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Xenophon (Ancient Greek Ξενοφῶν, Modern Greek Ξενοφώντας; ca. 431 – 355 BC), son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates. He is known for his writings on the history of his own times, preserving the sayings of Socrates, and the life of ancient Greece.
Historical and biographical works: Anabasis (or The Persian Expedition) Cyropaedia Hellenica Agesilaus
Socratic works and dialogues: Memorabilia Oeconomicus Symposium Apology Hiero
Short treatises: On Horsemanship The Cavalry General Hunting with Dogs Ways and Means Constitution of Sparta
Plato writes in Republic that the principle of justice is the same for an individual as it is for a state. Therefore, the person who is eligible to govern a state must be a philosopher, i.e. lover of wisdom. Xenophon has found concrete expression of this ideal in the person of Cyrus, the founder of the Persian Empire, who embodied the essential characters of a philosopher-king, shepherd and guardian of the state.
Cyropaedia ("The Education of Cyrus") is a fascinating biography of Cyrus the Great. It integrates seamlessly into one narrative all the interesting aspects of biography, history, romance, war epic, political philosophy, leadership manual and military treatise, and yet, like many other Greco-Roman classics, is written in a simple, elegant, vivacious, humorous and captivating style. Cyropaedia has reportedly inspired Alexander the Great, Scipio Africanus, Julius Caesar, Cicero, Machiavelli and Thomas Jefferson among others. I suspect Abe Lincoln also got his leadership lessons (e.g. "Team of Rivals") from Xenophon.
The Xenophon kick continues. Another intriguing examination on what it is to rule by Xenophon, quickly becoming one of my favourite philosophical writers of the ancient world. This translation isn't perfect. Especially notable is the translation as δημοκρατία (democracy) as Republic.
1.5 stars, DNF @ 22%. I didn't hate this book. I was just unfamiliar with everything about it. It was all too strange to be enjoyable or informative.
I chose this ancient Greek book written in ancient times because of my alphabet reading challenge for the letter 'X'. It was fun and different in the beginning, but it quickly became a drag and boring to read.
There just seemed to be never ending strange names of characters, their complicated relationships and never ending war campaigns, military tactics, counter war campaigns and betrayals. It was a tangled web. I just got lost in the unfamiliar names, even weirder place names of places with different names in our time etc. And now it's too much of an effort to get into it after putting it down for a few months. At least I managed to try something way outside my reading comfort zone and I'm proud of that.
I know that it is ridiculous to have only Books I-IV of this classic but the 'Loeb Classical Library' books are very small in size (even though they are hardcover) and so I have, over the years, carried them around and lost them. I can really be comically absent-minded at times! Xenophon was taken far more seriously as a thinker by the ancients, and even the medievals, than he is today. Leo Strauss has tried to turn that around but with, I think, little success. Compared with Plato Xenophon is indeed boring. For young people today, or anyone really, looking to start out on Xenophon I would recommend starting with 'Anabasis' which really is a wonderfully exciting account of Greek merceneries in Persia. This book, 'The Education of Cyrus' really is of interest for the history of Political Philosophy. Machiavelli was aware of it and recognized it as something he wanted to overturn.
As another reviewer had said, this is a fascinating book. It is certainly the oldest book I have read.
If you are expecting to read something akin to battle scenes in GLADIATOR or 300, or even in the Iliad, this is not the book for you. There is a ring of truth to everything that is narrated here. Xenophon, the writer, was a participant in the march and there seems to be little embellishment.
I read this book after recalling a verse from Isaiah - "I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for price or reward". This book is an account of Cyrus' education and exploits, by the Greek military leader, philosopher, and historian Xenophon. Much of it reads like hagiography - Cyrus is a wise and courageous ruler, born with a natural disposition to love mankind and pursue justice, never once turning aside for pleasure or wealth. History chronicles that under his reign, the Persian empire expanded to cover more than 40% of the world, and that his administration was benevolent and tolerant.
I found the last words of Cyrus rather stirring: (19) Never yet, my sons, could I be persuaded that the soul only lives so long as she dwells within this mortal body, and falls dead so soon as she is quit of that. Nay, I see for myself that it is the soul which lends life to it, while she inhabits there. (20) I cannot believe that she must lose all sense on her separation from the senseless body, but rather that she will reach her highest wisdom when she is set free, pure and untrammelled at last. And when this body crumbles in dissolution, we see the several parts thereof return to their kindred elements, but we do not see the soul, whether she stays or whether she departs. (21) Consider," he went on, "how these two resemble one another, Death and his twin-brother Sleep, and it is in sleep that the soul of a man shows her nature most divine, and is able to catch a glimpse of what is about to be, for it is then, perhaps, that she is nearest to her freedom. (22) Therefore, if these things are as I believe, and the spirit leaves the body behind and is set free, reverence my soul, O sons of mine, and do as I desire. And even if it be not so, if the spirit must stay with the body and perish, yet the everlasting gods abide, who behold all things, with whom is all power, who uphold the order of this universe, unmarred, unaging, unerring, unfathomable in beauty and in splendour. Fear them, my sons, and never yield to sin or wickedness, in thought or word or deed. (23) And after the gods, I would have you reverence the whole race of man, as it renews itself for ever; for the gods have not hidden you in the darkness, but your deeds will be manifest in the eyes of all mankind, and if they be righteous deeds and pure from iniquity, they will blazon forth your power: but if you meditate evil against each other, you will forfeit the confidence of every man. For no man can trust you, even though he should desire it, if he sees you wrong him whom above all you are bound to love. (24) Therefore, if my words are strong enough to teach you your duty to one another, it is well. But, if not, let history teach you, and there is no better teacher. For the most part, parents have shown kindness to their children and brothers to their brothers, but it has been otherwise with some. Look, then, and see which conduct has brought success, choose to follow that, and your choice will be wise. (25) And now maybe I have said enough of this. As for my body, when I am dead, I would not have you lay it up in gold or silver or any coffin whatsoever, but give it back to the earth with all speed. What could be more blessed than to lie in the lap of Earth, the mother of all things beautiful, the nurse of all things good? I have been a lover of men all my life, and methinks I would fain become a part of that which does good to man. (26) And now," he added, "now it seems to me that my life begins to ebb; I feel my spirit slipping away from those parts she leaves the first. If you would take my hand once more, or look into my eyes while life is there, draw near me now; but when I have covered my face, let no man look on me again, not even you, my sons. (27) But you shall bid the Persians come, and all our allies, to my sepulchre; and you shall rejoice with me and congratulate me that I am safe at last, free from suffering or sorrow, whether I am with God or whether I have ceased to be. Give all who come the entertainment that is fitting in honour of a man whose life on earth was happy, and so send them away. (28) Remember my last saying: show kindness to your friends, and then shall you have it in your power to chastise your enemies. Good-bye, my dear sons, bid your mother good-bye for me. And all my friends, who are here or far away, good-bye."
The Greco-Roman classics are truly a refuge of purity for we moderns. Virtue and evil, obligation and taboo, are so clear to them, whereas everything seems to be in a mess for us. Thrown into a world where all values and all action is questioned, where all is up to the individual's choice, we often become confused. What is right? What is wrong? What should I do with my life? The problem with this question is that it should not be a question. Instead, it should be immediately clear to us what is virtuous and what should be pursued, with our time on this earth being an opportunity to pursue such virtue.
This virtue is quite clear to Cyrus as well, the feature of this biography. The Persian aristocracy, along with Cyrus, practiced strict temperance and discipline. Meat, bread, and water are their food. They shunned saccharine luxury and unnecessary splendor. They realized that the greater one weans one's self off of luxurious pleasures, the greater pleasure one gets from more simple pleasures. Hunger becomes one's spice, thirst one's sweetness.
The Persians were very pious as well. Their piety is perhaps the highest manifestation of belief I have come across. One of the subtitles of the book is quite literally "God only helps those who help themselves". How can you ask God to win a war when you have not prepared your armaments and armies? How can you ask God to become strong if you don't put in the work to exercise and eat temperately? You cannot. That is simple foolishness.
To quote from Cyrus's father advising him: "Do you remember the conclusion which once we reached — that as people who know what the gods have granted fare better than those who do not; as people who work accomplish more than those who are idle; as people who are careful live more securely than those who are indifferent; so in this matter it seemed to us that those only who had made themselves what they ought to be had a right to ask for corresponding blessing from the gods?"
What wise advice! Too bad we never hear anything of the sort from any church today, as they moan how "weak" and "frail" man is; how we can never do anything about our condition without external assistance; how we are totally depraved and the only sparks of goodness that can be found in us are not our own, but God's property. This sort of preaching incites my heart, my Faustian spirit. Were we not made in the image of God? Then certainly we have His divine spark within us, that we can use to overcome our struggles. The Ancient Greeks certainly recognized this, though that same sense today may be lost in the morass of hysterical Evangelicalism.
The Greeks also recognized the importance of bodily health. When Cyrus's father asks him how he will stay healthy, he answers as follows: "In the first place, by Zeus, I try never to eat too much, for that is oppressive; and in the second place, I work off by exercise what I have eaten, for by so doing health seems more likely to endure and strength to accrue". His father continues to ask if Cyrus's soldiers will get the chance to exercise. Cyrus continues: "Nay, by Zeus, they not only can, but they actually must. For if an army is to do its duty, it is absolutely necessary that it never cease to contrive both evil for the enemy and good for itself. What a burden it is to support even one idle man! It is more burdensome still to support a whole household in idleness; but the worst burden of all is to support an army in idleness!"
Activity, exercise, strength, health: these are all immensely valued by the Ancient Greeks. Today, our society values emotionalism, victimhood, whining, sensitivity, and ugliness. One can't help but be filled with disgust. Look around us! Look at Americans! How utterly disgusting they are! Look at their potbellies, their triple chins, their pimpled faces, the syringe-marks in their arms. We now not only have a whole household mired in idleness, but an entire country. "The first world" they call us — what a joke!
The Ancient Greeks, Romans, and other Indo-European groups were the true "first world". They founded our cultures and reached a spiritual state unmatched by today. Thankfully, their works have been preserved and diligent classical scholars have translated them for us. We should all take a nice, long spa in the classic world, regenerating our body, mind, and soul. Our ancestors call us to fight weakness, sickness, ugliness, and idleness. Listen to the words of Cyrus and his father. Europeans — you are descended from these people! They are of your same blood. You best live up to it or be an utter disgrace to your heritage!
Just finished reading this ancient Greek Classic book "Cyropaedia, or the Education of Cyrus" written by Xenophon, a philosopher, a student of Socrates, historian, a general of 10,000 greek mercenary army, and a statesman.
I believe this short treatise really deserved to be classed among the "Mirrors for Princes" classic genre.
Reading this book is like both reading the "Art of War" of Wu Zi and "Way of General" of Zhu Ge Liang which teaches the art of management (of troops, of laying and executing plans, etc) and the "Tao of Leadership", a translation of John Heider to the "Dao De Jing" of Lao Tzu which provides profound wisdom in the art of leadership as well in the art of living.
It is also a contrast to the writing of Machiavelli "The Prince" which argues that one can successfully lead thru inspiring fear in the minds and hearts of his friends and enemies.
In studying and examining the life of Cyrus The Great of Persia, one becomes a leader thru righteousness and kindness over his subjects and inspires respect from both from his allies and enemies. It reinforces the thought that kindness is never a weakness. Only evil thoughts breed disasters to oneself.
A true king conquers the heart of his subject, vast lands and territories will come next thru voluntary capitulation. It is what Sun Tzu states as "Winning without Fighting" and "Conquering a City without even laying a siege"
I find the first part (Book I) a little bit boring but things will get exciting towards the end of Book I when Cyrus finally becomes a commander of an army due to invading Assyrians, and at the start of Book II until the last book, Book VIII when Cyrus became the king of Babylon and united an empire 😉
To those who also love history or seeking a guidance on leadership or advices in simply dealing and leading with your life, I really commend this ancient wisdom written hundred of years before the birth of Christ.
I would also like to thank the "Anabasis" and "Historie" for leading me to this another ancient treasure 😎
'. . . no speech of admonition can be so fine that it will all at once make those who hear it good men if they are not good already; it would surely not make archers good if they had not had previous practice in shooting; neither would it make lancers good, nor horsemen; it cannot even make men able to endure bodily labour, unless they have been trained to it before.'
Regardless of whether this was xenophon putting words into the mouths of the Persians or his take on what really did happen with Cyrus, this is a wonderful book containing so much great wisdom. Again, whether this was the author's wisdom or the wisdom that he learned from Socrates it is timeless and Beyond civilization and time. It is a shame that it's such a little-known book.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. You don’t need to read Xenophon, Thucydides or any of the ancient historians to learn this lesson, but it helps.
More like a possibly abridged version of seven of the books but basically Greece gets invited to do an exercise with Persia but it’s a trap and they’re allowed to go home but with no guarantee of safety and it just kind of abruptly ends- though they may have made it home, I’m not sure.