thought it convenient, when brought up to Babylon, to boast
of having been the instrument through whom the generals were entrapped
into the fatal tent, this boast is not to be treated as matter of fact.
For not only does Xenophon explain the catastrophe differently, but in
the delineation which he gives of Menon, dark and odious as it is in the
extreme, he does not advance any such imputation; indirectly, indeed, he
sets it aside.

Unfortunately for the reputation of Klearchus, no such reasonable excuse
can be offered for his credulity, which brought himself as well as his
colleagues to so melancholy an end, and his whole army to the brink of
ruin. It appears that the general sentiment of the Grecian army, taking
just measure of the character of Tissaphernes, was disposed to greater
circumspection in dealing with him. Upon that system Klearchus himself
had hitherto acted; and the necessity of it might have been especially
present to _his_ mind, since he had served with the Lacedaemonian fleet
at Miletus[32] in 411 B.C., and had therefore had fuller experience than
other men in the army, of the satrap's real character. On a sudden he
now turns round, and on the faith of a few verbal declarations, puts all
the military chiefs into the most defenceless posture and the most
obvious peril, such as hardly the strongest grounds for confidence could
have justified. Though the remark of Machiavel is justified by large
experience--that from the short-sightedness of men and their obedience
to present impulse, the most notorious deceiver will always find new
persons to trust him--still such misjudgment on the part of an officer
of age and experience is difficult to explain. Polyaenus intimates that
beautiful women, exhibited by the satrap at his first banquet to
Klearchus alone, served as a lure to attract him with all his colleagues
to the second; while Xenophon imputes the error to continuance of a
jealous rivalry with Menon. The latter, it appears, having always been
intimate with Ariaeus; had been thus brought into previous communication
with Tissaphernes, by whom he had been well received, and by whom he was
also encouraged to lay plans for detaching the whole Grecian army from
Klearchus so as to bring it all under his (Menon's) command into the
services of the satrap. Such at least was the suspicion of Klearchus;
who, jealous in the extreme of his own military authority, tried to
defeat the scheme by bidding still higher himse