Xenophon, Anabasis

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I. Darius and Parysatis had two sons born to them, of whom the elder was Artaxerxes and the younger Cyrus.¹ Now when Darius lay sick and suspected that the end of his life was near, he wished to have both his sons with him. [2] The elder, as it chanced, was with him already; but Cyrus he summoned from the province over which he had made him satrap, and he had also appointed him commander of all the forces that muster in the plain of Castolus.² Cyrus accordingly went up³ to his father, taking with him Tissaphernes as a friend and accompanied by three hundred Greek hoplites,⁴ under the command of Xenias of Parrhasia.

[3] When Darius had died and Artaxerxes had become established as king, Tissaphernes falsely accused Cyrus to his brother of plotting against him. And Artaxerxes, believing the accusation, arrested Cyrus, with the intention of putting him to death; his mother, however, made intercession for him, and sent him back again to his province. [4] Now when Cyrus had thus returned, after his danger and disgrace, he set about planning that he might never again be in the power of his brother, but, if possible, might be king in his stead. He had, in the first place, the support of Parysatis, his mother, for she loved him better than the son who was king, Artaxerxes. [5] Again, when any of the King's court came to visit him, he treated them all in such a way that when he sent them back they were more devoted to him than to the King. He also took care that the barbarians⁵ of his own province should be capable soldiers and should feel kindly toward him. [6] Lastly, as regards his Greek force, he proceeded to collect it with the utmost secrecy, so that he might take the King as completely unprepared as possible.

It was in the following way, then, that he gathered this force: In the first place, he sent orders to the commanders of all the garrisons he had in the cities to enlist as many Peloponnesian soldiers of the best sort as they severally could, on the plea that Tissaphernes had designs upon their cities. For, in fact, the Ionian cities had originally belonged to Tissaphernes, by gift of the King,⁶ but at that time all of them except Miletus had revolted and gone over to Cyrus. [7] The people of Miletus also were planning to do the very same thing, namely, to go over to Cyrus, but Tissaphernes, finding out about it in time, put some of them to death and banished others. Cyrus thereupon took the exiles under his protection, collected an army, and laid siege to Miletus both by land and by sea, and endeavoured to restore the exiles to their city; and this, again, made him another pretext for gathering an army. [8] Meanwhile he sent to the King and urged, on the ground that he was his brother, that these Ionian cities should be given to him instead of remaining under the rule of Tissaphernes, and his mother co-operated with him in this. The result was that the King failed to perceive the plot against himself, but believed that Cyrus was spending money on his troops because he was at war with Tissaphernes. Consequently he was not at all displeased at their being at war, the less so because Cyrus regularly remitted to the King the tribute which came in from the cities he chanced to have that belonged to Tissaphernes.

[9] Still another army was being collected for him in the Chersonese which is opposite Abydus, in the following manner: Clearchus⁷ was a Lacedaemonian exile; Cyrus, making his acquaintance, came to admire him, and gave him ten thousand darics.⁸ And Clearchus, taking the gold, collected an army by means of this money, and using the Chersonese as a base of operations, proceeded to make war upon the Thracians who dwell beyond the Hellespont, thereby aiding the Greeks.⁹ Consequently, the Hellespontine cities of their own free will sent Clearchus contributions of money for the support of his troops. So it was that this army also was being secretly maintained for Cyrus.

[10] Again, Aristippus the Thessalian chanced to be a friend of Cyrus, and since he was hard pressed by his political opponents at home, he came to Cyrus and asked him for three months' pay for two thousand mercenaries, urging that in this way he should get the better of his opponents. And Cyrus gave him six months' pay for four thousand, and requested him not to come to terms with his opponents until he had consulted with him. Thus the army in Thessaly, again, was being secretly maintained for him.

[11] Furthermore, Cyrus directed Proxenus the Boeotian, who was a friend of his, to come to him with as many men as he could get, saying that he wished to undertake a campaign against the Pisidians, because, as he said, they were causing trouble to his province. He also directed Sophaenetus the Stymphalian and Socrates the Achaean, who were likewise friends of his, to come with as many men as they could get, saying that he intended to make war upon Tissaphernes with the aid of the Milesian exiles; and they proceeded to carry out his directions.

¹ In regard to the persons mentioned and the events sketched in sections1-4, see Introduction, pp. 231 sqq.

² Castolus was the mustering place for all the Persian forces of western Asia Minor. See Introd. p. 232.

³ See Introd. p. vii, note 1.

⁴ i.e. heavy-armed infantrymen, the regular “troops of the line” in Greek warfare. In this instance, of course, they are serving Cyrus as a bodyguard.

⁵ “Barbarians” is a convenient, but not an accurate, translation for barbaroi, which was simply the name the Greeks gave, without implying reproach, to all peoples who were not Greeks. In general, then, it meant “foreigners”; in most cases in the Anabasis (as here) it could be translated “Persians.”

⁶ See Introd. p. viii.

⁷ For the reason for his banishment see Xen. Anab. 2.6.2-4.

⁸ The daric was a Persian gold coin, equivalent in weight of gold to 1 2s. 2 1/2d. or $5.40, but in purchasing power to a much larger sum.

⁹ i.e. the Greeks on the European side of the Hellespont, who suffered from the incursions of their Thracian neighbours.

Cross references from Herbert Weir Smyth, A Greek Grammar for Colleges:
1146 [OTHER USES OF THE ARTICLE]
1295 [THE GENITIVE PROPER WITH NOUNS: (ADNOMINAL GENITIVE)]
1410 [GENITIVE OF SOURCE]: Dareiou kai Parusatidos gignontai paides duo
1884 [PRESENT INDICATIVE]
2179 [SYNTAX OF THE COMPLEX SENTENCE]: epei d' êsthenei Dareios kai hupôpteue teleutên tou biou, ebouleto hoi tô paide pareinai
2388 [TEMPORAL CLAUSES]: epei de êsthenei Dareios kai hupôpteue teleutên tou biou, ebouleto tô paide pareinai
1469 [DATIVE AS INDIRECT COMPLEMENT OF VERBS]: Kuros didôsin autôi hex mênôn misthon
2350 [MODIFICATIONS OF THE APODOSIS]
2068 [THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL PARTICIPLE]
1613 [EXTERNAL OBJECT AND PREDICATE ACCUSATIVE]: stratêgon auton apedeixe
1660 [PREPOSITIONS]
2096 [THE SUPPLEMENTARY PARTICIPLE NOT IN INDIRECT DISCOURSE]
2086 [ADVERBIAL ADJUNCTS OF THE PRINCIPAL VERB]
2064 [THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL PARTICIPLE]: Parusatis . . . hupêrche tôi Kurôi, philousa auton mallon ê ton basileuonta Artaxerxên
2841 [dê]
1658 [PREPOSITIONS]: hoi par' heautôi barbaroi
2259 [DIFFERENCE BETWEEN hôste WITH THE INDICATIVE AND hôste WITH THE INFINITIVE]: pantas houtô diatitheis hôste autôi einai philous
2569 [INDICATIVE FORM OF GENERAL CONDITIONAL RELATIVE CLAUSES]
* [1. ex, ek with the (Ablatival) Genitive only]
2966 [plên]
1108 [ho, hê, to AS A DEMONSTRATIVE IN ATTIC PROSE]: tous men apekteine, tous d' exebalen
1210 [THE PRONOUN autos]: ta auta tauta
1668 [REPETITION AND OMISSION OF PREPOSITIONS, ETC.]: kai kata gên kai kata thalattan
2068 [THE CIRCUMSTANTIAL PARTICIPLE]: sullexas strateuma epoliorkei Milêton
2147 [REMARKS ON SOME USES OF PARTICIPLES]
1112 [ho, hê, to AS A DEMONSTRATIVE IN ATTIC PROSE]
1481 [DATIVE OF INTEREST]: allo strateuma autôi sunelegeto
* [1. apo with the Genitive only]: strateuma sunelexen apo chrêmatôn
* [2. huper with the Accusative]: hoi huper Hellêsponton oikountes

Cross references from Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache (ed. Ildar Ibraguimov):
455 [Von dem Reflexivpronomen insbesondere).]
461 [e) Ho, hê, to als eigentlicher Artikel, wie er sich vollständig in der attischen Mundart, besonders in der Prosa entwickelt hat.]
465 [Gebrauch des Artikels bei Pronomen und Zahlwörtern mit und ohne Substantiv.]
373 [Aktive Form.]
374 [B. Medialform.)]
448 [f. Attraktion bei den Präpositionen mit dem Artikel.]
455 [Von dem Reflexivpronomen insbesondere).]
349b [Bemerkungen über die Komparation der Adjektive, Adverbien und Verben.]
430 [2) Apo, von, und ex, ek, aus.]
382 [a) Praesens.]
451 [i. Wiederholung und Weglassung der Präpositionen.]
423 [Der eigentliche Dativ.]
435 [c. Huper, über.]
459 [g) Ho, hê, to mit Demonstrativbedeutung in der Prosa.]

Cross references from Raphael Kühner, Bernhard Gerth, Ausführliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache (ed. Ildar Ibraguimov):
568 [Bemerkung über die Konstruktion der Konjunktion prin (§ 566, 1, c)).]
488 [Hôs in Verbindung mit dem Partizipe.]
500 [Konfirmatives dê.]
472 [a) Infinitiv ohne Artikel als Subjekt und Prädikat.]
492 [Asyndetische und syndetische Verbindung der Partizipien).]
482 [Fortsetzung über das ergänzende Partizip.]
490 [Häufiger Gebrauch der Partiz. im Griechischen. — Partiz. st. des Verbi finiti. — Verbindung des Verbi finiti u. des Partizips von Verben gleichen Stammes. — Übergang der Partizipialkonstruktion in die des Verbi finiti. — Verbindung des Partizips mit Relativ- oder Fragpronomen.]
546 [Bemerkungen über die asyndetische Aneinanderreihung der Sätze).]

Cross references from W. W. How, J. Wells, A Commentary on Herodotus:
3, 90, 1 [BOOK III]

Cross references from T. G. Tucker, Commentary on Thucydides: Book 8:
8, 37, 1

Cross references from Jeffrey A. Rydberg-Cox, Overview of Greek Syntax:
dat [Dative]: Kuros didôsin autôi hex mênôn misthon
acc [Accusative]: stratêgon auton apedeixe
nom [Nominative]: Klearchos phugas ên

Cross references from Harry Thurston Peck, Harpers Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1898):
metallum [Metallum]
sarus [Sarus]
zabatus [Zabătus]
parysatis [Parysătis]
proxenus2 [Proxĕnus]

Cross references from William Watson Goodwin, Syntax of the Moods and Tenses of the Greek Verb:
410 [2. With Supposition contrary to Fact.]
864 [Adverbs connected with the Circumstantial Participle.]
864 [Adverbs connected with the Circumstantial Participle.]
33 [I. Tenses of the Indicative: Present.]: Dareiou kai Parusatidos gignontai paides duo
472 [Peculiar Forms of Conditional Sentences: Substitution and Ellipsis in Protasis.—Protasis without a Verb.]
658 [prin (as Adverb), paros, proteron, prosthen, etc., before prin, in the Leading Sentence.]
58 [Aorist.]: Kuron de metapempetai apo tês archês hês auton satrapên epoiêsen
59 [Aorist.]: Epeidê eteleutêse Dareios kai katestê Artaxerxês
534 [II. General Conditional Relative Sentences.]
587 [hôste with the Infinitive.]

Cross references from Josiah Renick Smith, Xenophon: Memorabilia:
1, 2, 52

This text is based on the following book(s):
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 3. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. 1980.
OCLC: 10290977
ISBN: 0674991001

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