rd a
fisherman's smack, sailed round to the acropolis, and at once sent off
to fetch over the garrison troops from Chalcedon, since those already
in the acropolis seemed hardly sufficient to keep the men in check.

The soldiers, catching sight of Xenophon, threw themselves upon him,
crying: "Now, Xenophon, is the time to prove yourself a man. You have
got a city, you have got triremes, you have got money, you have got
men; to-day, if you only chose, you can do us a good turn, and we will
make you a great man." He replied: "Nay, I like what you say, and I
will do it all; but if that is what you have set your hearts on, fall
into rank and take up position at once." This he said, wishing to
quiet them, and so passed the order along the lines himself, while
bidding the rest to do the same: "Take up position; stand easy." But
the men themselves, by a species of self-marshalling, fell into rank,
and were soon formed, the heavy infantry eight deep, while the light
infantry had run up to cover either wing. The Thracian Square, as it
is called, is a fine site for manouvering, being bare of buildings and
level. As soon as the arms were stacked and the men's tempers cooled,
Xenophon called a general meeting of the soldiers, and made the
following speech:--

"Soldiers, I am not surprised at your wrath, or that you deem it
monstrous treatment so to be cheated; but consider what will be the
consequences if we gratify our indignation, and in return for such
deception, avenge ourselves on the Lacedaemonians here present, and
plunder an innocent city. We shall be declared enemies of the
Lacedaemonians and their allies; and what sort of war that will be, we
need not go far to conjecture. I take it, you have not forgotten some
quite recent occurrences. We Athenians entered into war against the
Lacedaemonians and their allies with a fleet consisting of not less
than three hundred line-of-battle ships, including those in dock as
well as those afloat. We had vast treasures stored up in the city, and
a yearly income which, derived from home or foreign sources, amounted
to no less than a thousand talents. Our empire included all the 27
islands, and we were possessed of numerous cities both in Asia and in
Europe. Amongst others, this very Byzantium, where we are now, was
ours; and yet in the end we were vanquished, as you all very well
know.

"What, must we anticipate, will now be our fate? The Lacedaemonians
have not only their old