Anabasis

Such was the country thereabouts. The men took up quarters on the beach by the sea, refusing to encamp on the spot which might become a city; indeed, the fact of their coming to this place at all seemed to them the result of scheming on the part of some people who wished to found a city.

For most of the soldiers had sailed away from Greece to undertake this service for pay, not because their means were scanty, but because they knew by report of the noble character of Cyrus; some brought other men with them, some had even spent money of their own on the enterprise, while still another class had abandoned fathers and mothers, or had left children behind with the idea of getting money to bring back to them, all because they heard that the other people who served with Cyrus enjoyed abundant good fortune. Being men of this sort, therefore, they longed to return in safety to Greece.

On the day after the reunion of the three divisions Xenophon offered sacrifice with a view to an expedition; for it was necessary to go out after provisions and, besides, he intended to bury the Arcadian dead. When the sacrifices proved favourable, the Arcadians also followed with the rest,[*](i.e. no longer insisting upon their independent organization.) and they buried the greater part of the dead just where they each had fallen; for they had already lain unburied five days, and it was not now possible to carry away the bodies; some that lay upon the roads, however, they did gather together and honour with as fine a burial as their means allowed, while for those they could not find, they erected a great cenotaph, and placed wreaths upon it.

After doing all this they returned to their camp, and then took dinner and went to bed. On the following day all the soldiers held a meeting, the chief movers in the matter being Agasias the Stymphalian, a captain, Hieronymus the Elean, also a captain, and some others from among the eldest of the Arcadians.

They passed a resolution that if any man from this time forth should suggest dividing the army, he should be punished with death, and further, that the army should return to the same organization which formerly obtained, and that the former generals should resume command. Now by this time Cheirisophus had died, from the effects of a medicine which he took for a fever;[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 6.2.18.) and his command passed to Neon the Asinaean.

After this Xenophon rose and said: Fellow soldiers, our journey, it seems, must be made by land, for we have no ships; and we must set out at once, for we have no provisions if we remain here. We, then, he continued, will sacrifice, and you must prepare yourselves to fight if ever you did; for the enemy have renewed their courage.

Thereupon the generals proceeded to sacrifice, the soothsayer who was present being Arexion the Arcadian; for Silanus the Ambraciot had by this time stolen away,[*](cp. Xen. Anab. 5.6.18, 34.) on a vessel which he hired at Heracleia. When they sacrificed, however, with a view to their departure, the victims would not prove favourable,