Growing up I thought of Xenophon, when I thought of him, as a the hack who was unlucky enough to be Socrates’ less capable student. Going to school with Plato would make anyone’s work look bad! Most writers think of him as a pious old gentleman who reduced Socrates to an axiom spouting conservative.
As someone who struggles himself with being a maxim spouting conservative, I have no desire to emulate such a writer!
Fortunately for me, I had the privilege this semester of studying Xenophon with Al Geier, the textual mentor of mentors in Torrey. We read Xenophon’s work on Socrates and studied his life. Xenophon lived a heroic life. It culminated when he led a group of Greeks back from the heart of Persia after a failed attempt at playing Persian politics. This amazing “retreat” pointed to the weakness of the Empire and provided a road map for Alexander the Great. Xenophon was a gentleman farmer and a man of a high Hellenistic culture.
Xenophon’s maxims are not just proverbial, but are in the framework of an examined life. Proverbs and maxims are rails to keep us from going off the road and harming others while we look down the road using philosophy. They can become trite when they cut off thought, but can be liberating when they allow part of our lives to run on “auto-pilot” while we examine the deer things.
He learned much from Socrates, including the wisdom of conforming as much as possible to the norms of the city while pursuing the good life. Unlike later “revolutionary” thinkers, Xenophon’s Socrates wanted to preserve the peace of the old order while transforming its weaknesses from the inside out. This transformation was not so much political as individual. His students became good and this was good for the city!
Xenophon’s life of service is a good example in this age. Our tendency (or at least my tendency) is to veer between introspection and revolutionary zeal. I either want to meditate or change the world. Socrates (in Xenophon) wanted to change the world by meditating on the nature of truth. This is very wise.
Xenophon lived, he did not just think about living, and was also content with who he was. May that be said of us all!