All Topics  
Apology (Xenophon)

 

 
   Email Print
   Bookmark   Link
 

 

Apology (Xenophon)
 
 
  Topics Apology (Xenophon) Topic Home

Xenophon
Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
's Apology (in full Apology of Socrates to the jury (?p?????a S????t??? p??? t??? ???ast??) describes Socrates
Socrates

Socrates was a Classical Greece Philosophy. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students....
' state of mind at his trial and execution, and especially his view that it was better to die before senility set in than to escape execution by humbling himself before an unjust persecution. Specialists believe that Xenophon's interpretation of the trial was written in response to a widespread literary reaction following the trial, where Athenian public figures and authors used the theme of Socrates trial to state their views on his guilt.






Discussion
Ask a question about 'Apology (Xenophon)'
Start a new discussion about 'Apology (Xenophon)'
Answer questions from other users
Full Discussion Forum



Encyclopedia


Xenophon
Xenophon

Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....
's Apology (in full Apology of Socrates to the jury (?p?????a S????t??? p??? t??? ???ast??) describes Socrates
Socrates

Socrates was a Classical Greece Philosophy. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students....
' state of mind at his trial and execution, and especially his view that it was better to die before senility set in than to escape execution by humbling himself before an unjust persecution. Specialists believe that Xenophon's interpretation of the trial was written in response to a widespread literary reaction following the trial, where Athenian public figures and authors used the theme of Socrates trial to state their views on his guilt. The main part of the text is a direct blow for blow rejection of a particular attack on Socrates' character by an opponent of Socrates. The text gives clear indication on the charges brought against Socrates by Anytus
Anytus

Anytus, son of Anthemion, was one of the prosecutors of Socrates. An unsubstantiated legend has it that he was banished from Athens after the public felt guilty about having Socrates executed....
, and is often used on this point in comparison with Plato
Plato

Plato , was a Classical Greece Greeks philosopher, mathematician, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Platonic Academy in Ancient Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the western world....
's version. Xenophon was away at the time, involved in the events of the march of the Ten Thousand. He cites Hermogenes
Hermogenes (philosopher)

Hermogenes , who lived in the 5th century BC - 4th century BCE, was a son of Hipponicus, and a brother of the wealthy Callias III. He is introduced by Plato in his dialogue Cratylus as one of the interlocutors, and maintains that all the words of a language were formed by an agreement of people among themselves....
 as his source for the factual elements of the trial. It is probable that Hermogenes had indeed witnessed the trial; for, though Plato's Apology does not mention his presence, Plato's Phaedo lists Hermogenes among those who were present at Socrates' death.

Evidently, Xenophon had written his Apology after a number of other accounts of the trial had been published; for he presents his as being the only one of them that made Socrates' "boastful manner of speaking (megalegoria)" at the trial understandable (Apology 1-2). Other than Plato's Apology of Socrates, Xenophon's second-hand account is the only other surviving "eye-witness" account of the trial of Socrates. Even granting some bias in the work, it is of historical value on that point alone.

One thing that distinguishes Xenophon's account from Plato's is that in the former, the Oracle at Delphi claimed no one was "more free, more just, or more sound of mind" than Socrates (Apology 14), while in Plato's text the claim was only that no one was "wiser" (Apology 21a). Some scholars have suggested that what accounts for the difference is that Xenophon wished to avoid the explicit attribution of "wisdom", a term which, to the average Athenian, would suggest that Socrates indeed was properly characterized as an atheistic natural philosopher as Aristophanes had done. However, Xenophon's Socrates does claim to be "wise" in the sense that "from the time when I began to understand spoken words [I] have never left off seeking after and learning every good thing that I could" (Apology 16).

Another difference is that in Xenophon's Apology Socrates' "divine sign" (daimonion) is described as giving positive indications as to what should be done (12), while Plato's Socrates consistently and explicitly describes the sign as "turn[ing] me away from something I am about to do" but "never encourag[ing] me to do anything" (Apology 31d).

A further difference between Plato and Xenophon is that whereas Plato has Socrates finally suggest a thirty-mina
Mina (unit)

The mina is an ancient Ancient Greece unit of weight defined as being 50 shekels. The mina, like the shekel, was also a unit of currency....
 penalty for himself (Apology 38b), the Xenophon/Hermogenes version says that he refused to suggest any and refused to allow his friends to do so, claiming that to do otherwise would imply guilt (Apology 23).

Finally, whereas Socrates' willingness to face the death penalty is in Plato's Apology explained by Socrates' unwavering commitment to his divinely appointed mission to keep philosophizing at all costs (29c-30c), it is explained in the Xenophon/Hermogenes version by the claim that it is better for him to die now than to face the pains and limitations of advanced old age (Apology 6-8, 27, and 32).

The final "chapter" of Xenophon's Memorabilia
Memorabilia (Xenophon)

The Memorabilia are also known by the alternate Latin title Commentarii, the Greek title Apomnemoneumata , and a variety of English translations ....
 (4.8.1-4.8.8) contains some of the same material - some of it almost word for word - as the beginning sections of his Apology (1-8). This has led some scholars to suspect that Xenophon's Apology was the original conclusion to the Memorabilia; given our limited evidence, however, this cannot be known with certainty.

See also

  • Trial of Socrates
    Trial of Socrates

    The trial of Socrates refers to the trial and the subsequent execution of the Athenian philosopher Socrates in 399 BC. Socrates was tried and convicted by the courts of democratic Athens on a charge of corrupting the youth and disbelieving in the ancestral gods....
  • The Apology of Socrates by Plato
    Apology (Plato)

    Apology is Plato's version of the Speech given by Socrates as he defends himself against the charges of being a man "who corrupted the young, refused to worship the deity, and created new deities"....
  • Socrates
    Socrates

    Socrates was a Classical Greece Philosophy. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known only through the classical accounts of his students....
  • Xenophon
    Xenophon

    Xenophon , son of Gryllus, of the deme Erchia of Athens, also known as Xenophon of Athens and Xenophon of Thebes, was a soldier, mercenary and a contemporary and admirer of Socrates....


External links

  • Gutenberg Project English translation of Xenophon's Apology: http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/1171