BALDEN, K.
Cephalus After truly explaining the effects of natural growth and decay, Cephalus issues a subjunctive command to Socrates.1 Despite his desire for speeches, Cephalus expresses little personal interest in Socrates. From the first, Cephalus wishes that Socrates "be together with the young men” (v. infra. fn. 1.) For what reason does Cephalus join the company of Lysimachus, Melesias, Demodicus, Lysanias, Antiphon, Theozotides, Ariston, and Crito in being a father who wishes for Socrates to be together with his sons?2 For one, Cephalus is a cultured man. Not only does he brush shoulders with the likes of Thrasymachus, Sophocles, and Socrates, but Cephalus also holds opinions that are opposed to those of the many (329e1-3; 330d4.) Moreover, Cephalus is neither one who gushes about his wealth nor one who gushes about his sons (330b6-c8.) Socrates does not find it difficult to be with Cephalus, at least not on this score. One may fairly say, then, that Cephalus is at least of the refined, not unlike those in, for example, NE I.4, who get the bulk, though perhaps not the fullest whole, of happiness. And because Cephalus is well-mannered, he both wants, and Socrates in no way opposes, being together with him or with his sons. And yet, there’s more. To repeat, Cephalus knows the opinions of the many, the opinions of the refined, and, to some extent, Cephalus even knows Socrates. Whether as an eye-witness or with him having heard it second-hand, a cultured man like Cephalus could discern that what Socrates says is atopon relative to the many, but even also to the refined. Yes, Cephalus and Socrates appear not only acquainted (328c; 328c6,) but even alike, with Cephalus being eager to share his newfound pleasure with Socrates: speeches (328d4.) Yet, unlike Anytus who cautions Socrates in a curt admonition of his usual speeches (Meno, 89e9,) or Meletus who accuses Socrates for them (Apology of Socrates, 24d-27d,) Cephalus commands Socrates to be together with his sons.
1 “µὴ οὖν ἄλλως ποίει, ἀλλὰ τοῖσδέ τε τοῖς νεανίσκοις σύνισθι καὶ δεῦρο παρ᾽ ἡµᾶς φοίτα ὡς παρὰ φίλους τε καὶ πάνυ οἰκείους,” 328d5-7.
2 Apology of Socrates, 33c-34a; Euthydemus, 271b, 306d-307a, Oeconomicus 3.7, Memorabilia II.6, I.3.8-10, 3.13, Phaedo, 59b; Memorabilia III.12 Theages 127e, Symposium 173d Phaedo 117d Memorabilia III.2, Phaedo 59b, Theages, and Republic 496b-c Xenophon’s Apology of Socrates to the Athenian Jury, 28. Laches, Theages, etc., and in Xen., etc.
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Furthermore, Cephalus agrees with everything that Socrates says at every available opportunity, saying no more and no less than that Socrates speaks “rightly” and “what is true” (Republic, 330e6; 330c9; 331d1.) The refined Cephalus is not a foolish yes-man, and he is not too concerned with appearances, however cognizant of them he may be. And, if Cephalus does in fact disagree with Socrates, then there is no reason that Cephalus should withhold his real opinions in the privacy of his son’s home. Although it cannot be known whether Cephalus is withholding, may there be a positive reason that Cephalus agree with Socrates on every point? Each time that Cephalus agrees with Socrates, Cephalus tempts the young men to speak up, who have everything to gain by learning from Socrates, whereas, by comparison, Cephalus does not have much to gain for himself: Cephalus is “on the threshold of old age” (328e1,) and there is not much that Cephalus can do in the way of changing his life in consideration of his advanced years. But in order to understand both how Cephalus tactfully tempts the young men and how he so exceptionally patronizes Socrates, one must examine the weapons example and the question of what is just (331a9- b7.) Cephalus does not answer what Socrates asks of him, namely: “What is the greatest good that you have enjoyed from the possession of much wealth?” (330d1-3) First, Cephalus answers for what wealth is ἀξίαν (valuable) to the man who is ἐπιεικής (decent) and κόσµιος (orderly) as distinguished from any given man (331a9-331b1,) and then he answers with the use that is "not the least good of wealth” for a man who has νοῦς, mind or intellect (331b6.) There’s no doubt that these are gentlemanly maneuvers from value to conduct to character to use. But one cannot write off gentlemen. No doubt, too, that Socrates is right to point out, that, if one were to owe something to a madman that could be used for harm, then, it is not just either to repay this madman or to tell this madman the whole truth (331c-d,) because, after all, one expects that one’s prescientific opinion concerning the just is correct, viz., ‘what is just must issue in some good, be it benefit, help, use, advantage, etc., for those who are involved.’ Indeed, the whole problem here is that the madman not only could do some harm, but is fixing to do so. However, recall, that, according to Cephalus, the man who is ἐπιεικής,
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κόσµιος, and who has νοῦς does not lie ἀέκων, unwillingly (331b1.) But, note: This very same man who is ἐπιεικής, κόσµιος, and who has νοῦς according to Cephalus may lie as willingly as does the occasional liar of whom Socrates speaks (331c9.) However inconspicuous that it may be, Socrates and Cephalus are in consistent agreement, even in the introduction to the question of what is just. As soon as one of the young men ‘bites the bait,’ Cephalus leaves. In effect, Cephalus ‘gives aside’ the argument not merely to his son (παραδίδωµι; 331d6,) but instead to Socrates, to whom Cephalus also gives the young men, knowing that Socrates is capable of doing something for the young men, something of which Cephalus is not capable, similar to a man who ‘deposits’ weapons (ἀποδίδωµι; 331c3.) With Cephalus being on the “threshold of old age” (328e1,) the alternative is to leave the young men to Thrasymachus, who is “a wild boar” of a madman (336b ff.) Cephalus either is a knower or he is so spry as to learn on the spot and in a flash. At any rate, Socrates does not bully Cephalus out of his son’s home. Again, Cephalus does not flee because of anxiety. In fact, Cephalus leaves peacefully because of a prior engagement that is imposed on him by his physical condition (the very thing of which he expressed some knowledge before commanding Socrates in the first place,) with Cephalus now saying, in idiom, that, “[time] already binds me to care for the sacred things” (331d6-7.) It therefore seems plausible that the wreath on his head really is, at least symbolically, the customary decoration for men about to die [cite!.] Although some claim so without grounds, Cephalus decidedly does not laugh out of nervousness, which was not a consideration in ancient laughter,3 he rather laughs because he has cooperatively arranged for his boisterous son Polemarchus either to be torpified by elenchus or to be turned by dialectic, as Polemarchus ‘thinks himself wiser and richer than he is.’4 Inasmuch as the (refined) Cephalus is aware that Socrates is his superior, it makes no difference that Cephalus does not fully know of the intricacies of these Socratic techniques.
3 Republic 457b1, 499c4, 518a1-b5, 525d10-e1, 606c ff.; v. esp. Philebus, 48c-50a ff.; Poetics, 5 1449a34-37,
4 Philebus, loc. cit.
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Meanwhile, Cephalus, the refined, thoughtful gentleman, the one who is decent, orderly, imbued with mind, knows not the least good of wealth, who is not unbearable but even pleasant to be around: This man goes to the sacred things, in order that he may perform final acts of piety before death, and, moreover, he does so straightaway after he performs a final fatherly act (in leaving the young men to the authority of the philosophic Socrates) contributing to the fulfillment of the original command that he had issued to Socrates, and even finalizing his knowledge of natural growth and decay.
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