Anabasis

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"Again, the country is now yours, and from this time forward you have
to make provision for what is yours; and how will you best secure it
an immunity from ill? Either these soldiers receive their dues and go,
leaving a legacy of peace behind, or they stay and occupy an enemy's
country, whilst you endeavour, by aid of a still larger army, to open
a new campaign and turn them out; and your new troops will also need
provisions. Or again, which will be the greater drain on your purse?
to pay off your present debt, or, with that still owing, to bid for
more troops, and of a better quality?

"Heracleides, as he used to prove to me, finds the sum excessive. But 35
surely it is a far less serious thing for you to take and pay it back
to-day than it would have been to pay the tithe of it, before we came
to you; since the limit between less and more is no fixed number, but
depends on the relative capacity of payer and recipient, and your
yearly income now is larger than the whole property which you
possessed in earlier days.

"Well, Seuthes, for myself these remarks are the expression of
friendly forethought for a friend. They are expressed in the double
hope that you may show yourself worthy of the good things which the
gods have given you, and that my reputation may not be ruined with the
army. For I must assure you that to-day, if I wished to injure a foe,
I could not do so with this army. Nor again, if I wished to come and
help you, should I be competent to the task; such is the disposition
of the troops towards me. And yet I call you to witness, along with
the gods who know, that never have I received anything from you on
account of the soldiers. Never to this day have I, to my private gain,
asked for what was theirs, nor even claimed the promises which were
made to myself; and I swear to you, not even had you proposed to pay
me my dues, would I have accepted them, unless the soldiers also had
been going to receive theirs too; how could I? How shameful it would
have been in me, so to have secured my own interests, whilst I
disregarded the disastrous state of theirs, I being so honoured by
them. Of course to the mind of Heracleides this is all silly talk;
since the one great object is to keep money by whatever means. That is
not my tenet, Seuthes. I believe that no fairer or brighter jewel can
be given to a man, and most of all a prince, than the threefold grace
of valour, justice, and generosity. He that possesses these is rich in
the multitude of friends which surround him; rich also in the desire
of others to be included in their number. While he prospers, he is
surrounded by those who will rejoice with him in his joy; or if
misfortune overtake him, he has no lack of sympathisers to give him
help. However, if you have failed to learn from my deeds that I was,
heart and soul, your friend; if my words are powerless to reveal the
fact to-day, I would at least direct your attention to what the 43
soldiers said; you were standing by and heard what those who sought to
blame me said. They accused me to the Lacedaemonians, and the point of
their indictment was that I set greater store by yourself than by the
Lacedaemonians; but, as regards themselves, the charge was that I took
more pains to secure the success of your interests than their own.
They suggested that I had actually taken gifts from you. Was it, do
you suppose, because they detected some ill-will in me towards you
that they made the allegation? Was it not rather, that they had
noticed my abundant zeal on your behalf?

"All men believe, I think, that a fund of kindly feeling is due to him
from whom we accept gifts. But what is your behaviour? Before I had
ministered to you in any way, or done you a single service, you
welcomed me kindly with your eyes, your voice, your hospitality, and
you could not sate yourself with promises of all the fine things that
were to follow. But having once achieved your object, and become the
great man you now are, as great indeed as I could make you, you can
stand by and see me degraded among my own soldiers! Well, time will
teach you--that I fully believe--to pay whatever seems to you right,
and even without the lessons of that teacher you will hardly care to
see whose who have spent themselves in benefiting you, become your
accusers. Only, when you do pay your debt, I beg of you to use your
best endeavour to right me with the soldiers. Leave me at least where
you found me; that is all I ask."

After listening to this appeal, Seuthes called down curses on him,
whose fault it was, that the debt had not long ago been paid, and, if
the general suspicion was correct, this was Heracleides. "For myself,"
said Seuthes, "I never had any idea of robbing you of your just dues.
I will repay." Then Xenophon rejoined: "Since you are minded to pay, I
only ask that you will do so through me, and will not suffer me on
your account to hold a different position in the army from what I held
when we joined you." He replied: "As far as that goes, so far from
holding a less honoured position among your own men on my account, if
you will stay with me, keeping only a thousand heavy infantry, I will
deliver to you the fortified places and everything I promised." The
other answered: "On these terms I may not accept them, only let us go 51
free." "Nay, but I know," said Seuthes, "that it is safer for you to
bide with me than to go away." Then Xenophon again: "For your
forethought I thank you, but I may not stay. Somewhere I may rise to
honour, and that, be sure, shall redound to your gain also." Thereupon
Seuthes spoke: "Of silver I have but little; that little, however, I
give to you, one talent; but of beeves I can give you six hundred
head, and of sheep four thousand, and of slaves six score. These take,
and the hostages besides, who wronged you, and begone." Xenophon
laughed and said: "But supposing these all together do not amount to
the pay; for whom is the talent, shall I say? It is a little dangerous
for myself, is it not? I think I had better be on the look-out for
stones when I return. You heard the threats?"

So for the moment he stayed there, but the next day Seuthes gave up to
them what he had promised, and sent an escort to drive the cattle. The
soldiers at first maintained that Xenophon had gone to take up his
abode with Seuthes, and to receive what he had been promised; so when
they saw him they were pleased, and ran to meet him. And Xenophon,
seeing Charminus and Polynicus, said: "Thanks to your intervention,
this much has been saved for the army. My duty is to deliver this
fraction over to your keeping; do you divide and distribute it to the
soldiers." Accordingly they took the property and appointed official
vendors of the booty, and in the end incurred considerable blame.
Xenophon held aloof. In fact it was no secret that he was making his
preparations to return home, for as yet the vote of banishment had not
been passed at Athens[1]. But the authorities in the camp came to him
and begged him not to go away until he had conducted the army to its
destination, and handed it over to Thibron.

[1] I.e. "at this moment the vote of banishment had not been passed
which would prevent his return to Athens." The natural inference
from these words is, I think, that the vote of banishment was
presently passed, at any rate considerably earlier than the battle
of Coronea in B.C. 394, five years and a half afterwards.

VIII

From this place they sailed across to Lampsacus, and here Xenophon was 1
met by Eucleides the soothsayer, a Phliasian, the son of Cleagoras,
who painted "the dreams[1]" in the Lycium. Eucleides congratulated
Xenophon upon his safe return, and asked him how much gold he had got?
and Xenophon had to confess: "Upon my word, I shall have barely enough
to get home, unless I sell my horse, and what I have about my person."
The other could not credit the statement. Now when the Lampsacenes
sent gifts of hospitality to Xenophon, and he was sacrificing to
Apollo, he requested the presence of Eucleides; and the latter, seeing
the victims, said: "Now I believe what you said about having no money.
But I am certain," he continued, "if it were ever to come, there is an
obstacle in the way. If nothing else, you are that obstacle yourself."
Xenophon admitted the force of that remark. Then the other: "Zeus
Meilichios[2] is an obstacle to you, I am sure," adding in another
tone of voice, "have you tried sacrificing to that god, as I was wont
to sacrifice and offer whole burnt offerings for you at home?"
Xenophon replied that since he had been abroad, he had not sacrificed
to that god. Accordingly Eucleides counselled him to sacrifice in the
old customary way: he was sure that his fortune would improve. The
next day Xenophon went on to Ophrynium and sacrificed, offering a
holocaust of swine, after the custom of his family, and the signs
which he obtained were favourable. That very day Bion and Nausicleides
arrived laden with gifts for the army. These two were hospitably
entertained by Xenophon, and were kind enough to repurchase the horse
he had sold in Lampsacus for fifty darics; suspecting that he had
parted with it out of need, and hearing that he was fond of the beast
they restored it to him, refusing to be remunerated.

[1] Reading {ta enupnia}, or if {ta entoikhia} with Hug and others,
translate "the wall-paintings" or the "frescoes." Others think
that a writing, not a painting, is referred to.

[2] Zeus Meilichios, or the gentle one. See Thuc. i. 126. The festival
of the Diasia at Athens was in honour of that god, or rather of
Zeus under that aspect. Cf. Arist. "Clouds," 408.

From that place they marched through the Troad, and, crossing Mount
Ida, arrived at Antandrus, and then pushed along the seaboard of Mysia
to the plain of Thebe[3]. Thence they made their way through 8
Adramytium and Certonus[4] by Atarneus, coming into the plain of the
Caicus, and so reached Pergamus in Mysia.

[3] Thebe, a famous ancient town in Mysia, at the southern foot of Mt.
Placius, which is often mentioned in Homer ("Il." i. 366, vi. 397,
xxii. 479, ii. 691). See "Dict. Geog." s.v. The name {Thebes
pedion} preserves the site. Cf. above {Kaustrou pedion}, and such
modern names as "the Campagna" or "Piano di Sorrento."

[4] The site of Certonus is not ascertained. Some critics have
conjectured that the name should be Cytonium, a place between
Mysia and Lydia; and Hug, who reads {Kutoniou}, omits {odeusantes
par 'Atanea}, "they made their way by Atarneus," as a gloss.

Here Xenophon was hospitably entertained at the house of Hellas, the
wife of Gongylus the Eretrian[5], the mother of Gorgion and Gongylus.
From her he learnt that Asidates, a Persian notable, was in the plain.
"If you take thirty men and go by night, you will take him prisoner,"
she said, "wife, children, money, and all; of money he has a store;"
and to show them the way to these treasures, she sent her own cousin
and Daphnagoras, whom she set great store by. So then Xenophon, with
these two to assist, did sacrifice; and Basias, an Eleian, the
soothsayer in attendance, said that the victims were as promising as
could be, and the great man would be an easy prey. Accordingly, after
dinner he set off, taking with him the officers who had been his
staunchest friends and confidants throughout; as he wished to do them
a good turn. A number of others came thrusting themselves on their
company, to the number of six hundred, but the officers repelled them:
"They had no notion of sharing their portion of the spoil," they said,
"just as though the property lay already at their feet."

[5] Cf. Thuc. i. 128; also "Hell." III. i. 6.

About midnight they arrived. The slaves occupying the precincts of the
tower, with the mass of goods and chattles, slipped through their
fingers, their sole anxiety being to capture Asidates and his
belongings. So they brought their batteries to bear, but failing to
take the tower by assault (since it was high and solid, and well
supplied with ramparts, besides having a large body of warlike
defenders), they endeavoured to undermine it. The wall was eight clay
bricks thick, but by daybreak the passage was effected and the wall
undermined. At the first gleam of light through the aperture, one of 14
the defendants inside, with a large ox-spit, smote right through the
thigh of the man nearest the hole, and the rest discharged their
arrows so hotly that it was dangerous to come anywhere near the
passage; and what with their shouting and kindling of beacon fires, a
relief party at length arrived, consisting of Itabelius at the head of
his force, and a body of Assyrian heavy infantry from Comania, and
some Hyrcanian cavalry[6], the latter also being mercenaries of the
king. There were eighty of them, and another detachment of light
troops, about eight hundred, and more from Parthenium, and more again
from Apollonia and the neighbouring places, also cavalry.

[6] The Hyrcanian cavalry play an important part in the "Cyropaedeia."
They are the Scirites of the Assyrian army who came over to Cyrus
after the first battle. Their country is the fertile land touching
the south-eastern corner of the Caspian. Cf. "Cyrop." IV. ii. 8,
where the author (or an editor) appends a note on the present
status of the Hyrcanians.

It was now high time to consider how they were to beat a retreat. So
seizing all the cattle and sheep to be had, with the slaves, they put
them within a hollow square and proceed to drive them off. Not that
they had a thought to give to the spoils now, but for precaution's
sake and for fear lest if they left the goods and chattels behind and
made off, the retreat would rapidly degenerate into a stampede, the
enemy growing bolder as the troops lost heart. For the present then
they retired as if they meant to do battle for the spoils. As soon as
Gongylus espied how few the Hellenes were and how large the attacking
party, out he came himself, in spite of his mother, with his private
force, wishing to share in the action. Another too joined in the
rescue--Procles, from Halisarna and Teuthrania, a descendant of
Damaratus. By this time Xenophon and his men were being sore pressed
by the arrows and slingstones, though they marched in a curve so as to
keep their shields facing the missiles, and even so, barely crossed the
river Carcasus, nearly half of them wounded. Here it was that Agasias
the Stymphalian, the captain, received his wound, while keeping up a
steady unflagging fight against the enemy from beginning to end. And
so they reached home in safety with about two hundred captives, and
sheep enough for sacrifices.

The next day Xenophon sacrificed and led out the whole army under the 20
cover of night, intending to pierce far into the heart of Lydia with a
view to lulling to sleep the enemy's alarm at his proxmity, and so in
fact to put him off his guard. But Asidates, hearing that Xenophon had
again sacrificed with the intention of another attack, and was
approaching with his whole army, left his tower and took up quarters
in some villages lying under the town of Parthenium. Here Xenophon's
party fell in with him, and took him prisoner, with his wife, his
children, his horses, and all that he had; and so the promise of the
earlier victims was literally fulfilled. After that they returned
again to Pergamus, and here Xenophon might well thank God with a warm
heart, for the Laconians, the officers, the other generals, and the
soldiers as a body united to give him the pick of horses and cattle
teams, and the rest; so that he was now in a position himself to do
another a good turn.

Meanwhile Thibron arrived and received the troops which he
incorporated with the rest of his Hellenic forces, and so proceeded to
prosecute a war against Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus[7].

[7] The MSS. add: "The following is a list of the governors of the
several territories of the king which were traversed by us during
the expedition: Artimas, governor of Lydia; Artacamas, of Phrygia;
Mithridates, of Lycaonia and Cappadocia; Syennesis, of Cilicia;
Dernes, of Phoenicia and Arabia; Belesys, of Syria and Assyria;
Rhoparas, of Babylon; Arbacus, of Media; Tiribazus, of the
Phasians and Hesperites. Then some independent tribes--the
Carduchians or Kurds, and Chalybes, and Chaldaeans, and Macrones,
and Colchians, and Mossynoecians, and Coetians, and Tibarenians.
Then Corylas, the governor of Paphlagonia; Pharnabazus, of the
Bithynians; Seuthes, of the European Thracians. The entire
journey, ascent and descent, consisted of two hundred and fifteen
stages = one thousand one hundred and fifty-five parasangs =
thirty-four thousand six hundred and fifty stades. Computed in
time, the length of ascent and descent together amounted to one
year and three months." The annotator apparently computes the
distance from Ephesus to Cotyora.

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