[5] Harmene, a port of Sinope, between four and five miles (fifty
stades) west of that important city, itself a port town. See
Smith, "Dict. Geog.," "Sinope"; and Kiepert, op. cit. chap. iv.
60.

At Harmene the army halted five days; and now that they seemed to be 17
so close to Hellas, the question how they were to reach home not
empty-handed presented itself more forcibly to their minds than
heretofore. The conclusion they came to was to appoint a single
general, since one man would be better able to handle the troops, by
night or by day, than was possible while the generalship was divided.
If secrecy were desirable, it would be easier to keep matters dark, or
if again expedition were an object, there would be less risk of
arriving a day too late, since mutual explanations would be avoided,
and whatever approved itself to the single judgement would at once be
carried into effect, whereas previously the generals had done
everything in obedience to the opinion of the majority.

With these ideas working in their minds, they turned to Xenophon, and
the officers came to him and told him that this was how the soldiers
viewed matters; and each of them, displaying a warmth of kindly
feeling, pressed him to accept the office. Xenophon partly would have
liked to do so, in the belief that by so doing he would win to himself
a higher repute in the esteem of his friends, and that his name would
be reported to the city written large; and by some stroke of fortune
he might even be the discoverer of some blessing to the army
collectively.

These and the like considerations elated him; he had a strong desire