A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

XENOPHON. XENOPHON. 1299
invited to join the army of Thimbron, and Xeno- tence of banishment from Athens was repealed on
phon led them back out of Asia to join Thimbron the motion of Eubulus, but it is uncertain in what
r. c. 399. Xenophon, who was very poor, made year. Ill the battle of Mantineia which was fought
an expedition into the plain of the Caicus with his B. C. 362, the Spartans and the Athenians were
troops before they joined Thimbron, to plunder opposed to the Thebans, and Xenophon's two sons,
the house and property of a Persian named Asidates. Gryllus and Diodorus, fought on the side of the
The Persian, with his women, children, and all his allies. He sent them, says Diogenes, to Athens to
moveables was seized; and Xenophon, by this fight on behalf of the Spartans. Gryllus fell in
robbery, replenished his empty pockets (Anab. vii. the same battle in which Epaminondas lost his life.
83. ~ 23). He tells the story himself as if he were From the circumstance of Xenophon's two sons
not ashamed of it. being in the battle, Letronne assumes that the
Socrates was put to death in B. C. 399, and it decree for Xenophon's banishment must have been
seems probable that Xenophon was banished either repealed before B. C. 362, a conclusion which is far
shortly before or shortly after that event. His from being necessary. Kruger concludes for other
death during Xenophon's absence in Asia appears reasons that it was repealed before 01.103, that is,
to be collected from the Memorabilia (iv. 8. ~4). before the battle of Mantineia. There is no
Xenophon was not banished at the time when he evidence that Xenophon ever returned to Athens.
was leading the troops back to Thimbron (Anab. He is said to have retired to Corinth after his
vii. 7. ~ 57), but his expression rather seems to imply expulsion from Scillus, and as we know nothing
that his banishment must have followed soon after. more, we assume that he died there. (Diog. Laert.)
It is not certain what he was doing after the troops The Hipparchicus was written after the repeal
joined Thimbron. The assumption of Letronne. ofrthe decree of banishment, and the treatise on
that he went to Athens is unsupported by evidence. the revenues of Athens. The events alluded to in
As we know nothing of his movements, the con- the Epilogus to the Cyropaedia (viii. 8. ~ 4) show
clusion ought to be that he stayed in Asia, that the Epilogus at least was written after 0l. 104.
and probably with Thimbron and his successor 3. (Diod. xv. 92.) Diogenes quotes Stesicleides as
Dercyllidas. authority for Xenophon having died in the first
Agesilaus, the Spartan king, was commanding the year of the 105th Olympiad, or in B. C. 359. The
Lacedaemonian forces in Asia against the Persians time of his death may have been a few years later.
in B. C. 396, and Xenophon was with him at least Compare Clinton, bt;sti Hell. B. c. 359; Kriiger,
during part of the campaign. When Agesilaus was de Xenoplhontis, e-c. p. 28.
recalled B. c. 394, Xenophon accompanied him The titles of the works of Xenophon which
(A4nab. v. 3. ~ 6), and he was on the side of the Diogenes enumerates are the same as those which
Lacedaemonians in the battle which they fought at are now extant. He says that Xenophon wrote
Coroneia B. C. 394 against the Athenians (Plutarch, about forty books (/i3La), and that they were
Agesil. 18). It seems that he went to Sparta with variously divided, which expression and the list of
Agesilaus after the battle of Coroneia, and soon works which he gives, show that by the word
after he settled at Scillus in Eleia, not far from books he meant the several divisions or books of
Olympia, a spot of which he has given a description the larger works, and the smaller works which
in the Anabasis (v. 3. ~ 7, &c.). Here he was joined consist of a single book. The number of books of
by his wife Philesia and his children. It has Xenophon thus estimated is thirty-seven, which is
been said that Philesia was his second wife; but tolerably near the number mentioned by Diogenes,
when he married her, or where, is unknown. His and shows that a division of Xenophon's works
children were educated in Sparta, or at least Age- into books existed at that time. Of the historical
silaus advised him to educate them there. (Plut. writings of Xenophon, the Acnabasis, or the HisAgesil. 20.) Xenophon was now an exile, and a tory of the Expedition of the Younger Cyrus, and of
Lacedaemonian so far as he could become one. the retreat of the Greeks, who formed part of his
His time during his long residence at Scilluswas army, has immortalised his name. It is a clear
employed ill hunting, writing, and entertaining his and pleasing narrative, written in a simple style,
friends; and probably his historical writings, the free from affectation; and it gives a great deal of
Anabasis and the Hellenica, or part of the Hel- curious information on the country which was
lenica, were composed here, as Diogenes Lairtius traversed by the retreating Greeks, and on the
says. The treatise on hunting and that on the manners of the people. It was the first work
horse were probably written during this time, when which made the Greeks acquainted with some
amusement and exercise of that kind formed part portions of the Persian empire, and it showed the
of his occupation. Xenophon was at last expelled weakness of that extensive monarchy. The skirfrom his quiet retreat at Scillus by the Eleans, but inishes of the retreating Greeks with their enemies
the year is uncertain. It is a conjecture of Kruger's and the battles with some of the barbarian tribes
that the Eleans did not take Scillus before B.c. 371, are not such events as elevate the work to the
the year in which the Lacedaemonians were de- character of a military history, nor can it as such
feated by the Thebans at the battle of Leuctra. be compared with Caesar's Commentaries. Indeed
Diogenes says that the Lacedaemonians did not those passages in the Anabasis which relate dicome to the aid of Xenophon when he was attacked rectly to the military movements of the retreating
by the Eleans, a circumstance that may lead to the army are not always clear, nor have we any eviprobable inference that they were too busily em- dence that XenophonI did possess any militamy
ployed in other ways either to prevent his expulsion talent for great operations, whatever skill he may
or to reinstate him; and this is a reason why have had as a commander of a division. The
Letronne supposes that the Eleans probably attacked editions of the Aszabasis are numerous: one of the
Scillus in B. C. 368 during the invasion of Laconica most useful editions for the mere explanation of
by Epaminondas. Xenophon's residence at Scillus the Greek text is by Kruger. The work of Major
in either case was above twenty years. The sen- Rennell " Illustrations chiefly geographical of the
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