Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is enclosed in _underscores_.
Additional notes will be found near the end of this ebook.
THE
RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND
WORKS BY FRANCES YOUNGHUSBAND.
THE STORY OF OUR LORD. TOLD IN SIMPLE LANGUAGE FOR CHILDREN. With
25 Illustrations in Wood, from Pictures by the Old Masters, and
numerous Ornamental Borders, Initial Letters, &c. from Longmans’
Illustrated New Testament. Crown 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._ cloth plain,
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With a Map and 29 Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 2_s._ 6_d._
WORKS BY PROFESSOR C. WITT.
_Head Master of the Altstadt Gymnasium, Königsberg._
TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH BY FRANCES YOUNGHUSBAND.
MYTHS OF HELLAS. With a Preface by A. SIDGWICK, M.A. Crown 8vo. 3_s._
6_d._
THE TROJAN WAR. With a Preface by the Rev. W. G. RUTHERFORD, M.A.,
Head Master of Westminster School. Fcp. 8vo. 2_s._
THE WANDERINGS OF ULYSSES. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND. With a Preface by H. G. DAKYNS,
M.A., Translator of ‘The Works of Xenophon.’ Containing numerous
Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 3_s._ 6_d._
[Illustration: THE ROUTE OF THE TEN THOUSAND.]
THE RETREAT
OF
THE TEN THOUSAND
BY
PROFESSOR C. WITT
HEAD MASTER OF THE ALTSTADT GYMNASIUM AT KÖNIGSBERG
TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN BY
FRANCES YOUNGHUSBAND
_Translator of ‘Myths of Hellas’_
_WITH A PREFACE BY H. G. DAKYNS, M.A._
_Translator of ‘The Works of Xenophon’_
[Illustration]
THIRD EDITION
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, AND BOMBAY
1896
_All rights reserved_
PREFACE
Miss Younghusband kindly insists that I should write a preface to her
new volume, and I cannot refuse. It contains a translation by her hand
from the German of Professor C. Witt’s version of the Retreat of the
Ten Thousand.
Such a book ought, I think, no less than its predecessors _The Myths
of Hellas_, _The Tale of Troy_, and _The Wanderings of Ulysses_, to
become a favourite with those youthful readers, to whom it is primarily
addressed. Indeed, considering the nature of the history, older persons
may perhaps find an interest in it.
The original Greek narrative, on which Professor Witt has based his
version, is, of course, the well-known _Anabasis_ of Xenophon, which
is one of the most fascinating books in the world. And I agree with
the translator in hoping that some of those who read the story for the
first time in English will be led to study Greek sufficiently to read
it again and again in the language of Xenophon himself.
That remarkable personage, who in spite of his Spartan leanings was
a thorough Athenian at heart--found himself on a sudden called upon
to play the part of a leader: and played it to perfection. But if he
deserved well of his countrymen and fellow soldiers by his service in
the field, he has deserved still better of all later generations by the
vigour, not of his sword, but of his pen.
Perhaps we owe it to his Socratic training that whilst the memories
were still fresh he sat down to describe the exploits of the Ten
Thousand in a style admirably suited to the narrative; and produced a
masterpiece. I do not think there is a dull page in the book.
The incidents, albeit they took place in the broad noonday of Grecian
history, are as thrilling as any tale told by the poets in the divine
dawn of the highly gifted Hellenic race. The men themselves who play
so noble a part are evidently true descendants of the Homeric heroes.
If they have fits of black despondency--the cloud is soon dispelled
when there is need for action, and by a sense of their own dignity. The
spirit of their forefathers, who fought and won at Marathon and Salamis
and Platææ, has entered into them. They enter the lists of battle with
the same gaiety. They confront death with similar equanimity. Buoyancy
is the distinctive note of the _Anabasis_.
But there is another side to the matter. These Xenophontine soldiers
are also true _enfants du siècle_. They bear the impress of their own
half century markedly: and it was an age not by any means entirely
heroic. It had its painful and prosaic side.
‘Nothing,’ a famous Frenchman, M. Henri Taine, has remarked in one
of his essays entitled _Xénophon_, ‘is more singular than this Greek
army--which is a kind of roving commonwealth, deliberating and acting,
fighting and voting: an epitome of Athens set adrift in the centre of
Asia: there are the same sacrifices, the same assemblies, the same
party strifes, the same outbursts of violence; to-day at peace and
to-morrow at war; now on land and again on shipboard; every successive
incident serves but to evoke the energy and awaken the poetry latent in
their souls.’
How does this happen? It is due, I think, to the Ten Thousand to
admit: It was so, because in spite of personal defects they were true
to themselves. ‘The Greeks,’ as the aged Egyptian priest exclaimed to
Solon, in another context, ‘are always children.’
This something childlike--this glory had not as yet in the year
400 B.C. faded into the light of common day. But as M. Taine adds
concerning the writing itself, ‘The beauty of style transcends even the
interest of the story,’ and we may well imagine that a less capable
writer than Xenophon (Sophænetus for instance) would have robbed the
narrative and the actors alike of half their splendour.
And what of Xenophon himself? There is much to be said on that topic.
But it is ‘another story.’ In this he must speak for himself.
H. G. DAKYNS.
TRANSLATOR’S NOTE
In translating Professor Witt’s version of the Retreat of the Ten
Thousand, I have ventured to divide the chapters, and also to
re-arrange in some cases the grouping of sentences and paragraphs, for
the sake of greater clearness. The figures given for numbers, distances
and sums of money, are the same as in Mr. Dakyns’ translation of the
works of Xenophon. Here and there too I have modified or omitted or
added a phrase, as for instance in substituting, on the first page,
Alfred the Great for Karl der Grosse, as an example more familiar to
English readers; and in adding to the description of Persepolis one
or two details to explain the illustrations. But in the main I have
endeavoured to reproduce accurately Professor Witt’s text in simple
English, without either addition or omission.
The illustrations are mostly taken (by permission) from MM. Perrot
and Chipiez’s ‘Histoire de l’Art dans l’Antiquité.’ Some few are from
Baumeister’s Dictionary. The two views are from photographs kindly
lent for the purpose by Mr. Cecil Smith, of the British Museum.
I am glad to take the opportunity of expressing my very grateful thanks
to Mr. Dakyns for his kindness in forwarding this attempt to interest
English children in the writings of an author to whom he has himself
given so many hours of sympathetic study. And I hope that many readers
of this little book may be stimulated to the effort of studying for
themselves the works of the great historian in the original Greek.
FRANCES YOUNGHUSBAND.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE GREAT KING 1
II. THE PERSIAN EMPIRE 7
III. HELLAS 13
IV. THE RIVAL BROTHERS 15
V. PREPARATIONS 21
VI. ON THE MARCH 27
VII. THE PRINCESS EPYAXA 32
VIII. CLEARCHUS 38
IX. NEGOTIATIONS AT TARSUS 42
X. FROM TARSUS TO MYRIANDUS 49
XI. THE CROSSING OF THE EUPHRATES 53
XII. IN THE DESERT 57
XIII. THE TREACHERY OF ORONTES 62
XIV. THE KING APPROACHES 65
XV. BEFORE THE BATTLE 71
XVI. THE BATTLE OF CUNAXA 75
XVII. THE TREATY WITH ARIÆUS 81
XVIII. THE TREATY WITH THE GREAT KING 86
XIX. THE DEFECTION OF ARIÆUS 93
XX. A CONFERENCE WITH TISSAPHERNES 96
XXI. THE TREACHERY OF TISSAPHERNES 100
XXII. XENOPHON 105
XXIII. ELECTION OF OFFICERS 110
XXIV. XENOPHON ADDRESSES THE TROOPS 114
XXV. ANNOYED BY MITHRIDATES 119
XXVI. HARASSED BY TISSAPHERNES 124
XXVII. THE LAST OF TISSAPHERNES 129
XXVIII. THE RIVER OR THE MOUNTAINS? 134
XXIX. THE CARDUCHIANS 137
XXX. SEIZING A PASS 141
XXXI. A LONG DAY’S FIGHTING 147
XXXII. THE CROSSING OF THE KENTRITES 151
XXXIII. THE SATRAP TIRIBAZUS 157
XXXIV. AN ARMENIAN WINTER 162
XXXV. ARMENIAN VILLAGES 167
XXXVI. THE TAOCHIANS 171
XXXVII. THE SEA! THE SEA! 177
XXXVIII. THE MACRONIANS AND THE COLCHIANS 181
XXXIX. THE GAMES AT TREBIZOND 185
XL. THE AFTER-LIFE OF XENOPHON 189
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
_PLATES_
ROUTE OF THE TEN THOUSAND _Frontispiece_
_To face page_
RUINS OF THE PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS 2
RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS: BALUSTRADE OF GREAT STAIRCASE 26
HALL OF THE HUNDRED COLUMNS AT PERSEPOLIS--RESTORED 38
PILLAR FROM HALL OF THE HUNDRED COLUMNS 62
TOMB OF DARIUS I. NEAR PERSEPOLIS 80
THE GREAT KING FIGHTING WITH A MONSTER 88
ZEUS 114
THE HILL COUNTRY EAST OF THE TIGRIS 126
AMONG THE CARDUCHIAN MOUNTAINS 142
RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS: GATE OF XERXES 168
RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS: GATEWAY WITH WINGED BULLS 180
ARTEMIS 190
_WOODCUTS IN TEXT_
THE GREAT KING IN GALA DRESS 4
FRONT OF THE PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS 14
BRINGING PRESENTS TO A SATRAP 16
A BEAR HUNT 17
A GOLD DARIC 24
ATHENIAN HELMETS 28, 34
PERSIAN GALLEY 36
RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS: HALL OF THE HUNDRED COLUMNS 47
THE GREAT KING HUNTING 66
THE GREAT KING ON HIS THRONE, SUPPORTED BY THE SUBJECT NATIONS 73
A FIGHT BETWEEN HELLENES AND BARBARIANS 77
COIN OF A SATRAP, PROBABLY TISSAPHERNES 90
ARCHERS OF THE ROYAL BODY-GUARD 103
HELLENE HORSEMAN: COIN OF ALEXANDER OF PHERÆ 122
HOPLITE SINGING THE PÆAN 155
A SATRAP RECEIVING DEPUTIES 158
THE RETREAT
OF
THE TEN THOUSAND
I
THE GREAT KING
From time to time, in the course of the world’s history, the title of
Great has been given to some monarch who has distinguished himself,
either by the splendour of his victories, or by the value of his
services to his fellowmen. We speak, for example, of Alexander the
Great, and amongst English kings, of Alfred the Great.
There was however one empire, that of Persia, in which the title of
Great carried with it no distinction, for in this country every king
was called the Great King, not because it was supposed that his nature
was more noble or his actions more splendid than those of other men,
but because he was lord of a vast empire, greater than had ever yet
been seen upon the face of the earth.
The Persian empire had been founded about a hundred and fifty years
before the time of this story, by Cyrus the Great, who, having
succeeded by inheritance to the double throne of Persia and Media, had
conquered many of the surrounding nations. The kings who came after him
extended their sway farther and farther, until at last, in the time of
Darius I., there were no less than fifty-six countries subject to the
Great King of Persia.
The Great King was looked upon as little less than a god. Every one who
entered his presence threw himself flat upon the ground, as if in the
presence of a divine being. It was supposed that a mere subject must of
necessity be struck to the earth with sudden blindness on meeting the
dazzling rays of such exalted majesty.
The court of the Great King was on a scale of the utmost splendour.
His chief residence was the city of Susa, but in the hot season he
preferred the city of Ecbatana, which was higher and cooler, and he
also stayed occasionally at Babylon and at Persepolis. At each of these
places there was an immense palace, adorned with every conceivable
magnificence, and from the discoveries recently made among the ruins of
Persepolis we can form some idea of what the palace of the Great King
of Persia must have been like.
The palace of Persepolis stood upon a terrace above the rest of the
city, and all round it were houses of a simpler kind, used for lodging
the soldiers and the civil and military officers who were attached
to the King’s person, and who ate daily at his expense. There must,
in all, have been about fifteen thousand of them, including the ten
thousand soldiers of the royal body-guard.[1]
[1] See illustration, p. 103.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS.]
The gate of the palace was approached by two superb flights of
marble stairs, which joined in front of the entrance, and were so wide
that ten horsemen could ride abreast up each side.[2] Within the gate
was a square building with a front of more than two hundred feet.[3]
The entrance-hall was a magnificent room, with a roof supported by
a hundred pillars of richly carved stone,[4] and on either side of
it were other rooms with beautiful pillars. In all directions lovely
colours and ornaments of gold and silver met the eye. The walls were
covered with gigantic sculptures, representing the Great Kings Darius
I. and Xerxes, who had built the palace, with attendants, both in time
of peace, and at war with monsters and wild beasts.[5] Together with
the sculptures were inscriptions which can be read even now. This is a
translation of the beginning of one of them: ‘I am Darius, the Great
King, the King of kings, the King of these many countries.’ Among the
sculptures is one that represents Darius seated on his throne, with a
slave standing behind him, holding in his hand a fan with which to keep
off the flies. The mouth of the slave is covered with a bandage, for
it would have been considered a profanation to allow the air breathed
by so august a sovereign to be polluted by the breath of a slave.[6]
Another sculpture represents an audience given to an ambassador, who,
for the same reason, holds his hand before his mouth in the presence of
the King.
[2] See illustration facing p. 26.
[3] _Ibid._ p. 14.
[4] _Ibid._ pp. 38, 47, 62.
[5] _Ibid._ p. 88.
[6] _Ibid._ p. 72.
[Illustration: THE GREAT KING IN GALA DRESS.
(_From the Darius Vase at Naples._)]
When the Great King gave an audience he sat upon a golden throne
with a canopy above him which was held in its place by four slender
pillars of gold adorned with precious stones. The whole effect was so
dazzling that it would be hard to imagine anything more splendid, even
in a fairy tale. On these occasions, and on all feast days, the King
appeared in a purple robe, with a magnificent mantle of the same purple
colour, richly embroidered. Round his waist was a golden girdle, and
from it there hung a golden sabre, glittering with precious stones. On
his head was the tiara, a sort of pointed cap worn by the Persians.
Only the King might wear his tiara standing upright, all subjects were
obliged to press down the point, or arrange the cap in some other way.
The colour of the royal tiara was blue and white, and it was encircled
with a golden crown. The full value of the gala costume was reckoned at
nearly 300,000_l._ of our money.
It was only on rare occasions that the King walked, and then only
within the precincts of the palace; on these occasions carpets were
spread before him, on which no foot but his might tread. When he
rode beyond the palace, the right of helping him into his saddle
was bestowed as a mark of great distinction upon one of the most
highly-favoured lords of the empire. More frequently, however, the
King preferred to drive in his chariot, and at these times the road
he intended to take was specially cleansed, and strewn with myrtle as
if for a festival, and filled with clouds of incense. It was lined,
moreover, with armed men on both sides; and guards with whips prevented
any approach to the royal chariot. If a distant journey had to be
undertaken, no less than twelve hundred camels and a whole multitude of
chariots, waggons and other means of transport were required to convey
the Great King, his countless attendants, and his endless baggage.
At a distance of about two miles from Persepolis was a great pile of
marble rock, and here Darius I. caused his tomb to be made whilst he
was yet alive. So steep and inaccessible was the cliff that the only
way of placing the body in the tomb prepared for it was by raising it
from below with ropes. Afterwards three other royal tombs were hewn
out of the same rock, and three more in another, not far off.[7]
[7] See illustration facing p. 80.
All Persians were allowed to have many wives, and the Great King had
often a very large number; Darius, for example, had three hundred and
sixty--almost as many as there are days in the year. Yet only one of
these was the Queen; all the rest were so far beneath her that, when
she approached, they had to bow themselves to the ground before her.
Like all Persians, the King only ate once a day, but the meal lasted a
very long time. He sat at the centre of the table, upon a divan framed
in gold and covered with rich hangings. At his right hand was the
Queen-Mother; at his left, the Queen-Consort. The princes and intimate
friends of the King, who were called his ‘table-companions,’ usually
took their meal in an adjoining room. On feast days, however, they were
permitted to dine in the royal presence, and on these occasions, seats
made of cushions or carpets were placed for them upon the floor.
The power of the Great King was bounded by no law; from his will there
was no appeal. He was a despot in the strictest sense of the word, and
his subjects were all alike his slaves, from the lowest to the highest,
not even excepting his nearest relations. In the whole world there was
only one person whom he was required to treat with any kind of respect;
this was his mother.
II
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE
Under the vigorous rule of Darius I. the empire of Persia had attained
its utmost limits; at that time fifty-six subject countries offered
tribute to the Great King. But from this moment it gradually declined
in power and in extent. For the wisest head and the strongest arm
it would have been no easy task to govern such a dominion, and the
successors of Darius were neither wise nor strong.
Neither was the Persian nation what it had been in the time of the
great Cyrus, when even the nobles were simple in their habits, and when
every Persian made it his pride to ride well, to shoot well, and always
to speak the truth. Now, nobles and people alike had become luxurious
and pleasure-loving, caring for nothing but to increase their own power
and wealth, no matter at what cost to the subject nations.
The empire was unwieldy in size, and moreover it lacked any real
bond of union. The various nations of which it was composed differed
in language, in manners, and in habits of life. Each province was
interested in its own local affairs, but was profoundly indifferent to
the fate of the empire at large; and in time of war the soldiers were
so little inclined to risk their lives for a monarch of whom they knew
nothing that they only fought under compulsion, and often had to be
driven with whips to face the enemy.
In order to provide for the government of the empire, it was subdivided
into provinces, and each province, or group of two or more provinces,
was placed under the charge of one of the great lords. It was the duty
of these governors--or Satraps, as they were called--to act as the
representative of the sovereign, to maintain law and order, and to
take care that the people had no opportunity of revolting from their
subjection to the Great King.
The power of the satraps was practically absolute, and a thoroughly
disloyal Satrap could even go so far as to seize some favourable
opportunity to detach his province from the empire and make himself
an independent sovereign. The King was, indeed, accustomed to make a
journey of inspection every year into one or other of his provinces,
but in each province such visits were of rare occurrence, and a Satrap
who wished to seek his own advantage, instead of studying the interests
of the King and of the empire, had every opportunity of doing so. ‘The
empire is large,’ he might well say to himself, ‘and the King is far
away.’
With a view to checking such tendencies on the part of the Satraps,
the Persian nobles were trained in habits of implicit obedience and
subjection to the sovereign, and were kept in constant fear of being
ruined by some report of treason or misgovernment on their part which
should reach the ears of the King. Upon the smallest suspicion, and
without any sort of trial, a man who was accused of plotting treason
against the King might be removed from his post, and either openly or
secretly put to death. A story is told of Darius I., who was one of
the best of the Great Kings, that once, when he was about to engage
in an expedition against the Scythians, a Persian noble prostrated
himself before him, and craved as a boon that of his three sons he
might be allowed to keep one at home with him. The King answered that
he should keep them all at home, and gave command to put them to death
immediately.
In a similar manner the people were crushed by severe and cruel laws,
just as wild animals are cowed by ill-treatment and want of food. As
conquered nations they were not expected to have any attachment to
the King, or any interest in the welfare of the empire, and although
now and again services rendered to the King would be rewarded by
overwhelming favours, yet the means chiefly relied upon for securing
good behaviour was the certainty that every offence would meet with
prompt and barbarous punishment. Not only criminals, but even persons
merely suspected of having committed crimes, were put to death in the
most horrible manner. Some were crushed between stones, others were
torn limb from limb, and others, again, suffered painful imprisonment
in troughs. For merely trifling offences they were cruelly mutilated.
There is a Persian proverb that ‘the King has many eyes and ears.’ In
every state the king must have means of knowing through his trusted
officers, who see and hear for him, what is going on among the people.
But in Persia the arrangements for obtaining information of this kind
were reduced to a science. Satraps and people alike were constantly
watched by a body of spies, and so secretly was this done that it was
not even known who were the officers employed. A favourite device of
the spies was to feign a friendship for the person whose actions they
wished to report, and a man might be arrested and executed without
once suspecting the false friend who had given information of his real
or imaginary guilt. Sometimes the spy would denounce an innocent man
for no other reason than to bring himself into notice as active in the
King’s service.
Another plan was to take note of every one who passed along the roads
which led from the various Residences of the Great King to the other
principal towns of the empire. These roads were commanded by fortresses
where officers were stationed whose duty it was to enquire of every
wayfarer whither he was going and on what errand, and any messenger
carrying a letter was obliged to give it up for inspection. This was
intended to check the free passage of suspicious persons, and to
prevent the sending of letters not approved by the government; but it
must often have been easy to find means of evading the King’s officers.
In order that the King might be informed as quickly as possible of any
risings or disturbances in the provinces, a very complete system of
postal communication had been arranged. Besides the fortresses, there
were stations all along the roads, at intervals of about fifteen miles
apart, where the traveller could find shelter for the night. Here
the swiftest horses and horsemen were always waiting in readiness to
carry on the post at full gallop without a moment’s delay, whether in
burning sun or blinding snow: and thus there came to be a saying that
‘the Persian post-riders fly faster than the cranes.’ A messenger sent
from Susa to Sardis, traveling at the ordinary speed, would take a
hundred days to reach his destination; but by means of the King’s posts
a letter could be conveyed in six or seven days and nights. It must not
be supposed, however, that ordinary letters were carried so fast. The
King’s posts were entirely reserved for the King’s business, and by
this means he had the advantage of getting news from the provinces and
sending back his commands before any one else knew what was going on.
But, in spite of all these precautions, the King, like his subjects,
lived in constant fear. He never showed himself to the people, except
surrounded by his ten thousand guards. If he gave an audience, the
person admitted to the royal presence was compelled, on pain of death,
to present himself dressed in a robe with long sleeves falling over
the hands, so that he should not be able to use his hands against his
sovereign. If he entertained guests at his table, those among them who
were considered the most faithful were placed at his right hand, and
the less trusted at his left, because, in case of need, he would be
better able to defend himself with the right hand than with the left.
Each dish that was set before him was first tasted by an officer in the
royal presence, lest there should be poison in the food, and in like
manner, the cup-bearer always drank first from the cup that he handed.
Under such a system of mutual fear and distrust, the seeds of ruin and
decay were sown throughout the Persian empire, and each succeeding
century saw it tottering more helplessly towards its final overthrow.
But from without everything appeared fair and prosperous, and up to the
very last, the Great Kings were careful to maintain all the pomp and
splendour of imperial power.
III
HELLAS
Beyond the great Persian Empire, on the other side of the Hellespont,
was the little country of Hellas, or Greece. The Hellenes, or Greeks,
as they are often called, were a race of men who had for centuries
trained themselves in the art of noble thinking and noble living, and
they looked down with some scorn on their less cultivated neighbours,
to whom they gave, one and all, the name of Barbarians.
In many respects Hellas was a complete contrast to Persia. The country
was a very small one, and it was further divided into a number of tiny
states, each with a free government of its own, and independent of all
the rest. To the Hellene citizen, the one supreme necessity of life
was freedom, and consequently in almost all the states the government
was in the hands of men chosen by the people. Now and again a monarchy
would be established in one or other of the states, but it never lasted
long, and in their horror of tyrants, the Hellenes were apt to overlook
the advantages of a firm, stable government.
It is true that in Hellas there were many slaves, but they formed a
class apart and were in no sense citizens. The citizens themselves
were free, and the Hellenes were convinced that honour, courage,
and high-mindedness can only flourish among free men. It was their
greatest pride to recall the battles fought by their countrymen
in former days against the Barbarians of Persia, when, although
outnumbered by ten to one, a handful of free men had put to flight a
host of slaves.
[Illustration: FRONT OF THE PALACE OF PERSEPOLIS.
See p. 3.]
IV
THE RIVAL BROTHERS
About the year 423 before Christ, the throne of Persia was occupied by
a King, named Darius II. His Queen, the beautiful Parysatis, had borne
him thirteen children, but most of them had died young, and only two
sons were now alive, between whose ages there was a difference of no
less than thirty years. The elder was called Artaxerxes; the younger,
Cyrus. Parysatis was not an impartial mother. She loved Cyrus far
better than Artaxerxes, and desired nothing more ardently than that he
should succeed to the throne after the death of Darius, rather than his
elder brother.
The Queen was beautiful, and wise and clever, and she had great
influence over her husband, and seldom failed in persuading him to do
as she wished. She hoped therefore to induce the King to name Cyrus
as his successor, especially as there was much that could be urged in
favour of her plan.
It was certainly true that the throne of Persia descended, as a rule,
from the father to his first-born son, but there was nothing to prevent
an elder son being passed over in favour of a younger, and such a
course was not without precedent. In the present case, an excuse might
be found in the fact that the birth of Artaxerxes had taken place
before his father came to the throne, whereas Cyrus had been ‘born in
the purple,’ and moreover bore the honoured name of the greatest of
Persian sovereigns.
But a much stronger argument was the difference in character between
the two men. Artaxerxes was weak and indolent, and lived constantly
at the King’s court, hating exertion of any kind. Cyrus, on the
contrary, was active and energetic, and had already given striking
proofs of ability, both as a soldier and ruler of men, for at the age
of eighteen, he had been appointed satrap of the provinces of Lydia,
Greater Phrygia and Cappadocia.
[Illustration: BRINGING PRESENTS TO A SATRAP.]
Cyrus had many friends. He was a man just after the Persian heart,--a
bold rider, an unrivalled archer and spear-thrower, and a passionate
lover of the chase, especially when it was dangerous. He also excited
the admiration of the Persians by his power of drinking an enormous
quantity of wine without becoming intoxicated. This was looked upon as
a sign of manliness, and a great distinction.
In the pleasant and peaceful occupation of gardening, Cyrus also took
great delight. This charming pursuit had been raised almost to the rank
of a religious duty by Zoroaster, the founder of the Persian religion,
who had taught his disciples that when occupied in the planting and
tending of trees useful to man, they were engaged in a good action,
well-pleasing to God; and in consequence of this precept, almost every
palace stood in the centre of a large park or tract of enclosed land,
covered with beautiful old trees.
[Illustration: A BEAR HUNT.]
The palace of Cyrus stood in such a park, called by the Persians a
‘paradise.’ Here he might often be seen, attending to the trees with
the utmost diligence. Here too was a convenient hunting-ground, ready
to his hand, for the forest was full of wild animals who found abundant
pasture in its pleasant glades. One day when Cyrus was out hunting he
was attacked by a she-bear, who dragged him from his horse, and gave
him several wounds before he could kill her. One of his companions came
to his help, and for this service Cyrus rewarded him in so princely a
manner as to make him an envied man.
As a friend, Cyrus was always generous and open-handed, and he
delighted in making small presents as well as great. According to an
old custom, every subject who came to his court brought with him
gifts, and these Cyrus always accepted, but not for himself; he took
them in order that he might divide them among his friends.
Sometimes, at a banquet, if he observed that the wine set before him
was better than usual, he would send away part of it to one of his
friends with some such message as this: ‘Drink this good wine to-day
with your dearest friend.’ Or perhaps the gift would consist of half a
goose or part of a loaf of bread, which would be taken to the friend
with the message, ‘Cyrus has enjoyed this, and desires that you should
taste it also.’
If he gave a promise, or entered into an agreement, it was certain that
he would keep his word. A friendship once formed he ever afterwards
regarded as sacred. Any one who did him a service, whether in war or
in peace, was rewarded tenfold. At the same time, any one who offended
or injured him might expect the most savage retaliation. He is said to
have once prayed to the gods to grant that he might live until he had
repaid all his friends and all his enemies.
As a governor, Cyrus was strictly and sternly just. Well-doers were
encouraged and rewarded, but evil-doers met with immediate punishment;
and as a warning to others, criminals who had been deprived of hands,
legs or eyes, were exposed to view in the most frequented streets. In
the whole empire there were no provinces in which natives and strangers
alike were so secure from robbery and murder as in those governed by
Cyrus.
Meanwhile the Great King Darius II. felt his end approaching, and as he
wished to have both his sons beside his death-bed, he sent for Cyrus
to come to Susa. On receiving the message, the young prince set out at
once for the King’s court, accompanied by Tissaphernes, the satrap of
a neighbouring province, whom he looked upon as one of his friends.
He took with him also a body-guard of three hundred Hellenes, who had
entered his service.
Cyrus was full of hope that the influence of his mother, and the favour
with which he was regarded by the Persians generally, would cause his
father to bequeath the throne to him, and not to Artaxerxes. If the
choice of their future sovereign had been left to the people, they
would probably have chosen Cyrus. But in Persia, the naming of the
successor was the right of the reigning king, and the hopes of Cyrus
were doomed to disappointment. On his death-bed, Darius named, not his
younger, but his elder son; and the upright tiara, encircled with the
golden crown, passed to Artaxerxes.
Cyrus was vexed and angry at the failure of his hopes, and probably
took little pains to conceal his feelings, for he was of a very
passionate nature. However this may have been, Tissaphernes, whose
friendship for him had been merely feigned, went to the new King and
told him that his brother had made up his mind to have him murdered.
The beginning of a new reign had often in Persia been signalled by
bloody deeds, and the murder of a brother was by no means an unheard-of
crime. Artaxerxes was therefore ready enough to believe the accusation,
and immediately gave orders for his brother’s arrest, for he was
resolved to defeat his ambitious schemes by the most effectual of all
methods, namely by putting him to death.
Cyrus had many friends at the court, but there was not one who dared
to come forward in his behalf, except his mother, Queen Parysatis. She
indeed was ready to risk everything in order to save her favourite son,
and being also the mother of the Great King, with a sacred claim upon
his love and respect, she succeeded at last, after endless entreaties,
in shaking his resolution and inducing him to pardon Cyrus.
Artaxerxes was far from being a great man, but he was at least
easy-going and good-natured, and now his mother so far prevailed upon
him, that he not only set Cyrus at liberty, but also reinstated him in
his former dignities, and allowed him to depart to his own province.
Cyrus returned therefore to his Residence at Sardis, full of bitterness
and disappointment. It is not known whether or not he had really
plotted the murder of his brother. The story may very possibly have
been invented by Tissaphernes through envy of Cyrus, and in the hope of
succeeding to the government of his provinces.
This much however is at least certain, that after having been treated
as guilty of high treason, and condemned to death in consequence, Cyrus
had but one object in life, and that to further this object, he did
not hesitate to employ the power entrusted to him for a very different
purpose. From this time forward his whole mind was set upon obtaining
by conquest the throne of Persia.
V
PREPARATIONS
It was no small enterprise upon which the mind of Cyrus was now bent,
and at first sight it might well have been pronounced altogether
hopeless. How could a mere governor of a province hope to unseat from
his throne the Great King with all the resources of the empire at
his command? At the most, Cyrus could only reckon upon some 100,000
soldiers, whereas Artaxerxes was able to bring more than a million of
men into the field.
On the other hand however, it might be urged that the Great King could
not at once assemble his whole force. So immense were the distances in
this huge empire, that a whole year of preparation would be required,
in order to bring up the army to its full strength. And Cyrus intended,
if possible, to take his brother by surprise. He believed moreover that
his disadvantage in point of numbers would be more than counterbalanced
by the infinitely superior quality of at least a part of his army.
It was from among the Hellenes that he hoped to enlist such troops
as could not fail to ensure his success. Some years before this, he
had visited Hellas as his father’s ambassador at the time of the
Peloponnesian war, and had observed the unusual talent displayed by
the Hellenes for military enterprise. He had made many friends among
them, whose friendship he still retained, and he was anxious to induce
as many Hellene soldiers as possible to enter his service.
The Hellenes had always been fond of adventure, and just at this time
there were numbers of them willing and eager to engage themselves to
a foreign master who promised good wages, especially when this master
was a prince well known to be generous and open-handed, and above all,
a lover of Hellas and the Hellenes. During the long Peloponnesian war
they had become accustomed to an unsettled, adventurous camp-life, and
now that the war was over, they did not care to return to peaceful
pursuits.
But Cyrus could not, without betraying his plans, begin openly to
enlist foreign troops. It was necessary to find a pretext for employing
them, and in this he was helped by fortune. For several hundred years
there had been established along the west coast of Asia, numerous
flourishing colonies of Ionian Hellenes. At first, and for a long
time, they were free states, but they had been conquered at last by
the Persians, and now they formed part of the Persian empire, and were
included in the satrapy of Tissaphernes.
Most fortunately however for Cyrus it happened that just at this time
the Ionian cities rebelled, not against the Great King, but against
Tissaphernes, and begged Cyrus to take them under his protection. To
this he gladly agreed, for it gave him a pretext for declaring war
against Tissaphernes, and supplied a cloak with which to cover the
preparations he was making for his great enterprise. Accordingly
he sent word to the Ionian cities that their garrisons should be
strengthened by the addition of Hellene soldiers, which he proceeded to
levy for the purpose. He also raised troops for the relief of Miletus,
one of the largest of the cities, and the only one left in the hands
of Tissaphernes, who had received the news of the intended revolt in
time to enable him to take prompt measures for suppressing it. He had
removed the garrison, put to death the leaders of the opposition, and
banished all suspected persons. These banished inhabitants had come to
Cyrus, and in answer to their entreaties, he agreed to besiege Miletus
both by land and water.
It may seem strange that one satrap should have been able to wage war
against another, whilst all the time both continued to be subjects
of the Great King. But in point of fact, such rivalries between
neighbouring satraps were rather encouraged than otherwise by the
Great Kings, who lived in constant fear lest one or other of the great
lords should take it into his head to make himself an independent
sovereign, and consequently felt more secure when they were occupied in
quarrelling among themselves. In this case moreover, the royal revenue
suffered no loss through the revolt of the Ionian cities, for Cyrus
took care to forward the tribute which they were required to send to
Susa, just as regularly as it had before been sent by Tissaphernes.
Other opportunities also offered themselves to Cyrus for increasing the
number of Hellene soldiers in his pay. About this time he received a
visit from a Spartan named Clearchus, whose acquaintance he had made
during the Peloponnesian war, and of whose ability as a military
commander he had the highest opinion. Clearchus had come to him with a
request on behalf of the cities of the Hellespont, who were at war with
their barbarous neighbours, the Thracians, and could not hold their own
against them without help. He wished to aid his countrymen by raising
an army for their defence, and asked Cyrus to grant him for this
purpose a sum of 10,000 darics.[8] The request was a large one, but it
was at once granted by Cyrus.
[8] A daric was a gold coin, first issued by King Darius I,
and called after him--worth about a guinea.
[Illustration: A GOLD DARIC.]
Shortly afterwards there came to him a Hellene from Thessaly, with
a similar request. In his country, the party of which he was leader
found itself hard pushed by the opposing faction, and he also desired
to raise an army by means of which he and his friends might again have
the upper hand. He asked Cyrus to let him have as much money as would
enable him to hire 2,000 men for three months. ‘I will give you gold
enough,’ said Cyrus, ‘to hire 4,000 men for six months, on condition
that you prolong the quarrel with your enemies until I send for you.’
Other requests of a similar kind were also granted by Cyrus, always
with an intimation that he might require the troops later on for his
own service. And thus he secretly collected a force of Hellenes which
he kept employed in other undertakings, but ready to come to him when
he should want them.
Meanwhile he was careful not to neglect any means of improving the
Barbarian soldiers of his provinces, and this could be done openly, for
it was part of his duty as satrap to practise the troops in all kinds
of military exercises calculated to increase their efficiency.
All this time the Great King was constantly sending spies to Sardis
to find out what his brother was doing, but on their return the spies
invariably reported that they had seen nothing that could be regarded
as suspicious. The fact was that Cyrus knew so well how to make himself
agreeable to the spies, that although they reached Sardis as the
friends of the King, they always became, before leaving it, the friends
of Cyrus.
Every step that he took was weighed by Cyrus with the utmost caution;
every difficulty that was likely to present itself on the road to Susa
was considered carefully and deliberately, in order to ascertain the
best means of overcoming it. No feeling of impatience was allowed to
urge him on to any rash or premature action.
At last, three years after his return from the court, he judged that
the preparations were sufficiently advanced, and that the time had come
when he might venture to call in the companies of Hellene mercenaries
from their various services, and also assemble his Persian troops.
Even now however he took care not to disclose the real object of the
campaign. For had he announced his intention of marching against
Susa, the Great King would have been at once put upon his guard, and
moreover he had every reason to fear that the Hellenes would refuse to
enter upon the expedition, if they knew how desperate was the venture,
and how far it would lead them from their homes. By means of his posts
the King could hear in less than a week of what was doing at Sardis,
but an army could not march from thence to Susa in less than six months.
For these reasons Cyrus announced that the expedition was to be
directed against the marauding tribes of Pisidia, who had often made
raids upon the neighbouring provinces, and laid them waste. These
tribes must, he said, be exterminated, in order to maintain the safety
of the empire.
But there was one whose sharp eyes had followed all the doings of Cyrus
with the close watchfulness of hatred, and who saw clearly through
the veil with which he sought to conceal his real purpose. This was
his neighbour, Tissaphernes. When he heard of the great host gathered
together for the expedition against the Pisidians, Tissaphernes felt
certain that Cyrus was aiming at nothing short of the throne of Persia;
and taking with him a troop of five hundred cavalry, he set off at full
speed for Susa, that he might be the first to warn the King of the
approaching danger.
[Illustration: RUINS OF PERSEPOLIS: BALUSTRADE OF GREAT STAIRCASE.
_See page 3, and illustration facing page 2._]
VI
ON THE MARCH
It was about the ninth day of March in the year 401 B.C., that the
army of Cyrus began to set forward. Cyrus was commander-in-chief of
the whole army, but the two divisions were kept entirely separate,
each under its own officers. The Asiatic troops, who numbered 100,000,
were under the command of Ariæus, one of the most distinguished of
the Persian supporters of Cyrus. The Hellene force, which consisted
of 13,000 men, and was afterwards increased by another thousand, was
composed of a number of different companies, each commanded by the
general who had raised it, and smaller or larger according to his
success in getting recruits. Under the generals were captains, who each
had command of a hundred men, and whose numbers consequently varied in
each company with the number of the soldiers.
Of the Persian troops, the most brilliant and useful were the cavalry.
The Persians had long been famous for their skill and activity as
horsemen; they were also excellent archers, and could draw their long
bows at full gallop with as accurate an aim as if they were standing
still and undisturbed on solid ground.
Among the Hellenes, on the contrary, the most useful, and at the same
time the most numerous, were the Hoplites, or heavy infantry. There
were no cavalry, and in the whole army only forty mounted men, nearly
all of whom were officers.
[Illustration: ATHENIAN HELMETS.]
The hoplites wore a helmet, breast-plate and greaves of iron, and
carried an oval shield of ox-hide, overlaid with metal, which protected
them from the mouth to the ankles. On its inner side the shield had
a handle for holding it, and a strap wide enough for a shoulder-belt
was attached to it at each end, so that it could be carried over the
back. This was the usual way of carrying it on the march, when the
enemy was known to be in the neighbourhood so that it was necessary
to have the shield at hand, but not when the soldiers were engaged in
actual fighting. For weapons of attack, they carried a spear measuring
from seven to eight feet in length, made of strong wood with a solid
iron point, and a short sword, or curved sabre. None but fine strong
men could enter the ranks of the hoplites, for the full weight of the
armour and weapons that they had to carry was no less than seventy
pounds.
The light infantry were armed quite differently. They had but one
weapon of defence, a shield which was only two feet in length;
besides this they had little to carry but their clothes, for they
were practically a troop of foot cavalry, and it was necessary that
they should be very active, and able both to advance and retreat with
extreme rapidity. According to their weapons of attack, they were
subdivided into troops of lancers, archers and slingers. The lancers
carried several light javelins, from three to four feet in length, the
archers carried bows and arrows, and the slingers carried slings, with
which they hurled stones or leaden bullets at the enemy.
And now the great host is well on its way. Try to imagine the dense,
suffocating clouds of dust that must have been raised by the progress
of such an army! Supposing the troops to have marched ten abreast,
leaving one pace between each rank, the Barbarian army would have
formed a procession more than three miles long, and the Hellene army
would have covered about a third of a mile more. Besides this, there
was the long train of baggage-wagons, the great droves of animals
brought for slaughter, the numberless beasts of burden, and the crowds
of people who in some capacity or other followed the army, but did not
march in the ranks.
Even in the Hellene army, which in comparison with the Barbarian
force was but scantily provided with camp-followers, there were great
numbers of slaves whose duty it was to pitch the tents, to prepare
the food, and to attend generally to the comfort of the troops. The
tents and utensils were packed with the other luggage in wagons which
the slaves drove, or piled on the backs of transport animals which the
slaves led. Many of the Hellene officers moreover, and even some of the
private soldiers, had brought their own slaves to wait upon them and
to carry their heavy shields and helmets when there was no likelihood
of their being attacked on the march. Behind these came a number of
provision-dealers and other merchants, who brought goods of all kinds
to sell to the troops, and who were always ready to buy from them any
spoil that they might have an opportunity of taking. Still further in
the rear were trumpeters, heralds, sacrificing priests, soothsayers and
surgeons.