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Eros and military command in Xenophon

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Clifford Hindley
Clifford Hindley
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99 Brent Way, Finchley, London
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Xenophon's concern with morality in his more philosophical writings is evident. But (as Vivienne Gray has recently argued) that concern embraces also his approach to history. In the Hellenica this interest in morality is not to be written off as a matter of marginal comment, but, it may be claimed, is integral to the historian's purpose. He is one for whom the determinants of history are (under the gods) the personalities and actions of great (and not so great) men, and it is natural for him to observe the interaction between personal morality and political and military actions. It is from this standpoint that the present article seeks to illustrate from Xenophon's writings one aspect of his outlook on these matters, – the role of self-control (or lack of it) over homoerotic desire in the context of military history. How far we can go behind his text to determine ‘what actually happened’ or use his testimony in developing a wider understanding of erōs in classical Greece at large are matters for further enquiry.

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Articles
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The Classical Quarterly , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , December 1994 , pp. 347 - 366
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Copyright © The Classical Association 1994

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References

1 Vivienne, Gray, The Character of Xenophon's Hellenica (London, 1989)Google Scholar. Cf. Cawkwell, G. L., Introduction to Xenophon: A History of My Times (Harmondsworth, 1979), pp. 43–6.Google Scholar

2 Xenophon, Hellenica 4.1.40, 4.8.39, Anabasis 4.6.1–3, Hiero 1.29–38. Anab. 5.8.4. presupposes that quarrels over paidika were to be expected in army life.

3 Xenophon, Cynegeticus 12.20.

4 Xenophon, Symposium 4.15–16.

5 Anab. 7.4.7–11. Cf. Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality (London, 1978), pp. 51f, and p. 192.Google Scholar

6 Hell. 4.8.39. Paul Cartledge suggests that the paidika in question was not necessarily a Spartan: Paul, Cartledge, ‘The Politics of Spartan Pederasty’, PCPhS 207 (n.s. 27) (1981), p. 32 n. 32.Google Scholar

7 Xenophon, Memorabilia 1.5.1, 2.1.1, 2.6.1, 4.5.9. For enkrateia in general, compare the significant place accorded to control over the bodily pleasures in Michel Foucault's account of ‘the moral problematisation of pleasures’: Foucault, M., The Use of Pleasure, Volume 2 of The History of Sexuality, translated from the French by Robert, Hurley (Harmondsworth, 1986), Part 1.Google Scholar

8 Mem. 2.1.21–34.

9 ἣτις οὐδ τν τν δων πιθυμαν ναμνεις, λλ πρν πιθυμσαι πντων μπμπμπασαι (Ibid. 2.1.30). For this phrase and the general interpretation of the passage, see Olof, Gigon, Kommentar zum zweiten Buch von Xenophons Memorabilien (Schweizerische Beitrӓge zur Altertumswissenschaft, Heft 7, Basel, 1956).Google Scholar

10 In §30 Virtue is on each point heightening the depravity which is only hinted at in Vice's opening statement in §24. Thus, taking pleasure in food and drink in §24 becomes, in §30, eating and drinking to excess, while sexual pleasure with boys is converted into treating men as women.

11 Xenophon, Oeconomicus 12.13–14.

12 Hell. 6.1.16.

13 Hell. 5.4.56–7. The incident seems to have been part of a wider struggle for the control of Oreos (Histiaea), involving Iason of Pherai (Diod. XV 30. Cf. Hammond, N. G. L., A History of Greece [3rd ed., Oxford, 1986], p. 490)Google Scholar. The fact that Xenophon records only the incident of Alketas reflects his interest in the morality of generalship.

14 Xenophon: Hellenica, Text by E. C. Marchant, Notes by Underhill, G. E. (Oxford, 1906), p. 214Google Scholar. For περ with the accusative, Underhill compares Xenophon, Hell. 7.4.28. Cf. LSJ s.v.

15 See Dover, K. J., Greek Popular Morality in the Time of Plato and Aristotle (Oxford, 1974), pp. 41–5Google Scholar. The Xenophon references are Oec. 14.9 and Hell. 6.1.2.

16 Cf. Dover ibid. p. 41, who cites Aeschines 1.134 in this sense.

17 Anab. 7.6.1, 7.7.57, 7.8.20–4.

18 Anab. 7.6.43.

19 Édouard, Delebecque, Essai sur la Vie de Xénophon (Paris, 1957), p. 134Google Scholar. Cf. Westlake, H. D., ‘Individuals in Xenophon's Hellenica’, in Essays on the Greek Historians and Greek History (Manchester, 1969), pp. 210f.Google Scholar

20 Hell. 3.1.4–8, 3.2.1.

21 Delebecque, op. cit. p. 134. Cf. Vivienne Gray, op. cit. p. 35.

22 Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality, pp. 187–8.Google Scholar

23 Cf. Xenophon, Hell. 6.1.12, Agesilaus 10.1, Cyrop. 7.5.75, Hiero 5.1, 9.6, Oecon. 4.15, 6.10. One must however be cautious in generalising about 4th century usage when Aristotle (Pol. 1338a 20) makes ὑγειαν κα λκν the aim of physical exercise.

24 Xenophon, Lacedaemonian Constitution 12.5. This text however requires the exercise to be taken before, not after, the morning meal. Advocates of the amendment δισκεων may also appeal to the fact that an aulētēs was sometimes employed to help athletes maintain their rhythm in sports such as discus. Cf. Max, Wegner, Das Musikleben der Griechen (Berlin, 1949), pp. 100–3.Google Scholar

25 Hell. 4.4.2, 4.8.28, 5.4.55, 6.3.14, 6.4.18, 7.1.44, 7.4.34.

26 Hell. 1.6.13, 6.3.14, 4.8.34, 5.2.6, 5.4.34.

27 Mηδσας, used of Gongylos at Hell. 3.1.6.

28 Anab. 3.1.26, 4.5.34, 7.3.25.

29 Plutarch. Moralia 150b, 513a.

30 Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality, p. 187.Google Scholar

31 Meineke, A., Fragmenta Poetarum Comoediae Antiquae (Berlin 1839), Pars Prima, pp. 547–8Google Scholar. The excerpt is from Athenaeus 1.17d. The text is cited from Kock, T., Comicorum Atticorum Fragmenta (Leipzig, 1880–1888)Google Scholar, Eupolis, fragment 351.

32 T. Kock, op. cit. I, p. 351.

33 It is doubtful whether a slave could claim the protection of the law against anything done by his owner. According to Demosthenes XXI 47, the law on hybris prohibited violence against a slave, but this probably operated only as a ban on assaulting someone else's slave (which was in effect an offence against that slave's owner). See Halperin, David M., One Hundred Years of Homosexuality (New York and London, 1990), p. 185 n. 70Google Scholar. My argument requires no more than a recognition that the master–slave relationship must have afforded easy opportunities for seduction. On the availability of slaves to their masters in the ancient world generally, see Peter, Brown, The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity (London and Boston, 1988), p. 23Google Scholar. The giving of slaves as gifts is observed by Xenophon in Anab. 7.3.27 and Cyrop. 5.5.38–9. The gifts offered to Kyaxares on the latter occasion included a handsome winewaiter and a good cook. Neither instance relates to Athenian society, but Xenophon's account shows no sign of surprise or criticism.

34 Hell. 3.1.4–7. Of the cities named by Xenophon, Larisa, Myrina and Gryneia are included in Herodotus' list of Aiolian cities (1.149). Xenophon alone calls Larisa ‘Egyptian’, but it is probably to be identified with the town of that name mentioned by Herodotus, owing its sobriquet to the presence of Egyptian settlers. See Anderson, J. K., Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon (California, 1970), pp. 167–8 and p. 314 n. 12–13.Google Scholar

35 Anab. 2.1.11, 2.3.23, Hell. 4.8.14.

36 Mem. 2.1.1, Lac. Pol. 1.9, Mem. 3.5.8, 3.14.6. The latter reads: κατοι πς οὐ γελοῖν στι παρασκευζεσθαι μν ψοποιοὺς τοὺς ἄριστα πισταμνους, αὐτν δ μηδ' ντιποιομενον τς τχνης τατης τ ὑπ' κενων ποιομενα μετατιθναι;

37 Hell. 2.3.56. Gray, V., The Character of Xenophon's Hellenica, pp. 26–8.Google Scholar

38 Hell. 4.1.33. Another ironic turn of phrase is found when Agesilaos, after having devastated parts of Korinthia, suggests that the Boiotian ambassadors may wish to see ‘the good fortune of their friends’, knowing full well that what they will actually see is disaster (Hell. 4.5.9).

39 Not only does Socrates boast of being a ‘procurer’ (Symp. 3.10), but the claims of other speakers turn out to be similarly ironical: Kallias claims ‘to make men better’ – by giving them money; Kritoboulos boasts his good looks – largely because of the power they give him over others; Charmides admires ‘poverty’ – as a means of avoiding the impost of leitourgia; Antisthenes claims ‘wealth’ – in the fewness of his needs and the richness of his soul.

For the ironic suggestion that the strength appropriate to a soldier may be exhibited in sexual dominance, a comic parallel is provided by Aristophanes, Acharnians 591–2, where Dikaiopolis jeers at the (fully-armed) general, Lamachos. Dover, 204, translates the line: ‘If you're such a mighty man, come on, bare my knob’ (εἰ δ' ἰσχυρς εἶ, τ μ' οὐκ πεψώλησας;). The comparison with Xenophon is particularly apt if, as Professor Dover suggests, Dikaiopolis's words imply that the active partner penetrates the other anally while stimulating his penis. Both Dikaiopolis and Lamachos are, of course, grown men.

40 For λκ in Xenophon, cf. note 23 above.

For the shame of the passive role, cf. Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality, pp. 103–5Google Scholar. Halperin, D. M., One Hundred Years of Homosexuality (pp. 30–1)Google Scholar, emphasises the asymmetry of penetrative relationships, and the subordinate status of the one penetrated. Cf. also, Eva, Cantarella, Bisexuality in the Ancient World (transl. by Cormac Ó, Cuilleanáin, New Haven and London 1992), pp. 44–8.Google Scholar

That the criticism of Thibron remains somewhat indirect is probably due to Xenophon's pro-Spartan bias. Despite his personal dislike of Thibron he is reluctant too openly to criticise a Spartan commander. He felt no such inhibition about the Thessalian, Menon (Anab. 2.6.21–8).

41 Hell. 5.1.20, Cyrop. 8.3.34.

42 Anab. 4.5.33, Cyrop. 2.3.1, 3.2.31.

43 Lac. Pol. 5.2, 15.4.

44 Cvrop. 2.2.29, 3.2.25.

45 Anab. 3.1.28, 3.4.35.

46 Anab. 3.4.32–3, 7.4.11, Hell. 4.2.23, 4.5.2, Cyrop. 4.5.39, 6.2.2.

47 Anab. 4.4.8, 4.4.10, 4.4.14, 4.5.29.

48 For the simple verb, Liddell and Scott gives σκηνω (σκηνω) = ‘dwell in a camp’, and σκηνω = ‘pitch camp.’ But the distinction is not clearcut, and σκηνω can take on either meaning (see LSJ s.v.).

49 Lac. Pol. 5.3, Cyrop. 3.1.38.

50 Cyrop. 2.3.1, 3.2.31. Cf. above, p. 356.

51 Cyrop. 2.1.30.

52 Cyrop. 3.1.37.

53 Hell. 4.6.7, 5.4.56.

54 Cf. Anderson, J. K., Military Theory and Practice in the Age of Xenophon, pp. 60–6.Google Scholar

55 A significant number of Spartans were saved from destruction, δι τ ψ αἰσθθαι τς βοηθεας (Hell. 4.8.19).

56 The sequence is illustrated in the manoeuvres before Aigospotamoi (Hell. 2.1.20–2), where both sides follow the pattern: ariston, action, deipnon, the night passes, ariston, further action. Cf. Cyrop. 6.3.37–6.4.1. For ariston followed by action, see Hell. 4.5.3, 5.4.38, 6.5.20, Anab. 3.3.6, 4.6.8–9, 5.4.22, 6.3.24. Xenophon is not afraid to point out the truism that a meal fortifies one to fight (Anab. 6.5.21), and it is exceptional for a body of soldiers to go forward ‘νριστοι’ (Hell. 4.5.8). On the other hand, rest and sleep follow deipnon: Hell. 4.3.20, 4.6.7, 7.2.23, Anab. 6.3.20–1, 6.4.10. Other examples could be given, but while the rule of sleep following deipnon is often broken in order to achieve tactical surprise, I have not found any place (except the present passage) where soldiers take it easy after ariston. Curiously, rest and relaxation during the afternoon is, according to Xenophon, prescribed by Lykourgos (Lac. Pol. 12.6), though a military historian could hardly be expected to record so unredeemably banal a piece of routine. But if this account does reflect the practice of a Spartan army at base camp, one may doubt whether it would have applied to a skirmishing or expeditionary force in an advanced position close to encounter with the enemy.

57 The use of tents for purposes other than sleeping (or, in the case of senior commanders, feasting) is rarely reported. For the most part, Xenophon's reports (apart from notes of individuals going to their tents) fall into two groups: as we should expect, commanders at all levels hold council in their tents (Hell. 1.1.30, Anab. 1.6.4, 3.5.7, Cyrop. 2.2.21; or the tent is the place for a banquet (Cyrop. 2.1.30, 2.3.19). At Cyrop. 5.3.46, army commanders depart to their tents after receiving orders. There is nothing in all of this to prepare us for the holding of a tête à tête between a Spartan commander and an Ionian aulētēs.

58 So Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality, pp. 53–4.Google Scholar

59 So Halperin, D. M., One Hundred Years of Homosexuality, pp. 91 and 182, n. 28.Google Scholar

60 Quite apart from what is given in Xenophon's text, one is tempted to speculate on what an Ionian aulētēs was doing in the camp anyway. The aulos had, it is true, a recognised role in Spartan military life. Aulētai were members of the royal entourage, and were required to play on ceremonial occasions and in celebration of victory (Xenophon, Lac. Pol. 13.8, Hell. 4.3.21, Ages. 2.15). But one may well ask why, if Thibron required a professional aulētēs, he did not bring one with him from Sparta, and why Thersandros, first heard of in Aiolis at the time of Thibron's first Asian campaign (though no meeting between them is reported), appears again in the Spartan commander's company (and, it seems, as his tent partner) 9–10 years later. Was this in fact a long-standing liaison of a more intimate kind?

61 Hell. 4.8.22. At least in some quarters it was by his subservience to bodily pleasures that Thibron was remembered: Aristides (C. A. Behr) III, To Plato, In Defence of the Four, 202 (W. Dindorf, XLVI 2.176). 6.

62 Hell. Oxyrh. XXI 4. In addition, Xenophon informs us (Hell. 3.4.10) that Spithridates' defection from Pharnabazos had been brought about by Lysandros, who was operating in the Hellespont under Agesilaos' orders. The son is again mentioned.

63 Ages. 11.10: καλν ἔργων μλλον ἢ τν καλν σωμτων πιθυμν. As a psychological description these words seem at the very least to gloss over the reality reflected in the graphic language of Ages. 5.4: παιδς ρασθντα (sc. τν 'Aγησιλον) ὢσπερ ἂν το καλλστου σϕοδροττη ϕσις ρασθεη.

64 Lac. Pol. 2.13. Cf. the somewhat equivocal comments of Dover, K. J., Greek Homosexuality, pp. 191, 193–4Google Scholar. P. Cartledge has argued that whatever the status of the Lykourgan ‘nomos’ on pederastic chastity may have been (and Xenophon does not state that physical relationships were illegal), it was probably not observed in practice (‘The Politics of Spartan Pederasty’, pp. 19–22)Google Scholar. Cf. Proietti, G., Xenophon's Sparta: An Introduction (Leiden, New York, Köln, 1987), p. 50.Google Scholar

65 Mem. 1.3.8–13.

66 Even in the discussion of Kritoboulos' kiss, Xenophon distances himself from Socrates with the comment that he himself might well take the risk of indulging.

67 Hell. 5.3.20, Age. 8.2. That the phrase παιδικοἱ λγοι means stories (or gossip) about paidika is indicated by Cyrop. 1.4.27. Cf. Gray, V., The Character of Xenophon's Hellenica, pp. 62f.Google Scholar

68 The incident occurred shortly after Agesilaos' break with Spithridates and his son Megabates (whose encounter with Agesilaos is discussed below), at a time when Agesilaos was g seeking to develop a new alliance with Pharnabazos against the Great King.

69 Ages. 5.4.

70 Ibid. 3.3. The wording (Φαρνβαζος…ἂνευ γμου λαβεῖν βολετο) might be taken to imply that Spithridates had been frustrated in an attempt to achieve a marriage alliance with Pharnabazos.

71 Xenophon, Hell. 4.1.6, Hell. Oxyrh. 21.4.

72 Xenophon, Hell. 4.1.8. I. A. F. Bruce has argued that the marriage may not have had as, great a political importance as Xenophon suggests (Bruce, I. A. F., An Historical Commentary on the ‘Hellenica Oxyrhynchia’ [Cambridge, 1967], p. 144)Google Scholar. But it is Xenophon's view of the matter which is relevant for my argument.

73 Xenophon, Hell. 4.1.4.

74 Cartledge, P., ‘The Politics of Spartan Pederasty’, pp. 28–9.Google Scholar

75 The story of the raid and subsequent negotiations over Sphodrias' acquittal is told in considerable detail in Xenophon, Hell. 5.4.20–33.

76 So Cartledge argues, op. cit. p. 29. In his book Sparta and Lakonia (London, 1979), p. 295Google Scholar, Cartledge also points out that shortage of manpower is given as a reason for suspending the law under which those guilty of cowardice at Leuctra might have been punished, citing Plutarch, Agesilaus 30.6 and Moralia, 191C, 214B.

Vivienne, Gray (The Character of Xenophon's Hellenica, pp. 61–2)Google Scholar sees the love between Archidamos and Kleonymos and the loyalty which it engenders as the main point of the story, while recognising the conflict between that love and the demands of just administration of the law.

77 Hell. 5.4.24.

78 Hell. 5.4.30. The reference is to the charge of bribery which Xenophon had previously reported merely as a suspicion (Ibid. §20), but here seems to accept as well-founded. Furthermore, even Agesilaos' reported support for clemency is prefaced by the statement that there is no way of denying Sphodrias' guilt (§32).

79 Further speculation is provoked by the curious discrepancy between what Xenophon says about Persian etiquette at Ages. 5.4 and at Cyrop. 1.4.27–8. In the former passage we are told that it is customary for Persians to kiss those whom they honour; but in the latter, the Persian kiss is reserved for kinsmen. Could it be that Megabates was seeking to assert a relation of kinship, or quasi-kinship, which Agesilaos might find even more embarrassing? If so, Xenophon might have understandably glossed over the full implication of the proffered kiss, by substituting ‘honour’ for ‘kinship’ as the motivating principle.

80 It is more than likely that another instance of gaining advancement through a pederastic liaison is to be found in the story of the infamous Thessalian, Menon. Xenophon records of him that it was public knowledge that while still in the bloom of youth he got Aristippos to put him in command of the mercenaries: παρ 'Aριστππου μν ἒτι ὡραῖος ὢν στρατηγεῖν διεπρξετο τν ξνων. When in the same sentence Xenophon refers explicitly to Menon's other love affairs, it is natural to infer that his youthful beauty is what persuaded Aristippos to give him the command (Anab. 2.6.28. For Aristippos, see Anab. 1.1.10).