¹ Due, Bodil, The Cyropaedia: Xenophon's Aims and Methods (Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 1989), 10Google Scholar. Stadter, Phillip A., “Fictional Narrative in the Cyropaedia,” American Journal of Philology 119, 4 (1991): 461CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

² On Xenophon's influence on philosophers and scholars throughout the ages, see Nadon, Christopher, Xenophon's Prince: Republic and Empire in the Cyropaedia (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), 3Google Scholar. Tuplin, Christopher, The Failings of Empire: A Reading of Xenophon Hellenica 2.3.11–7.5.27 (Stuttgart: F. Steiner, 1993), 21–28Google Scholar. Anderson, J.K., Xenophon (Bristol: Duckworth, 1974), 1–8Google Scholar. Munscher, Karl, “Xenophon in Der Griechisch-Romischen Literatur,” Philologus 13 (1920): 24Google Scholar. Tatum, James, Xenophon's Imperial Fiction (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1989), 3–35Google Scholar. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, Heleen, “Cyrus in Italy: From Dante to Machiavelli,” Arcaemenid History 5: The Roots of European Tradition, eds. Sancisi-Weerdenburg, H. and Drijvers, J.W. (Leiden: Netherlands instituut voor het nabije oosten, 1990), 31–52Google Scholar. According to Bartlett, “the writings of Xenophon are once again attracting serious scholarly study” and a “rehabilitation of Xenophon” is currently underway. Bartlett, Robert C., “Editor's introduction,” in Xenophon: The Shorter Socratic Writings, ed. Bartlett, Robert C. (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1996), 1Google Scholar. According to the 1996 edition of the Oxford Classical Dictionary, “The Cyropaedia has been found dull in modern times. But a revival of interest is underway, and it is arguably a litmus-test for a true appreciation of Xenophon in general.” Quoted in Nadon, Xenophon's Prince, 4 n.16.

³ Tuplin, The Failings of Empire. Hellenica, 2.3.11–7.5.27.

⁴ Due, The Cyropaedia, 219.

⁵ Espinas, quoted in Luccioni, Jean, Les Ideés Politiques et Sociales de Xénophon (Paris: Ophrys, 1949), 304Google Scholar. Also quoted in Farber, Joel, “The Cyropaedia and Hellenistic Kingship,” American Journal of Philology 100 (1979): 497CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

⁶ Stadter, “Fictional Narrative in the Cyropaedia,” 468.

⁷ Unless otherwise noted, all citations refer to the book, chapter, and section of the Cyropaedia to which I refer. In most cases, I have followed the translations found in Xenophon, , The Education of Cyrus, trans. Ambler, Wayne (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001)Google Scholar. In some cases, I have provided my own translations. In the opening paragraphs, Xenophon uses the plural pronouns “we” and “us.” To whom exactly the pronouns refer is not specified, though Xenophon clearly counts himself among the group, whose activities include reflection, thought, observation, perception, consideration, judgment, examination, learning, and wonder. Moreover, the subjects that are of interest to this group―regimes, households, differences and similarities between humans and animals, different kinds of rule (archē), nature (phusis), knowledge (epistēmē), desire (erōs), and education (paidia)―are all common Socratic themes in both the Platonic dialogues and Xenophon's Socratic writings. Insofar as all of these activities and subjects are characteristic of Socrates' conversations with his companions, it seems likely we are to infer that the “we” and “us” to whom Xenophon refers designates “we students of Socrates.” If that is correct, then Xenophon's conversations with Socrates motivated him to write the Cyropaedia.

⁸ For Xenophon, as for many of the ancients, the consideration of an individual human exemplar can point one toward the true character or nature of those virtues that the individual exemplifies.

⁹ To take the most important example, Cyrus learns a great deal about ruling in an extended talk he has with his father (1.6.2–1.6.46). In another example, Cyrus learns the value of fear from a conversation with the Armenian Tigranes (3.1.23).

¹⁰ For the Greeks, the regime (politeia) designates the class of citizens who rule and the way in which they direct the city toward a certain end (telos) through its laws (nomoi). According to Strauss, the politeia is thus more fundamental than any particular law and is the source of all laws. Strauss, Leo, Natural Right and History (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1953), 136Google Scholar. On Xenophon's view of the relationship between regimes and their laws, see also Memorabilia 1.2.40–46 and Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 4.1–2.

¹¹ Nadon, Xenophon's Prince, 43.

¹² The fact that Cambyses, the king of Persia, considered himself as equally bound by the law as a commoner suggested to Xenophon that he was a king rather than a tyrant. On the distinction between kingship and tyranny, see Memorabilia 4.6.12. Cambyses' willingness to be ruled by the law should be contrasted with Cyrus's grandfather Astyages, the ruler of Media, who was, according to his own daughter, tyrant (tyrannos) and master (despotēs) of everything (1.3.18).

¹³ I agree with Leo Strauss's argument that “The laws regarding a politeia may be deceptive, unintentionally and even intentionally, as to the true character of the politeia” (Strauss, Natural Right and History, 136).

¹⁴ Rubin makes the point nicely, suggesting a more modern contrast by remarking that “Cyrus is not Stalin.” Rubin, Leslie G., “Love and Politics in Xenophon's Cyropaedia,” Interpretation 16, 3 (1989): 408Google Scholar. Similarly, Johnson notes that “Cyrus is no blood-thirsty tyrant.” Johnson, David M., “Persians as Centaurs in Xenophon's Cyropaedia,” Transactions of the American Philological Association 135, 1 (2005): 202CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

¹⁵ The fact that this exchange was necessary in the first place would seem to reinforce the theme that some Persians were quite poor. The socio-economic context of the case was that apparently many Persians could not afford to outfit their children in clothes that fit properly.

¹⁶ Gera, Deborah Levine, Xenophon's Cyropaedia : Style, Genre, and Literary Technique (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993), 12, 122, 280Google Scholar. Due, The Cyropaedia, 14, 210, 13; 38, 40; Tatum, Xenophon's Imperial Fiction, xv.

¹⁷ Laws 650b. Plato's Athenian Stranger finds fault with Cyrus for leaving the education of his sons to women and eunuchs. Laws 694c–695b. Citing Cyropaedia 8.7, Gera argues that the fact that Cyrus did try to educate his sons anticipates and virtually refutes the Athenian Stranger's criticism. Gera, Xenophon's Cyropaedia, 125. But, as Nadon points out, Gera's criticism of the Athenian Stranger's analysis is problematic, given that the paucity of time and energy Cyrus puts forth to educate his sons falls far short of his own stated standards for moral instruction at Cyropaedia 3.3.51–55. Nadon, Xenophon's Prince. 135 n.

¹⁸ Gorgias 503a–b, 513e, 521d.

¹⁹ Gera, Xenophon Cyropaedia, 285.

²⁰ Memorabilia 1.2.4.

²¹ Anabasis, 2.1.13, 5.6.15–16.

²² Due, The Cyropaedias, 67 n. 63; Higgins, W.E., Xenophon the Athenian (Albany: SUNY Press, 1977), 53Google Scholar.

²³ Delebecque, Edouard, Cyropédie III (Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1978), 61Google Scholar.

²⁴ For a discussion of other similar examples throughout the Cyropaedia, see Christopher Whidden, “Deception in Xenophon's Cyropaedia,” Interpretation 34 (2) (2007).

²⁵ Cicero, Epistulae ad Quintum Fratrem 1.1.23. Hutchinson, Godfried, Xenophon and the Art of Command (London: Greenhill Books, 2000), 180Google Scholar.; Pomeroy, Sarah, Xenophon Oeconomicus: A Social and Historical Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994), 267Google Scholar; Gera, Xenophon's Cyropaedia, 1, 7, 11, 59, 98, 112, 22, 24, 280, 85, 86; Due, The Cyropaedia, 19, 20, 21, 24, 25, 62, 65, 67, 85, 89, 92, 99, 112, 17, 18, 28, 35, 39, 40, 45, 47, 70, 71, 74, 80, 92, 202, 206, 207, 208, 210, 212, 215, 218, 227, 233, 234, 238. Tatum, Xenophon's Imperial Fiction, xv, 11, 37, 39, 62, 63, 68, 76–77, 82, 177, 207, 209, 233; Higgins, Xenophon the Athenian, 44, 53, 54, 55; Grant, Michael, The Ancient Historians (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1970), 133Google Scholar. Neal Wood, “Xenophon's Theory of Leadership,” Classica et Mediaevalia 25 (1964): 64. Jaeger, Werner W., Paideia: The Ideals of Greek Culture, vol. 3 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1944), 162Google Scholar. Stadter, “Fictional Narrative in the Cyropaedia,” 467–68.

²⁶ See Republic 505a.

²⁷ Memorabilia 4.6.12.

²⁸ Ray, John, “The Education of Cyrus as Xenophon's ‘Statesman’,” Interpretation 19, 3 (1992): 230, 35Google Scholar. Nadon and Glenn argue that by treating virtue as a means to other goods, Cyrus deprives the noble of any intrinsic dignity or worth. Nadon, Xenophon's Prince, 129. Glenn, Gary D., “Cyrus's Corruption of Aristocracy,” Law and Philosophy, ed. Murley, John A., Stone, Robert L., and Braithwaite, William T. (Athens: Ohio University Press, 1992), 158Google Scholar. Cyrus's speech should be compared with Simonides the poet's speech in Xenophon's Hiero, where he recommends to Hiero, the tyrant, that he practice virtue for the sake of gain. Whereas practicing virtue for the sake of gain would constitute an improvement for a tyrant like Hiero, it constitutes moral decline and corruption for the Persians, who must henceforth be promised gain or bribed by Cyrus in order to act “virtuously” after his revolutionary speech . For other comparisons between Cyrus and Hiero, see Nadon, Xenophon's Prince, 136 n. 56.

²⁹ Robert J. Phillips, “Xenophon's Cyropaedia and the Problem of Extraordinary Political Leadership,” PhD diss., Northern Illinois University, 2002, 93–94.

³⁰ Republic 430a–b.

³¹ Constitution of the Lacedaemonians 2.6–7.

³² Bruell points out that the myth of Er in book ten of Plato's Republic makes the same point Xenophon does regarding how weak most individuals' attachment to virtue is. According to the myth, well-bred gentlemen who simply accept conventional notions of virtue and who do not themselves philosophize will choose tyranny in the next life. Only the philosopher, Socrates suggests, will choose virtue over tyranny in the afterlife. See Republic 614b–621d. Bruell, “Xenophon's Education of Cyrus,” PhD diss., University of Chicago, 1969, 28–29. See also Bruell, Christopher, “Xenophon,” in History of Political Philosophy, ed. Strauss, Leo and Cropsey, Joseph (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987), 99Google Scholar.

³³ Higgins, Xenophon the Athenian, 45, 48.

³⁴ Plato's Socrates also recommended lying and stealing when doing so would promote the common good. Republic 331c–d. While Xenophon probably agrees with this way of teaching ethics in theory, his depiction of the way the Persian boys responded to the philosophic education suggests he was skeptical about whether teaching ethics philosophically on a widespread basis was a good idea in practice.

³⁵ Memorabilia 1.6.14

³⁶ Glenn, Gary D., “Prudence in Xenophon's Memorabilia and Cyropaedia,” in Tempered Strength: Studies in the Nature and Scope of Prudential Leadership, ed. Fishman, Ethan (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2002), 20–23Google Scholar.

³⁷ See especially Memorabilia 1.4.1, 4.3.1.

³⁸ Several commentators have noted the similarity between Tigranes' wise companion (sophistēs) and Socrates. Glenn, “Prudence in Xenophon's Memorabilia and Cyropaedia,” 22. Nadon, Xenophon's Prince, 79. Due, The Cyropaedia: Xenophon's Aims and Methods, 77; Bruell, “Xenophon,” 103. Edouard Delebecque, Essai Sur La Vie de Xénophon (1957: C. Klincksieck, 1957), 394–95; Tatum, Xenophon's Imperial Fiction, 135, 38, 39–45; Luccioni, Les Ideés Politiquese et Sociales de Xénophon, 395. Gera, Xenophon's Cyropaedia, 91–94. The fact that Cyrus sees a philosophic figure reminiscent of Socrates as a sophistēs suggests that from the perspective of those who have political power, there may be no real difference between sophists and philosophers.

³⁹ Aglaitadas also went missing because he favored weeping, which he believed encouraged moderation and justice, instead of laughter, which he questioned. His defense of weeping constituted a challenge to Cyrus, whose corruption of the Persians consisted partially in his ability to make them laugh at the “folly” of their old ways (2.2.16). In this sense, it seems that Machiavelli, who speaks very highly of Xenophon's Cyropaedia, learned as much from Cyrus's manner of speech as his deeds. Both Cyrus and Machiavelli aim to create revolutionary coconspirators by provoking laughter.

⁴⁰ Republic 587d–e.

⁴¹ Rubin, “Love and Politics in Xenophon's Cyropaedia,” 408.

⁴² The fact that Cyrus never questions the value of his knowledge should also be compared with Socrates, who embarked on what he called his “second sailing” in part because he questioned the value, adequacy, and possibility of purely mechanistic scientific knowledge of physical causes. Phaedo 96a, 99c–d.

⁴³ Republic 430a–b, 485d–e.

⁴⁴ On “incurables,” see, for example, Gorgias 525c–526d. I am grateful to Susan D. Collins for raising the possibility of this line of argument to me.

⁴⁵ See Prince, ch. 14.

⁴⁶ Hiero 7.1. Cf. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1124a5–20. Aristotle argues that though the great souled individual believes that there is no honor worthy of his complete virtue, he will accept honors from virtuous people on the grounds that they have nothing greater to offer him. But he will have nothing but disdain for honors that come from those who are not themselves virtuous. Insofar as Cyrus indiscriminately desires honor from everyone, he does not possess greatness of soul in the Aristotelian sense. I therefore agree with Rubin, who argues that Xenophon gradually enables the careful reader to see that Cyrus's “magnanimity is hollow” and his “beauty/nobility superficial.” Rubin, “Love and Politics in Xenophon's Cyropaedia,” 410.

⁴⁷ The fact that Cyrus was eager to fund the social elevation of the commoners in Persia so as to be in a better position to seize ever-greater possessions that belonged to other countries and thereby harm them is a sign that he was willing to help friends in order to harm enemies, which is a defining characteristic of spirited individuals. On Cyrus's tendency to see the world in terms of friends and enemies, see 1.4.19. On his deathbed, Cyrus candidly admits that for him helping friends is a means to harming enemies, rather than the reverse (8.7.28). Cyrus's obsession with harming enemies (1.4.24) should be compared with Plato's Socrates' argument that it is never just to harm anyone (Republic 335e), and with Xenophon's Socrates, who claimed that he never committed injustice against any human being (Memorabilia 4.8.10).

⁴⁸ According to Nadon, Cyrus first decides to be generous with other people's possessions as a child in Media while dining with his grandfather. Nadon, Xenophon's Prince, 45. (See 1.3.6–7). But strictly speaking, the large quantity of meat that Cyrus distributes in return for favors he received belonged to him, not to others, because his grandfather gave it to him to do with as he pleased. I find Phillips's reading more satisfactory in that he argues that in the passage in question Cyrus did away with his debts in a manner wholly painless to him, since, given the quantity of meat he was given, he simply gave away excess. Phillips, “Xenophon's Cyropaedia and the Problem of Extraordinary Political Leadership,” 85.

⁴⁹ See also Republic 373d–e.

⁵⁰ Johnson, “Persians as Centaurs in Xenophon's Cyropaedia, ”181.

⁵¹ Ambler, “Introduction: Xenophon's Education of Cyrus,” 5; Nadon, Xenophon's Prince; Nadon, Xenophon's Prince, 29–42. Strauss, Leo, The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1989), 146Google Scholar. Bruell, “Xenophon,” 92. Miller, Walter, “Introduction,” Cyropaedia, vol. 51, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1994) viii–ixGoogle Scholar.

⁵² Strauss, The Rebirth of Classical Political Rationalism, 146.

⁵³ Strauss, Leo, On Tyranny, revised and expanded edition, including the Strauss-Kojève Correspondence (New York: The Free Press, 1991), 24–25Google Scholar.

⁵⁴ Memorabilia 1.2.12.

⁵⁵ Abraham Lincoln raises a very similar question in his “Lyceum Address,” where he warns about the potential danger posed to republican government and the rule of law by those towering geniuses “who seek the gratification of their ruling passion” and “who belong to the family of the lion, or the tribe of the eagle,” such as Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon. Insofar as Cyrus is also one of the great world-historic subversives of republican government and the rule of law, Lincoln could easily have added him to this list. In addition, he might also have included Alcibiades. While Alcibiades's fellow Athenians often voted him into high office, they also mistrusted him for his legendary ambition and thinly-disguised desire to seize absolute power for himself. Xenophon remarks in his own name that in addition to being “incontinent, insolent, and violent,” Alcibiades was (with Critias) “by nature the most honor-loving of all the Athenians,” one who wished to “become the most renowned of all.” Memorabilia 1.2.12–14.

⁵⁶ On Socrates' second sailing, see note 43 above.

⁵⁷ Hirsch, Steven W., The Friendship of the Barbarians: Xenophon and the Persian Empire (Hanover: University Press of New England, 1985), 91–97Google Scholar. Before the concluding section of the Cyropaedia, Miller, the translator and editor of the Loeb Edition of the Cyropaedia, goes so far as to recommend to the reader that he “close the book … and read no further.” Xenophon, Cyropaedia, trans. Miller, 439.