to treat them as friends,
they would be no use to him without their arms, if as enemies, they
would keep them to defend themselves.

Though no formal appointment was made, the Greeks recognised Clearchus
as their leader. They fell back to join Ariaeus, who declined the
proposal to seat him on the Persian throne; and it was agreed to follow
a new route in retreat to Ionia, the way by which the force had advanced
being now impracticable.

Now, however, Artaxerxes began to negotiate through Tissaphernes, the
Greeks maintaining a bold and even contemptuous front, warranted by the
king's obvious fear of risking an engagement.

Finally, an offer came to conduct the Greeks back to Grecian territory,
providing them, at their own cost, with necessaries. Prolonged delays,
however, aroused suspicions of treachery among the Greeks, who
distrusted Tissaphernes and Ariaeus alike; but Clearchus held it better
not to break openly with the Persians. The march at last began along a
northerly route towards the Black Sea, the Greeks keeping rigidly apart
from the Persian forces which accompanied them, in readiness for an
attack.

At the crossing of the Tigris suspicion was particularly active, the
conduct of Ariaeus being especially dubious; but still no overt
hostilities were attempted until the river Zabatus was reached, after
three weeks of marching. Here Clearchus endeavoured to end the extremely
strained relations between the Greeks and the barbarian commanders by an
interview with Tissaphernes. Both men carefully repudiated any idea of
hostile intentions, and the Persian invited Clearchus and the Greek
officers generally to attend a conference. Not all, but a considerable
number--five generals, including Clearchus, Proxenus, and Menon, with
twenty more officers and nearly two hundred others--attended. At a given
signal all were treacherously massacred; but a fugitive reached the
Greek camp, where the men sprang to arms. Ariaeus, approaching with an
escort, declared that Clearchus had been proved guilty of treason, but
was received with fierce indignation, and withdrew.

Of the murdered generals, Clearchus was a man of high military capacity,
but a harsh disciplinarian, feared and respected, but very unpopular;
Proxenus, a particular friend of Xenophon, was an amiable but not a
strong man; Menon, the Thessalian, was a crafty and hypocritical
time-server, of whom no good can be spoken.

The ten thousand Greeks were now in an ug