Xenophon

This volume showcases for the first time in the Clarendon Ancient History Series one of the best-known prose authors of classical Athens: Xenophon. <p/><em>Poroi</em> (or <em>Revenue-Sources</em>) was the final work of his large and varied output written in the mid-350s BCE at a time when Athens had failed to prevent the collapse of her second Aegean 'empire' and was impoverished and demoralized in consequence. Back in Athens after a lifetime abroad the elderly Xenophon took an optimistic view of the plight of his fellow-citizens: though their days as a free-spending imperial power may have been over they could fall back on the city's own unique assets - both human (the large community of resident and visiting foreigners) and material (the natural resources of Attica itself notably the silver-mines) - strategically exploiting them in order to set the city on the road to peace and prosperity. Xenophon fleshed out this general position with many specific proposals in doing so situating <em>Poroi</em> not only in a tradition of early economic thought but also in the realm of practical politics. <p/>Framed by a General Introduction and the first-ever full Commentary on the work in English this new and unprecedentedly accurate translation offers an authoritative yet accessible overview of the text its context and its historical socio-political and economic implications that will be invaluable to both students new to the work and to more experienced scholars. Challenging the view that there is a significant overlap between Xenophon's ideas and the policies associated (in the 350s and 340s) with Euboulos it argues rather that <em>Poroi</em> was ahead of its time and in fact anticipated the programme of Athens' leading statesman of the 330s and 320s: Lykourgos.<br>