80 ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING 



of military virtue with learning, as no example could come 

 with any grace after Alexander and Csesar, were it not for 

 an extraordinary ease touching Xenophon, which raised 

 that philosopher from the depths of scorn to the highest 

 pinnacle of admiration. In his youth, without either com 

 mand or experience, that philosopher followed the expedi 

 tion of Cyrus the younger against Artaxerxes, as a volun 

 teer, to enjoy the love and conversation of his friend Prox- 

 enus. 116 Cyrus being slain on the field, Falinus came to the 

 remnant of his army with a message from the king, who, 

 presuming on the fewness of their number, and the perilous 

 nature of their position in the midst of foreign enemies, cut 

 oft from their country by many navigable rivers, and many 

 hundred miles, had dared to command them to surrender 

 their army, and submit entirely to his mercy. Before an 

 answer was returned, the heads of the army conferred 

 familiarly with Falinus, and among the rest Xenophon 

 happened to say, &quot;Why, Falinus, we have only these two 

 things left, our arms and our virtue, and if we yield up 

 our arms, how can we make use of our virtue ? Falinus, 

 with an ironical smile, replied, &quot;If I be not deceived, young 

 man, you are an Athenian; and I believe you study phi 

 losophy, as you talk admirably well. But you grossly 

 deceive yourself if you think your courage can withstand 

 the king s power.&quot; 116 Here was the scorn, but the wonder 

 followed. This young philosopher, just emerged from the 

 school of Socrates, after all the chieftains of the army had 

 been murdered by treason, conducted those ten thousand 

 foot through the heart of the king s territories, from Baby 

 lon to Grraecia, untouched by any of the king s forces. The 

 world, at this act of the young scholar, was stricken with 

 astonishment, and the Greeks encouraged in succeeding 

 ages to invade the kings of Persia. Jason the Thessalian 

 proposed the plan, Agesilaus the Spartan attempted its exe 

 cution, and Alexander the Macedonian finally achieved the 

 conquest. 



115 Xen. Anab. ii. toward the end. Xen. Anab. ii. 112. 



