WHAT I wrote just now, about the King being terrified at the approach of the Greeks, was proved by what happened next. Although on the day before he had sent and ordered the Greeks to surrender their arms, he now sent heralds at sunrise to discuss terms.
These heralds came up to the patrols in front and asked to see the generals. The men in the patrols reported this back, and Clearchus, who happened at the time to be inspecting the detachments, told them to ask the heralds to wait until he had time to spare. Then he drew up the army in formation so that it presented a fine appearance to the eye, a compact phalanx whichever way you looked, with no one visible who was not bearing arms. Clearchus then summoned the messengers, and went forward himself, accompanied by the best looking and best armed of his own troops, and told the other generals to do the same thing. When he came up to the messengers, he asked them what they wanted, and they replied that they had come to discuss terms and that they were persons of sufficient responsibility to communicate the King’s wishes to the Greeks, or the Greeks’ wishes to the King.
Clearchus answered: ‘Then you can communicate this to him, that we shall have to have a battle first. We have nothing for breakfast, and no one shall dare to talk to the Greeks about terms unless he provides breakfast for them.’
On hearing this, the messengers rode away and soon came back again, thus making it clear that either the King or someone else to whom he had entrusted this business was somewhere close at hand. They said that the King regarded what Clearchus had said as reasonable, and so they had brought guides with them who would, if terms were agreed upon, conduct them to a place where they could get supplies.
Clearchus asked whether the truce would apply just to those who went on their way there and back, or to everyone else as well.
‘The truce will apply to everyone,’ they said, ‘and will be in operation until your message has been communicated to the King.’
Clearchus asked them to withdraw when they had said this, and discussed the question with the others. The general opinion was in favour of making a truce at once and then going off at their ease to get the supplies. Clearchus said: ‘That is my own opinion, too; but I won’t give an answer immediately. I’ll spin out the time until the messengers begin to get frightened that we may decide against a truce. However,’ he added, ‘I imagine that our own soldiers, too, will feel just as frightened as they do.’
When he thought the right time had come, he replied that he would make a truce, and told them to lead on immediately to the supplies. This they did, but Clearchus, although the truce had been made, marched with the army in battle order and took command of the rear himself. They came upon ditches and canals which were so full of water that they could not be crossed without bridges. However, they made crossings by using palm trees which had fallen and cutting down others.
Here there was a good opportunity of seeing how Clearchus led his men, with his spear in his left hand and a staff in his right. If he thought that any of the men detailed for a job were slacking, he would pick on the right man and beat him. At the same time he went into the mud and lent a hand himself, so that everyone was ashamed not to be working hard with him. The people detailed for the job were those of up to thirty years old; but, when they saw Clearchus working hard at it, even the older ones joined in. Clearchus was all the more in a hurry because he had a suspicion that the ditches were not always so full of water, as it was not the right time of the year for irrigating the plain. He suspected that the King had let the water out over the plain with this object in view, that even now the Greeks might get an impression of many dangers waiting for them in their way.
Going forward, then, they arrived at the villages where the guides told them they could get supplies. There was plenty of corn there and date wine, and a sour drink made from boiled dates. As for the dates themselves, the sort which one sees in Greece were set aside for the servants, while the ones reserved for the masters were choice fruit, wonderfully big and good looking. Their colour was just like amber, and they used to dry some of them and keep them as sweets. There was also available a drink which, though sweet, was apt to give one a headache. Here, too, for the first time the soldiers ate the ‘cabbage’ from the top of the palm tree, and most of them were greatly impressed with its appearance and its peculiarly pleasant taste, though it also was extremely apt to cause headaches. Any palm tree from which the ‘cabbage’ had been taken out withered away entirely.
They stayed here for three days, and then there arrived, as envoys from the King, Tissaphernes and the King’s brother-in-law and three other Persians, with many slaves to attend on them.
The Greek generals went out to meet them and Tissaphernes began the proceedings, speaking as follows through an interpreter: ‘I myself, my Greek friends, live on the frontiers of Greece; and when I saw that you had got into such an extremely awkward position I regarded it as a stroke of luck for me, if I could by any means get the King to grant my request that I should be allowed to bring you back safe to your own country. It would be an act for which, I imagine, both you and the rest of Greece would be grateful to me. So with this in mind I made my request to the King and told him that it would be right and proper for him to do me this favour, since I was the first to tell him that Cyrus was marching against him, and when I brought the news I brought troops with me; also I was the only one of those who faced the Greeks in the battle who did not run away; on the contrary I broke right through, and joined up with the King in your camp,3 where he had arrived after killing Cyrus; and then, with these men who are now with me, and are the King’s most loyal friends, I pursued Cyrus’s native troops. The King then promised me that he would consider my request. At the same time he ordered me to go to you and ask you what was your purpose in marching against him. My advice to you is to give a reasonable answer, so that it may be easier for me to obtain for you any advantage I can from him.’
The Greeks then withdrew and discussed what he had said. They replied, Clearchus being their spokesman, as follows: ‘We did not come together in the first place with the purpose of making war on the King, nor, later on, were we marching against the King. It was rather the case, as you know perfectly well, that Cyrus kept on giving us various excuses for the march, with the idea of catching you off your guard and getting us to come here. However, when we saw that he had already run into a dangerous position, we felt ashamed before the eye of Heaven and in men’s eyes to betray him, when previously we had put ourselves forward to receive his favours. Now that Cyrus is dead we are not competing with the King for his empire, and there is no reason why we should wish to do harm to his country or want to kill him. What we would like is to march home provided that no one molests us. If, however, anyone ill-treats us we shall do our best, with the gods’ help, to drive him off. On the other hand, if there is anyone who gives us help, we shall certainly do our best to give him just as much help ourselves.’
That was what Clearchus said. Tissaphernes listened to him and said: ‘I will take back your message to the King, and then again bring you his reply. We assume that the truce remains in force until I return, and we will provide you with opportunities for buying food.’
On the following day he did not put in an appearance, with the result that the Greeks began to be worried; but he came on the third day and said that he had arrived after having succeeded in getting the King to give him the job of saving the Greeks, – although there had been very many people who opposed him, saying that it was not right for the King to allow those who had marched against him to escape. Finally he said: ‘You are now, therefore, in a position to accept our guarantee. We will promise to give you a safe conduct through our country and bring you back to Greece without treachery, and provide you with opportunities for buying food; when it is impossible to buy food, we will allow you to take your supplies from the country. You on your side must swear an oath to us and promise that you will march as though you were in a friendly country; that, when we fail to provide you with an opportunity for buying provisions, you will take your food and drink without doing damage, and if we do give you an opportunity, you will pay for the supplies you get.’
This was agreed upon. The oaths were sworn, and Tissaphernes and the King’s brother-in-law offered their right hands to the Greek generals and captains and took theirs in return. Afterwards Tissaphernes said: ‘And now I shall go back to the King. As soon as I have settled the business I have to do, I shall return, fully prepared to escort you back to Greece and to return myself to my own province.’