And now they crossed over to the country of the Thracians above Byzantium, in the so-called Delta;1 this was beyond the domain of Maesades, being the land of Teres the Odrysian. [2] There Heracleides presented himself, with the proceeds from the sale of the booty. And Seuthes, leading forth three pairs of mules—for there were no more than three—and the yokes of oxen besides, called Xenophon and bade him take for himself and then distribute the rest among the generals and captains. [3] Xenophon replied: “Well, for my part I am content to get something at a later time; give rather to these generals and captains who have followed with me.” [4] So one of the mule teams was given to Timasion the Dardanian, one to Cleanor the Orchomenian, and one to Phryniscus the Achaean, while the yokes of oxen were distributed among the captains. Seuthes also paid over the wages of the troops, but for twenty days only of the month that had now passed; for Heracleides said that he had not obtained any more than that from his sale. [5] Xenophon was angered at this, and said to him with an oath: “It seems to me, Heracleides, that you are not caring for Seuthes' interest as you should; for if you were, you would have brought back with you our wages in full, even if you had to borrow something, in case you could not do it in any other way, or to sell your own clothes.” [6]
This made Heracleides not only angry, but fearful that he might be banished from the favour of Seuthes, and from that day he slandered Xenophon before Seuthes to the best of his ability. [7] As for the soldiers, they held Xenophon to blame for their not having received their pay; and Seuthes, on the other hand, was angry with him because he was insistent in demanding their pay for the soldiers. [8] Hitherto, he had continually been mentioning the fact that upon his return to the coast he was going to give Xenophon Bisanthe and Ganos and Neonteichos, but from this time he did not allude to a single one of these places again. For Heracleides had put in this slanderous suggestion with the rest, that it was not safe to be giving over fortresses to a man who had a force of troops. [9]
Hereupon Xenophon began to consider what it was best to do about continuing the march still farther inland; Heracleides, on the other hand, took the rest of the generals in to visit Seuthes and bade them say that they could lead the army just as well as Xenophon, while at the same time he promised them that within a few days they would have their pay in full for two months and urged them to continue the campaign with Seuthes. [10] And Timasion said: “Well, so far as I am concerned, I shall undertake no campaign without Xenophon even if there is going to be five months' pay.” And Phryniscus and Cleanor agreed with Timasion. [11] Thereupon Seuthes fell to abusing Heracleides because he had not invited Xenophon in also. The upshot of this was, that they invited Xenophon by himself. And he, comprehending the rascality of Heracleides, in wanting to make him an object of suspicion to the other generals, brought with him when he came all the generals and the captains. [12] When all of them had been prevailed upon, they continued the march with Seuthes, and, keeping the Pontus upon the right through the country of the millet-eating Thracians, as they are called, arrived at Salmydessus. Here many vessels sailing to the Pontus run aground and are wrecked; for there are shoals that extend far and wide. [13] And the Thracians who dwell on this coast have boundary stones set up and each group of them plunder the ships that are wrecked within their own limits; but in earlier days, before they fixed the boundaries, it was said that in the course of their plundering many of them used to be killed by one another. [14] Here there were found great numbers of beds and boxes, quantities of written books, and an abundance of all the other articles that shipowners carry in wooden chests. After subduing the country in this neighbourhood they set out upon their return. [15] By that time Seuthes had an army larger than the Greek army; for more and still more of the Odrysians had come down from the interior, and the peoples that from time to time were reduced to obedience would join in the campaign. And they went into camp on the plain above Selymbria, at a distance of about thirty stadia from the coast. [16] As for pay, there was none to be seen as yet; and not only did the soldiers entertain very hard feelings toward Xenophon, but Seuthes no longer felt kindly toward him, and whenever Xenophon came and wanted to have a meeting with him, it would straightway be found that he had engagements in abundance.
