This thesis has been submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for a postgraduate degree (e.g. PhD, MPhil, DClinPsychol) at the University of Edinburgh. Please note the following terms and conditions of use: • This work is protected by copyright and other intellectual property rights, which are retained by the thesis author, unless otherwise stated. • A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge. • This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author. • The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author. • When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given. Xenophon’s Theory of Moral Education Houliang Lu PhD in Classics University of Edinburgh 2014 Acknowledgement This thesis cannot be completed without the help of many people. First of all, I express my profound gratitude to my supervisors, Prof. Douglas Cairns and Prof. Andrew Erskine, for their careful correction and valuable advice for my thesis. I should also thank my former supervisor, Prof. Xiaoling Guo in Beijing Normal University as well as Prof. Shaoxiang Yan in Capital Normal University of Beijing, whose support and recommendation enable me to do my PhD program in University of Edinburgh. Besides, I am very grateful to the Chinese Scholarships Council and the University of Edinburgh, whose funding covers my tuition fee as well as my living expenses, so that I can finish my PhD programme in Edinburgh much more easily. Special thanks must also be given to Mr. Christopher Strachan, Dr. Lisa Hau, Dr. Sandra Bingham, Mr. John Houston as well as editors of Journal of Cambridge Studies. Mr. Strachan gave me a lot of guidance and encouragement to help me improve my ancient Greek. Dr. Hau kindly sent me her PhD thesis on ancient Greek historiography for reference. Dr. Sandra Bingham took part in the first and second annual reviews of my dissertation and provided lots of valuable advice for me. Mr. Houston proofread all my chapters and carefully corrected some English grammar mistakes in this work. And the editors of Journal of Cambridge Studies offered me a chance to publish an article based on Part 3, Chapter 2 of this thesis and provided some good advice for its later revision. I dedicate this thesis to my parents and my wife. ii Abstract Xenophon the Athenian, who is well known as a historian and a witness of Socratic philosophy but is usually excluded from the list of classical writers on education, actually developed his own systematic thought on moral education from a social and mainly political perspective in his extant works. His discourse on moral education presents for us the view of an unusual historical figure, an innovative thinker as well as a man of action, a mercenary general and a world citizen in his age; and is therefore different from that of contemporary pure philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle. Furthermore, as a prolific author respected in both the classical world and the early modern era, Xenophon’s doctrine on moral education greatly influences the later development of European cultural history. This thesis explores the background and content of Xenophon’s thought on moral education, as well as its application in his other literary works, which are not directly on the same topic but are indirectly influenced by it. Part 1 discusses the background which produces Xenophon’s thought on moral education. As a historian of his own age, Xenophon’s negative view of the world he lived in is fully expressed in his Hellenica; and his idea of social education organised by a competent political leader serves as a proposal to transform the disordered Greek world in his time. As a follower of Socrates, Xenophon adopts his teacher’s approach of focusing on the study of moral issues and leadership; and the need to make apology for Socrates helps to shape many heroes in Xenophon’s works into extremely pious men and beneficial moral teachers. Part 2 analyses the content of Xenophon’s thought on moral education. This idea is systematically explained in his Cyropaedia and advocated in a rhetorical and persuasive manner in his Hiero. By modern ethical standards, Xenophon’s moral education is supported by dark art of government and cannot always be justified; but this dark side is tolerable in Xenophon’s view as long as it ultimately serves for good purpose. In his Poroi and Oeconomicus, Xenophon iii makes a further development of his thought by confirming that the art of accumulating and using wealth is also an indispensable skill for organisers of social education. Part 3 presents the application of Xenophon’s theory of moral education in his epoch-making literary composition. His Agesilaus, which serves as a prototype for later biographies, depicts a historical figure living and acting according to the ethical principles which Xenophon sets for ideal political leaders; while his Oeconomicus, which influenced Hellenistic and Roman agricultural works greatly, attempts to bring the experience of public education into the domestic sphere. The analysis of these themes confirms that Xenophon actually established a theory of moral education, which is social, highly political but also philosophical, in his extant corpus. On the one hand, Xenophon’s theory is less profound than that of Plato or Aristotle and is sometimes superficial and occasionally self-contradictory; on the other hand, the theory is original, innovative and influential in the history of classical literature, and therefore deserves our respect and serious treatment. iv Table of Contents Declaration of Own Work i Acknowledgement ii Abstract iii Table of Contents v Editions vi Introduction 1 Part 1: Background of Xenophon’s Thought on Moral Education 13 Chapter 1: Xenophon’s View of His Time 14 Chapter 2: Influence of Socrates on Xenophon’s Thought on Moral Education 46 Part 2: A Systematic Theory of Moral Education from a Social Perspective 68 Chapter 1: Nature and Origin of Xenophon’s Cyropaedia 69 Chapter 2: Xenophon’s Hiero: A Rhetorical Dialogue to Persuade the Organiser of Social Education 108 Chapter 3: Dark Side of Xenophon’s Social Education 139 Chapter 4: A Supplement to Political Education of Social Morality: The Primitive Model of Moral Economics Established in Xenophon’s Oeconomicus and Poroi 173 Part 3: Application of Xenophon’s Theory of Social Education in His Literary Composition 197 Chapter 1: Xenophon’s Agesilaus and the Moral Tradition of Ancient Biography 199 Chapter 2: Queen Bee and Housewife: Extension of Social Education into the Private Sphere in Xenophon’s Oeconomicus 229 Conclusion 250 Bibliography 256 v Editions As one of the most important and popular writers in classical age, Xenophon’s most works are available in almost all the four major modern series of classical texts. BT (Bibliotheca Scriptorium Graecorum et Latinorum Teubneriana) offers Xenophon’s works edited by Gemoll, Hude and other scholars in around 1910. The older edition of BT prepared by German scholar G. Sauppe is the basis of almost all later academic editions of ancient Greek texts of Xenophon, and is still adopted by Loeb Classical Library. The major drawback of the latest Teubner edition is that it is compiled by many hands and many volumes of it are already out of print and not always easily available in libraries. The Budé edition offers original texts of a few works of Xenophon, including the Anabasis, Oeconomicus and Memorabilia, usually with quite accurate and highly praised French translation, brief critical apparatus and full notes. The edition is still incomplete. Generally speaking it is conservative and does not make much crucial correction of former standard Greek texts. Up to now, the standard edition of Xenophon’s complete works is still that of Oxford Classical Texts, prepared by E.C. Marchant from 1900 to 1920. This edition is complete with brief critical apparatus, and is widely accepted and used for academic studies. For the English translation, one of the most popular editions is that of Loeb Classical Library, translated by C.L. Brownson, E.C. Marchant and other scholars in early twentieth century. Most of these books adopt the old edition of Greek text prepared by G. Sauppe, which is in need of correction itself. The translation is not always accurate and is occasionally quite old in language style. For example, Sarah Pomeroy points out that E.C. Marchant translates γύναι as ‘my dear’ instead of the more proper address ‘wife’ in the translation of Oeconomicus according to the common usage in English at his time, which lends the original word affective quality vi it does not have at all and may prevent us from finding out some information for gender studies in ancient texts. In 1989, Loeb Classical Library published a revised edition of Xenophon’s works. They are not thoroughly reworked but offer some useful correction on certain texts of translation and notes made by John Dillery and G.W. Bowersock. Apart from the four major series above, certain separate editions and commentaries on Xenophon’s individual works are more up-dated and therefore noteworthy, including Pomeroy’s Xenophon, Oeconomicus, A Social and Historical Commentary (1994), with a new English translation from E.C. Marchant’s OCT text; A.J. Bowen’s Xenophon, Symposium, with an Introduction, Translation and Commentary (1998); and Michael Lipka’s Xenophon’s Spartan Constitution, Introduction, Text, Commentary (2002) with both new Greek text produced by study of manuscripts and a new English translation. For the purpose of my dissertation, I use E.C.