Xenophon

Xenophon was born in Athens about 430 BC and as a young man was a pupil of Socrates. In 401 BC he joined, as a mercenary, the expedition of the Persian prince Cyrus the Younger to seize the throne; when Cyrus fell, Xenophon was elected one of the generals and led ten thousand Greek soldiers through hostile country back to the Black Sea. Later exiled from Athens for his Spartan sympathies, he wrote for many years on his estate in the Peloponnese. His works on history, philosophy, warfare, horsemanship, hunting and household management are clear and plain, and have long been the first Greek texts students read.