fight at the same time. Here we have lost two brave and worthy men,' said he, 'without being able either to bring them off, or to bury them.' To this Chirisophus answered, Cast your eyes on those mountains, and observe how impassable they all are. You see there is but one road, and that a steep one. It is, you may observe, possessed too by a great multitude of men, who stand ready to defend it. For this reason I marched hastily, without staying for you, that if possible I might prevent the enemy, and make myself master of the pass; for our guides assure us there is no other road.' Xenophon replied, 'I have two prisoners; for when the enemy molested us in our march we placed some men in ambush, which gave us time to breathe, and having killed some of them, we were also desirous of taking some alive, with this view, that we might have guides who were acquainted with the country.'

The prisoners therefore being brought before them, they questioned them separately whether they knew of any other road than that which lay before them. One of them said he knew no other, though he was threatened with divers kinds of torture. As he said nothing to the purpose he was put to death in the presence of the other. The survivor said this man pretended he did not know the other road because he had a daughter married to a man who lived there; but that he himself would undertake to conduct us through a road that was passable even for the sumpter horses. Being asked whether there was any difficult pass in that road, he said there was a summit, which if not secured in time would render the passage impracticable. On this it was thought proper to assemble the captains, the targeteers, and some of the heavy-armed men; and having informed them how matters stood, to ask them

whether any of them would show their gallantry, and voluntarily undertake this service. Two of the heavyarmed men offered themselves, Aristonymus of Methydria, and Agasias of Stymphalus, both Arcadians. But Callimachus of Parrhasia, an Arcadian, and Agasias, had a contest who should undertake it. The latter said that he would go, and take with him volunteers out of the whole army. For I am well assured,' said he, 'if I have the command, many of the youth will follow me.' After that they asked if any of the light-armed men, or of their officers, would also be of the party. * On which Aristeas of Chios presented himself. He had, on many occasions of this nature, done great service to the army.

6

II. The day was now far advanced; so the generals ordered these to eat something and set out, and delivered the guide to them bound. It was agreed that if they made themselves masters of the summit, they should make it good that night, and as soon as it was day gave them notice of it by sounding a trumpet; and that those above should charge that body of the enemy that was posted in the passage that lay before them, while those below marched up to their assistance with all the expedition they were able. When things were thus ordered they set forward, being about two thousand in number. And notwithstanding it rained most violently Xenophon marched at the head of the rearguard towards the passage before them, in order to draw the attention of the enemy that way, and conceal as much as possible the march of the detachment. When Xenophon with the rear-guard came to a valley which they were to pass, in order to climb the ascent, the barbarians rolled down vast round stones, some a ton in weight,as well as others both larger and smaller. These being dashed against the rocks in their fall, the

splinters were hurled1 every way, which made it absolutely impossible to approach the road. Some of the captains despairing to gain this passage, endeavored to find out another, and employed themselves in this manner till it was dark. When they imagined they could retire without being seen, they went away to get their supper; for the rear-guard had not dined that day. However, the enemy continued to roll down stones all night, as was perceived by the noise they made in their fall. In the mean time those who marched round with the guide surprised the enemy's guard as they were sitting round a fire; and having killed some of them, and forced others down the precipice, they stayed there, thinking they had made themselves masters of the summit. But in this they were mistaken, for there was still an eminence above them, near which lay the narrow way, where the guard watched. There was indeed a passage from the post they had taken to that the enemy were possessed of in the open road. Here they remained that night.

As soon as it was day they put themselves in order, and marched in silence against the enemy; and there being a mist, came close to them before they were per

This word happily expresses the impetuous dispersion of the splinters, when the stones were shattered by falling against the rocks. There is a passage in Euripides where this word, without the preposition, is very beautifully, or rather dreadfully, made use of to express the scattering of the limbs of Capaneus, when he was dashed to pieces by a thunderbolt just as he was scaling the battlements of Thebes. While o'er the battlements Capaneus sprung,

Jove struck him with his thunder, and the earth
Resounded with the crack; meanwhile mankind
Stood all aghast; from off the ladder's height
His limbs were far asunder hurl'd, his hair
Flew towards Olympus, to the ground his blood,
His hands and feet whirl'd like Ixion's wheel,
And to the earth his flaming body fell.'

ceived. When they saw one another, the trumpet sounded, and the Greeks shouting, made their attack. However, the barbarians did not stand to receive them, but quitted the road, very few of them being killed in the flight, for they were prepared for expedition. Chirisophus and his men hearing the trumpet, immediately marched up the passage which lay before them. The rest of the generals took by-paths, each of them where he happened to be, and climbing as well as they could, drew up one another with their pikes; and these were the first who joined the detachment that had gained the post. Xenophon, with one half of the rear-guard, marched up the same way those went who had the guide, this road being the most convenient for the sumpter horses; the other half he ordered to come up behind the baggage. In their march they came to a hill commanding the road, which was possessed by the enemy, whom they were to dislodge, otherwise they would be separated from the rest of the Greeks. The men indeed might have gone the same way the rest took, but the sumpter horses could go no other. Encouraging therefore one another, they made their attack on the hill in columns, not surrounding it, but leaving the enemy room to run away, if they were so disposed. Accordingly, the barbarians seeing our men marching up the hill, every one where he could without discharging either their arrows or their darts on those who approached the road, fled, and quitted the place. The Greeks having marched by this hill, saw another before them also possessed by the enemy. This they resolved to attack likewise; but Xenophon, considering that if he left the hill they had already taken without a guard, the enemy might repossess it, and from thence annoy the sumpter horses as they passed by them; for the way being narrow, there was a long file

of them he therefore left on this bill Cephisodorus the son of Cephisiphon, an Athenian, and Archagoras, a banished Argive, both captains; while he with the rest marched to the second hill, and took that also in the same manner. There yet remained a third, by much the steepest. This was the eminence that commanded the spot where the guard was surprised at the fire, the night before, by the detachment. When the Greeks approached the hill the barbarians quitted it without striking a stroke: so that every body was surprised, and suspected they left the place, fearing to be surrounded and besieged in it. But the truth was, that seeing from the eminence what passed behind, they all made haste away with a design to fall on the

rear.

Xenophon, with the youngest of his men, ascended to the top of this hill, and ordered the rest to march slowly after, that the two captains who were left behind might join them; and that when they were all together, they should choose some even place in the road, and there stand to their arms. He had no sooner given his orders than Archagoras the Argive came flying from the enemy, and brought an account that they were driven from the first hill, and that Cephisodorus and Amphicrates, and all the rest who had not leaped from the rock and joined the rear, were slain. The barbarians after this advantage came to the hill opposite to that where Xenophon stood; and Xenophon treated with them by an interpreter concerning a truce, and demanded the dead. They consented to deliver them up provided he agreed not to burn their villages. Xenophon consented to this. While the other part of the army approached, and these were employed in treating, all the men moved from the post they were in towards the same place. On this the enemy made