¹ For most of what follows I have relied upon the anthology of opinions about Socrates edited by Herbert Spiegelberg, in collaboration with Morgan, Bayard Quincy, The Socratic Enigma: A Collection of Testimonies through Twenty-Four Centuries (Indianapolis, 1964).Google Scholar

² Ibid., 83: Bentham, Jeremy, Deontology, or The Science of Morals (London, 1834), I, 39Google Scholar; conversation reported in The Works of Jeremy Bentham (Edinburgh, 1843), x, 583.

³ Ibid., 97: Macaulay, T.B., Diary (July, 1853)Google Scholar, in Trevelyan, G. Otto, Lord Macaulay, Life and Letters (New York, 1878), II, 235ff.Google Scholar

⁴ Ibid., 115: Russell, Bertrand, A History of Western Philosophy (New York, 1945), 142.Google Scholar

⁵ Ibid., 258, 262: Nietzsche, Friedrich, Die fröhliche Wissenschaft (1882)Google Scholar, no. 340, in Werke, VI, 290–1; “Das Problem des Sokrates,” Götzendämmerung (1888), in Werke, X, 245–51.

⁶ Ibid., 62: Erasmus, Convivium Religiosum (1522), in Opera, I, 683.

⁷ Ibid., 93: Shelley, , “Fragments connected with Epipsychidion,” line 33, in The Complete Works (New York, 1904), 469.Google Scholar

⁸ Ibid., 183: Voltaire, “Homélie sur l'Interprétation du Nouveau Testament,” in Œuvres, xxx, 353.

⁹ Ibid., 69: Milton, Satan speaking in Paradise Regained, Bk. iv, 11, 272–7, 293–4, in Works, ii, 2, 469.

¹⁰ Ibid., 73: Third Earl of Shaftesbury, “Miscellaneous Reflections” (1711), Pt. V, sec. 1, in Characteristics, iii, 244.

¹¹ Ibid., 300: Kierkegaard, Søren, Journals, no. 663 (1847), 208.Google Scholar

¹² Ibid., 274: Heidegger, Martin, Was Heisst Denken? (Tübingen, 1954), 56.Google Scholar

¹³ History of Political Philosophy, ed. Strauss, Leo and Cropsey, Joseph (Chicago, 2nd ed., 1972), 1–7.Google Scholar

¹⁴ Socrates (Garden City, N.Y., 1953), 132.

¹⁵ Crossman, R.H.S., Plato Today (New York, 1939), 86–8, 304–5Google Scholar; Popper, Karl R., The Open Society and Its Enemies (Princeton, 1950), esp. 126–30, 184–9.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Who Was Socrates? (New York, 2nd ed., 1960), passim.

¹⁷ Chroust, Anton-Hermann, Socrates Man and Myth: The Two Socratic Apologies of Xenophon (Notre Dame, Ind., 1957), esp. 191–7, 223.Google Scholar

¹⁸ A History of Political Theory (New York, 3rd ed., 1961), 32–4.

¹⁹ Gulley, Norman, The Philosophy of Socrates (London, 1968)Google Scholar; Guthrie, W.K.C., A History of Greek Philosophy (Cambridge, 1969)Google Scholar, vol. iii, “The Fifth Century Enlightenment,” pt. ii, “Socrates,” 323–507.

²⁰ My position is directly opposed to that of Dante Germino. See his Beyond Ideology: The Revival of Political Theory (New York, 1967), esp. 7, 9, 11, 28–9, 37–8. The problem with Germino's contentions is that he simply asserts a position without adequately supporting it. In what follows I do not mean to imply that any political theorist of the first rank is completely time-bound. Obviously, as man, citizen, and thinker, he may have something of value to impart to men, citizens, and thinkers in the future.

²¹ Winspear, Alban D. comments in a perceptive, but neglected study originally published in 1940, The Genesis of Plato's Thought (New York, 2nd ed., 1956)Google Scholar, v: “nowhere can the social roots of philosophy be more sharply seen and more firmly apprehended than when one is dealing with the origins of Western philosophy among the Greeks.” I hope to elucidate in a much more detailed way the relationship between political ideology and “non-political” philosophy in a forthcoming book-length study on the politics of John Locke's epistemology. For a somewhat different approach see Wood, Ellen Meiksins, Mind and Politics: An Approach to the Meaning of Liberal and Socialist Individualism (Berkeley, 1972).Google Scholar

²² In this I have followed Guthrie. The chronology of Plato's early works is that of Robinson, R.G.F., “Plato,” Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford, 2nd ed., 1970), 842.Google Scholar

²³ For biographical data I have relied primarily on Guthrie, A History, vol. III, 378–90; and Taylor, Socrates, 37–129. Still of value are Burnet, John, Greek Philosophy: Thales to Plato (London, 1955), 126–50Google Scholar; Zeller, Eduard, Socrates and the Socratic Schools, tr. Reichel, O.J. (New York, 3rd ed., 1962), 53–70.Google Scholar The portrayal that emerges particularly in regard to Socrates’ social class and connection is fundamentally my own.

²⁴ Chroust, Socrates Man and Myth, xii, states that the following are the only indisputable facts about Socrates: “that Socrates lived; that he was called Socrates; that the name of his father was Sophroniscus while that of his mother was Phaenarete; that he belonged to the deme Alopece; that he was an Athenian citizen; that he probably participated in some military compaigns; that he was connected with the trial of the generals in 406; that he was tried and condemned to death; and that he died in 399.”

²⁵ 180e.

²⁶ An account of Archelaus is given in Guthrie, A History, vol. II, “The Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus,” 339–44. Also see his treatment of Anaxagoras’ life, 266–9, and vol. iii, 422. Taylor, Socrates, 59–71, should be consulted on the problem of chronology. Barker, Ernest in Greek Political Theory: Plato and His Predecessors (London, 1960), 99Google Scholar n.1, writes, agreeing with Guthrie and Taylor: “Archelaus of Athens was the first Athenian citizen to turn to philosophy. Socrates had been his disciple, and he may have succeeded him as the head of the school which he had founded.” Also see Barker, , The Political Thought of Plato and Aristotle (New York, 1959), 25.Google Scholar

²⁷ The subsequent details about the social structure of Athens are mainly drawn from Jones's, A.H.M. reconstruction in Athenian Democracy (Oxford, 1957), 75–96.Google Scholar

²⁸ Plutarch, Aristides, 1. Taylor, Socrates, 42–3, thinks there is reason to believe the story; Zeller, Socratic Schools, 55 n.l, rejects it.

²⁹ Most of the following information about family connections is derived from Davies, J.K., Athenian Propertied Families 600–300 B.C. (Oxford, 1971).Google Scholar

³⁰ Plutarch, Cimon, 4. Guthrie, A History, vol. ii, 339 n.l, refers to Wilamowitz (Glaube, 2.212) who concludes from Plutarch's account that Archelaus belonged to the “vornehme Gesellschaft.” At least it might indicate that he was sympathetic to the aristocratic-oligarchic opposition to Periclean democracy.

³¹ On Thucydides, son of Melesias, see Bowra, C.M., Periclean Athens (London, 1971), 175–204Google Scholar; Connor, W. Robert, The New Politicians of Fifth-Century Athens (Princeton, 1971), 24Google Scholar; Ehrenberg, Victor, From Solon to Socrates: Greek History and Civilization During the Sixth and Fifth Centuries B.C. (London, 1968), 226–8.Google Scholar

³² For an evaluation of Xenophon as a military and political thinker see my “Xenophon's Theory of Leadership,” Classica et Mediaevalia, XXV (1964), 33–66.

³³ 36b.

³⁴ Xenophon, Memorabilia, i, ii, 18; iii, xiv; Zeller, Socratic Schools, 69–70, comments: “With more intimate friends he frequently had common meals, which, however, can scarcely have been a fixed institution.”

³⁵ See the brief remarks on the mutual political support of fellow-demesmen in Connor, New Politicians, 22 n.35.

³⁶ Apology, 31c–33b; Memorabilia, i, vi, 15.

³⁷ 473e. Unless otherwise specified translations of Plato are those from The Collected Dialogues of Plato Including the Letters, ed. Hamilton, Edith and Cairns, Huntington (Princeton, 1963).Google Scholar

³⁸ 521a.

³⁹ 521d.

⁴⁰ iv, ii, 11. Translations of Xenophon are those of Benjamin, Anna S., trans, and ed., Xenophon, Recollections of Socrates and Socrates’ Defense Before the Jury (Indianapolis, 1965).Google Scholar

⁴¹ iv, ii, 2.

⁴² 290a–292e.

⁴³ Laches, 179a–e; Protagoras, 319b; Gorgias, 515a–517e; Meno, 93a–94e.

⁴⁴ 21b–22a,31d–e, 32e.

⁴⁵ 90a–95a.

⁴⁶ i, vi, 15.

⁴⁷ Memorabilia, i, i, 16.

⁴⁸ Memorabilia, iv, ii. Also, iii, i, 4–5; iv, 1; vi, 20–4; ix, 10–13; iv, ii, 2, 6–8, 11.

⁴⁹ Memorabilia, ii, i.

⁵⁰ Memorabilia, i, ii, 12–16.

⁵¹ Memorabilia, i, ii, 17–18. Cf. with Alcibiades’ remarks in the Symposium, 216b–c: “Socrates is the only man in the world that can make me feel ashamed. Because there's no getting away from it, I know I ought to do the things he tells me to, and yet the moment I'm out of his sight I don't care what I do to keep in with the mob. So I dash off like a runaway slave, and keep out of his way as long as I can, and then next time I meet him I remember all that I had to admit the time before, and naturally I feel ashamed. There are times when I'd honestly be glad to hear that he was dead, and yet I know that if he did die I'd be more upset than ever – so I ask you, what is a man to do?”

⁵² Apology, 33a–b.

⁵³ Apology, 31c–d.

⁵⁴ Apology, 36b–c.

⁵⁵ Apology, 31e–32a.

⁵⁶ Apology, 30e–31a.

⁵⁷ Apology, 36c.

⁵⁸ New Politicians, chs. 3–4.

⁵⁹ Ibid., 194–5.

⁶⁰ Ibid., 196–7.

⁶¹ Ibid., 197.

⁶² Memorabilia, ii, ii, 60.

⁶³ Memorabilia, iii, vii, 5–9.

⁶⁴ Euthyphro, 4a.

⁶⁵ 474a.

⁶⁶ Guthrie, A History, iii, 470.

⁶⁷ Alcibiades I, 110d.

⁶⁸ Alcibiades I, 120b (Jowett translation).

⁶⁹ Alcibiades I, 131a–b. In Hippias Major, 284e, whose authenticity is also questioned, Socrates agrees that the multitude does not know truth.

⁷⁰ See below, 25. However, it would seem that men are unequal by birth and not simply nurture. Socrates is hard to pin down on this point, but not Plato, for example, Republic, 415a–b, 431c, 442e, 491d–492a, 519a–d, 590c–d.

⁷¹ Laches, 184e.

⁷² Memorabilia, iii, ix, 10.

⁷³ Gorgias, 515e.

⁷⁴ Laches, 179a–e; Protagoras, 319e–320b; Gorgias, 515a–519e; Meno, 93a–94e. Interestingly enough the great democratic legislator of the end of the sixth century, Cleisthenes, who was a much exalted hero of the democrats, is never mentioned, nor does his name appear in any of the writings of Plato and Xenophon. Was this a conscious conspiracy of silence on the part of the anti-democrats?

⁷⁵ Gorgias, 516e.

⁷⁶ Gorgias, 518e–519a.

⁷⁷ See Meno, 94e, where Anytus, later to bring the indictment against Socrates, is reported as saying to Socrates, after one of his characteristic attacks upon Athenian statesmen: “You seem to me, Socrates, to be too ready to run people down. My advice to you, if you will listen to it, is to be careful. I dare say that in all cities it is easier to do a man harm than good, and it is certainly so here, as I expect you know yourself.”

⁷⁸ 515e.

⁷⁹ See the summary in Morrow, Glenn R., Plato's Cretan City: A Historical Interpretation of the Laws (Princeton, 1960), 42–3.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ Memorabilia, iii, v. 13–14.

⁸¹ Memorabilia, iv, iv, 15–17.

⁸² 342a–343b.

⁸³ 52_e.

⁸⁴ iii, vii, 5–6.

⁸⁵ iii, vii, 9.

⁸⁶ Memorabilia, iii, i, 1–5; iv; v, 21–24.

⁸⁷ Memorabilia, iv, ii, 2.

⁸⁸ Memorabilia, iv, ii, 6–7.

⁸⁹ 319b–d. Cf. Gorgias, 455b–d.

⁹⁰ Apology, 22d.

⁹¹ 161a–164e.

⁹² For example, Memorabilia, iv, vi, 12.

⁹³ One problem with contemporary philosophic analysis when applied to a classic text is that by ignoring the historical context it may distort or fail to perceive the meaning and significance of statements. So, for example, Hanna Pitkin in an otherwise insightful essay asserts that Socrates, in feeling obliged to accept the death sentence of the Five Hundred, “can find no fault with the Athenian laws, nor even with the Athenian way of administering them… Socrates’ past consent is not so much compelling in its own right, as it is a way of expressing and reinforcing his present judgment that there is nothing basically wrong with the system, no justification for resistance” (67). To the contrary, as we have seen, Socrates’ obedience to the law is so arresting and interesting for the very reason that he thinks nearly everything is basically wrong with the system, including the fundamental assumptions upon which it is premised. See Pitkin, Hanna, “Obligation and Consent,” Philosophy, Politics and Society Fourth Series, ed. Laslett, Peter, Runciman, W. G., and Skinner, Quentin (Oxford, 1972), 45–85.Google Scholar

⁹⁴ Memorabilia, iv, iv, 14–18.

⁹⁵ Apology, 29d.

⁹⁶ 50–3.

⁹⁷ On the question of Socrates’ attitude to the law in the Apology and Crito in general, and in regard to his “natural-law position” in particular, see Woozley, A.D., “Socrates on Disobeying the Law,” in The Philosophy of Socrates: A Collection of Critical Essays, ed. Vlastos, Gregory (Garden City, N.Y., 1971), 299–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

⁹⁸ Xenophon does suggest in Memorabilia, iv, iv, 19–25, that Socrates believed in certain divine laws such as honouring parents, prohibiting incest, and returning good with good. But nothing indicates precisely how Socrates views these norms, particularly in relation to the law of the polis. See the remarks in Ernest Barker, Political Thought, 52: “For him there was no rule of natural justice outside the law: law is justice, he held, and what is just is simply what is commanded in the laws.” The question would seem to be more complex and Socrates’ position more ambiguous than Barker implies.

⁹⁹ Philosophy of Socrates, 173–4.

¹⁰⁰ Political Thought, 51.

¹⁰¹ Socrates 149–52.

¹⁰² Guthrie, A History, vol. III, 415–16.

¹⁰³ History of Political Thought (New York, 1924), 43.

¹⁰⁴ Sabine, History of Political Theory, 32–4.

¹⁰⁵ Masters of Political Thought (Boston, 1941), vol. I, “Plato to Machiavelli,” 19–22.

¹⁰⁶ Political Theory: Philosophy, Ideology, Science (New York, 1961).

¹⁰⁷ History of Political Philosophy, 1–7.

¹⁰⁸ Political Ideas and Ideologies: A History of Political Thought (New York, 1970), 56–61.

¹⁰⁹ Throughout the subsequent discussion I am indebted to Gulley and Guthrie for the explication of Socrates’ philosophic position, but the conclusions I draw in relating it to his political ideology are my own.

¹¹⁰ For Socrates on definition see: Memorabilia, i, i, 16; iv, i, 5; v, 11–12; vi, 1; Laches, 190c–d; Charmides, 159a; Protagoras, 361c; Euthyphro, 7c–d; Gorgias, 474d ff.; Meno, 72a ff.; Phaedrus, 263a ff.

¹¹¹ See esp. Memorabilia, iii, ix, 5; iv, vi, 6; Laches, 190b; Protagoras, 319a–320c, 349e–350a, 360a–361a; Meno, 71a, 87b ff.

¹¹² Memoriabilia, iii, viii, 4–8; ix, 4–5; iv, vi, 8–9; Protagoras, 358b–d; Gorgias, 474d–475a; Meno, 87d–e.

¹¹³ i, ii, 53.

¹¹⁴ i, iv, 13.

¹¹⁵ iv, iii, 14.

¹¹⁶ i, iv, 9; iv, iii, 14.

¹¹⁷ i, ii, 54.

¹¹⁸ 29d–30b.

¹¹⁹ Apology, 29e–30a; Memorabilia, i, ii, 2.

¹²⁰ Memorabilia, i, ii, 1–4.

¹²¹ 47e–48a.

¹²² 38a; cf. Alcibiades I, 129a.

¹²³ 47d–48a.

¹²⁴ Xenophon, Oeconomicus, iv, 2–3. Cf. Republic, 495a–b and with the words of Creon's herald in Euripides, Suppliants (E.P. Coleridge, translation), 420, called by Guthrie, A History, vol. iii, 411, “pure Socratic doctrine”: “Besides, how shall the people, if it cannot form true judgments, be able rightly to direct the state? Nay, ‘tis time, not haste, that affords a better understanding. A poor hind, granted he be not all unschooled, would still be unable from his toil to give his mind to politics. Verify the better sort count it no healthy sign when the worthless man obtains a reputation by beguiling with words the populace, though aforetime he was naught.” See n.70 above for the question of inequality by nature or nurture.

¹²⁵ 80a–82d; cf. Alcibiades I, 129a–130a.

¹²⁶ 248c–e.

¹²⁷ This brief summary of fourth-century Athens owes most to the views of Ehrenberg, Solon to Socrates, 375; Jones, Athenian Democracy, 90ff.; Finley, M.I., Aspects of Antiquity: Discoveries and Controversies (New York, 1968), 58–88Google Scholar; Morrow, Glenn R., Introduction, Plato's Epistles (Indianapolis, 1962), 131–2.Google Scholar

¹²⁸ Bowra, Periclean Athens, 190–7.

¹²⁹ Chroust, Socrates Man and Myth, 170. Plato in the Seventh Epistle, 325b, comments upon the democrats’ return to power in 403: “but in general those who returned from exile acted with great restraint.” (Morrow translation)

¹³⁰ Taylor, Socrates, 103.