pare
their worth with that of Dexippus. Kleander was not merely soothed, but
completely won over, by this address; and said in reply that the conduct
of the generals belied altogether the representations made to him
(doubtless by Dexippus), that they were seeking to alienate the army
from the Lacedaemonians. He not only restored the two men in his power,
but also accepted the command of the army, and promised to conduct them
back into Greece.

The prospects of the army appeared thus greatly improved; the more so,
as Kleander, on entering upon his new functions as commander, found the
soldiers so cheerful and orderly, that he was highly gratified, and
exchanged personal tokens of friendship and hospitality with Xenophon.
But when sacrifices came to be offered, for beginning the march
homeward, the signs were so unpropitious, for three successive days,
that Kleander could not bring himself to brave such auguries at the
outset of his career. Accordingly, he told the generals, that the gods
plainly forbade him, and reserved it for them, to conduct the army into
Greece; that he should therefore sail back to Byzantium, and would
receive the army in the best way he could, when they reached the
Bosphorus. After an interchange of presents with the soldiers, he then
departed with his two triremes.

The favorable sentiment now established in the bosom of Kleander will be
found very serviceable hereafter to the Cyreians at Byzantium; but they
had cause for deeply regretting the unpropitious sacrifices which had
deterred him from assuming the actual command at Kalpe. In the request
preferred to him by them that he would march as their commander to the
Bosphorus, we may recognize a scheme, and a very well-contrived scheme,
of Xenophon; who had before desired to leave the army at Herakleia, and
who saw plainly that the difficulties of a commander, unless he were a
Lacedaemonian of station and influence, would increase with every step of
their approach to Greece. Had Kleander accepted the command, the
soldiers would have been better treated, while Xenophon himself might
either have remained as his adviser, or might have gone home. He would
probably have chosen the latter course.

Sec. 16. The army crosses the Bosphorus to Byzantium; false promises of
Anaxibius and their results.

Under the command of their own officers, the Cyreians now marched from
Kalpe across Bithynia to Chrysopolis (in the territory of Chalkedon on
the Asiat