m 
 
THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 From the library of 
 Charles Melville Moss 
 Professor of 
 Classics 
 Presented bv Mrs. Moss 
 881 
 
Return this book on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
 University of Illinois Library 
 
 
 IS56 
 
 
 
 v?. 
 
 
 ir.U l9S 
 
 
 
 
 
 
XENOPHON 
 
 BY 
 
 SIR ALEXANDER GRANT, Bart, LL.D. 
 
 PRINCIPAL OP THE UNIVERSITY OP EDINBURGH 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 JOHN B. ALDEN, PUBLISHER, 
 1885. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER page: 
 
 I. Notices of the Life of Xenophon Previous to the Ex- 
 
 pedition of Cyrus 5 
 
 II. The Expedition of Cyrus 12 
 
 in. The Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks to the Shore 
 
 of the Euxine 27 
 
 IV. The Subsequent Fortunes of the Ten Thousand, and 
 
 Notices of the Later Life of Xenophon 53 
 
 V. Xenophon's " Recollections of Socrates" 80 
 
 VI. His "Education of Cyrus" 112 
 
 VII. The Minor Works of Xenophon 135 
 
 Conclusion 155 
 
SSI 
 
 vl: 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 
 
 -0 CHAPTER I. 
 
 NOTICES OF THE LIFE OF XENOPHON PREVIOUS TO 
 THE EXPEDITION OF CYRUS. 
 
 There is none of the ancient Greek authors whose per- 
 sonality stands more clearly before us than that of Xen- 
 ophon. We owe this entirely to his own writings, for 
 external notices of him are meagre and untrustworthy. 
 But the historian of the expedition of Cyrus, the re- 
 corder of the conversations of Socrates, and the varied 
 essayist on so many topics of ancient Greek life, was one 
 of those who, in depicting other things, give at the same 
 time a portrait of themselves. His chief work is the 
 account of a military expedition in which he was himself 
 engaged, and in which he ultimately played a very 
 prominent and leading part. So it follows only naturally 
 that five sevenths of this work are almost pure auto- 
 biography. We have thus from Xenophon's own hand a 
 mmute and fiving picture of himself and his actions for 
 more than a year and a half, during one of the most inter- 
 esting episodes of military history. We have from him- 
 self also an indication of his subsequent mode of life in 
 his country residence, when he had settled down into a 
 landed proprietor, and had exchanged the sword for the 
 
 6361v51 
 
6 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 pen. And all his writings, though perfectly artistic, 
 are so naive, communicative, and at the same time so 
 consistent in tone, that we can have no doubt that they 
 reflect his real character. They seem to bring the man 
 himself, with his habits and ways of thinking, his prin- 
 ciples, prejudices, and superstitions, vividly before us. 
 But except what can be derived from these sources, we 
 have scarcely any information about the life of Xeno- 
 phon. There is a biography of him written by Diogenes 
 Leartius at the end of the second century a.d. But, 
 like the rest of the Lives" of Diogenes, it is a mere 
 debris of anecdotes and traditions; and no assertion 
 which it contains can be accepted without criticism. 
 
 There is no reason, however, for discrediting the 
 statement that Xenophon was the son of one Gryllus, an 
 Athenian citizen ; for this is corroborated by the better- 
 attested fact that the historian had a son also named 
 Gryllus — it being the custom of Athens to call children 
 after their grandfathers. The family of Xenophon must 
 Jiave belonged to the upper middle ranks of Athens, as 
 he himself was one of the class of knights," or horse- 
 men, for whom a property-qualification was required. 
 But he could not have had much hereditary riches to de- 
 pend on, else he would not have made himself a soldier 
 of fortune, fighting "for his own hand" in Asia, and 
 being anxious to settle down there as a colonist, had cir- 
 cumstances been favorable. 
 
 As to the exact date of the birth of Xenophon, there 
 has been some doubt and controversy. This, however, 
 has arisen from the words occurring at the commence- 
 ment of one of his minor works, called "The Banquet," 
 in which he professes to describe circumstances at 
 which he was himself present. The supper-party in 
 question was connected with the Panathenaic games of 
 
NOTICES OF THE LIFE OF XENOPUON, 7 
 
 the year 420 B.C. ; and some critics, assuming that Xen- 
 ophon must have been more than twenty years old at 
 the time, place the date of his birth at about 445 B.C. 
 This assumption is connected with a story, of apocry- 
 phal origin, that Xenophon was present at the battle of 
 Delium (434 B.C.), and that his life was saved by Soc- 
 rates on that occasion. Other circumstances, however, 
 prevent us from believing in the reality of such an oc- 
 currence. And as to the Banquet," internal evidence 
 tends to show that this is a merely imaginative picture, 
 so that we cannot build any theory on Xenophon's hav- 
 ing stated that he was ** present" on the occasion, and 
 still less can we find any ground in his description of 
 the circumstances for deciding how old he may have 
 been at the time . The real data that we have for fixing 
 the age of Xenophon consist in the terms in which he 
 speaks of himself in relating the " Retreat of the Ten 
 Thousand." And these are suflaciently conclusive for 
 all practical purposes. He twice speaks of the immatu- 
 rity of his own age, at that period, as rendering him 
 diffident in offering counsel to the other captains of the 
 Greek army. He mentions himself as youngest of the 
 seven officers chosen to conduct the retreat; he relates 
 his own constant performance of duties requiring youth- 
 ful activity; and he records that the Thracian chief, 
 Schuthes, thinking that he was possibly unmarried, 
 offered him the hand of his daughter. From all this 
 we may fairly gather that Xenophon, at the time of the 
 expedition of Cyrus (401 B.C.), was not more than thirty 
 years of age. His birth may, with great probability, be 
 placed about the year 431 B.C., contemporaneously with 
 the commencement of the Peloponnesian w^ar. 
 
 Through the successive phases of that twenty-eight 
 years' war, Xenophon grew up to manhood. He was 
 
8 
 
 XENOPEOK 
 
 probably unconscious of the horrors of the plague 
 which raged at Athens during the second and third 
 years of the war. But he may well have remembered 
 in his early boyhood the annual invasion of Attica by 
 the Spartans, and the ravaging of the country up to 
 the very city walls. When about seventeen years old 
 he probably shared in the enthusiasm connected with 
 the sending off of the Athenian expedition against 
 Sicily; and two years later he witnessed the national 
 grief and consternation at the news of the utter de- 
 struction of the Athenian force at Syracuse. When 
 about twenty-eight years old, he saw the blockade, 
 and finally the capitulation, of Athens, which in some 
 respects might be compared to the capitulation of 
 Paris in the year 1871. Such comparisons must not 
 be pushed too far; but in some particulars the relation 
 of the Spartans to the Athenian people might be said to 
 be analogous to that of the Germans to the French in 
 the great Franco-Prussian war. The events contempo- 
 raneous with his youth and early manhood must neces. 
 sarily have had an influence on the mind and character 
 of Xenophon. It was altogether an unhappy time — 
 a period in which the national prestige of Athens was 
 gradually being lost. The effect on the mind of a youth- 
 ful Athenian would naturally be to prevent his feeling 
 a pride in his country. This is, doubtless, an unfavor- 
 able circumstance for any one. In after-life we find 
 Xenophon not absolutely unpatriotic — indeed, in his 
 writings he appears constantly to be devising methods 
 for the improvement of the Athenian resources; but we 
 find him deficient in anything like reverence for Athens. 
 He seems to '*sit loose" on his country and he shows 
 a readiness to denationalize himself, and throw in liis 
 fortunes with those of foreign states, which can be best 
 
NOTICm OF THE LIFE OF XENOPHON. 9 
 
 explained by reference to the events and influences of 
 his youth. 
 
 In the meantime, Xenophon had shared with his 
 countrymen that awakening of the intellect which es- 
 pecially characterized Athens at the very period of 
 her incipient political decline. It was the time when 
 Athenian poetry and art had reached their acme, and 
 now oratory and debate were being studied and prac- 
 tised with zeal; Greek prose style was being cultivated 
 and developed; and, from the discussions of the Sophists 
 and Socrates, philosophy was receiving a new birth. 
 The keen, lively mind of Xenophon drank in all the 
 influences of the age. He probably never listened to 
 the eloquence of the great Pericles, but he must have 
 heard innumerable debates in the Agora, and probably 
 took part in many. From year to year he enjoyed the 
 refining influence of the great masterpieces of Greek 
 tragedy brought upon the stage by Sophocles, Euripides, 
 and Agathon; while at the same time the inimitable 
 comedies of Aristophanes furnished annually a humorous 
 and intellectual commentary on public events and char- 
 acters. Xenophon's thoughts must necessarily liMve been 
 much engaged with war and foreign politics; and, above 
 all, he had the great advantage, during the plastic period 
 of his youth, of being the pupil and companion of the 
 renowned Athenian teacher, Socrates. 
 
 We cannot tell whether the tradition, which has been 
 preserved by Diogenes, of the beginning of this relation- 
 ship, can be regarded as literally true. But at all events 
 it IS a very pleasing anecdote. We are told that Socrates 
 encountered Xenophon, who was "a beautiful, modest 
 boy," in a narrow passage, put his stick across so as to 
 stop him, and asked him where provisions could be 
 bought?" On Xenophon mentioning some place, he 
 
10 
 
 XENOPUON. 
 
 again asked, *'And where are men made noble and 
 good?" As Xenophon knew not what to answer, he 
 said, Well, then, follow and learn." And thenceforth 
 Xenophon became the disciple of Socrates. 
 
 He appears to have diligently applied himself to profit 
 by his opportunities, for he was considered by the an- 
 cients to have been " the first man who ever took notes 
 of conversations." He made a considerable collection 
 of the conversations of Socrates thus noted down. 
 These were afterwards published in the book commonly 
 known as the Memorabilia," for which all the intel- 
 lectual world must be grateful to Xenophon. But per- 
 sonally he can only have been to a limited extent in- 
 fluenced by the teachings of Socrates, as he had no taste 
 for the higher and more abstract parts of philosophy, 
 and therefore he assimilatqd the ethical and practical 
 elements of the thought of his master. Other pupils of 
 Socrates,, such as Plato and Euclid, appeared to have 
 derived from their teacher an impulse towards meta- 
 physical speculation, of which Xenophon shows no 
 trace. He was throughout his life a practical, sensible 
 man of the world, Imbued with the easier and more 
 popular Socratic theories; rather too fond of omens 
 and divination, for which taste he quoted the authority 
 of his master; doubtless much cultivated and improved 
 by all the Socratic discussions to which he had listened, 
 but by nolneans to be reckoned as one of philosophers 
 of the Socratic "family." 
 
 He appears, at all events, to have regarded Socrates 
 as his mentor and adviser in the affairs of life. We 
 have from his own pen* the following account of the 
 share of Socrates in determining the step most important 
 
 * Anabasis, iii. 1. 
 
NOTICES OF THE LIFE OF XENOPIION, 11 
 
 of all in the career of Xenophon. In the year 402 b.c. 
 he received a letter from a Boeotian frieud named Prox- 
 enus, urging him to come to Sardis and take service under 
 Cyrus, the younger brother of Artaxerxes, king of Persia. 
 He showed this letter to Socrates, and consulted him 
 •whether he should go. Socrates thought that there was 
 a risk of Xenophon's getting into trouble with his coun- 
 trymen if he were to join Cyrus, who was believed to 
 have given assistance against them to the Spartans. He 
 advised him to go to Delphi and consult the oracle. 
 Xenophon went accordingly to Delphi; but having 
 made up his ownmind on the subject, he barred dissua- 
 sion by evasively asking of Apollo * ' what God he should 
 sacrifice to in order to perform most propitiously the 
 journey which he had in his mind V* The oracle directed 
 him to sacrifice to "Jupiter the King." Having teiken 
 back this answer, he was reproved by Socrates, but told 
 that he must now do as the god had directed. Accord- 
 ingly he performed his sacrifice, and crossed the archi- 
 pelago to Ephesus, whence he proceeded to the rendez- 
 vous at Sardis. 
 
 In this story we see amusingly exhibited the willfulness 
 of the youthful Xenophon and the practical shrewdness, 
 mixed with superstition, of Socrates. There might be 
 some risk of unpleasant consequences from taking service 
 under Cyrus, yet, on the other hand, there was a chance 
 of such a step turning out well. The offers of Cyrus had a 
 peculiar fascination for the soldiers of fortune in Greece ; 
 and Socrates, even as a practical adviser, may have been 
 not insensible to the same imaginative influence. He fol- 
 lowed his own maxim, In cases of doubt, consult the 
 gods," and dispatched Xenophon to the oracle of Delphi. 
 The oracular response, as commonly happened in such 
 circumstances only confirmed the inquirer in the 
 
12 
 
 XENOPHON, 
 
 course to which he was himself inclined. And Xeno- 
 phon accordingly joined the expedition of Cyrus. He 
 joined it neither as an officer nor a soldier," but in 
 an unattached capacity. The leading events of that 
 ill-fated expedition and the subsequent adventures of 
 the Greek force which was engaged in it, will occupy 
 the three following chapters: and with all these 
 events Xenophon himself was so completely identified, 
 that the account of them, taken from his Anabasis, ' 
 will be found to be a continuation of the life of the 
 historian. ., v' 1 a^' ^ 
 
 , ■ V CHAPTER 'll. 
 
 ■ f | THE EXPEDITION OF CYKUS. 
 
 ^ The best and most interesting of the works of Xeno- 
 J phon is called the Anabasis." This name signifies 
 the march up-country," that is, from the sea to 
 Babylon, and is only applicable to the first part of the 
 work. The book, therefore, is misnamed, as it is far 
 more concerned with the Catabasis," or march down 
 to the sea again." Letting this pass, the "Anabasis" 
 essentially consists of three parts: 1st, The Expedition 
 of Cyrus, and his invasion of the Persian dominions; 
 2d, The retreat of the Greek contingent in his army to 
 the Euxine; 3d, The vicissitudes of that contingent 
 when they had got back among Greek towns, but still 
 kept together as a mercenary force. These three divi- 
 sions of the story give us the natural headings for the 
 present and two subsequent chapters. 
 
 The Cyrus now referred to is of course not Cyrus the 
 Great (mentioned in the Bible), who had died more 
 than a century previous to this expedition, and who 
 had been succeeded by Cambyses, Darius 1., Xerxes I. 
 
TUE EXPEDITION OF CTIIUS. 
 
 13 
 
 (Aliasuerus), Artaxerxcs I., and Darius II. (called 
 Nothus), who was father to Artaxerxes II. (called 
 Mnemon), and to Cyrus, the younger, with whom we 
 have to do. 
 
 Darius Nothus came to the throne in the j^ear 423 
 B.C., and Cyrus was born after this date. He was 
 therefore, less than tweuty-one years old when our 
 story begins. Orientals are precocious, and early au- 
 thority matures the powers; but still it must be allowed 
 that he was a young prince of very extraordmary abilities, 
 for in the measures by which lie proposed to carry out 
 his ambitious projects, he quite departed from the tra- 
 ditionary ideas of his country. He was the favorite 
 son of his mother, Parysatis, who encouraged him in 
 expecting to supersede his elder brother and succeed 
 to the throne. As he had been born after his father's 
 accession, he had, according to Persian custom, a supe- 
 rior claim to his brother, who, having been born before 
 the accession, ranked as the son of a private person. 
 But Darius Nothus, his father, settled it otherwise, 
 and gave Cyrus, in his seventeenth year, the satrapy of 
 Lydia, Phrygia, and Cappadocia, being, in short, the 
 greater part of Asia Minor, while he nominated Artax- 
 erxes to succeed himself on the throne. 
 
 The youthful satrap had, from the first, Greek troops 
 in his pay, and Greek oiRcers about his person. He 
 mixed in Grecian politics, and assisted the Spartans in 
 their war against Athens. Just before his father's 
 death (404 B.C.) he was summoned to Babylon, and, 
 when the decease had occurred, he was charged with 
 plotting against his newly- crowned brother. He was 
 arrested by Artaxerxes, and would have been put to 
 death, but his mother begged his life and sent him 
 back to his province. 
 
14 
 
 XENOrilON. 
 
 Returning in disgrace and anger, lie organized with 
 secrecy and determination his plans. He collected 
 more Greek troops by giving out that Tissaphernes, a 
 neighboring satrap, had designs upon the Greek towns 
 in Asia Minor, and inviting Spartan soldiers to come 
 over for their defence. He employed Clearchus, a 
 Lacedaemonian exile, Proxenus, the friend of Xenophon, 
 and other Greek adventurers who had come to his 
 court, to raise a force for him, on the pretext of an 
 expedition against Tissaphernes, or against the moun- 
 taineers of Pisidia. Sardis was the rendezvous, Pisidia 
 the ostensible object; all designs against Artaxerxes 
 were carefully concealed. And, in the meanwhile, the 
 Great King himself was entirely blinded with regard to 
 his brother's intentions. He thought that one satrap 
 was going to make war on another — a circumstance 
 entirely beneath his notice! 
 
 With a Greek force approaching 10,000 (they became 
 afterwards rather more by additions on the way), and 
 with a native army of 100,000 men, Cyrus marched 
 from Sardis in the early spring of the year 401 B.C. 
 He proceeded in a south-easterly direction, as it was 
 part of his plan that his fleet should co-operate with 
 him on the south coast of Asia Minor, and the route 
 taken was that which would have led to Pisidia. They 
 marched about seventy miles to the Maeander, which 
 they crossed on a bridge of boats, and stopped a week 
 at the wealthy city of Colossae,* where reinforcements 
 joined them. Proceeding onwards, they reached Celaj- 
 11 86, where Cyrus had a palace and a vast park (Xeno- 
 
 * This was the place to which St. Paul's "Epistle to he 
 Colosgiians " was addressed. A fe\v broken columns and debrU 
 now ^lone mark its site. 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF CYRUS. 15 
 
 plion calls it by the Persian name, a *' paradise") 
 stocked with wild animals, which he used to hunt when 
 he or his horses required exercise. In this govern- 
 ment house," which he was destined never to see again, 
 he now rested for a month, and the army was increased 
 by the arrival of more Greek recruits. The Greek con- 
 tingent was reviewed, and was found to consist of 11,- 
 200 men. 
 
 In the plains of Caystrus three months' pay became 
 due to the troops. There had been some mistake in 
 the arrangements, and Cyrus was in perplexity, when, 
 most opportunely, he was joined by Epiaxa, wife of 
 Syennesis, king of Cilicia, who came to meet him, 
 bringing a large sum of money as an offering, and with 
 this he paid his men. With the Cilician queen in his 
 company he marched on to the city of Tyriaeum, where, 
 -at her request, he held a grand review of his army. 
 After the native battalions had marched past, he di- 
 rected the Greeks to form into phalanx and exhibit a 
 charge. This they did so effectually, advancing at a 
 run with their spears presented, and with loud shouts, 
 towards the Persian tents, that the queen and her 
 people were seized with alarm aod fled from the field, 
 while the Greeks burst out laughing, and Cyrus was 
 overjoyed to see the terror with which they inspired 
 his countrymen. 
 
 Advancing by Iconiura, through Lyaconia and Cap- 
 padocia, towards Cilicia, he sent Epiaxa with a Greek 
 escort under Meno, a Thessalian captain, to go by a 
 direct route over the mountains into her own country. 
 Cyrus himself found the pass over Mount Taurus, 
 which was called the Cilician Gates, occupied by 
 Syennesis. This pass being a narrow defile between 
 rocks, 3600 feet above the sea, might easily have been 
 
16 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 held; but Syennesis (who was probably acting all along 
 in collusion with Cyrus) had now the excuse that his 
 flank had been turned by Meno, and that he was 
 threatened on the other side by the fleet of Cyrus; so 
 he evacuated the pass, and the invading army, without 
 resistance, marched through the Gates of Cilicia. De- 
 scending into a beautiful plain, they came to Tarsus, 
 even then a large and rich city, afterwards the rival in 
 wealth, literature, and science of Athens, Antioch, and 
 Alexandria, and famous for all time as the birthplace 
 of St. Paul. 
 
 Here it seemed as if the expedition would come to an 
 end. For it was now clear that Pisidia (which they 
 had passed) was not the obiect of the march; the Greek 
 soldiers suspected that they were being led against the 
 King; they said that they had not been, engaged for this 
 service, and that they would go no farther. Clearclius, 
 the Lacedaemonian, the sternest disciplinarian and 
 harshest officer in the army, tried to force his men to 
 proceed. They at once mutinied, and he narrowly es- 
 caped being stoned. Laying aside all his usual imperi- 
 ousness of manner, he stood before his men weeping, 
 while they regarded him in tacit astonishment. He 
 then broke silence, and said Do not wonder, soldiers, 
 at my grief, for Cyrus has been my friend and benefac- 
 tor. I was anxious to serve him in payment of his past 
 kindnesses to me. But since you are unwilling to ac- 
 company him on this expedition, I am reduced to the 
 painful alternative of abandoning either him or you. 
 Whether it is right or not, I have made up my mind 
 what to do. 1 will never abandon you. Since you will 
 not obey me I will follow you. You are to me coun- 
 try, friends, allies. Be assured that wherever you go, 
 I shall go also." The attitude thus taken by Clearchus 
 
• 
 
 THE EXPEDITION OF GYRUS, 17 
 
 at once restored him to the confidence of the soldiers, 
 more especially as, when Cyrus sent for him, he adroit- 
 ly refused to go. His next step was to invite opinions 
 as to the course it would be best to pursue under the 
 circumstances. Clearly, it would be now difficult to get 
 home without the consent of Cyrus, and a little consul- 
 tation among the soldiers showed that Cyrus was not 
 likely to give that consent. At last it was resolved to 
 send a deputation to the Prince, and ask what was really 
 the service on which they were engaged. Cyrus had an 
 answer at once ready for them. He said that he ex- 
 pected to find his enemy, Abrocomas, twelve days' 
 march forward, on the banks of the Euphrates. If they 
 found him there they would chastise him ; if not, they 
 would consider then what was to be done." The sol- 
 diers were not really dupes of this particularly vague 
 answer. But Clearchus had played them" like fishes. 
 By seeming to yield he had conquered. They contented 
 themselves with asking higher pay, which Cyrus at once 
 granted, raising the wages of each soldier from about 
 16 shillings to £1 4s. per month. On this understand- 
 ing, the army again marched forward and reached Is- 
 sus, the last town of Cilicia on the sea-coast. Here the 
 ships of Cyrus brought up some reiuforcements, and 
 among them Cheirisophus, the Spartan general, with 
 7000 men. 
 
 Beyond were **the gates of Cilicia and Syria," two 
 fortresses about five hundred yards apart, with a stream 
 flowing between them, and this aperture, being the 
 only entrance into Syria, was one of the most de- 
 fensible positions in the whole march. Cyrus had 
 appointed his fleet to meet him here to assist in forcing 
 it. But the one fortress had been abandoned by Syen- 
 nesis, and the other by the outpost of Abrocomas. 
 
18 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 and the Grecian army passed through these gates 
 also unchallenged. They advanced along the coast 
 to Myriandrus, a Phoenician settlement. This was 
 the last time, for many a long day, that any of them / 
 were destined to look upon the sea. Here two of/ 
 the Greek captains deserted in a merchant vessel. 
 But Cyrus had the adroitness to make capital" out of 
 the circumstance. He addressed the army, and showed 
 that he might easily have the deserters captured by 
 his w^ar-galleys, but that he abstained from doing 
 so. **Let them go, therefore," said he, "and remem- 
 ber that they have behaved worse to me than I have 
 to them." The Greeks, even such as had before been j 
 disinclined to the expedition, on seeing the generos- 
 ity of Cyrus, now accompanied him with greater 
 pleasure and cheerfulness. Twelve days' march from 
 this point brought them to the large town of Thap- 
 sacus, on the banks of the Euphrates. Here a halt 
 was made, and Cyrus formally announced to the Greek 
 captains that his march was directed to Babylon, 
 against the Great King. The soldiers, hearing this, felt 
 or feigned anger, and declared that they would not go 
 forward without a handsome present. Cyrus at once 
 promised to give every man five minas of silver (£20) as 
 soon as they should reach Babylon; and while they 
 were debating on the offer Meno persuaded his men to 
 earn favor with Cyrus by crossing the Euphrates before 
 the rest had made answer. They followed his advice, 
 and crossed the river at once. Cyrus was delighted. 
 He sent high commendations to the soldiers and secret 
 presents to Meno; and then marching himself through 
 the river, he was followed by all the army. In passing 
 the stream no one was wetted above the breast; and the 
 people of Thapsacus declared that the river had nover 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF CYRUS. ID 
 
 before been fordable on foot. Every one said that "it 
 was a divine providence, and that the river clearly 
 made way for Cyrus as the future king." After cross- 
 ing the Euphrates, the Cyreians marched for nine days 
 along its left bank till they came to the river Araxes, 
 one of its affluents, w^here they halted, and collected 
 provisions from the villages to serve them in the desert 
 which they were now entering. For five days hence 
 they passed through what Xenophon cafts ''Arabia," a 
 country level as the sea and full of wormwood. All 
 the other shrubs were aromatic, and there was not a 
 tree to be seen. Here they found wild asses, ostriches, 
 bustards, and antelopes. The horsemen of the army 
 bad some sport with these. They found the flesh of 
 the wild ass like venison, but more tender, and that of 
 the bustard delicious. The ostrich by its running flight 
 entirely beat them, and not one could be caught. 
 They halted at the river Mascas, and again laid in pro- 
 visions before entering for a second time the desert, 
 which lasted for a march of thirteen days, during 
 which beasts tiled for want of fodder, corn failed, and 
 the soldiers lived entirely on flesh. Cyrus pushed 
 along over this part of the way with the utmost ex- 
 pedition. The marches were forced; and at one place 
 where the baggage-waggons had stuck in some mud, 
 Cyrus impatiently ordered the Persian nobles who 
 were round him to assist in extricating Ihem. In an 
 instant they doft'ed their purple cloaks, and, all arrayed 
 as they were in splendid vests and embroidered trous- 
 ers, and with their gold chains and bracelets on, they 
 plunged into the mire and executed his orders. 
 
 The '* Anabasis " was now nearly concluded. They 
 came to Pylse, or *'the Gates," a defile leading from 
 Mesopotamia into the Babylonian territory, only a 
 
20 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 hundred and eight miles north of the great city. Op- 
 posite to this, over the Euphrates, was a town called 
 Charmande, from which the soldiers, on rafts, got pro- 
 visions, and wine made from dates. Here, on the eve 
 of the conclusion of the march, the safety of the whole 
 army was endangered by a brawl between the soldiers 
 of Meno and those of Clearchus. They were with 
 difficulty appeased by Cyrus, who assured them that 
 •* if anything goes wrong with you Greeks, all these 
 natives whom you see about you will instantly become 
 more hostile than even the army of the Great King." 
 
 As it was, the natives who were with Cyrus con- 
 tinued remarkably faithful to him, even now that it 
 was getting rather nervous work; for they were evi- 
 dently close to the King's army, and the country 
 around them had been cut up by cavalry and the 
 forage burnt. One noble Persian, however, by name 
 Orontes, endeavored at this moment to go over to 
 Artaxerxes. This man was a born traitor and syco- 
 phant. On two previous occasions he had alternately 
 plotted against Cyrus and whined to him for forgive- 
 ness. He now volunteered to go out on reconnaissance, 
 and at the same time sent off a letter to the King, say- 
 ing that he was going to come over to him with a 
 thousand of the Cyreian horse. But the messenger to 
 whom he entrusted this document took it to Cyrus. 
 Orontes was arrested and taken into Cyrus's tent, 
 where he was tried by a council of seven Persians 
 and Clearchus. According to the report of Xenoplion, 
 Cyrus gravely and temperately stated the case against 
 him, and the council unanimously condemned him to 
 death. Orontes was led away to the tent of a confiden- 
 tial eunuch, and ' ' no man afterwards saw him either 
 alive or dead." 
 
TUE EXPEDITION OF CYRUS. 31 
 
 Cyrus now advanced cautiously for three days 
 through the Babylonian territory. At the end of the 
 third day's march he held a midnight review of his 
 army, expecting that the King would give him battle 
 next day. He found that he had a force of 12,900 
 Greeks and 100,000 natives. Reports of the royal 
 army represented them as 1,206,000 strong! But Cyrus 
 addressed the generals and captains of the Greeks, and 
 assured them that the difference of numbers was of no 
 importance. He said, I will tell you from experience 
 what you will have to encounter — vast numbers and 
 plenty of shouting and noise. If you stand firm, I am 
 really ashamed to tell you what poor creatures you will 
 find these natives to be. Only be men, and I will make 
 those of you who wish to go home the envy of your 
 countrymen; though I hope that many of you will elect 
 to remain in my service." 
 
 The next day there was no appearance of the King; 
 but they came on a trench which had been dug to im- 
 pede their progress. It was 30 feet broad and 18 deep, 
 and stretched for more than 40 miles across the plain of 
 Babylon, leaving a passage of only 20 feet between 
 itself and the Euphrates. ' But even this laboriously 
 constructed obstacle w^as made useless by being left 
 undefended; and the Cyreian army marched quietly 
 through the narrow passage, and concluded the day 
 without seeing the enemy. Cyrus now sent for Silanus, 
 the chief soothsayer of the Greeks, and presented him 
 with 3000 darics (£2600), because on the eleventh day 
 previous he had foretold that- the King would not 
 fight within ten days. Cyrus had then said, "If your 
 prophecy comes true I will give you ten talents; for 
 unless the King fights within ten days he will not fight 
 at all." 
 
22 
 
 XENOPUON, 
 
 It was quite natural now for every one to suppose 
 that Artaxerxes had abandoned the idea of resistance. 
 So from this the army advanced in loose order, many 
 of the men's arms piled on beasts of burden, and Cyrus 
 himself riding at ease in a chariot. But at noon on the 
 next day but one after their leaving the trench, when they 
 were at a place called Cunaxa,* a mounted scout came 
 in at full speed, shouting both in Greek and Persian 
 that the King was coming up with a vast army in battle 
 array. In hot haste they began to form, thinking that 
 the King would be upon them before they should have 
 time to get into rank. But it was not till the afternoon 
 that they got sight of, first, a white cloud of dust, 
 second, a sort of blackness in the plain, next a flashing 
 of brass; and then the spears and lines of men became 
 visible. It was a mighty mass. On their left, opposite 
 the Greeks, were cavalry in white armor, troops with 
 wicker targets, and Egyptians with long wooden shields 
 reaching to their feet, while before the line at intervals 
 were scythed chariots to cut through the ranks of their 
 opponents. In the centre was the Great King, sur- 
 rounded by a close phalanx. But though in the centre 
 of his own line,. that line was so immense that he was 
 actually beyond the extreme left of the army of Cyrus. 
 Despite what Cyrus had said about the shouting of the 
 natives, they now came on quietly enough, with a slow 
 even step. 
 
 The right of the Cyreian line, resting on the Eu- 
 phrates, consisted of the Greeks, commanded in their 
 several divisions by Clearchus, Proxenus, Meno and 
 
 * This name is nowhere mentioned by Xenophon. The names 
 of battle-fields are often left at first imsettled. It is given by- 
 Plutarch (Artaxerxes, c. 8). The spot was about fifty miles from 
 Babylon. 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF GYRUS. 
 
 23 
 
 others. To tlie left of them was the native force, under 
 Ariaeus, a Persian general, on the extreme left, and with 
 Cyrus commanding in person in the centre. This 
 young pretender to the throne of Persia seemed full of 
 hope and enthusiasm, and despised all precautions. 
 While all others wore helmets, he presented himself for 
 the battle with his head uncovered. 
 
 Riding along the front of his hne with a small staff, 
 he came to where the Greeks were stationed, and call- 
 ing out to Clearchus, told him to lead his troops against 
 the enemy's centre, where the King was, and strike 
 there; "for if," he said, **we are victorious in that 
 quarter, the day is ours," As the event showed, this 
 order was sound enough; and if Clearchus had had 
 sufficient contempt for his opponents to carry it out, 
 probably the course of subsequent history would have 
 been changed. But iu order to do so, the Greeks would 
 have had to pass before the entire line of the enemy 
 (less than half a mile distant) with their right or un- 
 shielded side exposed. Secondly, they would run the 
 risk of being outflanked on the extreme left, owing to 
 the great length of the enemy's line. Under these cir- 
 cumstances, Clearchus determined in his own mind to 
 stick to the river, which protected his right flank, and to 
 charge where he w^as. So he merely replied to Cyrus 
 that "he would see that all went right." 
 
 In the meanwhile Xenophon (who is now for the first 
 time mentioned) rode up to Cyrus and asked if he had 
 any commands. Cyrus directed him to tell the men 
 that the omens of sacrifice were quite favorable. Just 
 then a noise was heard in the ranks, and on the Prince 
 asking what it was, Xenophon told him that the Greeks 
 were passing the watchword of the day, ''Jupiter tJie 
 Preserver and Victory." On hearing this, Cyrus said, 
 
24 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 "I accept it with all my heart," and rode away to his 
 own station. 
 
 The Greeks now sang the paean, and began to advance 
 against the enemy. As they advanced, their line fluc- 
 tuated a little, and those who were thrown out began 
 to run, and gradually all took to running, at the same 
 time raising their well-known shout to Mars, and 
 rattling their spears against their shields. The moral 
 effect of this astounding charge was too much for their 
 native opponents. Before the Greeks had got within a 
 bowshot of them they turned and fled, and even the 
 drivers of the scythed chariots leapt down and ran 
 away, leaving their horses to run wildly among friends 
 and foes alike. The entire left wing of the King's 
 army was routed, and the Greeks pursued them on and 
 on, without losing a man, — but uselessly, because the 
 centre, with Artaxerxes in the midst, w^as still untouched. 
 
 Cyrus observed with satisfaction the victorious course 
 ,of the Greeks; and those about him, with Oriental 
 flattery, prematurely saluted him as king. But he was 
 not carried away. He kept his body-guard of 600 horse- 
 men drawn up in close rank, and steadily watched the 
 movements of Artaxerxes. Presently the Great King, 
 as no one attacked him in front, showed signs of wheel- 
 ing round as if to take the Greeks in the rear. On this 
 Cyrus moved down upon him, and, charging fiercely 
 with his 600 horse, broke through and routed the 6000 
 cavalry that formed the body-guard of the King, and 
 killed the commander with his own hand. In the eager- 
 ness of pursuit, his horsemen got dispersed, and only 
 Cyrus, accompanied by a handful of men — chiefly those 
 who were called his table-companions" — bore straight 
 on to the spot where Artaxerxes was exposed to view 
 with a little band around him. Maddened with excite- 
 
THE EXPEDITION OF CYRUS, 
 
 25 
 
 ment, Cyrus cried out, I see the man!" and, rushing 
 at his brother, struck him an ill-aimed blow with his 
 lance, wounding him slightly through the breastplate. 
 At the same moment Cyrus himself was pierced by a 
 javelin under the eye, and falling from his horse was 
 slain. Eight of his chiefs fell around him, and his 
 faithful eunuch, seeing him fall, threw himself on the 
 body, and clasping it in his arms, was put to death. 
 The head and the right hand of Cyrus wen* cut off, and 
 all his native troops, composing the left wing of the 
 army, took to flight, and retreated to their camp of the 
 night before, a distance of eight miles from the battle- 
 field. Thus ended the battle of Cunaxa (September 3, 
 401 B.C.) and the expedition of Cyrus. 
 
 At first sight there is a halo of romjuice over the 
 whole enterprise, not unlike that which surrounds the 
 ill-fated Rebellion of 1745. And as the generous im- 
 pulses in our nature prompt us to take the side of a 
 gallantly maintained but unfortunate cause, so it is 
 difficult not to sympathize with young Cyrus and his 
 Greeks, as against the Persian King and his over- 
 whelming masses of inferior troops. And yet, after 
 all, the attempt, however boldly devised and ably car- 
 ried out, was only an act of treason without any ade- 
 quate justification. The expedition of Cyrus was 
 prompted by no patriotic or public motive, but solely 
 by personal ambition of the most selfish kind, and 
 was nothing short of fratricidal in its intent, being di- 
 rected against a brother, who, as far as we know, had 
 done Cyrus no wrong, except that of being his senior, 
 and of having been chosen for the throne. In the guilt 
 of these motives the Greeks were not implicated ; they 
 were engaged on a false pretence, and were not informed 
 of the real nature of the service on w^hich they were to 
 
26 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 be employed, till it was virtually too late to withdraw 
 from it. On the other hand, they were not fighting for 
 a cause, but for pay; they were not like the Jacobites 
 of "the '45," but were mercenaries, whom Cyrus had 
 retained, just as an Indian prince might retain a body 
 of European soldiers, as likely to beat a very dispropor- 
 tionate number of his countrymen. And yet there was 
 something fine in the relationship between Cyrus and 
 the Greeks; it was not entirely based upon considerations 
 of money, but consisted greatly in personal attachment. 
 Cyrus, young as he was, had suflicient greatness of 
 character to inspire many of the Greek captains with 
 an enthusiasm for his person. They served him, as 
 Xenophon tells us, partly from regard, and partly be- 
 cause they had an imaginative notion that great things 
 were to be achieved in his service. Cyrus, unlike most 
 Orientals, had the good sense to see the policy of perfect 
 good faith to his friends ; he led the Greeks to rely on him 
 implicitly, and, unlike one with despotic traditions, he 
 treated them as citizens, on a basis of fair reasoning be- 
 tween man and man. Many a trait does Xenophon re- 
 cord of his behavior en bon comarade. It is true that all 
 this time he was on his promotion, and therefore on his 
 best behavior. But there was something really Napo- 
 leonic in his ascendancy over the minds of men. These 
 powers, thus early manifested, might have had a for- 
 midable influence on tlio nffairs of mankind. Xeno- 
 phon justly thinks that no one who had sat on the 
 throne of Persia since the great Cyrus could have com- 
 pared in ability with Cyrus the younger. Mr. Grote is 
 of opinion that, if he had succeeded in his enterprise, 
 he would successfully have played the game of employ- 
 ing the Greeks against each other, and that, forestalling 
 the work of Macedonia, he would have destroyed the 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS, 27 
 
 independence of Greece by subjugating her to Persia. 
 Oh the whole, then, it may have been of advantage to 
 the interests of civilization, that Clearchus did not bet- 
 ter follow out, at the battle of Cunaxa, the instructions 
 of Cyrus. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE RETREAT OP THE TEN THOUSAND GREEKS TO 
 THE SHORE OF THE EUXINE. 
 
 The Greeks having pursued for about three miles 
 their unprofitable victory over the left wing of the 
 King's army, halted ; when they perceived the enemy 
 advancing towards them from the direction of their own 
 lines. They immediately formed, with the Euphrates 
 in their rear, and having sung the paean, charged. The 
 Persians fled with even greater precipitancy than be- 
 fore. The Greeks followed, without overtaking them, 
 till the sun set, when they stopped and resolved to 
 march back to their tents. On arriving there, they 
 found that the camp "had been plundered by the King's 
 troops, and that all their provisions were gone. They 
 lay down fasting, having had neither dinner nor siipper 
 during the day. But as yet they had not heard a word 
 of the death of Cyrus. They believed him to be victo- 
 riouB as they had been, and they looked forward to the 
 morrow to bring them the reward of all their labors. 
 
 At sunrise a message came from Ariseus, the Persian 
 general of Cyrus, who had fled back with the native 
 army to the camp from which they had come two days 
 befcJi'e, saying that Cyrus was dead, and that if the 
 Greeks would join him he would take them back to the 
 coast of Asia Minor, but that he would not wait for them 
 
38 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 more than twelve hours. To this Olearchus replied, 
 *' Would that Cyrus were alive! but since he is no more, 
 tell Ariaeus we have beaten the King's army, and that if 
 he comes to us we will set him on the throne of Per- 
 sia." While awaiting an answer to this proposal, the 
 Greeks slaughtered the bullocks and asses which had 
 drawn their wagons, and with them made a breakfast. 
 
 Ariseus had not heart enough to avail himself of the 
 chance which was offered him. He told the Greeks 
 that the other Persians of higher rank than himself 
 would never let him be king. But he swore solemnly 
 to guide the Greeks in safety back. He said that it 
 would be impossible to return by the route on which 
 they had come, for they would not he able to get 
 provisions for the desert, but that they must go by the 
 northern route, which lay through fertile countries. 
 To begin with, he led them eastwards into the Baby- 
 lonian territory. This was an alluvial plain, full of 
 villages, and which, under certain circumstances, might 
 have been a trap for an army, for it lay between the 
 Euphrates and the Tigris, and was divided into paral- 
 lelograms by the wall of Media' and four successive 
 ship canals, running across from the one river to the 
 other. Ko doubt Ariseus was right in saying that 
 escape would bo impossible by way of the deserts of 
 Mesopotamia and Arabia. But it is not likely that he 
 really meant to undergo all the difficulties of conduct- 
 ing the Greeks home by way of the Tigris. In all 
 probability he used the offer of the Greeks to intimidate 
 Artaxerxes, and to obtain an amnesty for himself 'on 
 condition of abandoning his allies, which, in fact^ he 
 immediately did. • 
 
 In the meantime the vascillation of the Persians was 
 wonderful. They not only did not attack the Greeks, 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 
 
 2^ 
 
 but instead of starving them in the barren country, 
 they admitted them within the wall of Media, where 
 they could get plenty of provisions, and where they 
 migHt have used the canals and rivers as defenses, 
 which would have enabled them to hold an almost im- 
 pregnable position, and where they might have made a 
 military settlement threatening the very existence of 
 the reigning dynasty. Presently this danger appears to 
 have occurred to the Persians, and with it the expedi- 
 ency of making a golden bridge for a flying enemy." 
 For they sent Tissaphernes the satrap to profess friendly 
 feelings for the Greeks, and to oifer to escort them back 
 to Greece. Under his guidance the Greeks crossed two 
 of the canals, and arrived at Sitace, a town on the Ti- 
 gris a little below Bagdad. Here they received false 
 information that the Persians were going to destroy the 
 bridge over the Tigris. This news was fabricated with 
 the view of hurrying them out of Babylonia, lest at the 
 last moment they should resolve to settle there. The 
 ruse was successful, for the Greeks guarded the bridge 
 during a night, and next morning crossed it with all ex- 
 pedition. 
 
 Having been got fairly over the Tigris into the prov- 
 ince of Media, they were conducted north-westward, 
 along the river, by Tissaphernes, for ten days, partly 
 through a desert country, and with only two remarkable 
 incidents: first, that they met an illegitimate brother of 
 Artaxerxes bringing up a large army to assist him, and 
 who halted his troops to see the Greeks pass by. Clear- 
 chus, being aware of this, made his men march two 
 abreast, so that his line seemed almost interminable, 
 and inspired respect in the minds of the natives. Second, 
 that on arriving at some villages which were the private 
 property of Parysatis (the queen-mother, who had fav- 
 
30 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 ored the cause of Cyrus), Tissapliernes allowed the 
 Greeks, instead of purchasing provisions in them, to 
 plunder them. 
 
 Soon after this they arrived at the river Zab, which 
 flows into the Tigris. On its banks they rested, and 
 here Clearchus resolved to have a conference with 
 Tissaphernes, in order, if possible, to put a stop to the 
 feelings of mutual suspicion which had evidently been 
 arising between the Greeks and their Persian conduc- 
 tors. The substance of the discussion which took place 
 is put by Xenophon into the form of elaborate speeches 
 on each side ; and he represents Tissaphernes, after pro- 
 fessing the most pure and beautiful motives, to have 
 wound up with an Oriental compliment to the Greeks, 
 saying that while the Great King alone was allowed 
 to wear the upright turban* on his head, any other man, 
 who had the Greeks on his side, might wear it in his 
 heart.'' This innuendo, which was probably used in 
 reality, meant that Tissaphernes had such an admiration 
 for the Greeks that he could not quite relinquish the 
 idea of making himself king by their assistance. It 
 was in allusion to the offer which had been refused by 
 Arigeus^ and the delicate compliment seems to have 
 worked so powerfully with Clearchus as to have entirely 
 thrown him off his guard. In spite of all remonstrances 
 of cautious persons, he accepted an invitation to go to 
 a still more confidential interview with Tissaphernes 
 within the Persian lines, and he persuaded four gen- 
 erals, including Proxenus and Meno, and twenty cap- 
 tains, of the Greeks, to accompany him. 
 
 No sooner had they arrived at the tent of Tissaphernes 
 than all the captains and the small guard of honor that 
 
 * One of the insignia of royalty in ancient Persia. 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS 31 
 
 accompanied them were cut down, and the generals 
 were seized and bound and sent up to the King. Four 
 of them were immediately put to death by beheading. 
 Meno alone had his life granted to him, probably on 
 account of certain traitorous communications which he 
 had previously held with Tissaphernes. Xenophon, 
 after relating these events, sketches in a masterly way 
 the characters of the different generals, and stigmatizes 
 Meno as a bad and ^'alse man. He records, with appar- 
 ent satisfaction, that Meno was ultimately put to death 
 with lingering tortures. This nemesis was due to the 
 still powerful influence of the queen-mother, Parysatis, 
 who appears to have played the part of a vindictive 
 Juno towards all who had been hostile or unfaithful to 
 her favorite Cyrus and his Greeks. 
 
 In the meantime, one of the guard of honor having 
 escaped, wounded, from the massacre, brought the 
 news of it, and of the arrest of the generals, to the Greek 
 camp. The receipt of this intelligence caused great 
 panic and depression in the little army, w^ho reflected 
 that they were isolated in a hostile and treacherous 
 country, a thousand miles from home, without guides 
 or commissariat, with many large rivers before them, 
 and the enemy's cavalry all round. Reflecting," says 
 Xenophon, **on these circumstances, and being dis- 
 heartened at them, few tasted food for that evening, 
 few kindled fires, and many did not come to the place 
 of arms during the night, but lay down to rest where 
 they severally happened to be, unable to sleep for sor- 
 row and longing for their country, their parents, their 
 wives, and their children, whom they never expected to 
 see again." The feelings of the Greeks at this unhappy 
 moment might be compared, to some extent, with those 
 of our own betrayed army at Cabul in 1843, when ou 
 
32 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 the eve of their despairing attempt to regain British In- 
 dia through tlie mountains, the snow, and the enemy. 
 But the Greeks had better grounds of hope left to them, 
 for their military prestige was quite unimpaired. They 
 had not lost a man except by foul and treacherous mur- 
 der, and they had never yet found the native troops, in 
 whatever numbers, able to stand up against them. 
 
 But it seemed as if there were only one man to 
 whose mind these encouraging thoughts suggested 
 themselves. And that man was Xenophon. But for 
 him, it seemed likely that the Greeks would have 
 abandoned themselves to unresisting despair. Xeno- 
 phon himself considered that in the hour of panic he 
 received a special inspiration, and a divine impulse to 
 act. He tells us that in the dreadful night following 
 the murder of the generals he was visited by a dream. 
 He dreamed that his father's house had been set on fire 
 by lightning. Full of Greek superstition, he asked 
 himself the interpretation of this dream. On the one 
 hand, he thought that it might be interpreted favor- 
 ably, as indicating "a light from Jupiter." On the 
 other hand, he reflected that, as Jupiter is King, it 
 might portend destruction from the King of Persia." 
 With practical good sense he adds, in his account of 
 the matter, that a dream can best be interpreted by 
 what follows it ; and what actually followed in this 
 case was that Xenophon sprang up, awoke the surviv- 
 ing generals and captains of the Greek force, and in 
 spirited language addressed them. 
 
 He reminded his countrymen of their late easy vic- 
 tory over the King*s troops at Cunaxa, and of the glo- 
 rious resistance made by their forefathers to the armies 
 of Darius and Xerxes at Marathon and Salamis. He 
 pointed out the utter perfidy and falseness of every 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 33 
 
 one of the Persians, now that Cyrus was dead, and he 
 earnestly impressed upon them that they must trust to 
 no one but themselves, and to nothing but their own 
 swords for deliverance. The circumstances under which 
 he spoke were peculiar: The removal of Clearchus had 
 reduced the army to a democracy, and in such a body 
 fair reasoning and skillful oratory were sure to be effec- 
 tive. By means of them, Xenophon, in this midnight 
 debate, turned the hearts of all like one man, and they 
 unanimously adopted the arrangements best calculated 
 to secure their retreat. 
 
 Next day, having burnt their carriages and tents, 
 and all superfluous baggage, and having dined, they 
 formed themselves into a hollow square, with the bag- 
 gage-bearers in the centre. Cheirisophus, as being a 
 Lacedaemonian, was put in command of the front ; four 
 of the captains were chosen to command the flanks; 
 while Xenophon and Timasion, as the two youngest, 
 took charge of the rear. In this order they crossed the 
 Zab, marching so as to follow upwards the left bank 
 of the Tigris. The cowardly Persians did not dare to 
 dispute with them the passage of the Zab; but as soon 
 as they were marching on the other side, two hundred 
 cavalry, and four hundred archers and slingers, came 
 after them to harass their rear. Some Greeks were 
 wounded, and they had no means of retaliation, having 
 neither horsemen nor slingers. Xenophon, however, 
 actually made a sally on foot with a few men against 
 the Persian cavalry, who, instead of cutting him off, 
 turned and fled as soon as he appeared. The Greek 
 army, thus harassed, only marched two and a half 
 miles during the day, when they got to some villages. 
 Here Xenophon set to work to make use of the lesson 
 which, he said, the enemy had given them. With the 
 
34 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 horses that they had with them he organized a small 
 troop of fifty cavalry, and he got together as many as 
 two hundred Rhodians, skilled in using the sling with 
 leaden bullets instead of stones. During a day's halt 
 these preparations were completed, and then the Greeks, 
 starting very early in the morning, got over a deep 
 ravine which lay in their course, before the stupid 
 Persians had taken anj^- measures to stop them. When 
 they were fairly over, the attack on their rear was 
 recommenced, but this time with 1000 cavalry and 
 4000 archers and slingers. The Greeks, however, did 
 not as before passively endure the annoyances of the 
 enemy. The trumpet sounded, the fifty horsemen 
 charged, the slingers plied their weapons, and the in- 
 fantry advanced to their support. The natives at once 
 fled in confusion to tlie ravine, leaving many dead on 
 the field, whose bodies the Greeks mutilated in order 
 to strike terror into the enemy. 
 
 They were now allowed without molestation to 
 reach the banks of the Tigris, where they found an 
 ancient deserted city, with massive walls. This the 
 Greeks called Larissa, which was a common name for 
 the ancient Pelasgian towns with Cyclopean masonry 
 in Thessally and elsewhere. But it has been conjec- 
 tured that the name really told them was Al Resen, 
 and that the city was the Resen of Scripture. At the 
 present day it is called Nimriid; and it was here, on 
 the site of the Nineveh of antiquity, that Mr. Layard 
 brought to light so many interesting remains of the 
 ancient Assyrian empire. A further march of eighteen 
 miles conducted the Greeks to another deserted city, 
 which they understood to be called Mespila. It was 
 nearly opposite the modern Mossul, and appears to 
 have been originally a continuation of the once colossal 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 35 
 
 Nineveh or Ninus. These cities, or city, had been de- 
 vasted by Cyrus the Great, and abandoned about one 
 hundred and fifty years before Xenophon came there. 
 
 During the next day's march, which was twelve 
 miles, Tissaphernes came upon them in force. He had 
 with him his own cavalry, all the native troops who 
 had served under Cyrus, and who had marched so long 
 as comrades to the Greeks, the division of Orontes, the 
 King's son-in-law, and that additronal army which had 
 been brought up by the King's illegitimate brother, and 
 which the Greeks had seen before. These vast masses 
 of men surrounded the Greeks like a cloud on every 
 side except the front. They never charged, however, 
 and only used missiles. The Rhodian slingers and 
 the Greek bowmen immediately answered with the 
 utmost effect, never missing a shot in such dense ranks, 
 and the Persians presently retreated on all eides. 
 
 The next day the Greeks altered to some extent the 
 disposition of their force, as the single hollow square 
 Was found too inflexible in cases of narrow roads, hills, 
 or bridges. For more easy adaptation to such circum- 
 stances, they formed six companies of one hundred men 
 each, subdivided into smaller companies of twenty-five, 
 each under its own officer, with directions to fall be- 
 hind or close up, as the exigences of the march might 
 require. In this form they marched for four days, and 
 on the fifth came to some hills. On commencing the 
 ascent they found the enemy on the heights above them, 
 and they saw the native officers flogging on their men 
 to attack them with darts, stones, and arrows. Many 
 were wounded, and their advance was hindered, until 
 they had succeeded in sending up a detachment from 
 their right wing to occupy a height above the Persians, 
 who, thus threatened, desisted from the attack, and 
 
36 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 allowed the Greeks to gain a place which Xenophon 
 describes as "a palace amid villages," which can still 
 be identified * in the modern Zakhu. It was a satrap's 
 palace, "like a baronial castle, surrounded by the cot- 
 tages of serfs and retainers." Here they stayed three 
 days, tending the wounded, and enjoying the satrap's 
 stores of provisions and wine. As soon as they started 
 again Tissaphernes was upon them. But they reached 
 a village, which served them as a defensive work, and 
 enabled them to keep the enemy off. When night 
 came the Persians drew back for six miles, because 
 their horses were always picketed at night by foot-ropes 
 (just as in India at the present day), and could not be 
 got ready suddenly; so they kept a long way off to 
 avoid surprise. The Greeks took advantage of this and 
 stole a march upon them in the night, and did not see 
 them for two days. 
 
 On the fourth day from Zakhu they found the 
 enemy in front of them, on an eminence which com- 
 manded the road. Cheirisophus halted the men and 
 sent for Xenophon, who came galloping up from the 
 rear. It was obviously necessary to dislodge the Per- 
 sians from their front, as Tissaphernes with his army 
 was coming up behind. Xenophon offered to take a 
 select detachment from the van and centre of the army, 
 and scale a height which commanded the hill on which 
 the enemy were posted. He proceeded to do so, and 
 the natives, seeing what was intended, detached some 
 of their own troops to occupy the summit before the 
 Greeks. There was thus a perfect race between the two 
 detachments, each struggling to get up the hill before 
 
 * Mr. Ainsworth's " Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand 
 Greeks," p. 144. 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 37 
 
 the other, and each cheered on by the shouts of its 
 own army. The Greeks, by great exertions, won the 
 race and occupied the sumimit, and the natives at once 
 dispersed from their position on the line of march, 
 leaving the passage clear. A little incident which 
 occurred during this operation shows the democratic 
 spirit of the Greek army. While Xenophon was riding 
 up the ascent and encouraging the infantry, one of the 
 soldiers cried out, *'It's not fair, Xenophon, for you to 
 be riding, while I have to go on foot and carry my 
 shield.'* In an instant Xenophon jumped from his 
 horse, seized the man's shield, and took his place in 
 the rank, struggling on with the rest. But his heavy 
 horseman's corselet distressed him; and the other sol- 
 diers abused the discontented one, and threw stones at 
 him, till he was glad to resume his shield, and Xeno- 
 phon remounted. Cheirisophus and the army marched 
 onward to some villages on the Tigris, where Xenophon 
 with his detachment rejoined them. The Greeks were 
 now in perplexity, for before them lay high mountains, 
 and on their left the Tigris was very deep, and they 
 could see cavalry on the other, side. The generals held 
 a council of war, and carefully questioned their prisoners 
 as to the different routes. Tiiej^ learned that to go 
 eastwards would lead them to Susa and Ecbatana, the 
 summer residence of Artaxerxes; over the Tigris to the 
 left lay the direct path to Lydia and Ionia; the moun- 
 tains in front were in the country of the Carduchi 
 (Kurds), a warlike tribe, not subject to the Great 
 King. The route over these mountains would lead 
 into the rich country of Armenia, where the Tigris 
 might easily be forded near its source, and whence the 
 Euxine, leading them to Greece, might be reached. This 
 was the course which it was determined to take, albeit 
 
38 
 
 XENOPEOK 
 
 it was now the middle of November, and full late in 
 the year for trying mountain passes. Starting during 
 the last watch of the night, they got over the inter- 
 vening plain under the cover of darkness, and thus 
 bade adieu to Tissaphernes and his Persians. All the 
 light-armed men were placed in the front under 
 Cheirisophus, who led them over the first summit 
 before the Kurds had perceived their approach. March- 
 ing slowly on, they occupied some villages which 
 lay in the recesses of the mountains, and which the 
 inhabitants evacuated, refusing to listen to all pro- 
 posals of amity. The rear, under Xenophon, consisting 
 of heavy-armed men and baggage, only got up after 
 nightfall, and suffered slightly from an attack of the 
 Kurds, which might have been serious if it had been 
 made in greater force. ''Thus," says Mr. Ainsworth, 
 '' they accomplished their entrance into Kurdistan with- 
 out opposition, and crossed one of the most defensible 
 passes which they were destined to meet. This is the 
 point where the lofty mountain-chain — now designated 
 as Jebel Judi, and the same, according to Chaldean, 
 Syriac, and Arabian traditions, as that on which the 
 Ark rested — comes down to the very flood of the Tigris, 
 which it encloses in an almost impassable barrier of 
 rock." 
 
 The Greeks quartered themselves for tlie night in 
 the Kurdish houses, which they found well stocked 
 with provisions, and with an abundance of copper pots. 
 The hills all round were lit up with the watch-fires of 
 the people. In the morning the generals determined to 
 diminish their encumbrances by abandoning the greater 
 part of their baggage-cattle and all their Persian 
 prisoners. Having given an order to this effect, they 
 took their stand a*t a narrow place on the march, and 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 39 
 
 inspected all that was being taken onVards. They thus 
 turned back whatever was not desirable to be brought, 
 but Xenophon implies that some pretty female captives 
 were smuggled through. 
 
 ' For the next two days the Greeks advanced, through 
 storm and rain and the guerilla attacks of the Kurds, 
 till they came to a place where further progress seemed 
 impossible, as a lofty pass in front was occupied by 
 the enemy. But they had made prisoners of two of 
 the natives, and these were separately questioned as to 
 the existence of any other route. One prisoner denied 
 that there was any, and he was then put to death pour 
 eiicourager Vautre, who at once offered to conduct them 
 round by another road, but said that there was one 
 height commanding it which must be occupied before- 
 hand. Two thousand Greeks volunteered for this 
 service and started in the evening, Avhile Xenophon 
 made a feint of marching along the direct route, which 
 caused the Kurds to commence rolling down masses of 
 stone upon it from above, an amusement* which they 
 
 * Stone-rolling as a mode of attacking the traveler seems still 
 in vogue among the Kurdish mountain- passes. Major Millingen, 
 in his "Wild Life among the Koords" (1870), records that in a 
 difficult road near Lake Van, while admiring the beauties of the 
 landscape, " several stones began to roll upon us from the side 
 of the mountain. This seeming at first accidental, we hastened 
 our paces with a view of getting clear of a dangerous spot; but 
 no sooner had we advanced a hundred yards farther on than 
 more stones began to fall all round us, while voices could dis- 
 tinctly be heard from the heights above. Alarmed at the pros- 
 pect of being lapidated to death before the journey was at an 
 end, I shouted to Beheram, showing him a little creek towards 
 which we both made a rush, and where we succeeded in finding 
 shelter. The stones continued to fall, but, fortunately for us, 
 the rocky canopy under which we were admirably protected us. 
 Not knowing what might happen, I resolved, as we could se© 
 
40 
 
 XENOPEOK 
 
 continued harmlessly during the night. In the mean- 
 time the party of two thousand effected their opera- 
 tion. They occupied the heights pointed out by their 
 guide, and in the morning, under cover of the mist, 
 they stole on the Kurds who were occupying the 
 direct pass, and to the sound of the trumpet, and with 
 a sudden war-cry, they routed them. Cheirisophus 
 and his men at the first trumpet note came along the 
 direct road to assist, but they found the position already 
 evacuated and the pass clear. Xenophon, however, 
 went round by the circuitous route, as it was better 
 suited for the baggage cattle. He had several skir- 
 mishes by the way, but at last joined the main body, 
 when Cheirisophus and he parleyed with the natives, 
 who agreed to give up the dead bodies of all slain 
 Greeks in exchange for the prisoner who had served as 
 guide. Funeral rites were accordingly performed over 
 those of their comrades who had fallen by the formid- 
 able arrows of the Kurds. The privilege of discharging 
 this melancholy duty was purchased at the cost of their 
 only guide, a heavy sacrifice in an unknown country. 
 But, nevertheless, they fought their way gallantly 
 through the passes. Whenever the vanguard was 
 opposed, Xenophon ascended the mountains from be- 
 hind, and outflanked the enemy ; and whenever the 
 rear was attacked, Cheirsosphus performed a similiar 
 service from the front. Thus they painfully advanced; 
 and on the seventh day after first entering the moun- 
 tains they emerged on an open plain, and saw before 
 them the river Centrites (now called the Bub tan- 
 nothing of the caravan, on firing two shots of my revolver, 
 which our people would take as signals of distress. The signal 
 was soon answered by our men, and several detonations of fire- 
 arms announcsd a speedy relief." 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 41 
 
 ch^i), which separated Kurdistan from Armenia. Dur- 
 ing these seven days they had suffered more miseries 
 than all which the King and Tissaphernes had in- 
 flicted put together. But now they joyfully rested 
 in the villages on the plain, and in all comfort re- 
 " called the troubles and dangers which they had passed 
 through. 
 
 The next day anxiety returned, for over the river 
 (which was two hundred feet broad) they could see 
 the opposite bank lined with the cavalry and infantry 
 of the satrap of Armenia, and a large body of Kurds 
 was collecting in their rear. The river, too, seemed to 
 he unfordable. But Xenophon in the night had an 
 encouraging dream: he dreamed that he had been 
 bound, but that his fetters fell off of their own accord; 
 and next morning while he was at breakfast, two 
 young men brought him word that they had discovered 
 a ford in a place where the rocks would prevent cavalry 
 from acting. After a libation of gratitude to the gods, 
 the dispositions for crossing were made. Cheirisophus 
 was to lead the vanguard, followed by the baggage, 
 across the ford; while Xenophon with the rearguard 
 was to make a feint of crossing directly opposite the 
 satrap's troops, so as to threaten them and engage their 
 attention. This plan was carried out, and the native 
 troops, seeing two separate forces apparently crossing, 
 were afraid of being surrounded; and hearing the paean 
 and the shouts of the men under Cheirisophus, swollen 
 by the voices of the Greek women, of whom there 
 were a good many in the army, they were seized with 
 panic, and retreated, leaving the other side of the river 
 clear. Xenophon had now only to make a lively 
 demonstration against the Kurds who had come to 
 attack him, and on their flight he was enabled to lead 
 
43 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 his men with all speed accross the true ford, and then 
 all the Greeks were safe on the other side. 
 
 They were now on the table-lands of Armenia, and, 
 pushing on rapidly in a north-easterly direction, soon 
 rounded the springs of the Tigris, and, passing not far 
 to the west of Lake Yan, came in five or six days' "* 
 march to a pretty stream wdiich Xenophon calls 
 Teleboas, the banks of which are studded with vil- 
 lages. Here the satrap Tiribazus came up with them, 
 and invitiDg a conference with the generals, he gave 
 them leave to pass through the country, on condition 
 of their taking only necessary supplies, without 
 burning the villages. They proceeded accordingly, 
 being constantly followed by the satrap and his troops. 
 In three days they reached the government house of 
 Tiribazus, anxiety about which had probably been the 
 cause of his conciliating them, and they made them- 
 selves at home in the surounding hamlets. They 
 were now about 4000 feet above the sea, and it was 
 near the end of November. The sight of watch-fires 
 in the neighborhood, and other signs of hostility 
 caused the army to bivouac together in the open air. 
 But vast quantities of snow fell during the night, 
 covering men and beasts, and in the morning they 
 were numbed with cold, and Xenophon had to set the 
 example of rising to cut firewood. Then they lit 
 many fires, and the men anointed themselves with 
 unguents which they found in the villages. After this 
 they sent out a clever ^reek captain with some men to 
 men to reconnoitre, and they succeeded in bringing in 
 a Persian captive. This man, being questioned, told 
 them what troops the satrap had, and that he was pre- 
 paring to intercept them in a pass which lay upon their 
 line of marcli. 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 43 
 
 With the greatest energy the generals determined 
 to sally forth and attack Tiribazaus where he was, before 
 he could occupy the pass. They succeeded in doing 
 so. They surprised his camp among the mountains, 
 killed some of his men, dispersed the rest, took his 
 tent, his horses, and his couches with silver feet, and 
 made prisoners of his bakers and cupbearers. The 
 next day they pushed forward with the utmost ex- 
 pedition, and got through the pass which was to have 
 been held against them. Marching through deep 
 snow for three days, they came to what is now called 
 the Murad su, being the easterly branch of the Eu- 
 phrates, which they forded, the water not coming above 
 their middle. 
 
 During the next four days they made about fifty 
 miles over an exposed plain, from the Euphrates to a 
 cluster of villages in the Armenian uplands, at a place 
 DOW called Khanus. In these four marches they 
 endured great sufferings. The snow was often six feet 
 deep; there was a parching' north wind which blew 
 directly in their faces, their provisions were very scanty, 
 and the enemy from time to time harassed their rear. 
 Added to this, when we remember that they had only 
 the ordinary light dress of the Greek — Greek sandals 
 with thongs between the toes, and no stockings — we 
 may well admire the hardihood shown by these sons 
 of the palaestra. But several of them died, as well as 
 slaves, and baggage-cattle in large numbers. Many got 
 snow-blindness, others lost their toes by mortifi-cation, 
 and many suffered from what Xenophon calls bulimia 
 (literally ravenous hunger), which, however, does not 
 appear to have been a distinctive disease, but only 
 excessive faintness and inertia from long fasting in the 
 cold. Xenophon had the greatest difiiculty in bring- 
 
44 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 ing up the stragglers, many of whom wished to be left 
 to their fate. One party of them discovered a hot 
 spring, from which it was difficult to get them to 
 move. 
 
 Cheirisophus and the vanguard of course got first to 
 the villages, where they made themselves comfortable 
 in the underground houses of the inhabitants, and 
 where, according to the custom of the country, they 
 sucked barley- wine*' through reeds out of tubs, 
 which had the grains of barley floating about in them. 
 This ''barley -wine" is in general considered to have 
 been beer, but the terms in which Xenophon describes ^ 
 it would seem more applicable to whisky.* He says, 
 "The liquor was very strong, unless one mixed water 
 with it, and a very pleasant drink when one was ac- 
 customed to it." 
 
 The rear came up by degrees, and fared equally well, 
 feasting on all kinds of meat which the villagers, who 
 had not retreated, hospitably served up to them. 
 They found many horses which were being bred as a 
 tribute for the Great King, and Xenophon and the 
 other officers got a remount. They remained for a 
 week restoring their exhausted energies, and then set 
 forth, taking the head-man of one of the villages as 
 
 * Major Millingen, in his "Wild Life Among the Koords," p. 
 13l, etc., mentions many customs still existing among the 
 Kurdish and Armenian villages, exactly corresponding with the 
 descriptions of Xenophon. He says, ''My researches have, I 
 think, put beyond doubt the accuracy of Xenophon's state- 
 ments, and are of the nature to show the historical, geographical, 
 and ethnological importance which is to be attached to the 
 accounts handed down to posterity by that illustrious writer. 
 Every phrase, every word of his, is found, after an interval of 
 twenty-three centuries, to be of the most scrupulous exactitude, 
 leaving no room for doubt and controversy." Finding in one 
 
TEE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 45 
 
 their guide; but after a day or two this man, having 
 beea struck by Cheirisophus, ran away. 
 
 Owing to this they did not make a very straight 
 course during their next nine days' march, which 
 brought them to the foot of a formidable pass, guarded, 
 as they could see, by the people of the country. Here 
 a council of war was held, in whicli some lively banter 
 occurred between Cheirisophus and Xenophon. The 
 former was for marching straight at the enemy, and 
 cutting their way through; Xenophon recommended 
 that in the night they should send a detachment lo 
 occupy the heights above the enemy. *'But this," he 
 added, "would be stealing a march, and in any ques- 
 tion about stealing I am diffident in speaking before 
 Lacedaemonians, who, it is well known, are trained in 
 this art from their boyhood." To this Cheirisophus re- 
 torted that "he understood the Athenians also were 
 pretty skillful in stealing the public money. Their men 
 in office invariably did so, and doubtless Xenophon 
 himself was well skilled in the accomplishment: he had 
 better now give them a specimen of his powers." 
 Xenophon justified the ambiguous compliment by pro- 
 ducing two natives whom he had caught by an ambush, 
 and who would serve as guides in scaling the mountains, 
 A night expedition was organized, which was perfectly 
 successful. They occupied a height, and in the morn- 
 ing descended on the flank of the enemy, while Cheir- 
 
 house a cemented cistern. Major Millingen (p. 128) inquired its 
 use. " The answer was, that almost every family throughout 
 the country had those things. The Mussulmans make use of the 
 cistern to extract from barley a liquor known all through the 
 East by the name of 'bozat,'a fermented sort of malt liquor. 
 The Armenian giaours, my interlocutors said humorously, em- 
 ploy their cisterns to make wine and 'raki ' (whisky)." 
 
46 
 
 XEKOrilON. 
 
 isophus attacked them in front, so that they were 
 speedily routed with slaughter. After erecting a trophy 
 on the pass, they marched over it to some well-pro- 
 visioned villages. 
 
 Their next adventure was with the Taochians, a 
 people of Georgia, who lived not in villages but in hill- 
 forts, in which all their provisions and cattle were 
 stored. The Greeks, after five days' march, wheti 
 their stores were exhausted, came to one of these strong- 
 holds, which necessity compelled them to wish to enter. 
 The only access to this place was guarded by the natives, 
 who rolled down masses of rock from above. A sys- 
 tem, however, of judicious feints made by the Greek 
 captains caused the enemy to exhaust their ammunition, 
 and then the Cyrians gained the ascent, which was no 
 longer defended by the natives. But a dreadful scene 
 ensued, for the Taochian women first threw their chil- 
 dren over the precipice, and then leapt to destruction 
 themselves, being followed by the men. One of the 
 Greeks, trying to hold back a native chief dressed in a 
 rich garment, was drawn after him, and both were 
 dashed to pieces. This wholesale and determined sui- 
 cide prevented the army taking many prisoners, but 
 they got plenty of cattle and sheep. 
 
 From this they passed into the country of the 
 Chalybes, another Georgian tribe. This people was 
 famed in antiquity for trafiic in the iron which they 
 found abundantly in their mountains. They have 
 thus given their name to the chalybeate springs" of 
 modern watering-places. Xenophon says that these 
 were the bravest warriors that they had encountered in 
 their march. They carried immense spears, twenty-two 
 feet long, and short curved knives (like the kookaries 
 of the Goorkhas), with which they cut off the heads 
 
Till': RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. ^ 
 
 of all whom they could overpower. For seven days 
 they harassed the rear of the Greeks, who, as they 
 also kept all their provisions in hill-forts, could get 
 nothing in their country. 
 
 But the beginning of the end was now come in the 
 retreat of the Ten Thousand, for in a few days they 
 arrived at the large and wealthy city of Gymnias, 
 thought by some to correspond to the Erzerum of 
 modern times. Here the governor sent out a guide 
 to conduct them through a country with which his 
 own people were at war. And the guide told them 
 that in five days he would lead them to a place whence 
 they could see the Euxinc, and that if he failed in this 
 they might kill him. As soon as they had entered 
 the hostile country, he exhorted them to burn and 
 plunder, which doing, they marched on. And on the 
 fifth day they came to the mountain called Theches, 
 held sacred in the neighborhood; and when the front 
 ranks had reached the summit and caught sight of the 
 sea, they raised a great shout. Xenophon and the 
 rear-guard, hearing it, thought that the army w\is being 
 attacked in front, for the people whose country they 
 had devastated were hanging about them. But the 
 noise continually increased, as fresh men kept getting 
 to the top and immediately joined in the shouts of 
 the others, and Xenophon thought something extra- 
 ordinary must have happened. So, mounting his 
 horse, he took the cavalry with him, and galloped 
 forward to give aid, when presently they made out that 
 the soldiers were shouting ''Thalatta! Thalatia T — 
 "The Sea! The Sea!" and cheering one another. 
 Then all began to run, rear-gnard and all; and the 
 baggage-cattle and horses were put to their speed. 
 And when all had got to the top, the men embraced 
 
48 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 each other, and embraced their generals and captains, 
 weeping. And on a sudden impulse they brouglit 
 stones, and raised a mighty mound, aud made on it a 
 trophy decorated with the hacked shields of their 
 enemies, to commemorate their deliverance. And 
 then, to reward their guide for fulfilling his promise, 
 they loaded him with presents from the public stock, 
 while many soldiers pulled the rings off their fingers 
 and gave them to him, and thus sent him away 
 rejoicing. 
 
 Such was the famous incident which has so struck 
 the fancy of the world, that the shout of the Greeks 
 on this occasion has become a household word for 
 subsequent ages. Xenophon records the scene in the 
 most simple terms, merely as an outward fact, without 
 adding a single sentiment or reflection of his own. 
 On the one hand, this may be regarded as a stroke of 
 high art, which would dictate simplicity in relating 
 what was in itself so touching; on the other hand, it 
 was a part of that Greek reserve and concentration of 
 style which forms so great a contrast to the Gothic 
 sentimenjalism of modern times, and which led Xeno- 
 phon to narrate the march through so many wild and 
 impressive mountain-passes without a word of allusion 
 to the grandeur of the scenery. But he doubtless felt 
 instinctively, without developing into words, all that 
 was implied to his comrades in their first returning 
 glimpse of the sea. Universally to the Greeks the sea 
 was the emblem of home, or of easy access to their 
 home. To be taken far up country, deep into the 
 continent of Asia, had always hitherto been a thought 
 of vague fear to the Greek soldier, while he was ready 
 for anything within a short distance of the coast. No 
 Greek force before- the Ten Thousand had ever ven- 
 
THE RETREAT OF THE GREEKS. 49 
 
 tured anything like so far away from the ^gean; and 
 they had gone not of deliberate purpose, but being 
 hired on gradually under the influence of Cyrus. The 
 silver gleam of the distant Euxine was to them the 
 restoration of the object of long yearnings, and sudden 
 relief and ecstasy found a vent in the spontaneous 
 shout of Thalatta! and in passionate tears. 
 
 Full of the thoughts of fatherland, and ''of child 
 and wife and slave," all which had hitherto seemed so 
 far but now so near, the Greeks pursued their course, 
 and arrived at a stream separating them from the 
 country of the Macrones, where they found a hostile 
 array drawn up to oppose their crossing. But in the 
 army was a soldier who belonged to this very tribe, 
 from which he had been taken when a boy as a slave 
 to Athens. He had not forgotten his native tongue, 
 and was able to assure his people that the Greeks 
 meant them no harm. So after mutual pledges of 
 amity, the Macrones conducted them for three days 
 through their land, to the boundaries of the Col- 
 chians. 
 
 Here on the pass over a lofty range a native force 
 was stationed to meet them. The generals took 
 counsel together as to the best means of conducting 
 the attack; and it was decided not to attack in line, 
 but in a series of columns extending by short intervals 
 over the whole of the enemy's line. When the men 
 had been put into this form, Xenophon rode along the 
 front, and addressed to them the following pithy exhor- 
 tation: ** Soldiers, these men whom we have before 
 us are the only obstacle in the way of our being where 
 we have so long been striving to be. If possible, we 
 must eat them alive." The soldiers, after hearing these 
 words, made vows of sacrifices to the gods in case of 
 
50 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 success; and having sung the psean, they commenced 
 the charge in eighty columns, with archers and skir- 
 mishers on their flanks. The enemy, seeing their wings 
 threatened, drew off men to the right and left, and 
 actually left a gap in their centre, at which the Greeks 
 dashed at full speed. The sight of the Greeks running 
 was too much for the Colchians, who now fled in all 
 directions; while the Greeks, rejoicing in their blood- 
 less victory, marched over the pass into some aban- 
 doned villages. 
 
 In these villages their last adventure occurred. It 
 consisted in their finding a quantity of bee -hives, from 
 which they ate the honey abundantly. But the honey 
 was of a kind common to this day in Asia Minor, made 
 from a species of rhododendron, or from the common 
 rose laurel {nerium oleander), and having intoxicating 
 and poisonous qualities. From the effects of this 
 honey large numbers of the soldiers fell stupefied or 
 maddened to the ground, and for two or three days 
 they were Tiors de combat, but at the end of that time 
 all recovered. 
 
 Two more marches brought them down to the sea, 
 at Trapezus (now Trebizond), a large Greek city on the 
 coast of the Colchian territory. Here they remained 
 for a month, being hospitably entertained, resting from 
 their toils, and from time to time plundering the native 
 villages on the neighboring hills. Here they sacri- 
 ficed to Jupiter the Preserver, Hercules the Conductor, 
 and other gods, in fulfillment of vows which they had 
 made in different crisis of their march. After the 
 sacrifices they celebrated games, of which Xenophon 
 gives a comical account. A steep hill-side was chosen 
 for the race-course, down wiiicli horses had to gallop, 
 and, turning round in the sea, to come up again to the 
 
TEE RETREAl OF THE GREEKS. 51 
 
 altar on the top. *'In the descent many rolled over; 
 but in coming back against the stiff ascent, the horses 
 could hardly get along at a walk. There was conse- 
 quently great shouting and laughter and cheeing from 
 the people." 
 
 With these words of light-hearted good- humor, 
 Xenophon concludes his account of the retreat of the 
 ten thousand Greeks from Babylonia to Trebizond, on 
 the Euxine. The retreat itself had occupied five 
 months, and it was now the month of February, in 
 the year 400 b.c. Additional difficulties aud troubles 
 awaited them in their return through the outlying 
 Greek colonies; these w^ere partly of their own crea- 
 tion, and partly owing to the selfishness of their coun- 
 trymen. A whole year elapsed before the remnant of 
 the Cyreian force was incorporated with the Lace- 
 daemonian army in Asia Minor, and before Xenophon 
 left them. These subsequent events, and with them 
 the later personal career of Xenophon, the chief leader 
 and the historian of the march, will form the subject 
 of our next chapter. The preceding pages have re- 
 flected a brilliant episode of Greek military history. 
 It is true that the Cyreian force encountered no ene- 
 mies who combined bravery of spirit with the arts 
 of war. Their opponents were effeminate Orientals or 
 half-savage mountaineers. Yet the Greeks had always 
 the odds of either overwhelming numbers, or of diffi- 
 culties of the ground, against them. Through these 
 their untiring energy aud courage, and the prestige 
 created by their bold front and their elan, alone car- 
 ried them. They were favored, of course, by for- 
 tune, and also by the errors and the backwardness of 
 their foes. After the affair of Cunaxa, it would seem 
 easy for the King to have wasted the country with his 
 
52 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 cavalry, to have kept them outside the Median wall, 
 and to have starved them into submission. Again, 
 after Tissaphernes had murdered their officers, it is 
 difficult to see why he did not hold the passage of the 
 Zab agaiDst them, or why in the succeeding days he 
 did not attack them in force. Doubtless he would 
 have done so if their march through the plain had 
 continued longer, because his troops were gradually 
 getting accustomed to the idea of encountering Greeks. 
 But from this danger, to which they must ultimately 
 have succumbed, the mountains of Kurdistan oppor- 
 tunely saved them. After that point the difficulties 
 were of a different kind, and such as their Greek ver- 
 satility and buoyancy of spirit were able to cope with. 
 
 The graphic memoir in which Xenophon recorded 
 the fortunes of the Ten Thousand divulged a secret to 
 the world: this was the secret of the essential weak- 
 ness of the Persian empire. Henceforth, as Mr. Grote 
 observes,* all the military and political leaders of 
 Greece — Agesilaus, Jason of Pherse, and others, down 
 to Philip and Alexander — were firmly persuaded that, 
 with a tolerably numerous force, they could at any 
 moment succeed in overthrowing the Persian power. 
 This conviction waited for time and opportunity to 
 give it effect. For two generations Persia maintained 
 an influence over the affairs of Greece by subsidizing 
 one state against another. But when all the Greek 
 states had fallen under the rule of Macedonia, then 
 the hour struck. Alexander the Great went forth to 
 conquer Persia, and in so doing he changed the face 
 of the world and the course of history. But nothing 
 is more clear than that the revelations of Xenophon 
 
 * History of Greece, vol. ix. p. 248. 
 
TEE FORTUNES OF THE TEN TllOUSANB. 53 
 
 had taken hold of his mind, and that the idea of the 
 expedition of Alexander sprang originally from tha 
 Anabasis" of Xenophon. 
 
 CHAPTER ly. 
 
 THE SUBSEQUENT FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND, 
 AND NOTICES OF THE LATEB LIFE OF XENOPHON. 
 
 ** What the Greeks did in their march up the country 
 with Cyrus, and what they underwent in tneir journey 
 to the Euxine Sea; how they arrived at the Greek city 
 of Trebizond, and how they offered the sacrifices which 
 they had vowed to offer for their safety as soon as 
 they should reach a friendly country has "been related 
 in the preceding part of this narrative.** Thus begins 
 the fifth book of the Anabasis," and Xenophon now 
 proceeds to record the proceedings of a council which 
 was held at Trebizond to consider the next steps to 
 be pursued. Wearied as the soldiers were by Inces- 
 sant marching and fighting, they desired to perform 
 the rest of the journey before tnem on ships, and tluis 
 to arrive home as Ulysses was described by Homer to 
 have done — ''stretched out in sleep." It was agreed 
 that Cheirisophus should sail away to Byzantium, and 
 persuade Anaxibius, the Lacedaemonian admiral there 
 to send ships for them* 
 
 Cheirisophus having started, foraging-partiea of the 
 army went out to plunder the neighboring villages. 
 The most extensive operation was that undertaken by 
 about half the army under Xenophon against the 
 Drylge or Drillians, a warlike tribe among the moun- 
 tains, of whom nothing further is known. With some 
 ilifiiculty and "not inconsiderable" loss, they took the 
 
54 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 citadel of these people, and plundered their chief town. 
 As Cheirisophus did not return, and provisions were 
 runnini^ short, the Greeks commenced their march by 
 laud along the coast, sending the sick and all who were 
 above forty years of age by sea, in a few vessels which 
 they had procured. 
 
 In three days they arrived at Cerasus, or Kerasunt, 
 a place wnich has given its name to that now popular 
 fruit, the cherry, which was first introduced into 
 Europe from Cerasus by the Roman general Lucullus, 
 in the year 73 B.C.* Here the soldiers were reviewed 
 under arms, and were found to be reduced in number 
 by the casualties of the retreat to 8600 men. A divi- 
 sion was made of the money that had been obtained by 
 the sale of captives. A tenth part was consecrated to 
 Apollo and to Diana of Ephesus, and each man re- 
 ceived his share of the remainder. Starting hence, they 
 fought their way through the country of the Mosynseci, 
 whose metropolis they plundered; and then came upon 
 another settlement of the Chalybes, engaged in the 
 manufacture of iron, and apparently peaceable in habits. 
 Without further difficulty they reached Cotyora,f a 
 Greek colony from Sinope, and half-way between that 
 place and TreVizond. At this point they had marched 
 in eight months 1860 geographical miles from the plains 
 of Babylon. The Cyreians were not admitted into the 
 
 * "The cherry is said to have been introduced into Britain 
 one hundred and twenty years afterwards; but some suppose 
 that the cherries introduced by the Romans into Britain were 
 lost, and they were reintroduced in the time of Henry VIII. by 
 Richard Haines, the fruiterer of that monarch. The Romans 
 extended the cultivation of the cherry to eight varieties. In 
 the British gardens are upwards of forty sorts."— lilr. Ains- 
 worth's " Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand Greeks." 
 
 t No traces of this town can be found at the present day. 
 
TUE FORTUNES OF THE TEN TIIO USAND. 55 
 
 town of Cotyora, but tliey encamped under the walls, 
 and remained here for forty-five days, during which time 
 the thought of remaining altogether appears to have 
 occurred to the minds of some. After all the difficulties 
 they had surmounted there still lay great obstacles be- 
 tween them and their Grecian fatherland. In the first 
 place, unless they could procure shipping for the force, 
 they would have to pass through the hostile country of 
 Paphlagonia, intersected by four broad rivers — the 
 Thermodon, the Iris, the Halys, and the Parthenius. 
 Negotiations were therefore opened with the people of 
 Sinope to supply them with ships. But, in the mean- 
 time, when Xenophon contemplated the brilliant little 
 army still left with him, the idea arose in his mind that 
 it would be a noble thing to employ this force in some 
 enterprise of conquest and colonization on the Euxine 
 itself. He seems to have thought of attacking and 
 conquering Phasis, or some other non-Hellenic city, and 
 of settling down in the conquered territory with such of 
 the soldiers as might be willing to remain. Patriotically 
 he thought of the prestige and advantage w^hich w^ould 
 be thus gained for Greece; and personally, he doubtless 
 thought of the position which he might himself hold 
 as founder and ruler of a new Hellenic city, which 
 could hardly fail to become rich, powerful, and impor- 
 tant. A trifling obstacle, however, thwarted all his 
 plans. Before communicating them to the soldiers, 
 Xenophon, according to his usual custom, and in ac- 
 cordance with the advice of Socrates, determined to 
 take counsel of the gods. He called on the chief sooth- 
 sayer of the army, by name Silanus, to offer a sacrifice, 
 and consult the omens as to his project of colonization. 
 Now it so happened that Silanus was in a different 
 position from all the rest of the army; for while they 
 
56 
 
 XENOFHON. 
 
 were all returning with their pockets empty, Silanus 
 had managed to bring safely through the march a sum 
 of 3000 darics (£2600), which Cyrus had given him as 
 a reward for a successful divination.* Silanus then 
 was of all things most anxious to get home at once, and 
 to prevent anything which might detain the army and 
 himself with it in Asia Minor. He dare not tell Xeno- 
 phon that the omens were unfavorable to the main 
 issue, as they were not so, and Xenophon knew all 
 about the rules of divination, but said that he dis- 
 cerned in the victims some collateral indications of a 
 conspiracy against Xenophon. And he took care to 
 prove the truth of these alleged indications, by prema- 
 turely divulging to the army a garbled account of the 
 plans of Xenophon, and thus creating a ^prejudice 
 against them. 
 
 The promulgation of these designs had, at all events, 
 one good result. For the merchants from Sinope and 
 Heraclea, who had come to the camp, being alarmed by 
 the notion of a powerful military force seizing territory 
 and disturbing relations in their neighborhood, came 
 forward and agreed to guarantee transports for the mer- 
 cenaries to the Hellespont, with the additional promise 
 of a liberal scale of pay, to commence* from the first 
 new moon after their departure from Cotyora. Tima- 
 sion and Thorax, two officers who were especially 
 jealous of Xenophon, urged these offers upon the ac- 
 ceptance of the army, while others loudly accused him 
 of underhand maneuvring to cheat the soldiers into 
 remaining against their will. Xenophon at once rose to 
 rebut these charges; and having showed the impossibil- 
 ity of his detaining the army against its will, and the 
 
 * See above, p. 21. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 57 
 
 absurdity of supposing that lie could aim at doing so, 
 he concluded by saying,* *'If you had continued as 
 destitute and unprovided as you were just now, I should 
 still have looked out for a resource in the capture of 
 some city which would have enabled such of you as 
 chose to return at once, while the rest might stay be- 
 hind to enrich themselves. But now there is no 
 longer any necessity, since Heraclea and Sinope are 
 sending transports, and Timasion promises pay to you 
 from the next new moon. Nothing can be better; you 
 will go back safely to Greece, and will receive pay for 
 going thither. I desist at once from my scheme, and 
 call upon all who were favorable to desist also. Only 
 let us all keep together until we are on safe ground, 
 and let the man who lags behind or runs off be con- 
 demned as a wrong-doer." This question being put to 
 the vote, e'very hand was held up in its favor. The 
 last suggestion was a shaft aimed at the soothsayer 
 Silanus, who had decidedly intended to run off " with 
 his treasure at the earliest opportunity. This indeed 
 he ultimately effected; but for the present the soldiers 
 put down his protestations^ threatening him with pun- 
 ishment if he should be found attempting to desert. 
 
 Xenophon fiad satisfied the army with regard to his 
 actions and intentions in the present, but he was 
 shortly afterwards called upon to clear himself of cer- 
 tain charges with regard to the past. It was resolved 
 among the army, during their long halt at Cotyora, 
 that the generals should be called upon to give an ac- 
 count of their conduct during the march, and Xenophon 
 among the rest came in for his share of unfavorable, 
 and not very grateful, review. We have seen how. 
 
 * Abridged by Mr. Grote, History of Greece, vol. ix. p. 184, 
 
58 
 
 XENOPllON. 
 
 along the bank of the Tigris, through the passes of 
 Kurdistan, over the uplands of Armenia, throughout 
 tlie whole march, he was the life and soul of the army. 
 Always fertile in device; always active, ready, and 
 cheerful ; equally prompt to counsel others and to meet 
 danger himself — he gradually acquired an ascendancy 
 far beyond that of the other commanders. There seems 
 little doubt that the salvation of the force was greatly 
 due to Xenophon. But now that the troops were com- 
 paratively safe on the shore of the Euxine, they forgot, 
 in some instances, the benefit of being commanded, 
 and looked back on the command as a grievance. The 
 following passage is given in full, not only as an ac- 
 count of what now occurred, but as an illustration of 
 Xenophon's mode of procedure in the army ; and also 
 as an attempt to convey, as well as a translation can 
 do this, some idea of his style of writing: 
 
 Some also brought accusations against Xenophon, alleging that 
 they had been beaten by him, and charging him with having be- 
 haved insolently. On this, Xenophon stood up and called on him 
 who had spoken first to say where he had been beaten. He an- 
 swered, ''Where we were perishing with cold, and when the 
 snow was deepest." Xenophon rejoined, " Come, come; in such 
 severe weather as you mention, when provision! had failed, and 
 we had not wine so much as to smell to, — when many were ex- 
 hausted with fatigue, and the enemy were close behind, — if at 
 such a time I behaved insolently, I acknowledge that I must be 
 more vicious than an ass, which, they say, is too vicious to feel 
 being tired. Tell us, however, why you were beaten. Did I ask 
 you for anything, and beat you when you would not give it me? 
 Did I ask anything back from you? Was I quarreling about a 
 love affair? Did I maltreat you in my cups?" As the man said 
 that there was nothing of this kind, Xenophon asked him, 
 Whether he was one of the heavy-armed troops? He answered 
 " No." Whether he was a targeteer? He said he was " not that 
 either, but a free man, who had been sent to drive a mule by his 
 comrades." On this Xenophon recognized him, and asked him, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEJS TUOUSANl). r.O 
 
 " Whatl are you the man who was conveying the sick person?" 
 "Ay, by Jupiter, I am," said he, " for you compelled me to do it, 
 and you scattered about the baggage of my comrades." " The 
 scattering," rejoined Xenophon, " was something in this way: I 
 distributed it to others to carry, and ordered them to bring it to 
 me again; and haring got it back, I restored it all safe to you as 
 soon as you had produced the man that I gave you in charge. 
 But hear, all of you," he continued, "in what way the affair hap- 
 pened, for it is worth listening to. A man was being left behind 
 because he was able to march no farther. I knew nothing of 
 him, except that he was one of us. And I compelled you, sir, to 
 bring him, that he might not perish; for, if I mistake not, the 
 enemy was pressing upon us." This the complainant acknowl- 
 edged. " Well, then," said Xenophon, " after I had sent you on, 
 did not I catch you, as I came up with the rearguard, digging a 
 trench to bury the man, when I stopped and commended you? 
 But while we were standing by, the man drew up his leg, and 
 those who were there cried out that he was alive. And you said, 
 " He may be as much alive as he likes, for I shan't carry him." 
 On this I struck you, it is quite true, for you seemed to me to 
 have been aware that the man was alive." "Well, then," ex- 
 claimed the other, " did he die any the less after I had rendered 
 him up to you?" " Why, we shall all die," said Xenophon; " but 
 is that any reason that we should be buried alive?" Hereupon 
 all the assembly cried out that Xenophon had not beaten the 
 fellow half enough. And this complaint having been disposed 
 of, no others were brought against Xenophon, who then ad- 
 dressed the soldiers, saying, "I acknowledge to have struck 
 many men for breach of discipline— men who were content to 
 owe their preservation to your orderly march and constant fight- 
 ing, while they themselves left the ranks and ran on before, so 
 as to have an advantage over you in looting. Had we all acted 
 as they did, we should have perished to a man. Sometimes, too, 
 I struck men who were lagging behind with cold and fatigue, or 
 were stopping the way so as to hinder others from getting for- 
 ward. I struck them with my fist, in order to prevent them 
 from being struck by the lance of the enemy. It is a plain case: 
 if I punished any one for his good, I claim the privilege of 
 parents with their children, masters with their scholars, and 
 surgeons with their patients. In the time of storm the captain 
 must be rough with his men, for the least mistake is fatal. But 
 this is all over now: the calm has come. And since I strike no- 
 
CO 
 
 XENOPllOK 
 
 body now, when by the favor of the gods I am in good spirits, 
 and am no longer depressed with cold, hunger, and fatigue, and 
 now that I have more wine to drink, you may see that it was at 
 all events not through insolence that I struck any one before. 
 If such things are to be brought up against me, I would ask in 
 common fairness that some of you stand up on the other side and 
 recall a few of the occasions on which I have helped you against 
 the cold, or against the enemy, or when sick, or in distress." 
 
 These words produced the desired effect. Many in- 
 dividuals responded to tlie appeal, **so that," as Xeno- 
 phon briefly tells us, " it was all right in the end," — 
 that is to say, that he was not merely acquitted, but 
 stood higher than before in the estimation of the army. 
 
 The remaining history of the return of the ten 
 thousand Greeks is a record of the successive triumphs 
 of Xenophon's good sense, governing capacity^ and 
 persuasive oratory. And a very difficult task he 
 appears to have had in keeping the army straight, now 
 that it had got into the region of Greek colonies. 
 When the pressure of the Persian cavalry and of 
 hostile mountain tribes was removed, the Cyreian army 
 constantly tended to lose its unity, and resolve itself 
 into sections and individual atoms. Xenophon alone, 
 as Mr. Grote points out, possessed a power, not shared 
 by the other generals, of working on the minds of the 
 soldiers collectively, and of keeping up an esprit de 
 corps among them. He owed this to his Athenian 
 education. He always treated every assemblage of 
 the soldiers as an agora, or formal meeting for debate. 
 He thus brought into play the art which he alone in the 
 army appears to have possessed — theart of dealing with 
 and influencing assembled multitudes. His speeches, 
 considered in relation to their object and occasion, are 
 models of oratory. Apparently straightforward and 
 simple, and totally free from all flourishes of rhetoric, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 61 
 
 they yet are most artistically constructed, so as to say 
 the most effective things in the most effective way. The 
 report of them is so graphically given that we seem to 
 have the whole scene before our eyes, and to be made in- 
 terested spectators of transactions that took place twenty- 
 two hundred years before any of us were born. And it 
 must be added that, in these transactions we find Xeno- 
 phon always using his powers of inflluence for good and 
 worthy purposes — for the advantage of the army as a 
 whole, rather than for any isolated object of self-aggran- 
 dizement; and for the prevention equally of base con- 
 duct and of rash and calamitous enterprise. 
 
 The Cyreian Greeks, embarking in the ships which 
 had been provided for them, sailed along the Black Sea 
 to Sinope — a name rendered familiar to the present gen- 
 eration by the disastrous episode of the Russian war* 
 which occurred there in 1853. At this flourishing Greek 
 seaport, the seat of an ancient Milesian colony^ they 
 were hospitably received, and here the soldiers began to 
 feel the absolute necessity of striking some blow which 
 might fill their purses and save them from returning 
 empty-handed to Greece. For the success of such a 
 project they determined that they must have a single 
 commander-in-chief to lead them. Their thoughts at 
 once turned towards Xenophon, and they unanimously 
 deputed their captains to request him to accept the com- 
 mand. Xenophon was in some degree tempted by so 
 flattering a proposal ; but, on the other hand, he reflected 
 on the diflSculties and precariousness of the position 
 offered to him; and being in doubt, he resolved, as 
 usual, to lay the matter before the gods. "Jupiter the 
 King," to whom he sacrificed, showed nothing but 
 warning and dissuasive omens. So when the army was 
 
 * See Mr. Kinglake's " Invasion of the Crimea," vol. i. p. 373. 
 
63 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 assembled, and Xenoplion had been formally proposed 
 for election as commander, he rose and deprecated such 
 a step on the ground that it would be a slight to Sparta, 
 as the leading state of Greece, if an Athenian should be 
 chosen commander, when a Lacedaemonian general was 
 present. Several speakers opposed this excuse as invalid. 
 But when Xenophon plainly told them that the omens 
 had been unfavorable to his accepting the chief com- 
 mand, they acquiesced, and chose for their chief Cheiri- 
 sophus, the Lacedaemonian who had commanded the 
 vanguard in the retreat from Persia. 
 
 The army now pursued its voyage over waters which 
 Avere said to have of old borne the Argo, the symbolic 
 precursor of Greek nautical enterprise. They soon 
 arrived at Heraclea, which had been colonized from 
 Megara, a city not far from Athens. Here the}'^ were 
 hoispitably received by the inhabitants, who sent them 
 out presents of oxen, barley-meal, wine, and other things. 
 The soldiers, however, being still in a discontented and 
 greedy frame of mind, began to debate whether they 
 should continue their journey homewards by sea or by 
 land; and some proposed and actually carried the reso- 
 lution that they should levy a tax of £2300 or more 
 upon the city which had received them so kindly. Both 
 Cheirisophus and Xenophon absolutely refused to have 
 anything to do with making such an unjust demand 
 upon a friendly Greek city. The soldiers thereupon 
 sent three persons of their own nomination to convey 
 their resolutions to the people of Heraclea. The demands 
 and the threats of these envoys merely had the effect of 
 causing the Heracleans to close their gates and put them- 
 selves in a state of defense. The army, thus baffled, 
 broke out into fresh dissensions and insubordination. 
 The Arcadians and Achaeans, who made up above half 
 
THE FORTUNES OF TEE TEN THOUSAND. 63 
 
 the force, separated themselves from the rest and chose 
 their own generals. And thus the chief command of 
 Clieirisophus came to an end on the sixth or seventh 
 day after he had been chosen. Some two thousand of 
 the troops attached themselves to Xenoplion, and tlie 
 army was broken up into three divisions. Moving still 
 to the west, these three divisions separately (one in ships 
 and two by land) reached Calpe, a harbor in Bithynia, 
 not far from the Bosphorus. Here each of the two other 
 divisions got into trouble in marauding expeditions, 
 and were severally rescued by the division under Xeno- 
 phon. Here also Cheirisophus died of fever, and Xeno- 
 phon became virtually, though not nominally, the com- 
 mander-in-chief. And the soldiers passed a resolution 
 that no one, under pain of death, should again propose 
 to divide the army. 
 
 Xenophon evidently set eyes of affection upon the 
 harbor of Calpe. He describes with enthusiasm its 
 convenient situation under a lofty rock, its copious 
 supply of water, the abundant timber in its neiglibor- 
 hood, and the fertility of the surrounding country — 
 producing^, as he twice observes, ''everything except 
 olives," which, as a Greek, he seems particularly to have 
 missed. The belief that he wanted to colonize the place 
 was very strong in the army, and the soldiers, as a pro- 
 test, refused to encamp upon the very spot which Xeno- 
 phon says would have been the natural site for a city." 
 To explain this conduct of theirs, he mentions that the 
 majority of Greeks in the army were not absolutely poor 
 men, but (what we should call) gentlemen, who had 
 joined the expedition from a regard to Cyrus, or under 
 the idea that brilliant fortunes might be made in his 
 service. Many of them had families at home, and they 
 now wanted to get back. 
 
64 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 The natives of the surroundiug country had the same 
 impression, that a new city was to be formed, and after 
 Xeuophon had given tliem a little taste of Greek prowess, 
 ill a sharp skirmish with some Bithynian troops, assisted 
 by some cavalry belonging to the Persian satrap, they 
 sent in proposals of alliance. Traders along the coast, 
 also, willingly put in to secure the custom of the sup- 
 posed settlers. And the omens for departure, whenever 
 a sacrifice was made, were, or seemed to Xenophon, 
 extremely unfavorable. The army thus rested many 
 days at Calpe, whence they did a good deal of plunder- 
 ing. 
 
 And now a new character appeared on the scene. 
 This was Oleander, the Lacedsemonian governor of By- 
 zantium (now Constantinople), to whom communica- 
 tions had been sent, and who now came with two ships. 
 The circumstances of his arrival were unfortunate, for 
 the army was out on raid, and when they came back 
 some of the men got embroiled with one of Oleander's 
 followers. This man was really acting unjustly, by en- 
 deavoring to prevent part of the plunder from being 
 conducted to the public store. In the dispute he was 
 roughly treated by Agasias, a friend of Xenophon's, 
 and was pelted with stones by some soldiers. This gave 
 rise to what we should call ''a grave complication;" for 
 the powerful Oleander himself was frightened by the 
 excited soldiery, and he threatened, when Xenophon 
 had restored order, to sail away and to proclaim the 
 Cyreian army enemies to Sparta, and interdicted from 
 reception in any Grecian city. The effective eloquence 
 and perfect tact of Xenophon were now in requisition ; 
 and by the use of these, on the one hand, he persuaded 
 the soldiers to make absolute submission; and, on the 
 / Ind, he mollified Oleander, and induced him, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 65 
 
 not only to pass over what had occurred, but to accept 
 the command of the army, for the purpose of conduct- 
 ing them back to Greece. Unfortunately, however, the 
 omens were for three days unfavorable, and Oleander, 
 though expressing the greatest friendship for the Cyre- 
 ian force, declared that evidently the gods would not 
 allow him to do more for them than to prepare for them 
 a good reception at Byzantium when they should arrive 
 there; and he accordingly sailed away. The army 
 shortly afterwards started by land, and after six days* 
 march, having done a good stroke of looting on the way, 
 they arrived at Chrysopolis, which answers to the mo- 
 dern Scutari, the Asiatic suburb of Constantinople, 
 well known as the seat of our hospitals during the Cri- 
 mean war. 
 
 The Cyreian soldiers were now on the threshold of 
 their fatherland, but actual return seemed still as hard 
 for them as it had been for the much-wandering Ulysses. 
 The concluding pages of Xenophon's narrative repre- 
 sent them as bandied about by Persian satraps, Lace- 
 dgemonian officials, and Thracian chiefs, all equally un- 
 scrupulous in conduct. The interest of such details 
 consists in the picture of the times which they give us. 
 We see the total want of '* solidarity" among the Greek 
 states. Sparta, inde^if appears as all-powerful, but 
 quite devoid of kindred feeling towards Greeks as 
 Greeks. No welcome as to countrymen is extended to 
 the Greek force who, with such unparalled bravery and 
 skill, had just cut their way out of the depths of the Per- 
 sian empire. They are regarded with cold selfishness or 
 suspicion as tools to be used, or an infliction to be 
 dreaded. We see, then, that principle of self-seeking 
 isolation at work in Greece which made her the prey of 
 Macedonia, and afterwards of Rome. And those ac- 
 
66 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 quainted with India will be aware that it is the same 
 principle which has split up a vast homogeneous popu- 
 lation, and has given over to the rule of England an 
 empire extending from the Himalayas to Cape Comorin. 
 
 While the Greeks were at Chrysopolis, Oleander 
 ceased to be the first man in Byzantium; for Anaxibius, 
 the High Admiral of Sparta, happened to come there, 
 and was, or course, superior to the local governor. The 
 first intrigue against the Greek army was managed by 
 Pharnabazus, the Persian satrap in their neighborhood, 
 who made interest with Anaxibius to remove them out 
 of his country. Anaxibius, willing to gratify an Ori- 
 ental magnate, made no scruple in inviting the Greeks 
 over to Byzantium, under promise of pay for the troops. 
 When he had got them there he gave them no pay, but 
 simply ordered them to pack up and march home by the 
 Chersonese. The soldiers were naturally excited at this 
 treatment, and they were within an ace of sacking the 
 town of Byzantium. Xenophon required all his oratory 
 to dissuade them from such a step, which would have 
 infallibly reduced them all to the position of hopeless 
 outlaws. The attention of the army was now diverted 
 by the offers of a Tiieban adventurer, who proposed to 
 engage them for a filibustering expedition. As, how- 
 ever, it turned out that he was ul^le to provision them, 
 tlie negotiations broke down, and the army took up its 
 quarters in some Thracian villages, not far from Byzan- 
 tium. A good many of the soldiers disbanded; some 
 sold their arms to pay their passage home; others joined 
 the people in the neighboring towns. 
 
 Xenophon in the meanwhile had taken leave of the 
 army, having induced Anaxibius to give him a passage 
 home. They sailed together, but before they had got out 
 of the Sea of Marmora they were met by one Aristarchus, 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 67 
 
 who was on his way to replace Oleander as governor of 
 Byzantium, and who brought news that Anaxibius him- 
 self had been superseded. Anaxibius, wishing to do a 
 last good turn to Pharnabazus, advised Aristarclius, 
 when he had got to his government, to seize and sell for 
 slaves as many of the Cyreian soldiers as he could lay 
 hands on. Aristarchus; acting on this hint, appears 
 actually to have sold four hundred of them whom he 
 found in Byzantium — one of the most atrocious little 
 acts in all history. And Anaxibius, being naturally 
 anxious to get some reward for his zeal from Pliaruaza- 
 bus, sent to him; but the satrap, who had in the mean- 
 time learned that Anaxibius was no longer in power, 
 promptly gave him the cold shoulder, and would have 
 no communications with him. 
 
 The disappomted selfishness of Anaxibius now took a 
 new direction, and he became as anxious to plant a thorn 
 in the side of the Persian magnate as he had hitherto 
 been to serve him. He called Xenophon, and ''ordered " 
 him by all means to sail back to the army, to keep it 
 together and collect the scattered men, and bring over 
 the force without delay into Asia. Xenophon does not 
 tell us what were his own reflections upon this com- 
 mission. Perhaps he could not have got home against 
 the wishes of Anaxibius. Perhaps the feeling of old 
 companionship with the army was strong upon him. 
 He speaks as if he at once accepted the task imposed 
 upon him. In a ship, furnished by the ex-admiral, he 
 crossed again to Thrace, and arrived among the army, 
 by whom he was gladly welcomed. He got the men 
 down to Perinthus, a port on the Sea of Marmora, and 
 began to collect ships for their conveyance. But Aris- 
 tarclius, the new governor of Byzantium, acting, as 
 Anaxibius had before done, in the interest of Pharnaza- 
 
68 
 
 XENOPUON, 
 
 bus, now interposed, and threatened to drown any 
 man who should be found on the sea." And while the 
 harassed Greeks were thus again arrested in then* move- 
 ments, there came to them fresh overtures from Seuthes, 
 a neighboring chief of Thrace, who had before made 
 several attempts to get the Cyreian contingeat into his 
 pay. 
 
 The omens of sacrifice appeared to Xenoplion to favor 
 the entertaining of these overtures. He therefore went 
 to Seuthes, whom he found living in a guarded castle, 
 and who told him that he required the troops for the re- 
 covery of his hereditary rights as prince of the Ordysi- 
 ans, of which rights he had been forcibly deprived, and 
 driven to Jead the life of a marauding chief. He offered 
 pay of one stater (about £1 2s. 6d.) per month for each 
 soldier, with double for the captains, and four times as 
 much for each general. He promised, in addition, lauds, 
 yokes of oxen, and a walled town to reside in. To 
 Xenophon he offered his daughter aod a town to him- 
 self. He further undertook never to lead the Greeks 
 more than seven days' march from the sea. 
 
 Upon the faith of these promises the Greeks entered 
 the service of Seuthes, and were entertained by him 
 with a barbaric feast, at which some ludicrous incidents 
 occurred; and after which a Thracian entered bring- 
 ing a white horse, and, taking a horn fall of wine, 
 said, *'I drink to you, O Seuthes! and present you 
 with this horse, on which you will pursue your 
 enemies." Another, in similar fashion, offered a young 
 slave; another some vestments, and so on. When 
 Xenophon saw that some complimentary offering was 
 expected from himself, and as the wine-horn was 
 presented to him for this very purpose, he stood up 
 boldly, and, taking the horn, said, I present to you, O 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 69 
 
 Seutlies, myself and my comrades, to be your faithful 
 friends, and to recover your dominions for you." The 
 pledge and offering were well received, and the feast 
 ended merrily. After all had well drunk, and the 
 Greeks were thinking of retiring to their lines for 
 the night, Seutlies proposed that they should at once 
 strike a blow. So, though it was the depth of winter, 
 they started at midnight, and, having crossed a moun- 
 tain covered with snow, they came down next day on 
 villages which they plundered and burnt. The booty 
 was sent away to be sold at Perinthus, to provide pay 
 for the troops. Afterwards they marched into the 
 country called the Delta of Thrace, above Byzantium. 
 The Greeks had a good deal of fighting, and suffered 
 severely from the frost, 'not being so warmly clad as 
 the natives of the country. When the first month 
 was up, presents were offered to the generals (Xeno- 
 phon, however, declined to take anything); and twenty 
 days', instead of a month's, pay, was given to the 
 troops. This naturally caused discontent and gave 
 rise to a quarrel between Xenophon and Heraclides, 
 the paymaster of Seuthes, who tried as much as 
 possible to damage Xenophon with his master. He 
 even endeavored to get the other Greek generals to 
 say that they could lead the army just as well as Xeno- 
 phon. But it is a remarkable proof of the confidence 
 which Xenophon's conduct had gradually inspired, that 
 Timasion and other generals who had before been 
 jealous of him, now said that nothing would induce 
 them to serve without him. 
 
 This testimony of his brother officers must have been 
 particularly gratifying to Xenophon, for the men who 
 were less discerning, and whose minds were warped 
 by anger at their pay being continually withheld, 
 
70 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 yielded to all sorts of suspicions against Xehophon, 
 who, they thought, must have been privately enriched 
 by Seuthes. His position in the army was, therefore, 
 for the time, particularly uncomfortable, and he seems 
 to have felt it very much. The service of the Greeks 
 with Seuthes continued for two months, during which 
 time they took and plundered villages far and wide, 
 even as far up as Salmydessus, a seaport on the Euxine; 
 and, in short, they brought the whole country into sub- 
 jection to Seuthes. By the addition of men from the 
 conquered tribes to his army, he had by this time a force 
 twice as numerous as the Greeks, whom he now only 
 wished to get rid of without the necessity of paying 
 them. 
 
 A change in Greek politics, at this juncture, afforded 
 the Cyreians an escape from their difficulties. The 
 Lacedaemonians had just declared war against the Per- 
 sian satraps, Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, and had 
 sent their general, Thimbron, into Asia to commence 
 military operations. They then became extremely 
 anxious to avail themselves of the remnant of the ten 
 thousand Greeks, and, instead of forbidding, to urge 
 them to cross over to Asia. Two Spartan envoys, 
 Charminus and Polynicus, arrived at the Greek camp 
 with a commission from Thimbron to offer the army 
 the same pay as had been promised, though not paid, by 
 Seuthes. These commissioners were hospitably received 
 by Seuthes, who saw in them a means of ridding Mm- 
 of the army which he had made his catspaw, and 
 wanted no longer. In private audience, the envoys 
 asked his opinion of Xenophon, and Seuthes replied, 
 **He is not a bad fellow on the whole, but he is a 
 soldiefs friend, and that hurts his interests. " Xenophon 
 appears to have had great satisfaction in recording 
 
'I EE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 71 
 
 "iliis little certificate to the disinterestedness of his con- 
 duct. 
 
 The soldiers on hearing the offers of Thimbron joy- 
 .^uUy closed with them, but still complained bitterly of 
 the way in which they had been cheated by Seuthes. 
 Charminus, acknowledging the justice of their com- 
 ulaiut, himself made a representation on the subject to 
 the Thracian chief, but without effect. As a last appeal, 
 he even sent Xenophon to demand the arrears of pay in 
 the name of the Lacedaemonians. This ' ' afforded the 
 Athenian an opportunity of administering a severe 
 lecture to Seuthes. But the latter was found less 
 accessible than the Cyreian assembled soldiers to the 
 workings of eloquence: nor did Xenophon obtain any- 
 thing beyond a miserable dividend upon the sum due — 
 together with civil expressions towards himself person- 
 ally; an invitation to remain with a thousand men, 
 instead of going to Asia with the army; and renewed 
 promises, not likely now to find much credit, of a fort 
 and a grant of lands."* 
 
 But the troubles of Xenophon were now over, and a 
 fun of good luck for himself closes his account of the 
 Expedition of Cyrus. He would have gone straight to 
 Athens, but the soldiers, who were now on the best 
 terms with him, begged him not to leave them till they 
 should be handed over to Thimbron. They all crossed 
 the sea of Marmora to Lampsacus, celebrated for its 
 wine. Here Xenophon met an old acquaintance, one 
 Euclides, a soothsayer, who asked him how much gold 
 he had. Xenophon replied, that so far from having 
 anything, he was just going to sell his horse to pay his 
 traveling expenses. The soothsayer, on inspection of 
 
 * Mr. Grote's History of Greece, vol. ix. p. 234, 235. 
 
72 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 the victims, said that evidently Xenoplion had spoken 
 the truth, but "had he sufficiently propitiated Jupiter 
 the Gracious?" Xenophon admitted that he had not 
 sacrificed to this deity, whom he seemed to think it 
 natural to regard as quite distinct from Jupiter the 
 King, to whom he had made frequent offerings. He at 
 once repaired the deficiency, and the very same day the 
 Lacedaemonian paymasters, hearing that he had sold a 
 favorite horse, repurchased it for him at the price of 
 about £55. 
 
 Marching through the Troas, they arrived at Perga- 
 mus, famous for its library of 200,000 volumes, after- 
 wards transferred to Alexandria; for the invention of 
 parchment (the name of which is derived from Perga- 
 mena); for its painting and architecture; and for being 
 the seat of one of the Seven Churches of Asia. Here 
 Xenophon was hospitably entertained by a Greek lady, 
 who told him of a prize awaiting him in the person of 
 one Asidates, a wealthy Persian, w^ho resided in the 
 neighborhood. Finding the omens favorable, Xeno- 
 phon set out after supper, taking only a select party of 
 his friends, in order not to -have to divide the booty 
 among too many. But the country-house of the Persian 
 was strongly fortified, and resisted the night attack. 
 And at daybreak various troops in the pay of the Great 
 King came to the rescue, and it was as much as the 
 Greeks could do to fight their way back to their lines, 
 with some slaves and cattle enclosed in a hollow square. 
 The next day the unfortunate Asidates attempted to 
 move off with his family and his goods, but Xenophon 
 came down upon him with the whole Cyreian force, 
 and carried him off with all that he possessed. Xeno- 
 phon now exultingly says that *'he had no complaint 
 against Jupiter the Gracious." For the army placed at 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 73 
 
 his disposal the pick of the spoil, so that he was ** now 
 even in a position to serve a friend." 
 
 This is the last incident recorded in the Anabasis." 
 To some it has appeared as a blot upon the character 
 of Xenophon, but it might be remembered first, that 
 the Greeks were actually at war with the Persians at 
 this time; secondly, that the international morality of 
 the day gave a general sanction to acts of the kind 
 when barbarians" and not Greeks were the victims. 
 
 Under the above circumstances the parting of 
 Xenophon from the army whose perils and vicissi- 
 tudes of fortune he had shared for exactly two years 
 (from March 401 B.C. to March 399 B.C.) must have 
 been on both sides cordial and pleasant. The ten 
 thousand Greeks had been reduced by casualties and 
 dispersion to six thousand ; and of this force Thim- 
 bron, coming to Pergamus, took the command. The 
 Cyreian contingent now lost its distinctive existence. 
 It was merged in the army which, under Thimbron, 
 and afterwards under the far abler Dercylidas, who 
 superseded him, carried on a successful campaign 
 against the Persian satraps, and secured for a time 
 the independence of the Greek cities in Asia Minor. 
 Doubtless many of the old comrades of Xenophon 
 returned, like himself, enriched to their homes. And 
 doubtless many a Greek fireside during many a winter 
 time was enlivened by tales of the Expedition of Cyrus 
 and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks. 
 
 Xenophon's return to Athens must have taken plac^ 
 within a few weeks of the death of his master, Socrates, 
 lie appears to have diligently collected particulars of 
 tho accusation, trial, and death of the sage, and to 
 ha^'c added them to his former notes of the conversa- 
 tions of Socrates. But it appears probable that he did 
 
74 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 not bring out his Eecollections '* till a later period of 
 his own life, when he had settled down to literary 
 pursuits. Within three years he had again quitted 
 his home, and was serving under the Lacedaemonian 
 king Agesilaus in the still protracted war against the 
 Persians in Asia Minor. But now. a fresh shuffle of 
 the political cards in Greece took place, ' for the 
 Athenians together with the Thebans and others, 
 formed an alliance with the King of Persia ; and thus 
 Xenophon, by continuing to hold command under 
 Agesilaus, was in the position of bearing arms agaidst 
 his country. He accompanied Agesilaus in his inva- 
 sion of northern Greece, and was present with him 
 at the bloody battle of Coroneia (b.c. 394), where the 
 Athenians and their Theban allies were vanquished. 
 .For this he was treated as the enemy of his country, 
 and a decree of banishment was passed against him. 
 
 The Lacedaemonians, however, did not fail to pro- 
 vide him with a home. They allotted him a residence 
 at Scillus,* a village about two miles from Olympia, 
 where the great games were held every fifth year. 
 This circumstance alone must have made the situation 
 agreeable to a man like Xenophon. It was as if a 
 yeoman of sporting tendencies were to receive a pres- 
 ent of a farm at Epsom. And the Olympic games 
 were something more than equal to the Derby; " for 
 they implied a periodical meeting (under terms of truce 
 if it was war-time) of all the great wits and intellects, 
 and all the leading characters, both literary and poli- 
 tical, from the different states of Greece. There was 
 excellent hunting in the neighborhood of Scillus; — 
 
 * The description of his residence at Scillus is given by 
 Xenophon himself C Anabasis," v. 3). 
 
THE FORTUNES OF THE TEN THOUSAND. 75 
 
 not fox-hunting on horseback, but hunting of the 
 boar and the antelope on foot witli spears, and of the 
 hare with dogs and nets. In this congenial spot 
 Xenophon settled down, probably in the forty-second 
 year of his age, after his few years' campaigning, to a 
 life of literature and field-sports. "He spent liis time 
 henceforth," says his biographer in hunting, and 
 feasting his friends, and writing his histories." And 
 ere long he had in Scillus a charming souvenir of his 
 adventures with the Cyreian army. To explain this it 
 must be mentioned that when the Greek army reached 
 the Euxine in their retreat, they sold the prisoners 
 whom they had taken in various skirmishes by the 
 way, and divided the proceeds. The tenth part of 
 the money realized was set apart to be dedicated to 
 Appllo and to Diana of Ephcsus, and each general 
 was intrusted with a portion of this sum to take charge 
 of. It seems probable that Xenophon was forced, by 
 the exigencies of the subsequent march, to spend the 
 portion which had been intrusted to him. But when 
 he returned to Athens, enriched with the ransom of 
 Asidates, he caused an offering to Apollo to be made, 
 and to be inscribed with his. own name and that of 
 his friend Proxenus, and this he sent to Delphi. 
 Afterwards, when serving with Agesilaus in Asia, he 
 replaced the amount which was due to the goddess 
 Diana, and handed it over for safe keeping to Mega- 
 byzus, the warden of her temple at Ephesus. He 
 stipulated that if he should fall in the campaign, 
 Megabyzus was to devote the money to an offering in 
 the Ephesian temple, but otherwise to restore it to 
 him. 
 
 When Xenophon had taken up his abode at Scillus, 
 Megabyzus came over on one occasion to see the 
 
76 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 Olympic games, and lie brought with him the deposit 
 and restored it. Xenophoa invested the money in 
 lands to be devoted in permanence to the goddess. 
 Not only had Diana signified her approval of the site 
 by omens in sacrifice, but also there appeared to be a 
 peculiar appropriateness in the domain selected. In 
 the first place, it was an excellant hunting-ground, and 
 therefore suitable for the divine huntress; and also, by 
 a strange coincidence, there was a stream running 
 through it called Selinus, which was also the name of 
 a stream running close to the temple of Diana at 
 Ephesus. In both rivers," adds Xenophon — speaking 
 somewhat after the manner of Fluellen — there are fish 
 and cockles." Here he caused a temple and altar to be 
 raised, and a statue of the goddess in cypress wood to 
 be set up — exact copies, though on a reduced scale, of 
 the world-famous temple and altar and golden statue at 
 Ephesus. And he appointed an annual festival to be 
 held, which was attended by men and women of the 
 surrounding country, who pitched tents on the sacred 
 ground, and were supplied by the goddess herself 
 with barley-meal, bread, wine, sweetmeats, and a share 
 of the victims offered from the sacred pastures, and of 
 those caught in hunting; for the sons of Xenophon and 
 of the other inhabitants always made a hunt against the 
 festival, and such of the men as wished hunted with 
 them; and there w^ere caught, partly on the sacred 
 lands and partly on Mount Pholoe, boars and antelopes 
 and deer." 
 
 The picture presented to us by Xenophon of his life 
 at Scillus is quite idyllic, and thoroughly Greek. A 
 certain phase of religion predominates over the whole, 
 but it is the bright, picturesque, and easy religion 
 common among the Aryan races, which is so different 
 
THE I'VUTUNES OF THE TEN TUOUSAND, 77 
 
 from Semitic earnestness, and which consists in doing, 
 under the name of divine authority, what men would 
 have been most inclined to do without it. Hunting for 
 the glory of Diana, cultivating his farm, writing his 
 books, and living in social intercourse with all comers, 
 — these elements made up the existence of Xenophon at 
 Scillus, during the best years of his long life. 
 
 * " Not wholly in the busy world, nor quite 
 Beyond it "— 
 
 he lived in retirement from contemporary politics, and 
 yet was always supplied with information as to their 
 progress, of which he must have taken careful notes for 
 his future history. 
 
 It is not quite certain whether he was permitted to 
 end his days in this charming retreat. One account says, 
 that after the defeat of his Lacedaemonian patrons at the 
 battle of Leuctra, B.C. 371, he was forced to abandon it, 
 and that he retired to Corinth. Another account de- 
 clares that he was only subjected to a law-suit, but that 
 he retained his lands, and died at Scillus. However 
 this may be, Athens became reconciled to Sparta, and 
 the sentence of banishment against Xenophon was re- 
 voked. His two sons, Gryllus and Diodorus, fought 
 among the Athenian knights in the cavalry action 
 which formed the prelude to the battle of Mantinea, B.C. 
 362; in which battle Gryllus was slain, after manifesting 
 distinguished bravery. Xenophon must have been 
 about sixty- nine years old at this time. They say that 
 he was performing a sacrifice, with a garland on his 
 head, which he took off when the news was brought to 
 him that his son had fallen," but when the messenger 
 added ** nobly," he replaced it; and he would not weep, 
 for he said, " I knew that my son was mortal." This is 
 
78 
 
 JLh'IiOFIIOli, 
 
 the last anecdote wlAcn is recorded of Zenophon *^ th 
 wise." But lie appears to have lived long afterwar^is, 
 and to have attained his ninetieth year. 
 
 Time has been very lenient with the works of Xeno- 
 phon. We possess all the books ascribed to him by 
 Diogenes Laertius. They are as follows : *' Hellenica," 
 ** Anabasis," * ** Cyropaedeia," Eecollections of So- 
 crates," Apology of Socrates," ^Agesilaus,", The 
 Constitution of Athens," ''The Constitution of Sparta," 
 **Hiero," *' The Banquet," ''On the Athenian Revenues," 
 ** On Domestic Economy," "Hipparchicus," "On Horse- 
 manship," "On Hunting." A glance at this list will 
 show what a wide and varied field is covered 
 by the writings of Xenophon, and what a rich 
 mine they constitute of information relative to 
 events, great men, ideas, arts, and manners in 
 Greece at the end of the fifth and through the first half 
 of the fourth century B.C. In our present apergu of 
 
 * It is curious that in the " Hellenica" (iii. 1, 2) Xenophon says 
 that " the history of the expedition of Cyrus, and of the return 
 of the Greeks in safety to the sea, has been written by Theraisto- 
 genes the Syracusan." This passage has given rise to two 
 theories to account for the statement it contains. One is, that 
 Themistogenes, as well as Xenophon, had written an account of 
 the expedition of Cyrus — that the inferior work was eclipsed and 
 forgotten, but that Xenophon, through modesty, mentioned that 
 account instead of his own. The other theory is suggested by 
 Plutarch, namely, that Xenophon, having a double interest in the 
 
 Anabasis," as author and as actor in the military events 
 described, preferred his reputation' in the latter capacity to th© 
 fame which he might get as an author ; and, therefore, to gain 
 full credence for the somewhat self-glorifying history, attributed 
 it to another hand. The second theory seems the more probable. 
 At all events, the ancients unanimously regarded the "Anabasis" 
 as the work of Xenophon, and not even German criticism has 
 thrown any doubt on this belief. 
 
THE FORTUNES OF TEE TEN THOUSAND, 79 
 
 Xenophon, it will be impossible for us to attempt to give 
 the contents of the Hellenica," which is a contemporary 
 record of affairs in Greece from the year 411 to the year 
 362 B.C. To do so would be to epitomize Greek his- 
 tory, which is not the object of this little book. Readers 
 wishing to follow out that part of the subject, can best 
 do so by consulting Mr. Grote's great work (vols. ix. 
 and X.), or they will find a summary and criticism (per- 
 haps rather too severe) of the Hellenica" of Xenophon 
 in Colonel Mure's Critical History of the Language and 
 Literature of Ancient Greece," vol. v. p. 265-323. The 
 remaining works in the above list all more or less come 
 within our scope, as bringing this ancient Greek writer 
 and his times directly before us. In the Anabasis," 
 which we have already epitomized, we have a narrative 
 from personal observation comparable in some respects 
 to the ** Commentaries" of Caesar, or Mr. Kinglake's In- 
 vasion of the Crimea." In the " Cyropsedeia" (or Edu- 
 cation of Cyrus") we have the earliest specimen extant 
 of a historical romance. In the * * Memorabilia" (or ' ' Re- 
 collections"), Xenophon plays the part of a Boswell, and 
 gives us the actual conversations of his master, Socrates. 
 The *' Agesilaus"is the embodiment of the hero-wor- 
 ship" of Xenophon for his admired patron the King of 
 Sparta. The Constitutions of Athens and Sparta are 
 perhaps the oldest remaining specimens of the political 
 tract or pamphlet. The ' ' Hiero" is a disquisition, in the 
 form of dialogue, on the characteristics of despotic 
 government. "The Banquet " is a description, real or 
 imaginary, of a **fast" supper party at Athens, and of 
 the conduct and discourse thereat of the wise and moral 
 Socrates. The Revenues of Athens " contains some of 
 Xenophon's ideas on finance and political economy. 
 The Domestic Economy" treats, in two dialogues, of 
 
80 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 farm and household management. The " Hipparchicus, " 
 or Cavahy Officer's Manual," contains suggestions by 
 an experienced tactician for the improvement of the 
 cavalry arm of the Athenian service. The Horseman- 
 ship " is a treatise on choosing, keeping, and sitting the 
 horse. In the Hunting" Xenophon appears somewhat 
 in the character of an Izaak Walton, and describes en- 
 thusiastically his favorite sport. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE "RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES." 
 
 The ''Memorabilia" — or, as the Greek name should 
 rather have been translated, the "Memoranda" — the 
 " Recollections," or " Notes from the Conversations," of 
 Socrates, ranks second by general repute among the 
 works of Xenophon. But it is the interest of the name 
 of Socrates, and the fact of its professing to be a genuine 
 matter-of-fact record of what he said, that gives this 
 book its importance. Xenophon has not in reality the 
 qualifications of a Boswell. We have always a feeling, 
 in reading the conversations which he records, that his 
 notes could only have been accurate in a lower sense. 
 The matter of the dialogue was given, or attempted to 
 be given, but the delicacy of the form was lost. The 
 words employed look like paraphrase reports of the 
 substance of what Socrates said, or appeared to Xeno- 
 phon to say, and they fail to bring the distinctive per- 
 sonality of the speaker before us. Plato, as most people 
 are aware, wrote imaginary philosophical dialogues in 
 which he constantly introduces Socrates. And it is to 
 these imaginary and dramatic dialogues that we must 
 refer, to explain and complete the " Recollections ^' of 
 
mE RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES^ 81 
 
 Xenoplion. Those who know Plato can "read between 
 the lines " of Xenoplion, and see that much which the 
 hitter represents as bluntly said was in all probability 
 accompanied by delicate intellectual turns, which the 
 quick and impatient soldier's mind of Xenophon did 
 not appreciate or think worth reproducing in detail. 
 The ancients were agreed that nothing was more strik- 
 ingly characteristic of Socrates than his "irony," which 
 consisted in a sort of mock deference, always in good 
 taste, to those whom he was going to instruct. Of the 
 exact nature of this manner of his we should know 
 nothing from Xenophon or any one else, were it not for 
 the dramatic representation of it in Plato. Again, from 
 Plato we learn to believe that Socrates was one of the 
 finest "gentlemen" that ever lived; in the heat of argu- 
 ment not wounding the susceptibilities of any ; answering 
 insolence with superior repartee, but never triumphant 
 or offensive; always entering into the feelings of others; 
 and always conveying intellectual instruction under the 
 forms of urbanity and good-breeding. The account of 
 him in Xenophon is not inconsistent with this idea, but 
 would never have fully suggested it. But the work of 
 Xenophon has after all, a certain value of its own. It 
 gives a solid basis of facts, and prevents one from think- 
 ing that the Socrates of philosophy was a mere creation 
 of the genius of Plato. We shall now take some of the 
 most salient of those facts, and endeavor thus to put 
 before our readers one of the most strange and wonder- 
 lul men that ever lived. 
 
 According to the descriptions both of Plato and of 
 Xenophon, which are corroborated by antique gems, 
 Socrates had a strong burly figure, prominent and crab- 
 like eyes, a flat nose with broad open nostrils, a large 
 and thick-lipped mouth, and a forehead indicative of 
 
82 
 
 XENOPIION, 
 
 great mental power. Everything about him conveyed 
 the idea of force, character, and originality. His father 
 had been a sculptor, and his mother a midw^ife. He 
 was bred up to liis father's profession, and followed it 
 for a time with some success; and a statue which he 
 executed of the Graces was preserved in tlie Acropolis 
 of Athens. In time of war he served his country * as a 
 heavy- armed soldier, and was in action, and distin- 
 guished himself, at the siege of Potidsea and aft the bat- 
 of Delium. Xenophon omits to mention one peculiar- 
 ity of Socrates which we learn from Plato — namely, his 
 strange fits of protracted reverie, almost amounting to 
 trance. But he is full of allusions to the Daemon, or 
 divine mentor, under whose guidance Socrates laid claim 
 to act. The whole life of Socrates was represented by 
 himself as being ordered under the direction of internal 
 signs from the gods, which told him what to do and 
 what not to do. He thoroughly believed in the reality 
 of these intimations, which perhaps all of us have at 
 at times, without recognizing and obeying them. But 
 Socrates by habit learnt more and more to recognize and 
 obey. And thus his whole life took the form of a mis- 
 sion, which consisted in improving others, both in intel- 
 lect and character, by his conversations. 
 
 Socrates was twice married, having first espoused 
 Xanthippe, whose name has unfortunately become a 
 byword in history for a shrew. f By her he had a 
 
 * The army system of Athens, hke that of modern Prussia, re- 
 quired "every citizen to be trained as a soldier, and to serve in 
 time of need. The enrolment was between the ages of eighteen 
 and fifty-eight. Socrates must have been .about forty-six years 
 old at the battle of Delium. 
 
 t Diogenes Laertius, Athenaeus, and Plutarch, all state that 
 Socrates was married twice. At the time of his death he had 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES^ 83 
 
 son, and in all probability Xanthippe may have had 
 many a word with him on the subject of his not going 
 on with his profession, and making money to keep his 
 family in comfort. But, by inheritance or otherwise, 
 he had some very small means, and instead of increas- 
 ing these to meet the desires of ordinary people, he de- 
 termined to cut down his wants to what he had, and thus 
 he voluntarily adopted a life of austere simplicity and 
 poverty, entirely devoted to what he considered his 
 spiritual calling. India of the present day throws light 
 on many of the features of ancient Greek society, and 
 in India such lives of renunciation and of contented pov- 
 erty are not un frequent. Often in the Indian bazaars 
 may you see Socrates, or something like him, in the 
 person of some stout Brahman, good-humoredly loung- 
 
 one grown-up son, Lamprocles, and two infants. The " Memo- 
 rabilia" mentions a conversation with Lamprocles, who com- 
 plained of his mother's temper, while Socrates good-naturedly 
 urged that it was of no consequence. But who was tlie mother 
 of Lamprocles ? Diogenes says that the two wives were Myrto 
 (granddaughter of Aristides) and Xanthippe, but that it is 
 doubtful which was the first wife. Evidently the first wife, the 
 mother of Lamprocles, was the scold. Plato in the " Phsedo " 
 definitely mentions Xanthippe as coming to the condemned cell 
 of Socrates. This would make her the second wite. Equally 
 definitely Xenophon, in the " Banquet " [see below, p. 108], men- 
 tions Xanthippe as married to Socrates, and as famous for her 
 bad temper, twenty years before. This would probably make 
 her the first wife. Between these two authorities the issue must 
 lie. On the whole, in a matter of the kind it seems more likely 
 that Plato made a shp. Xanthippe's name was perhaps so fa- 
 miliar as being the wife of Socrates, that Plato forgot the second 
 marriage with Myrto when introducing the wife in the death 
 scene, at which he was not himself present. Poor Xanthippe's 
 tongue had probably been " stopped with dust" ere that scene 
 occurred. The attempts to " rehabilitate " her come to this, that 
 Socrates could not have been a very comfortable husband . 
 
84 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 ing about in loose robes and with bare legs, ready to dis- 
 cuss for hours, with all comers, any topic that may turn 
 up, but for preference some point of Yedanta philoso- 
 phy. The resemblance is doubtless an external one, 
 yet still there is the same simple notion of life, con^ 
 tented with the barest necessaries, and cheered by the 
 play of the intellect in talk. 
 
 But the talk of Socrates was not idle — it was alwaya 
 directed to a definite purpose. Every conversation was 
 meant to produce a result, and to leave the person who 
 had talked with Socrates in a better condition than be- 
 fore — either with truer views as to the conduct of life, 
 or disabused of some fallacy, or stimulated to inquire 
 about some point in a deeper way and after a sounder 
 method. For such talk he laid himself out and made 
 it his daily business. In the morning he regularly fre- 
 quented the gymnasia and exercise-grounds; at noon, 
 when the market was full, he was to be found there; 
 for the rest of the day lie went wherever the citizens of 
 Athens happened most to be congregated. Socrates thus 
 became *'an institution" and a public character; and as 
 such he was caricatured by Aristophones in a comedy 
 called ''The Clouds," in which Socrates was represented, 
 miserable and half starved, keeping a ''thinking shop," 
 in which the most absurd speculations were ventilated. 
 This public raillery probably did Socrates no harm, and 
 was not the least resented by him. 
 
 But in them remitting pursuance of his missionary ca- 
 reer for the improvement of his fellow-citizens, Socrates 
 made himself many enemies. There are always people 
 who do not wish to be improved, especially after they 
 have got to a certain age, and who resent the attempt to 
 improve them as an impertinence. Again, with all the 
 grace and good-breeding of the manner of Socrates, it 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES:' 85 
 
 was his invariable object to show people that they did 
 not know so much about things as they themselves im- 
 agined. And this operation was applied in the most 
 unsparing way to persons who were considered to be 
 quite "authorities" on political and other questions. 
 We can hardly wonder that such a species of practice 
 should have raised up for the practitioner a plentiful 
 crop of unpopularity. Public men found themselves 
 assailed, before crowds of people, with vexing questions 
 which they were unable to answer. They found their 
 prestige impaired, and their minds thrown for the first 
 time into an attitude of self -mistrust. They must in 
 many instances have hated the very sight of Socrates, 
 but there was no escaping him, for he had nothing else 
 to do but always to be in market and forum, and all pub- 
 lic places, ready to annoy. The young entertained a dif- 
 ferent feeling about him. Socrates had a great love for 
 the society of youth, especially of the clever and prom- 
 ising. They afforded him the most hopeful materials to 
 work'upon; their minds were plastic, the prejudices less 
 inveterate, their ardor uncooled, and th.eir curiosity 
 undulled by time and custom. Socrates constant!}'' 
 drew around him a band of such young men, over 
 whom, by his versatile originality and many-sided 
 talk, he exercised a great fascination. These consti- 
 tuted the Socratic school, which, by following out the 
 suggestions of their master into various directions, cre- 
 ated or commenced all that was best and most valuable 
 in ancient philosophy. Among these, the most eminent 
 were Euclid (not the geometrician) of Megara ; Antis- 
 theues, founder of the Cynics; Aristippus of Cyrene; 
 and the lovely-minded Plato. Xenophon, probably 
 when about eighteen years old, became one of the disci- 
 ples of Socrates, but the bent of his mind was entirely 
 
86 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 practical, and he contributed nothing to the develop- 
 ment of philosophy, and wrote no philosophical book, 
 properly so called. Many other youths of the Socratic 
 following took afterwards to political life, for which the 
 training they had received in reasoning and discussion 
 formed a useful preparation. Some turned out badly 
 enough, and it was made a reproach to Socrates that 
 Alcibiades, who betrayed his country, and Critias, who, 
 as one of the Thirty Tyrants, became her cruel oppress- 
 or, had been among his pupils. 
 
 The very influence which Socrates exercised over 
 young men became a cause of his being held in suspi- 
 cion and dislike by the peres de famille of Athens. 
 He was thought to fill the mind of youth with new- 
 fangled ideas, and to teach boys to lose respect for 
 their own fathers, substituting a preposterous inde- 
 pendence of spirit for the obedience natural to their 
 age. In the year 399 B.C., when Socrates had for at 
 least thirty years pursued his mission, and when he 
 was more than seventy years of age, the feeling of 
 unpopularity, which he had excited found its culmina- 
 tion, owing apparently to the circumstance that he had 
 endeavored to prevent the son of one Anytus, a rich 
 tradesman and powerful demagogue, from following his 
 father's trade as a leather-seller. The boy appears to 
 have been full of promise, and Socrates wished him 
 to choose a more intellectual career. Anytus, however, 
 was incensed, and took counsel on the matter with 
 others who bore a grudge against Socrates, and among 
 them with Mel^tus a poet, and Lycon a rhetorician. 
 Poets and rhetoricians were both among the classes 
 of j)eople whose claims to knowledge of the truth 
 Socrates had constantly impugned, and the two persons 
 above named had probably each suffered under his 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES:' 87 
 
 public refutations. Tlie result of their conference was, 
 that one day there appeared, in regular form, posted 
 up at the office of the King-Archon, one of the chief 
 civil magistrates at Athens, an indictment signed with 
 the names of Meletus, Anytus, and Lycon, in the fol- 
 lowing terms: Socrates is guilty of crime, first, in not 
 believing in the gods that the city believes in; secondly, 
 in introducing other new gods; thirdly, in corrupting 
 the youth. The penalty due is — death." 
 
 The appearance of this indictment, and the appoint- 
 ment of a day for it to be tried, must have caused a 
 great sensation at Athens. But Socrates himself re- 
 mained apparently unconcerned, talking of all other 
 subjects except his approaching trial ; and one of his 
 frie,nds (who afterwards told the story to Xenophon) 
 asked him if he h ^ prepared his defense. To this he 
 replied that his whole previous life had been a prepara- 
 tion, having been spent in studying what was right, 
 and endeavoring to do it. He added that it had oc- 
 curred to him to think what he should say before his 
 judges, but that he had received the divine intimation 
 to forbear. ''Possibly the gods thought it better for 
 him to die now than to continue to live, and no wonder, 
 for hitherto he had lived most happily with a conscioius- 
 ness to himself of progressive moral improvement, and 
 with the esteem and love of his friends. Were he to 
 live on now, he might find his faculties impaired, and 
 then the dignity and pleasure of his life would be gone. 
 Were he to be put to death by his judges, he was confi- 
 dent that by posterity he would be regarded as one who 
 had suffered wrongfully, but had done no wrong to 
 others, having only endeavored to make all men better." 
 
 Socrates was tried before a dicastery, or jury, con- 
 sisting of the large number of 557 Athenian citizens. 
 
88 
 
 XENOPUOK 
 
 Mel^tus appears to have stated the case for the prose- 
 cution, and it was left to Socrates to defend himself. 
 In a trial of the kind, and before such a tribunal, the 
 issue was sure to turn on the animus, favorable or 
 otherwise, created by the speeches of the different 
 parties on the minds of the jurymen. They were doubt- 
 less all practised in the discharge of their function, 
 which in litigous Athens every one was constantly 
 called on to fulfill. On such occasions they were ac- 
 customed to be conciliated by those who pleaded before 
 them, and they would expect as a matter of course to 
 be conciliated by Socrates. But Socrates condescended 
 to nothing of the kind. His " Apology" or " Defense" 
 has been reported both by Xenophon and Plato. The 
 latter, as usual, puts into the mouth of his master a 
 speech in more beautiful style and in sublimer strain 
 than that which he really uttered. Xenophon merely 
 gives rough heads of the topics which, he had heard, 
 were used. But the general purport of both accounts 
 is the same. Socrates, without addressing himself to 
 the task of persuading his judges and saving his own 
 life, spoke, as Mr. Grote* well says, *'for posterity." 
 Instead of submitting explanations of his own conduct, 
 he treated it as something of which he could only 
 speak with a just pride. He gave indeed a distinct 
 denial to the charge that he had shown any want of 
 orthodoxy toward the national religion, as he could 
 call all to witness that he had always joined in the 
 public sacrifices. But with regard to the second count 
 — that he had introduced new gods — he denied that his 
 belief in the divine signal was anything different in kind 
 from the belief that other men had in omens and augu- 
 
 * History of Greece, vol. viii. p. 654. 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOGRATESr 89 
 
 ries. He asserted emphaticallj'' as a fact the divine 
 communications which he had received, and said that 
 his friends had often benefited by the predictions which 
 he had been able to make to them. And this statement 
 created an unfavorable impression on the jury, for some 
 disbelieved him, and others were offended at his claim 
 to a special inspiration. 
 
 Turning now to the third count, that he had cor- 
 rupted young men, he gave a history of his mode of 
 life, the turning-point of which had been that the oracle 
 of Apollo at Delphi had pronounced him the wisest of 
 men. Thts avowal caused a fresh expression of disap- 
 probation from the jury; but, according to the account 
 of Plato, Socrates softened the seeming arrogance of the 
 boast, by adding that he himself had wondered why the 
 god should have pronounced him wise, when he was 
 conscious of knowing nothing. He had resolved to test 
 the truth of the oracle by comparing himself with 
 others. Hence he began to question those who had a 
 high reputation, but their answers did not satisfy him. 
 tie tried men of all sorts, but invariably found that they 
 had the show of knowledge without the reality. Thus 
 he came to the conclusion that the god called him wisest, 
 because, though, knowing no more than other men, he 
 alone was conscious to himself of his own ignorance. 
 Henceforth he considered it his mission to lead other 
 men to know themselves; and as to the youth whom he 
 had gratuitously instructed, so far from corrupting 
 them, 'he had invariably drawn them on to modesty, 
 manliness, and virtue. "Ay," interrupted Meletus, 
 "but I have known some whom you persuaded to obey 
 you rather than their parents." *' Yes," said Socrates, 
 
 about matters of education, for they knew I had 
 v>pecially studied this subject. About health people 
 
90 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 obey the physician, and not their parents; and in state 
 affairs or war, you choose those who are skilled to be 
 your leaders. Why then, in the most important thing 
 of all, education, should not I be allowed to be an au- 
 thority, if I am really such? or why should my claim- 
 ing this be made a ground for thinking me worthy o 
 death?" 
 
 From these specimens of the defense of Socrates, any 
 one can see in what a lofty spirit of conscious rectitude 
 it was cooceived. On such of the jury as had petty 
 minds, perhaps already full of prejudice against Ihe 
 defendant, and looking at all events to see him humble 
 himself before them, his independent words were sure 
 to fall unfavorably; and yet there was suflScient gen- 
 erosity among the dicasts to make the majority against 
 him a small one. As many as 276 of their number 
 were for acquitting him, while 281 voted that he was 
 guilty of the charges brought against him. Even at 
 this point he might have been saved, for the sentence 
 was not yet passed, and, according to Athenian custom, 
 the condemned person had the privilege of proposing 
 some punishment, in which he would acquiesce, milder 
 than that proposed by the prosecutor. But, as we 
 learn from Plato, Socrates would not even now show 
 any submission to the majority who had condemned 
 him. He said, proudly, that ''what he w^as conscious 
 of having merited w^as, to be maintained at the public 
 expense as a benefactor to the State; at the solicitation of 
 his friends, however, he would name as a counter-pen- 
 alty, instead of death, a fine of thirty minse (£120), 
 which his friends were ready to pay for him." This 
 proposition, or the manner in which it was made, 
 sealed the doom which he had apparently hardly de- 
 sired to escape. The jury now, by a separate vote, of 
 
TEE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES^ 91 
 
 which we do not know the numbers, sentenced him to 
 suffer death. 
 
 For the glowing details of the last days and conver- 
 sations of Socrates, given truly to the idea if not to the 
 actual fact, we must refer our readers to the **Phaedo" 
 of Plato. Xenoplion shortly summarizes the matter, 
 saying that *'by universal acknowledgment no man 
 ever endured death with greater glory than Socrates. 
 He was obliged to live thirty days after his sentence, 
 for the Delian festival happened to be going on at the 
 time, and the law allowed no one to suffer capital pun- 
 ishment until the sacred deputation which was sent on 
 these occasions to the Isle of Delos should have re- 
 turned. During that time Socrates was seen by all his 
 friends, living in no other way than at any preceding 
 period, with the same cheerfulness and trauquillity 
 for which he had always been remarkable. What 
 death could have been more noble or more happy than 
 this?" 
 
 In many respects the end of Socrates may indeed be 
 regarded as a euthanasia. There was nothing like the 
 shame of a public execution, or the horror of a violent 
 death, to be endured. In privacy, amid a circle of 
 friends and admirers, the cup of hemlock was to be 
 drunk which would painlessly extinguish the vital pow- 
 ers, and that too at a period of life when of themselves 
 they might soon have ceased. Such were the mitigat- 
 ing external circumstances; while inwardly there was 
 *'the royal heart of innocence," the high enthusiasm 
 which has. enabled so many to meet with cheerfulness 
 a martyr's death, and the philosophic reason which en- 
 tirely triumphed over the animal instincts, which saw 
 things as a whole, and which counted the loss a gain. 
 When AppoUodorus, one of his disciples, said, 
 
92 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 grieve most for this, Socrates, that I see you about to 
 die undeservedly," he answered, stroking the head of 
 his pupil with a smile, *'My dearest AppoUodorus, 
 would you rather see me die deservedly?" When some 
 of his friends suggested a plan for his escape, at which 
 the Athenians would probably have connived, he said, 
 ' ' I am willing to fly if you can tell me any country to 
 fl}' to where death does not await me." Seeing Anytus 
 pass by, he remarked, This man is elated as if he had 
 done something great and noble in causing my death, 
 because, when I saw him occupying the highest offices 
 in the state, I said that he ought not to bring up his son 
 among the ox-hides. How foolish he is not to know 
 that whichever of us has done what is best and noblest 
 for all time, he is the superior." When his friends 
 asked what he wished done with his body, he said, 
 "You may do with it w^hat you like, provided you do 
 not imagine it to be me." 
 
 To modern ideas there may seem to be something 
 wanting in this picture; we might have preferred to 
 see the strong light relieved by shadow, by some 
 touch of nature at the thought of parting from family 
 and friends, by some human misgivings on the threshold 
 of the unknown. But the ancients must be judged 
 by their own standards. The Greek ideal was one of 
 strength, and widely different from the later and deeper 
 Christian ideal of strength made perfect in weakness. 
 Socrates was the noblest of the Greeks, and in almost all 
 respects his life is worthy to be made an example to all 
 time. 
 
 Xenophon does not regard the death of his master 
 (so dignified and happy) as in itself a subject of pity 
 and regret. Nor does he even express any strong 
 indignation against the authors of it; he merely ex- 
 
THE ^'RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES:' 93 
 
 presses wonder that tlie Athenians could have found 
 Socrates guilty of the charges brought against him. 
 And the ostensible object of his ''Recollections'* is 
 to show by an array of facts that Socrates was neither 
 unorthodox, nor impious, nor a corrupter of youth. 
 Xenophon's book looks like an argument addressed to 
 the Athenian people, and it is certainly quite popular 
 and practical in its object and point of view. Hence, 
 while recording the conversations of that philosopher 
 whose conversations introduced a new form and 
 method into philosophy, Xenophon seems to leave the 
 form and method of what was said out of considera- 
 tion, and to restrict himself to quoting the matter, in 
 order to show that the thoughts were tliose of a 
 morally good man. Such an undertaking in reference 
 to Socrates was poor and limited; it tells us about 
 Socrates as a man, but obliges us to seek Socrates the 
 philosopher in the imaginative pages of Plato. And 
 the worst is that we are left in doubt — a doubt which 
 can never be removed — how far, in representing the 
 philosophical tenets of Socrates, Plato has attributed to 
 him too much, and Xenophon too little. In bringing 
 Xenophon's ''Memorabilia" to the knowledge of Eng- 
 lish readers, we must leave philosophical formulae out 
 of the question, and give shortly such of the recorded 
 sayings as may seem most interesting. 
 
 Socrates, it appears, made a point of not departing 
 frpm conformity with the usual religious ceremonies of 
 his country. He also encouraged others in the use of 
 divination, while he himself relied on the intimations 
 of his daemon or familiar spirit. He appears to have 
 divided the affairs of life into two classes, one falling 
 under the domain of art and science, about which men 
 might be perfectly certain by the use of their own rea- 
 
94 
 
 XENOPEOK 
 
 son, and on which therefore it would be absurd to con- 
 sult the gods. The other class consisted of things 
 uncertain in their issue — as, for instance, whether it 
 would be of advantage to make a particular marriage; 
 and on such subjects he advised that the gods should 
 be consulted by means of augury. 
 
 He disapproved, according to Xenophon, of the 
 speculations, so common among philosophers, into the 
 nature and origin of the universe. He thought that 
 such inquiries could lead to no certainty, and produced 
 no result. He considered "the proper study of man- 
 kind " to be "man." And he professed to limit him- 
 self to discoursing on human affairs, considering what 
 was just, what unjust ; what was sanity, what insanity; 
 what was courage, what cowardice ; what was a state ; 
 wherein consisted the character of the true statesman ; 
 how men were to be governed; and the like. 
 
 With regard to prayer, he made a point of not ask- 
 ing for definite things, not knowing whether they would 
 be good for him. But he prayed the gods to give him 
 what it would be best for him to have, which they alone 
 could know. Owing to his poverty, his sacrifices were 
 small; but he believed that, if offered in a pious spirit, 
 they would be equally accepted by the gods. And he 
 used to say that it was a good maxim, with regard to 
 friends, and guests, and all the relations of life, " per- 
 form according to your ability." 
 
 When Athens was under the Thirty Tyrants, Critias, 
 an old pupil of Socrates, was one of them. By cruel 
 proscriptions they had put many of the citizens to 
 death, on which Socrates compared them to "herds- 
 men who, being intrusted with cattle, reduced instead 
 of augmenting the number of their herd." The remark 
 was repeated to Critias, who, being stung by it, and 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES:' 9> 
 
 also bearing a grudge against his former master for 
 certain rebukes that he remembered, passed a law that 
 **no one should teach the art of disputation," and 
 sending for Socrates, he required his attention to it. 
 Socrates, on hearing him, put on his usual humble de- 
 meanor, and asked to be informed the exact purport of 
 the prohibition — Was the art of reasoning considered 
 to be an auxiliary to right or to wrong?" On this, one 
 of the tyrants got angry, and said, In order to prevent 
 all doubt, Socrates, we require you not to discourse with 
 the young at all." Socrates, nothing daunted, asked to 
 be informed more accurately what they meant by " the 
 young?" Up to what age was he to consider a man 
 "young?" They said, "up to thirty." He then asked 
 for a definition of "discourse." Might he not inquire 
 the price of a thing, or any person's residence, from a 
 man under thirty? " Yes," said Critias, " but you must 
 now abstain from talking about those shoemakers, car- 
 penters, and smiths that you used to have always in 
 your mouth." "What!" said Socrates, "must I give 
 up speaking of justice and piety and other subjects, to 
 illustrate which I am in the habit of referring to those 
 trades?" **Ay, by Jupiter! you must," said another 
 of the Thirty; "and you must stop speaking of herds- 
 men, too, else you may chance yourself to make the cat- 
 tle fewer." This conversation shows the coolness of 
 Socrates under the "reign of terror * at Athens.* It 
 shows, too, his unpopularity, act' how utterly alienated 
 from him a former pupil had become. 
 
 Perhaps the most often quoted conversation of Socra- 
 tes is that which he held with a young man named 
 
 * Xenophon tells us, in another place, that Socrates did not pay 
 the slightest attention to the order of the Tyrants. 
 
96 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 Aristodemns, who affected to despise religious observ- 
 ance. Having obtained from him the admission that he 
 reverenced the genius of creative artists, Socrates asked 
 him how he could avoid reverencing the intelligent de- 
 sign so copiously exhibited in the framework of man — 
 in the adaptation of tlie organs to the different objects 
 of sense — in the admirable defense provided by means 
 of the eyelids and eyelashes for the eye — in the arrange- 
 ment of the incisor and molar teeth — in the maternal 
 instinct, and all the instincts of self-preservation which 
 keep our species from destruction. He asked if all this, 
 as well as all the orderly mechanism of the heavens, 
 could be the work of chance ? Aristodemus replied 
 that he could not see any directors of the universe. To 
 which Socrates retorted, "Why, you cannot see your 
 own soul, the director of your body, and you might as 
 well say that all your own actions are the result of 
 chance." Aristodemus now shifted his ground, and 
 said, "I do not ignore the divine power, but I think it 
 too grand to need my worship." "The grander it is," 
 said Socrates, "surely the more it should be honored by 
 you, if it condescends to take care of you." Aristode- 
 mus said that the difficulty with him was to believe that 
 the gods took any thought for men. On which Soci-a- 
 tes, to prove the divine Providence, pointed out the 
 highly-favored position occupied by man among the 
 animals — the privileges of reason; the warnings sent to 
 nations and individuals by omens and auguries; and the 
 analogy between the mind ruling over and directing the 
 body, and the universal intelligence which must be con- 
 ceived as pervading all things and directing their move- 
 ments. In fine, he recommended Aristodemus to make 
 practical trial of the habit of worship, and of consulting 
 the gods by divination. 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCEATES." 97 
 
 Such was the natural theology of Socrates, as recorded 
 by Xenophon. In it we find the argument from final 
 causes, just as it is used by Paley; and an analogical 
 representation of God as bearing the same relation to 
 the world which the individual soul does to the body. 
 And the conclusion of the whole matter is made to be a 
 recommendation to practical piety. 
 
 Xenophon says that it is due to Socrates not to omit 
 the conversation which he had with Antiphon," a Soph- 
 ist or professional lecturer of the day. This man had 
 taunted Socrates on his bare feet and scant clothing — 
 the same in winter as in summer — on his spare diet, and 
 on the general wretchedness of his mode of life. **If 
 Philosophy," he proceeded, **be your mistress, you get 
 from her a worse maintenance than any slave would put 
 up with from his master. It is all because you will not 
 take money — money that cheers the recipient, and ena- 
 bles him to live in a more pleasant and gentlemanlike 
 way. You really set your pupils a bad example in this; 
 you are teaching them to live as miserably as yourself, 
 and you are acting as if your instructions had no value, 
 else why should you give them for nothing ?" To this 
 Socrates replied, that doubtless Antiphon would not 
 relish his mode of life, but that for himself it had the 
 charm of independence; that, as he was paid by no one, 
 he owed no service to any one; that his plain diet gave 
 him as much pleasure as their luxuries gave to others; 
 that he was, in bodily condition, always ready for any- 
 thing; that, above all, he had the happy consciousness 
 of always growing better himself, and of seeing friends 
 about him who were constantly improved in their 
 moral natures ; that to want nothing was to be like 
 tlie gods, and that his aim was, in this point, to make 
 some approach to the divine perfection. With regard 
 
98 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 to taking money for his instructions, he said that there 
 were two things, either of which to sell was prostitution 
 — namely, personal beauty and wisdom. . Those who 
 sell their wisdom for money to any that will buy, men 
 call ' Sophists,' or, as it were, a sort of md^Q demi-monde; 
 whereas whoso, by imparting knowledge to another 
 whom he sees well qualified to learn, binds that other to 
 himself as a friend, does what is befitting to a good citi- 
 zen and a gentleman. Some men," continued Socrates, 
 "have a fancy for a fine horse, or a dog, or a bird; 
 what I fancy and take delight in is friends of a superior 
 kind. If I know anything, I teach it to them; I send 
 them to any one by whom I think they may be im- 
 proved. In common with them, I turn over and 
 explore the treasures of the wise men of old which have 
 been left written in books, and if we find anything good 
 w^e pick it out, and we think it a great gain if we can be 
 beneficial to one another." This pleasing picture of the 
 Socratic circle of friends may be taken as a set-off 
 against what has been said above of the annoying char- 
 acter of the sage's public disputations. Xenophon tells 
 us that when Socrates found any man really wishing to 
 learn, he desisted from vexing him with diflaculties, and 
 did his best to assist his inquiries. We may note Uso 
 the severe retort upon the taunts of Antiphon, in tke 
 w^ay in which the Sophists are, as if incidentally, char^ 
 acterized. 
 
 Some of the conversations of Socrates, as they are 
 related in the Memorabilia," appear less calculated to 
 be successful in producing the impression they aimed 
 at. With regard to some of these, it is impossible to 
 help suspecting that they have been eked out by 
 Xenophon, and spoilt in the process. A notable in- 
 stance of this kind occurs in a long conversation be- 
 
TEE RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCUATESr 99 
 
 tween Socrates and his associate Aristippiis, afterwards 
 the famous leader of the school of pleasure. Socrates 
 observing in this J^oung man a too great tendency to 
 self-indulgence, set himself to counteract this ten- 
 dency, and he did so by establishing the incompatibility 
 of a soft aud self-indulgent life with the career of a 
 statesman and the government of others. Aristippus 
 replied that he had not the faintest desire to govern any. 
 Socrates then asked, whether it was happiest to be gov- 
 erned or to govern? Aristippus said that he meant to 
 avoid both the one and the other; and that, in order to 
 prevent being placed in either position, lie proposed to 
 himself to be a cosmopolite, and to travel about from 
 state to state. Now on this announcement of the views 
 of Aristippus we can have no doubt that the Socrates of 
 Plato would have made an effective attack, in some way 
 or other, by wit and raillery — perhaps by drawing a 
 ridiculous picture of the cosmopolite mode of life. 
 But the Socrates of Xenophon does nothing of the kind. 
 He maintains a rather pedantic earnestness, and lectures 
 away on the superior happiness of higher aims. He 
 quotes Hesiod and Epicharmus to prove that virtue and 
 exertion are good things, and finally gives at full length 
 the allegory of Prodicus, known as **the choice of 
 Hercules." Hercules, when a young man, met two 
 females at a cross-road — one called Vice, meritricious 
 in dress and form; the other called Virtue, beautiful, 
 dignified, and noble. Each made offers and promises 
 to induce him to accompany her. These offers and 
 promises were the descriptions, from a mor#\l point of 
 view, of a virtuous and vicious life respectively. Such 
 was the sermon, borrowed from one of the Sophists, 
 which Xenophon represents Socrates as having preached 
 on this occasion. Nothing could have been less quali- 
 
100 
 
 XENOPHON, 
 
 fied to produce an impression on a man of tlie world 
 like Aristippus. And we may be sure, if the real 
 Socrates was at all like what Plato has led us to imagine 
 him, that he never spoke exactly as here represented. 
 Several dialogues, occupying the middle part of the 
 
 Memorabilia," are of the same goody " character, and 
 entirely devoid of the racy cleverness and biting wit 
 which Socrates was in the habit of using. Colonel 
 Mure indeed suspects that Xenophon has ''made his 
 master the mouthpiece for his own conceptions." At 
 all events, if he has given us actual recollections or tra- 
 ditions of Socrates, he has served up many of them in 
 such a way as to deprive them entirely of the Socratic 
 flavor. There would be no interest in dwelling over such 
 discourses as that in which the Xenophontic philoso- 
 pher recommends two brothers to be good friends with 
 each other ; or those in which he dilates on the advan- 
 tages and duties of friendship. Such matter as this is 
 moral and well-intentioned enough, but it would not 
 have required the ''daemon" of Socrates, or his own 
 demon-like ability, to reveal it to the world. 
 
 Another set of anecdotes has a faintly superior inter- 
 est, in which Socrates is represented as advising his 
 friends in their practical difficulties. One of them is 
 in straits because his lands have been occupied by the 
 enemy, and he can get no revenue from them, while he 
 has a large household of slaves to support. Socrates 
 advises him to make the slaves weave clothes for sale; 
 and the experiment is successful. A second friend is 
 reduced to beggary by war, and Socrates recommends 
 him to became some rich man's steward. A third has 
 plenty of means at his disposal, but is troubled by the 
 so-called sycophants or informers, bringing vexatious 
 suits in order to extort money from him. Socrates tells 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES^ 101 
 
 him how to retain the services of a clever poor man, 
 who acts as his solicitor, and defeats the sycophants 
 with their own weapons. We speak of a faint interest 
 ataching to these stories; and it consists merely in this, 
 that they exhibit Socrates as constituting himself ad- 
 viser-general to his friends in matters of all descriptions. 
 
 One group of dialogues in the Memorabilia " is 
 concerned with political or military topics. Socrates 
 is represented in these as giving advice to young 
 aspirants for offices of command in the state or the 
 army. In some of these we observe a suspicous 
 affinity to certain favorite speculations of Xenophon's 
 on the improvement of cavalry, and on measures to 
 be taken for the revival of the Athenian power. In 
 otliers we find vague platitudes inflicted on the 
 listener, such as that it is the duty of a general 
 to render those under him happy." In ono there is a 
 glaring piece of sophistry — so glaring, and so opposed 
 to the ordinary doctrines of Socrates, tuat it is worth, 
 quotation. There is no rule which the sage is oftener 
 represented as enforcing in all forms, than that no 
 man should undertake to perform or superintend any 
 business of which he has not competent special knowl- 
 edge. This maxim was entirely of a piece with what 
 we know from elsewhere of the Socratic docrine, that 
 virtue itself is knowledge, and .e an art. Now, in 
 the fourth chapter of the third book of the Memo- 
 rabilia," one Nichomachides is represented as coming 
 disgusted from the election of office-bearers, and com- 
 plaining to Socrates that the Athenians was capricious 
 as ever — that after long military service, with credit, 
 in all the lower grades of command, and after receiving 
 many wounds in action, his claims had now been set 
 aside, and another man, who had hardly seen any ser- 
 
102 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 vice, and who knew nothing except how to make money, 
 had been chosen general. Socrates, however, did not 
 give the least sympathy to the complainant. He took 
 the opposite side, and declared that he who is a good 
 man of business has capacities for managing anything, 
 whether it be a family, a city, or an army. In vain did 
 Nichomachides argue that when it came to fighting, tho 
 good man of business might find himself at a loss. 
 '* Not at all," said Socrates ; "he will see exactly what 
 is to be aimed at, and take the proper means according- 
 ly." The paradox here is so great that we can hardly 
 help believing that the conversation actually took place, 
 though Xenophon is not subtle enough to point out, or 
 perhaps to see, its bearing. On the one hand, we ob- 
 serve Socrates giving way to the love of contradiction, 
 which is apt to be engendered in those |who are ac- 
 customed to be looked up to. It is like Dr. Johnson 
 "sitting upon" one of his admirers. Again, Nicho- 
 machides may have been a very stupid man, and really 
 unfit for command, which would give a justification to 
 the line taken against him. Still further, it may be 
 said that it was part of the Socratic method, as revealed 
 by Plato, though not by Xenophon, to see different 
 sides to every truth. In one sense it is true that special 
 experience is required for every department ; but it is 
 also true that general ability is available in whatever 
 sphere it be applied. 
 
 Socrates was not always allowed to take the aggres- 
 sive side in discussion. He w:.s sometimes cross-ques- 
 tioned after his own fashion, and put upon his mettle. 
 Aristippus, who had very little reverence in his com- 
 position, is reported to have attacked him with the in- 
 quiry, "whether he knew anything good?" in order 
 that, if he mentioned anything usually considered good 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES:' 103 
 
 sucli as health, strength, etc., Aristippus might refute 
 him by proving that it was sometimes an evil. But 
 Socrates parried the question, asking in return, '*Good 
 for what? Do you mean good for a fever?" " No,'» 
 said Aristippus, "I do not." "Good for sore eyes?" 
 "No." " Good for hunger "No; not that;" "Well, 
 then," said Socrates, "if you mean to ask me whether 
 I know anything good which is not good for anything 
 in particular, I neither know such, nor do I wish to 
 know it." The tables are thus cleverly turned, and 
 Socrates obtains a dialectical victory by silencing his op- 
 ponent. In doing so, he commits himself to the posi- 
 tion that " good " is a relative idea, and that he has no 
 conception of any absolute good. An antagonist worthy 
 to encounter him would have followed him up into this 
 position, and would have asked, "If goods are manifold 
 and relative, how do you account for their common 
 name?" And to this Socrates would have had to give 
 an answer wiiich would have revealed to us his exact 
 opinion on the nature of universal terms. 
 
 Aristippus, however, relinquishing this point, took up 
 another, and asked Socrates "if he knew anything 
 beautiful?" He replied, "Yes, many things." On 
 which it was asked "whether these were all alike?" and 
 Socrates said, " On the contrary, very unlike." " Then 
 how can they be all beautiful?" To this Socrates re- 
 plied by giving a theory of the Beautiful, which identi- 
 fied it with the relative good, or, in other w^ords, the 
 Useful. " What!" said Aristippus, "can a dung-basket 
 be beautiful ?" " Of course it can," said Socrates; "and 
 a golden shield can be very ugly, if the one be well 
 fitted for its proper use, and the other not." Pursuing 
 this theme, he applied his doctrine to beauty in archi- 
 tecture, asserting that it simply consisted in the adapta- 
 
104 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 tion of buildings to the use for which they were in- 
 tended. Thus he said that paintings and frescoes on 
 the walls of houses often detracted from the comfort, 
 and therefore from the beauty, of those houses, by 
 necessitating the building of the walls in a particular 
 ^^Jj by which the sun was too much excluded. We 
 have here the first statement, crudely made, of that 
 relative theory of beauty which was adopted in modern 
 times by Alison, Jeffrey, and others. We cannot tell 
 how far it embodied the real opinion of Socrates, be- 
 cause when great men discuss things with their pupils, 
 we cannot be sure how far they open their whole mind. 
 And we know it to have been the object of Socrates 
 rather to awaken inquiry than to give results. That his 
 hints took root and germinated in the minds of others, 
 we may see abundantly from the luxuriant and varied 
 thought of Plato. 
 
 Other theories of Socrates given in the Memora- 
 bilia" might seem to require qualification. As, for 
 instance, that Temperance and all the other virtues are 
 identical with Wisdom. This ignores all distinction 
 between the intellect and the will of man, and is op- 
 posed to acknowledged facts. In arguing with Hippias, 
 who, like Aristippus, tried to confute him with ques- 
 tions, Socrates laid it down that Justice consists in 
 obeying the laws. This position, by itself, would 
 hardly be maintained, for it would amount to what in 
 modern times has been called *'Hobbism,'* which 
 makes the legislator a creator of right and wrong. 
 But Socrates modifies the theory by saying that in ad- 
 dition to the laws of the state there are * ' unwritten laws '* 
 which are in force among all mankind, or which, if 
 not recognized, bring their own punishment. As an 
 instance he mentions the rule that parents must not 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATESr 105 
 
 many their children, for which he gives the apparently 
 insufficient sanction that such marriages would imply 
 a too great disparity of age. Another instance of an 
 unwritten law here given is, that " men must do good 
 to those who have done good to them." In the doc- 
 trine that justice consists in obeying the laws, Socrates 
 doubtless had an important meaning in view — namely, 
 he wished to protest against the too great individualism 
 of his times, and to assert that the first duty of man is 
 to consider himself as a social being, bound up with his 
 fellow-men in a great organism, of which the laws of 
 his country are the expression. But to follow out such 
 questions, and to attempt to fix more definitely the 
 position of Socrates in the history of philosophy, w^ould 
 be beyond the scope of this chapter, and indeed it would 
 be undertaking more than the whole Memorabilia" of 
 Xenophon would furnish data for. 
 
 We have already given the chief features of that 
 book. It is not necessary to go minutely into the con- 
 versations of Socrates with Parrhasius the painter, and 
 Clito the sculptor. The teacher seems to have been a 
 little carried away by the lust of giving advice, when 
 he lectured these artists on choosing beautiful subjects, 
 and on making their figures express the emotions of the 
 mind. In talking with a corslet-maker, he appears to 
 have aimed at getting a logical definition of what was 
 meant by a corslet fitting w^ell." The story of his 
 visit to Theodota, a beautiful courtesan, is perhaps best 
 told of all the tales in the Memorabilia," and if we 
 make certain allowances for the manners and ideas of 
 the age, it gives most idea of the Socratic grace and 
 versatile politeness. Socrates evidently tried to draw 
 on this lady, in the course of talk, to some* degree of 
 moral elevation, but she did not understand him^ so he 
 
106 
 
 XENOFHON. 
 
 gradually and gracefully backed out of the interview. 
 Socrates was of far too catholic a spirit to consider any 
 class or phase of society excluded from the scope of 
 liis mission. But he was not a man to throw pearls be- 
 fore swine; he adapted himself to the atmosphere in 
 which he found himself, but always endeavored indi- 
 rectly to purify and improve it, and if much could not 
 be done in this wa}^ to do a little. 
 
 A somewhat fuller picture of Socrates discharging 
 this last-named function is given by Xenophon in the 
 *' Banquet," an imaginary dialogue, " which represents 
 the philosopher at a gay Athenian supper-party. The 
 incidents related are as follows: A beautiful youth, 
 named Autolycus, had gained the victory in the pan- 
 cratium, or contest of wrestling and boxing at the 
 public games. Callias, a wealthy Athenian, a friend 
 of the boy's father, and having a great regard for him- 
 self, gave a supper in his honor. Meeting Socrates and 
 some of his followers, he invited them to come, saying 
 that *'his party would be much more brilliant if the 
 
 * We call this dialogue imaginary, from internal evidence. The 
 event which was supposed to have given rise to the supper took 
 place B.C. 420. Antisthenes would have been a very young man 
 in 420, but he is represented in the dialogue as a man of mature 
 opinions and decided cynical mode of life. Socrates, also, is 
 described as quite an old man. Thus chronology is confused. 
 The introduction, which is abrupt, speaks of "occurrences at 
 which I was present." But Xenophon, when intending to men- 
 tion himself , always does so in the third person— " Xenophon 
 did this or that." He would have been about 11 years old in 420 
 B.C. On the whole, the "Banquet" must be taken as a fancy 
 sketch, based on something which really occurred. It was per- 
 haps the first attempt at a dramatic picture, with Socrates for 
 chief figure, and may have suggested to Plato the form of his 
 inimitable dialogues, to which, though clever in its way, it is far 
 inferior. 
 
THE ''RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES:' 107 
 
 rooms were graced with the presence of men of culture 
 and refinement, instead of being filled with generals and 
 cavalry officers, and political place-hunters." 
 
 When they were seated, the dazzling beauty of Au- 
 tolycus became a cynosure" to the. eyes of all the 
 guests. They were like men impressed by a superior 
 presence. They gazed on him in a sort of awe, and pro- 
 ceeded with their supper in silence. This mood was 
 interrupted by a knocking at the door, and Philippus, a 
 professional buffoon, requested entrance. He was told 
 to join the feast, and attempted some jokes, which at 
 first met with no respone, till his comic expressions of 
 grief at finding out that laughter had gone out of 
 fashion, and that his occupation was gone," set some of 
 the guests a laughing. 
 
 Presently a "nautch"was introduced. A man of 
 Syracuse brought in a girl who played on the flute, and 
 a boy and girl who danced. After having some music, 
 the host suggested that perfumes should be handed 
 round.- Socrates opposed this, saying that ''the only 
 odor which a man ought to relish was the smell of the 
 oil used in the gymnasia." To which the father of Au- 
 tolycus said, That's all very well for young men, 
 Socrates, but what are old fellows, like you and me, 
 who no longer frequent the gymnasia, to scent ourselves 
 with?" **AVith the odors of honor and virtue," said 
 Socrates. Wherein it was asked ' ' where such odors 
 could be procured?" And an incipient discussion arose, 
 which was presently dropped, * * whether virtue could 
 be learned from others?" 
 
 They then witnessed some feats of the dancing-girl, 
 who threw up and caught twelve hoops to the sound of 
 music, and afterwards threw somersaults through a 
 hoop stuck round with swords. This wonderful ex- 
 
108 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 hibition caused Socrates to remark, that "the talent of 
 women is not at all inferior to that of men, though they 
 are weaker in bodily strength. So that any one who 
 had a wife might confidently instruct her in whatever 
 he wished her to know." This observation caused An- 
 tisthenes to put it to Socrates, Why, if he thought so, 
 did he not educate Xanthippe, * instead of leaving her 
 the most notoriously ill-conditioned wife in existence?" 
 To which Socrates replied, that as those who wish to 
 excel in riding often choose restive horses, because if 
 they can ride these they will easily manage any others; 
 so he, wishing to converse and associate with mankind, 
 had chosen to have a wife of this kind, knowing that 
 if he could bear her society, he would be able to get on 
 with any one elso in the world." 
 
 Then the boy danced, and was admired by all; and 
 Socrates excited much amusement by telling the Syra- 
 cusan that he should like to learn dancing from him. 
 When the company laughed, he gravely informed them 
 that **he was sure the exercise would do him a great 
 deal of good; it called out all the powers of the body, 
 and might be conveniently practised in private, which 
 would just suit him." 
 
 Philippus, the jester, now gave a comic parody of 
 the boy's dancing, and when exhausted with his exer- 
 tions, called for some wine, which Callias commanded 
 to be handed round; and Socrates gave his theory of the 
 way in which they ought to drink — not in huge quanti- 
 ties at once, which would be like a deluge of rain beating 
 down the plants, but in small cups repeated frequently, 
 which like gentle dew would refresh their spirits." And 
 this mode of potation was made the order of the night. 
 
 * See above, page 83, Kote. 
 
THE IlECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATES:' 109 
 
 There was more music; but Socrates urged that they 
 ought not to be eutirely dependent for their amusement 
 on these children, but should by conversation entertain 
 each other. The question now arose, "What each of 
 party most prided himself on ?" 
 
 Callias prided himself on making others better. 
 
 Niceratus, on knowing all Homer by heart. 
 
 Critobulus, on his beauty. 
 
 Antisthenes, on his wealth. 
 
 Charmides, on his poverty. 
 
 Socrates, on his powers as a go-between. 
 
 Lycon, on his son Autolycus. 
 
 Autolycus, on his father Lycon. 
 
 Hermogenes, on the merit and power of his friends. 
 
 Then they had to justify their boasts, and it turned 
 out that Callias was proud of making others better, be- 
 cause he did so by giving them money, so as to render 
 them less necessitous, and less tempted to do wrong. 
 Niceratus was proud of his knowledge of Homer, as 
 being an encyclopedia of wisdom. For present pur- 
 poses he wished to apply his knowledge by asking for 
 an onion, which Homer said was the proper accom- 
 paniment of drink. Critobulus prided himself on his 
 beauty, on account of the influence it had over others. 
 Charmides, on his poverty, for he had not half the 
 trouble since he had lost his estates. Antisthenes, on 
 his wealth, for it consisted in having little, but w^anting 
 less. Hermogenes, on his friends, because these were 
 the gods who took such care of him, as to intimate by 
 dreams and auguries what he ought to do and what 
 avoid. Socrates, on his skill as a go-between, which 
 consisted in making people acceptable to others, and on 
 a larger scale pleasing to the State. And this he ef- 
 fected by improving their minds. All these different 
 
11^ 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 claims and assertions led to various repartees. And, 
 among other things, Socrates disputed the pre-emi- 
 nence in point of beauty with Critobulus. The beauty 
 of anything consisting in its adaptability to its proper 
 function, Socrates argued that his own prominent eyes, 
 which could look to the sides, must be handsomer than 
 those of Critobulus. His broad nostrils, more adapted 
 for smelling, must be handsomer than a delicate nose. 
 His huge mouth, which could contain large morsels, 
 must bear off the palm. A ballot-box was handed 
 round among the guests to decide this rivalry, but 
 every vote, as might be expected, was given in favor 
 of Critobulus. 
 
 In the meantime the Syracusan became irritated that 
 the attention of the company had been drawn off from 
 the troupe, and he began to attack Socrates with some 
 quotations from the ''Clouds" of Aristophanes, calling 
 him * ' the Thinker, " and asking him, ' * How many fleas' * 
 feet distant he was?" which some of the others were for 
 resenting as an insult. But Socrates good-humoredly 
 passed the matter over with some light badinage. He 
 turned the subject by himself favoring the company 
 with a song; after which the dancing girl performed 
 some feats on a potter's wheel. On which Socrates 
 made a remark something like Dr. Johnson's — "Very 
 wonderful — would it were impossible!" And he added, 
 
 * One of the absurdities attributed to Socrates in the " Clouds" 
 of Aristophanes (v. 145-199) is, that he undertook to demonstrate 
 how many of its own feet a flea had leapt, in jumping from the 
 eyebrow of a disciple on to his own head. He is represented as 
 having solved the problem by catching the flea and plunging one 
 of its feet into melted wax, by which means he got a measure of 
 the feet, and then was able to divide the total distance by the size 
 obtained ! 
 
THE " RECOLLECTIONS OF SOCRATESr 111 
 
 that after all, ** almost everything was wonderful, if 
 people did but consider it. For instance, why did the 
 wick of the lamp give light, and not the brass? Why 
 did oil increase flame, and water put it out? In oi;der, 
 however, not again to disturb hilarity by too much grave 
 conversation, he would suggest that the dancers, instead 
 of contorting their bodies, should perform something 
 (graceful and beautiful, like the pictures of the Graces, 
 the Hours and the Nymphs." 
 
 The exhibitor, pleased with this suggestion, went out 
 to prepare; and Socrates, having the coast clear for a 
 while, gave a discourse on love, distinguishing the heav^ 
 cnly from the earthly Venus, the latter inspiring man- 
 kind with love for the body, the former with the love 
 of the soul and of noble actions. This distinction was 
 copiously illustrated with instances, and the discourse 
 ended with an address to Autolycus, exhorting him to 
 nobility of life, and to prepare himself for serving his 
 country. When it was concluded, the actors entered, 
 and performed a ballet, representing the loves of Bac- 
 chus and Ariadne. The guests now retired to their 
 homes; but Autolycus, who was in training, set out to 
 take a walk, in which he was accompanied by the host, 
 his father, and Socrates. 
 
 And here we must take leave of the great Athenian 
 sage, on whom, though he left no writing of his own, 
 so many volumes have been and will be written. In 
 another imaginary dialogue, that on Household Econ- 
 om3%" Xenophon introduces him, but only to make him 
 a mouthpiece, so we may be content to treat that work 
 merely with reference to the matter of its contents. 
 Xenophon's representation of his master is considered 
 to be inadequate ; and yet we shall have failed to do jus- 
 tice even to that representation, if we have not led our 
 
112 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 readers to conceive of Socrates as of a very remarkable, 
 wise, and lovable being. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ' EDUCATION OF CYRUS." 
 
 The Cyropsedeia,'* or "Education of Cyrus," is, 
 like the Anabasis," * misnamed. For only the first 
 few chapters are about the education, properly so 
 called, of the Persian monarch. The remainder of the 
 work, extending to eight books, and being nearly the 
 largest of the writings of Xenophon, treats of the suc- 
 cessful exploits of Cyrus as a general, and a military 
 and civil organizer, under his uncle Cyaxares, till he 
 finally receives from the latter the hand of his daughter 
 in marriage and is placed on the throne of Media. The 
 work closes with an account of the distribution into 
 satrapies of the countries conquered by Cyrus; and 
 of the sage advice which he gave when his death 
 drew nigh, to his son and his chief officers of state — 
 advice, says Xenophon, which was but too much 
 neglected by his successors, who forgot his maxims, and 
 by their misrule suffered the excellent institutions of 
 Cyrus to fall into abeyance, and the national character 
 of the Persians to decay. 
 
 And yet the name conveys generally the main pur- 
 pose which Xenophon apparently had in view when 
 writing this work. He wished, not to write history, 
 but to compose a historical romance, in which should 
 be depicted a perfect governor of men. And the per- 
 fection of the generalship, administration, and mon- 
 
 * See page 12. 
 
THE ''EDUCATION OF CYRUS." 113 
 
 arcMcal rule of Cyrus, was meant to be attributed in 
 the first instance to the excellent education * which he 
 had received in youtli. All is of a piece with this con- 
 ception. The hero of the book is possessed of Utopian 
 excellence. His virtues are unalloyed by any vice, and 
 his successes by a single reverse. Evidently, then, we 
 liave before us one of those novels with a purpose 
 which have been common enough in modern times, and 
 which are generally considered to be rather poor works 
 of art. Xenophon's is the first elaborate production of 
 llic kind which remains to us from antiquity, though 
 probably the allegorical sermons of the Sophists (see 
 above, p. 99) were in the same direction. 
 
 In giving any account (and much will not be required) 
 of the •* Education of Cyrus," we must remind the 
 reader that this is not the same Cyrus as he whom 
 Xenophon knew personally, and under whom he 
 marched from Sardis to Cunaxa. The Cyrus of the 
 " Anabasis" (see above, p. 13) was a mere pretender to 
 the Persian throne, and died B.C. 400. The Cyrus of 
 the " Cyropcedeia" was the Great Cyrus, who founded 
 the Persian Empire, and died about 535 B.C. Of this 
 great conqueror's history there are three accounts re- 
 maining: the first is that of Herodotus, the father of 
 history; the second is that of Ctesias, a Greek physician, 
 who was employed at the court of Persia, and wrote a 
 history of the country; the third is that given by Xeno- 
 
 ♦Some modern translators have tried to find a name which 
 should apply to the whole contents of the book, by calling it 
 "The Institution of Cyrus," — the word "institution" being in 
 obsolete English capable of being taken for "education," and 
 also being applicable to the " form of goveritment " described as 
 being introduced by Cyrus. But the wor4 poedeia in Cyrop86> 
 deia has no such double application. 
 
114 
 
 XENOPUOK 
 
 phon, and of all the three the last mentioned is generally 
 considered As the least to be depended on. The curious 
 thing is that Xenophon, writing what he meant to be a 
 historical romance, has made it infinitely tamer than 
 the account of Cyrus given by Herodotus, who aimed 
 at merely setting down the historical facts as they had 
 been told him. The Cyrus of Herodotus is sent out, 
 when newly born, by his grandfather to be murdered; 
 he is saved by interposition of Providence, brought up 
 as the child of a herdsman, and subsequently recognized 
 he revolts against his grandfather, overthrows the 
 Median kingdom, founds the Persian Empire, and fin- 
 ally is slain in a great battle against Tomyris, queen of 
 the Massagetse. The Cyrus of Xenophon is brought up 
 in all decorum as befitted the grandson and nephew of 
 a king; he is duly appointed to high offices in the state, 
 obtains many easy victories, and inaugurates many 
 state improvements; he succeeds peacefully to the 
 throne of his uncle, and on a quiet death-bed gives lec- 
 tures to his admiring friends upon the art of govern- 
 ment and the immortality of the soul. This was a 
 case, then, in which truth was stranger than fiction; 
 for the purpose of Herodotus was truth, whereas the 
 purpose of Xenophon was fiction of a particular kind — 
 not the fiction which grasps the poetry of human life, 
 but the dr}^ fiction which treats all incidents as a mere 
 framework on which ethical or political moralizings 
 may be hung. 
 
 It may be supposed, however, that Xenophon, who 
 under the j^ounger Cyrus had penetrated into the heart 
 of the Persian territory, must have had great opportun- 
 ities of studying Persian customs, and that his book 
 would be found to contain valuable information with 
 regard to those customs, and to the Oriental character 
 
TIIW ''EDUCATION OF CYRUS:' 115 
 
 viewed on its best side. But in this expectation the 
 reader is disappointed, for here again we tind that it 
 was Xenophon's object to set forth, -not facts, but his 
 own conceptions of what ought to be. Throwing the 
 scene of his Utopia into the far East, and the time of 
 his narrative one hundred and fifty years back, he ap- 
 pears to have thought himself emancipated from restric- 
 tions of truth, or even probability, and accordingly he 
 transfers to ancient Persia all that he most admired ia 
 the Lacedjjemonian institutions of his own time. Evea 
 the distinctive and remarkable characteristics of the 
 Persian religion are blurred over and confused by his 
 constantly attributing to his hero the performance of 
 sacrifices according to' the Grecian mode, and the prac- 
 tice of the art of divination, of which he was personally 
 so fond. 
 
 Taking the Cyropsedeia " as we find it — not as a 
 history, nor as a true picture of national life and 
 manners, nor yet as a romance of the higher kind, like 
 one of Walter Scott's novels, but as a fiction com- 
 posed with the object of setting forth views on education 
 and politics— we must allow it certain merits. Th6 
 purity and elegance of its style are universally acknowL 
 edged. And it possesses, as Colonel Mure says, aiv 
 epic unity of action, within which numerous episode^ 
 are artistically introduced, sj^me of them quite idylli^t 
 in character. It will be sufficient for our purpose^ 
 to introduce to the reader a few specimens of these, 
 as there would be little use or pleasure in dwelling 
 on the details of the pseudo-historical campaign o\ 
 Cyrus. 
 
 Xenophon commences by saying that, on reflecting 
 how constantly governments of all kinds are over^ 
 thrown, he had come to the conclusion that mankind 
 
116 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 is far harder to govern than cattle or horses, which 
 are easily brought into obedience. One man, however, 
 had possessed, in* a pre-eminent degree, tlie faculty of 
 ruling over his fellow-men, and that was Cyrus the 
 Persian. How Cyrus should have been able to con- 
 quer and hold in subjection so large a portion of the 
 world, seemed to him a problem worth investigation. 
 He had made all the inquiries he could about the 
 natural qualities and education which had produced so 
 remarkable a ruler, and would now proceed to state 
 them, as follows: 
 
 Both the historians and the poets of Persia agree in 
 describing Cyrus as beautiful in person, humane in 
 disposition, and so keen in the pursuit both of knowl- 
 edge and of glory as to endure all labors and encounter 
 all dangers for their sake. The education which he 
 received was in accordance with the system of public 
 instruction of his country. For Persia, unlike other 
 countries (this is meant as a hit at Athens, and at the 
 same time as a compliment to Sparta), did not content 
 herself with legislating against crime; she moulded 
 the minds of her citizens from childhood, by a public 
 educational system, to virtue. This system, according 
 to Xenophon, extended only to the higher classes of 
 society. Unlike our Committee of the Privy Council, 
 the Persian educational department appears to have 
 begun from the top. Only those w^ere admitted to the 
 privileges of the state education who were above the 
 necessity of manual labor. 
 
 The headquarters of public instruction in Persia are 
 described as being in the metropolis, in a grand square, 
 where the king's palace and the public offices stood, 
 and from which all merchandise and trades, with their 
 'noise and vulgarity," were banished. The square 
 
THE EDUCATION OF CYRUSr' 117 
 
 was divided into four parts, which were severally 
 assigned to the boys, youths, men, and elders. The 
 first three classes attended regularly from early morn- 
 ing. The elders appear to have joined the place of 
 instruction at cuch times as suited them, chiefly to 
 furnish an example to their juniors, but, when on the 
 spot, to have been under discipline like the rest. The 
 youths, till married, slept round the public offices, in 
 light armor, as guards. Each of the four classes was 
 under the control of presidents. In the boys' quarter 
 the time appears chiefly to have been occupied in 
 trying, under the president, all cases of crime and 
 misdemeanor which had arisen among the boys them- 
 selves. Theft, deceit, calumny, and ingratitude were 
 thus brought to punishment. And it was commonly 
 said that the Persian boys went to school to learn 
 justice, as elsewhere boys go to school to learn to read. 
 To this arrangement the trifling objection might be 
 made, that it seems to imply a* very abundant and 
 continuous crop of naughtiness among the boys them- 
 selves, else the trials would have come to an end, and 
 the study of " justice" would have been stopped. 
 Xenophon, however, makes no remark on this point, 
 nor does he mention any qther subjects of study as 
 entering into the curriculum of this model university. 
 Indeed, the education given seems very much to have 
 been based on those " Aryan principles" of instruction 
 of which we have heard of late, and according to 
 which book-learning will always be at a discount. A 
 Spartan system of diet appears to have been prescribed 
 for the boys, consisting of bread and cresses, with 
 water to drink. The boys learned shooting with the 
 bow, and throwing the javelin; and at the age of 
 seventeen they passed into the class of youths. 
 
118 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 From seventeen to twenty-seven the chief means of 
 cultivation for the youths appear to have consisted in 
 patrol- duty and hunting.. On the advantages of hunt- 
 ing as a preparation and training for war, the Persians, 
 according to Xenophon, laid great stress, and the 
 youths were constantly engaged in formal hunting- 
 parties under the king. They bivouacked in the open 
 fields, and were restricted to the most ascetic fare; 
 and as a result of this system Xenophon mentions 
 that every Persian avoids, as a piece of bad manners, 
 either spitting or blowing his nose — a rule which it 
 would be impossible to observe, except by men who 
 had practised great moderation in diet and exhausted 
 the moisture of their bodies by exercise. 
 
 Under this mode of instruction, which Xenophon 
 does not further describe, Cyrus was brought up till 
 twelve years old. He was then taken to see his 
 grandfather, Astyages, king of the Medes. By his 
 lively prattle he pleased Astyages, and was invited to 
 remain for some time at his court. Cyrus begged his 
 mother to let him stay, because, he said, *'he knew 
 how to shoot well enough already, and by stopping 
 among the Medes he should have a better oppor- 
 tunity than at home of learning to ride." His mothers 
 objection was that he would forget all about justice." 
 But Cyrus said that he quite understood justice, and 
 did not require to learn it any more. *'How so?" 
 said Mandane. **Why," said Cyrus, **I have often 
 been appointed to decide cases, and I only made one 
 mistake. That was in the case of the boys and the 
 coats. There was a big boy who had a little coat, 
 quite too small for him. And there was a little boy 
 with a large coat, very loose upon him. So the big 
 boy made the little boy exchange coats with him, and 
 
1 
 
 THE ''EDUCATION OF CTRUIS:' 119 
 
 I decided that he was right in doing so, and that eacli 
 boy should keep the coat that best fitted him. But 
 the master beat me for giving this decision, for he 
 said that it was against tlie law to force a person to 
 give up his property, and that justice consisted in 
 obeying the law. So, now I know what justice is." 
 This story — which has probably been made familiar 
 to most of our readers by that most delightful book 
 for childhood, " Sandford and Merton " — shows the 
 sort of materials from which Xenophon constructed 
 liis work; for it evidently conveys in a lively form 
 one of the favorite doctrines of Socrates (see above, 
 page 104). A combination of the teachings of Soc- 
 rates with the institutions of Sparta is what Xeno- 
 phon wishes to recommend under the shallow disguise 
 of Persian names and the picture of a foreign court. 
 
 The educational institutions of Sparta, by them- 
 selves, Xenophon would probably not have deemed 
 adequate, as not being sufficiently awakening to the 
 intellect. One of the most interesting indications on 
 the subject of education which he gives is contained 
 in a charming description of the boy Cyrus, of whom 
 he says: **He was, perhaps, a little over-talkative, 
 but this was partly from education; because he was 
 obliged by his master to give a reason for what lie did, 
 and to require reasons from others, when he had to 
 give his opinion in judgment; and partly, because, 
 being very eager for knowledge, he was always putting 
 questions to those about him on many subjects, to 
 ascertain how such and such things were; and from 
 being of a quick apprehension, he gave very ready 
 answers to all questions that were asked him ; — so that 
 from all these circumstances he acquired a habit of 
 loquacity." The method of instruction here indicated, 
 
120 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 in this Smile of the fourth century before Christ, is 
 well worth attention. It implies that the one thing 
 to be aimed at in educating boys is, to arouse their 
 intelligence into activity. This forms a great contrast 
 to the spirit of modern education, which aims rather 
 at imparting results and foregone conclusions, and 
 which many people are now beginning to complain of, 
 as fostering servility of mind and want of self-reliance. 
 Cyrus, according to the account of Xenophon, ctayed 
 four or five years at the court of his grandfather, 
 during which time he was not at all spoilt by the 
 indulgence which all showed him, and the luxury 
 which he saw around him. He developed in manly 
 qualities, became a bold and passionate rider, hunted 
 the animals in the royal park (or "paradise"), and 
 then took to more real and dangerous sport in riding 
 after the boar and other animals in their native 
 wilds. On one occasion the Assyrians made a raid 
 over the Median borders, and Astyages took out 
 troops to intercept them. The youthful Cyrus, about 
 fifteen years old, went with him in a new suit of 
 armor, and at an opportune moment advised that a 
 dash should be made at the enemy. The charge was 
 made, the boy joined, and gradually headed it. **As 
 a generous dog," says Xenophon, "that has no experi- 
 ence, hurries headlong without caution upon a boar, 
 so Cyrus pressed forward, minding only to strike 
 whomsoever he overtook, and heedless of anything 
 else." The enemy gave way, and the Median cavalry 
 had complete success. Cyrus was almost mad with 
 excitement; and while the rest were retiring, he did 
 nothing but ride round by himself, and gaze upon 
 those who had fallen in the action. 
 
 Such was his first essay in arms. He was shortly 
 
THE EDUCATION OF CYIlUSr 121 
 
 afterwards recalled by his father, in order that he 
 might complete his education. On returning to Persia, 
 he continued another year in the class of the boys. 
 He lived cheerfully on the same rigorous fare as the 
 rest, and surpassed them all in exercises and in dili- 
 gence of attention. With the exception of some advice 
 from his father, "which has very much the appearance 
 of some of the conversations of Socrates, we hear no 
 more, after this, of the ''education of Cyrus." He had 
 now reached man's estate, and on a war between Media 
 and Assyria breaking out, he was appointed to com- 
 mand the Persian force of some forty thousand men 
 which was sent to assist the Medes. He immediately 
 made a long speech, in the style of the Xenophontic 
 orations in the "Anabasis," to his chosen body-guard. 
 After this follows an account of improvements effected 
 l>y Cyrus in the army — a topic which gave Xenophon 
 a good opportunity for developing many of his favor- 
 ite theories on military organization. Ambassadors 
 arrived from **the king of India" to learn the partic- 
 ulars of the quarrel between Media and Assyria, and 
 Cyrus sagaciously conciliated them by proposing that 
 the king of India should be made arbitrator in the 
 question. 
 
 The chief of Armenia, a country subject to the 
 Medes, showed sigus of revolt at this juncture, and 
 Cyrus took his army for the purpose of reducing him 
 to obedience. Having adroitly surrounded the Armen- 
 ian chief, and made him prisoner, he proceeded to try 
 him solemnly on the charge of treason. Xenophon 
 uses this opportunity to introduce a conversational 
 debate, after his own heart. Tigranes, son of the 
 Armenian, had resided in Persia and had often been 
 one of the hunting companions of Cyrus. Cyrus 
 
122 
 
 XENOrilOK 
 
 recollected thai he had noticed this young man associ- 
 ating with a philosophor,* who went about with him 
 and instructed him. He now came forward and re- 
 quested to be heard in his father's defense. Being 
 readily allowed by Cyrus to speak, he pleaded, not 
 that his father had been innocent, but that by capti- 
 vity and fear he had been reformed, and that it would 
 be infinitely better policy in Cyrus to accept him as a 
 humbled and grateful dependant, instead of putting 
 him to death. The arguments of Tigranes, backed by 
 his own generous impulses, prevailed with Cyrus, and 
 in the handsomest terms, mixed with some badinage, 
 he spared the life of the Armenian chief, only taking 
 from him a moderate fine. He then turned to Tigranes 
 and asked what had become of his friend the philoso- 
 pher. "He is no more," said Tigranes, "for my father 
 here put him to death." " What crime?" asked Cyrus, 
 "did he find him committing?" *\He said that he 
 corrupted me," answered Tigranes; "and yet, Cyrus, 
 so noble and excellent a man he was, that, when he 
 was going to die, he sent for me and told me not to 
 bear my father the least ill-will for putting him to 
 death, because he was doing it not out of malice, but 
 out of ignorance, and whatever faults men commit 
 through ignorance ought to be considered involuntary." 
 "Alas, poor man!" said Cyrus. On this the Armen- 
 ian chief interposed, and said, "It was jealousy, Cyrus: 
 I could not help hating that man, because I thought 
 he stole my son's heart away from me. My son ad- 
 mired him more than he did myself." "Well," said 
 Cyrus, "that was a natural weakness of yours, and 
 
 * The word used by Xenophon is "sophist," which means 
 a ni'ofesssional teacher of philosophy and rhetoric. 
 
THE ''EDUCATION OF CYllUSr 123 
 
 your son must now forgive you." The introduction of 
 this incident, in obvious allusion to the treatment of 
 Socrates by the fathers", of xVthens, is very character- 
 istic of the manner of the Cyropsedeia." 
 
 Perhaps the most famous episode which the book 
 contains is tlie tale of Abradates and Panthea. In one 
 of Cyrus's battles with the Assyrians, the enemy's camp 
 was stormed, and a great prize, both in spoil and 
 prisoners, was taken. Among the captives was Pan-* 
 thea, a lady of Susa, the wife of Abradates, an Assyr- 
 ian prince, who was himself absent, having been sent 
 on a mission to Bactria. The Median officers, in dis- 
 posing of the booty, set aside this lady as a compli- 
 mentary offering to Cyrus. He, learning what had 
 been arranged, requested Araspes, for whom he had 
 had a sort of friendship from boyhood, to take charge 
 of the lady. Araspes, on receiving the order, asked, 
 *' But have you seen the person whom you wish me to 
 toke charge of?" Cyrus replied that he had not. On 
 which the other said, have seen her, though, and 
 Bhe is simply the most beautiful creature that was 
 ever born of mortals throughout the whole of Asia. 
 Even when she was sitting on the ground, covered 
 with a veil, there was something about her that dis- 
 tinguished her from the other women. But when she 
 stood up, still veiled and weeping, she was not only 
 divinely tall, but had an indescribable grace and tragic 
 nobleness in her attitude. To comfort her, we told her 
 that no doubt her husband was an excellent gentleman, 
 but that she would now belong to one who in every 
 respect was at least his equcl, for that if there was a 
 man in the world that deserved admiration, it was 
 Cyrus. On hearing this, she rent her veil and uttered a 
 lamentable cry, and her women cried out with her. 
 
134 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 And we saw the greater part of her face and her hands. 
 There never was such a woman. You must go and see 
 yourself." 
 
 By heavens! I shall do nothing of the kind, if she i? 
 such as you describe," said Cyrus. " Why not?" asked 
 the young man. Why, because if I were now to yield 
 to your description, and go and see her, overwhelmed 
 as I am with business, I daresay the sight of her might 
 ^l^>make me wish to go again, and thus I might perhaps 
 neglect what I have to do, in order to sit gazing at her." 
 At this Araspes laughed, arid asked Cyrus "if he 
 thought that the beauty of any human being could put 
 a constraint on another, so as to force him to act differ- 
 ently from what he judged best? Love," he argued, 
 *'is an affair of the will; else, why does not a brother 
 fall ih love with his sister, or a father with his daughter?" 
 But Cyrus said, "If love be voluntary, why cannot a 
 person cease loving when he wishes to do so? I have 
 seen people," he added, weeping from love — made 
 regular slaves — giving away all they had, wanting to 
 get rid of their love, and yet held as if by an iron chain 
 — victims of a complete fascination." " They must be 
 poor creatures," said Arespes; "any man who is worth 
 anything can look at a beautiful woman without its 
 making any difference to him. At least, 1 am sure I 
 feel this about our beautiful captive." " Have a care," 
 said Cyrus, " and above all things guard this lady well, 
 for she may be of great political importance to us some 
 day or other." 
 
 So ended the conversation, and the confident boast- 
 ings of Araspes; who, partly from seeing the beauty of 
 his prisoner, and partly from her worth and goodness, 
 and partly from waiting on her and finding her not 
 ungrateful, and partly from her attentions to him when 
 
THE ''EDUCATION OF CYRUSr 125 
 
 he was ill — from all these causes combined, succumbed 
 to the fate which he had derided, and became hopelessly 
 in love with Panthea. Which, as Xenophon remarks, 
 was not a very wonderful occurrence after all. When, 
 however, Arespes at last ventured to intimate to her the 
 change in his feelings which had come about, and the 
 great passion by which he was now possessed, Panthea 
 would not listen to him for a moment. She protested 
 her unswerving love and constancy to her absent hus- 
 band; and when Araspes in despair uttered cruel 
 threats, she sent a private messenger to Cyrus to ac- 
 quaint him with what had happened. Cyrus, on hear- 
 ing it, burst out laughing at the man who had said 
 that he was above the power of love. He sent Arta- 
 bazus, a confidential officer, to enjoin Araspes most 
 strictly to do no violence to the lady, but at the same 
 time to say that he had carte hlanclie to make as much 
 impression on her as, by fair means, he could. Arta- 
 bazus, however, appears not to have given this exact 
 message. He rated Araspes soundly for his unfaithful- 
 ness to a sacred trust, and for his weakness, impiety, 
 and wickedness; so that Arespes was overwhelmed with 
 shame and confusion, and half-dead with fear of some 
 great punishment at the hands of Cyrus. Cyrus, hear- 
 ing of his distress, sent for him alone; bid him be 
 reassured; told him that he might easily be forgiven, 
 since both gods and men yielded to the power of love; 
 and finally took the blame to himself, as having shut 
 him up with such an irresistible creature. Araspes, 
 however, still made moan, that all men would point at 
 him, and that even his friends advised him to keep out 
 of the way of Cyrus, as likely to do him harm. " This is 
 most opportune," said Cyrus, **for now you will be 
 just the man for me to send as a spy into Lydia. You 
 
136 
 
 XENOPUON. 
 
 can pretend to fly from me and go over to the enemy, 
 and you will get their confidence, and be able to give us 
 the most valuable information." This arrangement was 
 speedily made, and the love-stricken Araspes departed 
 on his mission, and disappeared from the scene. 
 
 The beautiful Panthea now suggested that she 
 should send for her husband, who, in gratitude for the 
 treatment she had received, would be certain to desert 
 his Assyrian master, and come over to Cyrus.- She was 
 allowed to send; and Arbrada^tes, having recognized 
 his wife's tokens, and heard how matters stood, 
 marched joyfully to the camp of Cyrus, bringing with 
 him about a thousand horse. Having declared who he 
 was, he was admitted within the lines, and embraced his 
 wife tenderly after so long a separation. He then 
 waited upon Cyrus, and extending his right hand, said, 
 *'In return for the benefits that you have bestowed on 
 us, Cyrus, I can say nothing more than that I give my- 
 self to you, as a friend, a servant, and an ally." Cyrus 
 said, I accept your kindness, and take leave of you 
 for the present, that you may go to supper with your 
 wife; at some other time I shall hope to receive you in 
 my tent, together with your friends and mine." 
 
 Not long after this it came about that Cyrus had to 
 fight a great battle against the enemy, who were now 
 an army of all nations under the command of Croesus, 
 king of Lydia. While the disposition of the forces w^as 
 being made, Abradates, prince of Susa, obtained, partly 
 by entreaty and partly by lot, a conspicuous position in 
 the front line of Cyrus's army. He made a splendid 
 figure, for he had a chariot with four poles, drawn by 
 eight horses; and his wife Panthea had arrayed him in 
 a golden helmet and golden arm pieces which she had 
 procured, and a purple robe reaching to his feet, which 
 
THE ''EDUCATION OF CTIlUSr 127 
 
 she had made. When he was preparing to mount his 
 chariot, she bade him farewell, saying, ''You know, 
 Abrad^tes, that if ever a woman loved her husband 
 better than her own soul, I am such a one. And yet, 
 loving you as I do, I love honor more, and would 
 rather be buried with you, in your glory, than live 
 with you if either of us were dishonored. You will 
 remember the debt of gratitude which we owe to 
 Cyrus, and in this battle you will discharge it." 
 Abradates laid his hand gently on her head, and, lift- 
 ing his eyes to heaven, exclaimed, **May I prove 
 worthy of the love of Panthea, and of the friendship of 
 Cyrus!" He then mounted, and Panthea, as a last 
 adieu, kissed the chariot, and was borne off by her 
 attendants to her tent, and the line began to move 
 against the enemy. 
 
 There was a mighty battle against great odds, for the 
 army of Croesus quite outflanked that of Cyrus, and 
 enclosed it, '* as a large brick might enclose a smaller 
 one," on all sides but the rear. But the gallantry of 
 the smaller force prevailed, and none on that day made 
 a fiercer charge than Abradates, of Susa, who, being 
 posted against the Egyptians, overwhelmed and crushed 
 them in his weighty chariot, armed with scythes. But 
 in the furious melee that ensued, the prince himself, 
 pursuing his victorious course, was thrown from his 
 chariot, and, fighting like a brave man on foot, was cut 
 down and killed. 
 
 The^ext day after the battle had been won, Cyrus 
 asked, ''Where was Abradates, that he did not come 
 to see him?" They said that he was no longer alive, 
 and that his wife had carried his body to a spot near 
 the river Pactolus, where her eunuchs were digging a 
 grave for him, while she sat on the ground with the 
 
128 
 
 XENOrilOK 
 
 dead man's head upon her knees. On learning this, 
 Cyrus struck his thigh, and leaping upon his horse, 
 rode, with an escort, to the scene of affliction. When 
 he reached the spot, he approached the corpse, and 
 shedding tears, he said, "Ah! brave and faithful 
 soul, hast thou then left us for ever?" and he took 
 hold of the right hand, but the hand came away, for 
 the wrist had been cut through by an Egyptian. On 
 this Panthea shrieked, and taking the hand kissed and 
 replaced it, and said, "All his body is like this, Cyrus, 
 and it is my doing, for, not thinking of the result, I 
 exhorted him not to spare himself for your sake. And 
 now he is dead, and I who encouraged him sit here 
 alive." After weeping for some time in silence, Cyrus 
 said, "He has died a noble death, and numbers of men 
 shall raise a monument to him, which shall not be un- 
 worthy of him or of us, and sacrifices shall be per- 
 formed in honor of his bravery. And for you, every 
 care shall be taken of you; and when you tell me where 
 you wish to be sent, it shall be done." Panthea re- 
 plied, "You shall soon know, Cyrus, to whom I wish 
 to go." Cyrus now departed, sorrowing. And Pan- 
 thea, having ordered her eunuchs to retire, called her 
 nurse, and bade her, when she was dead, to wrap her 
 and her husband in one mantle. She then produced a 
 sword, which she had provided, and stabbed herself, 
 and the nurse, wailing, covered them both as Panthea 
 had directed, and three of the faithful eunuchs slew 
 themselves on the bodies of their master and mft tress. 
 Cyrus, when he heard of it, lamented exceedingly, and 
 caused a lofty monument to be raised over the noble 
 and unfortunate pair. 
 
 This narrative, which we have given as nearly as 
 possible in the words of Xenophon, is the first extant 
 
THE ''EDUCATION OF CYIiUS.'* 129 
 
 instance of a prose love-story in European literature. 
 It was much admired by the ancients, and probably 
 gave rise to many imitations of itself. Plutarch, in 
 his essay to prove "that the doctrines of Epicurus do 
 not secure even pleasure in living," asks (p. 1093) 
 ** whether the actual enjoyments of love could be 
 superior to the imaginative pleasures felt in reading 
 the tale of Panthea as related by Xenophon, or the 
 tale of Timoclea as told by Aristobulus, or of Thebe 
 by Theopompus?" These two last writers were histor- 
 ians of the time of Alexander the Great, who appear 
 to have introduced love episodes into their histories, 
 which are now lost. As in old Homer, and as in India 
 at the present day, the conception of love in the story 
 of Panthea is a conception of post-nuptial, and not ante- 
 nuptial, passion. The action commences, so to speak, 
 at a point after the third volume of a modern novel 
 would have concluded. As such, and on account of its 
 simplicity, the tragical story of Abradates and Panthea 
 may be despised by the English reader, especially if un- 
 married. But taking the ancient Greeks as they are, we 
 may find some interest in observing the points in which 
 they differ from ourselves. 
 
 After his victory over Croesus, and after taking the 
 city of Sardis, Cyrus proceeded to the conquest of 
 Babylon. Xenophon, like the other authorities, repre- 
 sents him as effecting this by diverting the course 
 of the Euphrates, and entering the city by the river- 
 bed at midnight, while all the Babylonians were en- 
 gaged in a revel. The whole account is interspersed 
 with a record of the sagacious provisions and wise 
 exhortations of Cyrus, which takes off from its live- 
 liness, and make the narrative unworthy of the great- 
 ness of the event. In vividness and reality this 
 
130 
 
 XENOPIION. 
 
 crowning act in the creation of the Persian empire 
 falls far short of those smaller incidents in which 
 Xenophon had himself taken part, and which he de- 
 - scribes in the graphic pages of the ''Anabasis.'* 
 
 Henceforth the measures of Cyrus for the consolida- 
 tion of his rule over the conquered nations, and his 
 maxims of government, are recorded. Some of these 
 may be mentioned. His first care was to provide at- 
 tached and faithful attendants about his own person. 
 In selecting these, the principle he went upon was, to 
 choose men who had fewest family ties, who belonged 
 to the most despised and isolated class, and who could 
 be most absolutely bound by obligations of favor and 
 gratitude. And of these he formed his bureaucracy. 
 
 Next, Cyrus turned his attention to the civil business 
 of the empire, which he arranged by a system of bu- 
 reaux and departments, so as to keep a centralized con- 
 trol of all the ramifications of state affairs. "He was 
 thus enabled, by speaking with a few persons only, to 
 keep every department of business under superintend- 
 ence; and he had consequently more leisure than an- 
 other man who had charge but of a single house or a 
 single ship." Having by orderly arrangement secured 
 a certain amount of leisure both for himself and others, 
 he proceeded to employ this in molding the characters 
 of the upper ranks of society. He encouraged, by 
 many artifices, all who were able to subsist by the la- 
 bor of other men" to be in constant attendance at his 
 court, and he set himself to be *' a living law" and ex- 
 ample of life and manners to these. Each day had its 
 appointed religious services, under the direction of the 
 Magi, and commenced with a hymn to the gods, which 
 was sung at daybreak. Greek moderation and simplic- 
 ity characterized the style of living in the palace. 
 
THE ''EDUCATION OF VTRUS:' 131 
 
 Everything unseemly was carefully avoided. A strict 
 code of etiquette and politeness was introduced, and 
 differences of rank were marked with appropriate ob- 
 servances. No outbreak of anger or rude laughter was 
 ever to be heard. . "You would have thought that the 
 whole court lived entirely for the beautiful." 
 
 As a preparation for war (here Xenophon introduces 
 one of his favorite ideas, and not a bad one), Cyrus 
 used to take out all the gentlemen of his court to hunt 
 wild animals on horseback with spears. Thus a great 
 emulation arose in riding and skill t)f various kinds. 
 And all became inured to hardy habits and long fasts 
 in the open air; and Cyrus himself outvied them all, 
 and showed them his opinion, '*that no man has any 
 business with government who is not himself better 
 than those whom he governs." But while setting tjiis 
 example, and taking all this trouble for the education 
 of the upper classes, with respect to the lower ranks of 
 society he took a very different course. He studiously 
 avoided inciting them to any liberal pursuit, and even 
 prevented them as far as possible from exercising the 
 virtues of self-denial. For when a crowd of the com- 
 mon people had to act as beaters in the mountains and 
 forests, he had provisions carried for themy but none 
 for the nobles. So that the lower orders, not under- 
 standing his aims, and being well cared for, called 
 him their father, for arranging that they should always 
 continue slaves." This Machiavelian policy, which of 
 course is to be considered as an idea of Xenophon's,* 
 and not as historical, is in accordance with the ancient 
 Greek notions that society must be based on slavery. 
 It is also akin with the Spartan principle that the gov- 
 ernment must be for the interests of a ruling caste, 
 while an outlying caste (like the Helots) is to be treated 
 
133 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 as a mere instrument, with no rights of its own, in tlie 
 state arrangements. 
 
 The policy of Cyrus in governing dependencies" 
 (for such was Babylon when first conquered) is repre- 
 sented as consisting in constant conciliation of the up- 
 per classes, who were to be drawn closely round the 
 monarch; while all the rest were to be equitably treated, 
 but held at a distance. Thus Xenophon describes him 
 as spending infinite trouble and tact on personal atten- 
 tions to the nobles, who were by these means to.be cap- 
 tivated, and turned more and more into friends of 
 the king. All this is interesting, and might be com- 
 pared, or contrasted, as the case may be, with the ac- 
 tion of England (too often without a theory) in relation 
 to its dependencies, such as Ireland of old and India in 
 later times. 
 
 After the settlement of Babylon came the division of 
 the whole Persian empire into satrapies, which is better 
 related by Herodotus. And then there were various 
 journeys of Cyrus to revisit his home, where his father 
 and mother were now dead. From his uncle Cyaxares, 
 whom Cyrus had made the head of the greatest empire 
 in the world, he received the hand of a daughter in 
 marriage, with the throne of Media for her dower. 
 
 At last, when he was on one of his vists to Persia, 
 being now advanced in years, though apparently in 
 perfect health — after performing some sacrifices and 
 leading in person a national dance — Cyrus was in the 
 flight warned by a vision of his approaching end. A 
 being of superhuman dignity seemed to come to him, 
 and to say, ''Cyrus, prepare thyself, for thou art now 
 going to the gods." After this vision he awoke, and, 
 taking victims, went to the summit of a mountain, 
 where he sacrificed to Jupiter, the sun, and the rest of 
 
THE ''EDUCATION OF CYRUSr 133 
 
 the gods, thanking them for their care of him during 
 his long and prosperous life, and for all the omens and 
 signs th^ had sent him as indications of what he 
 ought to do; and praying for a blessing on his family, 
 his friends, and his country. He then returned home, 
 and lay down to rest. Feeling no inclination to eat, 
 he took nothing for three days, after which he called 
 ronnd him his sons and the chief men of Persia, and 
 addressed them. He told them that he knew his 
 end was at hand, and that when he was gone they 
 were to think of him as one who had lived a happy 
 life. **I have realized," said he, **all that is most 
 highly prized in the successive ages of life — as a 
 child in childhood, as a young man in youth, as a 
 man in maturity. My strength has seemed to in- 
 crease with the advance of time; I have failed in 
 nothing that I undertook. I have exalted my friends 
 and humbled my enemies, and have brought my 
 country from obscuritj^ to the summit of glory. I 
 have kept hitherto from anything like boasting, 
 knowing that a reverse might come; but now that 
 the end has arrived, I may safely claim to be called for- 
 tunate." 
 
 He then turned to his sons, and having assigned the 
 succession to the throne to one, and an immense satrapy 
 to another, he exhorted them to live in concord. And 
 he based this exhortation not only on grounds of 
 gatural affection and mutual interest, but also on a re- 
 gard to what would be pleasing to his. own disembodied 
 spirit. He said.* ''You cannot surely believe that 
 
 * The arguments here given in favor of the immortality of the 
 soul, are exactly quoted by Cicero at the end of his dialogue 
 " On Old Age." 
 
134 
 
 XENOFIIOK 
 
 ■when I have ended this mortal life I shall cease to exist. 
 Even in lifetime you have never seen my soul ; you have 
 only inferred its existence. And there are gipunds for 
 inferring the continuance of the soul after death. Have 
 we not seen what a power is exercised by the souls of 
 murdered men — how they send avenging furies to pun- 
 ish their murderers? It is only to this belief in the 
 power of the soul after death that the custom of paying 
 honor to the dead is due; and the belief is reasonable, 
 for the soul, and not the body, is the principle of life. 
 When soul and body are separated, it is natural to 
 think that the soul will live. And the soul, too, is the 
 principle of intelligence. When severed from the 
 senseless body, it will surely not lose its intelligence, 
 but only become more pure and bright; just as in sleep, 
 when the soul is most independent of the body, it seems 
 to gain the power, by prophetic dreams, of seeing into 
 futurity. Do then, what I advise, from a regard to my 
 immortal spirit; but if I be mistaken in thinking it so, 
 then act out of regard for the eternal gods who maintain 
 the order of the universe, and watch over piety and 
 justice. Respect, too. Humanity, in its perpetual suc- 
 cession, and act so as to be approved by all posterity. 
 When I am dead, do not enshrine my body in gold or 
 silver, but restore it to the earth,* for what can be better 
 than to be mixed up and incorporated with the benefi- 
 cent source of all that is good for men? While life, 
 which still lingers in ^me, remains, you may come near and 
 
 * This is quite at variance with the Persian customs, as related 
 by Herodotus. Bodies could neither be buried nor burnt, because 
 both the earth and fire were too sacred for contamination. They 
 were therefore exposed to be consumed by vultures — a practice 
 still universally maintained by the Parsees, the modern repr&i 
 Sentatives of the old Persian relijrion. 
 
XENOPEON'S MINOR WORKS, 135 
 
 touch my hand, and look upon my face ; but when I 
 have covered my head for death, I request that no man 
 may any more look upon my body. But summon all 
 the Persians and the allies to my tomb, to rejoice with 
 me that I shall now be in safety, and cannot suffer evil 
 any more, whether I shall have gone to God, or whether 
 I shall have ceased to exist. Distribute gifts among all 
 who come. And remember this my last word of advice : 
 * By doing good to your friends, you will gain the power 
 of punishing your enemies.' Farewell, dear children; 
 say farewell to your mother from me : all my friends, 
 absent as well as present, farewell." Having said this, 
 and taken every one by the right hand, he covered his 
 face, and expired. 
 
 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 xenophon's minor works. 
 
 Xenophon, after the completion of his campaigns, 
 had, as we have seen above,* a long tranquil life, prob- 
 ably from his fortieth till nearly his ninetieth year, 
 devoted to literature, during which he not only collected 
 materials f or his * ' Hellenica " (the contemporary history 
 of Greece), but also wrote his " Anabasis," his ''Recol- 
 lections of Socrates," his Education of Cyrus," and 
 several minor works above enumerated, f These opus- 
 cula, composed from time to time, as the fancy took 
 him, show Xenophon as the earliest of essay-writers. 
 His subjects were varied enough, and this circumstance 
 gives an interest to his works; but yet we find that his 
 
 * See page 74. 
 
 t See page 78, 
 
136 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 ideas were somewhat limited. He constantly reproduces 
 under different forms the same ideal type of human life 
 and character. And this ideal type is nothing transcen- 
 dental or impossible : it is thoroughly healthy, but it has 
 a certain suggestion of mediocrity. 
 
 Xenophon had a great capacity for friendship, and a 
 tendency to what in modern times has been called hero- 
 worship." During his earlier life he had, at successive 
 periods, two great objects for these sentiments — Socrates 
 and Agesilaus, a philosopher and a king. In his Eu- 
 logy of Agesilaus" he pays a tribute to the king, anala- 
 gous to that which, in the Recollections of Socrates," 
 he paid to the philosopher. He does not write the life 
 of Agesilaus, but merely gives a brief summary of some 
 of his chief public performances in war and diplomacy, 
 and then dilates upon his virtues. Agesilaus — who, 
 according to Plutarch, was a short, rather mean-looking 
 man, lame of one foot — appears to have produced a 
 great impression upon Xenophon. But Xenophon had 
 not the dramatic faculty requisite for portrait-painting 
 in words. The catologue of qualities assigned to his 
 hero does not bring a living personality before us, but 
 rather reads like the list of particulars in the Linnsean 
 classification of a plant. Nor is it easy to distinguish 
 the historical Agesilaus of^enophon, drawn from the 
 life, from the psuedo-historical Cyrus, drawn from fancy. 
 Xenophon in this matter appears almost like a school- 
 boy who can only draw one face, which he accordingly 
 repeats for ever. 
 
 Agesilaus was, of course, according to Xenophon, 
 a great disciplinarian, and very scrupulous in all re- 
 ligious observances. '*A spectator would have been 
 cheered at seeing Agesilaus first, and after him the 
 rest of the soldiers, crowned with chaplets whenever 
 
XENOPUON'S MINOR WORKS. 137 
 
 they returned from the place of exercise, and dedicat- 
 ing their chaplets to Diana; for how can it be other- 
 wise than that a cause should be hopeful, when its 
 supporters reverence the gods, practise warlike exer- 
 cises, and observe obedience to their commanders?'* 
 Item, he was very trustworthy, and paid such respect 
 to what was divine, that even his enemies considered 
 his oaths and compacts more to be relied on than 
 friendship among themselves." Item, he was extremely 
 moderate and self-controlled in eating, drinking, sleep, 
 and all the pleasures of sense. He acted on the princi- 
 ple that it becomes a prince to surpass private persons> 
 not in effeminacy, but in endurance." Item, he was 
 very brave in war, and very successful as a general; 
 very patriotic and subordinate to the laws of his coun- 
 try; very affable and unostentatious as king; living 
 plainly, being accessible to all, and as unlike as possible 
 to the kings of Persia. He attained a great age in health 
 and vigor, and "was borne to his eternal home" hon- 
 ored and lamented by all. Such is the character of 
 Agesilaus. as given by Xenophon in eleven chapters. 
 It is a dull picture, conveying the notion rather of re- 
 spectability than of greatness. Those who wish to see 
 a portrait of the same man in brighter colors may refer 
 to Plutarch's Lives." 
 
 The *'Hiero," another of Xenophon's minor works, 
 is a neat little essay in the form of a dialogue, on the 
 advantages, or otherwise, in the lot of a tyrant," — that 
 is, an absolute monarch, whose rule has been founded 
 on the overthrow of constitutional government. The 
 history of the Second Empire in France tends to give a 
 particular interest to this discussion, which Xenophon 
 attributes to the courtly Greek poet Simonides and 
 Hiero L, the tyrant of Syracuse. Many would like 
 
138 
 
 XEmPIIOK 
 
 to have had the opportunity of questioning Louis 
 Napoleon at the period of his greatest prosperity as to 
 his enjoyment, or otherwise, of the power reached by 
 the coup d'etat oi the 2d December; and such was the 
 kind of question supposed to be addressed to King 
 Hiero by Simonides. Hiero's answer is of the most 
 gloomy description. He says that it is a mere popular 
 delusion to fancy that tyrants are to be envied. They 
 have not half the pleasure, and they suffer twice the 
 pains, that private individuals do. Their enjoymente 
 are dulled by satiety — they cannot travel, they cannot 
 realize the full pleasures of love because they never 
 can be sure that their affection is returned. Indeed, 
 there are none from v/hom conspiracies against kings 
 proceed more frequently than from those who have 
 affected to love them with the greatest sincerity." 
 **If peace is thought to be a great good to mankind, 
 tyrants have the least participation of it; if war is 
 deemed a great evils, kings have the greatest share of it. 
 Private individuals, if they go to make war in an ene- 
 my's country, still find, as soon as they return home, 
 that there is safety for them there ; but tyrants, when 
 they come to their capitals, are conscious that they are 
 then in the midst of the greatest number of enemies.'* 
 *'They distinguish, no less than private persons, which 
 of their subjects are wise and just, and of a constitution- 
 al spirit; but, instead of regarding such characters with 
 admiration, they look upon them with dread. They fear 
 men of courage, lest they should make some bold at- 
 tempt in favor of liberty; men of abilities, lest they 
 should engage in some conspiracy ; men of virtue, lest 
 the multitude should desire to be governed by them. 
 But when, from apprehension, they have removed such 
 characters out of the way, what others are left them to 
 
XENOPIION'S MINOR WORKS, 139 
 
 employ in their service except the dishonest, and licen- 
 tious, and servile?" So far from a tyrant being happier 
 than other men, his state of mind may be summed up 
 by saying that ** he passes day and night as if he were 
 condemned by the whole human race to die for his 
 usurpation." 
 
 On hearing this statement, Simonides asks, "Why, 
 if such be all that your position of royalty has to give, 
 do you not voluntarily abdicate?" But Hiero answers 
 that this very thing is one of the worst features of 
 usurped royalty — that it is impossible to set cue's self 
 free from it. *'For how can any tyrant command 
 sufficient resources to make restitution of property to 
 those from whom he has taken it, or how can he make 
 atonement to these whom he has cast into prison, or 
 for those whom he has unjustly put to death? In 
 short, a tyrant can have no comfort either in keeping 
 his throne or resigning it; so the only thing left for him 
 to do is — to hang himself." Simonides, however, offers 
 consolation by observing that the dissatisfaction felt by 
 Hiero proceeds from the amiability of his disposition, 
 which leads him to desire the love of mankind. He as- 
 sures him that this may still be obtained by a right use 
 of the advantages of his position — by showing gracious- 
 ness and affability; by developing the resources of the 
 state, and so benefiting all; by using his mercenary sol- 
 diers as police for the repression of crime; by spending 
 his private means on public objects; and that thus, by 
 enacting the part of a benevolent tyrant, he will be for- 
 given for being a tyrant at all, and will attair. the mOvSt 
 desirable end, of being happy without being envied; — all 
 of which is pleasing theory, but perhaps hardly borne out 
 by history. 
 
 Several of Xenophon's tracts are on special practical 
 
140 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 subjects, and of these one of the most interesting is his 
 Essay on the Revenues of Athens," in which he gives 
 advice for improving the financial position of his coun- 
 try. During the flourishing times of the Republic, the 
 great body of Athenian citizens had been trained to 
 habits of idleness. The state revenues were almost en- 
 tirely draw^n from the contributions of tributary allies, 
 and were largely expended in payments to the citizens 
 for sitting as jurymen (see above, page 88), and per- 
 forming other unproductive functions, and in the pro- 
 vision of theatrical exhibitions and other pageants. 
 
 Xenophon observes that this system was based on a 
 certain amount of injustice towards the allies, from 
 whom tribute was exacted, and he proceeds to otfer 
 suggestions for rendering Athens more dependent on 
 herself for the means of meeting state charges. These 
 suggestions have not very well borne the test of 
 modern criticism. They are evidently the production 
 of an amateur financier, and not of a practical states- 
 man. One thing particularly strikes the modern 
 reader, and that is — the smallness of the sums in 
 which Xenophon thinks. He speaks of Attica (which, 
 though possessing a silver mine and marble quarries, 
 was still like a small county, with a thin soil) as 
 ''qualified by nature to afford very large revenues." 
 And he seems to think it an immense point to add 
 £10,000 or £20,000 to the revenues of the state. 
 
 One of the ways by which he proposes to do this is 
 to increase the number of foreigners settling at Athens, 
 and paying a yearly tax of twelve drachmae (nine shil- 
 lings) a head. In Xenophon's time the citizens of 
 Athens, exclusive of slaves, appear to have amounted 
 to only about 20,000. Therefore in order to obtain 
 £10,0tK) of additional revenue by means of the alien- 
 
XENOPnON'S MINOR WORKS, 141 
 
 tax, it would have been necessary to have more for- 
 eigners than citizens residing at Athens. To secure 
 this desirable object, Xenophon proposes to give en- 
 couragement to foreign settlers by exempting them 
 from military service, and granting them sites for 
 houses — all for the sake of nine shillings per head. 
 The foreigners especially referred to by Xenophon 
 were *'Lydians, Phrygians, and Syrians;" andBoeckh, 
 in his Public Economy of Athens," points out that the 
 proposal was similar to what it would be in modern 
 times to encourage the settlement of "Jew traders" in 
 a country, till they outnumbered the original inhabit- 
 ants, at the same time exempting them from military 
 service, and allowing them to hold land. In any 
 country which was exposed to war, and which had 
 adopted such a policy, it is clear that the citizens 
 would gradually be swept away in battle, while the 
 aliens without patriotic feelings or noble motives 
 would be left in possession of the slate. 
 
 Xenophon's next idea is, that the commerce of 
 Athens should be stimulated by encouragements, and 
 facilitated as much as possible. It seems to us an odd 
 suggestion that rewards should be offered to those 
 judges who in mercantile suits should give judgment 
 with the least delay; and that those merchants who 
 had brought vessels and goods of great account to the 
 port, should be honored with seats of distinction on 
 public occasions. Xenophon thinks that the state 
 should directly speculate in ships to be let out on pro- 
 fitable terms, and in lodging-houses, warehouses, and 
 shops; a loan should be raised for this purpose, and 
 our financier assumes that the profit on these ventures 
 would be sure to enable the stockholders to receive 20 
 per cent on their contributions. It does not occur to 
 
142 
 
 XENornoN. 
 
 him to ask why, if this form of investment would be so 
 remunerative, private capital should not find its way 
 into it, without passing through the hand of the state. 
 
 Another speculation which he recommends to the 
 Government of Athens is the purchase of slaves to be 
 hired out to private individuals, for the purpose of 
 working the silver mines of Laurion, near the southern 
 promontory of Attica. He thinks that the state might 
 gradually collect a little family of ten thousand slaves, 
 and let them out at the rate of an obolus (l^d.) per 
 head per diem. This would give an annual revenue of 
 a hundred talents, or about £24,000. These slaves 
 would be employed by the citizens, or foreigners, in 
 mining for silver, and one twenty-fourth part of all the 
 ore obtained would be paid to the state as a royalty. 
 The whole calculation is based on the assumption that 
 the silver mines of Laurion were inexhaustible, and 
 that under all circumstances of the price of provisions, 
 etc., they could be worked 'to a profit by slave-labor. 
 It is needless to say that such an assumption was un- 
 justifiable. 
 
 Boeckh says, that of all the schemes and recommenda- 
 tions of Xenophon for improving the revenues of his 
 country, the only one that is unexceptionable is his 
 exhortation to peace. For the preservation of peace, 
 he has great faith in moral measures. He advises the 
 appointment of peace commissioners;" and he recom- 
 mends that the independence of the temple of Delphi 
 — a question analogous in ancient Greece to the neutral- 
 ity of Belgium in modern Europe — should be main- 
 tained rather by diplomacy than by arms. He adds. 
 
 Should any one ask whether I mean that if any 
 power should unjustly attack our state, we must main- 
 tain peace with that power? — I should not say I had 
 
XENOPIION'S MINOR WORKS, 
 
 143 
 
 any such intention; but I may safely assert that we 
 shall retaliate on any aggressors with far greater faci- 
 lity, if we can show that none of our people does wrong 
 to any one, for then our enemies will not have a single 
 supporter." This simple belief in the efficacy of virtue 
 and justice in international relationship, received a 
 rude commentary in the subjugation of Athens to the 
 power of Macedon very shortly after' the above sentence 
 was written. 
 
 In the (Economicus," * or ** Treatise on Housekeep- 
 ing," we have Xenophon's ideas on the management of 
 the house and the farm given under the form of a dia- 
 logue, in which Socrates is represented as instructing 
 our old friend Critobulus (see above, page 110), now a 
 family man about forty years old. There is nothing 
 especially Socratic in the instruction — the philosophy is 
 that of Xenophon. The first point in housekeeping, 
 we learn, is to have a good wife. She must be made 
 so by her husband, being married in her fifteenth year. 
 She must by taught by him that her main duty is to 
 have a regard for property. She must learn to stow 
 away things neatly, as on board ship, so that they may 
 take up little room, and may be found when wanted. 
 She must renounce painting and rouging, and must 
 keep up her good looks by taking plenty of exercise 
 within doors in the shape of household duties, such as 
 kneading dough, making the beds, etc., in addition to 
 going about to superintend the work of the slaves. No 
 word is said of her reading, or sharing any intellectual 
 pursuit with her husband; and altogether Xenophon's 
 ideal of an Athenian wife is a flagrant case of **the 
 subjection or women." 
 
 * With the word " CEconomicus," as with " Hipparchicus," etc., 
 the word logoSy discourse, treatise, or theory, is to be understood. 
 
144 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 After the house comes the farm. Xenophon elo- 
 quently sets forth the praises of agriculture, but in the 
 rules of the art he is little explicit. He rather lays it 
 down that agriculture is the easiest of all arts to be 
 learnt; that it is a mere application of common-sense; 
 and that a successful farmer differs from an unsuccess- 
 ful one, not in knowledge, but in care and diligence. 
 All this has a very dilettante appearance. It contrasts 
 strongly with modern ideas of agricultural chemistry, 
 the application of geology, botany, and physiology to 
 farming, and the constant improvement of machinery 
 for lessening human toil in agricultural operations. 
 In lieu of such things, or even of the special processes 
 of the ancients, Xenophon gives us a picture of an 
 ideal gentleman farmer, who keeps his body vigorous 
 by active and temperate habits, who practises his horse 
 across country a good deal, and who is a great ruler 
 of men," having the desirable qualification of making 
 others work for him cheerfully and efficiently. 
 
 Xenophon's three remaining treatises on Horseman- 
 ship," on Cavalry Management," and on Hunting," 
 cannot be accused of superficiality. They treat of 
 their respective subjects in a thorough spirit, and are 
 evidently the work of a man writing con amove about 
 his favorite topics. The '* Horsemanship" has been 
 much admired by those who have read it from a pro- 
 fessional point of view. It gives rules first for choos- 
 ing a horse, and afterwards for grooming, mounting, 
 sitting, and managing him. In order to avoid being 
 cheated in the purchase of a horse, Xenophon tells the 
 reader that he must observe the points of the animal, 
 beginning with the feet as the most important of all. 
 He specifies the properties to be approved and con- 
 demned in the hoof, and from this ascends to the legs, 
 
XENOPUON'S MINOR WORKS. 145 
 
 and all the other points in a horse's body. If a horse 
 is not a mere colt, his age must be looked to, for a 
 horse that has no longer the marks in his teeth neither 
 delights the buyer with hope, nor is so easy to be ex- 
 changed." If he is already broken, sufficient trial must 
 be made of his paces, mouth, and temper; and if a 
 war-h#rse is wanted, we must try specially his powers 
 of leaping. 
 
 When bought, the horse must be placed in a stable 
 which is under the master's eye. It must be made 
 as difficult to steal the horse's food from his stall as 
 the provisions from the master's larder. It must be 
 observed whether the horse scatters his food from the 
 manger — a sure sign that he is off his feed, and for 
 some reason out of sorts. The ground outside the 
 stable should be laid down with round stones , in order 
 to harden the horses' feet. This sort of precaution 
 was especially requisite among the Greeks, as they had 
 not attained the art of shoeing horses with iron. 
 Xenophon's anxiety on the subject, leads him to give 
 the mistaken advice that the groom should never wash 
 a horse's legs, but only dry-rub them; for ''daily 
 wetting," he says, ''does harm to the hoofs." He is 
 far from countenancing the practice adopted in modern 
 times of cropping the ears and tails of horses. On the 
 contrary, he is for stimulating with water the growth 
 of the tail and forelock, in order to give the animal as 
 much defense as possible against flies; and of the 
 mane, in order to give the rider an ample grasp in 
 mounting. This business of mounting must have been 
 a serious one in Xenophon's day, for the simple ex- 
 pedient of stirrups had never been invented. In fact, 
 if we want to form an accurate idea of rider and horse 
 as conceived by Xenophon, we should look at some of 
 
146 
 
 XENOPHOK 
 
 the friezes from the Parthenon in the British Museum. 
 
 Modern sculptors appear to consider stirrups prosaic, 
 and frequently omit them on that account ; but Phidias 
 omitted them in his equestrian figures, because in his 
 time they did not exist. And, without them, the only 
 ways the ancients had of mounting were either to 
 vault on horseback, or to use as a step a transv^se bar 
 affixed to the shaft of the spear, or to have *' a leg up," 
 which the Persians managed in a dignified manner, by 
 using the shoulder of a slave. Xenophon gives several 
 directions for the process of mounting, and recommends 
 the reader to practice mounting from the right side as 
 well as the left, as being an accomplishment often use- 
 ful in war. 
 
 All his maxims for the treatment of the horse are of 
 the most judicious description. He gives it as the one 
 golden rule in these matters, " Never approach a horse 
 in a fit of anger; for anger is thoughtless, and will be 
 sure to lead you to do what you will afterwards repent." 
 A horse is never to be struck for shying, as that will 
 only make him associate the pain he feels with the 
 object which before caused him alarm. The • rider 
 should touch the object of which the horse was afraid, 
 and then gently lead him up to it, so as to show that 
 it is nothing terrible. Xenophon's system, in short, 
 proceeds on the same humane principles as that of 
 Professor Earey. He even thinks that a horse may be 
 taught the most showy paces, such as caracolling and 
 rearing, by the use of the bit and by signs and en- 
 couragements, without striking him on the legs at all. 
 **It is on horses thus trained that gods and heroes are 
 painted riding, and those who are able to manage them 
 skilfully may truly be said — 
 
 'To witch the world with noble horsemanship.* 
 
« 
 
 XENOrUON'S MINOR WORKS. in 
 
 So beautiful and grand a sight is a horse that bears 
 himself proudly, that he fixes the gaze of all, both 
 young and old, and no one tires of contemplating him, 
 so long as he continues to display his magnificent atti- 
 tudes." 
 
 The " Hipparchicus," or " Cavalry Oflacer's Manual," 
 is a treatise on the duties of the Commandant of the 
 Knights, and is addressed in a friendly tone to the per- 
 son holding that oflSce at Athens. The regulation 
 number of the Knights was one thousand, but Xeno- 
 phon intimates that the corps had fallen below that 
 number, and he even suggests that foreign troopers 
 should be enlisted to fill up the ranks. This shows how 
 weak was the cavalry arm of the Athenian Republic, 
 and on how small a scale all its operations must 
 be conceived. Xenophon, in treating of these, does 
 not seem to have had any clear idea of the functions 
 of cavalry, as distinguished from infantry, in war. No 
 military rules referring to this subject are given. In 
 one place, indeed, he advises that when the enemy are 
 on a march, and any weaker force gets detached from 
 the main body, a dash should be made at it by the 
 cavalry; and in this he says that the tactics of beasts 
 and birds of prey in attacking whatever is left un- 
 guarded should be imitated. Elsewhere he says that 
 cavalry should be supported by infantry, and that the 
 cavalry may be made to conceal infantry among and 
 behind them. But it would have been more interesting 
 if Xenoi)hon had given us precisely the military ideas 
 of the day as to how each force was to act. Perhaps 
 such ideas were little developed; and Xenophon, both 
 in this work and in his "Anabasis," shows that to his 
 mind was not a science. His contrivances for de- 
 ceiving the enemy by mixing up grooms with poles in 
 
148 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 their hands among the troopers, so as to make the 
 numbers appear larger, and other tricks of the kind, 
 liave a puerile appearance. We cannot help thinking 
 how futile would be such stratagems against tlue power- 
 ful field-glasses of modern times. But this treatise, 
 and much of Xenophon's writing, shows in a strong 
 light the comparative pettiness of ancient warfare, and, 
 we may add, the material insignificance of the Athenian 
 republic. All the more honor to her that in intel- 
 lectual things she was so great! Xenophon does not 
 fail to lecture his commandant of cavalry on the moral 
 qualities necessary for his position, and, above all, on 
 the temperance, endurance of fatigue, and manly energy 
 which he will be required to exhibit; and he repeats 
 over and over again that the enterprises of war can 
 only be successful with the help of the gods, and must 
 never be undertaken without sacrifices and propitious 
 omens. 
 
 Nothing was more personally characteristic of Xen- 
 ophon than his fondness for hunting; and we have seen 
 above (p. 118) that he considered this exercise the 
 best school of warlike prowess and manly virtue. His 
 
 Cynegeticus," or Treatise on Hunting," embodies the 
 results of his experience in the art, and reinforces the 
 principles which he held in relation to it. This little 
 book is written with all the enthusiasm of an Izaak 
 Walton dilating upon his favorite pastime, and it con- 
 tains much minute and accurate observation of nature. 
 It was first translated into English by Blane, the w^ell- 
 known writer on " Rural Sports," and he speaks of the 
 work with the highest admiration. He says, **I have 
 been indeed astonished in reading the Cynegeticus " 
 of Xenophon to find the accurate knowledge that great 
 man had of the nature of the hare, and the method of 
 
XENOPHON'S MINOR WORKS, 149 
 
 hunting her; and to observe one of the finest writers, 
 the bravest soldiers, the ablest politicians, the wisest 
 philosophers, and the most virtuous citizens of anti- 
 quity, so intimately acquainted with all the niceties 
 and difficulties of pursuing this little animal, and de- 
 scribing them with a precision that would not disgrace 
 the oldest sportsman of Great Britain, who had never 
 any other idea to interfere to perplex his researches." 
 
 The greater part of the Cynegeticus" is devoted to 
 the subject of hunting the hare; and it is perhaps a 
 little disappointing, after all that Xenophon says about 
 hunting in general as a preparation for war, to find 
 such a very safe kind of sport made so prominent. 
 Doubtless, however, even running with beagles hardens 
 the physique, and Xenophon was quite right in main- 
 taining (what perhaps in his time it was necessary to 
 maintain) that those nations are most likely to do well 
 in war of which the upper classes have a taste for 
 field-sports. He says, that for a young man who has 
 a competency, the first thing is to devote himself to 
 hunting, and the second thing is to learn other accom- 
 plishments. 
 
 Hare-hunting, with Xenophon, means to find the 
 hare in her form by the use of dogs tracking her 
 scent; when found, to drive her with these dogs into 
 nets previously set in her runs, or, failing this, to tire 
 her out and run her down in the open. The dramatis 
 personcB in the hunt are the master, who manages the 
 dogs himself, and his net-setter, who must be an 
 active young slave keen for the sport, and, as Xeno- 
 phon adds, implying his own ignorance of foreign 
 tongues, "he must be able to speak Greek." The 
 dogs to be used are two breeds of the Spartan hound; 
 and Xenophon first says what they ought not to be 
 
150 
 
 XENOPUON. 
 
 and what they ought not to do, giving an elaborate 
 and amusing catalogue of the bad styles of hunting 
 which a dog may exhibit. Afterwards he describes 
 the shape and action of a perfect hound. His con- 
 ception, however, is different from that which Shake- 
 speare had in describing the dogs of Theseus in the 
 Midsummer Night's Dream" : 
 
 *' My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, 
 So flewed, so sanded; and their heads are hung 
 -With ears that sweep away the morning dew; 
 Crook-kneed, and dewlapped hke Thessalian bulls; 
 Slow in pursuit, but matched in mouth like bells." 
 
 Xenophon thinks that the ears should be small, 
 thin, and without hair at the back," that the neck 
 should be **long, flexible, and round," and the knees 
 ** straight." But he does not expect great speed in his 
 dogs, for he says that the hare can hardly ever be 
 caught by the dogs by pure coursing. He gives many 
 directions for breeding and training hounds, and adds 
 a capital list of names for them, all dissyllables, such 
 as Psyche, Thymus, Phylax, Rhome, Porpax, ^ther, 
 Actis, Hybris, Augo, Noes, etc., (Spirit, Courage, War- 
 der, Forceful, Shield-hasp, ^ther. Sunbeam, Wanton, 
 Bright-eyes, Marker). 
 
 The sport begins in the early morning, while the 
 scent still lies on the track made by the hares in 
 returning to their forms. Xenophon prefers a north- 
 erly wind for scent — he thinks the moisture contained 
 in the south wind to be a disadvantage; and he says 
 that their full moon by its warmth dulls the scent — 
 added to which the light makes the hares skip, so 
 that their steps are at longer intervals, which is 
 unfavorable to scenting. Truly the moon is made to 
 answer for a great many things in this world! The 
 
XENOFHON'S MINOR WORKS. 151 
 
 spring and the autumn Xenophon considers the best 
 seasons of the year for scent; but he would have 
 sympatliized with that modern sportsman who talked 
 about stinking violets," for he says that in spring, 
 
 *whea the ground is covered with flowers, it incon- 
 veniences the dogs by mingling the odor of the 
 flowers with that of the hare." It is clear that he 
 was accustomed to hunt the hare all the year round, 
 regardless of breeding-times, and to follow her by her 
 tracks in the snow — in short, to kill with dogs and 
 nets whenever the chance occurred. This total want 
 of the idea of game-preserving makes it easy to under- 
 stand the apparent scarcity of hares in Xenophon's 
 country. He seems to have considered that to kill a 
 single hare was a fair day's sport. 
 
 His description of the hare is excellent, and he draws 
 a most graphic picture of puss lying in her form. 
 ''When she is awake she winks with her eyelids, but 
 when she is asleep, the eyelids are raised and fixed, 
 and the eyes continue unmoved; also, while asleep, she 
 moves her nostrils frequently, but when not asleep, less 
 often." The huntsman, sallying forth in a light, loose 
 dress, with light sandals on, and a thick staff in his hand, 
 when begets to the hunting-ground, vows to Apollo and 
 to Diana the huntress a share of what may be captured ; 
 he then sets his dogs to draw for the scent, which we 
 will suppose to be quickly discovered. Off go the dogs 
 now with joy and spirit, discovering two or three scents, 
 as the case may be, proceeding along and over them as 
 they intersect, form circles, run straight or winding, are 
 istrong or weak, are caught up or not; the animals pass 
 
 ng by one another, waving their tails about incessantly, 
 hanging down their ears, and flashing their eyes. When 
 they are near the hare, they soon let the huntsman' 
 
153 
 
 XENOrilON, 
 
 know it, by vibrating their whole bodies, and jealously- 
 vying for the lead, now clustering together, now spread- 
 ing abroad, again dashing on, till at last they hit upon 
 the hare's form and rush in upon her. Up she springs, 
 and away she starts, and the huntsman gives the view- 
 hallo, * Forward, dogs, forward! right, dogs, right!' and 
 wrapping his coat round his arm, he takes his staff and 
 runs after the dogs, taking care not to head the chase." 
 The Imre, running in a ring, is expected to come round 
 to where the nets are set, and so get caught. If not, the 
 hunt must be pursued, as with beagles in modern times, 
 and all the incidents of the day are described in the 
 most lively manner by Xenophon, with instructions for 
 the tactics to be pursued, and the proper cries and mod- 
 ulations of the voice to be used. When the hare has 
 been caught, either by hunting or by driving it into the 
 nets, the huntsman takes up his snares, and having 
 rubbed down the dogs, quits the hunting-field, stopping 
 occasionally, if it be noon-tide in summer, that the dogs* 
 feet may not become sore on the way. 
 
 The element of nets in Xenophon's hare hunting may 
 be considered by some to give it a poaching character, 
 which consists in having too great an eye to the pot— - 
 that is, to the actual capture of the animal by whatevef 
 means, instead of considering the pursuit itself, con* 
 ducted in noble form and under honorable restrictions, 
 to be the truer end in the sportsman's mind. But, on 
 the other hand, Xenophon's genuine interest in the 
 working of the dogs is a sportsmanlike feature. It is to 
 be feared that no point so favorable can be found in his 
 account of hunting the deer or antelope. One plan that 
 he recommends is to lie in wait before daybreak, and 
 watch the hinds bringing back their suckling fawns into 
 the grassy glades. Then to seize up a fawn from its 
 
XENOPIION'S MINOR WORKS. 
 
 153 
 
 bed, on which the hind, its mother, hearing its cries, wil 
 rush upon the man that holds it and try to take it from 
 him, when she may easily be worried by the hunter's 
 dogs and dispatched with his spear. Another plan is, 
 when the fawns are grown older, to separate one of them 
 from the herd of deer, and run it down with fleet and 
 strong Indian dogs. A third is to set snares in the deers' 
 path, consisting each of a noose with a clog attached. 
 When a deer puts its foot into one of these, the clog 
 will impede its running; it may then be tired out, and 
 speared by the hunter. 
 
 Boar-hunting in Xenophon is a more dangerous and 
 manly sport. When the bore is tracked to his lair, nets 
 are set in the neighboring outlets, and he is roused by 
 dogs, the hunters following with spears. When he has 
 involved himself in a net he is speared; but he often 
 turns and charges, and then the spear is used like a fixed 
 bayonet on which to receive his charge. The boar may 
 by a twist of his head wrest the spear from the hunter's 
 hand, who then must immediately throw himself flat on 
 his face, so as to prevent the boar from being able to 
 wound him with his upward-turned tusks, and a com- 
 rade must instantly step forward and divert the beast 
 by another attack. Such was the boar-hunting of the 
 ancients — not, perhaps, equal in thrilling excitement to 
 the pig-sticking " of Anglo-India, and yet full of adven- 
 ture and risk. Horace * places the love for this sport 
 
 * Odes, I. i. : 
 
 " Regardless of his gentle bride, 
 The huntsman tarries from her side, 
 Though winds blow keen 'neath skies austere, 
 If his staunch hoimds have tracked the deer, 
 Or by the meshes' rent is seen 
 Where late a Marsian bore hath been." 
 
 Mr. Martinis Translation. 
 
154 
 
 XENOPIION, 
 
 among the "ruling passions "of mankind, and describes 
 the hunter, when the boar has broken through the nets 
 and got away, remaining out all day in pursuit of him, for- 
 getful of the tender bride whom he has recently married. 
 
 Of hunting large game — that is, lions, leopards, lynxes, 
 panthers, and bears — Xenophon speaks briefly as a 
 foreign sport. He mentions that in some places the 
 beasts are poisoned with aconite mixed in lumps of food, 
 and placed in their way. In other places they are inter- 
 cepted in the plains when they have come down from 
 the mountains at night, and are speared by men on 
 horseback. Elsewhere, they are taken by means of pit- 
 falls, with live goats for bait. 
 
 Thus far the treatise is of a purely technical character; 
 but Xenophon, in concluding it, gives way to his love 
 of moralizing, and preaches a somewhat incongruous 
 and irrelevant sermon. He returns to his old theme, the 
 excellence of the practice of hunting as preparing a man 
 to serve his country. Then he goes on to the worth 
 of toilsome pursuits in general, and, though virtue is 
 toilsome, says that mankind would not shun the pur- 
 suit of her if they could only see in bodily form how 
 beautiful she is. This train of thought reminds him of 
 the " Sophists," or professional teachers of morals and 
 rhetoric. These he denounces as impostors, and in ref- 
 erence to the subject which he has been teaching, he 
 calls them ''hunters for rich young men." There is, he 
 adds, another spurious kind of hunters — namely, the 
 political place hunters. Their example young men 
 should avoid, and should rather devote themselves to 
 field-sports, with a happy faith that the gods delight in 
 and approve of these, and that by practising them they 
 may become a benefit to their parents, their friends, and 
 their country. 
 
CONCLUSION, 
 
 155 
 
 The whole of this peroration is so little in keeping 
 with the former part of a very excellent treatise, that 
 some are inclined to think that it must have been added 
 on by the hand of a forger. But the manner of the 
 writing is like that of Xenophon, when in his most ser- 
 monizing and rhetorical vein.* It was perhaps written 
 at a different period of his life from the main body of 
 the * * Treaties on Hunting. " We know that the ancieu ts 
 indulged in frequent revisions of their works; and it is 
 not impossible that Xenophon, at a period when his taste 
 and style had been somewhat impaired by age, took up 
 the chapters on hunting which he had written in his 
 vigorous manhood, and, by way of a finish, added to 
 them this cold harangue. 
 
 'CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Some one of the works of Xenophon is usually the 
 fiast Greek prose book that is put into the hands of the 
 schoolboy; but it is for the sake of his language rather 
 than his matter that Xenophon is read in our schools and 
 colleges, and thus he is read in a fragmentary w^ay, and 
 comparatively few people have anything like a complete 
 knowledge of his writings. It has indeed been too 
 much the fault of classical education in England to 
 think exclusively of the language and style, and to dis- 
 regard the study of the actual life and ideas of the an- 
 cients, as treasured up in their books. But in bringing, 
 as in this little volume, an ancient classical author to 
 the notice of English readers, there is no longer the 
 
 * See above, page 99. 
 
156 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 temptation to rest contented with an admiration of tlio 
 words; the matter must stand forth, as it were, en 
 deshabille, and the question must be asked, What is this 
 famous author worth for all time, when his sentences 
 have been robbed of that perfection of form which un- 
 doubtedly entitled him to be appreciated as an artist of 
 style? 
 
 This is the sort of question which we have now to 
 answer about Xenophon. And in the first place, it 
 must be remembered that in regarding an ancient 
 author from a " real " point of view, there is a historical 
 and antiquarian interest in the very imperfection of his 
 ideas. Flint knives and arrow-heads are prized for our 
 museums, not for their excellence, but for their com- 
 parative inadequacy to their respective purposes. So, 
 too, the expression by an old writer o| very limited and 
 even erroneous thoughts on subjects with regard to 
 which the world is now better instructed, may be inter- 
 esting to us as a contribution to the history of the mind 
 of man. From examples of this kind we see that 
 
 *' Through the ages an increasing purpose runs, 
 And the thoughts of men are widened by the process of the suns 
 
 and we learn to know how unequal was the greatness 
 of the ancients. While in the spheres of Art and the 
 Beautiful and Abstract Thought the Greek are the 
 masters for all modern times, w^e find what an immense 
 advantage over them has been given to us by the 
 development of the separate sciences. 
 
 The study of Xenophon's writings is peculiarly 
 fertile in reflections of this kind. He serves very 
 well as the representative Greek of the fourth century 
 before Christ. He stands forth as the product of 
 Athens, of the teachings of Socrates, of the debates in 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 157 
 
 the Agora, and generally speaking, of the ** Aryan 
 principles of education.*' The circumstances of his 
 life gave him a wide experience and a sort of cosmo- 
 polite point of view. He seems a typical instance of 
 the sound mind in a sound body." He was en- 
 dowed with great activity, curiosity, and enlightened 
 intelligence, and he wrote on war, contemporary history, 
 politics, the lives of great men, education, finance, 
 rural and domestic economy, the equestrian art, and the 
 chase. He serves, then, to us as a measure of ancient 
 Greece in many of the departments of life. And 
 when we read a treatise like the " Revenues of Athens," 
 written by a man of his eminence, we see how totally 
 undeveloped in his time must have been the notions 
 of political economy and of foreign politics, as imply- 
 ing a system of different powers in relation to each 
 other. We see the want of the idea of science in his 
 assuming that the silver mines of Laurion were inex- 
 haustible, instead of referring to any mineralogical 
 data on the subject. We see a great contrast to our 
 own notions in his opinion, laid down in the " GEco- 
 nomieus," that agriculture is the easiest of all arts, 
 requiring only the application of common-sense. In 
 the same work we find the indorsement of that de- 
 graded conception of the position of the wife in a 
 household, which was one of the weakest points in 
 ancient Greek civilization. Throughout his histories 
 and military disquisitions we see how comparatively 
 petty and barbarous in their details the most important 
 wars of his day were. No great general had as yet 
 lived ; the movement of large masses of troops had 
 not become a science. There was no artillery more 
 formidable than the bow and arrow, or the stone 
 rolled down a hill. And the least consideration con- 
 
158 
 
 XENOPIION, 
 
 vinoes us, that the ten thousand Greeks, with their 
 spears and their poean, would have had no more chance 
 than so many South-sea islanders, and not half so much 
 chance as the Abyssinians of King Theodore, against 
 a single European regiment armed with the breech- 
 loader. 
 
 It is difficult at first to realize the differences in ex- 
 ternal things between the ancient Greeks and ourselves. 
 It is difficult not to forget that Greek society was based 
 on slavery, and that every house in Athens was more or 
 less filled with captives from Asia Minor or Thrace, or 
 elsewhere, whose vernacular language probably the mas- 
 ter of the house did not understand. It does not occur 
 to one to remember that such a simple instrument as the 
 stirrup had never been introduced to assist the riders of 
 ancient Greece. But an author like Xenophon going 
 into homely details, and giving us unfaded photographs 
 of daily incidents, fresh as they occurred twenty-two 
 centuries ago, is of the utmost value in enabling us to 
 see these things, and to "restore" in imagination the 
 life of ancient Greece. No more graphic and stirring 
 narrative than that in which Xenophon traces the for- 
 tune of the Ten Thousand was ever written. And his 
 /practical treatises on the Horse and on Hunting are ex- 
 cellent in themselves, and are full of interest from an 
 antiquarian point of view. 
 
 Apart, then, from his style, Xenophon's chief merit 
 and his chief service to mgdern readers consist in the 
 amount of information he has preserved. The ''Ana- 
 basis'* is of course full of information, not only about 
 Greek manners, but also about the state of the Persian 
 Empire, the geography of many interesting countries, 
 and the characteristics of several wild tribes. The 
 *'Hellenica" is a contemporary record of the affairs of 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 159 
 
 Greece for a period of fifty years, and we have only ab- 
 stained from abridging it, because to do so would be to 
 rewrite a portion of Greek history which has been often 
 and well written in English before. To the ** Memora- 
 bilia" men look for a particular kind of information — 
 information about the strange personality of Socrates. 
 It is true that Xenophon has not done the work of re- 
 cording the conversations of his master as well as might 
 be wished. He had not the fine preception or dramatic 
 faculty which would have been requisite for the task. 
 But the. collection of facts which he gives is, as far as it 
 goes, valuable. 
 
 The ancients considered Xenophon a *' philosopher,'* 
 and Diogenes Laertius writes his life as such. But his 
 only claim to be called so is, that he was a pupil of Soc- 
 rates, and wrote anecdotes about him. Xenophon 
 never uses a metaphysical word or utters a metaphys- 
 ical thought in all his writings. He was a moralist, 
 and apparently he could not understand that Socrates 
 was anything more than a moralist. Xenophon's ethical 
 philosophy was expressed in his Education of Cyrus," 
 though often repeated without variation in other books. 
 It comes to something of this kind — that a man should 
 train his body by hunting and similar exercises, and 
 his mind by debate and discussion ; that he should be 
 very sober and temperate; very god-fearing, especially 
 in the matter of seeking signs and omens; very just and 
 truthful ; that he should possess, or acquire, the art of 
 influencing and ruling over other men, and that he 
 should use that art for beneficent ends. Such was the 
 whole duty of man according to Xenophon. It was a 
 simple doctrine, and we can easily see that it was com- 
 pounded of the Spartan ideas of education, with some 
 of the intellectual and moral ideas of Socrates. We 
 
160 
 
 XENOrilON. 
 
 may conclude, then, that Xenophon was no philosopher 
 in the proper sense of the term. Even as a moral essay- 
 ist, as in the Cyropaedeia," the *'Hiero," the 
 ** Agesilaus," etc., he is not strong, but only passa- 
 ble. His strength is not in deep thoughts or elevated 
 sentiments; not as a master of the true and thebeautiful, 
 but as a manly, straightforward writer of information, 
 and as having admirably told one deeply interesting 
 story — the epictale of the Ten Thousand Greeks. 
 
 At the same time, we must not refuse to allow to 
 Xenophon a certain amount of originality. It is pro- 
 bable that he had no model before him, either for his 
 ''Anabasis" or for his Memorabilia." And it seems 
 not unlikely that his *' Banquet" may have been the first 
 imaginary dialogue introducing Socrates that was ever 
 written. If so, it gave the idea to Plato, who, taking 
 it up, wrote dialogues that are to the Banquet" of 
 Xenophon as the plays of Shakespeare to those of Mar- 
 low. The various minor works of Xenopon are speci- 
 mens of a kind of originality — not the originality of 
 creative genius, but rather a sort of practical inventive- 
 ness which showed him what things might be done, 
 though it did not lead him to do them in the very high- 
 est way. Genius, indeed, in the highest sense, we must 
 absolutely deny to Xenophon, who had abundant versa- 
 tile talent, but who lacked the vision and the faculty 
 divine." He is not great even as a historian: his Ana- 
 basis" is wanting in general reflections, and his *'Hel- 
 lenica" is merely the work of an annalist, standing to 
 Thucydides, whose history he undertook to continue, 
 much in the same relation as Smollett occupies towards 
 Hume. We must withdraw, in short, all claim for 
 Xenophon to rank among the greatest writers of 
 antiquity. He comes into a secoT>d class, and is admira- 
 
CONCLUSION. 
 
 IGl 
 
 ble, as far as his thought and matter are coucerned, 
 only for those qualities which we have above attributed 
 to him. 
 
 To this extent, and no furtlier, we should agree with 
 Colonel Mure, whose account of Xenophon (in his 
 *' Critical History of the Language and Literature of 
 Ancient Greece") is from beginning to end a severe 
 attack. Among other things, he impugns the good 
 faith of Xenophon as a historion, and stigmatizes him 
 as exceedingly false in the color which he gives to 
 various transactions. Mr. Grote, on the other hand, 
 places unbounded reliance on all the statements of 
 Xenophon. Probably an estimate between these two 
 extremes may be the correct one. It is very likely 
 that Xenophon's account of his own share in the 
 ** Retreat of the Ten Thousand" should be taken cum 
 grano sails. It was the practice of ancient historians 
 to insert in their narratives, as having actually been 
 . spoken, speeches which they composed in cold blood 
 as suitable to the occasion. Xenophon, no doubt fol- 
 lowed this plan in writing his Anabasis," and he may 
 have allotted to himself a rather more prominent andF 
 favorable position on some occasions than others would 
 have assigned him. Thus far his writing may have 
 been a sort of DicMung und WahrJieit; but there is 
 every reason to believe that the truth greatly prepon- 
 derated. Xenophon, of course, had his prejudices, and 
 he was a versatile Greek of rather superficial character: 
 but, on the whole, he was manly and well-intentioned, 
 and to consider falsehood as being a prominent char- 
 acteristic of his nature seems to us to be unjust and un- 
 founded. 
 
 Before taking leave of him we must say a word 
 about his style, which this volume has not been able to 
 
163 
 
 XENOPIIOK 
 
 represent, except in so far as it has enabled the reader 
 occasionally to notice the homely raciness of his expres- 
 sions. Several instances of this occur in the exact 
 translation given above (page 58) of a long passage from 
 the "Anabasis." Colloquial vigor is the eloquence of 
 Xenophon. For the rest he is pure, simple, and lucid. 
 The Greek language had been perfected in Xenoplion*s 
 youth by sophists and rhetoricians — by the Greek orators 
 with Pericles at their head, and by the great historian 
 Thucydides. Xenophon used the language, thus de- 
 veloped, as an instrument of which he was perfectly 
 master. In his best works he writes as if he did not 
 think about style at all, but simply aimed at saying, in 
 a plain manner, what he had to say. His taste and 
 cultivation gave an unstudied refinement to his diction: 
 and his freedom from, all eccentricity and from all ex- 
 cessive specialty of mind, allowed his writing to attain 
 to a sort of national and universal standard, rather than 
 an individual character. And so it has come about that 
 the model of classical Greek prose is considered to be 
 preserved, not in the labored antithetical greatness of 
 Hne style of Thucydides, nor in the lovely half-poetical 
 diction of Plato, but in the every-day sentences which 
 make up the pages of Xenophon. Not only are these 
 the study of the English schoolboy, but the newspaper 
 writers of Athens at the present day, in hopes of reviv- 
 ing some of the classical purity of the ancients, are said 
 to be diligently engaged in teaching the corrupt modern 
 Greek language to copy Xenophon. 
 
 THE END. 
 
I 
 
V 
 
\