[28]
Furthermore, whenever the expedition was going to take the noonday or the evening meal at any particular spot, he would often draw back the head of the column from the shore opposite the place in question; then he would turn the line around again, cause the triremes to head toward the land, and start them off at a signal to race to the shore. It was counted a great prize of victory to be the first to get water or anything else they needed, and the first to get their meal. On the other hand, those who reached the shore last incurred a great penalty in that they came off worse in all these points, and in1 the fact that they had to put to sea again at the same time as the rest when the signal was given; for the result was that those who came in first did everything at their leisure, while those who came in last had to hurry.
1 373 B.C.
Xenophon. Xenophon in Seven Volumes, 1 and 2. Carleton L. Brownson. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA; William Heinemann, Ltd., London. vol. 1:1918; vol. 2: 1921.
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