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Custom Citation Salkever, Stephen G. "Socrates' Aspasian Oration: The lP ay of Philosophy and Politics in Plato's Menexenus." American Political Science Review 87 (1993): 133-143.

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For more information, please contact [email protected]. American Political Science Review Vol. 87, No. 1 March 1993

SOCRATES'ASPASIAN ORATION: THE PLAY OF PHILOSOPHY AND POLITICSIN PLATO'S MENEXENUS STEPHEN G. SALKEVER Bryn Mawr College

P lato'sMenexenus is overlooked,perhaps because of thedifficulty of gauging its irony.In it, Socratesrecites a orationhe says he learnedfrom , describingevents that occurredafter the deathsof both Socratesand 'mistress. But the 'sironic complexityis one reasonit is a centralpart of Plato'spolitical philosophy. In bothstyle and substance, Menexenus rejectsthe heroicaccount of Atheniandemocracy proposed by 'Pericles, separatingAthenian citizenship from the questfor immortalglory; its pictureof the relationshipof philosopherto illustratesPlato's conception of the true politikos in the . In both ,philosophic response to politicsis neitherdirect rule nor apoliticalwithdrawal. Menexe- nus presentsa Socrateswho influencespolitics indirectly, by recastingAthenian history and thus transformingthe termsin whichits politicalalternatives are conceived.

T he Menexenusis one of the Platonic dialogues he establishes in the Gorgiasbetween Pericles and least read by students of political theory. But Socrates for the right to be called the true Athenian there are good reasons, both thematic and politikos(statesman). Moreover, the dialogue suggests stylistic, for us to consider the dialogue more care- the possibility of redeeming what in the fully than we have in the past. This is the dialogue in seems unredeemable:4the practice of public oratory which Socratesrecites to a young and admiringfriend in democratic . The funeral speech itself in named Menexenus a political speech that he says he places appears to be an alternative to Pericles' epi- has learned from Pericles'mistress Aspasia, whom he taphios,rather than comic commentary on it, particu- describes as his, as well as Pericles', instructorin the larly in its characterizationof the Athenian politeiaas art of oratory (235e3-7)-a funeral oration (epitaphios) an aristocracy-by-popular-consent(238c7-d2), rather for the Athenian war dead.' The dialogue can be than a democracy, and its advice to both the fathers divided into three parts: (1) an opening conversation and the mothers of the war dead to turn their between the two men (234a-36d); (2) the epitaphios attention inward and concern themselves with their proper (236d-49c), which is subdivided into three own virtue (247e5-48a7), rather than to fall in love parts (a historical account of the people and the with Athens. Thus, even though the long and de- politeia(regime) of Athens, a narrative of Athenian tailed militaryhistory of Athens from the PersianWar war deeds from antiquity to the present, and an to the present that occupies over half of the epitaphios exhortationto present-day Athenians); and (3) a brief in the Menexenus(239dl-46a3) is chock-full of errors, closing exchange between Socrates and his interloc- omissions, and hyperbole and even though the dia- utor (249d-e). logue's opening and closing conversations are insis- Aspasia, Socrates tells Menexenus, has "glued to- tently playful and ironic, the speech also presents a gether" the speech partly, as it seems to him, with picture of good Athenian citizenship that seems plau- "leftover" bits from her composition of the famous sibly Platonic or Socratic.5 Socrates' recitation of funeral oration delivered by Pericles (236bl-6).2 The Aspasia's patchwork epitaphiosthus opens the possi- Menexenus,then, presents itself as Plato's Socratic bility that there is an alternative to the of counterpartto the speech of Thucydides' Pericles. In flattery and the politics of collective pleonexia(un- both speeches we have an account of the deeds of the bounded desire) condemned in the Gorgias.This is Athenian past combined with an account of the surely a question of the utmost seriousness; yet essential character of the Athenian politeia, both Plato's treatmentof it here is playful and ironic.6How seemingly designed to throw light on how Athenians can this be so? are to understand themselves and to act in the future. Commentators on the Menexenus have been But the styles of the two discourses are not similar: sharply divided over the question of whether to read Thucydides gives us the speech of a statesman he the dialogue as a serious epitaphiosor as an ironical admires, a speech that could to all appearances have comment on Athenian politics in general and the been delivered in Athens;3 while there can be little institution of funeral orations in particular.7Either doubt that Socrates'Aspasian epitaphiosand the brief way, a Platonic dialogue concerning epitaphioimust exchanges with Menexenus that precede and follow it command our attention, since there is good reason to make up a comic commentary on the Athenian fu- think that the institution of the public funeral oration neral oration, though in exactly what way and to had a special place in Athenian political oratory, as what end we cannot be sure. the occasion on which Athenians gathered not only In the Menexenus,then, Plato elaboratesthe contest to hear a eulogy on the war dead but to recall who

133 Socrates' Aspasian Oration March 1993 they were as Athenian citizens. Lincoln's Gettysburg here, as with their "irony", requires more careful Address is the closest American equivalent-both a consideration than it has so far received. Those who eulogy and an exercise in collective self-definition. deny that the dialogue is primarily ironic generally But Lincoln's speech was an unusual event, while the understand it to be promoting some particularpro- public funeral oration was a long-standing and cus- gram of reform for Athenian politics. But there is no tomary practice in Athens.8 According to Nicole clear politicalprogram or set of principles to be found Loraux's (1986) detailed study of the epitaphios,its in the dialogue-no systematic "theory" in the sense function was to provide the occasion on which Ath- used by contemporary analytic . In or- ens was invented and reinvented in narrative form. der to make sense of the Menexenus,we must first Only a few such orations have come down to us; reject the idea that the dialogue has to fall into one of surely the most famous is Pericles' speech in Thucy- two mutually exclusive genre categories:the comic or dides, which is the classic statement of the ethos of the serious. Athenian citizenship at the height of its fifth-century My alternative to the humorous/serious antithesis flowering. Two others, by and Hyper- is to say that the dialogue is a playful comment on ides, are from later in the fourth century; a speech one of the most solemn moments of Athenian politics written by Lysias appeared roughly 10 years earlier and that its commentary is not merely negative and than the Menexenus,and there is a small fragment dismissive but carrieswith it some opinions as to how from an orationby Gorgias. Even though the number to think about the possibilities and limits of demo- of examples is small, it is clear that the epitaphioswas cratic politics. The playfulness of the commentary a distinct genre,9 with standard expectations about resides not in its failure to affirmany opinions about the ordering of topics and the contents of the mes- politics as true but in its refusal to accept any formu- sage. In the Menexenus,Socrates follows the formal lationof even the most dearly held opinions as final, order of the epitaphios-a prelude identifying the as written in stone.'3 The Platonic and Socraticopin- speech as one required by Athenian nomos (law or ions playfully yet seriously asserted by the Menexenus custom), a praise of the dead heroes and of Athens, involve several aspects of political life; but they and a consolatory exhortation (paramuthia)to the always appear to oppose views expressed or implied living-but criticizes the message of other funeral by Thucydides and by his model of democraticlead- orations and provides an alternative way of charac- ership, Pericles.'4 The central instances of this oppo- terizing Athenian virtue. Thus, the dialogue appears sition between Plato's politics and Thucydides' are to contain both a Socratic critique of Athenian self- five. First, in what terms should political life be understanding (along the lines set out in the attackon evaluated? For Thucydides and Pericles, the key Pericles and traditionalAthenian politics in the Gor- standards are those of greatness and splendor. gias) and an alternative to that self-understanding. Socrates says that the standard for evaluating regi- Here we have the speaking not to the mens is set by the example of nurturing nature and city but to his city-and in a language and form the by the image of good-not great or noble-human city understands considerably better than the lan- beings (238c). Second, what kind of historical self- guage of and elenchos(refutation). understanding is appropriatefor democraticAthens? The dialogue gives us the Platonic Socratesacting the Thucydides' PeloponnesianWar is a monumental role he claims for himself in the Gorgias:the one history in which nature and the gods play no part Athenian who truly practices genuine politiki(state- but that of resistances to be overcome' and in which craft), the one artful politikosin Pericles' city. Athens is shown creating itself through its daring in But any attempt to ascertain the meaning of the wars both defensive and expansionist. Socrates, by dialogue is radically unsettled by the density and contrast, provides a mythic and theocentric story of variety of its irony-both Platonic and Socratic. This the origin of the city and follows it with a jumbled, is, I think, the primaryreason why the Menexenushas false, and largely chaotic record of recent Athenian not been treated as a central work in the Platonic wars and battles. Third, what questions should most corpus. Part of the problem is the difficulty of decid- concern Athenian citizens? Pericles asks his listeners ing what it means to say that the dialogue is ironic. to consider how best to maintain the collective civic Most of those who see the Menexenusas ironic, rather projectof dynamic Athenian rule. Socratesignores all than serious, characterizethat irony either as a ram- collective enterprises and instead emphasizes here, bunctious parody on the model of Aristophaniccom- as in the ,the question of the virtue of each edy, designed to deflate the arrogant pretension of individual and the importance of caring for oneself Athenian political speech,'0 or as bitter satire in- and for one another. Fourth, what is the appropriate tended to expose the hypocrisy and injustice of the vocabulary of political speech? Thucydides' vocabu- democracy that murdered Socrates and scorned phi- lary is dominated by terms for greatness, glory, losophy." But reference to one or the other of these brilliance, and action. Plato in this dialogue, as else- genres-parody or satire-is not sufficient to account where, employs prominently and with particular for the complex tone shifts of Socrates'playful speech significations terms like epimeleia,therapeia, techno, or for the subtlety and essential ambiguity of Plato's phusis,areti, dike,and eleutheria(roughly-caretaking, written dialogue. Recognizing this, some commenta- healing, art, nature, virtue, justice, and freedom). tors urge that the core of the dialogue is seriously2But Fifth, what is the appropriatetone in which to con- the nature of Platonic and Socratic "seriousness" sider political matters?Pericles' tone is one of consis-

134 American Political Science Review Vol. 87, No. 1 tent gravity and severity, and Thucydides employs own hand in its production. At the end of the the tragic device of juxtaposing sharply contrasting dialogue, he tells Menexenus that he will be happy to moments of elevation and wretchedness, as in the tell him many other fine Aspasian political logoi so abrupt transition from Pericles' epitaphiosto the ac- long as Menexenus swears to keep their origin a count of the plague. Plato's taste runs to a light, secret (249e3-5). playful, frequently shifting tone. The stress on disguise runs even deeper: the long- On my reading, then, the Menexenusshould not be est part of Aspasia's (Socrates',Plato's) epitaphios, and reduced either to parody or satire on the one hand or the section in which the speech draws conclusions to a systematic theoretical treatise or a practically from its narrativehistory of Athens concerning how plausible Athenian epitaphios16 on the other but present-day Athenians ought to live their lives, is a should be understood, instead, as a playful reflection prosopopoeia of the war dead (something not found designed to provide a starting point for thinking in the other funeral orations). The central practical about the kind of public speeches that ought to be conclusions of the speech are placed in the mouths of made in democratic Athens and polities like it.17 In the dead heroes. The dialogue thus presents itself as trying to assess the meaning of the Menexenus,it is a work of manifold invention and concealment. Plato crucial not to exaggerate some central Platonic dis- invents Socrates, who may or may not invent a tinctions or tensions (e.g., philosophy/politics, my- speech-writingAspasia, who in turn invents a unison thos/logos [see Phaedrusand Gorgias],and serious/ chorus of dead Athenians. Socrates' Aspasia under- playful) by assuming that the weight of the dialogue lines her own artfulinventiveness here by saying that must fall into one or another of each pair. Hence, it is she will "say to you now both the things that I heard misleading to ask whether the dialogue is on the side from them then and those which they would be of the polis or of philosophy, serious or playful, pleased to speak now if it were possible, basing my of Plato's serious views or an expressive political on what said then. But must attempt to subvert Athenian politics. Part of Plato's conjecture they you literary practice is to show us how the philosopher believe that you are hearing from them themselves can also be a true politikos,how a mythos can be a the message I will give you" (246c4-8). This most logos, and how the complex ironies of an artfully politicalof Platonicdialogues is also perhaps the most written dialogue illustrate serious play. The dialogue complexly ironic; my argument here is that the pair- can then be seen as a prime example of the kind of ing of political theme and ironic style is no coinci- political activity indicated by the Eleatic Stranger's dence. depiction of the politikosas a master weaver who But what does this irony signify? If we rule out, as operates behind the scenes of public life in the I think we must, treating the dialogue as either Statesman:Socrates in Menexenusis shown away from deflating parody or bitter satire, we are left with two the public world of the , trying to weave to- elements crucial to Platonic/Socraticirony (crucialin gether the strands of gentleness and virility, of the that these are essential aspects of their practice of female and foreign (Aspasia) and the male and native philosophy): (1) dissimulation or concealment and (Menexenus).'8 (2) ambiguity. Irony both conceals the intentions of the speaker and calls attention to the ever-present possibility of linguistic ambiguity. This style suits the practice of Platonic and Socratic philosophical THE SETTING OF THE DIALOGUE: politics in two ways: (1) because the work of the CHARACTER AND CONCEALMENT philosophical statesman is not to design institutions, , or policies but to persuade citizens of the The dramaticdate of the dialogue-fixed by reference primacy of the question of the good life or of human to events in the CorinthianWar down to the Peace of areti, over the questions of power, security, and Anatalcidas (245d6-246al) and hence immediately honor; and (2) because the central business of such a obvious to Plato's contemporaries-is at the earliest statesman is to insist upon the unending importance 387 B.C. and thus years after the deaths of both of asking this question by refusing to give unqualified Socrates and Aspasia. (The dating is thus even more acceptance to any formulation or doctrine that pur- anachronisticthan the Gorgias.19)Plato writes a dia- ports to solve it once and for all. The philosopher's logue that in effect identifies itself from the outset as contributionto democraticpolitics is to place a ques- a fiction, as a Platonic invention. The reader cannot tion on democracy's agenda and, through insisting believe even in the approximatehistorical accuracy of on the essential ambiguity of language, immunizing the dialogue; this is Socrates made young and fair democrats against accepting any rule or formulation with a vengeance.20 As for Socraticirony within the as final and absolutely binding or correct. There are dialogue, the characterSocrates presents the logos he two principalrhetorical problems to be solved here by recites-his version of that most Athenian of speech- the philosophical politikos:one is that of finding a way es-as having been written by "Aspasia the Mile- to introduce philosophy into politics without philos- sian" (249d-2), a female foreigner. Nevertheless, ophy's undergoing a corrupting transformationinto Menexenus and the readers of the dialogue cannot be sectarianism;2 the other is that of giving political sure whether Socrates may not have invented the advice without calling excessive attention to the phi- story of Aspasia's authorship in order to conceal his losopher's view that the philosophic life is different

135 Socrates' Aspasian Oration March 1993 from, and better than, the political life.22 Let us see about political life from a focus on maintaining a how the Menexenuscarries out this work. position of leadership in democratic Athens to a considerationof how properly and artfullyto care for human beings. This expectation is fully confirmedby THE OPENING DIALOGUE (234A-236D) the last exhortative section of the epitaphiositself, which repeatedly calls on the city to exercise care The meeting between Socrates and his well-born and toward all (e.g., 249c2-3) and on each Athenian politically ambitious young Athenian friend is pri- citizen to serve and be served in turn (therapeueinte kai vate. Although we are not told the location of the therapeuesthai,249c5-6). To the extent that Socrates dialogue, the conversation is initiated by Socrates, has gained control over the terms of Athenian polit- who encounters Menexenus as the latter is leaving ical discourse here, the point of the epitaphioslies in its the agora coming from the Bouleterion, the chamber transformationof the political world as conceived in housing the Council of Five Hundred,23where that speeches from a scene of praxisand archi(rule) to one body is about to select a speaker to deliver the of therapeiaand epimeleia. traditionalepitaphios for the Athenian war dead.24The The very end of the dialogue is a parting exchange location of the dialogue thus blurs the bright Peri- in which Socrates playfully insists, and Menexenus clean line between the private and the public worlds. accepts, the need to maintain secrecy about this The first words of the dialogue are Socrates'question conversationand other similarones they may have in "Ex e pothen Menexenos?," "Do you come from the future. (Socrates says he will tell Menexenus the agora or where, Menexenus?" (Socrates being many other fine political speeches.) In the frame outside the "precinct of public life"),25and the an- dialogue of the Menexenus(236c-d), Socratespresents swer, "Yes, from the agora, from the Bouleterion, himself as wanting to hide the epitaphioshe has heard Socrates."We are told by Socratesthat the two mean from Aspasia-at first because of his fear that Aspasia are quite alone and that it is only because they are will be angry with him if she discovers he has alone that Socratesis willing to recite the epitaphiosto revealed the speech and a moment later because he Menexenus (236cll-d3). The question why Socrates fears Menexenus will laugh at him, taking Socrates wants to speak to Menexenus is answered in the for an old man still playing like a child. Finally, exchange between the two immediately following: Socrates says he will gratify Menexenus, since they Socrates.And why especially were you at the Boulete- are alone. His desire to gratify him is, he says, such rion? Or is it clearly because you think you have got to that he might even strip naked and dance, if that is the end of (education) and philosophia,and think- what it took. This figure of the teasingly reluctant ing you have grasped these things sufficiently, you are philosopher is familiar from the .The depth ready to turn your mind to greater things, to try your of the transformationof Athenian political self-con- hand at ruling (archein)us older folk in spite of your age, ception Socratesaims at is both concealed and under- o amazing man, so that your family might never fail at scored by his coy aloofness. The very fact that providing us with a caretaker(epimelitis)? Socrates has no desire for political power gives his Menexenus. With your permission and counsel, words a power they might otherwise lack. Socrates, I am eager to rule (archein);otherwise, not. After learning that the business Menexenus ob- This exchange26establishes the dialogue as one be- served at the Bouleterion concerns the selection of a tween a philosopher and a decent young member of citizen to give an epitaphios,Socrates' first response is the Athenian political class, one who assumes his to remarkon how kalon(beautiful), in many ways, it future will be occupied with ruling, though only with is to die in battle, since no matter how worthless you the consent of others. Menexenus is not a future were when alive, you are sure to get a magnificent . Socrates does not attempt to dissuade Men- send-off by speakers who, like wizards, bewitch our exenus but, rather, tries to redescribethe political life souls (235a2). Not only do these orators praise the form its ordinary Athenian designation (archeinand Athenian dead (worthless though they may have ruling) to Socrates'characteristic and differentway of been), but they praise Athens itself in every way, as speaking about political leadership (epimeleia,the art well as the living citizens and all their ancestors. of caretaking). Similar redescriptions of ruling or There is such a riot of patriotic encomium, Socrates acting as caretaking or something like it form an says, that for more than three days (235b8-cl), he important aspect of Socrates' hidden political paideia feels himself to have become bigger, better born, and in several dialogues. In the , for example, more beautiful (meizdnkai gennaioteros kai kallion) than Meno's first definition of virtue is that the virtue of a he was before (235b2).Greek foreigners (xenoi),who, male is "to act (prattein)on behalf of the city, acting so Socratessays, he almost always has with him on such as to do well to friends and harm to enemies" occasions, are likewise bewitched and view Socrates (71el-4). Nearly two pages later, Socrates"reminds" as more august (semndteros)and Athens as more Meno of his definition: "Didn't you say that the amazing (thaumasiotera)than before (235b2-8). For as virtue of a male is to manage (diokein)the city well?" long as the orator's words ring in the ears of the (73a6-7). Like Socrates' concealed redescription of audience, Athenians and Athens are puffed up in praxis(action) as management in the Meno, we may their own eyes and in those of the watching world.27 expect that his conversation with Menexenus is "You are always making fun (prospaizeis)of the aimed at transforming the latter's way of thinking orators, Socrates," Menexenus responds (235c6);

136 American Political Science Review Vol. 87, No. 1 and, of course, Socrates is playing. But the words of are descended32 nor even the political freedom that Socrates' playful speech not only ridicule the orators the remote ancestors established but the deeds of the but call attention to the way his own auditors re- past fifty years that have founded and expanded the spond to Socrates, who can also be charged with Athenian Empire (Thucydides 2.36.2). He does note wizardry for inducing not a feeling of puffy superior- that the same race of Athenians has lived on the same ity (semnotes,235b8)2 but a sense of bafflement (apo- land of Athens, but this is only in passing and he ria). This effect of Socraticlogos is noted not only by draws no practicalconclusions from it. menacing foreigners like Meno and local enemies like Socrates' emphasis in his discussion of the Athe- Anytus2' but in the description of a very Socratic nian heritage is in striking contrast to Pericles'. He form of paideiadescribed by the EleaticStranger in the begins by saying that in praising the war dead, we (230e-31a). At its best, Socratic elenchosand ought to proceed according to nature (kataphusin), aporiais designed to get interlocutorsto become more just as the dead derived their goodness from nature gentle to others and more angry with themselves, (237a). Socrates'repeated stress on the importanceof more determined to inquire about what sort of life nature as a source of goodness (Athenians are unusu- they should be leading. There is thus a direct con- ally eugeneia[of good blood] [237a6-7]and that is the frontation:the semnoslogos (august discourse) of the first thing we should praise about them) and stan- patriotic epitaphiosas depicted by Socrates removes dard of evaluation stands in sharp opposition to the the problem the aporetic logos (baffling discourse) stress on the extraordinarydaring and drive of fifth- seeks to make pressing. As Pericles says in his century Athenians displayed in Pericles' oration and epitaphiosin Thucydides, all that is necessary to elsewhere in Thucydides.33Socrates' speech dwells achieve virtue, if you are male, is to allow yourself to on the legend of Athenian autochthony, celebrating fall in love with Athens in her imperial greatness and the fact that Athenians, unlike other people, both if you are female, to stay at home and out of the way sprung from, and were nurtured by, the land they (2.43, 51). But at the same time, the aporetic logos live on today-Athenians are blessed by sharing both refuses to present solutions and so seems to leave its a fatherland and a nourishing mother earth (237c5- victims, even those who love Socrates, no choice but d2).34Not only are the Athenians autochthonous, but to repair to the orators-as Cleitophon repairs to Athens has been unusually beloved of the gods-so Lysias and Thrasymachus (Cleitophon,410c6-8). The much so that while all the rest of the earth was full of introductory dialogue of the Menexenusthus sets up wild animals, the Athenian earth alone brought forth this question: Is there any way that the Socratic only human beings and human food: wheat, barley, politicoscan meet the political orators on their own olives. Not only that, but the earth, having supplied ground?30 material nurture for her Athenian children, finds Following Socratesin the Gorgias,we might put the them gods to educate them, "gods whose names it is question this way: Is there a way of speaking to the fitting for us to omit here, for we know them, gods Athenian demos that unlike the speeches of Pericles, who established our way of life, in our daily regimen will orient individual members of the demos toward educating us in the technai first of all, and then the question of their own virtue, of whether they are concerning guarding the land teaching us how to sufficiently just and moderate, and not toward the acquire and use weapons" (238b2-6). civic projects of "building harborsand dockyardsand All this ridiculously inflates the specialness of Ath- city walls, and of exacting tribute from subject peo- ens, to be sure, so that no reader could think that ples, and similarnonsense (phluaria)"(Gorgias, 519al- Socrates' Aspasian epitaphiosaims at giving an accu- 4)? The ironic epitaphiosof the Menexenusis a kind of rate, or even a believable, history of the origins of answer to that question. Athens. But the speech does more than ridicule patrioticfervor. Socrates'comic genealogy makes the greatness of Athens depend on the good fortune of her natural origin and on divine favor, not on the THE EPITAPHIOS, PART 1: THE special bravery of Athenian men of war. While Peri- GENEALOGY AND CHARACTER OF cles' civic encomium says nothing about the natural THE ATHENIAN POLITEIA (236D-39A) setting of the city of Athens and nothing at all about the gods,35Thucydides in his own voice speaks of the After acknowledging the Athenian nomos(law) that causes and advantages of Athenian autochthony in a establishes the public funeral oration and after noting way that is diametrically opposed to the Socratic (except for Socrates)31 the difficulty of finding words account: "Attica, because of the barrenness of its adequate to memorialize deeds of such valor, the earth, was for the most part free from stasis (civil funeral orators all open by describing the origin and strife) and therefore always inhabited by the same character of Athens. Emphases differ among the human beings" (1.2.5-6). There was nothing in the different speakers, but the differences between natural setting of barren Athens to attract invaders, Socrates and Pericles are especially striking. Unlike so that the race of Athenians acquired unity because other speakers, Pericles spends very little time on the of the poverty, rather than bounty, of their natural Athenian genos, or race (Ziolkowski 1981, 75). What inheritance. For Socrates, this nature represents an matters most to him about Athens is not the ancient inheritance to be treasured;for Thucydides, a weak- race from which the Athenians among his audience ness to be overcome. The glory of Athens, for Pericles

137 Socrates' Aspasian Oration March 1993 and Thucydides, is in all respects strictly manmade; claims that those who rank highest in the city do so for Socrates, love of country is expressed by a playful not on the basis of wealth but on the basis of aretj gratitude to the earth and the gods. (2.37.1). His position seems unlike Socrates' only in Born from the earth and educated by the divine its lack of frankness in acknowledging that democ- teachers their mother chose for them, Socrates con- racy is only a name and in his flattering (not to tinues, the ancestors of the war dead set up a politeia, mention self-serving) endorsement of the city's judg- which should be briefly recalled. Just as Socrates ments about the virtue of its choices. Thucydides prefaces his story of autochthony with the statement comments on (and silently endorses) the lack of that a good epitaphiosmust praise the dead kata candor in Pericles' epitaphiosin his praise of Pericles' phusin,here he begins his discussion of the Athenian leadership. Under Pericles'rule, he says, Athens was regime with a general definition:"A politeianourishes at her greatest (2.65.5); and while he ruled, Athens human beings (politeiagar trophyanthro-po(n esti); it is "became in speech, on the one hand, a democracy, noble when it nourishes good humans and the re- but in deed, on the other, a city under the rule of its verse when it nourishes wretches (kakoi)"(238cl-2). first man (egignetote logo men dimokratia,ergo de hupo To show the nobility of a regime, it is necessary to tou protouandros archj)" (2.65.9-10). Plato differs from show that it produces good human beings. Since Thucydides here in two major respects: (1) in setting Socrates has already told Menexenus that Athenian forward a concept of natural fitness, rather than one funeral orations praise wretches (phauloi)along with of civic greatness, as a starting point for estimating good men (234c), it would appear difficult to show the character and value of a polity38 and (2) in this for Athens; and Socrates does not even try. preferring a style of playful semicandor in public Instead, he goes on to characterize the Athenian oratory to one of deceptive solemnity. politeiaas one that is called by some a democracy"but is in truth an aristocracy with the approval of the many (met'eudoxiasplithous aristokratia)" (238dl-2). In Athens, the speech continues, political power is held THE EPITAPHIOS, PARTS 2 AND 3: most of the time by the people (plithos);but at times, HISTORY AND the people give power and rule to those citizens who ITS LESSONS (239A-49C) seem to them to be the best. In Athens, unlike other cities, no one is chosen for office because of his The natural goodness of the Athenian stock having wealth or parentage but because he seems wise and been stated and elaborated, Socrates' Aspasian good. Socratesnever says here that the Athenians do, speech next moves, following tradition, to present an in fact, choose the wisest and best to rule but only account of how "our forefathers, raised in freedom, that the regime requireselections for office, which are have shown all human beings, both in private and in determined by the opinion of the majority,not by the public (kai idia kai dimosia),many and noble deeds, status of the candidates. The basis for the regime of believing that it was necessary to fight for freedom the best-in-the-opinion-of-the-manyis located in the with Greeks against Greeksand againstbarbarians on nature of Athens. All other cities are heterogeneous behalf of all of Hellas" (239a5-b2). This introduction collections of all sorts of people. As a result in those to the recounting of Athenian military history con- cities, whether they are tyrannies or oligarchies, the nects that history with a perceived need to defend the citizens regard each other as slaves or masters: "But Athenian regime. The Athenians are fighting not for we regard each other as brothers born of a single glory but for isonomia(equity) and the right to choose mother, and so do not think ourselves worthy to be the best and wisest among them as their leaders; each other's slave or master, but our natural equality Socrates also explicitly both recalls and effaces the of birth makes it necessary for us to seek conventional line between public and private drawn by Pericles. legal equality (hi isogoniahimas hi kataphusin isono- Public deeds are due no special merit in the Socratic/ miananagkazei zitein katanomon)" (239al-2). Aspasian account; and in the highly detailed narra- None of this recants the often-expressed Socratic tive that follows, it becomes easy to see why. After view that generally makes saying that it is unnecessary to recall in bare prose wrong choices about who are its best citizens. In fact, (psiloi logoi) the mythic wars against the Amazons, it raises the question of whether those who have Cadmians, and Argives, since these erga(deeds) have seemed wisest and best to the Athenians in the past already been celebrated in and music, the really have been the wisest and best. Nor is Socrates' epitaphiosgoes on to say something about the three contention that the Athenian regime aspires to be an major wars of the past one hundred years-the aristocracy, rather than a democracy, incompatible Persian, the Peloponnesian, and the Corinthian-in with his critique of Athenian practice elsewhere.36 prose that is very bare indeed. Thus, it is misleadingly simple to write off the Men- Various commentators39 have noticed that exenus' characterization of the Athenian politeia as Socrates' history involves some systematic distor- purely pointless humor.37 Again, comparison with tions. Some of these were not unusual for fourth- Thucydides indicates a possible context. Pericles, of century Athenian patriots, such as falsely minimizing course, does not call Athens an aristocracy;but he, the contributions of any other Greek city, especially too, says only that Athens is called by name a , to the Persian War (Thermopylaeis not even democracy, not that it is in truth one. Moreover, he mentioned); but others harder to explain, such as his

138 American Political Science Review Vol. 87, No. 1 almost suggesting that Athens was allied with Sparta reasons, resolves never again to fight in the cause of against Persia in the CorinthianWar, rather than the the freedom of Hellenic xenoi, either against other other way around. There are also striking omissions, Greeks or against barbarians. Unfortunately, Sparta one particularly large: Socrates tells the history of decides to take this opportunity to enslave other fifth-century Athens without mentioning the Athe- Greeks. nian Empire at all, let alone celebrating the daring The account of the ensuing Corinthian War (244d- exploits of Athenian adventurers, a la Thucydides. 46a) is similarly confused and prosaic. No pattern or The speech not only relegates Salamisto second place ordered meaning arises here any more than from the in importance, behind Marathon, among the battles account of the other greater wars. Everyone begs for of the Persian War, but treats Salamis, along with Athens's help; and, being, as always, too compas- Marathon, merely as indications that Greeks could sionate (244e3), Athens is once again at war-with defend themselves against Persians-leaving aside Sparta and in aid of Persia in spite of the fact that the the extraordinary character of the sea battle at Athenians, as unmixed Greeks, hate barbarians more Salamis, stressed by Thucydides and by Lysias, than any other Greek does (245c6-d2). Nonetheless, namely, that it showed the Athenian polis to be it is Athenians who free the Persian king and drive entirely separate from the Athenian earth and the the Spartans from the seas (245e-46a), bringing us to Athenian regime to be located entirely in the spirit- peace at last and to this epitaphios. Socrates' summing edness of Athenian citizens.40From Plato's account, up of the deeds of Athenian men of war is as one would never know that the equivocal as the formless narrative itself: "Now many was in any way related to the fear of Athenian and noble deeds of the men lying here and of others hegemony in Greece. The cause of the unexpectedly who died for the city have been told, yet many more terrible character of the war, we are told, was the and nobler are those which have not been mentioned; jealously of the rest of Greece (243b). for many days and nights would not be enough if one Not only does Plato's epitaphiosdeflate the gran- wanted to relate all of them" (246a5-b2). If the speech deur of Athenian successes, it similarly plays down, ended on this note, we would surely say that Socrates in comparison with Thucydides' account, the dra- has managed to find an epitaphios logos guaranteed matic despair inherent in the defeat of the Sicilian not to leave the audience feeling large and semnos for expedition.4' Socrates' explanation of the collapse an instant, let alone three days. makes it appear a passing inconvenience: "Since our The particular successes and failures of Athenian polis was blocked by distance from reinforcing the military endeavor, shorn of greatness and brilliance, fleet, bad luck made them give up their plans" provide no point of reference for future action. The (243a3-5). The speech thus manages to convey nei- ability to make war is necessary if a city is to retain its ther prowar nor antiwar sentiments. Bad luck and freedom, and this calls for courage in the face of low motives conspired to produce undeserved de- danger and difficulty; but the deeds of war have feats for the Athenians; but just as victories like nothing of Thucydidean greatness about them, and Marathon and Salamis are treated as wholly instru- their chronicle is thus appropriately boring and rep- mental to preserving freedom, rather than as memo- etitious. This difference can be seen by placing side rable in themselves,42 so nothing about any of these by side the moral lessons drawn from the erga in the defeats or sufferings in war seems memorable. Per- Periclean account and that of the Menexenus: haps the clearest thing to be said about Socrates' By giving their bodies for the common good, these men Aspasian account of the rise and fall of the Athenian win for themselves praise that never ages, and the most Empireis that it is an antitragicone. This can be seen significant (episimotaton)of sepulchres, not the one they by comparing the Menexenuson the defeat at Syra- lie in here, but that one in the opinion of men where they cuse with Thucydides' account: "This was the great- leave behind their everlasting memory, always there to est Hellenic deed (ergon)that took place during this inspire both word and deed at the critical moment. war, and, in my opinion, the greatest that we have (Thucydides 2.43.2) heard of among the Greeks-to the victors the most Therefore it is necessary that every man, remembering brilliant(lamprdtaton) and to the vanquished the most these men, exhort their children, just as in wartime, not calamitous."43From the perspective of the Menexe- to leave the rank (taxis)of their ancestors, nor to yield to nus, discussion of the goodness of Athens must wretchedness (kakon)and make a retreat.And I myself, o concern the naturalness of its regime, not the aston- children of these good men, I both exhort you now and ishing beyond-good-and-evil greatness of its military will remind and call on you whenever I meet any of you The stasis that caused the final Athenian in the future to be eager to be the best you can be. exploits. (Menexenus246b2-c2) defeat by the Spartans is treated not as a tragic disintegration of civic spirit but as notable primarily The immortality stressed in Thucydides drops out in for the gentleness and moderation shown by the Plato; and the lesson taught by the deeds of the war returning democrats to their oligarchic enemies dead shifts from a standing inspiration to future (something remarks on, as well, in the heroism to a reminder of the importance of keeping Constitutionof Athens) owing, the speech says, to their your place in the and of trying at all common membership in the autochthonous Athe- times-not just in the pressure-filled kairos (critical nian genos (244a1-3). Once the stasis was concluded, moment)-to live the best life you can. Athens, for what we cannot doubt are excellent But the speech does not end here (as several other

139 Socrates'Aspasian Oration March 1993 epitaphioi do) but goes on not only to console the reminding his audience that he has been listening to audience but to advise them on how to live their a female foreigner:"That is the logos, o Menexenus, lives. Here, Plato's aspiration to match and exceed of Aspasia the Milesian" (249dl-2). Promising not to the scope of Pericles' oration is evident. J. E. Ziol- break confidence, Menexenus asks Socrates to tell kowski, in his survey of the funeral orations, notes him more. Promising that we have not heard the last that "the exhortation to the audience in Thucydides word, Plato has his Socrates end the drama by and Plato is not only longer, but also of a different assuring us, "Well, these things will be done." nature from that of the other funeral speakers. The significant difference is that the other speakers in- clude no advice for future action as Thucydides and Plato do.... Even between the latter two there is an CONCLUSION: EARTHLY important difference: Thucydides gives directions for IMMORTALITY AND THE GOOD LIFE personal conduct in the present war; Plato gives general advice for conduct in war and peace" (1981, The playfulness of the written Platonic dialogue 159-60). The tone of the epitaphios shifts markedly at makes it an inappropriate vehicle for setting out 246b2, 4 as the speech leaves behind the business of policy proposals or even unambiguous and system- recounting the zigzag fates of war and turns to the atic theories of government. But this does not mean task of reminding and exhorting the audience to be that Plato's intervention in the political life of Athens eager to excel in virtue. It is at this point that the is without point. In the dialogue, Plato sets in motion concealment of the speaker's voice is extended yet a way of talking about political life that both recalls one more stage, and Aspasia asks us to hear her voice and challenges Thucydidean political discourse, giv- as if it were the combined voice of the dead heroes. ing politicallife a differentaim and differentproblems The prosopopoeia, unlike Pericles' speech, does not to solve. Perhaps the clearest way of expressing the call on the survivors to try to match the virtue of the challenge to Periclean morality asserted by the Men- dead by an all-embracing erotic commitment to Ath- exenusis to say that it tries to direct attention away ens; nor does it hold out to them the promise of from earthly immortalityand political greatness and immortal life as part of the undying memory of toward a concern with living the life we have as well Athenian greatness. Instead, the living are urged to as possible, asking us to take our bearings in politics do better than the dead and to do so in a truly from our nature, rather than from a narrative of extraordinary but thoroughly Platonic way-by inter- remarkableevents. Part of this challenge calls for a preting the Delphic motto Miden agan (nothing in revaluation of the Pericleandistinction between pub- excess) to mean that one's virtue depends wholly on lic and private life, between the brilliantlynoble and oneself and that one ought to treat life and death the merely good. The Menexenusmay thus be said to lightly and moderately: carry on a project begun in the Gorgias. In that dialogue, Socrates comes closest to touching Callicles The ancient saying Miden agan seems nobly said, and it in a long speech in which he advises him not to be truly is well said. For that man who makes everything with oratoricalsuccess or with not that concerns his eudaimonia(happiness), or most of it, concerned dying: rest on himself and not on other human beings (so that "Foranyone who is truly a man will ignore the length his own good and bad do not perforce wander up and of time he will live and not set his soul's desire on down with theirs), that man is the one best prepared to that; but leaving all that to the god and trusting the live; and it is he who is sophron(moderate) and manly women, who say that no one can flee his destiny, he and wise, it is he who while gaining or losing wealth or must inquire about this thing: In what way will he children will be especially persuaded by the proverb, best live whatever life he has?" (512d8-e5). Our because he neither rejoices nor mourns overmuch, since worries about personal security are to be shifted not he trusts himself .... We ask both fathers and mothers to an identificationwith sublime public greatness but to live the remainder of their lives holding to this same toward inquiry concerning the good for each of us. thought (dianoia),and to know that it is not by mourning But why does Socrates connect that key admoni- and lamenting us that they will especially please us.... They would gratify us most by bearing [their sorrows] tion with the apparently superfluous remarkthat the lightly (kouphds)and with measure metricss).(247e5-48c2) real anir (man) will trust women and forget about immortality?Here we may glimpse the significanceof The epitaphios concludes with Aspasia resuming her Aspasia in Plato's political philosophy. The gender- own voice, asking children to listen to their dead ing of the political voice that makes the Menexenus fathers, and assuring parents of dead sons that the such an unsettling dialogue from the outset (Why city will nourish their old age and care for them, does Socrates say the epitaphiosis Aspasia's and not repeating again the phrase "both in private and in admit to its authorship himself, as Menexenus, public" (kai idia kai dimosia, 248e4), previously used to joined by generations of commentators, so clearly describe the noble deeds of Athenians (239bl). She wants him to do?) derives from Plato's interest in ends by reminding her audience of the political bringing to light questions and issues that Pericles centrality of epimeleia and therapeia(the polis appear- and Thucydides relegate to the silence of the private ing here in the image of Nurse, rather than, as with life and in calling our attention to the fact that this is Pericles, the magically compelling Beloved). Socrates precisely what he is doing. Plato's Aspasia is no more draws the curtain on this make-believe epitaphios by a woman or less a fiction than his Diotima45(or, for

140 American Political Science Review Vol. 87, No. 1 that matter, his Socrates); but the mask of gender, tended to regard the dialogue as a serious epitaphios., and the aporiasuch gendering may produce, is central for example, says that it was recited every year at Athens (Orator151). Since the eighteenth century, modern scholarly to the ironical rhetoric of Plato's philosophical poli- opinion has been largelyon the side of a comic reading. There tics. That rhetoric is designed not directly to replace have, as with other perplexingdialogues, been claimsthat the how politicians speak about the world but to incline dialogue must be spurious; but the ancient testimonies (in- them toward self-criticalreflection about that way of cluding referencesto the dialogue in Aristotle'sRhetoric) make speaking. Socrates'place, like that of the true politicos this way of solving the problem of reading the dialogue less in the is not at the front of the attractivethan usual. The most common way of handling the described Statesman, dialogue is to classify it as genuine but trivial. assembly or the Bouleterion but by the edge of the 8. Thucydides2.24. See also Isocrates,Panegyricus 74, writ- agora, weaving sense into the language of political ten about 380 B.C. deliberation. 9. J. E. Ziolkowski (1981)provides a most useful catalogue of genre characteristics,along with some suggestive consid- eration of individual differencesamong the speeches. 10. Nicole Loraux's1974) is the best version of this view. Notes She reads the dialogue as a countercharmdesigned to per- form a katharsison those whose self-imagehas been charmed A version of this paper was presented at the 1991 annual into passive narcissism by uncriticalpaeans to Athens like meeting of the SouthernPolitical Science Association, Tampa, Pericles'epitaphios. The difficultywith treatingthe dialogue as Florida.For helpful comments, I thank panel organizerDavid sheer parody is evident in the following characterizationby Schaefer and fellow panelists Patrick Powers and Michael Gregory Vlastos: "And just in case we have forgotten how Zuckert. foreign to Socrates'nature is this kind of performance,almost 1. Menexenus is the agreeableand playfully eristic young his last words before beginning the speech are that he will be companion of in the Lysis and is said to have been 'playing' (236c)and 'dancing' (236d)"(1973, 190). But this is present at Socrates'death in the . absurdlyto assume that Socratesnever characterizeshis own 2. I will assume that Socrates refers here to the famous seemingly serious speech as playful. (Foran importantexam- oration recorded in Thucydides' PeloponnesianWar (2.35-46). ple relatingto the "seriousness"of his critiqueof democracy, This is the opinion of most scholars, though some have see Republic7.536cl-4.) It is also to forget or ignore Socrates' thought it might referto some other Pericleanoration. Several statement in Phaedrusthat all written logoi are a kind of important parallelsbetween the two speeches are good evi- playing (275c). dence for seeing the speech in the Menexenusas a response to 11. Coventry's(1989) version of this point of view is worth the one in Thucydides. Kahn (1963) makes a strong case for reading, as is Henderson 1975.For a less persuasiveand more this position. Accordingto Socrates,the part of the epitaphios extreme version, see Stern 1974. But Coventry assumes- he is about to recite that was not glued together was impro- wrongly on my view-that Plato's politicalgoal is to found a vised by Aspasia on the spot, with an eye to what had to be city like Kallipolisand that Menexenusis a bitter response to said. There are parallels here with Thucydides' account of the failure of Athens to adopt anything like that goal. how he composed the speeches he presents in the Peloponne- 12. For Kahn (1963), the dialogue is an attempt to rebut sian War,that is, partly from previously written sources and Pericleanimperialism and reorientAthenian public opinion in partly on the basis of what he thought appropriate(1.22). the directionof Panhellenism(a position not unlike Isocrates') 3. Thucydidessays that his speeches aim at capturingwhat by recallingthe old days of Greeks united against Persians at must have been said on each occasion (1.22). Marathon. For Loraux (1974), Menexenusis a countercharm 4. In the GorgiasSocrates, calling himself the true politicos, aimed at breaking the spell-binding powers of Periclean says that he could never make a persuasive speech in front of rhetoric and freeing Athenians from the passive narcissism an Athenian jury (521d-22a, c). such rhetoricinduces. For Clavaud (1980), the dialogue is a 5. The exhortation(paramuthia) to attend to the excellence more generalized attack on the excesses of contemporary of one's own way of life is similarto the prodding of Socrates Athenian rhetoric, particularlyas influenced by the teaching the gadfly in the Apology.As for the referenceto Athens as a of . democratic aristocracy, recall that even in Republic8, the 13. As for ambiguity, the speech leaves us with no clear democracy is said to be the one regime that contains all precepts about the duties of citizenship and seems to baffle species of regimes (557d4).Moreover, the Republic,which for any attempt to be certain that Socrates'words are unequivo- Vlastos expresses "Plato'snormal view of the credo of democ- cal, that they mean exactly what they say. But this feature is racy in this middle period of his life" (1973, 192), defines common to the whole Platonic-Socraticenterprise. For a democracyas that regime in which the citizens share power strong and comprehensive argument for the essential and equally and in which public offices are filled for the most part intentional ambiguity of the language of the dialogues, see by lot" (8.557a2-5). But this implies that to the extent that Desjardins 1990. See the Phaedrus276d-e on the essential offices are filled by election, ratherthan lot, as is the office of playfulness of good written speeches. public funeral orator, the regime is not, strictly speaking, a 14. I share Peter Euben's view that Thucydides "extends democracybut moves in the directionof aristocracy.While a and elaboratesPericlean foresight and that his theory embod- demos or plithoscan never become philosophic (6.494a4),it is ies the virtues of Periclean leadership. In this sense Thucy- not impossible to exhort (paramuthoumenos)a plithos to be dides' political theory is modeled on Pericles' words and open to philosophy, since it, unlike the oligoi(the few), is by wisdom, though the latter cannot simply be a model for it nature gentle (praon),rather than harsh (6.499d1O-500a7)- since one is a speaker in the assembly whereas the other is a even if Adeimantus does not quite think so. In the Laws,the on events that took place there" (1990, 191). Thus, Athenian Strangerargues that it is easier to bring about the Pericles is constrained to call Athens a democracy, while best regime from some forms of democracy than from an Thucydides can say that it was a democracy only in word, oligarchy (4.710e3-6). And in the Statesman,the Eleatic while in deed it was, while Pericleswas general, ruled by its Strangersays that living in a lawless democracyis better than stalwartfirst anir (man), not by the wavering demos (2.65.9- living in a lawless oligarchyor monarchy (303b).As Socrates 10). Nothing matters more to either Pericles or Thucydides says to his old friendin the ,the many are capableneither than civic greatness, and it was under Pericles that Athens of great goods or great evils (44d). was at her greatest (2.65.5). 6. Dodds calls the Menexenusa satyr play appended to the 15. For instances of nature or human nature understood as end of the tragic Gorgias(1959, 23-24). a problem, rather than a solution, in Thucydides, see 3.20 7. For a survey of the controversy from antiquity to the (Cleon), 3.45 (Diodotus), 3.82 and 85 (Thucydides on stasis present, see Clavaud 1980, 15-77. The ancient commentators [stagnation]at Corcyra),and 5.105 (the Athenians at Melos).

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16. Whereas Isocrates'Panegyricus or Lysias' Epitaphiosfor ironicepitaphios of the Menexenus,which not only permits, but example, could be so considered. It is similarlymisleading to demands, furthercommentary and interpretation. treat the Menexenusas, in effect, a "political pamphlet," as 28. Semnosand semnotis can have a positive meaning, Kahn (1963)does. Plato'sintentions and style are less straight- suggesting "holy, august, reversed, majestic."Context makes forwardthan those of the epitaphiastor pamphleteer, though it likely that Socratesdoes not intend this, but we can never be Kahn is surely right to assert the importanceof placing the sure. Socrates uses a related word, the verb semnod,in the dialogue in the context of political debate at Athens in the Gorgiaswhen describinga truly useful techno,that of the ship's early fourth century. pilot. Unlike the useless orator,the pilot does not puff himself 17. See Phaedrus276dl-8 on the noble playfulness of the up (ou semnunetai,Gorgias, 511d4) written speeches that the person who knows about the just, 29. Meno80a-b, 94e. Just as Socratescharges in the Menex- the good, and the beautiful sets down "as reminders for enus that epitaphiastsbewitch their audience into a helplessly himself when he comes to the forgetfulnessof old age, and for semnoscondition, so Meno uses the same verb (goiteuein)in all others who follow the same path [or track, ichnos]with chargingSocrates with bewitching his interlocutorsinto help- him." Plato calls into question a number of central dichoto- less aporia(80al-4). This is what leads Loraux(1974) to see the mies: seriousness and play, philosophy and politics, logos Menexenusas a Platonic countercharmagainst the patriotic and mythos. drug of orations like Pericles'. 18. In terms of another of Socrates'self-characterizations, 30. That the politicoscould meet the orators on their own the Menexenusmight be seen as a demonstration of his ground seems to be impossible, at least in a law court, practiceof the matchmakingtechno ( 149d-50a). accordingto the true politicosof the Gorgias521d-22a. 19. On the confusion surroundingthe dramaticdate of the 31. Ziolkowski 1981, 65. Socrateshas remarkedto Menex- Gorgias,see Dodds 1959, 17-18. enus that nothing couldbe easierthan findingways of praising 20. The situation here is thus quite different from that in Athens and Atheniansbefore an Athenianaudience (236a). the Crito, the one dialogue in which the Platonic Socrates 32. Periclessays that his speech can be heard with profitby presents an Athenian politicalspeech (that of the personified both Athenians and xenoi(Thucydides 2.36.4). Laws of Athens) of comparablebreadth. 33. See, e.g., the speech of the Athenians at the first 21. This formulationis taken from Leo Strauss (1968, 209- SpartanCongress (ibid. 1.74). 10). In his debate with AlexandreKojeve, Strausssays that as 34. Autochthony and nourishment by the motherland is soon as the philosopher becomes more committed to a solu- also mentioned (though with much less emphasis) laterin the tion than to the continual awareness and restatementof the fourth century by Demosthenes (Epitaphios5). fundamental problems, he ceases to be a philosopher and 35. Storiesabout the gods and their interventionin human becomes a sectarian,something Socratesnever did. Strauss's affairs are, for Thucydides, relics of the outdated Homeric distinctionbetween philosophers and sectariansapplies with tradition of Greek history he hopes to supersede. Socrates' special force to the philosophicalpolitics of the Menexenus. attitude toward divine mythology, as he explains it to young 22. In the ,there is an intriguingexchange between , is that since he has to spend all his time trying to Philebus, Socrates, and young Protarchus, concerning the know himself, he has no leisure left for working out secular dispute between the two older men as to whether the life of explanationsfor events popularbelief credits to the gods and nous, or mind, is preferableto the life of pleasure. Respond- so is perfectly willing to leave popular mythology alone ing to Socrates'praise of nous, Philebus says, "You puff up (Phaedrus229e-30a). (semnuneis)your own god, Socrates"(28bl). After a few lines, 36. See the citations collected in n. 5. Recall particularly Socratesasks Protarchusif he has disturbedhim by "playfully that democracy for Plato is a generic type that admits of a en t5 nous" Protarchus greatervariety of instantiationsthan either tyrannyor oligar- puffing up (semmundn paidzen) (28c2). in that his is at a and that "all the chy and for the Athenian Stranger the Laws,the best regime says loss; Socratesresponds in transition from a sem- can more easily be achieved relatively wise agree-thus puffing themselves up (heautosontis good democracythan from any sort of oligarchy.According to nunontes)-that nousis our king over heaven and earth. And the of democracy and oligarchy in Aristotle's perhaps they speak well" (28c6-8). The importance of the Politics3, of course, the institution of election by vote, so verb semnodfor Socrates'critique of epitaphioiwill be apparent central a feature of political life in fifth and fourth century in n. 28. StanleyRosen calls attentionto the importanceof this Athens, is an aristocratic characteristic;pure democrats passage (1991, 161). But Rosen radicalizes and distorts the choose their leaders by lot, oligarchsby wealth. passage by ignoring both Socrates'reference to play and the 37. It is likewise misleadingto write it off as simple parody, nasty edge Socratesgives to semno6(which Rosen translatesas as in Vlastos's characterizationof "the primped-upAthens of "exalt"). 'Aspasia's' speech" (1973, 195). 23. This is the way Philip Manville characterizesthe agora 38. Thucydides'references to nature and to human nature (1990,194). Notice, however, that Socratesis very farfrom the almost always suggest anticivic tendencies, rather than any otherworldly philosopher whom Socrates describes in the possible basis for nomos.For example, according to Cleon, Theaetetus, who does not even know the way to the agora. human beings are naturallyinclined to feel contempt toward 24. On the council, see Ober 1989, 138-41. those who serve them, while for Diodotus, human beings 25. Thucydides remarks on the long-standing custom of individually and in cities are naturally inclined to injustice the public epitaphioswhile introducingPericles' speech (2.34), (3.39.45). The Athenians at Melos say that by nature, both as does Isocrates (Panegyricus74); and all the surviving gods and humans rule wherever they can (5.105).Thucydides speeches, including Socrates'and Pericles',open by acknowl- comments on the wretchedness of unchecked human inclina- edging its traditionalcharacter. tions in his own voice in his discussion of the stasisat Corcyra, 26. Coventry calls attention to the importanceof this pas- and later in the same discussion says that human phusisaims sage (1989, 1-2), as does Mridier in his Bud6 edition of the at overturninghuman nomos(3.82.84). The only referenceto dialogue, where he aptly comments on it as follows: "In a nature as providing an appropriatestandard for evaluating strict sense, the epimeletes were distinct from ordinarymag- conduct is in regard to women. For example, Pericles, at the istrates(archontes) in that they acted only on instructionsgiven end of his epitaphios,says that women should follow their by the people (for example, ambassadors, customs officials, natureand stay out of public life (2.45.2);and Thucydidestells public works commissioners).But here, as often with Plato, of women taking an active part against their nature (para the word is taken in a general sense" (1931, vol. 5, pt. 1, phusin)in the fighting at Corcyra(3.74.1-2). Unlike women, 83-84n). real men for Thucydides must aim at transcending and 27. Compare the bewitching effect of the speech of the controlling nature. Another roughly contemporaryinstance Laws of Athens on Socratesat the end of the Crito(54d2-7). of phusisused as a standardonly for women is to be found in Both are logoi that put an effective stop to the possibility of the telling of the story of the war with the Amazons in Lysias any future logoi. This is emphaticallynot the case with the (Epitaphios4).

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39. My discussion here relies on Kahn 1963 and, esp, Dodds, E. R. 1959. Plato:Gorgias. London: OxfordUniversity Henderson 1975. Press. 40. Compare Plato's brief mention of the Euben,J. Peter. 1990. TheTragedy of PoliticalTheory. Princeton: with the ecstatic account given by the Athenians at the first PrincetonUniversity Press. SpartanCongress in Thucydides 1.74, and with Lysias, Epi- Halperin, David M. 1990. "Why Is Diotima a Woman? Pla- taphios32-46. tonic and the Figurationof Gender." In One Hundred 41. Henderson notes this (1975, 42). Yearsof Homosexuality.New York:Routledge. 42. Compare Lysias: "By means of many toils, shining Henderson, M. M. 1975. "Plato's Menexenusand the Distor- contests, and most beautiful hazards, they made Greece, on tion of History." Acta Classica18:25-46. the one hand, free, and their own fatherland, on the other, Kahn, Charles. 1963. "Plato'sFuneral Oration: the Motive of surpassingly great". (Epitaphios55). the Menexenus."Classical Philology 220-34. 43. Thucydides 7.87. Loraux, Nicole. 1974. "Socratecontrepoison de l'oraison de 44. This is noted by both Henderson (1975)and Coventry funebre." L'antiquitgclassique 43:172-211. (1989). Loraux, Nicole. 1986. The Inventionof Athens: the Funeral 45. On the reason for inventing a woman as Socrates' Orationin the ClassicalCity. Trans. Alan Sheridan. Cam- instructor in erotics (the one art he calls his own), see bridge: HarvardUniversity Press. Halperin1990. Aspasia's role as Socrates'instructor in the art Manville, Philip. 1990. The Origins of Citizenshipin Ancient of political oratoryreinforces, I believe, Halperin's commen- Athens.Princeton: Princeton University Press. tary on Diotima. Meridier,Louis, ed. 1931. Plato:Oeuvres Completes. Paris: Les Belles Lettres. Ober, Josiah 1989. Mass and Elitein DemocraticAthens. Princ- eton: PrincetonUniversity Press. Rosen, Stanley. 1991. "Leo Strauss and the QuarrelBetween the Ancients and the Modems." In Leo Strauss'sThought, References ed. Alan Udoff. Boulder:Lynne Rienner. Stern, H. S. 1974."Plato's Funeral Oration." New Scholasticism Clavaud, Robert.1980. Le "Menexene"de Platonet al rhitorique 48:503-08. de son temps.Paris: Belles Lettres. Strauss, Leo. 1968. On Tyranny.Ithaca: Cornell University Coventry, Lucinda. 1989. "Philosophy and Rhetoric in the Press. Menexenus."Journal of HellenicStudies 109:1-15. Vlastos, Gregory. 1973. PlatonicStudies. Princeton: Princetion Desjardins, Rosemary. 1990. TheRational Enterprise: Logos in University Press. Plato's"Theaetetus." Albany: State University of New York Ziolkowski, J. E. 1981. Thucydidesand the Traditionof Funeral Press. Speechesat Athens.Salem: Arno.

Stephen G. Salkever is Professor of Political Science, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010-2899.

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