Anabasis
into rank and take up position at once." This he said, wishing to
quiet them, and so passed the order along the lines himself, while
bidding the rest to do the same: "Take up position; stand easy." But
the men themselves, by a species of self-marshalling, fell into rank,
and were soon formed, the heavy infantry eight deep, while the light
infantry had run up to cover either wing. The Thracian Square, as it
is called, is a fine site for manouvering, being bare of buildings and
level. As soon as the arms were stacked and the men's tempers cooled,
Xenophon called a general meeting of the soldiers, and made the
following speech:--
"Soldiers, I am not surprised at your wrath, or that you deem it
monstrous treatment so to be cheated; but consider what will be the
consequences if we gratify our indignation, and in return for such
deception, avenge ourselves on the Lacedaemonians here present, and
plunder an innocent city. We shall be declared enemies of the
Lacedaemonians and their allies; and what sort of war that will be, we
need not go far to conjecture. I take it, you have not forgotten some
quite recent occurrences. We Athenians entered into war against the
Lacedaemonians and their allies with a fleet consisting of not less
than three hundred line-of-battle ships, including those in dock as
well as those afloat. We had vast treasures stored up in the city, and
a yearly income which, derived from home or foreign sources, amounted
to no less than a thousand talents. Our empire included all the 27
islands, and we were possessed of numerous cities both in Asia and in
Europe. Amongst others, this very Byzantium, where we are now, was
ours; and yet in the end we were vanquished, as you all very well
know.
"What, must we anticipate, will now be our fate? The Lacedaemonians
have not only their old allies, but the Athenians and those who were
at that time allies of Athens are added to them. Tissaphernes and all
the rest of the Asiatics on the seaboard are our foes, not to speak of
our arch-enemy, the king himself, up yonder, whom we came to deprive
of his empire, and to kill, if possible. I ask then, with all these
banded together against us, is there any one so insensate as to
imagine that we can survive the contest? For heaven's sake, let us not
go mad or loosely throw away our lives in war with our own native
cities--nay, our own friends, our kith and our kin; for in one or
other of the cities they are all included. Every city will march
against us, and not unjustly, if, after refusing to hold one single
barbarian city by right of conquest, we seize the first Hellenic city
that we come to and make it a ruinous heap. For my part, my prayer is
that before I see such things wrought by you, I, at any rate, may lie
ten thousand fathoms under ground! My counsel to you, as Hellenes, is
to try and obtain your just rights, through obedience to those who
stand at the head of Hellas; and if so be that you fail in those
demands, why, being more sinned against than sinning, need we rob
ourselves of Hellas too? At present, I propose that we should send to
Anaxibius and tell him that we have made an entrance into the city,
not meditating violence, but merely to discover if he and his will
show us any good; for if so, it is well; but of otherwise, at least we
will let him see that he does not shut the door upon us as dupes and
fools. We know the meaning of discipline; we turn our backs and go."
This resolution was passed, and they sent Hieronymus an Eleian, with
two others, Eurylochus an Arcadian and Philesius an Achaean, to
deliver the message. So these set off on their errand. But while the
soldiers were still seated in conclave, Coeratadas, of Thebes, 33
arrived. He was a Theban not in exile, but with a taste for
generalship, who made it his business to see if any city or nation
were in need of his services. Thus, on the present occasion, he
presented himself, and begged to state that he was ready to put
himself at their head, and lead them into the Delta of Thrace (2), as
it is called, where they would find themselves in a land of plenty;
but until they got there, he would provide them with meat and drink
enough and to spare. While they were still listening to this tale, the
return message from Anaxibius came. His answer was: "The discipline,
they had spoken of, was not a thing they would regret; indeed he would
report their behaviour to the authorities at home; and for himself, he
would take advice and do the best he could for them."
(2) The exact locality, so called, is not known; doubtless it lay
somewhere between Byzantium and Salmydessus, possibly at Declus
(mod. Derkos); or possibly the narrow portion of Thrace between
the Euxine, Bosphorus, and Propontis went by this name. See note
in Pretor ad. loc., and "Dict. Geog." "Thracia."
Thereupon the soldiers accepted Coeratadas as their general, and
retired without the walls. Their new general undertook to present
himself to the troops next day with sacrificial beasts and a
soothsayer, with eatables also and drinkables for the army. Now, as
soon as they were gone out, Anaxibius closed the gates and issued a
proclamation to the effect that "any of the soldiers caught inside
should be knocked down to the hammer and sold at once." Next day,
Coeratadas arrived with the victims and the soothsayer. A string of
twenty bearers bearing barleymeal followed at his heels, succeeded by
other twenty carrying wine, and three laden with a supply of olives,
and two others carrying, the one about as much garlic as a single man
could lift, and the other a similar load of onions. These various
supplies he set down, apparently for distribution, and began to
sacrifice.
Now Xenophon sent to Cleander, begging him to arrange matters so that
he might be allowed to enter the walls, with a view to starting from
Byzantium on his homeward voyage. Cleander came, and this is what he 39
said: "I have come; but I was barely able to arrange what you want.
Anaxibius insisted: 'It was not convenient that Xenophon should be
inside while the soldiers are close to the walls without; the
Byzantines at sixes and sevens moreover; and no love lost between the
one party of them and the other.' Still, he ended by bidding you to
come inside, if you were really minded to leave the town by sea with
himself." Accordingly Xenophon bade the soldiers good-bye, and
returned with Cleander within the walls.
To return to Coeratadas. The first day he failed to get favourable
signs at the sacrifice, and never a dole of rations did he make to the
soldiers. On the second day the victims were standing ready near the
altar, and so was Coeratadas, with chaplet crowned, all ready to
sacrifice, when up comes Timasion the Dardanian, with Neon the
Asinaean, and Cleanor of Orchomenus, forbidding Coeratadas to
sacrifice: "He must understand there was an end to his generalship,
unless he gave them provisions." The other bade them measure out the
supplies, "Pray, dole them out." But when he found that he had a good
deal short of a single day's provisions for each man, he picked up his
paraphernalia of sacrifice and withdrew. As to being general, he would
have nothing more to say to it.
II
Now these five were left--Neon the Asinaean, Phryniscus the Achaean, 1
Philesius the Achaean, Xanthicles the Achaean, Timasion the
Dardanian--at the head of the army, and they pushed on to some
villages of the Thracians facing Byzantium, and there encamped. Now
the generals could not agree. Cleanor and Phryniscus wished to march
to join Seuthes, who had worked upon their feelings by presenting one
with a horse and the other with a woman to wife. But Neon's object was
to come to the Chersonese: "When we are under the wing of the
Lacedaemonians," he thought, "I shall step to the front and command
the whole army."
Timasion's one ambition was to cross back again into Asia, hoping to
be reinstated at home and end his exile. The soldiers shared the
wishes of the last general. But, as time dragged on, many of the men
sold their arms at different places and set sail as best they could;
others (actually gave away their arms, some here, some there, and (1)) 3
became absorbed in the cities. One man rejoiced. This was Anaxibius,
to whom the break-up of the army was a blessing. "That is the way," he
said to himself, "I can best gratify Pharnabazus."
(1) The MSS. give the words so rendered--{oi de kai (didontes ta opla
kata tous khorous)}, which some critics emend {diadidontes},
others bracket as suspected, others expunge.
But Anaxibius, while prosecuting his voyage from Byzantium, was met at
Cyzicus by Aristarchus, the new governor, who was to succeed Cleander
at Byzantium; and report said that a new admiral, Polus, if he had not
actually arrived, would presently reach the Hellespont and relieve
Anaxibius. The latter sent a parting injunction to Aristarchus to be
sure and sell all the Cyreian soldiers he could lay hands on still
lingering in Byzantium; for Cleander had not sold a single man of
them; on the contrary, he had made it his business to tend the sick
and wounded, pitying them, and insisting on their being received in
the houses. Aristarchus changed all that, and was no sooner arrived in
Byzantium than he sold no less than four hundred of them. Meanwhile
Anaxibius, on his coasting voyage, reached Parium, and, according to
the terms of their agreement, he sent to Pharnabazus. But the latter,
learning that Aristarchus was the new governor at Byzantim, and that
Anixibius had ceased to be admiral, turned upon him a cold shoulder,
and set out concocting the same measures concerning the Cyreian army
with Aristarchus, as he had lately been at work upon with Anaxibius.
Anaxibius thereupon summoned Xenophon and bade him, by every manner of
means, sail to the army with the utmost speed, and keep it together.
"He was to collect the scattered fragments and march them down to
Perinthus, and thence convey them across to Asia without loss of
time." And herewith he put a thirty-oared galley at his service, and
gave him a letter of authority and an officer to accompany him, with
an order to the Perinthians "to escort Xenophon without delay on
horseback to the army." So it was that Xenophon sailed across and
eventually reached the army. The soldiers gave him a joyous welcome,
and would have been only too glad to cross from Thrace into Asia under
his leadership.
But Seuthes, hearing that Xenophon had arrived, sent Medosades again, 10
by sea to meet him, and begged him to bring the army to him; and
whatever he thought would make his speech persuasive, he was ready to
promise him. But the other replied, that none of these things were
open to him to do; and with this answer Medosades departed, and the
Hellenes proceeded to Perinthus. Here on arrival Neon withdrew his
troops and encamped apart, having about eight hundred men; while the
remainder of the army lay in one place under the walls of Perinthus.
After this, Xenophon set himself to find vessels, so as to lose no
time in crossing. But in the interval Aristarchus, the governor from
Byzantium, arrived with a couple of war-ships, being moved to do so by
Pharnabazus. To make doubly sure, he first forbade the skippers and
shipmasters to carry the troops across, and then he visited the camp
and informed the soldiers that their passage into Asia was forbidden.
Xenophon replied that he was acting under the orders of Anaxibius, who
had sent him thither for this express purpose; to which Aristarchus
retorted, "For the matter of that, Anaxibius is no longer admiral, and
I am governor in this quarter; if I catch any of you at sea, I will
sink you." With these remarks he retired within the walls of
Perinthus.