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Anabasis

X >> Xenophon >> Anabasis




The generals thought it a pretty invention enough, but its realisation
impracticable, for on the other side were masses of cavalry posted and
ready to bar the passage; who, to begin with, would not suffer the 12
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 Hellenes 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 prisoners together, submitted them
to a cross-examination touching the whole country round, the names,
and so forth, of each district.

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; crossing the river, the road west led to Lydia and Ionia;
and the part through the mountains facing towards the Great Bear, led,
they said, to the Carduchians[1]. 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.

[1] See Dr. Kiepert, "Man. Anc. Geog. (Mr. G. A. Macmillan) iv. 47.
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,
pronounced Kardu by the ancient Syrians and Assyrians, Kordu by
the Armenians (plural Kordukh), first appears in its narrower
sense in western literature in the pages of the eye-witness
Xenophon as {Kardoukhoi}. 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 became 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.

After hearing these statements, the generals seated apart those who 17
claimed to have any special knowledge of the country in any direction;
they put them to sit apart without making it clear which 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, according to what their informants told
them, when they had once passed these, they would find themselves in
Armenia--the rich and large territory 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 must 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.




BOOK IV

[In the preceding portion of the narrative a full account is
given of the incidents of the march up to the battle, and of
the occurrences after the battle during the truce which was
established between the king and the Hellenes, who marched up
with Cyrus, and thirdly, of the fighting to which the Hellenes
were exposed, after the king and Tissaphernes had broken the
treaty, while a Persian army hung on their rear. Having
finally reached a point at which the Tigris was absolutely
impassable owing to its depth and breadth, while there was no
passage along the bank itself, and the Carduchian hills hung
sheer over the river, the generals took the resolution above
mentioned of forcing a passage through the mountains. The
information derived from the prisoners taken along the way led
them to believe that once across the Carduchian mountains they
would have the choice either of crossing the Tigris--if they
liked to do so--at its sources in Armenia, or of going round
them, if so they preferred. Report further said that the
sources of the Euphrates also were not far from those of the
Tigris, and this is actually the case. The advance into the
country of the Carduchians was conducted with a view partly to
secrecy, and partly to speed, so as to effect their entry
before the enemy could occupy the passes.]



I

It was now about the last watch, and enough of the night remained to 1
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 Cheirisophus, at the
head of his own division, with the whole of the light troops, led the
van, while Xenophon followed behind with the heavy infantry 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 6
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 children 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 supplied with a copious store of bronze
vessels and utensils which the Hellenes kept their hands off,
abstaining at the same time from all pursuit of the folk themselves,
gently handling them, in hopes that the Carduchians might be willing
to give them friendly passage through their country, 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, owing 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 of the Hellenes met and
resolved to proceed, taking only the necessary number of stout baggage
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 13
was 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 visited by a great storm, in spite of
which they were obliged to continue the march, owing to insufficiency
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 another they came up quite
close, pouring in volleys of arrows and slingstones, so that the
Hellenes had no choice but 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 severely. As a rule, when the word was so passed
up, Cheirisophus slackened; but sometimes instead of slackening,
Cheirisophus quickened, sending down a counter-order to the rear to
follow 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 the circumstances the march, at any rate in
the rear, became very like a rout, and here a brave man lost his life,
Cleonymus 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 Cheirisophus, and took him to task for not having waited,
"whereby," he said, "we were forced to fight and flee at the same 19
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 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 questioned separately: "Did they
know of any other road than the one visible?" The first said no; and
in spite of all sorts of terrors applied to extract a better
answer--"no," he persisted. 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 when asked whether there
was any point on it difficult to pass, he replied that there was a col
which it would be impossible to pass unless it were occupied in
advance.

Then it was resolved to summon the officers of the light infantry and
some of those of the heavy infantry, and to acquaint 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
expedition. Two or three heavy infantry soldiers stepped forward at
once--two Arcadians, Aristonymus of Methydrium, and Agasias of
Stymphalus--and in emulation of these, a third, also an Arcadian,
Callimachus from Parrhasia, who said he was ready to go, and would get
volunteers from the whole army to join him. "I know," he added, "there 27
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 service, volunteered.



II

It was already late afternoon, when they ordered the storming party to 1
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 signal 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 their succours;
making their way up with what speed they might. With this
understanding, off 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 creeping 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 barbarians began rolling down great
boulders, each a wagon load[1], some larger, some smaller; against the
rocks they crashed and splintered flying like slingstones 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 darkness set in; and then, when they thought they would
not be seen retiring, they returned to supper. Some of them who had
been on duty in the rearguard had had no breakfast (it so happened).
However, the enemy never ceased rolling down their stones all through
the night, as was easy to infer from the booming sound.

[1] I.e. several ton weight.

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 rest, took their places, thinking that they were in possession
of the height. As a matter of fact they were not, for above them lay a 6
breast-like hill[2] 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 enemy, who were seated on the pass before mentioned.

[2] Or, "mamelon."

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. Cheirisophus 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 position
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 rear of the baggage
animals; the other half he had with himself. In their course they
encountered a crest above the road, occupied by the enemy, whom they
must either dislodge or be themselves cut off 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 13
left the ridge just taken unprotected in their rear, the enemy might
re-occupy it and attack the baggage animals as they filed past,
presenting a long extended line owing to the narrowness of the road by
which they made their way. To obviate this, he left some officers in
charge of the ridge--Cephisodorus, son of Cephisophon, an Athenian;
Amphicrates, the son of Amphidemus, an Athenian; and Archagoras, an
Argive exile--while 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, with 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 advance by the road, and
when they reached the level to ground arms[3]. Meanwhile the Argive
Archagoras arrived, in full flight, with the announcement that they
had been dislodged from the first ridge, and that Cephisodorus and
Amphicrates 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 facing the mamelon,
and Xenophon held a colloquy with them by means of an interpreter, to
negotiate a truce, and demanded back the dead bodies. These they
agreed to restore if he would not burn their houses, and to these
terms Xenophon agreed. Meanwhile, as the rest of the army filed past,
and the colloquy was proceeding, 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 20
reached the summit of the mamelon from which Xenophon was descending,
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[4], 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 serried ranks of
the main body.

[3] To take up position.

[4] I.e. of Lusi (or Lusia), a town (or district) in Northern Arcadia.

After this the whole Hellenic force united, and took up their quarters
there in numerous beautiful dwellings, with an ample store of
provisions, 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 means at their disposal, with the
customary honours paid to good men.

Next day they set off without a guide; and the enemy, by keeping up a
continuous battle and occupying in advance every narrow place,
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 endeavouring to get above the
obstructing enemy. Whenever the rear was the point attacked,
Cheirisophus, in the same way, made a detour, and by endeavouring to
mount higher than the barricaders, 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 28
forward on the lower end of the bow. The arrows pierced through shield
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 1
plain of the river Centrites[1], which 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 mountains 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 continuous battle, which had cost them
more suffering 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.

[1] I.e. the Eastern Tigris.

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 prevent them debouching into Armenia. These
troops were Armenian and Mardian and Chaldaean mercenaries belonging
to Orontas and Artuchas. The last of the three, the Chaldaeans, 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 looking like
a regular artificially constructed highway. At this point the Hellenes
endeavoured to cross, but on their making the attempt the water proved 6
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 arrows 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
difficult to ford; over, on the other side, a new enemy threatening to
bar the passage; on the 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[2]. 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.

[2] It is impossible to give the true sense and humour of the passage
in English, depending, as it does, on the double meaning of
{diabainein} (1) to cross (a river), (2) to stride or straddle (of
the legs). The army is unable to cross the Centrites; Xenophon
dreams that he is fettered, but the chains drop off his legs and
he is able to stride as freely as ever; next morning the two young
men come to him with the story how they have found themselves able
to walk cross the river instead of having to swim it. It is
obvious to Xenophon that the dream is sent from Heaven.

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