Anabasis, Book 2, Ch. 4 - first part
IV. μετὰ ταῦτα περιέμενον Τισσαφέρνην οἵ τε Ἕλληνες καὶ ὁ Ἀριαῖος ἐγγὺς ἀλλήλων ἐστρατοπεδευμένοι ἡμέρας πλείους ἢ εἴκοσιν. ἐν δὲ ταύταις ἀφικνοῦνται πρὸς Ἀριαῖον καὶ οἱ ἀδελφοὶ καὶ οἱ ἄλλοι ἀναγκαῖοι καὶ πρὸς τοὺς σὺν ἐκείνῳ Περσῶν τινες, παρεθάρρυνόν τε καὶ δεξιὰς ἐνίοις παρὰ βασιλέως ἔφερον μὴ μνησικακήσειν βασιλέα αὐτοῖς τῆς σὺν Κύρῳ ἐπιστρατείας μηδὲ ἄλλου μηδενὸς τῶν παροιχομένων.
After this, the Greeks and Ariaeus were waiting for Tissaphernes, camping near each other for more than twenty days. During this time, Ariaeus’ brothers and other relatives visited him, and some other Persians to see those with him. They encouraged them and carried assurances from the King that the King would not hold a grudge against those who had marched with Cyrus’ expedition nor for anything else in the past.
[2] τούτων δὲ γιγνομένων ἔνδηλοι ἦσαν οἱ περὶ Ἀριαῖον ἧττον προσέχοντες τοῖς Ἕλλησι τὸν νοῦν: ὥστε καὶ διὰ τοῦτο τοῖς μὲν πολλοῖς τῶν Ἑλλήνων οὐκ ἤρεσκον, ἀλλὰ προσιόντες τῷ Κλεάρχῳ ἔλεγον καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις στρατηγοῖς:
After these developments, it was clear that Ariaeus’ men were paying less attention to the Greeks, so that many of the Greeks were displeased, and going to Clearchus and the other generals, were saying:
[3] τί μένομεν; ἢ οὐκ ἐπιστάμεθα ὅτι βασιλεὺς ἡμᾶς ἀπολέσαι ἂν περὶ παντὸς ποιήσαιτο, ἵνα καὶ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι φόβος εἴη ἐπὶ βασιλέα μέγαν στρατεύειν; καὶ νῦν μὲν ἡμᾶς ὑπάγεται μένειν διὰ τὸ διεσπάρθαι αὐτοῦ τὸ στράτευμα: ἐπὰν δὲ πάλιν ἁλισθῇ αὐτῷ ἡ στρατιά, οὐκ ἔστιν ὅπως οὐκ ἐπιθήσεται ἡμῖν.
“Why do we remain here? Do you not realize that it is all-important to the King to wipe us out? So that there will be fear to attack the Great King amongst the other Greeks? Even now he is scheming to keep us here, because his own force is scattered. When it is back, it will take our army. There is no doubt that he will attack us.
[4] ἴσως δέ που ἢ ἀποσκάπτει τι ἢ ἀποτειχίζει, ὡς ἄπορος εἴη ἡ ὁδός. οὐ γάρ ποτε ἑκών γε βουλήσεται ἡμᾶς ἐλθόντας εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα ἀπαγγεῖλαι ὡς ἡμεῖς τοσοίδε ὄντες ἐνικῶμεν τὸν βασιλέα ἐπὶ ταῖς θύραις αὐτοῦ καὶ καταγελάσαντες ἀπήλθομεν.
“Equally likely at any point, he might block with ditches or walls, to make our journey impossible. For surely not willingly does he ever want us to return to Greece, reporting that, so few as we are, we defeated the King on his very doorstep and went back, laughing at him.
(This is the most important sentence in the Anabasis. The speaker is correct on all counts. Artaxerxes did not want the Greek mercenaries to go back home to Greece and tell everyone that the Great King of Persia was a paper tiger. Of course, that is exactly what they did. The Greeks paid attention, and seventy years later, Alexander the Great applied the lesson exceedingly well, took a small Greek army into Asia, and utterly destroyed the Persian Empire.)
[5] Κλέαρχος δὲ ἀπεκρίνατο τοῖς ταῦτα λέγουσιν: ἐγὼ ἐνθυμοῦμαι μὲν καὶ ταῦτα πάντα: ἐννοῶ δ’ ὅτι εἰ νῦν ἄπιμεν, δόξομεν ἐπὶ πολέμῳ ἀπιέναι καὶ παρὰ τὰς σπονδὰς ποιεῖν. ἔπειτα πρῶτον μὲν ἀγορὰν οὐδεὶς παρέξει ἡμῖν οὐδὲ ὅθεν ἐπισιτιούμεθα: αὖθις δὲ ὁ ἡγησόμενος οὐδεὶς ἔσται: καὶ ἅμα ταῦτα ποιούντων ἡμῶν εὐθὺς Ἀριαῖος ἀφεστήξει: ὥστε φίλος ἡμῖν οὐδεὶς λελείψεται, ἀλλὰ καὶ οἱ πρόσθεν ὄντες πολέμιοι ἡμῖν ἔσονται.
Clearchus replied to them, saying this:
“I myself also take all these things into consideration, but I think that if we leave now, we will appear to be making a hostile move, and violating the truce. Thereupon, the first thing that will happen is that no one will supply us with a market, nor will we have a place from which we can provision ourselves. Next, there will be one to guide us. And as soon as we do this, Ariaeus will immediately walk away from us, so that we will be left without even one friend, but even those who formerly were our friends will become our enemies.
[6] ποταμὸς δ’ εἰ μέν τις καὶ ἄλλος ἄρα ἡμῖν ἐστι διαβατέος οὐκ οἶδα: τὸν δ’ οὖν Εὐφράτην ἴσμεν ὅτι ἀδύνατον διαβῆναι κωλυόντων πολεμίων. οὐ μὲν δὴ ἂν μάχεσθαί γε δέῃ, ἱππεῖς εἰσιν ἡμῖν ξύμμαχοι, τῶν δὲ πολεμίων ἱππεῖς εἰσιν οἱ πλεῖστοι καὶ πλείστου ἄξιοι: ὥστε νικῶντες μὲν τίνα ἂν ἀποκτείναιμεν; ἡττωμένων δὲ οὐδένα οἷόν τε σωθῆναι.
“And I don’t know if we will really have to cross some river or another, but we know that certainly that it is not possible to cross the Euphrates if the enemy opposes it. And yet of course, if we must fight, we have no cavalry on our side, but most of the enemy are cavalry and are very good. So, even in victory, how many would we kill? And if we were defeated, none of us would survive.”
(A grammatical note on ‘κωλυόντων πολεμίων’ which I translated as ‘if the enemy opposes it.’ This is a construction called the ‘genitive absolute.’ Literally, the two words would be translated ‘the enemy opposing,’ (in the genitive case). The ‘genitive absolute’ is a phrase thrown into a sentence which is ‘absolute’ because it has no role in the structure of the sentence; it’s not really part of the subjest or the verb, it’s just an ‘absolute’ condition, circumstance, or background. Like this: “The Moon being full, the wolf howls.” So, here Clearchus isn’t really making any guess or statement about the likelihood of the enemy opposing a crossing, merely that the river could not be crossed in the face of determined opposition. The ‘genitive absolute,’ can be translated (depending on context) using words like “after, because, if, despite, although, when,” etc. While that might sound awfully ambiguous, in context, which sense is meant is usually clear.
My translation using an “if …” clause is okay, I suppose. Dakyns rendered the phrase as “that it cannot possibly be crossed in the face of an enemy.” His is better.
Another little tweak here is the word ‘enemy’ or ‘enemies.’ ‘πολεμίων’ is, in fact, a plural, which I at first poorly translated as ‘enemies.’ But, used in plural, as here, it’s best translated as ‘the enemy,’ referring to the enemy army as a group, singular in English.)
[7] ἐγὼ μὲν οὖν βασιλέα, ᾧ οὕτω πολλά ἐστι τὰ σύμμαχα, εἴπερ προθυμεῖται ἡμᾶς ἀπολέσαι, οὐκ οἶδα ὅ τι δεῖ αὐτὸν ὀμόσαι καὶ δεξιὰν δοῦναι καὶ θεοὺς ἐπιορκῆσαι καὶ τὰ ἑαυτοῦ πιστὰ ἄπιστα ποιῆσαι Ἕλλησί τε καὶ βαρβάροις. τοιαῦτα πολλὰ ἔλεγεν.
“For my part, therefore, I cannot see why the King, who has so many advantages on his side, should need, in case he is really eager to destroy us, would swear an oath and give his hand in friendship, then perjure himself before the gods and show himself to be untrustworthy, to both Greeks and barbarians.” Many such things he said.
[8] ἐν δὲ τούτῳ ἧκε Τισσαφέρνης ἔχων τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν ὡς εἰς οἶκον ἀπιὼν καὶ Ὀρόντας τὴν ἑαυτοῦ δύναμιν: ἦγε δὲ καὶ τὴν θυγατέρα τὴν βασιλέως ἐπὶ γάμῳ.
Meanwhile Tissaphernes returned with his own army, since he was going home, and with Orontas and his army. He also brought with him the daughter of the King, as his wife.
[9] ἐντεῦθεν δὲ ἤδη Τισσαφέρνους ἡγουμένου καὶ ἀγορὰν παρέχοντος ἐπορεύοντο: ἐπορεύετο δὲ καὶ Ἀριαῖος τὸ Κύρου βαρβαρικὸν ἔχων στράτευμα ἅμα Τισσαφέρνει καὶ Ὀρόντᾳ καὶ ξυνεστρατοπεδεύετο σὺν ἐκείνοις.
Then they finally began the march, Tissaphernes taking the lead and providing a market; and Ariaeus with Cyrus’ barbarian army kept with Tissaphernes and Orontas on the march and encamped with them.
[10] οἱ δὲ Ἕλληνες ὑφορῶντες τούτους αὐτοὶ ἐφ’ ἑαυτῶν ἐχώρουν ἡγεμόνας ἔχοντες. ἐστρατοπεδεύοντο δὲ ἑκάστοτε ἀπέχοντες ἀλλήλων παρασάγγην καὶ πλέον: ἐφυλάττοντο δὲ ἀμφότεροι ὥσπερ πολεμίους ἀλλήλους, καὶ εὐθὺς τοῦτο ὑποψίαν παρεῖχεν.
The Greeks, being suspicious of the barbarians and having their own guides, marched by themselves. Every night they pitched camped a parasang or more away from each other. Both groups watched the other warily, as if they were an enemy force, and from this, suspicion grew.
[11] ἐνίοτε δὲ καὶ ξυλιζόμενοι ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ καὶ χόρτον καὶ ἄλλα τοιαῦτα ξυλλέγοντες πληγὰς ἐνέτεινον ἀλλήλοις: ὥστε καὶ τοῦτο ἔχθραν παρεῖχε.
On occasion wood-cutters and foragers from one army, encountering those from the other, would come to blows; and thus outright hostility grew.
[12] διελθόντες δὲ τρεῖς σταθμοὺς ἀφίκοντο πρὸς τὸ Μηδίας καλούμενον τεῖχος, καὶ παρῆλθον εἴσω αὐτοῦ. ἦν δὲ ᾠκοδομημένον πλίνθοις ὀπταῖς ἐν ἀσφάλτῳ κειμέναις, εὖρος εἴκοσι ποδῶν, ὕψος δὲ ἑκατόν: μῆκος δ’ ἐλέγετο εἶναι εἴκοσι παρασάγγαι: ἀπέχει δὲ Βαβυλῶνος οὐ πολύ.
Proceeding three stages, the reached the so-called Median Wall, and followed it along the inside. (The Median Wall protected the lower, irrigated, more productive part of Mesopotamia. It must have run across the narrow ‘waist’ between the Tigris and Euphrates. So, in following it “along the inside,” the Greeks were moving east, not at all in the direction of Greece.) It was built of baked brick, laid in bitumen, and was twenty feet thick and one hundred feet high. It is said that it is twenty parasangs in length, and that Babylon lies not too far away.
[13] ἐντεῦθεν δ’ ἐπορεύθησαν σταθμοὺς δύο παρασάγγας ὀκτώ: καὶ διέβησαν διώρυχας δύο, τὴν μὲν ἐπὶ γεφύρας, τὴν δὲ ἐζευγμένην πλοίοις ἑπτά: αὗται δ’ ἦσαν ἀπὸ τοῦ Τίγρητος ποταμοῦ: κατετέτμηντο δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν καὶ τάφροι ἐπὶ τὴν χώραν, αἱ μὲν πρῶται μεγάλαι, ἔπειτα δὲ ἐλάττους: τέλος δὲ καὶ μικροὶ ὀχετοί, ὥσπερ ἐν τῇ Ἑλλάδι ἐπὶ τὰς μελίνας: καὶ ἀφικνοῦνται ἐπὶ τὸν Τίγρητα ποταμόν: πρὸς ᾧ πόλις ἦν μεγάλη καὶ πολυάνθρωπος ᾗ ὄνομα Σιττάκη, ἀπέχουσα τοῦ ποταμοῦ σταδίους πεντεκαίδεκα.
Thereupon, they marched two stages, eight parasangs, and crossed two canals: one over a bridge, the other over seven boats lashed together. These canals issued from the Tigris River. Extending out across the countryside from these canals were also ditches, which were large at the beginning, but then narrowed. Finally they were quite small, like those in Greece in millet fields. And they reached the Tigris River, coming to a large and populous city, called Sittaca, which was situated fifteen stadia from the river.
Anabasis - On the character of Clearchus
Anabasis, Book 1 - Review
Anabasis, Book 1, Ch. 6 - The End of Orontas
Anabasis, Book 2, Ch. 1 - Ariaeus demurs
Anabasis - More on Clearchus