Cyrus enters Babylonia, and reviews his troops; he addresses the
Greeks, and promises them great rewards in case of victory. He
advances in order of battle, but afterwards, supposing that his
brother had no immediate intention to engage, proceeds with less
caution.
1. Hence Cyrus proceeded through Babylonia, three days' march, a
distance of twelve parasangs; and at the end of the third day's march,
he reviewed his army, both Greeks and Barbarians, in the plain, about
midnight; for he expected that with the ensuing dawn the king would come
up with his army to offer him battle. He desired Clearchus to take the
command of the right wing, and Menon the Thessalian that of the left,
while he himself drew up his own troops.
2. After the review, at the dawn of day, some deserters from the Great
King came and gave Cyrus information respecting the royal army. Cyrus,
assembling the generals and captains of the Greeks, consulted with them
how he should conduct the engagement, and then encouraged them with the
following exhortations: 3. "It is not, O Greeks, from any want of
Barbarian forces, that I take you with me as auxiliaries; but it is
because I think you more efficient and valuable than a multitude of
Barbarians, that I have engaged you in my service. See, then, that you
prove yourselves worthy of the liberty of which you are possessed, and
for which I esteem you fortunate; for be well assured, that I should
prefer that freedom to all that I possess, and to other possessions many
times as great. 4. But, that you may know to what sort of encounter you
are advancing, I, from my own experience, will inform you. The enemy's
numbers are immense, and they make their onset with a loud shout; but if
you are firm against this, I feel ashamed to think what sort of men, in
other respects, you will find those in the country to be. But if you are
true men, and prove yourselves stout-hearted, I will enable those of
you, who may wish to go home, to return thither the envy of their
fellow-countrymen; but I think that I shall induce most of you to prefer
the advantages of remaining with me to those in your own country."
5. Upon this, Gaulites, an exile from Samos, a man in the confidence of
Cyrus, being present, said, "Yet some say, O Cyrus, that you make many
promises now, because you are in such a situation of approaching danger;
but that if things should turn out well, you will not remember them;[53]
and some, too, say, that even if you have both the memory and the will,
you will not have the power of bestowing all that you promise."
6. Hearing this, Cyrus said, "We have before us, my friends, the empire
that was my father's, extending, on the south, to the parts where men
cannot live for heat; and on the north, to the parts where they cannot
live for cold; and over all that lies between these extremes, the
friends of my brother are now satraps. 7. But if we conquer, it will be
proper for us to make our own friends masters of these regions. So that
it is not this that I fear, that I shall not have enough to give to each
of my friends, if things turn out successfully, but that I shall not
have friends enough to whom I may give it. And to each of you Greeks, I
will also give a golden crown."
8. The Greeks who were present, when they heard these assurances, were
much encouraged, and reported what he had said to the rest. The
captains, too, and some others of the Greeks, went into his tent,
desiring to know for certain what would be their reward if they should
be victorious; and he did not let them go without satisfying the minds
of all.
9. But all, who conversed with him, urged him not to engage in the
battle personally, but take his station behind their line. About this
time, also, Clearchus put a question to Cyrus to this effect: "And do
you think, Cyrus, that your brother will come to battle with you?" "By
Jupiter," replied Cyrus, "if he be indeed the son of Darius and
Parysatis, and my brother, I shall not gain possession of these
dominions without a struggle."
10. In mustering the Greeks under arms, their numbers were found to be
ten thousand four hundred heavy-armed men, and two thousand four hundred
peltasts; of Barbarian troops under Cyrus, there were one hundred
thousand, with about twenty chariots armed with scythes.
11. Of the enemy the number was said to be one million two hundred
thousand, with two hundred scythed chariots. There were, besides, six
thousand cavalry, of whom Artagerses had the command; these were drawn
up in front of the king himself. 12. Of the royal army there were four
commanders, or generals, or leaders,[54] each over three hundred
thousand men; that is to say, Abrocomas, Tissaphernes, Gobryas, and
Arbaces. But of this number only nine hundred thousand were present at
the battle, and one hundred and fifty scythed chariots; for Abrocomas,
who was marching from Phœnicia, did not arrive till five days after
the battle.
13. This information was brought to Cyrus by some of the enemy who
deserted from the Great King before the battle; and such of the enemy as
were taken prisoners after the battle gave the same account.
14. Hence Cyrus proceeded one day's march, a distance of three
parasangs, with all his forces, as well Greek as Barbarian, drawn up in
order of battle; for he expected that on this day the king would give
him battle; as about the middle of the day's march, there was a deep
trench dug; the breadth of it was five fathoms,[55] and the depth three.
15. This ditch extended up through the plain, to the distance of twelve
parasangs, as far as the wall of Media.[56] Here are the canals which
are supplied from the river Tigris;[57] there are four of them, each a
plethrum in breadth, and very deep; boats employed in conveying corn
sail along them. They discharge themselves into the Euphrates, are
distant from each other one parasang, and there are bridges over them.
Near the Euphrates was a narrow passage between the river and the
trench, about twenty feet in breadth. 16. This trench the Great King had
made to serve as a defence, when he heard that Cyrus was marching
against him. By this passage Cyrus and his army made their way, and got
within the trench.
17. On this day the king did not come to an engagement, but there were
to be seen many traces of men and horses in retreat.
18. Cyrus sent for Silanus, the Ambracian soothsayer, and gave him three
thousand darics,[58] because, on the eleventh day previous, while
sacrificing, he had told Cyrus that the king would not fight for ten
days; when Cyrus exclaimed, "He will not then fight at all, if he does
not fight within that time; but if you shall prove to have spoken truly,
I promise to give you ten talents." This money, therefore, he now paid
him, the ten days having elapsed.
19. As the king made no attempt, at the trench, to prevent the passage
of Cyrus's army, it was thought both by Cyrus and the rest that he had
given up the intention of fighting; so that on the day following Cyrus
proceeded on his march with less caution. 20. On the day succeeding
that, he pursued his journey seated in his chariot, and having but a
small body of troops in line before him; while the far greater part of
the army observed no order on their march, and many of the soldiers'
arms were carried on the waggons and beasts of burden.
[Footnote 53: Οὐ μεμνῆσθαι.] This is the reading in all books and
manuscripts. But a future seems to be wanted rather than a perfect.
Hutchinson and others render it "te non fore memorem." Should we read
μεμνήσεσθαι?]
[Footnote 54: Ἦσαν ἄρχοντες καὶ στράτηγοι καὶ ἡγεμόνες τέτταρες.] Weiske
considers the words καὶ στράτηγοι καὶ ἡγεμόνες spurious; and Schneider
and some others are of his opinion. Kühner thinks that they are genuine,
and explicative of the more general term ἄρχοντες.]
[Footnote 55: Ὀργυιαί.] The ὀργυιά was equal to 6.0675 English feet. See
Hussey on Ancient Weights, &c., Append. sect. 10.]
[Footnote 56: Τοῦ Μηδίας τείχους.] As many of the best manuscripts have
Μηδείας, in this passage as well as in ii. 4. 12, ii. 4. 27, and vii. 8.
25, Kühner adopts that reading, under the notion that the wall was named
from Medea, the wife of the last king of the Medes, whom the Persians
conquered and despoiled of his dominions. "Those who defend the reading
Μηδίας," continues Kühner, "suppose the name to be derived from the
country of Media, and believe, with Mannert, (Geog. i. p. 330,) that it
is the same wall which Semiramis built to defend her kingdom on the side
of Media; but this opinion rests on very weak arguments." Ainsworth, p.
180, thinks that it extended from the Tigris to the Euphrates, and that
the site of it is indicated by the ruins now called _Sidd Nimrud_, or
"the Wall of Nimrod."]
[Footnote 57: "These canals however flowed, not from the Tigris into the
Euphrates, but from the Euphrates into the Tigris, as is shown not only
by Herodotus, Diodorus, Arrian, Pliny, Ammianus, but by later writers."
_Kühner_. But "the difference in the level of the rivers is so slight
that ---- it is probable that by merely altering the diagonal direction
of a canal, the waters could be made to flow either way; certainly so at
certain seasons." _Ainsworth_, p. 89.]
[Footnote 58: See note on i. 1. 9.]