Historian, soldier, huntsman, economist, farmer, philosopher and author, Xenophon is one of the most versatile yet most accessible of the classical Greeks. Born at the start of the Peloponnesian War in Athens, he joined the outer circle of Socrates' young admirers and wrote affectionately of his mentor in a manner which contrasts strongly with that of Plato. In his "Hellenika" he composed a history of his own times beginning at the point where Thucydides broke off and taking the story down to 403 BC. In 401 he joined the Greek mercenary force abetting Cyrus' ill-fated coup against king...