e prepared to repel
hostilities.

(M587) It was not pleasant to the Persian monarch to have thirteen
thousand Grecian veterans, whose prestige was immense, and whose power was
really formidable, in the heart of the kingdom. It was not easy to conquer
such brave men, reduced to desperation, without immense losses and
probable humiliation. So the Persians dissembled. It was their object to
get the Greeks out of Babylonia, where they could easily intrench and
support themselves, and then attack them at a disadvantage. So
Tissaphernes agreed to conduct them home by a different route. They
acceded to his proposal, and he led them to the banks of the Tigris, and
advanced on its left bank, north to the Great Zab River, about two hundred
miles from Babylon. The Persians marched in advance, and the Greeks about
three miles in the rear. At the Great Zab they halted three days, and then
Tissaphernes enticed the Greek generals to his tent, ostensibly to feast
them and renew negotiations. There they were seized, sent prisoners to the
Persian court, and treacherously murdered.

(M588) Utter despair now seized the Greeks. They were deprived of their
generals, in the heart of Media, with unscrupulous enemies in the rear,
and the mountains of Armenia in their front, whose passes were defended by
hostile barbarians, and this in the depth of winter, deprived of guides,
and exposed to every kind of hardship, difficulty, and danger. They were
apparently in the hands of their enemies, without any probability of
escape. They were then summoned to surrender to the Persians, but they
resolved to fight their way home, great as were their dangers and
insurmountable the difficulties--a most heroic resolution. And their
retreat, under these circumstances, to the Euxine, is the most
extraordinary march in the whole history of war.

(M589) But a great man appeared, in this crisis, to lead them, whose
prudence, sagacity, moderation, and courage can never be sufficiently
praised, and his successful retreat places him in the ranks of the great
generals of the world. Xenophon, the Athenian historian, now appears upon
the stage with all those noble qualities which inspired the heroes at the
siege of Troy--a man as religious as he was brave and magnanimous, and
eloquent even for a Greek. He summoned together the captains, and
persuaded them to advance, giving the assurance of the protection of Zeus.
He then convened the army, and inspired them by his spi