Anabasis | Page 4

this time, with the exception of Miletus, they had all
revolted to Cyrus. In Miletus, Tissaphernes, having become aware of
similar designs, had forestalled the conspirators by putting some to
death and banishing the remainder. Cyrus, on his side, welcomed these
fugitives, and having collected an army, laid siege to Miletus by sea
and land, endeavouring to reinstate the exiles; and this gave him
another pretext for collecting an armament. At the same time he sent to
the king, and claimed, as being the king's brother, that these cities
should be given to himself rather than that Tissaphernes should
continue to govern them; and in furtherance of this end, the queen, his
mother, co-operated with him, so that the king not only failed to see the
design against himself, but concluded that Cyrus was spending his
money on armaments in order to make war on Tissaphernes. Nor did it
pain him greatly to see the two at war together, and the less so because
Cyrus was careful to remit the tribute due to the king from the cities
which belonged to Tissaphernes.
A third army was being collected for him in the Chersonese, over
against Abydos, the origin of which was as follows: There was a
Lacedaemonian exile, named Clearchus, with whom Cyrus had become
associated. Cyrus admired the man, and made him a present of ten
thousand darics[2]. Clearchus took the gold, and with the money raised
9 an army, and using the Chersonese as his base of operations, set to
work to fight the Thracians north of the Hellespont, in the interests of
the Hellenes, and with such happy result that the Hellespontine cities,
of their own accord, were eager to contribute funds for the support of
his troops. In this way, again, an armament was being secretly
maintained for Cyrus.
[2] A Persian gold coin = 125.55 grains of gold.

Then there was the Thessalian Aristippus, Cyrus's friend[3], who, under
pressure of the rival political party at home, had come to Cyrus and
asked him for pay for two thousand mercenaries, to be continued for
three months, which would enable him, he said, to gain the upper hand
of his antagonists. Cyrus replied by presenting him with six months'
pay for four thousand mercenaries--only stipulating that Aristippus
should not come to terms with his antagonists without final
consultation with himself. In this way he secured to himself the secret
maintenance of a fourth armament.
[3] Lit. "guest-friend." Aristippus was, as we learn from the "Meno" of
Plato, a native of Larisa, of the family of the Aleuadae, and a pupil of
Gorgias. He was also a lover of Menon, whom he appears to have sent
on this expedition instead of himself.
Further, he bade Proxenus, a Boeotian, who was another friend, get
together as many men as possible, and join him in an expedition which
he meditated against the Pisidians[4], who were causing annoyance to
his territory. Similarly two other friends, Sophaenetus the
Stymphalian[5], and Socrates the Achaean, had orders to get together
as many men as possible and come to him, since he was on the point of
opening a campaign, along with Milesian exiles, against Tissaphernes.
These orders were duly carried out by the officers in question.
[4] Lit. "into the country of the Pisidians."
[5] Of Stymphalus in Arcadia.

II
But when the right moment seemed to him to have come, at which he 1
should begin his march into the interior, the pretext which he put
forward was his desire to expel the Pisidians utterly out of the country;
and he began collecting both his Asiatic and his Hellenic armaments,
avowedly against that people. From Sardis in each direction his orders
sped: to Clearchus, to join him there with the whole of his army; to

Aristippus, to come to terms with those at home, and to despatch to him
the troops in his employ; to Xenias the Arcadian, who was acting as
general-in-chief of the foreign troops in the cities, to present himself
with all the men available, excepting only those who were actually
needed to garrison the citadels. He next summoned the troops at present
engaged in the siege of Miletus, and called upon the exiles to follow
him on his intended expedition, promising them that if he were
successful in his object, he would not pause until he had reinstated
them in their native city. To this invitation they hearkened gladly; they
believed in him; and with their arms they presented themselves at
Sardis. So, too, Xenias arrived at Sardis with the contingent from the
cities, four thousand hoplites; Proxenus, also, with fifteen hundred
hoplites and five hundred light-armed troops; Sophaenetus the
Stymphalian, with one thousand hoplites; Socrates the Achaean, with
five hundred hoplites; while the Megarion Pasion came with three
hundred