Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/74

 52 HISTORY OF GREECE. CHAPTER LXX. RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS. THE first triumphant feeling of the Greek troops at Kunaxa was exchanged, as soon as they leamt the death of Cyrus, for dismay and sorrow ; accompanied by unavailing repentance for the venture into which he and Klearchus had seduced them. Probably Kle- archus himself too repented, and with good reason, of having dis- played, in his manner of fighting the battle, so little foresight, and BO little regard either to the injunctions or to the safety of Cyrus. Nevertheless he still maintained the tone of a victor in the field, and after expressions of grief for the fate of the young prince, de- sired Prokles and Glus to return to Ariaeus, with the reply, that the Greeks on their side were conquerors without any enemy remain- ing ; that they were about to march onward against Artaxerxes ; and that if Ariaeus would join them, they would place him on the throne which had been intended for Cyrus. While this reply was conveyed to Ariaeus by his particular friend Menon along with the messengers, the Greeks procured a meal as well as they could, having no bread, by killing some of the baggage animals ; and by kindling fire, to cook their meat, from the arrows, the wooden Egyptian shields which had been thrown away on the field, and the baggage carts. 1 Before any answer could be received from Ariteus, heralds ap- peared coming from Artaxerxes ; among them being Phalinus, a Greek from Zakynthus, and the Greek surgeon Ktesias of Knidus, who was in the service of the Persian king.2 Phalinus, an officer 1 Xen. Anab. ii, 1, 5-7. 2 We know from Plutarch (Artaxer. c. 13) that Ktesias distinctly as- serted himself to have been present at this interview, and I see no reason why we should not believe him. Plutarch indeed rejects his testimony as false, affirming that Xenophon would certainly have mentioned him, had he been there ; but such an objection seems to me insufficient. Nor is it necessary to construe the words of Xenophon, f/v <5' avruv $a?.ivof elf "E AAJJ v, ii, 1, 7) so strictly as to negative the presence of one or two other Greeks. PhaHnus is thus specified because he was the spokesman of th party a military man.