Page:Xenophon by Alexander Grant.djvu/150

140 I prove worthy of the love of Panthea, and of the friendship of Cyrus!" He then mounted, and Panthea, as a last adieu, kissed the chariot, and was borne off by her attendants to her tent, and the line began to move against the enemy.

There was a mighty battle against great odds, for the army of Crœsus quite outflanked that of Cyrus, and enclosed it, "as a large brick might enclose a smaller one," on all sides but the rear. But the gallantry of the smaller force prevailed, and none on that day made a fiercer charge than Abradâtes of Susa, who, being posted against the Egyptians, overwhelmed and crushed them in his weighty chariot, armed with scythes. But in the furious melée that ensued, the prince himself, pursuing his victorious course, was thrown from his chariot, and, fighting like a brave man on foot, was cut down and killed.

The next day after the battle had been won, Cyrus asked, "Where was Abradâtes, that he did not come to see him?" They said that he was no longer alive, and that his wife had carried his body to a spot near the river Pactolus, where her eunuchs were digging a grave for him, while she sat on the ground with the dead man's head upon her knee. On learning this, Cyrus struck his thigh, and leaping upon his horse, rode, with an escort, to the scene of affliction. When he reached the spot, he approached the corpse, and shedding tears, he said, "Ah! brave and faithful soul, hast thou then left us for ever?" and he took hold of the right hand, but the hand came away, for the wrist had been cut through by an Egyptian. On