Collected Works of Xenophon

It is necessary to disparage him, yet it is not better, for I shall not be a source of honor for the dead. I say these things to the reader of history, to those who marvel at history. For while other things, with the sanction of law, have a measure of benefit for people over time, only the knowledge of history provides a perspective that extends across the inhabited world. For it preserves the time of this subject always, contributing an example as a medium for those who follow. The same is true regarding political power; one does not dispute it, nor is it easy to find. This, however, will not be lacking for those who bring it forward. Those who possess education surpass all others. Regarding these matters, it is possible through struggle to recount the whole history according to the daimona divine spirit or guiding intelligence and the tradition handed down, which fortune and power provide. For from the point when we name a nation of people as noteworthy, the authorities show whence they stand, as most parts of this proclamation involve many dangers and events in the same place. We must prepare the only and best instructive teaching for these events: some things with alliances for the sake of one's own kin, others more recent, as far as the benefit of the testimony allows. Here, the opinion of the truth manifests. Above all, it is beneficial for history to provide a conduit for these contradictions, so that all things useful to the writing may be seen to be included, and I encourage greater demonstrations and a noteworthy composition.

L

From the hardships and the complex activities of the ancients, the greatest benefit will come to those who encounter them. I know that many of our contemporaries have attempted to write these general treatises. First, because this is acknowledged by all readers who use letters. But since it has happened to us that nothing is so valuable as omitting nothing that is useful and possible, their treatises are examined. It appears that there is recognition of the same things, and friendships are formed because most authors take something vast and varied regarding each subject. We, having composed these virtues in an improvised manner from the ancient times, the origins, and the common deeds, have attempted to record them up to our own times. I think this was necessary for those former times. Those who selected the events according to their fruitfulness rejected the proper subjects of ancient mythology due to the obscurity of the facts. For they did not even decree the foundation of those things that went on for a long time. But also, regarding the end, the accomplished deed does not exist. For those who accepted this care of the treatise, it is not fitting to establish in history the specific details of times and seasons. For some recorded their own deeds, others the accounts of individual nations or cities persistently, and they are not worthy of many praises, especially since this task remains incomplete up to the life of our own time and its boundaries.