Anabasis

Meanwhile some of the people on the mountain came down and actually requested Xenophon himself to help them obtain the truce. He agreed to do so, told them to have no fear, and gave them his word that they would suffer no harm if they were obedient to Seuthes. But they, as it proved, were talking about this matter merely in order to spy out the situation.

All this happened during the day, but in the night that followed the Thynians issued from the mountain and made an attack. And the master of each separate house acted as guide to that house; for in the darkness it would have been difficult to find the houses in these villages in any other way; for each house was surrounded by a paling, made of great stakes, to keep in the cattle.

When they had reached the doors of a particular house, some would throw in javelins, others would lay on with their clubs, which they carried, so it was said, to knock off the heads of hostile spears, and still others would be setting the house on fire, meanwhile calling Xenophon by name and bidding him come out and be killed, or else, they said, he would be burned up then and there.

And now fire was already showing through the roof, and Xenophon and his men inside the house had equipped themselves with breastplates and were furnished with shields and swords and helmets, when Silanus the Macistian, a lad of about eighteen years, gave a signal with the trumpet; and on the instant they leaped forth with swords drawn, and so did the Greeks from the other houses.

Then the Thracians took to flight, swinging their shields around behind them, as was their custom; and some of them who tried to jump over the palings were captured hanging in the air, with their shields caught in the stakes, while others missed the ways that led out and were killed; and the Greeks continued the pursuit till they were outside the village.

Some of the Thynians, however, turned about in the darkness and hurled javelins at men who were running along past a burning house, throwing out of the darkness toward the light; and they wounded Hieronymus the Epitalian, a captain, and Theogenes the Locrian, also a captain; no one, however, was killed, but some men had clothes and baggage burned up.

Meanwhile, Seuthes came to their aid with seven horsemen of his front line and his Thracian trumpeter. And from the instant he learned of the trouble, through all the time that he was hurrying to the rescue, every moment his horn was kept sounding; the result was, that this also helped to inspire fear in the enemy. When he did arrive, he clasped their hands and said that he had supposed he should find many of them slain.

After this Xenophon asked Seuthes to give over the hostages to him and to join him on an expedition to the mountain, if he so pleased; otherwise, to let him go by himself.

On the next day, accordingly, Seuthes gave over the hostages—men already elderly and the most powerful, so it was said, of the mountaineers—and came himself with his troops. Now by this time Seuthes had a force quite three times as large as before; for many of the Odrysians, hearing what success Seuthes was enjoying, came down from the upper country to take service with him.

And when the Thynians saw from their mountain masses of hoplites, masses of peltasts, and troops of horsemen, they descended and besought him to grant them a truce, agreeing to do anything and everything and urging him to receive pledges.

Thereupon Seuthes summoned Xenophon, disclosed to him the proposals they were making, and said that he should not grant them a truce if Xenophon wanted to punish them for their attack.

And Xenophon said: Why, for my part I think I have abundant satisfaction as it is, if these people are to be slaves instead of free men. He added, however, that he advised Seuthes to take as hostages in the future those who were most capable of doing harm and to leave the old men at home. Thus it was that all the people in this region surrendered.

And now they crossed over to the country of the Thracians above Byzantium, in the so-called Delta;[*](See on Xen. Anab. 7.1.33.) this was beyond the domain of Maesades, being the land of Teres the Odrysian.

There Heracleides presented himself, with the proceeds from the sale of the booty. And Seuthes, leading forth three pairs of mules—for there were no more than three—and the yokes of oxen besides, called Xenophon and bade him take for himself and then distribute the rest among the generals and captains.

Xenophon replied: Well, for my part I am content to get something at a later time; give rather to these generals and captains who have followed with me.

So one of the mule teams was given to Timasion the Dardanian, one to Cleanor the Orchomenian, and one to Phryniscus the Achaean, while the yokes of oxen were distributed among the captains. Seuthes also paid over the wages of the troops, but for twenty days only of the month that had now passed; for Heracleides said that he had not obtained any more than that from his sale.

Xenophon was angered at this, and said to him with an oath: It seems to me, Heracleides, that you are not caring for Seuthes’ interest as you should; for if you were, you would have brought back with you our wages in full, even if you had to borrow something, in case you could not do it in any other way, or to sell your own clothes.

This made Heracleides not only angry, but fearful that he might be banished from the favour of Seuthes, and from that day he slandered Xenophon before Seuthes to the best of his ability.

As for the soldiers, they held Xenophon to blame for their not having received their pay; and Seuthes, on the other hand, was angry with him because he was insistent in demanding their pay for the soldiers.

Hitherto, he had continually been mentioning the fact that upon his return to the coast he was going to give Xenophon Bisanthe and Ganos and Neonteichos, but from this time he did not allude to a single one of these places again. For Heracleides had put in this slanderous suggestion with the rest, that it was not safe to be giving over fortresses to a man who had a force of troops.