was brought to him that "his son had fallen," but when the messenger added "nobly," he replaced it; and he would not weep, for he said, "I knew that my son was mortal." This is the last anecdote which is recorded of Xenophon "the wise." But he appears to have lived long afterwards, and to have attained his ninetieth year.
Time has been very lenient with the works of Xenophon. We possess all the books ascribed to him by Diogenes Laertius. They are as follows:—'Hellenica,' 'Anabasis,'[1] 'Cyropædeia,' 'Recollections of Socrates,' 'Apology of Socrates,' 'Agesilaus,' 'The Constitution of Athens,' 'The Constitution of Sparta,' 'Hiero,' 'The Banquet,' 'On the Athenian Revenues,' 'On Domestic Economy,' 'Hipparchicus,' 'On Horsemanship,' 'On Hunting.' A glance at this list will show
- ↑ It is curious that in the 'Hellenica' (iii. 1, 2) Xenophon says that "the history of the expedition of Cyrus, and of the return of the Greeks in safety to the sea, has been written by Themistogenes the Syracusan." This passage has given rise to two theories to account for the statement it contains. One is, that Themistogenes, as well as Xenophon, had written an account of the expedition of Cyrus—that the inferior work was eclipsed and forgotten, but that Xenophon, through modesty, mentioned that account instead of his own. The other theory is suggested by Plutarch, namely, that Xenophon, haying a double interest in the 'Anabasis,' as author and as actor in the military events described, preferred his reputation in the latter capacity to the fame which he might get as an author; and, therefore, to gain full credence for the somewhat self-glorifying history, attributed it to another hand. The second theory seems the more probable. At all events, the ancients unanimously regarded the 'Anabasis' as the work of Xenophon, and not even German criticism has thrown any doubt on this belief.
