Big Boys And Little Boys
Justice And Law In Xenophon’s Cyropaedia and Memorabilia
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6108572 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gabriel Danzig (0000-0001-6967-8846, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2009 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 271-295 |
| Publication date | 2009-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Polis The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0142-257X • E-ISSN: 2051-2996 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1163/20512996-90000154 |
| OpenAlex | W2036426561 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 29 |
Xenophon’s anecdote concerning the exchange of clothes between a big boy and a little boy in Cyropaedia (1.3.16–18) offers a valuable framework for understanding his conception of justice and the problematics of administering it. Interpreters have erred by assuming that Cyrus’ teacher, as well as Socrates in Memorabilia, simply identifies the just with the lawful. Rather than identifying the two, both characters argue that the law is just; but they differ widely in their explanations of what makes the law just. For Cyrus’ teacher, the obligation to observe the law rests on a universal pre-legal ban on violence; for Socrates statutory law is to be obeyed for utilitarian reasons. Socrates’ view thus justifies both the teacher’s insistence that Cyrus obey the law—since the law is of benefit to the community—and also Cyrus’ decision to violate the law to achieve a just and beneficial redistribution. But it offers no justification for a universal ban on violence. In conformity with the Socratic principle, Cyrus avoids violence as far as possible, but only for the prudential reasons expressed by his mother. Once he acquires the power to coerce, Cyrus uses it to enforce the principle of proportional equality and meritorious redistribution he had approved in his judgment of the actions of the big boy
Economic Justice · Epistemology · Obligation · Political science · Politics · Redistribution (election · Sociology · SOCRATES · Socratic method · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Classical Antiquity Studies · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Law · Philosophy
Xenophon on Leadership
Xenophon and Greek Political Thought
Xenophon’s Authorial Voice
Xenophon’s Oeconomicus
Xenophon’s Changing Fortunes in the Modern World
Xenophon’s Place in Fourth-Century Greek Historiography
Xenophon’s Influence in Imperial Greece
Xenophon and his Times
Xenophon’s Language and Expression
Xenophon on Persia
Xenophon’s Anabasis and Hellenica
Xenophon’s Apology and Memorabilia
Xenophon and Athens
Xenophon’s Views on Sparta
Xenophon’s Narrative Style
Xenophon as a Historian
Xenophon
Epilogue
Xenophon and the Instruction of Princes
The Character and Function of Speeches in Xenophon
Xenophon’s Cyropaedia
Xenophon and Greek Philosophy
O Melhor Dos Aquêmidas
The Limits of Reconciliation
Finding a New Sophist
The Cambridge Companion to Xenophon
Un persa entre los socráticos. La figura de Ciro y la Ciropedia en Antístenes y Platón
Xenophon’sCyropaedia
Xenophon on the Psychology of Supreme Political Ambition
| Unique citing works | 29 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,07 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2024 (13) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 29 |