Pagina 168 de 266

Advancing, we can nowhere take a breathing-space; retreating, we

have no haven of refuge. We seek a pitched battle, but in vain;

yet standing on the defensive, none of us has a moment's respite.

If we simply maintain our ground, whole days and months will

crawl by; the moment we make a move, we have to sustain the

enemy's attacks on front and rear.

The country is wild, destitute of water and plants; the army is

lacking in the necessaries of life, the horses are jaded and the

men worn-out, all the resources of strength and skill unavailing,

the pass so narrow that a single man defending it can check the

onset of ten thousand; all means of offense in the hands of the

enemy, all points of vantage already forfeited by ourselves:-in

this terrible plight, even though we had the most valiant

soldiers and the keenest of weapons, how could they be employed

with the slightest effect?" Students of Greek history may be

reminded of the awful close to the Sicilian expedition, and the

agony of the Athenians under Nicias and Demonsthenes. [See

Thucydides, VII. 78 sqq.].]