Xenophilus (philosopher)

{{Short description|4th-century BC Greek philosopher}}

Image:Xenophilus Nuremberg Chronicle.jpg.[http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Die_Schedelsche_Weltchronik_(deutsch):079 Die Schedelsche Weltchronik, 079].]]

Xenophilus ({{langx|el|Ξενόφιλος}}; 4th century BC), of Chalcidice,{{cite SEP|url-id=pythagoreanism |title=Pythagoreanism|last=Huffman|first=Carl}} was a Pythagorean philosopher and music theorist who lived in the first half of the 4th century BC.{{harvnb|Freeman|1983|p=81}}. Aulus Gellius relates that Xenophilus was the intimate friend and teacher of Aristoxenus and implies that Xenophilus taught him Pythagorean doctrine.Aulus Gellius. Noctes Atticae. IV, 11. He was said to have belonged to the last generation of Pythagoreans, and he is the only Pythagorean known to have lived in Athens in the 4th century BC.{{harvnb|Hahm|1977|p=225}}.

According to Diogenes Laërtius, Aristoxenus wrote that when Xenophilus was once asked by someone how he could best educate his son, Xenophilus replied, "By making him the citizen of a well-governed state."Diogenes Laërtius. Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers. VIII, 15–16. In the Macrobii of Pseudo-Lucian, Aristoxenus is supposed to have said that Xenophilus lived 105 years.Pseudo-Lucian. Macrobii, 18; cf. Valerius Maximus. Facta et dicta memorabilia. VIII, c. 13; Pliny. Naturalis Historia. VII, 50. Xenophilus enjoyed considerable fame in the Renaissance, apparently because of Pliny's claim that he lived 105 years without ever being sick.{{harvnb|Hayton|2005|p=95 (including footnote 50)}}.