were maintained with fodder within doors. There was also wheat, barley and vegetables, and beer in jars; the malt was level with the brims of the vessels, and in it were straws, some large and others small, without joints. When any one was thirsty, he took one of these and sucked. The beer was very strong when unmixed with water, and very delicious to those who were used to it.

The army stayed in these quarters for a week; then resumed its march and forced a mountain pass.

N

EXT they came to the country of the Taochians,1 making

in five marches ninety miles, and here their provisions began to fail; for the Taochians lived in fastnesses, into which they had removed all their provisions. At last the army arrived at a strong place, where there were neither houses nor city, but where great numbers of men and women with their cattle had collected. This place Cheirisophus ordered to be attacked the moment he arrived: when the first line failed, a second went up, and then another; for the place was surrounded with precipices and they could not attack it on all sides at once. When Xenophon came up with the rear-guard, both light and heavy-armed men, Cheirisophus said to him: You have come in the nick of time; for this place must be taken, otherwise the army will be starved.'

A council of war was then summoned, and Xenophon asked what was the difficulty in taking the place. Cheirisophus answered: The only access is the one you see, and when any of our men attempt to gain it, the enemy roll down stones from the overhanging cliff, and you see what happens to those who are hit'; and he pointed to some of the men whose legs and ribs were broken. But,' says Xenophon, 'when they have used up all the stones they have, what can hinder us then from going up? for I can see nothing to oppose us but a few men, and of these not above two or three are armed. The space, as you see, which we

The name seems to have survived in the modern Tao.

must cross under fire, is about one hundred and fifty feet, and of this one hundred feet is covered with large pines, growing in groups, behind which our men can shelter, and be out of the reach of the stones that are thrown or rolled down by the enemy. There remain not more than fifty feet, across which we must run as soon as the stones stop.' 'But,' said Cheirisophus, the moment we begin to approach the place covered with trees, they will shower down stones upon us.' 'That,' replied Xenophon,' is the very thing we want, for their supply will come to an end all the sooner. However,' he continued, 'let us, if we can, advance to a place from which we shall have but a little way to run, and from which we can also, if desirable, easily retreat.'

Upon this, Cheirisophus and Xenophon advanced, with Callimachus of Parrhasia, who was the chief officer of the rearguard for the day, all the rest of the officers standing out of danger. About seventy of the men advanced under the trees, not in a body, but one by one, each sheltering himself as well as he could. Then Callimachus made use of the following stratagem. He advanced two or three paces from the tree under which he stood, but as soon as the stones began to fly, he quickly retired; each time that he advanced, more than ten cart-loads of stones were used up. When Agasius saw what Callimachus was doing, and that the eyes of the whole army were upon him, fearing that he would be the first man to enter the place, he advanced alone, intending to anticipate him. When Callimachus saw him passing by, he grasped the rim of his shield. In the meantime, Aristonymus, and after him Eurylochus, ran by them both; for all these were ambitious of distinction, and constantly competing with one another. And so in competition, they took the place; for the moment one of them had gained the ascent, there were no more stones thrown from above.

A dreadful sight followed; the women first threw their children down the precipice, and then themselves. The men did the same. And here Aeneas the Stymphālian, a captain, seeing one of the natives, who was richly dressed, running to throw himself down,

caught hold of him, and the other pulling him along, they both fell down the precipice together, and were dashed to pieces. We made very few prisoners, though we took a considerable quantity of oxen, asses, and sheep.

From here the Greeks advanced through the country of the Chalybes, and in seven marches made 150 miles. The Chalybes, who were the bravest tribe they met in all their march, attacked them. They had linen corslets, and instead of tassels1 thick cords twisted. They had also greaves and helmets, and at their girdle a short sword like the Spartan dagger, with which they cut the throats of their defeated enemies, and afterwards cutting off their heads marched along with them. It was their way to sing and dance whenever they thought the enemy saw them. They had pikes 22 feet long, pointed at one end only. They stayed in their forts till the Greeks had marched past them, and then followed, harassing them perpetually. After that, they retired to their strongholds, into which they had conveyed their provisions so that the Greeks could get no provisions in their country, and lived upon the cattle they had taken from the Taochians.

The Greeks then reached a district whose governor sent them a guide to conduct them through the territories of his enemies. He promised to take them in five days to a place from which they could see the sea. If not, he said that they might put him to death. When he had conducted them into the territories of his enemies, he asked them to lay waste the country with fire and sword; which showed that he came with this in view, and not from any goodwill he bore to the Greeks. The fifth day they arrived at a mountain called Theches. As soon as the vanguard reached its top and saw the sea, they gave a great shout; Xenophon and those in the rear heard it, and concluded that some other enemies were attacking them in front, for men from the country which they had just ravaged were hanging on their rear, and some had been killed by the rear-guard and others

1 The Greek corslet ended in a fringe of leather.

captured in an ambush. Twenty wicker shields covered with raw ox-hides, with the hair on, had also been taken.

The noise still increased as they came nearer, and the men, as fast as they came up, joined those who still continued shouting; the more the numbers grew, the louder was the shouting, so that Xenophon, thinking something extraordinary had happened, mounted on horseback, and taking with him the cavalry, rode up to their assistance. Suddenly they heard the soldiers calling out, 'SEA! SEA!'1 and passing the news along. At this they all started running, the rear-guard as well as the rest, and the baggage animals and horses were driven forward. When they were all come up to the top of the mountain, they embraced one another, and also their generals and captains, with tears in their eyes; and suddenly, by whose order it is not known, they collected a great many stones, and made a large cairn, upon which they placed a great quantity of shields made of raw ox-hides, staves, and shields taken from the enemy. The guide himself cut the bucklers in pieces, and urged the rest to do the same.2 After this, the Greeks sent back their guide, giving him presents out of the public stock: these were a horse, a silver cup, a Persian dress, and eight pounds. He particularly asked the soldiers to give him some of their rings, and this many of them did.3

1 Not only did the sight mean that they had escaped from the unknown mountains to waters lined with Greek settlements, but it was particularly welcome to men who at home were never far from the sea.

2 To make them useless.

* Anabasis, iv. 5 f. I have adapted Spelman's translation.

IX

PHILOSOPHY: THE SOPHISTS AND

SOCRATES

Socrates... a man unique in history, of a kind at all times needed, and seldom needed more than now.-JOHN STUART MILL.

We have seen the origins of the history, and of the epic, lyric, and dramatic poetry of Europe; we now pass to something even greater the origin of European science and philosophy. It is greater in this sense. Man naturally sings and tells stories, and other nations have composed epics and lyrics which owe nothing to Greece. But Greece is the only creator of that spirit of free inquiry and scientific thought which in religion, morals, politics, and natural science make the civilization of the West what it is. As philosophical writers the great Greek thinkers have three transcendant merits. Living in an age less complex than our own, they saw the central problems unencumbered by lesser issues. Then, while modern philosophy is a specialized science with a technical vocabulary, Plato and Aristotle approach the problems of thought and conduct as the ordinary man approaches them, and for the most part use everyday language. Yet they are not ordinary men, but thinkers of genius who laid the foundations of European thought, raised most of its problems, solved many of them, and have left an indelible mark on it.

Philosophy and science are sisters, the children of reason. Between them they attempt to give a rational account of the universe, of the material world, of man as an animal with a body, and as a human being with reason and a personality, and of the laws that should regulate his conduct as a private individual and as a member of the state. The first attempt in the West to give such an account was made in Ionia about the year 600 B.C. Then was laid the first stone of what has since risen into the vast mansions of modern thought. In Greece science and philosophy continually went hand in hand. We shall reserve the science for later treatment: and we may ignore the early speculations of