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

by Xenophon

  Then the army came together, and all the speakers urged that a single commander be chosen; when this had been resolved upon, they proceeded to nominate Xenophon. And when it seemed clear that they would elect him as soon as the question should be put to vote, he arose and spoke as follows: [26]

  “I am happy, soldiers, since I am a human being, to be honoured by you, and I am grateful also, and I pray that the gods may grant me opportunity to be the means of bringing you some benefit; still, I think that for me to be preferred by you as commander when a Lacedaemonian is at hand, is not expedient for you, — for you would be less likely on this account to obtain any favour you might desire from the Lacedaemonians — and for myself, on the other hand, I believe it is not altogether safe. [27] For I see that the Lacedaemonians did not cease waging war upon my native state until they had made all her citizens acknowledge that the Lacedaemonians were their leaders also. [28] But just as soon as this acknowledgment had been made, they straightway ceased waging war and no longer continued to besiege the city. Now if I, being aware of these things, should seem to be trying to make their authority null and void wherever I could, I suspect that I might very speedily be brought back to reason on that point. [29] As to your own thought, that there would be less factiousness with one commander than with many, be well assured that if you choose another, you will not find me acting factiously, — for I believe that when a man engaged in war factiously opposes a commander, that man is factiously opposing his own safety; but if you choose me, I should not be surprised if you should find some one else feeling angry both with you and with myself.” [30]

  When he had thus spoken, a much larger number of people arose, saying that he ought to be commander. And Agasias the Stymphalian said that it was ridiculous if the situation was as Xenophon described it. “Will the Lacedaemonians also be angry,” he said, “if guests at dinner come together and fail to choose a Lacedaemonian as master of the feast? For if the matter stands in that way, we are not free even to be captains, it would seem, because we are Arcadians.” Thereupon the soldiers raised a shout, saying that Agasias was quite right. [31]

  Then Xenophon, seeing that something more was needed, came forward and spoke again: “Well, soldiers,” he said, “that you may understand the matter fully I swear to you by all the gods and goddesses that in very truth, so soon as I became aware of your intention, I offered sacrifices to learn whether it was best for you to entrust to me this command and for me to undertake it; and the gods gave me such signs in the sacrifices that even a layman could perceive that I must withhold myself from accepting the sole command.” [32]

  Under these circumstances, then, they chose Cheirisophus. And after being chosen Cheirisophus came forward and spoke as follows: “Well, soldiers, be sure of this, that I also should not have acted factiously if you had chosen another; as for Xenophon, however,” he continued, “you did him a kindness by not choosing him; for even now Dexippus has already been falsely accusing him, as far as he could, to Anaxibius, even though I tried hard to silence him. He said he believed that Xenophon would rather share the command of Clearchus’ army with Timasion, a Dardanian, than with himself, a Laconian. [33] “However,” Cheirisophus went on, “since you have chosen me, I shall endeavour to render you whatever service I can. And do you make your preparations to put to sea to-morrow if it be sailing weather. The voyage will be to Heracleia; every one of us, therefore, must try to come to land there; and we shall take counsel about our further doings when we have arrived there.”

  2. On the next day they set sail from Sinope and voyaged for two days with a fair wind along the coast. And coursing along, [they saw Jason’s Cape, where the Argo is said to have come to anchor, and the mouths of the rivers, first the Thermodon, then the Iris, third the Halys, and after that the Parthenius; and after they had passed this river]they arrived at Heracleia, a Greek city and a colony of the Megarians, situated in the territory of the Mariandynians. [2] And they came to anchor alongside the Acherusian Chersonese, where Heracles is said to have descended to Hades after the dog Cerberus, at a spot where they now show the marks of his descent, reaching to a depth of more than two stadia. [3] Here the Heracleots sent to the Greeks, as gifts of hospitality, three thousand medimni of barley meal, two thousand jars of wine, twenty cattle, and a hundred sheep. And in this place there flows through the plain a river named the Lycus, about two plethra in width. [4]

  Then the soldiers gathered together and proceeded to take counsel about the remainder of the journey, that is, whether they had better go on from the Euxine by land or by sea. And Lycon the Achaean rose and said: “I am astonished, soldiers, that the generals do not endeavour to supply us with money to buy provisions; for our gifts of hospitality will not make three days’ rations for the army; and there is no place,” said he, “from which we can procure provisions before beginning our journey. I move, therefore, that we demand of the Heracleots not less than three thousand Cyzicenes” — [5] another man said, not less than ten thousand—”and that we choose ambassadors this very moment, while we are in session here, send them to the city, hear whatever report they may bring back, and take counsel in the light of that.” [6] Thereupon they went to nominating ambassadors, first Cheirisophus, because he had been chosen commander, and some nominated Xenophon also. Both men, however, offered vigorous resistance; for both held the same view — that they ought not to coerce a friendly city of Greeks into giving what they did not offer of their own accord. [7] As these two seemed disinclined to act, they sent Lycon the Achaean, Callimachus the Parrhasian, and Agasias the Stymphalian. These men went and put before the Heracleots the resolutions adopted by the army; and Lycon, so the report ran, even added threats, in case they should refuse compliance. [8] After hearing the ambassadors, the Heracleots said that they would consider the matter; and immediately they set about gathering their property from the country and moved the market within the walls; meanwhile the gates had been closed and arms were to be seen upon the walls. [9]

  Thereupon those who had brought about this agitation accused the generals of spoiling their undertaking; and the Arcadians and Achaeans proceeded to band themselves together, under the leadership particularly of Callimachus the Parrhasian and Lycon the Achaean. [10] Their words were to this effect, that it was shameful that Peloponnesians should be under the command of an Athenian and a Lacedaemonian who contributed no troops to the army, and that the hardships should fall to themselves and the gains to others, all despite the fact that the preservation of the army was their achievement; for it was, they said, the Arcadians and Achaeans who had achieved this result, and the rest of the army amounted to nothing (in truth more than half the army did consist of Arcadians and Achaeans); [11] if they were wise, therefore, they would band together by themselves, choose generals from their own number, make the journey by themselves, and try to get a little good out of it. [12] This course was resolved upon, and whatever Arcadians or Achaeans there were with Cheirisophus and Xenophon left these commanders and joined forces, and they chose ten generals from their own number, decreeing that these ten were to do whatever might be decided upon by vote of the majority. So it was that the supreme command of Cheirisophus came to an end then and there, on the sixth or seventh day from the day of his election. [13]

  Xenophon, however, was desirous of making the journey in company with Cheirisophus, believing that this was a safer plan than for each of them to proceed independently; but Neon urged him to go by himself, for he had heard from Cheirisophus that Cleander, the Lacedaemonian governor at Byzantium, had said he was coming to Calpe Harbour with triremes; [14] it was Neon’s purpose, then, that no one else should get a share in this opportunity, but that he himself and Cheirisophus and their soldiers should sail away upon the triremes, and this was the reason for his advice to Xenophon. As for Cheirisophus, he was so despondent over what had happened and, besides, felt such hatred toward the army for its action, that he allowed Neon to do whatever he chose. [15] For a time, indeed, Xenophon did tr
y to get clear of the army and sail away home; but when he sacrificed to Heracles the Leader, consulting him as to whether it was better and more proper for him to continue the journey with such of the soldiers as had remained with him, or to be rid of them, the god indicated to him by the sacrifices that he should stay with them. [16] Thus the army was split into three parts: first, the Arcadians and Achaeans, more than four thousand in number, all hoplites; secondly, Cheirisophus’ troops, to the number of fourteen hundred hoplites and seven hundred peltasts, the latter being Clearchus’ Thracians; and thirdly, Xenophon’s force, numbering seventeen hundred hoplites and three hundred peltasts; Xenophon alone, however, had horsemen, to the number of about forty. [17]

  The Arcadians, managing to obtain ships from the Heracleots, set sail first, with the intention of making an unexpected descent upon the Bithynians and thus securing the greatest possible amount of booty; and they disembarked at Calpe Harbour, about midway of the Thracian coast. [18] But Cheirisophus went by land from the very beginning of his journey from the city of the Heracleots, travelling across country; when, however, he had entered Thrace, he proceeded along the coast, for the reason that he was ill. [19] Xenophon, finally, took ships, disembarked at the boundaries separating Thrace and the territory of Heracleia, and pursued his way through the back country.

  3. [2]

  The fortunes of the several divisions were as follows. The Arcadians after disembarking by night at Calpe Harbour proceeded to the first villages, about thirty stadia from the sea. When daylight came, each general led his own company against a village, except that where a village seemed unusually large, the generals combined two companies for the attack upon it. [3] They also fixed upon a hill as the place where all the troops were afterwards to gather; and since their onset was unexpected, they took many captives and were in a fair way to secure a large number of sheep. [4] The Thracians who escaped them, however, began to gather — and many had escaped, inasmuch as they were light troops as against hoplites, from the very hands of the Arcadians. When they had come together in a body, they first attacked the company under Smicres, one of the Arcadian generals, as it was already withdrawing to the appointed place with a great quantity of booty. [5] For a while the Greeks fought as they marched, but at the crossing of a gorge the Thracians put them to rout, and they killed not only Smicres himself, but the rest of the company to a man; in another of the companies belonging to the ten generals, the one commanded by Hegesander, they left only eight men alive, Hegesander himself being one of them. [6]

  The other companies succeeded in getting together, some of them with difficulty, other without any difficulty; but the Thracians, having gained this success, kept shouting to one another and collecting their forces energetically during the night. At daybreak they proceeded to form their lines all round the hill where the Greeks were encamping, their troops consisting of horsemen in large numbers and peltasts, while still more were continually streaming together; [7] and they made attacks upon the hoplites without danger to themselves, inasmuch as the Greeks had neither bowman nor javelin-thrower nor horseman; so they would come running or riding up and throw their javelins, and when the Greeks charged upon them, they would easily get away; [8] and different parties kept attacking at different points. Hence on the one side many were being wounded, on the other side not a man; the result was, that the Greeks were not able to stir from the spot, and at last the Thracians were even cutting them off from their water supply. [9] When their embarrassment became serious, they opened negotiations for a truce; and on every other point an agreement had been reached, but the Thracians refused to give the hostages which the Greeks demanded, and in this particular there was a hitch. Such, then, was the situation of the Arcadians. [10]

  As to Cheirisophus, he pursued his march in safety along the coast and arrived at Calpe Harbour.

  Xenophon, lastly, was proceeding through the back country when his horsemen, riding on in advance, chanced upon some old men who were journeying somewhere or other. When they were brought to Xenophon, he asked them whether they had heard of another army anywhere, a Greek army. [11] And they told him all that had happened, adding that at present the Greeks were being besieged upon a hill, with the Thracians in full force completely surrounding them. Then Xenophon kept these men under strict guard, in order that they might serve as guides wherever he might need to go; and after stationing watchers he called the troops together and spoke as follows: [12] “Fellow soldiers, some of the Arcadians have been killed and the remainder of them are being besieged upon a certain hill. Now it is my own belief that if they are to perish, there is no salvation for us either, the enemy being so numerous and made so confident by their success. [13] Therefore it is best for us to go to the rescue of these men with all speed, so that if they are still alive, we may have their aid in the fighting, instead of being left alone and alone facing the danger. [16] For there is no place to which we can ourselves steal away from here; for to go back to Heracleia,” he said, “is a long journey, and it is a long journey through to Chrysopolis, and meanwhile the enemy are close at hand; to Calpe Harbour, where we presume Cheirisophus is, in case he has come through safely, is the shortest distance. But firstly, mark you, having arrived there we have neither ships wherein to sail away nor provisions for so much as a single day if we remain in the place; [17] and secondly, it is worse to have the blockaded force destroyed and take our chances in company with Cheirisophus’ troops only, than to have these men saved and then unite all our forces and together strive for deliverance. We must set forth, then, prepared in our minds for either meeting to-day a glorious death or accomplishing a most noble deed in saving so many Greeks. [18] And it may be that the god is guiding events in this way, he who wills that those who talked boastfully, as though possessed of superior wisdom, should be brought low, and that we, who always begin with the gods, should be set in a place of higher honour than those boasters. And now you must keep in line and on the alert, so that you can carry out the orders that are given. [14] For the present, then, let us go forward as far as may seem consistent with our time for dining, and then encamp; and so long as we are on the march, let Timasion with the cavalry ride on in advance, keeping us in sight, and spy out what is ahead, in order that nothing may escape our attention.” [15]

  With these words he proceeded to lead the way. Furthermore, he sent out on the flanks and to the neighbouring heights some of the more active of the light-armed troops in order that they might signal to the army in case they should sight anything anywhere from any point of observation; and he directed them to burn everything they found that could be burned. [19] So the horsemen, scattering as widely as was proper, went to burning, the peltasts, making their way along the heights abreast of the main army, burned all they saw which was combustible, and the main army likewise burned anything they found that had been passed over; the result was, that the whole country seemed to be ablaze and the army seemed to be a large one. [20] When the time had come, they ascended a hill and encamped; from there they could see the campfires of the enemy, distant about forty stadia, and they kindled as many fires themselves as they could. [21] Immediately after they had dined, however, the order was given to extinguish every one of the fires. Then, after stationing guards, they slept the night through; and at daybreak they offered prayer to the gods, formed their lines for battle, and set forth at the fastest possible pace. [22] And Timasion and the horsemen, riding on ahead with the guides, found themselves without knowing it upon the hill where the Greeks had been besieged. They could see no army, however, either friendly or hostile (and this fact they reported back to Xenophon and the main body), but only some wretched old men and women and a few sheep and cattle that had been left behind. [23] At first they could only wonder what the thing was that had happened, but afterwards they managed to find out from the people who had been left behind that the Thracians had disappeared immediately after nightfall, and the Greeks also, they said, had gone; but whither, they did not know. [24]

&n
bsp; Upon hearing this report Xenophon and his men packed up, as soon as they had breakfasted, and set forth, wishing as speedily as possible to join their comrades at Calpe Harbour. As they proceeded, they could see the track of the Arcadians and Achaeans along the road leading towards Calpe. When the two detachments came together, the men were delighted to see one another, and greeted one another like brothers. [25] And the Arcadians inquired of Xenophon’s troops why they had put out their fires; “for we imagined at first,” they said, “when we could no longer see your fires, that you meant to come against the enemy during the night; and the enemy likewise, so at least it seemed to us, feared this, and on that account departed; for it was at about that time that they went away. [26] But when you failed to arrive, although the requisite time had passed, we supposed that you had learned of our situation and, seized with fear, had stealthily made off toward the sea; and we thought it best not to be left behind. That was the reason, then, why we also proceeded hither.”

  4. During that day they bivouacked where they were, upon the beach by the harbour. Now this place which is called Calpe Harbour is situated in Thrace-in-Asia; and this portion of Thrace begins at the mouth of the Euxine and extends as far as Heracleia, being on the right as one sails into the Euxine. [2] It is a long day’s journey for a trireme to row from Byzantium to Heracleia, and between the two places there is no other city, either friendly or Greek, only Bithynian Thracians; and they are said to abuse outrageously any Greeks they may find shipwrecked or may capture in any other way. [3] As for Calpe Harbour, it lies midway of the voyage between Heracleia and Byzantium and is a bit of land jutting out into the sea, the part of it which extends seaward being a precipitous mass of rock, not less than twenty fathoms high at its lowest point, and the isthmus which connects this head with the mainland being about four plethra in width; and the space to the seaward of the isthmus is large enough for ten thousand people to dwell in. [4] At the very foot of the rock there is a harbour whose beach faces toward the west, and an abundantly flowing spring of fresh water close to the shore of the sea and commanded by the headland. There is also a great deal of timber of various sorts, but an especially large amount of fine ship-timber, on the very shore of the sea. [5] The ridge extends back into the interior for about twenty stadia, and this stretch is deep-soiled and free from stones, while the land bordering the coast is thickly covered for a distance of more than twenty stadia with an abundance of heavy timber of all sorts. [6] The rest of the region is fair and extensive, and contains many inhabited villages; for the land produces barley, wheat, beans of all kinds, millet and sesame, a sufficient quantity of figs, an abundance of grapes which yield a good sweet wine, and in fact everything except olives. [7]