1. The Greek title of this book is theAnabasis, meaning literally ‘the journey up’. References to it are given without mention of the title. References to Xenophon’sHellenica (orHistoria Graeca) are, given thus: (H.G.V.2.7). The work is available in Penguin translation under the titleHistory of My Times. Diodorus of Sicily’s account of the expedition (in Book XIV chs. 19-31 and 37) is available in translation in the Loeb Classical Library, as is Plutarch’sLife of Artaxerxes and Diogenes Lacrtius’Life of Xenophon. The epitome and fragments of Ctesias’Persica, not available in English translation although there is a French translation of the epitome, are to be found in Jacoby,Fragmente der Griechischen Historiker no. 688, to which reference is made thus:Fr. 27.
2. The date of Xenophon’s exile is disputed. He had not been exiled by spring 399 (VII. 7.57). The inferior manuscripts of the text at V. 3.7 (which the present translation does not follow) suggest that he was exiled after aiding Agesilaus in his march back to Greece, and Diogenes Laertius (II. .51) says he was exiled for ‘ favouring Sparta ‘.So some argue for 394. But the better manuscript of V.3.7, the epigram cited later by Diogenes Laertius and other later sources show that he was exiled in part for aiding Cyrus, and the better solution therefore is to suppose that he was exiled while in Spartan service against the Persians in 398 or 397 as part of Athens’ successful effort to win the friendship of the Great King.
3. The oft-repeated statement that Xenophon’s exile was revoked in 369 after Athens allied with Sparta rests on no good evidence. He may even have been free to return after the King’s Peace of 386.
4. The other arguments are of no substance. Isocrates’ Panegyric (145f ) of 380 could derive from II.4.4, or vice versa. The literary relation between the obituaries in Book II and Isocrates’ Evagoras is obscure. The references to the Spartan empire in VI.6.9 need be to no more than the 390s.
5. Ctesias Fr.33. (For the term parasa see the note on I.2.5 on page 59.
6. Hence the late arrival of the King’s bastard brother (II.4.25). See the note on that passage on page 121.