Anabasis

Thereupon Xenophon said again: Then since you intend to make payment, I now request you to do it through me, and not to allow me to have, on your account, a different standing with the army now from what I had at the time when we came to you.

And Seuthes replied: But you will not be less honoured among the soldiers on my account if you will stay with me, keeping only a thousand hoplites, and, besides, I will give over the fortresses to you and the other things that I promised.

And Xenophon answered: This plan is not a possible one; so dismiss us. Yet really, said Seuthes, I know that it is also safer for you to stay with me than to go away.

And Xenophon replied: Well, I thank you for your solicitude; it is not possible, however, for me to stay; but wherever I may enjoy greater honour, be sure that it will be a good thing for you as well as myself.

Thereupon Seuthes said: As for ready money, I have only a little, and that I give you, a talent;[*](See note on Xen. Anab. 1.7.18.) but I have six hundred cattle, and sheep to the number of four thousand, and nearly a hundred and twenty slaves. Take these, and likewise the hostages of the people who wronged you,[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 7.4.12-24.) and go your way.

Xenophon laughed and said: Now supposing all this does not suffice to cover the amount of the pay, whose talent shall I say I have? Would I not better, seeing that it is really a source of danger to me, be on my guard against stones[*](With reference to Xen. Anab. 7.6.10.) on my way back? For you heard the threats. For the time, then, he remained there at Seuthes’ quarters.

On the next day Seuthes delivered over to them what he had promised, and sent men with them to drive the cattle. As for the soldiers, up to this time they had been saying that Xenophon had gone off to Seuthes to dwell with him and to receive what Seuthes had promised him; but when they caught sight of him, they were delighted, and ran out to meet him.

As soon as Xenophon saw Charminus and Polynicus, he said to them: This property has been saved for the army through you, and to you I turn it over; do you, then, dispose of it and make the distribution to the army. They, accordingly, took it over, appointed booty-vendors, and proceeded to sell it; and they incurred a great deal of blame.

As for Xenophon, he would not go near them, but it was plain that he was making preparations for his homeward journey; for not yet had sentence of exile been pronounced against him at Athens.[*](The precise date of Xenophon’s banishment is uncertain. It appears to have resulted not only from his participation in the expedition of Cyrus, who had been an ally of the Spartans against Athens (see Xen. Anab. 3.1.5), but from his close association with Spartans thereafter.) His friends in the camp, however, came to him and begged him not to depart until he should lead the army away and turn it over to Thibron.

From there they sailed across to Lampsacus, where Xenophon was met by Eucleides, the Phliasian seer, son of the Cleagoras who painted the mural paintings in the Lyceum.[*](The famous gymnasium at Athens.) Eucleides congratulated Xenophon upon his safe return, and asked him how much gold he had got.

He replied, swearing to the truth of his statement, that he would not have even enough money to pay his travelling expenses on the way home unless he should sell his horse and what he had about his person. And Eucleides would not believe him.

But when the Lampsacenes sent gifts of hospitality to Xenophon and he was sacrificing to Apollo, he gave Eucleides a place beside him; and when Eucleides saw the vitals of the victims, he said that he well believed that Xenophon had no money. But I am sure, he went on, that even if money should ever be about to come to you, some obstacle always appears—if nothing else, your own self. In this Xenophon agreed with him.

Then Eucleides said, Yes, Zeus the Merciful is an obstacle in your way, and asked whether he had yet sacrificed to him, just as at home, he continued, where I was wont to offer the sacrifices for you, and with whole victims. Xenophon replied that not since he left home had he sacrificed to that god.[*](i.e. Zeus in this particular one of his functions, as the Merciful. cp. Xen. Anab. 7.6.44.) Eucleides, accordingly, advised him to sacrifice just as he used to do, and said that it would be to his advantage.

And the next day, upon coming to Ophrynium, Xenophon proceeded to sacrifice, offering whole victims of swine after the custom of his fathers, and he obtained favourable omens.

In fact, on that very day Bion and Nausicleides[*](Apparently officers sent by Thibron.) arrived with money to give to the army and were entertained by Xenophon, and they redeemed his horse, which he had sold at Lampsacus for fifty daries,—for they suspected that he had sold it for want of money, since they heard he was fond of the horse,—gave it back to him, and would not accept from him the price of it.

From there they marched through the Troad and, crossing over Mount Ida, arrived first at Antandrus, and then, proceeding along the coast, reached the plain of Thebes.

Making their way from there through Adramyttium and Certonus, they came to the plain of the Caicus and so reached Pergamus, in Mysia.Here Xenophon was entertained by Hellas, the wife of Gongylus[*](Whose ancestor (father?), according to Xen. Hell. 3.1.6, had been given four cities in this neighbourhood by Xerxes because he espoused the Persian cause, being the only man among the Eretrians who did so, and was therefore banished. cp. Xen. Anab. 2.1.3 and note.) the Eretrian and mother of Gorgion and Gongylus.

She told him that there was a Persian in the plain named Asidates, and said that if he should go by night with three hundred troops, he could capture this man, along with his wife and children and property, of which he had a great deal. And she sent as guides for this enterprise not only her own cousin, but also Daphnagoras, whom she regarded very highly.

Xenophon, accordingly, proceeded to sacrifice, keeping these two by his side. And Basias, the Elean seer who was present, said that the omens were extremely favourable for him and that the man was easy to capture.

So after dinner he set forth, taking with him the captains who were his closest friends and others who had proved themselves trustworthy throughout, in order that he might do them a good turn. But there joined him still others who forced themselves in, to the number of six hundred; and the captains tried to drive them away, so that they might not have to give them a share in the booty—just as though the property was already in hand.