Anabasis

This became clear on the following day, for not a pack animal was any more to be seen nor camp nor smoke anywhere near. Even the King, so it seems, was terrified by the approach of the army. He made this evident by what he did the next day.

However, as the night went on a panic fell upon the Greeks also, and there was confusion and din of the sort that may be expected when panic has seized an army.

Clearchus, however, directed Tolmides the Elean, who chanced to be with him as herald and was the best herald of his time, to make this proclamation, after he had ordered silence: The commanders give public notice that whoever informs on the man who let the ass loose among the arms shall receive a reward of a talent of silver.

When this proclamation had been made, the soldiers realized that their fears were groundless and their commanders safe. And at dawn Clearchus ordered the Greeks to get under arms in line of battle just as they were when the battle took place.

The fact which I just stated, that the King was terrified by the approach of the Greeks, was made clear by the following circumstance: although on the day before he had sent and ordered them to give up their arms, he now, at sunrise, sent heralds to negotiate a truce.

When these heralds reached the outposts, they asked for the commanders. And when the outposts reported, Clearchus, who chanced at the time to be inspecting the ranks, told the outposts to direct the heralds to wait till he should be at leisure.

Then after he had arranged the army so that it should present a fine appearance from every side as a compact phalanx, with no one to be seen outside the lines of the hoplites, he summoned the messengers; and he himself came forward with the best armed and best looking of his own troops and told the other generals to do likewise.

Once face to face with the messengers, he inquired what they wanted. They replied that they had come to negotiate for a truce, and were empowered to report the King’s proposals to the Greeks and the Greeks’ proposals to the King.

And Clearchus answered: Report to him, then, that we must have a battle first; for we have had no breakfast, and there is no man alive who will dare to talk to Greeks about a truce unless he provides them with a breakfast.

Upon hearing these words the messengers rode away, but were speedily back again, which made it evident that the King, or someone else who had been charged with carrying on these negotiations, was somewhere near. They stated that what the Greeks said seemed to the King reasonable, and that they had now brought guides with them who would lead the Greeks, in case a truce should be concluded, to a place where they could get provisions.

Thereupon Clearchus asked whether he was making a truce merely with the men who were coming and going, or whether the truce would bind the others also. Every man of them, they replied, until your message is carried to the King.

When they had said this, Clearchus had them retire and took counsel about the matter; and it was thought best to conclude the truce speedily, so that they could go and get the provisions without being molested.

And Clearchus said: I, too, agree with this view; nevertheless, I shall not so report at once, but I shall delay until the messengers get fearful of our deciding not to conclude the truce; to be sure, he said, I suppose that our own soldiers will also feel the same fear. When, accordingly, it seemed that the proper time had come, he reported that he accepted the truce, and directed them to lead the way immediately to the provisions.

They proceeded, then, to lead the way, but Clearchus, although he had made the truce, kept his army in line of battle on the march, and commanded the rearguard himself. And they kept coming upon trenches and canals, full of water, which could not be crossed without bridges. They made bridges of a kind, however, out of the palm trees which had fallen and others which they cut down themselves.

And here one could well observe how Clearchus commanded; he had his spear in his left hand and in his right a stick, and whenever he thought that anyone of the men assigned to this task was shirking, he would pick out the right man and deal him a blow, while at the same time he would get into the mud and lend a hand himself; the result was that everyone was ashamed not to match him in energy.

The men detailed to the work were all those up to thirty years of age, but the older men also took hold when they saw Clearchus in such energetic haste.

Now Clearchus was in a far greater hurry because he suspected that the trenches were not always full of water in this way, for it was not a proper time to be irrigating the plain; his suspicion was, then, that the King had let the water into the plain just in order that the Greeks might have before their eyes at the very start many things to make them fearful about their journey.

The march at length brought them to villages where the guides directed them to get provisions. In these villages was grain in abundance and palm wine and a sour drink made from the same by boiling.

As for the dates themselves of the palm, the sort that one can see in Greece were set apart for the servants, while those laid away for the masters were selected ones, remarkable for their beauty and size and with a colour altogether resembling that of amber; others, again, they would dry and store away for sweetmeats. These made a pleasant morsel also at a symposium, but were apt to cause headache.

Here also the soldiers ate for the first time the crown of the palm, and most of them were surprised not alone at its appearance, but at the peculiar nature of its flavour. This, too, however, was exceedingly apt to cause headache. And when the crown was removed from a palm, the whole tree would wither.