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.