Wisdom from 2389 years old book - Anabasis of Cyrus

To be ignorant of life before you were born is to forever to remain as a child. For what is the worth of human life, unless it is woven into the life of our ancestors by the history? - Cicero

During this time, I took out my old collection of classics and got to read Anabasis of Cyrus or March of Ten Thousand written by Xenophon, student of my favorite philosopher, Socrates.

Xenophon’s Anabasis of Cyrus tells the story of ten thousand Greek soldiers who join the effort of Cyrus the Younger to overthrow his brother, Artaxerxes, the legitimate king of the Persian Empire. After a long but rapid march from the western periphery of this empire to its heartland, the daring Cyrus is killed in battle, and his Greek allies are left surrounded and vastly outnumbered, far from home and safety. This is classic example of winning the battle but losing the war. Making an almost hopeless situation seem even worse, the Persians deceive and decapitate the top Greek leaders. Against all odds, however, the Greeks manage to fight their way back from Babylon to Byzantium.  According to Alexander the Great's ancient biographer Arrian, Alexander encouraged his troops, before the decisive battle of Issus, by reminding them of the deeds of Xenophon. According to Will Durant, one of the famous historian, it is one of the great adventures in human history.

Anabasis: This noun has the root meaning of “a going-up,” and it is used to indicate such ordinary ascents as the mounting of a horse or a way of going up a hill. In the sense of a march upcountry, it is used first by Xenophon, only in this work, and only in the following passages: the title. The book is also titled March Up the Country.

When reading the book I got some gems of advice and found out that few things have remained the same - negotiation tactics, risk assessment, assumptions, leadership, friendship, motivation, hope, trust and will power.

Painting by John Steeple Davis

Here are some brief description of characters in the book.

Artaxerxes II - Persian king, son of Darius II, most powerful man of the world that time

Cyrus the Younger - the younger brother of powerful Persian king Artaxerxes

Xenophon - famous student of Socrates and narrator of Anabasis

Clearchus - One of the generals of Greek army killed by betrayal of Tissaphernes

Tissaphernes - Greek ally of the Persians who alerted king of impending Greeks and killed Cyrus the Younger. He was later killed by plot of Cyrus mother, Parysatis

On friendship

Painting "The Death of Cyrus the Younger" by Peter Connolly

Cyrus had many friends and sent them goods which he shared. He was charismatic and many men deflected to his side during the war and died protecting him.

"Cyrus often sent half-empty jars when he found a wine that was particularly pleasant, saying that not for a long time indeed had he chanced upon a wine more pleasant that this one. “He therefore sends this to you and he asks that you drink it today with the friends you hold dearest.” And often he would send halves of geese, of loaves of bread, and other such things, and would order the bearer to say, “Cyrus took pleasure in these things, so he wishes you too to taste of them.”

On Negotiation

The Greeks were in precarious situation deep inside the enemy territory facing the wrath of the most powerful man of that time, Artaxerxes who would not let hired mercenaries to cross his border without any punishment. The Greek generals needed time to think and negotiate their stance. Here Greek general, Clearchus negotiates with Persian allied Greek Phalinus and mirrors him.

Phalinus said, “We shall report this back. But the King ordered us to tell you this too, that you have a truce if you remain here, but war if you go forward or go back. So speak, then, about this too, and say whether you will remain and have a truce, or whether I shall report back from you that there is war.” Clearchus said, “Report back about this, then, that our decision is the very same as that of the King.” “What is it then?” asked Phalinus. Clearchus answered, “If we remain, a truce, but if we go forward or go back, war.” He asked again, “Shall I report a truce or war?” Clearchus again answered the same, “Truce if we remain, but if we go forward or go back, war.” But what he would do, he did not indicate.  

On Assumptions and Risk Management

Greeks though they won the war were stuck deep inside enemy territory of King of Persia Artxerxes who had a Greek general ally, Tissaphernes. Tissaphernes was a unscruplous man who warned the King of his younger brother's arrival of 10,000 Greeks. Here he makes a truce with Clearchus, the Greek general then lure him to a trap stating to punish other Greeks who were plotting to break the truce and assassinates five Greek generals and 220 other Greeks. Here one learns risk management and assumptions made that enemy would honor the truce. As the failure of the assumptions, Clearchus and his generals lost their lives. Here are some excerpts from the book.

Tissaphernes first spoke as follows, through an interpreter: “Men of Greece, I live as a neighbor to Greece, and when I saw that you had fallen into many evils, and insoluble ones, I considered it a great find if I were somehow able to ask the King to allow me to save you and return you to Greece. For I think that there would be no lack of gratitude for me, either from you or from all of Greece...

And now it is possible for you to receive pledges from us that, verily, we will render the country friendly to you and lead you back to Greece without deceit, while providing you with markets. And wherever we do not provide a market, we will allow you to take provisions from the country. But you too will need to swear to us that, verily, you will march as through a friendly country, not damaging it, and taking food and drink only whenever we do not provide a market, but if we do provide a market, that you will purchase your provisions.”

They (Persians and Greeks) decided on these terms, and Tissaphernes and the brother of the King’s wife swore and offered their right hands to the generals and captains of the Greeks, and they received the same from the Greeks.

Greeks waited twenty days before the Persians returned. The Greeks meanwhile warned their general about worse case scenario and urged him to see the big picture.

.... going to Clearchus and to the other generals, these would say, “What are we waiting for? Do we not know that the King would value destroying us above everything else, in order that other Greeks would also be afraid to march against the Great King? Even now he is leading us to remain here because his army has been scattered, but when his army has again been assembled, there is no way that he will not attack us. And perhaps somewhere he is either digging a ditch or building a wall, so that our road may be impassable. For he will never wish—at least not voluntarily—that we, who are so few, return to Greece and report how we defeated the King right at his gates and returned home laughing about it.”

When there was doubt of the truce, Clearchus met up with Tissaphernes and said the following

For, first and most important, our oaths to the gods prevent us from being enemies to each other. I would never consider happy anyone who is conscious in himself of having neglected them. For I do not know what sort of speed there is, in war with the gods, by which one could get away by fleeing, or what sort of darkness there is into which one could run off to hide, or how one could withdraw into a secure stronghold. 

Tissaphernes the lures Clearchus into bringing his generals inside his camp and assasinating them assuming Greek army would be demoralized and disintegrate.

And Clearchus said, “Then when there are such grounds for friendship between us, are not those who are trying to make us enemies by slandering us worthy of suffering the most extreme penalty?” (25) “And,” said Tissaphernes, “if you generals and captains wish to come to me, I will openly name those who are telling me that you are plotting against me and the army with me.” (26) “And I,” said Clearchus, “will bring them all, and I will show you in turn whence I hear things about you.” (27) After these words, Tissaphernes then in a friendly way both bade him remain with him and made him his guest at dinner.

On the next day, when Clearchus came back to camp, it was clear that he thought he was disposed in a friendly way with Tissaphernes, and he reported what the other had said; and he said that all those whom [Tissaphernes] had invited must indeed go to Tissaphernes, and that any Greeks who were convicted of slandering must be punished as traitors and as evil-minded toward the Greeks.

But Clearchus also wished that the entire army should turn its thoughts toward himself and that those who annoyed him should be out of the way. Some of the soldiers spoke against him, saying that not all the captains and generals should go and that they should not trust Tissaphernes. But Clearchus insisted vehemently until he brought it about that five generals would go, and twenty captains. And about two hundred of the other soldiers followed along, to go to the market.

Then the assasination because General wrongly assumed an enemy General would keep his word.

When they were at Tissaphernes’ doors, the generals were called inside—Proxenus, a Boeotian; Menon, a Thessalian; Hagias, an Arcadian; Clearchus, a Laconian; and Socrates, an Achaean—but the captains remained at the doors. Not long after, on the same signal, the ones within were seized and those outside were cut down. After this, some of the barbarian horsemen rode over the plain, and whatever Greeks they chanced upon, whether slave or free, they killed them all.

Shrewdness

Only one time in the book Xenophon mentions his teacher, Socrates where he cleverly asks the questions which forces this teacher to give him permission to leave Greece for Persia.

Xenophon, took common counsel with Socrates the Athenian about the journey. And Socrates, suspecting that becoming a friend of Cyrus might bring an accusation from the city, because Cyrus had seemed eager in joining the Lacedaemonians (Spartans during Peloponnesian War) in making war against the Athenians, advised Xenophon to go to Delphi and take common counsel with the god about the journey. Xenophon went and asked Apollo to which one of the gods he should sacrifice and pray in order to make the journey he had in mind in the noblest and best way and, after faring well, to return safely. And Apollo indicated to him the gods to whom he needed to sacrifice.

When he came back again, he told the oracular response to Socrates. On hearing it, Socrates blamed him because he did not first ask whether it was more advisable for him to make the journey or to remain, but he himself had judged that he was to go and then inquired how he might go in the noblest way.“However, since you did ask it in this way,” he said, “you must do all that the god bade.”

Leadership - Learning from experience

Persians made a truce with the Greeks invited them to palace after which they assassinated the generals, expecting that Greeks would disintegrate and disunite which would make the Persians to kill them easily. Xenophon asses the situation and remind the troops about dangers they may face and asks them to be prepared and most important be united against common enemy.

“It remains for me to say the very thing I believe to be of greatest importance. For you see that our enemies did not even dare to bring on the war against us until they seized our generals, for they believed that as long as there were rulers and we were obedient to them, we were competent to prevail in war, but they believed that after they seized the rulers, we would perish by anarchy and disorder.

It is thus that our present rulers must be much more careful than our former ones, and that the ruled be much more orderly and obedient to their rulers now than they were formerly. And if anyone disobeys, vote that whoever of you who chances to be on hand must join with the ruler in punishing him. In this way the enemy will have been deceived to the greatest degree, for today they will see not one Clearchus but ten thousand, who will not allow anyone to be a bad soldier.

On taking criticism

As he was leading his men, somebody criticized him for being lazy and just order and ride. On hearing this Xenophon quickly dismounted and lead by example instead of chastising the complainer.

"As he rode along on his horse, Xenophon kept giving encouragement: “Men, believe that you are contending now for Greece, now for your children and wives; if we do a little labor now, we will march the rest of the way without a battle.” Soterides the Sicyonian said, “We are not contending on equal ground, Xenophon; for you are carried on a horse, but I am laboring hard, carrying this shield.” Hearing this, Xenophon leaped down from his horse, pushed him out of the order and, taking away his shield, began to march with it as quickly as he could. He happened also to have on his horseman’s breastplate, so that he was hard pressed. And he was encouraging those in the front to lead on and those in the rear, who were struggling to follow, to come on up. The rest of the soldiers struck, threw at, and cursed Soterides, until they compelled him to take back his shield and march. And remounting, Xenophon went on horseback as long as the way was passable."

On gathering intelligence 

Since the Greeks were in unknown land, they required help of local people for two things - help with food and supplies and guide them on easy terrain on way back to Greece. They had to cross check as misleading the Greeks or leading them to an enemy territory could be catastrophic.

"And Xenophon said, “But I have two men. For since the enemy was giving us trouble, we set an ambush. This also allowed us to catch our breath, and we killed some of them, and we also were eager to capture some alive so that we might have the use of guides who know the country.”

Then they brought in the people right away and cross-examined them separately about whether they knew any road other than the one that was visible. The one denied that he did, even when threatened with many frightening things. When he kept failing to say anything beneficial, he was slaughtered in sight of the other. The one left said that the former had denied knowing because he chanced to have a daughter living there with a man to whom she had been given in marriage. He himself said that he would lead them on a road on which it was possible even for baggage animals to pass. "

Leading from the back

The rear of the army was most vulnerable to enemy attacks as most soldiers who could not keep up with the group faltered. Xenophon here lead the army and helped the vulnerable

Xenophon was in the rear guard and kept coming upon the people who had fallen down with this, but he did not know what the affliction was. When someone who had experience told him that they were clearly suffering hunger faintness, and that if they ate something, they would get up, he went around to the baggage train, and if he saw anything edible or drinkable, he distributed it and sent around those who were able to run to the afflicted and give them food. When they ate something, they got up and continued marching.

Some of the enemy had banded together and were following in pursuit, and they were seizing the baggage animals that lacked the strength to keep up, and they were fighting over them with each other. Soldiers were also being left behind, some with their eyes blinded by the snow, others with their toes rotted off by the cold. 

As he rode along on his horse, Xenophon kept giving encouragement: “Men, believe that you are contending now for Greece, now for your children and wives; if we do a little labor now, we will march the rest of the way without a battle. Xenophon and those with him told the weak that others would come for them on the next day, and resuming the march, before they had covered four stadia, they chanced upon soldiers who were resting on the snow, all covered up, and a guard had not even been posted.

Victory - Thálatta! Thálatta!

Painting "The Sea! The Sea!" by Bernard Granville Baker, 1901

The Greeks went through trials and tribulations had to encounter many enemy tribes, make pact with friendly ones before they reached Thrace (present Balkans) and saw Black Sea from where they knew they were in reach to their homeland. Here another scandal breaks out but Xenophon with his leadership skills manages to diffuse the situation. The part V of the Book is about Greeks dividing and making their way back to their home.

They arrived at the mountain on the fifth day; its name was Eches. When the first troops were on the mountain and saw the sea, there was a great shout. But since the shout kept getting louder and nearer, and since those who got up would set out at a run toward those who kept on shouting, and since the shout kept becoming far louder as those shouting became more numerous, it seemed to Xenophon that there was something quite extraordinary here. He mounted his horse and, taking Lycius and the horsemen, rode up to help. And quite soon they heard the soldiers shouting, “The sea! The sea!” and passing the word along. Then everyone in the rear guard also began to run, and the baggage animals and the horses were driven on. When all arrived at the summit, here, of course, they began to embrace one another, both generals and captains as well, with tears flowing. And suddenly, whoever may have bid them do it, the soldiers began to bring stones and to make a large cair.

Bust of Xenophon (Berlin Museum)

A man acquainted with history may, in some respect, be said to have lived from the beginning of the world, and to have been making continual additions to his stock of knowledge in every century. - David Hume

Reading old classics gives us understanding on why certain leaders with different mindset survived and got to tell their stories. This book encouraged leaders like Alexander to use the weakness of Eastern empires and encouraged him to invade and expand his empire towards the East instead of the West (when Roman empire were still in infancy). Of the two students of Socrates, Xenophon compared to Plato was practical compared to Plato's idealism and is one of my favorite authors. Other famous books by him were Cyropaedia, Education of King Cyrus and Memorabilia, where he defends Socrates thinking. I would highly recommend you to delve into the classics where one can gain gems of advice.