CRITIAS's FATE Critias and Hermocrates, However, Have Not Understood That Socrates Has Already Been Generously Repaid

CHAPTER FIVE CRITIAS'S FATE Critias and Hermocrates, however, have not understood that Socrates has already been generously repaid; after all, the glory of the repayment was to be chiefly Critias's. Moreover, it is now clear that from the first their real goal was to get rather than give, to win a trophy with the help of Apollo Paian rather than to repay Socrates's generosity and pay tribute to Athena. Hence they persist in their "manly" quest for the trophy, not realizing that Timaeus has already set it up himself; but their evident apprehension suggests that they are quite aware that, for the moment at least, their intended climax has shrunk to the opposite extreme. Of one danger, however, they are apparently not aware, namely the nature of their audience. "I forewarn you, Critias, of the state of mind of the audience" (niv Tou 6e:cxTpou~uxvoLocv), says Socrates, "how amazingly the first speaker won its approval" (ro8B). A prudent man might well have asked, "What do you mean 'of the audience,' Socrates? Is not an audience plural, or at least dual? Obviously I have not applauded Timaeus-quite the contrary-and Hermocrates has given no sign of doing so either, so you seem to be speaking only of yourself. It is not like you to inflate yourself into an audience. Who are there besides you in this audience which Timaeus has so pleased?" And Socrates might well have referred the question to Timaeus, since he identifies his audience both at the beginning and end of his monologue: "Calling on the gods and goddesses, I must pray that everything which I say meets, most of all, with their approval and, secondarily, with ours," he says at the beginning (27C); at the end he mentions only the divine audience (ro6 A-B). A prudent man might have understood Socrates to be warning him about his divine audience, especially if he had just shown himself rather disrespectful of it. 1 But Critias understands him to mean only the present company-"this audience here" - and doggedly sets about his task of defeating Timaeus (ro8 D). 1 Cf. Socrates's frequent statements that a man plays his part before men and gods, e.g. Euthyphro 15 D. 3 34 CRITIAS'S FATE Since Plato appears not to have completed the account of Critias's and Hermocrates's campaign, we must now face the problem, mentioned earlier, of the apparent incompleteness of the work. 2 As was there maintained, the appearance of incompleteness forces on the interpreter a choice between genuine and, as it were, fraudulent incompleteness, the latter being a deceptive appearance of incompleteness with which, for one reason or another, the author concludes and masks the finished work. This is not an easy decision, but it so happens that the Timaeus-Critias contains what might be called a grand Platonic rule of exegesis for just this kind of problem (46 D-E).s The lover of thought and knowledge must first search for causes originating in the reasoning faculty; but such causes as come into being from things set in motion by other things and themselves of necessity setting other things in motion, these must be sought only secondarily ... We must distinguish causes which work with intelligent purpose to produce what is beautiful and good from those which, lacking reason, always work by chance and without order. With regard to the problem of incompleteness in general this is a forceful argument for searching for evidence of feigned incomplete ness as against hastily assuming the operation of unpredictable extraneous causes, especially in the case of such subtle and purpose ful writers as Plato. With regard to the Timaeus-Critias in partic ular the argument is even stronger, for it is clearly natural and reasonable to proceed to the exegesis of a work by following any principle of exegesis which it seems to urge. Not only does this work contain a principle for its own exegesis, but among likely cases of feigned incompleteness with which I am familiar it is unique in its frequent references to the subject of incompleteness.' "One, two, three, but where is the fourth of my hosts?" says Socrates in the opening words. When he observes that the survivors will have to supply the part of the missing fourth, Timaeus answers that they will do their best "to leave nothing out." At 19 B Socrates asks Timaeus if his recapitulation is complete, and Timaeus answers that it is, but 20 B shows that in one respect it was not. "If only ... [Solon] had finished the story 1 Seep. 6. 8 Cf. 68 E. ' Cf. Ch. I, n. 18. .

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