As Chirisophus did not come back, and there were not enough ships to transport them, and it was no longer possible to get provisions, they came to the conclusion that they would have to leave Trapezus. They put on board ship the sick, and those who were over forty years old, and the women and children, and all the baggage which it was not essential to have with them. The rest travelled by land, the roads being now in a good state of repair.
After three days’ march they arrived at Cerasus, a Greek city on the coast, a colony of Sinope, in Colchian territory. They stayed here for ten days, and a review was held of the troops under arms and their numbers were taken. The number was eight thousand six hundred. They had got away safe, while the remainder had perished either in the fighting or from the snow, and a few had died of illness.
At this place also they distributed the money that had come in from the sale of their prisoners. The generals took over the tenth part, which they had set aside for Apollo and for Artemis of Ephesus, to keep for this religious purpose. Each general took a share of the tenth, and Neon of Asine took charge of Chirisophus’s share. Later Xenophon had an offering made for Apollo and put it in the Athenian treasury at Delphi. He had it inscribed with his own name and with the name of Proxenus, who was killed with Clearchus, for he had been his friend. As for the part which belonged to Artemis of Ephesus, when Xenophon was returning from Asia on the march to Boeotia with Agesilaus,2 he left it in the keeping of Megabyzus,3 the warden of the temple of Artemis, as he thought that his journey would be a risky business. He asked Megabyzus to return the money to him if he got home safe, but if anything happened to him, he was to have something made which he thought would please the goddess, and dedicate it to her. When Xenophon was in exile and had already settled at Scillus on land near Olympia, which had been granted to him by the Spartans, Megabyzus came to Olympia to see the games and gave back the money which had been deposited with him.
When Xenophon received it, he bought an estate as an offering to the goddess in a place where the oracle had instructed him. There happened to be a river called the Selinus which ran through the estate, and in Ephesus there is also a river Selinus which runs past the temple of Artemis. There are fishes and shellfish in both rivers. On the estate at Scillus there is hunting also, and all kinds of game are available. Xenophon also used the sacred money for building an altar and a temple, and ever afterwards he used to take a tenth of the season’s produce from the land and make a sacrifice to the goddess. All the townspeople, and the men and women of the district used to take part in the festival, and the goddess pro- vided those who camped out there with barley, bread, wine, dainties and a share both of the animals sacrificed from the sacred herds and also of the animals caught in hunting. There were plenty of them as Xenophon’s sons and the sons of other townspeople used to go hunting specially for the festival, and anybody else who liked joined them in the hunt. Pigs, antelopes and stags were caught, partly from the sacred land itself and partly from Mount Pholoe. The land is on the road from Sparta to Olympia, about two miles from the temple of Zeus at Olympia. In the ground sacred to Artemis there are meadows and thickly wooded hills, good breeding country for pig and goats and horses as well, and consequently it. is possible to provide fodder for the animals of those who come to the festival. Round the temple itself there has been set a plantation of fruit trees which produce fruit to eat in all the appropriate seasons. The temple is a small-scale version of the great temple at Ephesus, and the image is as like the one in Ephesus as a cypress statue can be like one of gold. A pillar stands by the temple, with the following inscription on it:
THIS GROUND IS SACRED TO ARTEMIS . HE WHO OWNS IT AND TAKES ITS PRODUCE IS TO OFFER THE TENTH PART TO ARTEMIS EVERY YEAR . PROM THE REMAINDER HE IS TO KEEP THE TEMPLE IN REPAIR.WHOSOEVER NEGLECTS TO DO THIS WILL NOT ESCAPE THE NOTICE OF THE GODDESS.