No More Learning

Every reader of the Anabasis) must see, at any rate, that the
writer views the world through Xenophon's eyes, always knowing
his thoughts, and even his dreams. Of its authorship we can have
no real doubt. Its truthfulness is another question. Like Cæsar's
Commentaries,' it represents what the chief hero, and sole recorder,
wishes the world to accept as truth. It is rarely possible to convict
such masterly special pleaders of direct falsifying:
Perhaps every story of a life, adequately told, is felt to be typ-
ical of universal humanity. Certainly many a reader has dreamily
felt that this truant scholar, deserting Athens, home, school, philoso-
phy, for Babel, wealth, power, the favor of a rash and doomed
prince,- is but young manhood itself, hesitant and erring at the
parting of the ways.
It was a veteran schoolmaster who attempted at last to indicate
this recurrent feeling in a marginal comment on the Anabasis)
(iv. 8, 4).
The imperial boy had fallen in his pride
Before the gates of golden Babylon.
The host, who deemed that priceless treasure won,
For many a day since then had wandered wide,
By famine thinned, by savage hordes defied.
In a deep vale, beneath the setting sun,
They saw at last a swift black river run,
While shouting spearmen thronged the farther side.
Then eagerly, with startled joyous eyes,
Toward the desponding chief a soldier flew:-
"I was a slave in Athens, never knew


## p. 16245 (#595) ##########################################

XENOPHON
16245
My native country; but I understand
The meaning of yon wild barbarian cries,
And I believe this is my fatherland! »
This glimpse have we, no more. Did parents fond,
Brothers, or kinsmen, hail his late return ?
Or did he, doubly exiled, only yearn
To greet the Euxine's waves at Trebizond,
The blue Ægean, and Pallas's towers beyond ?
Mute is the record. We shall never learn.
But as once more the well-worn page I turn,
Forever by reluctant schoolboys conned,
A parable to me the tale appears,
Of blacker waters in a drearier vale.
Ab me! When on that brink we exiles stand,
As earthly lights and mortal accents fail,
Shall voices long forgotten reach our ears,
To tell us we have found our fatherland ?
Indeed there was much that was tragic, and even fatal, in this
hasty venture of Xenophon. His master, certainly, he never saw again.
The death scene which is immortalized — and without doubt freely
idealized — at the close of Plato's Phædo,' occurred while Xenophon
was leading unruly mercenaries to fruitless battle against Kurdish
and Armenian savages. Even when the survivors of the great retreat
reached the Black Sea, many mishaps awaited them, in a Greek world
rapidly falling apart under Sparta's weak and selfish leadership. The
remnant of the ten thousand adventurers was finally incorporated
in the troops assembling for a campaign of the Spartans against the
treacherous Persian Tissaphernes. Socrates's fears for Xenophon
apparently came true: a passing allusion in the Anabasis) itself tells
us that Xenophon's return from Asia to Hellas was in Agesilaus's
train, when that Spartan king was recalled from Asiatic victories
to save Lacedæmon from the alliance of foes at home against her.
Among those jealous allies was Athens. In Agesilaus's barren vic-
tory at Coroneia (394 B. C. ) Xenophon probably shared, thus fighting
against his own townsmen.
Whether this constituted him a traitor is not so easy to say.
Party spirit ran as high in a classic Greek city as in mediæval Italy.
Xenophon felt that his true city went into exile with the aristocratic
party,- or with himself alone, like Dante! Death awaited both at
the gate, unless they came home victorious in arms. Moreover there
was a feeling, never wholly lacking from Agamemnon to Polybius,
and of growing strength in Xenophon's day, that Hellas was the true
fatherland, that all Greeks were fellow-citizens, the Persians their
only natural foes.


## p. 16246 (#596) ##########################################

16246
XENOPHON
In this very crisis, Agesilaus was recalled from a career in Asia
that might have anticipated Alexander's. Persian gold subsidized the
revolt at home against Sparta's leadership. Xenophon at Coroneia
may well have justified his action as patriotic — if he indeed fought
there. He himself had seen a handful of Greeks knock, like Hia-
watha, at the very heart of the Persian leviathan, and come safe
home again. The inability of that unwieldy empire to make effective
resistance against sudden attack, he has recorded in words that fired
Alexander's confidence in the next generation. What wonder if Agesi-
laus was to him “better than a fatherland” so unfatherly? We
only hear that on some charge of Laconism he was condemned to
prolonged exile. Whether he ever returned to Athens is disputed.
If at all, it was in extreme old age.
The home founded by the exile at Scillus in Elis is lovingly
described in a graceful excursus of the Anabasis,' which is cited
below. Here he lived happily for more than twenty years, during
which most of his literary work was apparently done.
Xenophon is the first really versatile Greek writer of whom we
hear. Of poetry, to be sure, he is quite incapable. His Agesilaus'
is rather a eulogy than a biography; and the Hiero' is neither, but
a dialogue between the tyrant and the poet Simonides, gracefully
demonstrating the Socratic doctrine that the despot is wretched
rather than fortunate.
The Memorabilia' was probably in its intention a faithful memo-
rial of Socrates, prepared about ten years after the master's death.
It is discussed with citations in a previous volume under that mas-
ter's name.
Both the "Symposium' and the Economist' are dialogues in
which Socrates takes part. He is not, however, dominant in either;
and we get the impression that they are largely or wholly Xeno-
phon's creations. The Symposium is utterly inferior in power to
Plato's great dramatic scene, but is doubtless a far more realistic
picture of an ordinary Athenian banquet, — possibly even of one
actual banquet. The Economicus) is a sketch of an ideal gentle-
man farmer; and is cited largely below, because it contains one of
the brightest glimpses in all ancient literature of a happy wife and
home.
The Anabasis) was apparently written after 380 B. C. , and the
Cyropædeia' much later still. As a novel the latter must be pro-
nounced an interesting failure, being tedious and unprogressive as a
whole. The childhood, and again the death, of the ideal prince are
beautifully and touchingly described. In the first book especially
Xenophon draws unmistakably from the life, and must have been
on terms of loving familiarity with his own children.


## p. 16247 (#597) ##########################################

XENOPHON
16247
Quite the most unsatisfying of Xenophon's chief works is his
(Hellenica. It was probably undertaken to complete the account of
the Peloponnesian War from the point where Thucydides's pen dropt
from his dying hand. Indeed, the manuscripts of Xenophon actually
begin "And after that » - but it is thought a leaf or two was early
lost at the opening; there is also a gap of some months between
the events narrated in the two works. The closing years of the
great struggle, 411-404 B. C. , and the reign of terror in Athens under
the Thirty Tyrants, are described in a complete section of the
history, published previous to 387 B. C. The later section brings the
story down to about 357 B. C. In this volume the omissions and
disproportions are so glaring that some have thought we possess but
an epitome of the original work. But probably Xenophon wrote
these volumes as memoirs; consciously yielding largely to his per-
sonal interests and sympathies, and perhaps intending his work for a
narrow circle. His unrivaled popularity, and the chance of survival,
have left him our sole connected and contemporary authority for a
very important period.
There are abundant indications that Xenophon's delight in out-
door life, agriculture, hunting, horsemanship, and athletics, kept him
young and cheerful even into his eighth decade. « The heart of the
old man was overjoyed to see his grandson, unable to keep silent
in the excess of his delight, but baying' with excitement like a
well-bred whelp, whenever he came to close quarters with a beast,
and shouting to his fellows by name. ” Behind the thin mask of
royal Astyages, the author of the (Cyropædeia' here shows his own
cheerful face. An abiding faith in kindly guidance by the gods
through omens, sacrifices, and dreams, contentment with his lot, loving
loyalty to friendship, cool intrepidity in deadly peril, and a constant
lively sense of the humorous in all things,—these are traits which
Xenophon shared with Socrates, and it may well be that they are in
part lifelong traces of the philosopher's early influence.
Xenophon himself, however, is not a philosopher, hardly even a
scholar; and certainly not in the least a mystic. His nature is not
a deep or brooding one. He has not even an abiding sense of the
marvelous in life. Rather he reminds us of a cheerful English coun-
try gentleman, perfectly satisfied with his estates, his family, and
himself. Modern sportsmen have made vigorous protests against
some of his methods of snaring hares wholesale, but his “Treatise on
Horsemanship’ is still useful. In general the man is astonishingly
human, not to say modern.
The best general paper on Xenophon known to us is the some-
what extended one by Henry Graham Dakyns, in the notable volume
of English essays edited by Evelyn Abbott and entitled Hellenica. '
-


## p. 16248 (#598) ##########################################

16248
XENOPHON
This essay has been freely (but very incompletely) exploited in the
present sketch. Mr. Dakyns is also the author of the best transla-
tion of Xenophon, several volumes of which have already appeared
(Macmillan's). It is quite unnecessary to catalogue editions of this
favorite school author; but those who are weary of the beaten track
will find Holden's (Economicus' a most enjoyable book, complete
in itself.
Nizziam Cranston Lauron
.
THE TRAINING OF A WIFE
From the Economist)
"A
(C
(
(C
S to what you asked me besides, Socrates, I assuredly do not
spend my life in-doors; for,” added he, “my wife is quite
capable herself of managing what is to be done in my
house. " -But,” said I, “Ischomachus, I would very gladly be
permitted to ask you whether you instructed your wife yourself,
so that she might be qualified as she ought to be; or whether,
when you received her from her father and mother, she was
possessed of sufficient knowledge to manage what belongs to her. ”
- "And how, my dear Socrates,” said he could she have had
sufficient knowledge when I took her ? since she came to my
house when she was not fifteen years old, and had spent the pre-
ceding part of her life under the strictest restraint, in order that
she might see as little, hear as little, and ask as few questions as
possible. Does it not appear to you to be quite sufficient, if she
did but know, when she came, how to take wool and make a gar-
ment, and had seen how to apportion the tasks of spinning among
the maid-servants ? For as to what concerns the appetite, Socra-
tes,” added he, “which seems to me a most important part of
instruction both for a man and for a woman, she came to me ex-
tremely well instructed. ” — “But as to other things, Ischomachus,”
said I, did you yourself instruct your wife, so that she should
be qualified to attend to the affairs belonging to her ? ” — Not,
indeed,” replied Ischomachus, until I had offered sacrifice, and
prayed that it might be my fortune to teach, and hers to learn,
what would be best for both of us. ” — «Did your wife, then,”
said I, “join with you in offering sacrifice, and in praying for
»


## p. 16249 (#599) ##########################################

1
XENOPHON
16249
these blessings? "- "Certainly," answered Ischomachus, and she
made many vows to the gods that she would be such as she
ought to be, and showed plainly that she was not likely to dis-
regard what was taught her. ” — “In the name of the gods, Is-
chomachus, tell me,” said I, what you began to teach her first;
“
for I shall have more pleasure in hearing you give this account,
than if you were to give me a description of the finest gymnastic
or equestrian games. " -- "Well then, Socrates, returned Ischo-
“"
machus, when she grew familiarized and domesticated with me,
so that we conversed freely together, I began to question her in
some such way as this:
« (Tell me, my dear wife, have you ever considered with what
view I married you, and with what object your parents gave you
to me? For that there was no want of other persons with whom
we might have shared our respective beds must, I am sure, be
evident to you as well as to me. But when I considered for my-
self, and your parents for you, whom we might select as the best
partner for a house and children, I preferred you, and your par-
ents as it appears preferred me, out of those who were possible
objects of choice. If, then, the gods should ever grant children
to be born to us, we shall consult together, with regard to them,
how we may bring them up as well as possible; for it will be a
common advantage to both of us to find them of the utmost
service as supporters and maintainers of our old age.
ent, however, this is our common household; for I deposit all
that I have as in common between us, and you put everything
that you have brought into our common stock. Nor is it
necessary to consider which of the two has contributed the
greater share; but we ought to feel assured that whichsoever of
us is the better manager of our common fortune will give the
more valuable service. '
“To these remarks, Socrates, my wife replied, 'In what respect
could I co-operate with you? What power have I? Everything
lies with you. My duty, my mother told me, was to conduct
myself discreetly. ' – 'Yes, by Jupiter, my dear wife,' replied I,
(and my father told me the same. But it is the part of discreet
people, as well as husbands and wives, to act in such a manner
that their property may be in the best possible condition, and
that as large additions as possible may be made to it by honor-
able and just means. ' – 'And what do you see,' said my wife,
that I can do to assist in increasing our property? '—'Endeavor
At pres-
c


## p. 16250 (#600) ##########################################

16250
XENOPHON
by all means,' answered I, to do in the best possible manner
those duties which the gods have qualified you to do, and which
custom approves. ' – 'And what are they? ' asked she. — 'I con-
sider,' replied I, (that they are duties of no small importance,
unless indeed the queen bee in a hive is appointed for purposes
of small importance. For to me the gods, my dear wife,' said I,
(seem certainly to have united that pair of beings which is called
male and female, with the greatest judgment, that they may be
in the highest degree serviceable to each other in their connec-
tion. In the first place, the pair are brought together to pro-
duce offspring, that the races of animals may not become extinct;
and to human beings, at least, it is granted to have supporters
for their old age from this union. For human beings also, their
mode of life is not, like that of cattle, in the open air; but they
have need, we see, of houses. It is accordingly necessary for
those who would have something to bring into their houses, to
have people to perform the requisite employments in the open
air: for tilling, and sowing, and planting, and pasturage are all
employments for the open air; and from these employments the
necessaries of life are procured. But when these necessaries have
been brought into the house, there is need of some one to take
care of them, and to do whatever duties require to be done
under shelter. The rearing of young children also demands
shelter, as well as the preparation of food from the fruits of the
earth, and the making of clothes from wool. And as both these
sorts of employments, alike those without doors and those within,
require labor and care, the gods, as it seems to me,' said I, 'have
plainly adapted the nature of the woman for works and duties
within doors, and that of the man for works and duties without
doors. For the divinity has fitted the body and mind of the man
to be better able to bear cold, and heat, and traveling, and mili-
tary exercises, so that he has imposed upon him the work with-
out doors; and by having formed the body of the woman to be
less able to bear such exertions, he appears to me to have laid
upon her,' said I, the duties within doors. But knowing that he
had given the woman by nature, and laid upon her, the office of
rearing young children, he had also bestowed upon her a greater
portion of love for her newly born offspring than of the man.
“The law, too,' I told her,” he proceeded, “ gives its approba-
tion to these arrangements, by uniting the man and the woman;
and as the divinity has made them partners, as it were, in their
>
(((


## p. 16251 (#601) ##########################################

XENOPHON
16251
(
offspring, so the law ordains them to be sharers in household
affairs. The law also shows that those things are more becoming
to each which the divinity has qualified each to do with greater
facility; for it is more becoming for the woman to stay within
doors than to roam abroad, but to the man it is less creditable
to remain at home than to attend to things out of doors. And if
any one acts contrary to what the divinity has fitted him to do,
he will, while he violates the order of things, possibly not escape
the notice of the gods, and will pay the penalty whether of neg-
lecting his own duties or of interfering with those of his wife.
The queen of the bees,' I added, 'appears to me to discharge
such duties as are appointed her by the divinity. '-'And what
duties,' inquired my wife, ‘has the queen bee to perform, that
she should be made an example for the business which I have to
do? '— 'She, remaining within the hive,' answered I, does not
allow the bees to be idle, but sends out to their duty those who
ought to work abroad: and whatever each of them brings in, she
takes cognizance of it and receives it, and watches over the store
until there is occasion to use it; and when the time for using it
is come, she dispenses to each bee its just due. She also presides
over the construction of the cells within, that they may be formed
beautifully and expeditiously. She attends, too, to the rising
progeny, that they may be properly reared; and when the young
bees are grown up, and are fit for work, she sends out a colony
of them under some leader taken from among the younger bees. '
- Will it then be necessary for me,' said my wife, 'to do such
things ? ' -'It will certainly be necessary for you,' said I,
(to
remain at home, and to send out such of the laborers as have
to work abroad, to their duties; and over such as have business
to do in the house you must exercise a watchful superintendence.
Whatever is brought into the house, you must take charge of it;
whatever portion of it is required for use, you must give out;
and whatever should be laid by, you must take account of it
and keep it safe, so that the provision stored up for a year, for
example, may not be expended in a month. Whenever wool is
brought home to you, you must take care that garments be made
for those who want them. You must also be careful that the
dried provisions may be in a proper condition for eating. One
of your duties, however, I added, will perhaps appear somewhat
disagreeable; namely, that whoever of all the servants may fall
sick, you must take charge of him, that he may be recovered. ' –


## p. 16252 (#602) ##########################################

16252
XENOPHON
»
Nay, assuredly,' returned my wife, that will be a most agree.
able office, if such as receive good treatment are likely to make
a grateful return, and to become more attached to me than be-
fore. ' — Delighted with her answer, continued Ischomachus,
“I said to her, Are not the bees, my dear wife, in consequence
of some such care on the part of the queen of the hive, so
affected toward her, that when she quits the hive, no one of them
thinks of deserting her, but all follow in her train ? '-'I should
wonder, however,' answered my wife, (if the duties of leader
do not rather belong to you than to me: for my guardianship of
what is in the house, and distribution of it, would appear rather
ridiculous, I think, if you did not take care that something might
be brought in from out of doors. '-And on the other hand,
returned I, my bringing in would appear ridiculous, unless there
were somebody to take care of what is brought in. Do you not
see,' said I, how those who are said to draw water in a bucket
full of holes are pitied, as they evidently labor in vain ? ' - 'Cer-
tainly,' replied my wife, for they are indeed wretched, if they
are thus employed. '
««Some other of your occupations, my dear wife,' continued
I will be pleasing to you. For instance, when you take a
young woman who does not know how to spin, and make her
skillful at it, and she thus becomes of twice as much value to
you. Or when you take one who is ignorant of the duties of a
housekeeper or servant, and having made her accomplished, trust-
worthy, and handy, render her of the highest value. Or when it
is in your power to do services to such of your attendants as are
steady and useful, while if any one is found transgressing you
can inflict punishment. But you will experience the greatest of
pleasures, if you show yourself superior to me, and render me
your servant: and have no cause to fear that as life advances,
you may become less respected in your household; but may trust
that while you grow older, the better consort you prove to me,
and the more faithful guardian of your house for your children,
so much the more will you be esteemed by your family. For
what is good and honorable,' I added, “gains increase of respect,
not from beauty of person, but from merits directed to the benefit
of human life. '
«Such were the subjects, Socrates, on which, as far as I re-
member, I first conversed seriously with my wife. ”
(
((


## p. 16253 (#603) ##########################################

XENOPHON
16 253
XENOPHON'S ESTATE AT SCILLUS
From the (Anabasis)
X
ENOPHON, after causing an offering to be made for Apollo,
deposited it in the treasury of the Athenians at Delphi,
inscribing on it his own name, and that of Proxenus who
was killed with Clearchus; for he had been his guest-friend.
The portion designed for Diana of Ephesus he left with Mega-
byzus, the warden of that goddess's temple, when he returned
with Agesilaus out of Asia on an expedition to Boeotia, because
he seemed likely to incur some peril: and enjoined him, if he
escaped, to return the money to him; but if he met with an ill
fate, to make such an offering as he thought. would please the
goddess, and dedicate it to her. Afterwards when Xenophon was
banished from his country, and was living at Scillus, a colony
settled by the Lacedæmonians near Olympia, Megabyzus came
to Olympia to see the games, and restored him the deposit.
Xenophon, on receiving it, purchased some land as an offering to
the goddess where the god had directed him. The river Selinus
happens to run through the midst of it; and another river named
Selinus runs close by the temple of Diana at Ephesus: and in
both there are different kinds of fish, and shell-fish. On the
land near Scillus, too, there is hunting of all such beasts as are
taken in the chase. He built also an altar and a temple with the
consecrated money, and continued afterwards to make a sacrifice
every year, always receiving a tenth of the produce of the sea.
sons from the land: and all the people of the town, as well as
the men and women of the neighborhood, took part in the festi-
val; while the goddess supplied those in tents there with barley-
meal, bread, wine, sweetmeats, and a share of the victims offered
from the sacred pastures, and of those caught in hunting: for
the sons of Xenophon, and those of the other inhabitants, always
made a general hunt against the festival, and such of the men as
were willing hunted with them; and there were caught, partly on
the sacred lands and partly on Mount Pholoe, boars and ante-
lopes and deer. This piece of ground lies on the road from
Lacedæmon to Olympia, about twenty stadia from the temple of
Jupiter at Olympia.
There are within the place groves and hills covered with
trees, adapted for the breeding of swine, goats, oxen, and horses;
so that the beasts of the persons coming to the festival are


## p. 16254 (#604) ##########################################

16254
XENOPHON
amply supplied with food. Round the temple itself is planted a
grove of cultivated trees, bearing whatever fruits are eatable in
the different seasons. The edifice is similar, as far as a small
can be to a great one, to that at Ephesus; and the statue is as
like to that at Ephesus as a statue of cypress can be to one of
gold. A pillar stands near the temple, bearing this inscription:
THIS GROUND IS SACRED TO DIANA. HE THAT POSSESSES AND REAPS
THE FRUIT OF IT IS TO
OFFER
EVERY YEAR
THE
TENTH
OF
ITS
PRODUCE, AND TO KEEP THE TEMPLE IN REPAIR FROM THE RESI-
DUE.
IF ANY
ONE FAIL TO PERFORM THESE CONDITIONS, THE
GODDESS WILL TAKE NOTICE OF HIS NEGLECT.
HARDSHIPS IN THE SNOW
From the (Anabasis)
TE
He next day it was thought necessary to march away as fast
as possible, before the enemy's force should be reassembled,
and get possession of the pass. Collecting their baggage
at once, therefore, they set forward through a deep snow, taking
with them several guides; and having the same day passed the
height on which Tiribazus had intended to attack them, they
encamped. Hence they proceeded three days' journey through
a desert tract of country, a distance of fifteen parasangs, to the
river Euphrates, and passed it without being wet higher than the
middle. The sources of the river were said not to be far off.
From hence they advanced three days' march, through much
snow and a level plain, a distance of fifteen parasangs; the third
day's march was extremely troublesome, as the north wind blew
full in their faces, completely parching up everything and be-
numbing the men. One of the augurs, in consequence, advised
that they should sacrifice to the wind: and a sacrifice was accord-
ingly offered; when the vehemence of the wind appeared to every
one manifestly to abate. The depth of the snow was a fathom;
so that many of the baggage cattle and slaves perished, with
about thirty of the soldiers. They continued to burn fires through
the whole night, for there was plenty of wood at the place of
encampment. But those who came up late could get no wood;
those therefore who had arrived before, and had kindled fires,


## p. 16255 (#605) ##########################################

XENOPHON
16255
would not admit the late comers to the fire unless they gave
them a share of the corn or other provisions that they had
brought. Thus they shared with each other what they respect-
ively had. In the places where the fires were made, as the
snow melted, there were formed large pits that reached down to
the ground; and here there was accordingly opportunity to meas-
ure the depth of the snow.
From hence they marched through snow the whole of the
following day, and many of the men contracted the bulimia.
Xenophon, who commanded in the rear, finding in his way such
of the men as had fallen down with it, knew not what disease
it was.
But as one of those acquainted with it told him that
they were evidently affected with bulimia, and that they would
get up if they had something to eat, he went round among the
baggage: and wherever he saw anything eatable, he gave it out,
and sent such as were able to run, to distribute it among those
diseased; who as soon as they had eaten, rose up and continued
their march. As they proceeded, Cheirisophus came, just as it
grew dark, to a village; and found at a spring in front of the
rampart, some women and girls belonging to the place fetching
water. The women asked them who they were; and the inter-
preter answered in the Persian language that they were people
going from the King to the satrap. They replied that he was
not there, but about a parasang off. However, as it was late,
they went with the water-carriers within the rampart, to the
head-man of the village; and here Cheirisophus, and as many of
the troops as could come up, encamped: but of the rest, such as
were unable to get to the end of the journey spent the night on
the way without food or fire; and some of the soldiers lost their
lives on that occasion. Some of the enemy too, who had col-
lected themselves into a body, pursued our rear, and seized any
of the baggage cattle that were unable to proceed, fighting with
one another for the possession of them.
Such of the soldiers,
also, as had lost their sight from the effects of the snow, or had
had their toes mortified by the cold, were left behind.
It was
found to be a relief to the eyes against the snow, if the soldiers
kept something black before them on the march; and to the feet,
if they kept constantly in motion, and allowed themselves no
rest, and if they took off their shoes in the night: but as to such
as slept with their shoes on, the straps worked into their feet,
and the soles were frozen about them; for when their old shoes
>


## p. 16256 (#606) ##########################################

16256
XENOPHON
had failed them, shoes of raw hides had been made by the men
themselves from the newly skinned oxen. From such unavoidable
sufferings, some of the soldiers were left behind, - who, seeing
a piece of ground of a black appearance, from the snow having
disappeared there, conjectured that it must have melted; and it
had in fact melted in that spot from the effect of a fountain,
which was sending up vapor in a woody hollow close at hand.
Turning aside thither, they sat down and refused to proceed
farther. Xenophon, who was with the rear-guard, as soon as he
heard this, tried to prevail on them by every art and means not
to be left behind, telling them at the same time that the enemy
were collected, and pursuing them in great numbers. At last he
grew angry; and they told him to kill them, as they were quite
unable to go forward. He then thought it the best course to
strike a terror, if possible, into the enemy that were behind, lest
they should fall upon the exhausted soldiers. It was now dark,
and the enemy were advancing with a great noise, quarreling
about the booty that they had taken; when such of the rear-
guard as were not disabled started up and rushed towards them,
while the tired men, shouting as loud as they could, clashed
their spears against their shields. The enemy, struck with alarm,
threw themselves into the snow of the hollow, and no one of
them afterwards made himself heard from any quarter.
Xenophon and those with him, telling the sick men that a
party should come to their relief next day, proceeded on their
march; but before they had gone four stadia they found other
soldiers resting by the way in the snow, and covered up with it,
no guard being stationed over them. They roused the men, but
the latter said that the head of the army was not moving for.
ward. Xenophon, going past them, and sending on some of the
ablest of the peltasts, ordered them to ascertain what it was
that hindered their progress. They brought word that the whole
army was in that manner taking rest. Xenophon and his men,
therefore, stationing such a guard as they could, took up their
quarters there without fire or supper. When it was near day, he
sent the youngest of his men to the sick, with orders to rouse
them and oblige them to proceed. At this juncture Cheirisophus
sent some of his people from the villages to see how the rear
were faring The young men were rejoiced to see them, and
gave them the sick to conduct to the camp, while they them-
selves went forward; and before they had gone twenty stadia,


## p. 16257 (#607) ##########################################

XENOPHON
16257
found themselves at the village in which Cheirisophus was quar-
tered. When they came together, it was thought safe enough
to lodge the troops up and down in the villages. Cheirisophus
accordingly remained where he was; and the other officers, ap-
propriating by lot the several villages that they had in sight,
went to their respective quarters with their men.
Here Polycrates, an Athenian captain, requested leave of
absence: and taking with him the most active of his men, and
hastening to the village which Xenophon had been allotted, sur-
prised all the villagers and their head-men in their houses,
together with seventeen colts that were bred as a tribute for the
King, and the head-man's daughter, who had been but nine days
married; her husband was gone out to hunt hares, and was not
found in any of the villages. Their houses were under ground:
the entrance like the mouth of a well, but spacious below; there
were passages dug into them for the cattle, but the people de-
scended by ladders. In the houses were goats, sheep, cows, and
fowls, with their young; all the cattle were kept on fodder within
the walls. There were also wheat, barley, leguminous vegetables,
and barley-wine in large bowls: the grains of barley floated in it
even with the brims of the vessels, and reeds also lay in it, some
larger and some smaller, without joints; and these, when any
was thirsty, he was to take in his mouth and suck. The
liquor was very strong unless one mixed water with it, and a
very pleasant drink to those accustomed to it.
Xenophon made the chief man of his village sup with him,
and told him to be of good courage, assuring him that he should
not be deprived of his children, and that they would not go
away without filling his house with provisions in return for what
they took, if he would but prove himself the author of some
service to the army till they should reach another tribe. This
he promised; and to show his good-will, pointed out where some
wine was buried. This night, therefore, the soldiers rested in
their several quarters in the midst of great abundance; setting a
guard over the chief, and keeping his children at the same time
under their eye. The following day Xenophon took the head-
man and went with him to Cheirisophus; and wherever he passed
by a village, he turned aside to visit those who were quartered
in it, and found them in all parts feasting and enjoying them-
selves: nor would they anywhere let them go till they had set
refreshments before them; and they placed everywhere upon the
XXVII—1017
one


## p. 16258 (#608) ##########################################

16258
XENOPHON
OX.
same table lamb, kid, pork, veal, and fowl, with plenty of bread
both of wheat and barley. Whenever any person, to pay a com-
pliment, wished to drink to another, he took him to the large
bowl, where he had to stoop down and drink, sucking like an
The chief they allowed to take whatever he pleased, but
he accepted nothing from them; where he found any of his rel-
atives, however, he took them with him.
When they came to Cheirisophus, they found his men also
feasting in their quarters, crowned with wreaths made of hay,
and Armenian boys in their barbarian dresses waiting upon them,
- to whom they made signs what they were to do, as if they
had been deaf and dumb. When Cheirisophus and Xenophon
had saluted one another, they both asked the chief man, through
the interpreter who spoke the Persian language, what country it
was. He replied that it was Armenia. They then asked him for
whom the horses were bred; and he said that they were a trib-
ute for the king, and added that the neighboring country was
that of the Chalybes, and told them in what direction the road
lay. Xenophon then went away, conducting the chief back to his
family: giving him the horse that he had taken, which was rather
old, to fatten and offer in sacrifice (for he had heard that it had
been consecrated to the sun); being afraid, indeed, that it might
die, as it had been injured by the journey. He then took some
of the young horses, and gave one of them to each of the other
generals and captains. The horses in this country were smaller
than those of Persia, but far more spirited. The chief instructed
the men to tie little bags round the feet of the horses and other
cattle when they drove them through the snow; for without such
bags they sunk up to their bellies.
THE EDUCATION OF A PERSIAN BOY
From the Cyropædeia
C"
YRUS is said to have had for his father Cambyses, king of
the Persians. Cambyses was of the race of the Perseidæ,
who were so called from Perseus. It is agreed that he
was born of a mother named Mandane; and Mandane was the
daughter of Astyages, king of the Medes. Cyrus is described,
and is still celebrated by the barbarians, as having been most


## p. 16259 (#609) ##########################################

XENOPHON
16259
handsome in person, most humane in disposition, most eager for
knowledge, and most ambitious of honor; so that he would
undergo any labor and face any danger for the sake of obtain-
ing praise. Such is the constitution of mind and body that he
is recorded to have had; and he was educated in conformity with
the laws of the Persians.
These laws seem to begin with a provident care for the
common good; not where they begin in most other govern-
ments: for most governments, leaving each individual to educate
his children as he pleases, and the advanced in age to live as
they please, enjoin their people not to steal, not to plunder, not
to enter a house by violence, not to strike any one whom it is
wrong to strike, not to be adulterous, not to disobey the magis-
trates, and other such things in like manner; and if people trans-
gress any of these precepts, they impose punishments upon them.
But the Persian laws, by anticipation, are careful to provide
from the beginning that their citizens shall not be such as to
be inclined to any action that is bad and mean. This care they
take in the following manner. They have an agora, called The
Free, where the king's palace and other houses for magistrates
are built: all things for sale, and the dealers in them with their
cries and coarsenesses, are banished from hence to some other
place, that the disorder of these may not interfere with the reg-
ularity of those who are under instruction. This agora, round
the public courts, is divided into four parts: of these, one is
for the boys, one for the youth, one for the full-grown men, and
one for those who are beyond the years for military service.
Each of these divisions, according to the law, attend to their sev-
eral quarters: the boys and full-grown men as soon as it is day;
the elders when they think convenient, except upon appointed
days, when they are obliged to be present. The youth pass the
night round the courts, in their light arms, except such as are
married: for these are not required to do so, unless orders have
been previously given them; nor is it becoming in them to
be often absent. Over each of the classes there are twelve
presidents, for there are twelve distinct tribes of the Persians.
Those over the boys are chosen from amongst the elders, and are
such as are thought likely to make them the best boys; those
over the youth are chosen from amongst the full-grown men,
and are such as are thought likely to make them the best youth;
and over the full-grown men, such as are thought likely to render


## p. 16260 (#610) ##########################################

16260
XENOPHON
them the most expert in performing their appointed duties, and
in executing the orders given by the chief magistrate. There
are likewise chosen presidents over the elders, who take care that
these also perform their duties. What it is prescribed to each
age to do, we shall relate, that it may be the better understood
how the Persians take precautions that excellent citizens may be
produced.
The boys attending the public schools pass their time in
learning justice; and say that they go for this purpose, as those
with us say that they go to learn to read. Their presidents
spend the most part of the day in dispensing justice amongst
them: for there are among the boys, as among the men, accusa-
tions for theft, robbery, violence, deceit, calumny, and other such
things as naturally occur,- and such as they convict of doing
wrong in any of these respects they punish; they punish like-
wise such as they find guilty of false accusation: they appeal to
justice also in the case of a crime for which men hate one an-
other excessively, but for which they never go to law,- that is,
ingratitude; and whomsoever they find able to return a benefit
and not returning it, they punish severely. For they think that
the ungrateful are careless with regard to the gods, their parents,
their country, and their friends; and upon ingratitude seems
closely to follow shamelessness, which appears to be the princi-
pal conductor of mankind into all that is dishonorable.
They also teach the boys self-control; and it contributes
much towards their learning to control themselves, that they see
every day their elders behaving themselves with discretion. They
teach them also to obey their officers; and it contributes much to
this end, that they see their elders constantly obedient to their
officers. They teach them temperance with respect to eating and
drinking: and it contributes much to this object, that they see
that their elders do not quit their stations to satisfy their appe-
tites, until their officers dismiss them; and that the boys them-
selves do not eat with their mothers, but with their teachers, and
when the officers give the signal. They bring from home with
them bread, and a sort of cresses to eat with it; and a cup to
drink from, that if any are thirsty they may take water from
the river. They learn, besides, to shoot with the bow and to
throw the javelin. These exercises the boys practice till they
are sixteen or seventeen years of age, when they enter the class
of young men.


## p. 16261 (#611) ##########################################

16261
ARTHUR YOUNG
(1741-1820)
won
N 1787, an English country gentleman — “a Suffolk farmer,”
he calls himself — visited France with quite other purposes
than those of ordinary tourists. He wished to study the
country from an agricultural point of view; to examine the land
and methods of cultivation in different parts, and by comparing them
with those at home, to obtain valuable suggestions. Comparatively
poor himself, he wished to fill “the humble office of venturing hints
to those whose situation allows more active exertions. ” During his
first trip, and a second one taken in 1788,
he explored western France. In 1789-90 he
examined the eastern and southern portions
of the country. The record of his observa-
tions, published in successive parts, and
later united under the same title of Trav-
els in France,' proved a unique book of
permanent value.
His handsome person and genial ingra-
tiating manners the French to un-
reserve and friendliness. He talked with
peasants and tradespeople. He visited in
the châteaux of the nobility. Just as the
Revolution was breaking out in France, ARTHUR YOUNG
when the old régime was on the point of
extinction, this clear-sighted foreigner took careful copious notes of
the state in which he found land and people.
Although appreciating the seriousness of what was taking place
in the country, he evidently had no premonition of its historical sig-
nificance. His view of the present was unbiased by anticipation of
the future. The resulting simplicity of statement is what renders
him authoritative.
He was a simple truth-seeker, and absolutely impartial.
He was
not dazzled by the magnificence of Versailles, or in the least disposed
to accept conventional statements; but judged everything with his
own eyes and ears. Although deeply interested in the great govern-
mental issues of the time, they were not his vital concern. It was
«inconvenient to travel while the country was so unsettled,” while

((


## p. 16262 (#612) ##########################################

16262
ARTHUR YOUNG
a mob might murder one on a moment's mad suspicion, and while
châteaux were being fired and their inhabitants cruelly expelled.
But the English traveler merely assumed the tricolor and went
serenely on his way, noting the distribution of population, the stu-
pid ignorance of the peasants about events at Paris, and the hard
domination of the nobles, which resulted in the mismanagement of
land. His style was terse and graphic; and his practical point of
view gave authoritative value to a work, the like of which had never
before been attempted. His book soon became popular in French
translation. French land-owners profited by his demonstration of
their errors, and adopted his theories upon their estates. Under the
Directory his selected works were translated into French by order
of the government, with the title "Le Cultivateur Anglais. Taine and
other historians gladly availed themselves of this fund of accurate
information. The (Travels) became known throughout Europe; and
Young received invitations to visit various courts, and to become a
member of prominent agricultural societies.
When Arthur Young went to France, at the solicitation of his French
friend the Duke de la Rochefoucauld de Liancourt, he was a man of
forty-six, and had already a European reputation as an agriculturist.
But before arriving at this brilliant success, he had known many
years of failure and discouragement. This revolutionizer of agricult-
ural methods learned the lessons he taught others, through a series
of personal disappointments. He was the inevitable martyr in the
promulgation of new ideas. He could show others how to gain money
at farming, although nearly always impoverished when he tried it
himself.
Arthur Young, who was born in London, September uth, 1741,
lived most of his life at Bradfield Hall in Suffolk. His father, the
rector of Bradfield, a prebendary of Canterbury Cathedral, and the
chaplain of Arthur Onslow, Speaker of the House of Commons, wished
his son to go to a university, and become a clergyman like himself.
This Arthur Young's mother strongly opposed; and when he had
finished his school days at Lavenham, he was at her desire placed
with a wine merchant at Lynn. Business was distasteful to him, and
he soon forsook it. He passed several years rather aimlessly, and
then drifted into farming; chiefly because his mother had a farm
which she wished to turn over to his care, and because he did not
know what else to do. He soon found he was losing money, and
after some three thousand experiments in cultivation he changed to
a larger farm in Essex; there too he was unfortunate, and after five
years was glad to pay a more practical farmer £100 to take it off
his hands. He had not lost interest in spite of his failures, and the
latter had taught him practical insight. He decided to travel about


## p. 16263 (#613) ##########################################

ARTHUR YOUNG
16263
the country in search of land which could be profitably cultivated;
and he thus gained a wide knowledge of prevailing conditions, which
he published in a number of successful volumes. A hater of slavery, a
Free-Trader, an idolatrous admirer of Rousseau, he studied all ques-
tions from a philosophic as well as utilitarian point of view. The
(Farmer's Tour through the East of England,' the “Tour in Ireland,
(A Six-Weeks' Tour through the Southern Counties of England and
Wales, (A Six-Months' Tour through the North of England,' were
valuable expositions, full of wise suggestions. They embraced also
questions of population and political economy. These, with many
essays upon kindred subjects contributed to agricultural journals,
made his theory more profitable to him than his practice. In Ire-
land he met Lord Kingsborough; who, strongly attracted by his
scientific views, intrusted him with the management of his great
estate, in which he was brilliantly successful.
In 1783 he inaugurated (The Annals of Agriculture,' a monumental
work in forty-five quarto volumes, of which he was editor, and for
which he wrote many papers.
Many learned men were among its
contributors, and George III. is said to have written for it over the
name of Ralph Robinson. The Annals, definitely established his
reputation. Bradfield Hall, which belonged to him after the death
of his mother in 1785, became a kind of academy of agriculture.
Among those who came to study farming under his direction were
the nephew of the Polish ambassador, and three young Russians sent
by the Empress Catherine. Many English and foreign friends of note
visited him; and particularly, after the appearance of the Travels,'
he received and corresponded with many brilliant statesmen,- with
Washington, Pitt, Burke, Lafayette, and others.
A few years after Arthur Young's return from his last French
journey, the Board of Agriculture was established by act of Parlia-
ment. Such a board had long been one of his favorite projects; and
he was fittingly made its secretary, with a salary of £600.
Fanny Burney's vivacious pen has given a vivid impression of
Arthur Young's delightful personality. At the age of twenty-four he
married her stepmother's sister, Miss Martha Allen, - not an amiable
lady, from all accounts, — with whom he was not happy. Probably
he was glad to escape home friction in the society of the gay and
congenial Burneys. Miss Burney describes him as witty and hand-
some, and fond of fine clothes. Sometimes he is in the depths of
depression over his unlucky speculations; but he soon throws off care,
and is hopefully ready for a new experiment.
When about sixty-six he became totally blind; in spite of which
calamity he continued busy, and intelligently interested in public
events, until his death in London, April 20th, 1820.


## p. 16264 (#614) ##########################################

16264
ARTHUR YOUNG
ASPECTS OF FRANCE BEFORE THE REVOLUTION
From Travels in France)
HE .
T*Liancourt are pretty, and spread with a sort of cultivation
I had never seen before,- a mixture of vineyards (for here
the vines first appeared), gardens, and corn. A piece of wheat,
a scrap of lucerne, a patch of clover or vetches, a bit of vine,
with cherry and other fruit trees scattered among all, and the
whole cultivated with the spade: it makes a pretty appearance,
but must form a poor system of trifling.
Chantilly. - Magnificence is its reigning character; it is never
lost. There is not taste or beauty enough to soften it into
milder features: all but the château is great, and there is some-
thing imposing in that; except the gallery of the great Condé's
battles and the cabinet of natural history,' which is rich in very
fine specimens, most advantageously arranged, it contains nothing
that demands particular notice; nor is there one room which in
England would be called large. The stable is truly great, and
exceeds very much indeed anything of the kind I had ever seen.
It is 580 feet long and 40 feet broad, and is sometimes filled
with 240 English horses. I had been so accustomed to the imi-
tation in water of the waving and irregular lines of nature, that
I came to Chantilly prepossessed against the idea of a canal;
but the view of one here is striking, and has the effect which
magnificent scenes impress. It arises from extent, and from
the right lines of the water uniting with the regularity of the
objects in view. It is Lord Kames, I think, who says the part
of the garden contiguous to the house should partake of the
regularity of the building; with much magnificence about a place
this is unavoidable. The effect here however is lessened by the
parterre before the castle, in which the division and the diminu-
tive jets d'eau are not of a size to correspond with the magnifi-
cence of the canal. The menagerie is very pretty, and exhibits
a prodigious variety of domestic poultry from all parts of the
world, - one of the best objects to which a menagerie can be
applied; these and the Corsican stag had all my attention. The
hameau contains an imitation of an English garden; the taste is
but just introduced into France, so that it will not stand a criti-
cal examination. The most English idea I saw is the lawn in


## p. 16265 (#615) ##########################################

ARTHUR YOUNG
16265.
front of the stables; it is large, of a good verdure, and well
kept, — proving clearly that they may have as fine lawns in the
north of France as in England. The labyrinth is the only com-
plete one I have seen, and I have no inclination to see another:
it is in gardening what a rebus is in poetry. In the sylvæ are
a
many very fine and scarce plants. I wish those persons who
view Chantilly, and are fond of fine trees, would not forget to
ask for the great beech; this is the finest I ever saw, straight as
an arrow, and as I guess, not less than 80 or go feet high, – 40
feet to the first branch, and 12 feet diameter at five from the
ground. It is in all respects one of the finest trees that can
anywhere be met with. Two others are near it, but not equal
to this superb one. The forest around Chantilly, belonging to
the Prince of Condé, is immense, spreading far and wide; the
Paris road crosses it for ten miles, which is its least extent.
They say the capitainerie, or paramountship, is above 100 miles
in circumference. This is to say, all the inhabitants for that
extent are pestered with game, without permission to destroy it,
in order to give one man diversion. Ought not these capitaine-
ries to be extirpated ?
On the breaking up of the party, went with Count Alexandre
de la Rochefoucauld post to Versailles, to be present at the fête
of the day following (Whitsunday); slept at the Duke de Lian-
court's hôtel.
The 27th. - Breakfasted with him at his apartments in the
palace, which are annexed to his office of grand master of the
wardrobe, one of the principal in the court of France. Here I
found the duke surrounded by a circle of noblemen, among
whom was the Duke de la Rochefoucauld, well known for his
attention to natural history; I was introduced to him, as he is
going to Bagnères-de-Luchon in the Pyrenees, where I am to
have the honor of being in his party.
The ceremony of the day was the King's investing the
Duke of Berri, son of the Count d'Artois, with the cordon bleu.
The Queen's band was in the chapel where the ceremony was
performed, but the musical effect was thin and weak. During
the service the King was seated between his two brothers, and
seemed by his carriage and inattention to wish himself a-hunting.
He would certainly have been as well employed as in hearing
afterwards from his throne a feudal oath of chivalry, I suppose,


## p. 16266 (#616) ##########################################

16266
ARTHUR YOUNG
or some such nonsense, administered to a boy of ten years old.
Seeing such pompous folly I imagined it was the dauphin, and
asked a lady of fashion near me; at which she laughed in my
face, as if I had been guilty of the most egregious idiotism: noth-
ing could be done in a worse manner; for the stifling of her
expression only marked it the more. I applied to M. de la
Rochefoucauld to learn what gross absurdity I had been guilty
of so unwittingly; when, forsooth, it was because the dauphin, as
all the world knows in France, has the cordon bleu put around
him as soon as he is born. So unpardonable was it for a for-
eigner to be ignorant of such an important part of French his-
tory, as that of giving a babe a blue slobbering-bib instead of a
white one!
The 31st. — On leaving it, enter soon the miserable province
of Sologne, which the French writers call the triste Sologne.
Through all this country they have had severe spring frosts, for
che leaves of the walnuts are black and cut off. I should not
have expected this unequivocal mark of a bad climate after pass-
ing the Loire. To La Ferté Lowendahl, a dead flat of hungry
sandy gravel, with much heath. The poor people who cultivate
the soil here are métayers,—that is, men who hire the land
without ability to stock it; the proprietor is forced to provide
cattle and seed, and he and his tenant divide the produce: a mis-
erable system, that perpetuates poverty and excludes instruction.
Meet a man employed on the roads who was prisoner at Fal-
mouth four years; he does not seem to have any rancor against
the English, nor yet was he very well pleased with his treatment.
At La Ferté is a handsome château of the Marquis de Croix,
with several canals and a great command of water. To Nonant-
le-Fuzelier, a strange mixture of sand and water. Much in
closed: and the houses and cottages of wood filled between the
studs with clay or bricks, and covered not with slate but tile,
with some barns boarded like those in Suffolk, rows of pollards
in some of the hedges, an excellent road of sand, the general
features of a woodland country, — all combined to give a strong
resemblance to many parts of England; but the husbandry is so
little like that of England that the least attention to it destroyed
every notion of similarity. -27 miles.
June 1. - The same wretched country continues to La Loge;
the fields are scenes of pitiable management, as the houses are


## p. 16267 (#617) ##########################################

ARTHUR YOUNG
16267
a
of misery. Yet all this country highly improvable, if they knew
what to do with it: the property, perhaps, of some of those glit-
tering beings who figured in the procession the other day at
Versailles. Heaven grant me patience while I see a country thus
neglected, and forgive me the oaths I swear at the absence and
ignorance of the possessors. - Enter the generality of Bourges,
and soon after, a forest of oak belonging to the Count d'Artois;
the trees are dying at top before they attain any size. There
the miserable Sologne ends; the first view of Verson and its
vicinity is fine. A noble vale spreads at your feet, through which
the river Cher leads, seen in several places to the distance of
some leagues; a bright sun burnished the water, like a string of
lakes amidst the shade of a vast woodland.
The 31st. — Cross a mountain by a miserable road, and reach
Beg de Rieux, which shares, with Carcassonne, the fabric of Lon-
drins for the Levant trade. - Cross much waste to Béziers. - I
met to-day with an instance of ignorance in a well-dressed French
merchant, that surprised me. He had plagued me with abund.
ance of tiresome foolish questions, and then asked for the third
or fourth time what country I was of.
I told him I was
Chinese. How far off is that country? – I replied, 200 leagues.
Deux cents lieus! Diable! c'est un grand chemin ! The other
day a Frenchman asked me, after telling him I was an Eng-
lishman, if we had trees in England ? I replied that we had a
few.