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

J302 XENOPHON. XENOPHON.
which induced Socrates to prefer death to life. It seventh chapter is on the duty of a good wife, as
is not a first-rate performance; and because they exemplified in the case of the wife of Ischomachus.
do not consider it worthy of Xenophon, some critics The wife's duty is to look after the interior of the
would deny that he is the author; but this is an household: the husband labours outof doors and proinconclusive reason. LaErtius states that Xenophon duces that which the wife must use with frugality.
wrote an Apologia, and the original is as likely to The wife's duty is to stay at home, and not to gad
have come down to us as a forgery. abroad. It is an excellent chapter, abundant ill
In the Symposiumn (5v/utroitov), or Banquet of good things, worthy of a woman's careful perusal,
Philosophers, Xenophon delineates the character of and adapted to practice. A wife who is perpetually
Socrates. The speakers are supposed to meet at leaving her home, is not the wife that Xenopholl
the house of Callias, a rich Athenian, at the cele- would have. It is a notion which one sees in some
bration of the great Panathenaea. Socrates, Cra- modern writers, that the attachment of husband
tibulus, Antisthenes, Charmides, and others are and wife, independent of the sexual passion, and
the speakers. The accessories of the entertainment their permanent love after both have grown old, is
are managed with skill, and the piece is interesting a characteristic of modem society, and that the
as a picture of an Athenian drinking party, and of men of Greece and Rome were not susceptible of
the amusement and conversation with which it that affection which survives the decay of a woman's
was diversified. The nature of love and friendship youth and beauty. The notion is too absurd to
is discussed. Some critics think that the Syn- need confutation. The duties of a wife, says
posiems is a juvenile performance, and that the Ischomachus, give her great opportunities, by exSymposiunz of Plato was written after that of Xe- ercising which she will not have to fear "that as
nophon; but it is an old tradition that the Sympo- she grows older she will receive less respect in the
siuam of Plato was written before that of Xenophon. household, but may be assured that as she advances
The Symposium was translated into English by in life, the better companion she becomes to her
James Wellwood, 1710, reprinted 1750. husband and the better guardian of her children,
The Hiero ('Ieppw;v l Tvpavvitco) is a dialogue the more respect she will receive." This is one of
between king Hiero and Simonides, in which the the best treatises of Xenophon. It has been
king speaks of the dangers and difficulties incident several times translated into English. The last
to an exalted station, and the superior happiness translation appears to be by R. Bradley, London,
of a private man. The poet, on the other hand, 1727, 8vo.
enumerates the advantages which the possession of A man's character cannot be entirely derived
power gives, and the means which it offers of oblig- from his writings, especially if they treat of exact
ing and doing services. Hiero speaks of the burden science. Yet a man's writings are some index of
of power, and answers Simonides, who wonders his character, and when they are of a popular and
why a man should keep that which is so trouble- varied kind, not a bad index. Xenophon, as we
some, by saying that power is a thing which a know him from his writings, was a humane man,
man cannot safely lay down. Simonides offers at least for his age, a man of good understanding
some suggestions as to the best use of power, and and strong religious feelings: we might call him
the way of employing it for the public interest. superstitious, if the name superstition had a wellIt is suggested by Letronne that Xenophon may defined meaning. Some modern critics, who can
have been led to write this treatise by what he judge of matters of antiquity with as much positivesaw at the court of Dionysius; and, as already ness as if all the evidence that exists were unstated, there is a story of his having visited Sicily doubted evidence, and as if they had all the eviin the lifetime of the tyrant of Syracuse. A trans- dence that is required, find much to object to in
lation of this piece, which is attributed to Elizabeth, Xenophon's conduct as a citizen. He did not like
queen of England, first appeared in an octavo vo- Athenian institutions altogether; but a man is
lume, published in 1743, entitled " Miscellanleous under no moral or political obligation to like the
Correspondence." It was also translated, in 1793, government under which he is born. His duty is
I8vo., by the Rev. James Graves, the translator of to conform to it, or to withdraw himself. There is
the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius. no evidence that Xenophon, after his banishment,
The Oeconoomicus (OiKcovoPIKdos) is a dialogue acted against his native country, even at the battle
between Socrates and CritQbulus, in which Socrates of Coroneia. If we admit that his banishment was
begins by showing that there is an art called Oeco- merited, and that is more than can be proved, there
nomic, which relates to the administration of a is no evidence that he did any thing after his bahousehold and of a man's property. Socrates (c. nishment for which an exile can be blamed. If his
4), when speaking in praise of agriculture, quotes preference of Spartan to Athenian institutions is
the instance of the younger Cyrus, who was fond matter for blame, he is blameable indeed. If we
of horticulture, and once showed to the Spartan may form a conjecture of the man, he would have
Lysander the gardens which he had planned and made an excellent citizen and a good administrator
the trees which he had planted with his own under a constitutional monarchy; but he was not
hands. Cicero copies this passage, in his treatise fitted for the turbulence of an Athenian democracy,
on Old Age (de Senectute, c. 17). Xenophon gives which, during a great part of his lifetime, was not
the same character of Cyrus, in this passage of more to the taste of a quiet man than France under
the Oeconzomicus, which he gives in the Anabasis the Convention. All antiquity and all modern
(i. 8, 9), which tends to confirm his being the writers agree in allowing Xenophon great merit as
author of the Anabasis, if it needs confirmation. a writer of a plain, simple, perspicuous, and unIn answer to the praises of agriculture, Critobulus affected style. His mind was not adapted for pure
speaks of the losses to which the husbandman is philosophical speculation: he looked to the practical
exposed from hail, frost, drought, and other causes. in all things; and the basis of his philosophy was
The answer of Socrates is that the husbandman a strong belief in a divine mediation in the governmust trust in heaven, and worship the gods. The ment of the world. His belief only requires a