Schneider in his Epimetrum (ad calcem Anabaseos, p. 573),
respecting the exile of Xenophon, argues as if the person against
whom the oration of Deinarchus was directed, was Xenophon
himself, the Cyreian commander and author. But this, I think, is
chronologically all but impossible; for Deinarchus was not born
till 361 B.C., and composed his first oration in 336 B.C.
Yet Deinarchus, in his speech against Xenophon, undoubtedly
mentioned several facts respecting the Cyreian Xenophon, which
implies that the latter was a relative of the person against
whom the oration was directed. I venture to set him down as
grandson, on that evidence, combined with the identity of name
and the suitableness in point of time. He might well be the son
of Gryllus, who was slain fighting at the battle of Mantineia in
362 B.C.
Nothing is more likely than that an orator, composing an oration
against Xenophon the grandson, should touch upon the acts and
character of Xenophon the grandfather; see for analogy, the
oration of Isokrates, de Bigis; among others.
On bringing this accomplished and eminent leader to the close of
that arduous retreat which he had conducted with so much honor, I
have thought it necessary to anticipate a little on the future,
in order to take a glance at his subsequent destiny. To his exile
(in this point of view not less useful than that of Thucydides) we
probably owe many of those compositions from which so much of our
knowledge of Grecian affairs is derived. But to the contemporary
world, the retreat, which Xenophon so successfully conducted,
afforded a far more impressive lesson than any of his literary
compositions. It taught in the most striking manner the impotence
of the Persian land-force, manifested not less in the generals than
in the soldiers. It proved that the Persian leaders were unfit
for any systematic operations, even under the greatest possible
advantages, against a small number of disciplined warriors resolutely
bent on resistance; that they were too stupid and reckless even
to obstruct the passage of rivers, or destroy roads, or cut off
supplies. It more than confirmed the contemptuous language applied
to them by Cyrus himself, before the battle of Kunaxa; when he
proclaimed that he envied the Greeks their freedom, and that he was
ashamed of the worthlessness of his own countrymen.[296] Against
such perfect weakness and disorganization, nothing prevented the
success of the Greeks along with Cyrus, except his own paroxysm
of fraternal antipathy.[297] And we shall perceive hereafter the
military and political leaders of Greece,—Agesilaus, Jason of
Pheræ,[298] and others down to Philip and Alexander[299]—firmly
persuaded that with a tolerably numerous and well-appointed Grecian
force, combined with exemption from Grecian enemies, they could
succeed in overthrowing or dismembering the Persian empire. This
conviction, so important in the subsequent history of Greece, takes
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