NEON of Asine, the Achaeans Phryniscus, Philesius and Xanthicles, and Timasion the Dardanian remained to command the army. They marched forward to some Thracian villages in the neighbourhood of Byzantium and camped there. Here there was a difference of opinion among the generals. Cleanor and Phryniscus wanted to take the army to Seuthes, who had won these two over by giving one of them a horse and one of them a woman. Neon wanted to go to the Chersonese, his idea being that, once they were under Spartan control, he would be put in command of the whole army. Timasion was in favour of crossing the straits back again into Asia, as he thought that he could then secure his recall to his city. The soldiers supported his plan, but, as time was being wasted in discussions, many of them sold their arms in the country and sailed away on their own, and others drifted into the cities. Anaxibius welcomed the news of the army breaking up, as he thought that, while this was what was happening, he was acting in the most obliging manner towards Pharnabazus.
On his voyage from Byzantium Anaxibius was met at Cyzicus by Aristarchus, who had come to replace Oleander as governor of Byzantium. It was reported, too, that Polus, who was to replace Anaxibius as admiral, was now on the point of entering the Hellespont.4 Anaxibius instructed Aristarchus to sell as slaves all the soldiers of Cyrus whom he found left behind in Byzantium. Cleander had not sold any of them; indeed he had taken pity on the sick and wounded, and looked after them, making the people of the town put them up in billets. Aristarchus, however, as soon as he arrived, sold at least four hundred as slaves.
Anaxibius sailed along the coast to Parion and from there, as had been arranged, sent a message to Pharnabazus. Pharna-bazus, however, when he discovered that Aristarchus had arrived to take over the governorship of Byzantium and that Anaxibius no longer held his command as admiral, ceased to bother about Anaxibius and instead began to enter with Aristarchus into the same sort of negotiations about Cyrus’s army as he had previously been having with Anaxibius.
After this Anaxibius called for Xenophon and urged him to sail back to the army as quickly as possible, using every means to that end which were available. He told him to keep the army together and to bring back into it as many of the deserters as possible: he was then to lead the army to Perinthus and transport it from there to Asia as quickly as he could. At the same time he gave Xenophon a ship of thirty oars and a letter of introduction, and sent with him a man to tell the people of Perinthus to supply him with mounts so as to reach the army as soon as possible. Xenophon then sailed across and came to the army. The soldiers gave him a good reception, and were glad to follow him immediately with the idea of crossing from Thrace into Asia.
When Seuthes heard that Xenophon had come back again, he sent Medosades to him by sea and begged him to bring the army to him, promising at the same time anything which he thought likely to win him over. Xenophon, however, replied that the whole thing was impossible, and, after receiving this answer, Medosades went away. When the Greeks reached Perinthus, Neon, with about eight hundred men, separated from the rest and camped apart. The rest of the army was all together, in camp by die walls of Perinthus.
Xenophon now busied himself in collecting ships, so as to cross over as soon as possible. At this point Aristarchus, the Spartan governor of Byzantium, arrived with two triremes, and, since he had been won over to the interest of Pharnabazus, forbade the captains of the ships to transport the Greeks. He then went to the army and told the soldiers not to cross into Asia. Xenophon informed him that Anaxibius had given the order, ‘and,’ he said, ‘he sent me here for this very reason.’
Aristarchus then spoke again. ‘Anaxibius,’ he said, ‘is no longer admiral. I, on the other hand, am governor here, and, if I catch any of you sailing, I shall sink your ships.’ And with these words he went off into the city.
Next day he sent for the generals and captains of the army, but when they were already near the wall someone gave Xenophon the information that if he went inside he would be arrested and either be dealt with on the spot or else actually be handed over to Pharnabazus. On receiving this information Xenophon sent the others on ahead and said that he himself wanted to make a sacrifice. He then went back and sacrificed with a view to inquiring whether the gods would allow him to make the attempt to bring the army over to Seuthes. He did this because he saw that it was not safe to make the crossing, since those who wanted to prevent it had triremes; nor did he want to go to the Chersonese and be shut up there, with the army short of everything and in a position where it would be necessary to obey the orders of the governor on the spot and where the army would be unlikely to get any supplies.
While Xenophon was thinking along these lines, the generals and captains came back from Aristarchus and reported that he had told them to go away for the time being, but to come back tomorrow. This made his treachery even more obvious. The sacrifices had turned out favourable for Xenophon and the army to march in safety to Seuthes, and so Xenophon, taking Polycrates the Athenian captain with him, and also one man in whom the generals concerned had confidence from each of the, generals except Neon, set out by night on a ride of six miles to Seuthes’s army. When they were nearly there, he came across fires with no one guarding them. His first thought was that Seuthes had moved off somewhere else, but after hearing some shouting and the noise of Seuthes’s men exchanging passwords, he realized that the reason why Seuthes had had the fires lit in front of his sentries was that both the numbers and the position of the sentries might be concealed in the darkness, while those who approached would not do so without being seen, since they would be shown up in the light.
Realizing what the position was, Xenophon sent ahead the interpreter whom he had with him, and told him to inform Seuthes that Xenophon was there and wanted to speak with him. The Thracians inquired whether it was Xenophon the Athenian, from the army, and when the interpreter replied that it was, they leaped on the horses and hurried away. A little later about two hundred peltasts appeared and escorted Xenophon and his party to Seuthes.
Seuthes was in a tower and was very carefully guarded. There were horses, all ready bridled, standing round the tower. From fear of danger he used to let the horses graze during the day, and at night had them ready bridled as a precaution. This was because in former times his ancestor, Teres, with a large army, was said to have lost a lot of men in this part of the country and to have had his baggage train taken from him by the natives, who are called Thyni and are supposed to be the most dangerous of all the tribes, especially at night fighting.
When they got close to the tower, Seuthes gave orders that Xenophon with any two men he chose might enter. They went in, and then they first of all greeted each other and drank to each other according to the Thracian custom, in horns full of wine. With Seuthes was Medosades who acted as his ambassador on all ocasions.
Xenophon then spoke. ‘The first time, Seuthes,’ he said, ‘you sent Medosades here to me in Chalcedon you asked me to join with you in trying to get the army across from Asia, and you promised that, if I succeeded in doing so, you would repay me for it; or that was what Medosades here said.’
He then asked Medosades whether he had reported the conversation correctly, and Medosades agreed that he had.
‘Then,’ continued Xenophon, ‘Medosades came to me again, after I had crossed over once more to the army from Parion. He promised me that, if I brought the army to you, you would treat me as a friend and a brother, and, in addition to this, you would make me a gift of the towns along the coast which belong to you.’
He then again asked Medosades whether this was what he had said, and Medosades agreed again.
‘Now then,’ said Xenophon, ‘tell Seuthes first what answer I gave you at Chalcedon.’
‘You said,’ said Medosades, ‘that the army would cross to Byzantium and that there was no need to pay out anything either to you or anyone else as far as that was concerned. And you said that, when you had crossed the straits, you were leaving the army. Everything happened as you said it would.’
‘And what did I say,’ Xenophon asked him, ‘ when you came to me at Selymbria?’
‘You said that it was impossible, that the army was going to Perinthus and then across into Asia.’
‘And now,’ said Xenophon, ‘here I am, and here is Phryniscus, one of our generals, and here is Polycrates, one of our captains. Outside are men particularly trusted by each of our generals, except for Neon the Spartan. If you want our negotiations to be even more binding, call them inside too. And you, Polycrates, go and tell them that my orders are for them to leave their arms outside. Leave your own sword outside too before you come back.’
When he heard this, Seuthes said that he could never distrust an Athenian: he knew that there was a bond of kinship between him and them, and he regarded them as his true friends. Then, after the men who were wanted had come in, Xenophon first of all asked Seuthes what he wanted to use the army for.
Seuthes made the following speech: ‘My father was Maesades, and he ruled over the Melanditae, the Thyni and the Tranipsae. Owing to the decline of the power of the Odrysae my father was driven out of this country. He fell ill and died, and I was brought up as an orphan at the court of the present king, Medocus. But as soon as I became a young man I could not face the idea of living as a dependant at another man’s table. I sat down before him as a suppliant and begged him to give me as many men as he could, so that I might do all the damage I could to those who had driven us out, and live in future without being a dependant on his hospitality. He thereupon gave me all the men and the horses which you will see when it is day. And now I live with them by laying waste my own native kingdom. If you were to join me, I think that, with the help of heaven, I should easily regain power. This is what I want you for.’
‘Suppose we joined you,’ said Xenophon, ‘what could you give to the army and to the generals and to the captains? Tell us, so that these men can report back to the army.’
Seuthes promised to give each soldier a stater of Cyzicus every month, with double pay for the captains and four times as much for the generals: also as much land as they wanted, yokes of oxen and a fortified town on the coast.
‘If,’ said Xenophon, ‘we attempt to do what you want but are unsuccessful in it, and we are in danger from the Spartans, will you receive in your own country anyone who wants to take refuge with you?’
‘Yes,’ said Seuthes, ‘I will; and I will make you my brothers and table companions and give you a share of all our gains. To you, Xenophon, I will give my daughter, and, if you have a daughter, I will, according to the Thracian custom, buy her from you; and I will give you Bisanthe as a place to live in, which is the best of all my towns on the coast.’