SECTION 2. PERSIA AND THE WEST

It had been marked in the West as well, and its fruits were patent
within five years. The dominant Greek state of the hour, avowing an
ambition which no Greek had betrayed before, sent its king, Agesilaus,
across to Asia Minor to follow up the establishment of Spartan hegemony
on the coasts by an invasion of inland Persia. He never penetrated
farther than about half-way up the Maeander Valley, and did Persia no
harm worth speaking of; for he was not the leader, nor had he the
resources in men and in money, to carry through so distant and doubtful
an adventure. But Agesilaus' campaigning in Asia Minor between 397 and
394 has this historical significance: it demonstrates that Greeks had
come to regard a march on Susa as feasible and desirable.

It was not, however, in fact feasible even then. Apart from the lack of
a military force in any one state of Greece large enough, sufficiently
trained, and led by a leader of the necessary magnetism and genius for
organization, to undertake, unaided by allies on the way, a successful
march to a point many months distant from its base--apart from this
deficiency, the Empire to be conquered had not yet been really shaken.
The Ten Thousand Greeks would in all likelihood never have got under
Clearchus to Cunaxa or anywhere within hundreds of miles of it, but for
the fact that Cyrus was with them and the adherents of his rising star
were supplying their wants and had cleared a road for them through Asia
Minor and Syria. In their Retreat they were desperate men, of whom the
Great King was glad to be quit. The successful accomplishment of that
retreat must not blind us to the almost certain failure which would have
befallen the advance had it been attempted under like conditions.