hem at first to
wait at the outposts until he was at leisure: then, having put his
troops into the best possible order, with a phalanx[10] compact on every
side to the eye, and the unarmed persons out of sight, he desired the
heralds to be admitted. He marched out to meet them with the most showy
and best-armed soldiers immediately around him, and when they informed
him that they had come from the King with instructions to propose a
truce, and to report on what conditions the Greeks would agree to it,
Klearchus replied abruptly--"Well then--go and tell the King, that our
first business must be to fight; for we have nothing to eat, nor will
any man presume to talk to Greeks about a truce, without first providing
dinner for them." With this reply the heralds rode off, but returned
very speedily; thus making it plain that the King, or the commanding
officer, was near at hand. They brought word that the King thought their
answer reasonable, and had sent guides to conduct them to a place where
they would obtain provisions, if the truce should be concluded.

After an affected delay and hesitation, in order to impose upon the
Persians, Klearchus concluded the truce, and desired that the guides
should conduct the army to those quarters where provisions could be had.
He was most circumspect in maintaining exact order during the march,
himself taking charge of the rear guard. The guides led them over many
ditches and channels, full of water, and cut for the purpose of
irrigation[11]; some so broad and deep that they could not be crossed
without bridges. The army had to put together bridges for the occasion,
from palm-trees either already fallen, or expressly cut down. This was a
troublesome business, which Klearchus himself superintended with
peculiar strictness. He carried his spear in the left hand, his stick in
the right; employing the latter to chastise any soldier who seemed
remiss--and even plunging into the mud and lending his own hands in aid
wherever it was necessary. As it was not the usual season of irrigation
for crops he suspected that the canals had been filled on this occasion
expressly to intimidate the Greeks, by impressing them with the
difficulties of their prospective march; and he was anxious to
demonstrate to the Persians that these difficulties were no more than
Grecian energy could easily surmount.

At length they reached certain villages indicated by their guides for
quarters and provisions; and here for