The Exploits of Xenophon Read online

  So the troops, far from being at the end of their troubles, were expected to march home around the north of the Aegean, fighting hostile tribes for their food. As soon as the news reached them, they mutinied. Some of them battered on the gates and threatened to split them wide open. Others ran along the breakwater and over the sea walls into the city. Then a bunch who had never come on parade and had thus remained within the walls seized the gates and flung them open.

  This meant disaster for us all, and I could only hope that the troops would obey me. I plunged into the crowd and was swept through the gates into the city. The Byzantines were in a panic and trying to launch their ships to escape. The garrison had retreated into the citadel. Anaxibius took a fishing boat and joined them and at once ordered up all troops available on the Asiatic shore.

  Meanwhile, the troops recognized me and mobbed me.

  ‘Now then, Xenophon,’ they shouted, ‘show yourself the sort of man we want! Here’s a city and ships and money and your own army! Take over the lot, and we’ll make you famous!’

  The crowd of mutineers was in the Thracian Square, a fine, level, open space for a parade ground.

  ‘If that’s what you want,’ I answered, ‘then—Army of Cyrus, fall in! Light infantry, to the flanks! Line, into eights, form column!’

  They obeyed automatically. And then I gave them the orders:

  ‘Pile arms! Stand easy!’

  That made them an army again, and an army to whom one could talk.

  ‘Soldiers,’ I said, ‘I share your anger at the monstrous way we have been swindled. I, too, would like to take vengeance and plunder the city. But have you thought of the consequences? It will mean war with the Spartans and with their allies.

  ‘Remember what happened to Athens—Athens with three hundred ships of war, with treasure such as no other city of Greece ever knew, with the islands and the ports of Asia Minor as allies, and even this city of Byzantium. You know that in the end we were utterly defeated. What do you think the chance of this army would be?

  “Remember What Happened To Athens”

  ‘And it is not as if you would have to fight only the Spartans. Athens and all the old allies of Athens are now with them. And even if you made a stand in Asia and held them off, what of the Great King and Tissaphernes, who are aching for revenge against us?

  ‘No! We must try to obtain justice in some other way but war. My advice to you is to send a message to Anaxibius that you have no intention of harming the city. Tell him that we have entered it only in despair and that, if he still will not help us, we shall be sure at least that he means his decision and that it is final. We know what discipline means. We will march and go.’

  They sent the message, and Anaxibius answered like a prig that the troops would never regret discipline and that he would give a good report of them at home. Those were all the thanks we got for our good behaviour.

  As soon as we had left the city, he closed the gates and issued a proclamation that any of our men found inside should be put up for auction and sold as slaves.

  When the army had settled into camp and the men were quiet, I asked Cleander if I might have a pass to enter Byzantium, as I wanted to find a ship and sail home. Cleander came out to see me and said he had had a most difficult interview with the Admiral. Anaxibius would allow me into the city only on condition that I left with him in his own ship. That was not what I would have chosen, but I accepted and said my last good-byes to the army.

  But, after all, I was not destined to part from them yet. Anaxibius’ ship crossed the Sea of Marmara to Cyzicus. There he met the Spartan, Aristarchus, who was on his way to Byzantium to relieve Cleander as governor. Aristarchus also gave us the news that Anaxibius had been ordered home.

  Now all along our old enemies, the Persians, had been intriguing with the Spartans, unknown to us. It turned out that Anaxibius had not ferried us over from Asia to Europe from any love of the army. He did so because Pharnabazus, the Great King’s governor on the Marmara coast, had offered him a bribe to get us out of his province.

  Anaxibius, as soon as he heard that he had lost his command, tried to collect his money from Pharnabazus. But Pharnabazus, who had also heard the news, refused to give him a penny. Thereupon Anaxibius suddenly became patriotic and decided to keep together and even to send back into Asia the army which had so frightened the Persians.

  It was certain that the army would be ready enough to fight Persians and collect some really useful loot, but the only person who could control it was myself. So Anaxibius played on my feelings. It was easy. I cared nothing for politics but only for my beloved troops. So I consented to go back at once. Anaxibius laid on a thirty-oar galley to take me across the Sea of Marmara, and had relays of horses and an escort waiting on the other side. I received a wildly enthusiastic welcome from the army, which had been experimenting with all sorts of unlikely commanders, and I began to prepare for the crossing to Asia and the campaign against Pharnabazus.

  I found that the army was breaking up. Some of the men had sold their arms and bought themselves passages home to Greece; and some had decided to settle in the colonies around Byzantium. In Byzantium itself there wasn’t one of our men left. Cleander had refused to sell any of them into slavery and had even taken a personal interest in the care of our sick and wounded. But as soon as Aristarchus arrived, he brutally put the whole lot up for auction.

  He, of course, was now hoping to get the fat bribe which Pharnabazus had promised to Anaxibius. So he refused to allow us to cross over to the Asiatic shore and threatened to sink our transports if we tried it. And then he attempted to decoy me into the city, with the intention of arresting me and handing me over to Pharnabazus. Meanwhile, the army, as usual, was moneyless and very short of food.

  9. The Last Adventure

  The Greeks were the only civilized people in eastern Europe, but there were tribes in the Balkans who were allied to them in blood and slowly absorbing their culture. Among these were the Thracians, who lived in what is now Bulgaria. The army found them barbarous, but their customs were fairly familiar. There were many Thracian soldiers in the light infantry.

  For some time a Thracian prince named Seuthes had been making offers to the army. They had never seemed to me very attractive, but now, with another winter coming on, we had to consider them.

  One night I took with me representatives from all the contingents of the army and rode to Seuthes’ camp. The Prince was very nervous. He had taken up his quarters in a tower, surrounded by an alert and powerful force of guards. All his horses were bitted and bridled ready for instant escape.

  After we had drunk a bowl of wine together, I asked him what he wanted the army for. He said that he had a right to the overlordship of all the Thracian tribes but that after the king, his father, died, he had been reduced to living as an outlaw and raiding the land that ought to be his. With the help of our army he hoped to recover his inheritance.

  He promised one gold piece a month to the men, two to the officers and four to the generals. He also undertook to give us refuge and land if we got into trouble with the Spartans. And then he offered to marry me to his daughter and to take mine, if I had one, for his own wife.

  When I returned to the army with Seuthes’ terms, they accepted them. We marched to join him at once, and he led us to villages where there was plenty of food.

  The very afternoon of our arrival the Prince invited all the officers to dine with him. Before we went in, we were all approached by a certain Heracleides—a Greek adventurer in Seuthes’ service—who told us that it was the custom of the country to bring the Prince a present. This was a shock. Personally I had no possessions in the world but one slave boy and enough money to pay my mess bill.

  The dinner was good in a primitive way. Threelegged tables were scattered about the hall, and on them were placed piles of meat, with loaves of bread attached to the roasts by great skewers. Seuthes started to carve at the table in front of him and then threw the pieces and the
bread to his guests, keeping very little for himself. This seemed to be the polite custom of the country, so each of us who was seated before a table did the same for those who were not.

  Among us was an Arcadian officer called Arystas, who had an enormous appetite. He soon got tired of playing catch with little bits of meat, so he grabbed a huge loaf with a roast skewered to it, put it on his knee and settled down. When the wine was served, he waved it away.

  ‘Can’t you see I’m busy?’ he said to the butler. ‘Give it to Xenophon, who has nothing better to do.’

  This amused Seuthes—and it was just as well, for now came the time when he expected his presents.

  A Thracian strode in leading a white horse and gave it to the Prince with a pretty speech and drank his health. Another gave a slave; another, clothes for the Prince’s wife. Timasion, one of our new generals, managed to produce a silver bowl and a Persian carpet. Gnesippus, an Athenian who was as penniless as myself, said boldly that it was a fine custom to present gifts to a king, and so he hoped the King would soon make him rich enough to have something to give.

  It was now my turn to drink Seuthes’ health and make my gift, and as I was sitting next to him at the high table, I was very embarrassed. However, I had been dining pretty well and was just in the mood for an after-dinner speech. So I got up and said that I presented the Prince with myself and the army and his own lands.

  This went over very well. Seuthes made a loving cup of the wine on our table and drained it with me.

  Then we had music on trumpets made of cowhide. Seuthes himself performed a war dance, and a party of Thracian clowns came tumbling in to amuse us. When dinner was over, we took the field that very night.

  In our first few days of campaigning we captured for Seuthes 12,000 head of livestock and 1,000 slaves. He sent Heracleides down to the coast with all this loot, in order to sell it and get pay for the army.

  It was now late in December, and, though we were always camped on low ground, we found the weather bitterly cold. The wine and the drinking water used to freeze, and many of us had noses and ears frostbitten. By watching the Thracians, we understood at last how we ought to dress for winter. They wore fox-skin caps over head and ears, and shirts that covered their legs. When on horseback they folded around them long cloaks which came down to the feet instead of our short cavalry capes.

  Our force was so overwhelming that we had very little fighting. The tribesmen took to the mountains and left to us all the riches of the plain. Seuthes, however, was too confident, and one night he put the Greek headquarters in a big village right under the hills. The Thracians attacked, and were guided by villagers to the houses where we were sleeping. They hurled themselves at the doors and dealt with our spears in a most original way, trying to knock the heads off with clubs.

  They knew me by name and concentrated their attack on my billet, shouting

  ‘Come out, Xenophon, and die fighting, or be roasted alive!’

  It looked as if we should be roasted, for they had fired the roof. But our eighteen-year-old trumpeter then blew the rally, and we charged out fully armed and using our short swords. The Thracians ran, slinging their shields behind them to protect their backs. As they climbed over the fence around the village, many of their shields got caught on the stakes so we had our revenge. Not one of our men was killed, but some who could ill afford it had their equipment and clothing burned.

  We had now been in Seuthes’ service for over a month, but the soldiers got only twenty days’ pay. Heracleides said that he had not been able to sell the loot for any more.

  I told him frankly that he was not doing his duty to Seuthes and that he ought to have come back with the full pay even if he had to borrow it. After all, Seuthes was in no position to collect taxes, and he would never have any money unless Heracleides used his superior intelligence.

  This made him very angry, and from then on I was between two fires. Heracleides told his Prince that I was too fond of the troops to be a good general, and the troops thought I was not doing enough to make Seuthes pay them.

  We moved north along the coast and came to Salmydessus, where a shoal runs far out into the Black Sea. This is a deadly trap for ships; and scattered about the beach we found innumerable cases, mattresses and piles of books, and all the things which sailors carry in their sea chests. This wreckage was so valuable to the Thracians that they had set up pillars on the beach to mark the rights of various owners. It was said that before the boundaries were marked the beachcombers used to fight for the spoil and kill each other.

  When all this country had been subjected to Seuthes, we marched south again and took up quarters about three miles from the Sea of Marmara. Here we heard the latest news: that Sparta had changed its foreign policy and declared war on the Persians, and that the Spartan general, Thibron, was about to open a campaign against Tissaphernes.

  Thibron sent up two of his officers, Charminus and Polynicus, to try to get hold of our army. And Seuthes, who now had enough native troops of his own, agreed at a secret meeting to hand it over.

  I was carefully kept out of the negotiations, for Heracleides knew very well that I should insist on the army’s pay, which was the best part of two months behind, being brought up to date. He told the Spartan officers that I was certain to be difficult and advised them to put their proposal direct to the troops.

  Heracleides, Charminus, and Polynicus called a soldiers’ meeting at which I was bitterly attacked. It was just assumed that I wanted to keep the army in Seuthes’ service instead of joining Thibron. And in the eyes of the troops the only possible motive for that was that I must be making money. One of the Arcadians even said that Seuthes had made me rich instead of them, and that he would gladly give up all claim to his pay, if he could watch me stoned to death.

  My life depended on what I could say in my own defence. I reminded the army of all their difficulties since they had been flung out of Byzantium, and how I had turned back to help them when I was already on my way home. If they thought that I had received their pay from Seuthes and not handed it out, then they should force Seuthes to recover it from me.

  This was effective, for Seuthes was standing there listening with an interpreter at his side—not that he needed one, for he could understand most of what was said in Greek.

  ‘I haven’t been paid any more than you,’ I went on. ‘And you may say, if you like, that I was a fool to persuade you into this adventure. But was I? Remember what a state you were in, and what a comfortable winter you have had! You have lost no killed or prisoners. You have been living on the fat of the land. And you have preserved your reputation as an invincible army.

  ‘So much for you. And now look at my side. When I started home, I was—thanks to you—famous through all Greece. And here I am dishonoured and distrusted by you, by Seuthes and by these Spartans.’

  Charminus at once got up and told the army bluntly that they were wrong.

  ‘I myself can be a witness for Xenophon,’ he said. ‘When Polynicus and I asked Seuthes what sort of man he was, Seuthes answered that he had no fault at all to find in him except that he was too much the soldiers’ friend, and that this was the only reason why he was in continual trouble with the Prince and with us Spartans.’

  ‘All right, then,’ another of the Arcadians retorted. ‘If you’re going to take command of us, let’s see if you can be the soldiers’ friend, too. Go and get our pay!’

  ‘Heracleides has got it,’ shouted Polycrates, my fellow-Athenian. I must admit I put him up to it.

  Seuthes and Heracleides didn’t stop to hear any more. They mounted their horses and galloped out of reach of the army and didn’t stop till they reached their own camp.

  After this the Greek and the Thracian camps were at a good, safe distance from one another. But Seuthes and I were never on bad terms. He even wanted me to remain in Thrace with 1,000 infantry of the line, promising us land to colonise and a fortress on the coast.

  So, at a last interview, I
managed to succeed where the Spartans had failed. I shamed Seuthes into putting up some pay, pointing out that he was as great a man now as I could make him, and that all he had done for me was to ruin my influence over the army.

  He cursed Heracleides for making trouble and never providing any ready cash; then he delivered to me 600 oxen, 4,000 sheep and 120 slaves. I handed the lot over to Charminus and Polynicus and made them do the distribution. By the time they had finished it, they had a clearer idea of how difficult the army could be when pay was in arrears.

  I had been away with Seuthes for some weeks, and a rumour had gone around the army that I intended to desert it and stay in Thrace. When I came back, I was welcomed enthusiastically and all was forgotten. And so, after all, it was I who had to take command and hand over the army to Thibron.

  We crossed the Dardanelles and landed at Lampsacus. Here I met Eucleides, who was an old friend of my family. His father was the painter who did the walls of the Lyceum, and he himself became a priest—and a very wise one. In the course of our conversation he remarked that he supposed I was now a very rich man. I had to confess that I couldn’t pay my passage home until I had sold my horse.

  ‘Have you tried sacrificing to Zeus the Gentle,’ he asked, ‘as I used to do for you all at home?’

  I never had. Many a time had I prayed and sacrificed to Zeus the King and Zeus the Saviour, but not to Zeus the Gentle.

  Greek Cavalry Man

  Eucleides said that he was sure my luck would change if I followed the old custom. So I obtained some little pigs and sacrificed them and prayed. The signs were most favourable.

  The very next day two of Thibron’s staff officers arrived with pay for the troops. And as a present for me they brought back my horse, which I had sold for fifty gold pieces in Lampsacus, saying that they knew I was fond of it. This was a most delicate compliment and equivalent to giving me a whole year’s pay although they knew I was about to leave the army.