at Syracuse, Xenophon took on himself the full discredit of the defeat, and urged the formation of a new force of Rhodian archers and of cavalry who might be supplied with such horses as could be spared from indispensable service as baggage carriers. Passage of the Karduchian moun tains. When on the following day Mithridates hung on their march with 1,000 horsemen and 4,000 archers and slingers, under the conviction that with this force he would make them all prisoners before the day was done, he found himself speedily undeceived. Many of his people were slain, and the Greeks, to frighten them more thoroughly, hacked and mutilated their bodies. But the march of the Greeks was still perilous and toilsome; nor could anything have brought them safely through, had not Xenophon acquired over them a moral ascendancy, which called forth an obedience highly creditable to men so situated. The real struggle came when, about fifty miles to the north of the Great Zab river they approached the terrible rocks and defiles which sheltered the fastnesses of the Karduchian mountaineers. In these fierce hillmen they encountered enemies very different from the Persians whose despot reigned only over the plains, and whose armies had in vain striven to assail their terrible strongholds. Here there was nothing to save them from destruction but a swiftness of movement which should put them in possession of one commanding height after another before the barbarians could reach them. In each instance the feat was successfully accomplished. At length they found themselves in the Armenian satrapy of Tiribazos, a man far more formidable than Tissaphernes. Nor was this the only addition to their dangers. The table lands of Armenia stand high up among the mighty chains of mountains which rise into their most tremendous masses between the Euxine and the Caspian seas. These bare regions are exposed to merciless winds and fearful snowstorms; and the Greeks were crossing them in the depth of winter. But in spite of all obstacles they not only held on, but struck hard blows at their enemies. The camp of Tiribazos was attacked, his men put to flight, his tent taken with a rich booty of goblets and other vessels. The successful crossing of the Euphrates, not far from its source, was followed by weather so bad and by a wind so piercingly cold that the prophets offered a sacrifice to the wind god. The remedy, we are told, was instantly effectual. The storm went down and the temperature rose; but the snow was six feet deep, and men and beasts alike suffered miserably. The enemy was close behind them and might fall at See p. 388. any moment The Eastern branch, now called the Murad. on their sick. By a feigned attack, to which the frost-bitten soldiers added what effect they could by shouting and clashing their shields, Xenophon frightened off the natives in the rear. By careful treatment of the headman of a village where they found both food and quarters, he obtained a guide whose services were lost to them a week later by the imprudence of Cheirisophos. The Spartan leader had allowed the man to walk unbound, and had struck him for his failure to bring them to fresh villages. The headman naturally ran off during the night, and the Greeks made their way as they could after five marches to the banks of a stream which Xenophon calls the Phasis. This river they crossed only to find themselves somewhat further on face to face with the tribesmen of the Chalybes, Taochoi, and Phasianoi, who blocked the pass to the plain beyond. The advice of Cheirisophos was that they should defer their attack to the following day; Kleanor advised them to eat and then fall on at once, unless they wished to double the confidence and probably the numbers of their enemies. More cool, and taking a better view of the position, Xenophon told them that an immediate attack would be not only most perilous but wholly superfluous. It was easier to find some other path in the darkness of night than to fight their way up a pass by sunlight. His advice was taken, and the pass was carried. The barbarians fled, leaving not many dead but a large number of wickerwork shields, which the Greeks rendered useless by cutting them with their daggers. to mount Thê chê. 400 B.C. Five marches brought them from this pass through a plain, the villages of which yielded fair supplies, to a stronghold in which the Taochoi had gathered their women, their Journey of the Greeks children, and their cattle, trusting simply to the strength of their unfortified position. The cattle seized on this fastness supplied the army with food till they reached the river Harpasos, after the passage of which four marches brought them to the large and flourishing city of Gymnias. A guide sent to them by the headman of this place gaged his life as a forfeit if he failed to bring them within five days to the sight of the sea; but they had not marched far before he besought them to ravage and destroy the surrounding country. His zeal was now explained; but he also kept his word. On the fifth day the mountain called Thêchês rose before them. As the foremost men reached the summit, they saw far away the waters of the Euxine stretching out into the blue distance. The shout of joy with which they greeted the longed-for sight swelled to tumult as others hurried up after them. To Xenophon the din seemed to betoken a sudden onslaught of enemies in front, for the inIt was, of course, not the same as 1 This stream cannot be identified. the Phasis of the Kolchian land. habitants of the country which they had burnt and harried hung on them in the rear. Hurriedly mounting his horse, he spurred on with the cavalry. As he approached the summit, he could distinguish the exulting cry, the Sea, the Sea, which seemed to give the assurance that their long toil was already ended. The vehement southern nature, repressed thus far or borne down, burst out in sobs and tears. Officers and men threw themselves weeping into each others' arms. Then, as the baggage train came up and all were now in safety, a sudden impulse drove the soldiers to gather stones, and a mighty cairn was raised to mark the spot where the sea greeted the Ten Thousand on their wonderful march from the plains of Babylon. Arrival at Trapezous. On the opposite side of the stream which bordered the country of the Makrônes, a large gathering of natives threatened an opposition which the nature of the banks, rough with stones and brushwood, might render serious. Happily a man in the army, who had been a slave at Athens and had perhaps been among those who made their escape to Dekeleia, professed to recognise in their speech his own mother tongue, and was commissioned to ask them the reason of their opposition. Simply because you are invading our country,' was the answer; and the reply that the Greeks wished only for a passage to the sea on their way to Hellas after making war with the Great King converted them from angry enemies into zealous friends. Further on the Kolchians offered a more stubborn resistance, but were put to flight, and the army reached at last the Hellenic city and Sinopean colony of Trapezous (Trebizond). The sojourn of a month in the neighbouring Kolchian villages, gave time not only for rest and refreshment but for plundering forays into the surrounding country. March from They had reached the sea,2 but their troubles were not at an end. The feeling of disgust at long-continued hardships broke out in the passionate exclamation of the Thourian Antileon. 'I am sick of running, drilling, keeping guard, and fighting. I will have no more of these worries: what I want is to lay myself down in a ship and be carried to Hellas stretched out in the slumber of Odysseus. His words 1 See p. 57. 2 The line of the Greek march from Kunaxa can be traced with tolerable clearness and certainty until they enter the mountain regions of the Karduchians or Koords. From that time until they reach Trapezous, the tracks assigned to them are in great measure conjectural. The chief rivers which Xenophon represents them as crossing on their northward marches, are the Kentrites, the Teleboas, the Harpasos, and the Euphrates. The first of these is in all probability the Buhtan-Chai, which after a westerly course falls into the Tigris. The Teleboas may be the Kara-su (Black Water) which runs into the Eastern Euphrates or Murad, and the Harpasos may be the Tchoruksu. The only warm spring known were received with shouts of applause: but whatever their wishes might be, ships were not forthcoming, and Cheirisophos undertook to go and get them from his friend Anaxibios, the harmost of Byzantion. His departure left to Xenophon the task of regulating the whole army until his return. To all his counsels about the discipline of the camp and the arrangement of forageing expeditions they gave unanimous assent: when in the event of other means failing them he urged the need of insisting that the inhabitants of the maritime cities should put the roads in good order for their march, his proposal was met by angry and even wrathful murmurs. They would not stir a step by land: they were quite willing to gather a fleet of transports by seizing such merchant vessels as might be passing. Many were thus seized, their rudders taken off and their cargoes put under guard, to be restored to the owners together with a fair recompense in money for the use of the ships when they should be no longer needed. Time passed on. Their wants were supplied chiefly by inroads into the lands of hostile tribes; but Cheirisophos did not return, and the hated march by land was seen to be inevitable for all who could not be taken into the merchantmen. Room could be found only for the sick, for the women and children, and the men who might be over forty years of age. These were accordingly embarked, and three days later the fleet and the army reached Kerasous, another colony from Sinope. During the ten days spent here, a review showed that they could still muster 8,600 heavy-armed men, making up with the light-armed troops a total exceeding a myriad. No such Greek force had been seen in the countries bordering on the Black Sea, and no Greek force had performed with so little loss an exploit altogether unparalleled in the history of Hellenic warfare. The to exist south of the Bingöl-dagh has been naturally supposed to be the hot spring mentioned in the narrative of the retreat. With more likelihood the city of Gymnias has been identified with the modern town Gumisch-Khana, notable for its silver mine, which would account for the size and prosperity of the ancient city. The name Thêchês seems to be preserved in that of the mountainrange known as the Tekieh-Dagh; but the spot where the soldiers first caught sight of the sea is not determined. Beyond these conjectures,with their different degrees of likelihood, we can speak with confidence only of the general direction of their march, which must at first have been northward and then, after the crossing of 1 the Euphrates, westward. If the time spent on the march seem long, this impression will be at once removed when we take into account the enormous difficulties of a winter journey even for modern travellers among the mountains of Armenia; and the Greeks were frequently without guides, fighting their way through the territories of hostile clans, and dependent for their support on what they might get either by purchase or by force. i The fact here stated proves of itself that this Kerasous is not the town which now bears the same name. The modern Kerasoun, it is asserted, could not be reached from Trebizond in less than ten days. lives of 2,000 men,1 or more, had it is true been sacrificed in the march between Sardeis and Kunaxa, among the Karduchian defiles and in the deadly cold of an Armenian winter; but few retreats, nevertheless, have under like circumstances been effected at so small a sacrifice. The fame of this great achievement preceded them from one Hellenic city to another; but admiration for the skill of the leaders and the endurance of the men had a hard struggle with the stronger feelings of suspicion and fear. Their intentions and wishes could not be known until they were clearly announced; and even then the harsh measures forced upon Xenophon and his followers in order to obtain the indispensable supplies of food might seem to give the lie to their professions. This uncertainty as to their character might at one moment make the inhabitants of the cities which they approached nervously afraid of admitting them within their walls, and at another feverishly anxious to be rid of guests so burdensome and so formidable. Protest of the envoys from Sinopê. The bargain Passing on from Kerasous, the army reached the borders of the Mosynoikoi, who by their messenger the Trapezuntine Timesitheos declared that they would not let the Greeks pass through their land, if they came with any hostile intent, but added that they would be not sorry to have their services against some neighbouring enemies. was struck; but the discipline of the Greeks was no longer what it had been, and the first enterprise undertaken ended in something like ignominious defeat. The attack had been irregular, and Xenophon expressed himself as rather gratified than vexed at u reverse which showed to them the true character of their guides and the paramount need of maintaining order among themselves. A second foray carried out with their old discipline yielded abundant booty, and the stores of bread and grain sustained the army on their march through the lands of barbarous tribes, until they reached another of those isolated settlements which Greek enterprise had scattered far beyond the bounds of Continuous or Continental Hellas.2 At this city of Kotyora, a colony from Sinôpê, the Cyreians ended their land march, but not their troubles. Eight months had passed since the prince who had lured them to the great Mesopotamian plain had flung away his 1 The total numbers of the Greeks gathered at Issos fell short of 14,000 by only 100. But one thousand had, by whatever means, disappeared before the battle of Kunaxa. If the numbers reviewed at Kerasous amounted to about a myriad (Xen. An. v. 7, 9;, including the peltastai L L and other light-armed troops, the men who had dropped away in the interval would be not far short of 3,000, loss which, if desertions be taken into account, is in no way surprising. -a 2 See Book I. ch. 8. |