II

By the time the new generals had been chosen, the first faint glimmer 1 of dawn had hardly commenced, as they met in the centre of the camp, and resolved to post an advance guard and to call a general meeting of the soldiers.  Now, when these had come together, Cheirisophus the Lacedaemonian first rose and spoke as follows:  “Fellow-soldiers, the present posture of affairs is not pleasant, seeing that we are robbed of so many generals and captains and soldiers; and more than that, our 2 former allies, Ariaeus and his men, have betrayed us; still, we must rise above our circumstances to prove ourselves brave men, and not give in, but try to save ourselves by glorious victory if we can; or, if not, at least to die gloriously, and never, while we have breath in our bodies, fall into the hands of our enemies.  In which latter case, I fear, we shall suffer things, which I pray the gods may visit rather upon those we hate.”

At this point Cleanor the Ochomenian stood up and spoke as follows:  “You see, men, the perjury and the impiety of the king.  You see the faithlessness of Tissaphernes, professing that he was next-door neighbour to Hellas, and would give a good deal to save us, in confirmation of which he took an oath to us himself, he gave us the pledge of his right hand, and then, with a lie upon his lips, this same man turned round and arrested our generals.  He had no reverence even for Zeus, the god of strangers; but, after entertaining Clearchus at his own board as a friend, he used his hospitality to delude and decoy his victims.  And Ariaeus, whom we offered to make king, with whom we exchanged pledges not to betray each other, even this man, without a particle of fear of the gods, or respect for Cyrus in his grave, though he was most honoured by Cyrus in lifetime, even he has turned aside to the worst foes of Cyrus, and is doing his best to injure the dead man’s friends.  Them may the gods requite as they deserve!  But we, with these things before our eyes, will not any more be cheated and cajoled by them; we will make the best fight we can, and having made it, whatever the gods think fit to send, we will accept.”

After him Xenophon arose; he was arrayed for war in his bravest apparel[1]:  “For,” said he to himself, “if the gods grant victory, the finest attire will match with victory best; or if I must needs die, then for one who has aspired to the noblest, it is well there should be some outward correspondence between his expectation and his end.”  He began his speech as follows:  “Cleanor has spoken of the perjury and 8 faithlessness of the barbarians, and you yourselves know them only too well, I fancy.  If then we are minded to enter a second time into terms of friendship with them, with the experience of what our generals, who in all confidence entrusted themselves to their power, have suffered, reason would we should feel deep despondency.  If, on the other hand, we purpose to take our good