came in sight of the tents where the Cilicians were on guard. From
that point he descended gradually into a large and beautiful plain
country, well watered, and thickly covered with trees of all sorts and
vines. This plain produces sesame plentifully, as also panic and
millet and barley and wheat; and it is shut in on all sides by a steep
and lofty wall of mountains from sea to sea. Descending through this
plain country, he advanced four stages--twenty-five parasangs--to
Tarsus, a large and prosperous city of Cilicia. Here stood the palace
of Syennesis, the king of the country; and through the middle of the
city flows a river called the Cydnus, two hundred feet broad. They
found that the city had been deserted by its inhabitants, who had
betaken themselves, with Syennesis, to a strong place on the hills.
All had gone, except the tavern-keepers. The sea-board inhabitants of
Soli and Issi also remained. Now Epyaxa, Syennesis's queen, had
reached Tarsus five days in advance of Cyrus. During their passage
over the mountains into the plain, two companies of Menon's army were
lost. Some said they had been cut down by the Cilicians, while engaged
on some pillaging affair; another account was that they had been left
behind, and being unable to overtake the main body, or discover the
route, had gone astray and perished. However it was, they numbered one
hundred hoplites; and when the rest arrived, being in a fury at the
destruction of their fellow soldiers, they vented their spleen by
pillaging the city of Tarsus and the palace to boot. Now when Cyrus
had marched into the city, he sent for Syennesis to come to him; but 26
the latter replied that he had never yet put himself into the hands of
any one who was his superior, nor was he willing to accede to the
proposal of Cyrus now; until, in the end, his wife persuaded him, and
he accepted pledges of good faith. After this they met, and Syennesis
gave Cyrus large sums in aid of his army; while Cyrus presented him
with the customary royal gifts--to wit, a horse with a gold bit, a