Xenophon: Anabasis Books I-VII (Loeb Classical Library)

327 Pages·1960·15.55 MB·English

by  Xenophon

THE LOEB CLASSICAL LIBRARY
FOUNDED BY JAMES LOEB, LL.D.
EDITED BY
G. P. GOOLD, PH.D.
FORMER EDITORS
t T. E. PAGE, C.H., LITT.D. t E. CAPPS, PH.D., LL.D.
t W. H. D. ROUSE, LITT.D. t L. A. POST, L.H.D.
E. H. WARMINGTON, M.A., F.R.HIST.SOC.
XENOPHON
III
ANABASIS
BOOKS I-VII
90
XENOPHON
IN SEVEN VOLUMES
III
ANABASIS
')
! BOOKS I-VII
WITH AN ENGLISH TRANSLATION BY
CARLETON L. BROWNSON
COLLEGE OF TIlE OITY OF NEW YORK
'.,
,
,
··f
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
HARVARD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON
WILLIAM HEINEMANN LTD
MOMLXXX
American ISBN 0-674-99100'-1
British ISBN 0 434 99090 6
CONTENTS
First printed 1922
Reprinted 1932, 1947, 1961, 1968, 1980 PAGE
ANABASIS-
IN'l'RODUCTION vii
MANUSCRIPTS AN D EDITIONS xv
:BOOK 1 1
BOOK II 103
BOOK III . 175
:BOOK IV 255
BOOK V 347
BOOK VI . 435
BOOK VII 511
INDEX TO ANABASIS 627
MAP-THE MARCH OF THE TEN THOUSAND . At end
Printed in Great Britain by
Fletcher & Son, Norwich
v
INTRODUCTION
XENOPHl)N'S Anabasis 1 is the story of the expe
dition which Cyrus the Younger led against his
2
brother Artaxerxes II., king of Persia, in the hope
of gaining for himself the Persian throne; of the
retreat. to the Euxine Sea, after the death of Cyrus,.
of the" Ten Thousand" Greeks who had made part
of his army; and of their ultimate return to western
Asia Minor.
Cyrus. undertook his ill-fated expedition in
401 B.C. Before that time he had played a some
what prominent part in Greek history. Toward the
close of the great struggle for supremacy between
Athens and Sparta, which lasted from 431 to 404 B.C.
and is known as the Peloponnesian War, the
Spartans had concluded an alliance with Tissa
phernes, Persian satrap of Lydia and Ionia and
1 The verb aval3alvt=,v, lU. "to go Up,'J was used of any
journey from the sea coast to the higher lands of the interior,
but more especially of the famous route from the Greek
coast of Asia l\linor to the Persian capital, Snsa. Hence
the noun i1.vd/3auIS-" Anabasis." It will be seen that the
title properly belongs only to the first part of Xenophon's
story.
Usually so called to distinguish hird", fromeyrus the
I
Great, the founder of the Persian Empire.
vii
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
commander-in-chief of all the Persian forces of this task he showed himself able, zealous, and
western Asia Minor. Tissaphernes hoped that with straightforward. The aid which he rendered to the
the help of the Spartans he might regain control of Spartans was certainly a most important, perhaps an
the Greek cities on the Asiatic coast which had essential, factor in bringing about their final triumph
formerly been under Persian rule, but were now over the Athenians.
included in the Athenian Empire; the Spartans, on Shortly before the conclusion of the Peloponnesian
their side, were to receive subsidies from him for the War, i.e. in 405 B.C., Cyrus was called away from his
support of their fleet. Tissaphernes, however, was a post in Asia Minor to be present at the death-bed
double-dealer by nature; furthermore, hc was per of his father.1 But his participation in the war
suaded by the Athenian Alcihiades that it was to had given him opportunity to learn the immense
the interest of Persia that neither Greek belligerent superiority of the Greek soldier and Greek methods
should triumph, but that both should exhaust them~ of warfare over the Persian soldier and Persian
selves by continued warfare. Accordingly he soon warfare, and to establish relations of friendship with
~educed and finally cut off altogether the stipulated many officers of the Peloponnesian forces; further_
grants of money to the Spartans. ~'hen the latter more, the termination of the war in 404 B.C., after it
protested to the then reigning king of Persia, had lasted more than a qualter of a century, released
Darius 11., against this breach of fai t.h , the king from military service thousands of men who knew no
commissioned Cyrus, the younger of his two sons, as other calling and had no desire to turn to peaceful
satrap of Lydia, Greater Phrygia, and Cappadocia, pursuits. These circumstances explain not only why
and military commander of all western Asia Minor.' Cyrus wished, but how he was able, to enlist Greeks
Thus Cyrus practically superseded Tissaphernes, who for the great enterprise upon which he soon after
was divested of his military authority and retained wards embarked, viz. his attempt to dethrone his
only the lesser part-10nia-"-of his former satrapy. brother Artaxerxes.
Cyrus entered upon his important offices in 407 B.C., The only reason for this attempt which Xenophon
when he was but seventeen years of age. He had offers in the Anabasis 2 was the resentment and
been instructed by Darius to give whole-hearted humiliation which Cyrus felt in consequence of his
support to the Spartans, whose fortunes seemed to arrest by Artaxerxes at the time when the latter,
be then at their lowest ebb. In the performance of 'lssuming the royal power upon the death of Darius
1 AnabaBi8J I. i. 2. I A "abasis, I. i. 2. ·1.i.4.
viii ix
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
(405 B.C.), was led by the false 1 accusation of Tissa that the narrative was based upon full notes which
phernes to believe that Cyrus was plotting against Xenophon must have taken during the progress of the
him. We learn from other sources that Cyrus had events which it covers; and the natural assumption
expected to be designated by Darius as heir to the that it would have been reduced to final form wllile
throne, partly because he was the favourite son of these events were still fresh in the thoughts of the
the queen,2 and still more because he was" born in writer and his countrymen is supported by internal
the purple," i.e. after the accession of Darius, while evidence, viz. characteristics of style which appear to
Artaxerxes was not. In fact, it was for precisely mark the Anabasis as one of Xenophon's earlier works.
these reasons that Xerxes, eighty years before, had On the other hand, an autobiographical digression in
been chosen king of Persia to the exclusion of an the fifth book 1 was probably composed as late as
older brother. ' 370 B.C.; and secondly, when Xenophon alludes to
Xenophon was an eye-witness of the events which the expedition of Cyrus in a passage 2 of his Hellenica
he describes in the Anabasis. He had joined the which was written c. 380 B.C., he refers his reader for
expedition, "not as general or captain or private," fuller information to a history of the expedition by
3
but upon the solicitation of his friend Proxenus, who "Themistogenes the Syracusan," thus implying,
was one of the Greek generals in Cyrus' sel'Vice. At apparently, that his own Anabasis was not at that
this time Xenophon was probably somewhat less than time in existence. A reasonable way of reconciling
thirty years of age. Despite his comparative youth, these conflicting indications has been found in the
and despite the fact that he was an Athenian in an view that Xenophon's A nabas;s was written, in very
army of Peloponnesians,4 he was destined to play the nearly its present form, soon after the author returned
leading part in the famous retreat of the Ten to Greece from Asia iii. 394 B.C., but was not published
Thousand, a part which he describes with simple until c. 370 B.C. It is held that Xenophon may well
directness and unaffected modesty. have wished to delay until his later years the publi
The time of the composition of the Anabasis ,has cation of a work in which he himself figured so
prominently. .
been a subject for dispute. It can hardly be doubted
The march of the Ten Thousand Greeks from
That Xenophon BO regarded it is made clear by his use of
1
Sardis to the gates of Babylon, and thence back to
the verb 1Jta/laAAfi (I. i. 3, Bee translation).
2 A nfJ,basi:~, I. i. 4. s A nal}a8i.~, III. i. 4. the Greek coast of the Euxine Sea, was an historical
• cpo I. i. 6 and the roll of the Greek generals, r. i. 9-ii. 3.
Cyrus' previous associations, it will be remembered, had been
with PeloponnoBians ollly. I V. iii. 7-13. • rn. i. 2.
X xi
INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION
event of the first importance. Defeating with scarcely and consulted in matters of common interest. They
an effort Persian forces many times their number, have been truly called" a marching democracy,"" a
and accomplishing a safe return despite all the roving commonwealth," "deliberating and acting,
efforts of Artaxerxes to hinder them, they revealed fighting and voting; an epitome of Athens set adrift
to all men the utter weakness of the immense, much in the centre of Asia." One hardly needs other
vaunted, and much dreaded Persian Empire. Greek evidence of the strength, the character, and the
statesmen and commanders were not slow to read temper of a people who.;e "mercenary" troops were
the lesson. In the words of Francis Bacon 1: "This men like these.
young scholar or philosopher [Xenophon], after all The Anabasis is valuable, furthermore, for the .in
the captains were murdered in parley by treason, formation it yields regarding the art of war among
conducted these ten thousand foot through the heart the Greeks, and as a real contribution to military
of all the king's high countries, from Babylon to science. Xenophon was, or became in the course of
Graccia, in safety, to the astonishment of the world the retreat, an exceedingly able strategist and
and the encomagement of the Grecians in time tactician, approaching each problem in the spirit of
succeeding to make invasion upon the kings of a scholar and thinker and then translating his
Persia, as was afterwards purposed by Jason the reasoned solution into terms of military method,
Thessalian, attempted by Agesilaus the Spartan, and always resourceful in meeting new situations with
achieved by Alexander the Macedonian, all upon the new tactics, and never fettered by the lore of
ground of the act of that young scholar." accepted practice. The influence of his original and
While the march of the Ten Thousand revealed to inventive genius upon later Greek warfare was pro
the Greeks the weakness of the Persians, Xenophon's found. That inflnence has lasted down to our own
account of it reveals to us most clearly the fine time. A modern student 1 of military science writes:
qualities of these Greek so~diers of fortune-their "The soldier of greatest use to us preceding
courage and endurance, piety and humanity, inde Alexander was unquestionably Xenophon. ... It is
pendence and reasonableness. True soldiers in their he who has shown the world 'what should be the
readiness to meet danger and hardship, they were tactics of retreat, how to command a rear-guard.
still free Greeks, who could be governed only with More tactical originality has come from the Anabasis
their own consent and who insisted upon being heard than from any dozen other books. .•. After the lapse
"The Advancement oj Learning, I; vii. 30. 1 Col. Theodore A. Dodge, Alexander, pp. 101 fr.
. xii xiii
INTRODUCTION
of twenty-three centuries, there is no better military
text-book than the Anabasis."
Finally, the simplicity and grace, the charm and
vividuess with which Xenophon's story is told give it MANUSORIPTS AND EDITIONS
a high place among narratives of travel and adventure.
I.-MANUSCRIPTS
Taine has even said of the Anabasis that" the beauty
The extant MSS. of the Anabasis fall into two groups.
of the style transcends the interest of the stoI'Y."
The first, or superior, group includes :-
Certainly, Xenophon's reputation as a man of letters
O. Parisinus 1640, written in the year 1320, but from an
depends in no small degree upon the Anabasis. original of the latter part of the ninth century. Many
additions and changes, by a later hand and usually for
the worse, are found in this MS. In the present
edition 0, designates the earlier hand and O. the
later.
ll. Parisinns 1641, of the fifteenth century.
A. Vatiranus 987, later than B.
E. Et,onensis, of the fifteenth century.
o
is far the best of all the MSS. It was clearly the Bonrce
from which B, A, and E Were copied.
The best MSS. of the second, or inferior, group are
D. Bodleianus (lib. Oanon. 39), of the fifteenth century.
V. Vindobonensis 95, of the fifteenth century.
2.-EDITIONS OF THE ANABASIS 1
The Anabasis has been so long and so universally employed
as a text-book for beginners in Greek that almost numberless
editions of the work have been published, It must suffice to
mention a very few:
(a) A nnotated Editions.
REHDANTZ-OARNUTH: Berlin (vVeidmann).
VOLLBRECHT, W.: Leipzig (Teuhner).
GOODWIN AND WHITE: Boston (Ginn).
MATHER AND HEWITT: New York (American Book Oo.).
1 For important editions of the complete works of Xenophon
xiv .ee Hellenica, Vol. I., of this series, p. xiii.
xv
MANUSCRIPTS AND EDITIONS
(b) Oritical Edition• .
DrNDoRF, L. : Leipzig and Oxford.
COBET, C. G. : Leyden.
HUG, A. : Leipzig.
GEMOLL, W.: Leipzig (editio major).
MARCHANT, E. C.: Oxford.
The text of the present edition is selective, the critical .
notes calling attention to important variations from the'
texts of Marchant and Gemoll.
Recent work inCludes the following:
XENOPHON
Ed. Maior. C. Hude. Leipzig, 1931.
Text and French translation (Bude), P. Masqueray.
Paris, 1930-31.
Translation by R. Warner. Penguin Classics. 1949. THE ANABASIS OF CYRUS
BOOK I
xvi
XENOPHON
ZENO<flQNTO}; KYPOY
ANABA};I~
THE ANABASIS OF CYRUS
A BOOK I
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. 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
tliat muster in the plain of Castolus.2 Cyrus accord
ingly went up to his father, taking with him Tissa
3
phernes as a friend and accompanied by three hundred
Greek hoplites,4 under the command of Xenias of
Parrhasia.
When Darius had died and Artaxerxes had become
established as king, Tissaphernes falsely accused Cyrus
to his brother of plotting against him. And Arta
xerxes, believing the accusation, arrested Cyrus, with
the intention ofpuUing him to death; his mother, how
ever, made intercession for him, and sent him back
• Castolus was the mustering place for all the Persian
forces of western Asia Minor. I:lce Introd. p. 232.
• See Introd. p. vii, note 1.
'i.e. heavy-armed infantrymen, the regula.r "troops of
1 In regard to the persolls mentioned and the events the line" in Greek warfare. In this instance, of course, they
sketched in §§ 1-4, see Introduction, pp. 231 sqq. are serving Cyrus as .. bodyguard.
3
2