophon
and when the enemy saw this, they ran out, some to the right and others to the left, to confront them, with the result that their line was pulled apart and a large portion of it in the centre was left deserted.
Then the peltasts of the Arcadian division, who were commanded by
Aeschines the Acarnanian, getting the idea that the enemy were in
flight, set up a shout and began to run; and they were the first to
reach the summit of the mountain, while following close after them
came the Arcadian division of hoplites, under the command of Cleanor
of
As for the enemy, once the peltasts began to run they no longer stood
their ground, but betook themselves hither and thither in
flight.
Now for the most part there was nothing here which they really found strange; but the swarms of bees in the neighbourhood were numerous, and the soldiers who ate of the honey all went off their heads, and suffered from vomiting and diarrhoea, and not one of them could stand up, but those who had eaten a little were like people exceedingly drunk, while those who had eaten a great deal seemed like crazy, or even, in some cases, dying men.
So they lay there in great numbers as though the army had suffered a defeat, and great despondency prevailed. On the next day, however, no one had died, and at approximately the same hour as they had eaten the honey they began to come to their senses; and on the third or fourth day they got up, as if from a drugging.
And the Trapezuntians supplied a market for the army, received the Greeks kindly, and gave them oxen, barley-meal, and wine as gifts of hospitality.
They likewise took part in negotiations with the Greeks in behalf of the near-by Colchians, who dwelt for the most part on the plain, and from these people also the Greeks received hospitable gifts of oxen.
When, accordingly, the sacrifice had been completed, they turned over
the hides
The events were, a stadium race
There were horseraces also, and the riders had to drive their horses
down the steep slope, turn them around on the shore, and bring them
back again to the altar.
Upon hearing these words the soldiers shouted out that he was quite right; and another man said the same thing, and in fact all who rose to speak. Then Cheirisophus got up and spoke as follows:
an
admiral, for
Furthermore, they got a fifty-oared warship from the Trapezuntians,
and put it under the command of Dexippus, a Laconian perioecus.
They also got a thirty-oared galley, and put it under the command of Polycrates the Athenian, who brought in to the camp all the merchant vessels that he captured. And they would unload the cargoes, in case the ships had any, and put them under guard, in order to keep these safe and to use the vessels themselves for transport service.
While these things were going on, the Greeks were making forays in quest of booty, and while some parties would secure it, others did not. And in one case, when Cleaenetus led forth his own company and another against a difficult stronghold, the commander himself was killed and many of his men besides.
For the Trapezuntians would not lead the Greeks to districts from which provisions could be secured easily, because they were friendly to the people of those districts; but they were eager to lead them into the territory of the Drilae, at whose hands they were continually suffering losses, though their country was mountainous and difficult to traverse and its inhabitants the most warlike of all that dwell upon the Euxine.
Now the peltasts, who had run five or six stadia ahead of the hoplites, crossed this ravine and, seeing quantities of sheep and other property, essayed an attack upon the stronghold; in their train there followed a considerable number of spearmen who had set out after provisions, so that the party that crossed the ravine amounted to more than a thousand men.
But when they found themselves unable with all their fighting to capture the place (for there was a wide trench around it, backed by a rampart, and upon the rampart palisades had been set and wooden towers constructed at frequent intervals), their next move was to try to withdraw; and then the enemy pressed hard upon them.
To get away by running proved impossible, inasmuch as the descent from the stronghold to the ravine only allowed them to go in single file, and they accordingly sent a messenger to Xenophon, who was at the head of the hoplites. The messenger came and reported:
The withdrawal, it seemed clear, could not be accomplished without the loss of many lives, while the capture of the place, in the opinion of the captains, was feasible, and Xenophon fell in with their opinion, in reliance upon his sacrifices; for the seers had declared that while there would be fighting to do, the issue of the expedition would be fortunate.
Accordingly he sent the captains to bring over the hoplites, while he himself remained on the further side, having drawn back the entire body of peltasts and forbidding any one to shoot at long range.
Upon the arrival of the hoplites he ordered each of the captains to form his company in the way he thought it would fight most effectively; for near one another were the captains who had all the time been vieing with one another in valour.
This order they proceeded to carry out, and meanwhile Xenophon passed word to all the peltasts to advance with hand on the thong, so that they could discharge their javelins when the signal should be given, to the bowmen to have their arrows upon the string, ready to shoot upon the signal, and to the slingers to have their bags full of stones; and he despatched the proper persons to look after all these things.
most effective
(§
11 above).
then they struck up the paean and the trumpet sounded, and then, at the same moment, they raised the war cry to Enyalius, the hoplites charged forward on the run, and the missiles began to fly all together—spears, arrows, sling-stones, and very many stones thrown by hand, while some of the men employed firebrands also.
By reason of the quantity of the missiles the enemy abandoned both their ramparts and their towers, so that Agasias the Stymphalian, putting aside his arms and clad only in his tunic, climbed up, then pulled up another man, and meanwhile another had made the climb, so that the capture of the stronghold was accomplished, as it seemed.
After no long interval a shout arose within and men came pouring forth in flight, some carrying with them what they had seized, then soon a number of men that were wounded; and there was a deal of pushing about the gates. When those who were tumbling out were questioned, they said that there was a citadel within, that the enemy were numerous, and that they had sallied forth and were dealing blows upon the men inside.
Then Xenophon ordered Tolmides the herald to proclaim that whoever wanted to get any plunder should go in. At that many proceeded to rush into the gates, and the crowd that was pushing in overcame the crowd that was tumbling out and shut up the enemy again in their citadel.
So everything outside the citadel was seized and carried off by the Greeks, and the hoplites took up their position, some about the ramparts, others along the road leading up to the citadel.
Meanwhile Xenophon and the captains were looking to see whether it was possible to capture the citadel, for in that case their safety was secured, while otherwise they thought it would be very difficult to effect their withdrawal; but the upshot of their consideration was, that the place was quite impregnable.
But the moment they began to retire, there rushed out upon them from within a great crowd of men armed with wicker shields, spears, greaves, and Paphlagonian helmets, while others set about climbing to the tops of the houses that were on either side of the road leading up to the citadel.
The result was that even a pursuit in the direction of the gates that led into the citadel was unsafe; for they would hurl down great logs from above, so that it was difficult either to remain or to retire. And the approach of night was also a cause for fear.
The moment Xenophon grasped this lesson which chance had given him, he gave orders to set fire to the houses on the left also, which were of wood and so fell to burning very quickly. The result was that the people in these houses likewise took to flight.
It was only the enemy in their front who were now left to trouble the Greeks and manifestly intended to attack them as they passed out and down the hill. At this stage Xenophon sent out orders that all who chanced to be out of range of the missiles should set about bringing up logs and put them in the open space between their own forces and the enemy. As soon as enough logs had been collected, they set fire to them; and meanwhile they set fire also to the houses which were close along the palisade, so that the enemy’s attention might be occupied with these.
It was in this way that they effected, with difficulty, their withdrawal from the stronghold, by putting fire between themselves and the enemy. And the whole city was burned down, houses, towers, palisades, and everything else except the citadel.
a man of Mysia, who likewise bore the name of Mysus,Mysian
—just as English
might be the
family name of an Englishman.
So the enemy, catching glimpses of these proceedings, were fearful that it was an ambuscade; and meanwhile the Greek army was making its descent. When it seemed that they had got down far enough, a signal was given to the Mysian to flee at the top of his speed, and he and his companions arose and took to flight.
The Cretans of the party (finding, as they said, that they were like to be overtaken in the running) plunged out of the road into the woods, and by tumbling down through the ravines made their escape,
but the Mysian held to the road in his flight and kept shouting for help; and they did go to his aid, and picked him up wounded. Then the rescuers in their turn proceeded to retreat, faces to the front, while the enemy kept throwing missiles at them and some of the Cretans replied with their arrows. In this way they all reached the camp safe and sound.
then the rest took up the march, the road having been already
constructed.
There they remained ten days; and the troops were reviewed under arms
and numbered, and there proved to be eight thousand six hundred
men.
As for Xenophon, he caused a votive offering to be made out of
Apollo’s share of his portion and dedicated it in the treasury of
the Athenians at
The share which belonged to Artemis of the Ephesians he left behind,
at the time when he was returning from
As it chanced, there flowed through the plot a river named
Here Xenophon built an altar and a temple with the sacred money, and from that time forth he would every year take the tithe of the products of the land in their season and offer sacrifice to the goddess, all the citizens and the men and women of the neighbourhood taking part in the festival. And the goddess would provide for the banqueters barley meal and loaves of bread, wine and sweetmeats, and a portion of the sacrificial victims from the sacred herd as well as of the victims taken in the chase.
For Xenophon’s sons and the sons of the other citizens used to have a hunting expedition at the time of the festival, and any grown men who so wished would join them; and they captured their game partly from the sacred precinct itself and partly from Mount Pholoe—boars and gazelles and stags.
Immediately surrounding the temple is a grove of cultivated trees,
producing all sorts of dessert fruits in their season. The temple
itself is like the one at
Beside the temple stands a tablet with this inscription:The place is sacred to Artemis. He who holds it
and enjoys its fruits must offer the tithe every year in
sacrifice, and from the remainder must keep the temple in
repair. If any one leaves these things undone, the goddess will
look to it.
When they reached the boundary of the Mossynoecians,
for they trusted in their strongholds. Then Timesitheus told the Greeks that the Mossynoecians who dwelt farther on were hostile to these people, and it was decided to summon them and see whether they wanted to conclude an alliance; so Timesitheus was sent to them, and brought back with him their chiefs.
When they arrived, these chiefs of the Mossynoecians and the generals of the Greeks met together;
and Xenophon spoke as follows, Timesitheus acting as interpreter:
To these words the chief of the Mossynoecians replied that they desired this arrangement and accepted the alliance.
They replied:
Then the second group took their canoes and sailed back again, and
those who stayed behind marshalled themselves in the following way.
They took position in lines of about a hundred each, like choral
dancers ranged opposite one another, all of them with wicker shields
covered with white, shaggy ox-hide and like an ivy leaf in shape,
and each man holding in his right hand a lance about six cubits
long, with a spearhead at one end
They wore short tunics which did not reach their knees and were as thick as a linen bag for bedclothes, and upon their heads leathern helmets just such as the Paphlagonian helmets, with a tuft in the middle very like a tiara in shape; and they had also iron battle-axes.
After they had formed their lines one of them led off, and the rest after him, every man of them, fell into a rhythmic march and song, and passing through the battalions and through the quarters of the Greeks they went straight on against the enemy, toward a stronghold which seemed to be especially assailable.
It was situated in front of the city which is called by them Metropolis and contains the chief citadel of the Mossynoecians. In fact, it was for the possession of this citadel that the war was going on; for those who at any time held it were deemed to be masters of all the other Mossynoecians, and they said that the present occupants did not hold it by right, but that it was common property and they had seized it in order to gain a selfish advantage.
then they turned and fell back, and after cutting off the heads of the dead men displayed them to the Greeks and to their own enemies, at the same time dancing to a kind of strain which they sang.
And the Greeks were exceedingly angry, not only because the enemy had been made bolder, but because the Greeks who went to the attack with the barbarians had taken to flight, though in very considerable numbers—a thing which they had never done before in the course of the expedition.
For the enemy had some nimble troops who kept running down the hill and pelting the Greeks with stones, and these fellows were held back by the bowmen and peltasts. The rest of the Greek army, proceeding at a walk, advanced first against the stronghold from which the barbarians and those with them had been put to flight on the preceding day; for it was there that the enemy were now drawn up to oppose them.
The barbarians did, indeed, meet the attack of the peltasts and engaged them in battle, but when the hoplites got near them, they turned to flight. The peltasts at once made after them and pursued them up the hill to the city, while the hoplites followed along, still keeping their lines.
When they were at the top and near the houses of Metropolis, at that moment all the troops of the enemy massed together and did battle; they hurled their lances, and with other spears which they had, so thick and long that a man could only carry them with difficulty, tried to defend themselves in hand to hand fighting.
As the Greeks, however, refused to give way, but kept pushing on to
close quarters, the barbarians took to flight from that point also,
every man of them abandoning the fortress. Their king in his wooden
tower built upon the citadel, whom all the people jointly maintain
and guard in his abiding place there, refused to come forth, as did
also the commander of the stronghold
They also found slices of dolphin salted away in jars, and in other vessels dolphin blubber, which the Mossynoecians used in the same way as the Greeks use olive oil;
and on the upper floors of the houses there were large quantities of
flat nuts, without any divisions.
The greater part of these places were of the following description: The towns were eighty stadia distant from one another, some more, and some less; but the inhabitants could hear one another shouting from one town to the next, such heights and valleys there were in the country.
And when the Greeks, as they proceeded, were among the friendly Mossynoecians, they would exhibit to them fattened children of the wealthy inhabitants, who had been nourished on boiled nuts and were soft and white to an extraordinary degree, and pretty nearly equal in length and breadth, with their backs adorned with many colours and their fore parts all tattooed with flower patterns.
These Mossynoecians wanted also to have intercourse openly with the women who accompanied the Greeks, for that was their own fashion. And all of them were white, the men and the women alike.
They were set down by the Greeks who served through the expedition, as the most uncivilized people whose country they traversed, the furthest removed from Greek customs. For they habitually did in public the things that other people would do only in private, and when they were alone they would behave just as if they were in the company of others, talking to themselves, laughing at themselves, and dancing in whatever spot they chanced to be, as though they were giving an exhibition to others.
Next they reached the country of the Tibarenians, which was much more level and had fortresses upon the seacoast that were less strong. The generals were desirous of attacking these fortresses, so as to get a little something for the army, and accordingly they would not accept the gifts of hospitality which came from the Tibarenians, but, directing them to wait until they should take counsel, proceeded to offer sacrifices.
After many victims had been sacrificed all the seers finally declared
the opinion that the gods in no wise permitted war. So then the
generals accepted the gifts of hospitality, and proceeding as
through a friendly country for two days, they arrived at
There they remained forty-five days. During this time they first of all sacrificed to the gods, and all the several groups of the Greeks, nation by nation, instituted festal processions and athletic contests.
As for provisions, they got them partly from
After this the Cotyorites sent gifts of hospitality, and the generals of the Greeks entertained the ambassadors of the Sinopeans, and they had a great deal of friendly conversation with one another on general matters, while in particular they made such inquiries as each party wished in regard to the rest of the journey.
They accordingly invited the ambassadors in and proceeded to take counsel with them, asking them, as Greeks dealing with Greeks, to make a beginning of their kindly reception by showing friendliness and offering the best advice.
acred counsel
Counsel is a sacred thing,
i.e.
it must be given honestly.
After this Xenophon said:
And they sent Callimachus the Arcadian, Ariston the Athenian, and Samolas the Achaean. These men accordingly set out.
It would become a great city, he thought, as he reckoned up their own
numbers and the peoples who dwelt around the Euxine. And with a view
to this project, before speaking about it to any of the soldiers, he
offered sacrifices, summoning for that purpose
As for
He received this proposal gladly, and when the soldiers were gathered
in assembly addressed them as follows:
After that, when the Heracleots learned that it had been voted to sail away, and that Xenophon himself had put the question to vote, they did send the ships, but in the matter of the money they had promised to Timasion and Thorax they turned out to be deceivers.
Consequently the men who had promised the pay were panic-stricken,
and stood in fear of the army. They therefore took with them the
other generals to whom they had communicated their earlier
doings—namely, all the generals except Neon the Asinaean, who was
acting as lieutenant for Cheirisophus because Cheirisophus had not
yet returned—and came to Xenophon, with the message that they had
changed their minds and thought it was best to sail to the
Their king, as it chanced, was a grandson of Aeetes. Xenophon replied
that he would not say a word to the army about this plan;
Upon hearing these words the soldiers were exceedingly angry;
meetings were held, groups of them collected, and it was greatly to
be feared that they would do the sort of things they had done to the
heralds of the Colchians and the market clerks.
When Xenophon became aware of the situation, he decided to call an assembly of the men as speedily as possible and not to allow them to gather of their own accord; so he directed the herald to call an assembly.
And as soon as the soldiers heard the herald, they rushed together with the utmost readiness. Then Xenophon, without mentioning against the generals the matter of their visit to him, spoke as follows:
When the north wind doth blow, fair voyaging
to
In
this matter, again, is it possible that any one could deceive
you into embarking when the south wind is blowing?
Further, upon the recommendation of Xenophon, and by the advice of the soothsayers, it was resolved to purify the army. So the rites of purification were performed.
Xenophon bade the first man who spoke to state where it was that he
had struck him. He replied,
And Xenophon said,
When the man replied that it was none of these things, Xenophon asked him if he was a hoplite. He said no. Was he a peltast, then? No, not that either, he said, but he had been detailed by his messmates, although he was a free man, to drive a mule.
At that Xenophon recognized him, and asked:
When they failed to rise, he went on himself:
Then Corylas,
The generals replied that they would take counsel with the army on this matter, but meanwhile they received the ambassadors as their guests at dinner, inviting in also such of the other men in the army as seemed to them best entitled to an invitation.
By sacrificing some of the cattle they had captured and also other animals they provided an adequate feast, and they dined reclining upon couches and drank from cups made of horn which they found in the country.
And the Paphlagonians set up a cry. Then the first man despoiled the
other of his arms and marched out singing the Sitalcas,
After this some Aenianians and Magnesians arose and danced under arms
the so-called carpaea.
The manner of the dance was this: a man is sowing and driving a yoke of oxen, his arms laid at one side, and he turns about frequently as one in fear; a robber approaches; as soon as the sower sees him coming, he snatches up his arms, goes to meet him, and fights with him to save his oxen. The two men do all this in rhythm to the music of the flute. Finally, the robber binds the man and drives off the oxen; or sometimes the master of the oxen binds the robber, and then he yokes him alongside the oxen, his hands tied behind him, and drives off.
After this a Mysian came in carrying a light shield in each hand, and at one moment in his dance he would go through a pantomime as though two men were arrayed against him, again he would use his shields as though against one antagonist, and again he would whirl and throw somersaults while holding the shields in his hands, so that the spectacle was a fine one.
Lastly, he danced the Persian dance, clashing his shields together and crouching down and then rising up again; and all this he did, keeping time to the music of the flute.
After him the Mantineans and some of the other Arcadians arose, arrayed in the finest arms and accoutrements they could command, and marched in time to the accompaniment of a flute playing the martial rhythm and sang the paean and danced, just as the Arcadians do in their festal processions in honour of the gods. And the Paphlagonians, as they looked on, thought it most strange that all the dances were under arms.
Thereupon the Mysian, seeing how astounded they were, persuaded one of the Arcadians who had a dancing girl to let him bring her in, after dressing her up in the finest way he could and giving her a light shield.
And she danced the Pyrrhic
On the second day they reached Sinope, and came to anchor at Harmene,
in the territory of Sinope. The Sinopeans dwell, indeed, in
Here at Harmene the troops remained for five days.
They came to the conclusion, therefore, that if they should choose one commander, that one man would be able to handle the army better, whether by night or day, than a number of commanders—that if there should be need of concealment, he would be better able to keep matters secret, or again, if there should be need of getting ahead of an adversary, he would be less likely to be too late; for, thought the soldiers, there would be no need of conferences of generals with one another, but the plan resolved upon by the one man would be carried through, whereas in the past the generals had acted in all matters in accordance with a majority vote.
As for Xenophon, he was inclined on some accounts to accept the command, for he thought that if he did so the greater would be the honour he would enjoy among his friends and the greater his name when it should reach his city, while, furthermore, it might chance that he could be the means of accomplishing some good thing for the army.
Such considerations, then, roused in him an earnest desire to become sole commander. On the other hand, when he reflected that no man can see clearly how the future will turn out and that for this reason there was danger that he might even lose the reputation he had already won, he was doubtful.
Moreover, he recalled that when he was setting out from
So it was, then, that Xenophon made sacrifice, and the god signified to him quite clearly that he should neither strive for the command nor accept it in case he should be chosen. Such was the issue of this matter.
And they came to anchor alongside the Acherusian Chersonese, where Heracles is said to have descended to Hades after the dog Cerberus, at a spot where they now show the marks of his descent, reaching to a depth of more than two stadia.
Here the Heracleots sent to the Greeks, as gifts of hospitality, three thousand medimni of barley meal, two thousand jars of wine, twenty cattle, and a hundred sheep. And in this place there flows through the plain a river named the Lycus, about two plethra in width.
another man said, not less than ten thousand—
Thereupon they went to nominating ambassadors, first Cheirisophus, because he had been chosen commander, and some nominated Xenophon also. Both men, however, offered vigorous resistance; for both held the same view—that they ought not to coerce a friendly city of Greeks into giving what they did not offer of their own accord.
As these two seemed disinclined to act, they sent Lycon the Achaean, Callimachus the Parrhasian, and Agasias the Stymphalian. These men went and put before the Heracleots the resolutions adopted by the army; and Lycon, so the report ran, even added threats, in case they should refuse compliance.
After hearing the ambassadors, the Heracleots said that they would consider the matter; and immediately they set about gathering their property from the country and moved the market within the walls; meanwhile the gates had been closed and arms were to be seen upon the walls.
Their words were to this effect, that it was shameful that Peloponnesians should be under the command of an Athenian and a Lacedaemonian who contributed no troops to the army, and that the hardships should fall to themselves and the gains to others, all despite the fact that the preservation of the army was their achievement; for it was, they said, the Arcadians and Achaeans who had achieved this result, and the rest of the army amounted to nothing (in truth more than half the army did consist of Arcadians and Achaeans);
if they were wise, therefore, they would band together by themselves, choose generals from their own number, make the journey by themselves, and try to get a little good out of it.
This course was resolved upon, and whatever Arcadians or Achaeans there were with Cheirisophus and Xenophon left these commanders and joined forces, and they chose ten generals from their own number, decreeing that these ten were to do whatever might be decided upon by vote of the majority. So it was that the supreme command of Cheirisophus came to an end then and there, on the sixth or seventh day from the day of his election.
it was Neon’s purpose, then, that no one else should get a share in this opportunity, but that he himself and Cheirisophus and their soldiers should sail away upon the triremes, and this was the reason for his advice to Xenophon. As for Cheirisophus, he was so despondent over what had happened and, besides, felt such hatred toward the army for its action, that he allowed Neon to do whatever he chose.
For a time, indeed, Xenophon did try to get clear of the army and sail away home; but when he sacrificed to Heracles the Leader, consulting him as to whether it was better and more proper for him to continue the journey with such of the soldiers as had remained with him, or to be rid of them, the god indicated to him by the sacrifices that he should stay with them.
Thus the army was split into three parts: first, the Arcadians and Achaeans, more than four thousand in number, all hoplites; secondly, Cheirisophus’ troops, to the number of fourteen hundred hoplites and seven hundred peltasts, the latter being Clearchus’ Thracians; and thirdly, Xenophon’s force, numbering seventeen hundred hoplites and three hundred peltasts; Xenophon alone, however, had horsemen, to the number of about forty.
But Cheirisophus went by land from the very beginning of his journey
from the city of the Heracleots, travelling across country; when,
however, he had entered
Xenophon, finally, took ships, disembarked at the boundaries
separating
When daylight came, each general led his own company against a village, except that where a village seemed unusually large, the generals combined two companies for the attack upon it.
They also fixed upon a hill as the place where all the troops were afterwards to gather; and since their onset was unexpected, they took many captives and were in a fair way to secure a large number of sheep.
The Thracians who escaped them, however, began to gather—and many had escaped, inasmuch as they were light troops as against hoplites, from the very hands of the Arcadians. When they had come together in a body, they first attacked the company under Smicres, one of the Arcadian generals, as it was already withdrawing to the appointed place with a great quantity of booty.
For a while the Greeks fought as they marched, but at the crossing of a gorge the Thracians put them to rout, and they killed not only Smicres himself, but the rest of the company to a man; in another of the companies belonging to the ten generals, the one commanded by Hegesander, they left only eight men alive, Hegesander himself being one of them.
and they made attacks upon the hoplites without danger to themselves, inasmuch as the Greeks had neither bowman nor javelin-thrower nor horseman; so they would come running or riding up and throw their javelins, and when the Greeks charged upon them, they would easily get away;
and different parties kept attacking at different points. Hence on the one side many were being wounded, on the other side not a man; the result was, that the Greeks were not able to stir from the spot, and at last the Thracians were even cutting them off from their water supply.
When their embarrassment became serious, they opened negotiations for a truce; and on every other point an agreement had been reached, but the Thracians refused to give the hostages which the Greeks demanded, and in this particular there was a hitch. Such, then, was the situation of the Arcadians.
And they told him all that had happened, adding that at present the Greeks were being besieged upon a hill, with the Thracians in full force completely surrounding them. Then Xenophon kept these men under strict guard, in order that they might serve as guides wherever he might need to go; and after stationing watchers he called the troops together and spoke as follows:
So the horsemen, scattering as widely as was proper, went to burning, the peltasts, making their way along the heights abreast of the main army, burned all they saw which was combustible, and the main army likewise burned anything they found that had been passed over; the result was, that the whole country seemed to be ablaze and the army seemed to be a large one.
When the time had come, they ascended a hill and encamped; from there they could see the campfires of the enemy, distant about forty stadia, and they kindled as many fires themselves as they could.
Immediately after they had dined, however, the order was given to extinguish every one of the fires. Then, after stationing guards, they slept the night through; and at daybreak they offered prayer to the gods, formed their lines for battle, and set forth at the fastest possible pace.
And Timasion and the horsemen, riding on ahead with the guides, found themselves without knowing it upon the hill where the Greeks had been besieged. They could see no army, however, either friendly or hostile (and this fact they reported back to Xenophon and the main body), but only some wretched old men and women and a few sheep and cattle that had been left behind.
At first they could only wonder what the thing was that had happened, but afterwards they managed to find out from the people who had been left behind that the Thracians had disappeared immediately after nightfall, and the Greeks also, they said, had gone; but whither, they did not know.
And the Arcadians inquired of Xenophon’s troops why they had put out
their fires;
It is a long day’s journey for a trireme to row from
As for Calpe Harbour, it lies midway of the voyage between Heracleia
and
At the very foot of the rock there is a harbour whose beach faces toward the west, and an abundantly flowing spring of fresh water close to the shore of the sea and commanded by the headland. There is also a great deal of timber of various sorts, but an especially large amount of fine ship-timber, on the very shore of the sea.
The ridge extends back into the interior for about twenty stadia, and this stretch is deep-soiled and free from stones, while the land bordering the coast is thickly covered for a distance of more than twenty stadia with an abundance of heavy timber of all sorts.
The rest of the region is fair and extensive, and contains many inhabited villages; for the land produces barley, wheat, beans of all kinds, millet and sesame, a sufficient quantity of figs, an abundance of grapes which yield a good sweet wine, and in fact everything except olives.
For most of the soldiers had sailed away from
After doing all this they returned to their camp, and then took dinner and went to bed. On the following day all the soldiers held a meeting, the chief movers in the matter being Agasias the Stymphalian, a captain, Hieronymus the Elean, also a captain, and some others from among the eldest of the Arcadians.
They passed a resolution that if any man from this time forth should
suggest dividing the army, he should be punished with death, and
further, that the army should return to the same organization which
formerly obtained, and that the former generals should resume
command. Now by this time Cheirisophus had died, from the effects of
a medicine which he took for a fever;
Thereupon the generals proceeded to sacrifice, the soothsayer who was
present being Arexion the Arcadian; for Silanus the Ambraciot had by
this time stolen away,
and they accordingly ceased their offerings for that day. Now some people had the effrontery to say that Xenophon, in his desire to found a city at this spot, had induced the soothsayer to declare that the sacrifices were not favourable for departure.
Consequently he made public proclamation that on the morrow any one who so chose might be present at the sacrifice, and if a man were a soothsayer, he sent him word to be at hand to participate in the inspection of the victims; so he made the offering in the immediate presence of many witnesses.
But though he sacrificed a second and a third time with a view to departure, the victims would not prove favourable. At that the soldiers were angry, for the provisions they brought with them had given out and there was not yet any market at hand.
At that news all deemed it best to stay, but it was still necessary to go out after provisions. With this object in view Xenophon again sacrificed, going as far as three offerings, and the victims continued unfavourable. By this time people were even coming to Xenophon’s tent and declaring that they had no provisions, but he said that he would not lead forth unless the sacrifices turned out favourable.
and Xenophon said:
Upon hearing this, however, the soldiers cried out that it was not at
all necessary to enter the place, but, rather, to offer sacrifice
with all speed. Now they no longer had any sheep, but they bought a
bullock that was yoked to a wagon and proceeded to sacrifice; and
Xenophon requested Cleanor
But when they had reached the villages and were scattering here and
there for the purpose of securing plunder, they were attacked first
of all by the horsemen of Pharnabazus;
After this one of the men who escaped brought back word to the camp of what had happened. And Xenophon, inasmuch as the sacrifices had not proved favourable on that day, took a bullock that was yoked to a wagon,—for there were no other sacrificial animals,—offered it up, and set out to the rescue, as did all the rest who were under thirty years of age, to the last man.
And they picked up the survivors and returned to the camp. By this time it was about sunset, and the Greeks were making preparations for dinner in a state of great despondency when suddenly through the thickets some of the Bithynians burst upon the outposts, killing some of them and pursuing the rest up to the camp.
An outcry was raised, and all the Greeks ran to their arms; still, it did not seem safe to undertake a pursuit or to move the camp during the night, seeing that the region was thickly overgrown; so they spent the night under arms, keeping plenty of sentinels on watch.
So they crossed the trench and grounded arms; then they made proclamation that after taking breakfast the troops were to march out under arms, while the camp-followers and captives were to be left behind where they were.
All the rest, then, proceeded to set forth, save only Neon; for it
seemed best to leave him behind to keep guard over what was in the
camp. But when his captains and soldiers began to abandon him, being
ashamed not to follow along when the others were setting out, the
generals left behind at the camp everybody who was over forty-five
years of age.
Before they had gone fifteen stadia they began to meet with dead bodies; and marching on until they had brought the rear of their column to a point opposite the first bodies which appeared, they proceeded to bury all that the column covered.
As soon as they had buried this first group, they marched forward and again brought the rear of the column into line with the first of the bodies which lay farther on, and then in the same way they buried all that the army covered. When, however, they had reached the road leading out of the villages, where the dead lay thick, they gathered them all together for burial.
As soon as the enemy sighted the Greeks, they came to a halt, at a distance from the Greeks of about fifteen stadia. Hereupon Arexion, the soothsayer of the Greeks, immediately offered sacrifice, and at the first victim the omens proved favourable. Then Xenophon said:
So while the others led on quietly, he detached the three hindmost battalions, consisting of two hundred men each, and turned the first one to the right with orders to follow after the phalanx at a distance of about a plethrum; this battalion was commanded by Samolas the Achaean; the second battalion he posted at the centre, to follow on in the same way; this one was under the command of Pyrrhias the Arcadian; and the last one he stationed upon the left, Phrasias the Athenian being in command of it.
Then Xenophon, wondering what it was that was holding up the march and speedily hearing the summons, rode forward in all haste. As soon as the officers had come together, Sophaenetus, who was the eldest of the generals, said that it was not a question worth considering whether they ought to cross such a ravine as that.
When they had crossed, he went along the lines and said:
Zeus Saviour, Heracles
Leader.
Meanwhile the enemy were standing their ground,
thinking that the position they held was a good one.
When the Greeks were drawing near, the peltasts raised the battle-cry and proceeded to charge upon the enemy without waiting for any order; and the enemy rushed forward to meet them, both the horsemen and the mass of the Bithynians, and they put the peltasts to rout.
But when the phalanx of the hoplites kept moving on to meet them, marching rapidly, and at the same time the trumpet sounded, and they struck up the paean and after that raised the battle-cry, and at the same moment couched their spears, then the enemy no longer awaited the attack, but took to flight.
Timasion and the cavalry pursued, and killed as many as they could, considering their own small numbers. Now the left wing of the enemy, opposite which the Greek cavalry were stationed, was dispersed at once, but the right, since it was not vigorously pursued, got together upon a hill.
As soon as the Greeks saw that they were standing their ground there, they deemed it the easiest and safest course to charge upon them immediately. They accordingly struck up the paean and moved upon them at once; and they stood no longer. Thereupon the peltasts pursued until the right wing was dispersed; but few of the enemy, however, were killed, for his cavalry, numerous as they were, inspired fear.
But when the Greeks saw the cavalry of Pharnabazus standing with ranks still unbroken, and the Bithynian horsemen gathering together to join this force and looking down from a hill at what was going on, although they were tired they nevertheless thought that they must make as stout an attack as they could upon these troops also, so that they should not be able to regain courage and get rested. Accordingly, they formed their lines and set forth.
Thereupon the enemy’s horsemen fled down the slope just as if they
were being pursued by horsemen;
So after returning to the spot where the first encounter took place and erecting a trophy, they set out on their way back to the sea at about sunset; and the distance to the camp was about sixty stadia.
Whenever the army remained in camp and rested, individuals were permitted to go out after plunder, and in that case kept what they got; but whenever the entire army set out, if an individual went off by himself and got anything, it was decreed to be public property.
And by this time there was an abundance of everything, for market products came in from the Greek cities on all sides, and people coasting past were glad to put in, since they heard that a city was being founded and that there was a harbour.
Even the hostile peoples who dwelt near by began now to send envoys to Xenophon—for they heard that he was the man who was making a city of the place—to ask what they must do in order to be his friends; and Xenophon would always show these envoys to the soldiers.
So he immediately proceeded to drive away the soldiers who were standing about and declaring that the animals were public property, and then he went and told Cleander that they were attempting robbery. Cleander directed him to bring the robber before him.
So he seized a man and tried to take him to Cleander, but Agasias,
happening to meet them, rescued the man, for he was one of his
company. Then the other soldiers who were at hand set to work to
stone Dexippus, calling him The traitor.
And
many of the sailors from the triremes got frightened and began to
flee toward the sea, and Cleander also fled.
Xenophon, however, and the other generals tried to hold them back, and told Cleander that nothing was the matter, but that the resolution of the army was the reason for this incident taking place.
But Cleander, goaded on by Dexippus and angered on his own account
also because he had been frightened, declared that he would sail
away and issue a proclamation forbidding any city to receive them,
on the ground that they were enemies. And at this time the
Lacedaemonians
Upon this the affair seemed to the Greeks a bad business, and they begged Cleander not to carry out his intention. He replied that no other course would be taken unless they should deliver up the man who began the stoning and the one who rescued Dexippus’ prisoner.
Now Agasias, whom he thus demanded, had been a friend of Xenophon’s
all through—which was the very reason why Dexippus was slandering
him.
And the generals said:
After this Agasias came forward and said:
Then the one who had been rescued said:
Thereupon the troops resolved to send the generals and captains, Dracontius the Spartan, and such others as seemed fitted for the mission, and to request Cleander by all means to release the two men.
So Xenophon came before him and said:
Upon hearing these words Cleander replied:
When, however, although he continued his sacrifices over three days,
the victims would not prove favourable, he called a meeting of the
generals and said:
But when in following the direct road they failed to find any booty, to enable them to reach friendly territory with a little something in hand, they resolved to turn about and take the opposite direction for one day and night. By so doing they secured slaves and sheep in abundance; and on the sixth day they arrived at Chrysopolis, in Calchedonia, where they remained for seven days, selling their spoils.
Anaxibius accordingly summoned the generals and captains to
The rest of the officers replied that they would consider the matter and report back to him, but Xenophon told him that he intended to part company with the army at once, and wanted to sail home. Anaxibius, however, bade him cross over with the others, and leave them only after that. Xenophon said, therefore, that he would do so.
Xenophon replied:
Xenophon meanwhile, since he had become a friend of Cleander, the
governor, called to take leave of him, saying that he was to sail
home at once. And Cleander said to him:
Xenophon replied:
His orders were, that Xenophon was to follow the course proposed and that the troops were to pack up and leave the city with all speed; and he further declared that any one who was not present for the review and the enumeration would have himself to blame for the consequences.
Then Anaxibius called together the generals and captains and said:
And some of the soldiers, overhearing these words, or perhaps one of
the captains, proceeded to spread the report of them through the
army. Meanwhile the generals were inquiring about Seuthes, whether
he was hostile or friendly, and whether they were to march by way of
the Sacred Mountain
While they were talking over these matters, the soldiers caught up their arms and rushed at full speed toward the gates, intending to get back inside the city wall. But when Eteonicus and his men saw the hoplites running towards them, they shut the gates and thrust in the bar.
The soldiers, however, set to hammering at the gates, and said that they were most unjustly treated in being cast out and left at the mercy of the enemy; and they declared that they would break through the gates if the keepers did not open them of their own accord.
Meanwhile others ran down to the shore, made their way along the break-water, and thus scaled the wall and got into the city, while still others, who chanced to be within the walls, seeing what was going on at the gates, cut through the bar with their axes and threw the gates open, whereupon the rest rushed in.
As for the Byzantines, no sooner did they see the army bursting in by force than they fled from the market-place, some to their boats and others to their homes, while all who chanced to be indoors ran out, and some took to launching the ships-of-war in order to seek safety in them—all alike imagining that they were lost and the city captured.
Eteonicus made his escape to the citadel. Anaxibius ran down to the shore, sailed round in a fishing boat to the citadel, and immediately summoned the garrison from Calchedon; for the force in the citadel did not seem adequate to bring the Greek troops under control.
He replied, desiring to quiet them down:
The men acted as their own marshals, and within a short time the hoplites had fallen into line eight deep and the peltasts had got into position on either wing.
The place where they were, indeed, is a most excellent one for drawing out a line of troops, being the so-called Thracian Square, which is free of houses and level. As soon as their arms were grounded and they had quieted down, Xenophon called the troops together and spoke as follows:
When the soldiers heard this proposal and the word that came back at the same time from Anaxibius—his reply was, that if they were obedient they would not be sorry for it, but that he would report the matter to his government at home and would himself devise whatever good counsel he could in their case—
they thereupon accepted Coeratadas as general and withdrew outside the walls. And Coeratadas made an agreement with them that he would join the army on the next day with sacrificial victims and a soothsayer, as well as food and drink for the troops.
Meanwhile, as soon as they had gone forth from the city, Anaxibius closed the gates and made proclamation that any soldier who might be caught inside the city would be sold as a slave.
On the next day Coeratadas arrived with his sacrificial victims and his soothsayer, and there followed him twenty men loaded with barley-meal, another twenty with wine, three with olives, another man with as big a load of garlic as he could carry, and another with onions. After setting down all these things, as though for distribution, he proceeded to sacrifice.
When Cleander returned, he said that it was only with very great
difficulty that he had accomplished the arrangement; for Anaxibius
said it was not well to have the soldiers close by the wall and
Xenophon within it; the Byzantines, moreover, were in a factious
state and hostile to one another.
Xenophon accordingly took his leave of the soldiers and went back within the wall in company with Cleander. As for Coeratadas, on the first day he could not get good omens from his sacrifices nor did he serve out any rations at all to the troops; on the following day the victims were standing beside the altar and Coeratadas had on his chaplet, ready for the sacrifice, when Timasion the Dardanian, Neon the Asinaean, and Cleanor the Orchomenian came up and told him not to make the offering, for he was not to be leader of the army unless he should give them provisions.
So he ordered rations to be served out. When it proved, however, that his supply fell far short of amounting to a day’s food for each of the soldiers, he took his victims and went away, renouncing his generalship.
Now the generals were at variance in their views: Cleanor and
Phryniscus wanted to lead the army to Seuthes, for he had been
trying to persuade them to this course and had given one of them a
horse and the other a woman; Neon wanted to go to the
As time wore on, however, many of the soldiers either sold their arms up and down the country and set sail for home in any way they could, or else mingled with the people of the neighbouring Greek cities.
And Anaxibius was glad to hear the news that the army was breaking up; for the thought that if this process went on, Pharnabazus would be very greatly pleased.
Anaxibius, then, charged Aristarchus to sell as slaves all the
soldiers of
When Anaxibius had coasted along to Parium, he sent to Pharnabazus,
according to the terms of their agreement.
and the soldiers received him with pleasure, and were glad to follow
his lead at once, with the idea of crossing over from
As for the Greeks, when they reached Perinthus, Neon with about eight hundred men parted company with the others and took up a separate camp; but all the rest of the army were together in the same place, beside the wall of the Perinthians.
Xenophon replied,
When they were already near the wall, some one brought word to Xenophon that if he went in he would be seized, and would either meet some ill fate then and there or else be delivered over to Pharnabazus. Upon hearing this he sent the rest on ahead, telling them that he was desirous himself of offering a certain sacrifice.
Then he went back and sacrificed to learn whether the gods permitted
of his endeavouring to take the army to Seuthes. For he saw that it
was not safe for them to try to cross over to
Since, therefore, the sacrifices appeared to be favourable, portending that he and the army might go to Seuthes in safety, Xenophon took Polycrates, the Athenian captain, and from each of the generals except Neon a man in whom each had confidence, and set off by night to visit Seuthes’ army, sixty stadia away.
When they had got near it, he came upon watch-fires with no one about them. And at first he supposed that Seuthes had shifted his camp to some other place; but when he became aware of a general uproar and heard Seuthes’ followers signalling to one another, he comprehended that the reason Seuthes had his watch-fires kindled in front of the pickets was in order that the pickets might remain unseen, in the darkness as they were, so that no one could tell either how many they were or where they were, while on the other hand people who were approaching could not escape notice, but would be visible in the light of the fires.
And when Xenophon made reply that he was the man, they leaped up and hastened off; and a little afterwards about two hundred peltasts appeared, took Xenophon and his party, and proceeded to conduct them to Seuthes.
He was in a tower and well guarded, and all around the tower were horses ready bridled; for out of fear he gave his horses their fodder by day, and by night kept them ready bridled to guard himself with.
For there was a story that in time gone by Teres, an ancestor of Seuthes, being in this region with a large army, lost many of his troops and was robbed of his baggage train at the hands of the people of this neighbourhood; they were the Thynians, and were said to be the most warlike of all men, especially by night.
After that Xenophon began the speaking:
After saying this, he asked Medosades whether this statement of the
matter was a true one. He replied that it was.
Hereupon he again asked Medosades whether this was what he said, and
he again agreed that it was.
Then Seuthes spoke as follows:
And Seuthes promised to give to each soldier a Cyzicene,
And he replied:
When day came, Aristarchus again summoned the generals; but they resolved to disregard the summons of Aristarchus and instead to call a meeting of the army. And all the troops gathered except Neon’s men, who were encamped about ten stadia away.
When they had gathered, Xenophon arose and spoke as follows:
When he had come up, Xenophon said:
And Seuthes replied:
Xenophon asked,
After that Xenophon said:
When they had reached his doors and were about to go in to dinner,
there stood a certain Heracleides, of
Next he came up to Timasion the Dardanian,—for he heard that he had
some Persian drinking cups and carpets,—and said that it was
customary when Seuthes invited people to dinner, for those who were
thus invited to give him presents.
He came up to Xenophon also, and said to him:
In general the tables were placed opposite the strangers in each case; for the Thracians had a custom which Seuthes now took the lead in practising,—he would pick up the loaves which lay beside him, break them into small pieces, and throw the pieces to whomever he pleased, following the same fashion with the meat also, and leaving himself only enough for a mere taste.
Then the others also who had tables placed opposite them, set about doing the same thing. But a certain Arcadian named Arystas, a terrible eater, would have none of this throwing about, but took in his hand a loaf as big as a three-quart measure, put some pieces of meat upon his knees, and proceeded to dine.
They carried round horns of wine, and all took them; but Arystas,
when the cupbearer came and brought him his horn, said to the man,
after observing that Xenophon had finished his dinner,
When Seuthes heard the sound of his voice, he asked the cupbearer what he was saying. And the cupbearer, who understood Greek, told him. So then there was an outburst of laughter.
Another brought in a boy and presented him in the same way, with a
health to Seuthes, while another presented clothes for his wife.
Timasion also drank his health and presented to him a silver bowl
and a carpet worth ten minas.
Then one Gnesippus, an Athenian, arose and said that it was an
ancient and most excellent custom that those who had possessions
should give to the king for honour’s sake, and that to those who had
nought the king should give,
As for Xenophon, he was at a loss to know what he should do; for he chanced, as one held in honour, to be seated on the stool nearest to Seuthes. And Heracleides directed the cupbearer to proffer him the horn. Then Xenophon, who already as it happened had been drinking a little, arose courageously after taking the horn and said:
Up rose Seuthes, drained the horn with Xenophon, and joined him in
sprinkling the last drops.
And Seuthes himself got up, raised a war-cry, and sprang aside very nimbly, as though avoiding a missile. There entered also a company of buffoons.
As the Greeks were setting forth, Seuthes arose with them, not in the
least like a drunken man. And after coming out he called the
generals aside by themselves and said:
The generals agreed in approving this plan, and bade him lead on. And
he said:
And Xenophon said:
Then Seuthes replied: the slowest arm,
are
to lead the way.Athena
as the watchword, on
account of their kinship.
When day came, Seuthes rode along to the front and expressed his
approval of the Greek practice. For many times, he said, while
marching by night with even a small force he himself, along with his
cavalry, had got separated from his infantry;
When he had reached a place where there was deep snow, he looked about to see whether there were human footprints, either leading onward or back. As soon as he saw that the road was untrodden, he quickly returned and said:
Upon hearing these words Xenophon dismounted from his horse. And
Seuthes asked:
After this Seuthes went off, and with him Timasion at the head of about forty horsemen of the Greeks. Then Xenophon gave orders that the active men up to thirty years of age should move up from their several companies to the front. So he himself ran along with them, while Cleanor led the rest.
When they had reached the villages, Seuthes with about thirty
horsemen rode up to him and said:
Then he dispatched Heracleides to Perinthus to sell the booty, so that he might get money to pay the soldiers with; while he himself and the Greeks encamped on the plain of the Thynians, the inhabitants abandoning their homes and fleeing to the mountains.
There was deep snow on the plain, and it was so cold that the water which they carried in for dinner and the wine in the jars would freeze, and many of the Greeks had their noses and ears frost-bitten.
Then it became clear why the Thracians wear fox-skin caps on their heads and over their ears, and tunics not merely about their chests, but also round their thighs, and why, when on horseback, they wear long cloaks reaching to their feet instead of mantles.
And now Seuthes allowed some of his captives to go off to the mountains with word that if the Thynians did not come down to the plain to live and did not yield him obedience, he would burn up their villages also and their corn, and they would perish with hunger. Thereupon the women, children, and older men did come down, but the younger men bivouacked in the villages under the mountain.
And Seuthes, upon learning of this, ordered Xenophon to take the youngest of the hoplites and follow him. So they arose during the night, and at daybreak reached the villages. Now most of the villagers made their escape, for the mountain was close at hand; but all that he did capture, Seuthes shot down unsparingly.
So Xenophon went to Seuthes and begged him not to kill the boy, telling him of Episthenes’ turn of mind, how he had once assembled a battalion with an eye to nothing else save the question whether a man was handsome, and that with this battalion he proved himself a brave man.
And Seuthes asked:
Seuthes asked the boy whether he should strike Episthenes in his
stead. The boy forbade it, and besought him not to slay either.
Thereupon Episthenes threw his arms around the boy and said:
And Seuthes laughed and let the matter go. He resolved, however, to
establish a camp where they were, in order that the people on the
mountain should not be supplied with food from these villages,
either.mountain
Thracians.
Meanwhile some of the people on the mountain came down and actually requested Xenophon himself to help them obtain the truce. He agreed to do so, told them to have no fear, and gave them his word that they would suffer no harm if they were obedient to Seuthes. But they, as it proved, were talking about this matter merely in order to spy out the situation.
When they had reached the doors of a particular house, some would throw in javelins, others would lay on with their clubs, which they carried, so it was said, to knock off the heads of hostile spears, and still others would be setting the house on fire, meanwhile calling Xenophon by name and bidding him come out and be killed, or else, they said, he would be burned up then and there.
And now fire was already showing through the roof, and Xenophon and
his men inside the house had equipped themselves with breastplates
and were furnished with shields and swords and helmets, when
Then the Thracians took to flight, swinging their shields around behind them, as was their custom; and some of them who tried to jump over the palings were captured hanging in the air, with their shields caught in the stakes, while others missed the ways that led out and were killed; and the Greeks continued the pursuit till they were outside the village.
Some of the Thynians, however, turned about in the darkness and hurled javelins at men who were running along past a burning house, throwing out of the darkness toward the light; and they wounded Hieronymus the Epitalian, a captain, and Theogenes the Locrian, also a captain; no one, however, was killed, but some men had clothes and baggage burned up.
Meanwhile, Seuthes came to their aid with seven horsemen of his front line and his Thracian trumpeter. And from the instant he learned of the trouble, through all the time that he was hurrying to the rescue, every moment his horn was kept sounding; the result was, that this also helped to inspire fear in the enemy. When he did arrive, he clasped their hands and said that he had supposed he should find many of them slain.
On the next day, accordingly, Seuthes gave over the hostages—men already elderly and the most powerful, so it was said, of the mountaineers—and came himself with his troops. Now by this time Seuthes had a force quite three times as large as before; for many of the Odrysians, hearing what success Seuthes was enjoying, came down from the upper country to take service with him.
And when the Thynians saw from their mountain masses of hoplites, masses of peltasts, and troops of horsemen, they descended and besought him to grant them a truce, agreeing to do anything and everything and urging him to receive pledges.
Thereupon Seuthes summoned Xenophon, disclosed to him the proposals they were making, and said that he should not grant them a truce if Xenophon wanted to punish them for their attack.
And Xenophon said:
There Heracleides presented himself, with the proceeds from the sale of the booty. And Seuthes, leading forth three pairs of mules—for there were no more than three—and the yokes of oxen besides, called Xenophon and bade him take for himself and then distribute the rest among the generals and captains.
Xenophon replied:
So one of the mule teams was given to Timasion the Dardanian, one to Cleanor the Orchomenian, and one to Phryniscus the Achaean, while the yokes of oxen were distributed among the captains. Seuthes also paid over the wages of the troops, but for twenty days only of the month that had now passed; for Heracleides said that he had not obtained any more than that from his sale.
Xenophon was angered at this, and said to him with an oath:
As for the soldiers, they held Xenophon to blame for their not having received their pay; and Seuthes, on the other hand, was angry with him because he was insistent in demanding their pay for the soldiers.
Hitherto, he had continually been mentioning the fact that upon his
return to the coast he was going to give Xenophon Bisanthe and Ganos
and
And Timasion said:
Thereupon Seuthes fell to abusing Heracleides because he had not invited Xenophon in also. The upshot of this was, that they invited Xenophon by himself. And he, comprehending the rascality of Heracleides, in wanting to make him an object of suspicion to the other generals, brought with him when he came all the generals and the captains.
When all of them had been prevailed upon, they continued the march
with Seuthes, and, keeping the
And the Thracians who dwell on this coast have boundary stones set up and each group of them plunder the ships that are wrecked within their own limits; but in earlier days, before they fixed the boundaries, it was said that in the course of their plundering many of them used to be killed by one another.
Here there were found great numbers of beds and boxes, quantities of written books, and an abundance of all the other articles that shipowners carry in wooden chests. After subduing the country in this neighbourhood they set out upon their return.
By that time Seuthes had an army larger than the Greek army; for more
and still more of the Odrysians had come down from the interior, and
the peoples that from time to time were reduced to obedience would
join in the campaign. And they went into camp on the plain above
As for pay, there was none to be seen as yet; and not only did the soldiers entertain very hard feelings toward Xenophon, but Seuthes no longer felt kindly toward him, and whenever Xenophon came and wanted to have a meeting with him, it would straightway be found that he had engagements in abundance.
Upon hearing these words Seuthes directed him to introduce the envoys; and when they told him that they had come after the army, he replied that he would deliver it up and that he desired to be their friend and ally; he also invited them to dinner, and entertained them magnificently. Xenophon, however, he did not invite, nor any one of the other generals.
When the Lacedaemonians asked what sort of a man Xenophon was, he
replied that he was not a bad fellow on the whole, but he was a
friend of the soldiers, and on that account things went the worse
for him. And they said:
The soldiers were delighted to hear these words, and straightway one of the Arcadians got up to accuse Xenophon. Now Seuthes also was present, for he wanted to know what would be done, and was standing within hearing distance along with an interpreter,
although he could really understand for himself most of what was said
in Greek. Thereupon this Arcadian said:
father,
and you promised to keep me for ever in memory as a benefactor!
Not by any means, however, are these men, who have now come
after you, wanting in judgment; therefore, I imagine, they also
think none the better of you for behaving in this manner towards
me.
too great a friend of the soldiers,
and on
that account, he added, things went the worse for him, both so
far as we the Lacedaemonians were concerned and on his own
account.
After him Eurylochus of
And Polycrates the Athenian said, at the instigation of Xenophon:
And after that Seuthes sent Abrozelmes, his interpreter, to Xenophon and urged him to stay behind with him with a force of a thousand hoplites, promising that he would deliver over to him not only the fortresses upon the coast, but also the other things which he had promised. He likewise said, making a great secret of it, that he had heard from Polynicus that if Xenophon should fall into the hands of the Lacedaemonians, he would certainly be put to death by Thibron.
Many other people also sent Xenophon this message, saying that he had been traduced and would better be on his guard. And he, hearing these reports, took two victims and proceeded to offer sacrifice to Zeus the King, to learn whether it was better and more profitable for him to remain with Seuthes on the conditions that Seuthes proposed, or to depart with the army. The god directed him to depart.
When, therefore, Medosades saw that the supplies in the villages were
being used up by the Greeks, he was angry; and taking with him an
Odrysian who was exceedingly powerful, from among those who had come
down from the interior,
Then Medosades said:
With these words he mounted his horse and rode away, and with him went the horsemen also, except four or five. But Medosades, still distressed by the plundering of the country, urged Xenophon to summon the two Lacedaemonians.
And Xenophon, taking with him the best men he had, went to Charminus and Polynicus and said that Medosades was summoning them in order to give them the same warning as he had already given him,—to depart from the country.
And Medosades replied, very submissively:
Then Xenophon said:
Medosades said
Ten Thousand
in
Thereupon Xenophon said again:
And Seuthes replied:
And Xenophon answered:
And Xenophon replied:
Thereupon Seuthes said:
Xenophon laughed and said:
As soon as Xenophon saw Charminus and Polynicus, he said to them:
As for Xenophon, he would not go near them, but it was plain that he
was making preparations for his homeward journey; for not yet had
sentence of exile been pronounced against him at
He replied, swearing to the truth of his statement, that he would not have even enough money to pay his travelling expenses on the way home unless he should sell his horse and what he had about his person. And Eucleides would not believe him.
But when the Lampsacenes sent gifts of hospitality to Xenophon and he
was sacrificing to Apollo, he gave Eucleides a place beside him; and
when Eucleides saw the vitals of the victims, he said that he well
believed that Xenophon had no money.
Then Eucleides said, the
Merciful.
cp.
And the next day, upon coming to Ophrynium, Xenophon proceeded to sacrifice, offering whole victims of swine after the custom of his fathers, and he obtained favourable omens.
In fact, on that very day Bion and Nausicleides
Making their way from there through because
he espoused the Persian cause, being the only man among the
Eretrians who did so, and was therefore banished.
cp.
She told him that there was a Persian in the plain named Asidates, and said that if he should go by night with three hundred troops, he could capture this man, along with his wife and children and property, of which he had a great deal. And she sent as guides for this enterprise not only her own cousin, but also Daphnagoras, whom she regarded very highly.
Xenophon, accordingly, proceeded to sacrifice, keeping these two by his side. And Basias, the Elean seer who was present, said that the omens were extremely favourable for him and that the man was easy to capture.
So after dinner he set forth, taking with him the captains who were his closest friends and others who had proved themselves trustworthy throughout, in order that he might do them a good turn. But there joined him still others who forced themselves in, to the number of six hundred; and the captains tried to drive them away, so that they might not have to give them a share in the booty—just as though the property was already in hand.
And when they found themselves unable to take the tower by storm (for it was high and large, and furnished with battlements and a considerable force of warlike defenders), they attempted to dig through the tower-wall.
Now the wall had a thickness of eight earthen bricks. At daybreak, however, a breach had been made; and just as soon as the light showed through, some one from within struck with an ox-spit clean through the thigh of the man who was nearest the hole; and from that time on they kept shooting out arrows and so made it unsafe even to pass by the place any more.
Then, as the result of their shouting and lighting of beacon fires,
there came to their assistance Itamenes with his own force, and from
Comania Assyrian hoplites and Hyrcanian horsemen—these also being
mercenaries in the service of the King—to the number of eighty, as
well as about eight hundred peltasts, and more from Parthenium, and
more from
But as soon as Gongylus saw that the Greeks were few and those who
were attacking them many, he sallied forth himself, in spite of his
mother, at the head of his own force, desiring to take part in the
action; and Procles
And Xenophon and his men, by this time sorely distressed by the arrows and sling-stones, and marching in a curved line in order to keep their shields facing the arrows, succeeded with difficulty in crossing the Carcasus river, almost half of their number wounded.
It was here that Agasias, the Stymphalian captain, was wounded, though he continued to fight all the time against the enemy. So they came out of it in safety, with about two hundred slaves and sheep enough for sacrificial victims.
Asidates, however, hearing that Xenophon had sacrificed again with a view to attacking him and that he was to come with the entire army, left his tower and encamped in villages that lay below the town of Parthenium.
There Xenophon and his men fell in with him, and they captured him, his wife and children, his horses, and all that he had; and thus the omens of the earlier sacrifice proved true.
After that they came back again to