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 XENOPHON'S GREAT ADVENTURE 315 soldier ; a good husband and father ; with no specula- tive power, and no disposition to criticise current beliefs about the gods or the laws, though ready enough to preach and philosophise mildly on all less dangerous topics. He is said to have been strikingly handsome, and he had in him a dash of romance. A Boeotian friend, Proxenus, had been engaged by the satrap Cyrus, brother to the Great King, to lead a force of Greek mercenaries on an inland march towards Cilicia. The aim of the expedition was not divulged, but the pay was high, and there was every opportunity for adventure. Proxenus offered to take Xenophon with him. Xeno- phon would not actually take service under Cyrus, who had so recently been his country's enemy, but obtained an introduction to the prince, and followed him as an independent cavalier. The rest of the story is well known. The troops marched on and on, wondering and fearing about the real object of their march. At last it was beyond concealment that they were assailing the Great King. Some fled ; most felt themselves com- mitted, and went forward. They fought the King at Cunaxa ; Cyrus was killed. The Greeks were gradually isolated and surrounded. Their five commanders, iur eluding Xenophon's gentle friend Proxenus, the Spartan martinet Clearchus, the unscrupulous Thessalian Menon, were inveigled into a parley, seized, and murdered. The troops were left leaderless in the heart of an enemy's country, over a thousand miles from Greek soil. Xeno- phon saved them. In the night of dismay that followed the murder of the generals, he summoned the remain- ing leaders, degraded the one petty ofticer who advised submission — a half-Lydian creature, who wore ear-rings !