| A thesis that examines rhetoric in the Anabasis by Xenophon, as it relates to the demands and dangers of politics, with special focus on the first three speeches the hero, Xenophon, delivers. The Anabasis is Xenophon's account of the attempt to form a community. The examination of the speeches that are relied upon to initiate this attempted formation, and their relation to the rest of the work, is undertaken in order to better understand the principles of Xenophon's political philosophy concerning what is essential to politics, especially the more civilized variety that facilitates rhetorical rule, by shedding light on the possibilities of governing on the basis of ideas and convictions that can be rhetorically appealed to amongst a diverse group of men, bound only by self-interest. |
