Page:Xenophon by Alexander Grant.djvu/71

Rh and let the man who lags behind or runs off be condemned as a wrong-doer." This question being put to the vote, every hand was held up in its favour. The last suggestion was a shaft aimed at the soothsayer Silanus, who had decidedly intended to "run off" with his treasure at the earliest opportunity. This indeed he ultimately effected; but for the present the soldiers put down his protestations, threatening him with punishment if he should be found attempting to desert.

Xenophon had satisfied the army with regard to his actions and intentions in the present, but he was shortly afterwards called upon to clear himself of certain charges with regard to the past. It was resolved among the army, during their long halt at Cotyora, that the generals should be called upon to give an account of their conduct during the march, and Xenophon among the rest came in for his share of unfavourable, and not very grateful, review. We have seen how, along the bank of the Tigris, through the passes of Kurdistan, over the uplands of Armenia, throughout the whole march, he was the life and soul of the army. Always fertile in device; always active, ready, and cheerful; equally prompt to counsel others and to meet danger himself—he gradually acquired an ascendancy far beyond that of the other commanders. There seems little doubt that the salvation of the force was greatly due to Xenophon. But now that the troops were comparatively safe on the shore of the Euxine, they forgot, in some instances, the benefit of being commanded, and looked back on the command as a grievance. The following passage is given in full, not