WHEN Phalinus and those with him had gone, the delegates from Ariaeus returned; at least Procles and Chirisophus did. Menon had stayed on there with Ariaeus. They reported that Ariaeus had said that there were a number of Persians who were in a higher station than he was and would not put up with his becoming King. But, if the Greeks wanted to join him in the journey back, then he urged them to come that night. If not, he would start, he said, early on the next day.
‘Well,’ said Clearchus, ‘that is what we must do. If we come, it will be as you say. If we do not, you must take whatever course you think is most to your advantage.’ He did not tell even them what he was going to do.
Afterwards, when it was already sunset, he called together the generals and captains, and made the following speech: ‘My friends, when I was sacrificing with a view to marching against the King, the signs were not propitious. This was natural enough; for, as I now understand, between us and the King there is a navigable river, the Tigris. We could not cross this river without boats, and we have no boats. We certainly cannot stay here, because there is no possibility of obtaining supplies.’ However, when it was a question of making our way to Cyrus’s friends, the signs from the sacrifices were extraordinarily favourable. So this is what we ought to do: after leaving the meeting, we must have whatever supper is available. When the normal call on the bugle for turning in is given, then pack up your belongings. On the second bugle call, put them on the baggage animals. On the third call, follow those who are leading you, with the animals next to the river and the hoplites on the outside of them.’
On receiving these instructions the generals and captains went away and carried them out; and from then on Clearchus was in command, and they were his subordinates. This was not the result of an election, but because they realized that he was the one man who had the right sort of mind for a commander, while the rest of them were inexperienced.
Later on, when it became dark, Miltocythes the Thracian deserted to the King and took with him the forty-odd cavalry which he had, and about three hundred of the Thracian infantry. As for the rest, Clearchus led the way, according to the instructions he had given, and they followed him until they arrived about midnight at the first halting-place, where Ariaeus and his army were. The Greek generals and captains halted their men in battle order, and went to meet Ariaeus. Then the Greeks on their side and Ariaeus and the most important of his officers on the other side swore an oath not to betray each other and to be true allies. The natives also took another oath that they would lead the Greeks back without any deception. These oaths were preceded by the sacrifice over a shield of a bull, a boar and a ram. The Greeks dipped a sword and the natives a spear into the blood.
When these guarantees had been given, Clearchus said: ‘Now, then, Ariaeus, since we are both on the same road, tell us what your view is about the way to take. Shall we go back by the same way as we came, or have you any better route in mind?’
Ariaeus replied: ‘If we were to go back by the way we came, we should all die of hunger, as we have now no supplies left, and even when we were on our way here we could get nothing from the country in the last seventeen days’ march, – or, if there was anything, we have had it already on our way through. Now we propose to go by a route which is certainly longer, but on it we shall not be short of supplies. We must make our first marches as long as we can, so as to put the greatest possible distance between us and the King’s army. If we can once get a march of two or three days ahead of him, the King will have no further chance of catching up with us. With a small force he will not risk pursuing us; and if he comes with a large army he will not be able to march fast. Also, perhaps, he will be short of supplies. This,’ he said, ‘is my view of the position.’
The only possibilities in this strategy were either to get away unnoticed or to outdistance pursuit. Fortune, however, turned out to be a better leader; for, when day came, they marched with the sun on the right hand, calculating that at sunset they would come to villages in the country of Babylon. In this they were not mistaken, but when it was still afternoon they fancied that they could see enemy cavalry. Those of the Greeks who were not marching in formation ran to take up their positions, and Ariaeus, who was travelling in a carriage because he had been wounded, got down from the carriage and put on his breastplate, as did those who were with him. However, while they were arming themselves, the scouts who had been sent forward came back with the news that it was not cavalry but baggage animals grazing. Everyone realized at once that the King’s camp must be somewhere near, and, indeed, smoke was visible in the villages not far ahead. But Clearchus did not lead his men forward to attack the enemy, because he knew that the soldiers were tired out and had had no food; it was also late by this time. On the other hand, he took care not to give the impression that he was running away, and so did not alter his course but kept straight ahead and at sunset encamped with the vanguard in the nearest village, where they found that even the woodwork in the houses had been carried off by the King’s army.
The vanguard managed all the same to make some sort of a camp; but those who came up later in the darkness camped just as they happened to find themselves, and they made a lot of noise as they called out to each other, so much so that even the enemy could hear them. The result was that those of the enemy who were nearest actually fled from their tents. This became clear on the following day; for there was no longer a single baggage animal in sight, nor was there a camp or smoke anywhere visible in the neighbourhood. The King, too, it appeared, had been terrified at the approach of the Greeks. Indeed, he made this quite plain by what he did on the next day.
Nevertheless the Greeks themselves suffered from a sudden attack of fear in the course of the night, and there was all the commotion and din that one would expect to find when there is a state of panic. Clearchus, however, ordered. Tolmides, the Elean, whom he happened, to have with him (and he was the best herald of his time), to command silence and then make the proclamation: ‘The generals announce that the man who brings information of who it was that let his ass go loose among the army shall receive a reward of a talent.’ Once this proclamation had been made the soldiers realized that their fear was groundless and that the generals were safe. At dawn Clearchus gave the order to the Greeks to fall in in the same formation as that which they had adopted at the time of the battle.