Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 3.djvu/860

Rh 848 SOCRATES, and Connns, of Aspasia and Diotime ( Plat. Meno, p. 96, Crati/l. p. 384, Menex. p. 235, Symp. p. 20 1 ), and says that the reason why he so seldom went outside the walls of the city was, that it was only within it that he found instruction by means of intercourse (Plat PJiaedr. p. 230, comp. Meno, p. 80, Crito, p. 52 ; Diog. Laert. ii. 22). Devoted as he was to his native city in love and thankful- ness (Plat. Crit pp. 50, 51, &c., Apol. 29 ; Xen. Mem. iii. 3. § 12, 3. § 2, &c., 18, &c.), and feithfully as he fulfilled the duties of a citizen in the field (at Potidaea, Delion, and Amphipolis, 01. 87. 2 and 89. 1, B. c. 432 and 424) and in the city, he did not seek to exert his influence either as a general or as a statesman ; not that he shunned a contest with unbridled democracy (Plat. Apol. p. 31, &c., Gorg. pp. 521, 473, de Rep. vi. p. 496),— for he thoroughly proved his courage, not only in the above-mentioned expeditions (see especially Plat. Symp. p. 219, &c., comp. Alcib. p. 194, Apol. p. 28, Charm, p. 153, Lach. p. 181 ; Diog. Laert. ii. 22, &c., ib. Menage), but also by the resistance which he offered, first, as president of the Prytaneia, to the unjust sentence of death pronounced against the victors of Arginusae, and afterwards to the order of the Thirty Tyrants for the apprehension of Leon the Salaminian (Plat. Apol. p. 32 ; Xen. Mem. i. 1. § 18, iv. 4. § 2 ; Diog. Laert. ii. 24 ; comp. Luzac, I.e. p. 89, &c., 131) ; — but because he entertained the most lively conviction that he was called by the Deity to strive, by means of his teaching and life, after a revival of moral feeling, and the laying of a scientific foundation for it (Plat. Apol. pp. 30, 31, 33, Euihyph. p. 2, Gorg. p. 521 ; Xen. Mem. i. 6. § 15). For this reason an internal divine voice had earned him against participating in political affairs ^Plat. Apol. pp. 31, 36, Gorg. pp. 473, &c., 521), and therefore the skill requisite for such pursuits had remained un- developed in him (Plat. Gorg. p. 474). When it was that he first recognised this vocation, cannot be ascertained ; and probably it was by degrees that, owing to the need which he felt in the inter- course of minds of coming to an understanding with himself, he betook himself to the active duties of a teacher. Since Aristophanes exhibited him as the representative of the witlings and sophists in the '• Clouds," which was exhibited for the first time in B. c. 423, he must already have obtained a wide- spread reputation. But he never opened a school, nor did he, like the sophists of his time, deliver public lectures. Everywhere, in the market-place, in the gymnasia, and in the workshops, he sought and found opportunities for awakening and guiding, in boys, youths, and men, moral consciousness and the impulse after self-knowledge respecting the end and value of our actions. On those whom he had convinced that the care of continually becoming better and more intelligent must take precedence of all other cares, he was sure he had conferred the greatest benefit (Plat. Apol. p. 36, comp. pp. 28, 29, 38, 30, 31, 33, Symp. p. 216, Lach. p. 188 ; Xen. Mem. i. 2. § 64). But he only en- deavoured to aid them in developing the germs of knowledge which were already present in them, not to communicate to them ready-made knowledge; and he therefore professed to practise a kind of mental midwifery, just as his mother Phaenarete exercised the corresponding corporeal art (Plat. Tlieaet. p. 149, ib. Heindorf.). Unweariedly and inexorably did he fight against all false appearance and conceit SOCRATES, of knowledge, in order to pave the way for correct self-cognition, and therewith, at the same time, true knowledge. Consequently to the mentally proud and the mentally idle he appeared an in- tolerable bore, and often enough experienced their bitter hatred and calumny (Plat. Apol. pp. 22, 23, Symp. p. 215, Gorg. pp. 482, 491, 522, Meno, p. 95 ; Xen. Mem. iv. 4. § 19 ; Diog. Laert. ii. 21, ib. Menag.). Such persons might easily be misled b}' the '' Clouds " of Aristophanes into regarding Socrates as the head of the sophists, although he was their victorious opponent. Although the story that it was after entering into a bargain with the accusers of Socrates that the poet held him up to public scorn and ridicule (Aelian, V. H. ii. 13; comp. Freret, Observations sur les Causes et sur quelques Circonstances de la Condamnation de Socraie, Memolres de PAcademie des Inscript. xlvii. p. 209, &c.), is a palpable invention, since the first exhibi- tion of the "Clouds" (in 01. 89.1, B.C. 423) preceded the prosecution and condemnation of Socrates by twenty-four years, still that the comedy produced a lasting unfavourable impression re- specting the philosopher, he himself declared in the speech which he made in his own defence on his trial (J^a.i.Apol. pp. 18, 19, 23, 25 ; comp. Xen. Symp. 6. § 6). Yet it does not appear that personal en- mity against Socrates was the motive for the pro- duction of the comedy (Plato exhibits Socrates engaged in the most confidential conversation with the poet, Symp. p. 223). As little can we tax the poet with a calumny proceeding from maliciousness, or with meaningless buffoonery, since almost all his comedies exhibit great moral earnestness and warm love for his countiy (see especiallv Acluirn. 676, &c., Vesp. 1071, &c., 1022, Fac. 732, &c.. Nub. 537, &c. ; comp. Schnitzer's German translation of the "Clouds," Stuttgart, 1842, p. 19, &c.). It appears rather to have been from a conviction that the ancient faith and the ancient manners could be regained only by thrusting aside all philosophy that dealt in subtleties, that he represented So- crates, the best known of the philosophers, as the head of that sophistical system which was burying all morals and piety (comp. Siivern, Ueber die Wolken des Aristophanes, p. 24, &c. ; Rotscher, Aristophanes und sein Zeitalter, p. 268, &c.). In adopting this view we do not venture to decide how far Aristophanes regarded his exhibition as cor- responding to the peculiarities of Socrates, or con- tented himself with portraying in his person the hated tendency. Attached to none of the prevailing parties, So-'j crates found in each of them his friends and his j enemies. Hated and persecuted by Critias, Cha- ricles, and others among the Thirty Tyrants, whoj had a special reference to him in the decree which'] they issued, forbidding the teaching of the art ofj oratory (Xen. Mem. i. 2. §§ 31, 37), he was im-T peached after their banishment and by their op-- ponents. An orator named Lycon, and a poet (a ' friend of Thrasybulus) named Melitus, had united! in the impeachment with the powerful demagogue^ Anytus, an embittered antagonist of the sophists-i and their system (Plat. Meno, p. 91), and one of] the leaders of the band which, setting out from Phyle, forced their way into the Peiraeeus, and drove out the Thirty Tyrants. The judges also are described as persons who had been banished, and who had returned with Thrasybulus (Plat. Apol. p. 21). The chief articles of impeachment