8. In the mean time Tissaphernes arrived, with his army, as if with the view of returning home; and Orontes came with his army. Orontes also brought[98] with him the king's daughter, whom he had received in marriage.[99] 9. From hence they now proceeded on their march, Tissaphernes being their guide, and securing them opportunities of buying provisions; Ariæus also, with the Barbarian troops of Cyrus, marched in company with Tissaphernes and Orontes, and encamped in common with them. 10. But the Greeks, conceiving a suspicion of these men, began to march by themselves, taking guides of their own; and they always encamped at the distance of a parasang, or little less, from each other; and both parties kept on their guard against one another, as if they had been enemies, and this consequently increased their mistrustful feelings. 11. More than once, too, as they were gathering fuel, or collecting grass and other such things, in the same quarter, they came to blows with each other;[100] and this was an additional source of animosity between them.
12. After marching three days, they arrived at the wall of Media,[101] as it is called, and passed to the other side of it. This wall was built of burnt bricks, laid in bitumen; it was twenty feet in thickness, and a hundred in height, and the length of it was said to be twenty parasangs; and it was not far distant from Babylon. 13. Hence they proceeded, in two days' march, the distance of eight parasangs; crossing two canals, the one by a permanent bridge, the other by a temporary one formed of seven boats. These canals were supplied from the river Tigris; and from one to the other of them were cut ditches across the country, the first of considerable size, and the next smaller; and at last diminutive drains, such as are cut in Greece through the panic[102] fields. They then arrived at the Tigris; near which there was a large and populous city, called Sitace, distant from the banks of the river only fifteen stadia. 14. In the neighbourhood of this city the Greeks encamped, close to an extensive and beautiful park, thickly planted with all kinds of trees. The Barbarians, though they had but just crossed the Tigris, were no longer in sight.
15. After supper Proxenus and Xenophon happened to be walking in front of the place where the arms were piled, when a man approached, and inquired of the sentinels where he could see Proxenus or Clearchus. But he did not ask for Menon, though he came from Ariæus, Menon's intimate friend. 16. Proxenus replying, "I am the person whom you seek," the man said, "Ariæus and Artaozus, the faithful friends of Cyrus, who are interested for your welfare, have sent me to you, and exhort you to beware lest the Barbarians should fall upon you in the night; for there is a considerable body of troops in the adjoining park. 17. They also advise you to send a guard to the bridge over the Tigris, as Tissaphernes designs to break it down in the night, if he can, in order that you may not be able to cross the river, but may be hemmed in between the river and the canal." 18. On hearing the man's message, they conducted him to Clearchus, and told him what he had said. When Clearchus heard it he was greatly agitated and alarmed.
19. But a young man,[103] one of those who were present, after reflecting a little on the matter, observed, "that the imputed designs of making an attack, and of breaking down the bridge, were not consistent; for," said he, "if they attack us, they must certainly either conquer or be conquered; if then they are to conquer us, why should they break down the bridge? for even though there were many bridges, we have no place where we could save ourselves by flight; 20.
but if, on the other hand, we should conquer them, then, if the bridge is broken down, they will have no place of retreat; nor will any of their friends on the other side of the river, however numerous, be able to come to their assistance when the bridge is destroyed." 21. After listening to these observations, Clearchus asked the messenger what was the extent of the country that lay between the Tigris and the canal. He replied, "that it was of considerable extent, and that there were several villages and large towns in it." 22. It was then immediately concluded, that the Barbarians had sent this man with an underhand object, "being afraid lest the Greeks, having taken to pieces[104] the bridge, should remain in the island, where they would have, as defences, the river Tigris on the one side, and the canal on the other; and might procure a sufficient supply of provisions from the country which lay between, and which was extensive and fertile, with people in it to cultivate it; and which would also serve as a place of refuge to any that might be inclined to annoy the king.
23. They then prepared for rest, but did not neglect, however, to send a guard to the bridge; but neither did any one attempt to attack them on any quarter, nor did any of the enemies come near the bridge, as those who were stationed on guard there reported.
24. As soon as it was day they crossed the bridge, which was constructed of thirty-seven boats, with every precaution in their power; for some of the Greeks, who came from Tissaphernes, stated that the enemy meant to attack them as they were crossing; but this report was also false.
However, as they were going over, Glus made his appearance, with some others, watching to see if they were crossing the river; and when they saw they were, he immediately rode away.
25. From the Tigris they proceeded, in four days' march, a distance of twenty parasangs, to the river Physcus, which was a plethrum in breadth, and over which was a bridge. Here was situate a large town, called Opis; near which an illegitimate brother of Cyrus and Artaxerxes, who was leading a numerous army from Susa and Ecbatana, with the intention of assisting the king, met the Greeks, and, ordering his troops to halt, took a view of the Greeks as they passed by. 16. Clearchus marched his men two abreast, and halted occasionally on the way; and as long as the van of the army halted, so long there was necessarily a halt throughout the whole of the line; so that even to the Greeks themselves their army seemed very large, and the Persian was amazed at the sight of it.
27. Hence they proceeded through Media,[105] six days' march through a desert country, a distance of thirty parasangs, when they arrived at the villages of Parysatis, the mother of Cyrus and the king; which Tissaphernes, in mockery of Cyrus, gave permission to the Greeks to plunder of everything except the slaves. There was found in them a great quantity of corn, and sheep, and other property. 18. Hence they advanced in a march of five days more through the desert, a distance of twenty parasangs, having the Tigris on their left. At the end of the first day's march there was situate on the opposite bank of the river a large and opulent city, called Cænæ, whence the Barbarians brought over, on rafts made of hide a supply of bread, cheese, and wine.
[Footnote 96: During this time Tissaphernes went to Babylon to the king, and was rewarded with the hand of his daughter, and the province of which Cyrus had been Satrap. _Diod. Sic._ xiv. 26. See sect. 8.]
[Footnote 97: Δεξιὰς.] That is, fidem regis nomine dabant. See the commentators on Cyrop. iv. 2. 7: δεξιὰν δὸς, ἵνα φέρωμεν καὶ τοις ἄλλοις τᾶυτα. _Poppo._ So it is said in Latin _dextram ferre_. See Breitenbach on Xen. Agesil. iii. 4] [Footnote 98: Ἦγε.] From iii. 4. 13, it appears that we must refer this verb to Orontes. See note on sect. 1. Whether Tissaphernes and Orontes both married daughters of the king, is uncertain. If only one of them, Xenophon is more likely to be in the right than Diodorus Siculus.
Orontes was satrap of Armenia, iii. 5. 17. Rhodogune, a daughter of Artaxerxes, is said by Plutarch (Vit. Art. c. 27) to have been married to Orætes, who may be the same as Xenophon's Orontes.]
[Footnote 99: Ἐπὶ γάμῳ.] These words signify literally _for_ or _upon marriage_. The true interpretation, says Krüger, is, doubtless, "in order that he might have her, or live with her, in wedlock," the marriage ceremony having been, it would seem, previously performed at Babylon.]
[Footnote 100: Πληγὰς ἐνέτεινον ἀλλήλοις.] Whether this signifies that they actually inflicted blows on one another, or only threatened them, may admit of some doubt. The former notion is adopted by the Latin translators, by Sturz in his Lexicon, and by the commentators generally.]
[Footnote 103: Zeune thinks that Xenophon may possibly mean himself; but this is mere conjecture.]
[Footnote 104: Διελόντες.] An excellent conjectural emendation of Holtzmann for the old reading διελθόντες. _Kühner_.--The stratagem of Tissaphernes was similar to that by which Themistocles expedited the departure of Xerxes from Greece.]
CHAPTER V After a three days' halt on the river Zabatus, Clearchus endeavours to put an end to the distrust between the Persians and the Greeks by an interview with Tissaphernes. He is received so plausibly that he is induced to return on the following day, accompanied by five other generals and twenty captains, in expectation of being informed of the persons who had excited, by false reports, ill feelings between the two armies. The generals are conducted into the tent and put to death; the captains and those with them are massacred on the outside, one only escaping to tell the tale.
Ariæus calls on the rest of the Greeks to surrender their arms, but is answered with defiance.
1. Soon after, they arrived at the river Zabatus, the breadth of which was four plethra. Here they remained three days; during which the same suspicions continued, but no open indication of treachery appeared. 2.
Clearchus therefore resolved to have a meeting with Tissaphernes, and, if it was at all possible, to put a stop to these suspicions, before open hostilities should arise from them. He accordingly sent a person to say, that he wished to have a meeting with Tissaphernes; who at once requested him to come. 3. When they met, Clearchus spoke as follows: "I am aware, O Tissaphernes, that oaths have been taken, and right-hands pledged between us, that we will do no injury to each other: nevertheless, I observe you on your guard against us, as though we were enemies; and we, perceiving this, stand on our guard against you. 4. But since, upon attentive observation, I can neither detect you in any attempt to injure us, and since, as I am certain, we have no such intentions towards you, it seemed proper for me to come to a conference with you, that we may put an end, if we can, to our distrust of one another. 5. For I have, before now, known instances of men, who, being in fear of another, some through direct accusations, and others through mere suspicion, have, in their eagerness to act before they suffered, inflicted irremediable evils upon those who neither intended nor wished anything of the kind. 6. Thinking, therefore, that such misunderstandings may be best cleared up by personal communications, I have come here, and am desirous to convince you that you have no just ground for mistrusting us. 7. In the first and principal place, the oaths, which we have sworn by the gods, forbid us to be enemies to each other; and I should never consider him to be envied who is conscious of having disregarded such obligations; for from the vengeance of the gods I know not with what speed any one could flee so as to escape,[106] or into what darkness he could steal away, or how he could retreat into any stronghold, since all things, in all places, are subject to the gods; and they have power over all everywhere alike. 8. Such are my sentiments respecting the gods, and the oaths which we swore by them, in whose keeping we deposited the friendship that we cemented; but among human advantages, I, for my own part, consider you to be the greatest that we at present possess; 9. for with your assistance, every road is easy, every river is passable, and there will be no want of provisions; but without you all our way would lie through darkness, (for we know nothing of it,) every river would be difficult to pass, and every multitude of men would be terrible, but solitude most terrible of all, as it is full of extreme perplexity. 10. And even if we should be so mad as to kill you, what else would be the consequence, than that, having slain our benefactor, we should have to contend with the king as your most powerful avenger?[107] For my own part, of how many and how great expectations I should deprive myself, if I attempted to do you any injury, I will make you acquainted. 11. I was desirous that Cyrus should be my friend, as I thought him, of all the men of his time, the most able to benefit those whom he wished to favour. But I now see that you are in the possession both of the power and the territory of Cyrus, while you still retain your own province, and that the power of the king, which was opposed to Cyrus, is ready to support you, 12. Such being the case, who is so mad as not to wish to be your friend?
"But I will mention also the circumstances from which I derive hopes that you will yourself desire to be our friend. 13. I am aware that the Mysians give you much annoyance, and these, I have no doubt, I should be able, with my present force, to render subservient to you; I am aware also that the Pisidians molest you; and I hear that there are many such nations besides, which I think I could prevent from ever disturbing your tranquillity. As for the Egyptians, against whom I perceive you are most of all incensed. I do not see what auxiliary force you could use to chastise them better than that which I now have with me. 14. If, again, among the states that lie around you, you were desirous to become a friend to any one, you might prove the most powerful of friends; and if any of them gave you any annoyance, you might, by our instrumentality, deal with them[108] as a master, as we should serve you not for the sake of pay merely, but from gratitude, which we should justly feel towards you if we are saved by your means. 15. When I consider all these things, it appears to me so surprising that you should distrust us, that I would most gladly hear the name[109] of him who is so persuasive a speaker as to make you believe that we are forming designs against you."
Thus spoke Clearchus. Tissaphernes replied as follows: 16. "I am delighted, O Clearchus, to hear your judicious observations; for, with these sentiments, if you were to meditate anything to my injury, you would appear to be at the same time your own enemy. But that you may be convinced that you have no just cause for distrusting either the king or me, listen to me in your turn. 17. If we wished to destroy you, do we appear to you to be deficient in numbers either of cavalry or infantry, or in warlike equipments, with the aid of which we might be able to do you injury, without danger of suffering any in return? 18. Or do we seem to you likely to be in want of suitable places to make an attack upon you? Are there not so many plains, which, as the inhabitants of them are friendly to us,[110] you traverse with exceeding toil? See you not so many mountains before you to be crossed, which we might, by pre-occupying them, render impassable to you? Or are there not so many rivers, at which we might parcel you out[111] as many at a time as we might be willing to engage? Some of these rivers, indeed, you could not cross at all, unless we secured you a passage. 19. But even supposing that we were baffled in all these points, yet fire at least would prove its power over the produce of the soil; by burning which, we could set famine in array against you, which, though you were the bravest of the brave, you would find it difficult to withstand. 20. How then, having so many means of waging war with you, and none of them attended with danger to ourselves, should we select from amongst them all this mode, the only one that is impious in the sight of the gods, the only one that is disgraceful in the sight of men? 21. It belongs, altogether, to men who are destitute of means, deprived of every resource, and under the coercion of necessity, and at the same time devoid of principle, to seek to effect their purposes by perjury towards the gods, and breach of faith towards men. We, O Clearchus, are not so foolish or so inconsiderate; 22. or why, when we have the opportunity of effecting your destruction, have we made no such attempt? Be well assured, that the cause of this was my desire to prove myself faithful to the Greeks, and, in consequence of doing them service, to return supported by that very body of foreign troops, to whom Cyrus, when he went up, trusted only on account of the pay that he gave them. 23. As to the particulars in which you will be of service to me, some of them you have enumerated, but of the greatest of all I am myself fully conscious; for though it is permitted to the king alone to wear the turban upright on the head, yet perhaps another than he may, with your assistance, wear that upright which is on the heart."[112] 24. Tissaphernes, in speaking thus, seemed to Clearchus to speak with sincerity, and he replied, "Do not those, then, who endeavour by calumny to make us enemies, when there are such strong inducements to friendship between us, deserve the severest of punishment?" 25. "Well, then," said Tissaphernes, "if you will come to me, as well generals as captains, in a public manner, I will inform you who they are that tell me that you are forming plots against me and my army." 26. "I will bring them all," said Clearchus, "and, on my part, will let you know the quarter whence I hear reports respecting you." 27. After this conversation, Tissaphernes, behaving to Clearchus with much courtesy, desired him to stay with him, and made him his guest at supper.
On the following day, when Clearchus returned to the camp, he plainly showed that he considered himself to be on the most friendly footing with Tissaphernes, and stated what he had proposed; and he said that those must go to Tissaphernes, whose presence he required, and that whoever of the Greeks should be proved guilty of uttering the alleged calumnies, must be punished as traitors, and persons ill-affected to the Greeks. 28. It was Menon that he suspected of making the charges, as he knew that he had had an interview with Tissaphernes in company with Ariæus, and was forming a party and intriguing against himself, in order that, having gained the whole army over to his own interests, he might secure the friendship of Tissaphernes. 29. Clearchus likewise wished the whole army to have their affections fixed on himself, and troublesome rivals to be removed out of his way.
Some of the soldiers urged, in opposition to his advice, that all the captains and generals should not go, and that they ought to place no confidence in Tissaphernes. 30. But Clearchus pressed his proposal with great vehemence, till he at length succeeded in getting five generals and twenty captains to go; and some of the other soldiers followed them, to the number of about two hundred, as if for the purpose of marketing.[113] 31. When they had arrived at the entrance of Tissaphernes' tent, the generals, who were Proxenus the Bœotian, Menon the Thessalian, Agias the Arcadian, Clearchus the Lacedæmonian, and Socrates the Achæan, were invited to enter; but the captains waited at the door. 32. Not long after, at one and the same signal, those within were seized, and those without massacred; and immediately afterwards a body of Barbarian cavalry, riding through the plain, killed every Greek, slave or freeman, that they met.
33. The Greeks, observing the motions of these cavalry from the camp, were filled with astonishment, and wondered what they could be doing, till Nicarchus an Arcadian came fleeing thither, wounded in the belly and holding his intestines in his hands, and related all that had occurred. 34. The Greeks, in consequence, ran to their arms in a state of general consternation, expecting that the enemy would immediately march upon the camp. 35. They however did not all come, but only Ariæus and Artaozus and Mithridates, who had been Cyrus's most confidential friends; and the interpreter of the Greeks said, that he saw with them, and recognised, the brother of Tissaphernes. Other Persians, equipped with corslets, to the number of three hundred, were in attendance on them. 36. As they approached the camp, they called for whatever general or captain of the Greeks might be there, to come out to them, that they might deliver a message from the king. 37. There accordingly went forth to them, with much caution, Cleanor the Orchomenian, and Sophænetus the Stymphalian, generals of the Greeks, and with them Xenophon the Athenian, that he might learn news of Proxenus. As for Cheirisophus, he happened to be absent at some village looking for provisions.
38. When they had stopped just within hearing, Ariæus said to them: "Clearchus, O Greeks, having been found guilty of perjury, and of violating the truce, has received his just punishment, and is dead; Proxenus and Menon, as having denounced his treachery, are in great honour; but the king demands of you your arms; for he says that they are his, as they belonged to Cyrus his subject." 39. To this the Greeks answered, (Cleanor the Orchomenian spoke for them,) "O Ariæus, most wicked of men, and the rest of you, as many as were the friends of Cyrus, have you no regard either for gods or men, that, after having sworn that you would consider our friends and enemies to be likewise yours, you have thus,[114] after treacherously deserting us in concert with Tissaphernes, the most godless and most unprincipled of human beings, murdered the very men to whom you swore alliance, and, abandoning us who are left, have come against us in conjunction with our enemies?" 40. Ariæus replied, "Clearchus had been previously detected in treacherous designs against Tissaphernes and Orontes, and all of us who accompany them." 41. To this Xenophon rejoined, "Clearchus, then, if he infringed the truce in violation of his oath, is deservedly punished; for it is just that those who violate their oaths should suffer death; but as for Proxenus and Menon, as they are your benefactors and our generals, send them hither; for it is clear that, being friends to both parties, they will endeavour to advise what is best both for you and for us." 42. The Barbarians, after conversing among themselves for some time, departed without making any answer to this proposal.
[Footnote 106: Οὔτ' ἀπὸ ποίου ἀν τάχους φεύγων τις ἀποφύγοι.] This is Dindorf's reading. Bornemann and Kühner have οὔτ' ἀπὸ ποίου ἀν τάχους οὔτε ὅποι ἀν τις φεύγων ἀποφύγοι, on the authority, as they say, of the best copies. Dindorf thought with Schæfer, ad Greg. Cor. p. 492, that the words οὔτε ὅποι ἀν were superfluous, and consequently omitted them.
Bornemann and Kühner see no reason why they should not be retained.]
[Footnote 107: Τὸν μέγιστον ἔφεδρον.] Ἔφεδρος properly meant a gladiator or wrestler, who, when two combatants were engaged, stood ready to attack the one that should prove victorious. See Sturz. Lex. Xen.; Schol. in Soph. Aj. 610; Hesychius; D'Orvill. ad Charit. p. 338.]
[Footnote 108: Ἀναστρέφοιο.] "Ut dominus versere, vivias, domini partes sustineas:" Ἀν must be repeated from the preceding clause; unless that particle, as Dindorf thinks, has dropped out from before ἀναστρέφοιο.
_Kühner_.]
[Footnote 109: There is in the text, as Krüger observes, a confusion of the two constructions, ἀκούσαιμι τὸ ὄνομα τούτου, ὅστις, and ἀκούσαιμι, τις.]
[Footnote 110: Ἅ ἡμῖν φίλια ὄντα.] I have here departed from Dindorf's text, which has ἅ ὑμεῖς φίλια ὄντα, κ. τ. λ.; a reading much less satisfactory than the other, to which Schneider, Bornemann, and Kühner adhere.]
[Footnote 111: Ταμιεύεσθαι.] This word is used in the same sense, 3. 47; iv. 1. 18; Thucyd. vi. 18; Plutarch, Timol. c. 27.]
[Footnote 112: Τὴν δ' ἐπὶ τῇ καρδιᾳ ---- ἔχοι.] Sc. ὄρθην. The sense is, "but to wear a tiara erect on the heart, that is, to have a kingly spirit and to aspire to dominion, is what another, by your aid, might be able to do." Tissaphernes, by this expression, wished to make it understood that he might possibly, with the support of the Greeks, aspire to the throne of Persia himself. A similar metaphor is noticed by Schæfer, (ad Greg. Corinth. p. 491.) in Philostratus v. a. iii. p. 131: δοκεῖ μοι καὶ τὸν προγνωσόμενον ἄνορ ὑγιῶς ἑαυτοῦ ἔχειν ----' καθαρῶς δὲ αὐτὸν προφητεύειν, ἑαυτοῦ καὶ τοῦ περὶ τῷ στέρνῳ τρίποδος συνιέντος.
_Kühner_. See Cyrop. viii. 3. 13. Hutchison refers to Dion Chrysost.
xiv. extr. Lucian Piscat. p. 213. See also Strabo, xv. p. 231, where the Persian tiara is said to be πίλημα πυργωτόν, in the shape of a tower; and Joseph. Ant. xx. 3. "The tiaras of the king's subjects were soft and flexible: Schol. ad Plat. de Repub." _Krüger_.]
[Footnote 113: Ὡς εἰς ἀγορὰν.] "Consequently unarmed." _Krüger_.]
[Footnote 114: Ὡς ἀπολωλέκατε.] Jacobs interprets ὡς by quàm, as equivalent to quàm turpiter! quàm impiè! But such exclamations belong rather to modern writers than to the ancients. * * * Others have conjectured ἀθέως, ἀνοσίως, ὠμῶς, ἵσως, ὅλως, οὕτως. In one manuscript ὡς is omitted; an omission approved by Larcher, Porson and some others.
Some, too, think that the sentence is ἀνακόλουθος, and that the author, forgetful how he commenced it, goes on with ὡς for ὅτι. Dindorf supposes that Cleanor must be regarded as too much provoked and agitated to mind the exact arrangement of his words. For my own part, I consider that those have the most reason on their side who think that we should read οὕτως, interpreting it, with Bornemann, _so rashly, so unjustifiably_.
From οὕτως, written compendiously, ὡς might easily have sprung.
_Kühner_.]
CHAPTER VI.
The characters of the five generals that were put to death.
1. The generals, who were thus made prisoners, were taken up to the king, and put to death by being beheaded.
One of them, Clearchus, by the general consent of all who were acquainted with him, appears to have been a man well qualified for war, and extremely fond of military enterprise. 2. For as long as the Lacedæmonians were at war with the Athenians, he remained in the service of his country; but when the peace took place, having induced his government to believe that the Thracians were committing ravages on the Greeks, and having gained his point, as well as he could, with the Ephori, he sailed from home to make war upon the Thracians that lie above the Chersonesus and Perinthus. 3. But when the Ephori, after he was gone, having for some reason changed their mind, took measures to oblige him to turn back from the Isthmus, he then no longer paid obedience to their commands, but sailed away to the Hellespont, 4. and was in consequence condemned to death, for disobedience, by the chief magistrates at Sparta. Being then an exile, he went to Cyrus; and by what methods he conciliated the favour of Cyrus, has been told in another place. Cyrus presented him with ten thousand darics; 5. and he, on receiving that sum, did not give himself up to idleness, but having collected an army with the money, made war upon the Thracians, and conquered them in battle, and from that time plundered and laid waste their country, and continued this warfare till Cyrus had need of his army; when he went to him, for the purpose of again making war in concert with him.
6. These seem to me to have been the proceedings of one fond of war, who, when he might have lived in peace without disgrace or loss, chose war in preference; when he might have spent his time in idleness, voluntarily underwent toil for the sake of military adventure; and when he might have enjoyed riches in security, chose rather, by engaging in warfare, to diminish their amount. He was indeed led by inclination to spend his money in war, as he might have spent it in pursuits of gallantry, or any other pleasure; to such a degree was he fond of war.
7. He appears also to have been qualified for military undertakings, as he liked perilous adventure, was ready to march day and night against the enemy, and was possessed of great presence of mind in circumstances of difficulty, as those who were with him on all such occasions were universally ready to acknowledge.
8. For commanding troops he was said to be qualified in as great a degree as was consistent with his temper; for he was excelled by no one in ability to contrive how an army might have provisions, and to procure them; and he was equally fitted to impress on all around him the necessity of obeying Clearchus. 9. This he effected by severity; for he was of a stern countenance and harsh voice; and he always punished violently, and sometimes in anger, so that he occasionally repented of what he had done. He punished too on principle, for he thought that there could be no efficiency in an army undisciplined by chastisement.
10. He is also reported to have said, that a soldier ought to fear his commander more than the enemy, if he would either keep guard well, or abstain from doing injury to friends, or march without hesitation against foes. 11. In circumstances of danger, accordingly, the soldiers were willing to obey him implicitly, and wished for no other leader; for they said, that the sternness in his countenance then assumed an appearance of cheerfulness, and that what was severe in it seemed undauntedness against the enemy; so that it appeared indicative of safety, and not of austerity. 12. But when they were out of danger, and were at liberty to betake themselves to other chiefs, they deserted him in great numbers; for he had nothing attractive in him, but was always forbidding and repulsive, so that the soldiers felt towards him as boys towards their master. 13. Hence it was, that he never had any one who followed him out of friendship and attachment to his person; though such as followed him from being appointed to the service by their country, or from being compelled by want or other necessity, he found extremely submissive to him. 14. And when they began under his command to gain victories over the enemy, there were many important circumstances that concurred to render his troops excellent soldiers; for their perfect confidence against the enemy had its effect, and their dread of punishment from him rendered them strictly observant of discipline. 15.
Such was his character as a commander. But he was said to have been by no means willing to be commanded by others. When he was put to death, he was about fifty years of age.
16. Proxenus the Bœotian, from his earliest youth, felt a desire to become a man capable of great undertakings; and through this desire paid Gorgias of Leontium for instruction. 17. When he had passed some time with him, and thought himself capable of command, and, if honoured with the friendship of the great, of making no inadequate return for their favours, he proceeded to take a part in this enterprise with Cyrus; and expected to acquire in it a great name, extensive influence, and abundant wealth. 18. But though he earnestly wished for these things, he at the same time plainly showed, that he was unwilling to acquire any of them by injustice, but that he thought he ought to obtain them by just and honourable means, or otherwise not at all.
19. He was indeed able to command orderly and well-disposed men, but incapable of inspiring ordinary soldiers with either respect or fear for him; he stood even more in awe of those under his command, than they of him; and evidently showed that he was more afraid of being disliked by his soldiers, than his soldiers of being disobedient to him. 20. He thought it sufficient both for being, and appearing, capable of command, to praise him who did well, and withhold his praise from the offender.
Such, therefore, of his followers, as were of honourable and virtuous character, were much attached to him, but the unprincipled formed designs upon him, as a man easy to manage. He was about thirty years old when he was put to death.
21. As for Menon the Thessalian, he ever manifested an excessive desire for riches, being desirous of command that he might receive greater pay, and desirous of honours that he might obtain greater perquisites; and he wished to be well with those in power, in order that when he did wrong he might not suffer punishment. 22. To accomplish what he desired, he thought that the shortest road lay through perjury, falsehood, and deceit; while sincerity and truth he regarded as no better than folly.
23. He evidently had no affection for any man; and as for those to whom he professed to be a friend, he was unmistakeably plotting mischief against them. He never ridiculed an enemy, but always used to talk with his associates as if ridiculing all of them.[115] 24. He formed no designs on the property of his enemies, (for he thought it difficult to take what belonged to such as were on their guard against him,) but looked upon himself as the only person sensible how very easy it was to invade the unguarded property of friends.
25. Those whom he saw given to perjury and injustice, he feared as men well armed; but sought to practise on those who were pious and observant of truth, as imbeciles. 26. As another might take a pride in religion, and truth, and justice, so Menon took a pride in being able to deceive, in devising falsehoods, in sneering at friends; and thought the man who was guileless was to be regarded as deficient in knowledge of the world.
He believed that he must conciliate those, in whose friendship he wished to stand first, by calumniating such as already held the chief place in their favour. 27. The soldiers he tried to render obedient to him by being an accomplice in their dishonesty. He expected to be honoured and courted, by showing that he had the power and the will to inflict the greatest injuries. When any one deserted him, he spoke of it as a favour on his own part that, while he made use of his services, he did not work his destruction.
28. As to such parts of his history as are little known, I might, if I were to speak of them, say something untrue of him; but those which every one knows, are these. While yet in the prime of youth he obtained, at the hands of Aristippus, the command of his corps of mercenaries. He was also, in his prime, most intimate with Ariæus, though a Barbarian, as Ariæus delighted in beautiful youths. He himself, too, while yet a beardless youth, made a favourite of Tharypas, who had arrived at manhood.
29. When his fellow-officers were put to death, because they had served with Cyrus against the king, he, though he had done the same, was not put to death with them; but after the death of the other generals, he died under a punishment inflicted by the king, not like Clearchus and the other commanders, who were beheaded (which appears to be the speediest kind of death); but after living a year in torture, like a malefactor, he is said at length to have met his end.