you, on your side,
had rendered an account to me of the man. Let me tell you," he
continued, turning to the court, "what the circumstances were; it is
worth hearing:--

(1) See the "Dict. of Antiq." 622 a. HYBREOS GRAPHE. In the case of
common assaults as opposed to indecent assault, the prosecution
seems to have been allowable only when the object of a wanton
attack was a free person. Cf. Arist. "Rhet." ii. 24.

"A man was left behind from inability to proceed farther; I recognised
the poor fellow sufficiently to see that he was one of ours, and I
forced you, sir, to carry him to save his life. For if I am not much
mistaken, the enemy were close at our heels?" The fellow assented to
this. "Well then," said Xenophon, "after I had sent you forward, I
overtook you again, as I came up with the rearguard; you were digging
a trench with intent to bury the man; I pulled up and said something
in commendation; as we stood by the poor fellow twitched his leg, and
the bystanders all cried out, 'Why, the man's alive!' Your remark was:
'Alive or not as he likes, I am not going to carry him' Then I struck
you. Yes! you are right, for it looked very much as if you knew him to
be alive." "Well," said he, "was he any the less dead when I reported
him to you?" "Nay," retorted Xenophon, "by the same token we shall all
one day be dead, but that is no reason why meantime we should all be
buried alive?" Then there was a general shout: "If Xenophon had given
the fellow a few more blows, it might have been better." The others
were now called upon to state the grounds on which they had been
beaten in each case; but when they refused to get up, he proceeded to
state them himself.

"I confess, sirs, to having struck certain men for failure in
discipline. These were men who were quite content to owe their safety
to us. Whilst the rest of the world marched on in rank and did
whatever fighting had to be done, they preferred to leave the ranks,
and rush forward to loot and enrich themselves at our expense. Now, if 13
this conduct were to be the rule, general ruin would be the result. I
do not deny that I have given blows to this man or the other who
played the poltroon and refused to get up, helplessly abandoning
himself to the enemy; and so I forced them to march on. For once in
the severe wintry weather I myself happened to sit down for a long
time, whilst waiting for a party who were getting their kit together,
and I discovered