Xenodamus, an illegitimate son of Menelaus by Gnossia. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 11.——An athlete of Anticyra. Pausanias, bk. 10, ch. 36.
Xēnodĭce, a daughter of Syleus, killed by Hercules. Apollodorus, bk. 2, ch. 6.——A daughter of Minos and Pasiphae. Apollodorus, bk. 3, ch. 1.
Xenodŏchus, a Messenian crowned at the Olympic games. Pausanias, bk. 4, ch. 5.——A native of Cardia, &c.
Xenophănes, a Greek philosopher of Colophon, disciple of Archelaus, B.C. 535. He wrote several poems and treatises, and founded a sect which was called the Eleatic, in Sicily. Wild in his opinions about astronomy, he supposed that the stars were extinguished every morning, and rekindled at night; that eclipses were occasioned by the temporary extinction of the sun; that the moon was inhabited, and 18 times bigger than the earth; and that there were several suns and moons for the convenience of the different climates of the earth. He further imagined that God and the world were the same, and he credited the eternity of the universe, but his incoherent opinion about the divinity raised the indignation of his countrymen, and he was banished. He died very poor, when about 100 years old. Cicero, Academica Priora, bk. 4, ch. 37; de Divinatione, bk. 1, ch. 3; De Natura Deorum, bk. 1, ch. 11.—Lactantius, Divinae institutiones, bk. 3, ch. 23.——A governor of Olbus, in the age of Marcus Antony. Strabo, bk. 14.——One of the ministers of Philip, who went to Annibal’s camp, and made a treaty of alliance between Macedonia and Carthage.
Xenophĭlus, a Pythagorean philosopher, who lived to his 170th year, and enjoyed all his faculties to the last. He wrote upon music, and thence he was called the musician. Lucian, Macrobii.—Pliny, bk. 7, ch. 50.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 8, ch. 13.——One of Alexander’s generals. Curtius, bk. 5, ch. 2.——A robber of whom Aratus hired some troops.
Xenŏphon, an Athenian, son of Gryllus, celebrated as a general, an historian, and a philosopher. In the school of Socrates he received those instructions and precepts which afterwards so eminently distinguished him at the head of an army, in literary solitude, and as the prudent father of a family. He was invited by Proxenus, one of his intimate friends, to accompany Cyrus the younger in an expedition against his brother Artaxerxes king of Persia; but he refused to comply without previously consulting his venerable master, and inquiring into the propriety of such a measure. Socrates strongly opposed it, and observed that it might raise the resentment of his countrymen, as Sparta had made an alliance with the Persian monarch; but, however, before he proceeded further, he advised him to consult the oracle of Apollo. Xenophon paid due deference to the injunctions of Socrates, but as he was ambitious of glory, and eager to engage in a distant expedition, he hastened with precipitation to Sardis, where he was introduced to the young prince, and treated with great attention. In the army of Cyrus, Xenophon showed that he was a true disciple of Socrates, and that he had been educated in the warlike city of Athens. After the decisive battle in the plains of Cunaxa, and the fall of young Cyrus, the prudence and vigour of his mind were called into action. The 10,000 Greeks who had followed the standard of an ambitious prince were now at the distance of above 600 leagues from their native home, in a country surrounded on every side by a victorious enemy, without money, without provisions, and without a leader. Xenophon was selected from among the officers to superintend the retreat of his countrymen, and though he was often opposed by malevolence and envy, yet his persuasive eloquence and his activity convinced the Greeks that no general could extricate them from every difficulty better than the disciple of Socrates. He rose superior to danger, and though under continual alarms from the sudden attacks of the Persians, he was enabled to cross rapid rivers, penetrate through vast deserts, gain the tops of mountains, till he could rest secure for a while and refresh his tired companions. This celebrated retreat was at last happily effected; the Greeks returned home after a march of 1155 parasangs, or leagues, which was performed in 215 days, after an absence of 15 months. The whole, perhaps, might now be forgotten, or at least obscurely known, if the great philosopher who planned it had not employed his pen in describing the dangers which he escaped, and the difficulties which he surmounted. He was no sooner returned from Cunaxa, than he sought new honours in following the fortune of Agesilaus in Asia. He enjoyed his confidence, he fought under his standard, and conquered with him in the Asiatic provinces, as well as at the battle of Coronæa. His fame, however, did not escape the aspersions of jealousy; he was publicly banished from Athens for accompanying Cyrus against his brother, and being now without a home, he retired to Scillus, a small town of the Lacedæmonians, in the neighbourhood of Olympia. In this solitary retreat he dedicated his time to literary pursuits, and as he had acquired riches in his Asiatic expeditions, he began to adorn and variegate by the hand of art, for his pleasure and enjoyment, the country which surrounded Scillus. He built a magnificent temple to Diana, in imitation of that of Ephesus, and spent part of his time in rural employments, or in hunting in the woods and mountains. His peaceful occupations, however, were soon disturbed. A war arose between the Lacedæmonians and Elis, and the sanctity of Diana’s temple, and the venerable age of the philosopher, who lived in the delightful retreats of Scillus, were disregarded, and Xenophon, driven by the Elians from his favourite spot, where he had composed and written for the information of posterity, and the honour of his country, retired to the city of Corinth. In this place he died in the 90th year of his age, 359 years before the christian era. The works of Xenophon are numerous. He wrote an account of the expedition of Cyrus, called the Anabasis, and as he had no inconsiderable share in the enterprise, his description must be authentic, as he was himself an eye-witness. Many, however, have accused him of partiality. He appeared often too fond of extolling the virtues of his favourite Cyrus, and while he describes with contempt the imprudent operations of the Persians, he does not neglect to show that he was a native of Greece. His Cyropædia, divided into eight books, has given rise to much criticism, and while some warmly maintain that it is a faithful account of the life and the actions of Cyrus the Great, and declare that it is supported by the authority of Scripture, others as vehemently deny its authenticity. According to the opinions of Plato and of Cicero, the Cyropædia of Xenophon was a moral romance, and these venerable philosophers support that the historian did not so much write what Cyrus had been, as what every true, good, and virtuous monarch ought to be. His Hellenica were written as a continuation of the history of Thucydides; and in his Memorabilia of Socrates, and in his Apology, he has shown himself, as Valerius Maximus observes, a perfect master of the philosophy of that great man, and he has explained his doctrines and moral precepts with all the success of persuasive eloquence and conscious integrity. These are the most famous of his compositions, besides which there are other small tracts, his eulogium given on Agesilaus, his œconomics, on the duties of domestic life, the dialogue entitled Hiero, in which he happily describes and compares the misery which attended the tyrant, with the felicity of a virtuous prince; a treatise on hunting, the symposium of the philosophers, on the government of Athens and Sparta, a treatise on the revenues of Attica, &c. The simplicity and the elegance of Xenophon’s diction have procured him the name of the Athenian muse, and the bee of Greece, and they have induced Quintilian to say that the graces dictated his language, and that the goddess of persuasion dwelt upon his lips. His sentiments, as to the divinity and religion, were the same as those of the venerable Socrates; he supported the immortality of the soul, and exhorted his friends to cultivate those virtues which ensure the happiness of mankind, with all the zeal and fervour of a christian. He has been quoted as an instance of tenderness and of resignation on Providence. As he was offering a sacrifice, he was informed that Gryllus his eldest son had been killed at the battle of Mantinea. Upon this he tore the garland from his head, but when he was told that his son had died like a Greek, and had given a mortal wound to Epaminondas, the enemy’s general, he replaced the flowers on his head, and continued the sacrifice, exclaiming that the pleasure he derived from the valour of his son was greater than the grief which his unfortunate death occasioned. The best editions of Xenophon are those of Leunclavius, folio, Frankfurt, 1596, of Ernesti, 4 vols., 8vo, Lipscomb, 1763, and the Glasgow edition, 12mo; of the Cyropædia, 1767, the expedition of Cyrus, 1764, the Memorabilia, 1761, and the history of Greece, 1762, and likewise the edition of Zeunius, published at Leipsic, in 8vo, in 6 vols., between the years 1778 and 1791. Cicero, Orator, ch. 19.—Valerius Maximus, bk. 5, ch. 10.—Quintilian, bk. 10, ch. 2.—Ælian, Varia Historia, bk. 3, ch. 13; bk. 4, ch. 5.—Diogenes Laërtius, Xenophon.—Seneca.——A writer in the beginning of the fourth century, known by his Greek romance in five books, De Amoribus Anthiæ et Abrocomæ, published in 8vo and 4to by Cocceius, London, 1726.——A physician of the emperor Claudius, born in the island of Cos, and said to be descended from the Asclepiades. He enjoyed the emperor’s favours, and through him the people of Cos were exempt from all taxes. He had the meanness to poison his benefactor at the instigation of Agrippina. Tacitus, Annals, bk. 12, chs. 61 & 67.——An officer under Adrian, &c.
Xera, a town of Spain, now Xerex, where the Moors gained a battle over Roderic king of the Goths, and became masters of the country.
Xerolibya, a part of Africa between Egypt and Cyrene.
Xerxena, a part of Armenia. Strabo, bk. 11.
Xerxes I., succeeded his father Darius on the throne of Persia, and though but the second son of the monarch, he was preferred to his elder brother Artabazanes. The causes alleged for this preference were, that Artabazanes was son of Darius when a private man, and that Xerxes was born, after his father had been raised on the Persian throne, of Atossa the daughter of Cyrus. Xerxes continued the warlike preparations of his father, and added the revolted kingdom of Egypt to his extensive possessions. He afterwards invaded Europe, and entered Greece with an army which, together with the numerous retinue of servants, eunuchs, and women that attended it, amounted to no less than 5,283,220 souls. This multitude, which the fidelity of the historians has not exaggerated, was stopped at Thermopylæ, by the valour of 300 Spartans, under king Leonidas. Xerxes, astonished that such a handful of men should dare to oppose his progress, ordered some of his soldiers to bring them alive into his presence; but for three successive days the most valiant of the Persian troops were repeatedly defeated in attempting to execute the monarch’s injunctions, and the courage of the Spartans might perhaps have triumphed longer, if a Trachinian had not led a detachment to the top of the mountain, and suddenly fallen upon the devoted Leonidas. The king himself nearly perished on this occasion, and it has been reported that, in the night, the desperate Spartans sought, for a while, the royal tent, which they found deserted, and wandered through the Persian army, slaughtering thousands before them. The battle of Thermopylæ was the beginning of the disgrace of Xerxes. The more he advanced, it was to experience new disappointments; his fleet was defeated at Artemisium and Salamis, and though he burnt the deserted city of Athens, and trusted to the artful insinuations of Themistocles, yet he found his millions unable to conquer a nation that was superior to him in the knowledge of war and maritime affairs. Mortified with the ill success of his expedition, and apprehensive of imminent danger in an enemy’s country, Xerxes hastened to Persia, and in 30 days he marched over all that territory which before he had passed with much pomp and parade in the space of six months. Mardonius, the best of his generals, was left behind with an army of 300,000 men, and the rest that had survived the ravages of war, of famine, and pestilence, followed their timid monarch into Thrace, where his steps were marked by the numerous birds of prey that hovered round him, and fed upon the dead carcases of the Persians. When he reached the Hellespont, Xerxes found the bridge of boats which he had erected there totally destroyed by the storms, and he crossed the straits in a small fishing vessel. Restored to his kingdom and safety, he forgot his dangers, his losses, and his defeats, and gave himself up to riot and debauchery. His indolence and luxurious voluptuousness offended his subjects, and Artabanus, the captain of his guards, conspired against him, and murdered him in his bed, in the 21st year of his reign, about 464 years before the christian era. The personal accomplishments of Xerxes have been commended by ancient authors, and Herodotus observes that there was not one man among the millions of his army that was equal to the monarch in comeliness or stature, or that was as worthy to preside over a great and extensive empire. The picture is finished, and the character of Xerxes completely known, when we hear Justin exclaim that the vast armament which invaded Greece was without a head. Xerxes has been cited as an instance of humanity. When he reviewed his millions from a stately throne in the plains of Asia, he suddenly shed a torrent of tears on the recollection that the multitude of men he saw before his eyes in 100 years should be no more. His pride and insolence have been deservedly censured; he ordered chains to be thrown into the sea, and the waves to be whipped, because the first bridge he had laid across the Hellespont had been destroyed by a storm. He cut a channel through mount Athos, and saw his fleet sail in a place which before was dry ground. The very rivers were dried up by his army as he advanced towards Greece, and the cities which he entered reduced to want and poverty. Herodotus, bk. 1, ch. 183; bk. 7, ch. 2, &c.—Diodorus, bk. 11.—Strabo, bk. 9.—Ælian, bk. 3, Varia Historia, ch. 25.—Justin, bk. 2, ch. 10, &c.—Pausanias, bk. 3, ch. 4; bk. 8, ch. 46.—Lucan, bk. 2, li. 672.—Plutarch, Themistocles, &c. Valerius Maximus.—Isocrates, Panathenaicus.—Seneca, de Constantia Sapientis, ch. 4.