Anabasis

For we know that wherever we hold the upper hand, we should be able both to keep ourselves safe and to obtain provisions; but let us once get caught where we are weaker than the enemy, and it is perfectly clear that we shall be in the position of slaves. Upon hearing these words the Sinopeans told them to send ambassadors.

And they sent Callimachus the Arcadian, Ariston the Athenian, and Samolas the Achaean. These men accordingly set out.

At this time, as Xenophon’s eyes rested upon a great body of Greek hoplites, and likewise upon a great body of peltasts, bowmen, slingers, and horsemen also, all of them now exceedingly efficient through constant service and all there in Pontus,[*](Xenophon uses the term Πόντος both of the Euxine Sea and of the region along its south-eastern coast. See below.) where so large a force could not have been gathered by any slight outlay of money, it seemed to him that it was a fine thing to gain additional territory and power for Greece by founding a city.

It would become a great city, he thought, as he reckoned up their own numbers and the peoples who dwelt around the Euxine. And with a view to this project, before speaking about it to any of the soldiers, he offered sacrifices, summoning for that purpose Silanus the Ambraciot, who had been the soothsayer of Cyrus.

Silanus, however, fearing that this thing might come to pass and that the army might settle down somewhere, carried forth to the troops a report that Xenophon wanted them to settle down, so that he could found a city and win for himself a name and power.

As for Silanus, his own desire was to reach Greece as quickly as possible; for the three thousand darics, which he had received from Cyrus at the time when he sacrificed for him and had told the truth about the ten days,[*](See Xen. Anab. 1.7.18.) he had brought safely through.

When the soldiers heard this report, some of them thought it was best to settle down, but the majority thought otherwise. And Timasion the Dardanian and Thorax the Boeotian said to some Heracleot and Sinopean merchants who were there, that if they did not provide pay for the troops so that they would have provisions for the voyage from Cotyora, there would be danger of that great force remaining in Pontus. For Xenophon, they went on, wishes and is urging that as soon as the ships come, we should then say all of a sudden to the army:

Soldiers, now we see that you are without means either to supply yourselves with provisions on the homeward voyage, or to do anything for your people at home when you have got back there; but if you wish to pick out some spot in the country that lies round about the Euxine and put to shore wherever you may wish—he who so desires to go back home and he who so desires to stay behind—here are your ships, so that you could make a sudden attack at whatever point you may wish.

Upon hearing this statement the merchants carried it back to their cities; and along with them Timasion the Dardanian sent Eurymachus the Dardanian and Thorax the Boeotian to tell the same story. When the Sinopeans and Heracleots heard it, they sent to Timasion and urged him to take in charge, for a fee, the matter of getting the army to sail away.

He received this proposal gladly, and when the soldiers were gathered in assembly addressed them as follows: You ought not, soldiers, to set your thoughts on remaining here, nor to esteem anything more highly than Greece. But I hear that certain people are offering sacrifices over this matter, with not so much as a word to you.

Now I promise, in case you set sail from here, to provide you with pay from the first of the month at the rate of a Cyzicene[*](A gold coin of Cyzicus, an important Greek city on the Propontis. It was equivalent in weight of gold to l lls. l d. or $7.56; but see note on Xen. Anab. 1.1.9.) per month to each man; and I will take you to Troas, the place from which I am an exile, and my city will be at your service; for they will receive me willingly.

Then I myself will lead you to places from which you will get an abundance of wealth. I am acquainted with Aeolis, Phrygia, Troas, and the entire province of Pharnabazus,[*](Persian satrap of Lesser Phrygia and Bithynia.) partly because I come from that region, and partly because I have campaigned there with Clearchus and Dercylidas.[*](A Spartan general. He had taken part in the Peloponnesian War, and was the commander under whom the Ten Thousand later served.)

Next rose Thorax the Boeotian, who was at odds with Xenophon over the generalship of the army, and said that once they got out of the Euxine they would have the Chersonese, a fair and prosperous country, where any one who so desired might dwell, while any who did not desire to do this, might return home. It was ridiculous, he said, when there was plenty of fertile land in Greece, to be hunting for it in the domain of the barbarians.

And until you reach that spot, he continued, I also, like Timasion, promise you regular pay. All this he said with full knowledge of what the Heracleots and the Sinopeans were promising Timasion for getting the army to sail away. Xenophon meanwhile was silent.

Then Philesius and Lycon the Achaeans rose and said that it was outrageous for Xenophon to be privately urging people to settle down and sacrificing with a view to that plan, while publicly saying not a word about the matter. Thus Xenophon was compelled to rise and speak as follows: