Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)

by Xenophon

  “Now if these doings are to go on in this way, observe what the situation of your army will be. [27] You, the general body, will not have it in your power either to undertake war upon whom you please or to bring war to an end, but any individual who wishes will be leading an army to gain any end he may desire. And if people come to you as ambassadors, desiring peace or anything else, any who choose will kill them and prevent you from hearing the words of those who come to confer with you. [28] Furthermore, the men whom you as a body may choose for commanders will be of no account, but whoever may choose himself general and will raise the cry `Pelt, pelt,’ that man will have the power to slay either commander or private, any one of you he pleases, without a trial, provided — as indeed it came about in the present case — there are people who will obey him. [29] Consider the sort of things these self-chosen generals have actually accomplished for you. Take Zelarchus, the market-clerk: supposing he has done you wrong, he has sailed off without paying you the penalty; supposing he is not guilty, he has fled from the army out of fear that he might be slain unjustly and without a trial. [30] Take those who stoned to death the ambassadors: they have accomplished this result, that you alone of all the Greeks cannot go to Cerasus safely unless you arrive there with a strong force; and as for the dead whom previously the very men who killed them proposed burying, the result accomplished is, that now it is not safe to pick up their bodies even for one who carries a herald’s staff. For who will care to go as herald when he has the blood of heralds upon his hands? So we requested the Cerasuntians to bury them. [31]

  “Now if these things are right, do you so resolve, in order that, with the understanding that such deeds are to be done, a man may establish his own private guard and may endeavour to hold possession of the strong places overhanging him on the right when he encamps. [32] If, however, you think that such deeds are those of wild beasts and not of human beings, look about for some means of stopping them; otherwise, how, in the name of Zeus, shall we offer glad sacrifices to the gods when we are doing impious deeds, or how shall we fight with enemies if we are slaying one another? [33] And what friendly city will receive us when it sees so great lawlessness amongst us? Who will dare to supply us a market if in matters of the greatest import we show ourselves guilty of such offences? And in that land where we are always fancying that we shall obtain praise from every one, who will praise us if we are men of this sort? For we ourselves, I am quite sure, should say that people who perform such deeds are scoundrels.” [34]

  Hereupon all rose and proposed that the men who began this affair should be duly punished, and that henceforth no one should be again permitted to make a beginning of lawlessness; but if any should so begin, they were to be put on trial for their lives; and the generals were to bring all offenders to trial, and trials were likewise to be held in the matter of any other offences which any one had committed since the time when Cyrus was killed; and they appointed the captains to serve as a jury. [35] Further, upon the recommendation of Xenophon, and by the advice of the soothsayers, it was resolved to purify the army. So the rites of purification were performed.

  8. It was likewise resolved that the generals should undergo an inquiry with reference to their past conduct. When they presented their statements, Philesius and Xanthicles were condemned, for their careless guarding of the merchantmen’s cargoes, to pay the loss incurred, namely, twenty minas, and Sophaenetus, for neglect of duty in the office to which he had been chosen, was fined ten minas.

  Accusations were also made against Xenophon by certain men who claimed that he had beaten them, and so brought the charge of wanton assault. [2] Xenophon bade the first man who spoke to state where it was that he had struck him. He replied, “In the place where we were perishing with cold and there was an enormous amount of snow.” [3] And Xenophon said, “Well, really, with weather of the sort you describe and provisions used up and no chance even to get a smell of wine, when many of us were becoming exhausted with hardships and the enemy were at our heels, if at such a time as that I wantonly abused you, I admit that I am more wanton even than the ass, which, because of its wantonness, so the saying runs, is not subject to fatigue. Nevertheless, do tell us,” he said, “for what reason you were struck. [4] Did I ask you for something, and then strike you because you would not give it to me? Did I demand something back? Was it in a fight over a favourite? Was it an act of drunken violence?” [5] When the man replied that it was none of these things, Xenophon asked him if he was a hoplite. He said no. Was he a peltast, then? No, not that either, he said, but he had been detailed by his messmates, although he was a free man, to drive a mule. [6] At that Xenophon recognized him, and asked: “Are you the fellow who carried the sick man?” “Yes, by Zeus,” he replied, “for you forced me to do so; and you scattered my messmates’ baggage all about.” [7] “Why, the scattering,” said Xenophon, “was after this fashion: I distributed it among others to carry and directed them to bring it back to me, and when I got it back, I returned the whole of it to you intact when you, for your part, had shown me the sick man. But listen, all of you,” he continued, “and hear how the affair happened; for the story is worth hearing. [8]

  “A man was being left behind because he was unable to keep going any longer. I was acquainted with the man only so far as to know that he was one of our number, and I forced you, sir, to carry him in order that he might not perish; for, as I remember, the enemy were following after us.” To that the fellow agreed. [9] “Well,” Xenophon continued, “after I had sent you on ahead, I overtook you again, as I came along with the rearguard, and found you digging a hole to bury the man in, and I stopped and commended you. [10] But when, as we were standing by, the man drew up his leg, all of us cried out, `The man is alive’; and you said, `Let him be alive just as much as he pleases, I, for my part, am not going to carry him.’ Then I struck you; your story is true; for it looked to me as if you knew that he was alive.” [11] “Well, what of that,” the fellow said; “didn’t he die all the same after I had shown him to you?” “Why,” said Xenophon, “all of us are likewise going to die; but should we on that account be buried alive?” [12]

  As for this fellow, everybody cried out that Xenophon had given him fewer blows than he deserved. Then he directed the rest to state the reason why each one of them had been struck. [13] When they failed to rise, he went on himself: “I admit, soldiers, that I have indeed struck men for neglect of discipline, the men who were content to be kept safe by you who marched in due order and fought wherever there was need, while they themselves would leave the ranks and run on ahead in the desire to secure plunder and to enjoy an advantage over you. For if all of us had behaved in this way, all of us alike would have perished. [14] Again, when a man behaved like a weakling and refused to get up, preferring to leave himself a prey to the enemy, I did indeed strike him and use violence to compel him to go on. For once during the severe weather I myself remained seated for quite a long time, waiting for some people who were packing up, and I discovered that it was hard work to get up and stretch my legs. [15] Having tested the matter, then, in my own case, I used after that to drive on any other man whom I might see sitting down and shirking; for getting into motion and acting like a man produced a certain amount of warmth and suppleness, while sitting and keeping quiet tended, as I saw, to make the blood freeze and the toes rot off, just the misfortunes which many people suffered, as you know for yourselves. [16] In still another case, the man, perhaps, who fell behind somewhere out of indolence and prevented both you in the van and us in the rear from going on, I struck such a one with the fist in order that the enemy might not strike him with the lance. [17] Indeed, that is the reason why these people, having been saved, now have it in their power to obtain satisfaction for whatever they suffered unjustly at my hands. But if they had fallen into the hands of the enemy, what suffering would they have experienced so great that they would now be asking to obtain satisfaction for it? [18]

  “My defence,” he continued, “is simple: if
it was for his good that I punished any one, I think I should render the sort of account that parents render to sons and teachers to pupils; for that matter, surgeons also burn and cut patients for their good; [19] but if you believe it was out of wantonness that I did these things, take note that now, by the blessing of the gods, I am more confident than I was then and that I am bolder now than then and drink more wine, but nevertheless I strike no man — for the reason that I see you are in calm waters. [20] But when it is stormy weather and a high sea is running, do you not observe that even for a mere nod the lookout gets angry with the people at the prow and the helmsman angry with the people at the stern? For in such a situation even small blunders are enough to ruin everything. [21] But you rendered judgment yourselves that I was justified in striking those men; for you stood by, with swords, not ballots, in your hands, and it was within your power to come to their aid if you chose; but, by Zeus, you would neither give those people aid nor would you join with me in striking such as violated discipline. [22] Consequently you gave the bad among them freedom to act wantonly by thus letting them alone.

  “For I think, if you care to look into the matter, you will find it is the very same men who were then most cowardly that are now most wanton. [23] At any rate, Boiscus the boxer, of Thessaly, then fought hard to escape carrying his shield, on the plea that he was tired, but now, as I hear, he has already stripped off the clothes of many Cotyorites. [24] If you are wise, therefore, you will do to this fellow the opposite of what people do to dogs; for dogs that are savage are tied up by day and let loose by night, but this fellow, if you are wise, you will tie up by night and let loose by day. [25]

  “But really,” he continued, “I am surprised that if ever I incurred the ill-will of any one among you, you remember that and are not silent about it, while if I protected any one from the cold, or warded off an enemy from him, or helped to provide something for him when he was sick or in want, these acts, on the other hand, are not remembered by anybody; nor, again, if I praised a man for a deed well done, or honoured according to my ability a man who was brave, do you remember any of these things. [26] Yet surely it is more honourable and fair, more righteous and gracious to remember good deeds than evil.”

  Then people began getting up and recalling past incidents, and in the end all was pleasant.

  BOOK VI.

  1. After this, while they delayed at Cotyora, some of the men lived by purchasing from the market and others by pillaging the territory of Paphlagonia. The Paphlagonians, however, were extremely clever in kidnapping the stragglers, and at night time they tried to inflict harm upon such of the Greeks as were quartered at some distance from the rest; consequently they and the Greeks were in a very hostile mood toward one another. [2] Then Corylas, who chanced at the time to be ruler of Paphlagonia, sent ambassadors to the Greeks, with horses and fine raiment, bearing word that Corylas was ready to do the Greeks no wrong and to suffer no wrong at their hands. [3] The generals replied that they would take counsel with the army on this matter, but meanwhile they received the ambassadors as their guests at dinner, inviting in also such of the other men in the army as seemed to them best entitled to an invitation. [4] By sacrificing some of the cattle they had captured and also other animals they provided an adequate feast, and they dined reclining upon couches and drank from cups made of horn which they found in the country. [5]

  After they had made libations and sung the paean, two Thracians rose up first and began a dance in full armour to the music of a flute, leaping high and lightly and using their sabres; finally, one struck the other, as everybody thought, and the second man fell, in a rather skilful way. [6] And the Paphlagonians set up a cry. Then the first man despoiled the other of his arms and marched out singing the Sitalcas, while other Thracians carried off the fallen dancer, as though he were dead; in fact, he had not been hurt at all. [7] After this some Aenianians and Magnesians arose and danced under arms the so-called carpaea. [8] The manner of the dance was this: a man is sowing and driving a yoke of oxen, his arms laid at one side, and he turns about frequently as one in fear; a robber approaches; as soon as the sower sees him coming, he snatches up his arms, goes to meet him, and fights with him to save his oxen. The two men do all this in rhythm to the music of the flute. Finally, the robber binds the man and drives off the oxen; or sometimes the master of the oxen binds the robber, and then he yokes him alongside the oxen, his hands tied behind him, and drives off. [9] After this a Mysian came in carrying a light shield in each hand, and at one moment in his dance he would go through a pantomime as though two men were arrayed against him, again he would use his shields as though against one antagonist, and again he would whirl and throw somersaults while holding the shields in his hands, so that the spectacle was a fine one. [10] Lastly, he danced the Persian dance, clashing his shields together and crouching down and then rising up again; and all this he did, keeping time to the music of the flute. [11] After him the Mantineans and some of the other Arcadians arose, arrayed in the finest arms and accoutrements they could command, and marched in time to the accompaniment of a flute playing the martial rhythm and sang the paean and danced, just as the Arcadians do in their festal processions in honour of the gods. And the Paphlagonians, as they looked on, thought it most strange that all the dances were under arms. [12] Thereupon the Mysian, seeing how astounded they were, persuaded one of the Arcadians who had a dancing girl to let him bring her in, after dressing her up in the finest way he could and giving her a light shield. [13] And she danced the Pyrrhic with grace. Then there was great applause, and the Paphlagonians asked whether women also fought by their side. And the Greeks replied that these women were precisely the ones who put the King to flight from his camp. Such was the end of that evening. [14]

  On the next day they introduced the ambassadors to the army, and the soldiers passed a resolution to do the Paphlagonians no wrong and to suffer no wrong at their hands. After this the ambassadors departed, and the Greeks, inasmuch as it seemed that vessels enough were at hand, embarked and sailed for a day and a night with a fair wind, keeping Paphlagonia on the left. [15] On the second day they reached Sinope, and came to anchor at Harmene, in the territory of Sinope. The Sinopeans dwell, indeed, in Paphlagonia, but are colonists of the Milesians. And they sent to the Greeks, as gifts of hospitality, three thousand medimni of barley meal and fifteen hundred jars of wine. [16]

  Here Cheirisophus also came, with a man-of-war. And the soldiers expected that he had brought them something; in fact, however, he brought nothing, save the report that the admiral Anaxibius and the others commended them, and that Anaxibius promised that if they got outside the Euxine, they should have regular pay. [17] Here at Harmene the troops remained for five days.

  By this time, since it seemed that they were getting near Greece, the question came into their minds more than before how they might reach home with a little something in hand. [18] They came to the conclusion, therefore, that if they should choose one commander, that one man would be able to handle the army better, whether by night or day, than a number of commanders — that if there should be need of concealment, he would be better able to keep matters secret, or again, if there should be need of getting ahead of an adversary, he would be less likely to be too late; for, thought the soldiers, there would be no need of conferences of generals with one another, but the plan resolved upon by the one man would be carried through, whereas in the past the generals had acted in all matters in accordance with a majority vote. [19]

  As they thought over these things they turned to Xenophon; the captains came to him and said that this was the opinion of the army, and each one of them, with manifestations of good will, urged him to undertake the command. [20] As for Xenophon, he was inclined on some accounts to accept the command, for he thought that if he did so the greater would be the honour he would enjoy among his friends and the greater his name when it should reach his city, while, furthermore, it might chance that he could be the means of accomplishing some good thing for
the army. [21] Such considerations, then, roused in him an earnest desire to become sole commander. On the other hand, when he reflected that no man can see clearly how the future will turn out and that for this reason there was danger that he might even lose the reputation he had already won, he was doubtful. [22]

  Quite unable as he was to decide the question, it seemed best to him to consult the gods; and he accordingly brought two victims to the altar and proceeded to offer sacrifice to King Zeus, the very god that the oracle at Delphi had prescribed for him; and it was likewise from this god, as he believed, that the dream came which he had at the time when he took the first steps toward assuming a share in the charge of the army. [23] Moreover, he recalled that when he was setting out from Ephesus to be introduced to Cyrus, an eagle screamed upon his right; it was sitting, however, and the soothsayer who was conducting him said that while the omen was one suited to the great rather than to an ordinary person, and while it betokened glory, it nevertheless portended suffering, for the reason that other birds are most apt to attack the eagle when it is sitting; still, he said, the omen did not betoken gain, for it is rather while the eagle is on the wing that it gets its food. [24] So it was, then, that Xenophon made sacrifice, and the god signified to him quite clearly that he should neither strive for the command nor accept it in case he should be chosen. Such was the issue of this matter. [25]