_T._ Yes, but how do you account for this? _C. is silent_.
_T._ Are its tenses formed from several roots? _C. is silent. T. is silent; then he changes the subject._
_T._ Well, now you say _Anabasis_ means an _ascent_. _Who_ ascended? _C._ The Greeks, Xenophon.
_T._ Very well: Xenophon and the Greeks; the Greeks ascended. To what did they ascend? _C._ Against the Persian king: they ascended to fight the Persian king.
_T._ That is right … an ascent; but I thought we called it a _de_scent when a foreign army carried war into a country? _C. is silent._
_T._ Don’t we talk of a descent of barbarians? _C._ Yes.
_T._ Why then are the Greeks said to go _up_? _C._ They went up to fight the Persian king.
_T._ Yes; but why _up_ … why not _down_? _C._ They came down afterwards, when they retreated back to Greece.
_T._ Perfectly right; they did … but could you give no reason why they are said to go _up_ to Persia, not _down_? _C._ They went _up_ to Persia.
_T._ Why do you not say they went _down? C. pauses, then_ … They went _down_ to Persia.
_T._ _Why_ do you not say _down_? _C._ I do … _down_.
_T._ You have got confused; you know very well. _C._ I understood you to ask why I did not say “they went _down_.”
_T._ Have you come up to Dublin or down? _C._I came up.
_T._ Why do you call it coming _up_? _C. thinks, then smiles, then_ … We _always_ call it coming up to Dublin.
_T._ Well, but you always have a _reason_ for what you do … what is your reason here? _C. is silent._
_T._ Come, come, Mr. Brown, I won’t believe you don’t know; I am sure you have a very good reason for saying you go up to Dublin, not _down_. _C. thinks, then_ … It is the capital.
_T._ Very well; now was Persia the capital? _C._ Yes.
_T._ Well … no … not exactly … explain yourself; was Persia a city? _C._ A country.
_T._ That is right; well, but did you ever hear of Susa? _Now_, why did they speak of going _up_ to Persia? _C. is silent._
_T._ Because it was the seat of government; that was one reason. Persia was the seat of government; they went up because it was the seat of government. _C._ Because it was the seat of government.
_T._ Now where did they go up from? _C._ From Greece.
_T._ But where did this army assemble? whence did it set out? _C. is silent._