hearing the orders, the generals and officers retired, and did as they
were bid; and for the future Clearchus led, and the rest followed in
obedience to his orders, not that they had expressly chosen him, but
they saw that he alone had the sense and wisdom requisite in a
general, while the rest were inexperienced[1].

[1] The MSS. add the words, "The total distance of the route, taking
Ephesus in Ionia as the starting point up to the field of battle,
consisted of 93 stages, 535 parasangs, or 16,050 furlongs; from
the battle-field to Babylon (reckoned a three days' journey) would
have been another 360 stades," which may well be an editor's or
commentator's marginal note.

Here, under cover of the darkness which descended, the Thracian
Miltocythes, with forty horsemen and three hundred Thracian infantry,
deserted to the king; but the rest of the troops--Clearchus leading
and the rest following in accordance with the orders promulgated--took
their departure, and about midnight reached their first stage, having
come up with Ariaeus and his army. They grounded arms just as they
stood in rank, and the generals and officers of the Hellenes met in
the tent of Ariaeus. There they exchanged oaths--the Hellenes on the
one side and Ariaeus with his principal officers on the other--not to
betray one another, but to be true to each other as allies. The
Asiatics further solemnly pledged themselves by oath to lead the way
without treachery. The oaths were ratified by the sacrifice of a bull,
a wolf[2], a boar, and a ram over a shield. The Hellenes dipped a
sword, the barbarians a lance, into the blood of the victims.

[2] It is a question whether the words "a wolf" ought not to be
omitted.