Xenophon (ca. 430 to ca. 354 BCE), a member of a wealthy but politically quietist Athenian family and an admirer of Socrates, left Athens in 401 BCE to serve as a mercenary commander for Cyrus the Younger of Persia, then joined the staff of King Agesilaus II of Sparta before settling in Elis and, in the aftermath of the battle of Leuctra in 371 BCE, retiring to Corinth. His historical and biographical works, Socratic dialogues and reminiscences, and short treatises on hunting, horsemanship, economics, and the Spartan constitution are richly informative about his own life and times.
The Loeb Classical Library edition of Xenophon is comprised of seven volumes:
Hellenica (in two volumes), a history of Greek affairs from 411 to 362, begins as a continuation of Thucydides’s account.
Volume III contains Anabasis, a true story of remarkable adventures.
Volume IV of the Loeb Xenophon edition collects four works on Socrates. In Memorabilia Xenophon adds to Plato’s picture of Socrates from a different viewpoint. Oeconomicus has him giving advice on household management and married life. Xenophon’s Symposium portrays a dinner party at which Socrates speaks of love; and his Apology is an interesting complement to Plato’s account of Socrates’s defense at his trial.
Volumes V and VI contain the Cyropaedia, a historical romance on the education of Cyrus (the Elder), reflects Xenophon’s ideas about rulers and government.
The last of the seven volumes collects Hiero, a dialogue on government; Agesilaus, in praise of that king; Constitution of Lacedaemon (on the Spartan system); Ways and Means (on the finances of Athens); Manual for a Cavalry Commander; a good manual of Horsemanship; and a lively Hunting with Hounds. The Constitution of the Athenians, though clearly not by Xenophon, is an interesting document on politics at Athens.
