and the
Tigris, in connection with the ruins of the old Median Wall, built
probably in the days of Nebuchadnezzar as one of the defences of
Babylon. This trench was eighteen feet deep, thirty feet wide, and
upwards of forty miles in length; it stopped short of the Euphrates by
only twenty feet. Over that narrow strip of ground, which the Persian
king might easily have held with a small number of resolute men, the
Cyreian forces passed, with no one to hinder them. The great trench, on
which so much labor had been expended, was, therefore, not only useless
as a defence to Artaxerxes, but it was a positive encouragement to Cyrus
and his men, for it revealed the inefficiency and the cowardice of the
Persians. The whole army now moved rapidly forward, confident of an easy
victory, many even supposing that Artaxerxes would make no stand at all,
but abandon his capital to them. The Great King, however, was not so
hopelessly pusillanimous as that; for, when Cyrus reached Kunaxa, scouts
brought word that the enemy's hosts were not far behind. This time the
intelligence was correct. That very afternoon a great cloud of white
dust rolled up from the plain, and as it kept advancing the invaders
caught sight of the flash of brazen armor and a forest of spears.

When all was ready for the battle to begin, the Greeks, not waiting to
be attacked, charged on the run against the Persian left wing. The
Persians, who seem to have thought that on such an occasion absence of
body was a good deal better than presence of mind, waited just long
enough to hear the Greeks give a fierce shout to Mars, accompanied by a
significant clatter of spears and shields. That satisfied them, and,
turning like a flock of frightened sheep, they ran for their lives.

Cyrus, who had refused to put on a helmet, now dashed into the fight
with uncovered head, making straight for King Artaxerxes, who occupied
the centre of his army. "I see the man!" he cried, and, hurling his
lance, he struck and slightly wounded the Great King; but that
fratricidal blow was the last, for just then a javelin pierced Cyrus
under the eye, and he fell from his horse and was slain. His head and
right hand were then cut off to serve as a warning to traitors. The
native or Asiatic troops, seeing the disaster, fled, and did not stop
till they had reached a former camp eight miles away.

Meanwhile the victorious Ten Thousand, knowing nothing of what had
happened to Cyrus, pursued the Pers