Anabasis by Xenophon
page 160 of 296 (54%)
page 160 of 296 (54%)
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like convalescents after a severe course of medical treatment.
[4] "Modern travellers attest the existence, in these regions, of honey intoxicating and poisonous. . . . They point out the Azalea Pontica as the flower from which the bees imbibe this peculiar quality."--Grote, "Hist. of Greece," vol. ix. p. 155. From this place they marched on two stages--seven parasangs--and 22 reached the sea at Trapezus[5], a populous Hellenic city on the Euxine Sea, a colony of the Sinopeans, in the territory of the Colchians. Here they halted about thirty days in the villages of the Colchians, which they used as a base of operations to ravage the whole territory of Colchis. The men of Trapezus supplied the army with a market, entertained them, and gave them, as gifts of hospitality, oxen and wheat and wine. Further, they negotiated with them in behalf of their neighbours the Colchians, who dwelt in the plain for the most part, and from this folk also came gifts of hospitality in the shape of cattle. And now the Hellenes made preparation for the sacrifice which they had vowed, and a sufficient number of cattle came in for them to offer thank-offerings for safe guidance to Zeus the Saviour, and to Heracles[6], and to the other gods, according to their vows. They instituted also a gymnastic contest on the mountain side, just where they were quartered, and chose Dracontius, a Spartan (who had been banished from home when a lad, having unintentionally slain another boy with a blow of his dagger), to superintend the course, and be president of the games [5] Trebizond. [6] Or, "to sacrifice to Zeus the Preserver, and to Heracles |
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