y of the host of illustrious writers who
have made famous the Hellenic lands.

_THE RETREAT OF THE TEN THOUSAND._

We have now to tell of one of the most remarkable events in Grecian
history, to describe how ten thousand Greeks, who found themselves in
the heart of the great Persian empire, without a leader and almost
without food, marched through the land of their foes, over rugged
mountains swarming with enemies, and across lofty plains covered deep
with snow, until finally they reached once more their native land.
Xenophon, their chosen leader, has told the story of this wonderful
march in a book called the "Anabasis," and from this book we take what
we have here to say.

First, how came these Greeks so far away from their home and friends? We
have told elsewhere how the Persians several times invaded Greece. We
have now to tell how the Greeks first invaded Persia. It happened many
years afterwards. The Persian king Xerxes had long since been dead, and
succeeded by his son Artaxerxes, who reigned over Persia for nearly
forty years. Then came Darius Nothus, whose reign lasted nineteen years.
This king had two sons, Artaxerxes and Cyrus. On his death he bequeathed
the throne to Artaxerxes, while Cyrus was left satrap of a large
province in Asia Minor.

Of these two sons, the new king was timid and incompetent; Cyrus was
remarkably shrewd and able, and was filled with a consuming ambition. He
wanted the Persian throne and knew the best means of obtaining it. He
was well aware of the military ability of the Greeks. It was he who
supplied the money which enabled Sparta to overthrow Athens. He now
secretly enlisted a body of about thirteen thousand Greeks, promising
them high pay if they would enter his service; and with these, and one
hundred thousand Asiatics, he marched against his brother.

But Cyrus was too shrewd to let his purpose be known. He gave out that
he was going to put down some brigand mountaineers. Then when he had got
his army far eastward, he threw off the mask and started on the long
march across the desert to Babylonia. The Greeks had been deceived. At
first they refused to follow him on so perilous an errand, and to such a
distance from home. But by liberal promises he overcame their
objections, and they marched on till the heart of Babylonia was reached.

The army was now in the wonderfully fertile country between the rivers
Euphrates and Tigris, that rich Mesopotamian region which had