The Deipnosophists, or Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus Part 59

Its topmast reaches to the stars; and hides Its mighty bulwarks 'mid the endless clouds.

It holds its anchors with untiring cables, Like those with which proud Xerxes bound the strait Which between Sestos and Abydos foams.

A deftly carved inscription on the side Shows what strong hand has launch'd it on the deep; It says that Hiero, Hierocles' son, The king of Sicily, pride of Dorian race, Sends it a wealthy messenger of gifts To the aegean islands; and the G.o.d Who rules the sea, great Neptune, convoys it Safe o'er the blue and foaming waves to Greece.

And I intentionally pa.s.s over the sacred trireme built by Antigonus, which defeated the commanders of Ptolemy off Leucolla, a city under the dominion of Cos; and after that, Antigonus consecrated it to Apollo; but it was not one-third, or perhaps not even one-fourth part of the size of the Syracusan or Alexandrian vessel."

45. All this, then, we have said about the catalogue of the s.h.i.+ps, not beginning with the Botians,[333:1] but with the shows and processions exhibited at public a.s.semblies. And since I know that my excellent friend Ulpian will attack us again, and ask what that thing is which Callixenus calls ????????, we tell him that there is a speech which is attributed to Lysias the orator, written about the ????????, which begins with these words--"If, O judges, Lysimanes had said anything reasonable or moderate." And going on a little, he proceeds to say--"I should not have been eager to plead in an action about this chest (????????), which is not worth thirty drachmae." And presently he tells us that the chest was a brazen one--"But when I wished last year to repair it I gave it to a brazier; for it is well put together, and has the faces of Satyrs and large heads of oxen carved upon it. There is also another coffer of the same size; for the same workman made many such articles of the same size, and alike in many particulars." In these words Lysias, having said that the chest was made of bra.s.s, shows plainly enough, as Callixenus also said, that they were things that might be used as stands for kettles. For so Polemo Periegetes said, in the third of those books of his which are addressed to Adaeus and Antigonus, where he explains the subject of the picture which is at Phlius, in the portico of the polemarchs, painted by Sillax the Rhegian, who is mentioned by Epicharmus and Simonides. And his words are--"????????, and a large goblet on it." And Hegesander the Delphian, in his book ent.i.tled a Commentary on Statues and Images, says that the pedestal dedicated by Glaucus the Chian at Delphi is like an iron ????????, the gift of Alyattes. And that is mentioned by Herodotus, who calls it ?p????t???d??? (a stand for a goblet). And Hegesander uses the same expression. And we ourselves have seen that lying at Delphi, a thing really worth looking at, on account of the figures of animals which are carved upon it, and of other insects, and living things, and plants. . .

. . . . . can be put upon it, and goblets, and other furniture.

But the thing which is called by the Alexandrians ???????? is a triangular vessel, hollow in the middle, capable of receiving an earthen wine-jar inside of it. And poor men have this made of wood, but rich men have it of bra.s.s or of silver.

46. Having said this much about the ????????, let us now go on to speak of those kings who are and have been fond of good cheer. For the king, who is the namesake of the above-mentioned Antiochus, and the son of Demetrius, according to the account of Posidonius, used to entertain a great crowd of people every day, and in addition to what they ate on the spot, he would give every one of the guests large heaps, consisting of entire joints of meat of beasts, and birds, and fishes, undivided and ready dressed, enough to fill a wagon. And besides all this, he gave them heaps of honey-cakes, and of garlands, of myrrh, and frankincense, with large fillets and bandages of golden embroidery as long as a man.

And another king, Antiochus, when celebrating the games at Daphne, himself also made very sumptuous entertainments, as Posidonius himself relates; and he was the first person who ever made a distribution among the guests of whole joints of meat; and also of geese, and hares, and antelopes alive. And golden chaplets were also given to the guests, and a great quant.i.ty of silver plate, and of slaves, and horses, and camels.

And each man was bound to get on the camel and drink a draught of wine, and then to accept of the camel and of the boy who stood by it. "And,"

says he, "all the natives and inhabitants of Syria, on account of the fertility of the land, are accustomed to make frequent feasts after their necessary labours, in order that they may rejoice together, using their gymnasia as baths, and anointing themselves with expensive oil and perfumes; and at their grammatea (for that is the name which they give to their public entertainments) living as if in their own houses, and gratifying their stomachs the greater part of the day with wine and meat, and also carrying away a quant.i.ty of the same to their own homes, they thus spend the day, listening also to the music of the loud lyre made of the tortoise sh.e.l.l, so that whole cities resound with noises of this kind."

47. And I, my friends, praise very much the entertainment which was given by Alexander the king of Syria. And this Alexander was a supposit.i.tious son of Antiochus Epiphanes, subst.i.tuted on account of the hatred which all men bore to Demetrius, concerning whom our companion Athenaeus has spoken in his treatise on the Kings who have reigned in Syria. Now that entertainment was conducted as nearly as may be in this fas.h.i.+on.

Diogenes the Epicurean, having a very tolerable acquaintance with the doctrines of the sect which he professed, was by birth a native of Seleucia, in the district of Babylon. And he was kindly received by the king, although the monarch rather inclined to the doctrines of the Stoic school. Accordingly, Alexander treated him with great distinction, although a man of anything but a reputable course of life, and so given to calumny and envy, that if he could raise a laugh by it, he could not abstain from even the king himself. And when he preferred to the king a request that had no great connexion with philosophy--namely, that he might be allowed to wear a purple robe and a golden crown, having a face of Virtue in the centre of it, as he claimed to be addressed as the priest of Virtue, he agreed to it all, and besides that, made him a present of the crown. And these ornaments Diogenes, being in love with a woman who was one of the Baccha.n.a.lian singers, gave to her. But Alexander, hearing of this, collected a banqueting party of philosophers and eminent men, and among them he invited Diogenes. And when he arrived he begged him to take his seat with his crown and his purple robe on.

And when he replied that that would be unseemly, the king nodded to his servants to introduce the musicians, among whom this singing woman appeared, crowned with the crown of Virtue, and clothed also in the purple robe. So when every one burst into laughter at this, the philosopher kept quiet, and never stopped praising the singing woman.

But Antiochus, who succeeded Alexander in the kingdom, could not tolerate the abusive language of this Diogenes, and accordingly ordered him to be put to death. But Alexander was at all times, and in all circ.u.mstances, of a gentle disposition, and affable to every one in conversation, and not at all like Athenion the Peripatetic philosopher, who had a philosophical school at Athens, and at Messene, and also at Larissa in Thessaly, and who subsequently became tyrant of Athens; concerning whom Posidonius of Apamea gives a very particular account, which I, even though it is rather long, will quote, in order that we may come to a thorough understanding and appreciation of those men who profess to be philosophers, and that we may not be taken in by their ragged cloaks and unshaven chins. For, as Agatho says--

If I do tell the truth I shall not please you; And if I please you, I shall speak no truth.

But "let truth," as the saying is, "be one's friend." At all events, I will quote the account given of the man.

48. "In the school of Erymneus the Peripatetic there was a certain man of the name of Athenion, who applied himself very perseveringly to philosophical discussions. He, having bought an Egyptian female slave, made her his mistress. And when she became a mother, either by him or by some one else, the child was bred up by Athenion, and received the same name as his master. And having been taught literature, he became accustomed to lead his master about when he became an old man, in company with his mother; and when he died he succeeded him as his heir, and became a citizen of Athens, being enrolled under the name of Athenion. And having married a very beautiful girl, after that he betook himself to the profession of a sophist, hunting out for boys to come to his school. And having pursued his profession of sophist at Messene and at Larissa in Thessaly, and having ama.s.sed a considerable fortune, he returned to Athens. And having been appointed an amba.s.sador by the Athenian people, when the chief power in all that district was lodged in the hands of Mithridates, he insinuated himself into the good graces of the king, and became one of his friends, being held by him in the greatest honour; in consequence of which he wrote letters to the Athenians to raise their spirits, as one who had the greatest influence with the king of Cappadocia, leading them to hope that they should be discharged of all their existing debts, and live in peace and concord with him; and also that they should recover their democratic const.i.tution, and receive great presents both publicly and privately.

And the Athenians boasted of all these promises which were made to them, feeling sure that the supremacy of the Romans would be put an end to.

49. "Now when all Asia had revolted to the King, Athenio set out to return to Athens; and being tossed about by a storm he was driven to Carystus. And when the Cecropidae heard this, they sent some s.h.i.+ps of war to conduct him back, and a litter with silver feet. And now he is entering the city; and almost the whole of the citizens has poured out to meet him; and many other spectators came together, marvelling at this preposterous freak of fortune, that this intrusive citizen, Athenion, foisted into Athens in such a manner, should be conducted into the city on a litter with silver feet, and lying on purple clothes, a man who had never before seen even a purple patch on his ragged cloak; when no one, not even of the Romans, had ever exhibited such pomp and insulting show in Attica before. So there ran to this spectacle men, women, children, all expecting some glorious honours from Mithridates. While Athenio, that ancient beggar, who gave lectures for trifling sums of money, was now making a procession through the country and through the city, relying on the king's favour, and treating every one with great insolence. There met him also the artisans of the spectacles of Bacchus, calling him a messenger of the young Bacchus, and inviting him to the common altar, and to the prayers and libations which were to be offered at it; and he, who had formerly come out of a hired house, into the * *

* * * * was conducted into a mansion adorned with couches, and pictures, and statues, and a display of silver plate. And from it he issued forth, dragging on the ground a bright cloak, and with a golden ring on his finger, having on it a carved portrait of Mithridates. And numbers of attendants went before him and followed him in procession. And in the plot of ground belonging to the artisans, sacrifices were performed in honour of the return of Athenio, and libations made with formal proclamation by a herald. And the next day many people came to his house and awaited his appearance; and the whole Ceramicus was full of citizens and foreigners, and there was a voluntary thronging of the whole population of the city to the a.s.sembly. And at last he came forth, being attended by all who wished to stand well with the people, as if they had been his body-guards, every one hastening even to touch his garment.

50. "He then having ascended the tribunal which had been erected for the Roman generals in front of the portico of Attalus, standing on it, and looking round on all the people in a circle, and then looking up, said, 'O men of Athens, the state of affairs and the interests of my country compel me to relate to you what I know. But the greatness of the affairs that must be mentioned, owing to the unexpected character which circ.u.mstances have a.s.sumed, hinders me from doing so.' And when all the bystanders called out to him with one accord to be of good cheer, and to tell them, 'I tell you, then,' said he, 'of things which have never been hoped for, nor even imagined by any one in a dream. The king Mithridates is master of Bithynia, and of Upper Cappadocia; and he is master of the whole of Asia, without any break, as far as Pamphylia and Cilicia: and the kings of the Armenians and Persians are only his guards; and he is lord of all the nations which dwell around the Palus Maeotis, and the whole of Pontus, so that his dominions are upwards of thirty thousand furlongs in circ.u.mference. And the Roman commander in Pamphylia, Quintus Oppius, has been surrendered to him, and is following him as a prisoner, but Manius Aquillius, a man of consular rank, who has celebrated a triumph for his victory over the Sicilians, is fastened by a long chain to Bastarna, a man of gigantic stature, and is dragged by him on foot at the tail of his horse. And of the other Roman citizens in Asia some have fallen down at the images of the G.o.ds, and the rest have put on square cloaks and acknowledge again the claims of their original country. And every city honouring him with more than human honours, calls the king a G.o.d; and oracles everywhere promise him the dominion over the whole world, on which account he is now sending large armies against Thrace and Macedonia, and every part of Europe is coming over bodily to his side. For amba.s.sadors are coming to him, not only from the Italian tribes, but also from the Carthaginians, begging him to enter into alliance with them for the destruction of the Romans.'

51. "Having stopped a little after saying this, and having given time for the mult.i.tude to converse together about the news thus unexpectedly announced to them, he wiped his face, and went on, 'What then do I advise?--Not to bear this state of anarchy any longer, which the Roman senate makes continue, while it is deciding what const.i.tution you are to enjoy for the future. And do not let us be indifferent to our temples being closed, to our gymnasia being left in the dirt, to our theatre being always empty, and our courts of justice mute, and the Pnyx, consecrated by the oracles of the G.o.ds, being taken from the people. Let us not, O Athenians, be indifferent to the sacred voice of Bacchus being reduced to silence, to the holy temple of Castor and Pollux being closed, and to the schools of the philosophers being silenced as they are.' And when this slave had said all this and a good deal more, the mult.i.tude conversing with one another and running together to the theatre elected Athenio general over the entire army. And then, the Peripatetic coming into the orchestra, walking like Pythocles, thanked the Athenians, and said, 'Now you yourselves are your own generals, and I am the commander-in-chief: and if you exert all your strength to co-operate with me I shall be able to do as much as all of you put together.' And he, having said this, appointed others to be his colleagues in the command, proposing whatever names he thought desirable.

52. "And a few days afterwards, the philosopher having thus appointed himself tyrant, and having proved how much weight is to be attached to the doctrine of the Pythagoreans about plots against others, and what was the practical effect of the philosophy which the admirable Pythagoras laid down, as Theopompus has related in the eighth book of his Philippics, and Hermippus, the Callimachean, has corroborated the account, he immediately removed all the citizens who were right-thinking and of a good disposition (contrary to the sentiments of, and rules laid down by, Aristotle and Theophrastus; showing how true is the proverb which says, Do not put a sword into the hand of a child); and he placed sentinels at the gates, so that many of the Athenians, fearing what he might be going to do, let themselves down over the walls by night, and so fled away. And Athenio sending some hors.e.m.e.n to pursue them slew some of them, and brought back some in chains, having a number of body-guards about his person of the kind called phractici. And often he convened a.s.semblies, pretending great attachment to the side of the Romans; and bringing accusations against many as having kept up communications with the exiles, and aiming at a revolution, he put them to death. And he placed thirty guards at each gate, and would not allow any one to go either in or out. And he seized on the property of many of the people, and collected such a quant.i.ty of money as to fill several wells; and he also sent all over the country people to lie in wait, as it were, for every one who was travelling, and they brought them to him; and he put them to death without any trial, torturing and racking them into the bargain. And he also inst.i.tuted prosecutions for treason against several people, saying that they were co-operating with the exiles to effect their return. And some of the parties prosecuted fled out of fear before the trials came on, and some were condemned before the tribunals, he himself giving his own vote and collecting those of the others. And he brought about in the city a scarcity of the things necessary for life, stinting the citizens of their proper quant.i.ty of barley and wheat. He also sent out heavy-armed soldiers over the country, to hunt out any of those who had fled and who could be found within the borders of the land, or any of the Athenians who were escaping beyond the borders. And whoever was detected he beat to death; and some of them he exhausted beforehand with tortures; and he caused proclamation to be made, that all must be in their houses by sunset, and that no one should presume to walk abroad with a lantern-bearer.

53. "And he not only plundered the property of the citizens, but that of foreigners also, laying his hands even on the property of the G.o.d which was laid up at Delos; sending Apellicon into the island, who was a Scian by birth, but who had become a citizen of Athens, and who lived a most whimsical and ever-changing course of life. For at one time he was a philosopher, and collected all the treatises of the Peripatetics, and the whole library of Aristotle, and many others; for he was a very rich man; and he had also stolen a great many autograph decrees of the ancients out of the temple of the Mighty Mother, and whatever else there was ancient and taken care of in other cities; and being detected in these practices at Athens he would have been in great danger if he had not made his escape; and a short time afterwards he returned again, having paid his court to many people, and he then joined himself to Athenion, as being a man of the same sect as he was. And Athenion, having embraced the doctrines of the Peripatetics, measured out a chnix of barley, as four days' allowance for the ignorant Athenians, giving them what was barely food enough for fowl, and not the proper nutriment for men. And Apellicon, coming in great force to Delos, and living there more like a man exhibiting a spectacle than a general with soldiers, and placing guards in a very careless manner on the side of Delos, and leaving all the back of the island unguarded, and not even putting down a palisade in front of his camp, went to rest. And Orobius, the Roman general, hearing of this, who was at that time in command at Delos, watching for a moonless night, led out his troops, and falling on Apellicon and his soldiers, who were all asleep and drunk, he cut the Athenians and all those who were in the army with them to pieces, like so many sheep, to the number of six hundred, and he took four hundred alive. And that fine general, Apellicon, fled away without being perceived, and came to Delos; and Orobius seeing that many of those who fled with him had escaped to the farmhouses round about, burnt them in the houses, houses and all; and he destroyed by fire also all the engines for besieging cities, together with the Helepolis which Apellicon had made when he came to Delos. And Orobius having erected in that place a trophy and an altar, wrote this inscription on it--

This tomb contains the foreigners here slain, Who fought near Delos, and who fell at sea, When the Athenians spoil'd the holy isle, Aiding in war the Cappadocian king."

54. There was also at Tarsus an Epicurean philosopher who had become the tyrant of that city, Lysias by name; who having been created by his countrymen Stephanephoros, that is to say, the priest of Hercules, did not lay down his command, but seized on the tyranny.[342:1] He put on a purple tunic with a white centre, and over that he wore a very superb and costly cloak, and he put on white Lacedaemonian sandals, and a.s.sumed also a crown of golden daphne leaves. And he distributed the property of the rich among the poor, and put many to death who did not surrender their property willingly.

55. These are the commanders who became such from having been philosophers; concerning whom Demochares said,--"Just as no one could make a spear out of a bulrush, so no one could make a faultless general out of Socrates." For Plato says that Socrates served in three military expeditions, one to Potidaea, and another to Amphipolis, and another against the Botians, in which last it was that the battle of Delium took place. And though no one has mentioned this circ.u.mstance, he himself says that he gained the prize of the most eminent valour, since all the other Athenians fled, and many were slain. But all this is an erroneous statement. For the expedition against Amphipolis took place in the archons.h.i.+p of Alcaeus, when Cleon was the general; and it was composed entirely of picked men, as Thucydides relates. Socrates then, a man who had nothing but his ragged cloak and his stick, must have been one of these picked men. But what historian or poet has mentioned this fact? Or where has Thucydides made the slightest mention of Socrates, this soldier of Plato's? And what is there in common between a s.h.i.+eld and a philosopher's staff? And when was it that Socrates bore a part in the expedition against Potidaea, as Plato has said in his Charmides, where he states that he then yielded the prize of preeminent valour to Alcibiades? though Thucydides has not mentioned it, nor has Isocrates in his Oration on the Pair-horse Chariot. And what battle ever took place when Socrates gained the prize of preeminent valour? And what eminent and notorious exploit did he perform; for indeed there was actually no battle at all at that time, as Thucydides tells us.

But Plato not being content with all these strange stories, introduces the valour which was displayed, or rather which was invented by him at Delium. For if Socrates had even taken Delium, as Herodicus the Cratetian has reported in his Treatise to Philosocrates, he would have fled disgracefully as all the rest did, when Pagondas sent two squadrons of cavalry unperceived round the hill. For then some of the Athenians fled to Delium, and some fled to the sea, and some to Oropus, and some to Mount Parnes. And the Botians, especially with their cavalry, pursued them and slew them; and the Locrian cavalry joined in the pursuit and slaughter. When then this disorder and alarm had seized upon the Athenians, did Socrates alone, looking proud and casting his eyes around, stand firm, turning aside the onset of the Botian and Locrian cavalry? And yet does Thucydides make no mention of this valour of his, nor even any poet either. And how was it that he yielded to Alcibiades the prize of preeminent valour, who had absolutely never joined in this expedition at all? But in the Crito, Plato, that favourite of Memory, says that Socrates had never once gone out of Attica, except when he once went to the Isthmian games. And Antisthenes, the Socratic philosopher, tells the same tale as Plato about the Aristeia; but the story is not true. For this Dog flatters Socrates in many particulars, on which account we must not believe either of them, keeping Thucydides for our guide. For Antisthenes even exaggerates this false story, saying,--"'But we hear that you also received the prize of preeminent valour in the battle which took place against the Botians.' 'Be quiet, my friend, the prize belongs to Alcibiades, not to me.' 'Yes, but you gave it to him as we are told.'" But Plato's Socrates says that he was present at Potidaea, and that he yielded the prize of preeminent valour to Alcibiades on that occasion. But by the universal consent of all historians the expedition against Potidaea, in which Phormio commanded, was previous to the one against Delium.

56. In every respect then the philosophers tell lies; and they are not aware that they commit numbers of anachronisms in the accounts which they give. And even the admirable Xenophon is not free from this error.

For he in his Banquet introduces Callias, the son of Hipponicus, as the lover of Autolycus, the son of Lycon, and making an entertainment in his honour when he gained the victory in the Pancratium. And he represents himself as being present with the rest of the guests, when he perhaps was either not born, or at all events not out of childhood. And this is the time when Aristion was archon. For it was in his archons.h.i.+p that Eupolis exhibited the comedy Autolycus, in which, in the character of Demostratus, he ridicules the victory of Autolycus. And again Xenophon makes Socrates say at this banquet--"And Pausanias, indeed, the lover of Agathon the poet, when speaking in excuse of those who allow themselves to indulge in intemperance, said that a most valiant army might be composed of boys and their lovers: for that of all the men in the world they would be the most ashamed to desert one another. Saying a very strange thing,--if men who are accustomed utterly to disregard all blame, and to behave with utter shamelessness to one another, would be the men above all others ashamed to do anything disgraceful." But that Pausanias never said anything of the sort we may see from the Banquet of Plato. For I know of no book at all which is written by Pausanias. Nor is he introduced by any one else as speaking of lovers and boys, but only by Plato. But whether Xenophon has absolutely invented this story, or whether he fell in with any edition of Plato's Banquet which reports what happened in a different manner, is of no importance; still we must take notice of the blunder as far as the time is concerned. Aristion, in whose time this banquet is represented as having taken place, was archon four years before Euphemus, in whose archons.h.i.+p Plato places the banquet given in honour of the victory of Agathon, at which banquet Pausanias said these things about lovers. So that it is a marvellous and incredible thing that Socrates when supping with Callias should find fault with things as having been said erroneously, which had not yet been said at all, and which were not said till four years afterwards at the banquet of Agathon.

57. But altogether Plato's Banquet is mere nonsense. For when Agathon got the victory Plato was fourteen years old. For the former was crowned at the Lenaea in the archons.h.i.+p of Euphemus. But Plato was born in the year of the archons.h.i.+p of Apollodorus, who succeeded Euthydemus. And when he was eighty-two years old he died in the archons.h.i.+p of Theophilus, who succeeded Callimachus; for he is the eighty-second archon after Apollodorus. But from the archons.h.i.+p of Apollodorus and the birth of Plato, Euphemus is the fourteenth archon; and it is in his archons.h.i.+p that the banquet was given in honour of the victory of Agathon. And Plato himself shows that this entertainment had taken place a long time before, saying in the Banquet . . . . "'Do you think then that this entertainment has taken place but lately, so that I could have been present at it?' 'Indeed I do,' said he. 'How could that be,' said I, 'O Glaucon? Do you not know that Agathon has not been in the city for many years?'" And then a little while after he says--"'But tell me, when did this entertainment take place?' And I replied, 'When we were still children, when Agathon gained the prize in tragedy.'" But that Plato makes many blunders in his chronology is plain from many circ.u.mstances.

For as the poet said--"The man has a tongue which pays no regard to seasons;" so he writes without sufficient discernment. For he never spoke at random, but always with great consideration.

58. As for instance, writing in the Gorgias, he says--"'Archelaus, then, according to your definition, is a miserable man.' 'Yes, my friend, if, at least, he is an unjust one.'" And then, after expressly stating that Archelaus was possessed of the kingdom of the Macedonians, he goes on to say, "that Pericles also was lately dead." But if Pericles had only lately died, Archelaus was not yet in the enjoyment of his dominions at all; and if Archelaus was king at the time, then Pericles had been dead a long time. Now Perdiccas was king before Archelaus, according to the statement of Nicomedes of Acanthus; and he reigned forty-one years. But Theopompus says he reigned thirty-five years; Anaximenes, forty; Hieronymus, twenty-eight. But Marsyas and Philochorus say that he reigned only twenty-three years. Now, as these all vary so much in their accounts, we will take the smallest number, and say twenty-three. But Pericles died in the third year of the Peloponnesian war, in the archons.h.i.+p of Epameinon, in which year also Alexander died, and Perdiccas succeeded him in the kingdom. And he reigned till the archons.h.i.+p of Callias, in whose year Perdiccas died, and Archelaus succeeded to the kingdom. How, then, can Pericles have died lately, as Plato phrases it? And in the same Gorgias Plato represents Socrates as saying--"And last year, when I drew the lot to be one of the council, when my tribe was the presiding tribe, and I had to put the question to the vote, I caused the people to laugh, as I did not know how to put the question to the vote." Now Socrates did not fall into this error out of ignorance, but out of his firm principles of virtue; for he did not choose to violate the laws of the democracy. And Xenophon shows this plainly in the first book of his h.e.l.lenics, where he gives the following account:--"But when some of the prytanes said that they would not put the question contrary to the laws, Callixenus again mounts the tribunal and inveighs against them; and they cried out that he should impeach those who refused. And the prytanes being alarmed, all agreed to put the question except Socrates the son of Sophroniscus; and he said that he would not, but that he would do everything according to the laws."

This was the question which was put to the vote against the generals, Erasinides and his colleagues, because they did not pick up the men who were lost in the naval battle at Arginusae. And this battle took place in the archons.h.i.+p of Callias, twenty-four years after the death of Pericles.

59. But the dialogue in the Protagoras, which took place after the death of Hipponicus, when Callias had entered upon his patrimonial inheritance, says that Protagoras had arrived in Athens for the second time not many days previously. But Hipponicus, in the archons.h.i.+p of Euthydemus, was a colleague of Nicias in the generals.h.i.+p against the Tanagreans and against those Botians who acted as their allies; and he defeated them in a battle. And he died before Eupolis exhibited the Flatterers, which took place in the archons.h.i.+p of Alcaeus, but probably not any long time before. For the play proves that the succession of Callias to his patrimonial inheritance was still quite recent. Now in this play Eupolis introduces Protagoras as living at Athens. And Ameipsias, in his Connus, which was exhibited two years before, does not enumerate him among the band of sophists. So it is plain that this happened in the interval between those two periods. But Plato represents Hippias the Elian also, in the Protagoras, as present with some of his own fellow-citizens, men who it is not likely could have remained long in Athens with safety, before the truce for a year was made in the archons.h.i.+p of Isarchus, in the month Elaphebolion. But he represents this dialogue as having taken place, not about the time when the truce had recently been made, but a long time after that; at all events he says--"For if they were savage men, such as Pherecrates the poet exhibited last year at the Lenaean festival." But the play of The Savage Men was exhibited in the archons.h.i.+p of Aristion, who was succeeded as archon by Astyphilus, (being the fifth after Isarchus,) in whose archons.h.i.+p the truce was made; for Isarchus came first, then Ameinias, then Aristion, then Astyphilus: so that it is contrary to history that Plato in his dialogue brings to Athens Hippias and his companions, who were enemies at the time, when this truce had not yet any existence.

60. And among other things Plato says that Chaerephon asked the Pythian priestess whether any one was wiser than Socrates? and that she replied, No one. But Xenophon does not agree with all this; but says--"For when Chaerephon once asked at Delphi about me, Apollo replied, in the presence of many witnesses, that no man was either more just or more temperate than I was." And how can it be either reasonable or probable that Socrates, who confessed that he knew nothing, should allege that he had been called the wisest of all men by G.o.d who knows everything? For if knowing nothing be wisdom, then to know everything must be folly. And what was the need of Chaerephon bothering the G.o.d, and asking him about Socrates? for he himself might have been believed in his own case, saying that he was not wise. For he must be a stupid man who would put such a question to the G.o.d, as if he were to ask him such a question as this, Whether any wool is softer than the Attic wool; or, Whether there are any more powerful nations than the Bactrians and the Medes; or, Whether any one has a more complete pug-nose than Socrates. For people who ask such questions as these have a very neat slap in the face given them by the G.o.d, as when a man asked him (whether it is a fable of aesop's or of some one else),

O mighty son of Leto and of Jove, Tell me by what means I may rich become:

he, ridiculing him, answered--

If you acquire all the land that lies Between the tow'rs of Sicyon and Corinth.

61. But indeed, no one even of the comic poets has said such things as Plato has said about Socrates, neither that he was the son of a very fierce-looking nurse, nor that Xantippe was an ill-tempered woman, who even poured slops over his head; nor that Alcibiades slept with him under the same cloak; and yet this must have been divulged with boisterous laughter by Aristophanes, as he was present at the banquet according to Plato's account; for Aristophanes would never have suppressed such a circ.u.mstance as that, which would have given such a colour to the charge that he corrupted the youth.

Aspasia, indeed, who was the clever preceptress of Socrates in rhetoric, in these verses which are attributed to her, which Herodicus the Cratetian has quoted, speaks thus--

_As._ O Socrates, most clearly do I see How greatly you're inflamed by tender love For the young son of Clinias and Dinomache; But if you wish to prosper list to me, And do not scoff at my advice, but follow it, And it shall be the better for your suit.

_Soc._ I when I heard your speech was so o'erjoy'd That straightway sweat did overflow each limb; And tears unbidden pour'd forth from my eyes.

_As._ Restrain yourself, and fill your mind with strains Such as the Muse who conquers men will teach you, And you will charm him by your dulcet songs.

They the foundation lay of mutual love.

And thus will you o'ercome him, fettering His mind with gifts with which his ears are charm'd.

The admirable Socrates then goes a hunting, having the Milesian woman for his tutor in love. But he himself is not hunted, as Plato says, having nets spread for him by Alcibiades. And indeed, he laments without ceasing, being, as I suppose, unsuccessful in his love. For Aspasia, seeing in what a condition he was, says--

Why weep you, my dear Socrates? does love For that impracticable boy which dwells Within thy breast, and shoots from out his eyes, So far thy heart subdue? Did I in vain Engage to make him docile to thy suit?

And that he really did love Alcibiades Plato shows plainly in the Protagoras, although he was now little less than thirty years of age; for he speaks in this manner, "'Whence are you come from, O Socrates? It seems to me you are come from your pursuit of Alcibiades's beauty. And, indeed, the man, when I saw him the other day, appeared to me to be a handsome man; a man, indeed, O Socrates, as he may well be called, just as much so as we are; and he has a firmly grown beard.' 'Well, what of that? are not you an admirer of Homer, who said that the most beautiful season of life was that of a young man who began to have a beard? and that is just the age of which Alcibiades is now.'"

62. But most philosophers are of such a disposition that they are more inclined to evil speaking than the Comic writers. Since both aeschines, the pupil of Socrates, in his Telauges, attacks Critobulus the son of Crito as an ignorant man, and one who lives in a sordid manner; and he attacks Telauges himself for wearing a cloak borrowed of a clothes'

cleaner by the day for half an obol; and for being girt about with a skin, and for having his sandals fastened with rotten pieces of string.

And as for Lysias the orator, he laughs immoderately at him; and in his Aspasia, he calls Hipponicus, the son of Callias, a blockhead; and taking all the women of Ionia in a lump he calls them lascivious and covetous. But his Callias dwells upon the quarrel of Callias with his own father, and the absurd jokes of the sophist Prodicus and Anaxagoras. For he says that Prodicus had Theramenes for a pupil to finish his education; and that the other had Philoxenus, the son of Eryxis, and Ariphrades, the brother of Arignotus, the harp-player, wis.h.i.+ng from the notorious impurity of life of the men who have been named and their general want of respectability and intemperance to leave the sort of education they received from their tutors to be inferred.

But in his Axiochus he runs Alcibiades down with great bitterness, as a drunkard, and a man always running after other men's wives.

63. But Antisthenes, in the second of his treatises called Cyrus, abusing Alcibiades, says that he is a breaker of the laws, both with respect to women and with respect to every other part of his conduct in life; for he says that he had intrigued with a mother, and daughter, and sister, after the fas.h.i.+on of the Persians. And his Political Dialogue runs down the whole of the Athenian demagogues: and his Archelaus attacks Gorgias, the rhetorician; and his Aspasia attacks Xanthippus and Paralus, the sons of Pericles. For, as for one of them, he says that he is a companion of Archestratus, who is no better than a frequenter of houses of the worst possible fame; and the other he calls an acquaintance and intimate friend of Euphemus, who abused every one he met with vulgar and ill-mannered abuse. And nicknaming Plato Satho, in a witless and vulgar manner, he published a dialogue against him, to which he gave the same name as its t.i.tle.

For these men believe that there is no such thing as an honest counsellor, or a conscientious general, or a respectable sophist, or a poet worth listening to, or a reasonable people: but Socrates, who spent his time in loose houses with the flute-playing women of Aspasia, and who was always chatting with Piston the armourer, and who gave lessons to Theodote the courtesan, how she ought to make the most of her lovers, as Xenophon tells us in the second book of his Memorabilia, is the only wise man according to them; for they represent him as giving Theodote such rules as neither Nico the Samian, nor Callistrate the Lesbian, nor Philaenis the Leucadian, nor even Pythonicus the Athenian, were ever acquainted with as charms to conciliate affection. And yet those people paid much attention to such things. And time would fail me if I were to be inclined to quote the attacks which philosophers have made on people; for, as the same Plato says, a regular crowd of Gorgons and Pegasi, and other monsters, keeps flowing in upon me in immense numbers, and of preposterous appearance, so that I will keep silence.

64. When Masurius had said this, and when all had admired his wisdom, after silence was restored Ulpian said,--You seem to me, O guests, to be overwhelmed with impetuous speeches which come upon you unexpectedly, and to be thoroughly soaked in unmixed wine;--

For a man drinking wine, as a horse does water, Speaks like a Scythian, not knowing even koppa, But voiceless, lies immersed in a cask, And sleeps as if he'd drunk medicinal poppy;