d restless by the
excitements and changes of the past thirty years, and ready to embark in
any warlike enterprise that promised money and spoil. They were unfitted,
as is usually the case, for sober and industrial pursuits. They panted for
fresh adventures.

(M575) This restless passion which war ever kindles, found vent and
direction in the enterprise which Cyrus led from Western Asia to dethrone
his brother Artaxerxes from the throne of Persia. Some fourteen thousand
Greeks from different States joined his standard--not with a view of a
march to Babylon and an attack on the great king, but to conquer and root
out the Pisidian mountaineers, who did much mischief from their fastnesses
in the southeast of Asia Minor. This was the ostensible object of Cyrus,
and he found no difficulty in enlisting Grecian mercenaries, under promise
of large rewards. All these Greeks were deceived but one man, to whom
alone Cyrus revealed his real purpose. This was Clearchus, a Lacedaemonian
general of considerable ability and experience, who had been banished for
abuse of authority at Byzantium, which he commanded. He repaired to Sardis
and offered his services to Cyrus, who had been sent thither by his father
Darius to command the Persian forces. Cyrus accepted the overtures of
Clearchus, who secured his confidence so completely that he gave him the
large sum of ten thousand darics, which he employed in hiring Grecian
mercenaries.

(M576) Other Greeks of note also joined the army of Cyrus with a view of
being employed against the Pisidians. Among them were Aristippus and
Menon, of a distinguished family in Thessaly; Proxenus, a Boeotian; Agis,
an Arcadian; Socrates, an Achaean, who were employed to collect
mercenaries, and who received large sums of money. A considerable body of
Lacedaemonians were also taken under pay.

The march of these men to Babylon, and their successful retreat, form one
of the most interesting episodes in Grecian history, and it is this march
and retreat which I purpose briefly to present.

(M577) Cyrus was an extraordinary man. The younger son of the Persian
king, he aimed to secure the sovereignty of Persia, which fell to his
elder brother, Artaxerxes, on the death of Darius. During his residence at
Sardis, as satrap or governor, he perceived and felt the great superiority
of the Greeks to his own countrymen, not only intellectually, but as
soldiers. He was brave, generous, frank, and ambitious. Had it been h