and tragical moment. Having been under feelings of mistrust, ever since
the convention with Tissaphernes, they had followed throughout the whole
march, with separate guides of their own, in the rear of his army,
always maintaining their encampment apart. During their halt on the Zab,
so many various manifestations occurred to aggravate the mistrust, that
hostilities seemed on the point of breaking out between the two camps.
To obviate this danger Klearchus demanded an interview with
Tissaphernes, represented to him the threatening attitude of affairs,
and insisted on the necessity of coming to a clear understanding. He
impressed upon the satrap that, over and above the solemn oaths which
had been interchanged, the Greeks on their side could have no
conceivable motive to quarrel with him; that they had everything to hope
from his friendship, and everything to fear, even to the loss of all
chance of safe return, from his hostility; that Tissaphernes also could
gain nothing by destroying them, but would find them, if he chose, the
best and most faithful instruments for his own aggrandizement and for
conquering the Mysians and Pisidians[28]--as Cyrus had experienced while
he was alive. Klearchus concluded his protest by requesting to be
informed, what malicious reporter had been filling the mind of
Tissaphernes with causeless suspicions against the Greeks.
"Klearchus (replied the satrap), I rejoice to hear such excellent sense
from your lips. You remark truly, that if you were to meditate evil
against me, it would recoil upon yourselves. I shall prove to you, in my
turn, that you have no cause to mistrust either the King or me. If we
had wished to destroy you, nothing would be easier. We have
superabundant forces for the purpose: there are wide plains in which you
would be starved--besides mountains and rivers which you would be unable
to pass, without our help. Having thus the means of destroying you in
our hands, and having nevertheless bound ourselves by solemn oaths to
save you, we shall not be fools and knaves enough to attempt it now,
when we should draw upon ourselves the just indignation of the gods. It
is my peculiar affection for my neighbors the Greeks--and my wish to
attach to my own person, by ties of gratitude, the Greek soldiers of
Cyrus--which have made me eager to conduct you to Ionia[29] in safety.
For I know that when you are in my service, though the King is the only
man who can wear his tiara[30] erect _upon his head_, I shall be able to
wear mine erect upon _my heart_, in full pride and confidence."
So powerful was the impression made upon Klearchus by these assurances,
that he exclaimed--"Surely those informers deserve the severest
punishment, who try to put us at enmity, when we are such good friends
to each other, and have so much reason to be so." "Yes (replied
Tissaphernes), they deserve nothing less: and if you, with the other
generals and captains, will come into my tent tomorrow, I will tell you
who the calumniators are." "To-be-sure I will (rejoined Klearchus), and
bring the other generals with me. I shall tell you at the same time who
are the parties that seek to prejudice us against you." The conversation
then ended, the satrap detaining Klearchus to dinner, and treating him
in the most hospitable and confidential manner.
On the next morning, Klearchus communicated what had passed to the
Greeks, insisting on the necessity that all the generals should go to
Tissaphernes pursuant to his invitation; in order to re-establish that
confidence which unworthy calumniators had shaken, and to punish such of
the calumniators as might be Greeks. So emphatically did he pledge
himself for the good faith and philhellenic[31] dispositions of the
satrap, that he overruled the opposition of many among the soldiers;
who, still continuing to entertain their former suspicions, remonstrated
especially against the extreme imprudence of putting all the generals at
once into the power of Tissaphernes. The urgency of Klearchus prevailed.
Himself with four other generals--Proxenus, Menon, Agias, and
Sokrates--and twenty captains--went to visit the satrap in his tent;
about 200 of the soldiers going along with them, to make purchases for
their own account in the Persian camp-market.
On reaching the quarters of Tissaphernes--distant nearly three miles
from the Persian camp according to habit--the five generals were
admitted into the interior, while the captains remained at the entrance.
A purple flag, hoisted from the top of the tent, betrayed too late the
purpose for which they had been invited to come. The captains, with the
Grecian soldiers who had accompanied them, were surprised and cut down,
while the generals in the interior were detained, put in chains, and
carried up as prisoners to the Persian court. Here Klearchus, Proxenus,
Agias, and Sokrates, were beheaded, after a short imprisonment. Queen
Parysatis, indeed, from affection to Cyrus, not only furnished many
comforts to Klearchus in the prison (by the hands of her surgeon
Ktesias), but used all her influence with her son Artaxerxes to save
his life; though her efforts were counteracted, on this occasion, by the
superior influence of Queen Stateira, his wife. The rivalry between
these two royal women, doubtless arising out of many other circumstances
besides the death of Klearchus, became soon afterwards so furious, that
Parysatis caused Stateira to be poisoned.
Menon was not put to death along with the other generals. He appears to
have taken credit at the Persian court for the treason of entrapping his
colleagues into the hands of Tissaphernes. But his life was only
prolonged to perish a year afterwards in disgrace and torture--probably
by the requisition of Parysatis, who thus avenged the death of
Klearchus. The queen-mother had always power enough to perpetrate
cruelties, though not always to avert them. She had already brought to a
miserable end every one, even faithful defenders of Artaxerxes,
concerned in the death of her son Cyrus.
Though Menon thought it convenient, when brought up to Babylon, to boast
of having been the instrument through whom the generals were entrapped
into the fatal tent, this boast is not to be treated as matter of fact.
For not only does Xenophon explain the catastrophe differently, but in
the delineation which he gives of Menon, dark and odious as it is in the
extreme, he does not advance any such imputation; indirectly, indeed, he
sets it aside.
Unfortunately for the reputation of Klearchus, no such reasonable excuse
can be offered for his credulity, which brought himself as well as his
colleagues to so melancholy an end, and his whole army to the brink of
ruin. It appears that the general sentiment of the Grecian army, taking
just measure of the character of Tissaphernes, was disposed to greater
circumspection in dealing with him. Upon that system Klearchus himself
had hitherto acted; and the necessity of it might have been especially
present to _his_ mind, since he had served with the Lacedaemonian fleet
at Miletus[32] in 411 B.C., and had therefore had fuller experience than
other men in the army, of the satrap's real character. On a sudden he
now turns round, and on the faith of a few verbal declarations, puts all
the military chiefs into the most defenceless posture and the most
obvious peril, such as hardly the strongest grounds for confidence could
have justified. Though the remark of Machiavel is justified by large
experience--that from the short-sightedness of men and their obedience
to present impulse, the most notorious deceiver will always find new
persons to trust him--still such misjudgment on the part of an officer
of age and experience is difficult to explain. Polyaenus intimates that
beautiful women, exhibited by the satrap at his first banquet to
Klearchus alone, served as a lure to attract him with all his colleagues
to the second; while Xenophon imputes the error to continuance of a
jealous rivalry with Menon. The latter, it appears, having always been
intimate with Ariaeus; had been thus brought into previous communication
with Tissaphernes, by whom he had been well received, and by whom he was
also encouraged to lay plans for detaching the whole Grecian army from
Klearchus so as to bring it all under his (Menon's) command into the
services of the satrap. Such at least was the suspicion of Klearchus;
who, jealous in the extreme of his own military authority, tried to
defeat the scheme by bidding still higher himself for the favor of
Tissaphernes. Imagining that Menon was the unknown calumniator who
prejudiced the satrap against him, he hoped to prevail on the satrap to
disclose his name and dismiss him. Such jealousy seems to have robbed
Klearchus of his customary prudence. We must also allow for another
impression deeply fixed in his mind; that the salvation of the army was
hopeless without the consent of Tissaphernes, and therefore, since the
latter had conducted them thus far in safety, when he might have
destroyed them before, that his designs at the bottom could not be
hostile.
Notwithstanding these two great mistakes--one on the present occasion,
one previously, at the battle of Kunaxa, in keeping the Greeks on the
right contrary to the order of Cyrus--both committed by Klearchus, the
loss of that officer was doubtless a great misfortune to the army;
while, on the contrary, the removal of Menon was a signal
benefit--perhaps a condition of ultimate safety. A man so treacherous
and unprincipled as Xenophon depicts Menon, would probably have ended by
really committing towards the army that treason, for which he falsely
took credit at the Persian court in reference to the seizure of the
generals.
The impression entertained by Klearchus, respecting the hopeless
position of the Greeks in the heart of the Persian territory after the
death of Cyrus was perfectly natural in a military man who could
appreciate all the means of attack and obstruction which the enemy had
it in their power to employ. Nothing is so unaccountable in this
expedition as the manner in which such means were thrown away--the
spectacle of Persian impotence. First, the whole line of upward march,
including the passage of the Euphrates, left undefended; next, the long
trench dug across the frontier of Babylonia, with only a passage of
twenty feet wide left near the Euphrates, abandoned without a guard;
lastly, the line of the Wall of Media and the canals which offered such
favorable positions for keeping the Greeks out of the cultivated
territory of Babylonia, neglected in like manner, and a convention
concluded whereby the Persians engaged to escort the invaders safe to
the Ionian coast, beginning by conducting them through the heart of
Babylonia, amidst canals affording inexpugnable defences if the Greeks
had chosen to take up a position among them. The plan of Tissaphernes,
as far as we can understand it, seems to have been, to draw the Greeks
to some considerable distance from the heart of the Persian empire, and
then to open his schemes of treasonable hostility, which the imprudence
of Klearchus enabled him to do, on the banks of the Great Zab, with
chances of success such as he could hardly have contemplated. We have
here a fresh example of the wonderful impotence of the Persians. We
should have expected that, after having committed so flagrant an act of
perfidy, Tissaphernes would at least have tried to turn it to account;
that he would have poured with all his forces and all his vigor on the
Grecian camp, at the moment when it was unprepared, disorganized, and
without commanders. Instead of which, when the generals (with those who
accompanied them to the Persian camp) had been seized or slain, no
attack whatever was made except by small detachments of Persian cavalry
upon individual Greek stragglers in the plain. One of the companions of
the generals, an Arcadian,[33] named Nikarchus, ran wounded into the
Grecian camp, where the soldiers were looking from afar at the horsemen
scouring the plain without knowing what they were about,--exclaiming
that the Persians were massacring all the Greeks, officers as well as
soldiers. Immediately the Greek soldiers hastened to put themselves in
defence, expecting a general attack to be made upon their camp; but no
more Persians came near than a body of about 300 horse, under Ariaeus and
Mithridates (the confidential companions of the deceased Cyrus),
accompanied by the brother of Tissaphernes. These men, approaching the
Greek lines as friends, called for the Greek officers to come forth, as
they had a message to deliver from the King. Accordingly, Kleanor and
Sophaenetus with an adequate guard, came to the front, accompanied by
Xenophon, who was anxious to hear news about Proxenus. Ariaeus then
acquainted them that Klearchus, having been detected in a breach of the
convention to which he had sworn, had been put to death; that Proxenus
and Menon, who had divulged his treason, were in high honor at the
Persian quarters. He concluded by saying--"The King calls upon you to
surrender your arms, which now (he says) belong to him, since they
formerly belonged to his slave Cyrus."
The step here taken seems to testify a belief on the part of these
Persians, that the generals being now in their power the Grecian
soldiers had become defenceless, and might be required to surrender
their arms, even to men who had just been guilty of the most deadly
fraud and injury towards them. If Ariaeus entertained such an
expectation, he was at once undeceived by the language of Kleanor and
Xenophon, which breathed nothing but indignant reproach; so that he soon
retired and left the Greeks to their own reflections.
While their camp yet remained unmolested, every man within it was a prey
to the most agonizing apprehensions. Ruin appeared impending and
inevitable, though no one could tell in what precise form it would come.
The Greeks were in the midst of a hostile country, nearly 1200 miles
from home, surrounded by enemies, blocked up by impassable mountains and
rivers, without guides, without provisions, without cavalry to aid their
retreat, without generals to give orders. A stupor of sorrow and
conscious helplessness seized upon all. Few came to the evening muster;
few lighted fires to cook their suppers; every man lay down to rest
where he was; yet no man could sleep, for fear, anguish, and yearning
after relatives whom he was never again to behold.
Amidst the many causes of despondency which weighed down this forlorn
army, there was none more serious than the fact, that not a single man
among them had now either authority to command, or obligation to take
the initiative. Nor was any ambitious candidate likely to volunteer his
pretensions, at a moment when the post promised nothing but the maximum
of difficulty as well as of hazard. A new, self-kindled light--and
self-originated stimulus--was required, to vivify the embers of
suspended hope and action, in a mass paralyzed for the moment, but every
way capable of effort. And the inspiration now fell, happily for the
army, upon one in whom a full measure of soldierly strength and courage
was combined with the education of an Athenian, a democrat, and a
philosopher.[34]
Sec. 5. Xenophon's Dream and its Results.
It is in true Homeric vein, and in something like Homeric language, that
Xenophon (to whom we owe the whole narrative of the expedition)
describes his dream, or the intervention of Oneirus,[35] sent by
Zeus,[36] from which this renovating impulse took its rise. Lying
mournful and restless like his comrades, he caught a short repose; when
he dreamt that he heard thunder, and saw the burning thunderbolt fall
upon his paternal house, which became forthwith encircled by flames.
Awaking, full of terror, he instantly sprang up; upon which the dream
began to fit on and blend itself with his waking thoughts, and with the
cruel realities of his position. His pious and excited fancy generated a
series of shadowy analogies. The dream was sent by Zeus the King, since
it was from him that thunder and lightning proceeded. In one respect,
the sign was auspicious--that a great light had appeared to him from
Zeus in the midst of peril and suffering. But on the other hand, it was
alarming, that the house had appeared to be completely encircled by
flames, preventing all egress, because this seemed to indicate that he
would remain confined where he was in the Persian dominions, without
being able to overcome the difficulties which hedged him in. Yet
doubtful as the promise was, it was still the message of Zeus addressed
to himself, serving as a stimulus to him to break through the common
stupor and take the initiative movement. "Why am I lying here? Night is
advancing; at daybreak the enemy will be on us, and we shall be put to
death with tortures. Not a man is stirring to take measures of defence.
Why do I wait for any man older than myself, or for any man of a
different city, to begin?"
With these reflections, interesting in themselves, and given with
Homeric vivacity, he instantly went to convene the captains who had
served under his late friend Proxenus. He impressed upon them
emphatically the necessity of standing forward to put the army in a
posture of defence. "I cannot sleep, fellow-soldiers; neither, I
presume, can you, under our present perils. The enemy will be upon us at
daybreak--prepared to kill us all with tortures, as his worst enemies.
For my part, I rejoice that his villanous perjury has put an end to a
truce by which we were the great losers; a truce, under which we,
mindful of our oaths, have passed through all the rich possessions of
the King, without touching anything except what we could purchase with
our own scanty means. Now, we have our hands free: all these rich spoils
stand between us and him, as prizes for the better man. The gods, who
preside over the match, will assuredly be on the side of us, who have
kept our oaths in spite of strong temptations, against these perjurers.
Moreover, our bodies are more enduring, and our spirit more gallant,
than theirs. They are easier to wound, and easier to kill, than we are,
under the same favor of the gods as we experienced at Kunaxa.
"Probably others also are feeling just as we feel. But let us not wait
for any one else to come as monitors to us: let us take the lead, and
communicate the stimulus of honor to others. Do you show yourselves now
the best among the captains--more worthy of being generals than the
generals themselves. Begin at once, and I desire only to follow you. But
if you order me into the front rank, I shall obey without pleading my
youth as an excuse--accounting myself to be of complete maturity, when
the purpose is to save myself from ruin."
All the captains who heard Xenophon cordially concurred in his
suggestion, and desired him to take the lead in executing it. One captain
alone--Apollonides, speaking in the Boeotian dialect[37]--protested
against it as insane; enlarging upon their desperate position, and
insisting upon submission to the King as the only chance of safety. "How?
(replied Xenophon). Have you forgotten the courteous treatment which we
received from the Persians in Babylonia when we replied to their demand
for the surrender of our arms by showing a bold front? Do not you see the
miserable fate which has befallen Klearchus, when he trusted himself
unarmed in their hands, in reliance on their oaths? And yet you scout our
exhortations to resistance, again advising us to go and plead for
indulgence! My friends, such a Greek as this man, disgraces not only his
own city, but all Greece besides. Let us banish him from our councils,
cashier[38] him, and make a slave of him to carry baggage." "Nay
(observed Agasias of Stymphalus), the man has nothing to do with Greece:
I myself have seen his ears bored, like a true Lydian."[39] Apollonides
was degraded accordingly.
Xenophon with the rest then distributed themselves in order to bring
together the chief remaining officers in the army, who were presently
convened, to the number of about one hundred. The senior captain of the
earlier body next desired Xenophon to repeat to this larger body the
topics upon which he had just before been insisting. Xenophon obeyed,
enlarging yet more emphatically on the situation, perilous, yet not
without hope--on the proper measures to be taken--and especially on the
necessity that they, the chief officers remaining, should put themselves
forward prominently, first fix upon effective commanders, then
afterwards submit the names to be confirmed by the army, accompanied
with suitable exhortations and encouragement. His speech was applauded
and welcomed, especially by the Lacedaemonian general Cheirisophus, who
had joined Cyrus with a body of 700 heavy-armed foot-soldiers at Issus
in Kilikia.[40] Cheirisophus urged the captains to retire forthwith, and
agree upon their commanders instead of the five who had been seized;
after which the herald must be summoned, and the entire body of soldiers
convened without delay. Accordingly Timasion of Dardanus was chosen
instead of Klearchus; Xanthikles in place of Sokrates; Kleanor in place
of Agias; Philesius in place of Menon; and Xenophon instead of
Proxenus. The captains, who had served under each of the departed
generals, separately chose a successor to the captain thus promoted. It
is to be recollected that the five now chosen were not the only generals
in the camp; thus for example, Cheirisophus had the command of his own
separate division, and there may have been one or two others similarly
placed. But it was now necessary for all the generals to form a Board
and act in concert.
At daybreak the newly-constituted Board of generals placed proper
outposts in advance, and then convened the army in general assembly, in
order that the new appointments might be submitted and confirmed. As
soon as this had been done, probably on the proposition of Cheirisophus
(who had been in command before), that general addressed a few words of
exhortation and encouragement to the soldiers. He was followed by
Kleanor, who delivered, with the like brevity, an earnest protest
against the perfidy of Tissaphernes and Ariaeus. Both of them left to
Xenophon the task, alike important and arduous at this moment of
despondency, of setting forth the case at length,--working up the
feelings of the soldiers to that pitch of resolution which the emergency
required,--and above all extinguishing all those inclinations to
acquiesce in new treacherous proposals from the enemy, which the perils
of the situation would be likely to suggest.
Xenophon had equipped himself in his finest military costume at this his
first official appearance before the army, when the scales seemed to
tremble between life and death. Taking up the protest of Kleanor against
the treachery of the Persians, he insisted that any attempt to enter
into convention or trust with such liars, would be utter ruin--but that
if energetic resolution were taken to deal with them only at the point
of the sword, and punish their misdeeds, there was good hope of the
favor of the gods and of ultimate preservation. As he pronounced this
last word, one of the soldiers near him happened to sneeze.[41]
Immediately the whole army around shouted with one accord the accustomed
invocation to Zeus the Preserver; and Xenophon, taking up the accident,
continued--"Since, fellow-soldiers, this omen from Zeus the Preserver
has appeared at the instant when we were talking about preservation, let
us here vow to offer the preserving sacrifice to that god, and at the
same time to sacrifice to the remaining gods as well as we can, in the
first friendly country which we may reach. Let every man who agrees with
me hold up his hand." All held up their hands: all then joined in the
vow, and shouted the paean.[42]