XENOPHON, a celebrated ancient historian, philosopher and general, was born in Attica, and in consequence of his engaging appearance and man ners, he was admitted among the disciples of So crates. In the Peloponnesian war, to which he accompanied Socrates, he exhibited the first proofs of his valour, but his skill as a general was dis played in the war which Cyrus waged against his brother Artaxerxes. Cyrus, having fallen in battle in the plains of Cuanaxa, Xenophon, who was a volunteer in his army, advised his countrymen who had joined the Persian standard to retreat, and being chosen their commander, he conducted the celebrated retreat of the ten thousand, of which he has himself given so interesting an account. He afterwards fought under Agesilaus in the battle of Cheronea, and having given offence to his country by that act, as well as by his former services to the Persian army, he was condemned to banish ment.
The Spartan government immediately protected him, and provided for him a comfortable retreat at Scillus in Elis, where, amid the peaceful enjoy ments of domestic life, in the society of his wife and two children, he composed those historical works which have immortalized his name. The wealth which he had acquired in his Asiatic expe dition enabled him to improve and adorn the coun try around Scillus. He erected a magnificent temple
to Diana, iu imitation of that of Ephesus, and he spent part of his time in hunting and in rural amusements. These peaceful pursuits, however, were not destined to last; a war between Lacedemon and Elis drove him from his retirement to the city of Corinth, where he died at the great age of 90, and 359 years before the Christian era. His prin cipal works are his .qnabasis, or account of the ex pedition of Cyrus. His Cyropxdia, a sort of moral romance, though supposed by some to be an exact account of the life and actions of Cyrus the Great; his llellenica, a continuation of Thucydides's history, his Memorabilia of Socrates, and his dpology. His other works, which are small treatises, are his Eulogium on Agesilaus, his (Economia; his tract on the Duties of Domestic Life; his dialogue enti tled Hiero; his treatise on Hunting; his Symposium; his tract on the office of the Master of the Horse; his treatise on the Governments of Athens and Sparta, and his tract on the revenue of Attica. The best editions of Xenophon are those of Lcun clavius, folio, Frankfort, 1596; of Ernestus, 4 vols. 8vo. Lips. 1763; and of Zeunius, 6 vols. 8vo. Lips.