Xenophon’s Socratic Works (Routledge Monographs in Classical Studies)

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Xenophon’s Socratic Works demonstrates that Xenophon, a student of Socrates, military man, and man of letters, is an indispensable source for our understanding of the life and philosophy of Socrates. David M. Johnson restores Xenophon’s most ambitious Socratic work, the Memorabilia (Socratic Recollections), to its original literary context, enabling readers to experience it as Xenophon’s original audience would have, rather than as a pale imitation of Platonic dialogue. He shows that the Memorabilia, together with Xenophon’s Apology, provides us with our best evidence for the trial of Socrates, and a comprehensive and convincing refutation of the historical charges against Socrates. Johnson’s account of Socrates’ moral psychology shows how Xenophon’s emphasis on control of the passions can be reconciled with the intellectualism normally attributed to Socrates. Chapters on Xenophon’s Symposium and Oeconomicus (Estate Manager) reveal how Xenophon used all the literary tools of Socratic dialogue to defend Socratic sexual morality (Symposium) and debate the merits and limits of conventional elite values (Oeconomicus). Throughout the book, Johnson argues that Xenophon’s portrait of Socrates is rich and coherent, and largely compatible with the better-known portrait of Socrates in Plato. Xenophon aimed not to provide a rival portrait of Socrates, Johnson shows, but to supplement and clarify what others had said about Socrates. Xenophon’s Socratic Works, thus, provides readers with a far firmer basis for reconstruction of the trial of Socrates, a key moment in the history of Athenian democracy, and for our understanding of Socrates’ seminal impact on Greek philosophy. This volume introduces Xenophon’s Socratic works to a wide range of readers, from undergraduate students encountering Socrates or ancient philosophy for the first time to scholars with interests in Socrates or ancient philosophy more broadly. It is also an important resource for readers interested in Socratic dialogue as a literary form, the trial of Socrates, Greek sexual morality (the central topic of Xenophon’s Symposium), or Greek social history (for which the Oeconomicus is a key text). Cover Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Tables List of abbreviations Works of Xenophon Miscellaneous Introduction From Xenophon or Plato to Xenophon and Plato An intertextual Socrates The life of Xenophon Preview Notes 1. Approaching the Memorabilia Building for variety and range The literary context for the Memorabilia Courtroom oratory Ion of Chios Aesop Wisdom literature Developments within the Socratic circle Isocrates' Antidosis Old and new Xenophon's narrator Xenophon's narrators and other narrators Xenophon's half-credible narrator Putting the narrator to work The structure of the Memorabilia From defense to recollection Not just repetition, but amplification Outlining the Memorabilia Conclusion Notes 2. Defending Socrates Starting with Xenophon Starting with the Memorabilia Xenophon's wonder at the charges (Mem. 1.1.1) Impiety (Mem. 1.1.2-20) Socratic orthopraxy (Mem. 1.1.2) The daimonion (Mem. 1.1.2-1.1.5) Divination and human knowledge (Mem. 1.1.6-9) The public man (Mem. 1.1.10) Presocratic madness (Mem. 1.1.11-16) Open evidence about Socrates' piety (Mem. 1.1.17-19) Corruption (Mem. 1.2) Character as a defense against corruption (Mem. 1.2.1-8) Xenophon vs. Plato on corruption Socrates' way of life (Mem. 1.2.4-8) Polycrates and Xenophon's accuser Reconstructing Polycrates From rhetorical accusers to the historical Meletus Condemning the laws and the lot (Mem. 1.2.9-11) Alcibiades and Critias (Mem. 1.2.12-48) Pairing off Alcibiades and Critias What Alcibiades and Critias wanted and what they got Socrates' success and its limits Teaching skill in speech Critias, lust, and the art of words (Mem. 1.2.29-39) Alcibiades, Pericles, and the legitimacy of law (Mem. 1.2.39-47) Socrates' true associates (Mem. 1.2.48) Mad relatives, and the value of expertise (Mem. 1.2.49-55) Poetry and the common man (Mem. 1.2.56-61) Concluding the defense (Mem. 1.2.62) Notes 3. Xenophon's Apology Reading Xenophon's Apology From suicide by jury to martyrdom What Socrates avoids What Socrates gains Apology and Memorabilia Memorabilia 4.8 and the Apology Memorabilia 1.1.-2 and the Apology Xenophon and Plato Targeting Plato Religious orthopraxy and the daimonion The oracle stories and Socrates' mission The historical oracle The interrogation of Meletus The penalty phase Five comparative claims The historical trial Notes 4. The moral psychology of Xenophon's Socrates Enkrateia as a guarantee against wrongdoing (Mem. 1.2.1-8) Hunger is the best sauce (Mem. 1.3.5-8) Enkrateia, the foundation of virtue (Mem. 1.5) The greatest pleasures (Mem. 1.6) Aristippus at the crossroads (Mem. 2.1) The return of Aristippus (Mem. 3.8) Akrasia, sophrosunē, and wisdom (Mem. 3.9.1-5) Enkrateia, akrasia, and dialectic (Mem. 4.5) Enkrateia and freedom Weakness of will? Dialectic to the rescue Aristotle on Socrates and weakness of will Enkrateia, sophrosunē, and wisdom Socrates, moderate hedonist? Xenophon's Socrates on moral psychology: conclusion Xenophon and Plato Non-rational desires The role of knowledge Notes 5. Xenophon's Symposium Character, sexual morality, and irony Outline Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Socrates vs. Antisthenes Xenophon's sympotic defense of Socrates Socrates vs. the Syracusan Socrates vs. Lycon Eros Callias and Autolycus Symposium 8 From Pausanias to Callias Socratic erotics in Symposium 8 Sex and Socrates The irony of Xenophon's Symposium Notes 6. Xenophon's Oeconomicus Approaching the Oeconomicus From oikonomia to the Socratic secret to success (Oec. 1-3) Socrates on farming (Oec. 4-5) Introducing Ischomachus (Oec. 6 and 7) Ischomachus and wife (Oeconomicus 7-10) Aspasia and Ischomachus Socrates and Ischomachus (Oeconomicus 11) The overseer (Oeconomicus 12-14) Farming (Oeconomicus 15-20) Divine leadership (Oeconomicus 21) History and the Oeconomicus Ischomachus and Chrysilla: the historical evidence The historical evidence and the dialogue Reading as Critobulus Notes Conclusion Xenophon and Plato Reading Xenophon Xenophon at Scillus Notes Bibliography Bibliographies of Xenophon's Socrates Works Cited INDICES