Xenophon the Socratic Prince: The Argument of the Anabasis of Cyrus

347 Pages·2014·2.36 MB·English

by  Eric Buzzetti (auth.)

XENOPHON THE SOCRATIC PRINCE
RECOVERING POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
SERIES EDITORS : T HOMAS L. PANGLE AND TIMOTHY BURNS
PUBLISHED BY PALGRAVE MACMILLAN:
Lucretius as Theorist of Political Life
by John Colman
Shakespeare’s Political Wisdom
by Timothy Burns
Political Philosophy Cross-Examined: Perennial Challenges to the Philosophic Life
edited by Thomas L. Pangle and J. Harvey Lomax
Eros and Socratic Political Philosophy
by David Levy
Reorientation: Leo Strauss in the 1930s
edited by Martin D. Yaff e and Richard S. Ruderman
Xenophon the Socratic Prince: The Argument of the Anabasis of Cyrus
by Eric Buzzetti
XENOPHON THE SOCRATIC
PRINCE
THE ARGUMENT OF THE ANABASIS
OF CYRUS
Eric Buzzetti
ISBN 978-1-349-46216-2 ISBN 978-1-137-32592-1 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137325921
XENOPHON THE SOCRATIC PRINCE
Copyright © Eric Buzzetti, 2014.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-33330-8
All rights reserved.
First published in 2014 by
PALGRAVE MACMILLAN®
in the United States— a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC,
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010.
Where this book is distributed in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world,
this is by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited,
registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills,
Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS.
Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies
and has companies and representatives throughout the world.
Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States,
the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries.
ISBN: 978–1–137–33330–8
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the
Library of Congress.
A catalogue record of the book is available from the British Library.
Design by Newgen Knowledge Works (P) Ltd., Chennai, India.
First edition: May 2014
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Christopher Bruell
“. . . kαì (cid:4) φη σ υνοίσειν (cid:14)π (cid:16) τ (cid:18) βέλτιον.”
This page intentionally left blank
CONTENTS
A Note on the Greek xi
Acknowledgments x iii
Note from the Series Editors xv
Introduction The Political Life and the Socratic Education 1
1. Morality and Advantage in Rule: The Noble and the Good 2
2. Xenophon’s Manner of Writing: The Question of
Esotericism 7
i) A Case Study: Xenophon’s Depiction of Cyrus’s Stance
Toward the Gods 1 0
ii) LEGETAI, “Repetitions,” and Omissions 1 3
iii) “Being at the Center” 1 6
3. Xenophon’s Manner of Writing: The Manuscripts of
the Anabasis 19
iv) Renaming Men, Rivers, and Mountains: The
Primacy of Manuscript C 21
v) Emending the Manuscripts 2 6
4. Recent Scholarship on the Anabasis 29
Part I The Kingship of Cyrus
1. “The Godlike King” (Book One of the Anabasis ) 39
1. Rooting for the Noble and Good King 39
2. Cyrus and His Friends: Klearchos, Men ō n, Proxenos,
Xennias, and Pasi ō n 4 4
3. The Ascent of Cyrus and the Descent of Xenophon 5 0
4. Persian Riches and Greek Freedom: The Battle for Babylon 59
5. Conjoining the Noble and the Good: The Godlike King 66
viii CONTENTS
Part II The Kingship of Klearchos
2. “The Pious King” (Book Two of the Anabasis ) 77
1. Klearchos and Theopompos: Virtue and Weapons 78
2. The Strengths and Weaknesses of Klearchos 85
3. Klearchos and Tissaphern ē s: Hope and Friendship with
the Divine 9 5
4. The Noble without the Good: Proxenos 104
5. The Good without the Noble: Menō n 107
Part III The Kingship of Xenophon
“The Socratic King” (Books Three to Seven)
3. Piety (Book Three of the Anabasis ) 1 11
1. Xenophon the Socratic? 1 13
2. Xenophon, Zeus the King, and Apollo 119
3. Virtue, Piety, and Freedom 1 29
4. Success, Failure, and Divine Providence 141
4. Courage (Book Four of the Anabasis ) 149
1. Necessity and the Noble (Courage) 150
i) Necessity and the Noble: The Longing for Immortality 153
ii) Necessity and the Noble: An Example from Piety 1 59
iii) Necessity and the Noble: Pointing toward the
Philosophic Life 1 66
2. The End of Necessity 1 71
i) Fighting Nobly against the Chalubes 1 71
ii) Fighting Nobly against the Taochoi 1 74
iii) Fighting Nobly against the Kolchoi 1 77
5. Justice (Book Five of the Anabasis ) 1 81
1. Justice, Private Interest, and the Common Good 182
2. Hellenic Laws, Mossunoikoi Laws, and Nature 1 90
3. Hellenic Laws, Founding a City, and the Good 2 04
4. Justice and the Good 2 17
6. Gratitude (Book Six of the Anabasis ) 221
1. Gratitude, Dancing, and Philosophy 2 22
2. The Gratitude of the Army and the Gratitude of
Xenophon 229
3. Ingratitude toward Gods and Men 234
4. Atoning for Ingratitude toward the Gods 2 39
5. Gratitude and the Good 248
CONTENTS ix
7. The Love of the Soldier (Book Seven of the Anabasis ) 259
1. PHILOSTRATI Ō TĒ S and the Good 260
2. The Generosity of the Philosopher 273
3. Xenophon as PHILOSTRATIŌ T Ē S 2 77
Ending at the Beginning: Xenophon the Socratic 2 89
Conclusion The Argument of the Anabasis of Cyrus 2 95
Appendix 1 Why Is Xenophon “Themistogen ē s of Syracuse”? 301
Appendix 2 On the Authenticity of the Division of the Anabasis into
Seven Books and Fifty-One Chapters 3 13
Appendix 3 How Many Is Ten Thousand? 3 17
Works Cited 3 21
Index 3 27