(1) The reader should turn to Grote's comments on the first appearance
of Xenophon. He has been mentioned before, of course, more than
once before; but he now steps, as the protagonist, upon the scene,
and as Grote says: "It is in true Homeric vein, and in something
like Homeric language, that Xenophon (to whom we owe the whole
narrative of the expedition) describes his dream, or the
intervention of Oneiros, sent by Zeus, from which this renovating
impulse took its rise."
Xenophon having read the letter, consulted Socrates the Athenian, whether he should accept or refuse the invitation. Socrates, who had a suspicion that the State of Athens might in some way look askance at my friendship with Cyrus, whose zealous co-operation with the Lacedaemonians against Athens in the war was not forgotten, advised Xenophon to go to Delphi and there to consult the god as to the desirability of such a journey. Xenophon went and put the question to Apollo, to which of the gods he must pray and do sacrifice, so that he might best accomplish his intended journey and return in safety, with good fortune. Then Apollo answered him: "To such and such gods must thou do sacrifice," and when he had returned home he reported to Socrates the oracle. But he, when he heard, blamed Xenophon that he had not, in the first instance, inquired of the god, whether it were better for him to go or to stay, but had taken on himself to settle that point affirmatively, by inquiring straightway, how he might best perform the