a line,[238] with the
intention of marching up the hill in this disposition; but afterwards
the generals thought proper to assemble and deliberate how they might
engage with the best effect. 10. Xenophon then said it appeared to him
that they ought to relinquish the arrangement in line, and to dispose
the troops in columns;[239] "for a line," pursued he, "will be broken at
once, as we shall find the hills in some parts impassable, though in
others easy of access; and this disruption will immediately produce
despondency in the men, when, after being ranged in a regular line, they
find it dispersed. 11. Again, if we advance drawn up very many deep, the
enemy will stretch beyond us on both sides, and will employ the parts
that outreach us in any way they may think proper; and if we advance
only a few deep, it would not be at all surprising if our line be broken
through by showers of missiles and men falling upon us in large bodies.
If this happen in any part, it will be ill for the whole extent of the
line. 12. I think, then, that having formed our companies in columns, we
should keep them so far apart from each other as that the last companies
on each side may be beyond the enemy's wings. Thus our extreme companies
will both outflank the line of the enemy, and, as we march in file, the
bravest of our men will close with the enemy first, and wherever the
ascent is easiest, there each division will direct its course. 13. Nor
will it be easy for the enemy to penetrate into the intervening spaces,
when there are companies on each side, nor will it be easy to break
through a column as it advances; while, if any one of the companies be
hard pressed, the neighbouring one will support it; and if but one of
the companies can by any path attain the summit, the enemy will no
longer stand their ground." 14. This plan was approved, and they threw
the companies into columns. Xenophon, riding along from the right wing
to the left, said. "Soldiers, the enemy whom you see before you, are now
the only obstacle to hinder us from being where we have long been eager
to be. These, if we can, we must eat up alive."[240]

15. When the men were all in their places, and they had formed the
companies into columns, there were about eighty companies of heavy-armed
men, and each company consisted of about eighty men. The peltasts and
archers they divided into three bodies, each about six hundred men, one
of which they placed beyond the left wing, anoth