Anabasis

[*](The following five sections follow the transposition of Rehdantz.)For there is no place to which we can ourselves steal away from here; for to go back to Heracleia, he said, is a long journey, and it is a long journey through to Chrysopolis, and meanwhile the enemy are close at hand; to Calpe Harbour, where we presume Cheirisophus is, in case he has come through safely, is the shortest distance. But firstly, mark you, having arrived there we have neither ships wherein to sail away nor provisions for so much as a single day if we remain in the place;

and secondly, it is worse to have the blockaded force destroyed and take our chances in company with Cheirisophus’ troops only, than to have these men saved and then unite all our forces and together strive for deliverance. We must set forth, then, prepared in our minds for either meeting to-day a glorious death or accomplishing a most noble deed in saving so many Greeks.

And it may be that the god is guiding events in this way, he who wills that those who talked boastfully, as though possessed of superior wisdom, should be brought low, and that we, who always begin with the gods,[*](i.e. consult the gods before undertaking any enterprise. The expression was proverbial.) should be set in a place of higher honour than those boasters. And now you must keep in line and on the alert, so that you can carry out the orders that are given.

For the present, then, let us go forward as far as may seem consistent with our time for dining, and then encamp; and so long as we are on the march, let Timasion with the cavalry ride on in advance, keeping us in sight, and spy out what is ahead, in order that nothing may escape our attention.

With these words he proceeded to lead the way. Furthermore, he sent out on the flanks and to the neighbouring heights some of the more active of the light-armed troops in order that they might signal to the army in case they should sight anything anywhere from any point of observation; and he directed them to burn everything they found that could be burned.

So the horsemen, scattering as widely as was proper, went to burning, the peltasts, making their way along the heights abreast of the main army, burned all they saw which was combustible, and the main army likewise burned anything they found that had been passed over; the result was, that the whole country seemed to be ablaze and the army seemed to be a large one.

When the time had come, they ascended a hill and encamped; from there they could see the campfires of the enemy, distant about forty stadia, and they kindled as many fires themselves as they could.

Immediately after they had dined, however, the order was given to extinguish every one of the fires. Then, after stationing guards, they slept the night through; and at daybreak they offered prayer to the gods, formed their lines for battle, and set forth at the fastest possible pace.

And Timasion and the horsemen, riding on ahead with the guides, found themselves without knowing it upon the hill where the Greeks had been besieged. They could see no army, however, either friendly or hostile (and this fact they reported back to Xenophon and the main body), but only some wretched old men and women and a few sheep and cattle that had been left behind.

At first they could only wonder what the thing was that had happened, but afterwards they managed to find out from the people who had been left behind that the Thracians had disappeared immediately after nightfall, and the Greeks also, they said, had gone; but whither, they did not know.

Upon hearing this report Xenophon and his men packed up, as soon as they had breakfasted, and set forth, wishing as speedily as possible to join their comrades at Calpe Harbour. As they proceeded, they could see the track of the Arcadians and Achaeans along the road leading towards Calpe. When the two detachments came together, the men were delighted to see one another, and greeted one another like brothers.

And the Arcadians inquired of Xenophon’s troops why they had put out their fires; for we imagined at first, they said, when we could no longer see your fires, that you meant to come against the enemy during the night; and the enemy likewise, so at least it seemed to us, feared this, and on that account departed; for it was at about that time that they went away.

But when you failed to arrive, although the requisite time had passed, we supposed that you had learned of our situation and, seized with fear, had stealthily made off toward the sea; and we thought it best not to be left behind. That was the reason, then, why we also proceeded hither.

During that day they bivouacked where they were, upon the beach by the harbour. Now this place which is called Calpe Harbour is situated in Thrace-in-Asia; and this portion of Thrace begins at the mouth of the Euxine and extends as far as Heracleia, being on the right as one sails into the Euxine.

It is a long day’s journey for a trireme to row from Byzantium to Heracleia, and between the two places there is no other city, either friendly or Greek, only Bithynian Thracians; and they are said to abuse outrageously any Greeks they may find shipwrecked or may capture in any other way.

As for Calpe Harbour, it lies midway of the voyage between Heracleia and Byzantium and is a bit of land jutting out into the sea, the part of it which extends seaward being a precipitous mass of rock, not less than twenty fathoms high at its lowest point, and the isthmus which connects this head with the mainland being about four plethra in width; and the space to the seaward of the isthmus is large enough for ten thousand people to dwell in.

At the very foot of the rock there is a harbour whose beach faces toward the west, and an abundantly flowing spring of fresh water close to the shore of the sea and commanded by the headland. There is also a great deal of timber of various sorts, but an especially large amount of fine ship-timber, on the very shore of the sea.

The ridge extends back into the interior for about twenty stadia, and this stretch is deep-soiled and free from stones, while the land bordering the coast is thickly covered for a distance of more than twenty stadia with an abundance of heavy timber of all sorts.

The rest of the region is fair and extensive, and contains many inhabited villages; for the land produces barley, wheat, beans of all kinds, millet and sesame, a sufficient quantity of figs, an abundance of grapes which yield a good sweet wine, and in fact everything except olives.

Such was the country thereabouts. The men took up quarters on the beach by the sea, refusing to encamp on the spot which might become a city; indeed, the fact of their coming to this place at all seemed to them the result of scheming on the part of some people who wished to found a city.