Anabasis

A man was being left behind because he was unable to keep going any longer. I was acquainted with the man only so far as to know that he was one of our number, and I forced you, sir, to carry him in order that he might not perish; for, as I remember, the enemy were following after us. To that the fellow agreed.

Well, Xenophon continued, after I had sent you on ahead, I overtook you again, as I came along with the rearguard, and found you digging a hole to bury the man in, and I stopped and commended you.

But when, as we were standing by, the man drew up his leg, all of us cried out, The man is alive; and you said, Let him be alive just as much as he pleases, I, for my part, am not going to carry him. Then I struck you; your story is true; for it looked to me as if you knew that he was alive.

Well, what of that, the fellow said; didn’t he die all the same after I had shown him to you? Why, said Xenophon, all of us are likewise going to die; but should we on that account be buried alive?

As for this fellow, everybody cried out that Xenophon had given him fewer blows than he deserved. Then he directed the rest to state the reason why each one of them had been struck.

When they failed to rise, he went on himself: I admit, soldiers, that I have indeed struck men for neglect of discipline, the men who were content to be kept safe by you who marched in due order and fought wherever there was need, while they themselves would leave the ranks and run on ahead in the desire to secure plunder and to enjoy an advantage over you. For if all of us had behaved in this way, all of us alike would have perished.

Again, when a man behaved like a weakling and refused to get up, preferring to leave himself a prey to the enemy, I did indeed strike him and use violence to compel him to go on. For once during the severe weather I myself remained seated for quite a long time, waiting for some people who were packing up, and I discovered that it was hard work to get up and stretch my legs.

Having tested the matter, then, in my own case, I used after that to drive on any other man whom I might see sitting down and shirking; for getting into motion and acting like a man produced a certain amount of warmth and suppleness, while sitting and keeping quiet tended, as I saw, to make the blood freeze and the toes rot off, just the misfortunes which many people suffered, as you know for yourselves.

In still another case, the man, perhaps, who fell behind somewhere out of indolence and prevented both you in the van and us in the rear from going on, I struck such a one with the fist in order that the enemy might not strike him with the lance.

Indeed, that is the reason why these people, having been saved, now have it in their power to obtain satisfaction for whatever they suffered unjustly at my hands. But if they had fallen into the hands of the enemy, what suffering would they have experienced so great that they would now be asking to obtain satisfaction for it?[*](The speaker implies in this sarcastic way that they would have met their death, and would not be talking now about satisfaction for that or anything else.)

My defence, he continued, is simple: if it was for his good that I punished any one, I think I should render the sort of account that parents render to sons and teachers to pupils; for that matter, surgeons also burn and cut patients for their good;

but if you believe it was out of wantonness that I did these things, take note that now, by the blessing of the gods, I am more confident than I was then and that I am bolder now than then and drink more wine, but nevertheless I strike no man—for the reason that I see you are in calm waters.

But when it is stormy weather and a high sea is running, do you not observe that even for a mere nod the lookout gets angry with the people at the prow and the helmsman angry with the people at the stern? For in such a situation even small blunders are enough to ruin everything.