316

T3
opy

THE

Plato's

ACADEMY

BRITISH

Biography of

Socrates

By

E.

A.

Taylor

of the

Fellow

[Frovithe Proceedingsof the

Academy

British

Academy

FoL

London
Published

for the British

By Humphrey Milford, Oxford

Amen

Price Two

Academy
Press
University

Corner, E.G.

Shillingsand

Sixpencenet.

VI

11^

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

a.

By

E.

FELLOW

of

which

paper

Academy

the

which

experiment

but

it should

has

throwing

some

who

at

was

dramatic

Athens

of

the

the

for

scientific

the

to

indifferent to the

About
this

fact of

the

on

form,
literary
versified
Greek

language
word
to

as

'

'

'

medium

as

characteristics
remarks

he

community

makes
of form

implies that,
by
of

the
VIII

about

'mimes'

in

it.

between

Aristotle's

its

realism'.

and

can

Aristotle

this

see

In
the

the
'

first

mime

'

opinion,the
For,
for

as

we

'

took

is clear

the

'

Socratic

know

ourselves
A

it with

the

that

the

inasmuch

is thus
a

distinct

only

of

matter
to

be

from

from

from

Socratic

the
the

ancient

Theocritus'

fact,
tinctive
distwo

the

discourse

discourse
the

as

priate
appro-

place the recognitionof

and

*.

Aristotle

is

type,

is,as

literaryform

'

complains

and

What

of

Socrates

doubt.

the

prose

ance
appear-

type

of

of

equally

new

associates

for which

we

composition just at

and

verse,

if

be

sudden

discourse

for

mental
funda-

Even

discourse

he

lutely
abso-

question of

wholly

the

development

the

conceivable

Socratic

of

Plato's

the

on

literature

of

type

Xenarchus

use

verse.

of

'

genericname

form

of

b 2, where

and

no

'

1447

implies the

speciesof
a

of

or

this
no

the

Sophron

possesses

mime

one

suitable

Poetics

of

be

can

that

of

course,

It is also

actual

century

of

at

who

Socrates

known

thought

students

fourth

emergence

fact

in the

mimes

'

the

there

the

is,of

B.C.,

the

^(OKpariKos Xoyos

the

particulardate

comments

the

of

it aims

as

of

general problem suggested by

early years

the

of

who

one

every

greatest literaryand

religion.

as

is,

prominent figure in

Hellenic

history

hardly

same,

great philosopher

widely

most

century

of

the

interest

historyof literaryforms.

the

can

to

relation

was

fifth

whole

composition,the

prose

the

of

thought, we

in the

who

historian

student

indifferent

of

the

all the

of

world's

of the

science,ethics,and

issues of

interest to the

the

Its immediate

attractive

degree

Socrates

last half

the

is,all

of

historyof philosophicthought,

of the

one

results

the

represent

to

making.

question of

The

simple experiment, an

literarymethods

time

same

of

colleagues

my

great literature,inasmuch

light on

to

critical

are

the

protagonist in

the

dramas

no

claim

some

in

the

prose

in

interest

artists.

figuresas

nature

worth

also prove

genuine

the

specialstudent

for the

doubt,

no

laying before

of

profound speculation,but

or

opinion well

own

28, 1917

honour

make

extraordinaryresearch
in my

the

is of

can

ACADEMY

THE

March

I have

to-day

TAYLOR

OF

Read
The

SOCRATES

OF

'

'

tinguished
is disnotices

brilliant

PROCEEDINGS

'

BRITISH

ACADEMY

in his fifteenth

and again from the imitation

Idyll,
that they were
tinguished
disHerondas, it was
just by their realism
and earlier kinds of dramatic
other
from
composition. It

imitation

of

mime

'

'

of

is to

THE

OF

the

Rhetoric

same

purpose,

1417a

19 that

as

I take

it,that Aristotle

'mathematical

discourses'*
"

observes

in

his

presumably he

is

dialoguesas that he quotes elsewhere,in which Zeno

the difficulties about the infinitesimal
Protagoras figuredas discussing
do not exhibit ^^77, characters ',because they reveal nothing

thinkingof
and

such

'

"

the TTpoaipecrL?, the walk and

Socratic discourses ' do exhibit

conduct

of
*

of the

tJOtjbecause
*

this means
speak\ What
personages
comparison with the passages of the Poetics

that

such

is made

the

whereas

personages,

it is about

in

matters

clear

which

by

Aristotle

ization
fullywhat he understands by TJO09, characterexplainsrather more
',and why, importantas it is to the dramatist, it is less important
To
the
of
than
successful
'.
a
intendingcomposer
tragedy,
plot
be the first consideration,because the primary
the plotor story must
objectof tragedyis to representan action of a certain kind ; it only
*

'

it cannot

do the act

who

represents the persons

represent the

act

or

other

in any

have

it done

to

them

because

way, or, as he also puts it,

but ' of action and life,
man

of a
tragedy is not the representation
happinessand misery (1450 a 16 ff.;1450 b 1 ff.). Or, as we should
perhaps preferto phrase it,tragedy is concerned directlywith the
"*

tragicsituation

doing or
only in so

its
suffering
far

as

Thus
to

personages

concern

is

their

factor in
its issue.

the

with

being the
bringingabout

it shows

the kind

of

us

appear

secondary.

in that situation

It has to do

of persons they are

the tragicsituation or

sort

persons

situation

who

we

acting and by

with
is

pensable
indis-

an

determining

their action

kind
tragic. What
only by what they do.

call

as

them

tributing
con-

of personality

But
a
they have should be shown
man's
self
rfOosis not fullydisclosed by the way in which he bears himin some
specially
tragicsituation. To understand it you require
to know
not
only his acts but his Trpoaipecns, his settled habit of
and
this is why rjdos is only
will, in a word, his personality,
exhibited by discourses
clear
what some
in which
it is made
one
chooses or declines'.^ Thus
the Gorgias or Republic,from this point
of ^Orj. Socrates,
of view, would be first and
foremost
a
portraiture
Gorgias, Callicles,
Thrasymachus are not exhibited to us by Plato as
contributors
to some
high tragicsituation,but as engaged in quiet
and peaceful
of the conversation
it
conversation,but from the course
is made
choose
clear what
would
sort
of things each of them
or
"

"

'

'

be

We

'

might illustrate the point by consideringhow

likelyto depictsuch

character

as

Hamlet.

modern

novelist

would

BIOGRArHY

PLATO'S
each

decline, how

in act \ but

personages

(noio^ tis) each

man

togetherwe

Aristotle

\6yo9

TLKo?

"

he

the

type

specimensof

them

always

seems

merit, the dialoguesof

Plato

the

from
inseparable

is

And

it is

the

'

important
"*

characters

that

'

imitates

is

what

remember,
the

depictedin

'

the

450

of

making
case

of

true

to

in the

mean

be

it shall
caristet

human

Socratic

'

it shall

that

fullness

far

so

it

as

tragicsituation.
forget,that

'

almost

are

out
with-

the

insists upon

half-

portance
im-

the

be taken to

discourse ',not

merely that

with

itself(ut sibi
original,faithful

be like its

named

the

about

the

historyof

consistent

or

superior

like \ he must

'

o/jlolov or

nature,

historical truth

the broad

to

figurein

'

character

says),but

Horace

as

their

sometimes

of the actual
personages
Aristotle
to 400, so that when

from

^coKpajust those

valuable

exception notable
century

the

just in

discourse

Socratic

of

that it differs from

only

we

of

highlyrealistic

character

adequatepresentationof

to

by

is

the

see

manner

words

foremost

personality.It

or
*

the

the

observations

two

all others

is first and

"

not

in his view

by

mean

characterization

in which

proper,

to

do

We

the

put

we

dwarfed

which

of character
representation
it reproduces
with which
or

drama

If

is.

towards

gather what

we

fairlygather

may

and

talk

their

himself

all to choose.

us

from

of

bear

expectedto

life forces

which

issues between

be

might

SOCRATES

OF

and

known

after

man

should

reasonablyexpect a novelist who

Lincoln
into one
of his
introduced
by name
Napoleon or Abraham
and self-consistent but
works to make the figurenot merely possible
to actual
true
fact,and regard it as a defect in Thackeray that the
III of Esmond^ though natural enough, is whollyfalse to history.
James

whom

We

it is

called,justas

of

account

Socrates
of

exclusive

hold
which
a

in all essentials

as

great

historical

of Plato

use

as

tenets
philosophical
been

it has

that

Plato

he knew

the

on

of

not

only

himself

to

rejectboth

to

fathered

According

Socrates, such
work

as

to

some

e.g. the

invented

impressionmade

on

unreal
which
him

of

as

of

all

we

of doctrines

provided

even

theorists,things

teachino;

positionsand

set

his

account

times,

these

an

the

faithful

Socrates

be the author, but

largelyfictitious biography,and

him.

on

infer from

about

modern

In

Platonic

the

trustworthyrepresentation
may

dialoguesas

Socrates.

fashion

we

information

of
the

regarded
and

true

just as
figure,

source

he looked

that

of Socrates

know,

Aristotle

reasonablyinfer,then, that

may

the

we

him

'

mask

"*

under

which

Plato
a2

conceals

of

with

for
personality
Plato

relates

of

in

earlylife by the
character
of nobody

Anaxagoras, reallybelong to the life and

but represent the typical
character
development of the philosophical
according to others the central figure of the dialogues is a mere
convenient

to

at

pleasure himself,

OF

PROCEEDINGS

Antisthenes, unnamed

BRITISH

or
disciples
opponents,

but the person whose

When
set ourselves to
we

the

"

^in a word

question which
of ancient

mass

shall find,as

of the last century, we

ACADEMY

Socrates

to the

*mask'.

party is right in

readers
found

and every

any

the label attached

on

the

answer

and

dispute,Aristotle

is

name

one

this

THE

or

the moderns

about

different

that a full and final decision requiresus to

questionin the Republic,
which
take a long and circuitous path on
can
hardly be
every one
expectedto have the leisure or the specialvocation to follow. But
lead to a probable conclusion,
which
short cut
there is also a
may
that I propose
to proceed to-day.
and
it is by this shorter road
researches
into the
Without
troubling ourselves with wearisome
historyof Greek philosophicideas and terminology,we may put the
Does
thus.
the Platonic pictureof Socrates,
issue to ourselves briefly
if we
tion
study it as a whole, leave the impressionof being the delineaof
of a
type \ or the result of superposingseveral portraits
'

'

'

different

men

another,

one

upon

or

has

it the

character

we

should

in the lifelike dramatic

reproductionof a highlycomplex and

Are
individual personality
?
in
we
reallydealingwith a genre-study,
and the later comedy, or, as Aristotle seems
the styleof Menander
to
have
taken for granted,with a highlyrealistic portrait
dual
of an indiviThe
?
attempt to piecetogetherthe biographicalstatements
made
in the different Platonic
dialoguesinto a continuous narrative
in
ought at least to leave us in a positionto give a probable answer
the one
the other.
to show
sense
or
also,it may serve
Incidentally
retained by the moderns
how
much
of what
is universally
fact
as
about
Socrates
has no
contemporary authorityfor it but that of
of doubtful
as
Plato, and ought therefore in strictness to be rejected
the belief that the so-called
sincere with
are
authenticityif we
Socrates
Platonic
Socrates of history and the
two and not one.
are
Before I proceed to the detailed execution
of the task I have set
before me, there are perhaps two
preliminarypointson which a word
not
two
or
unprofitablybe said. We may, for one thing,ask
may
known
about Socrates on
what facts may fairly
be taken as certainly
authorityindependentof the assertions of Plato or any other of the
expect

'

Socratic

men

information

Under

derived

'

'

this

head

we

may

reckon, of

course,

any

reallyancient

together with
inscriptions,
all that is fairlyinferable from
the caricatures of the Old Comedy,
which go back to dates when
those Socratic men
whose writings
have
been preservedto us were
tions
tradiboys or infants. Well-authenticated
from

of the late fourth

of Phalerum

deal with

and

matters

even

not

century, derived
Aristoxenus

mentioned

are

by

the

from

writers like Demetrius

valuable when they

similarly
Socratic
providedthat
men,

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO^S
careful

are

vre

in
distinguish

to

the

Aristoxenus, between

they put
derivable
Socrates

would

what

we

are

have

come

merely

told

to

to

Academic

be

certain

of Phalerum.

death

Socrates'

and
in the

Socrates

familiar
sufficiently

intended
about

to

him

insisted

his

was

poets, we

with

Professor

Burnet

that

some

notorious

losses.

From

gather further

we

he

that

was

of

both

be

of

about

fantastic notions
notice

in the

such

kind

represent
the

(1282) a
a

that

it

Socrates

for Socrates

taste

stick,one

thick

of the

middle

of

great

the

art
playwright's

sit

with

Socrates

We

may

"

add

this time

to

these

years

regarded

"

as

friendshipof

of

like
of

of

two

in
most

support

of

remarkable

later

of

were

legitimateparody
follower

reference

vaguer
of young

of

to

the

Chaerephon

older

the

we

folk who

of

two

an

in the

Athens

get

in

the

neglect the

hair-splitting
problems

crazy

or

"

kind

From
notions

pro-Spartan at

elderlyman
one

with

According to the same

play
hair
and
wearing long
carrying

other

notices

these

favourite

falls foul

an

world.

later

sixty-fouror

some

comic
man

being inspiredby Socrates,and

evidence
the

his

Euripides

accuse

feature

seances
spiritualistic

over

chatteringover

by

which
significance

twelve

One

poet

burlesques

notable

one

was

rejectionof the good

commonly regarded as

unseen

limits

the

marks

war.

Frogs (1492) when

to

was

the

he

48

or

interests

infer that

evoked.
spirits

the

phanes
Aristo-

was

ascetic

the

which

at

47

object of

that

were

may

presiding

kind

of

part

and

within

was

as

the

these

what

(1553 fF.)we

fraudulent

familiar

acted

Birds

soul

the

of

year

plainlyvery much
perhaps go as far as to conjecture
may
the philosopherhad
recentlyincurred
the play of Aristophanes,
the Clouds,
interested in mathematical, cosmologi-

involved

life and

this

in

produced comedies
leadingpart, we gather

point

studies,and combined
biological
private religionwhich
enjoinedan

things

the

From

reason.

of about

made

this

since

would

whom

man

cal,and
of

appear

chronologistas

gives us

to

topicalpieces,and

as

poverty

both

by

on

on

which

was

figure to
'

catch

'

good

so

played the

Socrates

date, when

this

who

fact,which

Parium

from

Ameipsias,

in which

423

still

our

just one

Marmor

fixed date

information

like Aristotle

testimonyof

The

rival

his

year

at

as

as

writers

tations
interpre-

knowledge of
possiblyuntrustworthy
whose
Socratics
writings

the two

learn

we

the

on

the

traditions.

sources
inscriptional

Demetrius

of later

or

of the

what

show

authorityof

us,

the

repeat

case

that

the

on

witnesses, like

they testifyand

set aside

we

biased

of

brief survey
will

to, if

SOCRATES

case

which

sources

amount

down

From
any

these

the

facts to

them.

upon

from

OF

fragments
by
may

of

at

least ten

or

may

belief in the

not

so.
no

or

be

personal

intellectuelsof the time

of

the

THE

OF

PROCEEDINGS

BRITISH

ACADEMY

Beyond this, out of all the anecdotes told of

Peloponnesianwar.
Socrates
by later writers from Aristotle onwards there appears to be
with
older than Plato
only one which comes
certaintyfrom a source
or
Xenophon. Ion of Chios related in his memoirs that Socrates had
in
in his youth visited Samos
with Archelaus, the successor
company
of Anaxagoras, who
in the phraseof Diogenes Laertius
translated
physicsfrom Ionia to Athens \ As Ion also recorded anecdotes of
of the generals
his meeting with Sophocleswhen
the poet was
one
dispatchedto put down the revolt of the year 441-40, it is not
that Socrates
and
means
unlikely that his reference to Socrates
Archelaus
were
serving in this campaign. The event would then
*

have

occurred

years

before

it does not

Socrates

appear

Plato

by

about

from
coming certainly

independent of
for

him

the

absences

fourteen

explainwhy

of Socrates

from

ap.

earlier than

sources

of
is

will

its remoteness

or

Diog. Laert. ii. 22), Thus the

be regarded as
philosopherwhich can

(Ion

the

group

his death

at

thirty,thirteen

the few necessary

among

information

behind

about

was

the birth of Plato, and

recorded

Athens
total

when

much

admirers

younger

century and

fourth

the

exceedinglyscanty and

whom

affords

no

he

left

material

of the real nature

of his influence.
biography or an account
had perhaps served in the campaign againstSamos, had been
He
reduced to poverty by a time soon
after the battle of Delium, and
apparentlynot earlier ; he had a curious stare and an odd way of
rollingin his walk, was a great talker,and associated with persons
the fashion
who were
views, was
supposedto hold odd spiritistic
with the young
at the time
of the Sicilian adventure, and
iiLoroB-qjioL
and substance all
was
perhaps a friend of Euripides. That is in sum
know
who
at
we
were
independentlyof information
suppliedby men
least forty years his juniors,and as
it will be seen, it does not
of Plato
amount
For the rest we
to much.
have only the statements
and
be traced
can
Xenophon, together with any traditions which
back
whom
the 'Socratic
men'
to
the Pythagoreans with
to
or
a

real

'

'

had

Aristoxenus
of information

between

be
the

have

we

them

is indeed

included

in

in the

constantlyto

the traditions

put upon
There

associated,and

themselves

by our
just one

this summary.

of

case

face the
and

Gewdhrsmann,
more

'

'

the last-named

source

ing
problem of distinguish-

the malevolent

tions
interpreta-

Aristoxenus.
which

statement

According

to

should

perhaps
Isocrates, Polycrates,

sophistwho published,a few years after Socrates' death, the

defamatory pamphlet which perhaps opened the series of writings
the philosopher's
about
life and
character, declared that Alcibiades
had been a 'disciple'
of Socrates.
this as a gross
Isocrates treats

quite in keeping

himself
whom

of

'

pupils

or

had

influenced

him

by

reminds

never

had

had

been

showing

us,

Plato, according

followed

never

Alcibiades

That

all.

at

and

of Socrates

he

consequently had

and

of
representations

the

insisted that

Socrates

teacher,

with

SOCRATES

Burnet

Professor

palpablefalsehood,thus, as

and

to

OF

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO^S

the

profession

any
a

disciples
'

friend

young

Isocrates does not, of course,

deny.

(Isocratesxi. 5.)^
I
of

consider my

to

now

come

Socrates

as

could

we

Properly I

source.

consideration

the

make

to

work

formal

any

document.

It is

in

of

correspondence which

to

that

biography
exclusive

our

omit

speaks of
do

not

in
here

propose

known

was

from

Socrates

this

of

could

we

not

authenticityof

remember

in the edition of Plato's ^vorks

included

must

we

genuineness
the

as

biography which

Epistle. I

the

must

we

"

say

Plato

Plato

which

Platonic

defence

enough

"

dialogues,but

Vllth

the

propria persona,

the

the

subject

took

we

of course,

mean,

one

it if

write

Platonic

the

collect from

immediate

more

important

the

Platonic

Cicero

to

and

by Aristophanes of Byzantium

generallyallowed by the best critical and historical

students, Bentley,Cobet, Grote, Eduard
Meyer, and only denied by
writers
on
philosophy. That is to say, for the letters we have the
judgement of those who have no preconceivedopinion of their own
what
the philosopherought to say in his correspondence,
to
as
the judgement of just the persons
most
against them
likelyto be
been

has

"

with

biased, thinkers
Platonic

not

'

have

doubted

verdict

the

also

denied

or

I propose

Hence

philosophy.

in

of

the

The

such

letter,if

name

of

Dion

after

heart

into

exhibit

the

It is

principlesfor

his

Sicilyhe calls
For

Platon,

w^ho

in the

is

or

we

have

collection.
without

purpose

further
c.

early
Socrates

that
years

lost

7 ; Ilackforth,

and

its leader

the

conduct,

his

Plato

sake

of

Plato

of
The

calls himself

never

which

simply an

discussion

the

to

is

reallya public

Sicilian
aims

by

Ep.

he
^

sent

much

see

C.

the

way

'

'

Plato

had

cause

and

own

Hitter^ Xeue

graphical
autobio-

an

in which

'.
disciple

of his

Authorship of the Plutonic

into

putting

exposition

an

which

citywere

own

later to the

elderlyfriend
VI 1

is led

partisans

at

his
to justify
politics. Incidentally,

consistencyof

noteworthy
of

what

given to

retrospect of his earlier life and

forced,so far as the publicaffairs of his

account

those

present

by Callippus
had

which

party

in Sicilian

intervened

been

of

items

my

addressed

w^as

assassination

fundamental

the

his

be

can

semi-public manifesto,

freelyfor

is

particulardocument

our

important

most

utilize it

or

of

for

what

discussion.^

further

new

And

about

own

authenticityof other

the
to

of their

theories

pet

he

had

concerned,
In

partisans

the
of

careful
Dion

in

(see pp. 8, 9).

Untersuchungen

Epistles,pp.

84. ff.

iiber

PROCEEDINGS

desist from

to

is that

reformer.

Twice

reformer

his

had

in life there

Athens,

at

ACADEMY

BRITISH

political
activity.The
originalbent had been

direct

narrative

THE

OF

the

on

seemed

main

of

that

be

to

reconstitution

purport of the
active

an

social

opening for

an

of

the

city

such

with

an

final extinction
of
Periclean
after the
oligarchicalconstitution
democratic
Imperialism in 404, and again at the restoration of
the
democracy by Thrasybulus and his friends. Plato would have
been readyto co-operate with either party in a real social reform, but

had

discovered

both
meted

out

Of

the

Socrates

"

oligarchyof

the

The

the

body

were

my

him

thirtyhe

discreditable

wisest

of

There
says :
denounced
'

was

was
.

connections

relatives,and

and

In

unworthy treatment
livingAthenians.
was

as

revolution

in

faultyon

many
the establishment

magistrates. Now
thirtyirresponsible

own

party ends.

the

was

of this revolution

consequence

of

on

the best and

existingconstitution, which

sides.
of

to

bent

was

disillusioned
finally

what

cases

each

that

some

of these

actuallyinvited

men

to

me

take what

might be considered my proper part in that administration.

such as
were
My feelings
might have been expected in so young
I supposed their management
of affairs would
a
man.
begin with
a
general reversion from an unprincipledto a righteous policy.
Consequently I observed very carefullyhow they would proceed.
But what
did I find ? Before long they had made
the old constitution
like a golden age.
of
the case
More
there was
seem
particularly
I may
Socrates, an elderlyfriend of mine, whom
fairlymake bold
to call the
most
of the time.
upright man
They despatchedhim
and
others
to
fellow-citizen illegally
and
arrest
a
bring him to
in their proceedingsnolentem
execution, hoping to implicatehim
volentem.
Socrates,however, disregardedthe order and put his life
in jeopardyrather than
ness.
make
himself an accomplicein such wickedWhen
I

this and

saw

disgustedand

was

goes

on

restored
Socrates.

add

to

that

other grave

indications

of the

the

evil of the

times."

withdrew

from

he would

'

life of

once

more

then

He

been

equallyready to serve
treatment
equallyreprehensible

have

democracy,but for their

Not
long after this the thirtyand

overthrown, and

kind,

same

was

the

whole

attracted, though

system
more

the
of
were

slowly,

of course,

The
action.
one
new
publicpolitical
was,
and much
happened which caused natural disgust,and
it is not surprising
that in a revolution there should have been some
of excessive
Yet
the whole the
cases
on
on
privateenemies.
revenges
restored party showed
But
notable
forbearance.
unhappily certain
prominent and influential persons again interfered with my friend
Socrates and brought him
wicked
before the courts
on
a
charge of

to

of confusion

time

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

SOCRATES

OF

wholly foreign to his character.

and executed for impiety he who

conduct

He

proceedingsin

wicked

old

of their

time

at the

references

The

of the

incident

fullyin

the

confirm

simplyas

illegalexecution

truth

of the

That

'.
regular disciples
Socrates

in

event

first

at

of the

at the

aimed

willingto
'

Thirty

'

in their

until their

breaches

of the

their administration
the

of

enmity

be

other

of his life.

make

to

anxious

was

to

again

was

is

was

young
He

was

government
accomplice

an

of

real character

under

Athens

serve

disillusioned
and

influence

of

persons

of

Leon

As

the

Socrates

eyes to the

opened his
he

affair of

supporter of

no

age

statesman.
practical

regime, but

and

Anytus

law

more

old

Plato's

to

the

current

of

related

reminiscence

only

the

account

attempt

later on,

democratic

revived

vocation

the

to

course,

is careful to mention

belongs

publiclife as

enter

well

Plato

should

had

he

man

this

friends

profound admiration, had

which
correspondence
enough, since by his own
which
changed the whole

natural
an

had

he

the

beyond all doubt

to
as
incidentally

establish

to

Socrates,whom

friend for whom

of

Salamis,

of

story told there, as

that

exiled

own

are,

Leon

serve

join in

to

passage

of

thus

of their

one

ruin.'

this

throughout

statement

of

case

exile and

own

Apologia,and

the

historical

the

the

demned
prosecuted con-

was

refused

had

"

the

by

position to

shocking thing about their conduct

being,
specially
who
shown
had put his
thus
the ingratitude
to a man
apparently,
life in perilrather
commit
of the
than
an
against one
illegality
the

Socrates,
"

democratic
harrow.
him

For

that

deny
brought him
as

been

model

is that
a

such

party for

their

whose

friends
of

law,
had

accusation

shown

of

turpitude is

as

Plato

of

in the

maxim

philosophy.To

not

borrow

an

revolution,Socrates

might

had

the

no

truck

with

"

From

the

affair of Leon

from

illustration
well have

been

VIL

a3

We
324

are

now

c.

leaders

of

view

defence

no

from

Plato's

but
in

with

very

of

risks in

virtue

later and

Girondist

c-325

of

identical

but

law

from

'Mountain'.

Plato, Ep.

be

'impiety'is

Athenian

the

moral

could

case,

any

heaviest

point

the

knew,

by

the

an

He

disgustshim

What

laid

incurred

in

had,

Socrates

been

had

real

ill-defined

against so

piety.

have

course

acre/Seia. That
a

that

misfortune.

have

unrecognizeddivinities'.

Athenian

Socrates

the
lead

not

would

things which

law

honouring

should

accusation

under

be

to

turn

indignationdoes

done

the

of

maintain

of old-fashioned

time

Socrates

as

their

Plato's

have

scope
*

been

that

may

Xenophon,

an

own

Athenian

the

such
do-ipeia,

not, like

noted

Socrates

within

does

be

it may

to

offence

it had

partisanswhen

the

which
to

an

moral
o\\n

different

would

have

positionto

PROCEEDINGS

10

consider

actual

the

THE

OF

BRITISH

about

statements

ACADEMY
which

Socrates

in

occur

the

dialogues. In presentingthem to you I shall do my best to make

full as possible,
far as the facts go, and shall also,
narrative
as
so
my
of course,
confine
of biographical
fact,to the
myself to statements
of philosophical
exclusion of expositions
the
convictions except where
omission
the biography incomplete.
would make
Socrates,then, was

the

of

son

Sophroniscus and

his wife

Phaenarete

the
and
deme
belonged to the tribe Antiochis
Alopecae (for
Laches
for
Phaenarete, Theaetetus 149 a,
180-1,
Sophroniscussee e.g.
for the tribe.Apologia 32 b, and for the deme
Gorgias 495 d). The
but it may
be inferred from the fact
year of his birth is not specified,
of the Apology to speak of himself
that he is made
the first page
on
and

as

470
from
the

that

or

'

seventy that

than

more

the

the
First

we

of 469.

earlier months

As

Phaenarete

was

Socratic

any

midwife.

Her

born

later than

not

his social

to

Theaetetus, the only place,except

Alcihiades^in which

him

to suppose

are

for
man

learn
we
position,
passingreference to

mentions
is

name

his

mother,

suggestiveof good

in the mock-heroic
familyconnexions, as we see from its appearance
Acharnians
genealogyof the 'immortaP
Amphitheus of Aristophanes'
His
name
occurs
(1.49). Of Sophroniscuswe are told rather more.
and from the opening pages of the
in the dialogues,
than once
more
learn that he was
Laches we
a
family friend of his fellow demesman
of
the
Lysimachus, the son
great Aristeides and, according to
of high character.
of some
and
Lysimachus, a man
consequence
From
the
Socrates
speaks of his
jest in Euthyphro 11 c where
in legendfor his skill in making statues
ancestor
Daedalus, famous
that
which
could walk about, we
see
Sophroniscusmust have been
member
of an hereditary
a
guildof sculptors.Unless we accept the
and only
First Alcihiades
as
a
genuine work of Plato, this is his one
and
reference to the callingof Sophroniscus,
unfortunatelytells us
of the familythan
should learn
less about the circumstances
we
even
the
those
of a modern
in his earlyyears from
eminent
about
man
that his father was
Free Mason.
The generalimpression,
statement
a
'

'

however,
the

the

Plato's account

which

popularconceptionof
gutter
'

society

'

and

Socrates

untouched

of his age.

The

leaves

by

as

the

remarks

of

on

us

is

with

quite inconsistent

geniuswho rose almost 'from

influences agitatingthe
good
that
least
the Laches
imply at

in the aflairs of his

of weight and influence
Sophroniscuswas a man
deme
or
township,and there is nothing to bear out the view that
its
he
because
as
regarded Daedalus
belonged to a guild which
*

ancestor

stone-mason

',he
or

must

have

been

something

bricklayer.And,

as

we

very

much

shall see,

like

though

working
with

one

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

in

ripe manhood

that

had

either
them
he

admitted

was

and

he

and

thouo-ht
of

the

from

letters

if

read into Plato

we

been

all

does

depicthim

life

through

makes

him

would

not

in

say

the

amount

modern

than

more

as

equal,

an

It

the

is true

But

having

that

Plato

life.
could

he

He
pay

recollect

must

we

be

as

his

highestfine

mina.

should

we

close of

the

at

that

terms

on

of Socrates

notion

world

clear

seems

hampered by poverty.

to

kinds, where

time

Hellenic

non-Attic

exceedinglypoor
the Apology that

as

of the

all

of
distinguishedrepresentatives

perfectequality. In particularit

wrong

societyof

men

most

the

'

best

'

eminent

most

encountered

he

that

the

to

entree

the

by

dialogues prefer to depict Socrates

in
advanced
age, it is regularlyassumed

or

the

11

Platonic

exception the

notable

SOCRATES

OF

ascribes this poverty to his lifelongdevotion to

expressly
left him
time
to serve
no
tables, and also
a
quest which
spiritual
War
cial
that the close of the Peloponnesian
had been followed by a finanthe richest had
in which
suffered badly. To take
even
collapse

that he also

only two

or

AaAc/coTrXoiroy,and

of Callias the
of the

year

of

of Socrates'

hear

is laid somewhere

scene

and

that

poets

the

in the

find

in

fact of his
423.

year

still servingas

of

want

the

But,

as

hoplitethe

Professor

he

must

loss between

poets

him

on

the

in the

suffered

that

In fact

sources

In
with

to

reason

no

of culture

fact, in the
the

having as

one

youth

suppose

that

the

iteration

difficult to

the

need

Plato

of the
with

he

was

to

comic
which

explainif
is at

cut

earn

professesto
he

able
consider-

There

event.

Parmenides,

free

and

Indeed

or

was

jecture
reasonablycon-

may
sudden

earlylife

he

rate

any

attack

by want of means
dialogue in which
of

and the year

the

in his

of Socrates, the

one

at

comic

us, Socrates

and

affair at Delium

Aristophanes returns to this topic is rather

impoverishment of Socrates was not a recent
rate

then

rather

some

followingyear.

until

war,

the

by

we

the

Archidamian

at Delium

423

that

true

reminds

Burnet

the

the straits to

notorious

as

before

year

confusion

Republic^where

of the

is treated

Amphipolis,and this means

decidedlynot in any dire poverty.
have

in the

earlyyears

poverty

families

Lysias(xix.15) dwelling in

means

after at

that

of the
in the

vanished

of Nicias

we

wealth

pathos appropriateto the law-courts on

of Myrrhinus had
been reduced.
It is

Phaedrus

begin to

was

anarchy,and

of

tone
peculiar

which

familiar instances,the famous

three

the
any

off from

his bread.
be

dealing

represents him

the

as

of the
societyof one
most
of affairs of the
of
prominent men
period, Pythodorus son
in Thucydides as being in his riper
Isolochus,who figures
age a person
of first-rate importance all through the Archidamian
Given
war.
an
a

initial reverse

matter

after the

course

access

to

battle of Delium, when

a4

we

take into account

12

PROCEEDINGS

the

THE

OF

BRITISH

ACADEMY

by

the

failure of

of

Athens

financial pressure caused

the
land-blockade
Sicilian expedition,

growing

and

the

the

great

gradual

her sea-power in the Decelean

and the crazy Terrorism
war,
of the
that for many
Thirty\ and remember
years at any rate
had wholly devoted
before his death Socrates
himself to his spiritual
destruction

of

'

vocation

we

his

poverty in

to

his

The
a

own

reasonable
could

career,

in

even

askingfor

positionof

positionin the

first

questionwould

be how

much

so

social

as

able to

be drawn

can

forty years
such

from

his

parents

of

his

or

career.

after such

man,

keep himself suppliedwith

food

mina
without
as
a
pay a fine of as much
it is clear that in the Apology Socrates
means

positionto

And

time.

could

he

say that

to

be

inference

no

and

the wealth

to

financial

more

and

399

that

readilysee

can

pay

down

this much

the

on

spot, since he does

offender could
an
customary when
supplement the offer,as was
the penaltyimmediately,
not discharge
by the suggestionof imprisonment
has
the
fine
until
been paid.
I think, infer that the Platonic
We
notices are
probably
may,
the
about
sufficient basis for the statements
a
family of Socrates
which we find in the later writers appealed to by Diogenes Laertius ;
in particular,
there appears
self
real evidence that Socrates himto be no
not

had

followed

ever

statuary

or

any

other

craft.

Plato's assertions

he had from
at least imply that
earlymanhood
science ',and the
the first abundant
his passionfor
leisure to satisfy
shown
which
of the Graces
to visitors to
late story of the figures
were
of Socrates
Athens
the work
as
prove only that these figureswere
about

his

and

youth

'

shown

in

worth

while

later time

much
to

note

that

such, but

as

nothing

be called ' official' quarters as so trustworthyan

may
the facts of Socrates' life,
refers to his parentage or
never

/, where

Hellenica

in

Phaenarete, except

Sophroniscusor

It

is also

is still regarded in what

who

Xenophon,

more.^

the

he refers to the behaviour

authorityon

brief

one

of Socrates

either

names

passage
in the

in

affair

at Arginusae. There
generalswho had commanded
the philosopherfor once
as
Hco^pouiaKov
HcoKpccTTj^
other
the one
place outside his Socratic discourses

of the trial of the

he

speaks of

'AQrjvalos*In

seen

It is true,
these

he says

Professor

as

statues

'

'

{Paus.

Gardner
i. 22.

reminds

8 ; ix.

me,

35, 2).

But

that Pausanias
in the former

have

appears

to

passage

all that

Xdpiras 'ScoKpdTT)
currentlyascribed to Socrates (/cat
that
he
be
SO
can
TOP
hardly
presumed to be speaking
TToiTJo-ai
2w(l)poviiTKov
Xeyova-i),
with

thaj;the group

was

the point. See the full discussion

of
on
Description of Greece, vol. ii,pp. 268-72, where

certainty

Pausanias

the

is

conclusion

though

that

he admits

the

Socrates

certainlydid

that
possibility

he may

not

have

point

the author
the

execute

made

the

copy

in

Frazer,
comes

to

'original relief,
of it.

PLATO'S
where

refers

he

the

to

prince Cyrus, he

the

that

will be

described

so

person

with

further

iii.1

of

adventure

the

Athenian

the

Socrates

13

Anabasis

in

story

connecting himself

his

only

requireany

to

the

"

says

SOCRATES

OF

philosopher

of
disapproval

Socrates'*

readers

BIOGRAPHY

of

',evidentlypresupposing
well

too

specification.The

known

earliest

to

his

allusion

to

Sophroniscus,outside Plato, is,so far as I know, that of

calls Socrates
Xid 0^609 (Timon ap. D. L^
of Phlius, who
Timon
a
the risk of deserting
ii. 19). At
chronologicalorder it may be as

the

of

craft

well

deal

to

Plato

Socrates

quite young
lad

Socrates'

had

the

at

by Plato, and
for
of

the

who

son

here, for
'

was

lad

distinguishedancestry
in

speak

moment,

two

been

ascribed

whom

no

more

are

in

Laertius

were

than

never

tioned
men-

Xenophon

to

that

the

name
was

and

Sophroniscus

younger,

Aristotle, of

to

of

father's death

his

mentioned

Diogenes

or

of

time

the

we

the

Xanthippe,

third

learn

from

of

indebted

him

the

at

name

children

are

information

learn

we

the

the

From

'

the

and

we

once,

of
Lamprocles. (The names
Menexenus
possiblyhave
may

to

of

As

children,two

three

names

piece of

affairs.

death,

information.

piece of real

his

other

one

lady of

her

by

The

d).

34?

{Apology

to

of

time

the

family

married

was

him, and

survived

who

with

point

about

gives us

Phaedo

this

at

the

dialogue

which

shall

I
have

may

on

have
them

got

he also refers
biographicalwriters to whom
third-century
the family of Socrates.)
for his statements
about
that both
the name
It has very properlybeen observed
Xanthippe
have a highlyaristocratic
and the names
Lamprocles and Menexenus

from

the

sound.

gather

that

bearer

as

of

that
house

of

When

the

of

caste

to

relation

Pericles himself, and

of Socrates'
indication
the

wife.

be

relative

of

fairlyclear
'.

name

may

the

the

social

that

Plato's

something
Burnet

has

the

do

"

Socrates,to

hardly remind

use

you

the
that

father.

account

supposes
pre-

circle

with

that

the

the

of

name

another

second, not

paternal grandfather.

Thus

it

vulgar phrase,

'

the

famous

of

obviouslybelongs to the
in honour
presumably bestowed

possiblyher

selves
our-

connexions

pointed out,

of the

name

the

immediate
to

its

father of Pericles.

the

family

have

by

in

we

stamp

remind

may

name

and

to

Lamprocles, which

Xanthippe,

I need

about

we

positionof Xanthippe

high society,was
that

was

clear

family bore

the

thought

was

borne

was

Professor

is,as

Aristophanes' Clouds

Vere', and

made

with

this

social

of

eldest, son
of

him

the

of

The

It

and

something

say

it

Xanthippus

Socrates, it will, I think,

close

de

'Vere

Alcmaeonidae,

come

in

'hippos'

masculine

the

the

with

name

of

opening monologue

the

From

seems

married

clature
nomen-

of

some

to

be

above

stories of the shrewishness

of

find

Xanthippe

her is her conduct

that

it,is

of

husband
Socrates

was

been

'

the

on

'

discovered

admitted

in

him

with

spent the night before

removal

will

she

records of

he

when

prison,and

in the

capacity,
her

see

that

suggest

is said to have

friends

his

day, she

describes

never

to

Xanthippe

Socrates

be

he
as

in the account

of his last

morning

the

earlyon

which,

that

Since

with

company

that

ordinary intellectual

anything

indifferent to his wife.

All

death

thought

one

is there

Nor

of

woman

ACADEMY

Plato.

in

of Socrates'

day

the

in

take

can

BRITISH

confirmation

no

affectionate

an

only
again.

who

THE

OF

PROCEEDINGS

had

were

presumably

his famous

tions
instruc-

dictated

partlyby the desire to

her from
a
save
complete breakdown, partly,as he himself remarks
later on {Phaedo 117 d), by the correct
anticipationthat in any case
would
be almost intolerably
at his death
the actual scene
tryingto
her

for

the

nerves

his

wife

It

of

has

been

and

temperament

Xanthippe
Diogenes
of

'

which

and

her husband

mus

who

used

in

and

be

to

say where
the gossipingAlexandrian
well

as

no

all the

There

Myrto,

who

of

said that

'

'

hardness

providedfor

fact

offensive

as

of

His
to

was

as

that

Socrates

the

of

slanderer

which

about

meet

both

called

the

had

or

both

the

two

the

light on the
familylife of

in

Diogenes

later

and

wives, Xanthippe

daughter,sometimes
The

Just.

earlier

lived with

Aristoxenus, they

some

later age

Socrates

is known

them.

throws

we

he

As

Satyrusand Hierony-

writers

Phaedo

story, which

is sometimes

was

the

traditions

Aristeides

Myrto

he got them.

authoritybehind

better

of

deliberate

the

patienceon the part of

the popularconceptionof
her high temper told by

of

anecdotes

the

Plutarch, accordingto

whether

Socrates

for

source

even

possiblybe

quaintestof

The

son.

does not

Rhodes,

may

Socrates.

the

who

Lord,
false to

as

Platonic

which
pulpit-rhetoric

between

called

sometimes

her

seems

presumably have
It

is

moments,

the

also says nothing to the discredit of

devoted
mothers, she had a
except that, like many

Xanthippe

have

that the

of Our

ess

in

in which

scene

contrast

quite unbearable.

interval

an

execution

family,so
out

it

of

presence

feeling. Xenophon

Christian

to

last

is

The

party.

made

have

there

the

the affect ionaten

His

in

mother

his

making

spent on

Socrates

'

with

last interview

has

that

immediatelybefore

narrative

of the

doubt

no

remembered

be

member

one

would

child

and

must

than

more

to

appear

gossips

were

wife, and

daughter
grand-

undecided
some

of

them

allegingas an explanation
ridiculous story that the Athenians
a
were
so
badly hit by the
decrease in population in the later years of the Peloponnesianwar
that
The
they legalizedbigamy.
story is told by Aristoxenus,
Hieronymus and Satyrus,and has usuallybeen dismissed as one of
at

once,

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

also
wives

dialogue

to

seems

authority of
without

not

me

Phaedo, Socrates
told

are

we

found

they

of the

young

left

two

be

to

who

sons

in

to

bear

ceases

forty,

we

"

been

mind

bear

is said in the

the
*

the

infer

We

the

have

Xanthippe, he

behind

it
the

to

him.
the

at

For

prison

The

Plato

of

two

fixes

says

in all

must

her

to

at

at

Lamprocles

the

time

his

of

his birth

life with

story

Europe

remember,

As

that

suppose

Socrates

Xanthippe.

probabilityhave

husband.

married

of the

that

will

rjSr]
fieipaKLOv

further

Socrates'*

and

you

have

seventy, and

of Southern

it, as

than

been

followingversions

himself

two

must

least towards

woman

indicates

Socrates,who

of
at

on

Xanthippe

have

This

prison.)

which

younger

to

Aristotle

L. ii. 26.

to

Hence

according

arrived

of

great

fiction.

arms

between

age

at

age

it is natural

or

the

well

was

that

Apology

first year

D.

he

"

death,

father"'s

telian
Aristo-

too

me

pure

of Socrates

physicalvigour

good thirtyyears

in

baby

in

night

children,

may

iraiSLou there.

her

disparityof

considerable
we

last

the

child when

begottenthe

left
friends

with

remarkable

things,the
the

the

as

two

Demetrius

by
to

it

only explanation
the child that is at all natural is that it was
a
baby
left by itself. (According to the Apology Socrates
but
hear
then
who
we
were
iraiBta,
only of one

of

actually spent

If

when

Xanthippe

presence

too

his death

at

that

and

that
significance

some

But

ascriptionof

mere

seems

tale

the

author.^

doubtfully authentic

Demetrius

of
simplerejection

of the

permit

in the

"

the

as

Distinguished Ancestry

on

The

Phalerum.

far

so

"

philosophergoes

the

to

related

been

have

to

seems

15

first-named

of the

rhodomontades

the characteristic

SOCRATES

OF

fell in

Xanthippe.

In

"

married

wives.

two

the

By

first,

had

Lamprocles, the second, Myrto, daughter of Aristeides the Just,

he married
without
a
dowry, and by her he had Sophroniscus and Menexenus.
well
the testimony of Plato, shows the falsehood of this version
as
as
(Chronology,
D.
of the tale.
L. has quoted Aristotle
Possibly
wrongly, placing Xanthippe
'

first instead

of second.

in that

But

who

'

the story becomes

case

inconsistent

Xenophon
Xanthippe
her and
his Symposium,
and obviouslytherefore
other to be
means
no
of whose
ii. 2. )
high temper Lamprocles complains in Memorabilia
Demetrius
of Phalerum,
27.
Plutarch, Aristeides
Hieronymus
of

account

Aristoxenus,
another

to

have

L.

Satyrus

had

; Aristotle
ii. 26.
and

Athenians,
psephism

Myrto,

that

beget children

to

by

man
a

granddaughter

in addition

that

say

that

make

second

Myrto
he

good

should

be

also.

she

as

is said

Trepi (vyev^iasis the

Hieronymus,
anxious

the

to

was

the

of Aristeides.

He

with

the
in

manage

the mother

of

dialogue irep'i
evyev^Uis is genuine

wives, Xanthippe

^Some'

notoriouslyhard

as

Socrates

a.

two

to

if the

"

Myrto

xiii. 656

Aristeides

with

wife, but took

Athenaeus

D.

Aristotle

and

cohabited

Socrates

refers

"

Rhodes,
say

had

that

indeed

widowed, and in great poverty.

xenus
by Callisthenes, Demetrius, Aristowas

and

Myrto

common
was

the

married

losses

for the

legallymarried

story.

first wife, otliers,including

both

to

in

of

great-granddaughter

source

the
to

one

male

at

once.

For

population,

Athenian

woman,

the
made
but

16
that

must

Socrates

case

married

THE

have

been

probably

of

wife

Greek

regularpracticein
a

OF

PROCEEDINGS

intending to

man

BRITISH
about

under

Now

twenty.

it is hard

all would

at

the

fiftyat

communities

marry

ACADEMY

have

waited

least when
in

view

to

believe

he

of

the
that

until this age

to

be

would

in Socrates
who
especially
surprising
for pluming himself
the fidelity
with
had if anything a weakness
on
of his city,and
is not
to the Novios
which
he conformed
likelyto
for
the
have forgotten that begettingsons
a
city was
universally
recognizedcivic duty. (Even the tale which represents him as having
wives

two

imposed
as

he

Hence

from

the

widower

when

evidence

of the

married

hear

as

nothing

of such

been

not

To

this

from

return

Nothing

is recorded

the

fact that

one

of

in

been

Demetrius

why

reason

did

course

married
for

as

The

should

her

mention

surprisingif

Xenophon

or

of

Socrates

by
the

to
digression

Plato

of the

famous

'

the main

would
not

know

not

the

purposes

go
from

Xanthippe

to

theme

earlyboyhood

warning

voice

(e/ciraiBos dp^cc/xepov,
Apology

childhood

all

at

members,

Plato

it is, we

ever

to

necessary

of

if it

the

Phaedo.

and

Apology

had

Socrates

ply
com-

duty
improbable

not

me

be

not

of its

one

first wife

simply that their knowledge

As
back to his early manhood.
had

to

seems

to

i.e. as

"

just possiblyAristotle,asserted.

and

whether

it

would

to

man

young

be

Plato

the second

Apology and Phaedo

suggest,
he married
In
that case,
Xanthippe.
Laches
for the intimacyof Sophroniscus

family of Aristeides,it

the

of Phalerum,
we

State.)

drawn

data

of the

was

the

by

him

on

that he takes

law enjoiningbigamy
imaginary special

was

in view

is careful to assert

once

the

Socrates

with

at

the

with

that,

conduct

Such

do it.

'

of my

of Socrates

attended

d), a

31

argument.

him

beyond
even

fact which

in

has

Plato's

in later age of other

to him
ascription
and on Aristophanes'*
burlesques
signsof the temperament of a visionary
this
of
occultist.
hear
him
of him
from
we
no
as
an
more
Beyond
Plato until he is alreadya man
one
\ when we
though a very young
the
biographical
professedlyautoget a glimpse of his specialinterests from
narrative
of the Phaedo
and again from the introductory
an

importantbearingon

of the

pages

Parmenides.

sketches

Both

agree

in

representinghim

interested in the latest mathematical

and
principally
physicaltheories of the earlyscience which was juston the verge of
humanism.
light of sophistic
According to the
eclipseby the new
with
and
he
enthusiast about
Phaedo
was
an
acquainted
originally
what
but much
(lorropianepl (pvaecos),
they call natural science
of the
results to which
perplexed by the hopelessincompatibility

as

at

that

time

"*

'

it

had

led

in

different

hands.

Thus

he

knew

both

the

Ionian

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

assumed

which

cosmology
for

of

those

as

riyal

between
hesitating

also

of the

theory

true

Ionian

the

and

the

17
of the

theories

{ib.98

planetarymotions
which

theories
biological

the

type, representedat

Italian

97 e).and

requireda sphericalearth (Phaedo

Pythagoreans which
anxious

flat earth

SOCRATES

OF

we

a)

was

recognize

can

Archelaus

by

time

was

; he

Diogenes of Apollonia,and the Italian,of which the Phaedo

and Empedocles (96 b),
of Alcmaeon
the doctrines
of Crotona
specifies
and aboye
all was
interested
in the problems raised by Zeno
specially
and

about
this

the

and

one

period also

Plato

denies.

In

Phaedo

date that

at this

book

doctrine

of

he

look

in

the

for

truth

"'

and

hypothesis

Forms.

These

this

Parmenides

and

avTos

(TV

doctrine

the

statements

expounding

he, still

of

as

doctrine

Zeno

as

out

than
the

to

teleological

direct result
to

the

of

the

resolyed

to

method

of

source

the

out

of

out

carry

man.

youno;

participationof things in
by the Parmen'ides,where
'

his

draw

you

and

man

and

Forms

did

admits

is the

of
discoyery
'

Meno^

of Anaxao-ora^

was

youthful

about

recent

it

the

in

consistent

mind

the

yery

SifiprjcraL
co^ Xeyeij ;

ovTco

find

thought

borne

are

again
yery

influence

as

of

according

Anaxagoras

and

propositions

Socrates

meet

that

knowledge

rather

the

principlethat

at

the

it was,

and

failure of

'

in

to

cosmology,

the

own

uniyerse,

'

we

his

time,

presumably

him

to

Xenophon

under

came

and

disappointment^vith

order

he

expected,for

astronomy

implicationsof

ascribes

all know,

we

was

of

foundations

the

elsewhere, and

as
particular,

in whose

his

laid

consistently

Phaedo, Republic and

It

(Phaedo 97 a).

many

he

that

which

geometry

the

find

him
'

participation to
{Parm.

own

130

this distinction

for

yourself?').
As
in the
to

the

company
Phaedo

not

am

expounding any theory of

it is

in

which

must

we

one

of the house
of the

democracy is

of

familiar

to

thus

the

shows

Parmenides
son

of

of aflairs in the
the

readers

about

of

the

Isolochus,whose

regime

The

followers

the

Socrates

of the

of Thucydides.

the

life.

in

the Periclean

knowledge

passage

Socrates

call attention

early

acquaintance with

Pythodorus

leading men

home

remember, belonged to

another
;

at

was

distinctly
presupposes

implies in
Pythagorean Philolaus
as

to the

Socrates

it also

habitue

philosophyof

perhaps more
point to
presuppositionsof the dialoguesjust mentioned

present paper,

Anaxagoras, who,
as

the

to

of

circle,
eminent

us

as

an

prominence
Imperialistic

It is from

his

acquaintancewith Pythodorus that Socrates is brought into contact

with
the Eleatic
and
that the Pythodorus in question
philosophers,
well-known
is the
admiral
and
certain
politicianis made
by the
of the First Alcibiades
statement
that Pythodorus son
of Isolochus
was
A

THE

OF

PROCEEDINGS

18

ACADEMY

BRITISH

of the dialoguesdepictSocrates
Most
at a later
pupil of Zeno.^
period of life,but they all agree in representinghim as well known
and
society of the
distinguished
highly thought of by the most
Periclean democracy. Thus, in the Laches^ dated shortlyafter the
of familiarity
terms
find Socrates
with both
battle of Delium, we
on
and highlythought of by both of them
not only
Nicias
and Laches
but for his thorough understandingof
for his personal courage
He
is equallyfamiliar,to judge from
matters.
militaryprofessional

Protagoras,with

the

son

of

time

the

Hipponicus,and grandson of

of

Callias

of

consortingas

Persian

the

of the

in

the

the

Syracusan

entourage of
'

millionaire

represents him

and

the

is described

being

'

as

rising,
though

Hermocrates

statesman

and

the

famous

Timaeus

elder Critias

the

himself, who

Timaeus

with

wars

equal with

an

yet fullymature,

not

formed

brilliant wits M'ho

the

well

as

as

the

at

very top
the
filled
life
most
past

as

in his

having
state, apparentlybefore the overthrow
important
of the Pythagorean order in the cities of Magna
of the domination
he is representedas
noted that
be specially
Graecia.^
It should
who
are
typically
representative
persona grata in the houses of men
of the Periclean regime,such as those of Cephalus,and the familyto
Plato
himself belonged. This
would
which
that he
naturallymean
welcome
in the house of Plato's step-father
was
Pyrilampes,whose
with
close connexion
Pericles is proved by the malicious allusions of
the comic
Pyrilampesas keepinga petitemaison
poets who represented
tree

astronomy

offices in his native

for

and

Pericles

should

conclude

of the

his

misses.

Thus,

that

Socrates

had

Plato''s

from

been

on

we
representation,

with

terms
friendly

many

has called the

prominent Whigs \ as Professor Burnet
party who, without ceasingto be loyalto the democracy,disapproved
of the inferior men
who guided its fortunes after the death of Pericles.
the notorious
Even
for Critias the oligarch
probablycomes
friendship
under this head, as Critias had alwaysfigured
democrat
until his
as
a
moral
into the coterie of the
character was
ruined by his entrance
'

'

most

Thirty \

The

general effect

the

impressionthat

the

first

Alcibiades

That

Timaeus
'

I. 119

should

could

get

'

last

novelty

shows

that the

'

at

sound

of Socrates

Periclean

is
no

every

right in

is

as

regime

his identification

and

devoted

time

Critias meant

word

in the
is

of the

Critias

of the

proof.
should

be

read

palpableabsurdity of supposing
any

mind

own

my

being from
standing,mingling on equal

think

social
the

on

a.

Burnet

a, where

the

over

to

us

societyof

reallyneed

20

wishes
a

best

the

Professor

Timaeus

of

person

with

terms

he

of Plato's account

an

life of Critias
old

man

with

6
a

that
twv

with
the

attention.

poems

TpiaKovTa,

Even

of Solon

what

great publiccareer

were

if

we

the

is said here

behind

him.

from
after

of

fashion

the

here

wish

the

about

'

'

suggestion made

the

with

of

there

Pericles,

consequentlywith
connexion

as

The

democracy (in

the

Pericles

spared),and

is not

of life of

manner

and Gorgias
RejpubJic

the

The

passion which

question is wholly absent

another

where

democracy.

than

from

breathes
like

discusses

the

world's

to

intense
a

to

disillusioned

he

age

is

clear

that

indeed

lived to

Pericles

of

basis is not
lower

orders.
known

had
their

one

What

utterance

needful

Plato

tells

of the

Professor

as

and

with

former

the

two

of

found
in

subject may

and

perhaps

us

main

movement

them

all,on
leader

topics,his
oracle

which

has

said,the

be

dealt

Like

the

"

ImperiaUsm

monopolists,within

and

'

(so-called)of

without

the

United

in

Laws,

faults

of

but

Pericles

had

created,

bent

the

capture

on

committed
is far

the

through

believed

once

on

mouth

in the

himself

too

back

looking

in

its

is

equally
Imperialdemocracy and
It

"

respect
of

'

an

of

sound

outsider

and

'

thoroughly

moral

from

of

pronouncement

one

the
who

understood

deficient
reflection,

mature

in

genuine statesmanship.

"

and

prime of
and
militaryexploits,
than

more

first
not
our

in

one

own

Kingdom

Socrates
the

is

famous

anything else formed,

turning-pointin

with

me

general

in

collapse.

earlymanhood

Socrates, for all his mysticism,was

*

in

final

the

true

the

as

of the

Delphic

Burnet

lived

judgement

is intended

thing

connected

be

leaders

purposes,

has

wanting

and

right only

its inevitable

as

"

and

consequence,

who

to

passages

Politicus

thinker

arraignment of the

to

It

the

seen

witness

himself

meant

man

has

this vehement

of

be

to

seems

its bitterness

It is dramatically

old

brave

denouncing,

and

promise

the

of things.

state

verdict

moral

the

Plato

the

merits

by

Imperialisticexpansion,and

represent

vanished

of

trade,-^
and,

policyof

and
secondarily

of

almost

this

by

democracy

ao-ainst

not

the

Imperial
person

That

through

againstthe very specialform of democracy which

a
democracy which is primarilycommercialized,
of the

in

expositorson

himself

Socrates

books

Socrates

is directed

It

of

the

modern

of

comments

attitude

representingthe

quite certain.

do

Socrates

the

on

remembered

be

will

it

Gorgias

the

attitude revealed
by these passages.
political
of Athenian
censure
unqualified
democracy is meant
as

though

Hence,

the

taken

plebeian and

personalintimacy with Aspasia and

point is not wholly unimportant in

satire of the

the

certainlynot,
of

an

standing hypothesis

Plato's

writers,

kind

opinion either way on the genuinenessof

Menexenus, I see nothing out of keeping w-ith

suggest

to

singularwork

that

modern

some

19

pursuit of science, and

the

to

mysteriously inspired artisan.

but

illiterate
not

early age

very

SOCRATES

OF

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

few

of the

his

brief
mystics

fiuauciers
.

career.

and

The

sentences.

in whom
commercial

PROCEEDINGS

20

transcendental
the

THE

OF

contemplationof

and

He

nature.

opposed schools,the urban and the

the lonely hills' that
is among

he

and

noise

busy

the

was

hum

'

London.

with

had

to

The

nothing
the

see

man.

even

of

in

was

even

this

{Crito52 b). Apart from

chronicling
only absent from Athens when his duty as a
stricken
actual

field.

This

than

man

modern

world,

have

only we

"

to

how

us

Yet

there

not

likelyto

it, in

is

which

be

ant-heap and
than

potent

the

'

beatific vision.

is

render

ladder

to the

make

in

as

the

whole

Hellenic

actual

no

the

his

own,

mysticism.
perhaps
with

contact

the

'

mortar

our

and

the other

apt for the

her

into

the

of
scuffling

and

Thompson with
pitchedbetween

Francis

traffic of Jacob's

restless

to

that

of
spirit

the

had

has

of bricks

wilderness

and

and
than

the
traffic,

silences of nature

the

essential solitude

'

of

roar

said

times, as well

common

who

one

him

was

temporary,
Euripides,Socrates' elder conin particular
the lyrics
of the

lonelynature

imagined by

the

of

in ancient

mind, less

be

regardedas

occasion,he

thing unknown

and
opposite,

potent

of

type

is

nature

it is

Isthmus

of an
peculiarity
genius imagining

dramatic

the

citizen took

of course,

may,

the association between

was

of

language

own

to

one

like the

more

the choruses
the

prove

show

Bacchae

It

for
feeling

romantic

me

invention

the

fictitious character.

to

seems

service

to the streets

his

excursion

worth

of

the crowded

to

his habits, that

to

active

on

devotion
in

mood

herself,but the

devoted

short

some

sleepthat

'

the

soul back

townsmen,

contrary

so

Socrates

country side'

the

him

to

say

Games

induced

'

spiteof

the

not

was

than Johnson's

more

'trees

to

It

upon
when
Hence, except

home-keeping of

most

streets of Athens

of

of

in

respect mystics of radically

rustic.

reflection of the

stillness and

interior

loneliness and

by

Wordsworth,

in this

points of resemblance, are

marked

ACADEMY

regularlyaroused

is most

emotion

BRITISH

human

still

are

soul realize

her

communication
of

vision

and

Heaven

more

own

of

the

the

shining
Cross

Charing

'

been such another.

to have
example,and Socrates would seem
In the Symposium^ when
the vision suddenlyovermasters
him, he is in
of the
the act of making his
way along the streets to a dinner-party
an

It

gayest.
\

is another

in him

isionary
qualitygoes

done
Plato
he

with

like Gordon

represents the

servingin

was

that

men

in the

Alcibiades
disastrous
Socrates

serene

most

of

to

say

Delium,

is strong and

true

enough

and

others.

famous

daringand

as
soldierly,
no

idle

We

are

in the face of the

the

it has

fancythat

meant

foe,of

when
to

feel

which

surpassedthat of Laches on the

of the unearthly.
is just a touch
in the
above everythingelse serene

it far

there

the

*rapts'as taking him

before Potidaea.

that

nature, that

our

It is from

of these

of Socrates

to

with

hand-in-hand

the trenches
courage

is made

day

touch,

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S
hour

danger, an

of

heart

it is curious

{Ajjology28 e) of any note, though

of any military service of Socrates
from

a
officially
yepcoi/ exempt
be
that during
may

fightingserious enough
middle

age.

itself

except

Socrates

taken

have

may

is said

and

431, 424,

his

Hence

Plato

occasions

credible

which

on

to

have

that

me

his hero
the

physicalstrengthwhen

militaryservice except
details

for the

As
from

the

experienceof the
Potidaea, on

the

the

through
narrative

showed

the

the

rather

which

as

his

at

average
to

of

our

favouritism

V. C. and
on

the

and

e.)

worth

noting, as
a

TiaTT]9,

small
with

part
said

I have

anachronism
which

the

alreadycommonly given
be

no

point

was

otherwise

for

on

their

of

the

get
with

in Alcibiades'

as

prizefor
the

on

the

be

to

of

marked

despotof
was

(For

weight

account

out

Athens.
than

more

what

distinction

sponded
corre-

by
all

act

an

this

see

famous

'rapt' it is
Plato
is falling

unless

nickname

the

play

early as

statement

life of

the

on

merited

the

the

Socrates

urged

Socrates

story impliesthat
such

puts

The

doubt

uncrowned

the

spot,

one

selection of himself

seemed

elsewhere, that,

Socrates

saved

authorities.

makes

to

i.e.
a^/co/za,

who

before

that

himself

he

his

man

failed to

Aristophanes
to

records

engagement.

he

connexion

In

rapt rooted

believe that

to

only

of

prime

camp

'

'

for

capacityof

us

hardly

called

in the

drj/xo?,
partlyno

good soldier,he

220

into

the

in the

of

recording

very

been

him

ascribes

partlybecause

least wishes

Symp.

with

the

fighting and

regard

"

fact in

night. Plato, who

in the

Socrates,and

birth, and

to Pericles

and

in actual

reason

defence

in the

have

Alcibiades, though

carried

name

Plato

mere

of

stood in

he

wounded

on

unworthy

successor

Thus
a

claims

illustrious

his

been

bestowed

was

generalsthe
to

had

war

question. Possibly

in

Alcibiades, further

valour

Archidamian

territory.It is

to

came

day

of

of advanced

men

Peloponnesianforces.

was

'

way

summer

mouth

highest

Alcibiades,who
valour

of

land

no

was

specified
by Plato.
know
of these campaigns,we
two
been Socrates'* principal
to have

seems

when

occasion

whole

in

that what

illuminative

'

be

not

years

suppliedabout

Symposium

of

the

began, should

in the

nothing

411, the explanation

years

left Athenian

war

would

mention

to

who
philosopher,

the

he

of the

invasion

occasion

no

As

in the

other

in the

part

hear

further

three

only

we

callingup

is

the

were

until

of service

422

againstthe regularannual
would

the

(424), and

question there

in

years

demand

to

Attica

no

Delium

is at

of these

that

422.

further service

ten

nothing

Why
in

the

after

he

three

names

(431-430), that of
Amphipolis (422),and presumably these

of

the

Plato

man-at-arms.

Potidaea

of

that

campaigns,
that

saint than

more

even

21

',just because, like Galahad,

ideal warrior

'

SOCRATES

OF

in the

430,
that

Clouds,

for there
the

(ppou-

'

word

was

would
went

S2

PROCEEDINGS

round

that

from

THE

OF

BRITISH
Eo-TrjKe \

tl
^onKpdTrjs(ppouTi^cou

this that

Socrates

alreadyknown

was

ACADEMY
We

the

as

at
impliesthe (ppovTLo-TrjpLov
(ppovTL(TTr]S

for the

the evidence

and

head
the

"

Archidamian

infer
might fairly
of

school"

beginningof

the

of

Aristophanespointsin the same

the (ppouTia-rijpLou
if it was
direction as he introduces
as
alreadya wellknown
and familiar institution,not
something invented by himself
and requiringan explanation. But the consideration of this point is
better

War,

deferred

singular behaviour
science

the mistaken
which

one

where

eye-witness,
says
with

the

"

the

home

Socrates'
of

purely

unfamiliar.

were

the

been

too

familiar

of

thing for

Of

is that

worst

Paeonians, inhabitants

that

for

in two

us

imaginarydate

event,

and

Laches

ecstasies

the

into

is described

Delium

after

and

from

men

"

from

all

German
a

the

region
'

rapt

'

any

of

Symposium

'

remark.
special
in the panicky retreat
Socrates

cause

which

touch,

ignorantbest to remove
the chief curiosity
about

of the passage

have

possessionmust
to

'

excellent

an

their

lonians

lonians

the

is also

showed

trances

"*

forces from

years

were

emendations

conduct

The

the

'

where

turns

of Socrates

done

who

the text, that the persons

secular

It

moment.

editors have

modern

many

for

of

the Athenian
of Plato.

passages

of which

dialogueis some
Alcibiades,speaking of the matter

"

he

as

Socrates

retired himself
who

horseback

on

In

eight
as

he

an

fell in

of course,

servingas hoplites,
that Socrates
showed
himself much
the more
self-possessed
(e/xcppcou)
of the pair,bearinghimself exactlyas Aristophaneshad represented
of Athens, and that
him as doing in the streets
it was
due to his
coolness

that

Laches

{Symp. 221 b).

dialoguenamed

and

similar account

after

tell you

well

himself, as
him.

for he says, 'He

I

were,

that

if

is

Indeed

given by

Laches

accompanied me
had

off

Socrates, came

as

Laches

goes
in the

done

his

unhurt

himself

further

in the

in his

from
flight

mendation
com-

Delium,

duty as he did, our

have
that calamity' {Laches 181
fallen on
never
b).
It is notable
that, for whatever
Xenophon tells us nothing
reason,
whatever
about any of these military
learn from
: for all we
exploits
him Socrates
within
have come
might never
sightof a stricken field,
deeds as
though one would think a brief reference to the philosopher's
brave and loyalsoldier would
have been much
valuable in
a
more
a
professed
apologiafor his life than many chaptersof the moralizing
small talk with which
Thus
Plato is really
our
Xenophon abounds.
later story
only authorityfor the campaigns of Socrates (the one
about them, that he saved the life of Xenophon at Delium
is plainly
only a confused douhlette of what the Symposium says about his rescue
of Alcibiades
before Potidaea, and is shown
to be false by the simple
may
city would

every

one

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO^S

have

must

of

Cyrus

"

if

that

consideration

Xenophon

been

between

on^p

cctottou,

the

for

rigorous

fiction

pure

to

easy

this

declare that

to

what

though

"

he

dramas

prose

is that

critic who
is from

has

of

had

the

beginningto

end

fiction could

be

it is not

say.

I turn

chief

of
pointof interest, Plato's account
It is plainthat accordingto
Socrates.

the other

to

now

"

of
philosophic mission
Plato the turning-point
in Socrates'

the

'

'

the

Delium

fightat

to

joinedthe enterprise
say). The onlyreally
to have
freelyinvented

German

militaryrecord
the objectof the

23

he

of his

hero

'

'

courage

when
fifty

believe Plato

the

extremely vigorous and

the

enough

mathematicians

those who

for
position
biographicalincidents
consistent

old

was

fortyand
as

SOCRATES

OF

famous
of

greatest
in

means

assured

oracle which
all the

the

'

wits

'

language

Chaerephon

of the

of

the

life

inner

age

the deliverance

was

that

(for that

Periclean

Socrates

is what
As

age).

of
the

was

aocpcoTaTo?
have

we

seen,

an
earlymanhood
of science
and
enthusiastic
student
of a philosophical
the author
hypothesis by the help of which both the puzzlesraised by the
doctrine of Anaxagoras and the perplexingmathematical
questions
first brought into clear lightby Zeno
be
met.
successfully
might

Plato's account

represents Socrates

as

being in

his

'

is careful

He

to

generation had
eminence
mouth

of

let

know

us

formed

that

the

greatest

of

men

an

earlier

of Socrates'
future
highestexpectations
as
a
philosopher. Such expectationsare put into the
with reference to the promise of Socrates' early
Parmenides

youth (Parm.

130

the

and

d)

135

e,

again

of

that

into

Protagoras
showing quite

in the latter
(Protag.361 e), the context
passage
formed
he had
that
had
his
clearly
Protagoras
opinion,which
from
the conversation
already expressed to many
persons ', not
but during that first visit to Athens
on
reportedin the dialogue,
in the
which
he had made
the acquaintanceof Socrates, who
figures
Burnet
to him.
As Professor
dialogueas alreadyquite well known
*

observes, this
Thurii

in

444

by Pericles
a
colony.
of

and
text

by

So

that
And

to

when

in which

we

are

he

is

foundation

the

hardly have

been

of

chosen

of so important
up the constitution
taken back
again to the early manhood

are

of the

"

would

accepted as

Republic to

called

the

of

youth

the

is

Timaeus

of Polemarchus

accordingto the best

and
of Cephalus in that
by the presence
in the earlier years of the Peloponnesian

both

fall somewhere

Socrates

would

although the imaginary date

Republic 328
"

earlier than

drawing

allusions

they

"

dialogue
war,

the

Protagoras

or

assist in

Lysias
in

b.c,

been

have

must

to

Socrates.

shown

visit

be
an

man

veavtcrKOL

of

rather

forty

over

equal by Timaeus,

"

the

way

Pythagorean of

points in
as

he

the

manhood

to

dominating figurein
to

the

Chaerephon as

of the

one

also knew

Xenophon

is

Aristophanesthis

According to
with

and

science

the

of

"

'

leisured young

men

enjoyment of
sophistAntiphon

pure

school

in

the

fee for the

charginga
implied when

Socrates

the associates

who

'

crvpovcTLa

423,

year

of the

coterie.

scientific
the

not

and

general.

"

'

which

pursuits
rich

and

in later life from

Socrates

he

when
of

speaks of

his

the

associates

'

'

is that of the central

ality
person-

students

makes

{Mem.

in

the

a)

devoted

organization,

Socrates

association

Antiphon

central

in

members

means

less advanced

with

which

comment

to

Socrates
the

was

of this

about

rob

'

would

only common
clearlythey,and

wishing
the

that

not

he

as

20

of associates

he

devoted

his talk, whom

That
{(TvvovaLacrTois).
of the

just what

collected

who

(Tim.
politics

higher knowledge

existence

it is

for

table,

common

band

or

the

most

accordingto Aristophaneshad
but

in

as
distinguished

regularschool

prosecution of

ACADEMY

suggestionis

become

and

science

The

direction.

same

grew

in

both

highestdistinction

the

BRITISH

THE

OF

PROCEEDINGS

24

distinctly
implied
unwisdom

the

on

i.6.

is

11),and

of

than

more

not

merely

in his

replydescribes himself and his friends

in the habit of 'unrollingtogether the stores
of the old wits
as
which
they have left us in the books they have written' {ib. 14).
life of this kind is, in fact, just what
Plato makes
Parmenides
A
or
Protagoras prophesy for Socrates, and it is impliedby all the
its fulfilment.
rules of artistic compositionthat the prophecy had
Thus
I .think it plainthat Plato wishes us
of Socrates as
to think
having been the regularhead of an organizedschool. The natural
thing,to quote Professor Burnet again,would be that he should succeed
of the school
his own
the head
teacher Archelaus
founded
as
by
of
is
But
from
the
character
the
it
not
Anaxagoras.
merely
plain,
doctrines
Socrates
ascribed
to
by Plato, but from the prominence
special
of Pythagoreans like Cebes, Simmias, and
Phaedondas
among
his

death,

from

his

were

to

him

have

probablybe
become

more

and

in the Phaedo

taught by Anaxagoras
would

with

Socrates

at

with Pythagoreans such

friendship

Philolaus, Theodorus,
ascribed

still connected

and

the source,
than

half

Echecrates, and
between
the

that the

'

views

school

of
""

time

of

Timaeus,
hesitation

type of cosmology

the Ionian

Italian

as

the

from

the

which

under

not
Pythagoreanized,

Philolaus

Socrates

mention

to

the

must

that

that many
of its members,
to mean
burlesquein the Clouds seems
the ascetic Pythagorean rule of life \
includingSocrates,practised
In Plato, whose
either
dialoguesmostly deal with Socrates as a man
in the early forties or
in advanced
life,we naturallydo not hear
of this side of his activity,
of
much
and are
to think
clearlymeant
'

him

as

the
having abandoned
to preach attention
though the
public,

Athenian

in the

reappear
has been

of

group

where

Phaedo

affairs

the

to

we

SOCRATES

of

old

have

been

we

that

the

Of

given.

proceedingis

the date

can,

the

not

at

the

course

very

answer

I do not

to

the

of

the

into

dicastery.As
missionaryto

becomes

how

the

about

to

oracle to

this

whole

the

oracle,but

the

to

important

assumes

know

due

been

have

Plato

of

mission

his

the

fact

strike any

it may

askingof the questionby Chaerephon impliesthat, when he put it to the god, Socrates was not only
with
considerable
a
alreadya man
reputationas one of the wits ^
but
the recognizedpresidentof a societyto
which
Chaerephon
fact
that
the
taken
of the oracle was
sense
belonged. Hence the very
to me
to indicate that the famous
by Chaerephon seems
questionwas
asked not merely to gratifyChaerephon'spersonalcuriosity
but on
behalf of a body of
associates
anxious
to
get the approval of
than human
a
more
authorityfor their estimate of their chief. This
is a pointon
which every man
decide for himself accordingto
must
his own
of human
conceptionsof the probablein a matter
psychology,
if
but
own
judgement on the matter is a sound one, it is significant
my
that
the associates
such
should
attach
specialimportance to the
verdict of the Pythia. This can
hardlybe explainedby the supposed
of the Hellenic world for the oracle at Delphi. At
generalreverence
Athens
the oracle was
for sound political
reasons
an
picious
objectof susdislike. It laconised
as
shamelesslythroughout the Archiand Decelean
damian
it
had formerly medised
and
wars
as
was
afterwards
to
The
real ground for the application
\
to
philippise
of the Pythia was
Delphi would rather be that the inspirer
Apollo
the central divine figureof Pythagorean religion.(To be sure
the
the Delian, and it is at least highlypossible
god of Pythagoraswas
that Apollo of Delos
and
distinct
Apollo of Delphi were
originally
deities belongingto different peoples,
but the sense
of the difference
would
be
lost long before the time
of Chaerephon.
The
poetic
t
he
of
legendsrelating progress
over
Euboea, Attica
Apollo westward
and Boeotia
the
to
alreadyfamous shrine of Pytho, where he entered
else,but

one

to

mind

after

thing
significant

obvious

asked.

question was

which

'

soul

one's

man

brought to an end by the sentence

all know, the change which
made
Socrates
we
Athenians
at largeis said in the Apology to
of the Pythian prophetess. So it
utterance
discover, if

general

specialphilosophicassociates

the

see

25

study for

of the

retirement

mission

OF

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO^S

my

the very

'

'

'

'

'

'

"

as

conqueror,

distinct
oracle

was

deities

in

fact,look

into

given,a

one

terminus

like

deliberate

single figure.) As
ad

qicem

may

to

attempt
the

to

date

be inferred from

fuse
when

two

the

comparison

S6

PROCEEDINGS

of

the

THE

OF

BRITISH

Platonic

Apology with the

Aristophanes. The Apology tells us
of Socrates

and

Charmides
the

that

leisured lads,which

the rich and

on

ACADEMY
the

Clouds

of

widespreadinfluence
was

of the

one

excuses

for his

mission
out of his self-imposed
arose
accidentally
prosecution,
of detectingthe vain pretences of the different professorsof special
knowledge',and that it was the oracle which set him upon this task.
Of course,
Professor Burnet
treats
as
says, in the Apology Socrates
the business of the oracle with
the
scarcelyveiled humour, but even
'

humorous

would

career

be

the oracle must

wishes

of

Mentor

known

youth.
capacityas earlyas

he at

made

soon

as

for his 'accustomed

attained
that

from

Plato

which

his
he

already

was

with

his service

as

vogue

Socrates'

Potidaea,

at

haunts'

the

"

"

'

'

men

about

of Socrates' closer
the

absurd

relative of

cousins

therefore
when
that

before

of

group

the

old

been

of

before

he

near

into

came

response of the oracle

beginningof the Peloponnesianwar,

forty,and

thought

the

rects
cor-

Plato, the

The

the

it worth

fact

that

there

was

i.e.
at

were

while to ask

Apollo whether
less
hardly mean

can

position as

adherents.

largelyPythagorean
that

thus

the friend of his uncles

of the * wits '

very foremost
then held a perfectlydefinite

he

and

that

the

not

that

who

years

birth.)

own

under

was

date persons

than

his

Charmides

writers

had

who

man

before

given

twenty

was

eminent

later

of

statement

an

Socrates

was

acquaintance with

Charmides,

with

contact

he

view

c, for it opens

he returned

as

It follows that

the

assumes

b.

about

palaestrae and
about the condition
of
inquiries
philosophy and the young
also, this gives us a date
dui'inghis absence.
(Incidentally
for the beginwhich Plato is not likely
to have
been mistaken
ning

once

made

and

430

his

on

facts
chronological

had

Socrates

in this

its influence

construction.

the Charmides

Now

that

the

given,accordingto

accept, before

statement

own

been

such

of

give

to

jestsif

of

admit

not

have

to

us

silliest of

the

biographydid

his

is made

he

which

version

We

leader

the

need

not,

of

of the

that
Socrates
Apology means
had
never
any singleyouth of promise
any personalinfluence over
before this date.
The
in the Symposium
tale of Alcibiades
famous
expressly
lays stress on the point that the admiration of Alcibiades
for Socrates
child.
This, in
mere
a
began when the former was
for the
Alcibiades
fact, is the real excuse
extraordinarymethods
fidence
professesto have attempted in his anxietyto gain Socrates' full concourse,

suppose

and
what
'

the

This

he
man

affection.

does
can

That

of himself

afford

story

to

connexion
particular

even

drunken

is incredible

smile
must

at

the

unless

Alcibiades
we

bear

extravagance

thus be much

should
in

of the

mind
mere

relate
that

boy '.

earlier than the relation

of Socrates

the

to

in

i^eot

general as

presupposedby Plato's story.

must
mere
boyhood of Alcibiades

extensive

though

one,

alreadyincluded

it

for Socrates

time

lads

of

with
such

In

fact

the

in

the

"

in

friend

the

circle

the

153

very

d) that

requiredsome

have

Alcibiades

of

the

Athenian

been

have

dialogue{Charm.
it must

in

notice
special
time

that

cannot

actually

before

the

any

outside

personalinfluence

the

group
naturallybe

would

Pyrilampes.
publicfame

of Pericles' intimate

connexions

Laches

him

well

serving in
at

is

as

began

time

that

sure

course

the

which

attracted

not

the

Of
his

the

as

see

extend

whom

familiar,

from

to

was

admired

Critias.

to

back

27

Mentor,

relation

go

be

may

we

we

For

had

lads who

and

men

young

Charmides

even

until 430

Socrates

from
of

if

But

cavalry.

admired

an

Alcibiades

in which

battle at Potidaea

SOCRATES

OF

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

distinctly
implied that the
of Socrates
the vioi does not go
as
a
among
person widely admired
battle
That
back beyond the years just after the battle at Delium.
is the latest event
alluded to in the dialogueand it is natural to
from
the strengthof the impressionthat Socrates' conduct
suppose
facts to

be

made

has

retreat

it is

that

Laches,

upon

we

to

are

the

assume

Lysimachus, the son of the great

Aristeides,an old friend of Socrates' family,observes (Lach. 180 e)
that though he had heard a good deal of talk from the
lads about
Socrates
wonderful
a certain
as
a
being,it had not yet occurred to
Yet

quite recent.

'

'

him

that

friend

the

Sophroniscus. We

influence of Socrates

began
time

their admiration

of

Socrates

with

connexion

much

not

the

on

thus

are
'

young

later than

440

that the
suppose
of rich and leisured families '

men

b.c.

of his old

son

plainlyto

Alcibiades

with

the

was

which

must

(This point is

go

back

further

to

some

impliedin

the

introductorynarrative of the Protagoras,where Socrates and

Alcibiades are
alreadyfast friends at a time when Alcibiades is only
beginning to show the signs of puberty (Prot. 309 b), and also by

the

tacit

assumption in the Symposium narrative that Socrates was

at the beginningof this friendship
still young
tic
enough for the romanoffers of Alcibiades
whole
not
to be a patent absurdity. The
biades
story is, in fact, thoroughly ill-conceived unless we think of Alcilittle

as

says
a

himself,to be allowed

young

man,

the
itself,

similar

the

closer

to

romantic
go

outside not

of which

relation to

alreadyon

the

at the

date

before

years

is

than

more

great
his

close terms

must
war,

young
of

acquaintance of

we

out

much

child

just old enough,

alone, and

Socrates

as

as

he

still quite

thirty.In the Protagoras

be supposed to be at any rate some
find Socrates
standingin a rather

friend

over

Hippocrates,and before 430, he

intimacy with Critias. In 430 he makes
Charmides, who is then {Charm. 154 b)

28

PROCEEDINGS

THE

OF

BRITISH

ACADEMY

be fixed
Early in the war
though the year cannot
we
find,as is only natural, that he is a close friend of the step-sons
of Pyrilampes,Adeimantus
and
Glaucon, and friendlywith two
of Cephalus, whom
lads
and Lysias,sons
Polemarchus
he would
ber
naturallyknow, if I am right in the assumption that he was a memfrom
the fact that Cephalus was
of the Periclean circle,
an
tant
impora

fieipaKiov,

"

"

'

of Pericles.

protege
that

influence

extensive

But

it is not

upon

which

until after 424

the

that

of

charge

hear

we

of

corruptingthe

'

the very year after Delium

That
ultimatelyfounded.
should have seen
the earliest burlesquesof the comic
poets on him,
and that Aristophanesshould have made
him
double the character
of a scientific saint of the Pythagorean type with that of a
teacher
of the youths' (there is,in fact, only a forced connexion
between
his performances as a geometer and hierophantof strange gods and his
miseducation
of Pheidippides) seems
equallyto show that his popularity
with the uioL had just been greatlyaugmented and was
a
The
in the year
of the
Clouds.
novelty to the average Athenian
topicalcaricaturist does not select for his subjectfacts which have
alreadybeen familiar for years, and if the comedians with one accord
have
fell on Socrates
just at a particulartime, he must in some
way
himself to
done
suffered something very recentlyto recommend
or

youths

was

'

"

"

their notice.
that

suppose

things in

423.

activities of the

served

dialoguesas
as
as

whole

the

successive

of the

of younger

earliest
show
the

us

period,the
Socrates

further

wits

'

is

exhibitions
in

the

But

the
as

life of Socrates

the
he

is to

third

central

bring to naught

same

the

wise

Plato

and

affectionate

plainlymeans

us

is

the

mainly
scences
remini-

opening
of

the

of the

Republic

development,whereas

first book
a

he

and

books

mainly

appears

in which

belong to

Platonic

of the

the Parmenides

level of the

of his power

critic of

of the
'

those

Charmides, Laches, Euthydemus, Meno,

chieflythe

promise.

the

hardly
comedy.)

successful

great interest

Thus

and

of

in which

the

theatre,and would

conceptionof

',and

large,were

private affair,of

more

the construction

in the Phaedo

Timaeus
a

wits

Protagoras^ the Gorgias, and

dramatic

he

at

his
*

men.

put into his mouth

that

stages,one

in which

pretendedwisdom

the

material

to this

conforms

student, a second

the counsellor

for the

Clouds,

applyequallyto

not

to

us

the

at

men

young

were

spectatorsin

be noted

course,

exhibitingthree
a

of

mass

means

prominent in

would

They
cppovrLa-rripLov.

of themselves

should, of

It

remark

same

Plato

infer that

may

thingsmade
popularitywith

his

(The

less interest to the

have

we

of the

least two

at

poverty and

Socrates'
new

I think

Hence

Republic are
who
and

older adviser of young

to understand

pass

for

elsewhere
men

of

that the interests

of

of these

one

the

Timaeiis

in

conversations

the

masker

the

dramatis

find

we

the

by

assumed

date

which

of

laid

is

be held

to

the

after

416,

\6yoL of Lysias,thus implying his

dwells

the

on

real

them

and

416,

of Isocrates

risingfame

as

capacityfor philosophy.

Socrates, in advanced

middle

Thurii

Just

play
dis-

\6yoL which

the

in

as

Athens, but

to

writer of

conversation

only criticizes the

it not

as

the

Symposium,

Phaedru^,

recapture all

can

age,

folk among

young

the

in

from

return

youth.

of -Socrates
peculiarities
to his earliest youth,but

back

on

his

days after
is partlythe unguide,philosopher

other

the

ecstatic

right

go

stress

which

taken

be

must

to

in

only two

Socrates

and

Adeimantus,

intentional

an

held

being

Republic,where

Apology

Thus

charmed

had

Phaedo,

Similarlythe

personae.

said

are

another.

into

pretenderThrasymachus, partlythe

of the

friend of Glaucon,

and

the

to

29

absorptionto just such speculations

listens with

Socrates

SOCRATES

continued

be

dialogue is representedas

that

But

'

periods could

which, according

those

as

'

OF

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO^S

dialogue

one

ardour

the

of his

speaksto a fit audience about the

fair among
thousand
and altogetherlovely', so in the other,
ten
the
him
of
into
state
at
same
a
inspiredmadness
topic rouses
he must
date when
be thought of as
a
already an official yepcov;
first

youthfulenthusiasm

when

he

'

'

'

he

though
the less

died

one

lads who

'

Plato

the

or

of seventy, we

man

of the

speak,when
world

brings him
youth of

eager

of his lover-like devotion

that

his audience

never

would

understand,

not

outbursts

of the

Symposium

utterance

of the

Republicabout

sun,

that

in

are

prison,with

whollyback
when
Of

reminders

he

to the

haunted

the

his

the

outward

anything.

Probably there

was

these

likelyto

years,

Socrates'

that
revealed
'

Sir

as

year

of

'

devised

held

the aims

irrational

him

not

was

be called

up
to

back

fifth century,
the

forgotten; the

for
the
from

which

old man's

for himself

in

and

the

Plato

sat

at

with

to

what

campaigning

feet of Zeno.

tell.

man

not

Amphi-

there

assertions

immortal

the capacitiesof

of

us

tell

are

in

was

of
may
and
over

youthful
that

us

fifty

over

active

other

Phaedo

be said to

much

that

tual
spiri-

our

thoughtswent
the early days

campaign

cannot

repeated

is

politics.We
of the Athenian
democracy w^ere more
and
unscrupulousexpansion,empire

Socrates, too, mig-lithave said

John, ' You that are old consider

is

reason

story of the

the

life after the

Arginusae

and, according

sign
as

had

with

close,the

facts of Socrates'

the

he has

of Good

Form

school of Archelaus

to

not

the

publiclife at

polis down

that

not

harmonize

theory he

of this

wise

Phaedrus, like the briefer passionate

and

which

the

Forms, but

of the

or

none

usually

He
with

company

was

does not

last quarter of the

the

Beauty

to

he

suppose,

old \^

grow

into

to

are

Plato,
pose
supmore

every
yepcov,

young.'

30

PROCEEDINGS
and

one

hard

at

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

price,Socrates'

any

it had

as

OF

judgement of the Periclean system,

(to judge from the language Plato thinks

been

long

appropriateto him in the Republic),became harder. In the Republic

Imperialistic
democracy,though declared the worst system of government
short of sheer personaltyranny, is in detail treated
in the main
with
smiles at its Kcence and jobbery.
detached
humour
a
; Socrates
of invective,and
In the Gorgias his language is that
the name
of
Pericles appears
Athens
curious
the

that

the

on

of

friend

very

the

still exercise
even

over

of Athens

Demos

handsome
is

by
it

knowing

not

makes

it

except

that

of

which

on

how

his business

was

the Demos

be the year

to

occasion

recent

ideals and

he

to

was

cannot

well

who

produced

the

PovXevTTJ?,was
is
of

as

much

that

member

Athens

"

as

distasteful to

can

It

terms.

the

passes

is

heaviest

creators, the

Gorgias,
given

of

Arginusae,as
had

'

there

made

of the

say
the

the

that
one

in

had

Socrates

PovXrj at
be

must

about

less than

mean

Frogs
prepared to

to

as

Socrates

is

himself

allusion

an

'

ridiculous

in the assemblyas
to the vote
put a matter
do, being one of the prytanes. (As the Apology

the

time

personal

Pyrilampes(Plato ""sown
for 'philosophy
and Alcibiades'.
the imaginarydate of the conversation

Socrates

Arginusae generals,this
Gorgias refers.) The sentiment

the

to

capitalpoint

after

their

which

the love of Callicles is

that whereas

and

strongest

dialoguewhich

his is reserved
half-brother),
all the more
that
significant
seems

to

democratic

declares
definitely

the

This

in the

so

cracy,
demo-

the

loved

the

influence

the

in the

taught

Symposium Alcibiades,

itself,is still

nature

had

it is curious,and

Yet

speaks of

better

his

all the

on

Socrates
to

and
philosopher,

who

haughty spiritof
in
final enterprise

fatal and

tyrant city undid

singularthat

more

censure

of the
'

of the

wickedness.

reckless and

of the
eve

false statesmen

be true, that in the

feels it must

one

incarnation

very

v^pL^

follyand

but

nothing

list of those

the

on

the

the

hope

of

of the

occasion

office

any

of the trials
to

the

which

uttered

such

at

that

Socrates,like Aristophanes,

very

year

ready to

was

the time

Alcibiades

recall Alcibiades
he

held

never

on

see

salvation

when
his

Socrates
own

terms

was

"

which

him

the

real monarch

for

the

city, a

view

that
SrjfjLos
though the Frogs is
to urge
it,Aristophaneshas to pretend
clearlywritten principally
that his objectin the play is to damage the literary
reputation of
his real pointonly at the very end and, as it
and to make
Euripides,
(At least this is how I should explainthe singular
by accident.
were,
fact that after all that has been said against Euripides'
frail heroines,
his monodies
and metrical
licences,Euripidesand Aeschylus come
out
so
evenly balanced on their poeticalmerits that the decision
so

mass

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

by a
a

better poet

moods

actual

the

saw

of

time

the

From

of the

'

if

as

unexpectedquestion
reallytriumphant,not

is

that

sure

he

because

Socrates,Plato

Aristophanes

even

advises

whelp.')
of Arginusae on

of

made,

is

and

tells

compliance
weeks

to the

battle

the

Passion

but

"

31

world

upper

Aeschylus

so

lion's

the

be rash to be too
him

reallythought

the

with

it would

"

to

the sudden

on

of Alcibiades.

they think

himself

back

sent

Pluto, to depend

of

whim

what
as

is to be

of them

which

SOCRATES

OF

which

nothing

us

of

his

Apology about the affairs

of
execution
of Leon
and of the arbitrary
of the trial of the generals
Salamis, and these two stories are only told for the specialpurpose
of showing that the philosopher
was
equallyready to risk his life in
of righteousness,
whether
the cause
against an angry populace or
is no
Platonic
dialogue
against a little ring of oligarchs.There
in
this
date
its
which
to assume
as
seems
unhappy
imaginary
any year
of
refers
interval,with the probableexception the Meno, which
(71 c)
Socrates
and Gorgias. As the opening
to a previousmeeting between
is supposed
lines of the Gorgias (447 a) seem
Socrates
to imply that
in that
dialogueto be meeting the famous rhetorician for the first
that the conversation
with Meno
time, this may be taken as indicating
is thought of as subsequentto the interview described in the Gorgias^
how
much
but there is nothing to show
later it is supposed to be.
from
It cannot
Greece
be after the departureof Meno
to join the
the Anabasis,
learn from
Meno, as we
campaign of Cyrus. Now
reached
Cyrus at Colossae in the spring of 401, and we must
sumably
pretime
for the collection of the motley band
of
allow some
Hence
he brought with him.
cannot
we
Highlanderswhom
suppose
with Socrates
the imaginary date of his conversation
to be
at Athens
other point
time in 402, and it may
later than some
be earlier. The
from

doings apart

be

to

considered

to

the

we

and

other

date

the

of the

of

the

Anytus

is

present

warning
to

greater
before

prepared

to

one

the

go,

the

at

and

the end

of the

its leaders

since

after the

before

meeting.

As

withdrew

who

in Athens

out
through-

Thrasybulus,

with

of 404

after

or

Since the violent outbursts

Socrates

to

into exile

went

the

democrats

quarters, but remained

be indications

prosecution,and

with

Athens

Anytus
dialogue either

democracy

clearlymeant

than

of

followingyear.

his solemn

criticism

much

stories

anarchy,whereas

must

amnesty
and

retire from

Peiraeus

the

two

is that

did not

Socrates

the

of

the

Anytus
his free

danger into which

likelyto bring him are

of the feeling
which
led to the philosopher's
this danger was
likelyto be a very

reign

of

is

terror

and

the

short

the lengthsto
oligarchyhad shown
the latest imaginarydate assignableto

civil

which
the

it

war

was

dialogue

the

seems

to

which

connect

me

natural.

most

with

themselves

ACADEMY

BRITISH

THE

OF

PROCEEDINGS

32

Hence,

the

from

apart

death

trial and

actual

the

dialogues
of

Socrates

Politicus),
(^Apology,Crlto,Euthyphro, Phaedo, Theaetetus,Sophistes,
the latest imaginary conversation
to be meant
the Meiio
as
seems
'

dialogues.So far is it from being,as

for the free handling of
Gomperz fancied,an apology to the Sfj/xos
in the Gorgias^that part of its purpose
statesmen
democratic
seems
that the leaders of the restored democracy were
even
to be to show
where
the oligarchs
intolerant than
more
philosophywas concerned.
had attempted to shelter themselves
The
by entrapping the
oligarchs
of the age
into complicity,
the restored democrats
iustissimus
units
were
ready to take his life because he criticized their idols.
connected
with the actual prosecutionand death
Of the events
of Socrates

among

of Socrates, Plato

has

much

who

contemporary

prosecutor

Platonic

has

(iv. 4

named
his

preparationsfor

which

us

be noted

anything

Memorabilia

w^as

tell

to

it should

Only

here.
repetition

Xenophon's

the

of

his

tell

defence, and

own

actual

the

made

Socrates

sole

From

us.

that

learn

we

for

reallythe

is

importance to

Meletus, that

speech in

Plato

that

iv. 8)

well known

is too

previous

no

(i.1) that the

and

corruptingthe
also told in Bk. i of certain charges of a general
are
youth. We
the existing'laws
kind, such as teachinghis associates to contemn
and usages
the use
of the lot in appointmentsto office,
by ridiculing
weakening the influence of parents over their children,and sayingthat
and
kind of occupationis discreditable,and of the more
no
specific
rational accusation of beingresponsible
for the offences of Alcibiades
and Critias ; but these accusations are ascribed so loosely
to an unnamed
that it is not even
clear whether
accuser
they were
Xenophon means
the
the
actually
urgedby
pamphlet-war
prosecutors or only figuredin
formal

accusation

was

of

one

offences
religious

'

'

'

about
For

the

the

character

the Memorabilia

rest

prosecutionof
the
of

of Socrates

Socrates

attemptedrescue
it, much
though

purpose,
it is

is not

even

true, mentions

that

we

four

words

should
'

not

when

or

from

which

throws

prisonand

it would

this, but
know

with

his friends

been
The

in

any
had

so

brief

obscure

mind

incident

famous

writer

and

certaintywhat
a

either the

on

of

apologetic
Xenophontic Apologia^
the

to

death.

refusal to avail himself

Socrates'

have

mentioned.

the

Even

his

after

lightwhatever

no

his death.

started

was

to

hurried
is meant

steal him

way

by
'

away

the

{rcou

iKKXiyp-ai
avTou), but for the Crito of Plato,
povXo/iii/cou
which
is manifestly
of the allusion.
For
the source
the rest the
of the tract are mainlypalpableborrowingsfrom the Apology,
contents
of Plato, except for two
not
Crito,and Phaedo
very happy additions
eTaipcov

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

first of these is the remarkable

The

corrections.

or

Socrates' object in
to

was

likelyin

other

The

and

old

on

age

so

comical

the

creditable

left

vigorous enough to
is an illuminating
example of

baby

defiance
and

weakness
motive
in

one

or

behind

arms

author's

the

ment,
state-

Hermogenes,

reallya

was

escape

hardly a

"

and

which

have

man

defence

conviction

own

attendant

disorders

him.

his

ensure

making

dS

Socrates' friend

of
authority

the

to depend on
alleged

that

SOCRATES

OF

regardfor

Apollodorus,obviouslythe person described in the

the
Phaedo
as
breaking down in the death-scene and nicknamed
but otherwise
admirer of the master
softy (d fxaXaKos),a passionate
I cannot
bear,Socrates,
a simpleton',
says Xenophon, exclaimed,*What
of your
which
it is related that
is the injustice
To
execution'.
verisimilitude.

'

'

answered, strokinghis friend's head, Would

'

Socrates

you

rather

see

This
?
is,of course, simply a doublette of
deservedly
Socrates
about
Plato's patheticlittle touch
toying with the curls
to be
of Phaedo.
But
which version of the story is the more
likely

executed

me

correct

Plato

In

there

stillwears

lad who

'

is

real

his hair

long,and

that these fine curls will be cut

by

playfulgesture meant

he will look

as

is the

to

as

Symposium, We
rather
stilla boy

boy {Symp. 173 a) or

took placein 416.
I.e. he
when

'

'

remark

friend
'

learn that

then
when

is

sign of mourning

imagine his young

Apollodorusthe

in Plato's

narrator

the time

off to-morrow
to

Phaedo

accompaniesa

Socrates

help him

incident.

the

to

he has lost his locks.

when

at

point

the

famous

'

softy

he

was

banquet

born some
was
years before that date, but
repeats the story he is as the words imply

he

"

"

and

three years in constant

daily
spendingsome
This
attendance
Socrates.
on
impliesthat Socrates is stillalive and
if the
that, consequently,
softy had ever any curls to lose,they had
all been shorn long before the final scene
in the prison. The
act of
and also has
Socrates,as represented
by Xenophon, is thus pointless,
kind of connexion, as the corresponding
act in the Phaedo
no
has,
with
the speech which
accompanies it. Such an illustration of
in being highlysceptical
us
Xenophon's methods may fairlyjustify
about any incidents related by him
find support
for which we cannot
in the Platonic
dialogueswhich, as I hold, though this is not the
place to argue the point, he has drawn on very freelyin all his
Socratic
writings.^
a

has been

who

man

'

'

'

'

For

the

banquet in
evidence

'

three

416

that

and
the

'

years

and

the recital
nickname

long interval hetween the occurrence

given by Apollodorus see Sympos. 172
the

of

Apollodorus

editors give it^6 /xai/tfcd?^

Burnet's
see
Lis annotated
Indeed
to

edition

on

Phaedo

59

text
a

9,

fxaXaKos,

e.

For

the

really 6 fxoKaKos, not as most

Sympos. 173 d, and his remarks in

was

of
which

to

seem

Xenophon's epithetei"r}^7;s
28) strikes
(Apoloy,

the nickname

of the

mc

as

me
an

quite conclusive.
intentional

allusion

34

PROCEEDINGS
It will be

seen,

Socrates,as he
with

different

and

haunter

BRITISH

ACADEMY

our

in Plato''sdialogues,
comes

biographyand

There
individuality.
: (1) from
personality
science and

THE

think, that the result of

appears

pretty full

discern the

OF

before

in which

is that

examination
us

as

person

quitereadily
stages,and a very definite and stronglymarked
in his complex
at least five strains combined
are
a

career

his earliest manhood

of the circle of the

we

he has
'

wits

'

can

been

votary of

of the Periclean

age,

justhis prominencein this character which, by prompting

the questionof Chaerephonto Apollo,has led to his assuming the part,
of the doctrine that virtue is knowledge
familiar to us, of apostle
so
of the good and that this knowledge is the one
thingneedful ; (2)he
is a man
of immense
at the age of
physicalvigour,full of life even
him
record of military
threescore years and ten, and has behind
a
service and shrewdness
affairs which is of the
of judgement in military
most
caused his opinion to be valued by
kind and
distinguished
the militaryexperts of his day ; (3) he is a distinct opponent of
Periclean
ness
hardens into bitterimperialdemocracy,whose opposition
and something like unfairness as he grows
older,and the upshot
of a commercialistic
visiblymanifest in fact ;
imperialismis more
(4) he is a 'saint' of the Orphic type, and an illumine,a seer of
visions and subject
to 'rapts';(5) and yet, unlike the mysticsof all
but the first order,he is kept sane
throughoutby that sense of humour
and the due proportionof thingswhich his enemies
mistake for a mere
sly pretence,and call his irony'. It is this,before anything else,
it is

'

'

'

which

makes

him

sweeter

and

Hellenic

prototype of our own

respectsa kind of Socrates
giftof seeingthingsin their

saner

Carlyle. Carlyle,in fact, is in many

manqite, driven by failure to exercise the
rightproportion,and above all by failure to exercise 'irony'upon
himself,into alternations of high-flown
raptures about the eternities
and immensities with moods
of that unqualified
pessimismw^hich the
Phaedo
calls misology'. A good deal more
might be inferred if it
^

were

part

tells us

of

purpose, as it is not, to take into account

the doctrines of the man
and the known

my

about

leaningsof the group

his life-longcomrades

whom

'

of

the

life and

'.

both

But,

Plato
as

and

I have

what

Plato

philosophical

Xenophon name
alreadysaid,it

for

us

as

is Plato's

of his hero, not his statements

personality
his views
about
is
which
science and philosophy,
on
topicthis
my
The questionat issue is justthis,whether
afternoon.
such a character
and such a biography impress us as a vivid and dramatically
true
of a living
the free invention of an artist
as
reproduction
or
original,
anxious
to draw
an
imaginary picture of an ideal sage. My own
thesis is that on
the second supposition
it is unintelligible
why Plato
should have imagined such a host of small biographical
details and
account

succeeded

through

imagining them so
long series of works
have

denies,must

thought by

been

have

Plato

or

typicaland ideal wise man,

that what Plato
the supposition
who
of an actual original
was
of

in other

as

senses,

conclusion,if you

has

is a

given us
*

originalin

'

an

of that word.

one

the

peculiar
unlikelyto

to the

character

is therefore

and

is most

else necessary

one

any

no

century,there

that

again

personalcharacteristics

marked

of

combination

scattered

they are

best part of half

detected, and

be

35

compositionof which, as

the
the

ranged over

to
discrepancies

no

are

well that, though

in
a

SOCRATES

OF

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

You

may

wish, very simply.

If

we

on
only explicable
brilliant reproduction
the colloquial,
well
as

test

the

want

to

soundness
know

of this

how

Plato,
'

maturityof his powers, imaginedthe philosophictype,

The
he has given us the opportunity
to do so.
Eleatic stranger of
introduced to us in the opening
the Sophistesand Politicits is actually
of the former dialogueas an excellent sample of the type,
sentences
Plato is not compelledto adjustthe porand, as he is anonymous,
traiture
of
to the known
or
personal
peculiaritiesany one.
biography
like
This
far from
is
being
Berkeley's
Hylas or Hume's
personage
Cleanthes a mere
a
figure-head,
mouthpiecefor a theorypropounded
full

in the

'

discussion,and nothing

for

he
to

has

real individual

imagine any figureless like

from

As

more.

attentive reader

any
of

manner

the Socrates

his

own

whom

"

we

but

will perceive

it is hard

find sibi constans

and Pai'menides
to his
youth as described in the Phaedo
in
in
the
the
his
middle
prime
Republic^
Symposium and his death
age
in the Phaedo,
To
the
that
me
we
are
theory
dealingin these
with
a
dialogues
type or an imaginary figuresounds as wild and
his

unnatural
of

as

Carlylew^as
of

man

mind
As

it would
meant

be
to

to

maintain

represent the

that Pope had

letters,
or

Avhen he sketched

e.g.

the

no

character

Whistler's

painter'snotion

actual
of

that

'

of

portrait
a

typical

contemporary before his

Atticus '.

brief

pendantto what has gone before,and by way of comment

the dogma which still persists
in our
on
own
country, that it is from
Xenophon we must collect the facts about Socrates,I may subjoin
of the strictly
a brief statement
facts or unfacts recorded
biographical
by Xenophon. None of them, it will be observed, definitely
include
anything in the way of biographybelongingto the earlier periodof
Socrates' life which
might not have been directly
copied from the
Platonic
were
dialogueswhich
indubitablyused for Xenophon's
Apologia^as Xenophon himself all but tells us in the opening
a

sentences

of

the

work.

Socrates

(Hellenica i. 7. 15); he had

a
wife, with a temper of her

occasionally
given in the

son

was

who
whose

the
was

son

called

of

Sophroniscus
Lamprocles, and

Xanthippe,is
XenophonticSyvijjoslum
(ii.10).
own,

name,

once

36

PROCEEDINGS
list of his

from
of

the

THE

OF

associates

'

is

Phaedo, only that

Socrates,as

learn

we

BRITISH

given which

ACADEMY
to

seems

died

Chaerephon,who

from

Plato, is added.

be taken
before

Further,

direct

the
he

trial
was

of

Hipponicus (mentioned as the host of

of Glaucon, Plato, Charmides,
Protagoras in the dialogueProtagoras),
and, though Xenophon wishes us to think this connexion temporary,
friend

of

Callias,son

of Alcibiades

Critias,whom

and

hatred

faults of self-will and

he

of

sought in

vain to correct

He
discipline.

of their

well versed in the

was

highermathematics and astronomy of his time (Mem. iv. 7. 3 and 5),

service for most
though he did not think such knowledge of practical
He was
in performingthe ceremonies
men.
exceptionally
punctilious
than
more
requiredby the religionof the state, and 'practised'
of offering
in generalin the way
mankind
prayer and sacrifice on
his own
believed in oracles and
in
He
account.
prognostications
dreams, and regarded his own
peculiar sign as a kind of oracle
definite
privateto himself. But when we ask for something more
in the way
than these generalities
of biography,the Memorabilia
furnish us with remarkablylittle. We
learn {Mem. i. 1),as we
are
'

'

also told in the Hellenica^that

Socrates

was

or

eTriaTaTr]^,

chairman

of the assemblyin which the proposalto deal with the

sitting
Arginusae generalsen bloc was made, and that he refused to put the
proposalto the vote. (This is related without the further details given
by Plato in the Apology.) That in the oligarchic
reignof terror Critias
and Charicles,fearinghis censures
of their proceedings,
forbade him

for the

to

converse

to
a

vague

ence
with the young, and that Socrates,under a show of defer*
chaffed them
their authority,
about the absurdityof such
'

but
prohibition,

was

dismissed

with

he

Whether

threat.

at
obeyed the order we are not told. That Antiphon the sophist,
some
time, tried to draw away the companionswith whom
unspecified
Socrates
wits of old \
accustomed
to studythe writingsof the
was
That
of Heracles'*,
admired
Socrates
the apologue of the 'choice
which
had
been worked
by Prodicus.
up into a show-declamation
That
he once
tried hard to make up a quarrelbetween
Chaerephon
*

and

his brother

Chaerecrates.

That

he advised

friend who

had

lost

at
anarchyto set his women-folk
remunerative
he found
work.
That
for the wealthy Crito a useful
he prevented
That
to
factotum
blackmailers.
protect him from
Plato's brother Glaucon
from making himself ridiculous by tryingto

his

means

cut

says

of

support

figurebefore
Xenophon,

where

Glaucon
himself

the

of the
in

while
the eKKXrjo-ia

he

mention

in the
year of

did
of

from
Plato

he

Charmides

to
friendship
must

Republicis alreadya
battle,and a fast friend

be

an

This,

stillin his teens.

was

and

Plato,

inadvertence, since

young man
of Socrates

who
at

has
a

the

distinguished

date when

Plato

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S
been

have

must

Plato's

fit in well with

earlyas 430,
Decelean

if it

assumptionsof

of

the statement

about

that

was

incident

15).^ This

iii.6.

in

father

of

is

which

battle

Socrates

Lysias

to him

to show

seems

is said to

Glaucon

fought

at

the

the
tinguished
dis-

have
date

as

that

happening during
with
quite incompatible

still alive,and

was

would

Charmides

as

Megara

at

37

attracted

allusion which

one

the

Republicin

the

himself

Cephalus the

for

not

were

{Mem.

war

account

thinking

is

Xenophon

baby,though

SOCRATES

OF

when

Lysiashimself

ueauicrKO?.

mere

interestingpoint,and

which

might help to
explainsome
thingsin Socrates' later life that Xenophon says it was
to enter politics
first persuaded Charmides
he who
(Mem, iii.7. 1),
is

It

but

more

when

find

we

mainly on
publiclife we are
turn

the

that

the

value

arguments

of

the

advice

can

of the

have

we

been

have

of

Socrates

as
self-knowledge

reminded
forcibly

in Plato's Charmides, and

date

one

made

are

to

preparationfor

discussion

ledge
self-know-

of

also to ask ourselves at what

given.

It

is

stated
definitely

that

only just old enough to be called ^leipaKiov

in 430 {Charm. 154 b), was
Socrates
an
urged
avrjp d^ioXoyoswhen
and that Socrates
had been struck by
him to shake off his shyness,
to give in private
to
the sound advice he had been known
those who
then,
are
employed in the state's affairs {Mem, iii.7. 3). Clearly,
of some
to think of him
at any rate a man
as
we
are
thirtyyears or
This brings us down
to so late a date that it is incredible
more.
that the facts should
not have been remembered
by the democrats
and have been a much
Socrates
who prosecuted
more
plausible
charge
Charmides,

who

was

'

'

than

against him

most

of the

matters

which

seem

to

have

been

of the
at the head
was
brought up at his trial,since Charmides
Committee
and
set up in 404 to administer the Peiraeus,
oligarchical
with Critias fell in battle againstthe majorityof his fellow-citizens.
Yet
from Xenophon's own
silence it appears that no one
had made
it a grievanceagainstSocrates
that he had actually
persuadedthe
I fear the incident is probably
to take up publiclife !
Hence
man
than a pleasing
nothing more
story founded on the charming Platonic
of Socrates' interest in Charmides
as
a
description
youth. Thus the
Memorabilia
are
whollysilent about most of the characteristic facts
of the
life of Socrates, as
related by Plato, before the
year of
kind except the
Arginusae, and add nothing fresh of a biographical

story that Critias and

^

Glaucon

entrust
a

the

complains that
management

full-grownman

with

Glaucon.

Charicles
his uncle

tried to

his sarcastic

(i.e. Charmides) cannot

of his affairs to

of position at

restrain

the time

him.

Charmides

when

Socrates

be

is thus

first caroe

com-

persuaded to
thought of as
into contact

merits

the

THE

OF

PROCEEDINGS

38

BRITISH

their administration,(the much

on

arrest

wife,who

of

is not

the

From

Leon

is not

named,

Symposium,

as

with

woman

which

importantincident

more

mentioned),and
a

ACADEMY

purports to be

the

representationof

of
his

temperament.
an

in the year 422, we

might gatherthat Socrates
know
from
with
the millionaire Callias (as we

of

gathering
terms
friendly

account
was

on

Plato),that

his wife's

Xanthippe,that he used to dance, as Hobbes used to sing,

that he jestingly
to be
in strict privacyfor bodilyexercise,
professed
wits
and the
proud of his skill as a pimp and go-betweenbetween
to be taken
pupilsby whom they made a living(an idea which seems
and of his personal
attractions. (Here
from Plato''s Theaetetus)
directly
to have a clumsydevelopmentof a theme from the speech
again we seem
of Alcibiades in the Symposium of Plato, a work to which Xenophon
and undisguised
allusions throughouthis own
makes
constant
piece.)
Further that, justafter the productionof the Clouds, be it remembered,
who
there was
a
a
popular jest that he was
(ppovTia-Trf^,
kind about his studying
studied
the thingsaloft',and a joke of some
and that
geometricalproblems turning on some
point about a flea,
about the difference between
the heavenlyand
he spoke eloquently
the earthly
Aphrodite (againa palpablereminiscence of the speech
in Plato's Symposium), I have not taken into account
of Pausanias
the
that it is Plato's dialogue
which borrows touches from
rival possibility
Xenophon, partly because I do not think any reader of the two
that such a theoryhas been mooted, could possibly
works, unaware
doubt on which side the indebtedness
lies,but partlybecause I hold
in which
be settled if necessary by a single
that the questioncan
case
except as an allusion to Plato's
Xenophon's language is unintelligible
is made
In Xenophon ii.26 Socrates
work.
to apologize
for a vivid
metaphor by saying,Lva Kal kyookv Topyuiois prjfMaa-Lv
eiTrco, 'if I too
the high-flown
use
languageof Gorgias.' No one in the preceding
may
has
part of the work has used any TopyUia pr\p.(na at all ; everything
I too
been said in the simplestlanguageof every day. The
must
therefore allude to somethingin a composition
againstwhich Xenophon
He
is quaintly
is pittinghis own.
means
though the statement
name

was

'

'

'

'

'

"

untrue

"

that

he, no

less than

other, can

some

make

his characters

talk the

dithyrambiclanguage of Gorgias when he sees fit. If he

of this world, it is from choice,
usuallymakes them speak like men
not of necessity.
the attack is directed is seen
at once
Against whom
from a comparisonwith Plato's Symposium 198 b, where Socrates
says
of
which
that the high-flown
had
he
to
speech Agathon,
just listened,
reminds him of Gorgias,
and pretends
to be unable to keep the oratory,
it has

now

that

this

level.
magnificent

come

to

his turn

to

make

his

panegyric of Eros, at

BIOGRAPHY

PLATO'S

Xenophon's Symposium thus

biography of Socrates, though
and

of his outward

OF
contributes
it is

no

39

single fact

the

to

giving a picture

interestingas

his social

appearance
the burlesqueof
justifies

it goes,

SOCRATES

which,

manner

Aristophanes and

shows

so

far

that

as

the

thought the brilliant portraitof Plato's Symposium

of
The
the
invention
a pure
imagination.
Apologia^apart from
has
it
mentions
been cited already,
the famous
the pointsfor which
oracle (" 14) as a matter
which Socrates
had
response of the Delphic
spoken of in his defence before the dicasts,but makes him treat it
boasts and brags in a fashion which
He
quite out of character.
and is quiteout
his condemnation
would have been certain to secure
of keeping with the modesty he elsewhere observes in Xenophon's
writer

writings

by

have

cannot

no

of his whole

life,to be

claim

in Plato.

keeping with
to have found
professes
thing

death

in

the

profess,
contrary to

to
'

in which

the tenor
laaa-iv

yap

Protagoras makes

the

'

'

spoken,
outsay, if he had chosen to be more
Phaedo.
and
Of
graphical
Crito,
genuinelybio-

is to

the little tract is

we
have, of
Finally,

{tovto

'

Apology,

information

education

in
specialist

"

in

(" 20)

ascribed to him

Presumably Xenophon thought this kind of

the
the peyaXij-yopia,
which he
loftytone
in
all previousnarratives
of the trial and

of Socrates, that
"

of humour

sense

in the fashion

much
ipoljiepeX-qKOs),
same

keen

the

is also made

He

Plato.

with

less than

course,

whollyempty.

in the Anabasis

the

reallyvaluable

one

1,
suppliedby Plato, that Socrates (iii,
for the expedi5-7) doubted the wisdom of Xenophon's volunteering
tion
of Cyrus and sent him to Delphi to consult the oracle,obviously
in the hope that he might change his mind.
from
omit the merelyanecdotal
this recital,
left with
If we
we
are
of Sophroniscus,
had a wife
the following
statements
: Socrates, son
called Xanthippe and a son
Lamprocles; he exercised a good deal of
addition

to

influence

over

and

Critias.

the

information

Charmides
At

some

and

some

unknown

temporary
date the

influence

Delphicoracle

on

Alcibiades

told Chaere-

advanced
phon that he was a model of all the virtues. He had some
knowledge of science and also claimed to have a peculiarprivate
oracle.
He
belonged to a circle which studied the writingsof the
it was
In 422
older wits \
a
popularjestthat he had propounded
connected
with fleas. In the year of
a
geometricalproblem somehow
Arginusae he presidedover the assemblyin which it was proposedto
*

try all

generalstogether and refused to put this propositionto

In the oligarchic
anarchy of 404 he remained in the city
reprimanded by Critias and Charicles for the imprudenceof

the

the vote.

but

was

his

sarcasms

earlyin 401

about
he

their

administrative

disapprovedof

methods.

Xenophon's

Asiatic

In

402

or

adventure.

very
He

40

THE

OF

PROCEEDINGS

long life on

ACADEMY

offences
chargesof religious
and of having a bad influence upon
In all this onlythe
men.
younger
the flea,the
of Lamprocles,the reference to the joke about
name
story of the reprimand by the Thirty and the personalanecdote
about his advice to Xenophon himself add anything to the statements
of Plato.
It is obvious that Xenophon has really
furnished us with
his
materials from which to make
hero's life. The
no
a
only
story of
of
datable biographical
events
beyond the mention of
any importance,
a
name
or
two, belongto the last six or seven
years of Socrates' career.

put

was

to death

BRITISH

(The

reference

from

Xenophon
date.)

after

again

"

the response of the oracle is undated, and it is not

that we obtain the materials for fixingits approximate

There

by

not

infer that

can

If

from

for

in

one

of the

some

what

intimate

most

dialoguesof Plato, we

that if Plato's narrative

of Socrates
occurred

which

two

or

under

us

of

we

the

not only the doctrines

fiction,

except

show

these meagre
results with
compare
careful account
of Socrates,his family,and his

and

the conclusion

to

up, except a list of his friends from

parison
help affbrded by Xenophon but by com-

any

historyalreadydeduced
to

whatever

grown

we

"

nothing

Pythagoreans.

were

pretty full

the

is

had

with Plato
them

the

to

influences Socrates
which

is dismissed

but

after he

the

driven

imaginative

as

of his life,

events

65,

was
'

are

shrouded

are

speak after the

fashion of the modern
writer of
personalparagraphs is as much
unknown
X
the Socratic philosophy
On the other
\
to us as
an
side,if we may trust Plato's accounts
have, I maintain, not only,as
we
Professor Burnet, myself,
and others have contended, a coherent exposition
of a philosophical
obviouslyintended
theory of high originality,
to meet
just the problems which were
perplexingAthenian minds in
the middle of the fifth century,the time of Socrates' earlymanhood,
but also a rather full and particular
narrative of the lifeand personal
traits of the man
is conwho devised this philosophy: the account
tained
in a whole series of works written at intervals duringa period
of probablyat least fortyyears, yet no serious discrepancies
to be
are
found in it,even
standard
when
of demand
we
try it by the severe
for truth not only in casual statements
on
pointsof fact but in the
impenetrablemystery.

the

Socrates

man

"

to

'

'

"

'

inferences

which

Is it
necessary

facts

point ?

be found
to

'

result from

to

put

The

in the

fact,of

'

God's

in it is known

the

faithful

great thinker
a

master

of

son

to

us

of such

only conclusion

historical Socrates

also
grace, was
is that of the actual
touch

into words

full and
a

combination

',as

he

casual statements.
to

which

has been

all the

called,must

drawn
with careful attention
portrait,
by another great thinker who, by

of dramatic

portraiture.The

Sophroniscus
; nearlyevery
ultimately
only on the faith of

'

portrait

historical

Plato.

'

LIBRARY

OF

CONGRESS
^^

iiiiii
mil mil

mil Hill nil

020

Oxford

Printed

by

Frederick

Hall,

at

the

University

Press

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiim

196

525

d^

T3

LIBRARY

020

OF

196

HoUingerCorp.
pH8.5

CONGRESS

525