Anabasis

So they lay there in great numbers as though the army had suffered a defeat, and great despondency prevailed. On the next day, however, no one had died, and at approximately the same hour as they had eaten the honey they began to come to their senses; and on the third or fourth day they got up, as if from a drugging.

From there they marched two stages, seven parasangs, and reached the sea at Trapezus, an inhabited Greek city on the Euxine Sea, a colony of the Sinopeans in the territory of Colchis. There they remained about thirty days in the villages of the Colchians, and from these as a base plundered Colchis.

And the Trapezuntians supplied a market for the army, received the Greeks kindly, and gave them oxen, barley-meal, and wine as gifts of hospitality.

They likewise took part in negotiations with the Greeks in behalf of the near-by Colchians, who dwelt for the most part on the plain, and from these people also the Greeks received hospitable gifts of oxen.

After this they made ready the sacrifice which they had vowed;[*](See Xen. Anab. 3.2.9.) and a sufficient number of oxen had come to them so that they could pay their thank-offerings to Zeus for deliverance, to Heracles for guidance, and to the other gods according as they had vowed. They instituted also athletic games on the mountain side, just where they were encamped; and they chose Dracontius, a Spartan, who had been exiled from home as a boy because he had accidentally killed another boy with the stroke of a dagger, to look out for a race-course and to act as manager of the games.

When, accordingly, the sacrifice had been completed, they turned over the hides[*](The hides of the sacrificial victims, which were to be offered as prizes in the games. Cp. Hom. Il. 10.159.) to Dracontius and bade him lead the way to the place he had fixed upon for his race-course. He pointed out the precise spot where they chanced to be standing, and said, This hill is superb for running, wherever you please. How, then, they said, can men wrestle on ground so hard and overgrown as this is? And he replied, The one that is thrown will get hurt a bit more.

The events were, a stadium race[*](The regular short race in the Greek games, corresponding closely to our 220 yards dash.) for boys, most of them belonging to the captives, a long race,[*](The δόλιχος seems to have varied from six to twenty-four stadia.) in which more than sixty Cretans took part, wrestling, boxing, and the pancratium;[*](A combination of boxing and wrestling.) and it made a fine spectacle; for there were a great many entries and, inasmuch as the comrades of the contestants were looking on, there was a great deal of rivalry.

There were horseraces also, and the riders had to drive their horses down the steep slope, turn them around on the shore, and bring them back again to the altar.[*](The altar on which the sacrifices had been offered served as a starting-point for the races.) And on the way down most of the horses rolled over and over, while on the way up, against the exceedingly steep incline, they found it hard to keep on at a walk; so there was much shouting and laughter and cheering.

[*](The MSS. here prefix the following summary of the preceding narrative.)[The preceding narrative has described all that the Greeks did on their upward march with Cyrus and on their journey to the shore of the Euxine Sea, how they arrived at the Greek city of Trapezus, and how they paid the thankofferings for deliverance which they had vowed to sacrifice at the place where they should first reach a friendly land.]

After this they gathered together and proceeded to take counsel in regard to the remainder of their journey; and the first man to get up was Leon of Thurii, who spoke as follows: Well, I, for my part, gentlemen, he said, am tired by this time of packing up and walking and running and carrying my arms and being in line and standing guard and fighting, and what I long for now is to be rid of these toils, since we have the sea, and to sail the rest of the way, and so reach Greece stretched out on my back, like Odysseus.[*](See Hom. Od. 5.75-118.)

Upon hearing these words the soldiers shouted out that he was quite right; and another man said the same thing, and in fact all who rose to speak. Then Cheirisophus got up and spoke as follows:

I have a friend Anaxibius, gentlemen, and he happens also to be Admiral.[*](Not an admiral, for ναύαρχος was the distinctive title of the commanding officer of the Lacedaemonian fleet.) So if you will send me to him, I presume I can bring back with me ships of war and merchant vessels to carry us; for yourselves, if you really wish to go by sea, wait until I return; and I shall return speedily. When they heard this, the soldiers were delighted, and voted that Cheirisophus should set sail with all speed.

After him Xenophon rose and spoke as follows: Cheirisophus, then, is setting off after ships, and we are to stay here; I am going to speak, therefore, of all the things that it seems to me proper for us to be doing while we wait.

In the first place, we must obtain provisions from hostile territory, for we neither have an adequate market, nor have we, with some few exceptions, the means wherewith to buy; but the territory is hostile, and hence there is danger that many of you will perish if you set out after provisions carelessly and unguardedly.

Rather, it seems to me that you ought to get your provisions in foraging parties and not roam about at random, in order that you may be kept safe, and that we generals ought to have charge of this matter. This proposal was adopted.

Listen, then, to this further point. Some of you are to journey forth after plunder. Now I think it is best for the man who is going out to inform us of the fact and to tell us also whither he is going, in order that we may know the number of men who are going out and the number who are staying behind; then we can help, if need be, in making preparations, and if there be occasion to go to any one’s assistance, we shall know whither we are to go with such assistance, and if a man who is without experience is making an attempt in any quarter, we can advise him by trying to ascertain the strength of those against whom he may be going. This proposal also was adopted.

Then, he said, consider this matter also. Our enemies have leisure for plundering and they are plotting against us—quite properly, seeing that we have appropriated what was theirs; and they are posted up above us. So it seems to me that we ought to have guards around our camp; supposing, then, that we take turns in standing guard and keeping watch, the enemy would be less able to harry us.

Here is still another point to note. If we knew beyond doubt that Cheirisophus would bring back with him an adequate number of ships, there would be no need of what I am about to say; but since in fact that is uncertain, I think we should try to do our part by procuring ships here also. For if he does bring enough, then with those at hand here we shall have a more abundant supply to sail in, while if he does not, we shall use those which we have here.

Now I see ships sailing past frequently, and if we can get the Trapezuntians to give us men-of-war and so bring these ships into port and keep them under guard, unshipping their rudders meanwhile, until we get enough to carry us, perhaps we should not lack such means of transport as we need. This proposal also was adopted.

Again, he said, do you not think it reasonable that we should maintain from our common fund the sailors we thus bring into port for as long a time as they may be waiting for our sakes, and that we should agree upon a price for our passage, so that in conferring a benefit upon us they may also benefit themselves? This proposal also was adopted.