Chapter 6

CHARACTERS OF THE FIVE GENERALS

THE generals, who were made prisoners in this way, were taken to the King and beheaded.10 One of them, Clearchus, was admitted by all who were in a position to speak of him from experience as having been a real soldier and extraordinarily devoted to war. This is clear from the fact that, so long as Sparta was at war with Athens, he remained in Greece, but after the peace he persuaded the home government that the Thracians were acting aggressively towards the Greeks, and, having, up to a point, got his own way with the ephors, he set off on this journey intending to make war on the Thracians north of the Chersonese and Perinthus. The ephors, however, when he had already left Sparta, for some reason changed their minds and attempted to make him return from the Isthmus, and at this point he would not obey them any longer, but sailed away for the Hellespont. As a result of this he was condemned to death for insubordination by the Spartan authorities. Then, as an exile, he approached Cyrus; an account has been given elsewhere11 of the arguments he used to gain Cyrus’s favour. Cyrus gave him ten thousand darics and, on receiving the money, he did not give himself an easy life, but spent it on raising an army. With this army he made war on the Thracians, defeated them in a pitched battle and from then on plundered and ravaged their land and carried on with the war until Cyrus needed his army. Then he left Thrace with the intention of fighting in another war with Cyrus.

This seems to me to be the record of a man who was devoted to war. He could have lived in peace without incurring any reproaches or any harm, but he chose to make war. He could have lived a life of ease, but he preferred a hard life with warfare. He could have had money and security, but he chose to make the money he had less, by engaging in war. Indeed, he liked spending money on war just as one might spend it on love affairs or any other pleasure.

All this shows how devoted he was to war. As for his great qualities as a soldier, they appear in the facts that he was fond of adventure, ready to lead an attack on the enemy by day or night, and that, when he was in an awkward position, he kept his head, as everyone agrees who was with him anywhere. It was said that he had all the qualities of leadership which a man of his sort could have. He had an outstanding ability for planning means by which an army could get supplies, and seeing that they appeared; and he was also well able to impress on those who were with him that Clearchus was a man to be obeyed. He achieved this result by his toughness. He had a forbidding appearance and a harsh voice. His punishments were severe ones and were sometimes inflicted in anger, so that there were times when he was sorry himself for what he had done. With him punishment was a matter of principle, for he thought that an army without discipline was good for nothing; indeed, it is reported that he said that a soldier ought to be more frightened of his own commander than of the enemy if he was going to turn out one who could keep a good guard, or abstain from doing harm to his own side, or go into battle without second thoughts. So it happened that in difficult positions the soldiers would give him complete confidence and wished for no one better. On these occasions, they said that his forbidding look seemed positively cheerful, and his toughness appeared as confidence in the face of the enemy, so that it was no longer toughness to them but something to make them feel safe. On the other hand, when the danger was over and there was a chance of going away to take service under someone else, many of them deserted him, since, so far from having anything attractive about him, he was invariably tough and savage, so that the relations between his soldiers and him were like those of boys to a schoolmaster.

Thus it came about that he never had followers who were there because of friendship or good feeling towards him. On the other hand, he exacted complete obedience from all who were put under his command by their cities or who served with him because of poverty or under some other compulsion. Then, once they began to win victories with him, one could see how important were the factors which made his men into good soldiers. They had the advantage of being confident in the face of the enemy, and they were disciplined because they were afraid of his punishments. As a commander, then, this was what he was like; but he was said not to be very fond of serving under anybody else’s command. At the time of his death he was about fifty years old.

Proxenus the Boeotian from his very earliest youth wanted to become a man capable of doing great things, and with this end in view he spent money on being educated by Gorgias of Leontini. After he had been with him for a time, he came to the conclusion that he was now capable both of commanding an army and, if he became friends with the great, of doing them no less good than they did him; so he joined in this adventure of Cyrus’s, imagining that he would gain from it a great name, and great power, and plenty of money. Yet, with all these ambitions, he made this point also abundantly plain, that he did not want to get any of these things by unfair means; on the contrary, he thought that he ought to gain them by great and honourable actions or not at all. He was a good commander for people of a gentlemanly type, but he was not capable of impressing his soldiers with a feeling of respect or fear for him. Indeed, he showed more diffidence in front of his soldiers than his subordinates showed in front of him, and it was more obvious that he was afraid of being unpopular with his troops than that his troops were afraid of disobeying his orders. He imagined that to be a good general, and to gain the name of being one, it was enough to give praise to those who did well and to withhold it from those who did badly. The result was that decent people in his entourage liked him, but unprincipled people undermined his position, since they thought he was easily managed. At the time of his death he was about thirty years old.

Menon the Thessalian made it perfectly clear that his dominant ambition was to get rich. He wanted to be a general so that he could earn more pay; he wanted honours so that he could make something extra out of them; his wish to be friends with the most influential people arose from his desire to avoid punishment for his misdeeds. He thought that the shortest cut to the satisfaction of his ambitions was by means of perjury and lying and deceit; consequently he regarded sincerity and truthfulness as equivalent to simple-mindedness. It was obvious that he felt no affection for anyone, but if he said he was anyone’s friend, it was pretty clear that he was intriguing against him. He never laughed at his enemies, but in conversation he never took any of his own people seriously. He had no designs on the property of his enemies, as he considered it difficult to get hold of what belonged to people who were on their guard; but as for his friends’ property, which was unguarded, he thought he was most remarkable in knowing how easy it was to get his hands on to it. When he saw that a man would break promises and do wrong, he regarded him as well equipped and was frightened of him; but he tried to treat a man who was scrupulous and had regard for truth as though he were a half-wit. In the same way as some people take pride in being god-fearing and truthful and upright, Menon took pride in his ability to deceive, in his fabrications and falsehoods, and in sneering at his friends. He always looked upon a person who had scruples as being only half educated. When he wanted to stand high in anyone’s friendship, he thought that the way to achieve this end was by running down those who already occupied the position he wanted. His scheme for ensuring his soldiers’ obedience to him was to be a partner in their crimes. He considered that, by making a display both of his great powers and his willingness to misuse them, he was entitled to honours and deference. When anyone left his service, he used to say that it was a kindness on his part to have made use of him and not to have made away with him. With regard to the more obscure passages of his life, one might say what was untrue; but the following facts are general knowledge. When he still had the beauty of a boy, he persuaded Aristippus to give him the command of his mercenaries. Then, he lived on very intimate terms with Ariaeus, though he was a native, because Ariaeus was fond of good-looking young men; and he himself, before he grew a beard, kept Tharypas, who was an adult, as a male friend. His fellow generals were put to death because they had marched with Cyrus against the King; but he, though he had done as they did, did not suffer the same death. After the other generals were put to death he was punished by the King and did not die, as Clearchus and the other generals had died, by beheading (which seemed to be the quickest sort of death), but is said to have finally met his end after having lived for a year under the worst sort of treatment, being regarded as a villain.12

Agias the Arcadian and Socrates the Achaean were also put to death. No one could speak slightingly of their courage in war or accuse them of lacking consideration for their friends. They were both about thirty-five years old.