interest of the "Anabasis," as a narrative, lies rather in the retreat than in the advance. The reader follows, in a delightfully life-like and simple story, the fortunes of a force of somewhat more than ten thousand Greek mercenary soldiers, starting, with no resource but their arms, their skill, and their valor, from a point many hundreds of miles distant, and successfully making their way home through a region formidable to the adventurers, alike from its natural features and from its hostile populations.

The whole matter of the famous advance and retreat of the ten thousand derives grave secondary importance from the fact that it resulted in revealing to Greece the essential weakness and vulnerableness of the imposing Persian Empire. The indirect historical consequences were thus very momentous, of what was in itself a mere episode of history. Many considerations, therefore, conspire to render Xenophon's "Anabasis" a work worthy of the attention that in all ages since it was written it has received.

XENOPHON.

Xenophon, the author, was born about 431 B. C., being thus not far from contemporary with the Hebrew prophet Malachi. He was one of the pupils of Socrates, who, though on doubtful authority, is said to have borne him off on his shoulders from a field of battle, in which, having been wounded, the young Athenian knight had fallen helpless from his horse. Xenophon joined the expedition of Cyrus as one adventuring on his own private account, he having at first no regular official relation with the army of the Greeks. Soon after the death of Cyrus at the battle of Cunax'a, five principal commanders of the Greeks having been treacherously put to death by the Persian general Tis'sa-pher'nes, Xenophon's presence of mind and practical wisdom, called out by the crisis in which the Greeks found themselves involved, immediately gave him a kind of leadership in the retreat, which he maintained until

a prosperous issue was reached on the shores of Greece. Xenophon's opportunities were accordingly the best that could possibly be enjoyed, for knowing the facts which he undertook to relate. His own part in the transactions is given, not entirely without betrayal of self-consciousness, but on the whole with admirably well-bred modesty; and you cannot resist the impression that the writer who writes so well, acquitted himself well also as a man of affairs. Xenophon was not, to be sure, a very great man, but it is not quite easy to see what good ground Macaulay could allege for suspecting, as he says he does, that he had "rather a weak head." Weaknesses he had, no doubt, and weaknesses they were of the head; for instance, he was superstitious, being a believer in dreams. He suffers, too, in comparison with Plato, as reporter of Socrates; but this simply means that he was not a philosopher. He was, instead, a shrewd and enterprising practical man of affairs. At all events, " a rather weak head" would hardly have been the qualification for the masterly conduct that Xenophon achieved, of the long, eventful, and on the whole remarkably prosperous, retreat of that highspirited, independent, almost mutinous horde of ten thousand mercenary Greek soldiers. More just and probable is the estimate which Grote, the great historian of Greece, indicates of Xenophon, as one in whom a full measure of soldierly strength and courage was combined with the education of an Athenian, a democrat, and a philosopher."

Xenophon retired in later life to a landed estate where, in the enjoyment of comfortable, if not elegant, leisure, he devoted himself to literary pursuits. He is supposed to have lived to ninety years of age. Diogenes Laer'tius has an interesting, though not wholly trustworthy, biography of Xenophon. Our readers should be advised that the skeptical spirit of literary criticism has not left the genuineness of the "Anabasis" unassailed. It has been gravely argued that Xenophon was not its real author. The Bible, it will be

seen, is far from being the only sufferer at iconoclastic critical hands.

Xenophon's fame, notwithstanding his creditable part in this expedition, is that of an author rather than that of a soldier. Among his other chief works is the "Cy'ro-pædi'a," purporting to be an account of Cyrus, surnamed the Elder, or the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire. "Cyropædia" is another misnomer. It means literally the education of Cyrus. The book is really much more than an account of its subject's earlier years. It is, however, rather a romance than a history. Xenophon in it seems to aim at giving a description of the ideal civil society or state. is written in the spirit of praise to despotism, as contrasted with democracy. This may seem singular in an Athenian, as was Xenophon; but the fact is, Xenophon was but an indifferent patriot-for, having in the course of his quest of fortune attached himself to the Spartan monarchy, he came once openly to bear arms against his native country. It is possible to suppose that in the "Cyropædia " Xenophon meant to stimulate his countrymen by the ideal representation of manners better than their own. Such was probably the patriotic purpose of Tac'itus in his "Germania." We should thus relieve Xenophon's reputation somewhat. But the simple truth is that Greek patriotism has, through the eloquent commonplaces of orators, come to be popularly over-conceived.

Another important work of Xenophon's, known under the title of Memorabilia, has already been named. The "Memorabilia" ("Things worthy to be remembered or recorded") is a record of the sayings of Socrates. This work, from which quotations were given in the last chapter, is especially aimed to defend Xenophon's master against the accusation of impiety and of evil influence exerted upon the Athenian youth. There are several other works from Xenophon's pen, with mention, however, of which it is hardly worth while here to trouble the reader.

The "Anabasis" is divided into books, seven in number, each book being also divided into chapters. For convenience of reference, it has been further divided by editors into paragraphs or sections, somewhat on the principle of the verses of Scripture. The numeration of these sections commences afresh with every chapter.

The story of the "Anabasis" is capable of being summarily presented within very small compass. It is in large part an itinerary, that is, a journal of halts and marches. Such a recital would, of course, be tedious, but for the incidents, of disturbance within, of attack from without, of forays for food, of encounter with strange peoples, of observation of strange ways and habits, and for interspersed notices pertaining to the fauna and the flora of the regions traversed. There are some highly entertaining passages reporting the speeches of various personages, made on occasion perhaps of a popular tendency developing itself to resist the plans of the generals, and there are some very good characterizations of men that figured conspicuously in the expedition. The whole narrative is enlivened with the Greek spirit, now and again disporting itself in those plays of wit for which it is remarkable.

The reader will not get on well in following the story of the "Anabasis," without frequent references to the accompanying map, illustrating both the route of the advance and the different route of the retreat. The present will be a good opportunity to parents for impressing upon their children the value, indeed the indispensable necessity, of geography to history. Pupils ought to be able to draw for themselves an outline map of the paths followed by the Greeks. Without adequate geographical and topographical knowledge, on his part, such as is thus recommended for acquirement, the student of the "Anabasis" will feel himself involved from beginning to end in one inextricable maze of endless wandering and confusion. With it, he will find the work of translation comparatively easy and pleasant.