Gospel of Xenophon 1 · First Witness: Justice, the Citizen, and Duty
Xenophon, born at Athens about 430 before this era, died about 354. Soldier, historian, student of Socrates. After the Persian civil war ten thousand Greek mercenaries were stranded deep in enemy country and their generals killed under a truce; he was elected to command and brought them from north of Babylon back to the Black Sea, which he set down in the Anabasis. He also wrote the Memorabilia, the Oeconomicus, the Education of Cyrus, and a history of Greece. The Socrates he records is the one who talks of households, of training men, of horses and of money. He himself kept the old rites of the city: he sacrificed, he consulted oracles, he referred matters to the gods. The Order sets that down and does not cover it for him. Of the four witnesses he alone both led men in the field and farmed land himself. This book is written as a record. Where there are numbers, dates, and names, they are set down as they were.
1.1Socrates was an ordinary man who walked in the dust of the Athenian marketplace. A coarse cloak, and strict obedience to the laws of the city.
1.2He lived by cutting stone. His father was a mason, and so was he.
1.3But he carved the minds of men more than he carved the marble.
1.4He spoke with great clearness, and his soul was never bound by greed.
1.5His name ran through the nations like a grass fire. Young men left their estates in crowds to hear him teach.
1.6Ordinary citizens found in him the truth that politicians could not give them.
1.7He became the most beloved teacher in Greece, and his words shook the foundation stones of the city.
1.8He never took a single coin. Not even those who hated him denied it.
1.9Yet his high standing was a mortal threat to rulers, to judges, and to all who clutch at worldly power and will not let go.
1.10For once the people learn to think for themselves, they can no longer be moved about blindly.
1.11I was already old when I wrote this book. I have tried not to write down what I did not see.