seem likely, too, in my opinion, if we make a pretended attack on this point, to find the rest of the range still less guarded; for the enemy will so much the more probably stay where they are. 14. But why should I speak doubtfully about stealing? For I hear that you Lacedæmonians, O Cheirisophus, such of you at least as are of the better class,[226] practise stealing from your boyhood, and it is not a disgrace, but an honour, to steal whatever the law does not forbid; 15. while, in order that you may steal with the utmost dexterity, and strive to escape discovery, it is appointed by law that, if you are caught stealing, you are scourged. It is now high time for you, therefore, to give proof of your education, and to take care that we may not receive many stripes."
16. "But I hear that you Athenians also," rejoined Cheirisophus, "are very clever at stealing the public money, though great danger threatens him that steals it; and that your best men steal it most, if indeed your best men are thought worthy to be your magistrates; so that it is time for you likewise to give proof of your education." 17. "I am then ready," exclaimed Xenophon, "to march with the rear-guard, as soon as we have supped, to take possession of the hills. I have guides too; for our light-armed men captured some of the marauders following us by lying in ambush; and from them I learn that the mountains are not impassable, but are grazed over by goats and oxen, so that if we once gain possession of any part of the range, there will be tracks also for our baggage-cattle.
18. I expect also that the enemy will no longer keep their ground, when they see us upon a level with them on the heights, for they will not now come down to be upon a level with us." 19. Cheirisophus then said, "But why should you go, and leave the charge of the rear? Rather send others, unless some volunteers present themselves." 20. Upon this Aristonymus of Methydria came forward with his heavy-armed men, and Aristeas of Chios and Nicomachus of Œta[227] with their light-armed; and they made an arrangement, that as soon as they should reach the top, they should light a number of fires. 21. Having settled these points, they went to dinner; and after dinner Cheirisophus led forward the whole army ten stadia towards the enemy, that he might appear to be fully resolved to march against them on that quarter.
22. When they had taken their supper, and night came on, those appointed for the service went forward and got possession of the hills; the other troops rested where they were. The enemy, when they saw the heights occupied, kept watch and burned a number of fires all night. 23.
As soon as it was day, Cheirisophus, after having offered sacrifice, marched forward along the road; while those who had gained the heights advanced by the ridge. 24. Most of the enemy, meanwhile, stayed at the pass, but a part went to meet the troops coming along the heights. But before the main bodies came together, those on the ridge closed with one another, and the Greeks had the advantage, and put the enemy to flight.
25. At the same time the Grecian peltasts ran up from the plain to attack the enemy drawn up to receive them, and Cheirisophus followed at a quick pace with the heavy-armed men. 26. The enemy at the pass, however, when they saw those above defeated, took to flight. Not many of them were killed, but a great number of shields were taken, which the Greeks, by hacking them with their swords, rendered useless. 27. As soon as they had gained the ascent, and had sacrificed and erected a trophy, they went down into the plain before them, and arrived at a number of villages stored with abundance of excellent provisions.
[Footnote 223: This is rather oddly expressed; for the guide and the chief were the same person.]
[Footnote 224: Not the Colchian Phasis, which flows into the Euxine, but a river of Armenia (Ἀράξης, now _Aras_) which runs into the Caspian. See Ainsworth, Travels, p. 179, 247. However Xenophon himself seems to have confounded this Phasis with that of Colchis. See Rennell, p. 230.
_Kühner_.]
[Footnote 225: Ἐπὶ φάλαγγος.] See on iv. 3. 26.]
[Footnote 226: Τῶν ὁμοίων.] The ὅμοιοι at Sparta were all those who had an equal right to participate in the honours or offices of the state; _qui pari inter se jure gaudebant, quibus honores omnes æqualiter patebant_. Cragius de Rep. Lac. i. 10, cited by Sturz in his Lex.
Xenoph. See Xenophon De Rep. Lac. 13. 1 and 7; Aristot. Polit. 5. 7. 8.
"A similar designation to that of ὁμότιμοι in the Cyropædia," _Schneider_. See Hellen. iii. 3. 5.]
[Footnote 227: A native of the country about Mount Œta in Thessaly.
There was also however a town of that name in the south of Thessaly: Thucyd. iii. 92.]
CHAPTER VII.
The Greeks, entering the country of the Taochi, storm a fort, capturing a great number of cattle, on which they subsist while traversing the region of the Chalybes. They cross the Harpasus, and, marching through the territory of the Scythini, arrive at a town called Gymnias, whence they are conducted to Mount Theches, from the top of which they see the Euxine.
1. From hence they marched five days' journey, thirty parasangs, to the country of the Taochi, where provisions began to fail them; for the Taochi inhabited strong fastnesses, in which they had laid up all their supplies. 2. Having at length, however, arrived at one place which had no city or houses attached to it, but in which men and women and a great number of cattle were assembled, Cheirisophus, as soon as he came before it, made it the object of an attack; and when the first division that assailed it began to be tired, another succeeded, and then another; for it was not possible for them to surround it in a body, as there was a river about it. 3. When Xenophon came up with his rear-guard, peltasts, and heavy-armed men, Cheirisophus exclaimed, "You come seasonably, for we must take this place, as there are no provisions for the army, unless we take it."
4. They then deliberated together, and Xenophon asking what hindered them from taking the place, Cheirisophus replied, "The only approach to it is the one which you see; but when any of our men attempt to pass along it, the enemy roll down stones over yonder impending rock, and whoever is struck, is treated as you behold;" and he pointed, at the same moment, to some of the men who had had their legs and ribs broken.
5. "But if they expend all their stones," rejoined Xenophon, "is there anything else to prevent us from advancing? For we see, in front of us, only a few men, and but two or three of them armed. 6. The space, too, through which we have to pass under exposure to the stones, is, as you see, only about a hundred and fifty feet in length; and of this about a hundred feet is covered with large pine trees in groups, against which if the men place themselves, what would they suffer either from the flying stones or the rolling ones? The remaining part of the space is not above fifty feet, over which, when the stones cease, we must pass at a running pace." 7. "But," said Cheirisophus, "the instant we offer to go to the part covered with trees, the stones fly in great numbers."
"That," cried Xenophon, "would be the very thing we want, for thus they will exhaust their stones the sooner. Let us then advance, if we can, to the point whence we shall have but a short way to run, and from which we may, if we please, easily retreat."
8. Cheirisophus and Xenophon, with Callimachus of Parrhasia, one of the captains, who had that day the lead of all the other captains of the rear-guard, then went forward, all the rest of the captains remaining out of danger. Next, about seventy of the men advanced under the trees, not in a body, but one by one, each sheltering himself as he could. 9.
Agasias of Stymphalus, and Aristonymus of Methydria, who were also captains of the rear-guard, with some others, were at the same time standing behind, without the trees, for it was not safe for more than one company to stand under them. 10. Callimachus then adopted the following stratagem: he ran forward two or three paces from the tree under which he was sheltered, and when the stones began to be hurled, hastily drew back; and at each of his sallies more than ten cartloads of stones were spent. 11. Agasias, observing what Callimachus was doing, and that the eyes of the whole army were upon him, and fearing that he himself might not be the first to enter the place, began to advance alone, (neither calling to Aristonymus who was next him, nor to Eurylochus of Lusia, both of whom were his intimate friends, nor to any other person,) and passed by all the rest. 12. Callimachus, seeing him rushing by, caught hold of the rim of his shield, and at that moment Aristonymus of Methydria ran past them both, and after him Eurylochus of Lusia, for all these sought distinction for valour, and were rivals to one another; and thus, in mutual emulation, they got possession of the place, for when they had once rushed in, not a stone was hurled from above. 13. But a dreadful spectacle was then to be seen; for the women, flinging their children over the precipice, threw themselves after them; and the men followed their example. Æneas of Stymphalus, a captain, seeing one of them, who had on a rich garment, running to throw himself over, caught hold of it with intent to stop him. 14. But the man dragged him forward, and they both went rolling down the rocks together, and were killed. Thus very few prisoners were taken, but a great number of oxen, asses, and sheep.
15. Hence they advanced, seven days' journey, a distance of fifty parasangs, through the country of the Chalybes. These were the most warlike people of all that they passed through, and came to close combat with them. They had linen cuirasses, reaching down to the groin, and, instead of skirts,[228] thick cords twisted. 16. They had also greaves and helmets, and at their girdles a short faulchion, as large as a Spartan crooked dagger, with which they cut the throats of all whom they could master, and then, cutting off their heads, carried them away with them. They sang and danced when the enemy were likely to see them. They carried also a spear of about fifteen cubits in length, having one spike.[229] 17. They stayed in their villages till the Greeks had passed by, when they pursued and perpetually harassed them. They had their dwellings in strong places, in which they had also laid up their provisions, so that the Greeks could get nothing from that country, but lived upon the cattle which they taken from the Taochi.
18. The Greeks next arrived at the river Harpasus, the breadth of which was four plethra. Hence they proceeded through the territory of the Scythini, four days' journey, making twenty parasangs, over a level tract, until they came to some villages, in which they halted three days, and collected provisions. 19. From this place they advanced four days' journey, twenty parasangs, to a large, rich, and populous city, called Gymnias, from which the governor of the country sent the Greeks a guide, to conduct them through a region at war with his own people. 20.
The guide, when he came, said that he would take them in five days to a place whence they should see the sea; if not, he would consent to be put to death. When, as he proceeded, he entered the country of their enemies, he exhorted them to burn and lay waste the lands; whence it was evident that he had come for this very purpose, and not from any good will to the Greeks. 21. On the fifth day they came to the mountain;[230] and the name of it was Theches. When the men who were in the front had mounted the height, and looked down upon the sea, a great shout proceeded from them; 22. and Xenophon and the rear-guard, on hearing it, thought that some new enemies were assailing the front, for in the rear, too, the people from the country that they had burnt were following them, and the rear-guard, by placing an ambuscade, had killed some, and taken others prisoners, and had captured about twenty shields made of raw ox-hides with the hair on. 23. But as the noise still increased, and drew nearer, and as those who came up from time to time kept running at full speed to join those who were continually shouting, the cries becoming louder as the men became more numerous, it appeared to Xenophon that it must be something of very great moment. 24. Mounting his horse, therefore, and taking with him Lycius and the cavalry, he hastened forward to give aid, when presently they heard the soldiers shouting, "The sea, the sea!" and cheering on one another. They then all began to run, the rear-guard as well as the rest, and the baggage-cattle and horses were put to their speed; 25. and when they had all arrived at the top, the men embraced one another, and their generals and captains, with tears in their eyes. Suddenly, whoever it was that suggested it, the soldiers brought stones, and raised a large mound, 26. on which they laid a number of raw ox-hides,[231] staves, and shields taken from the enemy. The shields the guide himself hacked in pieces,[232] and exhorted the rest to do the same. 27. Soon after, the Greeks sent away the guide, giving him presents from the common stock, a horse, a silver cup, a Persian robe, and ten darics;[233] but he showed most desire for the rings on their fingers, and obtained many of them from the soldiers.
Having then pointed out to them a village where they might take up their quarters, and the road by which they were to proceed to the Macrones, when the evening came on he departed, pursuing his way during the night.
[Footnote 228: Ἀντὶ τῶν πτερύγων.] That this is the true sense of this word appears from Xen. de Re Equest. 12. 4.]
[Footnote 229: Having one iron point at the upper end, as in v. 4. 12, and no point at the lower for fixing the spear in the ground.
_Schneider_.]
[Footnote 230: The word ἱερόν, which precedes ὄρος in the older editions, is enclosed in brackets, as being probably spurious, by most of the modern editors, and actually ejected by Dindorf. Yet something seems to be wanting in connexion with ὄρος, for the guide (sect. 20) says merely that he will bring them to α χωρίον, and on the fifth day after it is said that they come to _the mountain_.]
[Footnote 231: They appear to be the hides of oxen offered up as a sort of sacrifice to the gods. _Balfour_.]
[Footnote 232: In order, says Krüger, to render them useless, so that they might not be carried off by any of the neighbouring people.]
CHAPTER VIII.
The Greeks proceed unmolested through the country of the Macrones, and enter Colchis. Putting to flight the Colchians who obstructed their passage, they arrive at Trebisond, a Greek city, where they perform whatever vows they had made, and celebrate games.
1. Hence the Greeks advanced three days' journey, a distance of ten parasangs, through the country of the Macrones. On the first day they came to a river which divides the territories of the Macrones from those of the Scythini. 2. On their right they had an eminence extremely difficult of access, and on their left another river,[234] into which the boundary river, which they had to cross, empties itself. This stream was thickly edged with trees, not indeed large, but growing closely together. These the Greeks, as soon as they came to the spot, cut down,[235] being in haste to get out of the country as soon as possible.
3. The Macrones, however, equipped with wicker shields, and spears, and hair tunics, were drawn up on the opposite side of the crossing-place; they were animating one another, and throwing stones into the river.[236] They did not hit our men, or cause them any inconvenience.
4. At this juncture one of the peltasts came up to Xenophon, saying that he had been a slave at Athens, and adding that he knew the language of these men. "I think, indeed," said he, "that this is my country, and, if there is nothing to prevent, I should wish to speak to the people." 5.
"There is nothing to prevent," replied Xenophon; "so speak to them, and first ascertain what people they are." When he asked them, they said that they were the Macrones. "Inquire, then," said Xenophon, "why they are drawn up to oppose us, and wish to be our enemies." 6. They replied, "Because you come against our country." The generals then told him to acquaint them that we were not come with any wish to do them injury, but that we were returning to Greece after having been engaged in war with the king, and that we were desirous to reach the sea. 7. They asked if the Greeks would give pledges to this effect; and the Greeks replied that they were willing both to give and receive them. The Macrones accordingly presented the Greeks with a Barbarian lance, and the Greeks gave them a Grecian one; for they said that such were their usual pledges. Both parties called the gods to witness.
8. After these mutual assurances, the Macrones immediately assisted them in cutting away the trees, and made a passage for them, as if to bring them over, mingling freely among the Greeks; they also gave such facilities as they could for buying provisions, and conducted them through their country for three days, until they brought them to the confines of the Colchians. 9. Here was a range of hills,[237] high, but accessible, and upon them the Colchians were drawn up in array. The Greeks, at first, drew up against them in a line,[238] with the intention of marching up the hill in this disposition; but afterwards the generals thought proper to assemble and deliberate how they might engage with the best effect. 10. Xenophon then said it appeared to him that they ought to relinquish the arrangement in line, and to dispose the troops in columns;[239] "for a line," pursued he, "will be broken at once, as we shall find the hills in some parts impassable, though in others easy of access; and this disruption will immediately produce despondency in the men, when, after being ranged in a regular line, they find it dispersed. 11. Again, if we advance drawn up very many deep, the enemy will stretch beyond us on both sides, and will employ the parts that outreach us in any way they may think proper; and if we advance only a few deep, it would not be at all surprising if our line be broken through by showers of missiles and men falling upon us in large bodies.
If this happen in any part, it will be ill for the whole extent of the line. 12. I think, then, that having formed our companies in columns, we should keep them so far apart from each other as that the last companies on each side may be beyond the enemy's wings. Thus our extreme companies will both outflank the line of the enemy, and, as we march in file, the bravest of our men will close with the enemy first, and wherever the ascent is easiest, there each division will direct its course. 13. Nor will it be easy for the enemy to penetrate into the intervening spaces, when there are companies on each side, nor will it be easy to break through a column as it advances; while, if any one of the companies be hard pressed, the neighbouring one will support it; and if but one of the companies can by any path attain the summit, the enemy will no longer stand their ground." 14. This plan was approved, and they threw the companies into columns. Xenophon, riding along from the right wing to the left, said. "Soldiers, the enemy whom you see before you, are now the only obstacle to hinder us from being where we have long been eager to be. These, if we can, we must eat up alive."[240] 15. When the men were all in their places, and they had formed the companies into columns, there were about eighty companies of heavy-armed men, and each company consisted of about eighty men. The peltasts and archers they divided into three bodies, each about six hundred men, one of which they placed beyond the left wing, another beyond the right, and the third in the centre. 16. The generals then desired the soldiers to make their vows[241] to the gods; and having made them, and sung the pæan, they moved forward. Cheirisophus and Xenophon, and the peltasts that they had with them, who were beyond the enemy's flanks, pushed on; 17. and the enemy, observing their motions, and hurrying forward to receive them, were drawn off, some to the right and others to the left, and left a great void in the centre of their line; 18. when the peltasts in the Arcadian division, whom Æschines the Acarnanian commanded, seeing them separate, ran forward in all haste, thinking that they were taking to flight; and these were the first that reached the summit. The Arcadian heavy-armed troop, of which Cleanor the Orchomenian was captain, followed them. 19. But the enemy, when once the Greeks began to run, no longer stood their ground, but went off in flight, some one way and some another.
Having passed the summit, the Greeks encamped in a number of villages containing abundance of provisions. 20. As to other things here, there was nothing at which they were surprised; but the number of bee-hives was extraordinary, and all the soldiers that ate of the combs, lost their senses, vomited, and were affected with purging, and none of them were able to stand upright; such as had eaten only a little were like men greatly intoxicated, and such as had eaten much were like mad-men, and some like persons at the point of death. 21. They lay upon the ground, in consequence, in great numbers, as if there had been a defeat; and there was general dejection. The next day no one of them was found dead; and they recovered their senses about the same hour that they had lost them on the preceding day; and on the third and fourth days they got up as if after having taken physic.[242] 22. From hence they proceeded two days' march, seven parasangs, and arrived at Trebisond, a Greek city, of large population, on the Euxine Sea; a colony of Sinope, but lying in the territory of the Colchians.
Here they stayed about thirty days, encamping in the villages of the Colchians, 23. whence they made excursions and plundered the country of Colchis. The people of Trebisond provided a market for the Greeks in the camp, and entertained them in the city; and made them presents of oxen, barley-meal, and wine. 24. They negotiated with them also on behalf of the neighbouring Colchians, those especially who dwelt in the plain, and from them too were brought presents of oxen.
25. Soon after, they prepared to perform the sacrifice which they had vowed. Oxen enough had been brought them to offer to Jupiter the Preserver, and to Hercules, for their safe conduct, and whatever they had vowed to the other gods. They also celebrated gymnastic games upon the hill where they were encamped, and chose Dracontius a Spartan, (who had become an exile from his country when quite a boy, for having involuntarily killed a child by striking him with a dagger,) to prepare the course and preside at the contests. 26. When the sacrifice was ended, they gave the hides[243] to Dracontius, and desired him to conduct them to the place where he had made the course. Dracontius, pointing to the place where they were standing, said, "This hill is an excellent place for running, in whatever direction the men may wish."
"But how will they be able," said they, "to wrestle on ground so rough and bushy?" "He that falls," said he, "will suffer the more." 27. Boys, most of them from among the prisoners, contended in the short course, and in the long course above sixty Cretans ran; while others were matched in wrestling, boxing, and the pancratium. It was a fine sight; for many entered the lists, and as their friends were spectators, there was great emulation. 28. Horses also ran; and they had to gallop down the steep, and, turning round in the sea, to come up again to the altar.
In the descent, many rolled down; but in the ascent, against the exceedingly steep ground, the horses could scarcely get up at a walking pace. There was consequently great shouting, and laughter, and cheering from the people.
[Footnote 234: A stream running into the Tchórúk-sú, according to Ainsworth, Travels, p. 189.]
[Footnote 235: The Greeks cut down the trees in order to throw them into the stream, and form a kind of bridge on which they might cross.
_Schneider_.]
[Footnote 236: They threw stones into the river that they might stand on them, and approach nearer to the Greeks, so as to use their weapons with more effect. _Bornemann_.]
[Footnote 237: Kárá Kapán, or Kóhát Tágh, according to Ainsw. p. 190.]
[Footnote 238: Κατὰ φάλαγγα.] See on iv. 3. 26.]
[Footnote 239: Λόχους ὀρθίους.] See on iv. 2. 11.]
[Footnote 240: Ὠμοὺς ---- κατάφαγεῖν.] "Eat up raw," without waiting to cook them; a metaphorical expression for _to extirpate utterly and at once_, taken from Homer, Il. v. 35: Ὠμὸν βεβρώθοις Πρίαμον Πρίαμοιό τε μαῖδας.]
[Footnote 241: See the payment of these vows in sect. 25.]
[Footnote 242: That there was honey in these parts with intoxicating qualities, was well known to antiquity. Pliny, H. N. xxi. 44, mentions two sorts of it, one produced at Heraclea in Pontus, and the other among the Sanni or Macrones. The peculiarities of the honey arose from the herbs to which the bees resorted, the first came from the flower of a plant called ægolethron, or goats'-bane; the other from a species of rhododendron. Tournefort, when he was in that country, saw honey of this description. See Ainsworth, Travels in the Track, p. 190, who found that the intoxicating honey had a bitter taste. See also Rennell, p. 253.
"This honey is also mentioned by Dioscorides, ii. 103; Strabo, xii. p.
[Footnote 243: Lion and Kühner have a notion that these skins were to be given as prizes to the victors, referring to Herod, ii. 91, where it is said that the Egyptians, in certain games which they celebrate in honour of Perseus, offer as prizes cattle, cloaks, and δέρματα, hides. Krüger doubts whether they were intended for prizes, or were given as a present to Dracontius.]
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