Page:Xenophon by Alexander Grant.djvu/31

Rh of the men's arms piled on beasts of burden, and Cyrus himself riding at ease in a chariot. But at noon on the next day but one after their leaving the trench, when they were at a place called Cunaxa, a mounted scout came in at full speed, shouting both in Greek and Persian that the King was coming up with a vast army in battle array. In hot haste they began to form, thinking that the King would be upon them before they should have time to get into rank. But it was not till the afternoon that they got sight of, first, a white cloud of dust, second, a sort of blackness in the plain, next a flashing of brass; and then the spears and lines of men became visible. It was a mighty mass. On their left, opposite the Greeks, were cavalry in white armour, troops with wicker targets, and Egyptians with long wooden shields reaching to their feet, while before the line at intervals were scythed chariots to cut through the ranks of their opponents. In the centre was the Great King, surrounded by a close phalanx. But though in the centre of his own line, that line was so immense that he was actually beyond the extreme left of the army of Cyrus. Despite what Cyrus had said about the shouting of the natives, they now came on quietly enough with a slow even step.

The right of the Cyreian line, resting on the Euphrates, consisted of the Greeks, commanded in their