Anabasis

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.

For most of the soldiers had sailed away from Greece to undertake this service for pay, not because their means were scanty, but because they knew by report of the noble character of Cyrus; some brought other men with them, some had even spent money of their own on the enterprise, while still another class had abandoned fathers and mothers, or had left children behind with the idea of getting money to bring back to them, all because they heard that the other people who served with Cyrus enjoyed abundant good fortune. Being men of this sort, therefore, they longed to return in safety to Greece.

On the day after the reunion of the three divisions Xenophon offered sacrifice with a view to an expedition; for it was necessary to go out after provisions and, besides, he intended to bury the Arcadian dead. When the sacrifices proved favourable, the Arcadians also followed with the rest,[*](i.e. no longer insisting upon their independent organization.) and they buried the greater part of the dead just where they each had fallen; for they had already lain unburied five days, and it was not now possible to carry away the bodies; some that lay upon the roads, however, they did gather together and honour with as fine a burial as their means allowed, while for those they could not find, they erected a great cenotaph, and placed wreaths upon it.

After doing all this they returned to their camp, and then took dinner and went to bed. On the following day all the soldiers held a meeting, the chief movers in the matter being Agasias the Stymphalian, a captain, Hieronymus the Elean, also a captain, and some others from among the eldest of the Arcadians.

They passed a resolution that if any man from this time forth should suggest dividing the army, he should be punished with death, and further, that the army should return to the same organization which formerly obtained, and that the former generals should resume command. Now by this time Cheirisophus had died, from the effects of a medicine which he took for a fever;[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 6.2.18.) and his command passed to Neon the Asinaean.

After this Xenophon rose and said: Fellow soldiers, our journey, it seems, must be made by land, for we have no ships; and we must set out at once, for we have no provisions if we remain here. We, then, he continued, will sacrifice, and you must prepare yourselves to fight if ever you did; for the enemy have renewed their courage.

Thereupon the generals proceeded to sacrifice, the soothsayer who was present being Arexion the Arcadian; for Silanus the Ambraciot had by this time stolen away,[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 5.6.18, 34.) on a vessel which he hired at Heracleia. When they sacrificed, however, with a view to their departure, the victims would not prove favourable,

and they accordingly ceased their offerings for that day. Now some people had the effrontery to say that Xenophon, in his desire to found a city at this spot, had induced the soothsayer to declare that the sacrifices were not favourable for departure.