d, advocated this plan as the best. To be set
against it, however, there was the proposition of Seuthes to take the
army into pay; which Xenophon was inclined to prefer, uneasy at the
thoughts of being cooped up in the narrow peninsula of the Chersonese,
under the absolute command of the Lacedaemonian governor, with great
uncertainty both as to pay and as to provisions. Moreover it was
imperiously necessary for these disappointed troops to make some
immediate movement: for they had been brought to the gates of Perinthus
in hopes of passing immediately on shipboard; it was midwinter--they
were encamped in the open field, under the severe cold of Thrace--they
had neither assured supplies, nor even money to purchase, if a market
had been near. Xenophon, who had brought them to the neighborhood of
Perinthus, was now again responsible for extricating them from this
untenable situation; and began to offer sacrifices, according to his
wont, to ascertain whether the gods would encourage him to recommend a
covenant with Seuthes. The sacrifices were so favorable, that he
himself, together with a confidential officer from each of the generals,
went by night and paid a visit to Seuthes, for the purpose of
understanding distinctly his offers and purposes.

Maesades, the father of Seuthes, had been apparently a dependent prince
under the great monarchy of the Odrysian[109] Thracians; so formidable
in the early years of the Peloponnesian war. But political commotions
had robbed him of his principality over three Thracian tribes; which it
was now the ambition of Seuthes to recover, by the aid of the Cyreian
army. He offered to each soldier one stater of Kyzikus (or nearly the
same as that which they originally received from Cyrus) as pay per
month; twice as much to each captain--four times as much to each of the
generals. In case they should incur the enmity of the Lacedaemonians by
joining him, he guaranteed to them all the right of settlement and
fraternal protection in his territory. To each of the generals, over and
above pay, he engaged to assign a fort on the sea-coast, with a lot of
land around it, and oxen for cultivation. And to Xenophon in particular,
he offered the possession of Bisanthe, his best point on the coast. "I
will also (he added, addressing Xenophon) give you my daughter in
marriage; and if you have any daughter, I will buy her from you in
marriage according to the custom of Thrace." Seuthes farther engaged
never