This study attempts to explore the political thought of Xenophon, based on mastery over the self (enkrateia), in the light of the theory of Hannah Arendt. In support of Xenophon’s political anthropology, we find that the ascetic life which characterizes the ideal leader, embodied by Cyrus in Cyropaedia, abolishes the meaning of politics, created with pre-philosophical polis according to Arendt. Also, Xenophon’s conception of askēsis appears entirely consistent with the submission of the human community to the goals of the arendtian animallaborans. Judged from his virility, essential component of the ideal of enkrateia, the man capable of leadership is identified with the invincible warrior in the struggle for sovereignty, and the foster-father of his infantilized subjects. Therefore, the love of fame, which justifies the austere life, proves to be the desire to dominate others and so deprive them of their prominently human capacities according to Arendt’s distinction of activities. The ambition of Cyrus, master of his bodily passions, has nothing to do with the passion for distinction of Arendt’s citizen. Sprung from the care of the self, the political attitude of Xenophon’s enkratēs remains irrelevant to the love of the world, characteristic of Arendt’s frugal political « élites ».
CLIL theme: 4127 -- SCIENCES HUMAINES ET SOCIALES, LETTRES -- Philosophie -- Philosophie éthique et politique