Going to see whether the men were performing their task faithfully, Xenophon was just in time to prevent a most barbarous action. One of the soldiers was digging a grave for a comrade who lay beside him, but as he watched him, Xenophon saw the dead man move, and called out to the soldier, ‘He is still alive.’ But the man answered, ‘He may have ten lives as far as I am concerned. I will not drag him any farther.’ And it was only after having been well beaten that he consented to take up his burden again.

Up to this time, the Hellenes had preserved their courage through all the difficulties and privations to which they had been exposed, or if for a moment their spirits had flagged, they had quickly recovered themselves. But now the trial of excessive cold seemed to have robbed many of them of all manliness.

It must be remembered that extreme cold has an exceptionally enervating effect, even upon men accustomed to it. But in this case, the sons of a country where frost and snow are unknown except in the mildest form, found themselves suddenly exposed to the terrible cold of the high Asiatic table-land in the month of December.

Moreover they were absolutely unprovided with clothing suitable for such weather. The Hellene soldier wore but one garment, and besides this had nothing whatever to protect him except that some of them, though by no means all, carried a great square of woollen cloth which they used as a cloak. We may rather wonder that so many kept up their spirits throughout this terrible march, than that the courage of some should have failed.

XXXV
ARMENIAN VILLAGES

At last, all who were still alive of the sick men were brought away from the spring, and before nightfall, the rear-guard reached the village which had been already occupied for two nights by the van. Near it were other villages, and the various companies drew lots for their respective quarters. Here they were able to rest in comfort after the privations of the last few days.

The dwellings in this part of the country were made in a fashion that was quite new to the Hellenes. Instead of being built upon the ground, they were dug out of it, and had, for entrance, an opening like the mouth of a well, which widened out below into a large room, inhabited by the owner and his whole family, together with his goats, his sheep, his cattle, and his fowls. There were two ways of reaching it, a ladder for the human beings, and a slope of earth for the animals. Such dwellings are still common in Armenia, among the poorer classes, and like the cellars in which we keep our wine, they are cooler in summer and warmer in winter than the air outside.

The houses in which the Hellenes took up their quarters were well stocked with food, and the hospitable villagers set before them maize and barley and other kinds of corn, as much as they desired. They had also a kind of barley beer, made with whole corns floating in it, which they drank through hollow reeds, so that the corns should not choke them. When they wished to drink a toast to the health of one of their guests, they filled a great bowl with wine, and bending over it, lapped it up, as an ox drinks out of a pail. Then it was the turn of the guest, and he was expected to answer the toast by drinking to his host in the same manner.

On the day after his arrival, Xenophon visited in turn all the villages, and found the soldiers everywhere feasting and enjoying themselves. The friendly villagers had made them most welcome, and when Xenophon arrived, they loaded the tables with flesh of lambs, kids, calves and swine, besides fowls, and bread both of maize and barley.

It happened that this was the season for sending the yearly tribute of horses required by the Great King from the province of Armenia, where the horses were smaller than those of Persia, but far more spirited. Finding in the villages a number of horses destined for this purpose, Xenophon did not hesitate to take one for his own use, and he advised the other officers to follow his example. The head-man of the village was a priest of the sun-god, and to him Xenophon gave the horse who had faithfully carried him through so many dangers, but who was now quite worn out and unable to go any farther, that he might be rested and well fed, and then offered as a sacrifice to the sun-god.