Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/33

 CYKUS BEGINS HIS MARCH. 11 modern,) and of such secret preparations, Cyrus sought to reap the fruits at the beginning of 401 B. c. Xenias, his general at home, brought together all the garrisons, leaving a bare suffi- ciency for defence of the towns. Klearchus, Menon, and the other Greek generals were recalled, and the siege of Miletus was relin quished ; so that there was concentrated at Sardis a body of seven thousand seven hundred Grecian hoplites, with five hundred light armed. 1 Others afterwards joined on the march, and there was, be- sides, a native army of about one hundred thousand men. With such means Cyrus set forth, (March or April, 401 B. c.), from Sardis. His real purpose was kept secret ; his ostensible purpose, as pro- claimed and understood by every one except himself and Klearchus, was to conquer and root out the Pisidian mountaineers. A joint Lacedaemonian and Persian fleet, under the Lacedaemonian admi- ral Samius, at the same time coasted round the south of Asia Minor, hi order to lend cooperation from the sea-side. 2 This Lacedaemonian cooperation passed for a private levy effected by Cyrus himself; for the ephors would not formally avow hostility against the Great King. 3 The body of Greeks, immortalized under the name of the Ten Thousand, who were thus preparing to plunge into so many unex- pected perils, though embarking on a foreign mercenary service, were by no means outcasts, or even men of extreme poverty. They were for the most part persons of established position, and not a few even opulent. Half of them were Acadians or Achaeans. Such was the reputation of Cyrus for honorable and munificent dealing, that many young men of good family had run away from then: fathers and mothers ; others of mature age had been tempted to leave their wives and children ; and there were even some who had embarked their own money in advance of outfit for other poorer men, as well as for themselves. 4 All calculated on a year's 1 Xen. Anab. i, 2, 2-3 2 Xen. Hellen. iii, 1,1. 3 Diodor. xiv, 21. 4 Xen. Anab. vi, 4, 8. Tuv -yap arpanuTuv ol Trt.elaroi ^aav ov GTravei fiiov iKTreitl.evK.6T<; km TO.VTTJV TTJV [iiadopopav, a/I/Id rr/v Kvpov aperrjv UKOV- tvref, ol /JEV Kal uvdpaf ayovref, ol 6e Kal Trpoaavel.uKOTef xprjftara, Kal TOV- ruv Zrepoi airodsdpaKOTet; irarepaf Kal firirfpa^, ol 6e KOI TEKVCI KarahnrovTef, wf xprjiiara avToif KTTjaufievoi TJ^OVTS^ Ttd'kiv. iiKOvovref Kal roiif a'Ahovf rovf icapa Kvpu Tro/l/la real ayadtl irparTeiv. Toiovrot oiiv ovref, eto'&ovv ei{ rnv 'Eyy<5a cufrcrdai. Compare v. 10, 10.