Anabasis

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.