Chapter 11 Volume 1 VIII

Before noon that day, he was about to reach the place where Cyrus planned to stop.Partikias, a Persian confidant under Cyrus' tent, came galloping on a sweaty horse, shouted to everyone in Persian and Greek that the king was leading the army to prepare for battle.There was great confusion at this moment, for the Greek soldiers and the rest of the army actually thought that the king's army was about to attack them in a scattered and unprepared manner.At this time, Cyrus jumped down from the chariot, put on his breastplate, mounted his horse, held a gun and sent a message to everyone to arm themselves, and everyone should take their positions immediately.They then hastened to their positions, with Clearchus occupying the right hand of the Hellenic wing, near the Euphrates; Proxinus close behind him.The others lined up outside Proxinus.Menon led the army to occupy the left head of the Greek army.As for the Polish army, the Paphragonian cavalry, numbering a thousand, lined up on the right flank of Clearcus, together with the Greek light shields; and their cavalry numbered about six hundred. These troops all wore breastplates and greaves, and bronze helmets, except Cyrus, who fought without a helmet, and all horses had frontals and breastplates, In addition to their weapons, soldiers also wear Greek sabers.

By noon, the enemy had not yet appeared.But in the afternoon, a puff of smoke and dust was seen rising. At first, it looked like a cloud of white clouds, but after a while, it looked like a long stretch of black smoke on the plain.The enemy is getting closer and closer, and immediately the cold light of weapons is shining everywhere. At this time, spears and enemy soldiers can be seen.On the left flank of the enemy there was a cavalry in heavy cavalry armor, reported to be under the command of Tisafonis; followed by soldiers with cane shields, and then hoplites with wooden shields as long as they reached their feet, these are said to be It's Egyptian.Then there were more horsemen and more bowmen.All these teams marched in national formations, each forming a close square formation.In front of them are the so-called hob chariots, at some distance from each other; the hobs with them protrude from the central axis on both sides, and are also installed under the body, pointing to the ground, so as to cut and fragment everything they come across. Come, the intention is to drive directly into the Greek army formation and smash the team.Cyrus was wrong when he summoned the Greeks and told them to roar and stand firm in the face of the Poles; Even.

At this time Cyrus rode forward with the procession, with only his interpreter Pigris and three or four others.He called to Clearcus to lead his troops to the center of the enemy, for the king stood there, and said, "If we win here, our whole task will be accomplished." But Clearcus, because he saw The enemy's central formation was solid, and he heard from Cyrus that the king was beyond his left flank (because the king's army was much larger than them, so that even though he was in the center of his own team, he was also beyond Cyrus' left flank), he did not want to Draw the right wing away from the river, for fear that he will be attacked on both sides.He replied to Cyrus that he would arrange for everything to go smoothly.

At this critical moment, the king's army marched in order.But the Greek troops remained in place, still waiting for the people who came up from behind to regroup.Meanwhile Cyrus rode along the road some distance from his party, Look at both the enemy and the friend.An Athenian named Xenophon saw him from among the Greek troops, and he came up to meet him and asked if he had any orders.Cyrus stopped his horse and told Xenophon to tell everyone that the sacrifice and omen were good.While saying this, he heard shouts from the middle of the queue, and asked what was going on.Xenophon replied that it was repeating the password.Cyrus didn't know who sent it, and asked what the password was.Xenophon replied that it was "Zeus the Savior and Victory".After hearing this, Cyrus said, "Well, I agree, let it be this." After saying this, he galloped back to his place.

In the end, the enemy columns were less than three or four stadia apart.At this time, the Greek army chanted and began to attack the enemy.As they advanced, part of the phalanx rushed out, and those left behind began to run. At the same time they all shouted to the god of war, and the whole army ran together.It is said that some of them frighten the horses of the enemy army by clattering their spears and shields.In this way, the Polish army was defeated and fled without firing an arrow.The Greek army immediately pursued with all their strength, but at the same time they shouted to each other not to run around in a hurry but to maintain their ranks during the pursuit.As for the enemy's chariots, some rushed past their own ranks, but others also broke into the ranks of the Greeks, but they missed the chariots.Whenever the Greek army saw the enemy team coming, they opened a gap to let them pass.True, one man was caught, like a man dazed on a race track, but even that man was said to be unhurt.In the Greek army, no one was injured in this battle except for one person on the left flank who was shot in a tendon.

Cyrus saw that the Greek army had defeated the opponent's division, and was pursuing; although he was happy, and the court of attendants had paid homage to him at this time, he did not want to participate in the pursuit.At this time, he was just keeping his six hundred light cavalry in strict formation, watching the king's movement.He knew that the king was in the center of the Polish army.In fact, all the Polish generals were in the center of their headquarters when they commanded the battle, because they thought this was the safest position, that is, they deployed their troops on both sides, and it would save half the time for sending orders. all over.At this time the king was in the center of the army, but he himself was still outside Cyrus' left flank.Then, since there was no confrontation between himself and the ranks before him, he turned his ranks in order to outflank the enemy.

At this moment Cyrus, fearing that he would turn around behind the Greeks and divide them, rushed to the king to meet him.With his six hundred troops he overcame the king's line of troops, and caused his six thousand troops to flee, and it is said that he killed the commander Artagises with his own hands.But when the enemy fled, Cyrus' 600 troops scattered in pursuit.There are only a few people around him, most of whom are his so-called tablemates and cronies.At this time, when he saw the king and the dense array around him, he couldn't control himself immediately, shouted "you are here", and rushed forward to punch him in the chest, piercing his breastplate, and stabbing him——Medical Officer Ke Taisia ​​said so, and said that he personally healed the trauma.

But when Cyrus delivered this blow, someone struck him hard under the eye with a javelin.At this time a struggle arose between the king's and Cyrus' respective entourages and supporters.The number of deaths on the king's side was counted by Ketaixia, the attendant medical officer at the time; on the other hand, Turus himself was killed, and eight of his highest attendants died in battle on him.It is said that Artapates, one of Cyrus' most loyal followers and ministers of the chamber, jumped off his horse and embraced Cyrus when he saw that Cyrus was killed in battle.Some say that the king ordered him to be killed on Cyrus, others that he drew his dagger and killed himself.He had a golden dagger, and he also wore necklaces, bracelets, and other adornments of the noblest Persians; Cyrus esteemed him highly for his loyalty, his friendship.