Page:History of Greece Vol IX.djvu/134

112 HISTORY OF GREECE. ral of the soldiers' rings, which he especially asked for. Thua loaded with presents, he left them, having first shown them a village wherein they could find quarters, as well as the road which they were to take through the territory of the Makrones. 1 When they reached the river which divided the land of the Makrones from that of the Skythini, they perceived the former assembled in arms on the opposite side to resist their passage. The river not being fordable, they cut down some neighboring trees to provide the means of crossing. "While these Makrones were shouting and encouraging each other aloud, a peltast in the Grecian army came to Xenophon, saying that he knew their lan- guage, and that he believed this to be his country. He had been a slave at Athens, exported from home during his boyhood, he had then made his escape (probably during the Peloponnesian war, to the garrison of Dekeleia), and afterwards taken military service. By this fortunate accident, the generals were enabled to open negotiations with the Makrones, and to assure them that the army would do them no harm, desiring nothing more than a free passage and a market to buy provisions. The Makrones, on receiving such assurance in their own language from a country- man, exchanged pledges of friendship with the Greeks, assisted them to pass the river, and furnished the best market in their power during the three days' march across their territory .2 The army now reached the borders of the Kolchians, who were found in hostile array, occupying the summit of a considerable mountain which formed their frontier. Here Xenophon, having marshalled the soldiers for attack, with each lochus (company of one hundred men) in single file, instead of marching up the hill in phalanx, or continuous front with only a scanty depth, address- ed to them the following pithy encouragement, " Now, gentle- men, these enemies before us are the only impediment that keeps us away from reaching the point at which we have been so long aiming. We must even eat them raw, if in any way we can do so." Eighty of these formidable companies of hoplites, each in single file, now began to ascend the hill ; the peltasts and bowmen being partly distributed among them, partly placed on the flanks. Chei- risophus and Xenophon, each commanding on one wing, spread 1 Xen. Anab. iv, 7, 23-27. * Xcn. Anab. iv. 8, 4-7.