There were then some thousands of
adventurers or Greek exiles who hired themselves as mercenaries. Cyrus
retained ten thousand of them. Xenophon, one of their number, has
written the story of their expedition.
This army crossed the whole of Asia even to the Euphrates without
resistance from any one.[95] They at last came to battle near Babylon.
The Greeks according to their habit broke into a run, raising the
war-cry. The barbarians took flight before the Greeks had come even
within bow-shot. The Greeks followed in pursuit urging one another to
keep ranks.
When the war-chariots attacked them, they opened their ranks and let
them through. Not a Greek received the least stroke with the exception
of one only who was wounded with an arrow. Cyrus was killed; his army
disbanded without fighting, and the Greeks remained alone in the heart
of a hostile country threatened by a large army. And yet the Persians
did not dare to attack them, but treacherously killed their five
generals, twenty captains, and two hundred soldiers who had come to
conclude a truce.
The friendless mercenaries elected new chiefs, burned their tents and
their chariots, and began their retreat.
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