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Ideas of Xenophon, by Text

[Greek, 430 - 355 BCE, Born in Athens. General in the Athenian army. A friend of Socrates. Died at Corinth]

392BCE Apology of Socrates
22 p.46 Education is the greatest of human goods
     Full Idea: Education is the greatest of human goods.
     From: Xenophon (Apology of Socrates [c.392 BCE], 22)
     A reaction: Of course, one might ask what education is for, and arrive at a greater good. If you ask what is the greatest good which a society can provide for you, or which you can give to your children, this seems to me a good answer.
391BCE Symposium
3.5 p.236 Niceratus learnt the whole of Homer by heart, as a guide to goodness
     Full Idea: Niceratus said that his father, because he was concerned to make him a good man, made him learn the whole works of Homer, and he could still repeat by heart the entire 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey'.
     From: Xenophon (Symposium [c.391 BCE], 3.5)
     A reaction: This clearly shows the status which Homer had in the teaching of morality in the time of Socrates, and it is precisely this acceptance of authority which he was challenging, in his attempts to analyse the true basis of virtue