Why Socrates Died

by Robin Waterfield

  161 ‘It’s plain to see … who associate with them’: Plato, Meno 91c.

  163 Antiphon: see especially Gerard Pendrick, Antiphon the Sophist: The Fragments (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002).

  163 in his Clouds: Aristophanes, Clouds 1071–82. Mr Wrong argues that virtue involves self-denial, and that with sophistic training anyone can indulge himself and use clever argument to escape the consequences.

  163 Plato’s Callicles argued: in Gorgias 483b–484c. I believe Callicles to be a real person, but at any rate he reflects fifth-century attitudes. Further references in this paragraph: Plato, Republic 336b–344c (Thrasymachus); Plato, Republic 358e–360d (Glaucon); Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War 3.37–40 (Cleon).

  164 difficult to assess: more or less opposite conclusions are reached, for instance, by Dover (‘The Freedom of the Intellectual’) and Robert Wallace (‘Private Lives and Public Enemies’).

  164 Prodicus of Ceos … death by drinking hemlock: Suda, s.v. Prodicus. The Suda is a Byzantine encyclopedia of the tenth century CE.

  164 ‘If the fact that … are worthless’: Aristotle, The Art of Rhetoric 1397 b25–7, a neglected piece of evidence.

  164 Aristotle’s later quip: preserved in Aelian, Miscellany 3.36 (first/second centuries CE).

  165 ‘anyone who did not pay due respect … impeached’: Plutarch, Life of Pericles 32.1.

  165 as Ober puts it: Ober, Mass and Elite, 90.

  165 two late writers … but Plato …: Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 9.52 and 54; Sextus Empiricus, Against the Professors 9.56. The former was probably writing in the third century CE, and the latter towards the end of the second century CE. The Plato reference is Meno 91e.

  165 only one report: Antisthenes fr. 35 Caizzi.

  165 the sun and the moon … a ram: Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 1.8.6 (summarizing Aristotle’s pupil Theophrastus of Eresus); Plutarch, Life of Pericles 6.2.

  165 Ephorus of Cyme: fr. 196 Jacoby, with the discussion of Yunis, A New Creed, 67.

  166 relatively profuse, and starts relatively early: it starts in the fourth century with ps.-Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution 27.4 (the text says ‘Damonides’ rather than ‘Damon’, but this is a confusion of Damon with his father), continues with Plutarch, Life of Aristeides 1.7, Life of Nicias 6.1, Life of Pericles 4.3, and ends, for what it is worth, with Libanius 1.157 (Defence of Socrates).

  166 isolated and implausible: Demetrius of Phalerum fr. 107 Stork, van Ophuijsen and Dorandi.

  167 ‘I pray that my family … in the far-famed city of Athens’: Euripides, Hippolytus 421–3; the contrast with slavery occurs at Ion 670–2 and Phoenician Women 391–2. For a fourth-century example, see Demosthenes 60.26 (Funeral Speech). Many other passages could be cited: see the references in e.g. Sara Monoson, Plato’s Democratic Entanglements: Athenian Politics and the Practice of Philosophy (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000), chapter 2.

  167 Even the enemies of democracy: ps.-Xenophon, The Constitution of the Athenians (the ‘Old Oligarch’) 1.2, 1.6; Plato, Republic 557b, Gorgias 461e.

  167 when the term ‘freedom of speech’ first occurred in the English language: in Sir Edward Coke’s Institutes of the Laws of England (1628–44); I owe this reference to Arlene Saxonhouse, Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006), 19.

  168 As Isocrates said in 355 BCE: 8.14 (On the Peace).

  ELEVEN

  173 expressly a continuation: Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1179b–1181b.

  173 Plato … had him divide statesmen into two classes: Gorgias 502e–503b.

  174 his little supernatural voice discouraged him: Plato, Apology 31d–32a, 36b–c.

  174 soldier … Council … dikast: Plato, Apology 28e, 32b, 35a. The last is a little uncertain, but is a reasonable deduction from Socrates’ words: ‘I have personally often seen such people on trial …’

  175 ‘We found … wise and knowledgeable’: Plato, Euthydemus 292b–c.

  176 ‘Socrates said … knew how to rule’: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 3.9.10; see also especially 3.6–7, and Plato, Crito 47a–d, Apology 25b. But for a convincing argument that the call for expertise in politics is vacuous, see Renford Bambrough, ‘Plato’s Political Analogies’, in Peter Laslett (ed.), Philosophy, Politics, and Society (Oxford: Blackwell, 1956), 98–115 (repr. in Renford Bambrough (ed.), Plato, Popper and Politics (Cambridge: Heffer, 1967), 152–69; and in Gregory Vlastos (ed.), Plato: A Collection of Critical Essays, vol. 2 (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1971), 187–205).

  176 believed that leadership qualities were the same: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 3.4.6–12. Plato agreed (Statesman 258e–259c) and so did Xenophon (On the Management of an Estate 21); Aristotle disagreed (Politics 1252a). Protagoras of Abdera may have agreed too, if Plato is reflecting his views at Protagoras 319a.

  176 ‘Imagine … of no use to them at all’: extracted from Plato, Republic 488a–489a; the ‘windbag with his head in the clouds’ is of course Socrates, who was described that way by Aristophanes in his Clouds (225–34).

  177 Socrates believed: this emerges more clearly from Xenophon’s works than from Plato’s, especially The Expedition of Cyrus, The Education of Cyrus the Great and On Cavalry Command. Two shorter passages are Hiero 8–11 and On the Management of an Estate 21.

  177 ‘This I know … bad and disgraceful’: Plato, Apology 29b.

  178 The only qualification …: see especially Plato, Apology 20c–23b and, for ignorance of consequences and the necessity of calling on the gods, Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.7–9.

  178 ‘A man’s reach should exceed his grasp’: Robert Browning, ‘Andrea del Sarte’, 97.

  178 He used to say … competent politicians: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.2.9, 3.1.4; Aristotle, The Art of Rhetoric 1393b.

  178 if something could be tackled by human intelligence: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.7–9.

  178 Socrates likened a good statesman to a herdsman: Plato, Republic 342a–e, 345c–e; Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.1.32 and 3.2.

  179 ‘mass wisdom’ … an oxymoronic fiction: Plato, Hippias Major 284e, Laches 184e, Apology 25b, Crito 47c–d; Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 3.7.5–7.

  179 riddled with false values: Plato, Apology 29d, 31c–32a, Crito 48c.

  179 manual work is a major impediment: Plato, Alcibiades 131a–b; Xenophon, On the Management of an Estate 4.2–3, 6.4–9; see also Aristotle, Politics 1328b, 1337b.

  179 David Hume: quoted by Guthrie, Sophists, 128.

  179 Plato admits: Plato, Crito 52e; see also Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 3.5.20, where there is a hint of nostalgia for the pre-democratic Athenian constitution.

  179 ‘Pericles made … bloated and rotten’: extracts from Plato, Gorgias 515e–519a; cf. Meno 93a–94e.

  180 Plato has Socrates describe himself as the only true politician: Gorgias 521d. Socrates also describes himself as skilled at politics at Meno 99e–100a, on which see Christopher Taylor, Socrates, 52.

  180 Socrates himself addressed this issue: Plato, Crito 51c–52d.

  180 several influential commentators: especially Vlastos, ‘The Historical Socrates and Athenian Democracy’, and Kraut, Socrates and the State.

  180 ‘loyal democrat’: Plato, Apology 21a.

  181 thoughtful scholars: ‘The whole intellectual project of Republic is a Socratic project – an attempt to think through how Socrates might have conceived of an ideal political system’: Malcolm Schofield, Plato (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 315–16. See also Kraut, Socrates and the State, 10 (‘The Republic describes the sort of state he [Socrates] would have infinitely preferred to all others’), and Ober, Political Dissent, 10 (in Republic, Plato sought to ‘establish a city in which “Socratic politics” might flourish’). And from there it is only a short step to argue, as Christopher Rowe has done, that Plato’s entire political project, right up to his l
atest works, is Socratic in inspiration: ‘The Republic in Plato’s Political Thought’, in Giovanni Ferrari (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Plato’s Republic (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 27–54.

  181 ‘All those … were forbidden to enter the city’: Xenophon, Hellenica 2.4.1.

  182 Xenophon’s claim: Recollections of Socrates 1.2.30–9.

  182 ignored by … commentators: for instance, the most influential paper on Socrates’ attitude towards the Athenian democracy – Vlastos, ‘The Historical Socrates and Athenian Democracy’ – fails to mention even once that Socrates chose to stay in Athens during the rule of the Thirty.

  182 Leon of Salamis: Plato, Apology 32c–d; see also Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 4.4.3. The only difference is that in Plato Socrates refused because of the immorality of the arrest, while Xenophon stresses its illegality.

  183 widely reputed: e.g. Aristophanes, Birds 1281–2: ‘Everyone was mad about Sparta in those days – growing their hair long, starving themselves, never washing, Socratizing.’

  184 “‘On another occasion … taking part in it?”’: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.6.15; see also especially 2.1 and 3.1–7. Socrates is less pessimistic than Plato: Socrates wanted to remodel society, but Plato thought one would have to start again from scratch (Republic 501a).

  185 now ready for moral regeneration: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 3.5.5.

  187 In Aeschines of Sphettus’s version: fr. 9 Dittmar (= Giannantoni VI A51). The loss of Aeschines’ Socratic writings is especially regrettable; some of the fragments of his Alcibiades are translated in G. C. Field, Plato and His Contemporaries, 2nd edn (London: Methuen, 1948), 146–52, or in Trevor Saunders (ed.), Plato: Early Socratic Dialogues (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1987), 377–9.

  187 Xenophon adds … Socrates’ guidance: Recollections of Socrates 1.2.24–5, 39.

  188 Aeschines … included the poignant rider: fr. 11c Dittmar (= Giannantoni VI A53).

  188 Charmides, Euthydemus … and Critobulus: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 2.6 (Critobulus), 3.7 (Charmides), 4.2–3, 5 (Euthydemus); 3.1–6 are also relevant.

  188 Xenophon … as king or tyrant: Xenophon, The Expedition of Cyrus (Anabasis) 5.6.15–18, 6.4.1–7, 6.4.14, 6.6.4, 7.1.21.

  188 the dialogue Theages: on which see Mark Joyal, The Platonic Theages (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2000). We happen to know, from Plato, that Theages was expected to make his mark as an Athenian politician, but suffered from some illness that, fortunately, turned him to philosophy instead (Republic 496b–c) but, unfortunately, killed him young (Apology 34a).

  188 “‘What do you imagine … stop him succeeding?”’ : Plato, Republic 494c–e; the whole brilliant passage 487b–502c should be read.

  189 a few pages earlier: Plato, Republic 491e.

  190 Was he cataleptic?: mystic: Bussanich (above, n. to p. 44); thinking: most commentators; catalepsy: Bertrand Russell, A History of Western Philosophy (London: George Allen and Unwin, 1946), 109 – and note that in Russell’s day catalepsy was usually taken to be a symptom of mental illness. In any case, they are all interpreting the remarks of Plato at Symposium 220c–d.

  190 his first question: Plato, Charmides 153d.

  TWELVE

  191 a tidy story: Xenophon, Apology 28.

  192 at least seven of those who fled into exile: see the list in Nails, People of Plato, 18, which includes Phaedrus, Eryximachus, Acumenus, Axiochus, Charmides, Critias and Alcibiades. See Nails also for brief essays on the people I listed in this paragraph as Socrates’ unfortunate associates: the evidence is their occurrence, especially as Socratic interlocutors, in either or both of Plato’s and Xenophon’s works.

  192 his first mention in an extant comic fragment: see above, note to p. 10.

  193 ‘young and unknown’: Euthyphro 2b.

  194 from Andocides’ defence speech: 1.94 (On the Mysteries).

  194 ‘There cannot be the slightest doubt … fifth of the votes’: Plato, Apology 36a–b.

  194 bribery, apparently: see ps.-Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution 27.5.

  194 mentioned in the same breath: Xenophon, Hellenica 2.3.42–4.

  194 Plato said … important positions in the state: Meno 90b; see also Xenophon, Apology 29.

  195 He was plausibly described: Andocides 1.150 (On the Mysteries); Isocrates 18.23 (Against Callimachus).

  195 various stories giving various versions: Diodorus of Sicily, Library of History 14.37.7, has both Meletus and Anytus executed by the Athenians without trial; Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 2.43, has only Meletus put to death, with Anytus banished – only to be banished again as soon as he arrived at the city where he had chosen to see out his exile. Further references in Chroust, Socrates, Man and Myth, n. 1184.

  195 ‘Socrates the sophist’: Aeschines 1.173 (Against Timarchus).

  196 response from Isocrates: Isocrates 11 (Busiris).

  197 later writings that seem to reflect the prosecution speeches: Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 1.1 and 1.2 are both expressly defences of Socrates against the charges of, respectively, irreligion and corrupting young men; 1.2.9–61 responds to ‘the accuser’. Libanius’s Apology of Socrates contains a few passages that are useful in this regard. Other incidentally relevant passages are Isocrates, Busiris 5; Plato, Meno 90b–95a (the conversation with Anytus); and several places in both Plato’s and Xenophon’s versions of Socrates’ defence speeches which seem to respond to the prosecution speeches – e.g. Plato, Apology 24d–28a and Xenophon, Apology 19–21 (the dialogues with Meletus); Plato, Apology 33a on Socrates’ denial that he was a teacher; Plato, Apology 29c and 33a on Anytus calling for the death penalty. The scholar who has done the most to reconstruct Polycrates’ pamphlet is Chroust, in Socrates, Man and Myth.

  198 ‘Often all the citizens of a community suffer as a result of one bad man’: Hesiod, Works and Days 240.

  201 ‘Sokrates was not charged … year in, year out’: Hansen, ‘The Trial of Sokrates’, 160–1.

  201 Plato simply denied that Socrates was a teacher : Apology 19d–20c, 33a–b, and in general his regular disavowal of knowledge (and even need for a teacher Laches 201a). These features are not to be found in Xenophon’s Socrates.

  201 young men imitated Socrates’ method: Plato, Apology 23c, 33c, 37d.

  201 not slow to admit: Xenophon, Apology 20.

  201 a transparent fable: Xenophon, The Education of Cyrus 3.1.14, 38–40.

  202 long been recognized: see the reference to Jean Brodeau’s 1555 commentary on The Education of Cyrus by Gera, ‘Xenophon’s Socrateses’, 39, n. 18.

  202 ‘old accusers’: Plato, Apology 18a ff.

  203 Much remains obscure about this ritual: see Parker, Polytheism and Society, 481–3 for the most important texts, and for discussion Parker, Miasma, ch. 9, and Bremmer, ‘Scapegoat Rituals’.

  203 the ancient Judaic practice: Leviticus 16 : 20–2.

  203 the interpretation of the frieze that I prefer: Joan Breton Connelly, ‘Parthenon and Parthenoi: A Mythological Interpretation of the Parthenon Frieze’, American Journal of Archaeology 100 (1996), 53–80.

  204 he was also Socrates’ god: see C. D. C. Reeve, ‘Socrates the Apollonian?’, in the Smith and Woodruff collection Reason and Religion in Socratic Philosophy.

  204 felt himself to be perpetuating: Plato, Alcibiades 124a, Charmides 164e–165a; Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates 3.9.6, 4.2.24. 204 Socrates’ birthday: Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 2.44, on the authority of Apollodorus of Athens, a chronographer of the second century bce.

  204 the best chance Athens had for regeneration: see Plato, Apology 30a, 31a, 36c–d.

  204 Socrates’ last words: Plato, Phaedo 118a.

  204 numerous interpretations: the most recent paper on the subject known to me (Peterson, ‘An Authentically Socratic Conclusion’) helpfully lists no fewer than twenty-one. The most widely accepted is the attractive idea that Socrates has been ‘cured’ fro
m the sickness of life.

  Bibliography

  In this book, I have attempted to pull together into a single tale a large number of strands of ancient Athenian society, history, politics, personalities and culture. My reading has been equivalently wide and varied, and has consisted of more articles and chapters than whole books. This is by way of apologizing to lay readers for the abstruse nature of some elements of this bibliography, and for its extent. No one can claim to have read exhaustively in this period of ancient Athenian history, but I have read, re-read or dipped into countless books and articles in the course of my research. Many of the works I have read disagree with one another, but in order to make the stories told in this book accessible to as wide a readership as possible, and in order to keep the book short, I have omitted most of the caveats scholars normally include. This means that I have included in this bibliography more, and more scholarly works than is usual in a popular history book, so that anyone wishing to pursue the controversies I have glossed over, and to see how different reconstructions might be possible, has sufficient material to begin with. What follows, then, should be regarded as what I consider to be the best, in terms of some combination of relevance, quality, importance, controversy and readability (up to the middle of 2007, when research on this book effectively ended). I have focused on English-language material, and marked with an asterisk those secondary works which seem to me to be both reasonably accessible and of considerable importance to the topics covered in this book. The primary texts are of course all of fundamental importance.

  HISTORY

  The most important ancient texts are Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War, which is best read in the edition of Robert Strassler, The Landmark Thucydides (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1996), with its revised version of Richard Crawley’s 1874 translation; Xenophon, Hellenica, translated as A History of My Times by Rex Warner (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979); and pseudo-Aristotle, The Athenian Constitution, translated by Peter Rhodes (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984). The relevant parts of Diodorus of Sicily’s Library of History (books 12 to 14, available in the Loeb Classical Library, published by Harvard University Press) sometimes offer alternative traditions. The plays of Aristophanes (most easily available in the Penguin Classics series) provide fascinating but often ambiguous insights into social history. Among the orators, speeches by Andocides, Lysias and Isocrates are the most significant for this book, and are available either in the Loeb Classical Library or, increasingly, in good translations published by the University of Texas Press in the series ‘The Oratory of Classical Greece’.