The Exploits of Xenophon Read online

  3. Xenophon Takes Action

  Tissaphernes knew the Greeks; they were always jealous of one another and ready to put the blame on the other fellow. Clearchus had held them together by sheer force of character. But now that he and his most trusted officers had been assassinated, it was pretty certain that the army would break up into national contingents, each trying to get the best terms for itself.

  However, all the Greeks had two things in common. One was their invention of voting and then standing by the result of the vote. The other was their religion. Like us, they believed that the Divine Will demanded honour, truth and courage, and that if a man followed his best instincts and prayed for help, the gods would give it. They believed, too, that the gods were very close and able to give signs through dreams and oracles and the bodies of the animals which were sacrificed to them.

  I was as miserable as the rest of them, but I got a little sleep and had a very vivid dream that my father’s house was struck by lightning. You could take that either way. It might be a good sign, since I had been shown a great light from Zeus. On the other hand, since the light had blazed all around me, it might mean that I was shut in by troubles and could never escape. Which of them it did mean, we shall see.

  Startled and wide awake, I began to ask myself why I was lying there, just waiting to fall into the King’s power at dawn and suffer torture and a disgraceful death. What general was going to save me? And which of the Greek units would appoint him? Here I am, I said to myself, modestly hanging back because I am not any older. But if I don’t do something, I shall never be any older.

  So I got up and called together all Proxenus’ officers.

  ‘I cannot lie still,’ I said, ‘any more than you can. The enemy’s plans for our destruction are complete, or he wouldn’t have done what he has. And here is this whole army without a single soul thinking out what we can do to stop him.’

  And then I reminded them that we were fighting on the side of the gods, that our enemies had made false promises right and left, and that we had not broken any of the solemn oaths we had sworn.

  ‘Gentlemen,’ I added, ‘we have to fight our way out. There’s nothing else to do. And why not fight? We’re tougher than the enemy when it comes to bearing cold and heat and hardship, and our hearts are better and braver. And what’s more, there are men all over the camp thinking as I do, but not saying it. Let’s give them a lead. I’ll follow you or take command, just as you like. And I’m not offering any excuses for my youth. I am old enough to take responsibility if no one else will.’

  All Proxenus’ officers told me to go ahead, except for a certain Apollonides, who spoke with a foreign accent. He said that our only chance was an appeal to the King, and he began to complain about the difficulties of fighting.

  ‘You’re a wonderful fellow!’ I said to him. ‘You’ve seen how the King’s attitude changes as soon as we show fight. He doesn’t talk any more of unconditional surrender! No, he sends us lots of embassies and lots of provisions! But when we try appeasement, what happens? Ask our generals who are dead or wishing to heaven that they could die! Gentlemen, this officer is a disgrace to the Greek name—if he is a Greek.’

  ‘He isn’t a Greek at all,’ said Agasias the Stymphalian. ‘Look at his ears! He’s got them bored for earrings like a languishing Lydian!’

  So we flung him out.

  Proxenus’ officers went round the lines of the various national contingents. They rounded up the general if he was still alive, or his deputy if he wasn’t and any of the battalion commanders who remained. And at midnight about a hundred of us assembled in the weapon park. The senior officer of our own group opened the meeting and called on me to repeat what I had said.

  The first job was to raise their morale. I told them it was all very well to give an officer more pay and respect than the rest of the soldiers in peacetime, but in war a commander had to show he was one. Discipline was what we wanted, and as soon as we had it we should all feel safe. And I reminded them what a dismal mob the men had looked when the guards were posted. Not soldiers at all!

  ‘Appoint new officers at once to replace those who are lost,’ I said, ‘and then call the men together and give them a talk! If we can only get them thinking about what they mean to do instead of what’s going to happen to them, there’ll be a marvellous change.’

  Cheirisophus at once backed me up. He was a very good fellow, who had come out with Cyrus’ fleet and joined us at the Syrian Gates with 700 infantry under his own command. As he was a Spartan and a professional, his opinion carried more weight than mine did.

  ‘The only thing I knew about you, Xenophon, before tonight,’ he said, ‘was that you were an Athenian. But you have the right spirit and I’d like to see it run right through the army. I congratulate you. Now, look here, friends,’ he went on in his blunt Spartan way, ‘we’re all wasting time! Go away and choose your new commanders. When you’ve done it, bring ’em on parade. Meanwhile, I’ll get hold of one of the staff heralds and make him rout out the troops.’

  Cheirisophus at once left us and set to work. Meanwhile the conference elected generals to take the place of those who had been killed. I was chosen to command Proxenus’ contingent.

  At first light we changed the guards and assembled the rest of the army for a soldiers’ meeting. Then Cheirisophus addressed them.

  ‘Fellow-solders,’ he said, ‘we’re in a mess. We have lost our commanders, and Ariaeus has betrayed us. There’s nothing left now but to fight and win. And if we can’t win, we’ll die. The one thing we must not do is to surrender, or else—take it from me—you’ll suffer the sort of fate you would wish on your worst enemies.’

  Cleanor reminded them of the story of our retreat and drove home the idea that we could put no trust whatever in Tissaphernes and the King. Then I got up. I had put on my best uniform. I felt that if the gods were going to grant us victory, victory deserved shining armour; and if I were going to my death, I might as well die in style.

  I was just getting into my stride and telling them that we had every hope of safety, when somebody gave a lucky sneeze. With one accord we fell on our knees, soldiers and officers, and gave thanks to Zeus the Saviour. Then we all swore to offer sacrifice as soon as we reached friendly soil, and we sang a hymn.

  After this sign from heaven, I went on with my speech and recalled how our fathers had defeated the Persians at Marathon and Salamis and Plataea.

  ‘And the reward of their courage is our freedom,’ I said, ‘the freedom of the cities where you were born and bred. For we Greeks call no man master or king. We bow our heads only to the gods.

  ‘Do not be afraid because Ariaeus and his native troops have left us. If you feel anxious about having no cavalry, remember that ten thousand horses only equal the ten thousand men on their backs. What’s so marvellous about horses? Did you ever see anyone die in battle from the bite or kick of a horse? Cavalry? We’re a lot better mounted on our own stout legs! What’s cavalry? A lot of men hanging on to their horses’ necks, just as frightened of falling off as they are of us!* A cavalryman has only one advantage—it’s a lot easier for him to run away.

  ‘Now, what about food? Well, which would you rather do? Buy it in Tissaphernes’ market when you know the prices are outrageous and all of us are broke? Or march out and take it?

  ‘Rivers—how are we going to cross the rivers? March up ’em to the source, of course! But suppose we can’t? Well, what about all the tribes who are in open revolt against the King? They seem to be getting along very nicely in the territory they hold. If the worst comes to the worst, we can do the same and settle down.

  ‘Still, I suppose you do want to go home, and the question before us is how to make the long march in safety. I put it to the meeting that we must travel light. We must burn our wagons, burn our tents and get rid of everything except what we need to cook, eat and fight, so that no one is carrying baggage when he ought to be carrying arms. And if we find we are short of any essentials, w
e’ll take them from the enemy.

  ‘My second proposal is that the army should voluntarily submit to severe discipline. You remember Clearchus. I want to see not one Clearchus but ten thousand. I ask you to vote that each man must back up his officers in enforcing punishment for the slightest disobedience.’

  Every soldier put up his hand, and my two motions were carried.

  Then I put to them the question of tactics, and proposed that we should march in hollow square with the heavy infantry enclosing the animals. I suggested that Cheirisophus, as a Spartan, ought to command the main body, and that the two senior generals should be responsible for the flanks. The rear guard, which was going to have to march and fight at the same time, should be commanded by the two youngest of us, Timasion and myself.

  Straightway we burned the tents and wagons and divided up whatever remained so that nobody was short of any essential article of equipment. Then we declared formal war on the whole Persian Empire and marched.

  We crossed the river Zapatas without much difficulty, and as soon as we were over the Persians attacked the rear of the column with some two hundred cavalry and four hundred slingers and archers. We suffered heavy casualties, and our Cretan archers, who were with the main body, couldn’t get within range of the enemy.

  Under this punishment there was nothing to do but attack, and that I did. But the Persians were lightly armed and far too quick on their feet; we couldn’t catch one of them. Nor could we chase them very far, for fear of being separated from the main body. Meanwhile, the Persian cavalry, shooting backwards from the saddle even when they were running away, did a lot of damage. I wished that what I had said about cavalry to cheer up the troops had been true.

  In the whole day we covered only two and a half miles, and I got a rocket from Cheirisophus and the generals. They rather implied that Athenians were grand at making speeches but didn’t know the first thing about rear-guard actions. I had to admit that we had taken a lot of exercise for no purpose, but my excuse was that I couldn’t let the men be shot up as if they were targets on the range. And I pointed out the lesson—that we must have slingers and cavalry.

  I knew there were some men in the army from the Island of Rhodes, and that the Rhodian sling had twice the range of the Persian. That was because the Rhodians fired lead shot, while the Persians used stones as big as your fist. So I persuaded my fellow-generals to call for volunteers and to pay for any slings that existed and any more that could be made.

  I also got leave to raise a skeleton force of cavalry. These I mounted on my own horses, on some that had belonged to Clearchus and some that we had captured from the enemy and were using as pack animals. That very night we enrolled a force of 200 slingers and fifty men who could ride. We fixed up this little squadron with leather jackets and breastplates, and gave the command to Lycius, a fellow-countryman of mine.

  A smart little rear-guard action the next day gave them confidence. The Persians tried the same old trick of shoot-and-run, but as soon as we came under heavy fire the new squadron charged them. And although they had a thousand horse against us, we caught them with their backs to a stream and took eighteen prisoners. We also got in among their infantry, and when we had finished with them the corpses did not look at all pretty.

  Soon afterwards the road led us back to the banks of the Tigris, and we came to a huge ruined city called Larissa. Here we saw a stone pyramid 200 feet high on which a whole crowd of villagers from round about had taken refuge. Eighteen miles farther on we found another city—a colossal, deserted fortress surrounded by a wall of polished stones with shells in them, and a high brick wall on top of that.*

  The next day Tissaphernes caught up with us, heading a really powerful force—his own army, the native troops who had belonged to Cyrus and reinforcements from the King. He surrounded our rear and flanks with clouds of cavalry and archers but did not dare to attack at close quarters. We could retaliate now with our own archers and the new Rhodian slingers. The masses of the enemy were so great that they simply could not miss. Tissaphernes promptly retired out of range, and we picked up the Persian arrows. Our Cretans found them very useful for practising high trajectory shooting.

  On we went for another week, with the rear guard and flanks in action all the time. But we had plenty of food, for the villages in the plain of the Tigris were well stocked with grain. We changed our hollow square formation, for we found that it disordered the whole army whenever we had to march through a narrow defile. Instead we used a system of echelons—companies which fell back from the column whenever it was crowded together, and doubled up into position again as soon as the obstacle had been passed.

  We came to the first foothills of the mountains on November 3rd, and thanked Heaven that at last we were in country where we could not be annoyed by the enemy cavalry. However, we had our first taste of mountain warfare, and it was worse. The army was caught in a valley, and the enemy poured arrows and sling-stones into us from both slopes. I saw the Persian officers flogging their men into battle.

  Our own slingers and archers were shot to pieces and huddled together with the transport under the cover of the infantry of the line. Attacks up the hillsides drove off the enemy, but on coming down again to join the main body, our men had to expose their backs and suffered badly. We freed ourselves at last by throwing out a flank guard of light infantry which marched across country, up-and downhill, parallel to the road.

  After that we had a stroke of luck, for we dropped right into a big depot of wine and rations which had been collected by the provincial governor. So we halted for three days and called for volunteers who knew something about doctoring, as we had a lot of wounded. Eight army surgeons were appointed.

  While we were camped on our own ground we never had any trouble from the enemy. But as soon as we moved, they swarmed on to the tail of the column and we had to march and fight at the same time. So we tried to slip away from them in the night. This was not difficult because they always camped at least six miles away from us. A Persian army is useless at night, for the soldiers hobble their horses and thus have to catch and saddle them before they can take any action.

  The Race For The Summit

  But breaking contact with the enemy did not pay. They got ahead of us and occupied a hill beneath which we had to pass.

  When Cheirisophus saw that this strong point had to be taken by assault at all costs, he sent an order down the column that I was to come up at once with all the light infantry from the rear guard. I couldn’t do this, for I was in touch with Tissaphernes and his whole force. So I galloped up to the front and explained to him what the position was.

  ‘And what about mine?’ he said. ‘Look at those fellows up there!’

  He was right. They had to be dislodged. Fortunately there was a peak rising straight above the road, and from it a possible path led to the shoulder where the enemy were. If we could occupy the peak before they did, we could easily turn them out of their position.

  ‘Let’s make a dash for it, Cheirisophus,’ I suggested. ‘Take command of the party yourself, and I’ll stay here. Or, if you think it wiser, you stay and I’ll go.’

  ‘You can do which you please,’ said Cheirisophus, who was still a bit annoyed because I had used my common sense about the rear guard.

  As I was the younger, I chose the climb; and Cheirisophus gave me the light infantry from the vanguard and his own company of 300 handpicked toughs.

  When the enemy spotted what we were up to, they, too, made a dash for the peak. It was like a race in full view of both armies, and the noise from the stands was terrific—Greeks and Persians each cheering their own men on.

  I was still mounted, and rode along the ranks shouting that the sooner they got up the hill, the sooner they’d get back to their wives and children, and all that sort of thing.

  ‘Play fair, Xenophon!’ said a man from Sicyon called Soteridas. ‘You’re sitting on your fat horse, and I’m carrying a shield!’

  Only one reply to
that! I jumped off my horse, shoved Soteridas out of the line and took his shield. It nearly finished me, for I was wearing my heavy cavalry breastplate as well and using all my breath to cheer the men on. However, the rest of them chucked stones at Soteridas and told him to take his shield back and get going. So I remounted, rode as far as my horse could go and did the rest of the climb on foot. We reached the top first, and the natives broke and fled.

  * Both these ruins were parts of Nineveh.

  * The Greeks and Persians rode without stirrups.

  4. Kurdestan

  The Greeks were now north of Mosul, near the present frontier between Iraq and Turkey. They had no maps, and the country ahead of them was utterly unknown and inhabited by wild, unconquerable mountain tribes.

  In the world of that time no people but the Greeks would ever have attempted such a march. They alone had the discipline—and the intelligence. Their quick minds could learn by experience. Xenophon and his fellow-generals had imitated the Persian cavalry charge. And they were beginning to use light infantry, which had never had any importance in Greece, just as a modern commander would. The lessons they learned made it possible, seventy years later, for Alexander to conquer the whole Middle East and to change human history.

  When Cheirisophus and the main body of the army had come down from the hills, they found themselves again in the valley of the Tigris. Parties at once set off to lift cattle and supplies from the nearby villages, and were cut up by the Persian cavalry. Tissaphernes promptly set fire to the villages, so all their hopes of a decent meal were disappointed.

  Cheirisophus had to march out in force to rescue his men, and I met his column as my mountain party and I were making our way down to the plain. They were pretty down-hearted and I did my best to cheer them up.

  ‘If Tissaphernes is burning the villages,’ I said, ‘it looks to me as if he has at last admitted that the country is ours, and not the King’s. What do you think, Cheirisophus? Shall we fight for it?’