Anabasis XIV

The Greeks find the broad river between the land of the Kurds and Armenia to be too deep to cross while it is contested. They stay for more than a day, the Kurds having taken over their better camp behind them, trapped between two enemy forces with a river to cross. 

Xenophon has a dream of being held in iron fetters that fall away. He relates this the next morning, and just about the time he finishes some young men come up all excited. They tell him that they've seen some old women washing clothes further down the river, and that they thought the river therefore must be safe to cross at that location. They stripped naked and crossed with only their daggers, and found that at no point was the river so deep as their crotch. Xenophon and his companions are delighted and pour libations, and determine to cross the river in two divisions, the vanguard taking the opposing shore, the baggage train passing between, and the rearguard -- commanded by Xenophon -- crossing at the end to hold off the Kurdish assault.

This works more or less well, as the enemies on the opposing side once again don't really want to fight. The Kurds really do and do their best to kill as many Greeks as possible on their way out, but the strategy is sound and it brings the Greeks out of Kurdistan at last.

On the far side of the river they march for a few days until they are confronted by a large army. The army's commander, a local grandee, says he wants to let them march through if they will do so without burning the land -- although they may take supplies if needed. The Greeks agree to this, but once again it turns out that keeping your word is not a virtue much respected by these denizens of the Near East. The Greeks are used to this by now, and keep careful watch for betrayal; when it happens, they storm and capture the camp of the grandee, plundering it for its goods.