Expedition of Cyrus by Xenophon; Waterfield Robin; Rood Tim

Author:Xenophon; Waterfield, Robin; Rood, Tim
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, UK
Published: 2005-04-12T04:00:00+00:00

BOOK FIVE

[1] After the games, there was a meeting to plan the rest of their journey. The first to get to his feet was Leon of Thurii. ‘Speaking for myself, my friends,’ he said, ‘by now I’m fed up with packing my baggage, walking and running, carrying my arms and armour, marching in formation, standing guard, and fighting. Now that we’ve reached the sea, I want to put all this hard work behind me and sail the rest of the way. I’d like to arrive in Greece flat on my back, like Odysseus.’*

The soldiers liked the sound of this and cheered loudly, and then someone else expressed the same view—and so did everyone else who was there. Then Chirisophus got to his feet and said: ‘Men, I’m on friendly terms with Anaxibius, the naval commander of Sparta.* If you send me to him, I’m sure I’ll return with triremes and merchant ships to transport us. If you really want to travel by sea, wait for my return. I won’t be long.’

The men were delighted to hear Chirisophus’ suggestion and voted that he should set sail as soon as possible. Then Xenophon stood up and said: ‘So Chirisophus is to go and fetch ships, while we wait for him. I want to tell you what I think we should do while we’re waiting. First, we had better get provisions—and we have to get them from enemy territory, because there aren’t enough goods for sale here and only a few of us have the wherewithal to buy food. But the surrounding territory is hostile, so the chances are that casualties will be heavy if you set out after provisions in a careless and unguarded fashion. I think your safety lies in organizing foraging patrols to get provisions, instead of wandering around at random, and I think you should let us generals take charge of them.’ This proposal was carried.

‘Here’s another idea,’ Xenophon went on. ‘Some of you are going to go out looting. It would be best, I think, for anyone who is planning such a raid to inform us generals and to tell us where he’s going, so that we know how many people have left and how many people have stayed behind. Then we can help you with the arrangements, if you want us to, and if you ever need armed assistance, we know where to send it. Also, if less experienced men are involved in some such enterprise, we can try to find out the strength of those against whom they are going and offer advice accordingly’ This proposal too was carried.

‘Here’s a third point for you to consider,’ Xenophon said. ‘Our enemies have the opportunity to make plundering raids on us and they are devising schemes for doing so, which is only fair, since their property is in our hands. Moreover, they are occupying the hills above us. So I think we should post guards around the camp. If we each do our bit as guards and scouts, our enemies will have less chance to harass us.

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