Diodorus Siculus

“ After Clearchus had returned this answer to the same effect, Proxemus the Theban said thus—We have now lost almost all we have, only our hearts and our arms are still our own, and as long as we keep these, we doubt not but by our courage we may be able to better our condition; but when we part with our arms, our valour is useless and unprofitable; and therefore bid them tell the king, that if he designed any attack upon them, they were ready with their arms to oppose him. ”

“ Some indeed cherished themselves with a little fire they had kindled; others had their bodies so benumbed with cold, that little hopes of life remained, having all their fingers and toes perished. When the night was over, they found most of their carriage-horses and cattle lame and useless; many men dead ”

“ For none being able to endure so sad and lamentable a march, every man was necessitated to abide in the place where the storm found him: and though all were in extreme want, yet they patiently endured that whole night and day the sharpness of the winter's cold, attended with all manner of uncomfortable circumstances. ”

“ For at first, when the wind begins to rise, the snow falls but leisurely and by degrees, so that it occasions no great molestation or trouble to the travellers: but then presently the wind increasing, the snow falls so tempestuously, and on a sudden covers the ground so thick and deep, that none can possibly see before them, nor know where they are. Hence fear and terror seized upon the whole army, seeing nothing but certain destruction was behind them if they returned, and no possibility to advance forward by reason of the depth of the snow ”

“ In the middle division was Cyrus himself, with a guard for his person, consisting of the best Persian soldiers and other barbarians, to the number of ten thousand men, before whom marched as a van-guard a thousand horse gallantly accoutred, with Grecian swords and coats of mail. On the other side, Artaxerxes placed a great number of hooked chariots in front of his whole army, and, committing the two wings to the command of Persian officers, he himself remained with the main body, guarded with no less than fifty thousand choice men. ”

“ When Syennesis, king of Cilicia, heard of this great army, he was greatly perplexed what to do, because he was in no condition to cope with so great a force. But being sent for by Cyrus, with promises of safe conduct, he came to him, and being acquainted with the design, promised his assistance against Artaxerxes, and straitway joined Cyrus with a small party, under the command of one of his sons: but being a crafty man, and preparing for the worst, he sent the other secretly to the king, to inform him of the great forces that were coming against him ”

“ But then perceiving that he was not likely to gain any advantage by attacking the enemy thus in the rear, he marches his army to Ionia.
But the Grecians spent seven days in passing over the mountains of the Carduchi, and in that time suffered very much from the inhabitants, being a warlike people, and well acquainted with the passes in those parts. They were a free people, and enemies to the king, and very good soldiers, especially skilful and experienced in hurling great stones out of slings, and shooting with bows of a vast bigness, and more than ordinary strength. ”

“ Clearchus, perceiving the main body of their army to be routed, and the rest ready to fly, stopped his own men in their pursuit; for he feared that if the whole army of the barbarians should fall upon the Grecians, they would be all utterly cut off. In the mean time, the body where the Persian king immediately commanded, having routed the party that engaged them, rifled Cyrus's camp. Afterwards, (it now growing towards night) , in one body they made against the Greeks, who valiantly (like men of brave and generous spirits) received the charge ”

“ The Grecians, on the contrary, by so long and continual exercise of their arms in the late Peloponnesian war, were grown very skilful and excellent soldiers; so that they put their adversaries presently to flight, and made a great slaughter of the barbarians. It so happened, that both the generals, (who were contending for the kingdom) , being in the main battle on either side, and weighing how fatal the issue would be, made one against the other, purposing to decide the controversy by their own hands ”

“ It is the law of the country here, that the king must continue in this palace during his life, and thence issue all edicts to the people. The Grecians related that they passed through no nation more barbarous than this; for the men scruple not to have carnal knowledge of the women in open view; and the better and richer sort fatten their children with boiled walnuts; and are stigmatized with divers marks burnt into their flesh, both upon their backs and breasts. The Grecians marched through this country in eight days, and through the next called Tibaris in three. ”

“ Chirosophus, who was sent away for shipping, but all in vain, returned to the army. But the other Simopians having entertained them with all the demonstrations of kindness and humanity, took care to convy them to Heracles, a city of the Megarensians. From thence the whole fleet arrived at a peninsula called Acherusias, where Hercules (as the fable is) drew Cerberus out of hell. ”

“ When Cyrus saw the king's army advancing, he forthwith commanded all his army to their arms. The Lacedæmonians and some mercenaries were in the right wing, stretched out to the river Euphrates, under the command of Clearchus the Macedonian, with whom were joined above a thousand Paphlagonian horse. ”

“ Thence they marched by land through Bithynia, where they fell into great hazards and hardships by the attacks of the inhabitants, who assaulted them in every place as they passed. At last, however, with great difficulty, they came to Chrysopolis, a city of Chalcedonia, three thousand eight hundred being only left of ten thousand. [2] From hence some of them with ease and safety returned every man into his own country; the rest joined in a body at Chersonesus, and besieged a city bordering upon Thrace. And this was the issue of Cyrus's expedition against his brother Artaxerxes. ”

“ Hence Chirosophus, the general, was sent to Byzantium to procure shipping to convey them thither; for he and Anaxibius, the Byzantine admiral, were accounted intimate and special friends; thither, therefore, he speedily sails. The Grecians in the mean time being furnished with two small vessels at Trapezus, made incursions both by sea and land upon the neighbouring barbarians. ”