Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/164

 142 HISTORY OF GUEECE. men who were lagging behind with cold and fj.tigue, or were stopping the way so as to hinder others from getting i;s-ward ; I struck them with my fist, 1 in order to save them from the spear of the enemy. You yourselves stood by, and saw me ; you had arms in your hands, yet none of you interfered to prevent me. I did it for their good as well as for yours, not from any insolence of disposition ; for it was a time when we were all alike suffering from cold, hunger, and fatigue ; whereas I now live comparatively well, drink more wine, and pass easy days, and yet I strike no one. You will find that the men who failed most in those times of hardship, are now the most outrageous offenders in the army. There is Boiskus, 2 the Thessalian pugilist, who pretended sickness during the march, in order to evade the burthen of carrying his shield, and now, as I am informed, he has stripped several citi- zens of Kotyora of their clothes. If (he concluded) the blows which I have occasionally given, hi cases of necessity, are now brought in evidence, I call upon those among you also, to whom I have rendered aid and protection, to stand up and testify in my favor." 3 Many individuals responded to this appeal, insomuch that Xeno- phon was not merely acquitted, but stood higher than before hi the opinion of the army. "We learn from his defence that for a com- manding officer to strike a soldier with his fist, if wanting in duty, was not considered improper ; at least under such circumstances as those of the retreat. But what deserves notice still more, is, the extraordinary influence which Xenophon's powers of speaking gave him over the minds of the army. He stood distinguished from the other generals, Lacedaemonian, Arcadian, Achaean, etc., 1 Xen. Anab. v, 8, 16. ercaiaa 7ri)f, on-uf fir) iraioiro. 2 The idea that great pugilists were not good soldiers in battle, is as old among the Greeks as the Iliad. The unrivalled pugilist of the Homeric Grecian army, Epeius, confesses his own inferiority as a soldier (Iliad, xxiii 667). T A<7iKV7T?i,%.ov 'H/iiovov eP ov 7]fii rtv' ugefiev uA/lov 'A%aiuv, TLvyny vm^aavr 1 - inci evxopai elvai dptoroj-. 'Hov a 3. t f, 5,TTi pax*!? iirid evopat ; ovd' apa irot 'Ev mivTeao' epyoiai 6afjfiova (f>ura
 * Xen. Anab. v, 8, 13-25.