Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics)

by Xenophon

  On the next day Seuthes delivered over to them what he had promised, and sent men with them to drive the cattle. As for the soldiers, up to this time they had been saying that Xenophon had gone off to Seuthes to dwell with him and to receive what Seuthes had promised him; but when they caught sight of him, they were delighted, and ran out to meet him. [56] As soon as Xenophon saw Charminus and Polynicus, he said to them: “This property has been saved for the army through you, and to you I turn it over; do you, then, dispose of it and make the distribution to the army.” They, accordingly, took it over, appointed booty-vendors, and proceeded to sell it; and they incurred a great deal of blame. [57] As for Xenophon, he would not go near them, but it was plain that he was making preparations for his homeward journey; for not yet had sentence of exile been pronounced against him at Athens. His friends in the camp, however, came to him and begged him not to depart until he should lead the army away and turn it over to Thibron.

  8. From there they sailed across to Lampsacus, where Xenophon was met by Eucleides, the Phliasian seer, son of the Cleagoras who painted the mural paintings in the Lyceum. Eucleides congratulated Xenophon upon his safe return, and asked him how much gold he had got. [2] He replied, swearing to the truth of his statement, that he would not have even enough money to pay his travelling expenses on the way home unless he should sell his horse and what he had about his person. And Eucleides would not believe him. [3] But when the Lampsacenes sent gifts of hospitality to Xenophon and he was sacrificing to Apollo, he gave Eucleides a place beside him; and when Eucleides saw the vitals of the victims, he said that he well believed that Xenophon had no money. “But I am sure,” he went on, “that even if money should ever be about to come to you, some obstacle always appears — if nothing else, your own self.” In this Xenophon agreed with him. [4] Then Eucleides said, “Yes, Zeus the Merciful is an obstacle in your way,” and asked whether he had yet sacrificed to him, “just as at home,” he continued, “where I was wont to offer the sacrifices for you, and with whole victims.” Xenophon replied that not since he left home had he sacrificed to that god. Eucleides, accordingly, advised him to sacrifice just as he used to do, and said that it would be to his advantage. [5] And the next day, upon coming to Ophrynium, Xenophon proceeded to sacrifice, offering whole victims of swine after the custom of his fathers, and he obtained favourable omens. [6] In fact, on that very day Bion and Nausicleides arrived with money to give to the army and were entertained by Xenophon, and they redeemed his horse, which he had sold at Lampsacus for fifty daries, — for they suspected that he had sold it for want of money, since they heard he was fond of the horse, — gave it back to him, and would not accept from him the price of it. [7]

  From there they marched through the Troad and, crossing over Mount Ida, arrived first at Antandrus, and then, proceeding along the coast, reached the plain of Thebes. [8] Making their way from there through Adramyttium and Certonus, they came to the plain of the Caicus and so reached Pergamus, in Mysia.

  Here Xenophon was entertained by Hellas, the wife of Gongylus the Eretrian and mother of Gorgion and Gongylus. [9] She told him that there was a Persian in the plain named Asidates, and said that if he should go by night with three hundred troops, he could capture this man, along with his wife and children and property, of which he had a great deal. And she sent as guides for this enterprise not only her own cousin, but also Daphnagoras, whom she regarded very highly. [10] Xenophon, accordingly, proceeded to sacrifice, keeping these two by his side. And Basias, the Elean seer who was present, said that the omens were extremely favourable for him and that the man was easy to capture. [11] So after dinner he set forth, taking with him the captains who were his closest friends and others who had proved themselves trustworthy throughout, in order that he might do them a good turn. But there joined him still others who forced themselves in, to the number of six hundred; and the captains tried to drive them away, so that they might not have to give them a share in the booty — just as though the property was already in hand. [12]

  When they reached the place, about midnight, the slaves that were round about the tower and most of the animals ran away, the Greeks leaving them unheeded in order to capture Asidates himself and his belongings. [13] And when they found themselves unable to take the tower by storm (for it was high and large, and furnished with battlements and a considerable force of warlike defenders), they attempted to dig through the tower-wall. [14] Now the wall had a thickness of eight earthen bricks. At daybreak, however, a breach had been made; and just as soon as the light showed through, some one from within struck with an ox-spit clean through the thigh of the man who was nearest the hole; and from that time on they kept shooting out arrows and so made it unsafe even to pass by the place any more. [15] Then, as the result of their shouting and lighting of beacon fires, there came to their assistance Itamenes with his own force, and from Comania Assyrian hoplites and Hyrcanian horsemen — these also being mercenaries in the service of the King — to the number of eighty, as well as about eight hundred peltasts, and more from Parthenium, and more from Apollonia and from the near-by places, including horsemen. [16]

  Then it was time to consider how the retreat was to be effected; so seizing all the cattle and sheep there were, as well as slaves, they got them inside of a hollow square and proceeded to drive them along with them, not because they were any longer giving thought to the matter of booty, but out of fear that the retreat might become a rout if they should go off and leave their booty behind, and that the enemy might become bolder and the soldiers more disheartened; while as it was, they were withdrawing like men ready to fight for their possessions. [17] But as soon as Gongylus saw that the Greeks were few and those who were attacking them many, he sallied forth himself, in spite of his mother, at the head of his own force, desiring to take part in the action; and Procles also came to the rescue, from Halisarna and Teuthrania, the descendant of Damaratus. [18] And Xenophon and his men, by this time sorely distressed by the arrows and sling-stones, and marching in a curved line in order to keep their shields facing the arrows, succeeded with difficulty in crossing the Carcasus river, almost half of their number wounded. [19] It was here that Agasias, the Stymphalian captain, was wounded, though he continued to fight all the time against the enemy. So they came out of it in safety, with about two hundred slaves and sheep enough for sacrificial victims. [20]

  The next day Xenophon offered sacrifice, and then by night led forth the entire army with the intention of making as long a march as possible through Lydia, to the end that Asidates might not be fearful on account of their nearness, but be off his guard. [21] Asidates, however, hearing that Xenophon had sacrificed again with a view to attacking him and that he was to come with the entire army, left his tower and encamped in villages that lay below the town of Parthenium. [22] There Xenophon and his men fell in with him, and they captured him, his wife and children, his horses, and all that he had; and thus the omens of the earlier sacrifice proved true. [23] After that they came back again to Pergamus. And there Xenophon paid his greeting to the god; for the Laconians, the captains, the other generals, and the soldiers joined in arranging matters so that he got the pick of horses and teams of oxen and all the rest; the result was, that he was now able even to do a kindness to another. [24]

  Meanwhile Thibron arrived and took over the army, and uniting it with the rest of his Greek forces, proceeded to wage war upon Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus. [25] [The governors of all the King’s territories that we traversed were as follows: Artimas of Lydia, Artacamas of Phrygia, Mithradates of Lycaonia and Cappadocia, Syennesis of Cilicia, Dernes of Phoenicia and Arabia, Belesys of Syria and Assyria, Rhoparas of Babylon, Arbacas of Media, Tiribazus of the Phasians and Hesperites; then the Carduchians, Chalybians, Chaldaeans, Macronians, Colchians, Mossynoecians, Coetians, and Tibarenians, who were independent; and then Corylas governor of Paphlagonia, Pharnabazus of the Bithynians, and Seuthes of the Thracians in Europe. [26]

  The length of the entire journey,
upward and downward, was two hundred and fifteen stages, one thousand, one hundred and fifty parasangs, or thirty-four thousand, two hundred and fifty-five stadia; and the length in time, upward and downward, a year and three months.

  CYROPAEDIA

  Translated by Walter Miller

  The Cyropaedia is a biography of the Persian King Cyrus the Great, written as a political romance, describing the education of the ideal ruler, trained to rule as a benevolent tyrant over his admiring and willing subjects. Although it is generally assumed that Xenophon did not intend Cyropaedia to be treated as a strictly historical work, it remains unclear exactly how the work should be classed with regards to genre. Its validity as a source of Achaemenid history has been repeatedly questioned, and numerous descriptions of events or persons have been determined to be in error. Xenophon (who flourished from 431 – 355 BC) was not a contemporary of Cyrus (c. 580 – 530 BC) and it is likely that at least some of the information about Persia was based on events that occurred during the later Achaemenid court, causing many critics to doubt the author’s work. Nevertheless, Xenophon had been in Persia himself, as part of the “Ten Thousand” Greek soldiers who fought on the losing side in a Persian civil war, which he recounted in his Anabasis. It is also possible that some stories of the great King were recounted by court society and that these are the basis of Xenophon’s text.

  Cyropaedia opens by considering what makes people willingly obey some rulers and not others. Everywhere, Xenophon observes, humans fail to obey their rulers; the one exception is Cyrus, king of the Persians, “who reduced to obedience a vast number of men and cities and nations”. Then follows a list of the king’s conquests and Xenophon seeks to understand why his subjects obeyed him willingly. The work narrates the king’s entire life, and so, strictly speaking, only the first of the eight books concerns the “education of Cyrus” (literally ‘cyropaedia’). The first book is devoted to Cyrus’ descent, education and his stay at the court of his maternal grandfather, the Median dynast Astyages. It has been noted by scholars that Xenophon’s description of Persian education in their pre-imperial time is strikingly unusual, and appears to be based upon the traditions of Sparta, the subject of Xenophon’s own work the Constitution of the Lacedemonians.

  Books II through to VII cover Cyrus’ life from important vassal of the Medes, to founding the largest empire the world has ever known until that time. It is in this main part of the work that the character Cyrus is often depicted as an example of classical virtue. In this version of events, Cyrus is a faithful vassal to the Medes, someone who initially helps them as a general to defend themselves from a much more powerful and assertive Babylonian Empire, which was being ruled by the tyrannical son of a more respected king. He does this partly by carefully building up alliances with nations such as the Armenians, their neighbours whom he referred to as Chaldeans, Hyrcanians, Cadusians, Saka and Susians. The remaining allies of Babylon included many nations of Asia Minor, as well as a corps of Egyptian infantry. For their final great field battle, Croesus of Lydia was general. Cyrus then returns with an increasingly international army to Babylon, and is able to avoid a long siege by deflecting the course of the river through it, and then sending soldiers in over the dry bed, during a festival night. The final eighth book concludes with an overview of Cyrus’ kingship, as well as describing the rapid collapse of the Persian Empire after the Great King’s death.

  In classical antiquity, the Cyropaedia was considered to be Xenophon’s masterpiece. Amongst classical leaders, Scipio Africanus is said to have carried a copy with him at all times and the book was reportedly also a favourite of Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar. The Cyropaedia was rediscovered in Western Europe during the late medieval period as a practical treatise on political virtue and social organisation. It became an important influence upon the late medieval and Renaissance genre known as “mirrors of princes”, which attempted to give examples of behaviour in order to educate young future rulers. It continued to be widely read and respected in the early modern period and during the Enlightenment.

  Cyrus II of Persia (c. 600 BC or 576 BC–530 BC) was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the Persian Empire expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much of Central Asia and the Caucasus. From the Mediterranean Sea and the Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest Empire the world had yet seen.

  CONTENTS

  BOOK I.

  BOOK II.

  BOOK III.

  BOOK IV.

  BOOK V.

  BOOK VI.

  BOOK VII.

  BOOK VIII.

  BOOK I.

  1. The thought once occurred to us how many republics have been overthrown by people who preferred to live under any form of government other than a republican, and again, how many monarchies and how many oligarchies in times past have been abolished by the people. We reflected, moreover, how many of those individuals who have aspired to absolute power have either been deposed once for all and that right quickly; or if they have continued in power, no matter for how short a time, they are objects of wonder as having proved to be wise and happy men. Then, too, we had observed, we thought, that even in private homes some people who had rather more than the usual number of servants and some also who had only a very few were nevertheless, though nominally masters, quite unable to assert their authority over even those few. [2]

  And in addition to this, we reflected that cowherds are the rulers of their cattle, that grooms are the rulers of their horses, and that all who are called herdsmen might properly be regarded as the rulers of the animals over which they are placed in charge. Now we noticed, as we thought, that all these herds obeyed their keepers more readily than men obey their rulers. For the herds go wherever their keeper directs them and graze in those places to which he leads them and keep out of those from which he excludes them. They allow their keeper, moreover, to enjoy, just as he will, the profits that accrue from them. And then again, we have never known of a herd conspiring against its keeper, either to refuse obedience to him or to deny him the privilege of enjoying the profits that accrue. At the same time, herds are more intractable to strangers than to their rulers and those who derive profit from them. Men, however, conspire against none sooner than against those whom they see attempting to rule over them. [3]

  Thus, as we meditated on this analogy, we were inclined to conclude that for man, as he is constituted, it is easier to rule over any and all other creatures than to rule over men. But when we reflected that there was one Cyrus, the Persian, who reduced to obedience a vast number of men and cities and nations, we were then compelled to change our opinion and decide that to rule men might be a task neither impossible nor even difficult, if one should only go about it in an intelligent manner. At all events, we know that people obeyed Cyrus willingly, although some of them were distant from him a journey of many days, and others of many months; others, although they had never seen him, and still others who knew well that they never should see him. Nevertheless they were all willing to be his subjects. [4]

  But all this is not so surprising after all, so very different was he from all other kings, both those who have inherited their thrones from their fathers and those who have gained their crowns by their own efforts; the Scythian king, for instance, would never be able to extend his rule over any other nation besides his own, although the Scythians are very numerous, but he would be well content if he could maintain himself in power over his own people; so the Thracian king with his Thracians, the Illyrian with his Illyrians, and so also all other nations, we are told. Those in Europe, at any rate, are said to be free and independent of one another even to this day. But Cyrus, finding the nations in Asia also independent in exactly the same way, started out with a little band of Persians and became the leader of the Medes by their full consent and of the Hyrcanians by theirs; he then conquered Syria, Assyria, Arabia, Cappadocia, both Phrygias, Lydia, Caria, Phoenicia, and
Babylonia; he ruled also over Bactria, India, and Cilicia; and he was likewise king of the Sacians, Paphlagonians, Magadidae, and very many other nations, of which one could not even tell the names; he brought under his sway the Asiatic Greeks also; and, descending to the sea, he added both Cyprus and Egypt to his empire. [5]

  He ruled over these nations, even though they did not speak the same language as he, nor one nation the same as another; for all that, he was able to cover so vast a region with the fear which he inspired, that he struck all men with terror and no one tried to withstand him; and he was able to awaken in all so lively a desire to please him, that they always wished to be guided by his will. Moreover, the tribes that he brought into subjection to himself were so many that it is a difficult matter even to travel to them all, in whatever direction one begin one’s journey from the palace, whether toward the east or the west, toward the north or the south. [6]