A Biography of Xenocrates
Xenocrates became a student of Plato’s when he entered Plato’s Academy in Athens in 376 B.C. He travelled with Plato to Syracuse after Dionysius I died. Plato then died in 347 BC and Xenocrates left Athens with Aristotle. They had both been invited to Assos, where Aristotle opened his own Academy. Xenocrates remained in the country for approximately five years.
Meanwhile, Speusippus had been maintaining and controlling Plato’s Academy after Plato had died. In 340 B.C., after Speusippus became ill and knew that he would die very soon, he called for Xenocrates to take over control of Plato’s Academy after his death. However, Speusippus’ request was not enough. There was an election held to choose the new successor of heading Plato’s Academy. The vote came down to Xenocrates, Menedemus of Pyrrha, and Heraclides. However, Xenocrates won the election.
Xenocrates had lived in Athens for many years but he refused to become a citizen of the country due to its close alliance with Macedonia despite the fact that Speusippus was very much in support of the relationship between Athens and Macedonia. Although many people today think that Plato’s Academy was a place for intellects to simply think and be quite somber and peaceful while the world scurried around them, the Academy was actually a hotbed of political activity and the fact that Xenocrates was not a citizen and also not in support of the alliance with Macedonia was something of great concern to many people, specifically the Macedonians.
During 322 B.C. Xenocrates came into political conflict with Macedonia because Macedonia wanted Athens to surrender to it. Xenocrates fought with Macedonia until they deemed him unfit to act on the behalf of Athens as he was not a citizen of the country. Despite the conflict with Macedonia, Xenocrates continued to teach and preside over Plato’s Academy until his own death.
It has been said about Xenocrates that he is, “good-natured, gentle and considerate but lacks the graciousness of his teacher, Plato.” Xenocrates studied and wrote about philosophy and mathematics. He wrote two books, On Numbers, and The Theory of Numbers however, these books did not survive. This is thought to be because Xenocrates had only copy of each book and he owned them both. Although he came up with many of his own observations and theories, some say that he is not quite an original thinker because much of his work is based on what Plato taught. Also because he headed Plato’s Academy, he only saw it fit to remain within Plato’s views and teach them as accurately as possible.