Cyropaedia

After that, the gates of the city were opened, the streets filled up with people passing to and fro, and the farms with labourers; they celebrated their festivals together, and peace and joy reigned everywhere.

At this juncture messengers came to him from Cyrus to ask if he needed any more troops or engines; but Adusius answered that even the army he had with him was at the disposal of Cyrus to employ elsewhere. And with those words he started to lead back his army, leaving only garrisons upon the citadels. But the Carians pleaded with him to stay; and when he refused, they sent to Cyrus to petition him to send Adusius to be their satrap.

Cyrus had meanwhile sent off Hystaspas in[*](The conquest of the lesser Phrygia) command of an expedition against the Phrygia that lies along the Hellespont. So when Adusius returned, he directed him to march on in the direction Hystaspas had taken, that they might submit to Hystaspas more readily when they heard that another army was on the way.

Now the Greeks who dwelt by the sea gave many gifts and secured an agreement to the effect that while they should not receive the barbarians[*](Barbarians, from the Greek point of view,; that is, Persians.) within their walls, they would yet pay tribute and serve under him in the field wherever Cyrus should direct.

But the king of Phrygia made preparations to keep possession of his forts and not to submit, and he gave orders to that effect. When, however, his subordinate officers deserted and he was left alone, he finally surrendered to Hystaspas on condition that Cyrus should be his judge and arbiter. And Hystaspas, leaving strong garrisons of Persians upon the citadels, went back with his own army reinforced with many Phrygian horsemen and peltasts.

Besides, Cyrus had given Adusius instructions to join Hystaspas and bring with them armed those Phrygians who had voluntarily taken their side, but to take their horses and arms away from those who had shown fight, and to make all such follow, armed with nothing but slings.

Accordingly, they were thus engaged in executing these orders. But Cyrus, leaving behind a large garrison of foot-soldiers,[*](Cyrus starts from Sardis) started from Sardis in company with Croesus; and he took with him many wagons loaded with valuables of every sort. And Croesus also had come with an accurate inventory of what was in each wagon; and as he handed the lists to Cyrus he said: From this, Cyrus, you may know who renders to you in full that of which he has charge and who does not.

Aye, Croesus, answered Cyrus; you do well to take this precaution. As far as I am concerned, however, those shall have charge of the valuables who also deserve to own them; so that if they embezzle anything, they will be embezzling from what is their own. With these words, he gave the inventories to his friends and officers, that they might be able to tell who of the overseers delivered everything safe and who of them failed.

He took with him also such of the Lydians as he saw taking a pride in the fine appearance of their arms and horses and chariots and trying to do everything that they thought would please him; these he permitted to retain their arms. But if he saw any following with bad grace, he turned their horses over to those Persians who had been the first to engage in his service; he had their arms burned, and these men, too, he required to follow with nothing but slings.

And of those who had been made subjects he required all who were unarmed to practise with the sling, for he considered this weapon to be the one most fitting for a slave. For in conjunction with other forces there are occasions when the presence of slingers is of very effective assistance, but by themselves alone not all the slingers in the world could stand against a very few men who came into a hand-to-hand encounter with them with weapons suited for close combat.

On the way to Babylon he subdued Greater[*](He marches still conquering to Babylon) Phrygia and Cappadocia and reduced the Arabians to submission. From all these he secured armour for not less than forty thousand Persian horsemen, and many horses taken from the prisoners he distributed among all the divisions of his allies. And thus he arrived before Babylon with a great host of cavalry, and a great host of bowmen and spearmen, and a multitude of slingers that was beyond number.

When Cyrus appeared before Babylon he[*](Cyrus surrounds Babylon) stationed his whole force about the city and then rode around it himself in company with his friends and the staff-officers of the allies;

but when he had taken a survey of the walls, he prepared to draw off his army from the city. But a deserter came out and told him that they were going to attack him as soon as he began to draw his army off. For, the man went on, your lines looked weak to those who observed them from the walls. And it was no wonder that they appeared so; for, encompassing walls of such extent,[*](See Index, s.v. Babylon, note.) the lines necessarily had but little depth.

On hearing this, therefore, Cyrus took his place[*](He retires from the wall) with his body-guard in the centre of his army and gave orders that the hoplites should fold back the phalanx from the extremity of either wing and move toward each other behind the main body, which had been halted, until each of the extreme wings should meet in a line with him, that is, in the centre.[*](See Appendix I.)

By this manoeuvre the men that remained standing in their places were at once given more courage, for the depth of the line was thus doubled; and those who had fallen back were likewise rendered more courageous, for thus those troops which had been kept standing had now come to face the enemy, and not they. But when, as they marched in from both sides, the ends came together, they stood thus mutually strengthened—those who had shifted their position were supported by those in front of them, those in front by the men behind them.

And when the phalanx was thus folded back, the front ranks and the rear were of necessity composed of the most valiant men and the poorest were drawn up between them. And this arrangement of the lines seemed well adapted both for fighting and for keeping the men from flight; and the cavalry and the light-armed troops upon the wings were in each case brought as much nearer to the commander as the phalanx was shorter when doubled.

And when they had thus closed up, they retired backward as long as they were within range of the missiles from the wall; but when they were out of range, they would face about and go forward at first only a few steps and wheel to the left and stand facing the wall; and the further off they got, the less often did they thus wheel around; and when they seemed to be out of all danger, they marched off without stopping until they arrived at their tents.