Anabasis

At this time, when the troops were marshalled under arms,[*](i.e. in the review mentioned in 1.) the number of the Greeks was found to be ten thousand four hundred hoplites, and two thousand five hundred peltasts,[*](There is a discrepancy, as yet unexplained, between these numbers and those previously given. cp. Xen. Anab. 1.2.9 and note; also Xen. Anab. 1.2.25 and Xen. Anab. 1.4.3.) while the number of the barbarians under Cyrus was one hundred thousand and there were about twenty scythe-bearing chariots.

The enemy, it was reported, numbered one million two hundred thousand[*](The number is probably overstated. Ctesias, the King’s Greek physician (see viii. 26), is said by Plutarch (Artax. 13) to have given it as 400,000.) and had two hundred scythe-bearing chariots; besides, there was a troop of six thousand horsemen, under the command of Artagerses, which was stationed in front of the King himself.

And the King’s army had four commanders, each at the head of three hundred thousand men, namely, Abrocomas, Tissaphernes, Gobryas, and Arbaces. But of the forces just enumerated only nine hundred thousand, with one hundred and fifty scythe-bearing chariots, were present at the battle; for Abrocomas, marching from Phoenicia, arrived five days too late for the engagement.

Such were the reports brought to Cyrus by those who deserted from the Great King before the battle, and after the battle identical reports were made by the prisoners taken thereafter.

From there Cyrus marched one stage, three parasangs, with his whole army, Greek and barbarian alike, drawn up in line of battle; for he supposed that on that day the King would come to an engagement; for about midway of this day’s march there was a deep trench, five fathoms[*](ὀργυά = the reach of the outstretched arms (cp. ὀρέγω), or, as an exact unit of measurement, 6 Greek feet = 5 ft. 10 in. English measure.) in width and three fathoms in depth.

This trench extended up through the plain for a distance of twelve parasangs, reaching to the wall of Media,[*](Described by Xenophon in Xen. Anab. 2.4.12. It extended from the Euphrates north east to the Tigris, and was built by the Babylonians, apparently in the sixth century B.C., as a defence against the Medes. It is supposed that the southern part of the wall was now in ruins. Such a supposition serves to explain (1) the need of the King’s trench, and (2) the fact that Xenophon does not describe the wall here, but only in Xen. Anab. 2.4.12.) [Here also are the canals, which flow from the Tigris river; they are four in number, each a plethrum wide and exceedingly deep, and grain-carrying ships ply in them; they empty into the Euphrates and are a parsang apart, and there are bridges over them.] and alongside the Euphrates there was a narrow passage, not more than about twenty feet in width, between the river and the trench;

and the trench[*](It would seem that the rapid approach of Cyrus had prevented the King from completing the trench.) had been constructed by the Great King as a means of defence when he learned that Cyrus was marching against him. Accordingly Cyrus and his army went through by the passage just mentioned, and so found themselves on the inner side of the trench.

Now on that day the King did not offer battle, but tracks of both horses and men in retreat were to be seen in great numbers.

Then Cyrus summoned Silanus, his Ambraciot soothsayer, and gave him three thousand darics; for on the eleventh day before this, while sacrificing, he had told Cyrus that the King would not fight within ten days, and Cyrus had said: Then he will not fight at all, if he will not fight within ten days; however, if your prediction proves true, I promise you ten talents.[*](Hence 10 (Attic) talents = 3,000 (Persian) darics. A talent was 60 minas, and therefore a mina was counted equivalent to 5 darics. The discrepancy between this result and the values stated previously (see notes on i. 9 and iv. 13) is explained by the fact that silver was worth much more at this time, relatively to gold, than at present.) So it was this money that he then paid over, the ten days having passed.

But since the King did not appear at the trench and try to prevent the passage of Cyrus’ army, both Cyrus and the rest concluded that he had given up the idea of fighting. Hence on the following day Cyrus proceeded more carelessly;

and on the third day he was making the march seated in his chariot and with only a small body of troops drawn up in line in front of him, while the greater part of the army was proceeding in disorder and many of the soldiers’ arms and accoutrements were being carried in wagons and on pack-animals.

It was now about full-market time[*](i.e. the middle of the forenoon.) and the stopping-place where Cyrus was intending to halt had been almost reached, when Pategyas, a trusty Persian of Cyrus’ staff, came into sight, riding at full speed, with his horse in a sweat, and at once shouted out to everyone he met, in the barbarian tongue and in Greek, that the King was approaching with a large army, all ready for battle.

Then ensued great confusion; for the thought of the Greeks, and of all the rest in fact, was that he would fall upon them immediately, while they were in disorder;

and Cyrus leaped down from his chariot, put on his breastplate, and then, mounting his horse, took his spears in his hands and passed the word to all the others to arm themselves and get into their places, every man of them.

Thereupon they proceeded in great haste to take their places, Clearchus occupying the right end of the Greek wing,[*](i.e. the Greek army as a whole constituted the right wing of Cyrus’ entire army, his Persian troops forming the centre and the left wing. Clearchus and Menon, then, occupy the right and left wings, respectively, of the Greek contingent.) close to the Euphrates river, Proxenus next to him, and the others beyond Proxenus, while Menon and his army took the left end of the Greek wing.

As for the barbarians, Paphlagonian horsemen to the number of a thousand took station beside Clearchus on the right wing, as did the Greek peltasts, on the left was Ariaeus, Cyrus’ lieutenant, with the rest of the barbarian army,

and in the centre Cyrus and his horsemen, about six hundred in number. These troopers were armed with breastplates and thigh-pieces and, all of them except Cyrus, with helmets—Cyrus, however, went into the battle with his head unprotected. [In fact, it is said of the Persians in general that they venture all the perils of war with their heads unprotected.]

And all their horses [with Cyrus] had frontlets and breast-pieces; and the men carried, besides their other weapons, Greek sabres.

And now it was midday, and the enemy were not yet in sight; but when afternoon was coming on, there was seen a rising dust, which appeared at first like a white cloud, but some time later like a kind of blackness in the plain, extending over a great distance. As the enemy came nearer and nearer, there were presently flashes of bronze here and there, and spears and the hostile ranks began to come into sight.

There were horsemen in white cuirasses on the left wing of the enemy, under the command, it was reported, of Tissaphernes; next to them were troops with wicker shields and, farther on, hoplites with wooden shields which reached to their feet, these latter being Egyptians, people said; and then more horsemen and more bowmen. All these troops were marching in national divisions, each nation in a solid square.