held up in its favor. There was no man more disconcerted with the vote
than the prophet Silanus, who loudly exclaimed against the injustice of
detaining any one desirous to depart. But the soldiers put him down with
vehement disapprobation, threatening that they would assuredly punish
him if they caught him running off. His intrigue against Xenophon thus
recoiled upon himself, for the moment. But shortly afterwards, when the
army reached Herakleia, he took his opportunity for clandestine flight,
and found his way back to Greece with the 3000 darics.
If Silanus gained little by his manoeuvre, Timasion and his partners
gained still less. For so soon as it became known that the army had
taken a formal resolution to go back to Greece, and that Xenophon
himself had made the proposition, the Sinopians and the Herakleots felt
at their ease. They sent the transport vessels, but withheld the money
which they had promised to Timasion and Thorax. Hence these officers
were exposed to dishonor and peril; for having positively engaged to
find pay for the army, they were now unable to keep their word. So keen
were their apprehensions, that they came to Xenophon and told him that
they had altered their views, and that they now thought it best to
employ the newly-arrived transports in conveying the army, not to
Greece, but against the town and territory of Phasis[90] at the eastern
extremity of the Euxine. Xenophon replied, that they might convene the
soldiers and make the proposition, if they chose; but that he would have
nothing to say to it. To make the very proposition themselves, for which
they had so much inveighed against Xenophon, was impossible without some
preparation; so that each of them began individually to sound his
captains, and get the scheme suggested by them. During this interval,
the soldiery obtained information of the manoeuvre, much to their
discontent and indignation; of which Neon (the lieutenant of the absent
Cheirisophus) took advantage, to throw the whole blame upon Xenophon;
alleging that it was he who had converted the other officers to his
original project, and that he intended, as soon as the soldiers were on
shipboard, to convey them fraudulently to Phasis instead of to Greece.
There was something so plausible in this glaring falsehood, which
represented Xenophon as the author of the renewed project, once his
own--and something so improbable in the fact that the other officers
should spontaneously have renounced their own strong opinions to take up
his--that we can hardly be surprised at the ready credence which Neon's
calumny found among the army. Their exasperation against Xenophon became
so intense, that they collected in fierce groups; and there was even a
fear that they would break out into mutinous violence, as they had
before done against the magistrates of Kerasus.
Well knowing the danger of such spontaneous and informal assemblages,
and the importance of the habitual solemnities of convocation and
arrangement, to ensure either discussion or legitimate defence--Xenophon
immediately sent round the herald to summon the army into the regular
place of assembly with customary method and ceremony. The summons was
obeyed with unusual alacrity, and Xenophon then addressed
them--refraining, with equal generosity and prudence, from saying
anything about the last proposition which Timasion and others had made
to him. Had he mentioned it, the question would have become one of life
and death between him and those other officers.
Sec. 14. Xenophon defends himself against false accusations.
"Soldiers (said he), I understand that there are some men here
calumniating me, as if I were intending to cheat you and carry you to
Phasis. Hear me then, in the name of the gods. If I am shown to be doing
wrong, let me not go from hence unpunished; but if, on the contrary, my
calumniators are proved to be the wrong-doers, deal with them as they
deserve. You surely well know where the sun rises and where he sets; you
know that if a man wishes to reach Greece, he must go westward--if to
the barbaric territories, he must go eastward. Can any one hope to
deceive you on this point, and persuade you that the sun rises on _this_
side, and sets on _that_? Can any one cheat you into going on shipboard
with a wind which blows you away from Greece? Suppose even that I put
you aboard when there is no wind at all. How am I to force you to sail
with me against your own consent--I being only in one ship, you in a
hundred and more? Imagine however that I could even succeed in deluding
you to Phasis. When we land there, you will know at once that we are not
in Greece; and what fate can I then expect--a detected impostor in the
midst of ten thousand men with arms in their hands? No--these stories
all proceed from foolish men, who are jealous of my influence with you;
jealous, too, without reason--for I neither hinder _them_ from
out-stripping me in your favor, if they can render you greater
service--nor _you_ from electing them commanders, if you think fit.
Enough of this now: I challenge any one to come forward and say how it
is possible either to cheat, or to be cheated, in the manner laid to my
charge."
Having thus grappled directly with the calumnies of his enemies, and
dissipated them in such manner as doubtless to create a reaction in his
own favor, Xenophon made use of the opportunity to denounce the growing
disorders in the army; which he depicted as such, that if no corrective
were applied, disgrace and contempt must fall upon all. As he paused
after this general remonstrance, the soldiers loudly called upon him to
go into particulars; upon which he proceeded to recall, with lucid and
impressive simplicity, the outrages which had been committed at and near
Kerasus--the unauthorized and unprovoked attack made by Klearetus and
his company on a neighboring village which was in friendly commerce with
the army--the murder of the three elders of the village, who had come as
heralds to complain to the generals about such wrong--the mutinous
attack made by disorderly soldiers even upon the magistrates of Kerasus,
at the very moment when they were remonstrating with the generals on
what had occurred; exposing these magistrates to the utmost peril, and
putting the generals themselves to ignominy. "If such are to be our
proceedings (continued Xenophon), look you well into what condition the
army will fall. You, the aggregate body, will no longer be the sovereign
authority to make war or peace with whom you please; each individual
among you will conduct the army against any point which he may choose.
And even if men should come to you as envoys, either for peace or for
other purposes, they may be slain by any single enemy; so that you will
be debarred from all public communications whatever. Next, those whom
your universal suffrage shall have chosen commanders, will have no
authority; while any self-elected general who chooses to give the word,
Cast, Cast (_i.e._ darts or stones), may put to death without trial
either officer or soldier as it suits him; that is, if he finds you
ready to obey him, as it happened near Kerasus. Look now what these
self-elected leaders have done for you. The magistrate of Kerasus, if he
was really guilty of wrong towards you, has been enabled to escape with
impunity; if he was innocent, he has been obliged to run away from you,
as the only means of avoiding death without pretence of trial. Those who
stoned the heralds to death have brought matters to such a pass, that
you alone, of all Greeks, cannot enter the town of Kerasus in safety,
unless in commanding force; and that we cannot even send in a herald to
take up our dead (Klearetus and those who were slain in the attack on
the Kerasuntine village) for burial; though at first those who had slain
them in self-defence were anxious to give up the bodies to us. For who
will take the risk of going in as herald, from those who have set the
example of putting heralds to death? We generals were obliged to entreat
the Kerasuntines to bury the bodies for us."
Continuing in this emphatic protest against the recent disorders and
outrages, Xenophon at length succeeded in impressing his own sentiment,
heartily and unanimously, upon the soldiers. They passed a vote that the
ringleaders of the mutiny at Kerasus should be punished; that if any one
was guilty of similar outrages in future, he should be put upon his
trial by the generals, before the captains as judges, and if condemned
by them, put to death; and that trial should be had before the same
persons, for any other wrong committed since the death of Cyrus. A
suitable religious ceremony was also directed to be performed, at the
instance of Xenophon and the prophets, to purify the army.
This speech affords an interesting specimen of the political morality
universal throughout the Grecian world, though deeper and more
predominant among its better sections. In the miscellaneous aggregate,
and temporary society, now mustered at Kotyora, Xenophon insists on the
universal suffrage of the whole body, as the legitimate sovereign
authority for the guidance of every individual will; the decision of the
majority, fairly and formally collected, as carrying a title to prevail
over every dissentient minority; the generals chosen by the majority of
votes, as the only persons entitled to obedience. This is the cardinal
principle to which he appeals, as the anchorage of political obligation
in the mind of each separate man or fraction; as the condition of all
success, all safety, and all conjoint action; as the only condition
either for punishing wrong or protecting right; as indispensable to keep
up their sympathies with the Hellenic communities, and their dignity
either as soldiers or as citizens. The complete success of his speech
proves that he knew how to touch the right chord of Grecian feeling. No
serious acts of individual insubordination occurred afterwards, though
the army collectively went wrong on more than one occasion. And what is
not less important to notice--the influence of Xenophon himself, after
his unreserved and courageous remonstrance, seems to have been sensibly
augmented--certainly noway diminished.
The circumstances which immediately followed were indeed well
calculated to augment it. For it was resolved, on the proposition of
Xenophon himself, that the generals themselves should be tried before
the newly-constituted tribunal of the captains, in case anyone had
complaint to make against them for past matters; agreeably to the
Athenian habit of subjecting every magistrate to a trial of
accountability on laying down his office. In the course of this
investigation, Philesius and Xanthikles were fined twenty minae,[91] to
make good an assignable deficiency of that amount, in the cargoes of
those merchantmen which had been detained at Trapezus for the transport
of the army: Sophaenetus, who had the general superintendence of this
property, but had been negligent in that duty, was fined ten minae. Next,
the name of Xenophon was put up, when various persons stood forward to
accuse him of having beaten and ill-used them. As commander of the
rear-guard, his duty was by far the severest and most difficult,
especially during the intense cold and deep snow; since the sick and
wounded, as well as the laggards and plunderers, all fell under his
inspection. One man especially was loud in complaints against him, and
Xenophon questioned him, as to the details of his case, before the
assembled army. It turned out that he had given him blows, because the
man, having been entrusted with the task of carrying a sick soldier, was
about to evade the duty by burying the dying man alive. This interesting
debate ended by a full approbation on the part of the army of Xenophon's
conduct, accompanied with regret that he had not handled the man yet
more severely.
The statements of Xenophon himself give us a vivid idea of the internal
discipline of the army, even as managed by a discreet and well-tempered
officer. "I acknowledge (said he to the soldiers) to have struck many
men for disorderly conduct; men who were content to owe their
preservation to your orderly march and constant fighting, while they
themselves ran about to plunder and enrich themselves at your cost. Had
we all acted as they did, we should have perished to a man. Sometimes
too I struck men who were lagging behind with cold and fatigue, or were
stopping the way so as to hinder others from getting forward: I struck
them with my fist, in order to save them from the spear of the enemy.
You yourselves stood by and saw me: you had arms in your hands, yet none
of you interfered to prevent me. I did it for their good as well as for
yours, not from any insolence of disposition; for it was a time when we
were all alike suffering from cold, hunger, and fatigue; whereas I now
live comparatively well, drink more wine and pass easy days--and yet I
strike no one. You will find that the men who failed most in those times
of hardship, are now the most outrageous offenders in the army. There is
Boiskus, the Thessalian pugilist, who pretended sickness during the
march, in order to evade the burden of carrying his shield--and now, as
I am informed, he has stripped several citizens of Kotyora of their
clothes. If (he concluded) the blows which I have occasionally given, in
cases of necessity, are now brought in evidence--I call upon those among
you also, to whom I have rendered aid and protection, to stand up and
testify in my favor."
Many individuals responded to this appeal, insomuch that Xenophon was
not merely acquitted, but stood higher than before in the opinion of the
army. We learn from his defence that for a commanding officer to strike
a soldier with his fist, if wanting in duty, was not considered
improper; at least under such circumstances as those of the retreat. But
what deserves notice still more, is, the extraordinary influence which
Xenophon's powers of speaking gave him over the minds of the army. He
stood distinguished from the other generals, Lacedaemonian, Arcadian,
Achaean, and the rest, by his power of working on the minds of the
soldiers collectively; and we see that he had the good sense, as well as
the spirit, not to shrink from telling them unpleasant truths. In spite
of such frankness--or rather, partly by means of such frankness--his
ascendency as commander not only remained unabated, as compared with
that of the others, but went on increasing. For whatever may be said
about the flattery of orators as a means of influence over the
people,--it will be found that though particular points may be gained in
this way, yet wherever the influence of an orator has been steady and
long-continued (like that of Perikles or Demosthenes) it is owing in
part to the fact that he has an opinion of his own, and is not willing
to accommodate himself constantly to the prepossessions of his hearers.
Without the oratory of Xenophon, there would have existed no engine for
kindling or sustaining the common sense or feeling of the ten thousand
Cyreians assembled at Kotyora, or for keeping up the moral authority of
the aggregate over the individual members and fractions. The other
officers could doubtless speak well enough to address short
encouragements, or give simple explanations, to the soldiers: without
this faculty, no man was fit for military command over Greeks. But the
oratory of Xenophon was something of a higher order. Whoever will study
the discourse pronounced by him at Kotyora will perceive a dexterity in
dealing with assembled multitudes--a discriminating use sometimes of the
plainest and most direct appeal, sometimes of indirect insinuation or
circuitous transitions to work round the minds of the hearers--a command
of those fundamental political convictions which lay deep in the Grecian
mind, but were often so overlaid by the fresh impulses arising out of
each successive situation, as to require some positive friction to draw
them out from their latent state--lastly, a power of expansion and
varied repetition--such as would be naturally imparted both by the
education and the practice of an intelligent Athenian, but would rarely
be found in any other Grecian city. The energy and judgment displayed by
Xenophon in the retreat were doubtless not less essential to his
influence than his power of speaking; but in these points we may be sure
that other officers were more nearly his equals.
The important public proceedings above described not only restored the
influence of Xenophon, but also cleared off a great amount of bad
feeling, and sensibly abated the bad habits, which had grown up in the
army. A scene which speedily followed was not without effect in
promoting cheerful and amicable sympathies. The Paphlagonian prince
Korylas, weary of the desultory warfare carried on between the Greeks
and the border inhabitants, sent envoys to the Greek camp with presents
of horses and fine robes, and with expressions of a wish to conclude
peace. The Greek generals accepted the presents, and promised to submit
the proposition to the army. But first, they entertained the envoys at a
banquet, providing at the same time games and dances, with other
recreations amusing not only to them but also to the soldiers generally.
[Xenophon thus describes them--"As soon as the libations were over, and
they had sung the paean, two Thracians rose up and danced in full armor,
to the sound of a pipe;[92] they leaped very high, and with great
agility, and wielded their swords; and at last one struck the other, in
such a manner that every one thought he had killed him. He fell,
however, artfully, and the Paphlagonians cried out; the other having
stripped him of his arms, went out singing; while other Thracians
carried off the man as if he had been dead; though indeed he had
suffered no hurt. Afterward some others stood up and danced what they
called the Carpaean dance[93] in heavy arms. The nature of the dance was
as follows: one man having laid aside his arms, sows, and drives a yoke
of oxen, frequently turning to look back as if he were afraid. A robber
then approaches, and the plowman when he perceives him, snatches up his
arms and runs to meet him, and fights with him in defence of his oxen
(and the dancers acted all this, keeping time to the music); but at last
the robber binding the ox driver, leads him off with his oxen.
Sometimes, however, the plowman binds the robber, and then having
fastened him to his oxen, drives him off with his hands tied behind him.
"Next came forward a man with a light shield in each hand, and danced,
sometimes acting as if two adversaries were attacking him; sometimes he
used his shields as if engaged with only one; sometimes he whirled
about, and threw a somersault, still keeping the shields in his hands,
presenting an interesting spectacle. At last he danced the Persian
dance (frequently bending the knee), clashing his shields together,
sinking on his knees, and rising again; and all this he performed in
time to the pipe.
"After him some of the Arcadians coming forward and taking their stand,
armed as handsomely as they could equip themselves, moved along in time,
accompanied by a pipe tuned for the war-movement, and sung the paean, and
danced in the same manner as in the procession to the gods. The
Paphlagonians, looking on, testified their astonishment that all the
dances were performed in armor. The Mysian,[94] observing that they were
surprised at the exhibition, and prevailing on one of the Arcadians, who
had a female dancer, to let her come in, brought her forward, equipping
her as handsomely as he could, and giving her a light shield. She danced
the Pyrrhic[95] dance with great agility, and a general clapping of
hands followed; and the Paphlagonians asked whether the women fought
along with the men; when they replied that it was the women who had
driven the King from his camp.[96] This was the conclusion of the
entertainment for that night."[97]] They were followed on the next day
by an amicable convention concluded between the army and the
Paphlagonians.
Sec. 15. The army passes by sea to Sinope.
Not long afterwards--a number of transports, sufficient for the whole
army, having been assembled from Herakleia and Sinope--all the soldiers
were conveyed by sea to the latter place, passing by the mouth of the
rivers Thermodon, Iris, and Halys, which they would have found
impracticable to cross in a land-march through Paphlagonia. Having
reached Sinope after a day and a night of sailing with a fair wind, they
were hospitably received, and lodged in the neighboring seaport of
Armene, where the Sinopians sent to them a large present of barley-meal
and wine, and where they remained for five days.
It was here that they were joined by Cheirisophus, whose absence had
been so unexpectedly prolonged. But he came with only a single
trireme,[98] bringing nothing except a message from Anaxibius, the
Lacedaemonian general in the Bosphorus; who complimented the army, and
promised that they should be taken into pay as soon as they were out of
the Euxine. The soldiers, severely disappointed on seeing him arrive
thus empty-handed, became the more strongly bent on striking some blow
to fill their own purses before they reached Greece. Feeling that it was
necessary to the success of any such project that it should be prepared
not only skilfully, but secretly, they resolved to elect a single
general in place of that board of six (or perhaps more) who were still
in function. Such was now the ascendency of Xenophon, that the general
sentiment of the army at once turned towards him; and the captains,
communicating to him what was in contemplation, intimated to him their
own anxious hopes that he would not decline the offer. Tempted by so
flattering a proposition, he hesitated at first what answer he should
give. But at length the uncertainty of being able to satisfy the
exigencies of the army, and the fear of thus compromising the
reputation which he had already realized, outweighed the opposite
inducements. As in other cases of doubt, so in this--he offered
sacrifice to Zeus the King; and the answer returned by the victims was
such as to determine him to refusal. Accordingly, when the army
assembled, with predetermination to choose a single chief, and proceeded
to nominate him--he respectfully and thankfully declined, on the ground
that Cheirisophus was a Lacedaemonian, and that he himself was not;
adding that he should cheerfully serve under any one whom they might
name. His excuse however was repudiated; especially by the captains.
Several of these latter were Arcadians; and one of them, Agasias, cried
out, with full sympathy of the soldiers, that, if that principle were
admitted, he as an Arcadian ought to resign his command. Finding that
his former reason was not approved, Xenophon acquainted the army that he
had sacrificed to know whether he ought to accept the command, and that
the gods had peremptorily forbidden him to do so.
Cheirisophus was then elected sole commander, and undertook the duty;
saying that he would have willingly served under Xenophon, if the latter
had accepted the office, but that it was a good thing for Xenophon
himself to have declined--since Dexippus had already poisoned the mind
of Anaxibius against him, though he (Cheirisophus) had emphatically
contradicted the calumnies.