rtal on a racecourse, was caught by the heels, but
even he, they said, received no hurt, nor indeed, with the single
exception of some one on the left wing who was said to have been
wounded by an arrow, did any Hellene in this battle suffer a single
hurt.

(4) Some critics regard this sentence as an editor's or commentator's
note.

Cyrus, seeing the Hellene's conquering, as far as they at any rate
were concerned, and in hot pursuit, was well content; but in spite of
his joy and the salutations offered him at that moment by those about 21
him, as though he were already king, he was not led away to join in
the pursuit, but keeping his squadron of six hundred horsemen in cloe
order, waited and watched to see what the king himself would do. The
king, he knew, held the centre of the Persian army. Indeed it is the
fashion for the Asiatic monarch to occupy that position during action,
for this twofold reason: he holds the safest place, with his troops on
either side of him, while, if he has occasion to despatch any
necessary rider along the lines, his troops will receive the message
in half the time. The king accordingly on this occasion held the
centre of his army, but for all that, he was outside Cyrus's left
wing; and seeing that no one offered him battle in front, nor yet the
troops in front of him, he wheeled as if to encircle the enemy. It was
then that Cyrus, in apprehension lest the king might get round to the
rear and cut to pieces the Hellenic body, charged to meet him.
Attacking with his six hundred, he mastered the line of troops in
front of the king, and put to flight the six thousand, cutting down,
as is said, with his own hand their general, Artagerses.

But as soon as the rout commenced, Cyrus's own six hundred themselves,
in the ardour of pursuit, were scattered, with the exception of a
handful who were left with Cyrus himself--chiefly his table
companions, so-called. Left alone with these, he caught sight of the
king, and the close throng about him. Unable longer to contain
himself, with a cry, "I see the man," he rushed at him and dealt a
blow at his chest, wounding him through the corselet. This, according
to the statement of Ctesias the surgeon (5), who further states that he
himself healed the wound. As Cyrus delivered the blow, some one struck
him with a javelin under the eye severely; and in the struggle which
then ensued between the king and Cyrus and those about them to protect
one or other