Xenophon's account of a half-century of complete and total internecine mayhem — the Persians playing Sparta, Thebes and Athens off against each other with very little effort — is summed up thematically in its concluding words, describing the battle of Mantineia:

"And although each side claimed the victory, neither side was seen to have gained anything — no city, territory or increased rule — that they did not have prior to the battle. In Greece as a whole there was more uncertainty and disturbance after the battle than there had been before."

This is the most annalistic of the six Landmark editions, with no real unifying narrative except the Greek addiction to self-sabotage, but I still find it wonderful to read and, thanks to the luxurious maps, annotations, introductions and appendices, actually understand these texts from across a gulf of time.