readers may get the insight which Xenophon, both consciously and unconsciously, here furnishes us moderns the means of obtaining, into the standards and ideals of excellence that were prevalent in the ancient world of enlightened paganism, we give nearly in full:

Whenever any one did him a kindness or an injury he showed himself anxious to go beyond him in those respects; and some used to mention a wish of his, that “he desired to live long enough to outdo both those who had done him good, and those who had done him ill, in the requital that he should make." Accordingly to him alone of the men of our days were so great a number of people desirous of committing the disposal of their property, their cities, and their own persons.

Yet no one could with truth say this of him, that he suffered the criminal or unjust to deride his authority; for he of all men inflicted punishment most unsparingly; and there were often to be seen, along the most frequented roads, men deprived of their feet, or hands, or eyes; so that in Cyrus's dominions it was possible for any one, Greek or Barbarian, who did no wrong, to travel without fear whithersoever he pleased, and having with him whatever might suit his convenience.

To those who showed ability for war it is acknowledged that he paid distinguished honor. His first war was with the Pisidians and Mysians; and, marching in person into these countries, he made those whom he saw voluntarily hazarding their lives in his service governors over the territory that he subdued, and distinguished them with rewards in other ways. So that the brave appeared to be the most fortunate of men, while the cowardly were deemed fit only to be their slaves. There were, therefore, great numbers of persons who voluntarily exposed themselves to danger, wherever they thought that Cyrus would become aware of their exertions. With regard to justice, if any appeared to him inclined to display that virtue, he made a point of making such men richer than those who sought to profit by injustice. Accordingly, while in many other respects his affairs were administered judiciously, he likewise possessed an army worthy of the name. For it was not for money that generals and captains came from foreign lands to enter into his service, but because they were persuaded that to serve Cyrus well would be more profitable than any amonnt of monthly pay.

Besides, if any one executed his orders in a superior manner, he never suffered his diligence to go unrewarded; consequently, in every undertaking, the best qualified officers were said to be ready to assist him.

If he noticed any one that was a skillful manager, with strict regard to

justice, stocking the land of which he had the direction, and securing income from it, he would never take any thing from such a person, but was ever ready to give him something in addition; so that men labored with cheerfulness, acquired property with confidence, and made no concealment from Cyrus of what each possessed; for he did not appear to envy those who amassed riches openly, but to endeavor to bring into use the wealth of those who concealed it.

Whatever friends he made, and felt to be well-disposed to him, and considered to be capable of assisting him in any thing that he might wish to accomplish, he is acknowledged by all to have been most successful in attaching them to him.

For, on the very same account on which he thought that he himself had need of friends, namely, that he might have co-operators in his undertakings, did he endeavor to prove an efficient assistant to his friends in whatever he perceived any of them desirous of effecting.

He received, for many reasons, more presents than perhaps any other single individual; and these he outdid every one else in distributing among his friends, having a view to the character of each, and to what he perceived each most needed. Whatever presents any one sent him of articles of personal ornament, whether for warlike accouterment, or merely for dress, concerning these, they said, he used to remark, that he could not decorate his own person with them all, but that he thought friends well equipped were the greatest ornament a man could have. That he should outdo his friends, indeed, in conferring great benefits, is not at all wonderful, since he was so much more able; but that he should surpass his friends in kind attentions and anxious desire to oblige, appears to me far more worthy of admiration. Frequently, when he had wine served him of a peculiarly fine flavor, he would send half-emptied flagons of it to some of his friends, with a message to this effect: " Cyrus has not for some time met with pleasanter wine than this; and he has therefore sent some of it to you, and begs you will drink it to-day with those whom you love best." He would often, too, send geese partly eaten, and the halves of loaves, and other such things, desiring the bearer to say, in presenting them, "Cyrus has been delighted with these, and therefore wishes you also to taste of them."

Wherever provender was scarce, but he himself, from having many attendants, and from the care which he took, was able to procure some, he would send it about, and desire his friends to give that provender to the horses that carried them, so that hungry steeds might not carry his friends. Whenever he rode out, and many were likely to see him, he would call to him his friends, and hold earnest conversation with them, that he might

show whom he held in honor; so that, from what I have heard, I should think that no one was ever beloved by a greater number of persons, either Greeks or Barbarians. Of this fact the following is a proof; that no one deserted to the king from Cyrus, though only a subject (except that Orontes attempted to do so; but he soon found the person whom he believed faithful to him, more a friend to Cyrus than to himself,) while many came over to Cyrus from the king, after they became enemies to each other; and these, too, men who were greatly beloved by the king; for they felt persuaded that if they proved themselves brave soldiers under Cyrus, they would obtain from him more adequate rewards for their services than from the king.

What occurred also at the time of his death is a great proof, as well that he himself was a man of merit, as that he could accurately distinguish such as were trustworthy, well-disposed, and constant in their attachment. For when he was killed, all his friends and the partakers of his table who were with him fell fighting in his defense, except Ariæus, who had been posted in command of the cavalry on the left; and, when he learned that Cyrus had fallen in the battle, he took to flight, with all the troops which he had under his command.

At sunset of the day of battle, the victorious and pursuing Greeks halted on the spot where they at the moment found themselves for an interval of rest. After deliberation, wondering that they heard nothing from Cyrus, of whose death they did not know, they finally returned in the evening to their camp. Artaxerxes had been before them there, and they found their baggage plundered. In consequence, they were most of them obliged to go without supper to rest, as they had also fought without dinner.

SECOND BOOK.

At break of day, while the generals were considering together what course to pursue, a messenger arrived who told them that Cyrus was dead. Resourceful Clearchus suggested that the army of Cyrus seat A-ri-æ'us, the lieutenant of that prince, on the Persian throne. "To those who conquer it belongs also to rule," said the stalwart Spartan, which, in modern political parlance, may be rendered, "To the victors

belong the spoils." A message to this effect being dispatched to Ariæus, the troops proceeded to get themselves a meal, which they did by slaughtering their oxen and asses, and cooking the flesh over fires made from arrows and shields deposited by the Barbarians on the field of battle. About the middle of the forenoon a message from the king, couched in true Oriental terms of despotic arrogance, invited the Greeks to come to the royal palace unarmed and sue for mercy. The Greeks heard the heralds with apprehension; but Clearchus, seldom unequal to the occasion, spiritedly said that it was not for conquerors to give up their arms. There is something about Clearchus that captivates the interest of the reader. The impending tragedy of his fate lends a kind of pathos to the few incidents illustrating his character that still remain. Resourceful as he was, he had to deal with a man whose duplicity, as being that of an Oriental, was an overmatch for the not too scrupulous sagacity of the Greek. The wily Tissaphernes was soon to have Clearchus in his toils.

Pha-li'nus, a plausible Greek in the service of Artaxerxes, was one of the present embassy from the king. After the companions of Clearchus had, in that general's temporary absence on the matter of a sacrifice at the moment in progress, expressed their views of the situation to Phalinus, Phalinus turned to Clearchus, coming back, and said-but the passage-at-arms of witty reticence in which these two Greeks, Phalinus and Clearchus, now engaged, is too good to be reported otherwise than in the full text of Xenophon's narration. The reader will be reminded of the words often quoted and misquoted, "When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war,' an expression as true when the war is of wit as when it is of arms. The correct form of the quotation, by the way, is, "When Greek joined Greek, then was the tug of war; "the reference being, not to collision, but to alliance, of Greek with Greek:

"Your companions, O Clearchus, give each a different answer; and now tell us what you have to say." Clearchus then said, "I was glad to see you, O Phalinus, and so, I dare say, were all the rest of us; for you are a Greek, as we also are; and, being so many in number as you see, and placed in such circumstances, we would advise with you how we should act with regard to the message that you bring. Give us then, I entreat you by the gods, such advice as seems to you most honorable and advantageous, and such as will bring you honor in time to come, when it is related that Phalinus, being once sent from the king to require the Greeks to deliver up their arms, gave them, when they consulted him, such and such counsel; for you know that whatever counsel you do give, will necessarily be reported in Greece."

Clearchus craftily threw out this suggestion, with the desire that the very person who came as an envoy from the king should advise them not to deliver up their arms, in order that the Greeks might be led to conceive better hopes. But Phalinus, adroitly evading the appeal, spoke, contrary to his expectation, as follows: "If, out of ten thousand hopeful chances, you have any single one of saving yourselves by continuing in arms against the king, I advise you not to deliver up your arms; but if you have not a single hope of safety in opposing the king's pleasure, I advise you to save yourselves in the only way in which it is possible." Clearchus rejoined: "Such, then, is your advice; but on our part return this answer, that we are of opinion that, if we are to be friends with the king, we shall be more valuable friends if we retain our arms, than if we surrender them to another; but that if we must make war against him, we should make war better if we retain our arms than if we give them up to another." Phalinus said, "This answer, then, we will report; but the king desired us also to inform you, that while you remain in this place a truce is to be considered as existing between him and you; but, if you advance or retreat, there is to be war. Give us, therefore, your answer on this point also; whether you will remain here and a truce to exist, or whether I shall announce from you that there is war." Clearchus replied, "Report, therefore, on this point also, that our resolution is the same as that of the king." "And what is that?" said Phalinus. Clearchus replied, "If we stay here, a truce; but if we retreat or advance, war." Phalinus again asked him, "Is it a truce or war that I shall report?" Clearchus again made the same answer: "A truce if we stay, and if we retreat or advance, war." he intended to do he gave no intimation.

But of what