Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/785

 XEREZ figured by his partiality for Agesilaus and undisguised admiration for the oligarchical spirit of Sparta. The Cyropcedia is a politi- cal romance, in which the author gives his ideas of the state, and pictures the advantages of a wise despotism, taking as a basis the his- tory of Cyrus the Great. The Agesilaus is a panegyric on his friend and commander. The Hipparchicus is a treatise on the duties of a cavalry officer ; the Hippike, on the horse it- self ; and the Cynegeticus, on the dog and the chase, to which recreation Xenophon was much addicted. The two treatises on the republics of Sparta and of Athens manifest still more plainly than his other works his prejudices against a democratic form of government. The treatise on the " Revenues " of Athens is a short tract, which is said to have been written by him after his return to his native city as a peace offering to his countrymen. The Hiero is an imaginary dialogue between the king of Syracuse of that name and the poet Simonides on the advantages and disad- vantages of the possession of absolute power. The other works of Xenophon are records of the acts and conversations of Socrates. Of these, by far the best known is the Memora- bilia, in which he undertakes to defend his idolized but hardly well understood master against the charge of irreligion and of cor- rupting the youth of Athens. It consists of a series of conversations, all of which turn upon- the duties of active life ; and in no other of his works does Xenophon show more clearly that taste for practical pursuits and matters which was the leading element in his character. The " Apology " for Socrates is a short treatise defending the conduct of that philosopher after he had been pronounced guilty, and giv- ing the reasons why he preferred death to life. The Symposium or "Banquet" is the narration of a conversation at a feast given by Callias, in which the guests, among whom is Socrates, discuss the nature of love and friend- ship. The (Economicus is a dialogue carried on between Socrates and Critobulus in regard to agriculture and the management of house- hold affairs. The best editions of his collected works are those of Weiske (6 vols. 8vo, Leipsic, 1798-1804), Schneider (revised by Bornemaun and Sauppe, 6 vols. 8vo, Leipsic, 1825- '49), and L. Dindorf, published by Teubner (3 vols. 12mo, Leipsic, 1869-"T3). Of separate works, espe- cially the Anabasis, the editions are very nu- merous. The latest and best English translation of Xenophon's works is that by the Rev. J. S. Watson, in Bohn's " Classical Library." XEREZ. See JEEEZ. XEREZ, Francisco de, a Spanish historian, who accompanied Pizarro in his conquest of Peru as secretary. At his command he wrote a detailed account of the expedition, addressed to Charles V., which was published at Sala- manca in 1547, under the title of Verdadera relation de la conquuta del Piru y de la, pro- mncia del Cuzco llamada la Nueva Cattilla, &c. XERXES 757 Translations may be found in Ramusio's and Ternaux-Campans's collections. It is some- times appended to Oviedo's " Natural History of the Indies." XERXES, a king of Persia, who reigned from the close of 486 to 465 B. C. He was the son of Darius Hystaspis and Atossa. His first achievement on coming to the throne was the suppression of the Egyptian revolt which had interrupted his father's preparations for the invasion of Greece. He then resumed those preparations, and spent four years in raising as great a force as his powerful empire could furnish. In the autumn of 481 the army as- sembled at or near Sardis, and a fleet was col- lected in the Hellespont or on the coast of Asia Minor. Xerxes caused a bridge of boats to be thrown across the Hellespont, from Abydos to the western shore. It was destroyed by a storm, and Herodotus relates that he com- manded a pair of fetters to be thrown into the stream, and the water to be scourged with 300 lashes. Two new bridges were now thrown across the strait. A canal, wide enough for two triremes abreast, had been cut through the isthmus which separated Mount Athos from the mainland. Early in 480 his army began its march from Sardis, and spent seven days and nights in crossing the Hellespont. At Doriscus, in Thrace, Xerxes held a review of the whole army, and according to Herodotus it amounted to 1,700,000 foot and 80,000 horse, with Libyan war chariots and Arabian camels. Besides these, upon the fleet of 1,207 ships of war and 3,000 smaller vessels and transports, was a force which swelled the number of com- batants to 2,317,000. The statement is doubt- less exaggerated, though the army was very probably the greatest ever assembled. These forces traversed Thrace and Macedonia unop- posed, and entered Greece through the moun- tain passes, over the range of Olympus. All northern Greece was abandoned, and the first resistance was at the defile of Thermopylae. In the mean time a terrible storm destroyed 400 ships of war, and a vast number of trans- ports and smaller vessels. The naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis followed, and Xerxes was easily persuaded to leave the conquest of Greece to Mardonius and 300,000 troops, while he himself returned to Asia. After 45 days' march he reached the Hellespont, and he re- entered Sardis defeated and humbled. While he remained there in the summer of 479, the disastrous battles of Platsea and Mycale oc- curred, followed by the utter overthrow of all the Persian power in Greece. (See GREECE, vol. viii., pp. 189-'90.) Little is known of the personal history of Xerxes after this time. In 465 he was murdered by Artabanus, one of the highest officers of the court, and the eunuch Spamitres or Mithridates, and was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes. Herodotus says that for beauty and stature none in the vast host he led against Greece could be compared with Xerxes; but he also represents him as exceed-