Abstract

Xenophon uses the term _sôphrosunê_ to refer to the capacity to follow authoritative norms. We see this in instances found across his oeuvre, notably _Cyropedia_ and _Agesilaus_. He also becomes the first author studied in this book to use the term _enkrateia_ (self-control, inner strength) to refer to control of one’s bodily desires such that they do not prevent one from adhering to one’s higher norms. (This use becomes popular some ways into the fourth century, as Isocrates and the _Anonymus Iamblichi_ show.) The _Memorabilia_ includes a number of direct discussions of _sôphrosunê_, in particular its coincidence with wisdom, its relation to piety and justice, and its overlap with _enkrateia_. In that work we also see Xenophon defending Socrates against the claim that he failed to teach _sôphrosunê_ to Critias and Alcibiades before teaching them political efficacy.