ther, is not very clear. The commentators are not all agreed as to the
exact sense that the word ought to bear. Some would interpret it by
_explicare_, "to open out," or "extend," and this indeed seems more
applicable to [Greek: periptyxantes] which precedes; for the Greeks
might lengthen out their line that the king's troops might not surround
them. But on the whole, the other interpretation seems to have most
voices in favour of it.]

[Footnote 75: [Greek: Ek pleonos].] Sc. [Greek: diastematos]: they began
to flee when the Greeks were at a still greater distance than before.]

[Footnote 76: [Greek: Mechri komes tinos].] This is generally supposed
to have been Cunaxa, where, according to Plutarch, the battle was
fought. Ainsworth, p. 244, identifies Cunaxa with _Imsey'ab_, a place 36
miles north of Babylon.]

[Footnote 77: The infantry seem to have fled; the cavalry only were
left.]

[Footnote 78: [Greek: Epi peltes epi xylou].] So stands the passage in
Dindorf's text; but most editors, from Schneider downwards, consider
[Greek: epi xylou] to be a mere interpretation of [Greek: epi peltes],
that has crept by some accident into the text, and either enclose it in
brackets or wholly omit it. [Greek: Pelte] is said by Hesychius and
Suidas to be the same as [Greek: dory] or [Greek: lonche]: and Krueger
refers to Philostratus, Icon. ii. 82, [Greek: epi tes peltes aetos]. In
Cyrop. vii. 1, 4, the insigne of Cyrus the elder is said to have been a
golden eagle, [Greek: epi doratos makrou anatetamenos]. [Greek: Pelte]
accordingly being taken in this sense, all is clear, and [Greek: epi
xylou] is superfluous. Kuehner gives great praise to the conjecture of
Hutchinson, [Greek: epi peltes epi xystou], who, taking [Greek: pelte]
in the sense of _a shield_, supposed that the eagle was mounted on a
shield, and the shield on a spear. But the shield would surely have been
a mere encumbrance, and we had better be rid of it. Yet to take [Greek:
pelte] in the sense of _a spear_, unusual in Xenophon, is not altogether
satisfactory; and it would be well if we could fairly admit into the
text Leunclavius's conjecture, [Greek: epi paltou].]

[Footnote 79: [Greek: Anatetamenon].] This word is generally understood
to signify that the eagle's wings were expanded. See Liddell and Scott's
Lexicon; and Dr. Smith's Dict. of G. and R. Ant. sub _Signa
Militaria_.]

BOOK II.

CHAPTER I.

The Greeks are surprised to hear of the dea