Hiero the Tyrant and Other Treatises (Penguin Classics) (4 page)

The six treatises translated in this book occur in volume 5 of the Oxford Classical Text of Xenophon, edited by E. C. Marchant (
Xenophontis Opera
, Oxford University Press, 1920), the text of which has been followed except at the places marked with an asterisk, which refers the interested reader to the Textual Notes.

All dates are
BC
, many are approximate (
c
.)

c
. 550–460 lifespan of Simonides of Ceos

478–66
reign of Hiero as tyrant of Syracuse (regent of Gela, 485–78)

c.
445
birth of Agesilaus (II)

early 420s
birth of Xenophon

404
defeat of Athens by Sparta in Peloponnesian War (431–404) terminates Athens’ empire and, temporarily, democracy (restored 403)

402–394
Xenophon serves as mercenary first on behalf of a Persian pretender, Cyrus the Younger, then on behalf of Sparta (including under Agesilaus II); Xenophon formally exiled as traitor to Athens

c.
400–359
reign of Agesilaus II of Sparta

399
trial and death of Socrates, mentor of Xenophon

395–386 Corinthian War

394–71
Xenophon settles in Peloponnesse, first on estate at Scillous near Olympia, then at Corinth, under Spartan patronage

386
King’s Peace (first so-called ‘Common’ Peace)

378
Foundation of Second Athenian (naval) League

375
King’s Peace renewed

371
defeat at Sparta by Thebes at Leuctra, King’s Peace again renewed

370/69
Thebes invades Peloponnese, attacks Sparta, liberates Messenian Helots, Athens allies with Sparta

360s
Xenophon perhaps returns to Athens; composes
How To Be a Good Cavalry Commander; Hiero the Tyrant
may have been influenced by Plato’s second (unsuccessful) visit to Sicily in 367

362
battle of Mantinea: Thebes defeats Sparta and Athens; further Common Peace

359
death of Agesilaus; Xenophon publishes
Agesilaus

350s
Xenophon composes
Ways and Means
(
c
. 355) and concludes his
Hellenica
(
A History of My Times
, Penguin);
On Horsemanship
and
On Hunting
may belong in either the 360s or the 350s

357–5
Social War (successful revolt by a number of Athens’ more important allies)

c.
354
death of Xenophon

Greece and the Aegean

The Peloponnese showing Xenophon’s retreat into exile at Scillons

East Greece

At the very end of
The Estate-manager (Oeconomicus)
, his treatise on the good management of a large
oikos
or ‘household’ (including human as well as real property), Xenophon equates the prospects of a human tyrant with the torments suffered mythically in Hades by the anti-hero Tantalus. Tyranny, that is to say, which Xenophon’s Socrates defines in
Memoirs of Socrates (Memorabilia)
4.6.12 as ‘authority without consent and in accordance not with the laws but with the whim of the ruler’, is here represented as a living hell, for the tyrant as well as the subjects. Xenophon’s implied message is that the good manager, such as his idealized Ischomachus, must not confine his management skills to the private sphere but should apply them also to the conduct of the state, in accordance with the laws.