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"If you inquire into the origins of the novel long enough," writes James Tatum in the preface to this work, ". . . you will come to the fourth century before our era and Xenophon's Education of Cyrus, or the Cyropaedia." The Cyrus in question is Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian empire celebrated in the Book of Ezra as the liberator of Israel, and the Cyropaedia, written to instruct future rulers by his example, became not only an inspiration to poets and novelists but a profoundly influential political work. With Alexander as its earliest student, and Elizabeth I of England one of its later pupils, it was the founding text for the tradition of "mirrors for princes" in the West, including Machiavelli's Prince. Xenophon's masterpiece has been overlooked in recent years: Tatum's goal is to make it fully meaningful for the twentieth-century reader.
To accomplish this aim, he uses reception study, philological and historical criticism, and an intertextual and structural analysis of the narrative. Engaging the fictional and the political in a single reading, he explains how the form of the work allowed Xenophon to transcend the limitations of historical writing, although in the end the historian's passion for truth forced him to subvert the work in a controversial epilogue.
Originally published in 1989.
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XENOPHON'S IMPERIAL FICTION 7 XENOPHON S IMPERIAL FICTION On The Education of Cyrus JAMES T A T U M PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRINCETON, NEW PRESS JERSEY Copyright © 1989 by Princeton University Press Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Guildford, Surrey All Rights Reserved Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Tatum, James. Xenophon's imperial fiction : The education of Cyrus / James Tatum p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. ISBN 0-691-06757-0 (alk. paper| i. Xenophon. Cyropaedia. 2. Cyrus, King of Persia, d. 529 B.C., in fiction, drama, poetry, etc. 3. Education of princes in literature. 4. Imperialism in literature. 5. Political fiction, Greek—History and criticism. 6. Kings and rulers in literature. I. Title. PA4494.C9T38 1989 883'.oi—dci9 88-17822 CIP Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Paul Mellon Fund of Princeton University Press This book has been composed in Linotron Trump Clothbound editions of Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. Paperbacks, although satisfactory for personal collections, are not usually suitable for library rebinding Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey For Harry Avery and fames Hitt εν γαρ μεμνημαι . . . Except in the abandoned sphere of the dead languages, no one has discussed what part of education has, in his personal experience, turned out to be useful, and what not. The Education of Henry Adams Government includes the art of formulating a policy and using the political technique to attain so much of that policy as will receive general support: persuading, leading, sacrificing, teaching always, because the greatest duty of a statesman is to educate. Frank