forward during the latter part of the march, and he answered, ‘We
were told by the guides that the mountains in front of us are almost
impassable, and that there is but one steep road--that which you see
yonder--leading to the only pass by which we can cross them. I hoped
that by hurrying we might be able to seize this pass before the enemy
should occupy it, but unhappily they have reached it first. They are
posted there in great numbers, and I do not see how we are to drive
them from it.’
[Illustration: AMONG THE CARDUCHIAN MOUNTAINS.]
Xenophon was obliged to admit that Cheirisophus was fully justified
in acting as he had done, but he had something to report, which made
the situation a little less hopeless. ‘As the Carduchians persisted in
molesting us,’ he said, ‘we lay in ambush for them behind some bushes.
This gave us the opportunity of doing them an injury, and also of
resting ourselves for a moment, for we were quite out of breath. When
a band of Carduchians came by, we rushed out upon them and killed most
of them, but two I was careful to take alive, and we have brought them
as prisoners, for I thought they would be useful in guiding us through
these mountains. They may be able to tell us of a second way not known
to the guides we have had hitherto.’
The two prisoners were led forward to be examined, and the first
one was asked if he did not know of another road leading to the
pass. Although it was evident that he could, if he chose, give the
information of which the Hellenes were in such pressing need, he
persisted in saying that there was no other road.
They threatened him with death if he continued obstinate, but it was of
no avail, and fearing lest the other Carduchian should be encouraged
to follow his example, they determined to show that they were not to
be trifled with. It was absolutely essential to find another road, the
fate of the whole army depended on it, and in order to strike terror
into the heart of the second man, they hanged his comrade before his
eyes.
This had the desired effect, and when the second Carduchian was
questioned, he said, ‘There is another road. My country-man would
not betray the secret, because his daughter lives near it, with her
husband. I am ready to show it to you, and you will find it passable
also for the baggage animals.’
In war, terrible things occur. For the sake of the general good it is
often necessary to be cruel. But still we cannot help regretting the
fate of the brave man who for the love of his daughter gave himself
over to death.
On further questioning the Carduchian, the generals discovered that the
road which he promised to show them was at one point commanded by a
peak already in possession of the enemy, who must be dislodged from it
before the road could be used. This would probably be an enterprise of
some risk, and the generals resorted to an expedient often used in war
to rouse enthusiasm for a difficult and dangerous undertaking,--namely
that of calling for volunteers.
About two thousand men at once offered their services, of whom some
were officers and others private soldiers. Having first eaten a good
meal, they set out, as soon as it began to get dark, in a storm of wind
and rain, guided by the Carduchian, whom they had put into chains, lest
he should desert them on the way.
It was arranged that the band of volunteers should dislodge the
Carduchians from the height commanding the second road, and remain
there during the night. At dawn they were to descend towards the pass
and begin the attack upon it, giving at the same time a signal with the
trumpets. On hearing the signal, a part of the army left below was to
ascend as rapidly as possible by the first road, and join them at the
pass.
In order to divert the attention of the enemy from the movements of the
two thousand, Xenophon set out at the same moment with the hoplites,
and made a feint of advancing up the first road leading to the pass.
Coming however to a narrow ravine between great boulders of rock,
he found the cliffs on either side crowded with Carduchians, who
had dragged to that place huge fragments of rock, besides stones
of all sizes, ready to be hurled down upon the Hellenes. The moment
the Carduchians caught sight of the approaching enemy, down crashed
the stone-storm, making the most appalling noise as the great pieces
of rock bounded from boulder to boulder, broke off into a thousand
splinters, and then thundered to the ground, burying themselves finally
deep in the earth.
Had the Hellenes entered the ravine, not one of them would have escaped
alive. But they had taken good care to keep well beyond the range of
the deadly hail, only, from time to time, one or other of the captains
would show himself from among the bushes on either side of the ravine,
as if he were looking for some other way of getting past.
When it had become so dark that they could no longer be seen by the
Carduchians, the Hellenes hastened back to the valley, where they were
glad enough to prepare their evening meal, for they had had no dinner
that day. All through the night they could hear the noise made by the
Carduchians, who were still on the alert, and who continued to pour
down volleys of stones and rock, lest their enemies should slip past
them in the darkness.
Meanwhile the two thousand volunteers had been led by their guide to a
place which they believed to be the peak commanding the second road.
There they found a number of Carduchians sitting comfortably round
their fires, and attacking them suddenly, they killed some and put the
rest to flight. Then they sat down and spent the remainder of the night
in front of the fires that had been kindled by the enemy, which, as it
was excessively cold, they looked upon as a piece of great good fortune.
At dawn they proceeded towards the pass, very cautiously and silently,
according to the instructions they had received, and under cover of
a thick mist, were able to come close up to the enemy unobserved.
Then the trumpets gave the signal that had been agreed upon, and the
Hellenes charged. The enemy saw that it was of no use to attempt to
maintain their position, and fled without a struggle, only a few of
them being killed.
This freed the road, up which Cheirisophus and his men were making
their way as fast as possible. It was excessively steep and narrow, and
in their eagerness to reach the top, many of the men climbed as best
they could over places where there was no path, drawing one another
up with the help of their spears. At last they reached the pass, and
joined the band of volunteers who were already in possession.
Two-thirds of the army had now reached the pass. But for the rest there
was still in store a long day of toil and fighting before they could
arrive at the same spot.
XXXI
A LONG DAY’S FIGHTING
Xenophon and his rear-guard of hoplites had undertaken the escort of
the transport animals, who had to be brought up to the pass by the
second, more circuitous road, because the first was too steep for them.
The animals were placed in the centre of the line, half the troops
marching in front of them, and half behind.
The rear had not proceeded far when they came in sight of a peak
overlooking the road, and discovered that it was occupied by the enemy.
The volunteers had indeed thought that they had freed the road by
driving the enemy from their camp-fires on the previous evening, but
this proved not to be the case.
Until the Carduchians could be ousted from the height, it would not
be safe for either troops or cattle to pass beneath, and Xenophon at
once told off some of his men for this service, with instructions to
make the attack in such a manner as to give the Carduchians ample
opportunity for running away. He did not want them to be forced to make
a desperate stand, for he was anxious not to be delayed by having to
stop and fight.
Accordingly a detachment of hoplites, headed by Xenophon himself, set
out to climb the hill. As they did so, they were exposed the whole
time to a constant volley of arrows and stones, discharged at them by
the Carduchians from above, but no sooner had they reached the top than
the Carduchians turned and fled, leaving the road below the peak free.
A new difficulty however now presented itself, for from this peak a
second came into sight, occupied just in the same manner. This would
have to be fought for as the first had been, and moreover it would
be necessary to leave a guard on the first peak to prevent the enemy
from returning to it. For the Carduchians were like a swarm of flies,
who can easily be driven away from the place where they have settled,
but who return just as quickly, the moment they are left alone again.
And Xenophon knew that he could not hope to get his line of men and
horses past the peak of which he had just taken possession, before the
Carduchians would have time to get back to it, for the road was so
narrow that they were obliged to go very slowly.
Accordingly he left three captains, with the men serving under them,
to guard the first peak, whilst he himself went forward towards the
second. This was captured with the same toil and the same success as
the first, but now a third came into view which had to be taken in like
manner. Xenophon accordingly set forward to attack it, but in this
case the task was easier than before, for the enemy abandoned the peak
before the Hellenes arrived at it, so that it could be climbed without
hindrance or danger.
So far all had gone well, but now from the rear came disastrous news.
The men left in charge of the first peak had been surprised and
defeated by the enemy, who had killed almost all of them, including
two out of the three captains. A few only had saved their lives by
making a desperate leap from the rocks into the road below.
There was nothing for it but to reconquer the peak which they had
thought already secured,--a terrible addition to the work of a day
already overcrowded with toils and risks which cost many a brave
soldier his life. Xenophon himself was at one time in great peril. In
climbing one of the mountains, his shield-bearer became so frightened
at the shower of stones and arrows pouring down from above, that he
turned and fled, taking the shield with him. Xenophon was thus left
unprotected, but happily one of the soldiers saw his danger, and
hastening to his side, held his own shield so as to cover both.
At last however the long march was over, and before nightfall, the
hoplites had rejoined their comrades at the pass, from whence they
soon reached some well-to-do mountain villages where there was food in
abundance, and where they could shelter themselves in comfortable huts.
Their loss that day had been very severe, and unhappily it had been
impossible to carry off the dead.
To repair such a misfortune, no sacrifice could be too great, and
accordingly Cheirisophus and Xenophon sent a herald to the Carduchians,
offering to restore the man who had acted as their guide, if the
Carduchians, on their part, would give up the bodies of the fallen
Hellenes. To this they agreed, and the Hellenes had the satisfaction of
burying their comrades with the customary rites.
It was however at no small cost that they had effected this exchange,
for by so doing they had lost the services of the only man who could
pilot them through this wild and unknown land. They were now without
a guide, and from the nature of the country, no extensive view could
anywhere be gained. They could but direct their course by the sun and
stars, and they decided to continue marching northwards towards the
source of the Tigris.
The next three days were spent in much the same manner as the last,
the Carduchians disputing every step of their march, and constantly
assailing them with shots and stones hurled from a higher level. But at
last, to their infinite joy, they came to the edge of the Carduchian
country, and could look down upon the broad plains of Armenia stretched
out before them.
They had only been seven days, in all, in the land of the Carduchians,
and yet, during that short time they had suffered so severely, that
all their previous encounters, both with the Great King and with
Tissaphernes, seemed in comparison but child’s play.
XXXII
THE CROSSING OF THE KENTRITES
The Persian province of Armenia was divided from the land of the
Carduchians by the river Kentrites. It was a fertile country, but for a
distance of nearly twenty miles from the river there were no villages
nor cultivated land, because the Armenians were determined that there
should be nothing to tempt their warlike neighbours, the Carduchians,
to enter their country in search of plunder.
The news that the Hellenes were approaching had reached them, and on
the further side of the river, Persian cavalry were already keeping
guard along the shore. Infantry also were posted beyond, in the more
hilly part of the country. Notwithstanding this, however, since there
was no way of getting round the river, the Hellenes were determined, if
possible, to wade through it, in defiance of the Persian troops.
But on stepping into the river, they found that the water was breast
deep, and that the stream had a very rapid current, which swept to one
side the great shields they carried to protect them in front, so that
they were exposed to the arrows and darts of the enemy. They could
indeed, by lifting the shields out of the water and holding them above
their heads, protect themselves to some extent, but not sufficiently
to be out of danger. Besides this, the ground at the bottom of the
river was strewn with great stones, so slippery that they could not
get any certain footing, and were in constant danger of falling. And
in addition to everything else, they now perceived, at the edge of
the mountainous country which they had just quitted, a band of armed
Carduchians, who were evidently only waiting for the moment when they
should be occupied in crossing the river, to come and attack them in
the rear.
The position was most embarrassing, and they could not tell what to do
for the best. Being urgently in need of rest, they resolved to remain
where they were for that day, and encamp at night in the same place as
on the previous evening. The Carduchians continued at their post until
dark, and then retreated to their nearest villages.
That night Xenophon had a dream. He thought that he was bound with
fetters, but suddenly the fetters fell off, and he could move his limbs
freely. Thereupon he awoke, with the firm conviction that the dream had
been sent from the gods, to signify that they would provide a way of
escape from the present difficulty.
Early in the morning he went to Cheirisophus to tell him of the dream,
and of his interpretation of it, and both generals agreed to have
sacrifices offered, that by means of the omens they might know yet
more surely the will of the gods. At the very first, the omens were
favourable, and now they felt certain that the gods would not fail to
work out their deliverance, though how it was to be accomplished they
did not as yet know.
They had not however long to wait, for whilst they were still eating
their breakfast, two young soldiers came running into the camp to tell
the generals of a discovery that they had made.
‘We were looking for fuel,’ they said, ‘a good way up the stream, when
we saw a man, a woman, and two girls, who seemed to be entering a cave
among the rocks. So we tried the water in that place, and found that it
flows much more quietly than here, and we went right over to the other
side, for the country there is hilly, so that we were protected from
the enemy’s cavalry, and nowhere did the water come above our waists.’
This was indeed welcome news, and the generals believed that it had
been sent to them by the gods. In token of thankfulness they at once
offered as a libation the wine of which they had been drinking, pouring
it out upon the ground. And for each of the two youths they filled also
a cup of wine, that they too might pour it out to the gods, and be
thankful.
The other generals were summoned, and all took counsel together as
to the arrangements to be made for crossing the river with the least
possible loss, in spite of the enemy in front and the enemy in the
rear. For with the morning light, the Carduchians had returned to their
post on the high ground that formed the fringe of their country.
After some consideration the generals decided upon a plan. Guided
by the two youths, the whole Hellene army marched up the river bank
towards the ford, which was about half a mile from the place where
they had pitched their camp. Seeing this, the Persian horsemen took the
same course, and made a similar progress on the opposite bank of the
river.
When the Hellenes reached the ford, the priests offered a sacrifice to
the god of the river, then all joined in singing the pæan, or hymn of
praise to the gods, and with a mighty shout, Cheirisophus and the van
stepped into the stream.
But meanwhile Xenophon and his men hurried back as fast as possible to
the former place, as if they intended crossing there; and this movement
had the effect that had been aimed at by the generals in making their
plan. For when the Persian cavalry saw that Cheirisophus was in the act
of crossing above, and that Xenophon, as they supposed, was about to
cross below, they were seized with panic, and fearing lest they should
be shut in between the two divisions of the Hellene army, they urged
their horses into a gallop, and fled away as fast as they could.
By this means Cheirisophus and the van crossed the river without
hindrance, and they marched straight to the high ground where the
Persian infantry were posted. The infantry however made no better stand
than the other troops, for when they saw that the cavalry had fled,
they followed the example of their comrades, and ran away also.
The camp-followers and the baggage animals had crossed the river behind
Cheirisophus, and now, on the hither side of the Kentrites, there only
remained the rear-guard commanded by Xenophon.
[Illustration: HOPLITE SINGING THE PÆAN.]
To enable these remaining troops to cross in safety was the last,
and by no means the easiest task of the day. For the Carduchians
were still behind, only waiting for the moment when they could most
effectively fall upon them. Until the greater part of the men were in
the water, they did not venture down from their mountains, but as soon
as they saw that comparatively few of them were left on the bank, they
dashed forward, as if they wished to teach the Hellenes the truth of
the proverb that the last man is bitten by the dog.
But Xenophon was prepared to receive them. Before taking any notice,
he allowed them to come almost within close quarters. Their arrows
were even whirring already through the air when he gave a signal with
the trumpet. Then the hoplites turned suddenly, and charged with rapid
step, shouting the Hellene war-cry.
The Carduchians fled back into shelter as fast as they could, for they
knew well that except in their own mountains they were no match for
the Hellene troops. Once more the trumpet sounded, and the Carduchians
fled yet faster than before, but Xenophon had previously given secret
instructions to the men, that when they heard the second signal for
attack, instead of obeying it they should turn back and hasten across
the river as quickly as possible. This they did, and thus the crossing
of the Kentrites, which in the beginning had seemed almost impossible,
was accomplished by the Hellenes with little or no loss.
XXXIII
THE SATRAP TIRIBAZUS
The Hellenes were now in Armenia. In this country there were no
dangerous mountains, such as those they had just left, but here they
had to contend against difficulties of another kind. The greater part
of the country was 5,000 feet above the sea level, and in consequence
of this, the winters were very long and cold, and the summers very
short. In June the corn began to sprout. In September the harvest was
gathered, and then the winter set in. It was now December, and the
Hellenes were soon to experience the intense cold of an Armenian winter.
After crossing the Kentrites, they marched for a distance of a hundred
and twenty miles over level country, without encountering any enemy.
These marches occupied six days, and it mostly chanced that in the
evening they found themselves near villages where they could shelter
for the night.
On the seventh day there came to meet them a troop of horsemen,
commanded by the satrap Tiribazus, who stood high in the favour of the
Great King, and enjoyed the privilege, when he was at court, of helping
the sovereign to mount on horseback.
He rode forward towards the Hellene army, and demanded speech of the
generals, announcing that he was desirous of entering into a treaty
with them. They were to promise that they would neither burn the
villages nor do violence to the inhabitants, but they were at liberty
to take any provisions that they might require; and he, for his part,
would undertake not to molest them in any way.
[Illustration: A SATRAP RECEIVING DEPUTIES.]
This was all that could be desired, and the generals agreed to conclude
the treaty on the terms proposed. But their previous experience of the
Persians had not been such as to induce them to place much confidence
in any promises they might make, and they judged that it was best,
notwithstanding the treaty, to remain on their guard. Tiribazus
followed their march at the distance of rather more than a mile.
During the night that followed, the Hellenes were encamped beneath
the open sky, when they were overtaken by the first fall of snow.
The next day there was nothing to be seen of Tiribazus, and thinking
that the deep snow would prevent him from attempting any surprise,
they ventured, when night came on, to take up their quarters in some
villages which they had reached.
In the morning however, some of the soldiers who had strayed to a
distance the previous night, reported that they had seen a great number
of fires in the neighbourhood, which seemed to show that the army of
Tiribazus was not far off. The generals decided therefore that it was
too unsafe to break up the army by allowing the soldiers to scatter
themselves over various villages, and on the next night again camped
out in the open, where all could be together.
But again the snow came down, and this time more heavily than before,
burying as if in a grave, both the men and their stacks of weapons. The
frost too was very severe, and the transport horses were so benumbed
that they could hardly raise their limbs from the ground. The soldiers
remained lying beneath the snow, for they found it warmer to be thus
covered up, as if with a soft blanket, but Xenophon roused himself,
and taking an axe, began to cut wood, partly for the sake of getting
warm, partly in order to make a fire. Then some of the men followed his
example, and soon they had a number of fires blazing.
After a night of such severity, the generals were afraid to risk
spending another in the open air, and decided that at all hazards they
must take shelter the next evening in the villages. They determined
however to send out a small band of men, under cover of the darkness,
to search in the direction in which the soldiers had stated that they
had seen the fires burning.
No fires could be discovered, but the soldiers came upon a man carrying
a battle-axe, and a Persian bow and quiver. When they asked him who he
was, and where he came from, the man replied that he was a Persian,
and had come from the army of Tiribazus to seek for food. Then they
questioned him further as to the size of the army, and the purpose for
which it had been assembled, and ascertained from his answers that the
satrap was keeping a little in advance of the Hellenes in order to
seize a pass in the mountains that they were now approaching, before
they should reach it.
There could be no doubt that the Barbarians were intending to play the
same treacherous game as before. It was well for the Hellenes that
they had not trusted them. The soldiers returned, taking with them the
Persian they had captured, and brought him into the presence of the
generals, who again questioned him. Having satisfied themselves that he
was speaking the truth, they resolved to be beforehand with Tiribazus,
and detailed a part of the army to set out at once under the guidance
of the prisoner towards the place where the Barbarians had pitched
their camp, not far from the pass.