Book 2
3.22
Now there was present another captain who had been invited to the dinner and he said: Cyrus, will you not invite my company to your tent? My company, too, does all this when we go to mess, and when the meal is finished the rear-guard leader of the last division leads that division out, keeping in the rear those whose place in the battle line is in front; then, next after them, the second rear-guard leader brings out the men of the second division, and the third and the fourth in like manner, in order that, he explained, they may also know how to withdraw, if ever it is necessary to retreat before the enemy. And when we take our places on the parade-ground, I take the lead, when we march toward the east, and the first division of the company goes first, the second in its proper order, and then the third and the fourth and the squads of ten and five in each division, until I give the order for some change of formation; then, said he, when we march toward the west, the rear-guard leader and the rear-guard lead off first. Still, even so, they have to look to me for the commands, though I march last, so that they may get into the habit of obeying just the same whether they follow or whether they lead.
3.23
Do you always do that way? asked Cyrus. Yes, by Zeus, said he, as often as we go to dinner. Well then, said Cyrus, I will invite you, because you give your lines practice both in coming and in going, by night and by day, and also because you give your bodies exercise by marching about, and improve your minds by instruction. Since, therefore, you do all this doubly, it is only fair that I should furnish you a double feast also.
