Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/126

104 HISTORY OF GREECE. Their four days of march, next on the other side of the Eu- phrates, were toilsome and distressing in the extreme ; through a plain covered with deep snow (in some places six feet deep), and at times in the face of a north wind so intolerably chilling and piercing, that at length one of the prophets urged the necessity of offering sacrifices to Boreas ; upon which (says Xenophon 1 ) the severity of the wind abated conspicuously, to the evident conscious- ness of ah 1 . Many of the slaves and beasts of burden, and a few even of the soldiers, perished ; some had their feet frost-bitten, others became blinded by the snow, others again were exhausted by hunger. Several of these unhappy men were unavoidably left behind ; others lay down to perish, near a warm spring which had melted the snow around, from extremity of fatigue and sheer wretchedness, though the enemy were close upon the rear. It was in vain that Xenophon, who commanded the rear-guard, em ployed his earnest exhortations,, prayers, and threats, to induce them to move forward. The sufferers, miserable and motionless, answered only by entreating him to kill them at once. So greatly was the army disorganized by wretchedness, that we hear of one case in which a soldier, ordered to carry a disabled comrade, diso- beyed the order, and was about to bury him alive. 2 Xenophon made a sally, with loud shouts and clatter of spear with shield, in which even the exhausted men joined, against the pursuing enemy. He was fortunate enough to frighten them away, and drive them to take shelter in a neighboring wood. He then lefc the sufferers lying down, with assurance that relief should be senl to them on the next day, and went forward, seeing all along the line of march the exhausted soldiers lying on the snow, without even the protection of a watch. He and his rear-guard, as wel ; as the rest, were obliged thus to pass the night without either fooc or fire, distributing scouts in the best way the case admitted Meanwhile, Cheirisophus with the van division had got into a vil lage, which they reached so unexpectedly, that they found the wo 1 Xen. Anab. IT, 5, 4. '"Ev&a &TJ T&V pavreuv Tif elire afyayiuaaadai r<p 'Ave^y Kal Triiffi drj Trept- ^avdif edot-e TirjZai rb ^a^,e7r6v TOV nvevfiarof. The suffering of the army from the terrible snow and cold of Anoenia are set forth in Diodorus, xiv, 28. 2 Xen. Anab. r, 8, 8-11