THEY PASS THE RIVllR. 10J jxad then resumed his arms, ordering all the rest to follow his ex- ample. 1 Each lochus (company of one hundred men) was then arranged in column or single file, with Cheirisophus himself in the centre. Meanwhile the prophets were offering sacrifice to the river. So soon as the signs were pronounced to be favorable, all the sol- diers shouted the paean, and all the women joined in chorus with their feminine yell. Cheirisophus then at the head of the army, entered the river and began to ford it ; while Xenophon, with a large portion of the rear division, made a feint of hastening back to the original ford, as if he were about to attempt the passage there. This distracted the attention of the enemy's horse ; who became afraid of being attacked on both sides, galloped off to guard the pas- sage at the other point, and opposed no serious resistance to Chei- risophus. As soon as the latter had reached the other side, and put his division into order, he marched up to attack the Armenian in- fantry, who were on the high banks a little way above ; but this infantry, deserted by its cavalry, dispersed without awaiting his approach. The handful of Grecian cavalry, attached to the divi- sion of Cheirisophus, pursued and took some valuable spoils. 2 1 Xen. Anab. iv, 3, 17. . . . edevTo T& oirTia, Kai avrbf Trpdirof Xeipiao<j>o<;, aTE<^>avuad[j.EVOf Kal UITC di)?. eTiUftpavE ra oTrAa, not rolg u/U,otf 7ra<7t Trapjyyye^/le. I apprehend that the words TOV aretyavov are here to be understood after 7ro(5t)f not the words T& ovr/la, as Kriiger in his note seems to imagine. It is surely incredible, that in the actual situation of the Grecian army, the soldiers should be ordered first to disarm, and then to resume their arms. I conceive the matter thus : First, the order is given, to ground arms ; so that the shield is let down and drops upon the ground, sustained by the left hand of the soldier upon its upper rim ; while the spear, also resting on the ground, is sustained by the shield and by the same left hand. The right hand of the soldier being thus free, he is ordered first to wreath himself (the costume usual in offering sacrifice) next, to take off his wreath lastly, to resume his arms. Probably the operations of wreathing and unwreathing, must here have , been performed by the soldiers symbolically, or by gesture, raising the hand to the head, as if to crown it. For it seems impossible that they could have been provided generally- with actual wreaths, on the banks of the Kentrites, and just after their painful march through the Karduchian mountains. Cheirisophus himself, however, had doubtless a real wreath, which he put on and took ofl so probably had the prophets and certain select omciating persons.
- Xen. Anab. iv, 3. 20-25.
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