An Athenian aristocrat who fought as a mercenary commander in Cyrus the Younger's campaign to seize the Persian throne in 401 BC, Xenophon wrote a gripping account of that expedition as well as many other works of history, politics and philosophy. The six works collected here offer his informed insights into the nature and purposes of leadership. The dialogue between the poet Simonides and his employer Hiero, tyrant of Syracuse, ranks as a classic study of absolute power. The pioneering biography of King Agesilaus II of Sparta depicts the author's hero and patron as a model of piety, justice, courage and wisdom, while other texts consider the essential qualities of the cavalry commander, analyse the skills of the horseman and the hunter, and advance a bold economic programme for democratic Athens.