nt to dazzle men of small
means and smaller prospects, like the youth of conquered Athens.
Xenophon thought it right to consult his spiritual guide, Socrates, on
the propriety of abandoning his country for hireling service. The
philosopher advised him to consult the oracle at Delphi, but the young
man only asked what gods he might best conciliate before his departure,
and Socrates, though noting the evasion of his advice, acquiesced.

When Xenophon arrived at Sardis, Proxenus presented him to Cyrus, who
invited him to accompany him on his pretended campaign to Pisidia, and
then coaxed him on with the rest into his enterprise against the king
Artaxerxes. On this expedition or _anabasis_ up the country, Xenophon
was only a volunteer, with no command, and under no man's orders, but
accompanying the army on horseback, and enjoying the trip as a bright
young man, well appointed by the prince, and full of intelligent
curiosity, was sure to enjoy it. But then came the decisive day of
Cunaxa, where Xenophon offered his services as an extra aide-de-camp to
Cyrus, and where he witnessed the victory of his countrymen and the
defeat of their cause by the rashness and death of Cyrus. In the crisis
which followed he took no leading part, till the generals of the 10,000
Greeks were entrapped and murdered by Tissaphernes. Then, in the midst
of the panic and despair which supervened, he tells us in graphic words
how he came to be a leader of men. He, too, with the rest, was in sore
distress, and could not sleep; but anon getting a snatch of rest he had
a dream. It seemed to him that there was a storm, and a thunderbolt fell
on his father's house and set it all in a blaze. He sprang up in terror,
and, pondering the matter, decided that in part the dream was good, in
that when in great danger he had seen a light from Zeus; but partly,
too, he feared it, for it came from the king of heaven. But as soon as
he was fully awake the first clear thought that came into his head was:
"Why am I lying here? The night advances, and with the coming day the
enemy will be upon us. If we fall into the king's hands we must face
torture, slavery, and death, and yet here we lie, as if it were a time
for rest! What am I waiting for? Is it a general to lead me? and where
is he? or till I am myself of riper age to command? Older I shall never
be, if to-day I surrender to mine enemies." And so he rouses the
officers of his murdered friend, Proxenos, and appeals