Why Socrates Died
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Proxenia: see Xenia.
Prytany: a thirty-six-or thirty-seven-day period of the year when the fifty Councillors from one of the ten tribes of Athens were in charge of daily governmental functions; hence they were called the prytaneis, ‘the executive’.
Satrap: a governor of a province of the Persian empire. Satraps were viceroys, ultimately answerable to the Persian king, but they had immense power and wealth, and ruled their provinces like kings or princelings.
Sophist: an educator or intellectual. The word is no more than a noun formed from the Greek word for ‘clever’, and just as educators and intellectuals come in all guises, so the sophists taught different subjects and used different methods. Except in the reaction they met from conservatives and rivals, they were far from being a unified school or movement.
Stoa: a building consisting chiefly of a long, covered colonnade. The reconstructed Stoa of Attalus II (third century BCE) in the Athenian Agora gives the best impression.
Sycophant: a kind of blackmailer, who threatened prosecution in the Athenian courts as a way to make money.
Talent: the largest unit of Athenian currency (worth, say, about £500,000): 36,000 obols = six thousand drachmas = sixty mnas = one talent.
Thetes: the lowest of the four Solonic property classes in Athens.
Trierarch: the man responsible for financing a trireme for a year, and for supervising its crew.
Trireme: a Greek warship, propelled by three banks of oarsmen on each side. Its precise design is in many respects extremely uncertain.
Tyrant: a sole ruler who seized power by unconstitutional means, or inherited such power, though he was not necessarily a despot.
Xenia: a binding, hereditary relationship, often translated ‘guest-friendship’, that cut across all other social systems; in a time of war, for instance, it would not cross the minds of xenoi in opposing camps that their relationship would be damaged in the slightest; or again, xenoi trusted one another with money and other resources in ways that circumvented normal political and economic channels (and so could seem to outsiders like bribery). But xenoi had taken an oath of obligation to each other; they had a religious duty to each other that transcended more mundane sentiments such as patriotism. Xenia facilitated communication in a number of important areas, such as trade and diplomacy. Proxenia was an extension of xenia, whereby a whole community became, so to speak, a person’s xenoi; a proxenos, then, was the representative of a foreign community within his home community.
References
PREFACE
xii groused enough: see especially my ‘Xenophon’s Socratic Mission’, in Christopher Tuplin (ed.), Xenophon and His World (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2004; = Historia Einzelschrift 172), 79–113.
ONE
4 complained … about the time restriction: Plato, Apology 19a, 37a–b.
4 the smallest jury we hear of: ps.-Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution 53.3.
5 ‘This indictment … penalty demanded is death’: Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 2.40.
6 If Plato is to be trusted: Plato, Phaedo 59c–61c.
6 Socrates asked them not to: see Plato, Crito 44b ff.
7 harm the city, he said: Plato, Crito 49a–50a.
7 thanks to … Enid Bloch: ‘Hemlock Poisoning and the Death of Socrates’, in Brickhouse and Smith (eds), Trial and Execution, 255–78. A shorter version of this paper first appeared online in March 2001, in the Journal of the International Plato Society:www.nd.edu/∼plato/bloch.htm.
7 as Plato described them in … Phaedo: Phaedo 117a–118a; a peaceful death is also implied by Xenophon, Apology 7.
8 how Meletus understood the charges: see Plato, Apology 26b.
8 speaking off the cuff … doing no wrong: Plato, Apology 17c; Xenophon, Apology 3 (see also Recollections of Socrates 4.8.4).
10 One of the most famous episodes: Plato, Apology 20e ff. It was famous even in antiquity. See, for instance, ps.-Lucian, Amores 48 (second century CE), which humorously gives the story an erotic spin: Socrates is wisest because of his attraction towards young men.
10 famous in comedy: e.g. Aristophanes frr. 539, 573 Kock, Birds 1296, 1564; Alexis fr. 210 Kock (fr. 214 Arnott); Antiphanes fr. 197 Kock.
10 started around 440 BCE … by the end of the decade: Plato, Ladies 187d–188a. The earliest comic fragment mentioning Socrates, datable to before 430, is fr. 12 Kock (Giannantoni I A2) of the poet Callias, in which he has a character accuse Socrates of making people arrogant. Clearly, young men had already begun to imitate his questioning of others, as a means of making themselves feel superior to others.
11 a mention in Xenophon’s Apology: 14.
12 as Moses Finley once remarked: Aspects of Antiquity, 62. On other Socratic apologies, see Trapp, ‘Beyond Plato and Xenophon’, in Trapp (ed.), Socrates from Antiquity to the Enlightenment, 51–63.
12 Maximus of Tyre: Oration 3 in Michael Trapp, Maximus of Tyre: The Philosophical Orations (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).
12 started perhaps late in the fourth century: we would not know about this tradition, were it not for the chance preservation of a papyrus fragment containing part of a Socratic dialogue, in which Socrates is asked why he did not mount a defence. The fragment is PKöln 205 (in Michael Gronewald, Kölner Papyri, vol. 5 (Opladen: Westdeutscher Verlag, 1985), 33–53); it is summarized by Jonathan Barnes in Phronesis 32 (1987), 365–6.
12 Plato claims … and Xenophon to have heard about it: Plato, Apology 38b; Xenophon, Apology 10.
14 a specific reference: Plato, Apology 19b–c; see also Xenophon, On the Management of an Estate 11.3.
14 in two later plays: Aristophanes, Birds 1280–4, 1553–6 (produced 414); Frogs 1491–9 (produced 405). See also other comic fragments collected by Giannantoni in his section I A.
14 taken an interest in current scientific ideas: specifically those of Anaxagoras of Clazomenae (according to Plato, Phaedo 96a–99d), perhaps mediated by Anaxagoras’s pupil Archelaus, a native Athenian; see Geoffrey Kirk, John Raven and Malcolm Schofield, The Presocratic Philosophers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 385–6. It seems also to be an implication of Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 4.7.1–6 that at some point Socrates had acquired expertise in such matters; at any rate, his attitude towards them does not seem to be the product of ignorance. Some claim that Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.6.14 suggests even that Socrates taught such matters, but I cannot find evidence of this.
15 imitated … by Xenophon: Apology 19–21.
15 the ‘inherited conglomerate’: Murray, Greek Studies (London: Oxford University Press, 1946), 67.
16 ‘If a mere … acquitted’: Plato, Apology 36a.
17 A late biographer: Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 2.42.
17 he addressed … as true dikasts: Plato, Apology 39c.
18 a few more or less trivial details: both writers have Socrates claim that those who are about to die gain prophetic powers, and that the indications from his supernatural voice were that he would benefit from the trial; both writers attribute the part of the indictment that mentioned new gods to this supernatural voice; both writers have Socrates insist that he has never wronged anyone.
18 raised a hubbub: Socrates asks for quiet or anticipates such interruptions at Xenophon, Apology 15; Plato, Apology 17c–d, 20e, 21a, 27a–b, 30c, 31d–e.
18 defiance and arrogance: 31d–e; 28a–b; 24e–25c; 20e–21b, 28e–29a; 34c–35d (see also Crito 48c–d); 37a–b; 38d–e; 28e–29a, 35d; 36d–e.
18 Xenophon’s express purpose: Apology 1.
19 as recent scholars have argued: ‘Sense can be made of the Apology only if Socrates is seen as attempting to secure his acquittal in a manner consistent with his principles’ (Brickhouse and Smith, Socrates on Trial, 210). Reeve describes Plato’s Apology as ‘part of a reasonable and intelligible defense compatible with his [Socrates’] deepest principles, and it establishes his innocence’ (Socrates in the Apology, 185).
TWO
20 he ruefully agreed: ps.-Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution 9.1.
21 personal motives: Plato, Apology 23e: Meletus championed the poets, Anytus the politicians, Lycon the orators.
21 ‘Extant evidence … public actor’: Allen, World of Prometheus, 39–40.
25 ‘Athenian rhe¯tores … move a proposal’: Yunis, Taming Democracy, 10. 28 the oath taken by dikasts: see especially Demosthenes 24.149–51 (Against Timocrates).
28 as law-makers, rather than as law-interpreters: e.g. Demosthenes 56.48 (Against Dionysodorus); Lysias 14.4 (Against Alcibiades I).
28 ‘The prosecutor in one action … by turning prosecutor’: Ober, Mass and Elite, 144–5.
28 Written laws were idealized as equalizers: e.g. Euripides, Suppliant Women 430–4.
29 not always obliged: in his speech Against Aphobus (27.40–1) Demosthenes complained that his opponents refused to produce in court a will that would have corroborated a point he was making.
31 ‘The Athenians’ criteria … firmly drawn’: Wallach, Platonic Political Art, 97.
THREE
32 Aristotle … quipped: the story is preserved in Aelian, Miscellany 3.36 (first/second centuries CE).
33 the scholarly consensus: e.g. Hansen, ‘The Trial of Sokrates’, 165; Schofield, ‘I. F. Stone and Gregory Vlastos’, 285.
33 the prosecution speech that survives: the speech is preserved as Lysias 30 (Against Nicomachus).
33 ‘a surprisingly high proportion … strong political agenda’: Todd, Shape of Athenian Law, 308.
36 both Xenophon and Plato: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.5; Plato, Apology 26c.
37 Protagoras … expressed his agnosticism: fr. 4 Diels/Kranz.
37 Prodicus of Ceos: fr. 5 Diels/Kranz.
37 Democritus of Abdera: e.g. A74, A75 Diels/Kranz; but see the fuller set of relevant testimonia in Christopher Taylor, The Atomists: Leucippus and Democritus (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1999), 138–41.
37 Thrasymachus of Chalcedon: fr. 8 Diels/Kranz.
37 as Aristophanes called Socrates: Clouds 830 (423–414 bce).
37 long remembered: e.g. Aristophanes, Birds 1058 ff. (produced 414), Frogs 320 (produced 405).
37 a garland-seller complain: Aristophanes, Thesmophoriazusae 450–1.
37 In some famous lines: from Euripides’ Sisyphus (produced 415). Some ancient sources attribute these lines to a lost play by Critias, and so it commonly appears as Critias, fr. 25 Diels/Kranz, and is assigned to Critias in the standard text (James Diggle, Tragicorum Graecorum Fragmenta Selecta (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998)), but most scholars now believe it to be a Euripidean fragment.
38 Nor do Euripidean characters stop there: e.g. frr. 286 and 292 Nauck (both from Bellerophon), Trojan Women 987 ff.; and then see all the other fragments and lines collected and discussed by Yunis, A New Creed.
39 ‘Everyone could see … altars of the state’: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.2; see also Xenophon, Apology 11, Plato, Euthydemus 302c.
39 no more than outline: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 4.3.7; see also 1.4. 39 ‘Since the god is good … and not attributed to the god’: Plato, Republic 379c.
39 Homer … has Zeus complain: Odyssey 1.32–3.
40 Socrates himself wonder out loud: Plato, Euthyphro 6a (cf. 6b–c).
40 a number of admired writers: rationalizing criticism of myths and conceptions of the gods may be found in Xenophanes of Colophon, Heraclitus of Ephesus, Solon of Athens, Pindar of Cynoscephalae, Hecataeus of Miletus, Euripides of Athens, and Prodicus of Ceos – let alone the extraordinary Derveni Papyrus. See also Plato, Phaedrus 229c–d.
40 ‘I cannot believe … debased tales of poets’: Euripides, Heracles 1341–6; see also, e.g., Iphigeneia among the Taurians 385–91, which concludes, Socratically: ‘In my opinion, no deity is bad.’
40 as Plato has Socrates come close to suggesting: Euthyphro 15a.
41 reduce piety to vulgar trading: Plato, Euthyphro 14e.
41 ‘Socrates prayed … those of the good’: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.3.2–3.
41 Close to the start of Republic: Plato, Republic 331b.
41 ‘Revere the gods … rules and regulations’: Isocrates 1.13 (To Demonicus).
41 on Homer’s authority: see Homer, Iliad 9.497–501, with Plato, Republic 364b–365a.
42 ‘Dear Pan … by himself’: Plato, Phaedrus 279b–c.
43 ‘double causation’: see e.g. Michael Clarke, Flesh and Spirit in the Songs of Homer (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), 277–82.
43 perfectly acceptable within Greek religion: e.g. Euripides, Electra 890–2.
43 ‘not doing away with … traditional ways’: Isocrates 7.30 (Address to the Areopagus).
44 the gods were inscrutable: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 4.7.6; Plato, Euthyphro 4e; in general, Plato, Apology 23a–b on the paltriness of human wisdom, and Socrates’ lifelong campaign against false claims to knowledge.
44 mystical cabal … guru: e.g. Aristophanes, Clouds 140–3, Birds 1553–6; Plato too presents Socrates, especially in Symposium and Phaedrus, as an enlightened person, capable of showing others the way to transcendent experiences.
44 as one scholar has recently: Bussanich, ‘Socrates the Mystic’, and ‘Socrates and Religious Experience’.
44 Pythagoreans … trances: in Phaedo, Plato has two known Pythagoreans present with Socrates in prison on the last day of his life; at Symposium 175a–b and 220c–d he tells us a little about Socrates’ trances; the latter one lasted at least twenty hours, and was in public view.
46 ‘supernatural alarm’: the most important passages are Xenophon, Apology 12–13, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.2–5, 4.3.12–13, 4.8.1, 4.8.5–6, 4.8.11, Symposium 8.5; Plato, Apology 31c–d, 40a–b, 41d, First Alcibiades 103a–b, 135d, Euthydemus 272e, Republic 496c, Phaedrus 242b, Theaetetus 151a; ps.-Plato, Theages 128d–130e. For later antique reflection on the phenomenon, see Plutarch, On Socrates’ Personal Deity.
46 they both agree: Xenophon, Apology 12, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.2; Plato, Euthyphro 3b.
46 Aristophanes had a character condemn: Frogs 888–91.
46 apparently well known: Plato, Apology 31c; Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.2.
47 ‘Such things are easily misrepresented to the masses’: Plato, Euthyphro 3b.
47 Some scholars: e.g. Brickhouse and Smith, Socrates on Trial, 69–87; Smith and Woodruff, Reason and Religion, 3–4.
FOUR
51 ‘Hello, Socrates … bearded chin now’: Plato, Protagoras 309a.
51 Alcibiades and philosophy: Plato, Gorgias 481d.
51 ‘I might as well … elder brother’: Plato, Symposium 219d; Alcibiades’ speech about Socrates runs from 214e–222b, but can be fully appreciated only in the context of the book as a whole, since it is full of echoes of earlier speeches.
52 Socrates took part: Plato, Apology 28e. On Delium, see Plato, Laches 181a–b, Symposium 221a–c; on Poteidaea, see the beginning of Plato’s Charmides, with Christopher Planeaux, ‘Socrates, Alcibiades, and Plato’s Ƭὰ: Does the Charmides Have a Historical Setting?’, Mnemosyne series 4, 52 (1999), 72–7.
52 said to be still attracted to Socrates: Plato, Symposium 222c.
52 Xenophon tried to convince: Recollections of Socrates 1.2.12–16, covering both Alcibiades and Critias.
53 five of the immediate followers: Plato, Aeschines of Sphettus, Antisthenes, Euclides and Phaedo. In addition to these dialogues called Alcibiades, he plays a minor role in Xenophon’s Recollections of Socrates, and features in Plato’s Protagoras and of course Symposium; he also features prominently in Phaedo’s Zopyrus (the name of Alcibiades’ childhood tutor). See Nicholas Denyer, Plato: Alcibiades (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 5.
54 already being referred to by c
omic poets: in Aristophanes’ Banqueters (produced in 427), a fashionable young man uses a neologism that his father attributes to Alcibiades (fr. 198 Kock). Another early Aristophanic reference is Acharnians 716 (produced in 425). He was already known as a womanizer to Pherecrates (fr. 155 Kock, which is undatable with certainty, but belongs to the early 420s).
54 a later wit: Bion of Borysthenes (third century bce), as reported by Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 4.49. There are numerous stories about or references to Alcibiades’ voracious sexual appetite: see, for instance, Plutarch, Life of Alcibiades 3–5, 8.5, 39.5; Athenaeus, The Learned Banquet 220c (= Antiphon fr. 67 Thalheim), 534f–535a, 574e (= Lysias fr. 5 Thalheim; this story has Alcibiades visiting Abydus with his dissolute uncle Axiochus); Xenophon, Hellenica 3.3.1–4; ps.-Andocides 4.10, 14 (Against Alcibiades). But almost all these stories are untrue, deriving either from comic fantasy or from hostile political pamphlets. The only element that is certainly correct is that Alcibiades did have a prodigious sexual appetite.
54 even tragedians: see Bowie, ‘Tragic Filters’, and e.g. Strauss, Fathers and Sons, 115, but especially works in the bibliography by Vickers.
54 despite later fabrications for tourists: in the second century CE, visitors to Athens were shown a sculpted representation of the Graces, and a Hermes, which were attributed to Socrates (Pausanias, Guide to Greece 1.22.8) – but then for centuries Athenian tourist guides were notorious for linking all their famous artefacts indiscriminately with all their famous personalities, so that during the Turkish regime the Temple of Olympian Zeus, for instance, was regularly pointed out as the Palace of Hadrian (or even of Theseus). And there is still a cell on Philopappou Hill in Athens which is marked, erroneously, as Socrates’ prison.