-were left unguarded by Abrocomas; and the army, having
traversed them without loss, crossed the Amanus range by the pass of
Beilan, and in twenty-nine days from Tarsus reached Thapsacus on
the Euphrates. The forces of Artaxerxes had nowhere made their
appearance--Abrocomas, though he had 300,000 men at his disposal, had
weakly or treacherously abandoned all these strong and easily defensible
positions; he does not seem even to have wasted the country; but,
having burnt the boats at Thapsacus, he was content to fall back upon
Phoenicia, and left the way to Babylon and Susa open. At Thapsacus there
was little difficulty in persuading the Greeks, who had no longer the
sea before their eyes, to continue the march; they only stipulated for a
further increase of pay, which was readily promised them by the sanguine
prince, who believed himself on the point of obtaining by their aid the
inexhaustible treasures of the Empire. The river, which happened to be
unusually low for the time of year, was easily forded. Cyrus entered
Mesopotamia, and continued his march down the left bank of the Euphrates
at the quickest rate that it was possible to move a hundred thousand
Orientals. In thirty-three days he had accomplished above 600 miles, and
had approached within 120 miles of Babylon without seeing any traces
of an enemy. His only difficulties were from the nature of the country,
which, after the Khabour is passed, becomes barren, excepting close
along the river. From want of fodder there was a great mortality among
the baggage-animals; the price of grain rose; and the Greeks had to
subsist almost entirely upon meat. At last, when the Babylonian alluvium
was reached, with its abundance of fodder and corn, signs of the enemy
began to be observed. Artaxerxes, who after some doubts and misgivings
had finally determined to give his enemy battle in the plain, was
already on his way from Babylon, with an army reckoned at 900,000 men
and had sent forward a body of horse, partly to reconnoitre, partly
to destroy the crops, in order to prevent Cyrus and his troops from
benefiting by them. Cyrus now advanced slowly and cautiously, at the
rate of about fourteen miles a day, expecting each morning to fight a
general engagement before evening came. On the third night, believing
the battle to be imminent, he distributed the commands and laid down a
plan of operations. But morning brought no appearance of the enemy, and
the whole day passed tranquill