Page:Xenophon by Alexander Grant.djvu/84

74 with this horse, on which you will pursue your enemies." Another, in similar fashion, offered a young slave; another some vestments, and so on. When Xenophon saw that some complimentary offering was expected from himself, and as the wine-horn was presented to him for this very purpose, he stood up boldly, and, taking the horn, said, "I present you, O Seuthes, myself and my comrades, to be your faithful friends, and to recover your dominions for you." The pledge and offering were well received, and the feast ended merrily. After all had well drunk, and the Greeks were thinking of retiring to their lines for the night, Seuthes proposed that they should at once strike a blow. So, though it was the depth of winter, they started at midnight, and, having crossed a mountain covered with snow, they came down next day on villages which they plundered and burnt. The booty was sent away to be sold at Perinthus, to provide pay for the troops. Afterwards they marched into the country called the Delta of Thrace, above Byzantium. The Greeks had a good deal of fighting, and suffered severely from the frost, not being so warmly clad as the natives of the country. When the first month was up, presents were offered to the generals (Xenophon, however, declined to take anything); and twenty days', instead of a month's, pay, was given to the troops. This naturally caused discontent, and gave rise to a quarrel between Xenophon and Heraclides, the paymaster of Seuthes, who tried as much as possible to damage Xenophon with his master. He even endeavoured to get the other Greek generals to