Key points: - Xenophon began as a member of Cyrus' army who carried out an ill-fated assault on Artaxerxes II, king of Persia - He survived, returned to Athen

Key points: - Xenophon began as a member of Cyrus' army who carried out an ill-fated assault on Artaxerxes II, king of Persia - He survived, returned to Athens (took two years) and started writing on a wide variety of subjects, including the nature of leadership, and accounts of Socrates that are of a more personal nature than Plato's - "Plato had a serious philosophical agenda of his own... Xenophon’s interests are at once more worldly and more realistic"