“When and where did you suffer these blows?”
“After we had crossed the Euphrates, when there was a heavy fall of snow.”
“I remember. You are right. The weather was terrible; our provisions had run out; the wine could not so much as be smelt; many men were dropping down, half dead with fatigue; the enemy were close upon our heels. Were not these things so?”
“It is true. Things were as bad as you say, or even worse.”
“You hear,” said Xenophon, turning to the assembly, “how we were situated, and indeed, seeing that you suffered these things yourself, you are not likely to forget them. Verily; if in such a condition of things, I struck this man wantonly and without cause, you might fairly count me more brutal than an ass. But say—” he went on, addressing himself again to his accuser, “was there not a cause for my beating you?”
“Yes, there was a cause,” the fellow sullenly admitted.
“Did I ask you for something, and strike you because you refused to give it?”
“No.”
“Did I demand payment for a debt, and lose my temper because the money was not forthcoming?”
“No.”