Chapter 25 Volume Four I

①At about the end of the watch, when they could still cross the plain in the dark before dawn, they got up and moved forward at the order, and arrived at the foot of the mountain at dawn.Chrysophus led his own troops and all the light troops in advance; Xenophon followed with the rear guard of heavy armor, without any light soldiers, because when they went up the hill, it seemed that there was no danger of any pursuit from behind.Chrisophus reached the top of the mountain path before the enemy noticed, and then led the way slowly.The whole army crossed the top of the mountain and followed them to the villages scattered in the corners of the valley.The Kadukyas abandoned their houses and fled to the mountains with their wives and children.The provisions are very rich, and the Greek army can take them as much as they want, and there are many bronze utensils in the house.But the Greek army did not take away any utensils, nor did they chase those people, and they were not rude. I hope that the Kadukya people may see that the Greek army is also the enemy of the Persian king, and they may let them pass through this area in a friendly manner.But they took what they found, such as food and fodder, because they needed it; and when they greeted them, these Kadukyas paid no attention to them, and made no other friendly gestures.When the rearguard of the Greek army came down from the top of the mountain road to the village—it was dark at this time, and it took them a whole day to go up and down because the road was narrow and difficult—some Kadukyas gathered to meet the last of the Greek army. The troops attack.Though they were few in number, they killed some of the Greeks, and wounded some badly with stones and arrows, for the Greeks met them unexpectedly.But had they assembled in greater numbers at that time, the bulk of the Greek army would have been in danger of being destroyed.So the Greeks camped in the village; while the Kadukians lit many torches all around the hill, and shouted to each other.

At daybreak the generals and captains assembled together and decided to take only the essentials and the strongest pack animals on the march, and to abandon the rest; at the same time, all the new prisoners in the army were released, not a single one was left behind. .The multitude of pack animals and captives slowed down the march, and the multitude of soldiers who supervised them were prevented from joining the ranks of battle.Plus, with so many people eating, twice as many supplies had to be found and carried.After the decision, they announced the order and executed it separately. When they were about to set off after breakfast, the generals quietly sent people to block the pass, and began to check whether there were any items in the team that had not been thrown away, and took them away if they found them.The soldiers obeyed; only some, such as a beautiful boy or woman in love, were smuggled across.On this day, they fought and rested for a while and continued to move forward.The next day, a great storm blew up, but they had to continue marching because their provisions were insufficient.Cherisophus led the way and Xenophon led the rear.Here the enemy launched a strong attack and approached in the narrow places on the way, throwing stones and arrows.As a result the Greeks were forced to pursue and then retreat, so progress was slow.Often when the enemy was closing in, Xenophon sent word to Cherisophus to wait.Cherisophus often waited when word came, but this time he did not do so, but led the rapid advance, while sending back orders to follow him.This is obviously a special situation, but there is no time to go forward to find out the reason why they are so hurried.As a result, the advance of the rear guard was more

Like a battle, not a march.At this time, a warrior, Lunymus, a Lakonian, was killed by an arrow through the shield armor and entered the waist; Barcia, an Arcadian, was shot through the head and died. As soon as they had reached the resting place, Xenophon went straight up to Cherisophus, and reproached him for not waiting, and forcing them to run and fight.He went on to say, "Now, two valiant warriors have lost their lives, and we have not yet been able to pack up and bury their bodies." Kerisonans replied, "Look at these mountains, how steep they are And cannot be crossed: there is only one road, you see, and it is steep. There, you can see the great crowd occupying and guarding our way. So I hurried on, and did not wait for you, because I wish to reach the pass before them, and occupy it. Our guide says there is no other way." Xenophon replied, "Well, I have two men here. For when the enemy made trouble with us, we fought It was an ambush. On the one hand, we could catch our breath and killed many of them. We made a special effort to get a few prisoners who knew the area, just to be used as guides.

Immediately they brought the two men up, and asked whether they knew of any other way than the one before them.The first person said he did not know, although many threats were made to him.Since he refused to provide information, he killed the second person in front of him.The second person said that the former claimed that he did not know of another way because he had a daughter who happened to live nearby with her promised husband.He said that he was willing to lead the Greek army on a road that even pack animals could pass.Ask him if there is any difficult place to pass on the road, he replied that there is a high ground, and it is impossible to pass without occupying it first.

So it was decided to summon the captains of the light and heavy armored soldiers, explain the current situation to them, and ask if any of them would like to be brave and volunteer to undertake the task of this expedition.Volunteers came forward, among the heavily armored soldiers Aristonimus the Methidrian and Agathia the Stenphalian came forward to volunteer, and Callimachus the Palacian also came out Competed with them to go out, saying that he would lead the volunteers of the whole army to take on this mission, and then said, "Because I know that if I take the lead, many young people will go with me." So they asked the captains of the light troops if they Someone is going to join this march.

Among the volunteers was Aristes of Chios.He has been credited with the whole army in such missions many times.