Complete Works of Xenophon (Illustrated) (Delphi Ancient Classics) (148 page)

“‘And again, all the ways of treating the soil when it is too wet for sowing or too salt for planting are familiar to all men — how the land is drained by ditches, how the salt is corrected by being mixed with saltless substances, liquid or dry. Yet these matters, again, do not always receive attention.
[13]
Suppose a man to be wholly ignorant as to what the land can produce, and to be unable to see crop or tree on it, or to hear from anyone the truth about it, yet is it not far easier for any man to prove a parcel of land than to test a horse or to test a human being? For the land never plays tricks, but reveals frankly and truthfully what she can and what she cannot do.
[14]
I think that just because she conceals nothing from our knowledge and understanding, the land is the surest tester of good and bad men. For the slothful cannot plead ignorance, as in other arts: land, as all men know, responds to good treatment.
[15]
Husbandry is the clear accuser of the recreant soul. For no one persuades himself that man could live without bread; therefore if a man will not dig and knows no other profit-earning trade, he is clearly minded to live by stealing or robbery or begging — or he is an utter fool.
[16]

“‘Farming,’ he added, ‘may result in profit or in loss; it makes a great difference to the result, even when many labourers are employed, whether the farmer takes care that the men are working during the working hours or is careless about it. For one man in ten by working all the time may easily make a difference, and another by knocking off before the time;
[17]
and, of course, if the men are allowed to be slack all the day long, the decrease in the work done may easily amount to one half of the whole.
[18]
Just as two travellers on the road, both young and in good health, will differ so much in pace that one will cover two hundred furlongs to the other’s hundred, because the one does what he set out to do, by going ahead, while the other is all for ease, now resting by a fountain or in the shade, now gazing at the view, now wooing the soft breeze;
[19]
so in farm work there is a vast difference in effectiveness between the men who do the job they are put on to do and those who, instead of doing it, invent excuses for not working and are allowed to be slack.
[20]
In fact, between good work and dishonest slothfulness there is as wide a difference as between actual work and actual idleness. Suppose the vines are being hoed to clear the ground of weeds: if the hoeing is so badly done that the weeds grow ranker and more abundant, how can you call that anything but idleness?’
[21]

“‘These, then, are the evils that crush estates far more than sheer lack of knowledge. For the outgoing expenses of the estate are not a penny less; but the work done is insufficient to show a profit on the expenditure; after that there’s no need to wonder if the expected surplus is converted into a loss.
[22]
On the other hand, to a careful man, who works strenuously at agriculture, no business gives quicker returns than farming. My father taught me that and proved it by his own practice. For he never allowed me to buy a piece of land that was well farmed; but pressed me to buy any that was uncultivated and unplanted owing to the owner’s neglect or incapacity.
[23]
“Well farmed land,” he would say, “costs a large sum and can’t be improved;” and he held that where there is no room for improvement there is not much pleasure to be got from the land: landed estate and livestock must be continually coming on to give the fullest measure of satisfaction. Now nothing improves more than a farm that is being transformed from a wilderness into fruitful fields.
[24]
I assure you, Socrates, that we have often added a hundredfold to the value of a farm. There is so much money in this idea, Socrates, and it is so easy to learn, that no sooner have you heard of it from me than you know as much as I do, and can go home and teach it to someone else, if you like.
[25]
Moreover, my father did not get his knowledge of it at secondhand, nor did he discover it by much thought; but he would say that, thanks to his love of husbandry and hard work, he had coveted a farm of this sort in order that he might have something to do, and combine profit with pleasure.
[26]
For I assure you, Socrates, no Athenian, I believe, had such a strong natural love of agriculture as my father.’

“Now on hearing this I asked, ‘Did your father keep all the farms that he cultivated, Ischomachus, or did he sell when he could get a good price?’

“‘He sold, of course,’ answered Ischomachus, ‘but, you see, owing to his industrious habits, he would promptly buy another that was out of cultivation.’
[27]

“‘You mean, Ischomachus, that your father really loved agriculture as intensely as merchants love corn. So deep is their love of corn that on receiving reports that it is abundant anywhere, merchants will voyage in quest of it: they will cross the Aegean, the Euxine, the Sicilian sea;
[28]
and when they have got as much as possible, they carry it over the sea, and they actually stow it in the very ship in which they sail themselves. And when they want money, they don’t throw the corn away anywhere at haphazard, but they carry it to the place where they hear that corn is most valued and the people prize it most highly, and deliver it to them there. Yes, your father’s love of agriculture seems to be something like that.’
[29]

“‘You’re joking, Socrates,’ rejoined Ischomachus; ‘but I hold that a man has a no less genuine love of building who sells his houses as soon as they are finished and proceeds to build others.’

“‘Of course; and I declare, Ischomachus, on my oath that I believe you, that all men naturally love whatever they think will bring them profit.’”

21.
“‘But I am pondering over the skill with which you have presented the whole argument in support of your proposition, Ischomachus. For you stated that husbandry is the easiest of all arts to learn, and after hearing all that you have said, I am quite convinced that this is so.’
[2]

“‘Of course it is,’ cried Ischomachus; ‘but I grant you, Socrates, that in respect of aptitude for command, which is common to all forms of business alike — agriculture, politics, estate-management, warfare — in that respect the intelligence shown by different classes of men varies greatly.
[3]
For example, on a man-of-war, when the ship is on the high seas and the rowers must toil all day to reach port, some boatswains can say and do the right thing to sharpen the men’s spirits and make them work with a will, while others are so unintelligent that it takes them more than twice the time to finish the same voyage. Here they land bathed in sweat, with mutual congratulations, boatswain and seamen. There they arrive with a dry skin; they hate their master and he hates them.
[4]
Generals, too, differ from one another in this respect. For some make their men unwilling to work and to take risks, disinclined and unwilling to obey, except under compulsion, and actually proud of defying their commander: aye, and they cause them to have no sense of dishonour when something disgraceful occurs.
[5]
Contrast the genius, the brave and scientific leader: let him take over the command of these same troops, or of others if you like. What effect has he on them? They are ashamed to do a disgraceful act, think it better to obey, and take a pride in obedience, working cheerfully, every man and all together, when it is necessary to work.
[6]
Just as a love of work may spring up in the mind of a private soldier here and there, so a whole army under the influence of a good leader is inspired with love of work and ambition to distinguish itself under the commander’s eye.
[7]
Let this be the feeling of the rank and file for their commander; and I tell you, he is the strong leader, he, and not the sturdiest soldier, not the best with bow and javelin, not the man who rides the best horse and is foremost in facing danger, not the ideal of knight or targeteer, but he who can make his soldiers feel that they are bound to follow him through fire and in any adventure.
[8]
Him you may justly call high-minded who has many followers of like mind; and with reason may he be said to march “with a strong arm” whose will many an arm is ready to serve; and truly great is he who can do great deeds by his will rather than his strength.
[9]

“‘So too in private industries, the man in authority — bailiff or manager — who can make the workers keen, industrious and persevering — he is the man who gives a lift to the business and swells the surplus.
[10]
But, Socrates, if the appearance of the master in the field, of the man who has the fullest power to punish the bad and reward the strenuous workmen, makes no striking impression on the men at work, I for one cannot envy him. But if at sight of him they bestir themselves, and a spirit of determination and rivalry and eagerness to excel falls on every workman, then I should say: this man has a touch of the kingly nature in him.
[11]
And this, in my judgment, is the greatest thing in every operation that makes any demand on the labour of men, and therefore in agriculture. Mind you, I do not go so far as to say that this can be learnt at sight or at a single hearing. On the contrary, to acquire these powers a man needs education; he must be possessed of great natural gifts; above all, he must be a genius.
[12]
For I reckon this gift is not altogether human, but divine — this power to win willing obedience: it is manifestly a gift of the gods to the true votaries of prudence. Despotic rule over unwilling subjects they give, I fancy, to those whom they judge worthy to live the life of Tantalus, of whom it is said that in hell he spends eternity, dreading a second death.’”

Translated by O. J. Todd

Another Socratic dialogue, the
Symposium
dramatises a discussion of Socrates and a company at a dinner given by Callias for Autolycus, son of Lycon. Unlike Plato’s
Symposium
, which consists of a series of lengthy speeches in praise of love, Xenophon’s is dominated by witty repartee. A contest of words emerges between Socrates and Callias, and each of the symposiasts is asked to describe the thing on which he prides himself the most. All their answers are playful or paradoxical: Socrates describes in detail his knowledge of the art of procuring prostitutes. The story comes to a climax when Socrates praises the love Callias had for Autolycus.

Critical opinion is divided as to which author was first to write a Socratic symposium, though recent scholarship generally argues that Xenophon wrote his
Symposium
later in the second half of the 360s, benefiting from Plato’s former Socratic works.

Contemporary depiction of an ancient Greek symposium

SYMPOSIUM

1.
To my mind it is worth while to relate not only the serious acts of great and good men but also what they do in their lighter moods. I should like to narrate an experience of mine that gives me this conviction.
[2]

It was on the occasion of the horse-races at the greater Panathenaic games; Callias, Hipponicus’ son, was enamoured, as it happened, of the boy Autolycus, and in honour of his victory in the pancratium had brought him to see the spectacle. When the racing was over, Callias proceeded on his way to his house in the Peiraeus with Autolycus and the boy’s father; Niceratus also was in his company.
[3]
But on catching sight of a group comprising Socrates, Critobulus, Hermogenes, Antisthenes, and Charmides, Callias bade one of his servants escort Autolycus and the others, and himself going over to Socrates and his companions, said,
[4]
“This is an opportune meeting, for I am about to give a dinner in honour of Autolycus and his father; and I think that my entertainment would present a great deal more brilliance if my dining-room were graced with the presence of men like you, whose hearts have undergone philosophy’s purification, than it would with generals and cavalry commanders and office-seekers.”
[5]