Anabasis | Page 5

hoplites and three hundred peltasts[1]. This latter officer, as
well as Socrates, belonged to the force engaged against Miletus. These
all joined him at Sardis.
[1] "Targeteers" armed with a light shield instead of the larger one of
the hoplite, or heavy infantry soldier. Iphicrates made great use of this
arm at a later date.
But Tissaphernes did not fail to note these proceedings. An equipment
so large pointed to something more than an invasion of Pisidia: so he
argued; and with what speed he might, he set off to the king, attended
by about five hundred horse. The king, on his side, had no sooner heard
from Tissaphernes of Cyrus's great armament, than he began to make
counter-preparations.
Thus Cyrus, with the troops which I have named, set out from Sardis,
and marched on and on through Lydia three stages, making
two-and-twenty parasangs[2], to the river Maeander. That river is two
hundred feet[3] broad, and was spanned by a bridge consisting of seven
boats. Crossing it, he marched through Phrygia a single stage, of eight
parasangs, to Colossae, an inhabited city[4], prosperous and 6 large.
Here he remained seven days, and was joined by Menon the Thessalian,

who arrived with one thousand hoplites and five hundred peltasts,
Dolopes, Aenianes, and Olynthians. From this place he marched three
stages, twenty parasangs in all, to Celaenae, a populous city of Phrygia,
large and prosperous. Here Cyrus owned a palace and a large park[5]
full of wild beasts, which he used to hunt on horseback, whenever he
wished to give himself or his horses exercise. Through the midst of the
park flows the river Maeander, the sources of which are within the
palace buildings, and it flows through the city of Celaenae. The great
king also has a palace in Celaenae, a strong place, on the sources of
another river, the Marsyas, at the foot of the acropolis. This river also
flows through the city, discharging itself into the Maeander, and is
five-and-twenty feet broad. Here is the place where Apollo is said to
have flayed Marsyas, when he had conquered him in the contest of skill.
He hung up the skin of the conquered man, in the cavern where the
spring wells forth, and hence the name of the river, Marsyas. It was on
this site that Xerxes, as tradition tells, built this very palace, as well as
the citadel of Celaenae itself, on his retreat from Hellas, after he had
lost the famous battle. Here Cyrus remained for thirty days, during
which Clearchus the Lacedaemonian arrived with one thousand
hoplites and eight hundred Thracian peltasts and two hundred Cretan
archers. At the same time, also, came Sosis the Syracusian with three
thousand hoplites, and Sophaenetus the Arcadian[6] with one thousand
hoplites; and here Cyrus held a review, and numbered his Hellenes in
the park, and found that they amounted in all to eleven thousand
hoplites and about two thousand peltasts.
[2] The Persian "farsang" = 30 stades, nearly 1 league, 3 1/2 statute
miles, though not of uniform value in all parts of Asia.
[3] "Two plethra": the plethron = about 101 English feet.
[4] Lit. "inhabited," many of the cities of Asia being then as now
deserted, but the suggestion is clearly at times "thickly inhabited,"
"populous."
[5] Lit. "paradise," an oriental word = park or pleasure ground.
[6] Perhaps this should be Agias the Arcadian, as Mr. Macmichael

suggests. Sophaenetus has already been named above.
From this place he continued his march two stages--ten parasangs--to
10 the populous city of Peltae, where he remained three days; while
Xenias, the Arcadian, celebrated the Lycaea[7] with sacrifice, and
instituted games. The prizes were headbands of gold; and Cyrus
himself was a spectator of the contest. From this place the march was
continued two stages--twelve parasangs--to Ceramon-agora, a populous
city, the last on the confines of Mysia. Thence a march of three
stages--thirty parasangs--brought him to Caystru-pedion[8], a populous
city. Here Cyrus halted five days; and the soldiers, whose pay was now
more than three months in arrear, came several times to the palace gates
demanding their dues; while Cyrus put them off with fine words and
expectations, but could not conceal his vexation, for it was not his
fashion to stint payment, when he had the means. At this point Epyaxa,
the wife of Syennesis, the king of the Cilicians, arrived on a visit to
Cyrus; and it was said that Cyrus received a large gift of money from
the queen. At this date, at any rate, Cyrus gave the army four months'
pay. The queen was accompanied by a bodyguard of Cilicians and
Aspendians; and, if report speaks truly, Cyrus had intimate relations
with the queen.
[7] The Lycaea, an Arcadian festival in honour of Zeus {Arcaios}, akin
to the Roman