Anabasis

As they thought over these things they turned to Xenophon; the captains came to him and said that this was the opinion of the army, and each one of them, with manifestations of good will, urged him to undertake the command.

As for Xenophon, he was inclined on some accounts to accept the command, for he thought that if he did so the greater would be the honour he would enjoy among his friends and the greater his name when it should reach his city, while, furthermore, it might chance that he could be the means of accomplishing some good thing for the army.

Such considerations, then, roused in him an earnest desire to become sole commander. On the other hand, when he reflected that no man can see clearly how the future will turn out and that for this reason there was danger that he might even lose the reputation he had already won, he was doubtful.

Quite unable as he was to decide the question, it seemed best to him to consult the gods; and he accordingly brought two victims to the altar and proceeded to offer sacrifice to King Zeus, the very god that the oracle at Delphi had prescribed for him;[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 3.1.5 ff.) and it was likewise from this god, as he believed, that the dream[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 3.1.11 f.) came which he had at the time when he took the first steps toward assuming a share in the charge of the army.

Moreover, he recalled that when he was setting out from Ephesus to be introduced to Cyrus,[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 3.1.8.) an eagle screamed upon his right; it was sitting, however, and the soothsayer who was conducting him said that while the omen was one suited to the great rather than to an ordinary person, and while it betokened glory, it nevertheless portended suffering, for the reason that other birds are most apt to attack the eagle when it is sitting; still, he said, the omen did not betoken gain, for it is rather while the eagle is on the wing that it gets its food.

So it was, then, that Xenophon made sacrifice, and the god signified to him quite clearly that he should neither strive for the command nor accept it in case he should be chosen. Such was the issue of this matter.