A terrible spectacle displayed

Here is an interesting account from Xenophon's Anabasis. The 10000 were retreating northward from the vicinity of Babylon toward the Black Sea. They came upon a fortified town, and needing provisions attacked the "motley crowd" of men and women in the fortress. The villagers managed to hold the army off for a while, but they soon ran out of rocks to throw and...

"...the three of them took the fortress, and when they had once rushed in, not a stone more was hurled from overhead.

And here a terrible spectacle displayed itself: the women first cast their infants down the cliff, and then they cast themselves after their fallen little ones, and the men likewise. In such a scene, Aeneas the Stymphalian, an officer, caught sight of a man with a fine dress about to throw himself over, and seized hold of him to stop him; but the other caught him to his arms, and both were gone in an instant headlong down the crags, and were killed. Out of this place the merest handful of human beings were taken prisoners, but cattle and asses in abundance and flocks of sheep."

I wonder if the townspeople would have bartered if the army hadn't immediately attacked them? I wonder if these folks were just that scared of being taken prisoner? I wonder if this would have turned out differently if the townspeople had been left a way out? Would it matter to history if these people had lived?

Take-away points from this incident...

• People get desperate when you push them to the point of no return.
• Desperate people are dangerous because they have nothing to lose.
• You can kill yourself trying to stop a crazy person form jumping.
• A fortress can be a trap for the defenders.