Anabasis

When he got near the Greeks, he stationed some of his battalions in their rear and moved others into position on their flanks; then, although he could not muster up the courage to close with them and had no desire to risk a decisive battle, he ordered his men to discharge their slings and let fly their arrows.

But when the Rhodian slingers and the bowmen, posted at intervals here and there, sent back an answering volley, and not a man among them missed his mark (for even if he had been very eager to do so, it would not have been easy),[*](i.e. on account of the dense throng of the enemy.) then Tissaphernes withdrew out of range with all speed, and the other battalions followed his example.

For the rest of the day the one army continued its march and the other its pursuit. And the barbarians were no longer[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 3.3.7-10.) able to do any harm by their skirmishing at long range; for the Rhodian slingers carried farther with their missiles than the Persians, farther even than the Persian bowmen.

The Persian bows are also[*](Xenophon remarks in Xen. Anab. 3.3.17 upon the large size of the stones employed in the Persian slings. The word also (καὶ) can hardly refer back to that remark, but it may be that some further observation of the same sort in the original text (see critical note) of the present passage served to introduce what Xenophon now goes on to say about the Persian bows. It is implied in consequently (ὥστε) that the Cretan bows were of approximately the same size as those of the Persians.) large, and consequently the Cretans could make good use of all the arrows that fell into their hands; in fact, they were continually using the enemy’s arrows, and practised themselves in long-range work by shooting them into the air.[*](So that the arrows could be easily recovered.) In the villages, furthermore, the Greeks found gut in abundance and lead for the use of their slingers.

As for that day’s doings, when the Greeks came upon some villages and proceeded to encamp, the barbarians withdrew, having had the worst of it in the skirmishing. The following day the Greeks remained quiet and collected supplies, for there was an abundance of corn in the villages. On the day thereafter they continued their march through the plain, and Tissaphernes hung upon their rear and kept up the skirmishing.

Then it was that the Greeks found out that a square is a poor formation when an enemy is following. For if the wings draw together, either because a road is unusually narrow or because mountains or a bridge make it necessary, it is inevitable that the hoplites should be squeezed out of line and should march with difficulty, inasmuch as they are crowded together and are likewise in confusion; the result is that, being in disorder, they are of little service.

Furthermore, when the wings draw apart again, those who were lately squeezed out are inevitably scattered, the space between the wings is left unoccupied, and the men affected are out of spirits when an enemy is close behind them. Again, as often as the army had to pass over a bridge or make any other crossing, every man would hurry, in the desire to be the first one across, and that gave the enemy a fine chance to make an attack.

When the generals came to realize these difficulties, they formed six companies of a hundred men each and put a captain at the head of each company, adding also platoon and squad commanders.[*](i.e. commanders of fifties and twenty-fives, or of half and quarter companies.) Then in case the wings drew together on the march,[*](The formation is a hollow square. Xenophon means by wings (κέρατα, here and above) the right and left ends of the division which formed the front of the square, and by flanks (πλευραί) the divisions which formed the sides of the square. Apparently three of the special companies were stationed at the middle of the front side of the square (cp. 43 below) and the other three in the corresponding position at the rear.) these companies would drop back, so as not to interfere with the wings, and for the time being would move along behind the wings;

and when the flanks of the square drew apart again, they would fill up the space between the wings, by companies in case this space was rather narrow, by platoons in case it was broader, or, if it was very broad, by squads[*](The squad, or quarter company, consisting of 25 men (i.e. 24 the leader), normally marched three abreast, i.e. with a front of three and a depth of eight. The company might be formed in any one of three ways: (a) one squad front and four deep, (b) two squads front and two deep, or (c) four squads front and one deep. Three companies ranged alongside one another in formation (a) would thus have a front of three squads or nine men, in formation (b) a front of eighteen men, and in formation (c) a front of thirty-six men. It is these three dispositions of the three special companies at the front of the square which Xenophon terms, respectively, by companies, by platoons, and by squads.)—the idea being, to have the gap filled up in any event.

Again, if the army had to make some crossing or to pass over a bridge, there was no confusion, but each company crossed over in its turn; and if any help was needed in any part of the army, these troops would make their way to the spot. In this fashion the Greeks proceeded four stages.

In the course of the fifth stage they caught sight of a palace of some sort, with many villages round about it, and they observed that the road to this place passed over high hills, which stretched down from the mountain at whose foot the villages were situated. And the Greeks were well pleased to see the hills, as was natural considering that the enemy’s force was cavalry;[*](Which is most effective in a level country.)

when, however, in their march out of the plain they had mounted to the top of the first hill, and were descending it, so as to ascend the next, at this moment the barbarians came upon them and down from the hilltop discharged their missiles and sling-stones and arrows, fighting under the lash.[*](Like Xerxes’ troops at Thermopylae (Hdt. 7.223).)

They not only inflicted many wounds, but they got the better of the Greek light troops and shut them up within the lines of the hoplites, so that these troops, being mingled with the non-combatants, were entirely useless throughout that day, slingers and bowmen alike.

And when the Greeks, hard-pressed as they were, undertook to pursue the attacking force, they reached the hilltop but slowly, being heavy troops, while the enemy sprang quickly out of reach;

and every time they returned from a pursuit to join the main army, they suffered again in the same way.[*](i.e. as described in 25-26.) On the second hill the same experiences were repeated, and hence after ascending the third hill they decided not to stir the troops from its crest until they had led up a force of peltasts from the right flank of the square to a position on the mountain.[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 3.4.24)

As soon as this force had got above the hostile troops that were hanging upon the Greek rear, the latter desisted from attacking the Greek army in its descent, for fear that they might be cut off and find themselves enclosed on both sides by their foes.

In this way the Greeks continued their march for the remainder of the day, the one division by the road leading over the hills while the other followed a parallel course along the mountain slope, and so arrived at the villages. There they appointed eight surgeons, for the wounded were many.

In these villages they remained for three days, not only for the sake of the wounded, but likewise because they had provisions in abundance—flour, wine, and great stores of barley that had been collected for horses, all these supplies having been gathered together by the acting satrap of the district.