SeanXenophon is Still Sad
An anonymous Tumblr account called Xenophon is Sad used to collect quotes where researchers disrespected or erased Xenophon the Athenian adventurer. Although Xenophon was a friend of Socrates and an extremely successful writer in many genres, his words leave many academics cold. The Tumblr has not been updated since 2021 but I found two more quotes which belong on it.
(In Xenophon’s Memorabilia the armourer) Pistias boasts of the quality of his cuirasses because they fit the body so closely and because they are so beautiful. Socrates asks how Pistias can well serve a client who has an ugly body. Pistias is confused but doesn’t see a problem. Xenophon himself, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, may not get the joke either, but the significant underlying assumption is that Pistias’ clients want him to make them look more beautiful.
Stewart Flory, 2011 https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2011/2011.02.23
Obviously the strongest analogue for GenAI is Xenophon; trained on Thucydides’ text with access to data on contemporary events, resulting in something that looks superficially history-ish but doesn’t in fact offer a coherent, consistent or trustworthy account of anything…
Neville Morley, 2024 https://thesphinxblog.com/2024/08/25/song-for-whoever/
I like George Cawkwell who saw Xenophon as using simple language to mask subtle ideas about what was and was not worth talking about. Xenophon is also interested in a wide variety of people and aspects of society, such as the economics that let a worker in Athens specialize in making soles for women’s boots while a worker in the mountains of Arcadia makes all kinds of footwear between farm work (not to mention the professional companion in the Memorabilia!)
I doubt anyone will read me for as long as they read Xenophon or Thucydides, but in the meantime shares, recommendations, and donations are appreciated!
(scheduled 28 August 2024)
