Of the murdered generals, Clearchus was a man of high military capacity, but a harsh disciplinarian, feared and respected, but very unpopular; Proxenus, a particular friend of Xenophon, was an amiable but not a strong man; Menon, the Thessalian, was a crafty and hypocritical time-server, of whom no good can be spoken.

The ten thousand Greeks were now in an ugly predicament; they were a thousand miles from home, while between them and the Black Sea lay the mountains of Armenia.  They were surrounded by hostile hordes, and were without cavalry.  They had no recognised chief, and their most trusted leaders were gone.  The whole company seemed paralysed under a universal despondency.  It was at this juncture that Xenophon, an Athenian gentleman-volunteer, was stirred to action by a dream.  He rose and roused the officers of the contingent of Proxenus, to which he was attached.  Heartened by an address, in which he pointed out that, on the one hand they had to depend on their own courage, skill, and resourcefulness, and, on the other, were released from all obligation to the Persians, they unanimously chose him their leader, and at his instigation roused the senior officers of all the other contingents to assemble for deliberation.

The council thus summoned, inspired again by the words of Xenophon, vigorously backed up by other leaders, appointed new generals, among them Xenophon himself, and set about actively to organise a retreat to the sea.  The contagion of resolute determination spread through the ranks of the whole force.  Cheirisophus the Lacedaemonian was given the chief command, the two youngest generals, Xenophon and Timerion, were placed in charge of the rear-guard.  A troop of slingers was organised; all horses with the arroy were sequestrated to form a cavalry squadron.  The army started on its march through the unknown, formed in a hollow square, which was shortly so organised that the columns could be broadened or narrowed according to the ground without creating confusion.

They soon found themselves able to repulse without difficulty even attacks in force by the troops of Tissaphernes, the enemy being entirely outmatched in hand-to-hand fighting.  The slingers and archers, however, proved troublesome, and hostile forces, though keeping out of reach, were never far off.  At last Tissaphernes and Ariaeus drew off altogether, and the Greek generals having as alternative courses the march east upon Susa, north upon Babylon, and west towards Ionia, decided to revert to the course northwards to the Black Sea.

III.—­The Sea!  The Sea!