Xenophon
- a celebratea Greek historian and philosopher, born B. C. 445, a pupil of Socrates and a leader of the Greeks in the army of Cyrus the younger, Cic. Div. 1, 25, 52; id. Tusc. 5, 34, 99; id. Sen. 9, 30; id. Leg. 2, 22, 56; Varr. R. R. 1, 1, 8.
- —Hence, Xĕnŏphontēus or -īus, a, um, adj., = Ξενοφώντειος, of or belonging to Xenophon, Xenophontian: genus sermonis, Cic. Brut. 35, 132: Hercules, i. e. mentioned in his writings, id. Fam. 5, 12, 3.
(Ξενοφῶν). (1) An Athenian, the son of one Gryllus, born about B.C. 444. In his early life he was a pupil of Socrates; but the turningpoint in his career came when he decided to serve in the Greek contingent raised by Cyrus against Artaxerxes in 401. Xenophon himself mentions (Anab. iii. 1) the circumstances under which he joined this army. Proxenus, a friend of Xenophon, was already with Cyrus, and he invited Xenophon to come to Sardis, and promised to introduce him to the Persian prince. Xenophon consulted his master, Socrates, who advised him to consult the oracle of Delphi, as it was a hazardous matter for him to enter the service of Cyrus, who was considered to be the friend of the Lacedaemonians and the enemy of Athens. Xenophon went to Delphi, but he did not ask the god whether he should go or not: he probably had made up his mind. He merely inquired to what gods he should sacrifice in order that he might be successful in his intended enterprise. Socrates was not satisfied with his pupil's mode of consulting the oracle, but as he had got an answer, he told him to go; and Xenophon went to Sardis, which Cyrus was just about to leave. He accompanied Cyrus into Upper Asia. In the battle of Cunaxa (B.C. 401) Cyrus lost his life, his barbarian troops were dispersed, and the Greeks were left alone on the wide plains between the Tigris and the Euphrates. (See Cyrus.) It was after the treacherous massacre of Clearchus and others of the Greek commanders by the Persian satrap Tissaphernes (q.v.) that Xenophon came forward. He had held no command in the army of Cyrus, nor had he, in fact, served as a soldier, yet he was elected one of the generals, and took the principal part in conducting the Greeks in their memorable retreat along the Tigris over the high table-lands of Armenia to Trapezus (Trebizond) on the Black Sea. From Trapezus the troops were conducted to Chrysopolis, which is opposite to Byzantium. The Greeks were in great distress, and some of them under Xenophon entered the service of Seuthes, king of Thrace. As the Lacedaemonians under Thimbron, or Thibron, were now at war with Tissaphernes and Pharnabazus, Xenophon and his troops were invited to join the army of Thimbron, and Xenophon led them back out of Asia to join Thimbron (399). Xenophon, who was very poor, made an expedition into the plain of the Caïcus with his troops before they joined Thimbron, to plunder the house and property of a Persian named Asidates. The Persian, with his women, children, and all his movables, was seized, and Xenophon, by this robbery, replenished his empty pockets (Anab. vii. 8, 23). He tells the story himself, and is evidently not at all ashamed of it. In other ways also he showed himself the prototype of an adventurous leader of condottieri, with no ties of country or preference of nationality. He formed a scheme for establishing a town with the Ten Thousand on the shores of the Euxine; but it fell through. He joined the Spartans, as has been seen, and he continued in their service even when they were at war with Athens. Agesilaüs, the Spartan, was commanding the Lacedaemonian forces in Asia against the Persians in 396, and Xenophon was with him at least during part of the campaign. When Agesilaüs was recalled (394), Xenophon accompanied him, and he was on the side of the Lacedaemonians in the battle which they fought at Coronea (394) against the Athenians. As a natural consequence a decree of exile was passed against him at Athens. It seems that he went to Sparta with Agesilaüs after the battle of Coronea, and soon after he settled at Scillus in Elis, not far from Olympia, a spot of which he has given a description in the Anabasis (v. 3, 7). Here he was joined by his wife, Philesia, and his children. His children were educated in Sparta.
Xenophon was now a Lacedaemonian so far as he could become one. His time during his long residence at Scillus was employed in hunting, writing, and entertaining his friends; and perhaps the Anabasis and part of the Hellenica were composed here. The treatise on hunting and that on the horse were probably also written during this time, when amusement and exercise of this kind formed part of his occupation. On the downfall of the Spartan supremacy, at Leuctra in 371, Xenophon was at last expelled from his quiet retreat at Scillus by the Eleans, after remaining there about twenty years. The sentence of banishment from Athens was repealed on the motion of Eubulus, but it is uncertain in what year. There is no evidence that Xenophon ever returned to Athens. He is said to have retired to Corinth after his expulsion from Scillus, and as we know nothing more, we assume that he died there. In the battle of Mantinea (B.C. 362) the Spartans and the Athenians were opposed to the Thebans, and Xenophon's two sons, Gryllus and Diodorus, fought on the side of the allies. Gryllus fell in the same battle in which Epaminondas lost his life. The events alluded to in the epilogue to the Cyropaedia (viii. 8, 4) show that the epilogue at least was written after 362. The time of his death, for reasons given above, seems to have been later than 357.
The following is a list of Xenophon's works: (1) The Anabasis (Ἀνάβασις), a history of the expedition of the Younger Cyrus, and of the retreat of the Greeks who formed part of his army. It is divided into seven books. As regards the title it will be noticed that under the name “The March Up” (ἀνά, i. e. inland from the coast of Cunaxa) is included also the much longer account of the return march down to the Euxine. This work has immortalized Xenophon's name. It is a clear and fascinating narrative, written in a simple style, free from affectation, and giving a great deal of curious information on the country which was traversed by the retreating Greeks, and on the manners of the people. It was the first work which made the Greeks acquainted with some portions of the Persian Empire, and it showed the weakness of that extensive monarchy. The skirmishes of the retreating Greeks with their enemies, and the battles with some of the barbarian tribes, are not such events as elevate the work to the character of a military history, nor can it as such be compared with Caesar's Commentarii. There is no weight whatever in the argument that, because Xenophon (Hellen. iii. 1, 2) speaks of the expedition of Cyrus as having been related by Themistogenes, the Anabasis is therefore not Xenophon's work. The statement can be explained either on the theory that Xenophon speaks of his own work under a fictitious name (which was possibly the case also with the Oeconomicus), or, more simply, by supposing that another account was actually written by Themistogenes. It is known that a separate account was written by Sophaenetus, and there may have been others. If the latter theory be correct, it would be a natural inference that Xenophon's Anabasis was written after the third book of the Hellenica.
(2) The Hellenica (Ἑλληνικά) of Xenophon is divided into seven books, and covers the forty-eight years from the time when the History of Thucydides ends (see Thucydides) to the battle of Mantinea (B.C. 362). The Hellenica is generally a dry narrative of events, and there is nothing in the treatment of them which gives a special interest to the work. Some events of importance are briefly treated, but a few striking incidents are presented with some particularity. The Hellenica was not written at one time. Differences are traced between the first two and the later books as regards the arrangement, which in the earlier books is year by year, while, in the later, events growing out of one another are grouped together; and, as regards political sentiment, in the diminished admiration for Sparta which appears in the last three books. It is clear that book vi. was written after 357, since it mentions the death of Alexander of Pherae (vi. 4, 35); but the first four books were probably written a good deal earlier.
(3) The Cyropaedia (Κυροπαιδεία), in eight books, is a kind of political romance, the basis of which is the history of the Elder Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy. It shows how citizens are to be made virtuous and brave; and Cyrus is the model of a wise and good ruler. As a history it has no authority at all. Xenophon adopted the current stories as to Cyrus and the chief events of his reign, without any intention of subjecting them to a critical examination; nor have we any reason to suppose that his picture of Persian morals and Persian discipline is anything more than a fiction. Xenophon's object was to represent what a State might be, and he placed the scene of his fiction far enough off to give it the colour of possibility. His own philosophical notions and the usages of Sparta were the real materials out of which he constructed his political system. The Cyropaedia is evidence enough that Xenophon did not like the political constitution of his own country, and that a wellordered monarchy or kingdom appeared to him preferable to a democracy like Athens.
(4) The Agesilaüs (Ἀγησίλαος) is a panegyric on Agesilaüs II., king of Sparta, the friend of Xenophon. The genuineness is disputed, not without reason, and a recent critic holds it to be the work of a young rhetorician of the school of Isocrates.
(5) The Hipparchicus (Ἱππαρχικός) is a treatise on the duties of a commander of cavalry, and it contains many military precepts.
(6) The De Re Equestri, a treatise on the horse (Ἱππική), was written after the Hipparchicus, to which treatise he refers at the end of the treatise on the horse. This essay is not limited to horsemanship as regards the rider: it shows how a man is to avoid being cheated in buying a horse, how a horse is to be trained, and the like.
(7) The Cynegeticus (Κυνηγετικός) is a treatise on hunting; and on the dog, and the breeding and training of dogs; on the various kinds of game, and the mode of taking them. It is a treatise written by a genuine sportsman who loved the exercise and excitement of the chase, and it may be read with pleasure by a sportsman of the present day. (8, 9) The Respublica Lacedaemoniorum and Respublica Atheniensium, the two treatises on the Spartan and Athenian States (Λακεδαιμονίων Πολιτεία and Ἀθηναίων Πολιτεία), were both ascribed to Xenophon, but the Respublica Atheniensium is certainly not by his hand. It was written by some one of the oligarchical party, and possibly it is right to date it as early as 420, and therefore to regard it as the earliest Attic prose work. On the other hand, a modern critic of Xenophon (Hartmann) believes it to be by a later writer compiling from Xenophon, Aristophanes, and other sources of information. The same critic denies the genuineness of the Resp. Laced., which is more generally accepted.
(10) The De Vectigalibus, a treatise on the Revenues of Athens (Πόροι ἢ περὶ Προσόδων), is designed to show how the public revenue of Athens may be improved.
(11) The Memorabilia of Socrates, in four books (Ἀπομνημονεύματα Σωκράτους), was written by Xenophon to defend the memory of his master against the charge of irreligion and of corrupting the Athenian youth. Socrates is represented as holding a series of conversations, in which he develops and inculcates his moral doctrines. It is entirely a practical work, such as we might expect from the practical nature of Xenophon's mind, and it professes to exhibit Socrates as he taught. It is true that it may exhibit only one side of the Socratic argumentation, and that it does not deal in subtleties of philosophy. Xenophon was a hearer of Socrates, an admirer of his master, and anxious to defend his memory. The charges against Socrates for which he suffered were, that “Socrates was guilty of not believing in the gods which the State believed in, and introducing other new daemons (δαιμόνια): he was also guilty of corrupting the youth.” Xenophon replies to these two charges specifically, and he then goes on to show what Socrates' mode of life was. The whole treatise is intended to be an answer to the charge for which Socrates was executed, and it is therefore, in its nature, not intended to be a complete exhibition of Socrates. That it is a genuine picture of the man is indisputable, and its value therefore is very great.
(12) The Apology of Socrates (Ἀπολογία Σωκράτους πρὸς τοὺς Δικαστάς) is a short speech, containing the reasons which induced Socrates to prefer death to life. It is not one of the author's best works, and was possibly a rhetorical exercise much later than Xenophon.
(13) The Symposium (Συμπόσιον), or Banquet of Philosophers, in which Xenophon delineates the character of Socrates. The speakers are supposed to meet at the house of Callias, a rich Athenian, at the celebration of the Great Panathenaea. Socrates and others are the speakers. The piece is interesting as a picture of an Athenian drinking-party, and of the amusement and conversation with which it was diversified. The nature of love and friendship is discussed. It is probable that Plato wrote his Symposium later, to some extent as a corrective.
(14) The Hiero (Ἱέρων ἢ Τυραννικός) is a dialogue between King Hiero and Simonides, in which the king speaks of the dangers and difficulties incident to an exalted station, and the superior happiness of a private man. The poet, on the other hand, enumerates the advantages which the possession of power gives, and the means which it offers of obliging and doing services.
(15) The Oeconomicus (Οἰκονομικός) is an excellent treatise in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and Critobulus, in which Socrates gives instruction in the art called economic, which relates to the administration of a household and of a man's property.
In language as well as in politics, Xenophon was a cosmopolitan. His long residence in other lands resulted in his losing or abandoning pure Attic: he admits words from all dialects; hence he cannot be adduced as an authority for strict Attic usage, and it has been well shown by abundant instances that his diction is in many respects an anticipation of the common dialect of the Macedonian period.
Of each of Xenophon's treatises there are from thirty to forty manuscripts. Of the Anabasis, the best is a Codex Parisinus (No. 1640), and dating from the fourteenth century. Of the Cyropaedia, the most esteemed is also in Paris (No. 1635), of the fifteenth century, though a copy at Wolfenbüttel (Codex Guelferbytanus) of about the twelfth century is also valuable. Of the twenty-one manuscripts of the Hellenica, the best are two Codices Parisini (Nos. 1642 and 1738) of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
Editions of the whole of Xenophon are those of Dindorf, 5 vols. (1875), Henning (1863), and Sauppe (1867). The editio princeps was by Boninus, printed by P. Giunta at Florence in 1516. Good separate editions, with notes, are the following: of the Anabasis by Macmichael (1883), Cobet (1873), bks. i.-iv. by Goodwin and White (1886), Stone (1890); of the Cyropaedia by Holden (1887); of the Hellenica by Breitenbach (1873); Keller (1890); bks. i.-iv. by Manath (1888), bks. i.-ii. by Dowdall (1890); of the Memorabilia by Winans (1878), and Marshall (1891); of the Hieroby Holden (1885); of the Oeconomicus by Holden (1888); of the De Re Equestri by Morgan (1893); of the Agesilaüs by Güthling (1887); of the Symposium by Hug (1880). There is a good English translation of Xenophon by Dakyns, 2 vols. (New York, 1890-93). There is a good lexicon to Xenophon by Sturz (1801), and Sauppe's Lexilogus Xenophonteus (1865) is also recommended. There is a special Wörterbuch zur Xenophon's Anabasis by Vollbrecht (1876). See also Taylor's Syntax to the Anabasis (1880); and on Xenophon the studies by Roquette (1884) and Croiset (1873).
(2) Of Ephesus, a writer of prose fiction, as to whose date and personality nothing is known. His remaining work is entitled Ephesiaca, or the Loves of Anthia and Abrocomas (Ἐφεσιακὰ, τὰ κατὰ Ἀνθίαν καὶ Ἀβροκόμην). The style of the work is simple, and the story is conducted without confusion, notwithstanding the number of personages introduced; but the adventures are of a very improbable kind. Xenophon was possibly the oldest of the Greek romance writers. Editions of his work are those by Peerlkamp (Haarlem, 1818); and by Passow (Leipzig, 1833). See novels and romances.
- son of Menephylus, Olympic victor: Paus. 6.3.13
- Olympic victor: Paus. 4.24.5
- Paus. 8.30.10, Paus. 9.16.2
Xenophon, the son of Gryllus, was born at Athens during the early years of the Peloponnesian War into a family of knights; he died either in Athens or Corinth sometime after 355, making him about seventy-five at the time of his death. He may have been educated by the sophist Prodicus at Thebes, and in all likelihood established some type of connection with Socrates in the last decade of the fifth century. It also seems likely that he was knight under the rule of the Thirty Tyrants at Athens and may have even taken part in the battle of Munychia which brought an end to that regime. In 401 he accepted the invitation of his Theban guest-friend Proxenus to join the Greek mercenaries in the service of the Achaemenid prince Cyrus the Younger who was attempting to usurp the throne of Persia from his brother, Artaxerxes. Following the death of Cyrus at the battle of Cunaxa near Babylon (late summer 401) and the murder of the commanders of the Ten Thousand (as the Greek mercenaries are known), Xenophon was appointed strategos or general and commanded a portion of the troops. After leading them back from the heartland of the Persian empire to the Black Sea and then the coast of Asia Minor, he along with his contingent enrolled in the service of the Spartans then operating in Asia Minor. Fighting there under three successive Spartan commanders Xenophon formed a strong and lasting friendship with the last one, King Agesilaus. In 395, when the home authorities recalled Agesilaus from Asia to lead the Spartan forces against Thebes, Corinth and Athens, Xenophon followed and took part in the battle of Coronea (394). It was shortly after this that Xenophon was exiled from Athens, either because of his participation in the battle of Coronea, or because of this service with Cyrus (an enemy of Athens in the second phase of the Peloponnesian War), or perhaps both. Without a homeland Xenophon's attachments to Sparta became even stronger: sometime shortly after Coronea he was granted an estate by the Spartans at Scillus, a town near Olympia. He had two sons, both born on his estate and educated at Sparta in the agoge (the rigorous Spartan education system designed to produce Spartiates or full citizen-warriors). During his time at Scillus he probably wrote many of his works, remained in touch with his friends at Sparta, but also established and kept up international contacts at the panhellenic festival at Olympia. Although his exile may have been repealed as early as 386, it seems he did not return to Athens but remained at Scillus. After the Spartan defeat at Leuctra in 371 Xenophon was forced to give up his estate and probably went to Corinth. Whether he returned to Athens or stayed at Corinth is uncertain: that some reconciliation took place between Xenophon and his native city seems to be indicated by the focus of his later works on Athenian matters, and by his growing commitment to Spartan and Athenian cooperation. Indeed his eldest son Gryllus was killed fighting for Sparta in an Athenian cavalry contingent in a skirmish before the decisive Spartan defeat at Second Mantinea in 362. References to contemporary events in his last work allow us to say that he was alive in 355; given his extreme old age he surely did not live much longer.
WorksXenophon's work may be divided into three main categories: historical, Socratic, and Minor Works.
The Anabasisor ‘Trip Up Country’ (late 370s or 360s) is Xenophon's story of the journey of the ten thousand mercenaries under the command of Cyrus the Younger into the heart of the Persian empire and then back again to the Greek world. It is of particular significance because Xenophon himself served on the expedition and he is prominent from Book 3 onwards. It was probably composed after Xenophon's return to Greece from a memoir he kept while with the Ten Thousand. The Hellenicaor ‘Hellenic Affairs’, is a history of Greece from 411-362 (early in Xenophon's career; early 350s). This work appears to have been written in two phases: the first portion of the work, going down to the beginning of the Thirty Tyrants at Athens in 403 (Xen. Hell. 2.3.10), may well have been one of the first things Xenophon wrote; the second, much larger portion, goes from 403 and extends down to the battle of Second Mantinea (362), and was probably composed very late in Xenophon's life. Due to certain superficial similarities with the work of Thucydides, and especially to the fact that the work picks up roughly where Thucydides leaves off, it is thought to have been conceived originally as a continuation of Thucydides' history of the Peloponnesian War. The testimony of Marcellinus' life of Thucydides (Chap. 45) supports this view. A major break is argued for at 2.3.10 on a number of grounds: stylometric (chiefly distribution of particle usage), change in chronological conventions, change in viewpoint (from Athens to Sparta), and subtle changes in thematic focus (increasing attention to the moral evaluation of individuals). Although frequently faulted for its omissions and Spartan bias, especially when compared with the fragmentary remains of another continuator of Thucydides, the Oxyrhyncus Historian, the Hellenica is our major continuous historical narrative for the crucial period between the latter stages of the Peloponnesian War to the years immediately preceding the rise of Macedon. The Cyropaediaor 'The Education of Cyrus' (370s, revised later) is a long (8 books) biographical treatment of Cyrus the Great of Persia (6th century). This work, which also has a strong claim to be categorized under 'philosophy', is a massive account of the education and training of the ideal king. It comprises elements of historiography, legend, ethnography, and romance, and is thought to be a precursor of the later novel. It contains an epilogue (Xen. Cyrop. 8.8) on the decline of Persia since the time of Cyrus which seems to have been written after the work was completed. The Agesilausis a biography of King Agesilaus of Sparta (c.444/3-360), composed in all likelihood sometime after the winter of 360, when the king died. It too is a study of leadership, but clearly also contains apologetic elements. It overlaps significantly with portions of the Hellenica. Together with the Evagorasof Isocrates Isoc. 9(374) it is one of the first true biographies in Greek literature.
It is difficult to date precisely any of the Socratic works of Xenophon, only that they must have been composed after the philosopher's death in 399. Like Plato and other Socratics, Xenophon felt the need to compose an Apologyor defense of Socrates in response to the charges brought against him by his accusers. Like Plato he also composed a Symposium. The most important of the Socratic works of Xenophon is the Memorabilia, a collection of discussions between Socrates and (typically) young Athenian men which begins in much the same spirit as the Apology, that is in defense of the philosopher. The Oeconomicusis a dialogue between Socrates and an Athenian, Ischomachus, on the subject of house management; it is actually comprised mostly of a reported set of discussions between Ischomachus and his (unnamed) young wife. The work is probably the best introduction into the mind of Xenophon, foregrounding as it does the topic of order, an issue central to his thought. While the Hierodoes not actually feature Socrates, it is clearly a combination of a Socratic dialogue and a Herodotean meeting between a sage and a powerful king (e.g. Solon and Croesus), though interestingly the main speaker is Hieron (king of Syracuse from 478 to 467), not the sage (Simonides the poet, c.557/6-468/7); the conversation, on the subject of tyranny, is imaginary.
Xenophon's interest in practical knowledge and didactic literature is clearly evidenced by a number of smaller works. Like his contemporary Aeneas Tacticus , Xenophon composed two technical handbooks on matters of practical knowledge, On the Cavalry Commanderand On Horsemanship; the On Huntingis widely regarded as not belonging to Xenophon. He also wrote a Constitution of the Lacedaemonians, what is not so much a picture of Spartan government as a valuable description of the Spartan educational system thought to have been set up by the legendary lawgiver Lycurgus (11th-8th?); it, like the Cyropaedia, contains an epilogue (actually the penultimate chapter, Xen. Cyrop.14) which suggests that Spartan society has degenerated. The Poroior On Revenuesis the probably the last thing Xenophon wrote; it attempts to persuade the Athenians to abandon hegemonic war as a way to increase state revenue and adopt instead programs aimed at improving the existing resources of the city-a proposal and conceptual framework virtually without parallel in all antiquity.
NoteThe Constitution of the Atheniansby the so-called 'Old-Oligarch', long thought to be by Xenophon, is widely believed to be not by him. See G. Bowersock's introduction in the last Loeb volume of Xenophon, Xenophon VII Scripta Minora (Cambridge 1968).
Most of the major works of Xenophon are available in Penguin Books translations; especially worth noting are the excellent introductions to Xenophon and his work by George Cawkwell in The Persian Expedition (Harmondsworth 1972) and A History of My Times (Harmondsworth 1979). The Cyropaediais available from the Everyman Library, The Education of Cyrus (London 1992) with excellent notes by Richard Stoneman. Other works that are helpful:
Anderson, J.K., Xenophon (London 1974) Cartledge, Paul, Agesilaus and the Crisis of Sparta (London 1987) Fornara, Charles, The Nature of History in Greece and Rome (Berkeley and Los Angeles 1983) Gray, Vivienne, The Character of Xenophon's Hellenica (Baltimore 1989) Harding, Phillip, From the end of the Peloponnesian War to the Battle of Ipsus, Translated Documents of Greece & Rome 2 (Cambridge 1985) Henry, W.P., Greek Historical Writing (Chicago 1967) Higgins, W.E., Xenophon the Athenian (Albany 1977) Krentz, Peter, Hellenika I-II.3.10 (Warminster 1989) John Dillery- marches with Cyrus against Artaxerxes, king of Persia: Paus. 5.6.5, Paus. 9.15.5
- exiled from Athens: Paus. 5.6.5
- receives Scillus from Lacedaemonians and dwells there: Paus. 5.6.5ff.
- tried by Olympic Council: Paus. 5.6.6
- his tomb: Paus. 5.6.6
- father of Grylus: Paus. 1.3.4, Paus. 8.9.5, 10, Paus. 9.15.5
- wrote history of war between Lacedaemonians and Boeotians: Paus. 1.3.4
- statues perhaps representing his sons: Paus. 1.22.4