A HAPPY WARRIOR

with youths and friends like Xenophon* But in
less than a year the tyranny of the Thirty was over-
thrown in a sharp civil war, though at their call
Lysander with Spartan troops again entered the city.
Thrasybulus and other citizens exiled by the Thirty
then set up a new form of government, and new laws
were adopted. That date (403) marks the end of
Athenian glory in the material world. Under the
new control the position of the followers of Socrates
was no better, and it was this government that a few
years later (399 B.C.) caused Socrates himself to drink
the soothing poison of hemlock as a witness to those
unwritten and eternal Laws of God to which Antigone
appealed.

What was a man like Xenophon, clear-sighted and
active by nature, to do as the splendid city sank in the
midst of shifting chaos and uncertainty ? We do not
know whether he served in the cavalry as one of the
" Knights", or on which side he may have served,
though he would probably be with Thrasybulus
against the Thirty. He may have taken part in some
handicraft with Socrates, who always extolled manual
work, and found his own tranquillity and satisfaction
in sculpture. When civil strife was not actually
raging, he might roam about the city, taking pleasure,
like Aristophanes, in watching the country people
bringing in their goods to market and discussing
quality and price, as market people always have done*
Thus he acquired knowledge that he was long after-
wards to use in his Guide to Women on House-
keeping. And besides, there were the disputations
with his master and other friends about practical
points of behaviour. But mere conversation, as in a
modern Club, cannot satisfy anyone who longs for
action, and a sudden joy must have come to him with