Greeks still numbered, when mustered at Kerasus, 8600 heavy-armed
foot-soldiers, with light-armed foot-soldiers, bowmen, and slingers,
making a total of above 10,000 military persons. Such a force had never
before been seen in the Euxine. Considering both the numbers and the
now-acquired discipline and self-confidence of the Cyreians, even Sinope
herself could have raised no force capable of meeting them in the field.
Yet they did not belong to any city, nor receive orders from any
established government. They were like those mercenary armies which
marched about in Italy during the fourteenth century, under the generals
called Condottieri, taking service sometimes with one city, sometimes
with another. No one could predict what schemes they might conceive, or
in what manner they might deal with the established communities on the
shores of the Euxine. If we imagine that such an army had suddenly
appeared in Sicily, a little time before the Athenian expedition against
Syracuse, it would have been probably enlisted by Leontini and Katana in
their war against Syracuse. If the inhabitants of Trapezus had wished to
throw off the dominion of Sinope,--or if Korylas the Paphlagonian were
meditating war against that city--here were formidable auxiliaries to
second their wishes. Moreover there were various tempting sites, open to
the formation of a new colony, which, with so numerous a body of
original Greek settlers, would probably have overtopped Sinope herself.
There was no restraining cause to reckon upon, except the general
Hellenic sympathies and education of the Cyreian army; and what was of
not less importance, the fact that they were not mercenary soldiers by
permanent profession, such as became so formidably multiplied in Greece
during the next generation--but established citizens who had come out on
a special service under Cyrus, with the full intention, after a year of
lucrative enterprise, to return to their homes and families. We shall
find such gravitation towards home steadily operative throughout the
future proceedings of the army. But at the moment when they first
emerged from the mountains, no one could be sure that it would be so.
There was ample ground for uneasiness among the Euxine Greeks,
especially the Sinopians, whose supremacy had never before been
endangered.
Sec. 11. Plans of the army for the future.
An undisturbed repose of thirty days enabled the Cyreians to recover
from their fatigues, to talk over their past dangers, and to take pride
in the anticipated effect which their unparalleled achievement could not
fail to produce in Greece. Having discharged their vows and celebrated
their festival to the gods, they held an assembly to discuss their
future proceedings; when a Thurian[78] soldier named Antileon
exclaimed--"Comrades, I am already tired of packing up, marching,
running, carrying arms, falling into line, keeping watch, and fighting.
Now that we have the sea here before us, I desire to be relieved from
all these toils, to sail the rest of the way, and to arrive in Greece
outstretched and asleep, like Odysseus."[79] This pithy address being
received with vehement acclamations, and warmly responded to by all,
Cheirisophus offered, if the army chose to empower him, to sail
forthwith to Byzantium,[80] where he thought he could obtain from his
friend the Lacedaemonian admiral Anaxibius, sufficient vessels for
transport. His proposition was gladly accepted; and he departed to
execute the project.
Xenophon then urged upon the army various resolutions and measures,
proper for the regulation of affairs during the absence of Cheirisophus.
The army would be forced to maintain itself by marauding expeditions
among the hostile tribes in the mountains. Such expeditions accordingly
must be put under regulation: neither individual soldiers, nor small
companies, must be allowed to go out at pleasure, without giving notice
to the generals; moreover, the camp must be kept under constant guard
and scouts, in the event of surprise from a retaliating enemy. It was
prudent also to take the best measures in their power for procuring
vessels; since, after all, Cheirisophus might possibly fail in bringing
an adequate number. They ought to borrow a few ships of war from the
Trapezuntines, and detain all the merchant ships[81] which they saw;
unshipping the rudders, placing the cargoes under guard, and
maintaining the crew during all the time that the ships might be
required for transport of the army. Many such merchant vessels were
often sailing by; so that they would thus acquire the means of
transport, even though Cheirisophus should bring few or none from
Byzantium. Lastly, Xenophon proposed to require the Grecian cities to
repair and put in order the road along the coast, for a land-march;
since, perhaps, with all their efforts, it would be found impossible to
get together a sufficient stock of transports.
All the propositions of Xenophon were readily adopted by the army,
except the last. But the mere mention of a renewed land-march excited
such universal murmurs of repugnance, that he did not venture to put
that question to the vote. He took upon himself however to send messages
to the Grecian cities, on his own responsibility; urging them to repair
the roads, in order that the departure of the army might be facilitated.
And he found the cities ready enough to carry his wishes into effect, as
far as Kotyora.
The wisdom of these precautionary suggestions of Xenophon soon appeared;
for Cheirisophus not only failed in his object, but was compelled to
stay away for a considerable time. An armed ship with fifty oars was
borrowed from the Trapezuntines, and committed to the charge of a
Lacedaemonian provincial, named Dexippus, for the purpose of detaining
the merchant vessels passing by. This man having violated his trust, and
employed the ship to make his own escape out of the Euxine, a second was
obtained and confided to an Athenian, Polykrates; who brought in
successively several merchant vessels. These the Greeks did not
plunder, but secured the cargoes under adequate guard, and only reserved
the vessels for transports. It became however gradually more and more
difficult to supply the camp with provisions. Though the army was
distributed into suitable detachments for plundering the Kolchian
villages on the hills, and seizing cattle and prisoners for sale, yet
these expeditions did not always succeed; indeed on one occasion, two
Grecian companies got entangled in such difficult ground, that they were
destroyed to a man. The Kolchians united on the hills in increased and
menacing numbers, insomuch that a larger guard became necessary for the
camp; while the Trapezuntines--tired of the protracted stay of the army,
as well as desirous of exempting from pillage the natives in their own
immediate neighborhood--conducted the detachments only to villages alike
remote and difficult of access. It was in this manner that a large force
under Xenophon himself, attacked the lofty and rugged stronghold of the
Drilae--the most warlike nation of mountaineers in the neighborhood of
the Euxine, well-armed, and troublesome to Trapezus by their incursions.
After a difficult march and attack, which Xenophon describes in
interesting detail, and wherein the Greeks encountered no small hazard
of ruinous defeat--they returned, in the end completely successful, and
with a plentiful booty.
Sec. 12. The Ten Thousand begin their march westward.
At length, after long awaiting in vain the reappearance of Cheirisophus,
increasing scarcity and weariness determined them to leave Trapezus. A
sufficient number of vessels had been collected to serve for the
transport of the women, of the sick and wounded, and of the baggage. All
these were accordingly placed on board under the command of Philesius
and Sophaenetus, the two oldest generals; while the remaining army
marched by land, along a road which had been just made good under the
representations of Xenophon. In three days they reached Kerasus,[82]
another maritime colony of the Sinopians, still in the territory called
Kolchian; there they halted ten days, mustered and numbered the army,
and divided the money acquired by the sale of their prisoners. Eight
thousand six hundred heavy-armed foot-soldiers, out of a total probably
greater than eleven thousand, were found still remaining; besides
targeteers[83] and various light troops.
During the halt at Kerasus, the declining discipline of the army became
manifest as they approached home. Various acts of outrage occurred,
originating now, as afterwards, in the intrigues of treacherous
officers. A captain named Klearetus persuaded his company to attempt the
plunder of a Kolchian village near Kerasus, which had furnished a
friendly market to the Greeks, and which rested secure on the faith of
peaceful relations. He intended to make off separately with the booty in
one of the vessels: but his attack was repelled, and he himself slain.
The injured villagers despatched three elders as heralds, to remonstrate
with the Grecian authorities; but these heralds, being seen in Kerasus
by some of the repulsed plunderers, were slain. A partial tumult then
ensued, in which even the magistrates of Kerasus were in great danger,
and only escaped the pursuing soldiers by running into the sea. This
enormity, though it occurred under the eyes of the generals, immediately
before their departure from Kerasus, remained without inquiry or
punishment, from the numbers concerned in it.
Between Kerasus and Kotyora, there was not then (nor is there now) any
regular road. This march cost the Cyreian army not less than ten days,
by an inland track departing from the seashore, and through the
mountains inhabited by the native tribes Mosynoeki and Chalybes. The
latter, celebrated for their iron works, were under dependence to the
former. As the Mosynoeki refused to grant a friendly passage across
their territory, the army were compelled to fight their way through it
as enemies, with the aid of one section of these people themselves;
which alliance was procured for them by the Trapezuntine Timesitheus,
who was consul or agent of the Mosynoeki and understood their language.
The Greeks took the mountain fastnesses of this people, and plundered
the wooden turrets[84] which formed their abodes. Of their peculiar
fashions Xenophon gives an interesting description which I have not
space to copy. The territory of the Tibareni was more easy and
accessible. This people met the Greeks with presents, and tendered a
friendly passage. But the generals at first declined the presents,
preferring to treat them as enemies and plunder them; which in fact they
would have done, had they not been deterred by unfavorable sacrifices.
Near Kotyora, which was situated on the coast of the Tibareni, yet on
the borders of Paphlagonia, they remained forty-five days, still
awaiting the appearance of Cheirisophus with the transports to carry
them away by sea. The Sinopian governor did not permit them to be
welcomed in so friendly a manner as at Trapezus. No market was provided
for them, nor were their sick admitted within the walls. But the
fortifications of the town were not so constructed as to resist a Greek
force, the like of which had never before been seen in those regions.
The Greek generals found a weak point, made their way in, and took
possession of a few houses for the accommodation of their sick; keeping
a guard at the gate to secure free egress, but doing no farther violence
to the citizens. They obtained their victuals partly from the Kotyorite
villages, partly from the neighboring territory of Paphlagonia, until at
length envoys arrived from Sinope to remonstrate against their
proceedings.
These envoys presented themselves before the assembled soldiers in the
camp, when Hekatonymus, the chief and most eloquent among them, began by
complimenting the army upon their gallant exploits and retreat. He then
complained of the injury which Kotyora, and Sinope as the mother-city of
Kotyora, had suffered at their hands, in violation of common Hellenic
kinship. If such proceedings were continued, he intimated that Sinope
would be compelled in her own defence to seek alliance with the
Paphlagonian prince Korylas, or any other barbaric auxiliary who would
lend them aid against the Greeks. Xenophon replied that if the
Kotyorites had sustained any damage, it was owing to their own ill-will
and to the Sinopian governor in the place; that the generals were under
the necessity of procuring subsistence for the soldiers, with house-room
for the sick, and that they had taken nothing more; that the sick men
were lying within the town, but at their own cost, while the other
soldiers were all encamped without; that they had maintained cordial
friendship with the Trapezuntines, and requited all their good offices;
that they sought no enemies except through necessity, being anxious only
again to reach Greece; and that as for the threat respecting Korylas,
they knew well enough that that prince was eager to become master of the
wealthy city of Sinope, and would speedily attempt some such enterprise
if he could obtain the Cyreian army as his auxiliaries.
This judicious reply shamed the colleagues of Hekatonymus so much, that
they went the length of protesting against what he had said, and of
affirming that they had come with propositions of sympathy and
friendship to the army, as well as with promises to give them an
hospitable reception at Sinope, if they should visit that town on their
way home. Presents were at once sent to the army by the inhabitants of
Kotyora, and a good understanding established.
Such an interchange of goodwill with the powerful city of Sinope was an
unspeakable advantage to the army--indeed an essential condition to
their power of reaching home. If they continued their march by land, it
was only through Sinopian guidance and mediation that they could obtain
or force a passage through Paphlagonia; while for a voyage by sea, there
was no chance of procuring a sufficient number of vessels except from
Sinope, since no news had been received of Cheirisophus. On the other
hand, that city had also a strong interest in facilitating their transit
homeward, and thus removing formidable neighbors, for whose ulterior
purposes there could be no guarantee. After some preliminary
conversation with the Sinopian envoys, the generals convoked the army in
assembly, and entreated Hekatonymus and his companions to advise them
as to the best mode of proceeding westward to the Bosphorus.
Hekatonymus, after apologizing for the menacing insinuations of his
former speech, and protesting that he had no other object in view except
to point out the safest and easiest plan of route for the army, began to
unfold the insuperable difficulties of a march through Paphlagonia. The
very entrance into the country must be achieved through a narrow
aperture in the mountains, which it was impossible to force if occupied
by the enemy. Even assuming this difficulty to be surmounted, there were
spacious plains to be passed over, wherein the Paphlagonian horse,[85]
the most numerous and bravest in Asia, would be found almost
irresistible. There were also three or four great rivers, which the army
would be unable to pass--the Thermodon and the Iris, each 300 feet in
breadth--the Halys, nearly a quarter of a mile in breadth--the
Parthenius, also very considerable. Such an array of obstacles (he
affirmed) rendered the project of marching through Paphlagonia
impracticable; whereas the voyage by sea from Kotyora to Sinope, and
from Sinope to Herakleia, was easy; and the transit from the latter
place either by sea to Byzantium, or by land across Thrace, yet easier.
Difficulties like these, apparently quite real, were more than
sufficient to determine the vote of the army, already sick of marching
and fighting, in favor of the sea voyage; though there were not wanting
suspicions of the sincerity of Hekatonymus. But Xenophon, in
communicating to the latter the decision of the army, distinctly
apprised him that they would on no account permit themselves to be
divided; that they would either depart or remain all in a body; and
that vessels must be provided sufficient for the transport of all.
Hekatonymus desired them to send envoys of their own to Sinope to make
the necessary arrangements. Three envoys were accordingly sent--Ariston,
an Athenian, Kallimachus, an Arcadian, and Samolas, an Achaean; the
Athenian, probably, as possessing the talent of speaking in the Sinopian
senate or assembly.
During the absence of the envoys, the army still continued near Kotyora,
with a market provided by the town, and with traders from Sinope and
Herakleia in the camp. Such soldiers as had no money wherewith to
purchase, subsisted by pillaging the neighboring frontier of
Paphlagonia. But they were receiving no pay; every man was living on his
own resources; and instead of carrying back a handsome purse to Greece,
as each soldier had hoped when he first took service under Cyrus, there
seemed every prospect of their returning poorer than when they left
home. Moreover, the army was now moving onward without any definite
purpose, with increasing dissatisfaction and decreasing discipline;
insomuch that Xenophon foresaw the difficulties which would beset the
responsible commanders when they should come within the stricter
restraints and obligations of the Grecian world.
Sec. 13. Plans of Xenophon for founding a city on the Black Sea.
It was these considerations which helped to suggest to him the idea of
employing the army on some enterprise of conquest and colonization on
the Euxine itself; an idea highly flattering to his personal ambition,
especially as the army was of unrivalled efficiency against an enemy,
and no such second force could ever be got together in those distant
regions. His patriotism as a Greek was inflamed with the thoughts of
procuring for Hellas[86] a new self-governing city, occupied by a
considerable Hellenic population, possessing a spacious territory, and
exercising dominion over many neighboring natives. He seems to have
thought first of attacking and conquering some established non-Hellenic
city; an act which his ideas of international morality did not forbid,
in a case where he had contracted no special convention with the
inhabitants--though he (as well as Cheirisophus) strenuously protested
against doing wrong to any innocent Hellenic community. He contemplated
the employment of the entire force in capturing Phasis or some other
native city; after which, when the establishment was once safely
effected, those soldiers who preferred going home to remaining as
settlers, might do so without emperiling those who stayed, and probably
with their own purses filled by plunder and conquest in the
neighborhood. To settle as one of the richest proprietors and
chiefs,--perhaps even the recognized founder, like Agnon at
Amphipolis,--of a new Hellenic city such as could hardly fail to become
rich, powerful, and important--was a tempting prospect for one who had
now acquired the habits of command. Moreover, the sequel will prove how
correctly Xenophon appreciated the discomfort of leading the army back
to Greece without pay and without certain employment.
It was the practice of Xenophon, and the advice of his master,
Sokrates,[87] in grave and doubtful cases where the most careful
reflection was at fault, to recur to the inspired authority of an oracle
or a prophet, and to offer sacrifice, in full confidence that the gods
would vouchsafe to communicate a special revelation to such persons as
they favored. Accordingly Xenophon, previous to any communication with
the soldiers respecting his new project, was anxious to ascertain the
will of the gods by a special sacrifice; for which he invoked the
presence of Silanus, the chief prophet in the army. This prophet (as I
have already mentioned), before the battle of Kunaxa, had assured Cyrus
that Artaxerxes would not fight for ten days--and the prophecy came to
pass; which made such an impression on Cyrus, that he rewarded him with
the prodigious present of 3000 darics or ten Attic talents. While others
were returning poor, Silanus, having contrived to preserve this sum
through all the hardships of the retreat, was extremely rich, and
anxious only to hasten home with his treasure in safety. He heard with
strong repugnance the project of remaining on the Euxine, and determined
to traverse[88] it by intrigue. As far as concerned the sacrifices,
indeed, which he offered apart with Xenophon he was obliged to admit
that the indications of the victims were favorable; Xenophon himself
being too familiar with the process to be imposed upon. But he at the
same time tried to create alarm by declaring that a nice inspection
disclosed evidence of treacherous snares laid for Xenophon; which latter
indications he himself began to realize by spreading reports among the
army that the Athenian general was laying clandestine plans for keeping
them away from Greece without their own concurrence.[89]
Thus prematurely and insidiously divulged, the scheme found some
supporters, but a far larger number of opponents; especially among those
officers who were jealous of the ascendency of Xenophon. Timasion and
Thorax employed it as a means of alarming the Herakleotic and Sinopian
traders in the camp; telling them that unless they provided not merely
transports, but also pay for the soldiers, Xenophon would find means to
detain the army in the Euxine, and would employ the transports when they
arrived not for the homeward voyage, but for his own projects of
acquisition. This news spread so much terror both at Sinope and
Herakleia that large offers of money were made from both cities to
Timasion, on condition that he would ensure the departure of the army,
as soon as the vessels should be assembled at Kotyora. Accordingly these
officers, convening an assembly of the soldiers, protested against the
duplicity of Xenophon in thus preparing momentous schemes without any
public debate or decision. And Timasion, seconded by Thorax, not only
strenuously urged the army to return, but went so far as to promise to
them, on the faith of the assurances from Herakleia and Sinope, future
pay on a liberal scale, to commence from the first new moon after their
departure; together with a hospitable reception in his native city of
Dardanus on the Hellespont, from whence they could make incursions on
the rich neighboring satrapy of Pharnabazus.
It was not, however, until these attacks were repeated from more than
one quarter--until the Achaeans Philesius and Lykon had loudly accused
Xenophon of underhand manoeuvring to cheat the army into remaining
against their will--that the latter rose to repel the imputation; saying
that all he had done was, to consult the gods whether it would be better
to lay his project before the army or keep it in his own bosom. The
encouraging answer of the gods, as conveyed through the victims and
testified even by Silanus himself, proved that the scheme was not
ill-conceived; nevertheless (he remarked) Silanus had begun to lay
snares for him, obtaining by his own proceedings a collateral indication
which he had announced to be visible in the victims. "If (added
Xenophon) you had continued as destitute and unprovided, as you were
just now--I should still have looked out for a resource in the capture
of some city which would have enabled such of you as chose, to return at
once; while the rest stay behind to enrich themselves. But now there is
no longer any necessity; since Herakleia and Sinope are sending
transports, and Timasion promises pay to you from the next new moon.
Nothing can be better; you will go back safely to Greece, and will
receive pay for going thither. I desist at once from my scheme, and call
upon all who were favorable to it to desist also. Only let us all keep
together until we are on safe ground; and let the man who lags behind
or runs off, be condemned as a wrongdoer."