above the level of the sea.
Whilst halting near some well-supplied villages, the Greeks were
overtaken by two deep falls of snow, which almost buried them in their
open bivouacs. Hence a five days' march brought them to the eastern
branch of the Euphrates. Crossing the river, they proceeded on the
other side of it over plains covered with a deep snow, and in the face
of a biting north wind. Here many of the slaves and beasts of burthen,
and even a few of the soldiers, fell victims to the cold. Some had
their feet frost-bitten; some were blinded by the snow; whilst others,
exhausted with cold and hunger, sunk down and died. On the eighth day
they proceeded on their way, ascending the banks of the Phasis, not the
celebrated river of that name, but probably the one usually called
Araxes.

From thence they fought their way through the country of the Taochi and
Chalybes. They next reached the country of the Scythini, in whose
territory they found abundance in a large and populous city called
Gymnias. The chief of this place having engaged to conduct them within
sight of the Euxine, they proceeded for five days under his guidance;
when, after ascending a mountain, the sea suddenly burst on the view of
the vanguard. The men proclaimed their joy by loud shouts of "The sea!
the sea!" The rest of the army hurried to the summit, and gave vent to
their joy and exultation in tears and mutual embraces. A few days'
march through the country of the Macrones and Colchians at length
brought them to the objects for which they had so often pined, and
which many at one time had never hoped to see again--a Grecian city and
the sea. By the inhabitants of Trapezus or Trebizond, on the Euxine,
where they had now arrived, they were hospitably received, and, being
cantoned in some Colchian villages near the town, refreshed themselves
after the hardships they had undergone by a repose of thirty days.

The most difficult part of the return of the Ten Thousand was now
accomplished, and it is unnecessary to trace the remainder of their
route. After many adventures they succeeded in reaching Byzantium, and
they subsequently engaged to serve the Lacedaemonians in a war which
Sparta had just declared against the satraps Tissaphernes and
Pharnabazus.

In the spring of B.C. 399, Thimbron, the Lacedaemonian commander,
arrived at Pergamus, and the remainder of the Ten Thousand Greeks
became incorporated with his army. Xenophon now returned t