Chapter 17 Volume II IV

Afterwards, the Greek army and Alireus camped close to each other and waited for Tisaphornes for more than 20 days.During this time Arireus' brothers and other relatives came to see him, and some Persians came to see his retinue.They were always encouraging, and brought some of them assurances from the king that he would hold no grudge against them for their rebellion with Cyrus or any other past event.While these things were going on, Arireus and his entourage evidently paid little attention to the Greek army.So again this made most of the Greek army unhappy with them.They went to Clearcus and the other generals, and said: "Why are we so delaying?

Don't we understand that the king wanted to destroy us at once, so that other Greeks would not dare to attack him?For a while he plotted to keep us here, for his army was scattered; but when he regrouped, he had no problem attacking us.Perhaps he has dug ditches or erected long walls in some places to cut us off and make our way impossible.For, if he could, he would never have wanted us to go back to Greece, say we were small, but victorious at the king's gate, and laugh at him to his face, and then go home again. ’ replied Clearkus, who spoke in this way: ‘I have these things in mind, too, but I also think that if we go away now, it will appear that we are going away with hostility and breaking the truce.At that time, first of all, no one will provide us with a market or a place where we can get food; secondly, we will have no one to lead the way; friends, for even those who were friendly to us will become our enemies.And don't forget the river—for all I know, there will be other rivers that must be crossed.We all know the Euphrates, we cannot cross it in the face of the enemy.In addition, when we need to fight, we have no cavalry to help us, and the enemy's cavalry is very large and excellent; therefore, who can we kill when we win?But if we are defeated, none of us will be saved.So, I personally don't see why the king, who has so many advantages on his side, would make an oath before the gods if he was really eager to destroy us, and then break the oath, so that he would appear in the eyes of the Greeks and Boss Become a person who breaks faith. ’ Clearkus advanced many such arguments.

At this time Tisaphornes returned with his own troops, as if returning home; and so did Orontas with his army, who returned home with the king's daughter as his wife.So they finally started the journey.Tisaphornes led the way and offered a market; Arireus and Cyrus' Polish army marched with Tisaphornes and Orontas, and camped together.But the Greeks viewed them with suspicion, and acted alone, with their own guides. Every time the two camps were set up, the distance between them was more than one parasang, and they set up guards against each other, as if facing the enemy-this matter immediately aroused suspicion.Sometimes, when people from Greece and Poland fetch firewood or gather fodder from the same place, they will beat each other, which also arouses resentment.

After traveling for three stops, they reached the so-called Median Wall③, and passed through it in the direction of Babylon to the southeast.The wall is made of burnt bricks covered with asphalt.Twenty feet wide and a hundred feet high, it is said to be twenty parasangs long, not far from Babylon.From here they went two stations, eight parasangs, and crossed two artificial rivers on the way, one was through the station bridge, and the other was a pontoon bridge made of seven boats.These water sources come from the Tigris River.From these man-made rivers many ditches were dug into the country, at first large, then gradually smaller, until at last they became small canals like those which fed the cornfields of Greece.

At this time they reached the Tigris River, and near the river was a large and densely populated city named Sitas, fifteen stadi from the river.So the Greeks pitched their camp near the city, beside which was a large and beautiful garden full of various luxuriant trees.The Polish army crossed the Tigris River before setting up camp.The Greeks could no longer see them.After supper, Proxinus and Xenophon happened to take a walk in front of the place where the weapons were stored.At this moment a man came forward and asked the outer sentry where to find Proxinus or Clearcus--he did not ask Menon, though he had come from Menon's friend Alireus.Then Proxinus said, "I am the man you are looking for." And the man said, "I am sent by Arireus and Artauzus, who are loyal to the well of Cyrus and are friendly to you. They I charge you to be on the lookout, lest these Poles attack you by night, for there is a great army in the great garden adjoining.

They also charged you to send a guard to watch the bridge over the Tigris, because Tisafnes intended to destroy it at night, if possible, so that you could not pass, and thus be trapped between the river and the waterway. To hear this, they brought him to Clearcus, and repeated the above message.Clearkus was very disturbed and frightened. At this time, there was a young man among the people present. After thinking deeply, he said: The two news, the plan to attack and the plan to destroy the bridge, are illogical. "Obviously," he went on, "if they come to attack, they will win or lose. If they win, why destroy bridges? For even if there were many bridges we would have nowhere to escape to be saved. But if we win Well, the bridge has been destroyed, and they will have nowhere to escape. And, although there is a large army there, no one can come to rescue them when the bridge is destroyed."

After hearing this, Clearcus asked the envoy how big the area was between the Tigris and the waterway. He replied that the land was very large, and there were many villages and big towns.Then I understood that the Polish army sent this person to lie, fearing that the Greek army would destroy the bridge and defend the area between the river and the waterway.In that way, they thought, the Greeks would be fed from the vast fertile and cultivated land between the river and the watercourse, and that the spot would also be a place of refuge for anyone who would do harm to the king. Afterwards, the Greeks went to rest, but they did send a guard to the bridge.According to reports from the guards, no one attacked our army from either side that night, and no enemy army came to the bridge.It was daylight and they started to cross the bridge.The bridge was built with thirty-seven ships.They crossed the bridge with great garrison, for they had word from the Greeks at Tisafonis that the enemy would attack them on the bridge, but this was all rumor.It is true that Gluth did appear as they passed, and with a few others to see if they were crossing the river; but as soon as he saw them, he rode away.

From the Tigris they advanced four stations, twenty parasangs, to the Phiscus.The width of this river is a plathron, and there is a bridge over it.Here is a large city called Opis, near to the left, the Greek army met Cyrus and the illegitimate brothers of Artaxes, who according to him came to support with a large army from Susa and Ecbatana. King's.He stopped his army and watched the Greeks pass by.Clearkus led the team in front of them, shoulders level, pausing from time to time as they marched.As long as he stops the vanguard, the whole army must be stopped for that long.The result was that even the Greeks themselves felt that their army was huge.The Persian was also shocked as he looked at them.From there they marched through Media, six wasteland stations, and thirty parasangs, to the villages of Cyrus and Palysatis, Queen Mother.As an insult to Cyrus, Tisafnes gave these villages - except the slaves in them - to be plundered by the Greeks.In these villages there were large quantities of grain and livestock and other property, and from here they advanced four wasteland stations, twenty parasangs, along the right bank of the Tigris.At the first stop across the river, there was a great and prosperous city called Gaine, from where the Bo people crossed in leather rafts, bringing bread, cheese, and wine.