Xenophon The Education of Cyrus A volume in the series Agora Editions General Editor: Thomas L. Pangle Founding Editor: Allan Bloom A full list of titles in the series appears at the end of the book. Xenophon The Education of Cyrus Translated and Annotated by WAYNE AMBLER CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS ITHACA AND LONDON Copyright© 2001 by Cornell University All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or parts thereof, must not be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher. For information, address Cornell University Press, Sage House, 512 East State Street, Ithaca, New York 14850. First published 2001 by Cornell University Press First printing, Cornell Paperbacks, 2001 Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Xenophon. [ Cyropaedia. English] The education of Cyrus I Xenophon; translated and annotated by Wayne Ambler. p. crn.-(Agora paperback editions) (Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-3818-9 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-10: 0-8014-3818-7 (cloth : alk. paper) ISBN-13: 978-0-8014-8750-7 (pbk. : alk. paper) ISBN-IO: 0-8014-8750-1 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Cyrus, King of Persia, d. 529 B.C.-Fiction. 2. Iran-History-To 640-Fiction. I. Ambler, Wayne, II. Title. III. Series. P A4495.C5 A44 2001 883'.01-dc21 2001001416 Cornell University Press strives to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the fullest extent possible in the publishing of its books. Such materials include vegetable-based, low-VOC inks and acid-free papers that are recycled, totally chlorine-free, or partly composed of nonwood fibers. For further information, visit our website at www.cornellpress.cornell.edu. 1 3 5 7 9 Cloth printing 10 8 6 4 2 5 7 9 Paperback printing 10 8 6 To the memory of my father Contents Translator's Note Introduction: Xenophon's Education of Cyrus � The Education of Cyrus viii 1 � Xeno phon BooK I Chapters 1-6 21· BOOK II Chapters 1-4 61 BOOK III Chapters 1-3 85 BooK IV Chapters 1-6 113 BooK V Chapters 1-5 141 BooK VI Chapters 1-4 177 BOOK VII Chapters 1-5 203 BOOK VIII Chapters 1-8 233 Glossary 279 Notes 287 Index 303 Translator's Note That Xenophon is a thinker of the first rank is definitely not the dominant view in the academy today. Nevertheless, a growing literature takes note of his more distinguished earlier reputation and argues that Xenophon's often unassuming and apparently naive prose is in fact a carefully chosen vehicle for reflections with profound political and ethical implications.1 Open-minded readers of T he Education of Cyrus will naturally want to put this view to the test, and this translation is intended to help them do so. I have been guided by the view that Xenophon's treatment of philosophical issues is worthy of the most serious study. As he often touches on such issues obliquely and through the associations of his terminology, I have taken pains to convey as accurately as possible everything that might help readers to encounter his thought, even though doing so complicates the task of translating into familiar English idiom. I do not claim to have achieved full accuracy nor do I deny that the literary qualities of the Education would themselves be worthy of careful study. Instead, I state my aim in order to explain 1 The best introduction to the recent secondary literature on the Education is Christopher Nadon, "From Republic to Empire: Political Revolution and the Common Good in Xenophon's Education of Cyrus," American Political Science Review 90 (June 1996): 361-'74· For an extended consideration and brilliant analysis of the Education as a whole, see Christopher Nadon, Xenophon's Prince: Repu blic and Empire in the "Cyropaedia" (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001). For a guide to the literature that takes Xenophon seriously as a philosophic thinker, see Amy L. Bonnette, ''Translator's Note," in Xenophon, Memorabilia, trans. Amy L. Bonnette (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994), xxvii-xxvili.