IN this way they passed the night. At dawn the generals led the way to the strong defensive position, and the soldiers collected their arms and equipment and followed them. Before it was time for their meal they had dug a trench across the way into the position, and built a palisade all along it, leaving three gates in it. A ship also arrived from Heraclea, bringing barley, cattle and wine.
Xenophon got up early and made a sacrifice with a view to leaving their position. The omens taken in the case of the first animal were favourable, and, just as the sacrifice was over, the soothsayer Arexion of Parrhasia saw an eagle, indicating good luck, and he told Xenophon to lead the army out. They then crossed the ditch and formed up in order. They had it proclaimed that, after their meal, the soldiers were to march out ready for action, leaving the general crowd and the slaves where they were. All the others, then, with the exception of Neon, marched out. It was considered best to leave him behind in charge of the people in the camp. However, when the captains and soldiers had left him there, the others felt ashamed at not following when all the rest had gone, and so they left behind just those who were over forty-five. These stayed in the camp, while the others marched out.
They were already coming across dead bodies before they had gone a mile and a half, and so they brought up the rear of their column to the first bodies they saw and buried all who were covered by the column. When they had buried this lot, they marched on and again brought up the rear to the first of the next unburied bodies and in the same way buried all who were uncovered by the troops. When they arrived at the road leading out of the villages, where the bodies were lying about in great numbers, they collected them all together and buried them.
It was now afternoon, and they had led the army right through the villages. The soldiers were taking all the supplies which they could see within the cover of their line, when suddenly they saw the enemy coming over some hills in front of them, numbers of cavalry and foot in battle formation. It was Spithridates and Rhathines who had come from Pharna-bazus with a strong force.
When the enemy saw the Greeks, they came to a halt about a mile and a half away from them. Arexion the Greek soothsayer immediately sacrificed and the omens were favourable in the case of the first sacrifice. Then Xenophon spoke to the officers and said: ‘My opinion is that we should hold some companies in reserve behind the battle-line9 so that we can have troops to come to the relief of the line if they are wanted, and so that, when the enemy have lost their cohesion, they may come up against troops who are fresh and in good order.’
They all agreed with this suggestion and Xenophon said: ‘You march on, then, towards the enemy. We do not want to stand still now that we have seen and been seen by them. I shall be there, after I have put the rear companies in the order which you agreed upon.’
The others then marched on, and Xenophon took the three rear formations of two hundred men each. He instructed one of them to follow behind on the right, leaving about a hundred feet between them and the main body. Samolas the Achaean was in command of this detachment. He posted another detachment to follow up in the centre, with Pyrrhius the Arcadian in command of it; and the third detachment on the left under the command of Phasias the Athenian.
So they marched forward, and the men in front came to a large wooded gulley where the going was difficult. Here they halted, not knowing whether this gulley was to be crossed or not, and they passed the word back for the generals and captains to come to the front. Xenophon wondered what it could be that was holding up the march and, as soon as he heard the word being passed back, he rode up as fast as he could. When the officers were assembled Sophaenetus, the oldest of the generals, said that the question whether a gulley like this could be crossed or not was hardly worth considering. Xenophon joined in eagerly and said: ‘You know quite well, my friends, that I have never at any time gone out of my way to introduce you to any danger. This is because I am aware that what you want is rather to keep alive than to gain a reputation for courage. But this is how things stand at present. We cannot get away from here without fighting, since, if we do not advance on the enemy, they will follow after us and fall upon us when we retreat. You must consider, then, which is the better course to follow – to advance on them with your arms at the ready, or to turn about and then see the enemy coming after us from the rear. You know well, however, that retreat in the face of the enemy does not look like any sort of gallant action, while a pursuit gives even cowards confidence. As far as I am concerned, I should certainly be happier with half the number of men if I were engaged in a pursuit than I should be with twice the numbers on a retreat. As for these enemies here, if we attack them, I know that you yourselves do not expect that they will stand up to us; but, if we retreat, we all know that they will have the courage to come after us. As for the argument that by crossing over we are putting a difficult ravine in our rear just when we are going to fight, is not this really something that we ought to jump at? I should like the enemy to think it easy going in every direction for him to retreat; but we ought to learn from the very position in which we are placed that there is no safety for us except in victory. Personally, too, I am surprised at anyone thinking that this gulley is more formidable than the rest of the ground over which we have marched. How can we cross the plain if we do not defeat their cavalry? How can we get back over the mountains which we have crossed if all these peltasts are on our heels? And if we manage to get safely to the sea, we shall find the Euxine a good-sized gulley! There are no ships there to take us away, and no food to supply us while we stay there, and the quicker we get back there, the quicker we shall have to set out again after supplies. It is better then to fight now that we have had a meal, than to fight tomorrow on an empty stomach. Fellow soldiers, the sacrifices are favourable to us, the omens are on our side, the appearance of the victims as good as could be desired. Let us set about these people. There is no doubt that they have seen us, and we don’t want to give them a chance of having dinner at their ease or camping where they like.’
After this the captains told Xenophon to lead on, and no one raised any objections. He therefore took the lead, and gave the order that everyone was to cross over the gulley at the point where each happened to be. In this way he thought that the army would reach the other side in a more compact body than if they defiled over the bridge which lay across the gulley. When they had crossed over, he went along the line and addressed the troops. ‘Soldiers,’ he said, ‘remember all the battles in which, with the help of the gods and by coming to close quarters, you have been victorious, and remember what happens to those who run away from the enemy. Think of this too – that we are now on the threshold of Greece. Go forward, then, with Heracles the Guider to lead you, and call out to your comrades by name as you go. It’s good to think that whoever says or does something brave and gallant now is making himself remembered among the people whom he would want to remember him.’
So he spoke as he rode along the front, and at the same time he began to lead them forward in line of battle, and, with the peltasts on each flank, they advanced against the enemy. The order had been given for spears to be kept at the slope until the signal was given by the trumpet: they were then to bring their spears down to the position for attack, and go forward at a steady pace: no one was to advance at the double. After this the word was passed along – ‘Zeus the Saviour, Heracles the Guider’.
The enemy stayed where they were, thinking that they had a good position. When the two armies were close together the Greek peltasts raised a shout and ran towards the enemy before anyone had given them the order. The enemy charged to meet them, both the cavalry and the Bithynians in close order, and they drove the peltasts back. But when the line of hoplites came up, moving at a quick pace, and at the same time the trumpet sounded and they sang the paean and then raised a shout as they brought their spears down for the attack, then the enemy stood their ground no longer, and took to flight. Timasion and the cavalry went after them and they killed as many as they could, considering their small numbers. The enemy’s left wing, where the cavalry were in pursuit, broke up at once, but their right wing, since the pursuit was not being pressed very hard against it, re-formed on a hill. When the Greeks saw that the right wing was making a stand, the easiest and safest thing to do seemed to be to charge them at once. So they sang the paean and attacked immediately, and the enemy failed to stand their ground. Then the peltasts set off in pursuit until the right wing was broken up. Not many were killed, as the enemy’s cavalry, which was in great strength, imposed caution on the Greeks.
The Greeks saw that Pharnabazus’s cavalry was still standing in formation, and the Bithynian cavalry were gathering together to join it, and looking down from a hill-top on what was happening. They were tired out, but all the same decided that they should attack the cavalry too with all the strength at their command, to prevent them getting back their breath and regaining confidence. So they formed up and advanced; and then the enemy cavalry fled down the hill just as though it was cavalry that was pursuing them. A gulley, of which the Greeks were not aware, gave them shelter. As for the Greeks, they broke off the pursuit, as it was late. They then returned to the place where they had made the first charge, set up a trophy and got back to the sea about sunset. The distance to their camp was about six miles.