Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

successfully; and though often opposed by malevo lence and envy, yet his eloquence and his activit convinced the Greeks that no general could ex tricate them from every difficulty better than th disciple of Socrates. He rose superior to danger and, though under continual alarms from the sudde attacks of the Persians, he was enabled to cros rapid rivers, penetrate through vast deserts, gai the tops of mountains, till he could rest secure fo a while, and refresh his tired companions.. Thi celebrated retreat was at last happily effected, an the Greeks returned home after a march of on thousand one hundred and fifty-five parasangs, o leagues, which was performed in two hundred an fifteen days, after an absence of fifteen months.*

*The army of Cyrus marched from Sardis, throug Lydia, Phrygia, Lycaonia, and Cappadocia, crosse the mountains of Cilicia, passed through Cilicia an Syria to the Euphrates, forded this river, passe through a part of Arabia and Babylonia, until the reached the plain of Cunaxa. In retreating, the obje of the Greeks was to strike the Euxine; but the err they committed was in making that sea extend too f to the east. From Cunaxa they turned their course 1 the Tigris, crossed that river, marched through Med northwards, still following the course of the Tigri

"

alevo The whole, perhaps, might now be forgotten, or
ctivitat least but obscurely known, if the great philoso-
Id expher who planned it had not employed his pen in
an tescribing the dangers which he escaped, and the
ange difficulties which he surmounted; the particulars of
sudde which memorable adventure are so well related by
ocr himself in his Retreat of the Ten Thousand.' He
s, gawas no sooner returned from Cunaxa than he
sought new honors in following the fortune of Age-
Tsilaus in Asia. He enjoyed his confidence; he
ed, fought under his standard, and conquered with him
of in the Asiatic provinces, as well as at the battle of
angs Coronæa. His fame, however, did not escape the
red aspersions of jealousy: he was publicly banished
ths."

cure

a

passe

They then crossed the mountains of the Carduchi, and, after great exertions, reached the sources of the river throw just mentioned. After this they traversed Armenia, cross crossed the Euphrates not far from its source, lost cia a many of their number in the marshes through the cold and snow, and at last reached the Phasis. Leaving til the this stream, they passed through the countries Trochi, e obje Chalybes, Macrones, Colchians, and at last reached he er the Greek colony of Trapezus on the coast of the too Euxine sea. As there were not ships enough there to receive them all, they determined to return home by Med land, and, marching along the coast of the Euxine, Tign came at last to Chalcedon.-See the Map.

ourse

from Athens for accompanying Cyrus against his brother; and being now without a home, he retired to Scillus, a small town of the Lacedæmonians, in the neighborhood of Olympia.

He was accompanied in his retreat by his wife, and by his twin sons Gryllus and Diodorus; but whether this lady was the mother of the young men is not recorded.

It is probable, that in the course of his Asiatic campaigns Xenophon, though by nature expensive and generous, had amassed considerable wealth; and it will be recollected that he was one of the generals who were intrusted with the tenth dedicated to Apollo and the Ephesian Diana, on the division of the spoil among the Cyreian Greeks at Cerasus; a trust not only honorable, but the source also of an ample revenue. Xenophon remitted the portion designed for Apollo to the temple at Delphi; and, on leaving Asia to return with Agesilaus into Greece, he deposited the other portion with Megabyzus, the treasurer of the Ephesian temple, desiring that if he should fall in the approaching contest with the Thebans, Megabyzus himself should perform the solemn act of dedication in such manner as should be most pleasing to the goddess; but that if he should survive, the money should be returned

to him; for in the insecurity of all property in Greece, the safest depository for money and the precious metals was the treasury of a temple, where superstition generally effected what better principles failed to do elsewhere; and hence the Grecian temples, especially that at Delphi, were generally used both as public and private banks.

When Xenophon was securely settled at Scillus, Megabyzus took the opportunity afforded by the Olympian games to restore the deposit to him, with which he purchased an estate for the goddess, and built on it a temple and an altar; reserving a tenth of the produce of the sacred land as the rent due to her as proprietor, and leaving the residue to be enjoyed by the occupier of the soil, on condition of discharging his duties as manager of the festivals, and guardian of the temple; thus securing to himself and to his family a splendid demesne and handsome income, under the protection of reputed sanctity.

The situation of the estate was dictated by the oracle of Apollo, at the suggestion doubtless of Xenophon himself, and appears to have been studiously selected with a view to make it a counterpart of the sacred territory of Ephesus.

The yearly festival was celebrated with an en

tertainment to all the inhabitants of the town and neighborhood.

In this delightful retreat, under the protection of the temporal sovereignty of Lacedæmon, and the spiritual tutelage of Diana, Xenophon forgot the toils of war, in a state of as much enjoyment as can fall to the lot of a man whose happiness must depend on sublunary circumstances. He seems to have been precisely what we should now call a literary country gentleman, diversifying the more refined pleasures of his studious hours with the active amusements of the field; breaking his dogs, training his horses, and attending to the breed of stock; and so much interest did the philosopher, historian, and commander take in these healthful pursuits, that they became the subject of more than one treatise from his immortal pen; an example to scholars in all ages that they should not disdain to refresh their vigor, and renew their animation, by allowing the unharnessed faculties to recreate themselves freely in country sports, and exercise themselves agreeably in country business.

From the period of his settlement at Scillus till after the destruction of the Lacedæmonian sovereignty, by the event of the battle at Leuctra, Xenophon appears to have enjoyed uninterrupted

« AnteriorContinua »