Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (141 page)

3.
“Socrates,” exclaimed Critobulus on hearing this, “I don’t intend to let you go now, until you have proved to my satisfaction what you have promised in the presence of our friends here to prove.”

“Well then,” said Socrates, “what if I prove to your satisfaction, Critobulus, to begin with, that some men spend large sums in building houses that are useless, while others build houses perfect in all respects for much less? Will you think that I am putting before you one of the operations that constitute estate management?”

“Yes, certainly.”
[2]

“And what if I show you next the companion to this — that some possess many costly belongings and cannot use them at need, and do not even know whether they are safe and sound, and so are continually worried themselves and worrying their servants, whereas others, though they possess not more, but even less, have whatever they want ready for use?”

“What is the reason of this, then, Socrates?
[3]
Is it not simply this, that the former stow their things away anywhere and the latter have everything neatly arranged in some place?”

“Yes, of course, arranged carefully in the proper place, not just anywhere.”

“Your point, I take it, is that this too is an element in estate management.”
[4]

“Then what if I show you besides that in some households nearly all the servants are in fetters and yet continually try to run away, whereas in others they are under no restraint and are willing to work and to stay at their posts? Won’t you think that here too I am pointing out to you a notable effect of estate management?”

“Yes, of course; very much so.”
[5]

“And that when men farm the same kind of land, some are poverty-stricken and declare that they are ruined by farming, and others do well with the farm and have all they want in abundance?”

“Yes, of course; for maybe some spend money not on necessary purposes only but on what brings harm to the owner and the estate.”

“Perhaps there are such people.
[6]
But I am referring rather to those who haven’t the money to meet even the necessary expenses, though professing to be farmers.”

“Now what can be the reason of that, Socrates?”

“I will take you to these too; and when you watch them, you will find out, I fancy.”

“Of course; that is, if I can.”
[7]

“Then you must watch, and try by experiment whether you are capable of understanding. At present I observe that when a comedy is to be seen, you get up very early and walk a very long way and press me eagerly to go to the play with you. But you have never yet invited me to see a drama of real life like this.”

“You think me ridiculous, don’t you, Socrates?”

“You think yourself far more so, I am sure.
[8]
And suppose I show you that some have been brought to penury by keeping horses, while others prosper by doing so, and moreover glory in their gain?”

“Well, I too see and know instances of both; I am not one of the gainers for all that.”
[9]

“The fact is you watch them just as you watch the actors in tragedy or comedy, not, I suppose, to become a playwright, but for the pleasure of seeing and hearing something. And perhaps there is no harm in that, because you don’t want to write plays; but seeing that you are forced to meddle with horses, don’t you think that common-sense requires you to see that you are not ignorant of the business, the more so as the self-same horses are both good to use and profitable to sell?”
[10]

“Would you have me break in colts, Socrates?”

“Of course not, no more than I would have you buy children to train as agricultural labourers; but horses and human beings alike, I think, on reaching a certain age forthwith become useful and go on improving. I can also show you that husbands differ widely in their treatment of their wives, and some succeed in winning their co-operation and thereby increase their estates, while others bring utter ruin on their houses by their behaviour to them.”
[11]

“And ought one to blame the husband or the wife for that, Socrates?”

“When a sheep is ailing,” said Socrates, “we generally blame the shepherd, and when a horse is vicious, we generally find fault with his rider. In the case of a wife, if she receives instruction in the right way from her husband and yet does badly, perhaps she should bear the blame; but if the husband does not instruct his wife in the right way of doing things, and so finds her ignorant, should he not bear the blame himself?
[12]
Anyhow, Critobulus, you should tell us the truth, for we are all friends here. Is there anyone to whom you commit more affairs of importance than you commit to your wife?”

“There is not.”

“Is there anyone with whom you talk less?”

“There are few or none, I confess.”
[13]

“And you married her when she was a mere child and had seen and heard almost nothing?”

“Certainly.”

“Then it would be far more surprising if she understood what she should say or do than if she made mistakes.”
[14]

“But what of the husbands who, as you say, have good wives, Socrates? Did they train them themselves?”

“There’s nothing like investigation. I will introduce Aspasia to you, and she will explain the whole matter to you with more knowledge than I possess.
[15]
I think that the wife who is a good partner in the household contributes just as much as her husband to its good; because the incomings for the most part are the result of the husband’s exertions, but the outgoings are controlled mostly by the wife’s dispensation. If both do their part well, the estate is increased; if they act incompetently, it is diminished.
[16]
If you think you want to know about other branches of knowledge, I fancy I can show you people who acquit themselves creditably in any one of them.”

4.
“Surely, Socrates, there is no need to go through the whole list. For it is not easy to get workmen who are skilled in all the arts, nor is it possible to become an expert in them. Pray select the branches of knowledge that seem the noblest and would be most suitable for me to cultivate: show me these, and those who practise them; and give me from your own knowledge any help you can towards learning them.”
[2]

“Very good, Critobulus; for, to be sure, the illiberal arts, as they are called, are spoken against, and are, naturally enough, held in utter disdain in our states. For they spoil the bodies of the workmen and the foremen, forcing them to sit still and live indoors, and in some cases to spend the day at the fire. The softening of the body involves a serious weakening of the mind.
[3]
Moreover, these so-called illiberal arts leave no spare time for attention to one’s friends and city, so that those who follow them are reputed bad at dealing with friends and bad defenders of their country. In fact, in some of the states, and especially in those reputed warlike, it is not even lawful for any of the citizens to work at illiberal arts.”
[4]

“But what arts, pray, do you advise us to follow, Socrates?”

“Need we be ashamed of imitating the king of the Persians? For they say that he pays close attention to husbandry and the art of war, holding that these are two of the noblest and most necessary pursuits.”
[5]

“And do you really believe, Socrates,” exclaimed Critobulus on hearing this, “that the king of the Persians includes husbandry among his occupations?”

“Perhaps, Critobulus, the following considerations will enable us to discover whether he does so. We allow that he pays close attention to warfare, because he has given a standing order to every governor of the nations from which he receives tribute, to supply maintenance for a specified number of horsemen and archers and slingers and light infantry, that they may be strong enough to control his subjects and to protect the country in the event of an invasion; and,
[6]
apart from these, he maintains garrisons in the citadels. Maintenance for these is supplied by the governor charged with this duty, and the king annually reviews the mercenaries and all the other troops ordered to be under arms, assembling all but the men in the citadels at the place of muster, as it is called: he personally inspects the men who are near his residence, and sends trusted agents to review those who live far away.
[7]
The officers, whether commanders of garrisons or of regiments or viceroys, who turn out with a full complement of men and parade them equipped with horses and arms in good condition, he promotes in the scale of honour and enriches with large grants of money; but those officers whom he finds to be neglecting the garrisons or making profit out of them he punishes severely, and appoints others to take their office. These actions, then, seem to us to leave no room for question that he pays attention to warfare.
[8]

“As for the country, he personally examines so much of it as he sees in the course of his progress through it; and he receives reports from his trusted agents on the territories that he does not see for himself. To those governors who are able to show him that their country is densely populated and that the land is in cultivation and well stocked with the trees of the district and with the crops, he assigns more territory and gives presents, and rewards them with seats of honour. Those whose territory he finds uncultivated and thinly populated either through harsh administration or through contempt or through carelessness, he punishes, and appoints others to take their office.
[9]
By such action, does he seem to provide less for the cultivation of the land by the inhabitants than for its protection by the garrisons? Moreover, each of these duties is entrusted to a separate class of officers; one class governs the residents and the labourers, and collects tribute from them, the other commands the men under arms and the garrisons.
[10]
If the commander of a garrison affords insufficient protection to the country, the civil governor and controller of agriculture denounces the commander, setting out that the inhabitants are unable to work the farms for want of protection. If, on the other hand, the commander brings peace to the farms, and the governor nevertheless causes the land to be sparsely populated and idle, the commander in turn denounces the governor.
[11]
For, roughly speaking, where cultivation is inefficient, the garrisons are not maintained and the tribute cannot be paid. Wherever a viceroy is appointed, he attends to both these matters.”

At this point Critobulus said:
[12]
“Well, Socrates, if the Great King does this, it seems to me that he pays as much attention to husbandry as to warfare.”
[13]

“Yet further,” continued Socrates, “in all the districts he resides in and visits he takes care that there are ‘paradises,’ as they call them, full of all the good and beautiful things that the soil will produce, and in this he himself spends most of his time, except when the season precludes it.”
[14]

“Then it is of course necessary, Socrates, to take care that these paradises in which the king spends his time shall contain a fine stock of trees and all other beautiful things that the soil produces.”
[15]

“And some say, Critobulus, that when the king makes gifts, he first invites those who have distinguished themselves in war, because it is useless to have broad acres under tillage unless there are men to defend them; and next to them, those who stock and cultivate the land best, saying that even stout-hearted warriors cannot live without the aid of workers.
[16]
There is a story that Cyrus, lately the most illustrious of princes, once said to the company invited to receive his gifts, ‘I myself deserve to receive the gifts awarded in both classes; for I am the best at stocking land and the best at protecting the stock.’”
[17]

“Well, if Cyrus said that, Socrates, he took as much pride in cultivating and stocking land as in being a warrior.”
[18]

“Yes, and, upon my word, if Cyrus had only lived, it seems that he would have proved an excellent ruler. One of the many proofs that he has given of this is the fact that, when he was on his way to fight his brother for the throne, it is said that not a man deserted from Cyrus to the king, whereas tens of thousands deserted from the king to Cyrus.
[19]
I think you have one clear proof of a ruler’s excellence, when men obey him willingly and choose to stand by him in moments of danger. Now his friends all fought at his side and fell at his side to a man, fighting round his body, with the one exception of Ariaeus, whose place in the battle was, in point of fact, on the left wing.
[20]

“Further, the story goes that when Lysander came to him bringing the gifts form the allies, this Cyrus showed him various marks of friendliness, as Lysander himself related once to a stranger at Megara, adding besides that Cyrus personally showed him round his paradise at Sardis.
[21]
Now Lysander admired the beauty of the trees in it, the accuracy of the spacing, the straightness of the rows, the regularity of the angles and the multitude of the sweet scents that clung round them as they walked; and for wonder of these things he cried, ‘Cyrus, I really do admire all these lovely things, but I am far more impressed with your agent’s skill in measuring and arranging everything so exactly.’
[22]
Cyrus was delighted to hear this and said: ‘Well, Lysander, the whole of the measurement and arrangement is my own work, and I did some of the planting myself.’
[23]
‘What, Cyrus?’ exclaimed Lysander, looking at him, and marking the beauty and perfume of his robes, and the splendour of the necklaces and bangles and other jewels that he was wearing; ‘did you really plant part of this with your own hands?’
[24]
‘Does that surprise you, Lysander?’ asked Cyrus in reply. ‘I swear by the Sun-god that I never yet sat down to dinner when in sound health, without first working hard at some task of war or agriculture, or exerting myself somehow.’
[25]