[9] And as Pantheia spoke, Abradatas listened with rapture to her words, and when she ended, he laid his hand upon her head, and looking up to heaven he prayed aloud:
"O most mighty Zeus, make me worthy to be Pantheia's husband, and the friend of Cyrus who showed us honour!"
[10] Then he opened the driver's seat and mounted the car, and the driver shut the door, and Pantheia could not take him in her arms again, so she bent and kissed the chariot-box. Then the car rolled forward and she followed unseen till Abradatas turned and saw her and cried, "Be strong, Pantheia, be of a good heart! Farewell, and hie thee home!"
[11] Thereupon her chamberlains and her maidens took her and brought her back to her own carriage, and laid her down and drew the awning. But no man, of all who was there that day, splendid as Abradatas was in his chariot, had eyes to look on him until Pantheia had gone.
[12] Meanwhile Cyrus had found the victims favourable, and his army was already drawn up in the order he had fixed. He had scouts posted ahead, one behind the other, and then he called his officers together for his final words:
[13] "Gentlemen, my friends and allies, the sacred signs from heaven are as they were the day the gods gave us victory before, and I would call to your minds thoughts to bring you gladness and confidence for the fight. [14] You are far better trained than your enemies, you have lived together and worked together far longer than they, you have won victories together. What they have shared with one another has been defeat, and those who have not fought as yet feel they have traitors to right and left of them, while our recruits know that they enter battle in company with men who help their allies. [15] Those who trust each other will stand firm and fight without flinching, but when confidence has gone no man thinks of anything but flight. [16] Forward then, gentlemen, against the foe; drive our scythed chariots against their defenceless cars, let our armed cavalry charge their unprotected horse, and charge them home. [17] The mass of their infantry you have met before; and as for the Egyptians, they are armed in much the same way as they are marshalled; they carry shields too big to let them stir or see, they are drawn up a hundred deep, which will prevent all but the merest handful fighting. [18] If they count on forcing us back by their weigh, they must first withstand our steel and the charge of our cavalry. And if any of them do hold firm, how can they fight at once against cavalry, infantry, and turrets of artillery? For our men on the towers will be there to help us, they will smite the enemy until he flies instead of fighting. [19] If you think there is anything wanting, tell me now; God helping us, we will lack nothing. And if any man wishes to say anything, let him speak now; if not, go to the altar and there pray to the gods to whom we have sacrificed, and then fall in. [20] Let each man say to his own men what I have said to him, let him show the men he rules that he is fit to rule, let them see the fearlessness in his face, his bearing, and his words."
NOTES
C1.9. Artabazus "the kinsman" named now for the first time, why?
C1.11. Cf. Anglicè "his word": a delicate appeal to a man of honour. It suits G.'s character.
C1.14-15. Speech full of metaphor: winter stalking on, with hunter and frost attendant on either side; a stealthy, but august advance.
C1.16. A happy simile: /vide/ Book of Wisdom [c. 5, 10, "And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water," etc.].
C1.38. How a fault may be turned to account: Hellenic stool of repentance.
C1.41. Theory of two souls, to account for the yielding to base desires. It works, but is it not the theory of a man whose will is weak, as we say, or whose sympathetic nature has been developed at the expense of his self-regulative? There is another way of putting it in /Memorabilia/, Bk. I. c. ii., §§ 19-28. Xenophon is not more a philosopher than a "philanthropist." He is full of compassion for human weaknesses.
C1.44. Exit Araspas, to be baptised under this cloud of ignominy into the sunshine of recognised joyous serviceableness.
C1.45. We grow fonder than ever of Pantheia.
C1.50. Irony: the chariots that are to cost Abradatas his life hereafter. Is this tale "historic" at all? I mean, did Xenophon find or hear any such story current? What is the relation, if any, to it of Xenophon Ephesius, Antheia, and Abrocomas? [/Xenophon Ephesius/, a late writer of romances.] Had that writer any echo of the names in his head? What language are "Pantheia" and "Abradatas"?
C1.52. All very well, but the author hasn't told us anything about the construction of these {mekhanai}, these battering engines, before, to prepare us for this. Is that a slip, or how explainable? I think he is betrayed into the description by reason of his interest in such strategic matters. The expression is intelligible enough to any one who knows about engines, just as we might speak of the butt or the stanchion, or whatever it be.
C2.1-3. The Medians bring back the bread that was cast upon the waters. Cyrus turns this gain to new account. He sacrifices the present natural gain, i.e. the wealth, to the harder spiritual gain, viz., their positive as opposed to their merely negative alliance. Cyrus /is/ the archic man.
C2.4. I have a sort of idea, or feeling that here the writer takes up his pen afresh after a certain interval. C4-6 are a reduplication, not unnatural indeed, but /pro tanto/ tautological.
C2.7. Semi-historical basis. Prototype, when Agesilaus meditated the advance on Persia, just before his recall. [See /Hellenica/, III. iv., Works II. p. 29.]
C2.13 foll. The archic man can by a word of his mouth still the flutter and incipient heave of terror-stricken hearts.
C2.15-18. A review of the improvements amounting to a complete revolution in arms and attack effected by Cyrus. This is imagined as an ideal accompaniment to the archic man and conqueror. Xenophon nowadays on the relative advantages of the bayonet and the sword, cavalry and infantry, etc., would have been very interesting. Cf. a writer like Forbes.
[C2.19. "Syrians." The word is used loosely, including the Assyrians and their kindred. See below C.22. "Syria" = Assyria and the adjacent country.]
C2.21, fin. Xenophon has more than once witnessed this clouding of the brow, the scowl or sulk of the less stalwart moral-fibred men (notably in /Hellenica/).
C2.26 ff. How to give up wine: the art in it. Now listen, all you blue-ribbonists! Xenophon, Hygienist.
C2.37. One would like to know how the price was regulated. Does any learned German know? Note the orderliness and economy of it all. Is it, as far as the army goes, novel in any respect, do you suppose, or only idealised Hellenic? Spartan?
C3.14. A slight (intentional?) aposiopesis. Did H. have to drive back the great cavalry division of the enemy?
C3.17. How quickly the archic man passes on! Cf. J. P.
C3.19. Notice the part given to the Egyptians to play. Why? (Agesilaus died on his last campaign in Egypt.)