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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
85
But
I
am
thinking
of
the
Anabasis.
Were
this
the
sole
book
existing
in
Greek,
it
would
be
abundantly
worth
while
to
learn
the
language
in
order
to
read
it.
The
Anabasis
is
an
admirable
work
of
art,
unique
in
its
combination
of
concise
and
rapid
narrative
with
colour
and
picturesqueness.
Herodotus
wrote
a
prose
epic,
in
which
the
author's
personality
is
ever
before
us.
Xenophon,
with
curiosity
and
love
of
adventure
which
mark
him
of
the
same
race,
but
self-forgetful
in
the
pursuit
of
a
new
artistic
virtue,
created
the
historical
romance.
What
a
world
of
wonders
in
this
little
book,
all
aglow
with
ambitions
and
conflicts,
with
marvels
of
strange
lands;
full
of
perils
and
rescues,
fresh
with
the
air
of
mountain
and
of
sea!
Think
of
it
for
a
moment
by
the
side
of
Caesar's
Commentaries;
not
to
compare
things
incomparable,
but
in
order
to
appreciate
the
perfect
art
which
shines
through
Xenophon's
mastery
of
language,
his
brevity
achieving
a
result
so
different
from
that
of
the
like
characteristic
in
the
Roman
writer.
Caesar's
conciseness
comes
of
strength
and
pride;
Xenophon's,
of
a
vivid
imagination.
Many
a
single
line
of
the
Anabasis
presents
a
picture
which
deeply
stirs
the
emotions.
A
good
instance
occurs
in
the
fourth
book,
where
a
delightful
passage
of
unsurpassable
narrative
tells
how
the
Greeks
rewarded
and
dismissed
a
guide
who
had
led
them
through
dangerous
country.
The
man
himself
was
in
peril
of
his
life;
laden
with
valuable
things
which
the
soldiers
had
given
him
in
their
gratitude,
he
turned
to
make
his
way
through
the
hostile
region.
[Greek
text].
"When
evening
came
he
took
leave
of
us,
and
went
his
way
by
night."
To
my
mind,
words
of
wonderful
suggestiveness.
You
see
the
wild,
eastern
landscape,
upon
which
the
sun
has
set.
There
are
the
Hellenes,
safe
for
the
moment
on
their
long
march,
and
there
the
mountain
tribesman,
the
serviceable
barbarian,
going
away,
alone,
with
his
tempting
guerdon,
into
the
hazards
of
the
darkness.
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