Xenophon: On Government

239 Pages·2007·14.91 MB·English

by  Vivienne J. Gray (editor)

CAMBRIDGE GREEK AND LATIN CLASSICS
XENOPHON
ON
GOVERNMENT
EDITED BY VIVIENNE 7 . GRAY

XENOPHON ON
GOVERNMENT
EDITED BY
VIVIENNE . GRAY
Professor of Classics and Ancient History
Unwersity of Auckland
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First published 2007
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Xenophon.
[Selections. 2007}
Xenophon on government / edited By VivienneJ . Gray.
p. cm. - (Cambridge Greek and Latin classics)
Greek text with introduction and commentary in English.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-521-58154-7 (hardback)
ISBN-13: 978-0-521-58859-1 (pbk.)
1. Xenophon. Hieron. 2. Xenophon. Lacedaemoniorum respublica. 4. Constitution
of Athens. 1. Gray, Vivienne. 1. Tite. πι. Titde: On government. ιν. Series.
PA4494.A25 2007
321.g—dc22
2006033313
1SBN 978-0-521-58154-7 hardback
1SBN 978-0-521-58859-1 paperback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLS for
external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee
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CONTENTS
Preface
References and abbreviations
General introduction
Introduction to Hiero
Introduction to Respublica Lacedaemoniorum (Lac.)
Introduction to Respublica Atheniensium (Ath.)
HIERO
RESPUBLICA LACEDAEMONIORUM
RESPUBLICA ATHENIENSIUM
Commentary on Hiero
Commentary on Respublica Lacedaemoniorum
Commentary on Respublica Atheniensium
A ies
Bibliography
Indices
PREFACE
The three works in this collection have been chosen for their common focus on gov-
ernment. Xenophon of Athens wrote two of them. They present analyses of three
types of government: the personal rule of Hiero of Syracuse, the laws of Lycurgus
of Sparta, and the practices of Athenian democracy. A general introduction surveys
Xenophon’s thought on government in order to establish common principles behind
the three works and then reads his life in relation to that thought. The focus on gov-
ernment continues in the separate introductions to each work and the commentaries,
which also address as a priority the literary manner in which this thought is presented.
The University of Auckland was my employer for the period of writing, and the
Faculty of Arts provided a Summer Scholarship for a student assistant, Jessica Priestley.
I thank Jessica for proofing the original typescript, checking references and correcting
errors. In this part of the world there are few Xenophontic experts, but I have had
much encouragement from Bill Barnes, otherwise a specialist in the epic. The general
and detailed assistance from the editors, Richard Hunter and Pat Easterling, has been
so great that no acknowledgement could express my gratitude to them, but I would
like to single out their generous production of the apparatus criticus.

REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS
References are to Oxford Classical Texts where available. Teubner texts were
used for Aeschines: M. R. Dilts (1997); Andocides: Ε Blass (1913); Antiphon: Ε
Blass (1914); Athenacus: G. Kaibel (1887); Demetrius: L. Radermacher (1967);
Diogenes Laertius: M. Marcovich (1999); Dionysius of Halicarnassus: H. Usener
and L. Radermacher (1965); Isocrates: Β. G. Mandilaras (2003); Plutarch: Lindskog/
Ziegler (1914—69). References are made to the Budé text for Asclepiodotus:
L. Poznanski (1992) and the Loeb Classical Library text for Lyric Poetry: Ὦ. A. Campbell
(1982-93).
The needs of undergraduates are considered in referencing and abbreviating, with
common English titles for the plays of Aristophanes and the speeches of the orators,
Thuc. (not Th.), Dem. (not D.). I use transliterated Greek titles for Xenophon’s works.
Where not specified the author is Xenophon.
Ancient names are spelled for ease of recognition.
Collections of texts and works of reference are abbreviated as follows:
AjP Amencan journal of Philology
C&M Classica et Medaevalia
0f Classical Journal
CMR Raeder, 1. Collectionum Medicarum Reliquiae (Amsterdam 1964)
cQ Classical Quarterly
CR Classical Revew
DK Diecls, H. and Kranz, W. Die Fragmente der Vorsokratiker'* (Dublin—Zurich
1966-7)
FGH Jacoby, Ε Die Fragmente der griechischen Historker (Leiden 1950—9g)
GG Goodwin, W. W. Greek Grammar (London 1984)
GHI Meiggs, R. and Lewis, D. 4 Selection of Greek Historical Inscriptions to the End
of the Fifth Century Bc (Oxford 1969, 2nd edn. 1988)
GL Campbell, D. A. Greek Lynic, 5 vols. (Cambridge, Mass. 1982—93)
GP Denniston,J . Ὠ. The Greek Farticles (Oxford 1954)
GRBS Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies
HSCP Harvard Studies in Classical Philology
IEG West, M.L. lamb: et Elegi Graeci (Oxford 1989, 1992)
IG Inscrniptiones Graecae, vol. 13 (Berlin 1981-8) by Ὦ. Lewis, vol. 22 (Berlin
1913) by I. Kirchner
JHS Journal of Hellenic Studies
KG Kiihner, R. and Gerth, Β. Ausfiihrliche Grammatik der griechischen Sprache3
(Darmstadt 1966)
LCL Loeb Classical Library
LCM Laverpool Classical Monthly
LIST OF REFERENCES AND ABBREVIATIONS
H. G. Liddell, R. Scott, H. Stuart Jones, R. Mackenzie, A Greek—English
Lexicon? (Oxford 1968)
Goodwin, W. W. Syntax of Greek Moods and Tenses (London 1807)
Museum Helveticum
Kassel, Ε. and Austin, C. Poetae Comict Graect (Berlin 1983—2001)
Page, D. L. Poetae Melici Graec: (Oxford 1962)
Quaderni Urbinati di Cultura Classica
Revue de Philologie, de Littérature et d’Histoire Anciennes
Runsta di Filologia e d’ Istruzione Classica
Supplementum Epigraphicum Graecum
Studi ltalian: di Filologia Classica
Smyth, H. W. Greek Grammar, revised by Gordon M. Messing
(Harvard 1956)
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
Similanites and differences
These three texts share an important common focus, but there is an equal attraction
in their differences.'
Their common focus is the problem of government. Aristotle defined this at the
beginning of his Polifics as how to organize and direct the polis (or any other κοινωνία
or association of interests) with a view to securing 115 success (εὐδαιϊιμονία) through
promotion of the common good. Yet these texts treat this common problem from
very different perspectives, use very different political systems as illustrations, have
very different literary forms, and differ even in their authorship and consequently
also in their style.3
Hiero is the first work we have that is entirely devoted to rulership, and is in the form
of a dialogue between a wise man and a tyrant about the relative happiness of the ruler
and the non-ruler. The tyrant proves to be a suffering human being whose tyranny
prevents him achieving personal εὐδαιμονία, but the wise man shows him that he can
achieve it through service to the εὐδαιμονία of those he rules. Respublica Lacedaemoniorum
(Lac.) is the first comprehensive account we have of the laws that Lycurgus created
for the εὐδαιμονία of the Spartans. It contains the earliest description of his eugenic
programme, his educational system, his various other arrangements for the promotion
of virtue, his army practices, and the customs for the Spartan kings, and it provokes
questions about the function of law and the relationship of law to custom. Respublica
Atheniensium (Ath.) is the first extant analysis of how the Athenian democracy secured
the happiness of its members, and the only extant analysis of democracy from the
point of view of the demos; it contains among other things the first account of the
theory of imperial sea power. Indeed, Ath. offers starting points to the reader for a full
examination of the realities of the Athenian democracy and empire in all 115 aspects,
' T therefore thank Ρ Ε. Easterling, a foundation editor of this series, for suggesting them to
me.
? In discussing eudaimonia, 1 tend to say ‘happiness’ when thinking of the experiences of
individuals, and ‘success’ when speaking of the expenence of the community of individuals. So,
by ensuring the ‘success’ of the polis in Hiero (11.5), the ruler will achieve personal ‘happiness’
(2.4); and by ensuring the ‘success’ of the polis in RL, Lycurgus brought his citizens the individual
happiness of conquering enemies such as is described at Hiero 2.14-16.
3 Xenophon of Athens is the author of Hiero and Lac. Anderson (1974) gives a balanced and
accessible account of the life. Diogenes Laertius (third century Ap) wrote an account of his life and
works (2.48-59), drawing on writers such as Ephorus and Dinarchus (fourth to third centuries Bc)
and Diocles and Demetrius of Magnesia (first century Bc); these supplement the information
Xenophon gives about himself in Anabasis. The author of Ath. 15 unknown, but 15 commonly
referred to as the ‘Old Oligarch’. Diogenes lists Ath. among Xenophon’s works, but he surely
did not write it; see pp. 19-20 below.