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Chapter 4 Volume 1

The Long March 色诺芬 1281Words 2018-03-21
Darius and Palisades had two sons, named Artaxes and Cyrus.At this time Darius was ill, and thought he was dying, and wanted his two sons to stay by his side.The eldest son is already by his side.Cyrus, the second son, was stationed abroad as governor of the province and commander of all the troops assembled on the plain of Castellus.Immediately, Cyrus was ordered to rush to his father's side, accompanied by his friend Tisafonis, and was protected by three hundred Greek hoplites led by Zenias of Palasia. Darius died, and Artaxersis was made king.Later, Ti Saphonis slandered the new king and falsely accused his younger brother Cyrus of plotting rebellion.Artaxes believed this false accusation, arrested Cyrus, and was about to die.But the queen mother came forward to intercede for him, and sent him back to the original province.Cyrus suffered and humiliated in this way, and when he returned, he began to plan not to be controlled by his brother's power, and to take the throne if possible.

First of all, he has the support of his mother, Queen Palisades, because she loves him more than her eldest son, the current king Artaxes.Besides, whenever there were visitors from the court, he always treated them well; as a result, they returned more loyal to him than to the king.He also paid attention to making the local Persian barbarians in this province ③ capable warriors, so that they liked him well.Finally, as regards his Greek troops, he raised them in the utmost secrecy, in order to keep the king as unprepared as possible. This is how he recruited his troops: First, he ordered all the garrison officers to select as many of the best Peloponnesian soldiers as possible, and threatened Tisafonis to attack his city.In fact, these Ionian cities were originally given to Tisafnes by the king, but at that time all except Miritu rebelled to Cyrus.The Miritus also planned to join Cyrus, but Tisafnes, discovering it in time, put some to death and others to exile.Cyrus took these exiles back to his subordinates for protection, recruited an army, and besieged Miritu from land and sea, trying to bring these exiles back to their original city.

This provided him yet another excuse to raise an army.At the same time he sent to the king, and demanded, on the grounds of fraternity, that these Ionian cities should come under his control, and that Tisaphornes should no longer rule.This matter was also assisted by his mother.As a result, the king was unaware of a plot against himself, thinking that Cyrus spent money to expand his army in order to fight Tisaphornes.Artazesis did not object to the war between the two of them, especially since Cyrus often sent tribute to the king from the city that belonged to Tisafnes under his control, which made him even less concerned. .

At Kersonis, opposite Abydus, another army was recruited for him in the following manner: Clearchus was an exile from Lacidemon.Cyrus knew him, appreciated him very much, and gave him ten thousand Dalic ① gold coins.Having received these moneys, Clearchus raised an army with it, and from Kersones as his base of operations, went to the aid of the Greeks against the Thracians who dwelt beyond the Hellespont.It turned out that these Hellespont cities offered and voluntarily contributed money to Clearchus to support his troops.This army was again kept secret for Cyrus. Meanwhile, Aristyrus of Thessaly was a friend of Cyrus.Because he is being attacked by domestic political enemies

The middle refers to "Persians". ——English translator's note The attack was very pressing, so he came to Julutu to ask for three months' full money for two thousand mercenaries, so that he could overwhelm the opponent. Cyrus immediately gave him six-month military pay for four thousand men, and asked him not to make peace with the other party before discussing with him.In this way, the army in Thessaly became his secret armed force again. Also, Cyrus ordered his friend Proxinus the Boeotian to bring as many soldiers as he could to him, declaring that he was going to conquer the Pisidians because they were making trouble.He also instructed his other friends Sophinetus of Stenphalia and Socrates of Achaia to lead as many soldiers as possible, threatening that he would use the Miritus exiles to attack Tisafnes.These people all split up and acted according to the order.

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