Xenophon - Conversations with Socrates

Plato is the most famous writer who immortalized Socrates, but we also possess the complete works of Xenophon on our greatest philosopher. The “Memoirs” are accepted by scholars as the most accurate descriptions of the historical Socrates, along with Plato’s “Apology,” the first book of the “Republic” and his early Dialogues. Xenophon’s Socratic works include:

·???????? Socrates’ Defense – compares to Plato’s Apology (Trial of Socrates)

·???????? Memoirs of Socrates

·???????? The Dinner-party – compares to Plato’s Symposium

·???????? The Estate-Manager

Socrates, who lived from 469 to 399 B.C., was not a writer, and in The Phaedrus, the philosopher declares writing far inferior to face-to-face communication for sharing information. As with Jesus Christ, what we know of Socrates’ teachings comes to us through his disciples. Xenophon and Plato were his most famous students and they were about 45 years younger than him. Beyond the reverence due his philosophy teacher, Xenophon as a soldier and general respected Socrates’ experience as a hoplite infantryman at Delium, Potidea and Amphipolis during the Peloponnesian War. Xenophon writes in Anabasis about conferring with Socrates before embarking on his great march with the Ten Thousand and explicitly declares his deference and respect for the philosopher. As readers of Xenophon, we can get a sense of the training of his mentor as expressed in the writer’s judgements and values in his speeches to the troops, in his commentary and eulogies of fellow generals, and throughout his portrayal his history. While The Hellenika and Anabasis are Xenophon’s primary works, a new reader coming to his oeuvre will be rewarded by reading his writings on Socrates first to get to know the writer better to gain a richer experience of the larger works.

The following quotes are designed to provide a sense of Xenophon’s writing about his teacher, they are not an attempt to convey the essence of his understanding of the philosophy that he shares throughout his body of work. These quotes are from Conversations of Socrates by Xenophon, translated by Hugh Tredennick and Robin Waterfield, edited with new material by Robin Waterfield in the Penguin Classics edition published in 1990, all sections copyright by Waterfield in 1990 except for translations of Memoirs and Dinner-Party copyright by Tredennick in 1970.

In Memoirs of Socrates at 4.6 we read of a concept of the three natural forms of government that is also treated by Plato in The Republic, by Aristotle in Politics, and by Polybius in The Histories. The latter two writers conceived of a mixed form of government that blended these three natural types, and this mixed government inspired the American Founders in writing the Constitution. Regarding leadership and human nature, it is exciting to understand how the great thinkers considered these pivotal issues of society, indeed of the nature of civilization. Xenophon has Socrates make this critical subject sound simple.

Socrates considered that kingship and despotism were both forms of authority but differed from each other. He thought that authority with the consent of the people and in accordance with the laws of the State was kingship, whereas authority without consent and in accordance not with the laws but with the whim of the ruler was despotism. Where offices were filled by men who satisfied the legal requirements, he considered the constitution to be aristocracy; where they were filled in accordance with a property qualification, a plutocracy; and where they were filled by anybody, a democracy.

??????????????? In 399, in one of the most vexing mysteries of Athenian history, Socrates was put on trial by a standard jury of 501 of his peers and condemned to death by hemlock. Xenophon opens his Socrates’ Defense by reporting on the great philosophers openly expressed attitude, and explains this unexpected, almost outrageous behavior.

?Now, others have written about the trial, and they have all touched upon his arrogant tone; so it is clear that this is how Socrates actually spoke. But what they didn’t make clear – and without it the arrogance of his tone is bound to appear rather foolish – is this: he had already decided that for him death was preferable to life. …

Hermogenes reported that he noticed Socrates discussing anything rather than the trial, and that he said to him: ‘Really, Socrates, ought you not to be considering your defense?’

Socrates at first replied: ‘Don’t you think that my whole life has been a preparation for my defense?’ - ‘How?’

‘Because I have consistently done no wrong, and this, I think, is the finest preparation for a defense.’

??????????????? Memoirs of Socrates, comprised of four books, is Xenophon’s major Socratic work, and it covers a wide variety of the philosopher’s teachings. One touching and amusing example of Socrates’ character is shown with him conversing with this eldest son Lamprocles who is angry with his mother Xanthippe.

‘The wife conceives and carries this burden, bearing the weight of it, risking her life and giving up a share of her own nourishment; and after all her trouble in carrying it for the full time and bringing it to birth, she feeds and cares for it, although the child has never done her any good and does not know who the benefactor is. …

‘They leave nothing undone in their concern to see that their children’s development is as perfect as possible.’

To this the lad replied, ‘But really, even if she has done all this and great deal more besides, nobody could put up with her temper.’

‘Which kind of ferocity do you think is harder to bear – a wild beast’s, or a mother’s?’

‘A mother’s,’ he said, ‘if she’s anything like mine.’

??????????????? ??????????????? At Memoirs 2.8, Xenophon recounts Socrates who often speaks in myths is talking about dogs, and we know the writer has a very high opinion of these animals with an entire treatise in his Shorter Works dedicated to Hunting with Dogs. But here, Socrates is using them as analogy to the various services that different people bring to society. Plato talks about a similar concept in The Republic regarding the Guardians and why they deserve their food, shelter and respect.

‘They say that in the days when animals could talk, a sheep said to its master: “I don’t understand your conduct. To us, who provide you with wool and lambs and cheese, you give nothing except what we get from the earth; but to the dog, who provides you with nothing of the kind, you give a share of your own food.” The dog heard this and said, “Quite right, too: I am the one to whom you owe your security from being stolen by men and carried off by wolves. If I didn’t watch over you, you wouldn’t even be able to graze for fear of being killed.” In light of this argument, the story goes, even the sheep conceded the dog his privileges.’

??????????????? At Memoirs 3.6, Socrates is speaking with a young man, Charmides, who feels too shy to do his duty as a political leader in front of the Assembly, even though he is intelligent and well-qualified. This passage gives us a good sense for the pure democracy of Athens, where the Assembly was open to all citizens, most who are very free about expressing their own opinions, no matter how unqualified, because in this form of government, everyone is equal whether or not that’s good for the citizens as a whole, the City, is argued by the ancient philosophers.

‘You are neither overawed by the cleverest people nor afraid of the most powerful, and yet you are too modest to speak in front of the silliest and weakest. Whom are you shy of? The fullers or shoe-makers or the carpenters or smiths or the farmers or the merchants or the dealers in the agora, whose business it is to buy at cheaper rate and sell at a dearer one? For all these people go to make up the Assembly. … You converse easily with our leading statesmen, some of whom look down on you, and you are far better qualified than professional politicians; yet you shrink from speaking in front of people who have never troubled their heads about politics or formed a poor opinion of you – because you are afraid of being laughed at!’

??????????????? Xenophon shares more of the general wisdom of Socrates in Memoirs at the end of 3.9. Here we are seeing nuggets of brilliance one after the other, delivered notebook style, complete unlike the poetic dramas Plato uses to deliver these same insights.

“When he was asked what he thought was the best occupation for a man, he replied, ‘Effective action.’ And when he was further asked whether he considered good luck to be an occupation, he replied, ‘I regard luck and action as totally opposed to each other. … to do a thing well after learning and practicing how to do it is, I think, effective action; and it is those who make a practice of this who seem to me to be effective.”

??????????????? The Dinner-Party is both a Socratic dialog on the nature of true goodness, and a thoughtful commentary on the theme of Love. It is a drinking party, and like Plato’s Symposium, it tells a story of educated men gathered for a night of enlightening entertainment. Of his four books on Socrates, this is Xenophon at his writerly best and fun to read. As a light sample of the humor to be had, Xenophon offers us Socrates speaking of his wife, after he remarks “any of you that has a wife can teach her with confidence any skill that he would like her to acquire and practice.” This inspires a question.

‘If that’s your view, Socrates,’ said Antisthenes, ‘why don’t you train Xanthippe instead of having a wife who is of all living women – and I believe of all that ever have been or ever will be – the most difficult to get on with?’

‘Because I notice that people who want to become good horsemen keep not the most docile horses but ones that are high-spirited … I have provided myself with this wife, because I’m quite sure that, if I can put up with her, I shall find it easy to get along with any other human being.’

Socrates as portrayed by Xenophon in Socrates’ Defense representing himself at his trial is absolutely fearless and self-confident. He is being accused of capital crimes of promoting false gods and misleading the youth of Athens, and to defend himself he refers to the gods themselves testifying in his behalf. “Once, when Chaerophon made and inquiry about me in Delphi, Apollo replied – there were many witnesses – that I was the most free, upright and prudent of all people.” Long after Socrates’ execution, which he accepted unflinchingly, Xenophon concludes by delivering the warmest praise he can render, encapsulating the popular acceptance of this seminal philosopher through the ages.

“When I consider how wise the man was, and how high-minded, I am bound to remember him; and when I remember him, I am bound to admire him. If anyone in his search for virtue has encountered a more helpful person than Socrates, then he deserves, in my opinion, to be called the most fortunate of all men.”