Anabasis
territory of the Maesades, but in the country of Teres the Odrysian
(an ancient worthy (1)). Here Heracleides met them with the proceeds of
the spoil, and Seuthes picked out three pairs of mules (there were
only three, the other teams being oxen); then he summoned Xenophon and
bade him take them, and divide the rest between the generals and
officers, to which Xenophon replied that for himself, he was content
to receive his share another time, but added: "Make a present of these
to my friends here, the generals who have served with me, and to the
officers." So of the pairs of mules Timasion the Dardanian received
one, Cleanor the Orchomenian one, and Phryniscus the Achaean one. The
teams of oxen were divided among the officers. Then Seuthes proceeded
to remit pay due for the month already passed, but all he could give
was the equivalent of twenty days. Heracleides insisted that this was
all he had got by his trafficking. Whereupon Xenophon with some warmth
exclaimed: "Upon my word, Heracleides, I do not think you care for
Seuthes' interest as you should. If you did, you have been at pains to
bring back the full amount of the pay, even if you had had to raise a
loan to do so, and, if by no other means, by selling the coat off your
own back."
(1) See above re previous Teres. The words "an ancient worthy" may
possibly be an editor's or commentator's note.
What he said annoyed Heracleides, who was afraid of being ousted from
the friendship of Seuthes, and from that day forward he did his best
to calumniate Xenophon before Seuthes. The soldiers, on their side,
laid the blame of course on Xenophon: "Where was their pay?" and
Seuthes was vexed with him for persistently demanding it for them. Up
to this date he had frequently referred to what he would do when he
got to the seaboard again; how he intended to hand over to him
Bisanthe, Ganos, and Neontichos (2). But from this time forward he
never mentioned one of them again. The slanderous tongue of
Heracleides had whispered him:--it was not safe to hand over fortified 8
towns to a man with a force at his back.
(2) For Bisanthe see above. Ganos, a little lower down the coast, with
Neontichos once belonged to Alcibiades, if we may believe
Cornelius Nepos, "Alc." vii. 4, and Plutarch, "Alc." c. 36. See
above.
Consequently Xenophon fell to considering what he ought to do as
regards marching any further up the country; and Heracleides
introduced the other generals to Seuthes, urging them to say that they
were quite as well able to lead the army as Xenophon, and promising
them that within a day or two they should have full pay for two
months, and he again implored them to continue the campaign with
Seuthes. To which Timasion replied that for his part he would continue
no campaign without Xenophon; not even if they were to give him pay
for five months; and what Timasion said, Phryniscus and Cleanor
repeated; the views of all three coincided.
Seuthes fell to upbraiding Heracleides in round terms. "Why had he not
invited Xenophon with the others?" and presently they invited him, but
by himself alone. He, perceiving the knavery of Heracleides, and that
his object was to calumniate him with the other generals, presented
himself; but at the same time he took care to bring all the generals
and the officers. After their joint consent had been secured, they
continued the campaign. Keeping the Pontus on their right, they passed
through the millet-eating (3) Thracians, as they are called, and
reached Salmydessus. This is a point at which many trading vessels
bound for the Black Sea run aground and are wrecked, owing to a sort
of marshy ledge or sandbank which runs out for a considerable distance
into the sea (4). The Thracians, who dwell in these parts, have set up
pillars as boundary marks, and each set of them has the pillage of its
own flotsom and jetsom; for in old days, before they set up these
landmarks, the wreckers, it is said, used freely to fall foul of and
slay one another. Here was a rich treasure trove, of beds and boxes 14
numberless, with a mass of written books, and all the various things
which mariners carry in their wooden chests. Having reduced this
district, they turned round and went back again. By this time the army
of Seuthes had grown to be considerably larger than the Hellenic army;
for on the one hand, the Odrysians flocked down in still larger
numbers, and on the other, the tribes which gave in their adhesion
from time to time were amalgamated with his armament. They got into
quarters on the flat country above Selybria at about three miles (5)
distance from the sea. As to pay, not a penny was as yet forthcoming,
and the soldiers were cruelly disaffected to Xenophon, whilst Seuthes,
on his side, was no longer so friendlily disposed. If Xenophon ever
wished to come face to face with him, want of leisure or some other
difficulty always seemed to present itself.
(3) Or, "the Melinophagi."
(4) See, for a description of this savage coast, Aesch. "Prom." vinc.
726, etc.--
"{trakheia pontou Salmudesia gnathos
ekhthroxenos nautaisi, metruia neon.}"
"The rugged Salmudesian jaw of the Black Sea,
Inhospitable to sailors, stepmother of ships."
But the poet is at fault in his geography, since he connects "the
Salmydesian jaw" with the Thermodon.
(5) Lit. "thirty stades." Selybria is about fourty-four miles from
Byzantium, two-thirds of the way to Perinthus.
VI
At this date, when nearly two months had already passed, an embassy 1
arrived. These were two agents from Thibron--Charminus, a
Lacedaemonian, and Polynicus. They were sent to say that the
Lacedaemonians had resolved to open a campaign against Tissaphernes,
and that Thibron, who had set sail to conduct the war, was anxious to
avail himself of the troops. He could guarantee that each soldier
should receive a daric a month as pay, the officers double pay, and
the generals quadruple. The Lacedaemonian emissaries had no sooner
arrived than Heracleides, having learnt that they had come in search
of the Hellenic troops, goes off himself to Seuthes and says: "The
best thing that could have happened; the Lacedaemonians want these
troops and you have done with them, so that if you hand over the
troops to them, you will do the Lacedaemonians a good turn and will
cease to be bothered for pay any more. The country will be quit of
them once and for ever."
On hearing this Seuthes bade him introduce the emissaries. As soon as
they had stated that the object of their coming was to treat for the
Hellenic troops, he replied that he would willingly give them up, that
his one desire was to be the friend and ally of Lacedaemon. So he
invited them to partake of hospitality, and entertained them 3
magnificently; but he did not invite Xenophon, nor indeed any of the
other generals. Presently the Lacedaemonians asked: "What sort of man
is Xenophon?" and Seuthes answered: "Not a bad fellow in most
respects; but he is too much the soldiers' friend; and that is why it
goes ill with him." They asked: "Does he play the popular leader?" and
Heracleides answered: "Exactly so." "Well then," said they, "he will
oppose our taking away the troops, will he not?" "To be sure he will,"
said Heracleides; "but you have only to call a meeting of the whole
body, and promise them pay, and little further heed will they pay to
him; they will run off with you." "How then are we to get them
collected?" they asked. "Early to-morrow," said Heracleides, "we will
bring you to them; and I know," he added once more, "as soon as they
set eyes on you, they will flock to you with alacrity." Thus the day
ended.
The next day Seuthes and Heracleides brought the two Laconian agents
to the army, and the troops were collected, and the agents made a
statement as follows: "The Lacedaemonians have resolved on war with
Tissaphernes, who did you so much wrong. By going with us therefore
you will punish your enemy, and each of you will get a daric a month,
the officers twice that sum, and the generals quadruple." The soldiers
lent willing ears, and up jumped one of the Arcadians at once, to find
fault with Xenophon. Seuthes also was hard by, wishing to know what
was going to happen. He stood within ear shot, and his interpreter by
his side; not but what he could understand most of what was said in
Greek himself. At this point the Arcadian spoke: "For the matter of
that, Lacedaemonians, we should have been by your sides long ago, if
Xenophon had not persuaded us and brought us hither. We have never
ceased campaigning, night and day, the dismal winter through, but he
reaps the fruit of our toils. Seuthes has enriched him privately, but
deprives us of our honest earnings; so that, standing here as I do to
address you first, all I can say is, that if I might see the fellow
stoned to death as a penalty for all the long dance he has led us, I 10
should feel I had got my pay in full, and no longer grudge the pains
we have undergone." The speaker was followed by another and then
another in the same strain; and after that Xenophon made the following
speech:--
"True is the old adage; there is nothing which mortal man may not
expect to see. Here am I being accused by you to-day, just where my
conscience tells me that I have displayed the greatest zeal on your
behalf. Was I not actually on my road home when I turned back? Not,
God knows, because I learned that you were in luck's way, but because
I heard that you were in sore straits, and I wished to help you, if in
any way I could. I returned, and Seuthes yonder sent me messenger
after messenger, and made me promise upon promise, if only I could
persuade you to come to him. Yet, as you yourselves will bear me
witness, I was not to be diverted. Instead of setting my hand to do
that, I simply led you to a point from which, with least loss of time,
I thought you could cross into Asia. This I believed was the best
thing for you, and you I knew desired it.
"But when Aristarchus came with his ships of war and hindered our
passage across, you will hardly quarrel with me for the step I then
took in calling you together that we might advisedly consider our best
course. Having heard both sides--first Aristarchus, who ordered you to
march to the Chersonese, then Seuthes, who pleaded with you to
undertake a campaign with himself--you all proposed to go with
Seuthes; and you all gave your votes to that effect. What wrong did I
commit in bringing you, whither you were eager to go? If, indeed,
since the time when Seuthes began to tell lies and cheat us about the
pay, I have supported him in this, you may justly find fault with me
and hate me. But if I, who at first was most of all his friend, to-day
am more than any one else at variance with him, how can I, who have
chosen you and rejected Seuthes, in fairness be blamed by you for the
very thing which has been the ground of quarrel between him and me?
But you will tell me, perhaps, that I get from Seuthes what is by
right yours, and that I deal subtly by you? But is it not clear that,
if Seuthes has paid me anything, he has at any rate not done so with 16
the intention of losing by what he gives me, whilst he is still your
debtor? If he gave to me, he gave in order that, by a small gift to
me, he might escape a larger payment to yourselves. But if that is
what you really think has happened, you can render this whole scheme
of ours null and void in an instant by exacting from him the money
which is your due. It is clear, Seuthes will demand back from me
whatever I have got from him, and he will have all the more right to
do so, if I have failed to secure for him what he bargained for when I
took his gifts. But indeed, I am far removed from enjoying what is