An Introduction To The Cyropaedia

What is the Cyropaedia? It can be described as a biography of Cyrus the Great, a history of the beginnings of the Persian empire, a romance, an encomium, a military handbook, a guide to the political administration of an empire, a didactic work on ethics, morals, and education, etc.; it is, in fact, all of these things. Cicero’s famous statement— ‘Cyrus file a Xenophonte non ad historiae fidem scriptus sed ad effigiem iusti imperi’ —is perhaps the best starting-point when attempting to define or narrow down the genre of this work: the Cyropaedia was not written as history and is a portrait of a model, just ruler. Cicero may have needed to point this out to his brother Quintus because Xenophon himself nowhere indicates—either in his preface to the work or in the course of narrating the deeds of Cyrus the Great—that he is not presenting a purely historical account. He begins the Cyropaedia with a discussion of the instability of political regimes and observes that man is the most difficult of creatures to rule. None the less, states Xenophon, the example of Cyrus serves as proof that governing men is not an impossible task, since the Persian king successfully ruled a great empire and commanded the willing obedience of his many subjects. Hence Xenophon turned to an investigation of Cyrus the Great, concentrating on the Persian’s family background, character, and education. The Cyropaedia is, according to Xenophon’s preface, the result of these researches (Cyr. 1.1. i–6).

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