The Date of the Pseudo-Xenophontic Athenaion Politeia

Άλλα περί όμολογονμένης άνοιας ουδέν αν καινόν λέγοιτο — Alkibiades on Athenian democracy. Much the same might be said of the essay on the Athenian constitution which has been preserved among the works of Xenophon and consequently this note claims little originality in argument or conclusion; it merely restates a case which recent discussion has somewhat obscured.1 The essay is couched in terms familiar to every reader of current intellectual journals, in general terms which are sometimes genuinely general but more often suggest that the writer has in mind a specific contemporary event. Thus, in trying to date it, we look for the context which offers the greatest number of specific illustrations of its general assertions and the smallest number of refutations. B u t , in its search for the particular, modern scholarship has tended to underrate the importance of an essential preliminary. The overall tone of t h e essay, the atmosphere it implies, must first be allowed to dictate the kind of context in which it might have been composed; only then can particulars offer choice between and precision within contexts which satisfy the conditions. I should suggest the following as essential or desirable conditions: