Anabasis

When these elections had been completed, and as day was just about beginning to break, the commanders met in the middle of the camp; and they resolved to station outposts and then call an assembly of the soldiers. As soon as they had come together, Cheirisophus the Lacedaemonian arose first and spoke as follows:

Fellow-soldiers, painful indeed is our present situation, seeing that we are robbed of such generals and captains and soldiers, and, besides, that Ariaeus and his men, who were formerly our allies, have betrayed us;

nevertheless, we must quit ourselves like brave men as well as may be in these circumstances, and must not yield, but rather try to save ourselves by glorious victory if we can; otherwise, let us at least die a glorious death, and never fall into the hands of our enemies alive. For in that case I think we should meet the sort of sufferings that I pray the gods may visit upon our foes.

Then Cleanor the Orchomenian arose and spoke as follows: Come, fellow-soldiers, you see the perjury and impiety of the King; you see likewise the faithlessness of Tissaphernes. It was Tissaphernes who said[*](Xen. Anab. 2.3.18.) that he was a neighbour of Greece and that he would do his utmost to save us; it was none other than he who gave us his oaths to confirm these words; and then he, Tissaphernes, the very man who had given such pledges, was the very man who deceived and seized our generals. More than that, he did not even reverence Zeus, the god of hospitality; instead, he entertained Clearchus at his own table[*](Xen. Anab. 2.5.27) and then made that very act the means of deceiving and destroying the generals.

Ariaeus, too, whom we were ready to make king,[*](Xen. Anab. 2.1.4) with whom we exchanged pledges[*](Xen. Anab. 2.2.8) not to betray one another, even he, showing neither fear of the gods nor honour for the memory of Cyrus dead, although he was most highly honoured by Cyrus living, has now gone over to the bitterest foes of that same Cyrus, and is trying to work harm to us, the friends of Cyrus.

Well, may these men be duly punished by the gods; we, however, seeing their deeds, must never again be deceived by them, but must fight as stoutly as we can and meet whatever fortune the gods may please to send.

Hereupon Xenophon arose, arrayed for war in his finest dress. For he thought that if the gods should grant victory, the finest raiment was suited to victory; and if it should be his fate to die, it was proper, he thought, that inasmuch as he had accounted his office worthy of the most beautiful attire, in this attire he should meet his death. He began his speech as follows:

The perjury and faithlessness of the barbarians has been spoken of by Cleanor and is understood, I imagine, by the rest of you. If, then, it is our desire to be again on terms of friendship with them, we must needs feel great despondency when we see the fate of our generals, who trustingly put themselves in their hands; but if our intention is to rely upon our arms, and not only to inflict punishment upon them for their past deeds, but henceforth to wage implacable war with them, we have—the gods willing—many fair hopes of deliverance.

As he was saying this a man sneezed,[*](The sneeze was a lucky sign, and particularly lucky because it came at just the time when Xenophon was uttering the word σωτηρίας, deliverance.) and when the soldiers heard it, they all with one impulse made obeisance to the god;[*](Zeus Soter, who was presumed (see below) to have sent the omen.) and Xenophon said, I move, gentlemen, since at the moment when we were talking about deliverance an omen from Zeus the Saviour was revealed to us, that we make a vow to sacrifice to that god thank-offerings for deliverance as soon as we reach a friendly land; and that we add a further vow to make sacrifices, to the extent of our ability, to the other gods also. All who are in favour of this motion, he said, will raise their hands. And every man in the assembly raised his hand. Thereupon they made their vows and struck up the paean. These ceremonies duly performed, Xenophon began again with these words:

I was saying that we have many fair hopes of deliverance. For, in the first place, we are standing true to the oaths we took in the name of the gods, while our enemies have perjured themselves and, in violation of their oaths, have broken the truce. This being so, it is fair to assume that the gods are their foes and our allies—and the gods are able speedily to make the strong weak and, when they so will, easily to deliver the weak, even though they be in dire perils.

Secondly, I would remind you of the perils of our own forefathers, to show you not only that it is your right to be brave men, but that brave men are delivered, with the help of the gods, even out of most dreadful dangers. For when the Persians and their followers came with a vast array to blot Athens out of existence, the Athenians dared, unaided, to withstand them, and won the victory.[*](In the battle of Marathon, 490 B.C.)

And while they had vowed to Artemis that for every man they might slay of the enemy they would sacrifice a goat to the goddess, they were unable to find goats enough;[*](According to Herodotus (Hdt. 6.117) the Persian dead numbered 6,400.) so they resolved to offer five hundred every year, and this sacrifice they are paying even to this day.

Again, when Xerxes at a later time gathered together that countless[*](Herodotus (Hdt. 7.185) puts the whole number of fighting men in Xerxes’ armament at 2,641,610.) host and came against Greece, then too our forefathers were victorious, both by land and by sea,[*](By sea at Salamis (480 B.C.) and by land at Plataea (479 B.C.).) over the forefathers of our enemies. As tokens of these victories we may, indeed, still behold the trophies, but the strongest witness to them is the freedom of the states in which you were born and bred; for to no human creature do you pay homage as master, but to the gods alone.

It is from such ancestors, then, that you are sprung.Now I am far from intending to say that you disgrace them; in fact, not many days ago you set yourselves in array against these descendants of those ancient Persians and were victorious, with the aid of the gods, over many times your own numbers.

And then, mark you, it was in Cyrus’ contest for the throne that you proved yourselves brave men; but now, when the struggle is for your own safety, it is surely fitting that you should be far braver and more zealous.

Furthermore, you ought now to be more confident in facing the enemy. For then you were unacquainted with them, you saw that their numbers were beyond counting, and you nevertheless dared, with all the spirit of your fathers, to charge upon them; but now, when you have already made actual trial of them and find that they have no desire, even though they are many times your number, to await your attack, what reason can remain for your being afraid of them?

Again, do not suppose that you are the worse off because the followers of Ariaeus, who were formerly marshalled with us, have now deserted us. For they are even greater cowards than the men we defeated; at any rate they took to flight before them,[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 1.9.31-10.1.) leaving us to shift for ourselves. And when we find men who are ready to set the example of flight, it is far better to see them drawn up with the enemy than on our own side.

But if anyone of you is despondent because we are without horsemen while the enemy have plenty at hand, let him reflect that your ten thousand horsemen are nothing more than ten thousand men; for nobody ever lost his life in battle from the bite or kick of a horse, but it is the men who do whatever is done in battles.

Moreover, we are on a far surer foundation than your horsemen: they are hanging on their horses’ backs, afraid not only of us, but also of falling off; while we, standing upon the ground, shall strike with far greater force if anyone comes upon us and shall be far more likely to hit whomsoever we aim at. In one point alone your horsemen have the advantage—flight is safer for them than it is for us.

Suppose, however, that you do not lack confidence about the fighting, but are troubled because you are no longer to have Tissaphernes to guide you or the King to provide a market. If this be the case, I ask you to consider whether it is better to have Tissaphernes for a guide, the man who is manifestly plotting against us, or such people as we may ourselves capture and may order to serve as guides, men who will know that if they make any mistake in aught that concerns us, they will be making a mistake in that which concerns their own lives and limbs.