THE HISTORIANS 
 OF GREECE
 
 THE OLYMPIC EDITION 
 
 This edition is strictly limited to one thou- 
 sand signed, numbered and registered sets, of 
 which this is 
 
 Number. 
 
 
 /^Cc•*'^^ 
 
 Editor in Chief 
 
 Publishers
 
 t ft 
 
 Xenophon 
 
 From a Rare French Steel Engraving made by 
 
 Ingo'ig^ifi^ 17QS after a Design by LeBarbier 
 
 I'Aine. It is particularly interesting on 
 
 account of the great Greek revival 
 
 during the French Revolution.
 
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 Nortli Oifrman SUumtnation 
 %tntt^ Centurp 
 
 THIS design is typical of the work of the 
 Monks of Northern Europe during the Tenth 
 and Eleventh Centuries. This stjle is directly 
 descended from the English, but runs to gayer and 
 more brilliant colouring. St. Boniface, the Saxon 
 missionary λυΙιο Λvent to convert the Germans at the 
 beginning of the Eighth Century, wrote to the 
 Abbess Eadburga for some missals illuminated in 
 bright colours Λvhich should be " even as a glitter- 
 ing lamp and an illumination for the hearts of the 
 Gentiles," hoping that the bright colours \vould at- 
 tract the uncultivated minds of those among Avhom 
 he laboured. From these gayer English missals 
 this school was developed.
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 XENOPHON 
 
 Translated from the Ancient Greek hy 
 
 HENRY GRAHAM DAKYNS, M. A. 
 
 ΓΕΙ-Ι-ΟΛν OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AKD LATE 
 ASSISTANT MASTER IN CLIFTON COLLEGE 
 
 VOLUME I 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE TANDY-THOMAS COMPANY
 
 Copynght, 1909, by 
 The Tandy-Thomas Company
 
 Dr 
 
 V. I 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction ix 
 
 Hellenica Book I ip 
 
 Hellenica Book II 74 
 
 Anabasis Book I 131 
 
 Anabasis Book II IQO 
 
 Anabasis Book III . 233 
 
 Anabasis Book IV 278 
 
 918813
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Xenopiion Frontispiece 
 
 From a French Steel Engraving by Ingoig made in 
 1795 after a Design by Le Barbier ΓΛίηέ 
 
 Illuminated Title-Page Title 
 
 Designed by Walter Tittle after the German School 
 of the Tenth Century 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Two Besieging Towers 74 
 
 After an Etching by J. Clark in the British Museum 
 
 Blockade and Siege 130 
 
 After an Etching of the Seventeenth Century in the 
 Collection of the Hon. Oswald Bauer 
 
 The Oracle of Delphi IpO 
 
 From an Engraving by Hirchenhein after a Paint- 
 ing by Hoif 
 
 Battering Ram 278 
 
 After an Etching of the Eighteenth Century in the 
 British Museum
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Γ¥Ί HE illustrations of this work have been designed 
 "*• to show the development of book ornamentation. 
 The earliest forms which have survived the ravages of 
 time are the illuminations of the ]Mediaeval manuscripts. 
 This art was the outgrowth of the work of the Ancient 
 Greeks and was in turn the source from which modem 
 book illustration has developed. 
 
 With the introduction of printing, wood cut blocks 
 came into use but were rapidly supplanted by etchings, 
 especially for finer work. This process dates from 1477 
 and held first place for centuries until superseded by 
 steel engravings and finally by modern photographic 
 processes. 
 
 Mr. Walter Tittle, who has made a life study of the 
 subject, has designed a series of title-pages for this 
 work. Each of these embodies the salient features of 
 a particular school of Mediaeval illumination, thus epito- 
 mising the whole history of the art. 
 
 The illustrations also include reproductions of a num- 
 ber of rare old etchings of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth and 
 Seventeenth Centuries, showing the Art of War among 
 the Ancients, a number of the finest steel engravings of 
 the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries, and finally 
 some beautiful Twentieth Century photo-mezzotints of 
 celebrated paintings, illustrating the life and customs 
 of the Ancient World.
 
 INTRODUCTION TO 
 XENOPHON 
 
 As A historian Xenophon ranks with the great- 
 /-\ est of Greece and Rome. He was the fa- 
 ■^ -^ vourite disciple of Socrates and himself a phi- 
 losopher of the deepest and purest thought. He 
 commanded armies in the field, sat in council chambers, 
 and from early youth took a man's part in the activi- 
 ties of the times. " The sage and heroic Xenophon," 
 he is called by Gibbon ; and if the learned historian 
 had chanced to add another epithet to the two in 
 which he has justly commemorated the virtues of Xeno- 
 phon, perhaps with the " sage " and " hero " of Plu- 
 tarch and Longinus he would have coupled the " eru- 
 dite " historian of Polybius or the " accomplished " 
 scholar of Athenaeus. For, undoubtedly, the youthful 
 Athenian, — who in the company of Cyrus the younger 
 tramped or galloped over the plains of Mesopotamia 
 seven centuries and a half before the fatal march of the 
 emperor Julian, — proved himself in the end an adept 
 no less in the art of words than of warfare; and lived 
 to achieve a rare and regal distinction as a statesman, 
 philosopher and man of letters. 
 
 Xenophon was born at Athens in the deme, or bor- 
 ough, called Erchia. The year of his birth is nowhere 
 mentioned ; but as he was upwards of ninety when he 
 died, and was alive B. C. 357, the year in which the
 
 χ INTRODUCTION 
 
 assassination of Alexander of Pherae, which he men- 
 tions, took place, most authorities are inclined to place 
 his birth about B. C. 444. If this date be correct, he 
 was twenty years of age at the time of the battle be- 
 tween the Athenians and Boeotians at Delium, B. C. 
 424, in which he was present, and would probably have 
 lost his life in the flight of the Athenians, had he not 
 been rescued by Socrates, who, seeing him fall from his 
 horse, took him upon his shoulders, and carried him for 
 several stadia. 
 
 What were the circumstances or rank of his father, 
 Gryllus, we are not informed, but it may be fairly con- 
 jectured from his intimacy with Proxenus, a man of 
 consideration in Boeotia, and from the position which 
 he held among the Greeks that followed Cyrus, that he 
 was not of mean or poor parentage. 
 
 Xenophon had at an early age become acquainted 
 with Socrates. Their first meeting is thus described by 
 Laertius : Socrates met him in a narrow passage, and 
 being pleased with the modesty and beauty of his 
 countenance, playfully put out his stick to prevent him 
 from passing, and asked him, at the same time, where 
 people could purchase provisions. Xenophon having 
 given him an answer, he again asked where people 
 might learn virtue and honor. Xenophon hesitating 
 how to reply, Socrates said, " Follow me then, and be 
 taught." From that time he became firmly attached 
 to Socrates. 
 
 After Xenophon's return from Asia at the head of 
 the Ten Thousand, and when he was intending to go to 
 Athens, he learned that sentence of banishment had 
 been passed against him by his countrymen, for the
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 support wliich he had given to Cyrus, the friend of the 
 LftcodftMiionians, during the Peloponnesian war. In 
 conscquonoo, it lias been supposed that he remained in 
 Asia, with Thibron and his successor, Dcrcyllidas. It 
 is certain that in B. C. 396 he was in Asia with Agesi- 
 hius, in his campaign against the Persians, and that, 
 when Agesilaus was recalled to defend his country, he 
 accompanied him to the battle of Coronea, in which 
 the Thebans and Athenians were defeated by the Spar- 
 tans, B. C. 394. 
 
 The Lacedaemonians, after this battle, perhaps at 
 the instance of Agesilaus, presented Xenophon with a 
 house and estate at Scillus, a town of Elis near 
 Olympia, where he was joined by his wife Philesia, 
 and his two sons, Gryllus and Diodorus, who, by the 
 advice of Agesilaus, had been educated at Sparta. 
 Philesia is said to have been his second wife, but 
 when or where he married her is unknown. Of his resi- 
 dence and grounds he has given a description in the 
 Anabasis. Here he built a temple to Diana from the 
 proceeds of some spoil which he had deposited at 
 Ephesus when he accompanied Agesilaus from Asia 
 to Boeotia. It appears that he continued to reside 
 here for more than twenty years, till B. C. 371, when, 
 after the defeat of the Lacedaemonians at the battle of 
 Leuctra, the Eleians regained possession of Scillus, 
 which had been wrested from them by that people some 
 time before Xenophon settled there. He escaped with 
 his sons, first to Lepreum, and afterwards to Corinth, 
 where he fixed his abode for the remainder of his 
 life. 
 
 When the Athenians had resolved to assist the Spar-
 
 xii INTRODUCTION 
 
 tans (B. C. 369) whose territories had been invaded 
 by the Thebans, Xenophon, says Laertius, sent his two 
 sons to fight on the Spartan side. Gryllus was killed 
 seven years after, at the battle of Mantinea, after 
 having, as Pausanias relates, killed Epaminondas with 
 his own hand. Xenophon received the news of his 
 death as he was going to offer sacrifice, and imme- 
 diately took the chaplet from his head ; but on hearing 
 that Gryllus had died fighting bravely, replaced it. 
 Some relate that he did not shed a tear, but merely 
 observed that he knew he had begotten him mortal. 
 
 The repeal of the edict of banishment against Xeno- 
 phon, it is said, came on the motion of the same Eu- 
 bulus by whom it had been proposed ; but in what year 
 is uncertain, probably about B. C. 369. It does not 
 appear that he ever returned to Athens. Diogenes 
 Lasrtius says that he died at Corinth. The only allusion 
 among the writers of antiquity to the time of his death 
 is that in Diogenes Laertius, who cites Stesicleides as 
 saying that he died in the first year of the one hundred 
 and fifth Olympiad, or B. C. 360; but as it is certain 
 that he was alive three years later, B. C. 357, it is 
 conjectured that he may have died about B. C. 355'. 
 
 In the pages of Xenophon we are brought into con- 
 tact with one whose power of self-revelation is re- 
 markable; a writer whose business it was to delineate 
 and criticise contemporary events and people from a 
 somewhat personal point of view ; an artist whose ideal 
 creations appear as living portraits of the men and 
 women of his time. Partly through the lucidity of his 
 language, but partly also with the natural egoism of 
 a plain person who has seen and felt, he makes friends
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 of his hoarors and wins their confidence apparently 
 without effort. 
 
 In doscribiii^ the wars through the medium of the 
 written word, Xcnophon has been without a peer in 
 all the intervening centuries. He took an active part, 
 he saw, — and in well-chosen phrases he told the whole 
 story so that you and I might have a complete under- 
 standing and in our minds gain a picture composite 
 and perfect. 
 
 If, for the purposes of biography, the true source 
 of information must ever be the writer himself, the wit- 
 ness of antiquity has a separate value of its own. Not 
 only does the popular tradition, embodied largely, if 
 loosely, in the one ancient biography of our author 
 now extant, help to establish certain particulars for 
 which we are grateful; but in general the high appre- 
 ciation of Xenophon on the part of ancient writers, — 
 their recognition of his merits no less in the field of let- 
 ters than of action, — is a proof to some extent that he 
 was truly what to contemporary and succeeding ages 
 he appeared to be : a sage and heroic person ; a sensible 
 and just historian ; an original and inventive writer, 
 possessing rare gifts of style ; a " beautiful and good " 
 man, — patient, aiFectionate, and God-serving. 
 
 Such a consensus of favourable opinion may well 
 challenge the attention, though it need not overbalance 
 the judgment, of the modem inquirer. It is established 
 by remarks, critical or simply laudatory, scattered over 
 the pages of many writers, Greek and Latin, through 
 Alexandrian, Roman, and early Christian times. These 
 commence with Aristotle and end (if they can be said 
 to end) with that last pagan of royal speech, Themis-
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION 
 
 tius, whose philosophy was " the glory of the reign " 
 of Constantius. 
 
 Xenophon's popularity with his contemporaries is 
 not difficult to understand. He appealed to their ad- 
 miration at once as a man of action and a man of 
 letters. The encomium of Bacon is only an English 
 version of what was tacitly understood by his fellows 
 and expressed in so many words by Polybius, Plu- 
 tarch and others : " This j'oung scholar, or philosopher, 
 after' all the captains were murdered in parley by 
 treason, conducted these ten thousand foot through the 
 heart of all the king's high countries, from Babylon 
 to Gragcia, in safety, in despite of all the king's forces, 
 to the astonishment of the world and the encourage- 
 ment of the Grecians in time succeeding to make in- 
 vasion upon the kings of Persia, as was afterwards 
 purposed by Jason the Thessalian, attempted by 
 Agesilaus the Spartan, and achieved by Alexander the 
 Macedonian, all upon the ground of the act of that 
 young scholar." 
 
 But if Xenophon was interesting to his fellows as 
 a man most capable of action and speech himself, and 
 the father also of two valorous sons, still more did he 
 engage the attention of the next and subsequent gen- 
 erations as a rhetorician and a man of letters. Here 
 again he made a twofold appeal to the judgment of his 
 readers, partly addressing himself to heart and mind 
 ethically, and partly to sense of style artistically. If 
 the subject matter of his writings had some attraction 
 for philosophers and historians, his art of expression 
 did not fail to win the notice of the stylist and the 
 grammarian.
 
 INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 Our frioiul Xenoplion was a lover of wisdom rather 
 than a professed philosoplier, but he held many sound 
 notions of philosophy in solution, — and it needed only 
 the scientific touch of Aristotle to precipitate them. 
 Thus his views as to the principle of government, — of 
 education, — of slavery, — of economy, with its division 
 of labour and distribution of functions, — of the rela- 
 tions of agriculture, trade, and industry — or concern- 
 ing the military class and agriculture — his idyllic 
 sketch of the household, — his conception of marriage, 
 and the use of property : — these and many such " hints 
 and indirections " form a genuine contribution towards 
 the solution of questions vitally important then as now. 
 
 The tradition concerning Xenophon during a space 
 of ten centuries, between the death of Theodosius and 
 the advent in Italy of Manuel Chrysoloras, at whose 
 magic touch " the knowledge of Greek, intermitted in 
 Western Europe for seven centuries, revived," we must 
 now consider. In the first instance it may be stated 
 that, whatever the history of " the intermission " of 
 Greek learning and the loss of classical culture in gen- 
 eral may have been, the fate of Xenophon was not 
 peculiar. It was the fate also of his greater or lesser 
 compeers. Indeed, in one respect, he was exceptionally 
 fortunate, — inasmuch as, when his writings came in 
 their turn to be rediscovered, during the humanistic 
 movements of the fifteenth century, it was found that 
 the mass of them had been preserved. 
 
 Just when the MSS. of Xenophon were disentombed, 
 and what the particular scene of their imprisonment, it 
 is impossible to state. Some, doubtless, were brought 
 in one of those famous boat loads which formed the
 
 xvi INTRODUCTION 
 
 precious freight of scholars like Giovanni Aurispa, of 
 whom it is said that on his return froi Byzantium in 
 1423 he carried with him two hundred and thirty-eight 
 codices, while Guarino of Verona and Francesco Filelfo 
 both arrived in Italy heavily laden. The earliest that 
 we possess are not older than the twelfth century (that 
 famous epoch). These are Vaticanus (1335), of un- 
 certain date, and Marcianus (511), 1166 A. D. The 
 earliest printed Xenophon is the Latin edition of 
 Filelfo, Mediol: 1467 A. D. ; the first Greek edition, 
 the Hellenica, published by Aldo in 1503, which was 
 followed by the Juntine, 1516 A. D. 
 
 In the mind and style of Xenophon, in his theories 
 of economy and education, there Λvas something well 
 calculated to enlist the sympathies of Italians of the 
 Renaissance, as well as of the people of to-day. Now 
 it is the courtesy and gentleness of the well-educated 
 Athenian ; now it is the Spartan heroism and philosophic 
 patience of the exile ; now it is the virtues of the good 
 head of the family. 
 
 " For Xenophon, who did imitate so excellently as 
 to give us effigiem justi imperii, the portraiture of a 
 just empire under the name of Cyrus (as Cicero saith 
 of him), made therein an absolute heroicall poem," 
 according to Sir Philip Sidney ; and now and always 
 it is the grace and beauty of his style, as says Alberti, 
 " Quel Greco dolcissimo soavissimo scrittore Seno- 
 phonte." 
 
 Thomas Mathew Alexandee.
 
 THE 
 HISTORY OF XENOPHON 
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I, BOOK II- 
 ANABASIS BOOK I, BOOK II, 
 BOOK III, BOOK IV
 
 THE 
 HISTORY OF XENOPHON 
 
 HELLENICA 
 BOOK I 
 
 TO follow the order of events [b. c. 411].^ 
 A few days later Thymochares arrived 
 from Athens with a few ships, when an- 
 other sea fight between the Lacedaemonians and 
 Athenians at once took place, in which the 
 former, under the command of Agesandridas, 
 gained the victory. 
 
 Another short interval brings us to a morning 
 in early winter, when Dorieus, the son of Dia- 
 goras, was entering the Hellespont with four- 
 teen ships from Rhodes at break of day. The 
 Athenian day-watch descrying him, signalled to 
 the generals, and they, with twenty sail, put out 
 to sea to attack him. Dorieus made good his 
 
 1 Xenophon begins here the " Sequel to Thucydides " spoken 
 of by ancient writers. Having edited that historian's work, he 
 now continues the story of the Peloponnesian war to its end and 
 the destruction of the long walls of Athens. A recent com- 
 mentator remarks this is " conceivably not the original begin- 
 ning; though the opening is quite in Xenophon's manner, and the 
 plunge into the middle of things has a certain artistic effect." 
 The scene of the sea fight immediately mentioned is the Helles- 
 pont. Thucydides, in his last book, describes the one just be- 
 fore it, when the Athenians were victors off Cynossema.
 
 20 XENOPHON 
 
 escape, and, as he shook himself free of the nar- 
 rows, ran his triremes aground off Rhceteum. 
 When the Athenians had come to close quarters, 
 the fighting commenced, and was sustained at 
 once from ships and shore, until at length the 
 Athenians retired to their main camp at JNIady- 
 tus, having achieved nothing. 
 
 Meanwhile Mindarus, while sacrificing to 
 Athena at Ilium, had observed the battle. He 
 at once hastened to the sea, and getting his own 
 triremes afloat, sailed out to pick up the ships 
 with Dorieus. The Athenians on their side put 
 out to meet him, and engaged him off Abydos. 
 From early morning till the afternoon the fight 
 was kept up close to the shore. A^ictory and 
 defeat hung still in even balance, when Alcibi- 
 ades came sailing up with eighteen ships. There- 
 upon the Peloponnesians fled towards Abydos, 
 where, however, Pharnabazus brought them 
 timely assistance. Mounted on horseback, he 
 pushed forΛvard into the sea as far as his horse 
 would let him, doing battle himself, and encour- 
 aging his troopers and the infantry alike to play 
 their parts. Then the Peloponnesians, ranging 
 their ships in close-packed order, and draΛving 
 up their battle line in proximity to the land, 
 kept up the fight. At length the Athenians, 
 having captured thirty of the enemy's vessels 
 without their crews, and having recovered those 
 of their own which they had previously lost, set
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 21 
 
 sail for Sestos. Here the fleet, with the excep- 
 tion of forty vessels, dispersed in different di- 
 rections outside the Hellespont, to collect 
 money; while Thrasylus, one of the generals, 
 sailed to Athens to report what had happened, 
 and to beg for a reinforcement of troops and 
 ships. After the above incidents, Tissaphernes 
 arrived in the Hellespont, and received a visit 
 from Alcibiades, who presented himself with a 
 single ship, bringing with him tokens of friend- 
 ship and gifts, whereupon Tissaphernes seized 
 him and shut him up in Sardis, giving out that 
 the king's orders w^re to go to war with the 
 Athenians. Thirty days later Alcibiades, ac- 
 companied by Mantitheus, who had been cap- 
 tured in Caria, managed to procure horses and 
 escaped by night to Clazomense. 
 
 B.C. 410. — And now the Athenians at Sestos, 
 hearing that Mindarus was meditating an attack 
 upon them with a squadron of sixty sail, gave 
 him the slip, and under cover of night escaped 
 to Cardia. Hither also Alcibiades repaired 
 from Clazomen^e, having with him five triremes 
 and a light skiff; but on learning that the Pelo- 
 ponnesian fleet had left Abydos and was in full 
 sail for Cyzicus, he set off himself by land to 
 Sestos, giving orders to the fleet to sail round 
 and join him there. Presently the vessels ar- 
 rived, and he was on the point of putting out to 
 sea with everything ready for action, when
 
 22 XENOPHON 
 
 Theramenes, with a fleet of twenty ships from 
 ]\Iacedonia, entered the port, and at the same 
 instant Thrasybulus, with a second fleet of 
 twenty sail from Thasos, both squadrons hav- 
 ing been engaged in collecting money. Bidding 
 these officers also follow him with all speed, as 
 soon as they had taken out their large sails and 
 cleared for action, Alcibiades set sail himself 
 for Parium. During the following night the 
 united squadron, consisting now of eighty-six 
 vessels, stood out to sea from Parium, and 
 reached Proconnesus next morning, about the 
 hour of breakfast. Here they learnt that Min- 
 darus was in Cyzicus, and that Pharnabazus, 
 with a body of infantry, was with him. Accord- 
 ingly they waited the whole of this day at Pro- 
 connesus. On the following day Alcibiades 
 summoned an assembly, and addressing the men 
 in terms of encouragement, warned them that 
 a threefold service was expected of them; that 
 they must be readj^ for a sea fight, a land fight, 
 and a λυεΙΙ fight all at once, " for look you," said 
 he, " we have no money, but the enemy has un- 
 limited supplies from the king." 
 
 Now, on the previous day, as soon as they 
 were come to moorings, he had collected all the 
 sea-going craft of the island, big and little alike, 
 under his own control, that no one might report 
 the number of his squadron to the enemy, and 
 he had further caused a proclamation to be
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK I 23 
 
 made, that any one caught sailing across to the 
 opposite coast Λνοιιΐά be punished with death. 
 When the meeting was over he got his ships 
 read)'^ for action, and stood out to sea towards 
 Cyzicus in torrents of rain. OiF Cyzicus the 
 sky cleared, and the sun shone out and revealed 
 to him the spectacle of Mindarus's Λ^essels, sixty 
 in number, exercising at some distance from the 
 harbour, and, in fact, intercepted by himself. 
 The Peloponnesians, perceiving at a glance the 
 greatly increased number of the Athenian gal- 
 leys, and noting their proximity to the port, 
 made haste to reach the land, where they 
 brought their vessels to anchor in a body, and 
 prepared to engage the enemy as he sailed to the 
 attack. But Alcibiades, sailing round with 
 twenty of his vessels, came to land and disem- 
 barked. Seeing this, Mindarus also landed, and 
 in the engagement which ensued he fell fighting, 
 whilst those who were with him took to flight. 
 As for the enemy's ships, the Athenians suc- 
 ceeded in capturing the whole of them (with the 
 exception of the Syracusan vessels, which were 
 burnt by their crews), and made off with their 
 prizes to Proconnesus. From thence on the fol- 
 lowing day they sailed to attack Cyzicus. The 
 men of that place, seeing that the Peloponne- 
 sians and Pharnabazus had evacuated the town, 
 admitted the Athenians. Here Alcibiades re- 
 mained twenty days, obtaining large sums of
 
 24 XENOPHON 
 
 money from the Cyzicenes, but otherwise inflict- 
 ing no sort of mischief on the community. He 
 then sailed back to Proconnesus, and from 
 there to Perinthus and Selybria. The inhabi- 
 tants of the former place welcomed his troops 
 into their city, but the Selybrians preferred to 
 give money, and so escape the admission of the 
 troops. Continuing the voyage, the squadron 
 reached Chrysopolis in Chalcedonia, where they 
 built a fort, and established a custom-house to 
 collect the tithe dues which they levied on all 
 merchantmen passing through the Straits from 
 the Black Sea. Besides this, a detachment of 
 thirty ships was left there under the two gen- 
 erals, Theramenes and Eubulus, with instruc- 
 tions not only to keep a look-out on the port it- 
 self and all traders passing through the channel, 
 but generally to injure the enemy in any way 
 which might present itself. This done, the rest 
 of the generals hastened back to the Hellespont. 
 
 Now a despatch from Hippocrates, Min- 
 darus's vice-admiral, had been intercepted on 
 its waj'• to Lacedsemon, and taken to Athens. It 
 ran as follows (in broad Doric) : "Ships gone; 
 Mindarus dead; the men starving; at our wits' 
 end what to do." 
 
 Pharnabazus, however, was ready to meet 
 with encouragement the despondency which af- 
 flicted the whole Peloponnesian army and their 
 allies. " As long as their own bodies were safe
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 25 
 
 and sound, why need they take to heart the loss 
 of a few wooden hulls? Was there not timber 
 enough and to spare in the king's territory? " 
 And so he presented each man with a cloak and 
 maintenance for a couple of months, after which 
 he armed the sailors and formed them into a 
 coastguard for the security of his own seaboard. 
 
 He next called a meeting of the generals and 
 trierarchs of the different States, and instructed 
 them to build just as many new ships in the 
 dockyards of Antandrus as they had respect- 
 ively lost. He himself was to furnish the funds, 
 and he gave them to understand that they might 
 bring down, timber from Mount Ida. While 
 the ships were building, the Syracusans helped 
 the men of Antandrus to finish a section of their 
 walls, and were particularly pleasant on garrison 
 duty; and that is why the Syracusans to this 
 day enjoy the privilege of citizenship, with the 
 title of " benefactors," at Antandrus. Having 
 so arranged these matters, Pharnabazus pro- 
 ceeded at once to the rescue of Chalcedon. 
 
 It was at this date that the Syracusan gener- 
 als received news from home of their banishment 
 by the democratic party. Accordingly they 
 called a meeting of their separate divisions, and 
 putting forward Hermocrates ^ as their spokes- 
 
 2 Hermocrates, the son of Hermon. We first hear of him in 
 Thucydides, as the chief agent in bringing the Sicilian States 
 together in conference at Gela b. c. 424, with a view to healing 
 their differences and combining to frustrate the dangerous de-
 
 26 XENOPHON 
 
 man, proceeded to deplore their misfortune, in- 
 sisting upon the injustice and the illegality of 
 their banishment. " And now let us admonish 
 you," they added, "to be eager and wilUng in 
 the future, even as in the past: whatever the 
 word of command may be, show yourselves good 
 men and true : let not the memory of those glori- 
 ous sea fights fade. Think of those victories 
 you have won, those ships you have captured by 
 your own unaided efforts; forget not that long 
 list of achievements shared by yourselves with 
 others, in all which you proved yourselves in- 
 vincible under our generalship. It was to a happy 
 combination of our merit and your enthusiasm, 
 displayed alike on land and sea, that you owe 
 the strength and perfection of your discipline." 
 With these words they called upon the men 
 to choose other commanders, who should under- 
 take the duties of their office, until the arrival of 
 their successors. Thereupon the whole assem- 
 bly, and more particularly the captains and mas- 
 ters of vessels and marines, insisted with loud 
 cries on their continuance in command. The 
 generals replied, " It was not for them to in- 
 dulge in faction against the State, but rather it 
 was their duty, in case any charges were forth- 
 
 signs of Athens. At a later date, in 411 b. c, when the Pelo- 
 ponnesian sailors were ready to mutiny, and " laid all their griev- 
 ances to the charge of Astyochus (the Spartan admiral), who 
 humoured Tissaphernes for his own gain," Hermocrates took the 
 men's part, and so incurred the hatred of Tissaphernes.
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 27 
 
 coming against themselves, at once to render an 
 account." When, however, no one had any- 
 kind of accusation to prefer, they yielded to the 
 general demand, and were content to await the 
 arrival of their successors. The names of these 
 were — Demarchus, the son of Epidocus; Mys- 
 eon, the son of Menecrates; and Potamis, the 
 son of Gnosis. 
 
 The captains, for the most part, swore to re- 
 store the exiled generals as soon as they them- 
 selves should return to Syracuse. At present 
 with a general vote of thanks they despatched 
 them to their several destinations. In particu- 
 lar those who had enjoyed the society of Hermo- 
 crates recalled his virtues with regret, his thor- 
 oughness and enthusiasm, his frankness and af- 
 fability, the care with which every morning and 
 evening he was wont to gather in his quarters a 
 group of naval captains and marines and master 
 mariners whose ability he recognised. These 
 were his confidants, to whom he communicated 
 what he intended to say or do: they were his 
 pupils, to whom he gave lessons in oratory, now 
 calling upon them to speak extempore, and now 
 again after deliberation. By these means Her- 
 mocrates had gained a wide reputation at the 
 council board, where his mastery of language 
 was no less felt than the wisdom of his advice. 
 Appearing at Laceda?mon as the accuser of 
 Tissaphernes, he had carried his case, not only
 
 28 XENOPHON 
 
 by the testimony of Astyochus, but by the ob- 
 vious sincerity of his statements, and on the 
 strength of this reputation he now betook him- 
 self to Pharnabazus. The latter did not wait 
 to be asked, but at once gave him money, which 
 enabled him to collect friends and triremes, 
 with a view to his ultimate recall to Syracuse. 
 Meanwhile the successors of the Syracusans had 
 arrived at Miletus, where they took charge of 
 the ships and the army. 
 
 It was at this same season that a revolution 
 occurred in Thasos, involving the expulsion of 
 the philo-Laconian party, with the Laconian 
 governor Eteonicus. The Laconian Pasippidas 
 was charged with having brought the business 
 about in conjunction with Tissaphernes, and was 
 banished from Sparta in consequence. The 
 naval force which he had been collecting from 
 the allies was handed over to Cratesippidas, who 
 was sent out to take his place in Chios. 
 
 About the same period, while Thrasylus was 
 still in Athens, Agis made a foraging expedi- 
 tion up to the very walls of the city. But Thrasy- 
 lus led out the Athenians with the rest of the 
 inhabitants of the city, and drew them up by 
 the side of the Lyceum Gymnasium, ready to 
 engage the enemy if they approached; seeing 
 which, Agis beat a hasty retreat, not however 
 without the loss of some of his supports, a few 
 of whom were cut down by the Athenian light
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 29 
 
 troops. This success disposed the citizens to 
 take a still more favourable view of the objects 
 for which Thrasylus had come; and they passed 
 a decree empowering him to call out a thousand 
 hoplites, one hundred cavalry and fifty triremes. 
 
 Meanwhile Agis, as he looked out from De- 
 celeia, and saw vessel after vessel laden with 
 corn running down to Piraeus, declared that it 
 was useless for his troops to go on week after 
 week excluding the Athenians from their own 
 land, while no one stopped the source of their 
 corn supply by sea: the best plan would be to 
 send Clearchus, the son of Rhamphius, who was 
 proxenos of the Byzantines, to Chalcedon and 
 Byzantium. The suggestion was approved, and 
 with fifteen vessels duly manned from Megara, 
 or furnished by other allies, Clearchus set out. 
 These were troop-ships rather than swift-sailing 
 men-of-war. Three of them, on reaching the 
 Hellespont, were destroyed by the nine Athe- 
 nian ships employed to keep a sharp look-out 
 on all merchant craft in those waters. The 
 other twelve escaped to Sestos, and thence finally 
 reached Byzantium in safety. 
 
 So closed the year — a year notable also for 
 the expedition against Sicily of the Carthagin- 
 ians under Hannibal with one hundred thou- 
 sand men, and the capture, within three months, 
 of the two Hellenic cities of Sehnus and 
 Himera.
 
 30 XENOPHON 
 
 II. Β. C. 409.— Next year ... the Athe- 
 nians fortified Thoricus; and Thrasylus, taking 
 the Λ^6886ΐ8 lately voted him and five thousand 
 of his seamen armed to serve as peltasts,^ set 
 sail for Samos at the beginning of the summer. 
 At Samos he stayed three days, and then con- 
 tinued his voyage to Pygela, where he proceeded 
 to ravage the territory and attack the fortress. 
 Presently a detachment from Miletus came to 
 the rescue of the men of Pygela, and attacking 
 the scattered bands of the Athenian light troops, 
 put them to flight. But to the aid of the light 
 troops came the naval brigade of peltasts, with 
 two companies of heavy infantry, and all but 
 annihilated the whole detaclmient from INIiletus. 
 They captured about two hundred shields, and 
 set up a trophy. Next day they sailed to No- 
 tium, and from Notium, after due preparation, 
 marched upon Colophon. The Colophonians 
 capitulated without a blow. The following 
 night they made an incursion into Lydia, where 
 the corn crops were ripe, and burnt several vil- 
 lages, and captured money, slaves, and other 
 booty in large quantity. But Stages, the Per- 
 sian, who was employed in this neighbourhood, 
 
 3 The Proxenos answered pretty nearly to our Consul, Agent, 
 Resident; but he differed in this respect, that he was always a 
 member of the foreign State. An Athenian represented Sparta 
 at Athens; a Laconian represented Athens at Sparta, and so 
 forth. Peltasts, i. e., light infantry armed with the pelta or light 
 shield, instead of the heavy shield of the hoplites or heavy in- 
 fantry soldiers.
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 31 
 
 fell in with a reinforcement of cavalry sent to 
 protect the scattered pillaging parties from the 
 Athenian camp, whilst occupied with their indi- 
 vidual plunder, and took one trooper prisoner, 
 killing seven others. After this Thrasylus led 
 his troops back to the sea, intending to sail to 
 Ephesus. Meanwhile Tissaphernes, who had 
 wind of this intention, began collecting a large 
 army and despatching cavalry with a summons 
 to the inhabitants one and all to rally to the de- 
 fence of the goddess Artemis at Ephesus. 
 
 On the seventeenth day after the incursion 
 above mentioned Thrasylus sailed to Ephesus. 
 He disembarked his troops in two divisions, his 
 heavy infantry in the neighbourhood of Mount 
 Coressus ; his cavalry, peltasts, and marines, with 
 the remainder of his force, near the marsh on 
 the other side of the city. At daybreak he 
 pushed forward both divisions. The citizens of 
 Ephesus, on their side, were not slow to pro- 
 tect themselves. They had to aid them the troops 
 brought up by Tissaphernes, as well as two de- 
 tachments of Syracusans, consisting of the crews 
 of their former twenty vessels and those of five 
 new vessels which had opportunely arrived quite 
 recently under Eucles, the son of Hippon, and 
 Heracleides, the son of Aristogenes, together 
 with two Selinuntian vessels. All these several 
 forces first attacked the heavy infantry near 
 Coressus; these they routed, killing about one
 
 32 XENOPHON 
 
 hundred of them, and driving the remainder 
 down into the sea. They then turned to deal 
 with the second division on the marsh. Here, 
 too, the Athenians were put to flight, and as 
 many as three hundred of them perished. On 
 this spot the Ephesians erected a trophy, and 
 another at Coressus. The valour of the Syra- 
 cusans and Selinuntians had been so conspicuous 
 that the citizens presented many of them, both 
 publicly and privately, with prizes for distinc- 
 tion in the field, besides off'ering the right of 
 residence in their city with certain immimities 
 to all who at any time might wish to live there. 
 To the Selinuntians, indeed, as their own city 
 had lately been destroyed, they offered full citi- 
 zenship. 
 
 The Athenians, after picking up their dead 
 under a truce, set sail for Notium, and having 
 there buried the slain, continued their voyage 
 towards Lesbos and the Hellespont. Whilst 
 lying at anchor in the harbour of Methymna, in 
 that island, they caught sight of the Syracusan 
 vessels, five- and- twenty in number, coasting 
 along from Ephesus. They put out to sea to 
 attack them, and captured four ships with their 
 crews, and chased the remainder back to Ephe- 
 sus. The prisoners were sent by Thrasylus to 
 Athens, with one exception. This was an Athe- 
 nian, Alcibiades, who was a cousin and fellow- 
 exile of Alcibiades. Him Thrasylus released.
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK I 33 
 
 From Methynina Thrasylus set sail to Sestos to 
 join the main body of the army, after which the 
 united forces crossed to Lampsacus. And now 
 winter was approaching. It was the winter in 
 which tlie Syracusan prisoners who had been 
 immured in the stone quarries of Piraeus dug 
 through the rock and escaped one night, some 
 to Deceleia and others to Megara. At Lamps- 
 acus Alcibiades was anxious to marshal the whole 
 military force there collected in one body, but 
 the old troops refused to be incorporated with 
 those of Thrasylus. " They, who had never yet 
 been beaten, with these newcomers who had just 
 suffered a defeat." So they devoted the win- 
 ter to fortifying Lampsacus. They also made 
 an expedition against Abydos, where Pharna- 
 bazus, coming to the rescue of the place, encoun- 
 tered them with numerous cavalry, but was de- 
 feated and forced to flee, Alcibiades pursuing 
 hard with his cavalry and one hundred and 
 twenty infantry under the command of Men- 
 ander, till darkness intervened. After this bat- 
 tle the soldiers came together of their own ac- 
 cord, and freely fraternised with the troops of 
 Thrasylus. This expedition was followed by 
 other incursions during the winter into the in- 
 terior, where they found plenty to do in rav- 
 aging the king's territory. 
 
 It was at this period also that the Lacedai- 
 monians allowed their revolted helots from
 
 34 XENOPHON 
 
 Malea, who had found an asylum at Corypha- 
 sium, to depart under a flag of truce. It was 
 also about the same period that the Achseans 
 betrayed the colonists of Heracleia Trachinia, 
 when they were all drawn up in battle to meet 
 the hostile Oetsans, whereby as many as seven 
 hundred of them were lost, together with the 
 governor, from Lacedsemon, Labotas. Thus 
 the year came to its close — a year marked fur- 
 ther by a revolt of the JNIedes from Darius, the 
 king of Persia, followed by renewed submission 
 to his authority. 
 
 III. B. C. 408. — The year following is the year 
 in which the temple of Athena, in Phoc^ea, was 
 struck by lightning and set on fire. With the 
 cessation of winter, in early spring, the Athe- 
 nians set sail with the whole of their force to 
 Proconnesus, and thence advanced upon Chalce- 
 don and Byzantium, encamping near the former 
 town. The men of Chalcedon, aware of their 
 approach, had taken the precaution to deposit 
 all their pillageable property with their neigh- 
 bours, the Bithynian Thracians; whereupon Al- 
 cibiades put himself at the head of a small body 
 of heavy infantry with the cavalry, and giving 
 orders to the fleet to follow along the coast, 
 marched against the Bithynians and demanded 
 back the property of the Chalcedonians, threat- 
 ening them with war in case of refusal. The 
 Bithynians delivered up the property. Return-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 35 
 
 ino• to camp, not only thus enriched, but with 
 the further satisfaction of having secured 
 pledges of good behaviour from the Bithynians, 
 Alcibiades set to Avork with the whole of his 
 troops to draAv lines of circumvallation round 
 Chalcedon from sea to sea, so as to include as 
 much of the river as possible within his wall, 
 which Avas made of timber. Thereupon the Lace- 
 diemonian governor, Hippocrates, led his troops 
 out of the city and offered battle, and the Athe- 
 nians, on their side, drew up their forces op- 
 posite to receive him; while Pharnabazus, from 
 without the lines of circumvallation, was still ad- 
 vancing with his army and large bodies of horse. 
 Hippocrates and Thrasylus engaged each other 
 with their heavy infantry for a long while, until 
 Alcibiades, with a detachment of infantry and 
 the cavalry, intervened. Presently Hippocrates 
 fell, and the troops under him fled into the city; 
 at the same instant Pharnabazus, unable to ef- 
 fect a junction with the Lacedaemonian leader, 
 owing to the circumscribed nature of the ground 
 and the close proximity of the river to the 
 enemy's lines, retired to the Heracleium, be- 
 longing to the Chalcedonians, where his camp 
 lay. After this success Alcibiades set off to the 
 Hellespont and the Chersonese to raise money, 
 and the remaining generals came to terms Λvith 
 Pharnabazus in respect of Chalcedon; according 
 to these, the Persian satrap agreed to pay the
 
 36 XENOPHON 
 
 Athenians twenty talents ^ in behalf of the town, 
 and to grant their ambassadors a safe conduct 
 up country to the king. It was further stipu- 
 lated by mutual consent and under oaths pro- 
 vided, that the Chalcedonians should continue 
 the payment of their customary tribute to 
 Athens, being also bound to discharge all out- 
 standing debts. The Athenians, on their side, 
 were bound to desist from hostilities until the 
 return of their ambassadors from the king. 
 These oaths were not witnessed by Alcibiades, 
 who was now in the neighbourhood of Selybria. 
 Ha\ang taken that place, he presently appeared 
 before the walls of Byzantium at the head of 
 the men of Chersonese, who came out with their 
 whole force; he was aided further by troops 
 from Thrace and more than three hundred horse. 
 Accordingly Pharnabazus, insisting that he too 
 must take the oath, decided to remain in Chal- 
 cedon, and to await his arrival from Byzantium. 
 Alcibiades came, but was not prepared to bind 
 himself by any oaths, unless Pharnabazus would, 
 on his side, take oaths to himself. After this, 
 oaths were exchanged between them by proxy. 
 Alcibiades took them at Chrysopolis in the pres- 
 ence of two representatives sent by Pharnabazus 
 — namely, JNIitrobates and Arnapes. Pharna- 
 bazus took them at Chalcedon in the presence of 
 Euryptolemus and Diotimus, who represented 
 Alcibiades. Both parties bound themselves not 
 
 * About $24,000.
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 37 
 
 only by the general oath, but also interchanged 
 personal pledges of good faith. 
 
 This done, Pharnabazus left Chalcedon at 
 once, with injunctions that those who were go- 
 ing up to the king as ambassadors should meet 
 him at Cyzicus. The representatives of Athens 
 were Dorotheus, Philodices, Theogenes, Euryp- 
 tolemus, and Mantitheus; with them were two 
 Argives, Cleostratus and Pyrrholochus. An 
 embassy from the Lacedaemonians was also 
 about to make the journey. This consisted of 
 Pasippidas and his fellows, with whom were 
 Hermocrates, now an exile from Syracuse, and 
 his brother Proxenus. So Pharnabazus put him- 
 self at their head. Meanwhile the Athenians 
 prosecuted the siege of Byzantium; lines of cir- 
 cumvallation were drawn; and they diversified 
 the blockade by sharpshooting at long range and 
 occasional assaults upon the walls. Inside the 
 city lay Clearchus, the Lacedeemonian governor, 
 and a body of Periceci with a small detachment 
 of Neodamodes.^ There was also a body of 
 
 Β According to the constitution of Lacedaemon the whole gov- 
 ernment was in Dorian hands. The subject population was di- 
 vided into (1) Helots, who were State serfs. The children of 
 Helots were at times brought up as Spartans and called Mo- 
 thakes; Helots who had received their liberty were called Neo- 
 damodes. After the conquest of Messenia this class was very 
 numerous. (2) Periceci. These were the ancient Achaean in- 
 habitants, living in towns and villages, and managing their own 
 affairs, paying tribute, and serving in the army as heavy-armed 
 soldiers.
 
 38 XENOPHON 
 
 Megarians under their general Helixus, a Me- 
 garian, and another body of Boeotians, with 
 their general Coeratadas. The Athenians, find- 
 ing presently that they could effect nothing by 
 force, worked upon some of the inhabitants to 
 betray the place. Clearchus, meanwhile, never 
 dreaming that any one would be capable of such 
 an act, had crossed over to the opposite coast to 
 visit Pharnabazus ; he had left everything in per- 
 fect order, entrusting the government of the 
 city to Coeratadas and Helixus. His mission 
 Λvas to obtain pay for the soldiers from the Per- 
 sian satrap, and to collect Λ^essels from various 
 quarters. Some were already in the Hellespont, 
 where they had been left as guardships by Pasip- 
 pidas, or else at Antandrus. Others formed the 
 fleet which Hegesandridas, who had formerly 
 served as a marine under Mindarus, now com- 
 manded on the Thracian coast. Others Clear- 
 chus purposed to have built, and with the whole 
 united squadron so to injure the allies of the 
 Athenians as to draw off the besieging army 
 from Byzantium. But no sooner was he fairly 
 gone than those who were minded to betray the 
 city set to work. Their names were Cydon, 
 Ariston, Anaxicrates, Lycurgus, and Anaxilaus. 
 The last-named was afterward impeached for 
 treachery in Lacedsemon on the capital charge, 
 and acquitted on the plea that, to begin with, 
 he was not a Lacedeemonian, but a Byzantine,
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 39 
 
 and, so far from having betrayed the city, he 
 hud saved it, Λ\^6η he saw women and children 
 perishing of starvation ; for Clearchus had given 
 away all the corn in the city to the Lacediemon- 
 ian soldiers. It was for these reasons, as Anaxi- 
 laiis himself admitted, he had introduced the 
 enemy, and not for the sake of money, nor out 
 of hatred to Lacedsemon. 
 
 As soon then as everything was ready, these 
 people opened the gates leading to the Thracian 
 Square, as it is called, and admitted the Athe- 
 nian troops with Alcibiades at their head. He- 
 lixus and Coeratadas, in complete ignorance of 
 the plot, hastened to the Agora with the whole 
 of the garrison, ready to confront the danger; 
 but finding the enemy in occupation, they had 
 nothing for it but to give themselves up. They 
 were sent off as prisoners to Athens, where 
 Coeratadas, in the midst of the crowd and con- 
 fusion of disembarkation at Pirseus, gave his 
 guards the slip, and made his way in safety to 
 Deceleia. 
 
 IV. B. C. 407. — Pharnabazus and the ambas- 
 sadors were passing the winter at Gordium in 
 Phrygia, when they heard of the occurrences at 
 Byzantium. Continuing their journey to the 
 king's court in the commencement of spring, 
 they were met by a former embassy, which was 
 now on its return journey. These were the Lace- 
 da;monian ambassadors, Bceotius and his party.
 
 40 XENOPHOK 
 
 with the other envoys; who told them that the 
 Lacedaemonians had obtained from the king all 
 they wanted. One of the company was Cyrus, 
 the new governor of all the seaboard districts, 
 who was prepared to co-operate with the Lace- 
 daemonians in war. He was the bearer, more- 
 over, of a letter with the royal seal attached. It 
 was addressed to all the populations of Lower 
 Asia, and contained the following words : " I 
 send down Cyrus as ' Karanos ' " — that is to 
 say, supreme lord — " over all those who muster 
 at Castolus." The ambassadors of the Athe- 
 nians, even while listening to this announcement, 
 and indeed after they had seen Cyrus, were still 
 desirous, if possible, to continue their journey 
 to the king, or, failing that, to return home. 
 Cyrus, however, urged upon Pharnabazus either 
 to deliver them up to himself, or to defer send- 
 ing them home at present; his object being to 
 prevent the Athenians learning what was going 
 on. Pharnabazus, wishing to escape all blame, 
 for the time being detained them, telling them, 
 at one time, that he would presently escort them 
 up country to the king, and at another time 
 that he would send them safe home. But when 
 three years had elapsed, he prayed Cyrus to let 
 them go, declaring that he had taken an oath to 
 bring them back to the sea, in default of escort- 
 ing them up to the king. Then at last they re- 
 ceived safe conduct to Ariobarzanes, with or-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 41 
 
 ders for their further transportation. The lat- 
 ter conducted them a stage farther, to Cius in 
 Mysia; and from Cius they set sail to join their 
 main armament. 
 
 Alcibiades, whose chief desire was to return 
 home to Athens with the troops, immediately 
 set sail for Samos ; and from that island, taking 
 twenty of the ships, he sailed to the Ceramic 
 Gulf of Caria, were he collected a hundred tal- 
 ents, and so returned to Samos. 
 
 Thrasybulus had gone Thrace-wards with 
 thirty ships. In this quarter he reduced various 
 places which had revolted to Lacedsemon, in- 
 cluding the island of Thasos, which was in a 
 bad plight, the result of wars, revolutions, and 
 famine. 
 
 Thrasylus, with the rest of the army, sailed 
 back straight to Athens. On his arrival he 
 found that the Athenians had already chosen 
 as their general Alcibiades, who was still in ex- 
 ile, and Thrasybulus, who was also absent, and 
 as a third, from among those at home, Conon. 
 
 Meanwhile Alcibiades, with the moneys lately 
 collected and his fleet of twenty ships, left 
 Samos and visited Paros. From Paros he stood 
 out to sea across to Gytheum, to keep an eye on 
 the thirty ships of war which, as he was in- 
 formed, the Lacedaemonians were equipping in 
 that arsenal. Gytheum would also be a favour- 
 able point of observation from which to gauge
 
 42 XENOPHON 
 
 the disposition of his fellow-countrymen and 
 the prospects of his recall. When at length their 
 good disposition seemed to him established, not 
 only by his election as general, but by the mes- 
 sages of invitation which he received in private 
 from his friends, he sailed home, and entered 
 Piraeus on the very day of the festival of the 
 Plunteria,® when the statue of Athena is veiled 
 and screened from public gaze. This was a 
 coincidence, as some thought, of evil omen, and 
 unpropitious alike to himself and the State, for 
 no Athenian would transact serious business on 
 such a day. 
 
 As he sailed into the harbour, two great 
 crowds — one from the Pirseus, the other from 
 the city — flocked to meet the vessels. Wonder- 
 ment, mixed with a desire to see Alcibiades, was 
 the prevailing sentiment of the multitude. Of 
 him they spoke: some asserting that he was the 
 best of citizens, and that in his sole instance ban- 
 ishment had been ill-deserved. He had been the 
 victim of plots, hatched in the brains of people 
 less able than himself, however much they might 
 excel in pestilent speech; men whose one princi- 
 ple of statecraft was to look to their private 
 gains; whereas this man's policy had ever been 
 
 β Feast of washings, held on the 25th of the month Thar- 
 gelion, when the image of the goddess Athena was stripped in 
 order that her clothes might be washed by the Fraxiergidae ; 
 neither assembly nor court was held on that day, and the Temple 
 was closed.
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 43 
 
 to uphold the common weal, as much by his 
 private means as by all the power of the State. 
 His own choice, eight years ago, when the charge 
 of impiety in the matter of the mysteries was 
 still fresh, would have been to submit to trial at 
 once. It was his personal foes who had suc- 
 ceeded in postponing that undeniably just pro- 
 cedure ; who waited till his back was turned, and 
 then robbed him of his fatherland. Then it was 
 that, being made the very slave of circumstance, 
 he was driven to court the men he hated most; 
 and at a time when his own life was in daily 
 peril, he must see his dearest friends and fellow- 
 citizens, nay, the very State itself, bent on a 
 suicidal course, and yet, in the exclusion of exile, 
 be unable to lend a helping hand. "It is not 
 men of this stamp," they averred, " who desire 
 changes in affairs and revolution: had he not 
 already guaranteed to him by the Democracy a 
 position higher than that of his equals in age, 
 and scarcely if at all inferior to his seniors? 
 How different was the position of his enemies. 
 It had been the fortune of these, though they 
 were known to be the same men they had al- 
 ways been, to use their lately acquired power 
 for the destruction in the first instance of the 
 better classes; and then, being alone left sur- 
 viving, to be accepted by their fellow-citizens 
 in the absence of better men." 
 
 Others, however, insisted that for all their
 
 U XENOPHON 
 
 past miseries and misfortunes Alcibiades alone 
 was responsible : " If more trials were still in 
 store for the State, here Λvas the master mis- 
 chief-maker ready at his post to precipitate 
 them." 
 
 When the vessels came to their moorings, 
 close to the land, Alcibiades, from fear of his 
 enemies, was unwilling to disembark at once. 
 Mounting on the quarterdeck, he scanned the 
 multitude, anxious to make certain of the pres- 
 ence of his friends. Presently his eyes lit upon 
 Euryptolemus, the son of Peisianax, who was 
 his cousin, and then on the rest of his relations 
 and other friends. Upon this he landed, and 
 so, in the midst of an escort ready to put down 
 any attempt upon his person, made his way to 
 the city. 
 
 In the Senate and Public Assembly he made 
 speeches, defending himself against the charge 
 of impiety, and asserting that he had been the 
 victim of injustice, with other like topics, which 
 in the present temper of the assembly no one 
 ventured to gainsay. 
 
 He was then formally declared leader and 
 chief of the State, with irresponsible powers as 
 being the sole individual capable of recovering 
 the ancient power and prestige of Athens. 
 Armed with this authority, his first act was to 
 institute anew the processional march to Eleu- 
 sis; for of late years, owing to the war, the
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 45 
 
 Athenians hud been forced to conduct the mys- 
 teries by sea. Now, at the head of the troops, 
 he caused them to be conducted once again by 
 land. This done, his next step was to muster 
 an armament of one thousand five hundred 
 heavy infantry, one hundred and fifty cavalry, 
 and one hundred ships; and lastly, within three 
 months of his return, he set sail for Andros, 
 which had revolted from Athens. 
 
 The generals chosen to co-operate with him 
 on land were Aristocrates and Adeimantus, the 
 son of Leucophilides. He disembarked his 
 troops on the island of Andros at Gaurium, and 
 routed the Andrian citizens who sallied out from 
 the town to resist the invader; forcing them to 
 return and keep close within their walls, though 
 the number who fell was not large. This de- 
 feat was shared by some Lacedaemonians who 
 were in the place. Alcibiades erected a trophy, 
 and after a few days set sail himself for Samos, 
 which became his base of operations in the fu- 
 ture conduct of the war. 
 
 V. — At a date not much earlier than that of 
 the incidents just described, the Lacedaemonians 
 had sent out Lysander as their admiral, in the 
 place of Cratesippidas, whose period of office 
 had expired. The new admiral first visited 
 Rhodes, where he got some ships, and sailed to 
 Cos and Miletus, and from the latter place to 
 Ephesus. At Ephesus he waited with seventy
 
 46 XENOPHON 
 
 sail, expecting the advent of Cyrus in Sardis, 
 when he at once went up to pay the prince a 
 visit with the ambassadors from Lacedeemon. 
 And now an opportunity was given to denounce 
 the proceedings of Tissaphernes, and at the 
 same time to beg Cyrus himself to show as much 
 zeal as possible in the prosecution of the war. 
 Cyrus replied that not only had he received ex- 
 press injunctions from his father to the same ef- 
 fect, but that his own views coincided with their 
 wishes, which he was determined to carry out 
 to the letter. He had, he informed them, 
 brought with him five hundred talents f and if 
 that sum failed, he had still the private revenue, 
 which his father allowed him, to fall back upon, 
 and when this resource was in its turn exhausted, 
 he would coin the gold and silver throne on 
 which he sat, into money for their benefit. 
 
 His audience thanked him for what he said, 
 and further begged him to fix the rate of pay- 
 ment for the seamen at one Attic drachma per 
 man,^ explaining that should this rate of pay- 
 ment be adopted, the sailors of the Athenians 
 would desert, and in the end there ΛνοηΜ be a 
 saving of expenditure. Cyrus complimented 
 
 7 About $600,000. One Euboic or Attic talent = sixty minae 
 = six thousand drachmae = about $1200 of our money. 
 
 8 About 20c.; a drachma (= six obols) would be very high 
 pay for a sailor — indeed, just double the usual amount. Tissa- 
 phernes had, in the winter of 412 b. c, distributed one month's 
 pay among the Peloponnesian ships at this high rate of a 
 drachma a day, " as his envoy had promised at Lacedaemon ; "
 
 HET.LENICA BOOK I 47 
 
 thcni on the soundness of their arguments, but 
 said that it was not in his power to exceed the 
 injunctions of the king. The terms of agree- 
 ment were precise, thirty minte'^ a month per 
 vessel to be given, whatever number of vessels 
 the Lacediemonians might choose to maintain. 
 To this rejoinder Lysander at the moment 
 said nothing. But after dinner, when Cyrus 
 drank to his health, asking him " What he could 
 do to gratify him most?" Lysander replied, 
 " Add an obol to the sailors' pay." After this 
 the pay was raised to four instead of three obols^ 
 as it hitherto had been. Nor did the liberality 
 of Cyrus end here; he not only paid up all ar- 
 rears, but further gave a months' pay in ad- 
 vance, so that, if the enthusiasm of the army 
 had been great before, it was greater than ever 
 now. The Athenians when they heard the news 
 were proportionately depressed, and by help of 
 Tissaphernes despatched ambassadors to Cyrus. 
 That prince, however, refused to receive them, 
 nor were the prayers of Tissaphernes of any 
 avail, however much he insisted that Cyrus 
 should adopt the policy which he himself, on the 
 
 but this he proposed to reduce to half a drachma, " until he had 
 asked the king's leave, promising that if he obtained it, he would 
 pay the entire drachma. On the remonstrance, however, of Her- 
 mocrates, the Syracusan general, he promised to each man a pay- 
 ment of somewhat more than three obols." 
 
 » About $600; and thirty minae a month to each ship (the 
 crew of each ship being taken at two hundred) izi three obols a 
 day to each man.
 
 48 XENOPHON 
 
 advice of Alcibiades, had persistently acted on. 
 This was simply not to suffer any single Hel- 
 lenic state to grow strong at the expense of the 
 rest, but to keep them all weak alike, distracted 
 by internecine strife. 
 
 Lysander, now that the organisation of his 
 navy was arranged to his satisfaction, beached 
 his squadron of ninety vessels at Ephesus, and 
 sat with hands folded, whilst the vessels dried 
 and underwent repairs. Alcibiades, being in- 
 formed that Thrasybulus had come south of the 
 Hellespont and was fortifying Phocsea, sailed 
 across to join him, leaving his own pilot Antio- 
 chus in command of the fleet, with orders not 
 to attack Lysander's fleet. Antiochus, how- 
 ever, was tempted to leave Notium and sail into 
 the harbour of Ephesus with a couple of ships, 
 his own and another, past the prows of Lysan- 
 der's squadron. The Spartan at first contented 
 himself with launching a few of his ships, and 
 started in pursuit of the intruder; but when the 
 Athenians came out with other vessels to assist 
 Antiochus, he formed his whole squadron into 
 line of battle, and bore down upon them, where- 
 upon the Athenians followed suit, and getting 
 their remaining triremes under weigh at Notium, 
 stood out to sea as fast as each vessel could clear 
 the point. Thus it befell in the engagement 
 which ensued, that while the enemy was in due 
 order, the Athenians came up in scattered de-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 49 
 
 tju'linicnts and without concert, and in the end 
 were put to flight with the loss of fifteen ships 
 of war. Of the creΛvs, indeed, the majority es- 
 caped, though a certain number fell into the 
 hands of the enemy. Then Lysander collected 
 his vessels, and having erected a trophy on Cape 
 Notium, sailed across to Ephesus, whilst the 
 Athenians retired to Samos. 
 
 On his return to Samos a little later, Alci- 
 biades put out to sea with the whole squadron in 
 the direction of the harbour of Ephesus. At 
 the mouth of the harbour he marshalled his fleet 
 in battle order, and tried to tempt the enemy 
 to an engagement; but as Lysander, conscious 
 of his inferiority in numbers, refused to accept 
 the challenge, he sailed back again to Samos. 
 Shortly after this the Lacedaemonians captured 
 Delphinium and Eion. 
 
 But now the news of the late disaster at No- 
 tium had reached the Athenians at home, and 
 in their indignation they turned upon Alcibi- 
 ades, to whose negligence and lack of self-com- 
 mand they attributed the destruction of the 
 ships. Accordingly they chose ten new gener- 
 als — namely Conon, Diomedon, Leon, Pericles, 
 Erasinides, Aristocrates, Archestratus, Protom- 
 achus, Thrasylus, and Aristogenes. Alcibiades, 
 who was moreover in bad odour in the camp, 
 sailed away with a single trireme to his private 
 fortress in the Chersonese.
 
 50 XENOPHON 
 
 After this Conon, in obedience to a decree of 
 the Athenian people, set sail from Andros with 
 the twenty vessels under his command in that 
 island to Samos, and took command of the 
 whole squadron. To fill the place thus vacated 
 by Conon, Phanosthenes was sent to Andros 
 with four ships. That captain was fortunate 
 enough to intercept and capture two Thurian 
 ships of war, crews and all, and these captives 
 were all imprisoned by the Athenians, with the 
 exception of their leader Dorieus. He was the 
 Rhodian, who some w^hile back had been ban- 
 ished from Athens and from his native city by 
 the Athenians, when sentence of death was 
 passed upon him and his family. This man, who 
 had once enjoyed the right of citizenship among 
 them, they now took pity on and released him 
 without ransom. 
 
 When Conon had reached Samos he found 
 the armament in a state of great despondency. 
 Accordingly his first measure was to man sev- 
 enty ships with their full complement, instead 
 of the former hundred and odd vessels. With 
 this squadron he put to sea accompanied by the 
 other generals, and confined himself to making 
 descents first at one point and then at another 
 of the enemy's territory, and to collecting plun- 
 der. 
 
 And so the year drew to its close: a year sig- 
 nalised further by an invasion of Sicily by the
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 51 
 
 Carthaginians, with one hundred and twenty 
 ships of war and a hind force of one hundred 
 and twenty thousand men, which resulted in the 
 capture of Agrigentum. The town was finally 
 reduced by famine after a siege of seven months, 
 the invaders having previously been worsted in 
 battle and forced to sit down before its walls 
 for so long a time. 
 
 VI. B. C. 406. — In the following year — the 
 year of the evening eclipse of the moon, and the 
 burning of the old temple of Athena at Athens 
 — the Lacedaemonians sent out Callicratidas to 
 replace Lysander, whose period of office had 
 now expired. Lysander, when surrendering the 
 squadron to his successor, spoke of himself as 
 the winner of a sea fight, which had left him in 
 undisputed mastery of the sea, and with this 
 boast he handed over the ships to Callicratidas, 
 who retorted, " If you will convey the fleet from 
 Ephesus, keeping Samos to your right " (that 
 is, past where the Athenian navy lay) , " and 
 hand it over to me at Miletus, I will admit 
 that you are master of the sea." But Lysander 
 had no mind to interfere in the province of an- 
 other officer. Thus Callicratidas assumed re- 
 sponsibility. He first manned, in addition to the 
 squadron which he received from Lysander, fifty 
 new vessels furnished by the allies from Chios 
 and Rhodes and elsewhere. When all these con- 
 tingents were assembled, they formed a total of
 
 52 XENOPHON 
 
 one hundred and forty sail, and with these he 
 began making preparations for engagement 
 with the enemy. But it was impossible for him 
 not to note the strong current of opposition 
 which he encountered from the friends of Ly- 
 sander. Not only was there lack of zeal in their 
 service, but they openly disseminated an opinion 
 in the States, that it was the greatest possible 
 blunder on the part of the Lacedemonians so 
 to change their admirals. Of course, they must 
 from time to time get officers altogether unfit 
 for the post — men whose nautical knowledge 
 dated from yesterday, and who, moreover, had 
 no notion of dealing wdth human beings. It 
 would be very odd if this practice of sending 
 out people ignorant of the sea and unknown to 
 the folk of the country did not lead to some ca- 
 tastrophe. Callicratidas at once summoned the 
 Lacedsemonians there present, and addressed 
 them in the following terms : 
 
 " For my part," he said, " I am content to 
 stay at home: and if Lysander or any one else 
 claim greater experience in nautical affairs than 
 I possess, I have no desire to block his path. 
 Only, being sent out by the State to take com- 
 mand of this fleet, I do not know what is left 
 to me, save to carry out my instinictions to the 
 best of my ability. For yourselves, all I beg of 
 you, in reference to my personal ambitions and 
 the kind of charges brought against our com-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 53 
 
 mon city, and of which you are as well aware 
 as I am, is to state what you consider to be the 
 best course: am I to stay where I am, or shall 
 I sail back home, and explain the position of 
 affairs out here? " 
 
 No one ventured to suggest any other course 
 than that he should obey the authorities, and do 
 what he was sent out to do. Callicratidas then 
 went up to the court of Cyrus to ask for fur- 
 ther pay for the sailors, but the answer he got 
 from Cyrus was that he should wait for two 
 days. Callicratidas was annoyed at the rebuff: 
 to dance attendance at the palace gates was lit- 
 tle to his taste. In a fit of anger he cried out 
 at the sorry condition of the Hellenes, thus 
 forced to flatter the barbarian for the sake of 
 money. " If ever I get back home," he added, 
 *' I will do what in me lies to reconcile the Athe- 
 nians and the Lacedasmonians." And so he 
 turned and sailed back to Miletus. From Mi- 
 letus he sent some triremes to Lacedsemon to get 
 money, and convoking the public assembly of 
 the Milesians, addressed them thus: 
 
 " Men of Miletus, necessity is laid upon me to 
 obey the rulers at home; but for yourselves, 
 whose neighbourhood to the barbarians has ex- 
 posed you to many evils at their hands, I only 
 ask you to let your zeal in the war bear some pro- 
 portion to your former sufferings. You should 
 set an example to the rest of the allies, and show
 
 54 XENOPHON 
 
 us how to inflict the sharpest and swiftest in- 
 jury on our enemy, whilst we await the return 
 from Lacedgemon of my envoys with the neces- 
 sary funds. Since one of the last acts of Ly- 
 sander, before he left us, was to hand back to 
 Cyrus the funds already on the spot, as though 
 we could well dispense with them. I was thus 
 forced to turn to Cyrus, but all I got from him 
 was a series of rebuffs; he refused me an audi- 
 ence, and, for my part, I could not induce my- 
 self to hang about his gates like a mendicant. 
 But I give you my word, men of Miletus, that 
 in return for any assistance which you can ren- 
 der us whilst waiting for these aids, I will re- 
 quite you richly. Only by God's help let us 
 shoΛv these barbarians that we do not need to 
 worship them, in order to punish our foes." 
 
 The speech was effective; many members of 
 the assembly arose, and not the least eagerly 
 those who were accused of opposing him. These, 
 in some terror, proposed a vote of money, 
 backed by offers of further private contribu- 
 tions. Furnished with these sums, and having 
 procured from Chios a further remittance of 
 five drachmas ^ apiece as outfit for each seaman, 
 he set sail to Methymna, in Lesbos, which was in 
 the hands of the enemy. But as the Methym- 
 nsans were not disposed to come over to him 
 (since there was an Athenian garrison in the 
 place, and the men at the head of affairs were 
 
 1 About $1.00.
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 55 
 
 partisans of Athens), he assaulted and took the 
 place by storm. All the property within ae- 
 cording'l}^ became the spoil of the soldiers. The 
 prisoners were collected for sale by Callicratidas 
 in the mai-ket-place, where, in answer to the de- 
 mand of the allies, who called upon him to sell 
 the JSIethymnasans also, he made answer, that as 
 long as he Λvas in command, not a single Hel- 
 lene should be enslaved if he could help it. The 
 next day he set at liberty the free-born captives ; 
 the Athenian garrison with the captured slaves 
 he sold. To Conon he sent word: He would 
 put a stop to his strumpeting the sea. And 
 catching sight of him, as he put out to sea, at 
 break of day, he gave chase, hoping to cut him 
 oiF from his passage to Samos, and prevent his 
 taking refuge there. 
 
 But Conon, aided by the sailing qualities of 
 his fleet, the rowers of which were the pick of 
 several ships' companies, concentrated in a few 
 vessels, made good his escape, seeking shelter 
 within the harbour of Mitylene in Lesbos, and 
 with him two of the ten generals, Leon and 
 Erasinides. Callicratidas, pursuing him with 
 one hundred and seventy sail, entered the har- 
 bour simultaneously; and Conon thus hindered 
 from further or final escape by the too rapid 
 movements of the enemy, was forced to engage 
 inside the harbour, and lost thirty of his ships, 
 though the crews escaped to land. The remain-
 
 56 XENOPHON 
 
 der, forty in number, he hauled up under the 
 walls of the town. Callicratidas, on his side, 
 came to moorings in the harbour; and, having 
 command of the exit, blockaded the Athenian 
 within. His next step was to send for the 
 JMethymna^ans in force by land, and to trans- 
 port his army across from Chios. Money also 
 came to him from Cyrus. 
 
 Conon, finding himself besieged by land and 
 sea, without means of providing himself with 
 corn from any quarter, the city crowded with 
 inliabitants, and aid from Athens, whither no 
 news of the late events could be conveyed, im- 
 possible, launched two of the fastest sailing ves- 
 sels of his squadron. These he manned, before 
 daybreak, with the best rowers whom he could 
 pick out of the fleet, stowing away the marines 
 at the same time in the hold of the ships and 
 closing the port shutters. Every day for four 
 days they held out in this fashion, but at even- 
 ing as soon as it was dark he disembarked his 
 men, so that the enemy might not suspect what 
 they were after. On the fifth day, having got 
 in a small stock of provisions, when it was al- 
 ready mid-day and the blockaders were paying 
 little or no attention, and some of them even 
 were taking their siesta, the two ships sailed out 
 of the harbour: the one directing her course to- 
 wards the Hellespont, whilst her companion 
 made for the open sea. Then, on the part of
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK I 57 
 
 the blockaders, there was a rush to the scene of 
 action, as fast as the several crews could get 
 clear of land, in bustle and confusion, cutting 
 away the anchors, and rousing themselves from 
 sleep, for, as chance would have it, they had been 
 breakfasting on shore. Once on board, how- 
 ever, they were soon in hot pursuit of the ship 
 which had started for the open sea, and ere the 
 sun dipped they overhauled her, and after a suc- 
 cessful engagement attached her by cables and 
 towed her back into harbour, crew and all. Her 
 comrade, making for the Hellespont, escaped, 
 and eventually reached Athens with news of the 
 blockade. The first relief was brought to the 
 blockaded fleet by Diomedon, who anchored 
 with twelve vessels in the Mitylensean Narrows. 
 But a sudden attack of Callicratidas, who bore 
 down upon him without warning, cost him ten 
 of his vessels, Diomedon himself escaping with 
 his own ship and one other. 
 
 Now that the position of affairs, including 
 the blockade, was fully known at Athens, a vote 
 was passed to send out a reinforcement of one 
 hundred and ten ships. Every man of ripe age, 
 whether slave or free, was impressed for this 
 service, so that within thirty days the whole one 
 hundred and ten vessels were fully manned and 
 weighed anchor. Amongst those who served in 
 this fleet were also many of the knights. The 
 fleet at once stood out across to Samos, and
 
 58 XENOPHON 
 
 picked up the Samian vessels in that island. The 
 muster-roll was swelled by the addition of more 
 than thirty others from the rest of the allies, to 
 whom the same principle of conscription ap- 
 plied, as also it did to the ships already engaged 
 on foreign service. The actual total, therefore, 
 when all the contingents Λvere collected, was over 
 one hundred and fifty vessels. 
 
 CalHcratidas, hearing that the relief squadron 
 had already reached Samos, left fifty ships, un- 
 der command of Eteonicus, in the harbour of 
 Mitylene, and setting sail with the other one 
 hundred and twenty, hove to for the evening 
 meal off Cape Malea in Lesbos, opposite IMity- 
 lene. It so happened that the Athenians on this 
 day were supping on the islands of Arginusse, 
 which lie opposite Lesbos. In the night the 
 Spartan not only saw their watch-fires, but re- 
 ceived positive information that " these were the 
 Athenians;" and about midnight he got under 
 weigh, intending to fall upon them suddenly. 
 But a violent downpour of rain with thunder 
 and lightning prevented him putting out to sea. 
 By daybreak it had cleared, and he sailed to- 
 wards Arginusae. On their side the Athenian 
 squadron stood out to meet him, with their left 
 wing facing towards the open sea, and drawn 
 up in the following order: Aristocrates, in 
 command of the left wing, with fifteen ships, 
 led the van; next came Diomedon with fifteen
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK I 59 
 
 others, and immediately in rear of Aristocrates 
 and Diomedon, respectively, as their supports, 
 came Pericles and Erasinides. Parallel with 
 Diomedon Λvere the Samians, with their ten ships 
 drawn up in single line, under the command of 
 a Samian officer named Hippeus. Next to these 
 came the ten vessels of the taxiarchs, also in 
 single line, and supporting them, the three ships 
 of the navarchs, Avith any other allied vessels 
 in the squadron. The right wing was entrusted 
 to Protomachus with fifteen ships, and next to 
 him (on the extreme right) was Thrasylus with 
 another division of fifteen. Protomachus was 
 supported by Lysias with an equal number of 
 ships, and Thrasylus by Aristogenes. The ob- 
 ject of this formation was to prevent the enemy 
 from manoeuvring so as to break their line by 
 striking them amidships, since they were infe- 
 rior in sailing power. 
 
 The Lacedaemonians, on the contrary, trust- 
 ing to their superior seamanship, were formed 
 opposite with their ships all in single line, with 
 the special object of manoeuvring so as either 
 to break the enemy's line or to wheel round them. 
 Callicratidas commanded the right wing in per- 
 son. Before the battle the officer who acted as 
 his pilot, the Megarian Ilermon, suggested that 
 it might be well to withdraw the fleet as the 
 Athenian ships were far more numerous. But 
 Callicratidas replied that Sparta would be no
 
 60 XENOPHON 
 
 worse oiF even if he personally should perish, 
 but to flee Avould be disgraceful. And now the 
 fleets approached, and for a long space the bat- 
 tle endured. At first the vessels were engaged 
 in crowded masses, and later on in scattered 
 groups. At length CalHcratidas, as his vessel 
 dashed her beak into her antagonist, was hurled 
 off* into the sea and disappeared. At the same 
 instant Protomachus, with his division on the 
 right, had defeated the enemy's left, and then 
 the flight of the Peloponnesians began towards 
 Chios, though a very considerable body of them 
 made for Phoceea, whilst the Athenians sailed 
 back again to Arginusee. The losses on the side 
 of the Athenians were twenty-five ships, crews 
 and all, with the exception of the few who con- 
 trived to reach dry land. On the Peloponnesian 
 side, nine out of the ten Lacedsemonian ships, 
 and more than sixty belonging to the rest of the 
 allied squadron, were lost. 
 
 After consultation, the Athenian generals 
 agreed that two captains of triremes, Thera- 
 menes and Thrasybulus, accompanied by some of 
 the taxiarchs, should take forty-seven ships and 
 sail to the assistance of the disabled fleet and 
 of the men on board, while the rest of the squad- 
 ron proceeded to attack the enemy's blockading 
 squadron under Eteonicus at Mitylene. In 
 spite of their desire to carry out this resolution, 
 the wind and a violent storm which arose pre-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 61 
 
 vented them. So they set up a trophy, and took 
 up their (juarters for the night. As to Eteoni- 
 cus, the details of the engagement were faith- 
 fully reported to him by the express despatch- 
 boat in attendance. On receipt of the news, 
 however, he sent the despatch-boat out again the 
 way she came, with an injunction to those on 
 board of her to sail off quickly without ex- 
 changing a word with any one. Then on a sud- 
 den they were to return garlanded with wreaths 
 of victory and shouting, " Callicratidas has won 
 a great sea-fight, and the whole Athenian squad- 
 ron is destroyed." This they did, and Eteoni- 
 cus, on his side, as soon as the despatch-boat 
 came sailing in, proceeded to offer sacrifice of 
 thanksgiving in honour of the good news. 
 Meanwliile he gave orders that the troops were 
 to take their evening meal, and that the mas- 
 ters of the trading ships were silently to stow 
 away their goods on board the merchant ships 
 and make sail as fast as the favourable breeze 
 could speed them to Chios. The ships of war 
 were to follow suit with what speed they might. 
 This done, he set fire to his camp, and led off the 
 land forces to JNIethymna. Conon, finding the 
 enemy had made off, and the wind had grown 
 comparatively mild, got his ships afloat, and so 
 fell in with the Athenian squadron, which had 
 by this time set out from Arginusaj. To these 
 he explained the proceedings of Eteonicus. The
 
 62 XENOPHON 
 
 squadron put into Mitylene, and from Mitylene 
 stood across to Chios, and thence, ivithout af- 
 fecting anything further, sailed back to Samos. 
 
 VII. — All the above-named generals, with 
 the exception of Conon, were presently deposed 
 by the home authorities. In addition to Conon 
 two new generals were chosen, Adeimantus and 
 Philocles. Of those concerned in the late vic- 
 tory two never returned to Athens: these were 
 Protomachus and Aristogenes. The other six 
 sailed home. Their names were Pericles, Dio- 
 medon, Lysias, Aristocrates, Thrasylus, and 
 Erasinides. On their arrival Archidemus, the 
 leader of the democracy at that date, who had 
 charge of the two obol fund, inflicted a fine on 
 Erasinides, and accused him before the Dicas- 
 tery^ of having appropriated money derived 
 from the Hellespont, which belonged to the 
 people. He brought a further charge against 
 him of misconduct while acting as general, and 
 the court sentenced him to imprisonment. 
 
 These proceedings in the law, court were fol- 
 lowed by the statement of the generals before 
 the senate^ touching the late victory and the 
 magnitude of the storm. Timocrates then pro- 
 
 2 A legal tribunal or court of law. At Athens the free citizens 
 constitutionally sworn and impannelled sat as " dicasts " ("jury- 
 men," or rather as a bench of judges) to hear cases. Any par- 
 ticular board of dicasts formed a " dicastery." 
 
 3 This is the Senate or Council of Five Hundred. One of its 
 chief duties was to prepare measures for discussion in the assem-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 63 
 
 posed that the other five generals should be put 
 in custody and handed over to the public as- 
 sembly.* XA^iereupon the senate committed them 
 all to prison. Then came the meeting of the 
 public assembly, in which others, and more par- 
 ticularly Theramenes, formally accused the gen- 
 erals. He insisted that they ought to show 
 cause why they had not picked up the ship- 
 wrecked crews. To prove that there had been 
 no attempt on their parts to attach blame to 
 others, he might point, as conclusive testimony, 
 to the despatch sent by the generals themselves 
 to the senate and the people, in which they at- 
 tributed the whole disaster to the storm, and 
 nothing else. After this the generals each in 
 turn made a defence, which was necessarily lim- 
 ited to a few words, since no right of address- 
 ing the assembly at length was allowed by law. 
 Their explanation of the occurrences was that, 
 in order to be free to sail against the enemy 
 themselves, they had devolved the duty of pick- 
 ing up the shipwrecked crews upon certain com- 
 petent captains of men-of-war, who had them- 
 selves been generals in their time, to wit, Thera- 
 menes and Thrasybulus, and others of like stamp. 
 
 bly. It had also a certain amount of judicial power, hearing 
 complaints and inflicting fines up to fifty drachma}. It sat daily, 
 a " prytany " of fifty members of each of the ten tribes in rota- 
 tion holding office for a month in turn. 
 
 •* This is the great Public Assembly (the Ecclesia), consisting 
 of all genuine Athenian citizens of more than twenty years of 
 age.
 
 64 XENOPHON 
 
 If blame could attach to any one at all with 
 regard to the duty in question, those to whom 
 their orders had been given were the sole per- 
 sons they could hold responsible. " But," they 
 went on to say, " we will not, because these very 
 persons have denounced us, invent a lie, and say 
 that Theramenes and Thrasybulus are to blame, 
 when the truth of the matter is that the mag- 
 nitude of the storm alone prevented the burial 
 of the dead and the rescue of the living." In 
 proof of their contention, they produced the 
 pilots and numerous other witnesses from among 
 those present at the engagement. By these ar- 
 guments they were in a fair way to persuade the 
 people of their innocence. Indeed many pri- 
 vate citizens rose wishing to become bail for the 
 accused, but it was resolved to defer decision 
 till another meeting of the assembly. It was 
 indeed already so late that it would have been 
 impossible to see to count the show of hands. 
 It was further resolved that the senate mean- 
 while should prepare a measure, to be introduced 
 at the next assembly, as to the mode in which 
 the accused should take their trial. 
 
 Then came the festival of the Apaturia, with 
 its family gatherings of fathers and kinsfolk. 
 Accordingly the party of Theramenes procured 
 numbers of people clad in black apparel, and 
 close-shaven, who were to go in and present 
 themselves before the public assembly in the
 
 IIET.r.ENICA BOOK I 65 
 
 middle of the festival, as relatives, presumably, 
 of the men Λνΐιο had perished; and they per- 
 suaded Callixenus to accuse the generals in the 
 senate. The next step was to convoke the as- 
 sembly, when the senate laid before it the pro- 
 posal just passed by their body, at the instance 
 of Callixenus, which ran as follows: " Seeing 
 that both the parties to this case, to wit, the 
 prosecutors of the generals on the one hand, and 
 the accused themselves in their defence on the 
 other, have been heard in the late meeting of the 
 assembly; we propose that the people of Athens 
 now record their votes, one and all, by their 
 tribes; that a couple of voting urns be placed 
 for the convenience of each several tribe; and 
 the public crier in the hearing of each several 
 tribe proclaim the mode of voting as follows: 
 ' Let every one who finds the generals guilty of 
 not rescuing the heroes of the late sea fight de- 
 posit his vote in urn No. 1. Let him who is of 
 the contrary opinion deposit his vote in urn No. 
 2. Further, in the event of the aforesaid gen- 
 erals being found guilty, let death be the pen- 
 alty. Let the guilty persons be delivered over 
 to the eleven. Let their property be confiscated 
 to the State, with the exception of one tithe, 
 which falls to the goddess.' " 
 
 Now there came forward in the assembly a 
 man, who said that he had escaped drowning by 
 clinging to a meal tub. The poor fellows per-
 
 66 XENOPHON 
 
 ishing around him had commissioned him, if he 
 succeeded in saving himself, to tell the people 
 of Athens how bravely they had fought for 
 their fatherland, and how the generals had left 
 them there to drown. 
 
 Presently Euryptolemus, the son of Peisia- 
 nax, and others served notice of indictment on 
 Callixenus, insisting that his proposal was un- 
 constitutional, and this view of the case was ap- 
 plauded by some members of the assembly. But 
 the majority kept crying out that it was mon- 
 strous if the people were to be hindered by any 
 stray individual from doing what seemed to 
 them right. And then Lyciscus, embodying the 
 spirit of those cries, formally proposed that if 
 these persons would not abandon their action, 
 they should be tried by the same vote along with 
 the generals: a proposition to which the mob 
 gave vociferous assent; and so these were com- 
 pelled to abandon their summonses. Again, 
 when some of the Prytanes objected to put a 
 resolution to the vote which was in itself uncon- 
 stitutional, Callixenus again got up and accused 
 them in the same terms, and the shouting began 
 again. " Yes, summons all who refuse," until the 
 Prytanes, in alarm, all agreed with one excep- 
 tion to permit the voting. This obstinate dis- 
 sentient was Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, 
 who insisted that he would do nothing except in 
 accordance with the law. After this Euryptole-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 67 
 
 imis rose and spoke in behalf of the generals. 
 He said: 
 
 " I stand here, men of Athens, partly to ac- 
 cuse Pericles, though he is a close and intimate 
 connection of my own, and Diomedon, who is 
 my friend, and partly to urge certain considera- 
 tions on their behalf, but chiefly to press upon 
 you what seems to me the best course for the 
 State collectively. I hold them to blame in that 
 they dissuaded their colleagues from their in- 
 tention to send a despatch to the senate and this 
 assembly, which should have informed you of 
 the orders given to Theramenes and Thrasybu- 
 lus to take forty-seven ships of war and pick 
 up the shipwrecked crews, and of the neglect 
 of the two officers to carry out those orders. 
 And it follows that though the offence was 
 committed by one or two, the responsibility must 
 be shared by all; and in return for kindness in 
 the past, they are in danger at present of sacri- 
 ficing their lives to the machinations of these 
 very men, and others whom I could mention. 
 In danger, do I say, of losing their lives? No, 
 not so, if you will suffer me to persuade you to 
 do what is just and right; if you will only adopt 
 such a course as shall enable you best to dis- 
 cover the truth and shall save you from too late 
 repentance, when you find you have transgressed 
 irremediably against heaven and your own 
 selves. In what I urge there is no trap nor
 
 68 XENOPHON 
 
 plot whereby you can be deceived by me or any 
 other man; it is a straightforward course which 
 will enable you to discover and punish the of- 
 fender by whatever process you like, collectively 
 or individually. Let them have, if not more, 
 at any rate one whole day to make what defence 
 they can for themselves; and trust to your own 
 unbiassed judgment to guide you to a right con- 
 clusion. 
 
 " You know, men of Athens, the exceeding 
 stringency of the decree of Cannonus, which or- 
 ders that man, whosoever he be, who is guilty 
 of treason against the people of Athens, to be 
 put in irons, and so to meet the charge against 
 him before the people. If he be convicted, he 
 is to be thrown into the Barathron and perish, 
 and the property of such an one is to be con- 
 fiscated, with the exception of the tithe which 
 falls to the goddess. I call upon you to try 
 these generals in accordance with this decree. 
 Yes, and so help me God — if it please you, be- 
 gin with my own kinsman Pericles, for base 
 would it be on my part to make him of more 
 account than the whole of the State. Or, if 
 you prefer, try them by that other law, which 
 is directed against robbers of temples and be- 
 trayers of their country, which says: If a man 
 betray his city or rob a sacred temple of the 
 gods, he shall be tried before a law court, and 
 if he be convicted, his body shall not be buried
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 69 
 
 in Attica, and his goods shall be confiscated to 
 the State. Take your choice as between these 
 two laws, men of Athens, and let the prisoners 
 be tried by one or other. Let three portions of 
 a day be assigned to each respectively, one por- 
 tion wherein they shall listen to their accusa- 
 tion, a second wherein they shall make their de- 
 fence, and a third wherein you shall meet and 
 give your votes in due order on the question of 
 their guilt or innocence. By this procedure the 
 malefactors will receive the desert of their mis- 
 deeds in full, and those who are innocent will 
 owe to you, men of Athens, the recovery of 
 their liberty, in place of unmerited destruction. 
 " On your side, in trying the accused by rec- 
 ognised legal procedure, you will show that you 
 obey the dictates of pious feeling, and can re- 
 gard the sanctity of an oath, instead of join- 
 ing hands with our enemies the Lacedaemonians 
 and fighting their battles. For is it not to fight 
 their battles, if you take their conquerors, the 
 men who deprived them of seventy vessels, and 
 at the moment of victory send them to perdi- 
 tion untried and in the teeth of the law? What 
 are you afraid of, that you press forward with 
 such hot haste? Do you imagine that you may 
 be robbed of the power of life and death over 
 whom you please, should you condescend to a 
 legal trial? but that you are safe if you take shel- 
 ter behind an illegality, like the illegality of
 
 70 XENOPHON 
 
 Callixenus, when he worked upon the senate to 
 propose to this assembly to deal with the ac- 
 cused by a single vote? But consider, you may 
 actually put to death an innocent man, and then 
 repentance will one day visit you too late. Be- 
 think you how painful and unavailing remorse 
 will then be, and more particularly if your error 
 has cost a fellow-creature his life. ΛVhat a 
 travesty of justice it would be if in the case of a 
 man like Aristarchus, who first tried to destroy 
 the democracy and then betrayed Oenoe to our 
 enemy the Thebans, you granted him a day for 
 his defence, consulting his wishes and conceded 
 to him all the other benefits of the law; whereas 
 now you are proposing to deprive of these same 
 privileges your own generals, who in every way 
 conformed to your views and defeated your ene- 
 mies. Do not you, of all men, I implore you, 
 men of Athens, act thus. AVhj^ these laws are 
 your own, to them, beyond all else j^ou owe your 
 greatness. Guard them jealously; in nothing, 
 I implore you, act without their sanction. 
 
 " But now, turn for a moment and consider 
 with me the actual occurrences which have 
 created the suspicion of misconduct on the part 
 of our late generals. The sea-fight had been 
 fought and won, and the ships had returned to 
 land, when Diomedon urged that the whole 
 squadron should sail out in line and pick up the 
 wrecks and floating crews. Erasinides was in
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 71 
 
 favour of all the vessels sailing as fast as pos- 
 sible to deal v^^ith the enemy's forces at Mity- 
 lene. And Thrasylus represented that both ob- 
 jects could be effected, by leaving one division 
 of the fleet there, and with the rest sailing against 
 the enemy ; and if this resolution were agreed to, 
 he advised that each of the eight generals should 
 leave three ships of his own division with the 
 ten vessels of the taxiarchs, the ten Samian ves- 
 sels, and the three belonging to the navarchs. 
 These added together make forty-seven, four 
 for each of the lost vessels, twelve in number. 
 Among the taxiarchs left behind, two were 
 Thrasybulus and Theramenes, the man who in 
 the late meeting of this assembly undertook to 
 accuse the generals. With the remainder of the 
 fleet they were to sail to attack the enemy's fleet. 
 Everything, you must admit, was duly and ad- 
 mirably planned. It is only common justice, 
 therefore, that those whose duty it was to at- 
 tack the enemy should render an account for all 
 miscarriage of operations against the enemy; 
 while those who were commissioned to pick up 
 the dead and dying should, if they failed to 
 carry out the instructions of the generals, be 
 put on trial to explain the reasons of the failure. 
 This indeed I may say in behalf of both parties. 
 It was really the storm which, in spite of what 
 the generals had planned, prevented anything 
 being done. There are witnesses ready to attest
 
 72 XENOPHON 
 
 the truth of this: the men who escaped as by a 
 miracle, and among these one of these very gen- 
 erals, Λvho was on a sinking ship and was saved. 
 And this man, who needed picking up as much 
 as anybody at that moment, is, they insist, to be 
 tried by one and the same vote as those who 
 neglected to perform their orders! Once more, 
 I beg you, men of Athens, to accept your vic- 
 tory and your good fortune, instead of behaving 
 like the desperate victims of misfortune and de- 
 feat. Recognise the finger of divine necessity; 
 do not incur the reproach of stony-heartedness 
 by discovering treason where there was merely 
 powerlessness, and condemning as guilty those 
 who were prevented by the storm from carry- 
 ing out their instructions. Nay ! you will better 
 satisfy the demands of justice by crowning 
 these conquerors with wreaths of victory than 
 by punishing them with death at the instigation 
 of wicked men." 
 
 At the conclusion of his speech Euryptolemus 
 proposed, as an amendment, that the prisoners 
 should, in accordance with the decree of Can- 
 nonus, be tried each separately, as against the 
 proposal of the senate to try them all by a sin- 
 gle vote. 
 
 At the show of hands the tellers gave the ma- 
 jority in favour of Euryptolemus's amendment, 
 but upon the application of Menecles, who took 
 formal exception to this decision, the show of
 
 HELLENICA BOOK I 73 
 
 luiiuls was gone through again, and now the 
 verdict was in favour of the resolution of the 
 senate. At a later date the balloting was made, 
 and by the votes recorded the eight generals 
 were condemned, and the six who were in Athens 
 were put to death. 
 
 Not long after, repentance seized the Athe- 
 nians, and they passed a decree authorising the 
 public prosecution of those who had deceived the 
 people, and the appointment of proper securi- 
 ties for their persons until the trial was over. 
 Callixenus was one of these committed for trial. 
 There were, besides Callixenus, four others 
 against whom true bills were declared, and they 
 were all five imprisoned by their sureties. But 
 all subsequently effected their escape before the 
 trial, 'at the time of the sedition in which Cleo- 
 phon was killed. Callixenus eventually came 
 back when the party in Piraeus returned to the 
 city, at the date of the amnesty, but only to 
 die of hunger, an object of universal detesta- 
 tion.
 
 HELLENICA 
 
 BOOK II 
 
 TO return to Eteonicus and his troops in 
 Chios. During summer they were well 
 able to support themselves on the fruits 
 of the season, or by labouring for hire in dif- 
 ferent parts of the island, but with the approach 
 of winter these means of subsistence began to 
 fail. Ill-clad at the same time, and ill-shod, they 
 fell to caballing and arranging plans to attack 
 the city of Chios. It was agreed amongst them, 
 that in order to gauge their numbers, every 
 member of the conspiracy should carry a reed.^ 
 Eteonicus got wind of the design, but was at 
 a loss how to deal with it, considering the num- 
 ber of these reed-bearers. To make an open 
 attack upon them seemed dangerous. It would 
 probably lead to a rush to arms, in which the 
 conspirators would seize the city and commence 
 hostilities, and, in the event of their success, 
 everything hitherto achieved would be lost. Or 
 again, the destruction on his part of many fel- 
 low-creatures and allies was a terrible alterna- 
 tive, which would place the Spartans in an unen- 
 
 1 The modernity of this passage will appeal to all. Methods 
 of conspirators have changed little since the beginning of time. 
 
 74
 
 'MM
 
 Two Besieging Towers 
 
 A Tower of Twenty Stories and a Tower with 
 Drawbridge and Suspended Battering 
 Ram, both Towers being Mounted on 
 IFheels. After a Rare Etching of 
 the Sixteenth Century, by J. 
 Clark, now in the Brit- 
 ish Museum
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 75 
 
 viable light with regard to the rest of Hellas, 
 and render the soldiers ill-disposed to the cause 
 in hand. Accordingly he took with him fifteen 
 men, armed with daggers, and marched through 
 the city. Falling in with one of the reed-bear- 
 ers, a man suffering from ophthalmia, who was 
 returning from the surgeon's house, he put him 
 to death. This led to some uproar, and people 
 asked why the man was thus slain. By Eteoni- 
 cus's orders the answer was set afloat, " because 
 he carried a reed." As the explanation circu- 
 lated, one reed-bearer after another threw away 
 the symbol, each one saying to himself, as he 
 heard the reason given, " I had better not be 
 seen with this." After a while Eteonicus called 
 a meeting of the Chians, and imposed upon them 
 a contribution of money, on the ground that 
 with pay in their pockets the sailors would have 
 no temptation to revolutionary projects. The 
 Chians acquiesced. Whereupon Eteonicus 
 promptly ordered his crews to get on board their 
 vessels. He then rowed alongside each ship in 
 turn, and addressed the men at some length in 
 terms of encouragement and cheery admonition, 
 just as though he knew nothing of what had 
 taken place, and so distributed a month's pay 
 to every man on board. 
 
 After this the Chians and the other allies held 
 a meeting in Ephesus, and, considering the pres- 
 ent posture of aff*airs, determined to send am-
 
 76 XENOPHON 
 
 bassadors to Lacedeemon with a statement of the 
 facts, and a request that Lysander might be 
 sent out to take command of the fleet. Lysan- 
 der's high reputation among the alHes dated 
 back to his former period of office, when as ad- 
 miral he had won the naval victory of Notium. 
 The ambassadors accordingly were despatched, 
 accompanied by envoys also from Cyrus, 
 charged with the same message. The Lacedae- 
 monians responded by sending them Lysander 
 as second in command, with Aracus as admiral, 
 since it was contrary to their custom that the 
 same man should be admiral twice. At the 
 same time the fleet was entrusted to Lysander. 
 It was in this year that Cyrus put Auto- 
 boesaces and Mitrseus to death. These were the 
 sons of the sister of Dariseus^ (the daughter of 
 Xerxes, the father of Darius). He put them 
 to death for neglecting, when they met him, 
 to thrust their hands into the sleeve (or kore), 
 which is a tribute of respect paid to the king 
 alone. This kore is longer than the ordinary 
 sleeve, so long, in fact, that a man with his hand 
 inside is rendered helpless. In consequence of 
 this act on the part of Cyrus, Hieramenes and 
 his wife urged upon Dariseus the danger of 
 overlooking such excessive insolence on the part 
 
 2 Dariaeus, i. e., Darius, but the spelling of the name is cor- 
 rect, and occurs in Ctesias, though in the Anabasis we have the 
 spelling Darius.
 
 IIKLLENICA BOOK II 77 
 
 of the young' prince, and Darianis, on the plea 
 of sickness, sent a special embassy to summon 
 Cyrus to his bedside. 
 
 B. C. 405. — In the following year Lysander 
 arrived at Ephesus, and sent for Eteonicus with 
 his ships from Chios, and collected all other ves- 
 sels elsewhere to be found. His time was now 
 devoted to refitting the old ships and having new 
 ones built in Antandrus. He also made a jour- 
 ney to the court of Cyrus with a request for 
 money. All Cyrus could say was, that not only 
 the money sent by the king was spent, but much 
 more besides; and he pointed out the various 
 sums which each of the admirals had received, 
 but at the same time he gave him what he asked 
 for. Furnished with this money, Lysander ap- 
 pointed captains to the different men-of-war, 
 and remitted to the sailors their arrears of pay. 
 Meanwhile the Athenian generals, on their side, 
 were devoting their energies to the improvement 
 of their navy at Samos. 
 
 It was now Cyrus's turn to send for Lysan- 
 der. It was the moment at which the envoy from 
 his father had arrived with the message : " Your 
 father is on his sick-bed and desires your pres- 
 ence." The king lay at Thamneria, in JNIedia, 
 near the territory of the Cadusians, against 
 whom he had marched to put down a revolt. 
 When Ijysander presented himself, Cyrus was 
 urgent with him not to engage the Athenians
 
 78 XENOPHON 
 
 at sea unless he had many more ships than they. 
 " The king," he added, " and I have plenty of 
 wealth, so that, as far as money goes, you can 
 man plenty of vessels." He then consigned to 
 him all the tributes from the several cities which 
 belonged to him personally, and gave him the 
 ready money which he had as a gift ; and finally, 
 reminding him of the sincere friendship he en- 
 tertained towards the state of Lacedaemon, as 
 Λν^Ι as to himself personally, he set out up 
 country to visit his father. Lysander, finding 
 himself thus left with the complete control of 
 the property of Cyrus (during the absence of 
 that prince, so summoned to the bedside of his 
 father), was able to distribute pay to his troops, 
 after which he set sail for the Ceramic Gulf 
 of Caria. Here he stormed a city in alliance 
 with the Athenians named Cedreae, and on the 
 f olloΛΛqng day's assault took it, and reduced the 
 inhabitants to slavery. These were of a mixed 
 Hellene and barbarian stock. From Cedrese he 
 continued his voyage to Rhodes. The Athe- 
 nians meanwhile, using Samos as their base of 
 operations, were employed in devastating the 
 king's territory, or in swooping down upon 
 Chios and Ephesus, and in general were pre- 
 paring for a naval battle, haΛάng but lately 
 chosen three new generals in addition to those 
 already in office, whose names were Menander, 
 Tydeus and Cephisodotus. Now Lysander,
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 79 
 
 leaving Rhodes, and coasting along Ionia, made 
 his way to the Hellespont, having an eye to the 
 passage of vessels through the Straits, and, in a 
 more liostile sense, on the cities which had re- 
 volted from Sparta. The Athenians also set 
 sail from Chios, but stood out to the open sea, 
 since the seaboard of Asia was hostile to them. 
 
 Lysander was again on the move; leaving 
 Abydos, he passed up channel to Lampsacus, 
 which toΛvn was allied with Athens; the men of 
 Abydos and the rest of the troops advancing by 
 land, under the command of the Lacedaemonian 
 Thorax. They then attacked and took by storm 
 the town, which was wealthy, and with its stores 
 of wine and wheat and other commodities was 
 pillaged by the soldiery. All free-born persons, 
 however, were without exception released by Ly- 
 sander. And now the Athenian fleet, following 
 close on his heels, came to moorings at Elaeus, in 
 the Chersonesus, one hundred and eighty sail in 
 all. It was not until they had reached this place, 
 and were getting their early meal, that the news 
 of what had happened at Lampsacus reached 
 them. Then they instantly set sail again to Ses- 
 tos, and having halted long enough merely to 
 take in stores, sailed on further to ^gospotami, 
 a point facing Lampsacus, where the Hellespont 
 is not quite two miles broad. Here they took 
 their evening meal. 
 
 The night following, or rather early next
 
 80 XENOPHON 
 
 morning, with the first streak of dawn, Lysan- 
 der gave the signal for the men to take their 
 breakfasts and get on board their vessels; and 
 so, having got all ready for a naval engagement, 
 with liis ports closed and movable bulwarks at- 
 tached, he issued the order that no one was to 
 stir from his post or put out to sea. As the 
 sun rose the Athenians drew up their vessels 
 facing the harbour, in line of battle ready for 
 action; but Lysander declining to come out to 
 meet them, as the day advanced they retired 
 again to j3Egospotami. Then Lysander ordered 
 the swiftest of his ships to follow the Athenians, 
 and as soon as the crews had disembarked, to 
 watch what they did, sail back, and report to 
 him. Until these look-outs returned he would 
 permit no disembarkation from his ships. This 
 performance he repeated for four successive 
 days, and each day the Athenians put out to sea 
 and challenged an engagement. 
 
 But now Alcibiades, from one of his for- 
 tresses, could espy the position of his fellow-coun- 
 try-men, moored on an open beach beyond reach 
 of any city, and forced to send for supplies to 
 Sestos, which was nearly two miles distant, while 
 their enemies were safely lodged in a harbour, 
 with a city adjoining, and everything within 
 reach. The situation did not please him, and 
 he advised them to shift their anchorage to Ses- 
 tos, where they would have the advantage of a
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 81 
 
 harbour and a city. " Once there," he con- 
 cluded, " you can engage the enemy whenever it 
 suits you." But the generals, and more partic- 
 ularly Tydeus and JNIenander, bade him go 
 about his business. " We are generals now — 
 not you," they said; and so he went away. And, 
 now for five days in succession the Athenians 
 had sailed out to offer battle, and for the fifth 
 time retired, followed by the same swift sailers 
 of the enemy. But this time Lysander's orders 
 to the vessels so sent in pursuit were, that as 
 soon as they saw the enemy's crew fairly disem- 
 barked and dispersed along the shores of the 
 Chersonesus (a practice, it should be mentioned, 
 which had grown upon them from day to day 
 owing to the distance at which eatables had to 
 be purchased, and out of sheer contempt, no 
 doubt, of Lysander, who refused to accept bat- 
 tle), they were to begin their return voyage, 
 and when in mid-channel to hoist a shield. The 
 orders were punctually carried out, and Lysan- 
 der at once signalled to his whole squadron to 
 put across with all speed, while Thorax, with 
 the land forces, was to march parallel with the 
 fleet along the coast. Aware of the enemy's 
 fleet, which he could see bearing down upon 
 him, Conon had only time to signal to the crews 
 to join their ships and rally to the rescue with 
 all their might. But the men were scattered 
 far and wide, and some of the vessels had only
 
 82 XENOPHON 
 
 two out of their three banks of rowers, some 
 only a single one, while others again ΛveΓe com- 
 pletely empty. Conon's own ship, ^\dth seven 
 others in attendance on him and the Paralus,^ 
 put out to sea, a little cluster of nine ves- 
 sels, with their full complement of men; but 
 every one of the remaining one hundred and 
 seventy-one vessels were captured by Lysan- 
 der on the beach. As to the men them- 
 selves, the large majority of them were eas- 
 ily made prisoners on shore, a few only es- 
 caping to the small fortresses of the neighbour- 
 hood. Meanwhile Conon and his nine vessels 
 made good their escape. For himself, knowing 
 that the fortune of Athens was ruined, he put 
 into Abarnis, the promontory of Lampsacus, 
 and there picked up the great sails of Lysan- 
 der's ships, and then with eight ships set sail him- 
 self to seek refuge with Evagoras in Cyprus, 
 while the Paralus started for Athens with tid- 
 ings of what had taken place. 
 
 Lysander, on his side, conveyed the ships and 
 prisoners and all other spoil back to Lampsacus, 
 having on board some of the Athenian generals, 
 notably Philocles and Adeimantus. On the 
 very day of these achievements he despatched 
 Theopompus, a Milesian privateersman, to 
 Lacedasmon to report what had taken place. 
 This envoy arrived within three days and de- 
 
 3 The Paralus — the Athenian sacred vessel.
 
 TTELLENICA BOOK II 83 
 
 livcrod his message. I^ysander's next step was 
 to convene the alhes and bid them dehberate as 
 to the treatment of the prisoners. Many were 
 the accusations here levied against the Athenians. 
 There was talk of crimes committed against the 
 laws of Hellas, and of cruelties sanctioned by 
 popular decrees; which, had they conquered in 
 the late sea-fight, would have been carried out; 
 such as the proposal to cut off the right hand 
 of every prisoner taken alive, and lastly the ill- 
 treatment of two captured men-of-war, a Co- 
 rinthian and an Andrian vessel, when every man 
 on board had been hurled headlong down the 
 cliff. Philocles was the very general of the 
 Athenians who had so ruthlessly destroyed those 
 men. Many other tales were told; and at length 
 a resolution was passed to put all the Athenian 
 prisoners, with the exception of Adeimantus, to 
 death. He alone, it was pleaded, had taken 
 exception to the proposal to cut off the prison- 
 ers' hands. On the other hand, he was himself 
 accused by some people of having betrayed the 
 fleet. As to Philocles, Lysander put to him 
 one question, as the officer who had thrown the 
 Corinthians and Andrians down the cliff: 
 What fate did the man deserve to suffer who 
 had embarked on so cruel a course of illegality 
 against Hellenes? and so delivered him to the 
 executioner. 
 
 II. — When he had set the affairs of Lampsa-
 
 84 XENOPHON 
 
 cus in order, Lysander sailed to Byzantium and 
 Chalcedon, where the inhabitants, having first 
 dismissed the Athenian garrison under a flag 
 of truce, admitted him within their walls. Those 
 citizens of Byzantium, who had betrayed By- 
 zantium into the hands of Alcibiades, fled as 
 exiles into Pontus, but subsequently betaking 
 themselves to Athens, became Athenian citizens. 
 In dealing with the Athenian garrisons, and in- 
 deed with all Athenians wheresoever found, Ly- 
 sander made it a rule to give them safe conduct 
 to Athens, and to Athens only, in the certainty 
 that the larger the number collected within the 
 city and Piraeus, the more quickly the want of 
 necessaries of life would make itself felt. And 
 now, leaving Sthenelaus, a Laconian, as gov- 
 ernor-general of Byzantium and Chalcedon, he 
 sailed back himself to Lampsacus and devoted 
 himself to refitting his ships. 
 
 It was night when the Paralus reached Athens 
 with her evil tidings, on receipt of which a bit- 
 ter wail of woe broke forth. From Pirasus, fol- 
 lowing the line of the long walls up to the heart 
 of the city, it swept and swelled, as each man 
 to his neighbour passed on the news. On that 
 night no man slept. There was mourning and 
 sorrow for those that w^re lost, but the lamen- 
 tation for the dead was merged in even deeper 
 sorrow for themselves, as they pictured the evils 
 they were about to suffer, the Hke of which they
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 85 
 
 had themselves inflicted upon the men of Melos, 
 who Λvere colonists of the Lacedsemonians, when 
 they mastered them by siege. Or on the men 
 of Ilisti^ea; on Scione and Torone; on the 
 iEginetans, and many another Hellene city. 
 On the following day the public assembly met, 
 and, after debate, it was resolved to block up 
 all the harbours save one, to put the walls in a 
 state of defence, to post guards at various 
 points, and to make all other necessary prepara- 
 tion for a siege. Such were the concerns of the 
 men of Athens. 
 
 Lysander presently left the Hellespont with 
 two hundred sail and arrived at Lesbos, where 
 he established a new order of things in Mitylene 
 and the other cities of the island. Meanwhile 
 he despatched Eteonicus with a squadron of 
 ten ships to the northern coasts, where that of- 
 ficer brought about a revolution of affairs which 
 placed the whole region in the hands of Lace- 
 daemon. Indeed, in a moment of time, after the 
 sea-fight, the whole of Hellas had revolted from 
 Athens, with the solitary exception of the men 
 of Samos. These, having massacred the nota- 
 bles, held the state under their control. After 
 a while Lysander sent messages to Agis at De- 
 celeia, and to Lacedsemon, announcing his 
 approach with a squadron of two hundred 
 sail. 
 
 In obedience to a general order of Pausanias,
 
 86 XENOPHON 
 
 the other king of Lacedsemon, a levy in force 
 of the Lacedeemonians and all the rest of Pelo- 
 ponnesus, except the Argives, was set in motion 
 for a campaign. As soon as the several contin- 
 gents had arrived, the king put himself at their 
 head and marched against Athens, encamping 
 in the gymnasium of the Academy, as it is 
 called. Lysander had now reached ^Egina, 
 where, having got together as many of the 
 former inhabitants as possible, he formally re- 
 instated them in their city; and what he did in 
 behalf of the ^Eginetans, he did also in behalf 
 of the Melians, and of the rest who had been 
 deprived of their countries. He then pillaged 
 the island of Salamis, and finally came to moor- 
 ings off PirEeus with one hundred and fifty 
 ships of the line, and established a strict block- 
 ade against all merchant ships entering that 
 harbour. 
 
 The Athenians, finding themselves besieged 
 by land and sea, were in sore perplexity what 
 to do. Without ships, without allies, Avithout 
 provisions, the belief gained hold upon them 
 that there was no Λvay of escape. They must 
 now, in their turn, suffer what they had them- 
 selves inflicted upon others; not in retaliation, 
 indeed, for ills received, but out of sheer inso- 
 lence, overriding the citizens of petty states, and 
 for no better reason than that these were allies 
 of the very men now at their gates. In this
 
 IIKLLENICA BOOK II 87 
 
 frame of mind they enfranchised those who at 
 an}'^ time had lost their civil rif^hts, and schooled 
 themselves to endurance; and, alheit many suc- 
 ciimhed to starvation, no thought of truce or 
 reconciliation with their foes was breathed. But 
 when the stock of corn was absolutely insuffi- 
 cient, they sent an embassage to Agis, proposing 
 to become allies of the Lacedaemonians on the 
 sole condition of keeping their fortification 
 walls and Piraeus; and to draw up articles of 
 treaty on these terms. Agis bade them betake 
 themselves to Lace daemon, seeing that he had 
 no authority to act himself. With this answer 
 the ambassadors returned to Athens, and were 
 forthwith sent on to Lacedsemon. On reaching 
 Sellasia, a town in Laconian territory, they 
 waited till they got their answer from the 
 ephors, who, having learnt their terms (which 
 were identical with those already proposed to 
 Agis), bade them instantly to be gone, and, if 
 they really desired peace, to come with other 
 proposals, the fruit of happier reflection. Thus 
 the ambassadors returned home, and reported 
 the result of their embassage, whereupon de- 
 spondency fell upon all. It was a painful re- 
 flection that in the end they would be sold into 
 slavery; and meanwhile, pending the return of 
 a second embassy, many must needs fall victims 
 of starvation. The razing of their fortifications 
 was not a solution which any one cared to rec-
 
 88 XENOPHON 
 
 ommend. A senator, Archestratus, had indeed 
 put the question in the senate, whether it were 
 not best to make peace with the Lacedaemonians 
 on such terms as they were Λvilling to propose; 
 but he was thrown into prison. The Laconian 
 proposals referred to involved the destruction 
 of both long walls for a space of more than a 
 mile. And a decree had been passed, making it 
 illegal to submit any such proposition about the 
 walls. Things having reached this pass, Thera- 
 menes made a proposal in the public assembly 
 as follows: If they chose to send him as an 
 ambassador to Lysander, he would go and find 
 out why the Lacedsemonians were so unyield- 
 ing about the walls; whether it was they really 
 intended to enslave the city, or merely that they 
 wanted a guarantee of good faith. Despatched 
 accordingly, he lingered on with Lysander for 
 three whole months and more, watching for the 
 time when the Athenians, at the last pinch of 
 starvation, would be willing to accede to any 
 terms that might be offered. At last, in the 
 fourth month, he returned and reported to the 
 public assembly that Lysander had detained 
 him all this while, and had ended by bidding him 
 betake himself to Lacedeemon, since he had no 
 authority himself to answer his questions, which 
 must be addressed directly to the ephors. After 
 this Theramenes was chosen with nine others to 
 go to Lacedaemon as ambassadors with full
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 89 
 
 ])owers. Meanwhile Lysander had sent an 
 Athenian exile, named Aristoteles, in company 
 of certain Lacedaemonians, to Sparta to report 
 to the board of ephors how he had answered 
 Theramenes, that they, and they alone, had 
 supreme authority in matters of peace and 
 war. 
 
 Theramenes and his companions presently 
 reached Sellasia, and being here questioned as 
 to the reason of their visit, replied that they had 
 full powers to treat of peace. After which the 
 ephors ordered them to be summoned to their 
 presence. On their arrival a general assembly 
 was convened, in which the Corinthians and 
 Thebans more particularly, though their views 
 were shared by many other Hellenes also, urged 
 the meeting not to come to terms with the Athe- 
 nians, but to destroy them. The Lacedaemo- 
 nians replied that they would never reduce to 
 slavery a city which was itself an integral por- 
 tion of Hellas, and had performed a great and 
 noble service to Hellas in the most perilous of 
 emergencies. On the contrary, they were will- 
 ing to offer peace on the terms now specified — 
 namely, " That the long walls and the fortifica- 
 tions of Piraeus should be destroyed; that the 
 Athenian fleet, with the exception of twelve ves- 
 sels, should be surrendered ; that the exiles should 
 be restored ; and lastly, that the Athenians should 
 acknowledge the headship of Sparta in peace
 
 90 XENOPHON 
 
 and war, leaving to her the choice of friends 
 and foes, and following her lead by land and 
 sea." Such were the terms which Theramenes 
 and the rest who acted with him were able to 
 report on their return to Athens. As they en- 
 tered the city, a vast crowd met them, trembling 
 lest their mission should have proved fruitless. 
 For indeed delay was no longer possible, so long 
 already was the list of victims daily perishing 
 from starvation. On the day following, the am- 
 bassadors delivered their report, stating the 
 terms upon which the Lacedaemonians were will- 
 ing to make peace. Theramenes acted as 
 spokesman, insisting that they ought to obey the 
 Lacedsemonians and pull down the walls. A 
 small minority raised their voice in opposition, 
 but the majority were strongly in favour of the 
 proposition, and the resolution was passed to ac- 
 cept the peace. After that, Lysander sailed 
 into the Piraeus, and the exiles were readmitted. 
 And so they fell to levelling the fortifications 
 and walls with much enthusiasm, to the accom- 
 paniment of female flute-players, deeming that 
 day the beginning of liberty to Greece. 
 
 Thus the year drew to its close — during its 
 middle months took place the accession of Dio- 
 nysius, the son of Hermocrates the Syracusan, 
 to the tyranny of Syracuse; an incident itself 
 preceded by a victory gained over the Cartha- 
 ginians by the Syracusans; the reduction of
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 91 
 
 Agrigentum through famine by the Carthagin- 
 ians themselves; and the exodus of the Sicilian 
 Greeks from that city. 
 
 III. B. C. 404. — In the following year the 
 people passed a resolution to choose thirty men 
 who were to draft a constitution based on the 
 ancestral laws of the State. The following 
 Λvere chosen to act on this committee: Poly- 
 chares, Critias, Melobius, Hippolochus, Eu- 
 cleides, Hiero, Mnesilochus, Chremo, Thera- 
 menes, Aresias, Diodes, Phsedrias, Chaereleos, 
 Anffitius, Piso, Sophocles, Enatosthenes, Chari- 
 cles, Onomacles, Theognis, ^Eschines, Theogenes, 
 Cleomedes, Erasistratus, Pheido, Dracontides, 
 Eumathes, Aristoteles, Hippomachus, Mnesithe- 
 ides. After these transactions, Lysander set sail 
 for Samos; and Agis withdrew the land force 
 from Deceleia and disbanded the troops, dismiss- 
 ing the contingents to their several cities. 
 
 It was at this date, about the time of the solar 
 eclipse, that Lycophron of Pherse, who was am- 
 bitious of ruling over the whole of Thessaly, 
 defeated those sections of the Thessalians who 
 opposed him, such as the men of Larissa and 
 others, and slew many of them. It was also 
 about this date that Dionysius, now tyrant of 
 Syracuse, was defeated by the Carthaginians, 
 and lost Gela and Camarina. And again, a lit- 
 tle later, the men of Leontini, who previously 
 had been amalgamated with the Syracusans, sep-
 
 92 XENOPHON 
 
 arated themselves from Syracuse and Dionysius, 
 and asserted their independence, and returned 
 to their native city. Another incident of this 
 period was the sudden despatch and introduc- 
 tion of Syracusan horse into Catana by Diony- 
 sius. 
 
 Now the Samians, though besieged by Lysan- 
 der on all sides, were at first unwilling to come 
 to terms. But at the last moment, when Lysan- 
 der was on the point of assaulting the town, 
 they accepted the terms, which allowed every 
 free man to leave the island, but not to carry 
 away any part of his property, except the 
 clothes upon his back. On these conditions they 
 marched out. The city and all it contained was 
 then delivered over to its ancient citizens by 
 Lysander, who finally appointed ten governors 
 to garrison the island. After which, he dis- 
 banded the allied fleet, dismissing them to their 
 respective cities, while he himself, with the 
 Lacedaemonian squadron, set sail for Laconia, 
 bringing with him the prows of the conquered 
 vessels and the whole navy of Piraus, with the 
 exception of twelve ships. He also brought the 
 crowns which he had received from the cities as 
 private gifts, and a sum of four hundred and 
 seventy talents * in silver (the surplus of the 
 tribute money which Cyrus had assigned to him 
 for the prosecution of the war), besides other 
 property, the fruit of his military exploits. All 
 
 4 About $564,000.
 
 HKLLENICA BOOK II 93 
 
 these tliino's Lysander delivered to the Lacedae- 
 nioniaiis in the hitter end of summer.'* 
 
 The Thirty had heen chosen almost im- 
 mediately after the long walls and the for- 
 tifications round Piraeus had been razed. They 
 were chosen for the express purpose of com- 
 piling a code of laws for the future con- 
 stitution of the State. The laws were 
 always on the point of being published, yet they 
 were never forthcoming; and the thirty com- 
 pilers contented themselves meanwhile with ap- 
 pointing a senate and the other magistracies as 
 suited their fancy best. That done, they turned 
 their attention, in the first instance, to such per- 
 sons as were well known to have made their liv- 
 ing as informers under the democracy, and to 
 be thorns in the side of all respectable people. 
 These they laid hold on and prosecuted on the 
 capital charge. The new senate gladly recorded 
 its vote of condemnation against them; and the 
 rest of the world, conscious of bearing no re- 
 semblance to them, seemed scarcely vexed. But 
 
 6 So ends the account of the Peloponnesian war, begun by 
 Thucydides and here finished by Xenophon. Thus far the latter 
 historian appears to have intentionally followed the other's 
 method. He now takes up his independent work. The remain- 
 ing portion of Book II was probably composed by him to form 
 the connecting link between his " Sequel to Thucydides " and 
 the " History of Hellenic Afi'airs," which he wrote after re- 
 turning from Asia in 399 b. c. This independent history takes 
 up the middle and last parts of the Hellenica: Books III to 
 VII, inclusive.
 
 94 XENOPHON 
 
 the Thirty did not stop there. Presently they 
 began to deliberate by what means thej^ could 
 get the city under their absolute control, in order 
 that they might work their will upon it. Here 
 again they proceeded tentatively; in the first 
 instance, they sent (two of their number), 
 ^schines and Aristoteles, to Lacedasmon, and 
 persuaded Lysander to support them in getting 
 a Lacedsemonian garrison despatched to Athens. 
 They only needed it until they had got the " ma- 
 lignants " out of the way, and had established 
 the constitution; and they would undertake to 
 maintain these troops at their own cost. Lysan- 
 der was not deaf to their persuasions, and by his 
 co-operation their request was granted. A body- 
 guard, with Callibius as governor, was sent. 
 
 And now that they had got the garrison, they 
 fell to flattering Callibius with all servile flat- 
 tery, in order that he might give countenance to 
 their doings. Thus they prevailed on him to 
 allow some of the guards, whom they selected, 
 to accompany them, while they proceeded to lay 
 hands on whom they would ; no longer confining 
 themselves to base folk and people of no ac- 
 count, but boldly laying hands on those who they 
 felt sure would least easily brook being thrust 
 aside, or, if a spirit of opposition seized them, 
 could command the largest number of partisans. 
 
 These were early days; as yet Critias was of 
 one mind with Theramenes, and the two were
 
 HELLENIC A BOOK II 95 
 
 friends. But the time came when, in proportion 
 as Critias Avas ready to rush headlong into 
 wholesale carnage, like one who thirsted for the 
 blood of the democracy, which had banished 
 him, Theramenes balked and thwarted him. It 
 was barely reasonable, he argued, to put people 
 to death Λvho had never done a wrong to re- 
 spectable people in their lives, simply because 
 they had enjoyed influence and honour under 
 the democracy. " Why, you and I, Critias," he 
 would add, " have said and done many things 
 ere now for the sake of popularity." To which 
 the other (for the terms of friendly intimacy 
 still subsisted) would retort, " There is no choice 
 left to us, since we intend to take the lion's share, 
 but to get rid of those who are best able to hin- 
 der us. If you imagine, because we are thirty 
 instead of one, our government requires one 
 whit the less careful guarding than an actual 
 tyranny, you must be very innocent." 
 
 So things went on. Day after day the list of 
 persons put to death for no just reason grew 
 longer. Day after day the signs of resentment 
 were more significant in the groups of citizens 
 banding together and forecasting the character 
 of this future constitution; till at length Thera- 
 menes spoke again, protesting: There was no 
 ' help for it but to associate with themselves a suf- 
 ' ficient number of persons in the conduct of af- 
 fairs, or the oligarchy would certainly come to
 
 96 XENOPHON 
 
 an end. Critias and the rest of the Thirty, whose 
 fears had already converted Theramenes into a 
 dangerous popular idol, proceeded at once to 
 draw up a list of three thousand citizens ; fit and 
 proper persons to have a share in the conduct of 
 affairs. But Theramenes was not wholly satis- 
 fied, *' indeed he must say, for himself, he re- 
 garded it as ridiculous, that in their effort to 
 associate the better classes with themselves in 
 power, they should fix on just that particular 
 number, three thousand, as if that figure had 
 some necessary connection with the exact num- 
 ber of gentlemen in the State, making it impos- 
 sible to discover any respectability outside or 
 rascality within the magic number. And in the 
 second place," he continued, " I see we are try- 
 ing to do two things, diametrically opposed; we 
 are manufacturing a government, which is based 
 on force, and at the same time inferior in 
 strength to those whom we propose to govern." 
 That was what he said, but what his colleagues 
 did, was to institute a military inspection or re- 
 view. The Three Thousand were drawn up in 
 the Agora, and the rest of the citizens, who were 
 not included in the Ust, elsewhere in various 
 quarters of the city. The order to take arms 
 was given; but while the men's backs were 
 turned, at the bidding of the Thirty, the La- 
 conian guards, with those of the citizens who 
 shared their views, appeared on the scene and
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 97 
 
 took away the arms of all except the Three 
 Thousand, carried them up to the Acropolis, and 
 safely deposited them in the temple. 
 
 The ground being thus cleared, as it were, and 
 feeling that they had it in their power to do 
 what they pleased, they embarked on a course of 
 wholesale butchery, in which many were sacri- 
 ficed to the merest hatred, many to the accident 
 of possessing riches. Presently the question 
 rose, How they were to get money to pay their 
 guards? and to meet this difficulty a resolution 
 was passed empowering each of the committee to 
 seize on one of the resident aliens apiece, to put 
 his victim to death, and to confiscate his prop- 
 erty. Theramenes was invited, or rather told to 
 seize some one or other. " ChOose whom you 
 will, only let it be done." To which he made 
 answer, it hardly seemed to him a noble or 
 worthy course on the part of those who claimed 
 to be the elite of society to go beyond the in- 
 formers in injustice. "Yesterday they, to-day 
 we; with this difference, the victim of the in- 
 former must live as a source of income; our in- 
 nocents must die that we may get their wealth. 
 Surely their method was innocent in comparison 
 with ours." 
 
 The rest of the Thirty, who had come to re- 
 gard Theramenes as an obstacle to any course 
 they might wish to adopt, proceeded to plot 
 against him. They addressed themselves to the
 
 98 XENOPHON 
 
 members of the senate in private, here a man and 
 there a man, and denounced him as the marplot 
 of the constitution. Then they issued an order 
 to the young men, picking out the most auda- 
 cious characters they could find, to be present, 
 each with a dagger hidden in the hollow of the 
 armpit; and so called a meeting of the senate. 
 iWhen Theramenes had taken his place, Critias 
 got up and addressed the meeting: 
 
 " If," said he, " any member of this council, 
 here seated, imagines that an undue amount of 
 blood has been shed, let me remind him that with 
 changes of constitutions such things can not be 
 avoided. It is the rule everywhere, but more 
 particularly at Athens it was inevitable there 
 should be found a specially large number of per- 
 sons sworn foes to any constitutional change in 
 the direction of oligarchy, and this for two rea- 
 sons. First, because the population of this city, 
 compared with other Hellenic cities, is enor- 
 mously large ; and again, owing to the length of 
 time during which the people has battened upon 
 liberty. Now, as to two points we are clear. 
 The first is that democracy is a form of govern- 
 ment detestable to persons like ourselves — to us 
 and to you ; the next is that the people of Athens 
 could never be got to be friendly to our friends 
 and saviours, the Lacedaemonians. But on the 
 loyalty of the better classes the Lacedsemonians 
 can count. And that is our reason for estab-
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 99 
 
 lishiiig an oligarchical constitution with their con- 
 currence. That is why we do our hest to rid us 
 of every one whom we perceive to be opposed 
 to tlie oligarchy; and, in our opinion, if one of 
 ourselves should elect to undermine this consti- 
 tution of ours, he would deserve punishment. 
 Do you not agree? And the case," he continued, 
 "is no imaginary one. The offender is here 
 present — Theramenes. And what we say of him 
 is, that he is bent upon destroying yourselves 
 and us by every means in his power. These are 
 not baseless charges; but if you will consider it, 
 you will find them amply established in his un- 
 measured censure of the present posture of af- 
 fairs, and his persistent opposition to us, his col- 
 leagues, if ever we seek to get rid of any of these 
 demagogues. Had this been his guiding princi- 
 ple of action from the beginning, in spite of hos- 
 tility, at least he would have escaped all imputa- 
 tion of villainy. Why, this is the very man who 
 originated our friendly and confidential rela- 
 tions with Lacedasmon. This is the very man 
 who authorised the abolition of the democracy, 
 who urged us on to inflict punishment on the 
 earliest batch of prisoners brought before us. 
 But to-day all is changed; now you and we are 
 out of odour with the people, and he accordingly 
 has ceased to be pleased with our proceedings. 
 The explanation is obvious. In case of a catas- 
 trophe, how much pleasanter for him once again
 
 100 XENOPHON 
 
 to light upon his legs, and leave us to render 
 account for our past performances. 
 
 " I contend that this man is fairly entitled to 
 render his account also, not only as an ordinary 
 enemy, but as a traitor to yourseh^es and us. 
 And let us add, not only is treason more formid- 
 able than open war, in proportion as it is harder 
 to guard against a hidden assassin than an open 
 foe, but it bears the impress of a more enduring 
 hostility, inasmuch as men fight their enemies 
 and come to terms with them again and are fast 
 friends; but whoever heard of reconciliation 
 with a traitor? There he stands unmasked; he 
 has forfeited our confidence for evermore. But 
 to show you that these are no new tactics of his, 
 to proΛ^e to you that he is a traitor in grain, I 
 will recall to your memories some points in his 
 past history. 
 
 " He began by being held in high honour by 
 the democracy; but taking a leaf out of his 
 father's, Hagnon's, book, he next showed a most 
 headlong anxiety to transform the democracy 
 into the Four Hundred, and, in fact, for a time 
 held the first place in that body. But presently, 
 detecting the formation of a rival power to the 
 oligarchs, round he shifted; and we find him 
 next a ringleader of the popular party in assail- 
 ing them. It must be admitted, he has well 
 earned his nickname ' Buskin.' Yes, Thera- 
 menes! clever you may be, but the man who de-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 101 
 
 serves to live should not show his cleverness in 
 leading on his associates into trouble, and when 
 some obstacle presents itself, at once veer round ; 
 but like a pilot on shipboard, he ought then to 
 redouble his efforts, until the wind is fair. Else, 
 how in the name of wonderment are those mar- 
 iners to reach the haven where they would be, 
 if at the first contrary wind or tide they turn 
 about and sail in the opposite direction? Death 
 and destruction are concomitants of constitu- 
 tional changes and revolution, no doubt; but 
 j^ou are such an impersonation of change, that, 
 as you twist and turn and double, you deal de- 
 struction on all sides. At one swoop you are the 
 ruin of a thousand oligarchs at the hands of the 
 people, and at another of a thousand democrats 
 at the hands of the better classes. Why, sirs, 
 this is the man to whom the orders were given 
 by the generals, in the sea-fight off Lesbos, to 
 pick up the crews of the disabled vessels; and 
 who, neglecting to obey orders, turned round 
 and accused the generals; and to save himself 
 murdered them! What, I ask you, of a man 
 who so openly studies the art of self-seeking, 
 deaf alike to the pleas of honour and to the 
 claims of friendship? Would not leniency to- 
 wards such a creature be misplaced? Can it be 
 our duty at all to spare him? Ought we not 
 rather, when we know the doublings of his na- 
 ture, to guard against them, lest we enable him
 
 102 XENOPHON 
 
 presently to practise on ourselves? The case is 
 clear. \Ve therefore hereby cite this man before 
 you, as a conspirator and traitor against your- 
 selves and us. The reasonableness of our con- 
 duct, one further reflection may make clear. No 
 one, I take it, will dispute the splendour, the 
 perfection of the Laconian constitution. Imag- 
 ine one of the ephors there in Sparta, in lieu of 
 devoted obedience to the majority, taking on 
 himself to find fault with the government and 
 to oppose all measures. Do you not think that 
 the ephors themselves, and the whole common- 
 wealth besides, would hold this renegade worthy 
 of condign punishment? So, too, by the same 
 token, if you are wise, do you spare yourselves, 
 not him. For what does the alternative mean? 
 I will tell you. His preservation will cause the 
 courage of many who hold opposite views to 
 your own to rise; his destruction will cut off the 
 last hopes of all your enemies, whether within 
 or without the city." 
 
 With these words he sat down, but Thera- 
 menes rose and said: " Sirs, with your permis- 
 sion I will first touch upon the charge against 
 me which Critias has mentioned last. The asser- 
 tion is that as the accuser of the generals I was 
 their murderer. Now I presume it was not I 
 who began the attack upon them, but it was they 
 who asserted that in spite of the orders given me 
 I had neglected to pick up the unfortunates in
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 103 
 
 the sea-fight off Lesbos. All I did was to de- 
 fend myself. My defence was that the storm 
 was too violent to permit any vessel to ride at 
 sea, much more therefore to pick up the men, 
 and this defence was accepted by my fellow- 
 citizens as highly reasonable, while the generals 
 seemed to be condemned out of their own mouths. 
 For while they kept on asserting that it was pos- 
 sible to save the men, the fact still remained that 
 they abandoned them to their fate, set sail, and 
 were gone. 
 
 *' HoAvever, I am not surprised, I confess, at 
 this grave misconception on the part of Critias, 
 for at the date of these occurrences he was not 
 in Athens. He was away in Thessaly, laying 
 the foundations of a democracy with Prome- 
 theus, and arming the Penestse against their 
 masters. Heaven forbid that any of his trans- 
 actions there should be re-enacted here. How- 
 ever, I must say, I do heartily concur with him 
 on one point. Whoever desires to exclude you 
 from the government, or to strengthen the 
 hands of your secret foes, deserves and ought to 
 meet with condign punishment; but who is most 
 capable of so doing? That you will best dis- 
 cover, I think, by looking a little more closely 
 into the past and the present conduct of each 
 of us. Well, then! up to the moment at which 
 you were formed into a senatorial body, when 
 the magistracies were appointed, and certain
 
 104 XENOPHON 
 
 notorious ' informers ' were brought to trial, we 
 all held the same views. But later on, when our 
 friends yonder began to hale respectable honest 
 folk to prison and to death, I, on my side, began 
 to differ from them. From the moment when 
 Leon of Salamis, a man of high and well- 
 deserved reputation, was put to death, though 
 he had not committed the shadow of a crime, I 
 knew that all his equals must tremble for them- 
 selves, and, so trembling, be driven into opposi- 
 tion to the new constitution. In the same way, 
 when Niceratus, the son of Nicias, was arrested; 
 a wealthy man, who, no more than his father, 
 had never done anything that could be called 
 popular or democratic in his life; it did not re- 
 quire much insight to discover that his compeers 
 would be converted into our foes. But to go a 
 step further: when it came to Antiphon falling 
 at our hands — Antiphon, who, during the war, 
 contributed two fast-sailing men-of-war out of 
 his own resources, — it was then plain to me, that 
 all who had ever been zealous and patriotic must 
 eye us with suspicion. Once more I could not 
 help speaking out in opposition to my colleagues 
 when they suggested that each of us ought to 
 seize one resident alien. For what could be more 
 certain than that their death-warrant would turn 
 the whole resident foreign population into ene- 
 mies of the constitution. I spoke out again when 
 they insisted on depriving the populace of their
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 105 
 
 arms ; it bein/2f no part of my creed that we ought 
 to take the strength out of the city; nor, indeed, 
 as far as I could see, had the Lacedaamonians 
 stept between us and destruction merely that we 
 might become a handful of people, powerless to 
 aid them in the day of need. Had that been 
 their object, they might have swept us away to 
 the last man. A few more weeks, or even days, 
 ΛνοηΜ have sufficed to extinguish us quietly by 
 famine. Nor, again, can I say that the impor- 
 tation of mercenary foreign guards was alto- 
 gether to my taste, when it would have been so 
 easy for us to add to our own body a sufficient 
 number of fellow-citizens to ensure our suprem- 
 acy as governors over those we essayed to gov- 
 ern. But when I saw what an army of malcon- 
 tents this government had raised up within the 
 city walls, besides another daily increasing host 
 of exiles without, I could not but regard the 
 banishment of people like Thrasybulus and 
 Anytus and Alcibiades as impolitic. Had our 
 object been to strengthen the rival power, we 
 could hardly have set about it better than by 
 providing the populace with the competent 
 leaders whom they needed, and the would-be 
 leaders themselves with an army of willing ad- 
 herents. 
 
 " I ask, then, is the man who tenders such ad- 
 vice in the full light of day justly to be regarded 
 as a traitor, and not as a benefactor? Surely
 
 106 XENOPHON 
 
 Critias, the peacemaker, the man who hinders 
 the creation of many enemies, whose counsels 
 tend to the acquisition of yet more friends, can- 
 not be accused of strengthening the hands of 
 the enemy. Much more truly may the imputa- 
 tion be retorted on those who wrongfully appro- 
 priate their neighbour's goods and put to death 
 those who have done no wrong. These are they 
 who cause our adversaries to grow and multiply, 
 and who in very truth are traitors, not to their 
 friends only, but to themselves, spurred on by 
 sordid love of gain. 
 
 " I might prove the truth of what I say in 
 many ways, but I beg you to look at the matter 
 thus. With which condition of affairs here in 
 Athens do you think will Thrasybulus and Any- 
 tus and the other exiles be the better pleased? 
 That which I have pictured as desirable, or that 
 which my colleagues yonder are producing? For 
 my part I cannot doubt but that, as things now 
 are, they are saying to themselves, ' Our aUies 
 muster thick and fast.' But were the real 
 strength, the pith and fibre of the city, kindly 
 disposed to us, they would find it an uphill task 
 even to get a foothold anywhere in the country. 
 
 " Then, with regard to what he said of me 
 and my propensity to be for ever changing sides, 
 let me draw jout attention to the following 
 facts. Was it not the people itself, the democ- 
 racy, who voted the constitution of the Four
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 107 
 
 ITimdred? This they did, because they had 
 learned to tliink that the Lacediemonians would 
 trust any otiier form of government rather than 
 a democracy. But when the efforts of Lacedce- 
 mon were not a whit relaxed, when Aristoteles, 
 JMelanthius, and Aristarchus, and the rest of 
 them acting as generals, were plainly minded 
 to construct an intrenched fortress on the mole 
 for the purpose of admitting the enemy, and so 
 getting the city under the power of themselves 
 and their associates ; because I got wind of these 
 schemes, and nipped them in the bud, is that to 
 be a traitor to one's friends? 
 
 " Then he threw in my teeth the nickname 
 * Buskin,' as descriptive of an endeavour on my 
 part to fit both parties. But what of the man 
 who pleases neither? What in heaven's name 
 are we to call him? Yes! you — Critias? Under 
 the democracy you were looked upon as the most 
 arrant hater of the people, and under the aris- 
 tocracy you have proved yourself the bitterest 
 foe of everything respectable. Yes! Critias, I 
 am, and ever have been, a foe of those who think 
 that a democracy cannot reach perfection until 
 slaves and those who, from poverty, would sell 
 the city for a drachma, can get their drachma a 
 day. But not less am I, and ever have been, a 
 pronounced opponent of those who do not think 
 there can possibly exist a perfect oligarchy until 
 the State is subjected to the despotism of a few.
 
 108 XENOPHON 
 
 On the contrary, my own ambition has been to 
 combine Λvith those who are rich enough to pos- 
 sess a horse and shield, and to use them for the 
 benefit of the State. That was my ideal in old 
 days, and I hold to it without a shadow of turn- 
 ing still. If you can mention when and where, 
 in conjunction with despots or demagogues, I 
 have set to my hand to deprive honest gentlefolk 
 of their citizenship, pray speak. If j^ou can con- 
 vict me of such crimes at present, or can prove 
 my perpetration of them in the past, I admit 
 that I deserve to die, and by the worst of 
 deaths." 
 
 With these words he ceased, and the loud mur- 
 mur of applause which followed marked the fa- 
 vourable impression produced upon the senate. 
 It was plain to Critias, that if he allowed his 
 adversary's fate to be decided by formal voting, 
 Theramenes would escape, and life to himself 
 would become intolerable. Accordingly he 
 stepped forward and spoke a word or two in 
 the ears of the Thirty. This done, he went out 
 and gave an order to the attendants with the 
 daggers to stand close to the bar in full view of 
 the senators. Again he entered and addressed 
 the senate thus: " I hold it to be the duty of a 
 good president, when he sees the friends about 
 him being made the dupes of some delusion, to 
 intervene. That at any rate is what I propose 
 to do. Indeed our friends here standing by the
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 109 
 
 bar say that if we propose to acquit a man so 
 openly bent upon the ruin of the oHgarehy, they 
 do not moan to let us do so. Now there is a 
 chuise in the new code forbidding? any of the 
 Three Thousand to be put to death without your 
 vote; but the Thirty have power of life and 
 death over all outside that list. Accordingly,'* 
 he proceeded, " I herewith strike this man, Ther- 
 amenes, off the list; and this with the concur- 
 rence of my colleagues. And now," he contin- 
 ued, " we condemn him to death." 
 
 Hearing these words, Theramenes sprang 
 upon the altar of Hestia, exclaiming : " And I, 
 sirs, supplicate you for the barest forms of law 
 and justice. Let it not be in the power of Cri- 
 tias to strike off either me, or any one of you 
 whom he will. But in my case, in what may be 
 your case, if we are tried, let our trial be in 
 accordance with the law they have made con- 
 cerning those on the list. I know," he added, 
 " but too well, that this altar will not protect me; 
 but I will make it plain that these men are as 
 impious towards the gods as they are nefarious 
 towards men. Yet I do marvel, good sirs and 
 honest gentlemen, for so you are, that you will 
 not help yourselves, and that too when you must 
 see that the name of every one of you is as easily 
 erased as mine." 
 
 But when he had got so far, the roice of the 
 herald was heard giving the order to the Eleven
 
 110 XEXOPHON 
 
 to seize Theramenes. They at that instant en- 
 tered with their sateUites, — at their head Sa- 
 tyrus, the boldest and most shameless of the 
 body, — and Critias exclaimed, addressing the 
 Eleven, " We deliver over to you Theramenes 
 yonder, who has been condemned according to 
 the law. Do you take him and lead him away 
 to the proper place, and do there with him 
 what remains to do." As Critias uttered the 
 words, Satyrus laid hold upon Theramenes to 
 drag him from the altar, and the attendants lent 
 their aid. But he, as was natural, called upon 
 gods and men to witness what was happening. 
 The senators the while kept silence, seeing the 
 companions of Satyrus at the bar, and the whole 
 front of the senate house crowded with the for- 
 eign guards, nor did they need to be told that 
 there were daggers in reserve among those pres- 
 ent. 
 
 And so Theramenes was dragged through the 
 Agora, in vehement and loud tones proclaiming 
 the wrongs that he was suffering. One word, 
 wliich is said to have fallen from his lips, I cite. 
 It is this: Satyrus, bade him " Be silent, or he 
 would rue the day " ; to which he made answer, 
 " And if I be silent, shall I not rue it? " Also, 
 when they brought him the hemlock, and the 
 time was come to drink the fatal draught, they 
 tell how he playfully jerked out the dregs from 
 the bottom of the cup, like one who plays " Cot-
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 111 
 
 tabos," " Λνϋΐι the words, " This to the lovely 
 Critias." These are but " apo])hthegms " too 
 trivial, it may be thought, to find a place in his- 
 tory. Yet I must deem it an admirable trait in 
 this man's character, if at such a moment, when 
 death confronted him, neither his wits forsook 
 him, nor could the childlike sportiveness vanish 
 from his soul. 
 
 IV. — So Theramenes met his death ; and, now 
 that this obstacle was removed, the Thirty, feel- 
 ing that they had it in their power to play the 
 tj'^rant without fear, issued an order forbidding 
 all, whose names were not on the list, to set foot 
 within the city. Retirement in the country dis- 
 tricts was no protection; thither the prosecutor 
 followed them, and thence dragged them, that 
 their farms and properties might fall to the pos- 
 session of the Thirty and their friends. Even 
 Pirsus was not safe; of those who sought 
 refuge there, many were driven forth in similar 
 fashion, until Megara and Thebes overflowed 
 with the crowd of refugees. 
 
 Presently Thrasybulus, with about seventy 
 followers, sallied out from Thebes, and made 
 himself master of the fortress of Phyle. The 
 
 β A Sicilian game much in vogue at the drinking parties of 
 young men at Athens. The simplest mode \vas when each threw 
 the wine left in his cup so as to strike smartly in a metal basin, 
 at the same time invoking his mistress's name; if all fell into 
 the basin and the sound was clear, it was a sign he stood well 
 with her.
 
 112 XENOPHON 
 
 weather was brilliant, and the Thirty marched 
 out of the city to repel the invader; with them 
 were the Three Thousand and the Knights. 
 When they reached the place, some of the young 
 men, in the foolhardiness of youth, made a dash 
 at the fortress, but without effect; all they got 
 was wounds, and so retired. The intention of 
 the Thirty now was to blockade the place; by 
 shutting off all the avenues of supplies, they 
 thought to force the garrison to capitulate. But 
 this project was interrupted by a steady down- 
 fall of snow that night and the following day. 
 Baffled by this all-pervading enemy they beat a 
 retreat to the city, but not without the sacrifice 
 of many of their camp-followers, who fell a 
 prey to the men in Phyle. The next anxiety of 
 the government in Athens was to secure the 
 farms and country houses against the plunder- 
 ings and forays to which they would be exposed, 
 if there were no armed force to protect them. 
 With this object a protecting force was de- 
 spatched to the " boundary estates," about two 
 miles this side of Phyle. This corps consisted of 
 the Lacedsemonian guards, or nearly all of 
 them, and two divisions of horse. They en- 
 camped in a wild and broken district, and the 
 round of their duties commenced. 
 
 But by this time the small garrison above 
 them had increased tenfold, until there were now 
 something hke seven hundred men collected in
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 113 
 
 Phylc; and with these Thrasyhiihis one night de- 
 si'cndcd. AA'hen lie was not quite half a mile 
 from the enemy's encampment he grounded 
 arms, and a deep silence was maintained until it 
 drcAv towards day. In a little while the men 
 opposite, one by one, were getting to their legs 
 or leaving the camp for necessary purposes, 
 while a suppressed din and murmur arose, 
 caused by the grooms currying and combing 
 their horses. This was the moment for Thrasy- 
 bulus and his men to snatch up their arms and 
 make a dash at the enemy's position. Some they 
 felled on the spot; and routing the whole body, 
 pursued them six or seven furlongs, killing one 
 hundred and twenty hoplites and more. Of the 
 cavalry, Nicostratus, " the beautiful," as men 
 called him, and two others besides were slain; 
 they were caught Λvhile still in their beds. Re- 
 turning from the pursuit, the victors set up a 
 trophy, got together all the arms they had taken, 
 besides baggage, and retired again to Phyle. A 
 reinforcement of horse sent from the city could 
 not discover the vestige of a foe; but waited on 
 the scene of battle until the bodies of the slain 
 had been picked up by their relatives, when they 
 withdrew again to the city. 
 
 After this the Thirty, who had begun to 
 realise the insecurity of their position, were 
 anxious to appropriate Eleusis, so that an asy- 
 lum might be ready for them against the day of
 
 114 XENOPHON 
 
 need. With this view an order was issued to the 
 Knights ; and Critias, with the rest of the Thirty, 
 visited Eleusis. There they held a review of the 
 Eleusinians in the presence of the Knights ; and, 
 on the pretext of wishing to discover how many 
 they were, and how large a garrison they would 
 further require, they ordered the townsfolk to 
 enter their names. As each man did so he had to 
 retire by a postern leading to the sea. But on 
 the sea-beach this side there were Hues of cavalry 
 drawn up in waiting, and as each man appeared 
 he was handcuffed by the satellites of the 
 Thirty. When all had so been seized and se- 
 cured, they gave orders to Lysimachus, the com- 
 mander of the cavalry, to take them off to the 
 city and deliver them over to the Eleven. Next 
 day they summoned the heavy armed who were 
 on the list, and the rest of the Knights to the 
 Odeum, and Critias rose and addressed them. 
 He said: "Sirs, the constitution, the lines of 
 which we are laying down, is a work undertaken 
 in your interests no less than ours ; it is incumbent 
 on you therefore to participate in its dangers, 
 eΛ'■en as Λ^οη will partake of its honours. We 
 expect you, therefore, in reference to these 
 Eleusinians here, who have been seized and se- 
 cured, to vote their condemnation, so that our 
 hopes and fears may be identical." Then, point- 
 ing to a particular spot, he said peremptorily, 
 "You w^ill please deposit your votes there
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 115 
 
 within sight of all." It iimst be understood 
 that the Laconian guards were present at this 
 scene, armed to the teeth, and filling one-half of 
 the Odeum. As to the proceedings themselves, 
 they found acceptance Λvith those members of 
 the State, besides the Thirty, who could be sat- 
 isfied wdth a simple policy of self-aggrandise- 
 ment. 
 
 But now Thrasybulus at the head of his fol- 
 lowers, by this time about one thousand strong, 
 descended from Phyle and reached Pirseus in 
 the night. The Thirty, on their side, informed 
 of this new move, were not slow to rally to the 
 rescue, with the Laconian guards, supported by 
 their own cavalry and hoplites. And so they 
 advanced, marching down along the broad car- 
 riage road which leads into Pirseus. The men 
 from Phyle seemed at first inclined to dispute 
 their passage, but as the wide circuit of the 
 walls needed a defence beyond the reach of their 
 still scanty numbers, they fell back in a compact 
 body upon Munychia.^ Then the troops from 
 the city poured into the Agora of Hippodamus.^ 
 Here they formed in line, stretching along and 
 filling the street which leads to the temple of 
 Artemis and the Bendideum. This line must 
 
 7 The citadel of Piraeus. 
 
 8 Named after the famous architect Hippodamus, who built 
 the town. It was situated near where the two long walls joined 
 the wall of Pira3us; a broad street led from it up to the pitadel 
 of Munychia.
 
 116 XENOPHON 
 
 have been at least fifty shields deep; and in this 
 formation they at once began to march up. As 
 to the men of Phyle, they too blocked the street 
 at the opposite end, and facing the foe. They 
 presented only a thin line, not more than ten 
 deep, though behind these, certainly, were 
 ranged a body of targeteers and light-armed 
 javelin men, who were again supported by an 
 artillery of stone-throwers — a tolerably numer- 
 ous division drawn from the population of the 
 port and district itself. While his antago- 
 nists were still advancing, Thrasybulus gave 
 the order to ground their heavy shields, and 
 having done so himself, whilst retaining the 
 rest of his arms, he stood in the midst, and 
 thus addressed them: "Men and fellow-citi- 
 zens, I wish to inform some, and to re- 
 mind others of you, that of the men j^ou see 
 advancing beneath us there, the right divi- 
 sion are the very men we routed and pursued 
 only five days ago; while on the extreme left 
 there you see the Thirty. These are the men 
 who have not spared to rob us of our city, 
 though we did no wrong; who have hounded us 
 from our homes; who have set the seal of pro- 
 scription on our dearest friends. But to-day 
 the wheel of fortune has revolved; that has 
 come about which least of all they looked for, 
 which most of all we prayed for. Here we 
 stand with our good swords in our hands, face
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 117 
 
 to face with our foes; and the gods themselves 
 are with us, seeing that we were arrested in the 
 midst of our peaceful pursuits; at any moment, 
 whilst we supped, or slept, or marketed, sen- 
 tence of hanishment was passed upon us: we 
 had done no wrong, — nay, many of us were not 
 even resident in the country. To-day, there- 
 fore, I repeat, the gods do visibly fight upon 
 our side; the great gods, who raise a tempest 
 even in the midst of calm for our benefit, and 
 when we lay to our hand to fight, enable our 
 little company to set up the trophy of victory 
 over the multitude of our foes. On this day 
 they have brought us hither to a place where the 
 steep ascent must needs hinder our foes from 
 reaching with lance or arrow further than our 
 foremost ranks; but we with our volleys of 
 spears and arrows and stones cannot fail to 
 reach them with terrible effect. Had we been 
 forced to meet them vanguard to vanguard, on 
 an equal footing, who could have been sur- 
 prised? But as it is, all I say to you is, let fly 
 your missiles with a will in right brave style. 
 No one can miss his mark when the road is full 
 of them. To avoid our darts they must be for 
 ever ducking and skulking beneath their shields ; 
 but we will rain blows upon them in their blind- 
 ness; we will leap upon them and lay them low. 
 [But, Ο sirs I let me call upon you so to bear 
 yourselves that each shall be conscious to him-
 
 118 XENOPHON 
 
 self that the victory was won by him and him 
 alone. Victory — which, God willing, shall this 
 day restore to us the land of our fathers, our 
 homes, our freedom, and the rewards of civic 
 life, our children, if children we have, our dar- 
 lings, and our wives 1 Thrice happy those 
 among us who as conquerors shall look upon 
 this gladdest of all days. Nor less fortunate 
 the man who falls to-day. Not all the wealth 
 in the world shall purchase him a monument so 
 glorious. At the right instant I will strike the 
 keynote of the psean; then, Λvith an invocation 
 to the God of battle, and in return for the wan- 
 ton insults they put upon us, let us with one 
 accord wreak vengeance on yonder men." 
 
 Having so spoken, he turned round, facing 
 the f oemen, and kept quiet, for the order passed 
 by the soothsayer enjoined on them, not to 
 charge before one of their side was slain or 
 wounded. " As soon as that happens," said the 
 seer, " we will lead you onwards, and the vic- 
 tory shall be yours; but for myself, if I err not, 
 death is waiting." And herein he spoke truly, 
 for they had barely resumed their arms Λvhen 
 he himself, as though he were driven by some 
 fatal hand, leapt out in front of the ranks, and 
 so springing into the midst of the foe, was slain, 
 and lies now buried at the passage of the Ceph- 
 isus. But the rest were victorious, and pursued 
 the routed enemy down to the level ground.
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 119 
 
 There fell in this engagement, out of the num- 
 ber of the Thirty, Critias himself and Hippo- 
 niachus, and Λvith them Charmides, the son of 
 Glaucon, one of the ten archons in Piraius, and 
 of the rest about seventy men. The arms of the 
 slain Λvere taken; but, as fellow-citizens, the 
 conquerors forebore to despoil them of their 
 coats. This being done, they proceeded to give 
 back the dead under cover of a truce, when the 
 men, on either side, in numbers stept forward 
 and conversed with one another. Then Cleo- 
 critus (he was the Herald of the Initiated, a 
 truly " sweet-voiced herald," if ever there was), 
 caused a deep silence to reign, and addressed 
 their late combatants as follows: "Fellow- 
 citizens — Why do you drive us forth? why 
 would you slay us? what evil have we wrought 
 you at any time? or is it a crime that we have 
 shared with you in the most solemn rites and 
 sacrifices, and in festivals of the fairest: we 
 have been companions in the chorus, the school, 
 the army. We have braved a thousand dangers 
 with you by land and sea in behalf of our com- 
 mon safety, our common liberty. By the gods 
 of our fathers, by the gods of our mothers, by 
 the hallowed names of kinship, intermarriage, 
 comradeship, those three bonds which knit the 
 hearts of so many of us, bow in reverence be- 
 fore God and man, and cease to sin against the 
 land of our fathers: cease to obey these most
 
 120 XENOPHON 
 
 unhallowed Thirty, who for the sake of private 
 gain have in eight months slain almost more 
 men than the Peloponnesians together in ten 
 years of warfare. See, we have it in om* power 
 to live as citizens in peace; it is only these men, 
 who lay upon us this most foul burthen, this 
 hideous horror of fratricidal war, loathed of 
 Gk)d and man. Ah! be well assured, for these 
 men slain by our hands this day, ye are not the 
 sole mourners. There are among them some 
 whose deaths have wrung from us also many a 
 bitter tear." 
 
 So he spoke, but the officers and leaders of 
 the defeated army who were left, unwilling that 
 their troops should listen to such topics at that 
 moment, led them back to the city. But the 
 next day the Thirty, in deep down-heartedness 
 and desolation, sat in the council chamber. The 
 Three Thousand, wherever their several divi- 
 sions were posted, were everywhere a prey to 
 discord. Those Λvho were implicated in deeds of 
 violence, and whose fears could not sleep, pro- 
 tested hotly that to yield to the party in Pirseus 
 were preposterous. Those on the other hand 
 who had faith in their own innocence, argued in 
 their own minds, and tried to convince their 
 neighbours, that they could well dispense with 
 most of their present evils. " Why yield obedi- 
 ence to these Thirty? " they asked. " Why as- 
 sign to them the privilege of destroying the
 
 IIELT.ENICA BOOK II 121 
 
 State ? '* In the end they voted a resolution to 
 depose the government, and to elect another. 
 This was a board of ten, elected one from each 
 tribe. 
 
 B. C. 403. — As to the Thirty, they retired to 
 Eleusis; but the Ten, assisted by the cavalry 
 officers, had enough to do to keep watch over 
 the men in the city, whose anarchy and mutual 
 distrust were rampant. The Knights did not 
 return to quarters at night, but slept in the 
 Odeum, keeping their horses and shields close 
 beside them; indeed the distrust was so great 
 that from evening onwards they patrolled the 
 walls on foot with their shields, and at break of 
 day mounted their horses, at every moment 
 fearing some sudden attack upon them by the 
 men in Piraeus. These latter were now so nu- 
 merous, and of so mixed a company, that it was 
 difficult to find arms for all. Some had to be 
 content with shields of wood, others of wicker- 
 work, which they spent their time in coating 
 with whitening. Before ten days had elapsed 
 guarantees were given, securing full citizen- 
 ship, with equahty of taxation and tribute to 
 all, even foreigners, who would take part in the 
 fighting. Thus they were presently able to take 
 the field, with large detachments both of heavy 
 infantry and light-armed troops, besides a divi- 
 sion of cavalry, about seventy in number. Their 
 system was to push forward foraging parties in
 
 122 XENOPHON 
 
 quest of wood and fruits, returning at nightfall 
 to PirEBus. Of the city party no one ventured 
 to take the field under arms ; only, from time to 
 time, the cavalry would capture stray pillagers 
 from Piraeus or inflict some damage on the main 
 body of their opponents. Once they fell in 
 with a party belonging to the deme iExone, 
 marching to their own farms in search of pro- 
 visions. These, in spite of many prayers for 
 mercy and the strong disapprobation of many 
 of the knights, were ruthlessly slaughtered by 
 Lysimachus, the general of cavalry. The men 
 of Pirseus retaliated by putting to death a 
 horseman, named Callistratus, of the tribe Le- 
 ontis, whom they captured in the country. In- 
 deed their courage ran so high at present that 
 they even meditated an assault upon the city 
 walls. And here perhaps the reader will pardon 
 the record of a somewhat ingenious device on 
 the part of the city engineer, who, aware of the 
 enemy's intention to advance his batteries along 
 the racecourse, which slopes from the Lyceum, 
 had all the carts and wagons which were to be 
 found laden with blocks of stone, each one a 
 cartload in itself, and so sent them to deposit 
 their freights pele-mele on the course in ques- 
 tion. The annoyance created by these separate 
 blocks of stone was enormous, and quite out of 
 proportion to the simplicity of the contrivance. 
 But it was to Laced^mon that men's eyes
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 123 
 
 now tiirneil. The Thirty despatched one set of 
 anihassadors from Eleusis, while another set 
 representing the government of the city, that 
 is to say the men on the hst, was despatched to 
 summon the Lacedaemonians to their aid, on the 
 plea that the people had revolted from Sparta. 
 At Sparta, Lysander taking into account the 
 possihility of speedily reducing the party in 
 Piraius by blockading them by land and sea, 
 and so cutting them off from all supplies, sup- 
 ported the application, and negotiated the loan 
 of one hundred talents to his clients, backed by 
 the appointment of himself as harmost on land, 
 and of his brother, Libys, as admiral of the 
 fleet. And so proceeding to the scene of action 
 at Eleusis, he got together a large body of Pelo- 
 ponnesian hoplites, whilst his brother, the ad- 
 miral, kept watch and ward by sea to prevent 
 the importation of supplies into Piraeus by 
 water. Thus the men in Piraeus were soon again 
 reduced to their former helplessness, while the 
 ardour of the city folk rose to a proportionally 
 high pitch under the auspices of Lysander. 
 
 Things were progressing after this sort when 
 King Pausanias intervened. Touched by a cer- 
 tain envy of Lysander — (who seemed, by a final 
 stroke of achievement, about to reach the pin- 
 nacle of popularity, with Athens laid like a 
 pocket dependency at his feet) — the king per- 
 suaded three of the ephors to support him, and
 
 124 XEXOPHON 
 
 fortliAvith called out the ban. ΛΛ^ith him 
 marched contingents of all the allied States, 
 except Boeotians and Corinthians. These main- 
 tained, that to undertake such an expedition 
 against the Athenians, in whose conduct they 
 saw nothing contrary to the treaty, was incon- 
 sistent with their oaths. But if that was the 
 language held by them, the secret of their be- 
 haviour lay deeper; they seemed to be aware of 
 a desire on the part of the Lacedemonians to 
 annex the soil of the Athenians and to reduce 
 the State to Λ'assalage. Pausanias encamped on 
 the Halipedon, as the sandy flat is called, with 
 his right wing resting on Piraeus, and Lysander 
 and his mercenaries forming the left. His first 
 act was to send an embassage to the party in 
 Piraeus, calling upon them to retire peaceably 
 to their homes; when they refused to obey, he 
 made, as far as mere noise went, the semblance 
 of an attack, with sufficient show of fight to 
 prevent his kindly disposition being too appar- 
 ent. But gaining nothing by the feint, he w^as 
 forced to retire. Xext day he took two Laco- 
 nian regiments, with three tribes of Athenian 
 horse, and crossed over to the IMute Harbor, ex- 
 amining the lie of the ground to discover how 
 and where it would be easiest to draw lines of 
 circumΛ"allation round Pireus. As he turned 
 his back to retire, a party of the enemy sallied 
 out and caused him annoyance. Xettled at the
 
 HELLENICA BOOK II 125 
 
 liberty, he ordered the cavalry to charge at the 
 galloj), siii)portcd by the ten-year-service" in- 
 I'aiitry, Avliilst he himself, Avith the rest of the 
 troops, followed close, holding quietly back in 
 reserve. They cut down about thirty of the en- 
 emy's light troops and pursued the rest hotly to 
 the theatre in PirjEus. Here, as chance would 
 have it, the whole light and heavy infantry of 
 the Pirgeus men were getting under arms; and 
 in an instant their light troops rushed out and 
 dashed at the assailants; thick and fast flew 
 missiles of all sorts — javelins, arrows, and sling 
 stones. The Lacedaemonians finding the num- 
 ber of their wounded increasing every minute, 
 and sorely galled, slowly fell back step by step, 
 eyeing their opponents. These meanwhile reso- 
 lutely pressed on. Here fell Chseron and Thi- 
 brachus, both polemarchs, here also Lacrates, an 
 Olympic victor, and other Lacedaemonians, all 
 of whom now lie entombed before the city gates 
 in the Ceramicus. 
 
 Watching how matters went, Thrasybulus 
 began his advance with the whole of his heavy 
 infantry to support his light troops and quickly 
 fell into line eight deep, acting as a screen to 
 the rest of his troops. Pausanias, on his side, 
 had retired, sorely pressed, about half a mile 
 towards a bit of rising ground, where he sent 
 
 β I. e., who had already seen ten years of service; i. e., over 
 twenty-eight, as the Spartan was eligible to serve at eighteen.
 
 126 XENOPHON 
 
 orders to the Lacedsemonians and the other al- 
 lied troops to bring up reinforcements. Here, 
 on tliis slope, he reformed his troops, giving his 
 phalanx the full depth, and advanced against 
 the Athenians, who did not hesitate to receive 
 him at close quarters, but presently had to give 
 way; one portion being forced into the mud and 
 clay at Hal^e,^ while the others wavered and 
 broke their line; one hundred and fifty of them 
 were left dead on the field, whereupon Pausa- 
 nias set up a trophy and retired. Not even so, 
 were his feelings embittered against his adver- 
 sary. On the contrary he sent secretly and in- 
 structed the men of Pirseus, what sort of terms 
 they should propose to himself and the ephors 
 in attendance. To this advice they listened. He 
 also fostered a division in the party within the 
 city. A deputation, acting on his orders, sought 
 an audience of him and the ephors. It had all 
 the appearance of a mass meeting. In ap- 
 proaching the Spartan authorities, they had no 
 desire or occasion, they stated, to look upon the 
 men of Piraeus as enemies; they would prefer a 
 general reconciliation and the friendship of 
 both sides with Lacedsemon. The propositions 
 were favourably received, and by no less a per- 
 son than Nauclidas. He was present as ephor, 
 in accordance with the custom which obliges two 
 
 1 Halae, the salt marshy ground immediately behind the great 
 harbour of Piraeus, but outside the fortification lines.
 
 IIELLENICA BOOK II 127 
 
 members of that board to serve on all military 
 expeditions with the king•, and with his col- 
 league shared the political views represented by 
 Pausanias, rather than those of Lysander and 
 his party. Thus the authorities were quite ready 
 to despatch to Laceda?mon the representatives 
 of Pirjeus, carrying their terms of truce with 
 the LacediEmonians, as also two private individ- 
 uals belonging to the city party, whose names 
 were Cephisophon and Meletus. This double 
 deputation, however, had no sooner set out to 
 Laceda?mon than the de facto government of 
 the city followed suit, by sending a third set of 
 representatives to state on their behalf: that 
 they were prepared to deliver up themselves and 
 the fortifications in their possession to the Lace- 
 daemonians, to do with them what they liked. 
 " Are the men of Piraeus," they asked, " pre- 
 pared to surrender Pirasus and Munychia in the 
 same way? If they are sincere in their profes- 
 sion of friendship to Lacedaemon, they ought to 
 do so." The ephors and the members of assem- 
 bly at Sparta gave audience to these several 
 parties, and sent out fifteen commissioners to 
 Athens empowered, in conjunction with Pausa- 
 nias, to discover the best settlement possible. 
 The terms arrived at were that a general peace 
 between the rival parties should be established, 
 liberty to return to their own homes being 
 granted to all, with the exception of the Thirty,
 
 128 XENOPHON 
 
 the Eleven, and the Ten who had been gover- 
 nors in Pirffius; but a proviso was added, en- 
 abling any of the city party who feared to re- 
 main at Athens to find a home in Eleusis. 
 
 And now that everything was happily con- 
 cluded, Pausanias disbanded his army, and the 
 men from Pir£eus marched up under arms into 
 the acropolis and offered sacrifice to Athena. 
 When they were come down, the generals called 
 a meeting of the Ecclesia, and Thrasybulus 
 made a speech in which, addressing the city 
 party, he said : " Men of the city ! I have one 
 piece of advice I would tender to you; it is that 
 you should learn to know yourselves, and to- 
 wards the attainment of that self-knoAvledge I 
 would have you make a careful computation of 
 your good qualities and satisfy yourselves on 
 the strength of Λvhich of these it is that you 
 claim to rule over us. Is it that you are more 
 just than ourselves? Yet the people, who are 
 poorer — have never wronged you for the pur- 
 poses of plunder; but you, whose wealth would 
 outweigh the whole of ours, have wrought many 
 a shameful deed for the sake of gain. If, then, 
 you have no monopoly of justice, can it be on 
 the score of courage that you are warranted to 
 hold your heads so high? If so, what fairer test 
 of courage will you propose than the arbitra- 
 ment of war — the war just ended? Or do you 
 claim superiority of intelligence? — ^you, who
 
 IIKLLKNICA BOOK II 129 
 
 with all your wealth of arms and walls, money 
 and Peloponnesian allies, have been paralysed 
 by men who had none of those things to aid 
 them I Or is it on these Laconian friends of 
 yours that you pride yourselves? What! when 
 these same friends have dealt by you as men 
 deal by vicious dogs. You know how that is. 
 They put a heavy collar round the neck of the 
 brutes and hand them over muzzled to their 
 masters. So too have the Lacedaemonians 
 handed you over to the people, this very people 
 Λvhom you have injured; and now they have 
 turned their backs and are gone. But " (turn- 
 ing to the mass) "do not misconceive me. It 
 is not for me, sirs, coldly to beg of you, in no 
 respect to violate your solemn undertakings. I 
 go further; I beg you, to crown your list of ex- 
 ploits by one final display of virtue. Show the 
 world that you can be faithful to your oaths, 
 and flawless in your conduct." By these and 
 other kindred arguments he impressed upon 
 them that there was no need for anarchy or dis- 
 order, seeing that there were the ancient laws 
 ready for use. And so he broke up the assem- 
 bly. 
 
 At this auspicious moment, then, they reap- 
 pointed the several magistrates; the constitution 
 began to work afresh, and civic life was recom- 
 menced. At a subsequent period, on receiving 
 information that the party at Eleusis were col-
 
 130 XENOPHON 
 
 lecting a body of mercenaries, they marched out 
 with their whole force against them, and put to 
 death their generals, who came out to parley. 
 These removed, they introduced to the others 
 their friends and connections, and so persuaded 
 them to come to terms and be reconciled. The 
 oath they bound themselves by consisted of a 
 simple asseveration: "We will remember past 
 offences no more ; " and to this day " the two 
 parties live amicably together as good citizens, 
 and the democracy is steadfast to its oaths. 
 
 2 Practically the first volume of Xenophon's " History of Hel- 
 lenic Affairs " ends here. This history is resumed with the be- 
 ginning of Book III, after the Cyreian expedition [of which 
 episode we have a detailed account in the Anabasis from March 
 B. c. 401 down to March b. c. 399, when the remnant of the Ten 
 Thousand was handed over to the Spartan general Thimbron in 
 Asia]. Some incidents belonging to b. c. 402 are referred to 
 in the opening paragraphs of Hellenica, III, but only as an 
 introduction to the new matter.
 
 ^11> -^ 'JUT' •- ^^^'.t*' >^Vv '' ii . \4 ? i
 
 ANABASIS 
 
 ι 
 
 BOOK I 
 
 DARIUS and Parysatis had two sons: 
 the elder was named Artaxerxes, and 
 the younger Cyrus. Now, as Darius 
 lay sick and felt that the end of life drew near, 
 he wished both his sons to be with him. The 
 elder, as it chanced, was already there, but 
 Cyrus he must needs send for from the province 
 over which he had made him satrap, having ap- 
 pointed him general moreover of all the forces 
 that muster in the plain of the Castolus. Thus 
 Cyrus went up, taking with him Tissaphernes 
 as his friend, and accompanied also by a body 
 of Hellenes, three hundred heavy armed men, 
 under the command of Xenias the Parrhasian.* 
 Now when Darius was dead, and Artaxerxes 
 was established in the kingdom, Tissaphernes 
 brought slanderous accusation against Cyrus 
 before his brother, the king, of harbouring de- 
 signs against him. And Artaxerxes, listening 
 to the words of Tissaphernes, laid hands upon 
 Cyrus, desiring to put him to death; but his 
 mother made intercession for him, and sent him 
 back again in safety to his province. He then, 
 
 1 Parrhasia, a district and town in the southwest of Arcadia. 
 
 131
 
 132 XENOPHON 
 
 having so escaped through peril and dishonour, 
 fell to considering, not only how he might avoid 
 ever again being in his brother's power, but 
 how, if possible, he might become king in his 
 stead. Parysatis, his mother, was his first re- 
 source; for she had more love for Cja*us than 
 for Artaxerxes upon his throne. INIoreover, 
 Cyrus's behaviour towards all who came to him 
 from the king's court was such that, when he 
 sent them away again, they were better friends 
 to himself than to the king his brother. Nor 
 did he neglect the barbarians in his own service; 
 but trained them, at once to be capable as war- 
 riors and devoted adherents of himself. Lastly, 
 he began collecting his Hellenic armament, but 
 with the utmost secrecy, so that he might take 
 the king as far as might be at unawares. 
 
 The manner in which he contrived the le\ying 
 of the troops was as follows: First, he sent 
 orders to the commandants of garrisons in the 
 cities (so held by him), bidding them to get to- 
 gether as large a body of picked Peloponnesian 
 troops as they severally were able, on the plea 
 that Tissaphernes was plotting against their 
 cities; and truly these cities of Ionia had orig- 
 inally belonged to Tissaphernes, being given to 
 him by the king; but at this time, with the ex- 
 ception of Miletus, they had all revolted to 
 Cyrus. In Miletus, Tissaphernes, haΛάng be- 
 come aware of similar designs, had forestalled
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 133 
 
 the conspirators by j)utting some to death and 
 banishing the remainder. Cyrns, on his side, 
 wclconioil these fugitives, and having collected 
 an army, laid siege to Miletus by sea and land, 
 endeavouring to reinstate the exiles; and this 
 gave him another pretext for collecting an 
 armament. At the same time he sent to the 
 king, and claimed, as being the king's brother, 
 that these cities should be given to himself 
 rather than that Tissaphernes should continue 
 to govern them; and in furtherance of this end, 
 the queen, his mother, co-operated w^ith him, so 
 that the king not only failed to see the design 
 against himself, but concluded that Cyrus was 
 spending his money on armaments in order to 
 make war on Tissaphernes. Nor did it pain him 
 greatly to see the two at war together, and the 
 less so because Cyrus was careful to remit the 
 tribute due to the king from the cities which be- 
 longed to Tissaphernes. 
 
 A third army was being collected for him in 
 the Chersonese, over against Abydos, the origin 
 of which was as follows : There was a Lacedse- 
 monian exile, named Clearchus, with whom Cy- 
 rus had become associated. Cyrus admired the 
 man, and made him a present of ten thousand 
 darics.^ Clearchus took the gold, and with the 
 money raised an army, and using the Cherso- 
 
 2 About $50,000. The daric was a Persian gold coin = 125.55 
 grains of gold.
 
 134 XENOPHON 
 
 nese as his base of operations, set to work to 
 fight the Thracians north of the Hellespont, in 
 the interests of the Hellenes, and with such 
 happy result that the Hellespontine cities, of 
 their own accord, were eager to contribute 
 funds for the support of his troops. In this 
 way, again, an armament was being secretly 
 maintained for C>tus. 
 
 Then there was the Thessalian Aristippus, 
 Cyrus's friend, who, under pressure of the rival 
 political party at home, had come to Cyrus and 
 asked him for pay for two thousand mercen- 
 aries, to be continued for three months, which 
 would enable him, he said, to gain the upper 
 hand of his antagonists. Cyrus rephed by pre- 
 senting him with six months' pay for four thou- 
 sand mercenaries — only stipulating that Aris- 
 tippus should not come to terms with his antag- 
 onists without final consultation with himself. 
 In this way he secured to himself the secret 
 maintenance of a fourth armament. 
 
 Further, he bade Proxenus, a Boeotian, who 
 was another friend, get together as many men 
 as possible, and join him on an expedition which 
 he meditated against the Pisidians, who were 
 causing annoyance to his territory. Similarly 
 two other friends, Soph^enetus the Stymphalian, 
 and Socrates the Achaean, had orders to get to- 
 gether as many men as possible and come to him, 
 since he was on the point of opening a cam-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 135 
 
 paign, along with the Milesian exiles, against 
 Tissaphernes. These orders were duly carried 
 out by the two in question. 
 
 II. — But when the right moment seemed to 
 him to have come, at which he should begin his 
 march into the interior, the pretext which he put 
 forward was his desire to expel the Pisidians 
 utterly out of the country; and he began col- 
 lecting both his Asiatic and his Hellenic arma- 
 ments, avowedly against that people. From 
 Sardis in each direction his orders sped: to 
 Clearchus, to join him there with the whole of 
 his army; to Aristippus, to come to terms with 
 those at home, and to despatch to him the troops 
 in his employ; to Xenias the Arcadian, who was 
 acting as general-in-chief of the foreign troops 
 in the cities, to present himself with all the men 
 available, excepting only those who were ac- 
 tually needed to garrison the citadels. He next 
 summoned the troops at present engaged in the 
 siege of Miletus, and called upon the exiles to 
 follow him on his intended expedition, promis- 
 ing them that if he were successful in his object, 
 he would not pause until he had reinstated them 
 in their native city. To this invitation they 
 hearkened gladly ; they believed in him ; and with 
 their arms they presented themselves at Sardis. 
 So, too, Xenias arrived at Sardis with the con- 
 tingent from the cities, four thousand hoplites; 
 Proxenus, also, with fifteen hundred hoplites
 
 136 XENOPHON 
 
 and five hundred light-armed troops; Sopheene- 
 tus the Stymphalian, with one thousand hopHtes; 
 Socrates the Achfean, with five hundred hop- 
 htes ; while the INIegarian Pasion came with three 
 hundred hoplites and three hundred peltasts. 
 This latter officer, as well as Socrates, belonged 
 to the force engaged against JNliletus. These all 
 joined him at Sardis. 
 
 But Tissaphernes did not fail to note these 
 proceedings. An equipment so large pointed to 
 something more than an invasion of Pisidia: so 
 he argued ; and with what speed he might, he set 
 off to the king, attended by about five hundred 
 horse. The king, on his side, had no sooner 
 heard from Tissaphernes of Cj^rus's great ar- 
 mament, than he began to make coimter-prep- 
 arations. 
 
 Thus Cyinis, with the troops w^hich I have 
 named, set out from Sardis, and marched on 
 and on through Lydia three stages, making two- 
 and-twenty parasangs,^ to the river JNIgeander. 
 That river is two hundred feet broad, and was 
 spanned by a bridge consisting of seven boats. 
 Crossing it, he marched through Phrygia a sin- 
 gle stage, of eight parasangs, to Colossse, an 
 inliabited city, prosperous and large. Here he 
 remained seven daj^s, and was joined by Menon 
 the Thessalian, who arrived with one thousand 
 
 3 The Persian " f arsang " =: 30 stades, nearly 1 league, 3§ 
 statute miles, though net of uniform value in all parts of Asia.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 137 
 
 Iioplites and five hundred peltasts, Dolopes, 
 il^]niancs, and Ol5'ntlnans. From this phice he 
 marched three stages, tAventy parasangs in all, 
 to Cehenie, a populous city of Phrygia, large 
 and prosperous. Here Cyrus owned a palace 
 and a large park full of wild beasts, wliich he 
 used to hunt on horseback, whenever he wished 
 to give himself or his horses exercise. Through 
 the midst of the park flows the river Mseander, 
 the sources of which are within the palace build- 
 ings, and it flows through the city of Cel^ense. 
 The great king also has a palace in Cel^ense, a 
 strong place, on the sources of another river, the 
 Marsyas, at the foot of the Acropolis. Tliis 
 river also flows through the city, discharging it- 
 self into the Mseander, and is five- and- twenty 
 feet broad. Here is the place where Apollo is 
 said to have flayed Marsyas, when he had con- 
 quered him in the contest of skill. He hung up 
 the skin of the conquered man, in the cavern 
 where the spring wells forth, and hence the name 
 of the river, Marsyas. It was on this site that 
 Xerxes, as tradition tells, built this very palace, 
 as well as the citadel of Celsenas itself, on his 
 retreat from Hellas, after he had lost the famous 
 battle. Here Cyrus remained for thirty days, 
 during which Clearchus the Lacedaemonian ar- 
 rived with one thousand hoplites and eight hun- 
 dred Thracian peltasts and two hundred Cretan 
 archers. At the same time, also, came Sosis the
 
 138 XENOPHON 
 
 Syracusan with three thousand hopKtes, and 
 Sophsenetus the Arcadian with one thousand 
 hophtes ; and here Cjrrus held a review, and num- 
 bered his Hellenes in the park, and found that 
 they amounted in all to eleven thousand hop- 
 lites and about two thousand peltasts. 
 
 From this place he continued his march two 
 stages — ten parasangs — to the populous city of 
 Peltse, where he remained three days; while 
 Xenias, the Arcadian, celebrated the Lycsea with 
 sacrifice, and instituted games. The prizes were 
 head-bands of gold; and Cyrus himself Avas a 
 spectator of the contest. From this place the 
 march was continued two stages — twelve para- 
 sangs — to Ceramon-agora, a populous city, the 
 last on the confines of JNIysia. Thence a march 
 of three stages — thirty parasangs — brought him 
 to Caystru-pedion, a populous city. Here Cyrus 
 halted five days ; and the soldiers, whose pay was 
 now more than three months in arrear, came sev- 
 eral times to the palace gates demanding their 
 dues; while Cjons put them ofi:' \vith fine words 
 and expectations, but could not conceal his vex- 
 ation, for it Λvas not his fashion to stint payment, 
 when he had the means. At this point Epyaxa, 
 the wife of Syennesis, the king of the Cilicians, 
 arrived on a visit to Cyrus; and it was said that 
 Cyrus had received a large gift of money from 
 the queen. At tills date, at any rate, Cyrus 
 gave the army four months' pay. The queen
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 139 
 
 uas accompanied by a bodyguard of Cilicians 
 and Aspendians; and, if report speaks truly, 
 Cyrus had intimate relations with the queen. 
 
 From this place he marched two stages — ten 
 parasangs — to Thymbrium, a populous city. 
 Here, by the side of the road, is the spring of 
 Midas, the king of Phrygia, as it is called, where 
 JNIidas, as the story goes, caught the satyr by 
 drugging the spring with wine. From this place 
 he marched two stages — ten parasangs — to 
 Tyriaum, a populous city. Here he halted three 
 days; and the Cilician queen, according to the 
 popular account, begged Cyrus to exhibit his 
 armament for her amusement. The latter being 
 only too glad to make such an exhibition, held a 
 review of the Hellenes and barbarians in the 
 plain. He ordered the Hellenes to draw up 
 their lines and post themselves in their custom- 
 ary battle order, each general marshalling his 
 own battalion. Accordingly they drew up four- 
 deep. The right was held by Menon and those 
 with him; the left by Clearchus and his men; 
 the centre by the remaining generals with theirs. 
 Cyi*us first inspected the barbarians, who 
 marched past in troops of horse and companies 
 of infantry. He then inspected the Hellenes; 
 driving past them in his chariot, with the queen 
 in her carriage. And they all had brass helmets 
 and purple tunics, and greaves, and their shields 
 uncovered.
 
 140 XENOPHON 
 
 After he had driven past the whole body, he 
 drew up his chariot in front of the centre of the 
 battle-line, and sent his interpreter Pigres to the 
 generals of the Hellenes, with orders to present 
 arms and to advance along the whole line. This 
 order was repeated by the generals to their men ; 
 and at the sound of the bugle, with shields for- 
 ward and spears in rest, they advanced to meet 
 the enemy. The pace quickened, and with a 
 shout the soldiers spontaneously fell into a run, 
 making in the direction of the camp. Great was 
 the panic of the barbarians. The Cilician queen 
 in her carriage turned and fled ; the sutlers in the 
 marketing place left their wares and took to 
 their heels; and the Hellenes meanwhile came 
 into camp with a roar of laughter. What 
 astounded the queen was the brilliancy and or- 
 der of the armament ; but Cyrus was pleased to 
 see the terror inspired by the Hellenes in the 
 hearts of the Asiatics. 
 
 From this place he marched on three stages — 
 twenty parasangs — to Iconium, the last city of 
 Phrygia, where he remained three days. Thence 
 he marched through Lycaonia five stages — 
 thirty parasangs. This was hostile country, and 
 he gave it over to the Hellenes to pillage. At 
 this point Cyrus sent back the Cilician queen 
 into her own country by the quickest route ; and 
 to escort her he sent the soldiers of Menon, and 
 Menon himself. With the rest of the troops
 
 ANAT^ASIS BOOK I 141 
 
 lie coiitiiiiied his march through Cappadocia 
 four stages — tAventy-iive parasangs — to Dana, 
 a ])opulous eity, large and flourishing. Here 
 they halted three days, within which interval Cy- 
 rus put to death, on a charge of conspiracy, a 
 Persian nohleman named Megaphernes, a 
 wearer of the royal purple ; and along with him 
 another high dignitary among his subordinate 
 commanders. 
 
 From this place they endeavoured to force a 
 passage into Cilicia. Now the entrance was by 
 an exceedingly steep cart-road, impracticable 
 for an army in face of a resisting force; and re- 
 port said that Syennesis was on the summit of 
 the pass guarding the approach. Accordingly 
 they halted a day in the plain ; but next day came 
 a messenger informing them that Syennesis had 
 left the pass; doubtless, after perceiving that 
 Menon's army was already in Cilicia on his own 
 side of the mountains; and he had further been 
 informed that ships of war, belonging to the 
 Lacedsemonians and to Cyrus himself, with 
 Tamos on board as admiral, were sailing round 
 from Ionia to Cilicia. Whatever the reason 
 might be, Cyrus made his way up into the hills 
 without let or hindrance, and came in sight of 
 the tents where the Cilicians were on guard. 
 From that point he descended gradually into a 
 large and beautiful plain country, well watered, 
 and thickly covered with trees of all sorts and
 
 142 XENOPHON 
 
 vines. This plain produces sesame plentifully, 
 as also panic and millet and barley and wheat; 
 and it is shut in on all sides by a steep and lofty 
 wall of mountains from sea to sea. Descending 
 through this plain country, he advanced four 
 stages — twenty-five parasangs — to Tarsus, a 
 large and prosperous city of Cilicia. Here stood 
 the palace of Syennesis, the king of the coun- 
 try; and through the middle of the city flows a 
 river called the Cydnus, two hundred feet broad. 
 They found that the city had been deserted 
 by its inhabitants, who had betaken themselves, 
 with Syennesis, to a strong place on the hills. 
 All had gone, except the tavern-keepers. The 
 sea-board inhabitants of Soli and Issi also re- 
 mained. Now Epyaxa, Syennesis's queen, had 
 reached Tarsus five days in advance of Cyrus. 
 During their passage over the mountains into 
 the plain, two companies of Menon's army were 
 lost. Some said they had been cut down by the 
 Cilicians, while engaged on some pillaging af- 
 fair; another account was that they had been 
 left behind, and being unable to overtake the 
 main body, or discover the route, had gone 
 astray and perished. However it was, they num- 
 bered one hundred hoplites; and when the rest 
 arrived, being in a fury at the destruction of 
 their fellow-soldiers, they vented their spleen 
 by pillaging the city of Tarsus and the palace 
 to boot. Now when Cjrrus had marched into
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 143 
 
 the city, he sent for Syennesis to come to him; 
 but the latter replied that he had never yet put 
 himself into the hands of any one who was his 
 superior, nor was he willing to accede to the 
 proposal of Cyrus now; until, in the end, his 
 wife persuaded him, and he accepted pledges of 
 good faith. After this they met, and Syennesis 
 gave Cyrus large sums in aid of his army ; while 
 Cyrus presented him with the customary royal 
 gifts — to wit, a horse with a gold bit, a necklace 
 of gold, a gold bracelet, and a gold scimitar, a 
 Persian dress, and lastly, the exemption of his 
 territory from further pillage, with the privi- 
 lege of taking back the slaves that had been 
 seized, wherever they might chance to come upon 
 them. 
 
 III. — At Tarsus Cyrus and his army halted 
 for twenty days; the soldiers refusing to ad- 
 vance further, since the suspicion ripened in 
 their minds, that the expedition was in reality 
 directed against the king; and as they insisted, 
 they had not engaged their services for that ob- 
 ject. Clearchus set the example of trying to 
 force his men to continue their march; but he 
 had no sooner started at the head of his troops 
 than they began to pelt him and his baggage 
 train, and Clearchus had a narrow escape of 
 being stoned to death there and then. Later on, 
 when he perceived that force was useless, he 
 summoned an assembly of his own men, and for
 
 144 XENOPHON 
 
 a long while he stood and wept, while the men 
 gazed in silent astonishment. At last he spoke 
 as follows: "Fellow-soldiers, do not marvel 
 that I am sorely distressed on account of the 
 present troubles. Cyrus has been no ordinary 
 friend to me. When I was in banishment he 
 honoured me in various ways, and made me also 
 a present of ten thousand darics. These I ac- 
 cepted, but not to lay them up for myself for 
 private use ; not to squander them in pleasure, but 
 to expend them on yourselves. And, first of all, 
 I went to war with the Thracians, and with you 
 to aid, I wreaked vengeance on them in behalf 
 of Hellas; driving them out of the Chersonese, 
 when they wanted to deprive its Hellenic in- 
 habitants of their lands. But as soon as Cyrus 
 summoned me, I took you with me and set out, 
 so that, if my benefactor had any need of me, 
 I might requite him for the good treatment I 
 myself had received at his hands. . . . But 
 since you are not minded to continue the march 
 with me, one of two things is left to me to do: 
 either I must renounce you for the sake of my 
 friendship with Cyrus, or I must go with you at 
 the cost of deceiving him. Whether I am about 
 to do right or not, I cannot say, but I choose 
 yourselves; and, whatever betide, I mean to 
 share your fate. Never shall it be said of me by 
 any one that, having led Greek troops against the 
 barbarians, I betrayed the Hellenes, and chose
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 145 
 
 the friendship of the barharian. No I since you 
 do not choose to obey and follow me, I will fol- 
 low after j'ou. Whatever betide, I will share 
 your fate. I look ii])on you as my country, my 
 friends, my allies; with you I think I shall be 
 honoured, wherever I be; without you I do not 
 see how I can help a friend or hurt a foe. My 
 decision is taken. Wherever you go, I go also." 
 Such were his words. But the soldiers, not 
 only his own, but the rest also, when they heard 
 what he said, and how he had scouted the idea 
 of going up to the great king's palace, ex- 
 pressed their approval ; and more than two thou- 
 sand men deserted Xenias and Pasion, and took 
 their arms and baggage-train, and came and en- 
 camped with Clearchus. But Cyrus, in despair 
 and vexation at this turn of affairs, sent for 
 Clearchus. He refused to come; but, without 
 the knowledge of the soldiers, sent a message to 
 Cyrus bidding him keep a good heart, for that 
 all would arrange itself in the right way; and 
 bade him keep on sending for him, whilst he 
 himself refused to go. After that he got to- 
 gether his own men, with those who had joined 
 him, and of the rest any who chose to come, and 
 spoke as follows: "Fellow-soldiers, it is clear 
 that the relations of Cyrus to us are identical 
 with ours to him. We are no longer his soldiers, 
 since we have ceased to follow him; and he, on 
 his side, is no longer our paymaster. He, how-
 
 146 XENOPHON 
 
 ever, no doubt considers himself wronged by us; 
 and though he goes on sending for me, I cannot 
 bring myself to go to him: for two reasons, 
 chiefly from a sense of shame, for I am forced 
 to admit to myself that I have altogether de- 
 ceived him; but partly, too, because I am afraid 
 of his seizing me and inflicting a penalty on me 
 for the wrongs which he conceives that I have 
 done him. In my opinion, then, this is no time 
 for us to go to sleep and forget all about our- 
 selves, rather it is high time to deliberate on our 
 next move; and as long as we do remain here, 
 we had better bethink us how we are to abide in 
 security ; or, if we are resolved to turn our backs 
 at once, what will be the safest means of retreat; 
 and, further, how w^ are to procure supplies, 
 for without supplies there is no profit whatso- 
 ever either in the general or the private soldier. 
 The man with whom we have to deal is an ex- 
 cellent friend to his friends, but a very dangerous 
 enemy to his foes. And he is backed by a force 
 of infantry and cavalry and ships such as we all 
 alike very well see and know, since we can hardly 
 be said to have posted ourselves at any great 
 distance from him. If, then, any one has a sug- 
 gestion to make, now is the time to speak." With 
 these words he ceased. 
 
 Then various speakers stood up ; some of their 
 own motion to propound their views; others in- 
 spired by Clearchus to dilate on the hopeless dif-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 147 
 
 iiciilty of either paying, or going back without 
 the goodwill of Cyrus. One of these, in partic- 
 ular, with a make-believe of anxiety to com- 
 mence the hoi^eward march without further 
 pause, called upon them instantly to choose 
 other generals, if Clearchus were not himself 
 prepared to lead them back: " Let them at once 
 purchase supplies " (the market being in the 
 heart of the Asiatic camp), "let them pack up 
 their baggage: let them," he added, " go to Cy- 
 rus and ask for some ships in order to return 
 by sea : if he refused to give them ships, let them 
 demand of him a guide to lead them back 
 through a friendly district ; and if he would not 
 so much as give them a guide, they could but 
 put themselves, without more ado, in marching 
 order, and send on a detachment to occupy the 
 pass — before Cyrus and the Cilicians, whose 
 property," the speaker added, " we have so plen- 
 tifully pillaged, can anticipate us." Such were 
 the remarks of that speaker; he was followed 
 by Clearchus, who merely said: " As to my act- 
 ing personally as general at this season, pray 
 do not propose it: I can see numerous obstacles 
 to my doing so. Obedience, in the fullest, I can 
 render to the man of your choice, that is another 
 matter: and you shall see and know that I can 
 play my part, under command, with the best of 
 you." 
 
 After Clearchus another spokesman stood up.
 
 148 XENOPHON 
 
 and proceeded to point out the simplicity of the 
 speaker, who proposed to ask for vessels, just 
 as if Cyrus were minded to renounce the expedi- 
 tion and sail back again. " And let me further 
 point out," he said, " what a simple-minded no- 
 tion it is to beg a guide of the very man whose 
 designs we are marring. If we can trust any 
 guide whom Cyrus may vouchsafe to give us, 
 why not order Cyrus at once to occupy the pass 
 in our behoof? For my part, I should think 
 twice before I set foot on any ships that he 
 might give us, for fear lest he should sink them 
 with his men-of-war; and I should equally hesi- 
 tate to follow any guide of his : he might lead us 
 into some place out of which we should find it 
 impossible to escape. I should much prefer, if 
 I am to return against the will of Cyrus at all, 
 to give him the slip, and so begone: which in- 
 deed is impossible. But these schemes are sim- 
 ply nonsensical. My proposal is that a deputa- 
 tion of fit persons, with Clearchus, should go to 
 Cyrus: let them go to Cyrus and ask him: what 
 use he proposes to make of us? and if the busi- 
 ness is at all similar to that on which he once 
 before employed a body of foreigners — let us 
 by all means follow: let us show that we are 
 the equals of those who accompanied him on his 
 march up formerly. But if the design should 
 turn out to be of larger import than the former 
 one — involving more toil and more danger —
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 140 
 
 we should ask him, either to give us i?ood reasons 
 for following his lead, or else consent to send us 
 away into a friendly country. In this way, 
 Avhother we follow him, we shall do so as friends, 
 and with heart and soul, or Λvhether we go back, 
 Ave shall do so in security. The answer to this 
 shall be reported to us here, and when we have 
 heard it, we will advise as to our best course." 
 This resolution was carried, and they chose 
 and sent a deputation with Clearchus, who put 
 to Cyrus the questions which had been agreed 
 upon by the army. Cyrus replied as follows: 
 That he had received news that Abrocomas, an 
 enemy of his, was posted on the Euphrates, 
 twelve stages off; his object was to march 
 against this aforesaid Abrocomas : and if he were 
 still there, he wished to inflict punishment on 
 him, " or if he be fled " (so the reply concluded) , 
 "we will there deliberate on the best course." 
 The deputation received the answer and reported 
 it to the soldiers. The suspicion that he was 
 leading them against the king was not dispelled ; 
 but it seemed best to follow him. They onty de- 
 manded an increase of pay, and Cyrus promised 
 to give them half as much again as they had 
 hitherto received, — that is to say, a daric and a 
 half * a month to each man, instead of a daric. 
 
 * I. €., roughly speaking, $7.50 in lieu of $5.00. The daric 
 
 " was in value nearly equivalent to a sovereign, and of a very 
 
 convenient size and shape." — Percy Gardner, " The Types of 
 Greek Coins."
 
 150 XENOPHON 
 
 Was he really leading them to attack the king? 
 Not even at this moment was any one apprised 
 of the fact, at any rate in any open and public 
 manner. 
 
 IV. — From this point he marched two stages 
 — ten parasangs — to the river Psarus, which is 
 two hundred feet broad, and from the Psarus he 
 marched a single stage — five parasangs — to the 
 river Pyramus, which is about two hundred yards 
 broad, and from the Pyramus two stages — fif- 
 teen parasangs — to Issi, the last city in Cilicia. 
 It lies on the seaboard — a prosperous, large and 
 flourishing town. Here they halted three days, 
 and here Cyrus was joined by his fleet. There 
 were thirty-five ships from Peloponnesus, with 
 the Lacedaemonian admiral Pythagoras on 
 board. These had been piloted from Ephesus 
 by Tamos the Egyptian, who himself had an- 
 other fleet of twenty-five ships belonging to 
 Cyrus. These had formed Tamos's blockading 
 squadron at Miletus, when that city sided with 
 Tissaphernes ; he had also used them in other 
 military services rendered to Cyrus in his opera- 
 tions against that satrap. There was a third of- 
 ficer on board the fleet, the Lacedaemonian 
 Cheirisophus, who had been sent for by Cyrus, 
 and had brought with him seven hundred hop- 
 lites, over whom he was to act as general in the 
 service of Cjrrus. The fleet lay at anchor op- 
 posite Cyrus's tent. Here too another rein-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 151 
 
 forcenient presented itself. This was a body of 
 four hundred hophtes, Hellenic mercenaries in 
 the service of Abrocomas, who deserted him for 
 Cyrus, and joined in the campaign against the 
 king. 
 
 From Issi, he marched a single stage — five 
 parasangs — to the gates of Cilicia and Syria. 
 This was a double fortress : the inner and nearer 
 one, which protects Cilicia, was held by Syen- 
 nesis and a garrison of Cilicians; the outer and 
 further one, protecting Syria, was reported to 
 be garrisoned by a body of the king's troops. 
 Through the gap between the two fortresses 
 flows a river named the Carsus, which is a hun- 
 dred feet broad, and the whole space between 
 was scarcely more than six hundred yards. To 
 force a passage here would be impossible, so 
 narrow was the pass itself, with the fortification 
 walls stretching down to the sea, and precipitous 
 rocks above; while both fortresses were fur- 
 nished with gates. It was the existence of this 
 pass which had induced Cyrus to send for the 
 fleet, so as to enable him to lead a body of hop- 
 lites inside and outside the gates ; and so to force 
 a passage through the enemy, if he were guard- 
 ing the Syrian gate, as he fully expected to find 
 Abrocomas doing with a large army. This, how- 
 ever, Abrocomas had not done; but as soon as 
 he learnt that Cyrus was in Cilicia, he had turned 
 round and made his exit from Phoenicia, to join
 
 152 XENOPHON 
 
 the king with an army amounting, as report 
 said, to three hundred thousand men. 
 
 From this point Cyrus pursued his march 
 through Syria a single stage — five parasangs — 
 to ISIyriandrus, a city inhabited by Phoenicians, 
 on the sea-coast. This was a commercial port, 
 and numerous merchant vessels were riding at 
 anchor in the harbour. Here they halted seven 
 days, and here Xenias the Arcadian general, and 
 Pasion the JNIegarian got on board a trader, and 
 having stowed away their most valuable ef- 
 fects, set sail for home; most people explained 
 the act as the outcome of a fit of jealousy, be- 
 cause Cyrus had allowed Clearchus to retain 
 their men, who had deserted to him, in hopes of 
 returning to Hellas instead of marching against 
 the king ; Λvhen the two had so vanished, a rumour 
 spread that Cyrus was after them with some 
 ships of war, and some hoped the cowards might 
 be caught, others pitied them, if that should be 
 their fate. 
 
 But Cyrus summoned the generals and ad- 
 dressed them: "Xenias and Pasion," he said, 
 " have taken leave of us ; but they need not flat- 
 ter themselves that in so doing they have stolen 
 into hiding. I know where they are gone; nor 
 will they owe their escape to speed ; I have men- 
 of-war to capture their craft, if I like. But 
 heaven help me ! if I mean to pursue them : never 
 shall it be said of me, that I turn people to ac-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 153 
 
 count as lonp^ as they stay with me; but as soon 
 as they are minded to be off, I seize and maltreat 
 them, and strip them of their Avealth. Not so! 
 let them go with the consciousness that our be- 
 haviour to them is better than theirs to us. And 
 yet I have their children and wives safe under 
 lock and key in Tralles; but they shall not be 
 deprived even of these. They shall receive them 
 back in return for their former goodness to me." 
 So he spoke, and the Hellenes, even those who 
 had been out of heart at the thought of march- 
 ing up the country, when they heard of the no- 
 bleness of Cyrus, were happier and more eager 
 to follow him on his path. 
 
 After this Cyrus marched onwards four 
 stages — twenty parasangs — to the river Chains. 
 That river is a hundred feet broad, and is stocked 
 with large tame fish which the Syrians regard 
 as gods, and will not suffer to be injured — and 
 so too the pigeons of the place. The villages in 
 which they encamped belonged to Parysatis, as 
 part of her girdle money.^ From this point he 
 marched on five stages — thirty parasangs — to 
 the sources of the river Dardas, which is a hun- 
 
 B " Why, I have been informed by a credible person, who went 
 up to the king [at Susa], that he passed through a large tract 
 of excellent land, extending for nearly a day's journey, which 
 the people of the country called the queen's girdle, and another 
 which they called her veil," etc. — Prof. Jowett. Olympiodorus 
 and the Scholiast both suppose that Plato here refers to Xeno- 
 phon and this passage of the Anabasis.
 
 154 XENOPHON 
 
 dred feet broad. Here stood the palace of 
 Belesys, the ruler of Syria, with its park — which 
 was a very large and beautiful one, and full of 
 the products of all the seasons in their course. 
 But Cyrus cut down the park and burnt the 
 palace. Thence he marched on three stages — 
 fifteen parasangs — to the river Euphrates, 
 which is nearly half a mile broad. A large and 
 flourishing city, named Thapsacus, stands on its 
 banks. Here they halted five days, and here Cy- 
 rus sent for the generals of the Hellenes, and 
 told them that the advance was now to be upon 
 Babylon, against the great king; he bade them 
 communicate this information to the soldiers and 
 persuade them to follow. The generals called 
 an assembly, and announced the news to the sol- 
 diers. The latter were indignant and angry 
 with the generals, accusing them of having kept 
 secret what they had long known; and refused to 
 go, unless such a bribe of money were given 
 them as had been given to their predecessors, 
 when they went up with Cyrus to the court of 
 his father, not as now to fight a battle, but on a 
 peaceful errand — the visit of a son to his father 
 by invitation. The demand was reported to Cy- 
 rus by the generals, and he undertook to give 
 each man five silver minse^ as soon as Babylon 
 was reached, and their pay in full, until he had 
 safely conveyed them back to Ionia again. In 
 this manner the Hellenic force w^re persuaded, 
 
 β About $100.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 155 
 
 — that is to say, the majority of them. Menon, 
 indeed, hefore it was clear what the rest of the 
 sohliers would do — whether, in fact, they would 
 ίοΙΙοΛν Cyrus or not — collected his own troops 
 apart and made them the following speech: 
 " Men," he said, " if you will listen to me, there 
 is a method by which, without risk or toil, you 
 may win the special favour of Cyrus beyond the 
 rest of the soldiers. You ask what it is I would 
 have you do? I will tell you. Cyrus at this in- 
 stant is begging the Hellenes to follow him to 
 attack the king. I say then: Cross the Euphra- 
 tes at once, before it is clear what answer the 
 rest will make ; if they vote in favour of follow- 
 ing, you will get the credit of having set the ex- 
 ample, and Cyrus will be grateful to you. He 
 will look upon you as being the heartiest in his 
 cause; he will repay, as of all others he best 
 knows how; while, if the rest vote against cross- 
 ing, we shall all go back again; but as the sole 
 adherents, whose fidelity he can altogether trust, 
 it is you whom Cyrus will turn to account, as 
 commandants of garrisons or captains of com- 
 panies. You need only ask him for whatever 
 you want, and you will get it from him, as being 
 the friends of Cyrus." 
 
 The men heard and obeyed, and before the 
 rest had given their answer, they were already 
 across. But when Cyrus perceived that Menon's 
 troops had crossed, he was well pleased, and he
 
 156 XENOPHON 
 
 sent Glus to the division in question, with this 
 message: " Soldiers, accept my thanks at pres- 
 ent; eventually you shall thank me. I will see 
 to that, or my name is not Cyrus." The sol- 
 diers therefore could not but pray heartily for 
 his success; so high their hopes ran. But to 
 Menon, it was said, he sent gifts with lordly lib- 
 erality. This done, Cyrus proceeded to cross; 
 and in his wake followed the rest of the arma- 
 ment to a man. As they forded, never a man 
 was wetted above the chest: nor ever until this 
 moment, said the men of Thapsacus, had the 
 river been so crossed on foot, boats had always 
 been required; but these, at the present time, 
 Abrocomas, in his desire to hinder Cyrus from 
 crossing, had been at pains to burn. Thus the 
 passage was looked upon as a thing miraculous; 
 the river had manifestly retired before the face 
 of Cyinis, like a courtier bowing to his future 
 king. From this place he continued his march 
 through Syria nine stages — fifty parasangs — 
 and they reached the river Araxes. Here were 
 several villages full of corn and wine; in which 
 they halted three days, and provisioned the 
 army. 
 
 V. — Thence he marched on through Arabia, 
 keeping the Euphrates on the right, five desert 
 stages — thirty-five parasangs. In this region 
 the ground was one long level plain, stretching 
 far and wide like the sea, full of absinth; whilst
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 157 
 
 all the other vegetation, Λvhether wood or reed, 
 Avas SAveet scented like spice or sweet herb; there 
 were no trees; but there was wild game of all 
 kinds — Avild asses in greatest abundance, with 
 plenty of ostriches; besides these, there were 
 bustards and antelopes. These creatures were 
 occasionally chased by the cavalry. The asses, 
 when pursued, would run forward a space, and 
 then stand still — their pace being much swifter 
 than that of horses; and as soon as the horses 
 came close, they went through the same perform- 
 ance. The only way to catch them was for 
 the riders to post themselves at intervals, and 
 to hunt them in relays, as it were. The flesh of 
 those captured was not unlike venison, only 
 more tender. No one was lucky enough to cap- 
 ture an ostrich. Some of the troopers did give 
 chase, but it had soon to be abandoned; for the 
 bird, in its effort to escape, speedily put a long 
 interval between itself and its pursuers; plying 
 its legs at full speed, and using its wings the 
 while like a sail. The bustards were not so hard 
 to catch when started suddenly; for they take 
 only short flights, like partridges, and are soon 
 tired. Their flesh is delicious. 
 
 As the army wended its way through this re- 
 gion, they reached the river Mascas, which is one 
 hundred feet in breadth. Here stood a big de- 
 serted city called Corsote, almost literally en- 
 vironed by the stream, which flows round it in
 
 158 XENOPHON 
 
 a circle. Here they halted three days and pro- 
 visioned themselves. Hence they continued their 
 march thirteen desert stages — ninety para- 
 sangs — ^with the Euphrates still on their right, 
 until they reached the Gates. On these marches 
 several of the baggage animals perished of hun- 
 ger, for there was neither grass nor green herb, 
 or tree of any sort; but the country throughout 
 was barren. The inhabitants make their living 
 by quarrying millstones on the river banks, which 
 they work up and take to Babylon and sell, pur- 
 chasing corn in exchange for their goods. Corn 
 failed the army, and was not to be got for money, 
 except in the Lydian market open in Cyrus's 
 Asiatic army; where a kapithe of wheat or bar- 
 ley cost four shekels;^ the shekel being equal to 
 seven and a half Attic obols, whilst the kapithe 
 is the equivalent of two Attic choenices,^ dry 
 measure, so that the soldiers subsisted on meat 
 alone for the whole period. Some of the stages 
 were very long, whenever they had to push on to 
 find water or fodder ; and once they found them- 
 selves involved in a narrow way, where the deep 
 clay presented an obstacle to the progress of the 
 wagons. Cyrus, with the nobles about him, 
 halted to superintend the operation, and or- 
 
 7 Nearly $1.00. 
 
 8 The choenix = about 1 quart (or, according to others, IJ 
 pints). It was the minimum allowance of corn for a man, say 
 a slave, per diem. The Spartan was allowed at the public table 
 2 choenices a day.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 159 
 
 (Icrod Glus and Pigres to take a body of bar- 
 barians and to help in extricating the wagons. 
 As they seemed to be sIoav about the business, 
 he turned round angrily to the Persian nobles 
 and bade them lend a hand to force the wagons 
 out. Then, if ever, what goes to constitute one 
 branch of good discipline, was to be witnessed. 
 Each of those addressed, just where he chanced 
 to be standing, threw off his purple cloak, and 
 flung himself into the work with as much eager- 
 ness as if it had been a charge for victory. 
 Down a steep hill side they flew, with their 
 costly tunics and embroidered trousers, — some 
 with the circlets round their necks, and bracelets 
 on their arms — in an instant, they had sprung 
 into the miry clay, and in less time than one 
 could have conceived, they had landed the 
 wagons safe on terra firma. 
 
 Altogether it was plain that Cyrus was bent 
 on pressing on the march, and averse to stop- 
 pages, except where he halted for the sake of 
 provisioning or some other necessary object; 
 being convinced that the more rapidly he ad- 
 vanced, the less prepared for battle would he 
 find the king ; while the slower his own progress, 
 the larger would be the hostile army which he 
 would find collected. Indeed, the attentive ob- 
 server could see, at a glance, that if the king's 
 empire was strong in its extent of territory and 
 the number of inhabitants, that strength is com-
 
 160 XENOPHON 
 
 pensated by an inlierent ΛΛ^eakness, dependent 
 upon the length of roads and the inevitable dis- 
 persion of defensive forces, where an invader 
 insists upon pressing home the war by forced 
 marches. 
 
 On the opposite side of the Euphrates to the 
 point reached on one of these desert stages, was 
 a large and flourishing city named Charmande. 
 From this town the soldiers made purchases of 
 provisions, crossing the river on rafts, in the fol- 
 lowing fashion : They took the skins which they 
 used as tent coverings, and filled them with light 
 grass; they then compressed and stitched them 
 tightly together by the ends, so that the water 
 might not touch the hay. On these they crossed 
 and gOt provisions; wine made from the date- 
 nut, and millet or panic-corn, the common staple 
 of the country. Some dispute or other here oc- 
 curred between the soldiers of ]Menon and Cle- 
 archus, in which Clearchus sentenced one of 
 Menon's men, as the delinquent, and had him 
 flogged. The man went back to his own divi- 
 sion and told them. Hearing what had been 
 done to their comrade, his fellows fretted and 
 fumed, and were highly incensed against Cle- 
 archus. The same day Clearchus visited the 
 passage of the river, and after inspecting the 
 market there, was returning with a few fol- 
 lowers, on horseback, to his tent, and had to pass 
 through Menon's quarters. Cyrus had not yet
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 161 
 
 come up, but was riding up in the same direc- 
 tion. One of Menon's men, who was splitting 
 wood, caught sight of Clearchus as he rode past, 
 and aimed a blow at him wdth his axe. The aim 
 took no eifect; when another hurled a stone at 
 him, and a third, and then several, Λvith shouts 
 and hisses. Clearchus made a rapid retreat to 
 his own troops, and at once ordered them to get 
 under arms. He bade his hoplites remain in 
 position \vith their shields resting against their 
 knees, while he, at the head of his Thracians and 
 horsemen, of Λvhich he had more than forty in 
 his army — Thracians for the most part — ad- 
 vanced against Menon's soldiers, so that the 
 latter, with Menon himself, were panicstricken, 
 and ran to seize their arms; some even stood 
 riveted to the spot, in perplexity at the occur- 
 rence. Just then Proxenus came up from be- 
 hind, as chance would have it, with his division 
 of hoplites, and without a moment's hesitation 
 marched into the open space between the rival 
 parties, and grounded arms ; then he fell to beg- 
 ging Clearchus to desist. The latter was not 
 too well pleased to hear his trouble mildly 
 spoken of, when he had barely escaped being 
 stoned to death; and he bade Proxenus retire 
 and leave the intervening space open. At this 
 juncture Cyrus arrived and inquired what was 
 happening. There was no time for hesitation. 
 With his javelins firmly grasped in his hands he
 
 162 XENOPHON 
 
 galloped up, — escorted by some of his faithful 
 bodyguard, who were present — and was soon in 
 the midst, exclaiming: " Clearchus, Proxenus, 
 and you other Hellenes yonder, you know not 
 what you do. As surely as you come to blows 
 with one another, our fate is sealed — this very 
 day I shall be cut to pieces, and so will you: 
 your turn will follow close on mine. Let our 
 fortunes once take an evil turn, and these bar- 
 barians whom you see around will be worse foes 
 to us than those who are at present serving with 
 the king." At these words Clearchus came to 
 his senses. Both parties paused from battle, and 
 retired to their quarters: order reigned. 
 
 VI. — As they advanced from this point (op- 
 posite Charmande), they came upon the hoof- 
 prints and dung of horses at frequent intervals. 
 It looked like the trail of some two thousand 
 horses. Keeping ahead of the army, these fel- 
 lows burnt up the grass and everything else that 
 was good for use. Now there was a Persian, 
 named Orontas; he was closely related to the 
 king by birth : and in matters pertaining to war 
 reckoned among the best of Persian warriors. 
 Having formerly been at war with Cyrus, and 
 afterwards reconciled to him, he now made a 
 conspiracy to destroy him. He made a proposal 
 to Cyrus: if Cyrus would furnish him with a 
 thousand horsemen, he would deal with these 
 troopers, who were burning down everyi;hing in
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 163 
 
 front of them; he would lay an ambuscade and 
 cut them down, or he would capture a host of 
 them alive; in any case, he would put a stop to 
 their aggressiveness and burnings; he would see 
 to it that they did not ever get a chance of set- 
 ting eyes on Cyrus's army and reporting its ad- 
 Λ^ent to the king. The proposal seemed plaus- 
 ible to Cyrus, who accordingly authorised Oron- 
 tas to take a detachment from each of the gen- 
 erals, and be gone. He, thinking that he had 
 got his horsemen ready to his hand, wrote a let- 
 ter to the king, announcing that he would ere 
 long join him with as many troopers as he could 
 bring; he bade him, at the same time, instruct 
 the royal cavalry to welcome liim on arrival as a 
 friend. The letter further contained certain re- 
 minders of his former friendship and fidelity. 
 This despatch he delivered into the hands of 
 one who was a trusty messenger, as he thought; 
 but the bearer took and gave it to Cyrus. Cyrus 
 read it. Orontas was arrested. Then Cyrus 
 summoned to his tent seven of the noblest Per- 
 sians among his personal attendants, and sent 
 orders to the Hellenic generals to bring up a 
 body of hoplites. These troops were to take up 
 a position round his tent. This the generals 
 did; bringing up about three thousand hoplites. 
 Clearchus was also invited inside, to assist at the 
 court-martial; a compliment due to the position 
 he held among the other generals, in the opin-
 
 164 XENOPHON 
 
 ion not only of Cyrus, but also of the rest of 
 the court. When he came out, he reported the 
 circumstances of the trial (as to which, indeed, 
 there was no mystery) to his friends. He said 
 that Cyrus opened the inquiry with these words : 
 " I have invited you hither, my friends, that I 
 may take advice with you, and carry out what- 
 ever, in the sight of God and man, it is right for 
 me to do, as concerning the man before you, 
 Orontas. The prisoner was, in the first instance, 
 given to me by my father, to be my faithful 
 subject. In the next place, acting, to use his 
 own words, under the orders of my brother, and 
 having hold of the acropolis of Sardis, he went 
 to war with me. I met war with war, and forced 
 him to think it more prudent to desist from war 
 with me: whereupon we shook hands, exchang- 
 ing solemn pledges. After that," and at this 
 point Cyrus turned to Orontas, and addressed 
 him personally, — " after that, did I do you any 
 wrong? " Answer, " Never." Again, another 
 question: "Then, later on, having received, as 
 you admit, no injury from me, did you revolt to 
 the Mysians and injure my territory, as far as 
 in you lay? "— " I did," was the reply. " Then, 
 once more having discovered the limits of your 
 power, did you flee to the altar of Artemis, cry- 
 ing out that you repented? and did you thus 
 work upon my feelings, that we a second time 
 shook hands and made interchange of solemn
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 165 
 
 pledges? Are these things so? " Orontas again 
 assented. " Then what injury have you received 
 from me," Cyrus asked, " that now, for the third 
 time, you have been detected in a treasonous 
 plot against me?" — "No injury," Orontas re- 
 plied. And Cyrus asked once more: "You 
 plead guilty to having sinned against me?" — 
 " I must needs do so," he answered. Then Cy- 
 rus put one more question: "But the day may 
 come, may it not, when you will once again be 
 hostile to my brother, and a faithful friend to 
 myself?" The other answered: "Even if I 
 were, you could never be brought to believe it, 
 Cyrus." 
 
 At this point Cyrus turned to those who were 
 present and said: " Such has been the conduct 
 of the prisoner in the past : such is his language 
 now. I now call upon you, and you first, Cle- 
 archus, to declare your opinion — what think 
 you?" And Clearchus answered: "My advice 
 to you is to put this man out of the way as soon 
 as may be, so that we may be saved the necessity 
 of watching him, and have more leisure, as far 
 as he is concerned, to requite the services of 
 those whose friendship is sincere." — " To this 
 opinion," he told us, " the rest of the court ad- 
 hered." After that, at the bidding of Cyrus, 
 each of those present, in turn, including the 
 kinsmen of Orontas, took him by the girdle; 
 which is as much as to say, " Let him die the
 
 166 XENOPHON 
 
 death," and then those appointed led him out; 
 and they who in old days were wont to do obei- 
 sance to him, could not refrain, even at that mo- 
 ment, from bowing down before him, albeit they 
 knew he was being led forth to death. 
 
 After they had conducted him to the tent of 
 Artapates, the trustiest of Cyrus's Avand- 
 bearers, none set eyes upon him ever again, 
 alive or dead. No one, of his own knowledge, 
 could declare the manner of his death; though 
 some conjectured one thing and some another. 
 No tomb to mark his resting-place, either then 
 or since, was ever seen. 
 
 VII. — From this place Cyrus marched 
 through Babylonia three stages — tweh^e para- 
 sangs. Now, on the tliird stage, about mid- 
 night, Cyrus held a review of the Hellenes and 
 Asiatics in the plain, expecting that the king 
 would arrive the following day with his army to 
 offer battle. He gave orders to Clearchus to 
 take command of the right wing, and to JNIenon 
 the Thessalian of the left, while he himself 
 undertook the disposition of his own forces in 
 person. After this rcAaew, with the first ap- 
 proach of day, deserters from the great king 
 arrived, bringing Cyrus information about the 
 royal army. Then Cyrus summoned the gen- 
 erals and captains of the Hellenes, and held a 
 council of war to arrange the plan of battle. 
 He took this opportunity also to address the
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 107 
 
 following Λνοιχίβ of compliment and encourage- 
 ment to the meeting: "Men of Hellas," he 
 said, " it is certainly not from dearth of bar- 
 barians to fight my battles that I put myself at 
 your head as mj'^ allies; but because I hold you 
 to be better and stronger than many barbarians. 
 That is why I took you. See then that you 
 prove yourselves to be men worthy of the lib- 
 erty which you possess, and which I envy you. 
 Liberty — it is a thing w^hich, be well assured, I 
 would choose in preference to all my other pos- 
 sessions, multiplied many times. But I would 
 like you to know into what sort of struggle you 
 are going : learn its nature from one who knows. 
 Their numbers are great, and they come on with 
 much noise; but if you can hold out against 
 these twO things, I confess I am ashamed to 
 think what a sorry set of folk you will find the 
 inhabitants of this land to be. But you are 
 men, and brave you must be, being men: it is 
 agreed ; then if you wish to return home, any of 
 you, I undertake to send you back, in such sort 
 that your friends at home shall envy you; but I 
 flatter myself I shall persuade many of you to 
 accept what I will offer you here, in lieu of what 
 you left at home." 
 
 Here Gaulites, a Samian exile, and a trusty 
 friend of Cyrus, being present, exclaimed: 
 " Ay, Cyrus, but some say you can afford to 
 make large promises now, because you are in
 
 168 XENOPHON 
 
 the crisis of impending danger; but let matters 
 go well with you, will you recollect ? They shake 
 their heads. Indeed, some add that, even if you 
 did recollect, and were ever so willing, you 
 would not be able to make good all your prom- 
 ises, and repay." When Cyrus heard that, he 
 answered: "You forget, sirs, my father's em- 
 pire stretches southwards to a region Avhere men 
 cannot dwell by reason of the heat, and north- 
 wards to a region uninhabitable through cold; 
 but all the intervening space is mapped out in 
 satrapies belonging to my brother's friends: so 
 that if the victory be ours, it will be ours also 
 to put our friends in possession in their room. 
 On the whole my fear is, not that I may not 
 have enough to give to each of my friends, but 
 lest I may not have friends enough on whom to 
 bestow what I have to give, and to each of you 
 Hellenes I will give a crown of gold." 
 
 So they, when they heard these words, were 
 more elated than ever themselves, and spread 
 the good news among the rest outside. And 
 there came into his presence both the generals 
 and some of the other Hellenes also, claiming to 
 know what they should have in the event of vic- 
 tory ; and Cyrus satisfied the expectation of each 
 and all, and so dismissed them. Now the advice 
 and admonition of all who came into conversa- 
 tion with him was, not to enter the battle him- 
 self, but to post himself in rear of themselves;
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 169 
 
 and at this season Clearchus put a question to 
 him : " But do you think that your brother will 
 give battle to you, Cyrus? " and Cyrus an- 
 swered : " Not without a battle, be assured, 
 shall the prize be won; if he be the son of Da- 
 rius and Parysatis, and a brother of mine." 
 
 In the final arming for battle at this junc- 
 ture, the numbers were as follows: Of Hel- 
 lenes there were ten thousand four hundred 
 heavy infantry with two thousand five hundred 
 targeteers, while the barbarians with Cyrus 
 reached a total of one hundred thousand. He 
 had too about twenty scythe-chariots. The en- 
 emy's forces were reported to number one mil- 
 lion two hundred thousand, with two hundred 
 scythe-chariots, besides which he had six thou- 
 sand cavalry under Artagerses. These formed 
 the immediate vanguard of the king himself. 
 The royal army was marshalled by four gen- 
 erals or field-marshals, each in command of 
 three hundred thousand men. Their names were 
 Abrocomas, Tissaphernes, Gobryas, and Ar- 
 baces. (But of this total not more than nine 
 hundred thousand were engaged in the battle, 
 with one hundred and fifty scythe-chariots; 
 since Abrocomas, on his march from Phoenicia, 
 arrived five days too late for the battle.) Such 
 was the information brought to Cyrus by de- 
 serters who came in from the king's army be- 
 fore the battle, and it was corroborated after
 
 170 XENOPHON 
 
 the battle by those of the enemy who were taken 
 prisoners. 
 
 From this place Cyrus advanced one stage — 
 three parasangs — with the whole body of his 
 troops, Hellenic and barbarian alike, in order of 
 battle. He expected the king to give battle the 
 same daj^ for in the middle of this day's march 
 a deep sunk trench was reached, thirty feet 
 broad, and eighteen feet deep. The trench was 
 carried inland through the plain, twelve para- 
 sangs' distance, to the wall of Media. [Here 
 are canals, flowing from the river Tigris; they 
 are four in number, each a hundred feet broad, 
 and very deep, with corn ships plying upon 
 them; they empty themselves into the Euphra- 
 tes, and are at intervals of one parasang apart, 
 and are spanned by bridges.] 
 
 Between the Euphrates and the trench was a 
 narrow passage, twenty feet only in breadth. 
 The trench itself had been constructed by the 
 great king upon hearing of Cyrus's approach, 
 to serve as a line of defence. Through this nar- 
 row passage then Cyrus and his army passed, 
 and found themselves safe inside the trench. So 
 there was no battle to be fought with the king 
 that day; only there were numerous unmistak- 
 able traces of horse and infantry in retreat. Here 
 Cyrus summoned Silanus, his Ambraciot sooth- 
 sayer, and presented him with three thousand 
 darics; because eleven days back, when sacrific-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 171 
 
 ing, he had told him that the king would not 
 light within ten days, and Cyrus had answered: 
 " Well, then, if he does not fight within that 
 time, he will not fight at all; and if your proph- 
 ecy comes true, I promise you ten talents." So 
 now, that the ten days were passed, he presented 
 him with the above sum. 
 
 But as the king had failed to hinder the pass- 
 age of Cyrus's army at the trench, Cyrus him- 
 self and the rest concluded that he must have 
 abandoned the idea of offering battle, so that 
 next day Cyrus advanced with less than his for- 
 mer caution. On the third day he was conduct- 
 ing the march, seated in his carriage, with only 
 a small body of troops drawn up in front of 
 him. The mass of the army was moving on in 
 no kind of order: the soldiers having consigned 
 their heavy arms to be carried in the wagons or 
 on the backs of beasts. 
 
 VIII. — It was already about full market 
 time' and the halting-place at which the army 
 was to take up quarters was nearly reached, 
 when Pategyas, a Persian, a trusty member of 
 Cyrus's personal staif, came galloping up at 
 fuU speed on his horse, which was bathed in 
 sweat, and to every one he met he shouted in 
 Greek and Persian, as fast as he could ejacu- 
 late the words : " The king is advancing with a 
 large army ready for battle." Then ensued a 
 
 β I. e., between 9 and 10 a. m.
 
 172 XENOPHON 
 
 scene of wild confusion. The Hellenes and all 
 alike were expecting to be attacked on the in- 
 stant, and before they could form their lines. 
 Cyrus sprang from his carriage and donned his 
 corselet; then leaping on to his charger's back, 
 with the javelins firmly clutched, he passed the 
 order to the rest, to arm themselves and fall into 
 their several ranks. 
 
 The orders were carried out with alacrity; the 
 ranks shaped themselves. Clearchus held the 
 right wing resting on the Euphrates, Proxenus 
 was next, and after him the rest, while Menon 
 with his troops held the Hellenic left. Of the 
 Asiatics, a body of Paphlagonian cavalry, one 
 thousand strong, were posted beside Clearchus 
 on the right, and with them stood the Hellenic 
 peltasts. On the left was Arieeus, Cyrus's sec- 
 ond in command, and the rest of the barbarian 
 host. Cyrus was with his bodyguard of cavalry 
 about six hundred strong, all armed with corse- 
 lets like Cyrus, and cuisses and helmets ; but not 
 so Cyrus: he went into battle with head unhel- 
 meted. So too all the horses with Cyrus wore 
 forehead-pieces and breast-pieces, and the 
 troopers carried short Hellenic swords. 
 
 It was now mid-day, and the enemy was not 
 yet in sight; but with the approach of after- 
 noon was seen dust like a white cloud, and after 
 a considerable interval a black pall as it were 
 spread far and high over the plain. As they
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 173 
 
 came nearer, very soon was seen here and there 
 a glint of hronze and spear-points; and the 
 ranks could plainly be distinguished. On the 
 left were troopers wearing white cuirasses. 
 That is Tissaphernes in command, they said, 
 and next to these a body of men bearing wicker- 
 shields, and next again heavy-armed infantry, 
 with long wooden shields reaching to the feet. 
 Tliese were the Egyptians, they said, and then 
 other cavalry, other bowmen; all were in na- 
 tional divisions, each nation marching in densely- 
 crowded squares. And all along their front was 
 a line of chariots at considerable intervals from 
 one another, — the famous scythe-chariots, as 
 they were named, — having their scythes fitted to 
 the axle-trees and stretching out slantwise, while 
 others protruded under the chariot seats, facing 
 the ground, so as to cut through all they encoun- 
 tered. The design was to let them dash full 
 speed into the ranks of the Hellenes and cut 
 them through. 
 
 Curiously enough the anticipation of Cyrus, 
 when at the council of war he admonished the 
 Hellenes not to mind the shouting of the Asi- 
 atics, was not justified. Instead of shouting, 
 they came on in deep silence, softly and slowly, 
 with even tread. At this instant, Cyrus, riding 
 past in person, accompanied by Pigres, his inter- 
 preter, and three or four others, called aloud to 
 Clearchus to advance against the enemy's cen-
 
 174 XElSrOPHON 
 
 tre, for there the king was to be found: "And 
 if we strike home at this point," he added, " our 
 work is finished." Clearchus, though he could 
 see the compact body at the centre, and had been 
 told by Cyrus that the king lay outside the Hel- 
 lenic left (for, owing to numerical superiority, 
 the king, while holding his own centre, could 
 well overlap Cyrus's extreme left), still hesi- 
 tated to draw off his right wing from the river, 
 for fear of being turned on both flanks ; and he 
 simply replied, assuring Cyrus that he would 
 take care all went well. 
 
 At this time the barbarian army was evenly 
 advancing, and the Hellenic division was still 
 riveted to the spot, completing its formation as 
 the various contingents came up. Cyrus, riding 
 past at some distance from the lines, glanced his 
 eye first in one direction and then in the other, 
 so as to take a complete survey of friends and 
 foes ; when Xenophon the Athenian, seeing him, 
 rode up from the Hellenic quarter to meet him, 
 asking whether he had any orders to give. Cy- 
 rus, pulling up his horse, begged him to make 
 the announcement generally known that the 
 omens from the victims, internal and external 
 alike, were good. While he was still speaking, 
 he heard a confused murmur passing through 
 the ranks, and asked what it meant. The other 
 replied that it was the watchword being passed 
 down for the second time. Cyrus wondered who
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 175 
 
 had given the order, and asked what the watch- 
 word was. On being told it was " Zeus our 
 Saviour and Victory," he replied, "I accept it; 
 so let it be," and with that remark rode away to 
 his own position. And now the two battle lines 
 were no more than three or four furlongs apart, 
 when the Hellenes began chanting the peean 
 and at the same time advanced against the 
 enemy. 
 
 But with the forward movement a certain 
 portion of the line curved onwards in advance, 
 with wave-like sinuosity, and the portion left 
 behind quickened to a run ; and simultaneously a 
 thrilling cry burst from all lips, like that in hon- 
 our of the war-god — eleleu! eleleu! and the run- 
 ning became general. Some say they clashed 
 their shields and spears, thereby causing terror 
 to the horses; and before they had got within 
 arrowshot the barbarians swerved and took to 
 flight. And now the Hellenes gave chase with 
 might and main, checked only by shouts to one 
 another not to race, but to keep their ranks. 
 The enemy's chariots, reft of their charioteers, 
 swept onwards, some through the enemy them- 
 selves, others past the Hellenes. They, as they 
 saw them coming, opened a gap and let them 
 pass. One fellow, like some dumbfoundered 
 mortal on a race-course, was caught by the 
 heels, but even he, they said, received no hurt; 
 nor indeed, with the single exception of some
 
 176 XENOPHON 
 
 one on the left wing who was said to have been 
 wounded by an arrow, did any Hellene in this 
 battle suffer a single hurt. 
 
 Cyrus, seeing the Hellenes conquering, as far 
 as they at any rate were concerned, and in hot 
 pursuit, was well content; but in spite of his joy 
 and the salutations offered him at that moment 
 by those about him, as though he were already 
 king, he was not led away to join in the pursuit, 
 but keeping his squadron of six hundred horse- 
 men in close order, waited and watched to see 
 what the king himself would do. The king, he 
 knew, held the centre of the Persian army. In- 
 deed it is the fashion for the Asiatic monarch to 
 occupy that position during action, for this two- 
 fold reason: he holds the safest place, with his 
 troops on either side of him, while, if he has 
 occasion to despatch any necessary order along 
 the lines, his troops will receive the message in 
 half the time. The king accordingly on this 
 occasion held the centre of his army, but for all 
 that, he was outside Cyrus's left wing; and see- 
 ing that no one offered him battle in front, nor 
 yet the troops in front of him, he wheeled as if 
 to encircle the enemy. It was then that Cyrus, 
 in apprehension lest the king might get round 
 to the rear and cut to pieces the Hellenic body, 
 charged to meet him. Attacking with liis six 
 hundred, he mastered the line of troops in front 
 of the king, and put to flight the six thousand.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK Τ 177 
 
 cuttinpf down, as is said, with his own hand their 
 general, Artagerses. 
 
 But as soon as the rout commenced, Cyrus's 
 own six hundred themselves, in the ardour of 
 pursuit, were scattered, with the exception of a 
 handful Λνΐιο were left with Cyrus himself — 
 chiefly his table companions, so-called. Left 
 alone Λvith these, he caught sight of the king 
 and the close throng about him. Unable longer 
 to contain himself, with a cry, " I see the man," 
 he rushed at him and dealt a blow at his chest, 
 wounding him through the corselet. This, ac- 
 cording to the statement of Ctesias the surgeon, 
 who further states that he himself healed the 
 wound. As Cyrus delivered the blow, some one 
 struck him with a javelin under the eye severely; 
 and in the struggle which then ensued between 
 the king and Cyrus and those about them to 
 protect one or other, we have the statement of 
 Ctesias as to the number slain on the king's side, 
 for he was by his side. On the other, Cyrus him- 
 self fell, and eight of his bravest companions 
 lay on the top of him. iThe story says that Ar- 
 tapates, the trustiest esquire among his wand- 
 bearers, when he saw that Cyrus had fallen to 
 the ground, leapt from his horse and threw his 
 arms about him. Then, as one account says, the 
 king bade one slay him as a worthy victim to 
 his brother: others say that Artapates drew his 
 scimitar and slew himself by his own hand. A
 
 178 XENOPHON 
 
 golden scimitar, it is true, he had; he wore also 
 a collar and bracelets and the other ornaments 
 such as the noblest Persians wear ; for his kindli- 
 ness and fidelity had won him honours at the 
 hands of Cyrus. 
 
 IX. — So died Cyrus ; a man the kingliest ^ 
 and most worthy to rule of all the Persians who 
 have lived since the elder Cyrus: according to 
 the concurrent testimony of all who are reputed 
 to have known him intimately. To begin from 
 the beginning, when still a boy, and whilst being 
 brought up with his brother and the other lads, 
 his unrivalled excellence was recognised. For 
 the sons of the noblest Persians, it must be 
 known, are brought up, one and all, at the king's 
 portals. Here lessons of sobriety and self-con- 
 trol may largely be laid to heart, while there is 
 nothing base or ugly for eye or ear to feed upon. 
 There is the daily spectacle ever before the boys 
 of some receiving honour from the king, and 
 again of others receiving dishonour; and the 
 tale of all this is in their ears, so that from earli- 
 est boyhood they learn how to rule and to be 
 ruled. 
 
 In this courtly training Cyrus earned a double 
 reputation; first he was held to be a paragon of 
 modesty among his fellows, rendering an obedi- 
 ence to his elders which exceeded that of many 
 
 1 The character now to be drawn is afterwards elaborated 
 into the Cyrus of the Cyropaedeia,
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 179 
 
 of his own inferiors ; and next he bore away the 
 pahn for skill in horsemanship and for love of 
 the animal itself. Nor less in matters of war, 
 in the use of the bow and the javelin, was he 
 held by men in general to be at once the aptest 
 of learners and the most eager practiser. As 
 soon as his age permitted, the same pre-eminence 
 showed itself in his fondness for the chase, not 
 Λvithout a certain appetite for perilous adven- 
 ture in facing the wild beasts themselves. Once 
 a bear made a furious rush at him, and without 
 wincing he grappled with her, and was pulled 
 from his horse, receiving wounds the scars of 
 which were visible through life; but in the end 
 he slew the creature, nor did he forget him who 
 first came to his aid, but made him enviable in 
 the eyes of many. 
 
 After he had been sent down by his father to 
 be satrap of Lydia and Great Phrygia and 
 Cappadocia, and had been appointed general of 
 the forces, whose business it is to muster in the 
 plain of the Castolus, nothing was more notice- 
 able in his conduct than the importance which 
 he attached to the faithful fulfilment of every 
 treaty or compact or undertaking entered into 
 with others. He would tell no lies to any one. 
 Thus doubtless it was that he won the confidence 
 alike of individuals and of the communities en- 
 trusted to his care; or in case of hostility, a 
 treaty made with Cyrus was a guarantee suffi-
 
 180 XENOPHON 
 
 cient to the combatant that he would suffer 
 nothing contrary to its terms. Therefore, in 
 the war Λvith Tissaphernes, all the states of their 
 own accord chose Cyrus in heu of Tissaphernes, 
 except only the men of Miletus, and these were 
 only alienated through fear of him, because he 
 refused to abandon their exiled citizens; and his 
 deeds and words bore emphatic witness to his 
 principle: even if they were weakened in num- 
 ber or in fortune, he would never abandon those 
 who had once become his friends. 
 
 He made no secret of his endeavour to outdo 
 his friends and his foes alike in reciprocity of 
 conduct. The prayer has been attributed to 
 him, " God grant I may live long enough to 
 recompense my friends and requite my foes 
 with a strong arm." However this may be, no 
 one, at least in our days, ever drew together so 
 ardent a following of friends, eager to lay at 
 his feet their money, their cities, their own lives 
 and persons; nor is it to be inferred from this 
 that he suffered the malefactor and the wTong- 
 doer to laugh him to scorn; on the contrary, 
 these he punished most unflinchingly. It was no 
 rare sight to see on the well-trodden highways, 
 men who had forfeited hand or foot or eye; the 
 result being that throughout the satrapy of Cy- 
 rus any one, Hellene or barbarian, provided he 
 were innocent, might fearlessly travel wherever 
 he pleased, and take with him whatever he felt
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 181 
 
 disposed. However, as all allowed, it was for 
 the brave in war that he reserved especial hon- 
 our. To take the first instance to hand, he had 
 a Λvar \vith the Pisidians and Mysians. Being 
 himself at the head of an expedition into those 
 territories, he could observe those who volun- 
 tarily encountered risks ; these he made rulers of 
 the territory which he subjected, and afterwards 
 honoured them with other gifts. So that, if the 
 good and brave were set on a pinnacle of for- 
 tune, cowards were recognised as their natural 
 slaves; and so it befell that Cyrus never had 
 lack of volunteers in any service of danger, 
 whenever it was expected that his eye would be 
 upon them. 
 
 So again, wherever he might discover any 
 one ready to distinguish himself in the service 
 of uprightness, his delight was to make this man 
 richer than those who seek for gain by unfair 
 means. On the same principle, his own admin- 
 istration was in all respects uprightly conducted, 
 and, in particular, he secured the services of an 
 army worthy of the name. Generals, and sub- 
 alterns alike, came to him from across the seas, 
 not merely to make money, but because they saw 
 that loyalty to Cyrus was a more profitable in- 
 vestment than so many pounds a month. Let 
 any man whatsoever render him willing service, 
 such enthusiasm was sure to win its reward. And 
 so Cyrus could always command the service of
 
 182 XENOPHON 
 
 the best assistants, it was said, whatever the 
 work might be. 
 
 Or if he saw any skilful and just steward who 
 furnished well the country over which he ruled, 
 and created revenues, so far from robbing him 
 at any time, to him who had, he delighted to 
 give more. So that toil was a pleasure, and 
 gains were amassed with confidence, and least of 
 all from Cyrus would a man conceal the amount 
 of his possessions, seeing that he showed no jeal- 
 ousy of wealth openly avowed, but his endeav- 
 our was rather to turn to account the riches 
 of those who kept them secret. Towards the 
 friends he had made, whose kindliness he knew, 
 or whose fitness as felloAV-workers with himself, 
 in aught which he might wish to carrj'- out, he 
 had tested, he showed himself in turn an adept 
 in the arts of courtesy. Just in proportion as 
 he felt the need of this friend or that to help 
 him, so he tried to help each of them in 
 return in whatever seemed to be their heart's 
 desire. 
 
 Many were the gifts bestowed on him, for 
 many and diverse reasons; no one man, per- 
 haps, ever received more; no one, certainly, was 
 ever more ready to bestow them on others, with 
 an eye ever to the taste of each, so as to gratify 
 what he saw to be the individual requirement. 
 Many of these presents were sent to him to serve 
 as personal adornments of the body or for bat-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 183 
 
 tie; and as touching these he would say, 
 " How am I to deck myself out in all these? 
 to my mind a man's chief ornament is the adorn- 
 ment of nobly-adorned friends." Indeed, that 
 he should triumph over his friends in the great 
 matters of welldoing is not surprising, seeing 
 that he was much more powerful than they, but 
 that he should go beyond them in minute atten- 
 tions, and in an eager desire to give pleasure, 
 seems to me, I must confess, more admirable. 
 Frequently when he had tasted some specially 
 excellent wine, he would send the half remaining 
 flagon to some friend with a message to say: 
 " Cyrus says, this is the best wine he has tasted 
 for a long time, that is his excuse for sending 
 it to you. He hopes you will drink it up to-day 
 with a choice party of friends." Or, perhaps, 
 he would send the remainder of a dish of geese, 
 half loaves of bread, and so forth, the bearer 
 being instructed to say: "This is Cyrus's fa- 
 vourite dish, he hopes you will taste it yourself." 
 Or, perhaps, there was a great dearth of prov- 
 ender, when, through the number of his serv- 
 ants and his own careful forethought, he was 
 enabled to get supplies for himself; at such 
 times he would send to his friends in different 
 parts, bidding them feed their horses on his hay, 
 since it would not do for the horses that carried 
 his friends to go starving. Then, on any long 
 march or expedition, when the crowd of
 
 184 XENOPHON 
 
 lookers-on would be large, he would call his 
 friends to him and entertain them with serious 
 talk, as much as to say, " These I delight to 
 honour." 
 
 So that, for myself, and from all that I can 
 hear, I should be disposed to say that no one, 
 Greek or barbarian, was ever so beloved. In 
 proof of this, I may cite the fact that, though 
 Cyrus was the king's vassal and slave, no one 
 ever forsook him to join his master, if I may 
 except the attempt of Orontas, which was abor- 
 tive. That man, indeed, had to learn that Cy- 
 rus was closer to the heart of him on whose fidel- 
 ity he relied than he himself was. On the other 
 hand, many a man revolted from the king to 
 Cyrus, after they went to war with one another ; 
 nor were these nobodies, but rather persons high 
 in the king's affection; yet for all that, they be- 
 heved that their virtues would obtain a reward 
 more adequate from Cyrus than from the king. 
 Another great proof at once of his own worth 
 and of his capacity rightly to discern all loyal, 
 loving, and firm friendship is afforded by an in- 
 cident which belongs to the last moment of his 
 life. He was slain, but fighting for his life be- 
 side him fell also every one of his faithful body- 
 guard of friends and table-companions, with 
 the sole exception of Ariaeus, who was in com- 
 mand of the cavalry on the left, and he no 
 sooner perceived the fall of Cyrus than he be-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 185 
 
 took hiinself to flight, with the whole body of 
 troops uiuler his lead. 
 
 X. — Then the head of Cyrus and his right 
 hand were severed from the body. But the king 
 and those about him pursued and fell upon the 
 Cyreian camp, and the troops of Ariseus no 
 longer stood their ground, but fled through 
 their own camp back to the halting-place of the 
 night before — a distance of four parasangs, it 
 was said. So the king and those with him fell 
 to ravaging right and left, and amongst other 
 spoil he captured the Phoc^ean woman, who was 
 a concubine of Cyrus, witty and beautiful, if 
 fame speaks correctly. The Milesian, who was 
 the younger, was also seized by some of the 
 king's men; but, letting go her outer garment, 
 she made good her escape to the Hellenes, who 
 had been left among the camp followers on 
 guard. These fell at once into line and put to 
 the sword many of the pillagers, though they 
 lost some men themselves; they stuck to the 
 place and succeeded in saving not only that 
 lady, but all else, whether chattels or human 
 beings, which lay within their reach. 
 
 At this point the king and the Hellenes were 
 something like three miles apart; the one set 
 were pursuing their opponents just as if their 
 conquest had been general; the others were pil- 
 laging as merrily as if their victory were already 
 universal. But when the Hellenes learnt that
 
 186 XENOPHON 
 
 the king and his troops were in the baggage 
 camp; and the king, on his side, was informed 
 by Tissaphernes that the Hellenes were victori- 
 ous in their quarter of the field, and had gone 
 forward in pursuit, the effect was instanta- 
 neous. The king massed his troops and formed 
 into line. Clearchus summoned Proxenus, who 
 was next him, and debated whether to send a 
 detachment or to go in a body to the camp to 
 save it. 
 
 Meanwhile the king was seen again advanc- 
 ing, as it seemed, from the rear; and the Hel- 
 lenes, turning right about, prepared to receive 
 his attack then and there. But, instead of ad- 
 vancing upon them at that point, he drew off, 
 following the line by which he had passed earlier 
 in the day, outside the left Λving of his oppo- 
 nent, and so picked up in his passage those who 
 had deserted to the Hellenes during the battle, 
 as also Tissaphernes and his division. The lat- 
 ter had not fled in the first shock of the en- 
 counter; he had charged parallel to the line of 
 the Euphrates into the Greek peltasts, and 
 through them. But charge as he might, he did 
 not lay low a single man. On the contrary, the 
 Hellenes made a gap to let them through, hack- 
 ing them with their swords and hurling their 
 javelins as they passed. Episthenes of Amphip- 
 olis was in command of the peltasts, and he 
 showed himself a sensible man, it was said. Thus
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 187 
 
 it was that Tissaphernes, having got through 
 haphazard, with rather the worst of it, failed to 
 wheel round and return the way he came, but 
 reaching the camp of the Hellenes, there fell in 
 with the king; and falling into order again, the 
 t>vo divisions advanced side by side. 
 
 When they were parallel with the (original) 
 left wing of the Hellenes, fear seized the latter 
 lest they might take them in flank and enfold 
 them on both sides and cut them down. In this 
 apprehension they determined to extend their 
 line and place the river on their rear. But while 
 they deliberated, the king passed by and ranged 
 his troops in line to meet them, in exactly the 
 same position in which he had advanced to offer 
 battle at the commencement of the engagement. 
 The Hellenes, now seeing them in close prox- 
 imity and in battle order, once again raised the 
 paean and began the attack with still greater en- 
 thusiasm than before: and once again the bar- 
 barians did not wait to receive them, but took 
 to flight, even at a greater distance than before. 
 The Hellenes pressed the pursuit until they 
 reached a certain village, where they halted, for 
 above the village rose a mound, on which the 
 king and his party rallied and reformed; they 
 had no infantry any longer, but the crest was 
 crowded with cavalry, so that it was impossible 
 to discover what was happening. They did see, 
 they said, the royal standard, a kind of golden
 
 188 XENOPHON 
 
 eagle, with wings extended, perched on a bar of 
 wood and raised upon a lance. 
 
 But as soon as the Hellenes again moved on- 
 wards, the hostile cavalry at once left the hil- 
 lock — not in a body any longer, but in frag- 
 ments — some streaming from one side, some 
 from another; and the crest was gradually 
 stripped of its occupants, till at last the com- 
 pany was gone. Accordingly, Clearchus did not 
 ascend the crest, but posting his army at its base, 
 he sent Lycius of Syracuse and another to the 
 summit, with orders to inspect the condition of 
 things on the other side, and to report results. 
 Lycius galloped up and investigated, bringing 
 back news that they were fleeing might and 
 main. Almost at that instant the sun sank be- 
 neath the horizon. There the Hellenes halted; 
 they grounded arms and rested, marvelling the 
 while that Cyrus Λvas not anywhere to be seen, 
 and that no messenger had come from him. For 
 they were in complete ignorance of his death, 
 and conjectured that either he had gone off in 
 pursuit, or had pushed forward to occupy some 
 point. Left to themselves, they ηοΛν deliberated, 
 whether they should stay where they were and 
 have the baggage train brought up, or should 
 return to camp. They resolved to return, and 
 about supper time reached the tents. Such was 
 the conclusion of this day. 
 
 .They found the larger portion of their prop-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK I 189 
 
 erty pillafye(3, eatables and drinkables alike, not 
 excei)ting the wagons laden with corn and wine, 
 Λνΐιίοΐι Cyrus had ]irepared in case of some ex- 
 treme need overtaking the expedition, to divide 
 among the Hellenes. There were four hundred 
 of these wagons, it was said, and these had now 
 been ransacked by the king and his men; so 
 that the greater number of the Hellenes went 
 supperless, having already gone without their 
 breakfasts, since the king had appeared before 
 the usual halt for breakfast. Accordingly, in 
 no better plight than this they passed the night.
 
 ANABASIS 
 
 BOOK Π 
 
 WITH the break of day the generals 
 met, and were surprised that Cyrus 
 should not have appeared himself, 
 or at any rate have sent some one to tell them 
 what to do. Accordingly, they resolved to put 
 what they had together, to get under arms, and 
 to push forward until they effected junction 
 with Cyrus. Just as they were on the point of 
 starting, with the rising sun came Procles the 
 ruler of Teuthrania. He was a descendant of 
 Demaratus ^ the Laconian, and with him also 
 came Glus the son of Tamos. These two told 
 them, first, that Cyrus was dead; next, that 
 Ariseus had retreated with the rest of the bar- 
 barians to the halting-place whence they had 
 started at dawn on the previous day ; and wished 
 to inform them that, if they were minded to 
 come, he would wait for this one day, but on the 
 morrow he should return home again to Ionia, 
 whence he came. 
 
 When they heard these tidings, the generals 
 
 1 The Spartan king who was deposed in b. c. 491, whereupon 
 he fled to King Darius, and settled in southwestern Mysia. We 
 shall hear more of his descendant, Procles, the ruler of Teu- 
 thrania, in the last chapter of this work. 
 
 190
 
 V.' 
 
 'he cc! 
 
 The Oracle of Delplii 
 
 Fr^pjUi μη early ]Sir^eieenth,Q^n^m'y\ Ccrju^ii 
 .. , Steel Engraving by F. ΗίνςΙψη,Ημιι 
 after: a. P^ai^nting by.^^ff^o^ 
 
 m to ί 
 
 .^s, the
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 191 
 
 were sorely distressed; so too were the rest of 
 the Hellenes Λvhen they were informed of it. 
 Then Cleiirehus spoke as follows: "Would that 
 Cyrus were yet alive! But since he is dead, take 
 baek this answer to Ariseus, that we, at any rate, 
 have conquered the king; and, as you yourselves 
 may see, there is not a man left in the field to 
 meet us. Indeed, had you not arrived, we should 
 ere this have begun our march upon the king. 
 Now, we can promise to Ariseus that, if he will 
 join us here, we will place him on the king's 
 throne. Surely to those who conquer empire 
 pertains." With these words he sent back the 
 messengers, and with them he sent Cheirisophus 
 the Laconian, and Menon the Thessalian. That 
 was what Menon himself wished, being, as he 
 was, a friend and intimate of Ariseus, and bound 
 by mutual ties of hospitality. So these set off, 
 and Clearchus waited for them. 
 
 The soldiers furnished themselves with food 
 [and drink] as best they might — falling back on 
 the baggage animals, and cutting up oxen and 
 asses. There was no lack of firewood; they need 
 only step forward a few paces from the line 
 where the battle was fought, and they would 
 find arrows to hand in abundance, which the 
 Hellenes had forced the deserters from the king 
 to throw away. There were arrows and wicker 
 shields also, and the huge wooden shields of the 
 Egyptians. There were many targets also, and
 
 192 XENOPHON 
 
 empty wagons left to be carried off. Here was 
 a store \vhich thej^ Λvere not slow to make use of 
 to cook their meat and serve their meals that 
 day. 
 
 It was now about full market hour when her- 
 alds from the king and Tissaphernes arrived. 
 These were barbarians with one exception. This 
 was a certain Phalinus, a Hellene who lived at 
 the court of Tissaphernes, and was held in high 
 esteem. He gave himself out to be a connois- 
 seur of tactics and the art of fighting with heavy 
 arms. These were the men who now came up, 
 and having summoned the generals of the Hel- 
 lenes, they delivered themseh^es of the following 
 message: " The great king having won the vic- 
 tory and slain Cyrus, bids the Hellenes to sur- 
 render their arms; to betake themselves to the 
 gates of the king's palace, and there obtain for 
 themselves what terms they can." That was 
 what the heralds said, and the Hellenes listened 
 with heavy hearts; but Clearchus spoke, and his 
 words were few: " Conquerors do not, as a 
 rule, give up their arms;" then turning to the 
 others he added, " I leave it to you, my fellow- 
 generals, to make the best and noblest answer, 
 that ye may, to these gentlemen. I will rejoin 
 you presently." At the moment an official had 
 summoned him to come and look at the entrails 
 which had been taken out, for, as it chanced, he 
 was engaged in sacrificing. As soon as he was
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 193 
 
 gone, Cleanor the Arcadian, by right of senior- 
 ity, answered: " They would sooner die than 
 give up their arms." Then Proxenus the The- 
 ban said: "For my part, I marvel if the king 
 demands our arms as our master, or for the sake 
 of friendship merely, as presents. If as our 
 master, Λvhy need he ask for them rather than 
 come and take them? But if he would fain 
 wheedle us out of them by fine speeches, he 
 should tell us what the soldiers will receive in 
 return for such kindness." In answer to him 
 Phalinus said : " The king claims to have con- 
 quered, because he has put Cyrus to death; and 
 who is there now to claim the kingdom as against 
 himself? He further flatters himself that you 
 also are in his power, since he holds you in the 
 heart of his country, hemmed in by impassable 
 rivers; and he can at any moment bring against 
 you a multitude so vast that even if leave 
 were given to rise and slay you could not kill 
 them." After him Theopompus ^ the Athenian 
 spoke. " Phalinus," he said, " at this instant, as 
 you yourself can see, we have nothing left but 
 our arms and our valour. If we keep the for- 
 mer we imagine we can make use of the latter; 
 but if we deliver up our arms we shall presently 
 
 2 So the best MSS. Others read " Xenophon," which Kruger 
 maintains to be the true reading. He suggests that Theopom- 
 pus may have crept into the text from a marginal note of a 
 scholiast, "Theopompus" (the historian) "gives the remark to 
 Proxenus."
 
 194 XENOPHON 
 
 be robbed of our lives. Do not suppose then 
 that we are going to give up to you the only 
 good things which we possess. We prefer to 
 keep them; and by their helj) we will do battle 
 with you for the good things which are yours." 
 Phalinus laughed when he heard those words, 
 and said: "Spoken like a philosopher, my fine 
 young man, and very pretty reasoning too ; yet, 
 let me tell you, your wits are somewhat scat- 
 tered if you imagine that your valour Avill get 
 the better of the king's power." There were 
 one or two others, it w^as said, w^ho with a touch 
 of weakness in their tone or argument, made 
 answer: " They had proved good and trusty 
 friends to Cyrus, and the king might find them 
 no less valuable. If he liked to be friends Λvith 
 them, he might turn them to any use that pleased 
 his fancy, say for a campaign against Egypt. 
 Their arms were at his service; they would help 
 to lay that country at his feet." 
 
 Just then Clearchus returned, and wished to 
 know what answer they had given. The words 
 were barely out of his mouth before Phalinus, 
 interrupting, answered: "As for your friends 
 here, one says one thing and one another; Λνϋΐ 
 you please give us your opinion;" and he re- 
 plied: " The sight of you, Phalinus, caused me 
 much pleasure; and not only me, but all of us, 
 I feel sure; for you are a Hellene even as we 
 are — every one of us whom you see before you.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 195 
 
 111 our present pliglit we would like to take you 
 into our counsel as to what we had better do 
 touching your proposals. I beg you then sol- 
 emnly, in the sight of heaven, — do you tender us 
 such advice as you shall deem best and worthi- 
 est, and such as shall bring you honour in after 
 time, Avhen it will be said of you how once on a 
 time Phalinus was sent by the great king to bid 
 certain Hellenes jaeld up their arms, and when 
 they had taken him into their counsel, he gave 
 them such and such advice. You know that 
 whatever advice you do give us cannot fail to 
 be reported in Hellas." 
 
 Clearchus threw out these leading remarks in 
 hopes that this man, who was the ambassador 
 from the king, might himself be led to advise 
 them not to give up their arms, in which case 
 the Hellenes would be still more sanguine and 
 hopeful. But, contrary to his expectation, Pha- 
 linus turned round and said : *' I say that if 
 you have one chance, one hope in ten thousand 
 to wage a war with the king successfully, do not 
 give up your arms. That is my advice. If, 
 however, you have no chance of escape without 
 the king's consent, then I say save yourselves in 
 the only way you can." And Clearchus an- 
 swered: " So, then, that is your deliberate 
 view? Well, this is our answer, take it back. 
 We conceive that in either case, whether we are 
 expected to be friends with the king, we shall
 
 196 XENOPHON 
 
 be worth more as friends if we keep our arms 
 than if we yield them to another; or whether we 
 are to go to war, we shall fight better with them 
 than Avithout." And Phalinus said: "That an- 
 swer we will repeat; but the king bade me tell 
 you this besides, ' Whilst you remain here there 
 is truce; but one step forward or one step back, 
 the truce ends; there is war.' Will you then 
 please inform us as to that point also? Are you 
 minded to stop and keep truce, or is there to be 
 war? What answer shall I take from you? " 
 And Clearchus replied : " Pray answer that we 
 hold precisely the same views on this point as 
 the king." — "How say you the same views?" 
 asked Phalinus. Clearchus made answer : " As 
 long as we stay here there is truce, but a step 
 fonvard or a step backward, the truce ends; 
 there is war." The other again asked: " Peace 
 or war, what answer shall I make? " Clearchus 
 returned answer once again in the same words: 
 " Truce if we stop, but if we move forwards or 
 backw^ards war." But what he was minded 
 really to do, that he refused to make further 
 manifest. 
 
 II. — Phalinus and those that were with him 
 turned and went. But the messengers from 
 Ariseus, Procles, and Cheirisophus came back. 
 As to INIenon, he stayed behind with Aria^us. 
 They brought back this answer from Ariaus: 
 *' ' There are many Persians,' he says, * better
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 197 
 
 than himself who will not suffer him to sit upon 
 the kind's throne; but if you are minded to go 
 baek with him, you must join him this very 
 night, otherwise he will set off himself to-mor- 
 row on the homeward route." And Clearchus 
 said : " It had best stand thus between us then. 
 If we come, well and good, be it as you pro- 
 pose ; but if we do not come, do whatsoever you 
 think most conducive to your interests." And 
 so he kept these also in the dark as to his real 
 intention. 
 
 After this, when the sun was already sinking, 
 he summoned the generals and officers, and 
 made the following statement: " Sirs, I sacri- 
 ficed and found the victims unfavourable to an 
 advance against the king. After all, it is not so 
 surprising perhaps, for, as I now learn, between 
 us and the king flows the river Tigris, navigable 
 for big vessels, and we could not possibly cross 
 it without boats, and boats we have none. On 
 the other hand, to stop here is out of the ques- 
 tion, for there is no possibility of getting provi- 
 sions. However, the victims were quite agree- 
 able to our joining the friends of Cyrus. This 
 is what we must do then. Let each go away and 
 sup on whatever he has. At the first sound of 
 the bugle to turn in, get kit and baggage to- 
 gether; at the second signal, place them on the 
 baggage animals; and at the third, fall in and 
 follow the lead, with the baggage animals on
 
 198 XENOPHON 
 
 the inside protected by the river, and the troops 
 outside.'* After hearing the orders, the gen- 
 erals and officers retired and did as they were 
 bid; and for the future Clearchus led, and the 
 rest followed in obedience to his orders, not that 
 they had expressly chosen him, but they saw 
 that he alone had the sense and wisdom requi- 
 site in a general, while the rest were inexperi- 
 enced. 
 
 Here, under cover of the darkness which de- 
 scended, the Thracian JNIiltoc^^thes, with forty 
 horsemen and three hundred Thracian infantry, 
 deserted to the king; but the rest of the troops — 
 Clearchus leading and the rest following in 
 accordance with the orders promulgated — took 
 their departure, and about midnight reached 
 their first stage, having come up with Ariaeus 
 and his army. They grounded arms just as 
 they stood in rank, and the generals and officers 
 of the Hellenes met in the tent of Aiiieus. 
 There they exchanged oaths — the Hellenes on 
 the one side and Ariseus with his principal of- 
 ficers on the other — not to betray one another, 
 but to be true to each other as allies. The Asi- 
 atics further solemnly pledged themselves by 
 oath to lead the way without treachery. The 
 oaths were ratified by the sacrifice of a bull, a 
 wolf, a boar, and a ram over a shield. The Hel- 
 lenes dipped a sΛvord, the barbarians a lance, 
 into the blood of the victims.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 190 
 
 As soon as the pledge was taken, Clearehus 
 spoke: "And ηοΛν, Arijuiis," he said, "since 
 you and \ve have one expedition in prospect, will 
 you tell us what you think about the route ; shall 
 we return the way we came, or have you devised 
 a better?" He answered: "To return the 
 same way is to perish to a man by hunger; for 
 at this moment we have no provisions whatso- 
 ever. During the seventeen last stages, even on 
 our way hither, we could extract nothing from 
 the country ; or, if there was now and again any- 
 thing, we passed over and utterly consumed it. 
 At this time our project is to take another and 
 a longer journey certainly, but we shall not be 
 in straits for provisions. The earliest stages 
 must be very long, as long as we can make 
 them; the object is to put as large a space as 
 possible between us and the royal army; once 
 we are two or three days' journey off, the dan- 
 ger is over. The king will never overtake us. 
 With a small army he will not dare to dog our 
 heels, and with a vast equipment he will lack the 
 power to march quickly. Perhaps he, too, may 
 even find a scarcity of provisions. There," said 
 he, " you asked for my opinion, see, I have 
 given it." 
 
 Here was a plan of the campaign, which was 
 equivalent to a stampede: helter-skelter they 
 were to run away, or get into hiding somehow; 
 but fortune proved a better general. For as
 
 200 XENOPHON 
 
 soon as it was day they recommenced the jour- 
 ney, keeping the sun on their right, and calcu- 
 lating that with the westering rays they would 
 have reached villages in the territory of Baby- 
 lonia, and in this hope they were not deceived. 
 While it was yet afternoon, they thought they 
 caught sight of some of the enemy's cavalry; 
 and those of the Hellenes who were not in rank 
 ran to their ranks; and Ariseus, who was riding 
 in a wagon to nurse a wound, got down and 
 donned his cuirass, the rest of his party follow- 
 ing his example. Whilst they were arming 
 themselves, the scouts, who had been sent for- 
 ward, came back with the information that they 
 were not cavalry but baggage animals grazing. 
 It was at once clear to all that they must be 
 somewhere in the neighbourhood of the king's 
 encampment. Smoke could actually be seen ris- 
 ing, evidently from villages not far ahead. 
 Clearchus hesitated to advance upon the enemy, 
 knowing that the troops were tired and hun- 
 gry; and indeed it was already late. On the 
 other hand he had no mind either to swen^ from 
 his route — guarding against any appearance of 
 flight. Accordingly he marched straight as an 
 arrow, and with sunset entered the nearest vil- 
 lages with his vanguard and took up quarters. 
 These villages had been thoroughly sacked 
 and dismantled by the royal army — down to the 
 very woodwork and furniture of the houses.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK 11 201 
 
 Still, the vanguard contrived to take u]) their 
 quarters in some sort of fashion; hut the rear 
 division, coming up hi the dark, had to bivouac 
 as best they could, one detachment after an- 
 other; and a great noise they made, with hue 
 and cry to one another, so that the enemy could 
 hear them; and those in their immediate prox- 
 imity actually took to their heels, left their 
 quarters, and decamped, as was plain enough 
 next morning, when not a beast was to be seen, 
 nor sign of camp or wreath of smoke anywhere 
 in the neighbourhood. The king, as it would 
 appear, was himself quite taken aback by the 
 advent of the army; as he fully showed by his 
 proceedings next day. 
 
 During the progress of this night the Hel- 
 lenes had their turn of scare, — a panic seized 
 them, and there was a noise and clatter, hardly 
 to be explained except by the visitation of some 
 sudden terror. But Clearchus had with him the 
 Eleian Tolmides, the best herald of his time; 
 him he ordered to proclaim silence, and then to 
 give out this proclamation of the generals: 
 " Whoever will give any information as to who 
 let an ass into the camp shall receive a talent 
 of silver in reward." On hearing this procla- 
 mation the soldiers made up their minds that 
 their fear was baseless, and their generals safe 
 and sound. At break of day Clearchus gave 
 the order to the Hellenes to get under arms in
 
 202 XENOPHON 
 
 line of battle, and take up exactly the same po- 
 sition as they held on the day of the battle. 
 
 III. — And now comes the proof of what I 
 stated above — that the king was utterly taken 
 aback by the sudden apparition of the army; 
 only the day before, he had sent and demanded 
 the surrender of their arms — and now, with the 
 rising sun, came heralds sent by him to arrange 
 a truce. These, having reached the advanced 
 guard, asked for the generals. The guard re- 
 ported their arrival; and Clearchus, who was 
 busy inspecting the ranks, sent back word to the 
 heralds that they must await his leisure. Hav- 
 ing carefully arranged the troops so that from 
 every side they might present the appearance of 
 a compact battle line without a single unarmed 
 man in sight, he summoned the ambassadors, 
 and himself went forward to meet them Λvith the 
 soldiers, who for choice accoutrement and noble 
 aspect were the flower of his force; a course 
 which he had invited the other generals also to 
 adopt. 
 
 And now, being face to face with the ambas- 
 sadors, he questioned them as to what their 
 wishes were. They replied that they had come 
 to arrange a truce, and were persons competent 
 to carry proposals from the king to the Hel- 
 lenes and from the Hellenes to the king. He 
 returned answer to them: "Take back word 
 then to your master, that we need a battle first,
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 203 
 
 for we have had no breakfast; and he will be a 
 brave man who will dare mention the word 
 ' truce ' to Hellenes without providing them 
 with breakfast." With this message the her- 
 alds rode off, but were back again in no time, 
 Λvhich was a proof that the king, or some one 
 appointed by him to transact the business, was 
 hard by. They reported that " the message 
 seemed reasonable to the king; they had now 
 come bringing guides who, if a truce were ar- 
 ranged, ΛνοηΜ conduct them where they would 
 get provisions." Clearchus inquired "whether 
 the truce, marched after them with his army in 
 merely as they went and came, or to all alike." 
 " To all," they replied, " until the king receives 
 your final answer." When they had so spoken, 
 Clearchus, having removed the ambassadors, 
 held a council; and it was resolved to make a 
 truce at once, and then quietly to go and secure 
 provisions; and Clearchus said: "I agree to 
 the resolution; still I do not propose to an- 
 nounce it at once, but to wile away time till the 
 ambassadors begin to fear that we have decided 
 against the truce; though I suspect," he added, 
 " the same fear will be operative on the minds 
 of our soldiers also." As soon as the right mo- 
 ment seemed to have arrived, he delivered his 
 answer in favour of the truce, and bade the am- 
 bassadors at once conduct them to the provi- 
 sions.
 
 204 XENOPHON 
 
 So these led the way; and Clearchus, without 
 relaxing precaution, in spite of having secured 
 the truce was offered to the individual men 
 line and himself in command of the rearguard. 
 Over and over again they encountered trenches 
 and conduits so full of water that they could 
 not be crossed without bridges; but they con- 
 trived well enough for these by means of trunks 
 of palm trees Λvhich had fallen, or which they 
 cut down for the occasion. And here Clear- 
 chus's system of superintendence was a study in 
 itself; as he stood with a spear in his left hand 
 and a stick in the other; and when it seemed to 
 him there was any dawdling among the parties 
 told off to the work, he would pick out the right 
 man and down would come the stick; nor, at the 
 same time, was he above plunging into the mud 
 and lending a hand himself, so that every one 
 else was forced for very shame to display equal 
 alacrity. The men told off for the business 
 were the men of thirty years of age; but even 
 the elder men, when they saw the energy of 
 Clearchus, could not resist lending their aid also. 
 What stimulated the haste of Clearchus was the 
 suspicion in his mind that these trenches were 
 not, as a rule, so full of water, since it was not 
 the season to irrigate the plain; and he fancied 
 that the king had let the water on for the ex- 
 press purpose of vividly presenting to the Hel- 
 lenes the many dangers with w^hich their march 
 was threatened at the very start.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 205 
 
 Proceeding on their way they reached some 
 vilhiges, Λvhere their guides indicated to them 
 that they would find provisions. They were 
 found to contain plenty of corn, and wine made 
 from palm dates, and an acidulated beverage 
 extracted by boiling from the same fruit. As 
 to the palm nuts or dates themselves, it was no- 
 ticeable that the sort which we are accustomed 
 to see in Hellas were set aside for the domestic 
 servants; those put aside for the masters are 
 picked specimens, and are simply marvellous 
 for their beauty and size, looking like great 
 golden lumps of amber; some specimens they 
 dried and preserved as sweetmeats. Sweet 
 enough they were as an accompaniment of 
 wine, but apt to give headache. Here, too, for 
 the first time in their lives, the men tasted the 
 brain of the palm. No one could help being 
 struck by the beauty of this object, and the pe- 
 culiarity of its delicious flavour; but this, like 
 the dried fruits, was exceedingly apt to give 
 headache. When this cabbage or brain has been 
 removed from the palm the whole tree withers 
 from top to bottom. 
 
 In these villages they remained three days, 
 and a deputation from the great king arrived — 
 Tissaphernes and the king's brother-in-law and 
 three other Persians — with a retinue of many 
 slaves. As soon as the generals of the Hel- 
 lenes had presented themselves, Tissaphernes 
 opened the proceedings with the following
 
 206 XENOPHON 
 
 speech, through the lips of an interpreter: 
 " Men of Hellas, I am your next-door neigh- 
 bour in Hellas. Therefore was it that I, when 
 I saw into what a sea of troubles you were 
 fallen, regarded it as a godsend, if by any 
 means I might obtain, as a boon from the king, 
 the privilege of bringing you back in safety to 
 your own country: and that, I take it, will earn 
 me gratitude from you and all Hellas. In this 
 determination I preferred my request to the 
 king; I claimed it as a favour which was fairly 
 my due; for was it not I who first announced 
 to him the hostile approach of Cyrus? who sup- 
 ported that announcement by the aid I brought; 
 who alone among the officers confronted with 
 the Hellenes in battle did not flee, but charged 
 right through and united my troops with the 
 king inside your camp, where he was arrived, 
 having slain Cyrus; it was I, lastly, who gave 
 chase to the barbarians under Cyrus, with the 
 help of those here present with me at this mo- 
 ment, which also are among the trustiest fol- 
 lowers of our lord the king. On hearing my 
 proposals, he promised me to deliberate, and he 
 bade me come, to ask you for what cause you 
 marched against him. Now, I counsel you to 
 give a moderate answer, so that it may be easier 
 for me to carry out my design, if haply I may 
 obtain from him some good thing in your be- 
 half."
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 207 
 
 Thereupon the Hellenes retired and took 
 counsel. Then they answered, and Clearchus 
 was their spokesman: "We neither mustered 
 as a body to make war against the king, nor was 
 our march conducted with that object. But it 
 Λvas Cyrus, as you know, who invented many 
 and divers pretexts, that he might take you off 
 your guard, and transport us hither. Yet, after 
 a while, when we saw that he was in sore straits, 
 we were ashamed in the sight of God and man 
 to betray him, whom we had permitted for so 
 long a season to benefit us. But now that Cy- 
 rus is dead, we set up no claim to his kingdom 
 against the king himself; there is neither person 
 nor thing for the sake of which we would care 
 to injure the king's country; we would not 
 choose to kill him if we could, rather we would 
 march straight home, if we were not molested; 
 but, God helping us, we will retaliate on all 
 who injure us. On the other hand, if any be 
 found to benefit us, we do not mean to be out- 
 done in kindly deeds, as far as in us lies." 
 
 So he spoke, and Tissaphernes listened and 
 replied: " That answer will I take back to the 
 king and bring you word from him again. Un- 
 til I come again, let the truce continue, and we 
 will furnish you with a market." All next day 
 he did not come back, and the Hellenes were 
 troubled with anxieties, but on the third day 
 he arrived with the news that he had obtained
 
 208 XENOPHON 
 
 from the king the boon he asked; he was per- 
 mitted to save the Hellenes, though there Λvere 
 many gainsayers who argued that it was not 
 seemly for the king to let those who had marched 
 against him depart in peace. And at last he 
 said : " You may now, if you like, take pledges 
 from us, that we will make the countries through 
 which you pass friendly to you, and will lead 
 j^ou back without treachery into Hellas, and will 
 furnish you with a market; and wherever you 
 cannot purchase, we will permit you to take pro- 
 visions from the district. You, on your side, 
 must swear that you will march as through a 
 friendly country, without damage — ^merely 
 taking food and drink wherever we fail to sup- 
 ply a market — or, if we afford a market, you 
 shall only obtain provisions by paying for them." 
 This was agreed to, and oaths and pledges ex- 
 changed between them — Tissaphernes and the 
 king's brother-in-law upon the one side, and the 
 generals and officers of the Hellenes on the 
 other. After this Tissaphernes said : " And 
 now I go back to the king; as soon as I have 
 transacted what I have a mind to, I will come 
 back, ready equipped, to lead you away to Hel- 
 las, and to return myself to my own dominion." 
 IV. — After these things the Hellenes and 
 Ariaeus waited for Tissaphernes, being en- 
 camped close to one another: for more than 
 twenty days they waited, during which time
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IT 209 
 
 there came visitors to Aria?us, his brother and 
 otlicr kinsfolk. To those inider liim came cer- 
 tain other Persians, enconrai>ing them and bear- 
 ing pledges to some of them from the king 
 himself — that he ΛνουΜ bear no grudge against 
 them on account of the part they bore in the 
 expedition against him with Cyrus, or for aught 
 else of the things which were past. Whilst these 
 overtures were being made, Ariaeus and his 
 friends gave manifest signs of paying less at- 
 tention to the Hellenes, so much so that, if for 
 no other reason, the majority of the latter were 
 not well pleased, and they came to Clearchus and 
 the other generals, asking what they were wait- 
 ing for. " Do we not know full well," they said, 
 " that the king would give a great deal to de- 
 stroy us, so that other Hellenes may take warn- 
 ing and think twice before they march against 
 the king. To-day it suits his purpose to induce 
 us to stop here, because his army is scattered; 
 but as soon as he has got together another ar- 
 mament, attack us most certainly he will. How 
 do we know he is not at this moment digging 
 away at trenches, or running up walls, to make 
 our path impassable. It is not to be supposed 
 that he will desire us to return to Hellas with a 
 tale how a handful of men like ourselves beat 
 the king at his own gates, laughed him to scorn, 
 and then came home again." Clearchus replied: 
 *' I too am keenly aware of all this; but I reason
 
 210 XENOPHON 
 
 thus: if we turn our backs now, they will say, we 
 mean war and are acting contrary to the truce, 
 and then what follows? First of all, no one 
 will furnish us with a market or means of pro- 
 viding ourseh'es with food. Next, Λve shall have 
 no one to guide us; moreover, such action on 
 our part will be a signal to Ariaeus to hold aloof 
 from us, so that not a friend will be left to us; 
 even those who were formerly our friends will 
 now be numbered Λvith our enemies. What 
 other river, or rivers, we may find we have to 
 cross, I do not know; but this we know, to cross 
 the Euphrates in face of resistance is impossible. 
 You see, in the event of being driven to an 
 engagement we have no cavalry to help us, but 
 with the enemy it is the reverse — not only the 
 most, but the best of his troops are cavalry, so 
 that if we are victorious, we shall kill no one, 
 but if we are defeated, not a man of us can 
 escape. For my part, I cannot see why the 
 king, who has so many advantages on his side, 
 if he desires to destroy us, should swear oaths 
 and tender solemn pledges merely in order to 
 perjure himself in the sight of heaven, to ren- 
 der his word worthless and his credit discred- 
 itable the wide world over." These arguments 
 he propounded at length. 
 
 Meanwhile Tissaphernes came back, appar- 
 ently ready to return home; he had his own 
 force with him, and so had Orontas, who was
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 211 
 
 also present, his. The latter brought, moreover, 
 his bride with him, the king's daughter, whom 
 he had just Λvedded. The journey was now at 
 length fairly commenced. Tissaphernes led the 
 way, and proΛdded a market. They advanced, 
 and Ariiius advanced too, at the head of Cy- 
 rus's Asiatic troops, side by side with Tissa- 
 phernes and Orontas, and with these two he also 
 pitched his camp. The Hellenes, holding them 
 in suspicion, marched separately with the guides, 
 and they encamped on each occasion a parasang 
 apart, or rather less ; and both parties kept watch 
 upon each other as if they were enemies, which 
 hardly tended to lull suspicion; and sometimes, 
 whilst foraging for wood and grass and so forth 
 on the same ground, blows were exchanged, 
 which occasioned further embitterments. Three 
 stages they had accomplished ere they reached 
 the wall of Media, as it is called, and passed 
 within it. It was built of baked bricks laid upon 
 bitumen. It was twenty feet broad and a hun- 
 dred feet high, and the length of it was said to 
 be twenty parasangs.^ It hes at no great dis- 
 tance from Babylon. 
 
 From this point they marched two stages — 
 eight parasangs — and crossed two canals, the 
 first by a regular bridge, the other spanned by 
 
 8 I. e., taking the parasang as = 30 stades, nearly 3J English 
 miles, or nearly 3 geographical miles, the wall was nearly 70 
 miles long.
 
 212 XENOPHON 
 
 a bridge of seven boats. These canals issued 
 from the Tigris, and from them a whole sys- 
 tem of minor trenches was cut, leading over the 
 country, large ones to begin with, and then 
 smaller and smaller, till at last they become the 
 merest runnels, like those in Hellas used for 
 watering millet fields. They reached the river 
 Tigris. At this point there was a large and 
 thickly populated city named Sittace, at a dis- 
 tance of fifteen furlongs from the river. The 
 Hellenes accordingly encamped by the side of 
 that city, near a large and beautiful park, which 
 was thick with all sorts of trees. 
 
 The Asiatics now crossed the Tigris, but 
 somehow were entirely hidden from view. After 
 supper, Proxenus and Xenophon were walking 
 in front of the place d'armes, when a man came 
 up and demanded of the advanced guard where 
 he could find Proxenus or Clearchus. He did 
 not ask for INIenon, and that too though he came 
 from Ariseus, who was Menon's friend. As 
 soon as Proxenus had said: "I am he, whom 
 you seek," the man replied: " I have been sent 
 by Ariseus and Artaozus, who have been trusty 
 friends to Cyrus in past days, and are your 
 well-wishers. They warn you to be on your 
 guard, in case the barbarians attack you in the 
 night. There is a large body of troops in the 
 neighbouring park. They also warn you to send 
 and occupy the bridge over the Tigris, since Tis-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 213 
 
 saphcrnes is minded to break it down in the 
 night, if he can, so that you may not cross, but 
 be caught between the river and the canal." On 
 hearing this they took the man to Clearchus and 
 acquainted him with his statement. Clearchus, 
 on his side, was much disturbed, and indeed 
 alarmed at the news. But a young fellow who 
 was present,* struck with an idea, suggested that 
 the two statements were inconsistent; as to the 
 contemplated attack and the proposed destruc- 
 tion of the bridge. Clearly, the attacking party 
 must either conquer or be worsted: if they con- 
 quer, what need of their breaking down the 
 bridge? "Why I if there were half a dozen 
 bridges," said he, " we should not be any the 
 more able to save ourselves by flight — there 
 would be no place to flee to ; but, in the opposite 
 case, suppose we win, with the bridge broken 
 dovm, it is they who will not be able to save 
 themselves by flight; and, what is worse for 
 them, not a single soul will be able to bring them 
 succour from the other side, for all their num- 
 bers, since the bridge will be broken down." 
 
 Clearchus listened to the reasoning, and then 
 he asked the messenger, " How large the coun- 
 try between the Tigris and the canal might be? " 
 " A large district," he replied, " and in it are 
 villages and cities numerous and large." Then 
 it dawned upon them: the barbarians had sent 
 
 * Possibly Xenophon himself.
 
 214 XENOPHON 
 
 the man with subtlety, in fear lest the Hellenes 
 should cut the bridge and occupy the island ter- 
 ritory, with the strong defences of the Tigris 
 on the one side and of the canal on the other; 
 supplying themselves with provisions from the 
 country so included, large and rich as it was, 
 with no lack of hands to till it; in addition to 
 which, a harbour of refuge and asylum would 
 be found for any one, who was minded to do 
 the king a mischief. 
 
 After this they retired to rest in peace, not, 
 however, neglecting to send a guard to occupy 
 the bridge in spite of all ; but nothing happened, 
 and there was no attack from any quarter what- 
 soever; nor did any of the enemy's people ap- 
 proach the bridges: so the guards were able to 
 report next morning. But as soon as it was 
 morning, they proceeded to cross the bridge, 
 which consisted of thirty-seven vessels, and in 
 so doing they used the utmost precaution pos- 
 sible; for reports were brought by some of the 
 Hellenes with Tissaphernes that an attempt was 
 to be made to attack them while crossing. All 
 this turned out to be false, though it is true 
 that while crossing they did catch sight of Glus 
 watching, with some others, to see if they crossed 
 the river; but as soon as he had satisfied himself 
 on that point, he rode off and was gone. 
 
 From the river Tigris they advanced four 
 stages — ^twenty parasangs — ^to the river Phys-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 215 
 
 c'lis, which is a hundred feet broad and spanned 
 by a bridge. Here hiy a larpce and populous city 
 named Opis, close to which the Hellenes were 
 encountered by the natural brother of Cyrus 
 and Artaxerxes, who was leading a large army 
 from Susa and Ecbatana to assist the king. He 
 halted his troops and watched the Hellenes 
 march past. Clearchus led them in column two 
 abreast: and from time to time he marched and 
 from time to time he halted. But every time 
 the vanguard came to a standstill, just so often 
 and just so long the effect repeated itself down 
 to the hindmost man: halt! halt! halt! along the 
 whole line: so that even to the Hellenes them- 
 selves their army seemed enormous; and the 
 Persian was fairly astonished at the spectacle. 
 
 From this place they marched through Media 
 six desert stages — thirty parasangs — to the vil- 
 lages of Parysatis, Cyrus's and the king's mother. 
 These Tissaphernes, in mockery of Cyrus, de- 
 livered over to the Hellenes to plunder, except 
 that the folk in them wΈre not to be made slaves. 
 They contained much corn, cattle, and other 
 property. From this place they advanced four 
 desert stages — twenty parasangs — keeping the 
 Tigris on the left. On the first of these stages, 
 on the other side of the river, lay a large city; 
 it was a well-to-do place named Cgen», from 
 which the natives used to carry across loaves and 
 cheeses and wine on rafts made of skins.
 
 216 XENOPHON 
 
 V. — After this they reached the river Zapatas, 
 which is four hundred feet broad, and here they 
 halted three days. During the interval sus- 
 picions were rife, though no act of treachery 
 displayed itself. Clearchus accordingly resolved 
 to seek an interview with Tissaphernes, and if 
 possible to bring to an end these feelings of mis- 
 trust, before they led to war. Consequently, he 
 sent a messenger to the Persian to say that he 
 desired an interview with him ; to which the other 
 readily consented. As soon as they were met, 
 Clearchus spoke as follows: " Tissaphernes," 
 he said, "I do not forget that oaths have been 
 exchanged between us, and right hands shaken, 
 in token that we will abstain from mutual in- 
 jury; but I can see that you watch us narrowly, 
 as if we were foes; and we, seeing this, watch 
 you narrowly in return. But as I fail to dis- 
 cover, after investigation, that you are en- 
 deavouring to do us a mischief — and I am quite 
 sure that nothing of the sort has ever entered 
 our heads with regard to you — the best plan 
 seemed to me to come and talk the matter over 
 with you, so that, if possible, we might dispel 
 the mutual distrust on either side. For I have 
 known people ere now, the victims in some cases 
 of calumny, or possibly of mere suspicion, who 
 in apprehension of one another and eager to 
 deal the first blow, have committed irreparable 
 wrong against those who neither intended nor
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 217 
 
 so mucli as harboured a thou/,^'ht of mischief 
 against them. I have come to you under a con- 
 A'iction that such misunderstandings may best 
 be put a stop to by personal intercourse, and 
 I wish to instruct you plainly that j'^ou are 
 wrong in mistrusting us. The first and weighti- 
 est reason is that the oaths, which we took in the 
 sight of heaven, are a barrier to mutual hos- 
 tility. I envy not the man whose conscience tells 
 him that he has disregarded these! For in a 
 war with heaven, by what swiftness of foot can 
 a man escape? — in what quarter find refuge? — 
 in what darkness slink away and be hid? — to 
 what strong fortress scale and be out of reach? 
 Are not all things in all ways subject to the 
 gods? is not their lordship over all alike out- 
 spread? As touching the gods, therefore, and 
 our oaths, that is how I view this matter. To 
 their safe keeping we consigned the friendship 
 which we solemnly contracted. But turning to 
 matters human, you I look upon as our greatest 
 blessing in this present time. With you every 
 path is plain to us, every river passable, and of 
 provisions we shall know no stint. But without 
 you, all our way is through darkness; for we 
 know nothing concerning it, every river will be 
 an obstacle, each multitude a terror; but, worst 
 terror of all, the vast wilderness, so full of end- 
 less perplexit}^ Nay, if in a fit of madness we 
 murdered you, what then? in slaying our bene-
 
 218 XENOPHON 
 
 factor should we not have challenged to enter 
 the lists against us a more formidable antago- 
 nist in the king himself? Let me tell you, how 
 many high hopes I should rob myself of, were 
 I to take in hand to do you mischief. 
 
 *' I coveted the friendship of Cyrus ; I be- 
 lieved him to be abler than any man of his day 
 to benefit those whom he chose; but to-day I 
 look and, behold, it is you who are in his place; 
 the power which belonged to Cyrus and his ter- 
 ritory are yours now. You have them, and your 
 own satrapy besides, safe and sound; while the 
 king's power, which was a thorn in the side of 
 Cyrus, is your support. This being so, it would 
 be madness not to Λvish to be your friend. But 
 I will go further and state to you the reasons of 
 my confidence, that you on your side will desire 
 our friendship. I know that the Mysians are a 
 cause of trouble to you, and I flatter myself 
 that with my present force I could render them 
 humbly obedient to you. This applies to the 
 Pisidians also; and I am told there are many 
 other such tribes besides. I think I can deal Avith 
 them all; they shall cease from being a constant 
 disturbance to your peace and prosperity. Then 
 there are the Egyptians. I know your anger 
 against them to-day is very great. Nor can I 
 see what better force you will find to help you 
 in chastising them than this which marches at 
 my back to-daj^ Again, if you seek the friend-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 219 
 
 ship of any of your neighbours round, there 
 shall be no friend so great as you; if any one 
 annoys you, with us as your faithful servitors 
 you shall belord it over liim; and such service 
 will we render you, not as hirelings merely for 
 pay's sake, but for the gratitude which we shall 
 rightly feel to you, to whom we owe our lives. 
 As I dwell on these matters, I confess, the idea 
 of your feeling mistrust of us is so astonishing, 
 that I would give much to discover the name 
 of the man, who is so clever of speech that he 
 can persuade you that we harbour designs 
 against you." Clearchus ended, and Tissa- 
 phernes responded thus: 
 
 " I am glad, Clearchus, to listen to your sen- 
 sible remarks; for with the sentiments you hold, 
 if you were to devise any mischief against me, 
 it could only be out of malevolence to yourself. 
 But if you imagine that you, on your side, 
 have any better reason to mistrust the king and 
 me, than we you, listen to me in turn, and I will 
 undeceive you. I ask you, does it seem to you 
 that we lack the means, if we had the will, to 
 destroy you? have we not horsemen enough, or 
 infantry, or whatever other arm you like, 
 whereby we may be able to injure you, without 
 risk of suffering in return? or, possibly, do we 
 seem to you to lack the physical surroundings 
 suitable for attacking you? Do you not see all 
 these great plains, which you find it hard enough
 
 220 XENOPHON 
 
 to traverse even when they are friendly? and 
 all yonder great mountain chains left for you to 
 cross, which we can at any time occupy in ad- 
 vance and render impassable? and all those 
 rivers, on whose banks we can deal craftily by 
 you, checking and controlling and choosing the 
 right number of you whom we care to fight! 
 Nay, there are some which you will not be able 
 to cross at all, unless we transport you to the 
 other side. 
 
 " And if at all these points we were worsted, 
 yet ' fire,' as they say, ' is stronger than the fruit 
 of the field : ' we can burn it down and call up 
 famine in arms against you; against which you, 
 for all your bravery, will never be able to con- 
 tend. Why then, with all these avenues of at- 
 tack, this machinery of war, open to us, not one 
 of which can be turned against ourselves, why 
 should we select from among them all that 
 method, which alone in the sight of God is im- 
 pious and of man abominable? Surely it be- 
 longs to people altogether without resources, 
 who are helplessly struggling in the toils of 
 fate, and are villains to boot, to seek ac- 
 complishment of their desires by perjury to 
 heaven and faithlessness to their fellows. We 
 are not so unreasoning, Clearchus, nor so 
 foolish. 
 
 "Why, when we had it in our power to de- 
 stroy you, did we not proceed to do it? Know
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 221 
 
 well that the cause of this was nothing less than 
 my passion to prove myself faithful to the Hel- 
 lenes, mid that, as Cyrus went up, relying on a 
 foreign force attracted by payment, I in turn 
 migiit go down strong in the same through serv- 
 ice rendered. Various ways in which you Hel- 
 lenes may be useful to me you yourself have 
 mentioned, but there is one still greater. It is 
 the king's privilege alone to wear the tiara up- 
 right upon his head, yet in your presence it may 
 be given to another mortal to wear it upright, 
 here, upon his heart." 
 
 Throughout this speech he seemed to Clear- 
 chus to be speaking the truth, and he rejoined: 
 " Then are not those worthy of the worst penal- 
 ties who, in spite of all that exists to cement our 
 friendship, endeavour by slander to make us en- 
 emies?" "Even so," replied Tissaphernes, 
 " and if your generals and captains care to come 
 in some open and public way, I will name to you 
 those who tell me that you are plotting against 
 me and the army under me." " Good," replied 
 Clearchus. "I will bring all, and I will show 
 you, on my side, the source from which I derive 
 my information concerning you." 
 
 After this conversation Tissaphernes, with 
 kindliest expressions, invited Clearchus to re- 
 main with him at the time, and entertained him 
 at dinner. Next day Clearchus returned to the 
 camp, and made no secret of his persuasion that
 
 222 XENOPHON 
 
 he at any rate stood high in the aifections of 
 Tissaphernes, and he reported what he had said, 
 insisting that those invited ought to go to Tis- 
 saphernes, and that any Hellene convicted of 
 calumnious language ought to he punished, not 
 only as traitors themselves, but as disaffected 
 to their fellow-countrymen. The slanderer and 
 traducer Λvas INIenon; so, at any rate, he sus- 
 pected, because he knew that he had had meet- 
 ings v^^th Tissaphernes whilst he was with 
 Ari^eus, and was factiously opposed to himself, 
 plotting how to win over the whole army to him, 
 as a means of winning the good graces of Tissa- 
 phernes. But Clearchus wanted the entire army 
 to give its mind to no one else, and that refrac- 
 tory people should be put out of the way. Some 
 of the soldiers protested: the captains and gen- 
 erals had better not all go; it was better not to 
 put too much confidence in Tissaphernes. But 
 Clearchus insisted so strongly that finally it was 
 arranged for five generals to go and twenty 
 captains. These were accompanied by about 
 two hundred of the other soldiers, who took the 
 opportunity of marketing. 
 
 On arrival at the doors of Tissaphernes's 
 quarters the generals were summoned inside. 
 They were Proxenus the Boeotian, Menon the 
 Thessalian, Agias the Arcadian, Clearchus the 
 Laconian, and Socrates the Achaean; while the 
 captains remained at the doors. Not long after,
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 223 
 
 at one and the same signal, those Avithin were 
 seized and those without cut down; after which 
 some of the barbarian horsemen galloped over 
 the plain, killing every Hellene they encoun- 
 tered, bond or free. The Hellenes, as they 
 looked from the camp, viewed that strange 
 horsemanship with surprise, and could not ex- 
 plain to themselves Avhat it all meant, until Ni- 
 carchus the Arcadian came tearing along for 
 bare Hfe Λvith a wound in the belly, and clutch- 
 ing his protruding entrails in his hands. He 
 told them all that had happened. Instantly the 
 Hellenes ran to their arms, one and all, in utter 
 consternation, and fully expecting that the en- 
 emy would instantly be down upon the camp. 
 However, they did not all come: only Ariseus 
 came, and Artaozus and Mithridates, who were 
 Cyrus's most faithful friends; but the interpre- 
 ter of the Hellenes said he saw and recognised 
 the brother of Tissaphernes also with them. 
 They had at their back other Persians also, 
 armed with cuirasses, as many as three hundred. 
 As soon as they were within a short distance, 
 they bade any general or captain of the Hellenes 
 who might be there to approach and hear a mes- 
 sage from the king. After this, two Hellene 
 generals went out with all precaution. These 
 were Cleanor the Orchomenian, and Sophiene- 
 tus the Stymphalian, attended by Xenophon the 
 Athenian, who went to learn news of Proxenus.
 
 224 XENOPHON 
 
 Cheirisophus was at the time away in a village 
 with a part}^ getting provisions. As soon as 
 they had halted within earshot, Ariseus said: 
 " Hellenes, Clearchus being shown to have com- 
 mitted perjury and to have broken the truce, has 
 suffered the penalty, and he is dead; but Proxe- 
 nus and IMenon, in return for having given in- 
 formation of his treachery, are in high esteem 
 and honour. As to yourselves, the king demands 
 your arms. He claims them as his, since they 
 belonged to Cyrus, who was his slave." To this 
 the Hellenes made ansΛveΓ by the mouth of 
 Cleanor of Orchomenus, their spokesman, who 
 said, addressing Ariseus : " Thou villain, 
 Ariseus, and you the rest of you, who were Cy- 
 rus's friends, have you no shame before God or 
 man, first to swear to us you would have the 
 same friends and the same enemies as we our- 
 selves, and then to turn and betray us, making 
 common cause with Tissaphernes, that most im- 
 pious and villainous of men? With him you 
 have murdered the very men to whom you gave 
 your solemn word and oath, and to the rest of 
 us turned traitors; and, having so done, you 
 join hand with our enemies to come against us." 
 Ai'iseus answered: " There is no doubt but that 
 Clearchus has been known for some time to har- 
 bour designs against Tissaphernes and Oron- 
 tas, and all of us who side with them." Taking 
 up this assertion, Xenophon said: " Well, then,
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 225 
 
 o-ranting• tluit Clearchus broke the truce con- 
 trary to our oaths, he has his deserts, for per- 
 jurers deserve to perish; but where are Proxe- 
 nus and Menon, our generals and your good 
 friends and benefactors, as you admit? Send 
 them back to us. Surely, just because they are 
 friends of both parties, they will try to give the 
 best advice for you and for us." 
 
 At this, the Asiatics stood discussing with one 
 another for a long while, and then they went 
 away without A'^ouchsafing a word. 
 
 VI. — The generals who were thus seized were 
 taken up to the king and there decapitated. The 
 first of these, Clearchus, was a thorough soldier, 
 and a true lover of fighting. This is the testi- 
 mony of all who knew him intimately. As long 
 as the war between the Lacedaemonians and 
 Athenians lasted, he could find occupation at 
 home; but after the peace, he persuaded his own 
 city that the Thracians were injuring the Hel- 
 lenes, and having secured his object, set sail, 
 empowered by the ephorate to make war upon 
 the Thracians north of the Chersonese and 
 Perinthus. But he had no sooner fairly started 
 than, for some reason or other, the ephors 
 changed their minds, and endeavoured to bring 
 him back again from the isthmus. Thereupon 
 he refused further obedience, and went off with 
 sails set for the Hellespont. In consequence 
 he was condemned to death by the Spartan au-
 
 226 XENOPHON 
 
 thorities for disobedience to orders; and now, 
 finding himself an exile, he came to Cjtus. 
 Working on the feelings of that prince, in lan- 
 guage described elsewhere, he received from his 
 entertainer a present of ten thousand darics. 
 Having got this money, he did not sink into a 
 life of ease and indolence, but collected an 
 army with it, carried on war against the Thra- 
 cians, and conquered them in battle, and from 
 that date onwards harried and plundered them 
 with war incessantly, until Cyrus wanted his 
 army; whereupon he at once went off, in hopes 
 of finding another sphere of warfare in his com- 
 pany. 
 
 These, I take it, were the characteristic acts of 
 a man whose affections are set on warfare. 
 When it is open to him to enjoy peace with 
 honour, no shame, no injury attached, still he 
 prefers war; when he may live at home at ease, 
 he insists on toil, if only it may end in fighting; 
 when it is given to him to keep his riches with- 
 out risk, he would rather lessen his fortune by 
 the pastime of battle. To put it briefly, war 
 was his mistress; just as another man will spend 
 his fortune on a favourite, or to gratify some 
 pleasure, so he chose to squander his substance 
 on soldiering. 
 
 But if the life of a soldier was a passion with 
 him, he was none the less a soldier born, as herein 
 appears ; danger was a delight to him ; he courted
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 227 
 
 it, attacking the enemy by night or by day; and 
 in difficulties he did not lose his head, as all who 
 ever served in a campaign with him ΛνουΗ with 
 one consent allow^ A good soldier! the ques- 
 tion arises. Was he equally good as a comman- 
 der? It must be admitted that, as far as was 
 compatible Λvith his quahty of temper, he was: 
 none more so. Capable to a singular degree of 
 devising how his army was to get supplies, and 
 of actually getting them, he was also capable of 
 impressing upon those about him that Clearchus 
 must be obeyed; and that he brought about by 
 the very hardness of his nature. With a scowl- 
 ing expression and a harshly-grating voice, he 
 chastised with severity, and at times with such 
 fury, that he was sorry afterwards himself for 
 what he had done. Yet it was not without pur- 
 pose that he applied the whip; he had a theory 
 that there was no good to be got out of an un- 
 chastened army. A saying of his is recorded to 
 the effect that the soldier who is to mount guard 
 and keep his hands off his friends, and be ready 
 to dash without a moment's hesitation against the 
 foe — must fear his commander more than the 
 enemy. Accordingly, in any strait, this was 
 the man whom the soldiers were eager to obey, 
 and they would have no other in his place. The 
 cloud which lay upon his brow, at those times 
 lit up with brightness; his face became radiant, 
 and the old sternness was so charged with vig-
 
 228 XENOPHON 
 
 our and knitted strength to meet the foe, that 
 it savoured of salvation, not of cruelty. But 
 Λvhen the pinch of danger was past, and it was 
 open to them to go and taste subordination un- 
 der some other officer, many forsook him. So 
 lacking in grace of manner was he ; but was ever 
 harsh and savage, so that the feeling of the sol- 
 diers towards him was that of schoolboys to a 
 master. In other words, though it was not his 
 good fortune ever to have followers inspired 
 solely by friendship or goodwill, yet those who 
 found themselves under him, either by State ap- 
 pointment or through want, or other arch ne- 
 cessity, yielded him implicit obedience. From 
 the moment that he led them to victory, the ele- 
 ments which went to make his soldiers efficient 
 were numerous enough. There was the feeling 
 of confidence in facing the foe, which never left 
 them, and there was the dread of punishment 
 at his hands to keep them orderly. In this way 
 and to this extent he knew how to rule; but to 
 play a subordinate part himself he had no great 
 taste; so, at any rate, it was said. At the time 
 of his death he must have been about fifty years 
 of age. 
 
 Proxenus, the Boeotian, was of a different 
 temperament. It had been the dream of his 
 boyhood to become a man capable of great 
 achievements. In obedience to tliis passionate 
 desire it was, that he paid his fee to Gorgias of
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 229 
 
 Leontiiii.'' After enjoying? that teacher's so- 
 ciety, he flattered himself that he must be at once 
 (liiahHed to rule; and while he was on friendly 
 terms with the leaders of the age, he Λvas not to 
 be outdone in reciprocity of service.*^ In this 
 mood he threw himself into the projects of 
 Cyrus, and in return expected to derive from 
 this essay the reward of a great name, large 
 poΛver, and wide wealth. But for all that he 
 pitched his hopes so high, it was none the less 
 evident that he would refuse to gain any of the 
 ends he set before him wrongfully. Righteously 
 and honourably he would obtain them, if he 
 might, or else forego them. As a commander 
 he had the art of leading gentlemen, but he 
 failed to inspire adequately either respect for 
 himself or fear in the soldiers under him. In- 
 deed, he showed a more delicate regard for his 
 soldiers than his subordinates for him, and he 
 was indisputably more apprehensive of incurring 
 their hatred than they were of losing their fidel- 
 ity. The one thing needful to real and recog- 
 
 5 The famous rhetorician of Leontini, 485-380 b. c. His fee 
 was 100 minae = about $2,000. 
 
 β Proxenus, like Cyrus, is to some extent a prototype of the 
 Cyrus of the Cyropaedia, In other words, the author, in de- 
 lineating the portrait of his ideal prince, drew from the recol- 
 lection of many princely qualities observed by him in the char- 
 acters of many friends. Apart from the intrinsic charm of 
 the story, the Anabasis is interesting as containing the raw ma- 
 terial of experience and reflection which " this young scholar 
 or philosopher," the author, will one day turn to literary ac- 
 count.
 
 230 XENOPHON 
 
 nised generalship was, he thought, to praise the 
 virtuous and to withhold praise from the evil- 
 doer. It can be easily understood, then, that of 
 those who were brought in contact with him, the 
 good and noble indeed were his well-wishers; 
 but he laid himself open to the machinations of 
 the base, who looked upon him as a person to be 
 dealt with as they liked. At the time of his 
 death he was only thirty years of age. 
 
 As to ]Menon the Thessalian, the mainspring 
 of his action was obvious; Λvhat he sought after 
 insatiably was wealth. Rule he sought after 
 only as a stepping-stone to larger spoils. Hon- 
 ours and high estate he craved for simply that 
 he might extend the area of his gains ; and if he 
 studied to be on friendly terms Λvith the power- 
 ful, it was in order that he might commit wrong 
 with impunity. The shortest road to the achieve- 
 ment of his desires lay, he thought, through 
 false swearing, lying, and cheating; for in his 
 vocabulary simplicity and truth were synonyms 
 of folly. Natural affection he clearly enter- 
 tained for nobody. If he called a man his friend 
 it might be looked upon as certain that he was 
 bent on ensnaring him. Laughter at an en- 
 emy he considered out of place, but his whole 
 conversation turned upon the ridicule of his as- 
 sociates. In like manner the possessions of his 
 foes were secure from his designs, since it was 
 no easy task, he thought, to steal from people
 
 ANABASIS BOOK II 231 
 
 on their guard; but it was his particular good 
 fortune to have discovered how easy it is to rob 
 a friend in the midst of security. If it were a 
 perjin-ed person or a wrongdoer, he dreaded him 
 as well armed and intrenched; but the honour- 
 able and the truth-loving he tried to practise on, 
 regarding them as weaklings devoid of man- 
 hood. And as other men pride themselves on 
 piety and truth and righteousness, so Menon 
 prided himself on a capacity for fraud, on the 
 fabrication of lies, on the mockery and scorn 
 of friends. The man who was not a rogue he 
 ever looked upon as only half educated. Did 
 he aspire to the first place in another man's 
 friendship, he set about his object by slandering 
 those who stood nearest to him in affection. He 
 contrived to secure the obedience of his soldiers 
 by making himself an accomplice in their mis- 
 deeds, and the fluency with which he vaunted his 
 own capacity and readiness for enormous guilt 
 was a sufficient title to be honoured and courted 
 by them. Or if any one stood aloof from him, 
 he set it down as a meritorious act of kindness 
 on his part that during their intercourse he had 
 not robbed him of existence. 
 
 As to certain obscure charges brought against 
 his character, these may certainly be fabrica- 
 tions. I confine myself to the following facts, 
 which are known to all. He was in the bloom 
 of youth when he procured from Ai'istippus the
 
 232 XENOPHON 
 
 command of his mercenaries ; he had not yet lost 
 that bloom when he became exceedingly inti- 
 mate with Ariffius, a barbarian, whose liking for 
 fair young men was the explanation; and be- 
 fore he had grown a beard himself, he had con- 
 tracted a similar relationship with a bearded fa- 
 vourite named Tharypas. When his fellow- 
 generals were put to death on the plea that they 
 had marched with Cyrus against the king, he 
 alone, although he had shared their conduct, was 
 exempted from their fate. But after their 
 deaths the vengeance of the king fell upon him, 
 and he was put to death, not like Clearchus and 
 the others by what would appear to be the speed- 
 iest of deaths — decapitation — but, as report 
 says, he lived for a year in pain and disgrace 
 and died the death of a felon. 
 
 Agias the Arcadian, and Socrates the Achsean 
 were both among the sufferers who were put to 
 death. To the credit, be it said, of both, no one 
 ever derided either as cowardly in war: no one 
 ever had a fault to find with either on the score 
 of friendship. They were both about thirty- 
 five years of age.
 
 ANABASIS 
 
 BOOK III 
 
 AFTER the generals had been seized, and 
 /% the captains and soldiers who formed 
 ^ .λ. their escort had been killed, the Hellenes 
 lay in deep perplexity — a prey to painful re- 
 flections. Here were they at the king's gates, 
 and on every side environing them were many 
 hostile cities and tribes of men. Who was there 
 now to furnish them with a market? Separated 
 from Hellas by more than a thousand miles, 
 they had not even a guide to point the way. 
 Impassable rivers lay athwart their homeward 
 route, and hemmed them in. Betrayed even by 
 the Asiatics, at whose side they had marched 
 with Cyrus to the attack, they were left in iso- 
 lation. Without a single mounted trooper to 
 aid them in pursuit: was it not perfectly plain 
 that if they won a battle, their enemies would 
 escape to a man, but if they were beaten them- 
 selves, not one soul of them would survive? 
 
 Haunted by such thoughts, and with hearts 
 full of despair, but few of them tasted food 
 that evening; but few of them kindled even a 
 fire, and many never came into camp at all that 
 night, but took their rest where each chanced to 
 be. They could not close their eyes for very 
 
 233
 
 234 XENOPHON 
 
 pain and yearning after their fatherlands or 
 their parents, the wife or child Λvhom they never 
 expected to look upon again. Such was the 
 plight in which each and all tried to seek repose. 
 
 Now there was in that host a certain man, an 
 Athenian,* Xenophon, who had accompanied 
 Cyrus, neither as a general, nor as an officer, 
 nor yet as a private soldier, but simply on the 
 invitation of an old friend, Proxenus. This old 
 friend had sent to fetch him from home, promis- 
 ing, if he would come, to introduce him to Cy- 
 rus, " whom," said Proxenus, " I consider to be 
 worth my fatherland and more to me." 
 
 Xenophon having read the letter, consulted 
 Socrates the Athenian, whether he should accept 
 or refuse the invitation. Socrates, who had a 
 suspicion that the State of Athens might in 
 some way look askance at any friendship with 
 Cyrus, whose zealous co-operation with the 
 Lacedsemonians against Athens in the war was 
 not forgotten, advised Xenophon to go to Del- 
 phi and there to consult the god as to the de- 
 sirability of such a journey. Xenophon went 
 and put the question to Apollo, to which of the 
 
 1 Grote comments on the first appearance of Xenophon. He 
 has been mentioned, of course, more than once before; but he 
 now steps, as the protagonist, upon the scene, and as Grote 
 says: " It is in true Homeric vein, and in something like Ho- 
 meric language, that Xenophon (to whom we owe the whole 
 narrative of the expedition) describes his dream, or the inter- 
 vention of Oneiros, sent by Zeus, from which this renovating 
 impulse took its rise."
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 235 
 
 gods he must pray and do sacrifice, so that he 
 might best accomplish his intended journey and 
 return in safety, with good fortune. Then 
 Apollo answered him: '* To such and such gods 
 must thou do sacrifice," and when he had re- 
 turned home he reported to Socrates the oracle. 
 But he, when he heard, blamed Xenophon that 
 he had not, in the first instance, inquired of the 
 god, whether it were better for him to go or to 
 stay, but had taken on himself to settle that 
 point affirmatively, by inquiring straightway, 
 how he might best perform the journey. " Since, 
 however," continued Socrates, " you did so put 
 the question, you should do what the god en- 
 joined." Thus, and without further ado, Xeno- 
 phon offered sacrifice to those whom the god 
 had named, and set sail on his voyage. He 
 overtook Proxenus and Cyrus at Sardis, when 
 they were just ready to start on the march up 
 country, and was at once introduced to Cyrus. 
 Proxenus eagerly pressed him to stop — a re- 
 quest which Cyrus with like ardour supported, 
 adding that as soon as the campaign was over 
 he would send him home. The campaign re- 
 ferred to was understood to be against the 
 Pisidians. That is how Xenophon came to join 
 the expedition, deceived indeed, though not by 
 Proxenus, who was equally in the dark with the 
 rest of the Hellenes, not counting Clearchus, 
 as to the intended attack upon the king. How-
 
 236 XENOPHON 
 
 ever, when they reached CiHcia, it was pretty 
 plain to all that the expedition was really 
 against the king. Then, though the majority 
 were in apprehension of the journey, which was 
 not at all to their minds, yet, for very shame of 
 one another and Cyrus, they continued to follow 
 him, and with the rest went Xenophon. 
 
 And now in this season of perplexity, he too, 
 with the rest, ivas in sore distress, and could not 
 sleep; but anon, getting a snatch of sleep, he 
 had a dream. It seemed to him in a vision that 
 there Λvas a storm of thunder and lightning, and 
 a bolt fell on his father's house, and thereupon 
 the house was all in a blaze. He sprung up in 
 terror, and pondering the matter, decided that 
 in part the dream was good : in that he had seen 
 a great light from Zeus, whilst in the midst of 
 toil and danger. But partly too he feared it, 
 for evidently it had come from Zeus the king. 
 And the fire kindled all around — what could 
 that mean but that he was hemmed in by various 
 perplexities, and so could not escape from the 
 country of the king? The full meaning, how- 
 ever, is to be discovered from what happened 
 after the dream. 
 
 This is what took place. As soon as he was 
 fully awake, the first clear thought which came 
 into his head was. Why am I lying here? The 
 night advances; with the day, it is like enough, 
 the enemy will be upon us. If Λve are to fall
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 237 
 
 into the hands of tlie kinp;•, what is left to us 
 hut to face the most horrible of sights, and to 
 suiter the most fearful pains, and then to die, 
 insulted, an ignominious death? To defend our- 
 selves — to ward off that fate — not a hand stirs: 
 no one is preparing, none cares; but here we lie, 
 as though it were time to rest and take our ease. 
 I too! Λvhat am I waiting for? a general to un- 
 dertake the work? and from what city? am I 
 waiting till I am older myself and of riper age? 
 older I shall never be, if to-day I betray myself 
 to my enemies. 
 
 Thereupon he got up, and called together first 
 Proxenus's officers; and when they were met, he 
 said: " Sleep, sirs, I cannot, nor can you, I 
 fancy, nor lie here longer, when I see in what 
 straits we are. Our enemy, we may be sure, did 
 not open war upon us till he felt he had every- 
 thing amply ready; yet none of us shows a cor- 
 responding anxiety to enter the lists of battle 
 in the bravest style. 
 
 " And yet, if we yield ourselves and fall into 
 the king's power, need we ask what our fate 
 will be? This man, who, when his own brother, 
 the son of the same parents, was dead, was not 
 content with that, but severed head and hand 
 from the body, and nailed them to a cross. We, 
 then, who have not even the tie of blood in our 
 favour, but who marched against him, meaning 
 to make a slave of him instead of a king — and
 
 238 XENOPHON 
 
 to slay him if we could: what is likely to be our 
 fate at his hands? Will he not go all lengths so 
 that, by inflicting on us the extreme of ignominy 
 and torture, he may rouse in the rest of man- 
 kind a terror of ever marching against him any 
 more? There is no question but that our busi- 
 ness is to avoid by all means getting into his 
 clutches. 
 
 " For my part, all the while the truce lasted, I 
 never ceased pitying ourselves and congratu- 
 lating the king and those with him, as, like a 
 helpless spectator, I surveyed the extent and 
 quality of their territory, the plenteousness of 
 their provisions, the multitude of their depend- 
 ants, their cattle, their gold, and their apparel. 
 And then to turn and ponder the condition of 
 our soldiers, without part or lot in these good 
 things except we bought it; few, I knoΛv, had 
 any longer the wherewithal to buy, and yet our 
 oath held us down, so that we could not provide 
 ourselves otherwise than by purchase. I say, as 
 I reasoned thus, there were times when I dreaded 
 the truce more than I now dread war. 
 
 " Now, however, that they have abruptly 
 ended the truce, there is an end also to their 
 own insolence and to our suspicion. All these 
 good things of theirs are now set as prizes for 
 the combatants. To whichsoever of us shall 
 prove the better men, will they fall as guerdons ; 
 and the gods themselves are the judges of the
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 239 
 
 strife. The gtnls, λυΙιο full surely will be on our 
 side, seeiug" it is our enemies who have taken 
 their names falsely; Avhilst we, with much to 
 lure us, yet for our oath's sake, and the ^ods 
 Λ\1ιο were our Avitnesses, sternly held aloof. So 
 that, it seems to me, we have a right to enter 
 upon this contest with much more heart than 
 our foes ; and further, we are possessed of bodies 
 more capable than theirs of bearing cold and 
 heat and labour; souls too we have, by the help 
 of heaven, better and braver; nay, the men 
 themselves are more vulnerable, more mortal, 
 than ourselves, if so be the gods vouchsafe to 
 give us victory once again. 
 
 " Howbeit, for I doubt not elsewhere similar 
 reflections are being made, whatsoever betide, 
 let us not, in heaven's name, wait for others to 
 come and challenge us to noble deeds; let us 
 rather take the lead in stimulating the rest to 
 valour. Show yourselves to be the bravest of 
 officers, and among generals, the worthiest to 
 command. For myself, if you choose to start 
 forward on this quest, I will follow; or, if you 
 bid me lead you, my age shall be no excuse to 
 stand between me and your orders. At least I am 
 of full age, I take it, to avert misfortune from 
 my own head." 
 
 Such were the speaker's words; and the of- 
 ficers, when they heard, all, with one exception, 
 called upon him to put himself at their head.
 
 240 XENOPHON 
 
 This was a certain Apollonides there present, 
 Λvho spoke in the Boeotian dialect. This man's 
 opinion was that it was mere nonsense for any 
 one to pretend they could obtain safety other- 
 wise than by an appeal to the king, if he had 
 skill to enforce it; and at the same time he 
 began to dilate on the difficulties. But Xeno- 
 phon cut him short. " Ο most marvellous of 
 men! though you have eyes to see, you do not 
 perceive; though you have ears to hear, you do 
 not recollect. You were present with the rest of 
 us now here when, after the death of Cyrus, the 
 king, vaunting himself on that occurrence, sent 
 dictatorially to bid us lay down our arms. But 
 when we, instead of giving up our arms, put 
 them on and went and pitched our camp near 
 him, his manner changed. It is hard to say 
 what he did not do, he was so at his wit's end, 
 sending us embassies and begging for a truce, 
 and furnishing provisions the while, until he had 
 got it. Or to take the contrary instance, when 
 just now, acting precisely on your principles, 
 our generals and captains went, trusting to the 
 truce, unarmed to a conference with them, what 
 came of it? what is happening at this instant? 
 Beaten, goaded with pricks, insulted, poor souls, 
 they cannot even die: though death, I ween, 
 would be very sweet. And you, who know all 
 this, how can you say that it is mere nonsense 
 to talk of self-defence? how can you bid us go
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 241 
 
 iioaiii and try the arts of persuasion? In my 
 o[)inion, sirs, Ave ought not to admit this fellow 
 to the same rank with ourselves; rather ought 
 we to deprive him of his captaincy, and load 
 him with packs and treat him as such. The man 
 is a disgrace to his own fatherland and the 
 Avhole of Hellas, that, being a Hellene, he is 
 what he is." 
 
 Here Agasias the Stymphalian broke in, ex- 
 claiming : " Nay, this fellow has no connection 
 either \vith Boeotia or with Hellas, none what- 
 ever. I have noted both his ears bored like a 
 Lydian's." And so it was. Him then they ban- 
 ished. But the rest visited the ranks, and wher- 
 ever a general was left, they summoned the 
 general; where he was gone, the lieutenant- 
 general; and where again the captain alone was 
 left, the captain. As soon as they were all met, 
 they seated themselves in front of the place 
 d'armes: the assembled generals and officers, 
 numbering about a hundred. It was nearly 
 midnight when this took place. 
 
 Thereupon Hieronymus the Eleian, the eld- 
 est of Proxenus's captains, commenced speak- 
 ing as follows : " Generals and captains, it 
 seemed right to us, in view of the present crisis, 
 ourselves to assemble and to summon you, that 
 we might advise upon some practicable course. 
 Would you, Xenophon, repeat what you said 
 to us?"
 
 242 XENOPHON 
 
 Thereupon Xenophon spoke as follows: 
 " We all know only too well, that the king and 
 Tissaphernes have seized as many of us as they 
 could, and it is clear they are plotting to destroy 
 the rest of us if they can. Our business is plain: 
 it is to do all we can to avoid getting into the 
 power of the barbarians; rather, if we can, we 
 will get them into our power. Rely upon this 
 then, all you who are here assembled, now is 
 your great opportunity. The soldiers outside 
 have their eyes fixed upon you; if they think 
 that you are faint-hearted, they will turn cow- 
 ards ; but if you show them that you are making 
 your own preparations to attack the enemj^ and 
 setting an example to the rest — follow you, be 
 assured, they will: imitate you they will. May 
 be, it is but right and fair that you should some- 
 what excel them, for you are generals, j^ou are 
 commanders of brigades or of regiments; and 
 if, while it was peace, you had the advantage in 
 wealth and position, so now, when it is war, you 
 are expected to rise superior to the common 
 herd — to think for them, to toil for them, when- 
 ever there be need. 
 
 "At this very moment you would confer a 
 great boon on the army, if you made it your 
 business to appoint generals and officers to fill 
 the places of those that are lost. For without 
 leaders nothing good or noble, to put it con- 
 cisely, was ever wrought anywhere; and in mili-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 243 
 
 tary matters tliis is absolutely true; for if disci- 
 pliue is held to be of saving virtue, the want of 
 it has been the ruin of many ere now. Well, 
 then! when you have appointed all the com- 
 manders necessary, it would only be opportune, 
 I take it, if you were to summon the rest of the 
 soldiers and to speak some words of encourage- 
 ment. Even now, I daresay you noticed your- 
 selves the crestfallen air with which they came 
 into camp, the despondency with which they fell 
 to picket duty, so that, unless there is a change 
 for the better, I do not know for what service 
 they will be fit; whether by night, if need were, 
 or even by day. The thing is to get them to 
 turn their thoughts to what they mean to do, in- 
 stead of to what they are likely to suffer. Do 
 that, and their spirits will soon revive wonder- 
 fully. You know, I need hardly remind you, 
 it is not numbers or strength that gives victory 
 in war; but, heaven helping them, to one or 
 other of two combatants it is given to dash with 
 stouter hearts to meet the foe, and such onset, 
 in nine cases out of ten, those others refuse to 
 meet. This observation, also, I have laid to 
 heart, that they, who in matters of war seek in 
 all ways to save their lives, are just they who^ 
 as a rule, die dishonourably; whereas they who, 
 recognising that death is the common lot and 
 destiny of all men, strive hard to die nobly: 
 these more frequently, as I observe, do after all
 
 244 XENOPHON 
 
 attain to old age, or, at any rate, while life lasts, 
 they spend their days more happily. This les- 
 son let all lay to heart this day, for we are just 
 at such a crisis of our fate. Now is the season 
 to be brave ourselves, and to stimulate the rest 
 by our example." 
 
 With these words he ceased; and after him, 
 Cheirisophus said : " Xenophon, hitherto I 
 knew only so much of you as that you were, 
 I heard, an Athenian, but now I must conmiend 
 you for your words and for your conduct. I 
 hope that there may be many more like you, for 
 it would prove a public blessing." Then turn- 
 ing to the officers: "And now," said he, "let 
 us waste no time; retire at once, I beg j^ou, and 
 choose leaders where you need them. After you 
 have made your elections, come back to the mid- 
 dle of the camp, and bring the newly appointed 
 officers. After that, we will there summon a 
 general meeting of the soldiers. Let Tolmides, 
 the herald," he added, "be in attendance." 
 With these words on his lips he got up, in order 
 that what was needful might be done at once 
 without delay. After this the generals w^ere 
 chosen. These were Timasion the Dardanian, 
 in place of Clearchus; Xanthicles, an Achaean, 
 in place of Socrates; Cleanor, an Arcadian, in 
 place of Agias; Philesius, an Acheean, in place 
 of Menon; and in place of Proxenus, Xeno- 
 phon the Athenian.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 245 
 
 II. — By the time the new generals had been 
 cliosen, the first faint glimmer of dawn had 
 hardly commenced, as they met in the centre of 
 the camp, and resolved to post an advance 
 guard and to call a general meeting of the sol- 
 diers. Now, when these had come together, 
 Cheirisophus the Lacedaemonian first rose and 
 spoke as follows: "Fellow-soldiers, the pres- 
 ent posture of aif airs is not pleasant, seeing that 
 we are robbed of so many generals and captains 
 and soldiers; and more than that, our former 
 allies, Arisus and his men, have betrayed us; 
 still, we must rise above our circumstances to 
 prove ourselves brave men, and not give in, but 
 try to save ourselves by glorious victory if we 
 can ; or, if not, at least die gloriously, and never, 
 while we have breath in our bodies, fall into the 
 hands of our enemies. In which latter case, I 
 fear, we shall suffer things, which I pray the 
 gods may visit rather upon those we hate." 
 
 At this point Cleanor the Orchomenian stood 
 up and spoke as follows : " You see, men, the 
 perjury and the impiety of the king. You see 
 the faithlessness of Tissaphernes, professing 
 that he was next-door neighbour to Hellas, 
 and would give a good deal to save us, in con- 
 firmation of which he took an oath to us him- 
 self, he gave us the pledge of his right hand, 
 and then, with a lie upon his lips, this same man 
 turned round and arrested our generals. He
 
 24^6 XENOPHON 
 
 had no reverence even for Zeus, the god of 
 strangers; but, after entertaining Clearchus at 
 his own board as a friend, he used his hospi- 
 tality to delude and decoy his victims. And 
 Ariasus, whom we offered to make king, with 
 whom we exchanged pledges not to betray each 
 other, even this man, without a particle of fear 
 of the gods, or respect for Cyrus in his grave, 
 though he was most honoured bj'- Cj'-rus in life- 
 time, even he has turned aside to the worst foes 
 of Cyrus, and is doing his best to injure the 
 dead man's friends. Them may the gods re- 
 quite as they deserve ! But we, with these things 
 before our eyes, will not any more be cheated 
 and cajoled by them; we will make the best fight 
 we can, and having made it, whatever the gods 
 think fit to send, we will accept." 
 
 After him Xenophon arose; he was arrayed 
 for war in his bravest apparel: "For," said he 
 to himself, " if the gods grant victory, the finest 
 attire will match with victory best; or if I must 
 needs die, then for one who has aspired to the 
 noblest, it is well there should be some outward 
 correspondence between his expectation and his 
 end." He began his speech as follows : " Cle- 
 anor has spoken of the perjury and faithless- 
 ness of the barbarians, and you yourselves know 
 them only too well, I fancy. If then we are 
 minded to enter a second time into terms of 
 friendship with them, with the experience of
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 247 
 
 what our generals, who in all confidence en- 
 trusted themselves to their power, have suf- 
 fered, reason would we should feel deep de- 
 spondency. If, on the other hand, we purpose 
 to take our good swords in our hands and to 
 inflict punishment on them for what they have 
 done, and from this time forward will be on 
 terms of downright war with them, then, God 
 helping, we have many a bright hope of safety." 
 The words were scarcely spoken when some 
 one sneezed,^ and with one impulse the soldiers 
 bowed in worship; and Xenophon proceeded: 
 "I propose, sirs, since, even as we spoke of 
 safety, an omen from Zeus the Saviour has ap- 
 peared, we vow a vow to sacrifice to the Saviour 
 thank-offerings for safe deliverance, whereso- 
 ever first we reach a friendly country ; and let us 
 couple with that vow another of individual as- 
 sent, that we will offer to the rest of the gods 
 ' according to our ability.' Let all those who are 
 in favour of this proposal hold up their hands." 
 They all held up their hands, and there and then 
 they vowed a vow and chanted the battle hymn. 
 But as soon as these sacred matters were duly 
 ended, he began once more thus: " I was saying 
 that many and bright are the hopes we have of 
 safety. First of all, we it is who confirm and 
 
 2 This ancient omen is mentioned in the Odyssey: "Even so 
 she spake, and Telemachus sneezed loudly, and around the roof 
 rung wondrously. And Penelope laughed." ..." Dost thou 
 not mark how my son has sneezed a blessing on all my words? "
 
 248 XENOPHON 
 
 ratify the oaths we take by heaven, but our en- 
 emies have taken false oaths and broken the 
 truce, contrary to their solemn word. This 
 being so, it is but natural that the gods should 
 be opposed to our enemies, but with ourselves 
 allied; the gods, who are able to make the great 
 ones quickly small, and out of sore perplexity 
 can save the little ones with ease, what time it 
 pleases them. In the next place, let me recall 
 to your minds the dangers of our own fore- 
 fathers, that you may see and know that bravery 
 is your heirloom, and that by the aid of the gods 
 brave men are rescued even out of the midst of 
 sorest straits. So was it Λvhen the Persians 
 came, and their attendant hosts, with a very 
 great armament, to wipe out Athens from the 
 face of the earth — the men of Athens had the 
 heart to withstand them and conquered them. 
 Then they vowed to Artemis that for every man 
 they slew of the enemy, they would sacrifice to 
 the goddess goats so many ; and when they could 
 not find sufiiicient for the slain, they resolved to 
 offer yearly five hundred; and to this day they 
 perform that sacrifice. And at a somewhat 
 later date, when Xerxes assembled his countless 
 hosts and marched upon Hellas, then too our 
 fathers conquered the forefathers of our foes 
 by land and by sea. 
 
 "And proofs of these things are yet to be 
 seen in trophies; but the greatest witness of all
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 249 
 
 is the freedom of our cities, — the liberty of that 
 land in whieh you were born and bred. For 
 you call no man master or lord; you bow your 
 heads to none save to the gods alone. Such were 
 your forefathers, and their sons are ye. Think 
 not I am going• to say that you put to shame 
 in any way your ancestry — far from it. Not 
 many days since, you too were drawn up in bat- 
 tle face to face with these true descendants of 
 their ancestors, and by the help of heaven you 
 conquered them, though they many times out- 
 numbered you. At that time, it was to win a 
 throne for Cyrus that you showed your bravery ; 
 to-day, when the struggle is for your own sal- 
 vation, what is more natural than that you should 
 show yourselves braver and more zealous still. 
 Nay, it is very meet and right you should be 
 more undaunted still to-day to face the foe. The 
 other day, though you had not tested them, and 
 before your eyes lay their immeasurable host, 
 you had the heart to go against them with the 
 spirit of your fathers. To-day you have made 
 trial of them, and knowing that, however many 
 times your number, they do not care to await 
 your onset, what concern have you now to be 
 afraid of them? 
 
 "Nor let any one suppose that herein is a 
 point of weakness, in that Cyrus's troops, who 
 before were drawn up by your side, have now 
 deserted us, for they are even worse cowards
 
 250 XENOPHON 
 
 still than those we worsted. At any rate they 
 have deserted us, and sought refuge with them. 
 Leaders of the forlorn hope of flight — far bet- 
 ter is it to have them brigaded with the enemy 
 than shoulder to shoulder in our ranks. But if 
 any of you is out of heart to think that we have 
 no cavalry, Λvhile the enemy have many squad- 
 rons to command, lay to heart this doctrine, that 
 ten thousand horse equal only the ten thousand 
 men upon their backs, neither less nor more. 
 Did any one ever die in battle from the bite or 
 kick of a horse? It is the men, the real swords- 
 men, who do whatever is done in battles. In 
 fact we, on our stout shanks, are better mounted 
 than those cavalry fellows; there they hang on 
 to their horses' necks in mortal dread, not only 
 of us, but of falling oiF ; while we, well planted 
 upon earth, can deal far heavier blows to our 
 assailants, and aim more steadily at whom we 
 will. There is one point, I admit, in which their 
 cavalry have the whip-hand of us ; it is safer for 
 them than it is for us to run away. 
 
 " ]May be, however, you are in good heart 
 about the fighting, but annoyed to think that 
 ^Tissaphernes will not guide us any more, and 
 that the king will not furnish us with a market 
 any longer. Now, consider, is it better for us to 
 have a guide like Tissaphernes, whom we knoΛv 
 to be plotting against us, or to take our chance 
 of the stray people whom we catch and compel
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 251 
 
 to guide us, who will know that any mistake 
 made in leading us will be a sad mistake for 
 their own lives? Again, is it better to be buying 
 provisions in a market of their providing, in 
 scant measure and at high prices, without even 
 the money to pay for them any longer; or, by 
 right of conquest, to help ourselves, applying 
 such measure as suits our fancy best? 
 
 ** Or again, perhaps you admit that our pres- 
 ent position is not without its advantages, but 
 you feel sure that the rivers are a difficulty, and 
 think that you were never more taken in than 
 when you crossed them; if so, consider whether, 
 after all, this is not perhaps the most foolish 
 thing which the barbarians have done. No river 
 is impassable throughout; whatever difficulties it 
 may present at some distance from its source, 
 you need only make your way up to the spring- 
 head, and there you may cross it without wetting 
 more than your ankles. But, granted that the 
 rivers do bar our passage, and that guides are 
 not forthcoming, what care we? We need feel 
 no alarm for all that. We have heard of the 
 Mysians, a people whom we certainly cannot ad- 
 mit to be better than ourselves; and yet they h - 
 habit numbers of large and prosperous cities in 
 the king's own country without asking leave. 
 The Pisidians are an equally good instance, or 
 the Lycaonians. We have seen with our own 
 eyes how they fare: seizing fortresses down in
 
 252 XEXOPHON 
 
 the plains, and reaping the fruits of these men's 
 territory. As to us, I go so far as to assert, we 
 ought never to have let it be seen that we were 
 bent on getting home: at any rate, not so soon; 
 we should have begun stocking and furnishing 
 ourselves, as if λΥβ fully meant to settle down 
 for life somewhere or other hereabouts. I am 
 sure that the king would be thrice glad to give 
 the Mysians as many guides as they like, or as 
 many hostages as they care to demand, in re- 
 turn for a safe conduct out of his country; he 
 would make carriage roads for them, and if they 
 preferred to take their departure in coaches and 
 four, he would not say them nay. So too, I am 
 sure, he would be only too glad to accommodate 
 us in the same way, if he saw us preparing to 
 settle down here. But, perhaps, it is just as 
 well that we did not stop ; for I fear, if once we 
 learn to live in idleness and to batten in luxury 
 and dalliance with these tall and handsome Me- 
 dian and Persian women and maidens, we shall 
 be like the Lotus-eaters, and forget the road 
 home altogether. 
 
 " It seems to me that it is only right, in the 
 first instance, to make an effort to return to 
 Hellas and to revisit our hearths and homes, if 
 only to prove to other Hellenes that it is their 
 own fault if they are poor and needy, seeing it 
 is in their power to give to those now living a 
 pauper life at home a free passage hither, and
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 253 
 
 coiu'crt thcni into Avell- to-do burghers at once. 
 Now, sirs, is it not clear that all these good things 
 belong to whoever has strength to hold them? 
 
 " Let us look another matter in the face. How 
 are we to march most safely? or where blows 
 are needed, how are we to fight to the best ad- 
 vantage? That is the question. 
 
 " The first thing which I recommend is to 
 burn the wagons we have got, so that we may be 
 free to march wherever the army needs, and not, 
 practically, make our baggage train our general. 
 And, next, we should throw our tents into the 
 bonfire also: for these again are only a trouble 
 to carry, and do not contribute one grain of 
 good either for fighting or getting provisions. 
 Further, let us get rid of all superfluous bag- 
 gage, save only what we require for the sake of 
 war, or meat and drink, so that as many of us 
 as possible may be under arms, and as few as 
 possible doing porterage. I need not remind you 
 that, in case of defeat, the owners' goods are not 
 their own; but if we master our foes, we will 
 make them our baggage bearers. 
 
 " It only rests for me to name the one thing 
 which I look upon as the greatest of all. You 
 see, the enemy did not dare to bring war to bear 
 upon us until they had first seized our generals; 
 they felt that whilst our rulers were there, and 
 we obeyed them, they were no match for us in 
 war; but having got hold of them, they fully
 
 254 XENOPHON 
 
 expected that the consequent confusion and an- 
 archy would prove fatal to us. What follows? 
 This: Officers and leaders ought to be more 
 vigilant even than their predecessors; subordi- 
 nates still more orderly and obedient to those in 
 command now than even they were to those who 
 are gone. And you should pass a resolution 
 that, in case of insubordination, any one who 
 stands by is to aid the officer in chastising the 
 offender. So the enemy will be mightily de- 
 ceived ; for on this day they will behold ten thou- 
 sand Clearchuses instead of one, who will not 
 suffer one man to play the coward. And now 
 it is high time I brought my remarks to an end, 
 for may be the enemy will be here anon. Let 
 those who are in favour of these proposals con- 
 firm them with all speed, that they may be real- 
 ised in fact; or if any other course seem better, 
 let not any one, even though he be a private 
 soldier, shrink from proposing it. Our common 
 safety is our common need.'* 
 
 After this Cheirisophus spoke. He said : " If 
 there is anything else to be done, beyond what 
 Xenophon has mentioned, we shall be able to 
 carry it out presently; but with regard to what 
 he has already proposed, it seems to me the best 
 course to vote upon the matters at once. Those 
 who are in favour of Xenophon's proposals, hold 
 up their hands." They all held them up. Xeno- 
 phon rose again and said: "Listen, sirs, while
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 255 
 
 Τ toll you what I think Ave have need of besides. 
 It is clear that we must march where we can get 
 provisions. Now, I am told there are some 
 splendid villages not more than two miles and 
 a half distant. I should not be surprised, then, 
 if the enemy were to hang on our heels and dog 
 us as we retire, like cowardly curs which rush 
 out at the passer-by and bite him if they can, 
 but when you turn upon them they run away. 
 Such will be their tactics, I take it. It may be 
 saier, then, to march in a hollow square, so as 
 to place the baggage animals and our mob of 
 sutlers in greater security. It will save time to 
 make the appointments at once, and to settle who 
 leads the square and directs the vanguard; who 
 will take command of the two flanks, and who 
 of the rearguard; so that, when the enemy ap- 
 pears, we shall not need to deliberate, but can at 
 once set in motion the machinery in existence. 
 
 " If any one has any better plan, we need not 
 adopt mine; but if not, suppose Cheirisophus 
 take the lead, as he is a Lacedaemonian, and the 
 two eldest generals take in charge the two wings 
 respectively, whilst Timasion and I, the two 
 youngest, will for the present guard the rear. 
 For the rest, we can but make experiment of 
 this arrangement, and alter it with deliberation, 
 as from time to time any improvement suggests 
 itself. If any one has a better plan to propose, 
 let him do so." . . . No dissentient voice was
 
 256 XENOPHON 
 
 heard. Accordingly he said: " Those in favour 
 of this resolution, hold up their hands." The 
 resolution was carried. " And now," said he, 
 " it would be well to separate and carry out what 
 we have decreed. If any of you has set his heart 
 on seeing his friends again, let him remember to 
 prove himself a man; there is no other way to 
 achieve his heart's wish. Or is mere living an ob- 
 ject with any of you, strive to conquer; if to 
 slaj'^ is the privilege of victory, to die is the doom 
 of the defeated. Or perhaps to gain money and 
 wealth is your ambition, strive again for mas- 
 tery; have not conquerors the double gain of 
 keeping what is their own, whilst they seize the 
 possessions of the vanquished? " 
 
 III. — The speaking was ended; they got up 
 and retired; then they burnt the wagons and 
 the tents, and after sharing with one another 
 what each needed out of their various superflu- 
 ities, they threw the remnant into the fire. Hav- 
 ing done that, they proceeded to make their 
 breakfasts. While they were breakfasting, 
 Mithridates came with about thirty horsemen, 
 and summoning the generals within earshot, he 
 thus addressed them: "Men of Hellas, I have 
 been faithful to Cyrus, as you know well, and 
 to-day I am your well-wisher ; indeed, I am here 
 spending my days in great fear: if then I could 
 see any salutary course in prospect, I should be 
 disposed to join you with all my retainers.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 257 
 
 Please inform me, then, as to what you propose, 
 regarding me as your friend and well-wisher, 
 anxious only to pursue his march in your com- 
 pany." The generals held council, and resolved 
 to give the following answer, Cheirisophus act- 
 ing as spokesman: " We have resolved to make 
 our way through the country, inflicting the least 
 possible damage, provided we are allowed a free 
 passage homewards; but if any one tries to hin- 
 der us, he will have to fight it out with us, and 
 we shall bring all the force in our poΛver to bear." 
 Thereat Mithridates set himself to prove to them 
 that their deliverance, except with the king's 
 good pleasure, was hopeless. Then the meaning 
 of his mission was plain. He was an agent in 
 disguise; in fact, a relation of Tissaphernes was 
 in attendance to keep a check on his loyalty. 
 After that, the generals resolved that it would 
 be better to proclaim open war, without truce 
 or herald, as long as they were in the enemy's 
 company ; for they used to come and corrupt the 
 soldiers, and they were even successful with one 
 ofiicer — Nicarchus, an Arcadian, who went off 
 in the night with about twenty men. 
 
 After this, they breakfasted and crossed the 
 river Zapatas, marching in regular order, with 
 the beasts and mob of the army in the middle. 
 They had not advanced far on their route when 
 Mithridates made his appearance again, with 
 about a couple of hundred horsemen at his back,
 
 258 XENOPHON 
 
 and bowmen and slingers twice as many, as nim- 
 ble fellows as a man might hope to see. He ap- 
 proached the Hellenes as if he were friendly; 
 but when they had got fairly to close quarters, 
 all of a sudden some of them, whether mounted 
 or on foot, began shooting with their bows and 
 arrows, and another set with slings, wounding 
 the men. The rearguard of the Hellenes suf- 
 fered for a while severely without being able to 
 retaliate, for the Cretans had a shorter range 
 than the Persians, and at the same time, being 
 light-armed troops, they lay cooped up within 
 the ranks of the heavy infantry, while the jave- 
 lin men again did not shoot far enough to reach 
 the enemy's slingers. This being so, Xenophon 
 thought there was nothing for it but to charge, 
 and charge they did; some of the heavy and light 
 infantry, who were guarding the rear, with him; 
 but for all their charging they did not catch a 
 single man. 
 
 The dearth of cavalry told against the Hel- 
 lenes; nor were their infantry able to overhaul 
 the enemy's infantry, with the long start they 
 had, and considering the shortness of the race, 
 for it was out of the question to pursue them 
 far from the main body of the army. On the 
 other hand, the Asiatic cavalry, even while flee- 
 ing, poured volleys of arrows behind their backs, 
 and wounded the pursuers; while the Hellenes 
 must fall back fighting every step of the way
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 259 
 
 tliov liad measured in the pursuit; so that by the 
 eiul of that day they had not gone much more 
 tlian three miles; but in the late afternoon they 
 reached the villages. 
 
 Here there was a return of the old despond- 
 ency. Cheirisophus and the eldest of the gen- 
 erals blamed Xenophon for leaving the main 
 body to give chase and endangering himself 
 thereby, while he could not damage the enemy 
 one whit the more. Xenophon admitted that 
 they were right in blaming him: no better proof 
 of that was wanted than the result. " The fact 
 is," he added, "I was driven to pursue; it was 
 too trying to look on and see our men suffer so 
 badly, and be unable to retaliate. However, 
 when we did charge, there is no denying the 
 truth of what you say ; we were not a whit more 
 able to injure the enemy, while we had con- 
 siderable difficulty in beating a retreat ourselves. 
 Thank heaven they did not come upon us in any 
 great force, but were only a handful of men; 
 so that the injury they did us was not large, 
 as it might have been; and at least it has served 
 to show us what we need. At present the enemy 
 shoot and sling beyond our range, so that our 
 Cretan archers are no match for them ; our hand- 
 throwers cannot reach as far; and when we pur- 
 sue, it is not possible to push the pursuit to any 
 great distance from the main body, and within 
 the short distance no foot-soldier, however fleet
 
 260 XENOPHON 
 
 of foot, could overtake another foot-soldier who 
 has a bow-shot the start of him. If, then, we are 
 to exclude them from all possibility of injuring 
 us as we march, we must get slingers as soon as 
 possible and cavalry, I am told there are in 
 the army some Rhodians, most of whom, they 
 say, know how to sling, and their missile will 
 reach even twice as far as the Persian slings 
 (which, on account of their being loaded with 
 stones as big as one's fist, have a comparatively 
 short range; but the Rhodians are skilled in the 
 use of leaden bullets). Suppose, then, we in- 
 vestigate and find out first of all who among 
 them possess slings, and for these slings offer 
 the owner the money value ; and to another, who 
 will plait some more, hand over the money price ; 
 and for a third, who vdll volunteer to be enrolled 
 as a slinger, invent some other sort of privilege, 
 I think we shall soon find people to come for- 
 ward capable of helping us. There are horses in 
 the army, I know; some few with myself and 
 others belonging to Clearchus's stud, and a good 
 many others captured from the enemy, used for 
 carrying baggage. Let us take the pick of 
 these, supplying their places by ordinary bag- 
 gage animals, and equipping the horses for cav- 
 alry. I should not wonder if our troopers gave 
 some annoyance to these fugitives." 
 
 These proposals were carried, and that night 
 two hundred slingers were enrolled, and next
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 261 
 
 day as mmiy as fifty horse and horsemen passed 
 muster as duly (luaHfied; buff jackets and 
 cuirasses were provided for them, and a com- 
 mandant of cavalry appointed to command — 
 Lycius, the son of Polystratus, by name, an 
 Athenian. 
 
 IV. — That day they remained inactive, but 
 the next they rose earlier than usual, and set 
 out betimes, for they had a ravine to cross, where 
 they feared the enemy might attack them in the 
 act of crossing. When they were across, Mithri- 
 dates appeared again with one thousand horse, 
 and archers and slingers to the number of four 
 thousand. This whole body he had got by re- 
 quest from Tissaphernes, and in return he un- 
 dertook to deliver up the Hellenes to Tissa- 
 phernes. He had grown contemptuous since his 
 late attack, when, with so small a detachment, he 
 had done, as he thought, a good deal of mischief, 
 without the slightest loss to himself. 
 
 When the Hellenes were not only right across, 
 but had got about a mile from the ravine, Mith- 
 ridates also crossed with his forces. An order 
 had been passed down the lines, what light in- 
 fantry and what heavy infantry were to take 
 part in the pursuit; and the cavalry were in- 
 structed to follow up the pursuit with confi- 
 dence, as a considerable supi^ort was in their 
 rear. So, when Mithridates had come up with 
 them, and they were well within arrow and slhig
 
 262 XENOPHON 
 
 shot, the bugle sounded the signal to the Hel- 
 lenes; and immediately the detachment under 
 orders rushed to close quarters, and the cavalry 
 charged. There the enemy preferred not to 
 wait, but fled towards the ravine. In this pur- 
 suit the Asiatics lost several of their infantry 
 killed, and of their cavalry as many as eighteen 
 were taken prisoners in the ravine. As to those 
 who were slain the Hellenes, acting upon im- 
 pulse, mutilated their bodies, by way of impress- 
 ing their enemy with as frightful an image as 
 possible. 
 
 So fared the foe and so fell back; but the 
 Hellenes, continuing their march in safety for 
 the rest of that day, reached the river Tigris. 
 Here they came upon a large deserted city, the 
 name of which was Larissa:^ a place inhabited 
 by the Medes in days of old; the breadth of its 
 walls was twenty-five feet, and the height of 
 them a hundred, and the circuit of the Λvhole two 
 parasangs. It was built of clay-bricks, sup- 
 ported on a stone basis twenty feet high. This 
 city the king of the Persians* besieged, Avhat 
 time the Persians strove to snatch their empire 
 from the INIedes, but he could in no wise take it; 
 then a cloud hid the face of the sun and blotted 
 out the light thereof, until the inhabitants Λvere 
 
 sLarissa, on the site of the modern Nimrud (the southwest 
 corner, as is commonly supposed, of Nineveh). 
 * I. e., Cyrus the Great.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 2C3 
 
 gone out of the city, and so it was taken. By 
 the side of this city there was a stone pyramid in 
 breadth a hundred feet, and in height two hun- 
 dred feet; in it were many of the barbarians 
 who had fled for refuge from the neighbouring 
 villages. 
 
 From this place they marched one stage of 
 six parasangs to a great deserted fortress 
 (which lay over against the city), and the name 
 of that city was Mespila.^ The Medes once 
 dwelt in it. The basement was made of polished 
 stone full of shells; fifty feet was the breadth 
 of it, and fifty feet the height ; and on this base- 
 ment was reared a wall of brick, the breadth 
 whereof was fifty feet and the height thereof 
 four hundred; and the circuit of the wall was 
 six parasangs. Hither, as the story goes, Me- 
 dea,^ the king's wife, betook herself in flight what 
 time the Medes lost their empire at the hands of 
 the Persians. To this city also the king of the 
 Persians laid siege, but could not take it either 
 by length of days or strength of hand. But 
 Zeus sent amazement on the inhabitants thereof, 
 and so it was taken. 
 
 ε Opposite Mosul, the northwest portion of the ancient Nine- 
 veh, about eighteen miles above Larissa. The circuit of Nineveh 
 is said to have been about fifty-six miles. It was overthrown 
 by Cyrus in b. c. 558. 
 
 The wife of Astyages, the last king of Media. Some think 
 "the wall of Media" (referred to above) should be "Medea's 
 wall," constructed in the period of Queen Nitocris, b. c. 5G0.
 
 264 XENOPHON 
 
 From this place they marched one stage — four 
 parasangs. But, while still on this stage, Tissa- 
 phernes made his appearance. He had with him 
 his own cavalry and a force belonging to Oron- 
 tas, who had the king's daughter to wife; and 
 there were, moreover, with them the Asiatics 
 whom Cyrus had taken with him on his march 
 up ; together with those whom the king's brother 
 had brought as a reinforcement to the king; be- 
 sides those whom Tissaphernes himself had re- 
 ceived as a gift from the king, so that the arma- 
 ment appeared to be very great. When they 
 were close, he halted some of his regiments at 
 the rear and wheeled others into position on 
 either flank, but hesitated to attack, having no 
 mind apparently to run any risks, and content- 
 ing himself with an order to his slingers to sling 
 and his archers to shoot. But when the Rhodian 
 slingers and the bowmen, posted at intervals, re- 
 taliated, and every shot told (for with the ut- 
 most pains to miss it would have been hard to do 
 so under the circumstances), then Tissaphernes 
 with all speed retired out of range, the other 
 regiments following suit ; and for the rest of the 
 day the one party advanced and the other fol- 
 lowed. But now the Asiatics had ceased to be 
 dangerous with their sharpshooting. For the 
 Rhodians could reach further than the Persian 
 slingers, or, indeed, than most of the bowmen. 
 The Persian bows are of great size, so that the
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 265 
 
 Cretans found the αιτοΛΥβ which were picked up 
 serviceable, and persevered in using their ene- 
 mies' arroAvs, and practised shooting with them, 
 letting them fly upwards to a great height. 
 There were also plenty of bowstrings found in 
 the villages — and lead, which they turned to ac- 
 count for their slings. As the result of this day, 
 then, the Hellenes chancing upon some villages 
 had no sooner encamped than the barbarians fell 
 back, having had distinctly the worst of it in 
 the skirmishing. 
 
 The next was a day of inaction: they halted 
 and took in supplies, as there was much corn in 
 the villages ; but on the day following, the march 
 was continued through the plain (of the Tigris) , 
 and Tissaphernes still hung on their skirts with 
 his skirmishers. And now it was that the Hel- 
 lenes discovered the defect of marching in a 
 square with an enemy following. As a matter 
 of necessity, whenever the wings of an army so 
 disposed draw together, either where a road nar- 
 rows, or hills close in, or a bridge has to be 
 crossed, the heavy infantry cannot help being 
 squeezed out of their ranks, and march with dif- 
 culty, partly from actual pressure, and partly 
 from the general confusion that ensues; and 
 once thrown into disorder that arm is practically 
 useless. Or, supposing the wangs are again ex- 
 tended, the troops have hardly recovered from 
 their former distress before they are pulled asun-
 
 266 XENOPHON 
 
 der, and there is a wide space between the wings, 
 and the men concerned lose confidence in them- 
 selves, especially with an enemy close behind. 
 What happened, when a bridge had to be crossed 
 or other passage effected, was, that each unit of 
 the force pressed on in anxiety to get over the 
 first, and at these moments it was easy for the 
 enemy to make an attack. The generals ac- 
 cordingly, having recognised the defect, set 
 about curing it. To do so, they made six lochi, 
 or divisions of a hundred men apiece, each of 
 which had its own set of captains and under- 
 officers in command of half and quarter com- 
 panies. It was the duty of these new com- 
 panies, during a march, whenever the flanks 
 needed to close in, to fall back to the rear, so as 
 to disencumber the wings. This they did bj?• 
 wheeling clear of them. When the sides of the 
 oblong again extended, they filled up the inter- 
 stices, if the gap were narrow, by columns of 
 companies, if broader, by columns of half com- 
 panies, or, if broader still, by columns of quar- 
 ter companies, so that the space between was 
 always filled up. If again it were necessary to 
 effect a passage by a bridge or otherwise, there 
 was no confusion, the several companies cross- 
 ing in turns ; or, if the occasion arose to form in 
 line of battle, these companies came up to the 
 front and fell in. 
 
 In this way they advanced four stages, but
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 267 
 
 ere the fifth was completed, they came in sight 
 of a pahice of some sort, with villages clustered 
 round it; they could further see that the road 
 leading to this place pursued its course over high 
 undulating hillocks, the spur of the mountain 
 range, under which lay the village. These knolls 
 were a welcome sight to the Hellenes, naturally 
 enough, as the enemy were cavalry. However, 
 Avhen they had issued from the plain and 
 ascended the first crest, and were in the act of 
 descending it so as to mount the next, at this 
 juncture the barbarians came upon them. From 
 the high ground down the sheer steep they 
 poured a volley of darts, sling-stones, and ar- 
 rows, which they discharged " under the lash," 
 Λvounding many, until they got the better of the 
 Hellenic light troops, and drove them for shel- 
 ter behind the heavy infantry, so that this day 
 that arm was altogether useless, huddling in the 
 mob of sutlers, both slingers and archers alike. 
 But when the Hellenes, being so pressed, made 
 an attempt to pursue, they could barely scale 
 to the summit, being heavy-armed troops, while 
 the enemy as lightly sprung away; and they suf- 
 fered similarly in retiring to join the rest of the 
 army. And then, on the second hill, the whole 
 had to be gone through again; so that when it 
 came to the third hillock, they determined not 
 to move the main body of troops from their po- 
 sition until they had brought up a division of
 
 268 XENOPHOlSr 
 
 light infantry from the right flank of the square 
 to a point on the mountain range. When this 
 detachment were once posted above their pur- 
 suers, the latter desisted from attacking the main 
 body in its descent, for fear of being cut off 
 and finding themselves between two assailants. 
 Thus the rest of the day they moved on in two 
 divisions : one set keeping to the road by the hil- 
 locks, the other marching parallel on the higher 
 level along the mountains ; and thus they reached 
 the villages and appointed eight surgeons to at- 
 tend to the many wounded. 
 
 Here they halted three days for the sake of 
 the WOunded chiefly, while a further inducement 
 was the plentiful supply of provisions which they 
 found, wheat and wine, and large stores of bar- 
 ley laid up for horses. These supplies had been 
 collected by the ruling satrap of the country. 
 On the fourth day they began their descent into 
 the plain; but when Tissaphernes with his force 
 overtook them, necessity taught them to camp 
 in the first village they caught sight of, and give 
 over the attempt of marching and fighting simul- 
 taneously, as so many were hors de combat, be- 
 ing either on the list of wounded themselves, or 
 else engaged in carrying the wounded, or laden 
 with the heavy arms of those so occupied. But 
 when they were once encamped, and the bar- 
 barians, advancing upon the village, made an 
 attempt to harass them with their sharpshooters,
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 269 
 
 the sii])crlority of the Hellenes was pronounced. 
 To sustain a running fight with an enemy con- 
 stantly attacking Λvas one thing; to keep him at 
 arm's length from a fixed base of action an- 
 other: and the difference was much in their fa- 
 vour. 
 
 But when it was late afternoon, the time had 
 come for the enemy to withdraw, since the habit 
 of the barbarian was never to encamp within 
 seven or eight miles of the Hellenic camp. This 
 he did in apprehension of a night attack, for a 
 Persian army is good for nothing at night. 
 Their horses are haltered, and, as a rule, hobbled 
 as well, to prevent their escaping, as they might 
 if loose ; so that, if any alarm occurs, the trooper 
 has to saddle and bridle his horse, and then he 
 must put on his own cuirass, and then mount — 
 all which performances are difficult at night in 
 the midst of confusion. For this reason they 
 ahvays encamped at a distance from the Hel- 
 lenes. 
 
 When the Hellenes perceived that they were 
 preparing to retire, and that the order was being 
 given, the herald's cry, " Pack up for starting," 
 might be heard before the enemy was fairly out 
 of earshot. For a while the Asiatics paused, as 
 if unwilling to be gone; but as night closed in, 
 off they went, for it did not suit their notions of 
 expediency to set off on a march and arrive by 
 night. And now, when the Hellenes saw that
 
 270 XENOPHON 
 
 they were really and clearly gone, they too broke 
 up their camp and pursued their march till they 
 had traversed seven and a half miles. Thus the 
 distance between the two armies grew to be so 
 great, that the next day the enemy did not ap- 
 pear at all, nor yet the third day; but on the 
 fourth the barbarians had pushed on by a forced 
 night march and occupied a commanding posi- 
 tion on the right, where the Hellenes had to pass. 
 It was a narrow mountain spur overhanging the 
 descent into the plain. 
 
 But when Cheirisophus saw that this ridge 
 was occupied, he summoned Xenophon from 
 the rear, bidding him at the same time to bring 
 up the peltasts to the front. That Xenophon 
 hesitated to do, for Tissaphernes and his whole 
 army Λvere coming up and were well within 
 sight. Galloping up to the front himself, he 
 asked: "Why do you summon me?" The 
 other answered him : " The reason is plain ; look 
 yonder; this crest which overhangs our descent 
 has been occupied. There is no passing, until 
 we have dislodged these fellows; why have you 
 not brought up the light infantry? " Xenophon 
 explained: he had not thought it desirable to 
 leave the rear unprotected, with an enemy ap- 
 pearing in the field of view. " However, it is 
 time," he added, " to decide how we are to dis- 
 lodge these fellows from the crest." At this 
 moment his eye fell on the peak of the mountain.
 
 ANAl^ASIS BOOK III 271 
 
 rising immediately above their army, and he 
 could see an approach leading from it to the 
 crest in question where the enemy lay. He ex- 
 claimed : *' The best thing we can do, Cheiri- 
 sophus, is to make a dash at the height itself, 
 and with Λvhat speed we may. If we take it, the 
 party in command of the road will never be able 
 to stop. If you like, stay in command of the 
 army, and I will go; or, if you prefer, do you 
 go at the mountain, and I will stay here." " I 
 leave it to you," Cheirisophus answered, "to 
 choose which you like best." Xenophon remark- 
 ing, " I am the younger," elected to go; but he 
 stipulated for a detacliment from the front to 
 accompany him, since it was a long way to fetch 
 up troops from the rear. Accordingly Cheiri- 
 sophus furnished him with the light infantry 
 from the front, reoccupying their place by those 
 from the centre. He also gave him, to form 
 part of the detachment, the three hundred of the 
 picked corps under his own command at the head 
 of the square. 
 
 They set out from the low ground with all 
 haste imaginable. But the enemy in position on 
 the crest no sooner perceived their advance upon 
 the summit of the pass than they themselves set 
 off full tilt in a rival race for the summit too. 
 Hoarse were the shouts from the Hellenic troops 
 as the men cheered their companions forAvard, 
 and hoarse the answering shout from the troops
 
 272 XENOPHON 
 
 of Tissaphernes, urging on theirs. Xenophon, 
 mounted on his charger, rode beside his men, 
 and roused their ardour the while. " Now for it, 
 brave sirs; bethink you that the race is for Hel- 
 las! — ^now or never! — to find your boys, your 
 wives ; one small effort, and the rest of the march 
 we shall pursue in peace, without ever a blow 
 to strike; now for it." But Soteridas the 
 Sicyonian said : " We are not on equal terms, 
 Xenophon; you are mounted on a horse; I can 
 hardly get along with my shield to carry; " and 
 he, on hearing the reproach, leapt from his 
 horse. In another instant he had pushed Soteri- 
 das from the ranks, snatched from him his 
 shield, and begun marching as quickly as he 
 might under the circumstances, having his horse- 
 man's cuirass to carry as well, so that he was sore 
 pressed ; but he continued to cheer on the troops : 
 exhorting those in front to lead on and the men 
 toiling behind to follow up. Soteridas was not 
 spared by the rest of the men. They gave him 
 blows, they pelted him, they showered him with 
 abuse, till they compelled him to take back his 
 shield and march on ; and the other, remounting, 
 led them on horseback as long as the footing 
 held ; but when the ground became too steep, he 
 left his horse and pressed forward on foot, and 
 so they found themselves on the summit before 
 the enemy. 
 
 V. — There and then the barbarians turned and
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 273 
 
 fleil tts best tliey niiglit, and the Hellenes held 
 the summit, while the troops with Tissaphernes 
 and Arianis turned aside and disappeared by an- 
 other road. The main body with Cheirisophus 
 made its way down into the plain and encamped 
 in a village filled with good things of divers 
 sorts. Nor did tliis village stand alone; there 
 were others not a few in this plain of the Tigris 
 equally overflowing with plenty. It was now 
 afternoon ; and all of a sudden the enemy came 
 in sight on the plain, and succeeded in cutting 
 down some of the Hellenes belonging to parties 
 who were scattered over the flat land in quest 
 of spoil. Indeed, many herds of cattle had been 
 caught whilst being conveyed across to the other 
 side of the river. And now Tissaphernes and his 
 troops made an attempt to burn the villages, and 
 some of the Hellenes were disposed to take the 
 matter deeply to heart, being apprehensive that 
 they might not know where to get provisions if 
 the enemy burnt the villages. 
 
 Cheirisophus and his men were returning from 
 their sally of defence when Xenophon and his 
 tparty descended, and the latter rode along the 
 ranks as the rescuing party came up, and greeted 
 them thus: "Do you not see, men of Hellas, 
 they admit that the country is now ours; what 
 they stipulated against our doing when they 
 made the treaty, viz., that we were not to fire the 
 king's country, they are now themselves doing,
 
 274 XENOPHON 
 
 — setting fire to it as if it were not their own. 
 But we will be even with them; if they leave 
 provisions for themselves anywhere, there also 
 shall they see us marching;" and, turning to 
 Cheirisophus, he added: " But it strikes me, we 
 should sally forth against these incendiaries and 
 protect our country." Cheirisophus retorted: 
 " That is not quite my view ; I say, let us do a 
 little burning ourselves, and they will cease all 
 the quicker." 
 
 AVhen they had got back to the villages, while 
 the rest were busy about provisions, the generals 
 and officers met: and here there was deep de- 
 spondency. For on the one side were exceed- 
 ingly high mountains; on the other a river of 
 such depth that they failed to reach the bottom 
 with their spears. In the midst of their per- 
 plexities, a Rhodian came up with a proposal, as 
 follows : " I am ready, sirs, to carry you across, 
 four thousand heavy infantry at a time; if you 
 will furnish me with what I need and give me a 
 talent into the bargain for my pains." When 
 asked, "What shall you need?" he replied: 
 " Two thousand wine-skins. I see there are 
 plenty of sheep and goats and asses. They have 
 only to be flayed, and their skins inflated, and 
 they will readily give us a passage. I shall want 
 also the straps which you use for the baggage 
 animals. With these I shall couple the skins 
 to one another; then I shaU moor each skin by
 
 ANABASIS ΏΟΟΚ III 275 
 
 attaching;• stones and letting tlicm down like an- 
 chors into the water. Then I shall carry them 
 across, and Avhen I have fastened the links at 
 both ends, I shall place layers of wood on them 
 and a coating of earth on the top of that. You 
 will see in a minute that there's no danger of 
 your drowning, for every skin will be able to 
 support a couple of men without sinking, and 
 the wood and earth will prevent your slipping 
 off." 
 
 The generals thought it a pretty invention 
 enough, but its realisation impracticable, for on 
 the other side were masses of cavalry posted 
 ready to bar the passage; who, to begin with, 
 Avould not suffer the first detachment of crossers 
 to carry out any item of the programme. 
 
 Under these circumstances, the next day they 
 turned right about face, and began retracing 
 their steps in the direction of Babylon to the 
 unburnt villages, having previously set fire to 
 those they left, so that the enemy did not ride 
 up to them, but stood and stared, all agape to 
 see in what direction the Helenes would betake 
 themselves and what they were minded to do. 
 Here, again, while the rest of the soldiers were 
 busy about provisions, the generals and officers 
 met in council, and after collecting the prison- 
 ers together, submitted them to a cross-examin- 
 ation touching the whole country round, the 
 names, and so forth, of each district.
 
 276 XENOPHON 
 
 The prisoners informed them that the regions 
 south, through which they had come, belonged 
 to the district towards Babylon and Media; the 
 road east led to Susa and Ecbatana, where the 
 king is said to spend summer and spring; cross- 
 ing the river, the road west led to Lydia and 
 Ionia; and the part through the mountains fac- 
 ing towards the Great Bear, led, they said, to 
 the CarduchiansJ They were a people, so said 
 the prisoners, dwelling up on the hills, addicted 
 to war, and not subject to the king; so much so 
 that once, when a royal army one hundred and 
 twenty thousand strong had invaded them, not 
 a man came back, owing to the intricacies of the 
 country. Occasionally, however, they made 
 truce or treaty with the satrap in the plain, and, 
 for the nonce, there would be intercourse : " they 
 will come in and out amongst us," " and we will 
 go in and out amongst them," said the captives. 
 
 After hearing these statements, the generals 
 seated apart those who claimed to have any spe- 
 
 7 The Karduchians or Kurds belong by speech to the Iranian 
 stock, forming in fact their farthest outpost to the west, little 
 given to agriculture, but chiefly to the breeding of cattle. Their 
 name first appears in its narrower sense in western literature in 
 the pages of the eye-witness Xenophon, Later writers knew of 
 a small kingdom here at the time of the Roman occupation, 
 ruled by native princes, who after Tigranes II. (about 80 b. c.) 
 recognised the overlordship of the Armenian king. Later it be- 
 came a province of the Sassanid kingdom, and as such was in 
 297 A. D. handed over among the regiones transtigritanae to the 
 Roman empire, but in 364 was again ceded to Persia.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK III 277 
 
 cial knowledge of the country in any direction; 
 they put them to sit apart without making it 
 clear ANhich particular route they intended to 
 take. Finally the resolution to which they came 
 was that they must force a passage through the 
 hills into the territory of the Kurds; since, ac- 
 cording to what their informants told them, when 
 they had once passed these, they would find 
 themselves in Armenia — the rich and large ter- 
 ritory governed by Orontas ; and from Armenia, 
 it wOuld be easy to proceed in any direction 
 whatever. Thereupon they offered sacrifice, so 
 as to be ready to start on the march as soon as 
 the right moment appeared to have arrived. 
 Their chief fear was that the high pass over the 
 mountains might be occupied in advance: and a 
 general order was issued, that after supper every 
 one should get his kit together for starting, and 
 repose, in readiness to follow as soon as the word 
 of command was given.
 
 ANABASIS 
 
 BOOK IV 
 
 IT was now about the last watch, and enough 
 of the night remained to allow them to 
 cross the valley under cover of darkness; 
 when, at the word of command, they rose and 
 set off on their march, reaching the mountains 
 at daybreak. At this stage of the march Cheiri- 
 sophus, at the head of his own division, with the 
 whole of the light troops, led the van, while 
 Xenophon followed behind with the heavy in- 
 fantry of the rearguard, but without any light 
 troops, since there seemed to be no danger of 
 pursuit or attack from the rear, while they were 
 making their way up hill. Cheirisophus reached 
 the summit without any of the enemy perceiving 
 him. Then he led on slowly, and the rest of the 
 army followed, wave upon wave, cresting the 
 summit and descending into the villages which 
 nestled in the hollows and recesses of the hills. 
 Thereupon the Carduchians abandoned their 
 dwelling-places, and with their wives and chil- 
 dren fled to the mountains; so there was plenty 
 of provisions to be got for the mere trouble of 
 taking, and the homesteads too were well sup- 
 plied with a copious store of bronze vessels and 
 
 2T8
 
 m
 
 Battering Ram 
 
 Diagram shoiving Construction and Working 
 of a Ram on Rollers. After an Etching of 
 the Eighteenth Century, no-ia in the 
 British Museum
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 279 
 
 utensils which the liellenes kept their hands off, 
 ahstainino• at the same time from all })ursuit of 
 the folk themselves, «-ently handling them, in 
 hopes that the Carduchians might be willing to 
 give them friendly passage through their coun- 
 try, since they too were enemies of the king: 
 only they helped themselves to such provisions 
 as fell in their way, which indeed was a sheer 
 necessity. But the Carduchians neither gave 
 ear, when they called to them, nor showed any 
 other friendly sign; and now, as the last of the 
 Hellenes descended into the villages from the 
 pass, they were already in the dark, since, ow- 
 ing to the narrowness of the road, the whole day 
 had been spent in the ascent and descent. At 
 that instant a party of the Carduchians, who had 
 collected, made an attack on the hindmost men, 
 killing some and wounding others with stones 
 and arrows — though it was quite a small body 
 who attacked. The fact was, the approach of 
 the Hellenic army had taken them by surprise; 
 if, however, they had mustered in larger force at 
 this time, the chances are that a large portion of 
 the army would have been annihilated. As it 
 was, they got into quarters, and bivouacked in 
 the villages that night, while the Carduchians 
 kept many watch-fires blazing in a circle on the 
 mountains, and kept each other in sight all 
 round. 
 
 But with the dawn the generals and officers
 
 280 XENOPHON 
 
 of the Hellenes met and resolved to proceed, 
 taking only the necessary number of stout bag- 
 gage animals, and leaving the weaklings behind. 
 They resolved further to let go free all the 
 lately-captured slaves in the host; for the pace 
 of the march was necessarily rendered slow by 
 the quantity of animals and prisoners, and the 
 number of non-combatants in attendance on 
 these w^as excessive, while, with such a crowd of 
 human beings to satisfy, twice the amount of 
 provisions had to be procured and carried. These 
 resolutions passed, they caused a proclamation 
 by herald to be made for their enforcement. 
 
 When they had breakfasted and the march 
 recommenced, the generals planted themselves 
 a little to one side in a narrow place, and when 
 they found any of the aforesaid slaves or other 
 property still retained, they confiscated them. 
 The soldiers yielded obedience, except where 
 some smuggler, prompted by desire of a good- 
 looking boy or woman, managed to make off 
 with his prize. During this day they contrived 
 to get along after a fashion, now fighting and 
 now resting. But on the next day they were vis- 
 ited by a great storm, in spite of which they 
 were obliged to continue the march, owing to in- 
 sufficiency of provisions. Cheirisophus was as 
 usual leading in front, while Xenophon headed 
 the rearguard, when the enemy began a violent 
 and sustained attack. At one narrow place after
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 281 
 
 anotlier they came up quite close, pouring vol- 
 leys of arrows and sling-stones, so that the Hel- 
 lenes had no choice hut to make sallies in pursuit 
 and then again recoil, making but very little 
 progress. Over and over again Xenophon 
 would send an order to the front to slacken pace, 
 when the enemy were pressing their attack se- 
 verely. As a rule, when the word was so passed 
 up, Cheirisophus slackened; but sometimes in- 
 stead of slackening, Cheirisophus quickened, 
 sending down a counter-order to the rear to fol- 
 low on quickly. It was clear that there was 
 something or other happening, but there was no 
 time to go to the front and discover the cause 
 of the hurry. Under these circumstances the 
 march, at any rate in the rear, became very like 
 a rout, and here a brave man lost his Hfe, Cleony- 
 mus the Laconian, shot with an arrow in the ribs 
 right through shield and corselet, as also Basias, 
 an Arcadian, shot clean through the head. 
 
 As soon as they reached a halting-place, 
 Xenophon, without more ado, came up to Cheiri- 
 sophus, and took him to task for not having 
 waited, " whereby," said he, " we were forced to 
 fight and flee at the same moment; and now it 
 has cost us the lives of two fine fellows; they 
 are dead, and we were not able to pick up their 
 bodies or bury them." Cheirisophus answered, 
 " Look up there," pointing as he spoke to the 
 mountain ; " do you see how inaccessible it all
 
 282 XENOPHON 
 
 is? only this one road, which you see, going 
 straight up, and on it all that crowd of men who 
 have seized and are guarding the single exit. 
 That is why I hastened on, and why I could not 
 wait for you, hoping to be beforehand with them 
 yonder in seizing the pass: the guides we have 
 got say there is no other way." And Xenophon 
 replied: "But I have got two prisoners also; 
 the enemy annoyed us so much that we laid an 
 ambuscade for them which also gave us time to 
 recover our breaths ; we killed some of them, and 
 did our best to catch one or two alive — for this 
 very reason — that we might have guides who 
 knew the country, to depend upon." 
 
 The two were brought up at once and ques- 
 tioned separately: "Did they know of any 
 other road than the one visible? " The first 
 said no; and in spite of all sorts of terrors ap- 
 plied to extract a better answer — no, he per- 
 sisted. When nothing could be got out of him, 
 he was killed before the eyes of his fellow. This 
 latter then explained : " Yonder man said, he 
 did not know, because he has got a daughter 
 married to a husband in those parts. I can take 
 you," he added, " by a good road, practicable 
 even for beasts." And Avhen asked whether 
 there was any point on it difficult to pass, he re- 
 plied that there was a col which it would be 
 impossible to pass unless it were occupied in ad- 
 vance.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 283 
 
 Then it was resolved to summon the officers 
 of the li^'ht infantry and some of those of the 
 heavy infantry, and to ac(]uaint them with the 
 state of affairs, and ask them whether any of 
 them were minded to distinguish themselves, and 
 would step forward as volunteers on an expedi- 
 tion. Two or three heavy infantry soldiers 
 stepped forward at once — two Arcadians, Aris- 
 tonymus of Methydrium and Agasias of Stym- 
 phalus — and in emulation of these, a third, also 
 an Arcadian, Callimachus from Parrhasia, who 
 said he was ready to go, and would get volun- 
 teers from the whole army to join him. " I 
 know," he added, " there will be no lack of 
 youngsters to follow where I lead." After that 
 they asked, " Were there any captains of light 
 infantry willing to accompany the expedition? " 
 Aristeas, a Chian, who on several occasions 
 proved his usefulness to the army on such serv- 
 ice, volunteered. 
 
 II. — It was already late afternoon, when they 
 ordered the storming party to take a snatch of 
 food and set off; then they bound the guide and 
 handed him over to them. The agreement was, 
 that if they succeeded in taking the summit they 
 were to guard the position that night, and at 
 daybreak to give a signal by bugle. At this sig- 
 nal the party on the summit were to attack the 
 enemy in occupation of the visible pass, while 
 the generals with the main body would bring up
 
 284 XENOPHON 
 
 their succours; making their way up with what 
 speed they might. With this understanding, 
 oiF they set, two thousand strong ; and there was 
 a heavy downpour of rain, but Xenophon, with 
 his rearguard, began advancing to the visible 
 pass, so that the enemy might fix his attention 
 on this road, and the party crceping round 
 might, as much as possible, elude observation. 
 Now when the rearguard, so advancing, had 
 reached a ravine which they must cross in order 
 to strike up the steep, at that instant the bar- 
 barians began rolling down great boulders, each 
 a wagon load, some larger, some smaller ; against 
 the rocks they crashed and splintered flying like 
 sling-stones in every direction — so that it was 
 absolutely out of the question even to approach 
 the entrance of the pass. Some of the officers 
 finding themselves baulked at this point, kept 
 trying other ways, nor did they desist till dark- 
 ness set in; and then, when they thought they 
 would not be seen retiring, they returned to sup- 
 per. Some of them who had been on duty in the 
 rearguard had had no breakfast (it so hap- 
 pened). However, the enemy never ceased 
 rolling down their stones all through the 
 night, as was easy to infer from the booming 
 sound. 
 
 The party with the guide made a circuit and 
 surprised the enemy's guards seated round their 
 fire, and after killing some, and driving out the
 
 ANAl^ASIS BOOK IV 285 
 
 rest, took their places, thinking that they were 
 in possession of the height. As a matter of 
 fact they Avere not, for above them lay a breast- 
 like hill' skirted by the narrow road on which they 
 had found the guards seated. Still, from the 
 spot in question there was an approach to the 
 enem}^ who were seated on the pass before men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Here then they passed the night, but at the 
 first glimpse of dawn they marched stealthily 
 and in battle order against the enemy. There 
 was a mist, so that they could get quite close 
 without being observed. But as soon as they 
 caught sight of one another, the trumpet 
 sounded, and with a loud cheer they rushed upon 
 the fellows, who did not wait their coming, but 
 left the road and made off ; with the loss of only 
 a few lives, however, so nimble were they, Cheiri- 
 sophus and his men, catching the sound of the 
 bugle, charged up by the well-marked road, 
 while others of the generals pushed their way 
 up by pathless routes, where each division 
 chanced to be; the men mounting as they were 
 best able, and hoisting one another up by means 
 of their spears; and these were the first to unite 
 with the party who had already taken the posi- 
 tion by storm. Xenophon, with the rearguard, 
 followed the path which the party with the guide 
 had taken, since it was easiest for the beasts of 
 burthen; one half of his men he had posted in 
 
 1 Or, " maraelon."
 
 286 XENOPHON 
 
 rear of the baggage animals; the other half he 
 had Λvith himself. In their course they encoun- 
 tered a crest above the road, occupied by the en- 
 emy, whom they must either dislodge or be them- 
 selves cut oiF from the rest of the Hellenes. The 
 men by themselves could have taken the same 
 route as the rest, but the baggage animals could 
 not mount by any other way than this. 
 
 Here then, with shouts of encouragement to 
 each other, they dashed at the hill with their 
 storming columns, not from all sides, but leaving 
 an avenue of escape for the enemy, if he chose 
 to avail himself of it. For a while, as the men 
 scrambled up where each best could, the natives 
 kept up a fire of arrows and darts, yet did not 
 receive them at close quarters, but presently left 
 the position in flight. No sooner, however, were 
 the Hellenes safely past this crest, than they 
 came in sight of another in front of them, also 
 occupied, and deemed it advisable to storm it 
 also. But now it struck Xenophon that if they 
 left the ridge just taken unprotected in their 
 rear, the enemy might re-occupy it and attack 
 the baggage animals as they filed past, present- 
 ing a long extended line owing to the narrow- 
 ness of the road by which they made their way. 
 To obviate this, he left some officers in charge 
 of the ridge — Cephisodorus, son of Cephiso- 
 phon, an Athenian; Amphicrates, the son of 
 Amphidemus, an Athenian; and Archagoras,
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 287 
 
 an Argive exile — Avhile he in person with 
 the rest of the men attacked the second 
 ridge; this they took in the same fashion, 
 only to find that they had still a third knoll 
 left, far the steepest of the three. This 
 was none other than the mamelon mentioned as 
 above the outpost, which had been captured over 
 their fire by the volunteer storming party in the 
 night. But when the Hellenes were close, the 
 natives, to the astonishment of all, without a 
 struggle deserted the knoll. It was conjectured 
 that they had left their position from fear of 
 being encircled and besieged, but the fact was 
 that they, from their higher ground, had been 
 able to see what was going on in the rear, and 
 had all made off in this fashion to attack the 
 rearguard. 
 
 So then Xenophon, vdth the youngest men, 
 scaled up to the top, leaving orders to the rest 
 to march on slowly, so as to allow the hindmost 
 companies to unite with them; they were to ad- 
 vance by the road, and when they reached the 
 level to ground arms. Meanwhile the Argive 
 Archagoras arrived, in full flight, with the an- 
 nouncement that they had been dislodged from 
 the first ridge, and that Cephisodorus and Am- 
 phicrates were slain, with a number of others 
 besides, all in fact who had not jumped down 
 the crags and so reached the rearguard. After 
 this achievement the barbarians came to a crest
 
 288 XENOPHON 
 
 facing the mamelon, and Xenophon held a col- 
 loquy with them by means of an interpreter to 
 negotiate a truce, and demanded back the dead 
 bodies. These they agreed to restore if he ΛνοηΗ 
 not burn their houses, and to these terms Xeno- 
 phon agreed. Meanwhile, as the rest of the 
 army filed past, and the colloquy was proceed- 
 ing, all the people of the place had time to gather 
 gradually, and the enemy formed; and as soon 
 as the Hellenes began to descend from the 
 mamelon to join the others where the troops 
 were halted, on rushed the foe, in full force, with 
 hue and cry. They reached the summit of the 
 mamelon from which Xenophon was descend- 
 ing, and began rolling down crags. One man's 
 leg was crushed to pieces. Xenophon was left 
 by his shield-bearer, who carried off his shield, 
 but Eurylochus of Lusia, an Arcadian hoplite, 
 ran up to him, and threw his shield in front to 
 protect both of them; so the two together beat 
 a retreat, and so too the rest, and joined the ser- 
 ried ranks of the main body. 
 
 After this the whole Hellenic force united, 
 and took up their quarters there in numerous 
 beautiful dwellings, with an ample store of pro- 
 visions, for there was wine so plentiful that they 
 had it in cemented cisterns. Xenophon and 
 Cheirisophus arranged to recover the dead, and 
 in return restored the guide; afterwards they 
 did everything for the dead, according to the
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 289 
 
 means at their disposal, with the customary hon- 
 ours paid to good men. 
 
 Next day they set off without a guide; and 
 the enemy, by keeping up a continuous battle 
 and occupying in adΛ^ance every narrow space, 
 obstructed passage after passage. Accordingly, 
 whenever the van was obstructed, Xenophon, 
 from behind, made a dash up the hills and broke 
 the barricade, and freed the vanguard by en- 
 deavouring to get above the obstructing enemy. 
 ΛVhenever the rear was the point attacked, Chei- 
 risophus, in the same way made a detour, and by 
 endeavouring to mount higher than the barri- 
 cades, freed the passage for the rear rank; and 
 in this way, turn and turn about, they rescued 
 each other, and paid unflinching attention to 
 their mutual needs. At times it happened that, 
 the relief party having mounted, encountered 
 considerable annoyance in their descent from the 
 barbarians, who were so agile that they allowed 
 them to come up quite close, before they turned 
 back, and still escaped, partly no doubt because 
 the only weapons they had to carry were bows 
 and slings. 
 
 They were, moreover, excellent archers, using 
 bows nearly three cubits long and arrows more 
 than two cubits. When discharging the arrow, 
 they draw the string by getting a purchase with 
 the left foot planted forward on the lower end 
 of the bow. The arrows pierced through shield
 
 290 XENOPHON 
 
 and cuirass, and the Hellenes, when they got 
 hold of them, used them as javelins, fitting them 
 to their thongs. In these districts the Cretans 
 were highly serviceable. They were under the 
 command of Stratocles, a Cretan. 
 
 III. — During this day they bivouacked in the 
 villages which lie above the plain of the river 
 Centrites,^ Λvhich is about two hundred feet 
 broad. It is the frontier river between Armenia 
 and the country of the Carduchians. Here the 
 Hellenes recruited themselves, and the sight of 
 the plain filled them with joy, for the river was 
 but six or seven furlongs distant from the moun- 
 tains of the Carduchians. For the moment then 
 they bivouacked right happily; they had their 
 provisions, they had also many memories of the 
 labours that were now passed; seeing that the 
 last seven days spent in traversing the country 
 of the Carduchians had been one long contin- 
 uous battle, which had cost them more suif ering 
 than the whole of their troubles at the hands of 
 the king and Tissaphernes put together. As 
 though they were truly quit of them for ever, 
 they laid their heads to rest in sweet content. 
 
 But with the morrow's dawn they espied 
 horsemen at a certain point across the river, 
 armed cap-a-pie, as if they meant to dispute the 
 passage. Infantry, too, drawn up in line upon 
 the banks above the cavalry, threatened to pre- 
 
 2 I. e.j the Eastern Tigris.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 291 
 
 vent tliem debouching into Armenia. These 
 troops Avere Armenian and Mardian and Chal- 
 divan mercenaries belonging to Orontas and 
 Artuchas. The last of the three, the Chaldseans, 
 were said to be a free and brave set of people. 
 They were armed with long wicker shields and 
 lances. The banks before named on which they 
 were drawn up were a hundred yards or more 
 distant from the river, and the single road which 
 was visible was one leading upwards and look- 
 ing like a regular artificially constructed high- 
 way. At this point the Hellenes endeavoured 
 to cross, but on their making the attempt the 
 water proved to be more than breast-deep, and 
 the river bed was rough with great slippery 
 stones, and as to holding their arms in the water, 
 it was out of the question — the stream swept 
 them away — or if they tried to carry them over 
 the head, the body was left exposed to the ar- 
 rows and other missiles ; accordingly they turned 
 back and encamped there by the bank of the 
 river. 
 
 At the point where they had themselves been 
 last night, up on the mountains, they could see 
 the Carduchians collected in large numbers and 
 under arms. A shadow of deep despair again 
 descended on their souls, whichever way they 
 turned their eyes — in front lay the river so dif- 
 ficult to ford; over, on the other side, a new 
 enemy threatening to bar the passage; on the
 
 292 XENOPHON 
 
 hills behind, the Carduchians ready to fall upon 
 their rear should they once again attempt to 
 cross. Thus for this day and night they halted, 
 sunk in perplexity. But Xenophon had a dream. 
 In his sleep he thought that he was bound in 
 fetters, but these, of their own accord, fell from 
 off him, so that he was loosed, and could stretch 
 his legs as freely as he wished. So at the first 
 glimpse of daylight he came to Cheirisophus and 
 told him that he had hopes that all things would 
 go well, and related to him his dream. 
 
 The other was well pleased, and with the first 
 faint gleam of dawn the generals all were pres- 
 ent and did sacrifice; and the victims were fa- 
 vourable at the first essay. Retiring from the 
 sacrifice, the generals and officers issued an 
 order to the troops to take their breakfasts; and 
 while Xenophon was taking his, two young men 
 came running up to him, for every one knew 
 that, breakfasting or supping, he was always 
 accessible, or that even if asleep any one was 
 welcome to awaken him who had anything to 
 say bearing on the business of war. What the 
 two young men had at this time to say was that 
 they had been collecting brushwood for fire, and 
 had presently espied on the opposite side, in 
 among some rocks which came down to the 
 river's brink, an old man and some women and 
 little girls depositing, as it would appear, bags 
 of clothes in a cavernous rock. When they saw
 
 I 
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 293 
 
 them, it struck them that it was safe to cross; 
 in anj^ case, the enemy's cavahy could not ap- 
 proach at this point. So they stripped naked, 
 expecting to have to swim for it, and with their 
 long knives in their hands began crossing, but 
 going forward crossed without being wet up to 
 the fork. Once across they captured the clothes, 
 and came back again. 
 
 Accordingly Xenophon at once poured out a 
 libation himself, and bade the two young fel- 
 lows fill the cup and pray to the gods, who 
 showed to him this vision and to them a passage, 
 to bring all other blessings for them to accom- 
 plishment. When he had poured out the liba- 
 tions, he at once led the two young men to Chei- 
 risophus, and they repeated to him their story. 
 Cheirisophus, on hearing it, offered libations 
 also, and when they had performed them, they 
 sent a general order to the troops to pack up 
 ready for starting, while they themselves called 
 a meeting of the generals and took counsel how 
 they might best effect a passage, so as to over- 
 power the enemy in front without suffering any 
 loss from the men behind. And they resolved 
 that Cheirisophus should lead the van and cross 
 with half the army, the other half still remain- 
 ing behind under Xenophon, while the baggage 
 animals and the mob of sutlers were to cross 
 between the two divisions. 
 
 When all was duly ordered the move began,
 
 294 XENOPHON 
 
 the young men pioneering them, and keeping 
 the river on their left. It was about four fur- 
 longs' march to the crossing, and as they moved 
 along the bank, the squadrons of cavalry kept 
 pace with them on the opposite side. 
 
 But when they had reached a point in a line 
 with the ford, and the cliff -like banks of the 
 river, they grounded arms, and first Cheiriso- 
 phus himself placed a wreath upon his brows, 
 and throwing off his cloak, resumed his arms, 
 passing the order to all the rest to do the same, 
 and bade the captains form their companies in 
 open order in deep columns, some to left and 
 some to right of himself. Meanwhile the sooth- 
 sayers were slaying a victim over the river, and 
 the enemy were letting fly their arrows and 
 slingstones ; but as yet they were out of range. 
 As soon as the victims were favourable, all the 
 soldiers began singing the battle hymn, and with 
 the notes of the paean mingled the shouting of 
 the men accompanied by the shriller chant of the 
 women, for there were many women in the 
 camp. 
 
 So Cheirisophus with his detachment stept in. 
 But Xenophon, taking the most active-bodied 
 of the rearguard, began running back at full 
 speed to the passage facing the egress into the 
 hills of Armenia, making a feint of crossing at 
 that point to intercept their cavalry on the river 
 bank. The enemy, seeing Cheirisophus's de-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 295 
 
 tachnient easily crossing• the stream, and Xeno- 
 phon's men racing back, were seized with the 
 fear of being intercepted, and fled at full speed 
 in the direction of the road which emerges from 
 the stream. But when they were come opposite 
 to it they raced up hill towards their mountains. 
 Then Lycius, who commanded the cavalry, and 
 ^i]schines, who was in command of the division 
 of light infantry attached to Cheirisophus, no 
 sooner saw them fleeing so lustily than they 
 were after them, and the soldiers shouted not 
 to fall behind, but to follow them right up to 
 the mountains. Cheirisophus, on getting across, 
 forbore to pursue the cavalry, but advanced by 
 the bluff's which reached to the river to attack 
 the enemy overhead. And these, seeing their 
 own cavalry fleeing, seeing also the heavy in- 
 fantry advancing upon them, abandoned the 
 heights above the river. 
 
 Xenophon, as soon as he saw that things were 
 going well on the other side, fell back with all 
 speed to join the troops engaged in crossing, 
 for by this time the Carduchians were well in 
 sight, descending into the plain to attack their 
 rear. 
 
 Cheirisophus was in possession of the higher 
 ground, and Lycius, with his little squadron, in 
 an attempt to follow up the pursuit, had cap- 
 tured some stragglers of their baggage-bearers, 
 and with them some handsome apparel and
 
 296 XENOPHON 
 
 drinking-cups. The baggage animals of the 
 Hellenes and the mob of non-combatants were 
 just about to cross, when Xenophon turned his 
 troops right about to face the Carduchians. 
 Vis-a-vis he formed his line, passing the order 
 to the captains each to form his company into 
 sections, and to deploy them into line by the 
 left, the captains of companies and lieutenants 
 in command of sections to advance to meet the 
 Carduchians, while the rear leaders would keep 
 their position facing the river. But when the 
 Carduchians saw the rearguard so stript of the 
 mass, and looking now like a mere handful of 
 men, they advanced all the more quickly, sing- 
 ing certain songs the while. Then, as matters 
 were safe withi him, Cheirisophus sent back the 
 peltasts and slingers and archers to join Xeno- 
 phon, with orders to carry out his instinictions. 
 They were in the act of recrossing, when Xeno- 
 phon, who saw their intention, sent a messenger 
 across, bidding them wait there at the river's 
 brink without crossing ; but as soon as he and his 
 detachment began to cross they were to step in 
 facing him in two flanking divisions right and 
 left of them, as if in the act of crossing; the jav- 
 elin men with their javelins on the thong, and the 
 bowmen with their arrows on the string; but 
 they were not to advance far into the stream. 
 The order passed to his own men was : " Wait 
 till you are within sling-shot, and the shield rat-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 297 
 
 ties, then sound tlie pasan and charge the enemy. 
 As soon as he turns, and the bugle from the 
 river sounds for * the attack,' you will face about 
 to the right, the rear rank leading, and the whole 
 detachment falling back and crossing the river 
 as quickly as possible, every one preserving his 
 original rank, so as to avoid trammelling one 
 another: the bravest man is he who gets to the 
 other side first." 
 
 The Carduchians, seeing that the remnant 
 left was the merest handful (for many even of 
 those whose duty it was to remain had gone off 
 in their anxiety to protect their beasts of bur- 
 den, or their personal kit, or their mistresses), 
 bore down upon them valorously, and opened 
 fire with slingstones and arrows. But the Hel- 
 lenes, raising the battle hymn, dashed at them 
 at a run, and they did not await them; armed 
 well enough for mountain warfare, and with a 
 view to sudden attack followed by speedy flight, 
 they were not by any means sufficiently equipped 
 for an engagement at close quarters. At this 
 instant the signal of the bugle was heard. Its 
 notes added wings to the flight of the barbar- 
 ians, but the Hellenes turned right about in the 
 opposite direction, and betook themselves to the 
 river with what speed they might. Some of the 
 enemy, here a man and there another, perceived, 
 and running back to the river, let fly their ar- 
 rows and wounded a few; but the majority, even
 
 298 XENOPHON 
 
 when the Hellenes were well across, were still 
 to be seen pursuing their flight. The detach- 
 ment which came to meet Xenophon's men, car- 
 ried away by their valour, advanced further 
 than they had need to, and had to cross back 
 again in the rear of Xenophon's men, and of 
 these too a few were wounded. 
 
 IV. — The passage effected, they fell into line 
 about midday, and marched through Armenian 
 territory, one long plain with smooth rolling 
 hillocks, not less than five parasangs in distance ; 
 for owing to the wars of this people with the 
 Carduchians there were no \allages near the 
 river. The village eventually reached was 
 large, and possessed a palace belonging to the 
 satrap, and most of the houses were crowned 
 with turrets; provisions were plentiful. 
 
 From this village they marched tAvo stages — 
 ten parasangs — until they had surmounted the 
 sources of the river Tigris; and from this point 
 they marched three stages — fifteen parasangs — 
 to the river Teleboas. This was a fine stream, 
 though not large, and there were many villages 
 about it. The district was named Western Ar- 
 menia. The lieutenant-governor of it was Tiri- 
 bazus, the king's friend, and whenever the latter 
 paid a visit, he alone had the privilege of mount- 
 ing the king upon his horse. This officer rode 
 up to the Hellenes with a body of cavalry, and 
 sending forward an interpreter, stated that he
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 299 
 
 (Icsii-ed a colloquy with the leaders. The gen- 
 erals resolved to hear what he had to say; and 
 advancing on their side to within speaking dis- 
 tance, they demanded what he wanted. He re- 
 plied that he wished to make a treaty with them, 
 in accordance with which he on his side would 
 abstain from injuring the Hellenes, if they 
 would not burn his houses, but merely take such 
 provisions as they needed. This proposal satis- 
 fied the generals, and a treaty was made on the 
 terms suggested. 
 
 From this place they marched three stages — 
 fifteen parasangs — through plain country, Tiri- 
 bazus the while keeping close behind with his 
 own forces more than a mile oif. Presently 
 they reached a palace with villages clustered 
 round it, which were full of supplies in great 
 variety. But while they were encamping in the 
 night there was a heavy fall of snow, and in 
 the morning it was resolved to billet out the dif- 
 ferent regiments, with their generals, through- 
 out the villages. There was no enemy in sight, 
 and the proceeding seemed prudent, owing to 
 the quantity of snow. In these quarters they 
 had for provisions all the good things there are 
 — sacrificial beasts, corn, old wines with an ex- 
 quisite bouquet, dried grapes, and vegetables of 
 all sorts. But some of the stragglers from the 
 camp reported having seen an army, and the 
 blaze of many watchfires in the night. Accord- 
 
 \
 
 300 XENOPHON 
 
 ingly the generals concluded that it was not 
 prudent to separate their quarters in this way, 
 and a resolution was passed to bring the troops 
 together again. After that they reunited, the 
 more so that the weather promised to be fine 
 with a clear sky; but while they lay there in 
 open quarters, during the night doΛvn came so 
 thick a fall of snow that it completely covered 
 up the stacks of arms and the men themselves 
 lying down. It cramped and crippled the bag- 
 gage animals; and there was great unreadiness 
 to get up, so gently fell the snow as they lay 
 there warm and comfortable, and formed a 
 blanket, except where it slipped off the sleeper's 
 shoulders ; and it was not until Xenophon roused 
 himself to get up, and, without his cloak on,^ 
 began to split wood, that quickly first one and 
 then another got up, and taking the log away 
 from him, fell to splitting. Thereat the rest 
 followed suit, got up, and began kindling fires 
 and oihng their bodies, for there was a scented 
 unguent to be found there in abundance, which 
 they used instead of oil. It was made from 
 pig's fat, sesame, bitter almonds, and turpen- 
 tine. There was a sweet oil also to be found, 
 made of the same ingredients. 
 
 3 Or, as we should say, " in his shirt sleeves." Doubtless he 
 lay with his cloak loosely wrapped round him; as he sprang 
 to his feet he would throw it oiF, or it would fall oiF, and with 
 the simple inner covering to protect him, and arms free, he fell 
 to chopping the wood, only half clad.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 301 
 
 After this it was resolved that they must 
 again separate their (jiiarters and get under 
 cover in the vilhiges. At this news the soldiers, 
 with much joy and shouting, rushed upon the 
 covered houses and the provisions; but all who 
 in their blind folly had set fire to the houses 
 when they left them before, now paid the pen- 
 alty in the poor quarters they got. From this 
 place one night they sent off a party under De- 
 mocrates, a Temenite, up into the mountains, 
 Avhere the stragglers reported having seen watch- 
 fires. The leader selected was a man whose 
 judgment might be depended upon to verify the 
 truth of the matter. With a happy gift to dis- 
 tinguish between fact and fiction, he had often 
 been successfully appealed to. He went and 
 reported that he had seen no watchfires, but he 
 had got a man, whom he brought back with him, 
 carrying a Persian bow and quiver, and a sa- 
 garis or battleaxe like those worn by the Ama- 
 zons. When asked " from what country he 
 came," the prisoner answered that he was "a 
 Persian, and was going from the army of Tiri- 
 bazus to get provisions." They next asked him 
 " how large the army was, and for what object 
 it had been collected." His answer was that 
 "it consisted of Tiribazus at the head of his 
 own forces, and aided by some Chalybian and 
 Taochian mercenaries. Tiribazus had got it to- 
 gether," he added, " meaning to attack the Hel- 
 
 I
 
 302 XEXOPHON 
 
 lenes on the high mountain pass, in a defile which 
 was the sole passage." 
 
 When the generals heard this news, they re- 
 solved to collect the troops, and they set off at 
 once, taking the prisoner to act as guide, and 
 leaving a garrison behind with Sopheenetus the 
 Stj^mphalian in command of those who remained 
 in the camp. As soon as they had begun to 
 cross the hills, the light infantry, advancing in 
 front and catching sight of the camp, did not 
 wait for the heavy infantry, but with a loud 
 shout rushed upon the enemy's entrenchment. 
 The natives, hearing the din and clatter, did not 
 care to stop, but took rapidly to their heels. But, 
 for all their expedition, some of them were 
 killed, and as many as twenty horses were cap- 
 tured, with the tent of Tiribazus, and its con- 
 tents, silver-footed couches and goblets, besides 
 certain persons styling themselves the butlers 
 and bakers. As soon as the generals of the 
 heavy infantry division had learnt the news, 
 they resolved to return to the camp with all 
 speed, for fear of an attack being made on the 
 remnant left behind. The recall was sounded 
 and the retreat commenced; the camp was 
 reached the same day. 
 
 V. — The next day it was resolved that they 
 should set off with all possible speed, before the 
 enemy had time to collect and occupy the defile. 
 Having got their kit and baggage together, they
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 303 
 
 at once bc^iui their march through deep snow 
 with several guides, and, crossing the high pass 
 the same day on which Tiribazus was to have 
 attacked them, got safely into cantonments. 
 From this point they marched three desert 
 stages — fifteen parasangs — to the river Eu- 
 phrates, and crossed it in water up to the waist. 
 The sources of the river were reported to be 
 at no great distance. From this place they 
 marched through deep snow over a flat country 
 three stages — fifteen parasangs. The last of 
 these marches was trying, with the north wind 
 blowing in their teeth, drying up everything and 
 benumbing the men. Here one of the seers sug- 
 gested to them to do sacrifice to Boreas, and 
 sacrifice was done. The efl'ect was obvious to 
 all in the diminished fierceness of the blast. But 
 there was six feet of snow, so that many of the 
 baggage animals and slaves were lost, and about 
 thirty of the men themselves. 
 
 They spent the whole night in kindling fire; 
 for there was fortunately no dearth of wood at 
 the halting-place; only those who came late into 
 camp had no wood. Accordingly those who had 
 arrived a good while and had kindled fires were 
 not for allowing these late-comers near their 
 fires, unless they would in return give a share of 
 their corn or of any other victuals they might 
 have. Here then a general exchange of goods 
 was set up. Where the fire was kindled the
 
 304 XENOPHON 
 
 snow melted, and great trenches formed them- 
 selves down to the bare earth, and here it was 
 possible to measure the depth of the snow. 
 
 Leaving these quarters, they marched the 
 whole of the next day over snow, and many of 
 the men were afflicted with " boulimia " (or 
 hunger-faintness). Xenophon, who was guard- 
 ing the rear, came upon some men who had 
 dropt down, and he did not know what ailed 
 them ; but some one who was experienced in such 
 matters suggested to him that they had evi- 
 dently got boulimia; and if they got something 
 to eat, they would revive. Then he went the 
 round of the baggage train, and laying an em- 
 bargo on any eatables he could see, doled out 
 with his own hands, or sent off other able-bodied 
 agents to distribute to the sufferers, who as soon 
 as they had taken a mouthful got on their legs 
 again and continued the march. 
 
 On and on they marched, and about dusk 
 Cheirisophus reached a village, and surprised 
 some women and girls who had come from the 
 village to fetch water at the fountain outside the 
 stockade. These asked them who they were. The 
 interpreters answered for them in Persian: 
 " They were on their way from the king to the 
 satrap ; " in reply to which the women gave them 
 to understand that the satrap was not at home, 
 but was away a parasang farther on. As it was 
 late they entered with the water-carriers within
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 305 
 
 the stockade to visit the headman of the village. 
 Accordingly Cheinsoj)hus and as many of the 
 troops as were able got into cantonments there, 
 >vhile the rest of the soldiers — those namely who 
 were unable to complete the march — had to 
 spend the night out, without food and without 
 fire; under the circumstances some of the men 
 perished. 
 
 On the heels of the army hung perpetually 
 bands of the enemy, snatching away disabled 
 baggage animals and fighting with each other 
 over the carcasses. And in its track not seldom 
 were left to their fate disabled soldiers, struck 
 down with snow-blindness or with toes mortified 
 by frostbite. As to the eyes, it was some allevi- 
 ation against the snow to march with something 
 black before them ; for the feet, the only remedy 
 was to keep in motion without stopping for an 
 instant, and to loose the sandal at night. If 
 they went to sleep with the sandals on, the thong 
 worked into the feet, and the sandals were 
 frozen fast to them. This was partly due to 
 the fact that, since their old sandals had failed, 
 they wore untanned brogues made of newly- 
 flayed ox-hides. It was owing to some such dire 
 necessity that a party of men fell out and were 
 left behind, and seeing a black-looking patch of 
 ground where the snow had evidently disap- 
 peared, they conjectured it must have been 
 melted; and this was actually so, owing to a
 
 306 XENOPHOlSr 
 
 spring of some sort which was to be seen steam- 
 ing up in a dell close by. To this they had 
 turned aside and sat down, and w^re loth to go 
 a step further. But Xenophon, Λvith his rear- 
 guard, perceived them, and begged and im- 
 plored them by all manner of means not to be 
 left behind, telling them that the enemy were 
 after them in large packs pursuing; and he 
 ended by growing angry. They merely bade 
 him put a knife to their throats; not one step 
 farther wOuld they stir. Then it seemed best to 
 frighten the pursuing enemy if possible, and 
 prevent their falling upon the invalids. It was 
 already dusk, and the pursuers were advancing 
 with much noise and hubbub, wrangling and dis- 
 puting over the spoils. Then all of a sudden 
 the rearguard, in the plenitude of health and 
 strength, sprang up out of their lair and ran 
 upon the enemy, whilst those weary wights 
 bawled out as loud as their sick throats could 
 sound, and dashed their spears against their 
 shields; and the enemy in terror hurled 
 themselves through the snow into the dell, 
 and not one of them ever uttered a sound 
 again. 
 
 Xenophon and his party, telling the sick folk 
 that next day people would come for them, set 
 off, and before they had gone half a mile they 
 fell in with some soldiers who had laid down to 
 rest on the snow with their cloaks wrapped
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 307 
 
 round tlicni, but never a guard was established, 
 and they made them get up. Their explanation 
 was that those in front would not move on. 
 Passing by this group he sent forward the 
 strongest of his light infantry in advance, with 
 orders to find out Mdiat the stoppage was. They 
 reported that the whole army lay reposing in 
 the same fashion. That being so, Xenophon's 
 men had nothing for it but to bivouac in the 
 open air also, without fire and supperless, 
 merely posting what pickets they could under 
 the circumstances. But as soon as it drew to- 
 wards day, Xenophon despatched the youngest 
 of his men to the sick folk behind, with orders 
 to make them get up and force them to proceed. 
 Meanwhile Cheirisophus had sent some of his 
 men quartered in the village to enquire how 
 they fared in the rear; they were overjoyed to 
 see them, and handed over the sick folk to them 
 to carry into camp, while they themselves con- 
 tinued their march forwards, and ere twenty 
 furlongs were past reached the village in which 
 Cheirisophus was quartered. As soon as the two 
 divisions were met, the resolution was come to 
 that it would be safe to billet the regiments 
 throughout the villages; Cheirisophus remained 
 where he was, while the rest drew lots for the 
 villages in sight, and then, with their several de- 
 tachments, marched off to their respective des- 
 tinations.
 
 308 XENOPHOlSr 
 
 It was here that Polycrates, an Athenian and 
 captain of a company, asked for leave of ab- 
 sence — he wished to be off on a quest of his 
 own; and putting himself at the head of the 
 active men of the division, he ran to the village 
 which had been allotted to Xenophon. He sur- 
 prised within it the villagers with their headman, 
 and seventeen young horses which were being 
 reared as a tribute for the king, and, last of all, 
 the headman's own daughter, a young bride only 
 eight days wed. Her husband had gone off to 
 chase hares, and so he escaped being taken with 
 the other villagers. The houses were under- 
 ground structures with an aperture like the 
 mouth of a well by which to enter, but they were 
 broad and spacious below. The entrance for the 
 beasts of burden was dug out, but the human 
 occupants descended by a ladder. In these 
 dwellings were to be found goats and sheep and 
 cattle, and cocks and hens, with their various 
 progeny. The flocks and herds were all reared 
 under cover upon green food. There were 
 stores within of wheat and barley and vege- 
 tables, and wine made from barley in great big 
 bowls; the grains of barley malt lay floating in 
 the beverage up to the lip of the vessel, and 
 reeds lay in them, some longer, some shorter, 
 without joints; when you were thirsty you must 
 take one of these into your mouth, and suck. 
 The beverage without admixture of water was
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 309 
 
 very stronpr, and of a delicious flavour to certain 
 palates, but the taste must be acquired. 
 
 Xen()])hon made the headman of the village 
 his guest at supper, and bade him keep a good 
 heart; so far from robbing him of his children, 
 they would fill his house full of good things in 
 return for what they took before they went 
 away; only he must set them an example, and 
 discover some blessing or other for the army, 
 until they found themselves with another tribe. 
 To this he readily assented, and with the utmost 
 cordiality showed them the cellar where the wine 
 was buried. For this night then, having taken 
 up their several quarters as described, they slum- 
 bered in the midst of plenty, one and all, with 
 the headman under watch and ward, and his 
 children with him safe in sight. 
 
 But on the following day Xenophon took the 
 headman and set off to Cheirisophus, making a 
 round of the villages, and at each place turning 
 in to visit the different parties. Everywhere 
 alike he found them faring sumptuously and 
 merry-making. There was not a single village 
 where they did not insist on setting a breakfast 
 before them, and on the same table were spread 
 half a dozen dishes at least, lamb, kid, pork, 
 veal, fowls, with various sorts of bread, some of 
 wheat and some of barley. When, as an act of 
 courtesy, any one wished to drink his neigh- 
 bour's health, he would drag him to the big
 
 310 XENOPHON 
 
 bowl, and when there, he must duck his head and 
 take a long pull, drinking like an ox. The head- 
 man, they insisted everyΛvheΓe, must accept as a 
 present whatever he liked to have. But he ΛνοηΜ 
 accept nothing, except where he espied any of 
 his relations, when he made a point of taking 
 them off, him or her, \vith himself. 
 
 When they reached Cheirisophus they found 
 a similar scene. There too the men were feast- 
 ing in their quarters, garlanded Λvith whisps of 
 hay and diy grass, and Armenian boys were 
 playing the part of waiters in barbaric costumes, 
 only they had to point out by gesture to the 
 boys what they Avere to do, like deaf and dumb. 
 After the first formalities, when Cheirisophus 
 and Xenophon had greeted one another like 
 bosom friends, they interrogated the headman 
 in common by means of the Persian-speaking 
 interpreter, " A¥hat was the country?" they 
 asked: he replied, "Armenia." And again, 
 " For whom are the horses being bred? " *' They 
 are tribute for the king," he replied. " And 
 the neighbouring country? " " Is the land of 
 the Chalybes," he said; and he described the road 
 which led to it. So for the present Xenophon 
 went off, taking the headman back with liim to 
 his household and friends. He also made him 
 a present of an oldish horse which he had got; 
 he had heard that the headman was a priest of 
 the sun, and so he could fatten up the beast and
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 311 
 
 sacrifice him; othenvise he was afraid it might 
 (lie outright, for it had been injured by the long 
 marching. For himself he took his pick of the 
 colts, and gave a colt apiece to each of his fellow- 
 generals and officers. The horses here were 
 smaller than the Persian horses, but much more 
 spirited. It was here too that their friend the 
 headman explained to them, how they should 
 wrap small bags or sacks round the feet of the 
 horses and other cattle when marching through 
 the snow, for without such precautions the crea- 
 tures sank up to their bellies. 
 
 VI. — When a week had passed, on the eighth 
 day Xenophon delivered over the guide (that is 
 to say, the village headman) to Cheirisophus. 
 He left the headman's household safe behind in 
 the village, with the exception of his son, a lad 
 in the bloom of his youth. This boy was en- 
 trusted to Episthenes of Arnphipolis to guard; 
 if the headman proved himself a good guide, 
 he was to take away his son also at his departure. 
 They finally made his house the repository of 
 all the good things they could contrive to get 
 together; then they broke up their camp and 
 commenced the march, the headman guiding 
 them through the snow unfettered. When they 
 had reached the third stage Cheirisophus flew 
 into a rage with him, because he had not brought 
 them to any villages. The headman pleaded 
 that there were none in this part. Cheirisophus
 
 312 XENOPHON 
 
 struck him, but forgot to bind him, and the end 
 of it was that the headman ran away in the 
 night and was gone, leaving his son behind him. 
 This was the sole ground of difference between 
 Cheirisophus and Xenophon during the march, 
 this combination of ill-treatment and neglect in 
 the case of the guide. As to the boy, Episthenes 
 conceived a passion for him, and took liim home 
 with him, and found in him the most faithful of 
 friends. 
 
 After this they marched seven stages at the 
 rate of five parasangs a day, to the banks of the 
 river Phasis,* which is a hundred feet broad : and 
 thence they marched another couple of stages, 
 ten parasangs ; but at the pass leading down into 
 the plain there appeared in front of them a 
 mixed body of Chalybes and Taochians and 
 Phasianians. When Cheirisophus caught sight 
 of the enemy on the pass at a distance of about 
 three or four miles, he ceased marching, not 
 caring to approach the enemy with his troops in 
 column, and he passed down the order to the 
 others: to deploy their companies to the front, 
 that the troops might form into line. As soon 
 as the rearguard had come up, he assembled the 
 generals and officers, and addressed them: 
 " The enemy, as you see, are in occupation of 
 the mountain pass, it is time we should consider 
 how we are to make the best fight to win it. My 
 
 4 Probably the Araxes, possibly it had this local name.
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 313 
 
 opinion is, that we should give orders to the 
 troops to take their morning meal, whilst we 
 deliberate whether we should cross the moun- 
 tains to-day or to-morrow.'* " My opinion," 
 said Cleanor, " is, that as soon as we have break- 
 fasted, we should arm for the fight and attack 
 the enemy, without loss of time, for if we fritter 
 away to-day, the enemy who are now content to 
 look at us, will grow bolder, and with their 
 growing courage, depend upon it, others more 
 numerous will join them." 
 
 After him Xenophon spoke : " This," he said, 
 "is how I see the matter; if fight we must, let 
 us make preparation to sell our lives dearly, but 
 if we desire to cross with the greatest ease, the 
 point to consider is, how we may get the fewest 
 wounds and throw away the smallest number of 
 good men. Well then, that part of the moun- 
 tain which is visible stretches nearly seven miles. 
 Where are the men posted to intercept us? ex- 
 cept at the road itself, they are nowhere to be 
 seen. It is much better then to try if possible 
 to steal a point of this desert mountain unob- 
 served, and before they know where we are, se- 
 cure the prize, than to fly at a strong position 
 and an enemy thoroughly prepared. Since it is 
 much easier to march up a mountain without 
 fighting than to tramp along a level when assail- 
 ants are on either hand ; and provided he has not 
 to fight, a man will see what lies at his feet
 
 314 XEXOPHON 
 
 much more plainly even at night than in broad 
 daylight in the midst of battle; and a rough 
 road to feet that roam in peace may be pleas- 
 anter than a smooth surface with the bullets 
 Avhistling about your ears. Nor is it so impos- 
 sible, I take it, to steal a march, since it is open 
 to us to go by night, when we cannot be seen, 
 and to fall back so far that they will never no- 
 tice us. In my opinion, however, if w^e make a 
 feint of attacking here, we shall find the moun- 
 tain chain all the more deserted elsewhere, since 
 the enemy will be waiting for us here in thicker 
 swarm. 
 
 " But what right have I to be drawing con- 
 clusions about stealing in your presence, Chei- 
 risophus? for you Lacedeemonians, as I have 
 often been told, you who belong to the ' peers,' 
 practise stealing from your boyhood up; and it 
 is no disgrace but honourable rather to steal, ex- 
 cept such things as the law forbids ; and in order, 
 I presume, to stimulate your sense of secretive- 
 ness, and to make you master thieves, it is law- 
 ful for 5^ou further to get a whipping, if you 
 are caught. Now then you have a fine oppor- 
 tunity of displaying your training. But take 
 care we are not caught stealing over the moun- 
 tain, or we shall catch it ourselves." " For all 
 that," retorted Cheirisophus, " I have heard that 
 you Athenians are clever hands at stealing the 
 public moneys; and that too though there is
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 315 
 
 fearful risk for the person so employed; but, I 
 am told, it is your best men who are most ad- 
 dieted to it; if it is your best men who are 
 thought worthy to rule. So it is a fine oppor- 
 tunity for yourself also, Xenophon, to exhibit 
 your education." "And I," replied Xenophon, 
 " am ready to take the rear division, as soon as 
 we have supped, and seize the mountain chain. 
 I have already got guides, for the light troops 
 laid an ambuscade, and seized some of the cut- 
 purse vagabonds who hung on our rear. I am 
 further informed by them that the mountain is 
 not inaccessible, but is grazed by goats and cat- 
 tle, so that if we can once get hold of any por- 
 tion of it, there will be no difficulty as regards 
 our animals — they can cross. As to the enemy, 
 I expect they will not even wait for us any 
 longer, when they once see us on a level with 
 themselves on the heights, for they do not even 
 at present care to come down and meet us on 
 fair ground." Cheirisophus answered : " But 
 why should you go and leave your command in 
 the rear? Send others rather, unless a band of 
 volunteers will present themselves." Thereupon 
 Aristonymus the Methydrian came forward 
 with some heavy infantry, and Aristeas the 
 Chian with some light troops, and Nicomachus 
 the Oetean with another body of light troops, 
 and they made an agreement to kindle several 
 watch-fires as soon as they held the heights. The
 
 316 XENOPHON 
 
 arrangements made, they breakfasted; and 
 after breakfast Cheirisophus advanced the 
 whole army ten furlongs closer towards the 
 enemy, so as to strengthen the impression that 
 he intended to attack them at that point. 
 
 But as soon as they had supped and night had 
 fallen, the party under orders set off and occu- 
 pied the mountain, while the main body rested 
 where they were. Now as soon as the enemy 
 perceived that the mountain was taken, they 
 banished all thought of sleep, and kept many 
 watch-fires blazing through the night. But at 
 break of day Cheirisophus offered sacrifice, and 
 began advancing along the road, while the de- 
 tachment which held the mountain advanced pari 
 passu by the high ground. The larger mass of 
 the enemy, on his side, remained still on the 
 mountain-pass, but a section of them turned to 
 confront the detachment on the heights. Before 
 the main bodies had time to draw together, the 
 detachment on the height came to close quarters, 
 and the Hellenes were victorious and gave chase. 
 Meanwhile the Hght division of the Hellenes, 
 issuing from the plain, were rapidly advancing 
 against the serried lines of the enemy, whilst 
 Cheirisophus followed up with his hea\'y infan- 
 try at quick march. But the enemy on the road 
 no sooner saw their higher division being 
 worsted than they fled, and some few of them 
 were slain, and a vast number of wicker shields
 
 ANAl^ASTS BOOK IV 317 
 
 were taken, which the Hellenes haeked to pieces 
 with their short sΛvords and rendered useless. 
 So Avhen they had reached the summit of the 
 pass, they sacrificed and set up a trophy, and 
 descending into the plain, reached villages 
 abounding in good things of every kind. 
 
 VII. — After this they marched into the coun- 
 try of the Taochians five stages — thirty para- 
 sangs — and provisions failed; for the Taochians 
 lived in strong places, into which they had car- 
 ried up all their stores. Now when the army ar- 
 rived before one of these strong places — a mere 
 fortress, without city or houses, into which a 
 motley crowd of men and women and numerous 
 flocks and herds were gathered — Cheirisophus 
 attacked at once. When the first regiment fell 
 back tired, a second advanced, and again a third, 
 for it was impossible to surround the place in 
 full force, as it was encircled by a river. Pres- 
 ently Xenophon came up with the rearguard, 
 consisting of both light and heavy infantry, 
 whereupon Cheirisophus hailed him with the 
 words: "In the nick of time you have come; 
 we must take this place, for the troops have no 
 provisions, unless we take it." Thereupon they 
 consulted together, and to Xenophon's inquiry, 
 " What it was which hindered their simply walk- 
 ing in?" Cheirisophus replied, "There is just 
 this one narrow approach which you see; but 
 when we attempt to pass by it they roll down
 
 318 XENOPHONi 
 
 ΛΌΐΙεγβ of stones from yonder overhanging 
 crag ; " pointing up, " and this is the state in 
 which you find yourself, if you chance to be 
 caught ; " and he pointed to some poor fellows 
 with their legs or ribs crushed to bits. " But 
 when they have expended their ammunition,'* 
 said Xenoj)hon, " there is nothing else, is there, 
 to hinder our passing? Certainly, except yonder 
 handful of fellows, there is no one in front of 
 us that we can see; and of them, only two or 
 three apparently are armed, and the distance to 
 be traversed under fire is, as your eyes will tell 
 you, about one hundred and fifty feet as near 
 as can be, and of this space the first hundred is 
 thickly covered with great pines at intervals; 
 under cover of these, what harm can come to our 
 men from a pelt of stones, flying or rolling? 
 So then, there is only fifty feet left to cross, dur- 
 ing a lull of stones." " Ay," said Cheirisophus, 
 " but with our first attempt to approach the bush 
 a galling fire of stones commences." " The very 
 thing we want," said the other, " for they will 
 use up their ammunition all the quicker; but let 
 us select a point from which we shall have only a 
 brief space to run across, if we can, and from 
 which it will be easier to get back, if we wish." 
 Thereupon Cheirisophus and Xenophon set 
 out with Callimachus the Parrhasian, the cap- 
 tain in command of the officers of the rearguard 
 that day; the rest of the captains remained out
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 319 
 
 of danger. Tliat done, the next step was for a 
 party of about seventy men to get away under 
 the trees, not in a body, but one by one, every 
 one using his best precaution; and Agasias the 
 Styniphalian, and Aristonymus the Methydrian, 
 who were also officers of the rearguard, were 
 posted as supports outside the trees; for it was 
 not possible for more than a single company to 
 stand safely within the trees. Here Callimachus 
 hit upon a pretty contrivance — he ran forward 
 from the tree under which he was posted two 
 or three paces, and as soon as the stones came 
 whizzing, he retired easily, but at each excursion 
 more than ten wagon-loads of rocks were ex- 
 pended. Agasias, seeing how Callimachus was 
 amusing himself, and the whole army looking 
 on as spectators, was seized with the fear that 
 he might miss his chance of being first to run 
 the gauntlet of the enemy's fire and get into 
 the place. So, without a word of summons to 
 his next neighbour, Aristonymus, or to Eurylo- 
 chus of Lusia, both comrades of his, or to any 
 one else, oiF he set on his own account, and 
 passed the whole detachment. But Callimachus, 
 seeing him tearing past, caught hold of his shield 
 by the rim, and in the meantime Aristonymus 
 the Methydrian ran past both, and after him 
 Eurylochus of Lusia ; for they were one and all 
 aspirants to valour, and in that high pursuit, 
 each was the eager rival of the rest. So in this
 
 320 XENOPHON 
 
 strife of honour, the three of them took the for- 
 tress, and when they had once rushed in, not a 
 stone more was hurled from overhead. 
 
 And here a terrible spectacle displayed itself: 
 the women first cast their infants down the cliff, 
 and then they cast themselves after their fallen 
 little ones, and the men likewise. In such a 
 scene, ^neas the Etymphalian, an officer, 
 caught sight of a man with a fine dress about 
 to throw himself over, and seized hold of him 
 to stop him; but the other caught him to his 
 arms, and both were gone in an instant headlong 
 down the crags, and were killed. Out of this 
 place the merest handful of human beings were 
 taken prisoners, but cattle and asses in abun- 
 dance and flocks of sheep. 
 
 From this place they marched through the 
 Chalybes seven stages, fifty parasangs. These 
 were the bravest men whom they encountered on 
 the whole march, coming cheerily to close quar- 
 ters with them. They wore linen cuirasses reach- 
 ing to the groin, and instead of the ordinary 
 " wings " or basques, a thickly-plaited fringe of 
 cords. They were also provided with greaves 
 and helmets, and at the girdle a short sabre, 
 about as long as the Spartan dagger, with which 
 they cut the throats of those they mastered, and 
 after severing the head from the trunk they 
 would march along carrying it, singing and 
 dancing, when they drew within their enemy's
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 321 
 
 iieltl of view. They carried also a spear fifteen 
 cubits long, lanced at one end. This folk stayed 
 in regular townsliips, and whenever the Hel- 
 lenes passed by they invariably hung close on 
 their heels fighting. They had dwelling-places 
 in their fortresses, and into them they had car- 
 ried up their supplies, so that the Hellenes could 
 get nothing from this district, but supported 
 themselves on the flocks and herds they had 
 taken from the Taochians. After this the Hel- 
 lenes reached the river Harpasus, which was 
 four hundred feet broad. Hence they marched 
 through the Scythenians four stages — twenty 
 parasangs — through a long level country to 
 more villages, among which they halted three 
 days, and got in supplies. 
 
 Passing on from thence in four stages of 
 twenty parasangs, they reached a large and pros- 
 perous well-populated city, which went by the 
 name of Gymnias, from which the governor of 
 the country sent them a guide to lead them 
 through a district hostile to his own. This guide 
 told them that within five days he would lead 
 them to a place from which they would see the 
 sea, " and," he added, " if I fail of my word, you 
 are free to take my life." Accordingly he put 
 himself at their head; but he no sooner set foot 
 in the country hostile to himself than he fell to 
 encouraging them to burn and harry the land; 
 indeed his exhortations were so earnest, it was
 
 322 XENOPHON 
 
 plain that it was for this he had come, and not 
 out of the good-will he bore the Hellenes. 
 
 On the fifth day they reached the mountain, 
 the name of which was Theches. No sooner had 
 the men in front ascended it and caught sight of 
 the sea than a great cry arose, and Xenophon, 
 Avith the rearguard, catching the sound of it, 
 conjectured that another set of enemies must 
 surely be attacking in front; for they were fol- 
 lowed by the inhabitants of the country, which 
 ΛΛ^as all aflame; indeed, the rearguard had killed 
 some and captured others alive by laying an am- 
 buscade; they had taken also about tΛventy 
 wicker shields, covered with the raw hides of 
 shaggy oxen. 
 
 But as the shout became louder and nearer, 
 and those who from time to time came up, be- 
 gan racing at the top of their speed towards 
 the shouters, and the shouting continually re- 
 commenced with yet greater volume as the num- 
 bers increased, Xenophon settled in his mind 
 that something extraordinary must have hap- 
 pened, so he mounted his horse, and taking with 
 him Lycius and the cavalry, he galloped to the 
 rescue. Presently they could hear the soldiers 
 shouting and passing on the joyful word, The 
 sea! the sea! 
 
 Thereupon they began running, rearguard 
 and all, and the baggage animals and horses 
 came galloping up. But when they had reached
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 323 
 
 the summit, then indeed they fell to embracing 
 one another — generals and officers and all — and 
 the tears trickled down their cheeks. And on a 
 sudden, some one, whoever it was, having 
 passed down the order, the soldiers began bring- 
 ing stones and erecting a great cairn, whereon 
 they dedicated a host of untanned skins, and 
 staves, and captured wicker shields, and with 
 his own hand the guide hacked the shields to 
 pieces, inviting the rest to follow his example. 
 After this the Hellenes dismissed the guide with 
 a present raised from the common store, to wit, 
 a horse, a silver bowl, a Persian dress, and ten 
 darics; but what he most begged to have were 
 their rings, and of these he got several from the 
 soldiers. So, after pointing out to them a vil- 
 lage where they would find quarters, and the road 
 by which they would proceed towards the land 
 of the Macrones, as evening fell, he turned his 
 back upon them in the night and was gone. 
 VIII. — From this point the Hellenes marched 
 through the country of the Macrones three 
 stages of ten parasangs, and on the first day 
 they reached the river, which formed the bound- 
 ary between the land of the Macrones and the 
 land of the Scythenians. Above them, on their 
 right, they had a country of the sternest and 
 ruggedest character, and on their left another 
 river, into which the frontier river discharges 
 itself, and which they must cross. This was
 
 324 XENOPHON 
 
 thickly fringed with trees wliich, though not of 
 any great bulk, were closely packed. As soon 
 as they came up to them, the Hellenes proceeded 
 to cut them down in their haste to get out of the 
 place as soon as possible. But the Macrones, 
 armed with wicker shields and lances and hair 
 tunics, were already drawn up to recei\^e them 
 immediately opposite the crossing. They were 
 cheering one another on, and kept up a steady 
 pelt of stones into the river, though they failed 
 to reach the other side or do any harm. 
 
 At this juncture one of the light infantry 
 came up to Xenophon; he had been, he said, a 
 slave at Athens, and he wished to tell him that 
 he recognised the speech of these people. *' I 
 think," said he, " this must be my native coun- 
 try, and if there is no objection I will have a 
 talk with them." " No objection at all," replied 
 Xenophon, " pray talk to them, and ask them 
 first, who they are." In answer to this question 
 they said, " they were Macrones." " Well, 
 then," said he, " ask them why they are drawn 
 up in battle and want to fight with us." They 
 answered, " Because you are invading our coun- 
 try." The generals bade him say: "If so, it 
 is with no intention certainly of doing it or you 
 any harm: but we have been at war with the 
 king, and are now returning to Hellas, and all 
 . we want is to reach the sea." The others asked, 
 " were they willing to give them pledges to that
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 325 
 
 eit'cct ? " They replied : " Yes, they were ready 
 to give and receive pledges to that eiFect." Then 
 the JNIaerones gave a barbaric lance to the Hel- 
 lenes, and the Hellenes a Hellenic lance to them : 
 " for these," they said, " would serve as pledges," 
 and both sides called upon the gods to witness. 
 
 After the pledges were exchanged, the Ma- 
 crones fell to vigorously hewing down trees and 
 constructing a road to help them across, mingling 
 freely Λvith the Hellenes and fraternising in their 
 midst, and they afforded them as good a market 
 as they could, and for three days conducted them 
 on their march, until they had brought them 
 safely to the confines of the Colchians. At this 
 point they were confronted by a great mountain 
 chain, which, however, was accessible, and on it 
 the Colchians were drawn up for battle. In the 
 first instance, the Hellenes drew up opposite in 
 line of battle, as though they were minded to as- 
 sault the hill in that order; but afterwards the 
 generals determined to hold a council of war, 
 and consider how to make the fairest fight. 
 
 Accordingly Xenophon said: "I am not for 
 advancing in line, but advise to form companies 
 by columns. To begin with, the line," he urged, 
 " would be scattered and thrown into disorder 
 at once; for we shall find the mountain full of 
 inequalities, it will be pathless here and easy to 
 traverse there. The mere fact of first having 
 formed in line, and then seeing the line thrown
 
 326 XENOPHON 
 
 into disorder, must exercise a disheartening ef- 
 fect. Again, if we advance several deep, the 
 enemy will none the less overlap us, and turn 
 their superfluous numbers to account as best 
 they like; while, if we march in shallow order, 
 we may fully expect our line to be cut through 
 and through by the thick rain of missiles and 
 rush of men, and if this happen anywhere along 
 the line, the whole line will equally suffer. No; 
 my notion is to form columns by companies, 
 covering ground sufficient with spaces between 
 the companies to allow the last companies of 
 each flank to be outside the enemy's flanks. Thus 
 we shall with our extreme companies be outside 
 the enemy's line, and the best men at the head 
 of their columns will lead the attack, and every 
 company will pick its way where the ground is 
 easy; also it will be difficult for the enemy to 
 force his way into the intervening spaces, when 
 there are companies on both sides; nor will it be 
 easy for him to cut in twain any individual com- 
 pany marching in column. If, too, any particu- 
 lar company should be pressed, the neighbouring 
 company will come to the rescue, or if at any 
 point any single company succeed in reaching 
 the height, from that moment not one man of 
 the enemy will stand his ground." 
 
 This proposal was carried, and they formed 
 into columns by companies. Then Xenophon, 
 returning from the right wing to the left, ad-
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 327 
 
 dressed the soldiers. " Men," he said, " these 
 men Avhoni you see in front of you are the sole 
 obstacles still interposed between us and the 
 haven of our hopes so long deferred. We will 
 SΛvallovv them up whole, without cooldng,^ if we 
 can." 
 
 The several divisions fell into position, the 
 companies were formed into columns, and the 
 result was a total of something like eighty com- 
 panies of heavy infantry, each company consist- 
 ing on an average of a hundred men. The light 
 infantrj^ and bowmen were arranged in three 
 divisions — two outside to support the left and 
 the right respectively, and the third in the cen- 
 tre — each division consisting of about six hun- 
 dred men. 
 
 Before starting, the generals passed the order 
 to oiFer prayer; and with the prayer and battle 
 hymn rising from their lips they commenced 
 their advance. Cheirisophus and Xenophon, and 
 the light infantry with them, advanced outside 
 the enemy's line to right and left, and the en- 
 emy, seeing their advance, made an effort to 
 keep parallel and confront them, but in order 
 to do so, as he extended partly to right and 
 partly to left, he was pulled to pieces, and there 
 was a large space or hollow left in the centre of 
 
 Β Or, " we will gobble them raw." He is thinking of the 
 Homeric line, " Perchance wort thou to enter within the gates 
 and long walls and devour Priam raw, and Priam's sons and 
 all the Trojans, then mightcst thou assuage thine anger."
 
 328 XENOPHON 
 
 his line. Seeing them separate thus, the light 
 infantry attached to the Arcadian battalion, un- 
 der command of ^Eschines, an Acarnanian, mis- 
 took the movement for flight, and with a loud 
 shout rushed on, and these were the first to scale 
 the mountain summit ; but they were closely fol- 
 lowed up by the Arcadian heavy infantry, under 
 command of Cleanor of Orchomenus. 
 
 When they began running in that way, the 
 enemy stood their ground no longer, but betook 
 themselves to flight, one in one direction, one in 
 another, and the Hellenes scaled the hill and 
 found quarters in numerous Λdllages which con- 
 tained supplies in abundance. Here, generally 
 speaking, there was nothing to excite their won- 
 derment, but the numbers of bee-hives were in- 
 deed astonishing, and so were certain properties 
 of the honey. The efl'ect upon the soldiers who 
 tasted the combs was, that they all went for the 
 nonce quite ofl" their heads, and suffered from 
 vomiting and diarrhoea, with a total inability to 
 stand steady on their legs. A small dose. pro- 
 duced a condition not unlike violent drunken- 
 ness, a large one an attack very like a fit of 
 madness, and some dropped down, apparently 
 at death's door. So they lay, hundreds of them, 
 as if there had been a great defeat, a prey to the 
 cruellest despondency. But the next daj^ none 
 had died; and almost at the same hour of the 
 day at wliich they had eaten they recovered their
 
 ANABASIS BOOK IV 329 
 
 senses, and on the third or fourth day got on 
 their le«>s again like convalescents after a severe 
 course ο Γ medical treatment. 
 
 From this place they marched on two stages 
 — seven parasangs — and reached the sea at Tra- 
 pezus, a populous Hellenic city on the Euxine 
 Sea, a colony of the Sinopeans, in the territory 
 of the Colchians. Here they halted about thirty 
 days in the villages of the Colchians, which they 
 used as a base of operations to ravage the whole 
 territory of Colchis. The men of Trapezus 
 supplied the army with a market, entertained 
 them, and gave them, as gifts of hospitality, 
 oxen and wheat and wine. Further, they ne- 
 gotiated with them in behalf of their neighbours 
 the Colchians who dwelt in the plain for the 
 most part, and from this folk also came gifts 
 of hospitality in the shape of cattle. And now 
 the Hellenes made preparation for the sacrifice 
 which they had vowed, and a sufficient number 
 of cattle came in for them to offer thank-offer- 
 ings for safe guidance to Zeus the Saviour, and 
 to Heracles, and to the other gods, according to 
 their vows. They instituted also a gymnastic 
 contest on the mountain side, just where they 
 were quartered, and chose Dracontius, a Spar- 
 tan (who had been banished from home when a 
 lad, having unintentionally slain another boy 
 with a blow of his dagger), to superintend the 
 course, and be president of the games.
 
 330 XENOPHON 
 
 As soon as the sacrifices were over, they handed 
 over the hides of the beasts to Dracontius, and 
 bade him lead the way to his racecourse. He 
 merely waved his hand and pointed to where they 
 were standing, and said, " There, this ridge is 
 just the place for running, anywhere, every- 
 where." " But how," it was asked, " will they 
 manage to wrestle on the hard scrubby ground? " 
 "Oh! worse knocks for those who are thrown," 
 the president replied. There was a mile race for 
 boys, the majority being captive lads; and for 
 the long race more than sixty Cretans competed ; 
 there was wrestling, boxing, and the pankration.*^ 
 Altogether it was a beautiful spectacle. There 
 was a large number of entries, and the emula- 
 tion, with their companions, male and female, 
 standing as spectators, was immense. There was 
 horse-racing also; the riders had to gallop down 
 a steep incline to the sea, and then turn and come 
 up again to the altar, and on the descent more 
 than half rolled head over heels, and then back 
 they came toiling up the tremendous steep, 
 scarcely out of a walking pace. Loud were the 
 shouts, the laughter, and the cheers. 
 
 β The pankration combined both wrestling and boxing. 
 
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