sued until the Grecians, wearied with slaughter and fatigue, returned to their camp.

In the mean time, Clearchus was too good a general to neglect provisions for the immediate wants of his army. After dinner, when they were, according to the manner of the Greeks, assembled together to spend the heat of the day in conversation, some heralds arrived from the king and from Tissaphernes, demanding, in the name of the king, that they should ground their arms and surrender at discretion. Clearchus replied; and, among the rest, Xenophon thus addressed the messenger:

. With us, Phalesius, as you may perceive, nothing is of value but our arms and our honor. As long as we preserve our arms, we can rely on our own valor; but in parting with them, we should be conscious of betraying ourselves. Think not therefore that we will resign our only remaining property, but rather we will use them in fighting for yours.' Phalesius laughed heartily at this set speech, and replied, You appear to be a scholar, young man, and what you say is pleasant enough; but I would not have your inexperience so much deceive you, as to set your boasted valor against the power of the king."

It is wonderful that in the teeth of this con

After the battle of Cunaxa, and the fall of young Cyrus, the prudence and vigor of his mind were called into action. The Ten Thousand Greeks, who had followed the standard of an ambitious prince, were now above six hundred leagues from their native home, in a country surrounded on every side by a victorious enemy, without money, or provisions, or a leader. All gave themselves up to despair. They felt that they were still two thousand miles from the nearest part of Greece, close to the vast armies of the king, and surrounded on all sides by tribes of hostile barbarians, who would supply them with nothing but at the expense of blows and blood: they had no guide acquainted with the country, no knowlege of the deep and rapid rivers which intersected it, and no cavalry to explore the road, or cover their rear on the march. As if discipline and hope had ended together, the roll-call was scarcely attended to, the watch-fires were scantily, or not at all, supplied, and even their principal meal was neglected; where chance led, they threw themselves down to rest, but not to sleep-for sleep

temptuous speech, recorded by Xenophon himself, two distinguished critics and historians, Spelman and Dodwell, should have contended that he was at this time about fifty years of age.

was banished by thoughts of that country and those friends, whom they now no longer expected, and scarcely dared hope to behold again.

But the army had among them a man, little known indeed, but of far greater talents and bolder energies than any general under whom they had served; and probably the only man who could have extricated them from their present situation of unparalleled danger. Xenophon had hitherto held no rank; had been attached to no division of the army; and had appeared only as the friend of Proxenus. He, like the rest, lay awake, suffering from grief and alarm; but his mind was not of a temperament to suffer without a remedy, and he represents himself as having been encouraged by a dream during a momentary doze, which he has so related and interpreted, as to leave it doubtful whether his remarkable attention to omens and sacrifices was the result of sound policy or of sincere belief. Rousing himself from slumber, he began to reflect on the folly and rashness in which all participated. The night was far spent; the enemy would probably be on them with the dawn; submission could only conduct through suffering to an ignominious death no one provided for the emergency; despair produced the effect of security; and from

what people among them, thought he, can I expect a general, fit for this business? or why should I hesitate to act on account of my youth? If I thus give myself up without an effort to the enemy, I shall never reach a more mature age.

Full of these thoughts he rose, and calling together the officers belonging to the division of Proxenus, he set before them in an animated speech, the certain ruin and destruction which must ensue from their submission; the grounds on which he trusted for success, from strenuous exertion and prudent counsel; and concluded with assuring them that he was at their service in any capacity; and that if they thought fit to invest him with the command, his youth should only pledge him to more vigorous exertion. On this, the officers unanimously declared their readiness to serve under him, with the exception of one Apollonides, who, speaking in the Boeotian dialect, recommended that they should seek safety by submitting to the orders of the king. To this proposal Xenophon replied with well-timed warmth, declaring that sentiments so base ought to be punished by degradation to servile duties; an expression which led to the discovery that the officer in question had actually been a Lydian slave, and retained the marks of slavery on his

person. He was accordingly cashiered, and the example proved of the greatest advantage; for it infused a new spirit into the rest, who, on the suggestion of Xenophon, immediately proceeded to summon a general council of all the surviving generals and officers, to the number of nearly a hundred. By this time it was midnight, and the Boeotian officers, to save time, requested that Xenophon would open the business, by repeating what he had stated to them.

He accordingly made another judicious and encouraging speech, in which he strongly reprobated the idea of placing the smallest dependence on any thing but their own prudence, courage, and unanimity; and recommended, as the first step towards providing for the expected attack, that they should instantly proceed to supply by election the places of the commanders whom they had lost.

As soon as it was day, the new commanders, placing pickets in advance, again assembled the army, and exhorted them to take courage, to maintain discipline, and to rely on the favor of the gods, who would not fail to avenge themselves on the perfidious Persians. Xenophon in particular, having armed himself with a splendor becoming his present rank, endeavored to raise hope and