316 T3

opy

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

Plato's

Biography of
By

Socrates

A.
Fellow

E.

Taylor
Academy

of the

of the [Frovithe Proceedings

British

Academy

FoL

VI

11^

London
Published for the British

Academy
Press University

By Humphrey Milford, Oxford

Amen

Corner, E.G.
net. Sixpence

Price Two

and Shillings

PLATO'S

BIOGRAPHY
By
FELLOW

OF
E.
OF

SOCRATES

a.

TAYLOR
THE

ACADEMY

Read The of the paper which I have

March the honour the

no

28, 1917
of

laying before
of
to
a

my

colleagues
results the of

Academy
which

to-day
can

is of make

nature

simple experiment, an
the

experiment
in my
no

claim

represent
Its immediate

extraordinaryresearch
own

or

but profound speculation, the

is,all

same,

opinion well
for the also prove interest

worth

making. degree

interest

is,

doubt,

student special in in the time

some

of the

historyof philosophicthought,
attractive
to

but
has

it should
a

every
as

one

who
at

genuine
some

inasmuch great literature,

it aims

throwing
who
was

light on
the
same

methods literary
one

of

great philosopher
the Socrates of who

at

of the the

world's
relation

and greatest literary of

dramatic

artists.
the

The

question of
Socrates of the who fifth of

figuresas
prose
Athens of

protagonist in
to

all the

most
was a

widely

known

Plato's the

dramas
the

the

prominent figure in
B.C.,

last half
for the

century
Hellenic

is,of
on

course,

lutely absomental funda-

critical

historian

thought

the
a

issues of

science,ethics,and
of the the whole
can

religion.
of the

It is also

question of
Even if
we

interest to the
are

student
to

forms. historyof literary

indifferent

history
as

actual of

development
be

of

scientific

thought, we early years

fact of the

hardly
the

students

literature the

equally
ance appear-

indifferent to the
in the prose

general problem suggested by

of fourth

sudden
new

century
or

of
'

wholly

type
Socrates

of *.

composition,the
the

^(OKpariKos Xoyos
emergence of this
no
'

discourse of

of

About
this

type

composition just at
doubt.
'

particulardate
on

there

can

be
the

conceivable

Aristotle
a

comments

the

fact

that

Socratic

discourse
he

is

distinct
the the
as

form, literary
versified Greek the
'

in the
'

Poetics

1447

b 2, where Xenarchus

associates

it with that

mimes

of

Sophron
no

and

and
for and the

complains
type,
is thus
a

language
word
to
'

possesses
'

genericname
use

inasmuch

mime

implies the
a

of

verse,

only
be

priate appro-

one

of species
a

form
verse.

for which What

prose

is,as

matter to

of the the

fact,
tinctive distwo

as

suitable

medium

as

Aristotle

took

characteristics remarks he makes of form in its about

of

this In the

literaryform
the
'

is clear

from

it.

first
'

place the recognitionof

and
'

the
'

community

between

mime

the

'

Socratic

discourse
'

implies that, by
of the
VIII

Aristotle's
*

opinion,the
For,
for
as we

Socratic from

discourse the ancient

tinguished is disnotices

realism'.
can see

know

'mimes'

and

ourselves
A

from

Theocritus'

brilliant

PROCEEDINGS of
'

OF
'

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

imitation
of

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
a

mime

in his fifteenth

'

is to

the

same

purpose,

as

I take

it,that Aristotle
discourses'*
"

observes

in

his is

Rhetoric

1417a such

19 that

'mathematical

presumably he

thinkingof
and
"

that he quotes elsewhere,in which Zeno as dialogues the difficulties about the infinitesimal as discussing Protagoras figured because they reveal nothing do not exhibit ^^77, characters ',
'

of
*

the TTpoaipecrL?, the walk and Socratic discourses ' do exhibit the

conduct
*

of the

personages,
such

whereas
matters

tJOtjbecause

it is about
is made

that

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

clear

by

in

which
*

Aristotle

he understands what rather more ization fully by TJO09, characterexplains and why, importantas it is to the dramatist, it is less impor', tant To the of than successful '. a intending tragedy, plot composer be the first consideration, because the primary the plotor story must objectof tragedyis to representan action of a certain kind ; it only
'

represents the persons

it cannot

who
act

do the act in any

or

have

it done

to

them

because

represent the
"*

other

of a tragedy is not the representation and misery (1450 a 16 ff.;1450 b 1 ff.). Or, as we should happiness with the perhaps preferto phrase it,tragedy is concerned directly

way, or, as he also puts it, but ' of action and life, man

tragicsituation

with

the

personages

who

appear

in that situation

as

doing or only in so
its issue.

its suffering far

as

concern

is

secondary.
sort

It has to do

with
is
an

them pensable indis-

their

factor in Thus
to

being the bringingabout

us

of persons they are situation or the tragic

determining
tributing con-

it shows
of

persons
we

acting and by
call

their action

the kind

situation

But a they have should be shown man's is not fully in which he bears himself disclosed by the way rfOos in 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 from this point the Gorgias or Republic, 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
" "

kind tragic. What only by what they do.

of personality

'

'

'

We

might illustrate the point by consideringhow

a

modern

novelist

would

be

likelyto depictsuch

character

as

Hamlet.

PLATO'S

BIOGRArHY

OF

SOCRATES

3 towards do
not
manner see

decline, how
issues between
*

each which

might

be

expectedto
us

bear

himself We

the the of of

life forces from them

all to choose.

personages
man

in act \ but of

their is. If

talk
we

we

gather what
the
two

(noio^ tis) each

put
that

observations the

Aristotle
TLKo?

togetherwe
"

may
seems

gather fairly always

to
mean

in his view the words

\6yo9

and
the

he

by

^coKpajust those superior

fullness

specimensof

type

which Plato
"

dwarfed

all others foremost is

by
a

their

merit, the dialoguesof

is first and

highlyrealistic
the

of character representation it reproduces with which or

or
*

It personality.
'

just in

imitates

character
is

that it differs from valuable

the
so

drama
is

proper,

in which

characterization

only

far

as

it

from inseparable it is
'

the

of adequatepresentation

tragicsituation.
that forget, almost the the out withhalf'

And the

important
"*

to

remember,
the
'

what

we

sometimes
are

characters

in depicted

Socratic

discourse

exception notable
century
from of
mean

450

of the actual personages Aristotle to 400, so that when

*

historyof
insists upon

portance im-

making
case

a a

character
a

'

o/jlolov or
'

'

like \ he must

be taken to

in the

of
to

in figure

Socratic
or

discourse ', not

with

merely that

it shall
caristet to
as

be

true

human

nature,
that

consistent

Horace

but says),

it shall the

be like its and

itself (ut sibi faithful original,

man

the broad it is

historical truth

about should

named

known

after

whom

reasonably expect 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
called, justas
we

We

may

then, that reasonablyinfer,

of Socrates of
a as

Aristotle
a

regarded
and
we

the

Platonic

account

in all essentials

true

trustworthy sentation repremay

great

historical
as a source on

just as figure,
of the

infer from
the

his

exclusive

use

of Plato that

information
a

about

teachino;
of

of Socrates the

he looked of

as dialogues

faithful

account
as we

tenets philosophical it has been the

not

Socrates.
to

In

modern these
a

times,
set

all
to

know,
hold which
a

fashion

rejectboth
on

and positions
of doctrines him

that

Plato

only
to

fathered

Socrates
even an

of

he knew

himself

be the author, but

invented

provided
Plato in

with

and fictitious biography, largely

unreal which him

for personality relates of

him.

According
as

to

some

theorists, things
made impression
on

Socrates, such
work of

e.g. the

belong to the life and Anaxagoras, really but represent the typical character development of the philosophical according to others the central figure of the dialogues is a mere
convenient
'

earlylife by the character of nobody

;

mask

"*

under

which

Plato a2

conceals

at

pleasure himself,

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY
^in a word

Antisthenes, unnamed
one

or disciples opponents, name answer

"

any

and every *mask'.

but the person whose When set ourselves to we

this

is

on

the label attached

to the

the
mass

question which
of ancient
Socrates

party is right in
or

Aristotle dispute,

and

the

readers found

the moderns
a

of the last century, we

shall find,as

about

different

that a full and final decision requires to us questionin the Republic, which take a long and circuitous path on can hardly be every one vocation to follow. But expectedto have the leisure or the special lead which to a probable conclusion, 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 ideas and terminology, of Greek we philosophic history may put the Does thus. the Platonic picture of 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

upon

one

another,

or

has

it the

character

we

should

of a highlycomplex and reproduction Are individual personality ? in we dealingwith a genre-study, really and the later comedy, or, as Aristotle seems of Menander the style to have taken for granted, with a highlyrealistic portrait dual of an indiviThe ? statements attempt to piecetogetherthe biographical into a continuous made in the different Platonic narrative dialogues to give a probable answer in ought at least to leave us in a position 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 if we sincere with are authenticity 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 preliminary pointson which a word not be said. We two ask or unprofitably thing, may may, for one known about Socrates on what facts may fairly be taken as certainly authority independentof the assertions of Plato or any other of the

expect

in the lifelike dramatic

'

'

'

Socratic

men

Under from

this

head

we

may

reckon, of

course,

any

together with inscriptions, all that is fairly inferable from the caricatures of the Old Comedy, which go back to dates when those Socratic men whose writings have been preserved to us tions tradiwere boys or infants. Well-authenticated
of the late fourth
of Phalerum

information

derived

reallyancient

century, derived
Aristoxenus
are

from

writers like Demetrius

and

even

deal with

matters

not

mentioned

by

the

valuable when they similarly Socratic providedthat men,

PLATO^S
careful

BIOGRAPHY
in distinguish the facts to A

OF

SOCRATES

vre

are

to

the
which

case

of

biased

witnesses, like
the

Aristoxenus, between

and they testify

of the
our

tations interprestill

they put
derivable
Socrates what have
we come

upon these

them.
sources

brief survey
will show

information

from would
are

what
as

amount
on

to, if
the

we

set aside

told
down

of authority
or

the two

knowledge of possibly untrustworthy whose Socratics writings

who appear

to

us,

of later

writers

like Aristotle

merely
From any
case

to

repeat
be

the

Academic
we

traditions. learn

sources inscriptional

just one
so

fact,which
a

would

in

certain

on

the The

testimonyof
Marmor from which of

good
to

as chronologist

Demetrius Socrates'

of Phalerum.

Parium

gives us
reason.

the

year

of

death and
his 423

as

fixed date

From

phanes Aristo-

rival

Ameipsias,
Socrates Socrates

both

whom

in the that
a

year this

in which

played the
was a man

produced comedies leadingpart, we gather

47
or

at

date, when
catch his
'

of about the that

was

48

he

was

familiar sufficiently
to
'

figure to
as

be

made

object of
one

burlesques
feature

intended about
him
on

on

and pieces, topical

;

notable

was

poverty poets, we
that From he

insisted with
some

by

both

Professor notorious

Burnet losses. that

we

gather further

was

plainlyvery much perhaps go as far as to conjecture may the philosopherhad recentlyincurred the play of Aristophanes, the Clouds, interested in mathematical, cosmologipoint
these interests with
a

since

this

cal,and
of

studies,and combined biological which private religion enjoinedan

of this life and involved the soul what

kind

ascetic
were

things
notice such
a

of the good rejection commonly regarded as

fantastic notions
in the kind

about

and
may the
over

the

unseen

world.
these

From notions

later
of
to

Birds that

we (1553 fF.)

infer that limits of

were

it
as

was

within

legitimateparody
of follower

represent
familiar

Socrates

presiding
at

seances spiritualistic

the

fraudulent

kind the

which

his

favourite

Chaerephon

acted

the

part
taste

of

evoked. spirits
was

(1282) a
a

for Socrates of the

war.

like of other

According to the same play hair and wearing long carrying

pro-Spartan at
vaguer of young crazy reference Athens
we

thick

stick,one
of the

marks
One

in the in the

middle

great
to

get

Frogs (1492) when

art playwright's

the sit

poet

falls foul

folk who

neglect the

chatteringover
an

hair-splitting problems
of
some or sixty-four so. no

with We

Socrates may add

"

by
to

this time these

accuse

elderlyman
one or

notices

two

comic
man

fragments by
may
at
or

of

which significance

Euripides
"

an

older

least ten
may
not

or

twelve

years
as

"

of

being inspiredby Socrates,and

in
most

be

regarded

evidence the
two

support

of

the

later

belief in the

personal
of the

of friendship

remarkable

intellectuelsof the time

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

Beyond this, out of all the anecdotes told of Peloponnesianwar. Socrates by later writers from Aristotle onwards there appears to be with from older than Plato a source only one which comes certainty 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 years

occurred before

when

Socrates

was

about

thirteen thirty, will

or

fourteen

the birth of Plato, and

appear among

its remoteness absences

explainwhy
from

it does not Athens total

the few necessary

of Socrates

recorded information

by

Plato

(Ion

about

the
sources

Diog. Laert. ii. 22), Thus the be regarded as philosopherwhich can

ap.

from coming certainly

earlier than much younger

the

fourth

century and
whom
no

independent of
behind for
a

the

group is

of

admirers

he

left

him

at

his death

exceedingly scanty and

affords

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 in his walk, was a rolling 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 of information at we were independently suppliedby men least forty years his juniors, it will be seen, it does not and as 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
' ' ' '

real

Aristoxenus of information

had
we

and associated, have

in the

case

of

the last-named

source

to constantly

face the and

ing problem of distinguishtions interpreta-

between

the traditions them

themselves

the malevolent
Aristoxenus. which
to

put upon
There be
the

is indeed in

by our just one

Gewdhrsmann,
more

statement

included

this summary.

According

perhaps Isocrates, Polycrates,

should

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

PLATO^S and

BIOGRAPHY

OF
Professor

SOCRATES

falsehood,thus, as palpable

Burnet

reminds

us,

showing

himself
to

quite in keeping
Socrates

with

the he

of representations had
never

Plato, according
the any
a
*

whom
a
*

insisted that

followed had

profession

of
or

teacher,

and

consequently had
That

never

disciples
'

pupils

'

at

all.

Alcibiades

had

been

young

friend

of Socrates

and

influenced

by

him

Isocrates does not, of course,

deny.

xi. 5.)^ (Isocrates I of

come now

to
as we

consider my could
mean,

more

immediate
it if
we

subject
"

the
our

biography
exclusive
we

Socrates

write

took
the

Plato

as

source.

Properly I
the the
one

of course,

biography which
we

could from in here

collect from consideration

Platonic

dialogues,but
in which Platonic of say
must

must

not

omit Socrates propose

work
Vllth

Plato

speaks of
do
not

propria persona,
to

the

Epistle. I
the

make

any

formal
It is
"

defence
to

the that

genuineness

of

this

important
Platonic and Cicero

document.

enough
we

of authenticity
was

the

correspondence which
included
"

remember

known

to

in the edition of Plato's ^vorks

by Aristophanes of Byzantium

generallyallowed by the best critical and historical Cobet, Grote, Eduard students, Bentley, 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 to be against them likely
has

been

biased, thinkers
not
*

with in

pet
of

theories

of their for
our

own

about

what

is

or

is
we

Platonic also
or

'

philosophy.
the

And
most

document particular
of those in the purpose w^ho

have

the

verdict

important

have

doubted
Hence further

denied
to

the

of other authenticity for freely my

items

collection.
without

I propose discussion.^ if letter,

utilize it

present
what
the and

The
or

such

name
w^as

can

be

given to
to

is

a really public

semi-public manifesto,
Dion heart the after into his
a

addressed

Sicilian
aims
at

partisans putting
had and

of
new

assassination

by Callippus
had lost the sake

party

which

its leader of

by

an

exposition
Plato
cause

of

fundamental in Sicilian

principlesfor
his

which

intervened exhibit the

his to justify politics. Incidentally,

of consistency

conduct,

Plato

is led way

into

an

graphical autobiohe had

been
^

retrospect of his earlier life and affairs of his forced,so far as the public
It is

the
own
'

in which

citywere
'. disciple In

concerned,
the of careful Dion in

noteworthy
of his

that years

Plato
which

never

calls himself
sent

account

early
Socrates

he
^

much

later to the
'

partisans

Sicilyhe calls
^

simply an
of The

elderlyfriend
VI 1
see

of his

own

(see pp. 8, 9). Untersuchungen

84. ff. iiber

For
c.

further

discussion

Ep.

C.

Hitter^ Xeue

Platon,

7 ; Ilackforth,

Authorship of the Plutonic

Epistles,pp.

PROCEEDINGS desist from

direct his

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY
main that

to

narrative

is that Twice
at

political activity.The bent had been original

had seemed
to
on

purport of the
of
an

active

social
such
an

reformer.
a

in life there

be

an

opening for
the

reformer

Athens,

the

reconstitution

of

city

with

constitution final extinction of Periclean after the oligarchical 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 both meted

Of

discovered
cases

that

each

was

bent

on

discreditable
was

party ends.

In

what
to

disillusioned finally
"

him

the
of
'

out

Socrates

the best and the he thirty

was

wisest

unworthy treatment Athenians. living

was a

the

of oligarchy

the

existingconstitution, which
The
of
own

There says : denounced

was
.

revolution

in

as

sides.
of
were a

consequence

of this revolution

many the establishment

some

faultyon

body
my

magistrates. Now thirty irresponsible

connections and and relatives,

of these
me

men

invited actually

to

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. how Consequently I observed very carefully 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 friend of mine, whom make bold I may Socrates, an elderly fairly 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. the order and put his life Socrates,however, disregarded in jeopardyrather than in such wickedness. make himself an accomplice
When I
was

saw

this and withdrew

other grave from

have

indications evil of the

of the

same

kind,
He then

and disgusted
on

the

times."

goes

to

add

that

he would

restored
Socrates.

democracy,but for their Not long after this the thirtyand

'

equallyready to serve treatment reprehensible equally

the

been

the of
were

whole

system
more

overthrown, and
to
a

once

more

was

attracted, though
time

slowly,

The action. one new publicpolitical was, and much and happened which caused natural disgust, it is not surprising that in a revolution there should have been some of excessive enemies. Yet the whole the cases on on private 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 of confusion

life of

of course,

PLATO'S
conduct

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES

9
demned prosecuted con-

wholly foreign to his character. and executed for impiety he who

"

He had

was

refused
own

to

join in

the

old

wicked time

in proceedings of their
own

the

case

of

one ^

of their

exiled

friends

at the

exile and

ruin.'

The incident

references of the the

throughout
execution illegal thus

this of
serve

passage Leon
to

are,

of

course,

to

the
more

of

Salamis,
well

related

fullyin
the confirm

Apologia,and
truth of the that
statement

establish

historical the
a
*

story told there, as

Socrates,whom
he this had
a

beyond all doubt to as incidentally

no

Plato

is careful to mention

simplyas
Socrates natural
an man

friend for whom

That

profound admiration, had

be the

'. regular disciples in

a

should

only
to

reminiscence old Leon

a

of is
was

event

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

belongs
account current
a a

Plato's affair of

age

the

of his life.

As

young He
was

he first
'

aimed

at the enter

vocation

of

statesman. practical

at

willingto

publiclife as
attempt
he law

supporter of
make Socrates eyes to the
to

the
an

of the in their

Thirty
breaches

'

until their

to

government accomplice
of under

of the
;

opened his
was was

real character
Athens

their administration the revived of

"

later on,

anxious

serve

democratic

regime, but
other persons

again
of

disillusioned
and

by

the

enmity

Anytus
the

and

influence

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
Socrates,
democratic harrow.
him
to

partisanswhen
For it may that

it had that

been

their

turn

to

be

under
not

the lead have

an

be

noted
may scope
as
*

Plato's done law

does indignation

deny brought him

offence
as

Socrates the

have of the

things which against so

Socrates

would

within

ill-defined

such do-ipeia,

honouring
Athenian
have had From

divinities'. unrecognized

He
case,

does been

not, like
a

Xenophon,
accusation friends of
as

maintain

that

had,
What

in

any

model
such
an

of old-fashioned

piety.
been

him disgusts the leaders of

is that
a

should
Socrates

laid
the

by

party for
own

whose time

incurred
the the could

heaviest of view virtue

risks in of the

their

misfortune. of
course

point
moral be

Athenian Socrates accusation

law,
had of
a

Plato

knew,

which
to
an

shown

in the

affair of Leon real

no

defence
with Plato's very

acre/Seia. That
maxim borrow
not
an

'impiety'is
law
a

identical from

moral
o\\n

turpitude is

from

Athenian from
a

but

philosophy.To
had
no

illustration well have

later and

different have

Socrates revolution, truck with

might
the
"

been We
324

Girondist
are now

but in
a

would

'Mountain'.

positionto

Plato, Ep.

VIL

c-325

c.

a3

10

PROCEEDINGS the actual

OF

THE

BRITISH
Socrates

ACADEMY
which in the

consider

statements

about

occur

them to you best to make I shall do my dialogues. In presenting 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

then, was Socrates,

and

the

son

of

Sophroniscus and

his wife

Phaenarete

the and deme belonged to the tribe Antiochis Alopecae (for Laches for see Phaenarete, Theaetetus 149 a, 180-1, Sophroniscus 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
as
*

more

than the

seventy that

'

we

are

to suppose

him

born

not

later than

470 from
the

or

earlier months

of 469.

As

to

his social
for
man a

the First

Theaetetus, the only place, except

in which Alcihiades^
was a

learn we position, passingreference to

his

any

Socratic Her
name

mentions
is

mother,

that

Phaenarete

midwife.

suggestiveof good

in the mock-heroic familyconnexions, as we see from its appearance Acharnians genealogyof the 'immortaP Amphitheus of Aristophanes' His told rather more. we are name occurs (1. 49). Of Sophroniscus 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 tells us of Sophroniscus, reference to the calling unfortunately 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 general statement a impression,
'

'

however,
the

which

Plato's account

leaves
as

on

us

is

quite inconsistent
*

with

of popularconception

Socrates

the

gutter
'

'

and

untouched The

by
remarks

the of

society

of his age.

geniuswho rose almost 'from the influences agitating good that least the Laches imply at

in the aflairs of his of weight and influence was a man Sophroniscus 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

',he
or

must

have

been

something
as

very

much

like

working
with
one

stone-mason

bricklayer.And,

we

shall see,

though

PLATO'S notable
either them he
was

BIOGRAPHY
Platonic
or

OF

SOCRATES

11

exception the
in

ripe manhood
he

dialogues prefer to depict Socrates in advanced assumed age, it is regularly

to

that

had

the

entree most

the

'

best
men

'

of society of the

all

kinds, where
as an

admitted
that he and

by

the

eminent
most

time

equal,
terms

and

encountered
letters from

the the

of distinguished representatives Hellenic clear world that

we on

thouo-ht of

non-Attic
seems

it perfectequality. In particular if all

we

should
as

be

wrong been

read into Plato

life
as

the

modern

notion

of Socrates It is true his he

must

having
Plato He pay

through
in

hampered by poverty.
at

that

does
makes

depicthim
him
not

say
amount

exceedingly poor the Apology that

to
more

the

close of

life. could

the

highestfine
But
we

would

than

mina.

recollect

ascribes this poverty to his lifelong devotion 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
of the

or

three

the famous familiar instances, of Nicias

wealth

of the in the

families

of Callias the year of

and AaAc/coTrXoiroy, and anarchy,

we

vanished

confusion the

find

Lysias(xix.15) dwelling in
true

tone peculiar

of

which

Phaedrus
hear

pathos appropriateto the law-courts on of Myrrhinus had been reduced. It is

want

the straits to
that
we

begin to
scene

of Socrates' in

of

means

in the of the
as

Republic^where
Archidamian

the
war,

is laid somewhere that the fact of his year 423.

a

the

earlyyears
is treated Professor year before that

and

poverty But,
as

notorious

by

the

comic

poets
was

in the

Burnet 423

reminds
at Delium

us, Socrates

still serving as

the hoplite

and the year

rate

after at

and this means Amphipolis, dire poverty. not in any decidedly that he
must

until
one

then

at

any

he

was

In fact

may sudden

jecture conreasonably

have the

suffered

some

rather

and

able considercomic which the any

loss between

affair at Delium

and Indeed

the the

attack iteration

of the with

poets

on

him

in the

followingyear.

Aristophanes returns to this topic is rather impoverishment of Socrates was not a recent
rate
sources
no

difficult to
event.

explainif
is at
cut

There
was

reason

to

suppose

that

in his
or

earlylife
the Plato need

he
to

off from

of culture
one

In with

fact, in the
the

by want of means dialogue in which

of
course

earn

his bread. be

to professes

dealing
as

youth
a

of Socrates, the free

Parmenides,
access

he

represents him

having as

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

the

initial reverse

after the

battle of Delium, when

a4

we

take into account

12
the

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY failure of and

the

financial pressure caused the land-blockade Sicilian expedition,

growing

by
of

the

great

Athens

the

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

can

see readily

that and

no

inference

can

be drawn
his of
man,

from
or

his
to

poverty in
his
more own

399

to

the wealth

social
first

positionof

parents
his
career.

financial reasonable could

in
a

in the position

forty years
such
a

The
a

questionwould
much
as

be how

after such food

career,
even

be

so

able to

with keep himself supplied

and

to position

askingfor
to not

time. he

And

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

say that

could

pay

this much

down

on

the

spot, since he does

offender could was as an customary when supplement the offer, 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 had about
ever

followed and

statuary

or

any

other

craft.

Plato's assertions

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

youth

'

shown worth

in

much
to

later time
note

as

such, but
who

nothing

more.^

It

is also

while

that

Xenophon,

is still regarded in what

be called ' official' quarters as so trustworthyan may the facts of Socrates' life, refers to his parentage or never

authorityon
names

either
in

Sophroniscusor
Hellenica

Phaenarete, except

in

the

one

brief

passage in the

/, where

he refers to the behaviour

of Socrates

affair

of the trial of the he

speaks of

'AQrjvalos*In

at Arginusae. There who had commanded generals the philosopher for once as Hco^pouiaKov HcoKpccTTj^ other the one place outside his Socratic discourses
' '

It is true, these
is

as

Professor

Gardner
i. 22.
was

reminds

me, But

that Pausanias
in the former

appears
passage

to

have

seen

statues

{Paus.

8 ; ix.

35, 2).

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),
the group thaj;
with

he says

certainty
s

Pausanias

the point. See the full discussion of on Description of Greece, vol. ii,pp. 268-72, where
that

the

point

in

Frazer,
comes

the author the

to

the

conclusion

Socrates

certainlydid
he may

not

execute

'original relief,
of it.

though

he admits

the

that possibility

have

made

copy

PLATO'S
where he refers the

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES
in

13

to

philosopher
"

the

story

Anabasis
the

iii.1

of of

Socrates'*

of disapproval says

his

connecting himself
*

with

adventure

prince Cyrus, he
that readers the
to

only
so

Socrates

the

Athenian
too

',evidently supposing prewell known

to

the

person

described

will be

his
to

requireany
of

further

The specification.

earliest

allusion

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
craft well
to

deal

at

this

point

with

the

one

other

piece of
As
name we

information from the

Plato Phaedo who

gives us
survived

about
was

Socrates'

family
to
a

affairs. the

learn of of
no

Socrates

married
had of The

lady of
three and the
are

Xanthippe,
whom
more were

him, and
at

by

her

children,two
the

quite young
a

the 34?

time

his
names

death,
of
we

third
are

than
tioned men-

lad

{Apology

d).

children indebted
we

never

by Plato, and
for of
a

here, for
'

once,

to

Xenophon
the
name was

piece of real
son

information.
a

From
at

him time of

learn his

that

the

who

was

lad

'

the

father's death

of Lamprocles. (The names Menexenus possiblyhave may

the

two

younger, mentioned

Sophroniscus
in the which may I have shall

and
on

been
to

dialogue
got

distinguishedancestry
to

ascribed
or

Aristotle, of
Laertius

have them

speak
the

in

moment,

Diogenes

from

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

sound.

From that
as a

the
name

opening monologue
with

of it
was

Aristophanes' Clouds thought

we

we

gather
bearer

'hippos'
'Vere de

in

to

stamp

its
selves our-

of

the

caste

of

Vere', and
was a

may in

remind the

that house When of I the

come

the

masculine

Xanthippus
and
was

name

famous

Alcmaeonidae,
to

borne

by
the that and

the

father of Pericles.
connexions
account

say

something
be with may made the have

about
clear

social Plato's

of supposes preof

Socrates, it will, I think,

a

close

relation this

family
Burnet

immediate
to

circle the
name

Pericles himself, and

of Socrates' indication the wife. of the of It

something
has

do

with

is,as

Professor

pointed out,
that the

another

social the

positionof Xanthippe family bore

the
name

second, not

eldest, son
The of
name

of the

paternal grandfather.
clature nomen-

Lamprocles, which

was high society,

belongs to the obviously in honour presumably bestowed

father. Thus
'

of

some

relative

of

Xanthippe,
that

"

possiblyher
use

it

seems

to

be

clear fairly him '.

Socrates,to

the that

vulgar phrase,
the

married

above

I need

hardly remind

you

stories of the shrewishness

PROCEEDINGS find

OF

THE

BRITISH Plato.
death

ACADEMY

of

Xanthippe
that
can

no on

confirmation the

in

All

that
as

he he

records of describes

her is her conduct

day
one

of Socrates' of

which,
she

it,is
who

of

an

affectionate

woman

ordinary intellectual
that

capacity,
see

husband
Socrates

only again.
was

take Nor

in

the

thought anything
with

will
to

never

her that

is there

in the account

suggest
friends

indifferent to his wife.

'

Since

Xanthippe
when

is said to have
were

been

'

discovered

in the

company

Socrates

his

admitted

earlyon
her

morning
with
appear him
to

of his last
in the

day, she

had

presumably
tions instruc-

spent the night before

for

and prison,

his famous

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

removal

be

dictated

of and be

more

than would

one

member
no

of the

party.
it interval
scene

The

presence

of

wife
must

child

doubt
there

have
is
an

made

quite unbearable.
in

remembered

that

the

Platonic Socrates

narrative
has has
a

immediatelybefore
with
his

the

execution

in which

last interview

so family,

that the

which pulpit-rhetoric the

'

been

spent on
and
in His

making
last

out
ess

contrast

between

hardness

'

of

Socrates mother

the affect ionaten

of Our is
as

Lord,
false to

who

providedfor
as

His
to

moments,

fact

offensive

Christian

feeling. Xenophon
'

Xanthippe
'

also says nothing to the discredit of devoted mothers, she had a except that, like many which
her
to

temperament

sometimes
son.

called
source

for of of

her husband

and
seems

The

Xanthippe
Diogenes
to
mus

be

the

anecdotes

patienceon the part of of the popularconception her high temper told by

As he is known

who

have of

used

say where the gossipingAlexandrian

even as

does not

he got them.
writers

Satyrusand HieronyAristoxenus, they

Rhodes,

well

as

the

deliberate

slanderer them.

presumably have
It may

no

better

behind authority
the Phaedo
a

be possibly all the

was

that

throws

some

quaintestof
Socrates. in

traditions
a

of

later age
we

about both
two

the in

light on the familylife of

Diogenes
and

There

story, which
which

meet

to Plutarch, according

Socrates

had

wives, Xanthippe
a

and

Myrto,

who

is sometimes the

called
Just.
or

sometimes daughter, The

daughter grandof

of whether

Aristeides
was

gossips

were some

undecided them

Myrto
Socrates

the

earlier

the
at

later

wife, and

said that

as an alleging explanation ridiculous story that the Athenians a were so badly hit by the decrease in population in the later years of the Peloponnesian war that The they legalized bigamy. story is told by Aristoxenus, Hieronymus and Satyrus,and has usuallybeen dismissed as one of

lived with

both

once,

16 that

PROCEEDINGS
Socrates
a

OF

THE

BRITISH about
at fifty

ACADEMY the
in
to

case

must

have

been under

least when
view of

he

married

wife

of

probably
Greek
marry
at

twenty.
have

Now

the that
to

in regularpractice
a man

communities

it is hard waited

believe

intending to
Such conduct

all would be

until this age

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

do it.

would

two

wives

at

once

is careful to assert

that he takes

the second
"

to
a

ply com-

with

the
on

law enjoining bigamy imaginary special

him

i.e. as
not

imposed
that,
in view with
as

by

the

State.)
from
when

Hence

it

seems

to

me

duty improbable

the
was a

data

drawn

Socrates

widower evidence

of the

of the

Apology and Phaedo suggest, he married In that case, Xanthippe. Laches for the intimacy of Sophroniscus
would
one

the

the

family of Aristeides,it
as a

not

be

at

all

if surprising
as

he

was

married

young

man

to

of its

members,
The

Demetrius
reason

of Phalerum,
we

and

Aristotle,asserted. just possibly

of such
a

why
would
not

hear

nothing

first wife
of

in

Plato
of

or

Xenophon
course

simply that their knowledge As back to his early manhood.

be Plato had whether
not

Socrates

did know

go from if it

it is, we been

should
to

not

Socrates

had
to

ever

married
her for

Xanthippe
purposes
of

been and

necessary
Phaedo.

mention

the

the

Apology
To

return

from

this

to digression

the main

theme

of my

argument.

Nothing
the
one

is recorded

by
the

Plato famous

of the
'

early boyhood
voice
'

of Socrates
him

beyond
even

fact that

warning

attended

in

childhood
an

(e/ciraiBos dp^cc/xepov, Apology

Plato's

31

d), a

fact which

has

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 already a man one \ when we though a very young the biographical autoprofessedly get a glimpse of his specialinterests from narrative of the Phaedo and again from the introductory

importantbearingon

pages
as

of the that time

Parmenides.

Both

sketches

agree

in

representinghim

interested in the latest mathematical and principally physicaltheories of the earlyscience which was juston the verge of humanism. light of sophistic by the new According to the eclipse with and he enthusiast about Phaedo was an acquainted originally what but much nepl (pvaecos), (lorropia they call natural science of the results to which perplexed by the hopelessincompatibility
at
'
"*

it

had

led

in

different

hands.

Thus

he

knew

both

the

Ionian

PLATO'S

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES

17 of the Italian
was was

cosmology
anxious also
as

which

assumed

flat earth

and

the

theories

Pythagoreans which
for
a

earth (Phaedo requireda spherical theory of the

97 e).and

true

planetarymotions
which the

{ib.98
we can

a)

; he

between hesitating of the Ionian

riyal

theories biological

recognize
Archelaus

those

at type, represented

time

by

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

and

the he

many laid

(Phaedo 97 a).
the

It of
to

was

presumably knowledge
in the admits
to

at

period also
which

that Plato

foundations
ascribes

the

of

geometry
denies.
Phaedo in whose

consistently

him rather

Meno^
than the

Phaedo, Republic and

In
at this

elsewhere, and
we came a

Xenophon
it was, the find and

as particular,

all know, under

according

date that
he

he

influence
a

of Anaxao-ora^

book of

for expected, and the

time,

to

consistent
was a

teleological
of the the
to out

doctrine
his

astronomy

cosmology,
failure of

it

direct result
to

^vith disappointment his

own

Anaxagoras
mind
a as

carry
source

implicationsof
order in for the truth
'

principlethat
that

is the
man.

of

uniyerse,
"'

he, still
'

youno;

resolyed method

look
*

in

propositions
the doctrine
are as a

and the

thought
out

out

the

of

hypothesis
These
meet

and

of borne yery about

Forms.
we

statements

participationof things in by the Parmen'ides,where

man
'

Socrates this and

ovTco

again
yery

youthful
Forms and

and

find

him
'

expounding
Parmenides
avTos
(TV

doctrine
as a

participation to
{Parm.
130 b for

Zeno

recent

of discoyery
'

his

own

SifiprjcraL co^ Xeyeij ;

did

you

draw

this distinction

yourself? ').
As in the
to

am

not

expounding any theory of

it is

the

philosophyof

Socrates

present paper,
in which

the

perhaps more point to of the dialoguesjust mentioned presuppositions

Socrates
was

to the

call attention about in life. the The of

company Phaedo

at

home

thus

early the

distinctly presupposes
we

acquaintance with

followers

Anaxagoras, who,
as

must

remember, belonged to
passage Parmenides
son

the Periclean of the

to

circle,
eminent

implies in Pythagorean Philolaus

habitue
as one

it also

another
;

knowledge
shows of

the

Socrates

us

as

an

of the house of the

of

Pythodorus
to

whose Isolochus,

leading men
familiar

of aflairs in the the readers

regime

of the

prominence Imperialistic
his

democracy is

of Thucydides.

It is from

acquaintancewith Pythodorus that Socrates is brought into contact with the Eleatic and that the Pythodorus in question philosophers, well-known is the admiral and is made certain politician by the of the First Alcibiades statement that Pythodorus son of Isolochus was
A

18

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

of the dialogues Most depictSocrates at a later pupil of Zeno.^ in representinghim well known but they all agree as period of life, and society of the distinguished highly thought of by the most after the Periclean democracy. Thus, in the Laches^ dated shortly 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 equally matters. familiar,to judge from professional military the

Protagoras,with
son

the

brilliant wits M'ho

formed
the

the

entourage of
'

Callias
of the

of

Hipponicus,and grandson of
the
Persian
wars

famous

millionaire
as

'

time

of
an

the

Timaeus
^

represents him
the well

consortingas
not

equal with
himself, who

the

elder Critias
statesman
as

and

rising, though
as

yet fullymature,
Timaeus
tree

Syracusan
and

Hermocrates

as

with
of the

is described

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

in

in his

very top the filled life most past

being

at

the

Pericles

and

his

misses.
Socrates
'

Thus,
had

from
on

Plato''s

we representation,

should
of the

conclude
most

that

been

terms friendly

with

many

has called the prominent Whigs \ as Professor Burnet to be loyal to the democracy, party who, without ceasing 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
'

Thirty \
first

The

general effect
he of
a

of Plato's account
us

on

my
as

own

mind

is

the

that impression
a

wishes

to

think

the
terms
*
^

person
the
I. 119

sound

social the

being from standing,mingling on equal

of Socrates

with

best
a.

societyof

Periclean

regime

and

devoted

Alcibiades That

Professor should
20

Burnet

is
no

right in
proof.
word

his identification

of the

Critias

of the

Timaeus
'

reallyneed
a, where the

Timaeus

every

should

be

read
that
twv

with
the

attention.

Even
were

if

we

could
'

get

over
'

palpable absurdity of supposing

any time in the is
an

poems

of Solon

the

last

novelty
that the

at

life of Critias old

man

6
a

TpiaKovTa,

what

is said here

shows

Critias meant

with

great publiccareer

behind

him.

PLATO'S

BIOGRAPHY
to

OF

SOCRATES

19

from after

very

early age
of
some

the

pursuit of science, and

writers,
as a

certainly not,
of

the

fashion but here

modern

kind

plebeian and though

I do

illiterate
not

mysteriously inspired artisan.

to

Hence,

wish

suggest
the
'

that

singularwork suggestion made

with the the

opinion either way on the genuinenessof Menexenus, I see nothing out of keeping w-ith
an
'

Plato's the

standing hypothesis
there of

about
a

the

manner

of life of

Socrates

in

with consequently connexion

Pericles,

The

personalintimacy with Aspasia and point is not wholly unimportant in

and Gorgias RejpubJic will
on

satire of the

the

Imperial
person of

democracy (in
Pericles the is not

Gorgias

it the

be

remembered
of modern

the

and spared),

comments

expositorson
this Plato
seems

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

That

almost
to to

by
the

be
me

representingthe
The

attitude

of

Socrates

himself

quite certain.
where another It

passion which
from Socrates
not

breathes like

through
the the merits

passages and

in

question is wholly absent

than democracy. is directed

books

Politicus and in

Laws,
of

discusses
ao-ainst

faults

democracy

general
had

but

form of democracy which againstthe very special commercialized, a democracy which is primarily of the
to
a

Pericles

created, capture
too
on

bent

on

the

world's

trade,-^ and,

and secondarily

by
a

consequence, its bitterness

committed is far

policyof
to state

Imperialistic expansion,and
the moral

intense
a

represent

verdict

of

thinker

looking

back

vanished
a

of things.

It is dramatically
man

right only
himself
once

in the

mouth the its

of age

disillusioned
he is and

brave

old has

who and

has

lived

through
in It is

denouncing,
lived to
this vehement

seen

perhaps

believed

promise
clear indeed that

witness

its inevitable

arraignment of the
"

equally Imperialdemocracy and

collapse.
of
"

of

Pericles
meant

himself
to

as

wanting
the

in

respect
of
'

sound
'

moral the who

basis is not
lower had their the
one

be

the

judgement
as

an

outsider

from
one

orders. known
the

It

is intended of the them

a

final

pronouncement
and

of

leaders and

movement

thoroughly

understood
in

purposes,

found in
us

all, on
leader
"

mature

deficient reflection,

thing
Plato with

needful tells
two

true

genuine statesmanship.
and Socrates the famous is

What connected
utterance
as

of the

earlymanhood
which

main

his topics, oracle

prime of and militaryexploits,

more

of the

Delphic
has be

than

anything else formed,

his
career.

Professor

Burnet

said,the
dealt with

turning-pointin
first
not
our

The

former

subject may

in

few

brief mystics
and

sentences.

Socrates, for all his mysticism,was

*

one

of the

in whom
commercial

Like

the

"

ImperiaUsm
and

'

(so-called)of
the United

own

fiuauciers
.

within monopolists,

without

Kingdom

20

PROCEEDINGS
emotion

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

transcendental the

is most
nature.

aroused regularly
He

by
in

loneliness and

of contemplation

and

Wordsworth,
It in

spiteof
'

some

marked

points of resemblance, are

in this rustic.

respect mystics of radically

was

and the the urban opposed schools, the lonely hills' that is among
interior

not

the the

that sleep mood of

induced

Socrates

stillness and and

most

reflection of the of
man.

busy
he
was

noise

hum

upon when Hence, except townsmen, devoted

soul back

but the herself,

on

active
to

service

the

home-keeping of
with
even more

the crowded
to the streets

streets of Athens

than Johnson's

devotion
in his

of
'

London.

The
to

'trees

of him
'

the
;
even

country side'
a

own

language
the Isthmus

had
see

nothing
the

say
was

to
so

short

excursion

to

to

Games

contrary

to

his habits, that

this
one

it is

regardedas
was

{Crito52 b). Apart from chronicling only absent from Athens when his duty as a
worth

occasion,he
him
into

citizen took

the

stricken actual
a

field.
man

This the

seems

to

me

more

like the
a

than

invention
It may,
nature

of

dramatic be

of an peculiarity genius imagining

fictitious character.
romantic
"

of course,
is
a

said

that

the

whole

modern

for feeling have

thing unknown

to the

Hellenic

world,
Bacchae
was

only we
to

the choruses the

of

prove
us

and opposite,
in ancient

Socrates' elder contemporary, Euripides, in particular the lyrics of the

show

how

potent

times, as well
and
than the

as

in

our

own,

the association between

there is
a

nature lonely
common

of spirit

Yet
not

type

of

mind, less
one

the other
no

and

mysticism. perhaps
with
human
more

to likely

be the

imagined by
roar
'

who

has

had

actual

contact

it, in

which

of

the traffic,

restless and

of scuffling
mortar
'

the

ant-heap and
potent
than

the

wilderness

of bricks
to

are

still her

the

silences of nature and render

her

make

the

soul realize

own

essential solitude beatific vision.

'

apt for the

his Heaven

communication vision of the

of

the

Francis

traffic of Jacob's
an

ladder

Thompson with pitchedbetween

shining
Cross
'

and

Charing

is

been such another. to have example,and Socrates would seem In the Symposium^ when the vision suddenly overmasters him, he is in of the the act of making his way along the streets to a dinner-party

gayest.
\

It

is another

touch,
in him

true

enough

to

our

nature, that
as soldierly, no

the

isionary quality goes

with
men

hand-in-hand and others.

with

the

it has

done Plato
he
was

like Gordon
most

It is from

idle

fancythat
when
to

represents the

famous

of these

as taking him *rapts'

servingin
in the
serene

the trenches
courage
to

before Potidaea.

We

are

meant

feel

that

of Socrates that it far

in the face of the

foe,of

which

Alcibiades
disastrous Socrates

is made

say

day

of

Delium,

there

is strong and

daringand

that of Laches the on surpassed of the unearthly. is just a touch in the else serene above everything

PLATO'S hour
heart of

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES

21

danger, an
more

'

ideal warrior

', just because, like Galahad,

Plato
names

he

is at

even

saint than of

man-at-arms.

three

of these

campaigns,
that of

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

that

Potidaea

Delium
were

(424), and

the
we

only

three

{Ajjology28 e) of any note, though of any military service of Socrates

a officially yepcoi/ exempt be that during may

it is curious after 422.

that As

hear

nothing
not

he

would

be

from the
ten

further service
years the in

until

411, the explanation

was no

question there
of
men

land

serious enough fighting middle itself age.

to

demand
is said 422

calling up
further
other

of advanced
war

Why
in have

nothing
taken
his

of service is
a

in the

Archidamian

except
may

431, 424,

and

question. Possibly
in the

Socrates Attica Hence the

part

in the invasion
to

years

defence

of

annual againstthe regular Plato would

on

of the

Peloponnesianforces.
the fact in

have

no

occasion

mention

recording hardly
of for

occasions
to
me

which that

his hero the

left Athenian
was

territory.It is
in have the very

credible

who philosopher,
war

prime
on

strengthwhen physical
no

the

began, should
years

been

called

militaryservice except
As for the the

in the

details

about supplied

from

Symposium
'

that what

seems

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

experienceof the
Potidaea, on
the

illuminative when
summer

'

way he

to
'

him
'

in the

camp
to
one

before

occasion of mouth
a

stood in
and

rapt rooted
records

spot,
the

through
narrative

the in the

whole
the

day
in actual

night. Plato, who

that saved The

puts
the

of

Alcibiades, further
in the

Socrates life of

showed

highest
had bestowed claims

valour

fighting and
he

Alcibiades,who
valour
was

been
on

wounded

engagement.
himself their

prizefor
on

Alcibiades, though
ascribes for

urged
the

the

generalsthe
to
a

of

Socrates,and
reason
"

selection of himself

rather his

unworthy
name

regard

his

i.e. a^/co/za,

weight
of
out

which his
as

carried

with

the

drj/xo?, partlyno
he seemed uncrowned

doubt
to

on

account

illustrious
successor

birth, and

partlybecause
capacityof
to
us

be

marked

to Pericles at

in the

despotof
was more

Athens. than
sponded corre-

Thus
a mere

Plato

least wishes

believe that
was a man

Socrates

average
to
our

he good soldier, V. C. and

on

who the

merited distinction

what

only
part
In said the

failed to
the

get
with

by
all

an

act
see

of

favouritism 220
c

the

of

authorities. the

(For
famous

this

Symp.
worth into
a

and

e.)
I have

connexion

noting, as
small with which

elsewhere, that, story impliesthat

makes
as

unless the

'rapt' it is Plato is falling

6

anachronism

nickname in the

(ppouwas

TiaTT]9,

Aristophanes
to

such

play

Clouds,

alreadycommonly given
be
no

Socrates

early as

430,
that

for there the

'

would
went

point

otherwise

in Alcibiades'

statement

word

S2 round
from

PROCEEDINGS
that

OF

THE

BRITISH
Eo-TrjKe \
as

ACADEMY
We

tl ^onKpdTrjs(ppouTi^cou

infer might fairly

head the of
a

this that

Socrates

was

alreadyknown
of

the

school"
the

for the

the (ppovTLo-TrjpLov at implies (ppovTL(TTr]S

"

of beginning

Aristophanes pointsin the same the (ppouTia-rijpLou if it was direction as he introduces as a wellalready known not and familiar institution, something invented by himself and requiringan explanation. But the consideration of this point is
War,
better
many

Archidamian

and

the evidence

deferred modern

for

moment.

It

is also

an

excellent

touch,

which from

editors have
who
*

done

their

the text, that the persons

showed
'
"

ignorantbest to remove the chief curiosity about

men

Socrates' of

singular behaviour
secular
science
'

were

lonians and

from
were

the

home

purely
Of

where

trances
'

ecstasies

unfamiliar.
worst

all

the mistaken
one

emendations the
"*

of the passage
into

the

is that of

German
a

which
*

turns

lonians have

Paeonians, inhabitants
too

region
'

where

must possession to
cause

been

familiar

thing for
of

the

rapt

'

of Socrates The

conduct

of

remark. special in the panicky retreat Socrates

any

the Athenian
of Plato. In

forces from the

Delium
"

is described
the

for

us

in two

passages

Symposium
after the

imaginarydate
"

years

event,
that

is some dialogue Alcibiades,speaking of the matter

of which

eight
as an

eye-witness, says
with Laches and

as

he

retired himself who

were,

on

horseback

he

fell in

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

Socrates

of course,

himself, as
him. Indeed

well
is

as

Socrates, came
Laches
further

off

unhurt
in the
mendation com-

{Symp. 221 b). dialoguenamed

may city would and
I

similar account

given by

himself

after

Laches

goes in the

in his

for he says, 'He

accompanied me
every
one

from flight

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 of the moralizing a professed apologiafor his life than many chapters 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

tell you

that

if

had

done

his

24

PROCEEDINGS

OF both

THE

BRITISH
science and in

ACADEMY

the

highestdistinction
the
same

in

(Tim. politics
that Socrates the central

20

a)
and

points in
as

direction.

The

suggestionis
band

would

he

grew

to

manhood
a

become

as distinguished or

dominating figurein
to

school regular
science

of associates in

devoted

the

prosecution of
one

and
is
most

the

higher knowledge
he
was

general.
423,
which
coterie.
"

According to
with

this Aristophanes of the of

just what
devoted

in

the

year

Chaerephon as

members

of the

Xenophon
but

also knew

the

existence
not

of this

organization,
scientific
not

accordingto Aristophaneshad
a common

table,
"

for

it is

only common clearly they,and

about
he
means

pursuits
rich

the

'

and

leisured young pure

'

men

who

collected

Socrates

in later life from he

enjoyment of sophistAntiphon
of the in the

his talk, whom

as

when of

speaks of
'

the
'

wishing
the
'

to

rob
'

Socrates

his

associates

That {(TvvovaLacrTois).

association

is that of the central ality personis

school

with

less advanced

students
on

distinctly implied
unwisdom
more

comment

which

Antiphon
crvpovcTLa

makes i.6.

the

of

not

charginga implied when

fee for the Socrates

{Mem.

11),and

than

merely

replydescribes himself and his friends in the habit of 'unrolling as together the stores of the old wits 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 head of an organizedschool. The natural having been the regular to quote Professor Burnet again,would be that he should succeed thing, 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
the associates
his who his
were

in his

still connected

with

Socrates

at

the
as

time

of

death,

from

with Pythagoreans such friendship and

Timaeus,
hesitation

Philolaus, Theodorus,
ascribed
to

Echecrates, and
between the Italian
'

from

the

him

in the Phaedo and

the Ionian
views
""

type of cosmology
of which

taught by Anaxagoras
would
have

Philolaus
must

probablybe
become
more

the source, than

half

that the

school

under
to

Socrates

not Pythagoreanized,

mention

that

the

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

PLATO^S him

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES of the
of

25

as

mission Athenian

the having abandoned to preach attention though the public,

*

retirement
to

study for
one's

a
'

general
to

the
of
see

affairs

soul

the

group
we

associates philosophic special old

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
have been
we

reappear has been

in the

Phaedo

where

the

after

his

mission

of

the
a

into have

dicastery.As to missionary
due
to

been

the
to

becomes
assumes

important
this the

can,

the date Of
course

at

which

Plato

oracle to
whole fact

given.
not

the obvious

thing significant
answer

about

is proceeding

the

very

of

the how

oracle,but
it may

the

that
one

the

question was
to

asked.

I do not

know

strike any

by Chaereaskingof the question he put it to the god, Socrates not only was that, when phon implies 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 was by Chaerephon seems question asked not merely to gratifyChaerephon'spersonalcuriosity but on behalf of a body of associates anxious to get the approval of for their estimate than human of their chief. This a more authority is a pointon which every man decide for himself according must to of the probablein a matter his own of human conceptions psychology, if but own judgement on the matter is a sound one, it is significant my that the associates such should attach special importance to the verdict of the Pythia. This can hardlybe explained by the supposed of the Hellenic world for the oracle at Delphi. At reverence general Athens the oracle was for sound political reasons an picious objectof susdislike. It laconised as shamelessly throughout the Archiand Decelean damian it had and wars as was formerly medised afterwards to The real ground for the application \ to philippise of the Pythia was Delphi would rather be that the inspirer Apollo of Pythagorean religion.(To be sure the central divine figure 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 legends relating progress over Euboea, Attica Apollo westward and Boeotia the to alreadyfamous shrine of Pytho, where he entered
else,but
my
'
* '

mind

the very

'

'

'

'

"

as

conqueror, deities

in into

fact,look
one

like

deliberate
to

attempt
the

to

fuse when

two

distinct oracle
was

single figure.) As
ad qicem

date

the

a given,

terminus

may

be inferred from

comparison

S6 of the

PROCEEDINGS Platonic

OF

THE

BRITISH Charmides
that the
was

ACADEMY and
the

Apology with the Aristophanes. The Apology tells us

of Socrates for his
on

Clouds

of

widespreadinfluence
one

the rich and

leisured lads,which

of the

excuses

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

humorous
career

version

which
the
not

he

is made

to

give
the

of

its influence

on

his

would

be

silliest of

jestsif
such
a

facts chronological

about

his

biographydid
us

admit been

of

construction.
the

It follows that

the oracle must wishes

a

have

given,accordingto
Socrates had
assumes

view

which

Plato
as

to

accept, before
Now

attained
that

his he
was

vogue

Mentor

of

known
own

in this
statement
once

youth. as earlyas capacity

that
as soon as

the Charmides
430
b.

already
Socrates'

c, for it opens

with
at

he returned

from

his service
"

Potidaea,
"

he at made
'

men

about

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

made

for his 'accustomed

the

of Socrates' closer the relative of

contact

acquaintance with
of

Charmides that

and

thus

rects cor-

absurd

statement
was man

later

writers
years

Plato, the
he
came

near

Charmides,
an

twenty
who

old

before

into

with

eminent
his
own

had
The

been

the friend of his uncles

was

and

cousins

before

therefore when that he

than of
a was

given

before
was

the

response of the oracle beginningof the Peloponnesianwar,

birth.)

i.e.
at

Socrates

under
who

and forty, it worth

the

fact

that

there

were

date persons
not

thought

while to ask
can

the
he of

that group

of the * wits ' very foremost definite then held a perfectly

Apollo whether less hardly mean

the

position as
We

leader not,
of

largelyPythagorean
that the

adherents.

need

that Socrates Apology means had never youth of promise any single 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 to have fidence professes attempted in his anxietyto gain Socrates' full concourse,

suppose

story

of the

and
what
'

affection.

That

even

drunken
unless

Alcibiades
we

should
in mind
mere

relate that

he
man

does
can

of himself

is incredible

bear

the

afford

to

smile
must

at

the

extravagance

of the

boy '.

This

connexion particular

thus be much

earlier than the relation

PLATO'S
of Socrates the

BIOGRAPHY
in

OF

SOCRATES

27
is

to

i^eot

general as
For

an a

admired
relation

Mentor,
which time

as

actually
in the the

presupposedby Plato's story. must mere boyhood of Alcibiades

battle at Potidaea
in which

began
well the

go

back
was

to

before

Alcibiades
had
not
sure

serving in
any
at

Athenian

cavalry.
from of

But

if

even

Charmides
we

attracted that

notice special time the

a

Socrates
men

until 430 and

may

be

that

circle
very

young

lads who
we see

admired
from Of his the
course

him

cannot

have

been
153

extensive
it

one,

though
to

dialogue{Charm.
it must

d) that

alreadyincluded
for Socrates lads
"

Critias.

have

requiredsome
group naturallybe
the

time of

extend
the

influence personal of

outside would

with
such

whom
as

friend

Alcibiades

familiar,
In
fact in

the

connexions it is

of Pericles' intimate

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 conduct from that Socrates' of the impression the strength suppose
the
in

Laches

Pyrilampes. publicfame

the

retreat

has

made

upon
Yet

Laches,

that

we

are

to

assume

the

facts to

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

be

him

that

the

Socrates

of

their admiration
are
'

was

the

son

of his old

friend

Sophroniscus. We
on

thus
men

plainlyto
which

influence of Socrates

the

young

that the suppose of rich and leisured families '

must

began
time the

with

connexion

with 440

Alcibiades
b.c.

go

back

to

some

not

much

later than

(This point is

further

impliedin

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

the

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 Alcias

little

more

than

romantic
go
out

child

just old enough,

Socrates
as

as

he

says
a

himself,to be allowed
man, at the

to

alone, and
over

still quite

young

outside not
must war,
we

the itself, years similar is

date

of which

before

the

great
his

thirty.In the Protagoras be supposed to be at any rate some find Socrates standingin a rather

much

relation to

young of

on already

close terms

the

closer

acquaintance of

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

friend

28

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

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 know, if I am ber right in the assumption that he was a memnaturally from the fact that Cephalus was of the Periclean circle, an tant impora

fieipaKiov,

"

"

'

protege
that
extensive
'

of Pericles. influence

But upon

it is not which

until after 424

the

that
*

we

hear

of

charge

of

the corrupting

founded. the very year after Delium That ultimately should have seen the earliest burlesques of 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 hierophant of strange gods and his that his popumiseducation of Pheidippides) seems to show equally larity with the uioL had just been greatlyaugmented and was a The in the year of the Clouds. novelty to the average Athenian have select for his subjectfacts which caricaturist does not topical alreadybeen familiar for years, and if the comedians with one accord have fell on Socrates time, he must in some just at a particular way himself to done suffered something very recently to recommend or

youths

was

'

"

"

their notice.
suppose Socrates'
new

Hence
at

I think

we

may

infer that

Plato

means

us

to

that

least two
his

of the

poverty and
423.

thingsmade popularitywith
remark
were

prominent in
young
not
a more men

the

Clouds,
the

at

large,were

things in

(The

same

would

to applyequally

activities of the

They cppovrLa-rripLov.
mass

private affair,of

less interest to the have

It

of

in spectators for the

the

theatre,and would
of
a

served

of themselves
course,

material

successful

hardly comedy.)
Platonic

should, of
a

be noted conforms

that

the construction

of the

as dialogues as as

whole

to this

conceptionof
in which

the he

life of Socrates appears

exhibitingthree
a

successive in which of the

men.
*

stages,one
his wits

mainly
is

student, a second

great interest
and ',
a

is to

bring to naught
he

the

pretendedwisdom

third

in which

mainly
scences reminiof the

the counsellor

of younger

Thus

the Parmenides

and
the

the

put into his mouth

earliest
show the
us

in the Phaedo

belong to
central
same

opening
of the

the period, Socrates

at

Timaeus
a

and

the

books

Republic

further

level of the
the
as

whereas development, of the

'

Protagoras^ the Gorgias, and

exhibitions in the of his power
'

first book
a

Republic are
who and pass for

dramatic
wits he
;

critic of

those

Charmides, Laches, Euthydemus, Meno,

wise and affectionate
us

elsewhere
men

is

the chiefly But

older adviser of young

to understand

of

promise.

Plato

means plainly

that the interests

PLATO^S
of the
as

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES

29
Thus in

one

of these

'

periods could
listens with
to

'

be

continued

into

another.

Timaeiis those that

Socrates

to just such speculations absorption

which, according
in the

the

Phaedo,

had held

charmed

his

youth.

But the

as dialogue is represented

being

only two

conversations
of the

Republic,where
and

Socrates

masker

Thrasymachus, partlythe pretender Adeimantus,

to

days after is partlythe unguide,philosopher

young

and

friend of Glaucon,
personae.

the

other

folk among

dramatis
are

the Similarly go

ecstatic

said find

by
an

the

Apology
of which
to

right
laid
on

back
them

of -Socrates peculiarities to his earliest youth,but in the

we

intentional date

stress

Symposium,
a

the

assumed
which
must

is

416,

and

the

Phaedru^,
as

conversation

be

taken

be held

after

416,

it not

only criticizes the

to

\6yoL of Lysias,thus implying his

dwells
a on

return
as a

from

Thurii

Athens, but
play dis-

the

risingfame

of Isocrates

writer of
as

\6yoL which
one

real

capacityfor philosophy.
middle
when age, he
can

Just

in

the the

dialogue
of his

Socrates, in advanced
first
'

recapture all

ardour

speaksto a fit audience about the fair among thousand and altogether ten ', so in the other, lovely the him of into state at same a inspiredmadness topic rouses he must date when be thought of as a already an official yepcov; youthfulenthusiasm
' '

though
the less

he
one

died

man
'

of seventy, we
never

are

to

suppose, He with

he

was

none

of the

lads who

grow

old \^

does not the wise

usually
of this

speak,when
world
or

Plato
eager

the

brings him youth of

to not

into the

company

last quarter of the

or

fifth century,
the
reason

of his lover-like devotion that his audience of the of the

are

Beauty
and

of the
not

Forms, but
he has

is

would

understand,

that

forgotten ; the
is
our

outbursts
utterance sun,

Symposium
which

Phaedrus, like the briefer passionate

the Form of Good which

about Republic

tual spiriPhaedo

reminders
his

harmonize
a

with

the

story of the
in the

that

in

with prison,
to the

life at public had

the close,

old man's

whollyback
when Of he the

theory he
the

devised

for himself

thoughtswent the early days

feet of Zeno.
of

haunted outward
to

school of Archelaus

and

sat

at

facts of Socrates' year of

life after the

campaign
A
man

Amphitell
us

polis down anything.

was

the

Arginusae
was

Plato

cannot to

be said to
over

Probably there
be called

not

much

tell.

fifty
was

not

to likely

up
to

for the from

what

campaigning

there of may and

over

in

these

years,
*

and, according
'

repeated
active

assertions

Plato,
pose supmore

Socrates' that revealed

'

sign
as

held

the aims

as

irrational

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

with
not

him

back

every
yepcov,

Sir

Socrates, too, mig-lithave said John, ' You that are old consider

that

other

immortal
us

youthful
that
are

the capacitiesof

young.'

30 and
as

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

one

at

any

Socrates' price,

hard

it had

long

been

judgement of the Periclean system, (to judge from the language Plato thinks

in the Republic), became In the Republic harder. to him appropriate Imperialistic democracy,though declared the worst system of government is in treated short of sheer personal detail in the main tyranny, with smiles at its Kcence and jobbery. detached humour a ; Socrates of invective, In the Gorgias his language is that and the name of

Pericles appears Athens

curious the very
on

on

the

list of those

false statesmen
Yet

who

had

taught
so

nothing
that
one

but

and folly

wickedness.

it is curious,and

feels it must of the

eve

be true, that in the reckless and fatal and

Symposium Alcibiades,
the

incarnation the the

very
*

of the
'

of haughty spirit in final enterprise the

cracy, demothe

which

v^pL^
friend

of

tyrant city undid

his

is still itself,

loved

personal
can

of the

and philosopher,
over

speaks of
nature

the

influence

Socrates
terms.

still exercise
even more

better

in the

strongest
passes

It

is

that singular
on

in the

dialoguewhich
their

the

heaviest

censure

all the

democratic

ideals and

creators, the

Gorgias,
given

Socrates
to

declares definitely
Demos of Athens

that whereas the Demos

the love of Callicles is of

the

and

handsome This
is

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

seems

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

to

be the year
on

after

Arginusae,as
had
'

is

an

allusion
'

to

recent

occasion how

which
to

Socrates

made

himself

ridiculous

by
it

not

knowing
it
a

was

his business

to

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

makes

capitalpoint
he
was a

that

Socrates

had

never

held

any

office

except
of

that

member

of the
must

PovXrj at
be
the

the time
occasion

of the trials
to

this Arginusae generals, Gorgias refers.) The sentiment time

cannot

the

which
at

the such

about that
very

Alcibiades

uttered

well the

mean

less than

Socrates,like Aristophanes,
year
on

who

produced
as

was PovXevTTJ?,

Frogs prepared to
say the

in

the

when his him for

own

Socrates
terms
"

was

recall Alcibiades
he
was

which

is of
so

much
"

as

to
as

that
one mass

ready to
of

see

the the

real monarch

Athens

hope

salvation

city, a

view

that SrjfjLos though the Frogs is written to urge it,Aristophaneshas to pretend clearly 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, the singular (At least this is how I should explain 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

distasteful to

the

of the

32

PROCEEDINGS
the
most

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY
from the of

seems

to

me

natural.
with the

Hence,
actual

apart

dialogues
Socrates

which

connect

themselves

trial and

death

Politicus), Crlto,Euthyphro, Phaedo, Theaetetus,Sophistes, (^Apology, 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. and death connected with the actual prosecution Of the events
of Socrates
among the

Platonic

of Socrates, Plato here. repetition

has

much

to

tell

us

which
that

is too

well known
is

for sole

Only
who has

it should

be noted of

Plato

the really
us.

contemporary

anything
(iv. 4
;

importance to
we

tell
that
no

From

Xenophon's
prosecutor
formal

Memorabilia named his

was

iv. 8)

learn

the

actual

w^as

Meletus, that

Socrates

made

previous

for preparations

speech in
one

his

own

defence, and
and

1) that the (i.

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 that weakening the influence of parents over their children,and saying 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 in actually urgedby pamphlet-war prosecutors or only figured
accusation of offences religious
' ' '

about
For

the

character

of Socrates

which
no

was

started

after
on

his

death.

the

rest

the Memorabilia
Socrates
or

throws
his death.

lightwhatever
Even

either the incident

of

prosecutionof
the of

the

famous

attemptedrescue it, much though

is not
even

from

prisonand
have The
in
so

Socrates'

refusal to avail himself

it would mentioned.

been

to

purpose,
it is

brief

apologetic Xenophontic Apologia^

the writer
s

true, mentions
we

this, but
know
with

obscure

and

hurried
is meant away

way

that four

should
'

not

words

when

his friends

any had

what certainty
a

by
'

the

mind

to

steal him

{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 mainlypalpable contents from the Apology, borrowings of Plato, except for two not Crito,and Phaedo very happy additions
eTaipcov

PLATO'S corrections. The

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES and comical

dS
ment, state-

or

first of these is the remarkable the of authority

a

to depend on alleged

Socrates' friend which

so was

Hermogenes,
defiance
and
or one

that
was

Socrates' object in
to
ensure

making
old

defence and

a really

his

own on

conviction age
"

escape

the

weakness motive in
arms

disorders
in likely
a

attendant
man

hardly a
have

creditable
a

him.

The

other

vigorous enough to is an illuminating example of

left

baby

behind

the

author's

regardfor

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

verisimilitude.

'

'

Socrates
me

answered, strokinghis friend's head, Would

'
'

you

rather

see

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

executed

correct
a

In

Plato

there

is

real

point

to

the

incident.

Phaedo

is

lad who

stillwears

his hair

and long,

Socrates

a accompanies as a

remark

that these fine curls will be cut

off to-morrow

sign of mourning
friend
'

by
as

playful gesture meant

when
narrator

to

help him

to

he will look

he has lost his locks.

imagine his young Apollodorusthe

then when

softy
was

'

is the
a

in Plato's

boy {Symp. 173 a) or took placein 416. I.e. he

at
a

Symposium, We rather stilla boy

'

learn that
the

he

'

famous

banquet
"

the time
man

when

he

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

three years in constant daily spendingsome This is stillalive and attendance Socrates. that Socrates on implies 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 fairly justify about any incidents related by him find support for which we cannot in the Platonic which, as I hold, though this is not the dialogues in all his place to argue the point, he has drawn on very freely Socratic writings.^ who
' ' '
'

has been

and

For

the

'

three
and the

'

years

and

banquet in
evidence

416

the recital nickname

long interval hetween the occurrence given by Apollodorus see Sympos. 172
the

of the
e.

For

the

that

of

Apollodorus
text
a

was

editors give it^6 /xai/tfcd?^ Burnet's see Lis annotated Indeed

to

of which

really 6 fxoKaKos, not as most Sympos. 173 d, and his remarks in

seem mc

edition

on

Phaedo

59

9,

to
as

me an

quite conclusive.
intentional allusion

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

the nickname

34

PROCEEDINGS
It will be I

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY examination before

we
can us as a

seen,

think, that the result of

our

is that

he as Socrates,
with
a

appears

in Plato''sdialogues, comes
a career

person

pretty full

biographyand

discern the

different

There individuality. : (1) from personality science and and

it is
a

quitereadily marked stages,and a very definite and strongly in his complex at least five strains combined are
his earliest manhood of the circle of the
'

in which

he has
wits
'

been

votary of
age,

haunter

of the Periclean

justhis prominencein this character which, by prompting has led to his assuming the part, of Chaerephonto Apollo, the question 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 full of life even physical vigour, 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 military experts of his day ; (3) he is a distinct opponent of Periclean ness whose hardens into bitterimperialdemocracy, opposition and something like unfairness as he grows older,and the upshot of a commercialistic is more manifest in fact ; visibly imperialism (4) he is a 'saint' of the Orphic type, and an illumine,a seer of visions and subject of all to 'rapts';(5) and yet, unlike the mystics but the first order,he is kept sane by that sense of humour throughout and the due proportionof things which his enemies mistake for a mere before anything else, '. It is this, sly pretence,and call his irony
'
'

'

which

makes

him

sweeter

and

saner

Hellenic

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

prototype of our own respectsa kind of Socrates in their of seeingthings gift

were

part

of

my

tells us

about

purpose, as it is not, to take into account the doctrines of the man and the known
whom '.

what

Plato

philosophical
for
us as

of the leanings group his life-long comrades

'

both

Plato
as

and

But,

I have

Xenophon name alreadysaid,it

is Plato's

of his hero, not his statements personality his views about is which science and philosophy, on topicthis my The question afternoon. whether such a character at issue is just this, 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

of

the

life and

PLATO'S succeeded
in
a

BIOGRAPHY

OF

SOCRATES

35

through
are no

imagining them so long series of works

have

well that, though

the the

they are
a

scattered
no one

of which, as composition

denies,must
combination
have of
a

ranged over
be

best part of half

there century, the

to discrepancies

detected, and

again

that

of

marked

characteristics personal

is most

peculiar to unlikely
character

been

thought by

Plato

or

any

one

else necessary
is therefore is a
*

to the

and ideal wise man, typical that what Plato the supposition who of an actual original was
as

and
has
'

given us
may If
we

an

originalin
You
test want

on only explicable brilliant reproduction the colloquial, well as

in other

senses,

of that word.

the
to
*

soundness know
how

of this

if you conclusion, in the

wish, very simply.

Plato,
' '

type, maturityof his powers, imaginedthe philosophic The he has given us the opportunity to do so. Eleatic stranger of introduced to us in the opening and Politicits is actually the Sophistes excellent sample of the type, of the former dialogue sentences as an 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
*

for

and nothing discussion, he has

a

more. manner

As

any
of

attentive reader
his
own we
"

will perceive

real individual

but

it is hard

to

less like imagine any figure his

the Socrates

whom

find sibi constans

from

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 unnatural
of
man as

it would
meant

be
to

to

maintain

e.g.

that

Whistler's
of
a

portrait

Carlylew^as
of

represent the
no

notion painter's

typical

that Pope had letters, or

the

actual
of
'

contemporary before his

mind
As

Avhen he sketched
a

character

Atticus '.

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 to the earlier period anything in the way of biographybelonging of 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
sentences

brief

of

the

work.

Socrates
a son

was

the
was

son

of

(Hellenica i. 7. 15); he had a wife, with a temper of her

who whose

called

Sophroniscus Lamprocles, and

once

occasionally given in the

Xanthippe,is XenophonticSyvijjoslum (ii. 10).

own, name,

36
A

PROCEEDINGS list of his the

*

OF
'

THE
is

BRITISH

ACADEMY
to

associates

given which

seems

be taken before the

he

direct trial
was a

from
of

Phaedo, only that

we

who Chaerephon,

died

Socrates,as
of

learn

from

Plato, is added.

Further,

Hipponicus (mentioned as the host of of Glaucon, Plato, Charmides, Protagoras in the dialogue Protagoras), and, though Xenophon wishes us to think this connexion temporary,
friend

Callias,son

of

of Alcibiades

and

whom Critias, hatred of

he

sought in

vain to correct
was

of their

faults of self-will and

He discipline.

well versed in the

highermathematics and astronomy of his time (Mem. iv. 7. 3 and 5), service for most though he did not think such knowledge of practical the ceremonies He was in performing men. exceptionally punctilious of the state, and 'practised' than more requiredby the religion 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 when But ask for something more definite to himself. we private in the way the Memorabilia than these generalities of biography, furnish us with remarkablylittle. We learn {Mem. i. 1),as we are
' '

also told in the Hellenica^ that for the

Socrates

was

eTriaTaTr]^,

or

chairman

of the assembly in which the proposal to deal with the sitting bloc was en made, and that he refused to put the Arginusae generals to the vote. (This is related without the further details given proposal by Plato in the Apology.) That in the oligarchic reignof terror Critias and Charicles, his censures of their proceedings, forbade him fearing
to
converse

to
a

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

vague

but prohibition,

was

dismissed

with

threat.

Whether

he

at obeyed the order we are not told. That Antiphon the sophist, some time, tried to draw away the companionswith whom unspecified Socrates of the wits of old \ accustomed to studythe writings 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 quarrel between Chaerephon
*

and his

his brother
means

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 to from making himself ridiculous by trying

of

support

in the year of

cut

before figure

while the eKKXrjo-ia

he

was

stillin his teens. Charmides and

This, Plato,
the

says where

Xenophon,
the
of the in

he

did
of

from
Plato

to friendship must

mention

be

an

inadvertence, since
who
at
a

Glaucon himself

a Republicis already and a fast friend battle,

young man of Socrates

has

distinguished
Plato

date when

PLATO'S have been

BIOGRAPHY

OF
the statement that Socrates

SOCRATES about
was

37 would
as

must

baby,though
account not
were

Charmides

fit in well with

Plato's

attracted
seems

to him

earlyas 430,

if it

for the

one

allusion which incident

is
as

to show

that
the

Xenophon
Decelean
war

is

thinking {Mem.
the

of

iii.6.

15).^ This
which at
was

happening during with quite incompatible

is said to
at
a

the tinguished dis-

assumptionsof Cephalus the

mere

Republicin
in
a

Glaucon

have date

himself father

battle

Megara

fought

when
a

of

Lysias

and still alive,

Lysiashimself

ueauicrKO?.

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),
It is
a more one

interestingpoint,and

which

but
turn

when

we

find the

that value

the of

arguments

of

Socrates
a

are

made

to

mainly on publiclife we are

date the advice who

as self-knowledge

for preparation
of

reminded forcibly
we

of the

discussion

ledge self-know-

in Plato's Charmides, and

can was

have

also to ask ourselves at what

It is

have

been

given.

stated definitely

that

only just old enough to be called ^leipaKiov when in 430 {Charm. 154 b), was Socrates an urged avrjp d^ioXoyos 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 thirty years 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,
'
'

against him

than

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 of his fellow-citizens. with Critias fell in battle againstthe majority Yet from Xenophon's own silence it appears that no one had made it a grievance againstSocrates 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

^

Charicles
his uncle

tried to

restrain

his sarcastic
be

com-

Glaucon
the

complains that
management

e. Charmides) cannot (i.

entrust
a

of his affairs to

him.

Charmides Socrates

is thus

persuaded to thought of as
into contact

man full-grown

of position at

the time

when

first caroe

with

Glaucon.

38

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

BRITISH

ACADEMY

merits

on

their administration, (the much

of Leon is not
as

more

importantincident
of representation

of his

the

arrest

mentioned),and
a woman

the

wife,who
From

is not

named,

with

temperament.
an

the

Symposium,

which

purports to be

account
was on

in the year 422, we might gatherthat Socrates know from with the millionaire Callias (as we
name was

gathering terms friendly

a

of

that Plato),

his wife's

Xanthippe,that he used to dance, as Hobbes used to sing, for bodily that he jestingly to be in strict privacy exercise, professed wits and the proud of his skill as a pimp and go-betweenbetween to be taken (an idea which seems by whom they made a living pupils and of his personal attractions. (Here from Plato''s Theaetetus) directly of a theme from the speech to have a clumsydevelopment 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^, and a joke of some kind about his studying studied the thingsaloft', and that problems turning on some geometrical point about a flea, about the difference between and the heavenly 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 but partly because I hold doubt on which side the indebtedness lies, in which be settled if necessary by a single that the question can 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 kv Topyuiois prjfMaa-Lv Kal kyoo Lva metaphor by saying, 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 simplest must languageof every day. The therefore allude to somethingin a composition which Xenophon against He is quaintly is pittinghis own. means though the statement
' ' ' ' '
"

untrue

"

that

he, no

less than

some

other, can

make

his characters

talk the

dithyrambiclanguage of Gorgias when he sees fit. If he makes them of this world, it is from choice, usually 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,
now

that

it has

come

to

his turn

to

make

his

panegyric of Eros, at

this

level. magnificent

40

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE

BRITISH the

ACADEMY

of religious offences charges and of having a bad influence upon In all this onlythe men. younger the reference to the joke about the flea,the of Lamprocles, 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.
was

put

to death

after

long life on

(The
from

reference

to

Xenophon
date.)

the response of the oracle is undated, and it is not that we obtain the materials for fixing its approximate
is

There

nothing
grown

whatever

to

show

us

under

what

influences Socrates which

"

had

again

not
"

by
we

any
can

up, except a list of his friends from parison help affbrded by Xenophon but by cominfer that If
we some

with Plato them

the
were

of the

most

intimate

of

Pythagoreans.
and

pretty full

these meagre results with compare and his careful account of Socrates,his family, from the of Plato, we dialogues
is dismissed
as

history alreadydeduced
to

are

driven

the conclusion

that if Plato's narrative of Socrates occurred

*

imaginative
of his life, shrouded
are

not only the doctrines fiction,

but

the
was
'

events

except
in

for

one

or

two

which

after he the
man

65,
to
'

speak after the fashion of the modern writer of personal paragraphs is as much unknown X the Socratic philosophy On the other \ to us as an if we side, as have, I maintain, not only, we may trust Plato's accounts Professor Burnet, myself, and others have contended, a coherent exposition intended of a philosophical obviously theory of high originality, minds in Athenian to meet just the problems which were perplexing 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 conaccount who devised this philosophy tained : the in a whole series of works written at intervals duringa period of probablyat least forty to be are years, yet no serious discrepancies 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 impenetrable mystery.
*
'

Socrates
'

"

"

'

inferences

which
to

result from

combination the

of such

casual statements.
to

Is it necessary

put
'

into words

only conclusion
',as
he

which

all the

facts

point ?
to

The

historical Socrates faithful

has been

called,must

be found

in the

full and
a

fact,of

great thinker
a son

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

The portraiture.
'

also grace, was is that of the actual touch

in it is known

God's

master

of dramatic

portrait
'

of
us

to

Sophroniscus ; nearly every of the faith ultimately only on

historical

Plato.

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