Xenophon (zĕn′ ṓ-fŭn), a Hellenic general, historian and philosopher, was born at Athens in 430 B. C. At an early age he became a pupil of Socrates, and is said to have been saved from death by that philosopher at the battle of Delium. At 40 he joined the expedition of Cyrus the Younger (q. v.) against Artaxerxes Mnemon, king of Persia, and after the battle of Cunaxa and the treacherous murder of the Greek generals played an important part in the Retreat of the Ten Thousand. Soon after his return to Greece he settled in a small town in Elis, where he lived for over 20 years, occupying himself in agriculture and literary pursuits. He is supposed to have died at Corinth in 355 B. C. Xenophon’s principal works are The Anabasis, a history of the expedition of Cyrus and the Retreat of the Ten Thousand; The Cyropedia or education of Cyrus and Memorabilia, a series of dialogues intended to refute the charges on which Socrates was condemned to death.
