Kitap 6
2.9
While they were in this state of mind, theThe report of the Indian spies Indians that Cyrus had sent as spies to the enemy’s camp returned with the report that Croesus had been chosen field-marshal and commander-in-chief of all the enemy’s hosts, that all the allied kings had decided to join him with their entire forces, to contribute vast sums of money, and to expend them in hiring what soldiers they could and in giving presents to those whom they were under obligations to reward.
2.10
They reported also that many Thracian swordsmen had already been hired and that Egyptians were under sail to join them, and they gave the number as one hundred and twenty thousand men armed with shields that came to their feet, with huge spears, such as they carry even to this day, and with sabres. Besides these, there was also the Cyprian army. The Cilicians were all present already, they said, as were also the contingents from both Phrygias, Lycaonia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, Arabia, and Phoenicia; the Assyrians were there under the king of Babylon; the Ionians also and the Aeolians and almost all the Greek colonists in Asia had been compelled to join Croesus, and Croesus had even sent to Lacedaemon to negotiate an alliance.
2.11
This army, they said, was being mustered at the River Pactolus, but it was their intention to advance to Thymbrara, where even to-day is the rendezvous of the king’s barbarians from the interior. And a general call had been issued to bring provisions to market there. The prisoners also told practically the same story as the Indian spies; for this was another thing that Cyrus always looked out for—that prisoners should be taken, from whom he was likely to gain some intelligence. And he used also to send out spies disguised as slaves to pretend that they were deserters from him.
