AFTERWARDS the Greeks and Ariaeus, camping close to each other, waited for Tissaphernes for more than twenty days. During this time Ariaeus’s brothers and other relatives came to see him, and other Persians came to visit his friends. They gave an encouraging account of things and brought to some people guarantees from the King that he bore them no ill will for their having taken service with Cyrus against him nor for anything else in what had happened previously.
After these conversations it became obvious that Ariaeus’s people were less interested in the Greeks, and this was an additional reason for most of the Greeks disliking them. Indeed, the soldiers went to Clearchus and the other generals and said: ‘What are we waiting for? Is it not clear that the King would do anything to destroy us, so as to make the other Greeks afraid of marching, as we did, against the Great King? At the moment, because his army is dispersed, he is, of set purpose, encouraging us to stay where we are; but as soon as his forces are concentrated again he is quite certain to attack us. Or, perhaps, he is digging trenches or raising fortifications somewhere to make our road impassable. Certainly he won’t consent, if he can possibly help it, to us going back to Greece and telling the story of how we, so few of us, conquered the King at his own palace gates, and, then, making him a figure of fun, got safe home again.’
Clearchus replied as follows to those who said this: ‘I feel exactly the same as you do. On the other hand, I consider that, if we go away now, our action will appear to amount to a declaration of war and an infringement of the truce. The first thing that will happen after this will be that no one will give us an opportunity for buying supplies or any chance of feeding ourselves. Then, there will be no one to show us the way. And, at the same time, if we act as you suggest, Ariaeus will immediately part company with us. The result will be that we shall not have a single friend left. On the contrary, those who were our friends before will become our enemies. Whether we have any more rivers to cross I do not know; but we do know that it is impossible to get across the Euphrates in the face of enemy opposition. Then, we have no cavalry on our side, if it comes to a battle, whereas the enemy’s cavalry is the most numerous and the most efficient of his arms. It follows that, if we won a victory, we should hardly be able to kill any of our enemies, while, if we were defeated, none of us could escape. If the King wants to destroy us, I have no idea why he, with all these advantages on his side, should have to take an oath and exchange the right hand of friendship and perjure himself and make his guarantees worthless in the eyes both of Greeks and natives.’ This sort of argument Clearchus used frequently.
Meanwhile Tissaphernes with his army arrived with the intention, apparently, of going home. Orontas came, too, with his army, and bringing with him the King’s daughter as his wife. They now marched forward from there with Tissaphernes leading the way and providing opportunities for buying provisions. Ariaeus, too, with Cyrus’s native army, marched in the company of Tissaphernes and Orontas and camped together with them. The Greeks looked with suspicion on them and kept themselves to themselves on the march, employing their own guides, and the two armies invariably camped with at least three miles between them. Each side watched the other as though each were enemies, and this, of course, produced more suspicion. Sometimes, when they were both collecting firewood from the same place, or bringing in fodder and such things, fights broke out between them, and this, too, naturally provoked ill feeling.
After a three days’ march they came to the Wall of Media,4 as it is called, and passed over to the other side of it. This wall was made of burnt bricks laid in bitumen. It was twenty feet thick, a hundred feet high, and said to be sixty miles long. It is quite close to Babylon.
Then came a two days’ march of twenty-four miles in the course of which they crossed two canals, one of them by a permanent bridge and the other by a pontoon bridge of seven boats. The canal water was supplied from the river Tigris, and from the canals ditches were cut to extend over the country,5 big ones at first and then smaller ones, until in the end they were just little channels like we have in Greece for the millet fields.
Then they came to the Tigris, near which there was a large and populous city called Sittace, a mile and a half away from the river. The Greeks camped by the city near a beautiful large park thickly planted with all sorts of trees. The native troops had crossed the Tigris but were nowhere to be seen.
After supper, when Proxenus and Xenophon happened to be going for a walk in front of the place where the arms were piled, a man came up and asked the sentries where he could find Proxenus or Clearchus. He did not inquire for Menon, though he came from Menon’s friend, Ariaeus. Proxenus then said: ‘I am the person you are looking for,’ and the man spoke as follows: ‘I have been sent by Ariaeus and Artaozus who are faithful to Cyrus and friends of yours. They urge you to be on your guard against attack from the native army during the night. There is a large force in the park near by. They also urge you to post a guard on the bridge over the Tigris, as Tissaphernes plans, if he can, to destroy it during the night so that you will be unable to get across, and will be stranded between the river and the canal.’
When Proxenus and Xenophon heard this they took the man to Clearchus and told him what he said. Clearchus was greatly disturbed and alarmed when he heard the story. But there was a young man present who, after a little consideration, said: ‘There is an inconsistency in these two plans of making an attack and of destroying the bridge. It is obvious that this attack must be either successful or unsuccessful. If it is successful, what is the point of their destroying the bridge? We would have no chance of escaping to safety even if there were a lot of bridges. Suppose, on the other hand, that it is unsuccessful; then, if the bridge is destroyed, they will have no means of escape. Moreover, if the bridge is destroyed, not one of all their friends on the other side will be able to come to their aid.’
Clearchus listened to this and then asked the messenger how much ground there was between the Tigris and the canal. “There is a lot,’ he replied, ‘and there are villages and a number of large cities.’
At this point they made up their minds that the natives had their own object in sending this man. What they were afraid of was that the Greeks might take the bridge to bits and stay on the island, with the Tigris and the canal to form defences on both sides. They could get supplies from the country between the two, which was extensive and rich and contained people to work in it. Finally, their position would become a resort for anyone who wanted to work against the King.
After coming to this conclusion, they turned in for the night. All the same, however, they did post a guard on the bridge, and, as the guard reported, there was no attack from any direction nor did a single enemy come near the bridge.
When it was dawn they crossed the bridge, which was constructed of thirty-seven boats. They took every precaution possible, since some of the Greeks in Tissaphernes’ service had reported that the natives were going to attack while the Greeks were crossing over. This report, however, was untrue, though, while they were going across, Glous and some others put in an appearance to see whether they actually were crossing the river. When he saw that they were, he rode straight off.
A four days’ march of sixty miles brought them from the Tigris to the river Physcus, which was a hundred feet in breadth and had a bridge over it. There was a big city here called Opis. Near this city the illegitimate brother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes met with the Greeks. He was leading a large army from Susa and Ecbatana,6 apparently to fight on the King’s side. As the Greeks marched past, he halted his army and watched them. Clearchus led his men forward two abreast, marching and halting them at intervals. When the vanguard halted there was naturally a halt all along the column, with the result that even the Greeks themselves thought that their army was extremely large, while the Persian was absolutely astonished at the sight.
From here a six days’ march of ninety miles across the desert through Media brought them to the villages owned by Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes. Tissaphernes, by way of an insult to Cyrus, handed these over to the Greeks to take what they liked except for slaves. There was a lot of corn there and sheep and other valuables.
Then came a four days’ march of sixty miles through the desert, with the river Tigris on their left. On the first day’s march they saw a large and prosperous city called Caenae, built on the other side of the river. The natives from this city brought loaves and cheeses and wine across the river on rafts made of hides.