Book 6 · Chapter 3

The Arcadians, sneaking ashore under the cover of night at Calpe Haven, marched against the closest villages, about three miles from the sea.

As soon as it was light, each of the ten generals led their group to attack a village - or if a village was big, a couple of groups went in together under their combined generals. They agreed to meet at a certain hill.

Their attack was so sudden that they grabbed a bunch of prisoners and rounded up tons of livestock. But the Thracians who got away started gathering again; being lightly armed, they’d slipped through the hands of the heavily armored soldiers.

Now that they were together, they first attacked the group of the Arcadian general, Smicres, who had finished his work and was heading back to the meeting spot, driving along with a huge group of prisoners and cattle. For a while, the Greeks fought a running battle.

But at a narrow pass, the enemy pushed them back, killing Smicres and everyone with him. The fate of another group led by Hegesander, another of the ten, was almost as bad - only eight people escaped, and Hegesander was one of them.

The other commanders eventually met, some with something to show for their efforts, others with nothing. The Thracians, having pulled off this win, kept up a constant shouting and chatter throughout the night.

But at daybreak, they surrounded the hill where the Greeks were camped - both cavalry and lightly armed troops - and the number of new arrivals kept growing every minute.

Then, they launched an attack on the heavily armored infantry, feeling secure because the Greeks didn't have a single archer, spear thrower, or mounted soldier. While the enemy charged forward on foot or galloped up on horseback, throwing their javelins.

It was useless to fight back, as they sprang back and escaped so quickly. And the attack kept coming from every direction, so that on one side men were wounded, while on the other no one was touched.

They couldn’t move from their spot, and the Thracians ended up cutting them off from their water supply. In desperation, they started talking about a truce, and eventually, concessions were made and terms agreed upon.

But the Thracians refused to provide hostages in response to the Greeks’ demand - and that’s where things stood. That’s how it went for the Arcadians. As for Cheirisophus, that general continued his march along the coast and reached Calpe Haven without a problem.

Xenophon moved through the heart of the country; and his cavalry, pushing ahead, came across some older men heading somewhere, who he brought to him.

When he asked if they’d seen another Greek army anywhere, they told him everything that had already happened, adding that they were currently being surrounded on a hill by all the Thracians. Xenophon kept the older men under strict guard to use as guides if needed.

Next, after setting up outposts, he called a meeting of the soldiers and addressed them: "Soldiers, some of the Arcadians are dead and the rest are being surrounded on a certain hill."

"Now, I believe that if they’re going to die, their deaths will seal our own fate as well: because we’ll have to face a large and confident enemy. Clearly, our best course is to hurry to their rescue, if we can find them still alive, and fight alongside them rather than face danger alone."

"Okay, let's move out as far as makes sense until dinner, then we’ll set up camp. While we’re marching, Timasion, with the cavalry, should scout ahead, but keep an eye on us. Make sure he checks everything closely so nothing gets past us."

(He also sent some quick light infantry guys to the sides and up on the hills to signal if they saw anything; telling them to burn anything that could catch fire in their path.)

"As for us," he continued, "we donn't need to worry about finding cover anywhere; it’s a long trek back to Heraclea and a huge jump across to Chrysopolis, and the enemy's right at our door. The quickest way is to Calpe Haven, where we’re guessing Cheirisophus is, if he’s safe."

But when we get there, Calpe Haven doesn’t have any ships for us to escape on. And if we stop here, we don’t have enough food for even a single day.

Leaving the trapped Arcadians to their fate, it’s going to be a rough deal to risk it all with just Cheirisophus’s group; better to save them if we can, and with everyone working together, figure out how to get out of this.

But if we do, we need to be prepared, because today we’re either facing a glorious death or pulling off an amazing rescue of so many Greek lives.

"Maybe it’s God leading us, humbling the arrogant show-off who acts like they know everything, but for us, who rely on divine help for everything we do, God has something even better in store. One thing I want to remind you of: focus on carrying out my orders quickly."

With those words, he took the lead. The cavalry, spreading out as far ahead as was safe, set fire to everything wherever they went. The light infantry guys on the high ground did the same, burning everything they could find.

While the main army finished the job wherever they came across anything that had been missed, so the whole country looked like it was on fire; and the army looked even bigger than it was.

When it was time, they turned towards a small hill and set up camp there, where they spotted the enemy’s campfires. They were about two and a half miles away. They also lit as many campfires as they could on their side, but as soon as they finished eating, they were told to put them out.

So during the night, they posted guards and slept. But at sunrise, they prayed to the gods and, lining up for battle, started marching as fast as they could.

Timasion and the cavalry, who had guides with them, and were moving quickly in front, unknowingly found themselves at the very hill where the Greeks had been trapped.

But they didn’t find any army there, neither friend nor foe; just a few skinny old women and men, with a few sheep and oxen that had been left behind. They told Xenophon and the main army about this.

At first, they were confused about what had happened, but soon they found out from the locals that the Thracians had left immediately after sunset and were gone; the Greeks had waited until morning before they took off, but no one knew which direction they’d gone.

Hearing that, Xenophon's soldiers ate breakfast first, then gathered their gear and started marching, wanting to meet up with everyone at Calpe's Haven ASAP. As they kept moving, they found the tracks of the Arcadians and Achaeans on the road to Calpe.

Both groups finally arrived at the same spot and were super stoked to see each other again - they hugged like brothers. Then the Arcadians asked Xenophon's officers, "Why did you put out the watchfires?"

"At first," they replied, "when we couldn’t see your fires anymore, we thought you guys were going to attack the enemy during the night. We figured the enemy must have been freaked out and left. The timing would have made sense, too."

"But after a while and you still hadn't shown up, we guessed you’d heard what happened to us and were running scared to the coast. We didn’t want to get left behind, so we started marching here, too."