Anabasis

After this they marched into the country of the Taochians five stages, thirty parasangs; and their provisions were running low, for the Taochians dwelt in strongholds, and in these strongholds they kept all their provisions stored away.

Now when the Greeks arrived at one of them which contained no town nor houses, but was only a place where men and women and a great number of cattle were gathered, Cheirisophus proceeded to attack this stronghold as soon as he reached it; and when his first battalion grew weary, another advanced to the attack, and yet another; for it was not possible for them to surround the place in continuous line, because its sides were precipitous.

The moment Xenophon came up with the rearguard, consisting of both peltasts and hoplites, Cheirisophus said to him: You have come in the nick of time; for the place must be captured; for the army has no provisions unless we capture this place.

Then they took counsel together, and when Xenophon asked what it was that prevented their effecting an entrance, Cheirisophus replied: There is this one way of approach which you see, but when one tries to go along by this way, they roll down stones from this overhanging rock; and whoever gets caught, is served in this fashion—and with the words he pointed out men with their legs and ribs crushed.

But suppose they use up their stones, said Xenophon, there is nothing then, is there, to hinder one’s passing? For surely there is nothing we can see on the other side except a few men yonder, and only two or three of them are armed.

Furthermore, as you can see for yourself, the distance we must traverse under attack is about a plethrum and a half. Now as much as a plethrum of that distance is covered with tall, scattered pine trees, and if men should stand behind them, what harm could they suffer either from the flying stones or the rolling ones? The remaining space, then, amounts to about half a plethrum, and that we must cross on the run at a moment when the stones stop coming.

But, said Cheirisophus, the very moment we begin to push out toward the trees, the stones fly in quantities. Precisely the thing we want, said Xenophon, for they will use up their stones the sooner. But let us make our way to a spot from which we shall have only a short distance to run across, in case we can do that, and an easy retreat, in case we choose to come back.