54 The problem of the Ten Thousand 



of pay was no doubt one reason for emergency-labour. In the earlier 

 case the destitution of the men led them to look for any paid work: 

 in the second the general had to do his best in spite of irregular and 

 insufficient supplies from home. In both cases it is the exceptional 

 nature of the arrangement that makes it worth mentioning. It can 

 hardly be viewed as having any economic significance. But it is of 

 some interest in connexion with a passage of Aristotle 1 that will re- 

 quire notice below. 



In the Anabasis Xenophon reports his own arguments, urging the 

 Greek army to fight their way out of the Persian empire. He feared 

 that, now Cyrus was dead, and they were cut off far from home in an 

 enemy's country, they might in despair surrender to the King and 

 take service under him. At best this meant giving up Greece and 

 settling in Persia on the King's terms. This he begged them not to 

 do: that they could under Greek discipline cut their way out was 

 evident from the independence of many peoples of Asia Minor, who 

 lived and raided as they chose in defiance of the Persian power. He 

 added 'Therefore I hold 2 that our right and proper course is first to 

 make a push to reach Hellas and our own kinsmen, and to demonstrate 

 to the Greeks that their poverty is their own fault: for, if they would 

 only convey to these parts those of their citizens who are now living 

 in want at home, they could see them in plenty (7r\ovcriovs).' But he 

 reminds them that the good things of Asia are only to be had as the 

 reward of victory. For my present purpose the one important point 

 is that a mixed host of Greek mercenaries are said to have been 

 appealed to by a reference to the fact of poverty and land-hunger 

 among their folks at home, and that this reference is said to have been 

 made by an Athenian. Writing this in later life, Xenophon would 

 hardly have set down such an argument had it not then, as on the 

 occasion recorded, had considerable force. In another passage 3 he 

 gives an interesting account of the motives that had induced most of 

 the men to join the expedition. He is explaining why they were irri- 

 tated at a rumour that they were to be pressed to settle down at a 

 spot on the Euxine coast. 'It was not lack of subsistence that had led 

 most of the soldiers to go abroad on this paid service: they had been 

 told of the generosity of Cyrus. Some had other men following them, 

 some had even spent money for the cause: others had run away 

 from their parents, or left children behind, meaning to win money 

 and return to them, on the faith of the reported prosperity of those 

 already in the service of Cyrus. Such was the character of the men, 

 and they were longing to get safe home to Greece.' In short, full- 

 blooded men were not content to drag on poor ill-found stagnant lives 



1 Ar Pol VII 6 8. 2 Anab m 2 26. 3 Anab vi 4 8. 



