^ To exclude this whole side of the matter, the element of personality,
may appear somewhat unscientific on the part of any one who, like myself,
regards the whole composition as instinct with the spirit of Xenophon. On
the oiher hand, I do not wish to force this idea impertinently upon the reader,
who, even through the distorting medium of a translation, will be able, I think,
to form an independent view of his own. For myself, suffice it to say that I
agree with those who, like Zurborg, are aware of a strong Xenophontine
flavour about the work. The vocabulary is his, the diction is his, the turn and
type of sentence are his, the tone of thought is his — the whole scheme, as I



fVA YS AND MEANS Ixxix

As I have already suggested (in the passage just referred
to), the pamphlet was perhaps written to be delivered (or as if
to be delivered) as an address to the senate of Athens whilst
engaged on a financial debate in the midsummer of B.C. 355,
just after the conclusion of the Social War.^ Such I take to
have been the occasion, actual or ideal, of the writing, and in
connection with that view I will now proceed to discus^ the
contents of the author's scheme.^

A work of this sort gives scope for any length of commen-
tary. I propose to pass as rapidly as possible from one point
to another of the argument, wherever anything seems to call
for further notice than was open to me in the footnote of my
translation.
