Xenophon's taste

Author: Liu Xiaofeng, Chen Shaoming
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Xenophon, a Greek writer, historian, and military theorist. A citizen of Athens and a disciple of Socrates. Xenophon was one of the highly acclaimed and prolific classical authors. He wrote numerous works on history, economics, philosophy, and military matters. His book Anabasis recounts the journey of the Greeks as they retreated along the entire coast of Asia Minor to the Black Sea, and is considered one of the earliest military theory in Greek. His book Cyropaedia extensively discusses military science, including the recruitment, organization, equipment, education, training, and tactics of armies. His History of the Greeks defines the new battle formation of Epaminondas. In Memorabilia of Socrates, he attempts to distinguish between tactics and strategy. This book is a collection of critiques on his works. When studying Xenophon, one of the most prominent admirers of Sparta in the classical period, one cannot help but think of Rousseau, one of the most important modern admirers of Sparta. If the claim that restoring a reliable method must eliminate the influence of Rousseau (as some people assert) were true, the theme of this article could be concluded as follows: the teachings of someone like Xenophon are precisely the antidote we need. It goes without saying that refuting or proving such a profound theme is not the main purpose of this article. However, if this article prompts some readers to reconsider traditional and contemporary views on Xenophon—views that, though understandable and even somewhat justified, are nearly an insult to this truly noble soul—then the writing of this article is not in vain. Because he was such a person, he would rather disguise himself as a beggar and travel through several centuries than sell the precious secrets of Socrates' silent and cautious wisdom to a large crowd. Only when he enthralls them with clever stories of an Agis, a Cyrus, or a Xenophon, filled with unexpected and dazzling plots, do they let him go, granting him immortal fame.