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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/1682-h.zip b/1682-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af4d281 --- /dev/null +++ b/1682-h.zip diff --git a/1682-h/1682-h.htm b/1682-h/1682-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..73cfa7e --- /dev/null +++ b/1682-h/1682-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1467 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Menexenus, by Plato + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Menexenus, by Plato + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Menexenus + +Author: Plato + +Translator: Benjamin Jowett + +Release Date: October 23, 2008 [EBook #1682] +Last Updated: January 15, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MENEXENUS *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + MENEXENUS + </h1> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h2> + by Plato + </h2> + <h4> + (see Appendix I) + </h4> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Translated by Benjamin Jowett + </h3> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h3> + Contents + </h3> + <table summary="" style="margin-right: auto; margin-left: auto"> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> APPENDIX I. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> MENEXENUS </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_INTR"> INTRODUCTION. </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates and + Menexenus. </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_APPE" id="link2H_APPE"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + APPENDIX I. + </h2> + <p> + It seems impossible to separate by any exact line the genuine writings of + Plato from the spurious. The only external evidence to them which is of + much value is that of Aristotle; for the Alexandrian catalogues of a + century later include manifest forgeries. Even the value of the + Aristotelian authority is a good deal impaired by the uncertainty + concerning the date and authorship of the writings which are ascribed to + him. And several of the citations of Aristotle omit the name of Plato, and + some of them omit the name of the dialogue from which they are taken. + Prior, however, to the enquiry about the writings of a particular author, + general considerations which equally affect all evidence to the + genuineness of ancient writings are the following: Shorter works are more + likely to have been forged, or to have received an erroneous designation, + than longer ones; and some kinds of composition, such as epistles or + panegyrical orations, are more liable to suspicion than others; those, + again, which have a taste of sophistry in them, or the ring of a later + age, or the slighter character of a rhetorical exercise, or in which a + motive or some affinity to spurious writings can be detected, or which + seem to have originated in a name or statement really occurring in some + classical author, are also of doubtful credit; while there is no instance + of any ancient writing proved to be a forgery, which combines excellence + with length. A really great and original writer would have no object in + fathering his works on Plato; and to the forger or imitator, the 'literary + hack' of Alexandria and Athens, the Gods did not grant originality or + genius. Further, in attempting to balance the evidence for and against a + Platonic dialogue, we must not forget that the form of the Platonic + writing was common to several of his contemporaries. Aeschines, Euclid, + Phaedo, Antisthenes, and in the next generation Aristotle, are all said to + have composed dialogues; and mistakes of names are very likely to have + occurred. Greek literature in the third century before Christ was almost + as voluminous as our own, and without the safeguards of regular + publication, or printing, or binding, or even of distinct titles. An + unknown writing was naturally attributed to a known writer whose works + bore the same character; and the name once appended easily obtained + authority. A tendency may also be observed to blend the works and opinions + of the master with those of his scholars. To a later Platonist, the + difference between Plato and his imitators was not so perceptible as to + ourselves. The Memorabilia of Xenophon and the Dialogues of Plato are but + a part of a considerable Socratic literature which has passed away. And we + must consider how we should regard the question of the genuineness of a + particular writing, if this lost literature had been preserved to us. + </p> + <p> + These considerations lead us to adopt the following criteria of + genuineness: (1) That is most certainly Plato's which Aristotle attributes + to him by name, which (2) is of considerable length, of (3) great + excellence, and also (4) in harmony with the general spirit of the + Platonic writings. But the testimony of Aristotle cannot always be + distinguished from that of a later age (see above); and has various + degrees of importance. Those writings which he cites without mentioning + Plato, under their own names, e.g. the Hippias, the Funeral Oration, the + Phaedo, etc., have an inferior degree of evidence in their favour. They + may have been supposed by him to be the writings of another, although in + the case of really great works, e.g. the Phaedo, this is not credible; + those again which are quoted but not named, are still more defective in + their external credentials. There may be also a possibility that Aristotle + was mistaken, or may have confused the master and his scholars in the case + of a short writing; but this is inconceivable about a more important work, + e.g. the Laws, especially when we remember that he was living at Athens, + and a frequenter of the groves of the Academy, during the last twenty + years of Plato's life. Nor must we forget that in all his numerous + citations from the Platonic writings he never attributes any passage found + in the extant dialogues to any one but Plato. And lastly, we may remark + that one or two great writings, such as the Parmenides and the Politicus, + which are wholly devoid of Aristotelian (1) credentials may be fairly + attributed to Plato, on the ground of (2) length, (3) excellence, and (4) + accordance with the general spirit of his writings. Indeed the greater + part of the evidence for the genuineness of ancient Greek authors may be + summed up under two heads only: (1) excellence; and (2) uniformity of + tradition—a kind of evidence, which though in many cases sufficient, + is of inferior value. + </p> + <p> + Proceeding upon these principles we appear to arrive at the conclusion + that nineteen-twentieths of all the writings which have ever been ascribed + to Plato, are undoubtedly genuine. There is another portion of them, + including the Epistles, the Epinomis, the dialogues rejected by the + ancients themselves, namely, the Axiochus, De justo, De virtute, + Demodocus, Sisyphus, Eryxias, which on grounds, both of internal and + external evidence, we are able with equal certainty to reject. But there + still remains a small portion of which we are unable to affirm either that + they are genuine or spurious. They may have been written in youth, or + possibly like the works of some painters, may be partly or wholly the + compositions of pupils; or they may have been the writings of some + contemporary transferred by accident to the more celebrated name of Plato, + or of some Platonist in the next generation who aspired to imitate his + master. Not that on grounds either of language or philosophy we should + lightly reject them. Some difference of style, or inferiority of + execution, or inconsistency of thought, can hardly be considered decisive + of their spurious character. For who always does justice to himself, or + who writes with equal care at all times? Certainly not Plato, who exhibits + the greatest differences in dramatic power, in the formation of sentences, + and in the use of words, if his earlier writings are compared with his + later ones, say the Protagoras or Phaedrus with the Laws. Or who can be + expected to think in the same manner during a period of authorship + extending over above fifty years, in an age of great intellectual + activity, as well as of political and literary transition? Certainly not + Plato, whose earlier writings are separated from his later ones by as wide + an interval of philosophical speculation as that which separates his later + writings from Aristotle. + </p> + <p> + The dialogues which have been translated in the first Appendix, and which + appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings, + are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First + Alcibiades. Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited + by Aristotle; the first in the Metaphysics, the latter in the Rhetoric. + Neither of them are expressly attributed to Plato, but in his citation of + both of them he seems to be referring to passages in the extant dialogues. + From the mention of 'Hippias' in the singular by Aristotle, we may perhaps + infer that he was unacquainted with a second dialogue bearing the same + name. Moreover, the mere existence of a Greater and Lesser Hippias, and of + a First and Second Alcibiades, does to a certain extent throw a doubt upon + both of them. Though a very clever and ingenious work, the Lesser Hippias + does not appear to contain anything beyond the power of an imitator, who + was also a careful student of the earlier Platonic writings, to invent. + The motive or leading thought of the dialogue may be detected in Xen. + Mem., and there is no similar instance of a 'motive' which is taken from + Xenophon in an undoubted dialogue of Plato. On the other hand, the + upholders of the genuineness of the dialogue will find in the Hippias a + true Socratic spirit; they will compare the Ion as being akin both in + subject and treatment; they will urge the authority of Aristotle; and they + will detect in the treatment of the Sophist, in the satirical reasoning + upon Homer, in the reductio ad absurdum of the doctrine that vice is + ignorance, traces of a Platonic authorship. In reference to the last point + we are doubtful, as in some of the other dialogues, whether the author is + asserting or overthrowing the paradox of Socrates, or merely following the + argument 'whither the wind blows.' That no conclusion is arrived at is + also in accordance with the character of the earlier dialogues. The + resemblances or imitations of the Gorgias, Protagoras, and Euthydemus, + which have been observed in the Hippias, cannot with certainty be adduced + on either side of the argument. On the whole, more may be said in favour + of the genuineness of the Hippias than against it. + </p> + <p> + The Menexenus or Funeral Oration is cited by Aristotle, and is interesting + as supplying an example of the manner in which the orators praised 'the + Athenians among the Athenians,' falsifying persons and dates, and casting + a veil over the gloomier events of Athenian history. It exhibits an + acquaintance with the funeral oration of Thucydides, and was, perhaps, + intended to rival that great work. If genuine, the proper place of the + Menexenus would be at the end of the Phaedrus. The satirical opening and + the concluding words bear a great resemblance to the earlier dialogues; + the oration itself is professedly a mimetic work, like the speeches in the + Phaedrus, and cannot therefore be tested by a comparison of the other + writings of Plato. The funeral oration of Pericles is expressly mentioned + in the Phaedrus, and this may have suggested the subject, in the same + manner that the Cleitophon appears to be suggested by the slight mention + of Cleitophon and his attachment to Thrasymachus in the Republic; and the + Theages by the mention of Theages in the Apology and Republic; or as the + Second Alcibiades seems to be founded upon the text of Xenophon, Mem. A + similar taste for parody appears not only in the Phaedrus, but in the + Protagoras, in the Symposium, and to a certain extent in the Parmenides. + </p> + <p> + To these two doubtful writings of Plato I have added the First Alcibiades, + which, of all the disputed dialogues of Plato, has the greatest merit, and + is somewhat longer than any of them, though not verified by the testimony + of Aristotle, and in many respects at variance with the Symposium in the + description of the relations of Socrates and Alcibiades. Like the Lesser + Hippias and the Menexenus, it is to be compared to the earlier writings of + Plato. The motive of the piece may, perhaps, be found in that passage of + the Symposium in which Alcibiades describes himself as self-convicted by + the words of Socrates. For the disparaging manner in which Schleiermacher + has spoken of this dialogue there seems to be no sufficient foundation. At + the same time, the lesson imparted is simple, and the irony more + transparent than in the undoubted dialogues of Plato. We know, too, that + Alcibiades was a favourite thesis, and that at least five or six dialogues + bearing this name passed current in antiquity, and are attributed to + contemporaries of Socrates and Plato. (1) In the entire absence of real + external evidence (for the catalogues of the Alexandrian librarians cannot + be regarded as trustworthy); and (2) in the absence of the highest marks + either of poetical or philosophical excellence; and (3) considering that + we have express testimony to the existence of contemporary writings + bearing the name of Alcibiades, we are compelled to suspend our judgment + on the genuineness of the extant dialogue. + </p> + <p> + Neither at this point, nor at any other, do we propose to draw an absolute + line of demarcation between genuine and spurious writings of Plato. They + fade off imperceptibly from one class to another. There may have been + degrees of genuineness in the dialogues themselves, as there are certainly + degrees of evidence by which they are supported. The traditions of the + oral discourses both of Socrates and Plato may have formed the basis of + semi-Platonic writings; some of them may be of the same mixed character + which is apparent in Aristotle and Hippocrates, although the form of them + is different. But the writings of Plato, unlike the writings of Aristotle, + seem never to have been confused with the writings of his disciples: this + was probably due to their definite form, and to their inimitable + excellence. The three dialogues which we have offered in the Appendix to + the criticism of the reader may be partly spurious and partly genuine; + they may be altogether spurious;—that is an alternative which must + be frankly admitted. Nor can we maintain of some other dialogues, such as + the Parmenides, and the Sophist, and Politicus, that no considerable + objection can be urged against them, though greatly overbalanced by the + weight (chiefly) of internal evidence in their favour. Nor, on the other + hand, can we exclude a bare possibility that some dialogues which are + usually rejected, such as the Greater Hippias and the Cleitophon, may be + genuine. The nature and object of these semi-Platonic writings require + more careful study and more comparison of them with one another, and with + forged writings in general, than they have yet received, before we can + finally decide on their character. We do not consider them all as genuine + until they can be proved to be spurious, as is often maintained and still + more often implied in this and similar discussions; but should say of some + of them, that their genuineness is neither proven nor disproven until + further evidence about them can be adduced. And we are as confident that + the Epistles are spurious, as that the Republic, the Timaeus, and the Laws + are genuine. + </p> + <p> + On the whole, not a twentieth part of the writings which pass under the + name of Plato, if we exclude the works rejected by the ancients themselves + and two or three other plausible inventions, can be fairly doubted by + those who are willing to allow that a considerable change and growth may + have taken place in his philosophy (see above). That twentieth debatable + portion scarcely in any degree affects our judgment of Plato, either as a + thinker or a writer, and though suggesting some interesting questions to + the scholar and critic, is of little importance to the general reader. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + MENEXENUS + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_INTR" id="link2H_INTR"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + INTRODUCTION. + </h2> + <p> + The Menexenus has more the character of a rhetorical exercise than any + other of the Platonic works. The writer seems to have wished to emulate + Thucydides, and the far slighter work of Lysias. In his rivalry with the + latter, to whom in the Phaedrus Plato shows a strong antipathy, he is + entirely successful, but he is not equal to Thucydides. The Menexenus, + though not without real Hellenic interest, falls very far short of the + rugged grandeur and political insight of the great historian. The fiction + of the speech having been invented by Aspasia is well sustained, and is in + the manner of Plato, notwithstanding the anachronism which puts into her + mouth an allusion to the peace of Antalcidas, an event occurring forty + years after the date of the supposed oration. But Plato, like Shakespeare, + is careless of such anachronisms, which are not supposed to strike the + mind of the reader. The effect produced by these grandiloquent orations on + Socrates, who does not recover after having heard one of them for three + days and more, is truly Platonic. + </p> + <p> + Such discourses, if we may form a judgment from the three which are extant + (for the so-called Funeral Oration of Demosthenes is a bad and spurious + imitation of Thucydides and Lysias), conformed to a regular type. They + began with Gods and ancestors, and the legendary history of Athens, to + which succeeded an almost equally fictitious account of later times. The + Persian war usually formed the centre of the narrative; in the age of + Isocrates and Demosthenes the Athenians were still living on the glories + of Marathon and Salamis. The Menexenus veils in panegyric the weak places + of Athenian history. The war of Athens and Boeotia is a war of liberation; + the Athenians gave back the Spartans taken at Sphacteria out of kindness—indeed, + the only fault of the city was too great kindness to their enemies, who + were more honoured than the friends of others (compare Thucyd., which + seems to contain the germ of the idea); we democrats are the aristocracy + of virtue, and the like. These are the platitudes and falsehoods in which + history is disguised. The taking of Athens is hardly mentioned. + </p> + <p> + The author of the Menexenus, whether Plato or not, is evidently intending + to ridicule the practice, and at the same time to show that he can beat + the rhetoricians in their own line, as in the Phaedrus he may be supposed + to offer an example of what Lysias might have said, and of how much better + he might have written in his own style. The orators had recourse to their + favourite loci communes, one of which, as we find in Lysias, was the + shortness of the time allowed them for preparation. But Socrates points + out that they had them always ready for delivery, and that there was no + difficulty in improvising any number of such orations. To praise the + Athenians among the Athenians was easy,—to praise them among the + Lacedaemonians would have been a much more difficult task. Socrates + himself has turned rhetorician, having learned of a woman, Aspasia, the + mistress of Pericles; and any one whose teachers had been far inferior to + his own—say, one who had learned from Antiphon the Rhamnusian—would + be quite equal to the task of praising men to themselves. When we remember + that Antiphon is described by Thucydides as the best pleader of his day, + the satire on him and on the whole tribe of rhetoricians is transparent. + </p> + <p> + The ironical assumption of Socrates, that he must be a good orator because + he had learnt of Aspasia, is not coarse, as Schleiermacher supposes, but + is rather to be regarded as fanciful. Nor can we say that the offer of + Socrates to dance naked out of love for Menexenus, is any more un-Platonic + than the threat of physical force which Phaedrus uses towards Socrates. + Nor is there any real vulgarity in the fear which Socrates expresses that + he will get a beating from his mistress, Aspasia: this is the natural + exaggeration of what might be expected from an imperious woman. Socrates + is not to be taken seriously in all that he says, and Plato, both in the + Symposium and elsewhere, is not slow to admit a sort of Aristophanic + humour. How a great original genius like Plato might or might not have + written, what was his conception of humour, or what limits he would have + prescribed to himself, if any, in drawing the picture of the Silenus + Socrates, are problems which no critical instinct can determine. + </p> + <p> + On the other hand, the dialogue has several Platonic traits, whether + original or imitated may be uncertain. Socrates, when he departs from his + character of a 'know nothing' and delivers a speech, generally pretends + that what he is speaking is not his own composition. Thus in the Cratylus + he is run away with; in the Phaedrus he has heard somebody say something—is + inspired by the genius loci; in the Symposium he derives his wisdom from + Diotima of Mantinea, and the like. But he does not impose on Menexenus by + his dissimulation. Without violating the character of Socrates, Plato, who + knows so well how to give a hint, or some one writing in his name, + intimates clearly enough that the speech in the Menexenus like that in the + Phaedrus is to be attributed to Socrates. The address of the dead to the + living at the end of the oration may also be compared to the numerous + addresses of the same kind which occur in Plato, in whom the dramatic + element is always tending to prevail over the rhetorical. The remark has + been often made, that in the Funeral Oration of Thucydides there is no + allusion to the existence of the dead. But in the Menexenus a future state + is clearly, although not strongly, asserted. + </p> + <p> + Whether the Menexenus is a genuine writing of Plato, or an imitation only, + remains uncertain. In either case, the thoughts are partly borrowed from + the Funeral Oration of Thucydides; and the fact that they are so, is not + in favour of the genuineness of the work. Internal evidence seems to leave + the question of authorship in doubt. There are merits and there are + defects which might lead to either conclusion. The form of the greater + part of the work makes the enquiry difficult; the introduction and the + finale certainly wear the look either of Plato or of an extremely skilful + imitator. The excellence of the forgery may be fairly adduced as an + argument that it is not a forgery at all. In this uncertainty the express + testimony of Aristotle, who quotes, in the Rhetoric, the well-known words, + 'It is easy to praise the Athenians among the Athenians,' from the Funeral + Oration, may perhaps turn the balance in its favour. It must be remembered + also that the work was famous in antiquity, and is included in the + Alexandrian catalogues of Platonic writings. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates and Menexenus. + </h2> + <p> + SOCRATES: Whence come you, Menexenus? Are you from the Agora? + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates; I have been at the Council. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: And what might you be doing at the Council? And yet I need + hardly ask, for I see that you, believing yourself to have arrived at the + end of education and of philosophy, and to have had enough of them, are + mounting upwards to things higher still, and, though rather young for the + post, are intending to govern us elder men, like the rest of your family, + which has always provided some one who kindly took care of us. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates, I shall be ready to hold office, if you allow + and advise that I should, but not if you think otherwise. I went to the + council chamber because I heard that the Council was about to choose some + one who was to speak over the dead. For you know that there is to be a + public funeral? + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Yes, I know. And whom did they choose? + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: No one; they delayed the election until tomorrow, but I believe + that either Archinus or Dion will be chosen. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: O Menexenus! Death in battle is certainly in many respects a + noble thing. The dead man gets a fine and costly funeral, although he may + have been poor, and an elaborate speech is made over him by a wise man who + has long ago prepared what he has to say, although he who is praised may + not have been good for much. The speakers praise him for what he has done + and for what he has not done—that is the beauty of them—and + they steal away our souls with their embellished words; in every + conceivable form they praise the city; and they praise those who died in + war, and all our ancestors who went before us; and they praise ourselves + also who are still alive, until I feel quite elevated by their laudations, + and I stand listening to their words, Menexenus, and become enchanted by + them, and all in a moment I imagine myself to have become a greater and + nobler and finer man than I was before. And if, as often happens, there + are any foreigners who accompany me to the speech, I become suddenly + conscious of having a sort of triumph over them, and they seem to + experience a corresponding feeling of admiration at me, and at the + greatness of the city, which appears to them, when they are under the + influence of the speaker, more wonderful than ever. This consciousness of + dignity lasts me more than three days, and not until the fourth or fifth + day do I come to my senses and know where I am; in the meantime I have + been living in the Islands of the Blest. Such is the art of our + rhetoricians, and in such manner does the sound of their words keep + ringing in my ears. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: You are always making fun of the rhetoricians, Socrates; this + time, however, I am inclined to think that the speaker who is chosen will + not have much to say, for he has been called upon to speak at a moment's + notice, and he will be compelled almost to improvise. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: But why, my friend, should he not have plenty to say? Every + rhetorician has speeches ready made; nor is there any difficulty in + improvising that sort of stuff. Had the orator to praise Athenians among + Peloponnesians, or Peloponnesians among Athenians, he must be a good + rhetorician who could succeed and gain credit. But there is no difficulty + in a man's winning applause when he is contending for fame among the + persons whom he is praising. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Do you think not, Socrates? + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Certainly 'not.' + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Do you think that you could speak yourself if there should be a + necessity, and if the Council were to choose you? + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: That I should be able to speak is no great wonder, Menexenus, + considering that I have an excellent mistress in the art of rhetoric,—she + who has made so many good speakers, and one who was the best among all the + Hellenes—Pericles, the son of Xanthippus. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: And who is she? I suppose that you mean Aspasia. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Yes, I do; and besides her I had Connus, the son of Metrobius, + as a master, and he was my master in music, as she was in rhetoric. No + wonder that a man who has received such an education should be a finished + speaker; even the pupil of very inferior masters, say, for example, one + who had learned music of Lamprus, and rhetoric of Antiphon the Rhamnusian, + might make a figure if he were to praise the Athenians among the + Athenians. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: And what would you be able to say if you had to speak? + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Of my own wit, most likely nothing; but yesterday I heard + Aspasia composing a funeral oration about these very dead. For she had + been told, as you were saying, that the Athenians were going to choose a + speaker, and she repeated to me the sort of speech which he should + deliver, partly improvising and partly from previous thought, putting + together fragments of the funeral oration which Pericles spoke, but which, + as I believe, she composed. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: And can you remember what Aspasia said? + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: I ought to be able, for she taught me, and she was ready to + strike me because I was always forgetting. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Then why will you not rehearse what she said? + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Because I am afraid that my mistress may be angry with me if I + publish her speech. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Nay, Socrates, let us have the speech, whether Aspasia's or any + one else's, no matter. I hope that you will oblige me. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: But I am afraid that you will laugh at me if I continue the + games of youth in old age. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Far otherwise, Socrates; let us by all means have the speech. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Truly I have such a disposition to oblige you, that if you bid + me dance naked I should not like to refuse, since we are alone. Listen + then: If I remember rightly, she began as follows, with the mention of the + dead:—(Thucyd.) + </p> + <p> + There is a tribute of deeds and of words. The departed have already had + the first, when going forth on their destined journey they were attended + on their way by the state and by their friends; the tribute of words + remains to be given to them, as is meet and by law ordained. For noble + words are a memorial and a crown of noble actions, which are given to the + doers of them by the hearers. A word is needed which will duly praise the + dead and gently admonish the living, exhorting the brethren and + descendants of the departed to imitate their virtue, and consoling their + fathers and mothers and the survivors, if any, who may chance to be alive + of the previous generation. What sort of a word will this be, and how + shall we rightly begin the praises of these brave men? In their life they + rejoiced their own friends with their valour, and their death they gave in + exchange for the salvation of the living. And I think that we should + praise them in the order in which nature made them good, for they were + good because they were sprung from good fathers. Wherefore let us first of + all praise the goodness of their birth; secondly, their nurture and + education; and then let us set forth how noble their actions were, and how + worthy of the education which they had received. + </p> + <p> + And first as to their birth. Their ancestors were not strangers, nor are + these their descendants sojourners only, whose fathers have come from + another country; but they are the children of the soil, dwelling and + living in their own land. And the country which brought them up is not + like other countries, a stepmother to her children, but their own true + mother; she bore them and nourished them and received them, and in her + bosom they now repose. It is meet and right, therefore, that we should + begin by praising the land which is their mother, and that will be a way + of praising their noble birth. + </p> + <p> + The country is worthy to be praised, not only by us, but by all mankind; + first, and above all, as being dear to the Gods. This is proved by the + strife and contention of the Gods respecting her. And ought not the + country which the Gods praise to be praised by all mankind? The second + praise which may be fairly claimed by her, is that at the time when the + whole earth was sending forth and creating diverse animals, tame and wild, + she our mother was free and pure from savage monsters, and out of all + animals selected and brought forth man, who is superior to the rest in + understanding, and alone has justice and religion. And a great proof that + she brought forth the common ancestors of us and of the departed, is that + she provided the means of support for her offspring. For as a woman proves + her motherhood by giving milk to her young ones (and she who has no + fountain of milk is not a mother), so did this our land prove that she was + the mother of men, for in those days she alone and first of all brought + forth wheat and barley for human food, which is the best and noblest + sustenance for man, whom she regarded as her true offspring. And these are + truer proofs of motherhood in a country than in a woman, for the woman in + her conception and generation is but the imitation of the earth, and not + the earth of the woman. And of the fruit of the earth she gave a plenteous + supply, not only to her own, but to others also; and afterwards she made + the olive to spring up to be a boon to her children, and to help them in + their toils. And when she had herself nursed them and brought them up to + manhood, she gave them Gods to be their rulers and teachers, whose names + are well known, and need not now be repeated. They are the Gods who first + ordered our lives, and instructed us in the arts for the supply of our + daily needs, and taught us the acquisition and use of arms for the defence + of the country. + </p> + <p> + Thus born into the world and thus educated, the ancestors of the departed + lived and made themselves a government, which I ought briefly to + commemorate. For government is the nurture of man, and the government of + good men is good, and of bad men bad. And I must show that our ancestors + were trained under a good government, and for this reason they were good, + and our contemporaries are also good, among whom our departed friends are + to be reckoned. Then as now, and indeed always, from that time to this, + speaking generally, our government was an aristocracy—a form of + government which receives various names, according to the fancies of men, + and is sometimes called democracy, but is really an aristocracy or + government of the best which has the approval of the many. For kings we + have always had, first hereditary and then elected, and authority is + mostly in the hands of the people, who dispense offices and power to those + who appear to be most deserving of them. Neither is a man rejected from + weakness or poverty or obscurity of origin, nor honoured by reason of the + opposite, as in other states, but there is one principle—he who + appears to be wise and good is a governor and ruler. The basis of this our + government is equality of birth; for other states are made up of all sorts + and unequal conditions of men, and therefore their governments are + unequal; there are tyrannies and there are oligarchies, in which the one + party are slaves and the others masters. But we and our citizens are + brethren, the children all of one mother, and we do not think it right to + be one another's masters or servants; but the natural equality of birth + compels us to seek for legal equality, and to recognize no superiority + except in the reputation of virtue and wisdom. + </p> + <p> + And so their and our fathers, and these, too, our brethren, being nobly + born and having been brought up in all freedom, did both in their public + and private capacity many noble deeds famous over the whole world. They + were the deeds of men who thought that they ought to fight both against + Hellenes for the sake of Hellenes on behalf of freedom, and against + barbarians in the common interest of Hellas. Time would fail me to tell of + their defence of their country against the invasion of Eumolpus and the + Amazons, or of their defence of the Argives against the Cadmeians, or of + the Heracleids against the Argives; besides, the poets have already + declared in song to all mankind their glory, and therefore any + commemoration of their deeds in prose which we might attempt would hold a + second place. They already have their reward, and I say no more of them; + but there are other worthy deeds of which no poet has worthily sung, and + which are still wooing the poet's muse. Of these I am bound to make + honourable mention, and shall invoke others to sing of them also in lyric + and other strains, in a manner becoming the actors. And first I will tell + how the Persians, lords of Asia, were enslaving Europe, and how the + children of this land, who were our fathers, held them back. Of these I + will speak first, and praise their valour, as is meet and fitting. He who + would rightly estimate them should place himself in thought at that time, + when the whole of Asia was subject to the third king of Persia. The first + king, Cyrus, by his valour freed the Persians, who were his countrymen, + and subjected the Medes, who were their lords, and he ruled over the rest + of Asia, as far as Egypt; and after him came his son, who ruled all the + accessible part of Egypt and Libya; the third king was Darius, who + extended the land boundaries of the empire to Scythia, and with his fleet + held the sea and the islands. None presumed to be his equal; the minds of + all men were enthralled by him—so many and mighty and warlike + nations had the power of Persia subdued. Now Darius had a quarrel against + us and the Eretrians, because, as he said, we had conspired against + Sardis, and he sent 500,000 men in transports and vessels of war, and 300 + ships, and Datis as commander, telling him to bring the Eretrians and + Athenians to the king, if he wished to keep his head on his shoulders. He + sailed against the Eretrians, who were reputed to be amongst the noblest + and most warlike of the Hellenes of that day, and they were numerous, but + he conquered them all in three days; and when he had conquered them, in + order that no one might escape, he searched the whole country after this + manner: his soldiers, coming to the borders of Eretria and spreading from + sea to sea, joined hands and passed through the whole country, in order + that they might be able to tell the king that no one had escaped them. And + from Eretria they went to Marathon with a like intention, expecting to + bind the Athenians in the same yoke of necessity in which they had bound + the Eretrians. Having effected one-half of their purpose, they were in the + act of attempting the other, and none of the Hellenes dared to assist + either the Eretrians or the Athenians, except the Lacedaemonians, and they + arrived a day too late for the battle; but the rest were panic-stricken + and kept quiet, too happy in having escaped for a time. He who has present + to his mind that conflict will know what manner of men they were who + received the onset of the barbarians at Marathon, and chastened the pride + of the whole of Asia, and by the victory which they gained over the + barbarians first taught other men that the power of the Persians was not + invincible, but that hosts of men and the multitude of riches alike yield + to valour. And I assert that those men are the fathers not only of + ourselves, but of our liberties and of the liberties of all who are on the + continent, for that was the action to which the Hellenes looked back when + they ventured to fight for their own safety in the battles which ensued: + they became disciples of the men of Marathon. To them, therefore, I assign + in my speech the first place, and the second to those who fought and + conquered in the sea fights at Salamis and Artemisium; for of them, too, + one might have many things to say—of the assaults which they endured + by sea and land, and how they repelled them. I will mention only that act + of theirs which appears to me to be the noblest, and which followed that + of Marathon and came nearest to it; for the men of Marathon only showed + the Hellenes that it was possible to ward off the barbarians by land, the + many by the few; but there was no proof that they could be defeated by + ships, and at sea the Persians retained the reputation of being invincible + in numbers and wealth and skill and strength. This is the glory of the men + who fought at sea, that they dispelled the second terror which had + hitherto possessed the Hellenes, and so made the fear of numbers, whether + of ships or men, to cease among them. And so the soldiers of Marathon and + the sailors of Salamis became the schoolmasters of Hellas; the one + teaching and habituating the Hellenes not to fear the barbarians at sea, + and the others not to fear them by land. Third in order, for the number + and valour of the combatants, and third in the salvation of Hellas, I + place the battle of Plataea. And now the Lacedaemonians as well as the + Athenians took part in the struggle; they were all united in this greatest + and most terrible conflict of all; wherefore their virtues will be + celebrated in times to come, as they are now celebrated by us. But at a + later period many Hellenic tribes were still on the side of the + barbarians, and there was a report that the great king was going to make a + new attempt upon the Hellenes, and therefore justice requires that we + should also make mention of those who crowned the previous work of our + salvation, and drove and purged away all barbarians from the sea. These + were the men who fought by sea at the river Eurymedon, and who went on the + expedition to Cyprus, and who sailed to Egypt and divers other places; and + they should be gratefully remembered by us, because they compelled the + king in fear for himself to look to his own safety instead of plotting the + destruction of Hellas. + </p> + <p> + And so the war against the barbarians was fought out to the end by the + whole city on their own behalf, and on behalf of their countrymen. There + was peace, and our city was held in honour; and then, as prosperity makes + men jealous, there succeeded a jealousy of her, and jealousy begat envy, + and so she became engaged against her will in a war with the Hellenes. On + the breaking out of war, our citizens met the Lacedaemonians at Tanagra, + and fought for the freedom of the Boeotians; the issue was doubtful, and + was decided by the engagement which followed. For when the Lacedaemonians + had gone on their way, leaving the Boeotians, whom they were aiding, on + the third day after the battle of Tanagra, our countrymen conquered at + Oenophyta, and righteously restored those who had been unrighteously + exiled. And they were the first after the Persian war who fought on behalf + of liberty in aid of Hellenes against Hellenes; they were brave men, and + freed those whom they aided, and were the first too who were honourably + interred in this sepulchre by the state. Afterwards there was a mighty + war, in which all the Hellenes joined, and devastated our country, which + was very ungrateful of them; and our countrymen, after defeating them in a + naval engagement and taking their leaders, the Spartans, at Sphagia, when + they might have destroyed them, spared their lives, and gave them back, + and made peace, considering that they should war with the + fellow-countrymen only until they gained a victory over them, and not + because of the private anger of the state destroy the common interest of + Hellas; but that with barbarians they should war to the death. Worthy of + praise are they also who waged this war, and are here interred; for they + proved, if any one doubted the superior prowess of the Athenians in the + former war with the barbarians, that their doubts had no foundation—showing + by their victory in the civil war with Hellas, in which they subdued the + other chief state of the Hellenes, that they could conquer single-handed + those with whom they had been allied in the war against the barbarians. + After the peace there followed a third war, which was of a terrible and + desperate nature, and in this many brave men who are here interred lost + their lives—many of them had won victories in Sicily, whither they + had gone over the seas to fight for the liberties of the Leontines, to + whom they were bound by oaths; but, owing to the distance, the city was + unable to help them, and they lost heart and came to misfortune, their + very enemies and opponents winning more renown for valour and temperance + than the friends of others. Many also fell in naval engagements at the + Hellespont, after having in one day taken all the ships of the enemy, and + defeated them in other naval engagements. And what I call the terrible and + desperate nature of the war, is that the other Hellenes, in their extreme + animosity towards the city, should have entered into negotiations with + their bitterest enemy, the king of Persia, whom they, together with us, + had expelled;—him, without us, they again brought back, barbarian + against Hellenes, and all the hosts, both of Hellenes and barbarians, were + united against Athens. And then shone forth the power and valour of our + city. Her enemies had supposed that she was exhausted by the war, and our + ships were blockaded at Mitylene. But the citizens themselves embarked, + and came to the rescue with sixty other ships, and their valour was + confessed of all men, for they conquered their enemies and delivered their + friends. And yet by some evil fortune they were left to perish at sea, and + therefore are not interred here. Ever to be remembered and honoured are + they, for by their valour not only that sea-fight was won for us, but the + entire war was decided by them, and through them the city gained the + reputation of being invincible, even though attacked by all mankind. And + that reputation was a true one, for the defeat which came upon us was our + own doing. We were never conquered by others, and to this day we are still + unconquered by them; but we were our own conquerors, and received defeat + at our own hands. Afterwards there was quiet and peace abroad, but there + sprang up war at home; and, if men are destined to have civil war, no one + could have desired that his city should take the disorder in a milder + form. How joyful and natural was the reconciliation of those who came from + the Piraeus and those who came from the city; with what moderation did + they order the war against the tyrants in Eleusis, and in a manner how + unlike what the other Hellenes expected! And the reason of this gentleness + was the veritable tie of blood, which created among them a friendship as + of kinsmen, faithful not in word only, but in deed. And we ought also to + remember those who then fell by one another's hands, and on such occasions + as these to reconcile them with sacrifices and prayers, praying to those + who have power over them, that they may be reconciled even as we are + reconciled. For they did not attack one another out of malice or enmity, + but they were unfortunate. And that such was the fact we ourselves are + witnesses, who are of the same race with them, and have mutually received + and granted forgiveness of what we have done and suffered. After this + there was perfect peace, and the city had rest; and her feeling was that + she forgave the barbarians, who had severely suffered at her hands and + severely retaliated, but that she was indignant at the ingratitude of the + Hellenes, when she remembered how they had received good from her and + returned evil, having made common cause with the barbarians, depriving her + of the ships which had once been their salvation, and dismantling our + walls, which had preserved their own from falling. She thought that she + would no longer defend the Hellenes, when enslaved either by one another + or by the barbarians, and did accordingly. This was our feeling, while the + Lacedaemonians were thinking that we who were the champions of liberty had + fallen, and that their business was to subject the remaining Hellenes. And + why should I say more? for the events of which I am speaking happened not + long ago and we can all of us remember how the chief peoples of Hellas, + Argives and Boeotians and Corinthians, came to feel the need of us, and, + what is the greatest miracle of all, the Persian king himself was driven + to such extremity as to come round to the opinion, that from this city, of + which he was the destroyer, and from no other, his salvation would + proceed. + </p> + <p> + And if a person desired to bring a deserved accusation against our city, + he would find only one charge which he could justly urge—that she + was too compassionate and too favourable to the weaker side. And in this + instance she was not able to hold out or keep her resolution of refusing + aid to her injurers when they were being enslaved, but she was softened, + and did in fact send out aid, and delivered the Hellenes from slavery, and + they were free until they afterwards enslaved themselves. Whereas, to the + great king she refused to give the assistance of the state, for she could + not forget the trophies of Marathon and Salamis and Plataea; but she + allowed exiles and volunteers to assist him, and they were his salvation. + And she herself, when she was compelled, entered into the war, and built + walls and ships, and fought with the Lacedaemonians on behalf of the + Parians. Now the king fearing this city and wanting to stand aloof, when + he saw the Lacedaemonians growing weary of the war at sea, asked of us, as + the price of his alliance with us and the other allies, to give up the + Hellenes in Asia, whom the Lacedaemonians had previously handed over to + him, he thinking that we should refuse, and that then he might have a + pretence for withdrawing from us. About the other allies he was mistaken, + for the Corinthians and Argives and Boeotians, and the other states, were + quite willing to let them go, and swore and covenanted, that, if he would + pay them money, they would make over to him the Hellenes of the continent, + and we alone refused to give them up and swear. Such was the natural + nobility of this city, so sound and healthy was the spirit of freedom + among us, and the instinctive dislike of the barbarian, because we are + pure Hellenes, having no admixture of barbarism in us. For we are not like + many others, descendants of Pelops or Cadmus or Egyptus or Danaus, who are + by nature barbarians, and yet pass for Hellenes, and dwell in the midst of + us; but we are pure Hellenes, uncontaminated by any foreign element, and + therefore the hatred of the foreigner has passed unadulterated into the + life-blood of the city. And so, notwithstanding our noble sentiments, we + were again isolated, because we were unwilling to be guilty of the base + and unholy act of giving up Hellenes to barbarians. And we were in the + same case as when we were subdued before; but, by the favour of Heaven, we + managed better, for we ended the war without the loss of our ships or + walls or colonies; the enemy was only too glad to be quit of us. Yet in + this war we lost many brave men, such as were those who fell owing to the + ruggedness of the ground at the battle of Corinth, or by treason at + Lechaeum. Brave men, too, were those who delivered the Persian king, and + drove the Lacedaemonians from the sea. I remind you of them, and you must + celebrate them together with me, and do honour to their memories. + </p> + <p> + Such were the actions of the men who are here interred, and of others who + have died on behalf of their country; many and glorious things I have + spoken of them, and there are yet many more and more glorious things + remaining to be told—many days and nights would not suffice to tell + of them. Let them not be forgotten, and let every man remind their + descendants that they also are soldiers who must not desert the ranks of + their ancestors, or from cowardice fall behind. Even as I exhort you this + day, and in all future time, whenever I meet with any of you, shall + continue to remind and exhort you, O ye sons of heroes, that you strive to + be the bravest of men. And I think that I ought now to repeat what your + fathers desired to have said to you who are their survivors, when they + went out to battle, in case anything happened to them. I will tell you + what I heard them say, and what, if they had only speech, they would fain + be saying, judging from what they then said. And you must imagine that you + hear them saying what I now repeat to you:— + </p> + <p> + 'Sons, the event proves that your fathers were brave men; for we might + have lived dishonourably, but have preferred to die honourably rather than + bring you and your children into disgrace, and rather than dishonour our + own fathers and forefathers; considering that life is not life to one who + is a dishonour to his race, and that to such a one neither men nor Gods + are friendly, either while he is on the earth or after death in the world + below. Remember our words, then, and whatever is your aim let virtue be + the condition of the attainment of your aim, and know that without this + all possessions and pursuits are dishonourable and evil. For neither does + wealth bring honour to the owner, if he be a coward; of such a one the + wealth belongs to another, and not to himself. Nor does beauty and + strength of body, when dwelling in a base and cowardly man, appear comely, + but the reverse of comely, making the possessor more conspicuous, and + manifesting forth his cowardice. And all knowledge, when separated from + justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom; wherefore make + this your first and last and constant and all-absorbing aim, to exceed, if + possible, not only us but all your ancestors in virtue; and know that to + excel you in virtue only brings us shame, but that to be excelled by you + is a source of happiness to us. And we shall most likely be defeated, and + you will most likely be victors in the contest, if you learn so to order + your lives as not to abuse or waste the reputation of your ancestors, + knowing that to a man who has any self-respect, nothing is more + dishonourable than to be honoured, not for his own sake, but on account of + the reputation of his ancestors. The honour of parents is a fair and noble + treasure to their posterity, but to have the use of a treasure of wealth + and honour, and to leave none to your successors, because you have neither + money nor reputation of your own, is alike base and dishonourable. And if + you follow our precepts you will be received by us as friends, when the + hour of destiny brings you hither; but if you neglect our words and are + disgraced in your lives, no one will welcome or receive you. This is the + message which is to be delivered to our children. + </p> + <p> + 'Some of us have fathers and mothers still living, and we would urge them, + if, as is likely, we shall die, to bear the calamity as lightly as + possible, and not to condole with one another; for they have sorrows + enough, and will not need any one to stir them up. While we gently heal + their wounds, let us remind them that the Gods have heard the chief part + of their prayers; for they prayed, not that their children might live for + ever, but that they might be brave and renowned. And this, which is the + greatest good, they have attained. A mortal man cannot expect to have + everything in his own life turning out according to his will; and they, if + they bear their misfortunes bravely, will be truly deemed brave fathers of + the brave. But if they give way to their sorrows, either they will be + suspected of not being our parents, or we of not being such as our + panegyrists declare. Let not either of the two alternatives happen, but + rather let them be our chief and true panegyrists, who show in their lives + that they are true men, and had men for their sons. Of old the saying, + "Nothing too much," appeared to be, and really was, well said. For he + whose happiness rests with himself, if possible, wholly, and if not, as + far as is possible,—who is not hanging in suspense on other men, or + changing with the vicissitude of their fortune,—has his life ordered + for the best. He is the temperate and valiant and wise; and when his + riches come and go, when his children are given and taken away, he will + remember the proverb—"Neither rejoicing overmuch nor grieving + overmuch," for he relies upon himself. And such we would have our parents + to be—that is our word and wish, and as such we now offer ourselves, + neither lamenting overmuch, nor fearing overmuch, if we are to die at this + time. And we entreat our fathers and mothers to retain these feelings + throughout their future life, and to be assured that they will not please + us by sorrowing and lamenting over us. But, if the dead have any knowledge + of the living, they will displease us most by making themselves miserable + and by taking their misfortunes too much to heart, and they will please us + best if they bear their loss lightly and temperately. For our life will + have the noblest end which is vouchsafed to man, and should be glorified + rather than lamented. And if they will direct their minds to the care and + nurture of our wives and children, they will soonest forget their + misfortunes, and live in a better and nobler way, and be dearer to us. + </p> + <p> + 'This is all that we have to say to our families: and to the state we + would say—Take care of our parents and of our sons: let her worthily + cherish the old age of our parents, and bring up our sons in the right + way. But we know that she will of her own accord take care of them, and + does not need any exhortation of ours.' + </p> + <p> + This, O ye children and parents of the dead, is the message which they bid + us deliver to you, and which I do deliver with the utmost seriousness. And + in their name I beseech you, the children, to imitate your fathers, and + you, parents, to be of good cheer about yourselves; for we will nourish + your age, and take care of you both publicly and privately in any place in + which one of us may meet one of you who are the parents of the dead. And + the care of you which the city shows, you know yourselves; for she has + made provision by law concerning the parents and children of those who die + in war; the highest authority is specially entrusted with the duty of + watching over them above all other citizens, and they will see that your + fathers and mothers have no wrong done to them. The city herself shares in + the education of the children, desiring as far as it is possible that + their orphanhood may not be felt by them; while they are children she is a + parent to them, and when they have arrived at man's estate she sends them + to their several duties, in full armour clad; and bringing freshly to + their minds the ways of their fathers, she places in their hands the + instruments of their fathers' virtues; for the sake of the omen, she would + have them from the first begin to rule over their own houses arrayed in + the strength and arms of their fathers. And as for the dead, she never + ceases honouring them, celebrating in common for all rites which become + the property of each; and in addition to this, holding gymnastic and + equestrian contests, and musical festivals of every sort. She is to the + dead in the place of a son and heir, and to their sons in the place of a + father, and to their parents and elder kindred in the place of a guardian—ever + and always caring for them. Considering this, you ought to bear your + calamity the more gently; for thus you will be most endeared to the dead + and to the living, and your sorrows will heal and be healed. And now do + you and all, having lamented the dead in common according to the law, go + your ways. + </p> + <p> + You have heard, Menexenus, the oration of Aspasia the Milesian. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Truly, Socrates, I marvel that Aspasia, who is only a woman, + should be able to compose such a speech; she must be a rare one. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Well, if you are incredulous, you may come with me and hear her. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: I have often met Aspasia, Socrates, and know what she is like. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Well, and do you not admire her, and are you not grateful for + her speech? + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates, I am very grateful to her or to him who told + you, and still more to you who have told me. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Very good. But you must take care not to tell of me, and then at + some future time I will repeat to you many other excellent political + speeches of hers. + </p> + <p> + MENEXENUS: Fear not, only let me hear them, and I will keep the secret. + </p> + <p> + SOCRATES: Then I will keep my promise. + </p> + <p> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Menexenus, by Plato + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MENEXENUS *** + +***** This file should be named 1682-h.htm or 1682-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/8/1682/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher, and David Widger + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Menexenus + +Author: Plato + +Translator: Benjamin Jowett + +Posting Date: October 23, 2008 [EBook #1682] +Release Date: March, 1999 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MENEXENUS *** + + + + +Produced by Sue Asscher + + + + + +MENEXENUS + +by Plato + +(see Appendix I) + + +Translated by Benjamin Jowett + + + + +APPENDIX I. + +It seems impossible to separate by any exact line the genuine writings +of Plato from the spurious. The only external evidence to them which is +of much value is that of Aristotle; for the Alexandrian catalogues of +a century later include manifest forgeries. Even the value of the +Aristotelian authority is a good deal impaired by the uncertainty +concerning the date and authorship of the writings which are ascribed to +him. And several of the citations of Aristotle omit the name of Plato, +and some of them omit the name of the dialogue from which they are +taken. Prior, however, to the enquiry about the writings of a particular +author, general considerations which equally affect all evidence to the +genuineness of ancient writings are the following: Shorter works are +more likely to have been forged, or to have received an erroneous +designation, than longer ones; and some kinds of composition, such as +epistles or panegyrical orations, are more liable to suspicion than +others; those, again, which have a taste of sophistry in them, or the +ring of a later age, or the slighter character of a rhetorical exercise, +or in which a motive or some affinity to spurious writings can be +detected, or which seem to have originated in a name or statement really +occurring in some classical author, are also of doubtful credit; while +there is no instance of any ancient writing proved to be a forgery, +which combines excellence with length. A really great and original +writer would have no object in fathering his works on Plato; and to the +forger or imitator, the 'literary hack' of Alexandria and Athens, the +Gods did not grant originality or genius. Further, in attempting to +balance the evidence for and against a Platonic dialogue, we must not +forget that the form of the Platonic writing was common to several of +his contemporaries. Aeschines, Euclid, Phaedo, Antisthenes, and in the +next generation Aristotle, are all said to have composed dialogues; and +mistakes of names are very likely to have occurred. Greek literature in +the third century before Christ was almost as voluminous as our own, and +without the safeguards of regular publication, or printing, or binding, +or even of distinct titles. An unknown writing was naturally attributed +to a known writer whose works bore the same character; and the name once +appended easily obtained authority. A tendency may also be observed to +blend the works and opinions of the master with those of his scholars. +To a later Platonist, the difference between Plato and his imitators was +not so perceptible as to ourselves. The Memorabilia of Xenophon and the +Dialogues of Plato are but a part of a considerable Socratic literature +which has passed away. And we must consider how we should regard the +question of the genuineness of a particular writing, if this lost +literature had been preserved to us. + +These considerations lead us to adopt the following criteria of +genuineness: (1) That is most certainly Plato's which Aristotle +attributes to him by name, which (2) is of considerable length, of (3) +great excellence, and also (4) in harmony with the general spirit of +the Platonic writings. But the testimony of Aristotle cannot always +be distinguished from that of a later age (see above); and has various +degrees of importance. Those writings which he cites without mentioning +Plato, under their own names, e.g. the Hippias, the Funeral Oration, the +Phaedo, etc., have an inferior degree of evidence in their favour. They +may have been supposed by him to be the writings of another, although in +the case of really great works, e.g. the Phaedo, this is not credible; +those again which are quoted but not named, are still more defective +in their external credentials. There may be also a possibility that +Aristotle was mistaken, or may have confused the master and his scholars +in the case of a short writing; but this is inconceivable about a more +important work, e.g. the Laws, especially when we remember that he was +living at Athens, and a frequenter of the groves of the Academy, during +the last twenty years of Plato's life. Nor must we forget that in all +his numerous citations from the Platonic writings he never attributes +any passage found in the extant dialogues to any one but Plato. And +lastly, we may remark that one or two great writings, such as the +Parmenides and the Politicus, which are wholly devoid of Aristotelian +(1) credentials may be fairly attributed to Plato, on the ground of (2) +length, (3) excellence, and (4) accordance with the general spirit +of his writings. Indeed the greater part of the evidence for the +genuineness of ancient Greek authors may be summed up under two heads +only: (1) excellence; and (2) uniformity of tradition--a kind of +evidence, which though in many cases sufficient, is of inferior value. + +Proceeding upon these principles we appear to arrive at the conclusion +that nineteen-twentieths of all the writings which have ever been +ascribed to Plato, are undoubtedly genuine. There is another portion of +them, including the Epistles, the Epinomis, the dialogues rejected by +the ancients themselves, namely, the Axiochus, De justo, De virtute, +Demodocus, Sisyphus, Eryxias, which on grounds, both of internal and +external evidence, we are able with equal certainty to reject. But there +still remains a small portion of which we are unable to affirm either +that they are genuine or spurious. They may have been written in youth, +or possibly like the works of some painters, may be partly or wholly +the compositions of pupils; or they may have been the writings of some +contemporary transferred by accident to the more celebrated name of +Plato, or of some Platonist in the next generation who aspired to +imitate his master. Not that on grounds either of language or philosophy +we should lightly reject them. Some difference of style, or inferiority +of execution, or inconsistency of thought, can hardly be considered +decisive of their spurious character. For who always does justice to +himself, or who writes with equal care at all times? Certainly not +Plato, who exhibits the greatest differences in dramatic power, in the +formation of sentences, and in the use of words, if his earlier writings +are compared with his later ones, say the Protagoras or Phaedrus with +the Laws. Or who can be expected to think in the same manner during +a period of authorship extending over above fifty years, in an age +of great intellectual activity, as well as of political and literary +transition? Certainly not Plato, whose earlier writings are separated +from his later ones by as wide an interval of philosophical speculation +as that which separates his later writings from Aristotle. + +The dialogues which have been translated in the first Appendix, and +which appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic +writings, are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the +First Alcibiades. Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration +are cited by Aristotle; the first in the Metaphysics, the latter in the +Rhetoric. Neither of them are expressly attributed to Plato, but in his +citation of both of them he seems to be referring to passages in the +extant dialogues. From the mention of 'Hippias' in the singular by +Aristotle, we may perhaps infer that he was unacquainted with a second +dialogue bearing the same name. Moreover, the mere existence of a +Greater and Lesser Hippias, and of a First and Second Alcibiades, does +to a certain extent throw a doubt upon both of them. Though a very +clever and ingenious work, the Lesser Hippias does not appear to contain +anything beyond the power of an imitator, who was also a careful student +of the earlier Platonic writings, to invent. The motive or leading +thought of the dialogue may be detected in Xen. Mem., and there is +no similar instance of a 'motive' which is taken from Xenophon in an +undoubted dialogue of Plato. On the other hand, the upholders of the +genuineness of the dialogue will find in the Hippias a true Socratic +spirit; they will compare the Ion as being akin both in subject and +treatment; they will urge the authority of Aristotle; and they will +detect in the treatment of the Sophist, in the satirical reasoning +upon Homer, in the reductio ad absurdum of the doctrine that vice is +ignorance, traces of a Platonic authorship. In reference to the last +point we are doubtful, as in some of the other dialogues, whether the +author is asserting or overthrowing the paradox of Socrates, or merely +following the argument 'whither the wind blows.' That no conclusion +is arrived at is also in accordance with the character of the earlier +dialogues. The resemblances or imitations of the Gorgias, Protagoras, +and Euthydemus, which have been observed in the Hippias, cannot with +certainty be adduced on either side of the argument. On the whole, more +may be said in favour of the genuineness of the Hippias than against it. + +The Menexenus or Funeral Oration is cited by Aristotle, and is +interesting as supplying an example of the manner in which the orators +praised 'the Athenians among the Athenians,' falsifying persons and +dates, and casting a veil over the gloomier events of Athenian history. +It exhibits an acquaintance with the funeral oration of Thucydides, and +was, perhaps, intended to rival that great work. If genuine, the +proper place of the Menexenus would be at the end of the Phaedrus. The +satirical opening and the concluding words bear a great resemblance to +the earlier dialogues; the oration itself is professedly a mimetic work, +like the speeches in the Phaedrus, and cannot therefore be tested by +a comparison of the other writings of Plato. The funeral oration of +Pericles is expressly mentioned in the Phaedrus, and this may have +suggested the subject, in the same manner that the Cleitophon appears to +be suggested by the slight mention of Cleitophon and his attachment to +Thrasymachus in the Republic; and the Theages by the mention of Theages +in the Apology and Republic; or as the Second Alcibiades seems to be +founded upon the text of Xenophon, Mem. A similar taste for parody +appears not only in the Phaedrus, but in the Protagoras, in the +Symposium, and to a certain extent in the Parmenides. + +To these two doubtful writings of Plato I have added the First +Alcibiades, which, of all the disputed dialogues of Plato, has the +greatest merit, and is somewhat longer than any of them, though not +verified by the testimony of Aristotle, and in many respects at variance +with the Symposium in the description of the relations of Socrates +and Alcibiades. Like the Lesser Hippias and the Menexenus, it is to be +compared to the earlier writings of Plato. The motive of the piece may, +perhaps, be found in that passage of the Symposium in which Alcibiades +describes himself as self-convicted by the words of Socrates. For the +disparaging manner in which Schleiermacher has spoken of this dialogue +there seems to be no sufficient foundation. At the same time, the lesson +imparted is simple, and the irony more transparent than in the undoubted +dialogues of Plato. We know, too, that Alcibiades was a favourite +thesis, and that at least five or six dialogues bearing this name passed +current in antiquity, and are attributed to contemporaries of Socrates +and Plato. (1) In the entire absence of real external evidence (for +the catalogues of the Alexandrian librarians cannot be regarded as +trustworthy); and (2) in the absence of the highest marks either of +poetical or philosophical excellence; and (3) considering that we have +express testimony to the existence of contemporary writings bearing +the name of Alcibiades, we are compelled to suspend our judgment on the +genuineness of the extant dialogue. + +Neither at this point, nor at any other, do we propose to draw an +absolute line of demarcation between genuine and spurious writings of +Plato. They fade off imperceptibly from one class to another. There may +have been degrees of genuineness in the dialogues themselves, as there +are certainly degrees of evidence by which they are supported. The +traditions of the oral discourses both of Socrates and Plato may have +formed the basis of semi-Platonic writings; some of them may be of the +same mixed character which is apparent in Aristotle and Hippocrates, +although the form of them is different. But the writings of Plato, +unlike the writings of Aristotle, seem never to have been confused with +the writings of his disciples: this was probably due to their definite +form, and to their inimitable excellence. The three dialogues which +we have offered in the Appendix to the criticism of the reader may +be partly spurious and partly genuine; they may be altogether +spurious;--that is an alternative which must be frankly admitted. Nor +can we maintain of some other dialogues, such as the Parmenides, and +the Sophist, and Politicus, that no considerable objection can be urged +against them, though greatly overbalanced by the weight (chiefly) +of internal evidence in their favour. Nor, on the other hand, can +we exclude a bare possibility that some dialogues which are usually +rejected, such as the Greater Hippias and the Cleitophon, may be +genuine. The nature and object of these semi-Platonic writings require +more careful study and more comparison of them with one another, and +with forged writings in general, than they have yet received, before we +can finally decide on their character. We do not consider them all as +genuine until they can be proved to be spurious, as is often maintained +and still more often implied in this and similar discussions; but +should say of some of them, that their genuineness is neither proven nor +disproven until further evidence about them can be adduced. And we are +as confident that the Epistles are spurious, as that the Republic, the +Timaeus, and the Laws are genuine. + +On the whole, not a twentieth part of the writings which pass under +the name of Plato, if we exclude the works rejected by the ancients +themselves and two or three other plausible inventions, can be fairly +doubted by those who are willing to allow that a considerable change +and growth may have taken place in his philosophy (see above). That +twentieth debatable portion scarcely in any degree affects our judgment +of Plato, either as a thinker or a writer, and though suggesting some +interesting questions to the scholar and critic, is of little importance +to the general reader. + + + + +MENEXENUS + + + + +INTRODUCTION. + +The Menexenus has more the character of a rhetorical exercise than any +other of the Platonic works. The writer seems to have wished to emulate +Thucydides, and the far slighter work of Lysias. In his rivalry with the +latter, to whom in the Phaedrus Plato shows a strong antipathy, he is +entirely successful, but he is not equal to Thucydides. The Menexenus, +though not without real Hellenic interest, falls very far short of +the rugged grandeur and political insight of the great historian. The +fiction of the speech having been invented by Aspasia is well sustained, +and is in the manner of Plato, notwithstanding the anachronism which +puts into her mouth an allusion to the peace of Antalcidas, an event +occurring forty years after the date of the supposed oration. But +Plato, like Shakespeare, is careless of such anachronisms, which are not +supposed to strike the mind of the reader. The effect produced by these +grandiloquent orations on Socrates, who does not recover after having +heard one of them for three days and more, is truly Platonic. + +Such discourses, if we may form a judgment from the three which are +extant (for the so-called Funeral Oration of Demosthenes is a bad and +spurious imitation of Thucydides and Lysias), conformed to a regular +type. They began with Gods and ancestors, and the legendary history of +Athens, to which succeeded an almost equally fictitious account of later +times. The Persian war usually formed the centre of the narrative; in +the age of Isocrates and Demosthenes the Athenians were still living on +the glories of Marathon and Salamis. The Menexenus veils in panegyric +the weak places of Athenian history. The war of Athens and Boeotia is +a war of liberation; the Athenians gave back the Spartans taken at +Sphacteria out of kindness--indeed, the only fault of the city was too +great kindness to their enemies, who were more honoured than the friends +of others (compare Thucyd., which seems to contain the germ of the +idea); we democrats are the aristocracy of virtue, and the like. These +are the platitudes and falsehoods in which history is disguised. The +taking of Athens is hardly mentioned. + +The author of the Menexenus, whether Plato or not, is evidently +intending to ridicule the practice, and at the same time to show that he +can beat the rhetoricians in their own line, as in the Phaedrus he may +be supposed to offer an example of what Lysias might have said, and of +how much better he might have written in his own style. The orators had +recourse to their favourite loci communes, one of which, as we find in +Lysias, was the shortness of the time allowed them for preparation. But +Socrates points out that they had them always ready for delivery, and +that there was no difficulty in improvising any number of such orations. +To praise the Athenians among the Athenians was easy,--to praise them +among the Lacedaemonians would have been a much more difficult task. +Socrates himself has turned rhetorician, having learned of a woman, +Aspasia, the mistress of Pericles; and any one whose teachers had been +far inferior to his own--say, one who had learned from Antiphon +the Rhamnusian--would be quite equal to the task of praising men to +themselves. When we remember that Antiphon is described by Thucydides as +the best pleader of his day, the satire on him and on the whole tribe of +rhetoricians is transparent. + +The ironical assumption of Socrates, that he must be a good orator +because he had learnt of Aspasia, is not coarse, as Schleiermacher +supposes, but is rather to be regarded as fanciful. Nor can we say that +the offer of Socrates to dance naked out of love for Menexenus, is any +more un-Platonic than the threat of physical force which Phaedrus uses +towards Socrates. Nor is there any real vulgarity in the fear which +Socrates expresses that he will get a beating from his mistress, +Aspasia: this is the natural exaggeration of what might be expected from +an imperious woman. Socrates is not to be taken seriously in all that +he says, and Plato, both in the Symposium and elsewhere, is not slow to +admit a sort of Aristophanic humour. How a great original genius like +Plato might or might not have written, what was his conception of +humour, or what limits he would have prescribed to himself, if any, +in drawing the picture of the Silenus Socrates, are problems which no +critical instinct can determine. + +On the other hand, the dialogue has several Platonic traits, whether +original or imitated may be uncertain. Socrates, when he departs from +his character of a 'know nothing' and delivers a speech, generally +pretends that what he is speaking is not his own composition. Thus in +the Cratylus he is run away with; in the Phaedrus he has heard somebody +say something--is inspired by the genius loci; in the Symposium he +derives his wisdom from Diotima of Mantinea, and the like. But he does +not impose on Menexenus by his dissimulation. Without violating the +character of Socrates, Plato, who knows so well how to give a hint, or +some one writing in his name, intimates clearly enough that the speech +in the Menexenus like that in the Phaedrus is to be attributed to +Socrates. The address of the dead to the living at the end of the +oration may also be compared to the numerous addresses of the same kind +which occur in Plato, in whom the dramatic element is always tending to +prevail over the rhetorical. The remark has been often made, that in the +Funeral Oration of Thucydides there is no allusion to the existence of +the dead. But in the Menexenus a future state is clearly, although not +strongly, asserted. + +Whether the Menexenus is a genuine writing of Plato, or an imitation +only, remains uncertain. In either case, the thoughts are partly +borrowed from the Funeral Oration of Thucydides; and the fact that +they are so, is not in favour of the genuineness of the work. Internal +evidence seems to leave the question of authorship in doubt. There are +merits and there are defects which might lead to either conclusion. The +form of the greater part of the work makes the enquiry difficult; the +introduction and the finale certainly wear the look either of Plato or +of an extremely skilful imitator. The excellence of the forgery may be +fairly adduced as an argument that it is not a forgery at all. In this +uncertainty the express testimony of Aristotle, who quotes, in the +Rhetoric, the well-known words, 'It is easy to praise the Athenians +among the Athenians,' from the Funeral Oration, may perhaps turn the +balance in its favour. It must be remembered also that the work was +famous in antiquity, and is included in the Alexandrian catalogues of +Platonic writings. + + + + +PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates and Menexenus. + + +SOCRATES: Whence come you, Menexenus? Are you from the Agora? + +MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates; I have been at the Council. + +SOCRATES: And what might you be doing at the Council? And yet I need +hardly ask, for I see that you, believing yourself to have arrived at +the end of education and of philosophy, and to have had enough of them, +are mounting upwards to things higher still, and, though rather young +for the post, are intending to govern us elder men, like the rest of +your family, which has always provided some one who kindly took care of +us. + +MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates, I shall be ready to hold office, if you allow +and advise that I should, but not if you think otherwise. I went to the +council chamber because I heard that the Council was about to choose +some one who was to speak over the dead. For you know that there is to +be a public funeral? + +SOCRATES: Yes, I know. And whom did they choose? + +MENEXENUS: No one; they delayed the election until tomorrow, but I +believe that either Archinus or Dion will be chosen. + +SOCRATES: O Menexenus! Death in battle is certainly in many respects a +noble thing. The dead man gets a fine and costly funeral, although he +may have been poor, and an elaborate speech is made over him by a wise +man who has long ago prepared what he has to say, although he who is +praised may not have been good for much. The speakers praise him for +what he has done and for what he has not done--that is the beauty of +them--and they steal away our souls with their embellished words; in +every conceivable form they praise the city; and they praise those who +died in war, and all our ancestors who went before us; and they praise +ourselves also who are still alive, until I feel quite elevated by their +laudations, and I stand listening to their words, Menexenus, and become +enchanted by them, and all in a moment I imagine myself to have become +a greater and nobler and finer man than I was before. And if, as often +happens, there are any foreigners who accompany me to the speech, I +become suddenly conscious of having a sort of triumph over them, and +they seem to experience a corresponding feeling of admiration at me, and +at the greatness of the city, which appears to them, when they are +under the influence of the speaker, more wonderful than ever. This +consciousness of dignity lasts me more than three days, and not until +the fourth or fifth day do I come to my senses and know where I am; in +the meantime I have been living in the Islands of the Blest. Such is +the art of our rhetoricians, and in such manner does the sound of their +words keep ringing in my ears. + +MENEXENUS: You are always making fun of the rhetoricians, Socrates; this +time, however, I am inclined to think that the speaker who is chosen +will not have much to say, for he has been called upon to speak at a +moment's notice, and he will be compelled almost to improvise. + +SOCRATES: But why, my friend, should he not have plenty to say? Every +rhetorician has speeches ready made; nor is there any difficulty in +improvising that sort of stuff. Had the orator to praise Athenians among +Peloponnesians, or Peloponnesians among Athenians, he must be a +good rhetorician who could succeed and gain credit. But there is no +difficulty in a man's winning applause when he is contending for fame +among the persons whom he is praising. + +MENEXENUS: Do you think not, Socrates? + +SOCRATES: Certainly 'not.' + +MENEXENUS: Do you think that you could speak yourself if there should be +a necessity, and if the Council were to choose you? + +SOCRATES: That I should be able to speak is no great wonder, +Menexenus, considering that I have an excellent mistress in the art of +rhetoric,--she who has made so many good speakers, and one who was the +best among all the Hellenes--Pericles, the son of Xanthippus. + +MENEXENUS: And who is she? I suppose that you mean Aspasia. + +SOCRATES: Yes, I do; and besides her I had Connus, the son of Metrobius, +as a master, and he was my master in music, as she was in rhetoric. +No wonder that a man who has received such an education should be a +finished speaker; even the pupil of very inferior masters, say, for +example, one who had learned music of Lamprus, and rhetoric of Antiphon +the Rhamnusian, might make a figure if he were to praise the Athenians +among the Athenians. + +MENEXENUS: And what would you be able to say if you had to speak? + +SOCRATES: Of my own wit, most likely nothing; but yesterday I heard +Aspasia composing a funeral oration about these very dead. For she had +been told, as you were saying, that the Athenians were going to choose +a speaker, and she repeated to me the sort of speech which he should +deliver, partly improvising and partly from previous thought, putting +together fragments of the funeral oration which Pericles spoke, but +which, as I believe, she composed. + +MENEXENUS: And can you remember what Aspasia said? + +SOCRATES: I ought to be able, for she taught me, and she was ready to +strike me because I was always forgetting. + +MENEXENUS: Then why will you not rehearse what she said? + +SOCRATES: Because I am afraid that my mistress may be angry with me if I +publish her speech. + +MENEXENUS: Nay, Socrates, let us have the speech, whether Aspasia's or +any one else's, no matter. I hope that you will oblige me. + +SOCRATES: But I am afraid that you will laugh at me if I continue the +games of youth in old age. + +MENEXENUS: Far otherwise, Socrates; let us by all means have the speech. + +SOCRATES: Truly I have such a disposition to oblige you, that if you bid +me dance naked I should not like to refuse, since we are alone. Listen +then: If I remember rightly, she began as follows, with the mention of +the dead:--(Thucyd.) + +There is a tribute of deeds and of words. The departed have already had +the first, when going forth on their destined journey they were attended +on their way by the state and by their friends; the tribute of words +remains to be given to them, as is meet and by law ordained. For noble +words are a memorial and a crown of noble actions, which are given +to the doers of them by the hearers. A word is needed which will duly +praise the dead and gently admonish the living, exhorting the brethren +and descendants of the departed to imitate their virtue, and consoling +their fathers and mothers and the survivors, if any, who may chance to +be alive of the previous generation. What sort of a word will this be, +and how shall we rightly begin the praises of these brave men? In their +life they rejoiced their own friends with their valour, and their death +they gave in exchange for the salvation of the living. And I think that +we should praise them in the order in which nature made them good, for +they were good because they were sprung from good fathers. Wherefore +let us first of all praise the goodness of their birth; secondly, their +nurture and education; and then let us set forth how noble their actions +were, and how worthy of the education which they had received. + +And first as to their birth. Their ancestors were not strangers, nor are +these their descendants sojourners only, whose fathers have come from +another country; but they are the children of the soil, dwelling and +living in their own land. And the country which brought them up is not +like other countries, a stepmother to her children, but their own true +mother; she bore them and nourished them and received them, and in her +bosom they now repose. It is meet and right, therefore, that we should +begin by praising the land which is their mother, and that will be a way +of praising their noble birth. + +The country is worthy to be praised, not only by us, but by all mankind; +first, and above all, as being dear to the Gods. This is proved by the +strife and contention of the Gods respecting her. And ought not the +country which the Gods praise to be praised by all mankind? The second +praise which may be fairly claimed by her, is that at the time when the +whole earth was sending forth and creating diverse animals, tame and +wild, she our mother was free and pure from savage monsters, and out of +all animals selected and brought forth man, who is superior to the rest +in understanding, and alone has justice and religion. And a great proof +that she brought forth the common ancestors of us and of the departed, +is that she provided the means of support for her offspring. For as a +woman proves her motherhood by giving milk to her young ones (and she +who has no fountain of milk is not a mother), so did this our land prove +that she was the mother of men, for in those days she alone and first of +all brought forth wheat and barley for human food, which is the best and +noblest sustenance for man, whom she regarded as her true offspring. And +these are truer proofs of motherhood in a country than in a woman, for +the woman in her conception and generation is but the imitation of the +earth, and not the earth of the woman. And of the fruit of the earth she +gave a plenteous supply, not only to her own, but to others also; and +afterwards she made the olive to spring up to be a boon to her children, +and to help them in their toils. And when she had herself nursed them +and brought them up to manhood, she gave them Gods to be their rulers +and teachers, whose names are well known, and need not now be repeated. +They are the Gods who first ordered our lives, and instructed us in the +arts for the supply of our daily needs, and taught us the acquisition +and use of arms for the defence of the country. + +Thus born into the world and thus educated, the ancestors of the +departed lived and made themselves a government, which I ought briefly +to commemorate. For government is the nurture of man, and the government +of good men is good, and of bad men bad. And I must show that our +ancestors were trained under a good government, and for this reason they +were good, and our contemporaries are also good, among whom our departed +friends are to be reckoned. Then as now, and indeed always, from that +time to this, speaking generally, our government was an aristocracy--a +form of government which receives various names, according to the +fancies of men, and is sometimes called democracy, but is really an +aristocracy or government of the best which has the approval of the +many. For kings we have always had, first hereditary and then elected, +and authority is mostly in the hands of the people, who dispense offices +and power to those who appear to be most deserving of them. Neither is +a man rejected from weakness or poverty or obscurity of origin, nor +honoured by reason of the opposite, as in other states, but there is one +principle--he who appears to be wise and good is a governor and ruler. +The basis of this our government is equality of birth; for other states +are made up of all sorts and unequal conditions of men, and therefore +their governments are unequal; there are tyrannies and there are +oligarchies, in which the one party are slaves and the others masters. +But we and our citizens are brethren, the children all of one mother, +and we do not think it right to be one another's masters or servants; +but the natural equality of birth compels us to seek for legal equality, +and to recognize no superiority except in the reputation of virtue and +wisdom. + +And so their and our fathers, and these, too, our brethren, being nobly +born and having been brought up in all freedom, did both in their public +and private capacity many noble deeds famous over the whole world. They +were the deeds of men who thought that they ought to fight both against +Hellenes for the sake of Hellenes on behalf of freedom, and against +barbarians in the common interest of Hellas. Time would fail me to tell +of their defence of their country against the invasion of Eumolpus and +the Amazons, or of their defence of the Argives against the Cadmeians, +or of the Heracleids against the Argives; besides, the poets have +already declared in song to all mankind their glory, and therefore any +commemoration of their deeds in prose which we might attempt would hold +a second place. They already have their reward, and I say no more of +them; but there are other worthy deeds of which no poet has worthily +sung, and which are still wooing the poet's muse. Of these I am bound to +make honourable mention, and shall invoke others to sing of them also +in lyric and other strains, in a manner becoming the actors. And first +I will tell how the Persians, lords of Asia, were enslaving Europe, and +how the children of this land, who were our fathers, held them back. +Of these I will speak first, and praise their valour, as is meet and +fitting. He who would rightly estimate them should place himself in +thought at that time, when the whole of Asia was subject to the third +king of Persia. The first king, Cyrus, by his valour freed the Persians, +who were his countrymen, and subjected the Medes, who were their lords, +and he ruled over the rest of Asia, as far as Egypt; and after him came +his son, who ruled all the accessible part of Egypt and Libya; the +third king was Darius, who extended the land boundaries of the empire to +Scythia, and with his fleet held the sea and the islands. None presumed +to be his equal; the minds of all men were enthralled by him--so many +and mighty and warlike nations had the power of Persia subdued. Now +Darius had a quarrel against us and the Eretrians, because, as he said, +we had conspired against Sardis, and he sent 500,000 men in transports +and vessels of war, and 300 ships, and Datis as commander, telling him +to bring the Eretrians and Athenians to the king, if he wished to keep +his head on his shoulders. He sailed against the Eretrians, who were +reputed to be amongst the noblest and most warlike of the Hellenes of +that day, and they were numerous, but he conquered them all in three +days; and when he had conquered them, in order that no one might escape, +he searched the whole country after this manner: his soldiers, coming to +the borders of Eretria and spreading from sea to sea, joined hands and +passed through the whole country, in order that they might be able to +tell the king that no one had escaped them. And from Eretria they went +to Marathon with a like intention, expecting to bind the Athenians in +the same yoke of necessity in which they had bound the Eretrians. Having +effected one-half of their purpose, they were in the act of attempting +the other, and none of the Hellenes dared to assist either the Eretrians +or the Athenians, except the Lacedaemonians, and they arrived a day too +late for the battle; but the rest were panic-stricken and kept quiet, +too happy in having escaped for a time. He who has present to his mind +that conflict will know what manner of men they were who received the +onset of the barbarians at Marathon, and chastened the pride of the +whole of Asia, and by the victory which they gained over the barbarians +first taught other men that the power of the Persians was not +invincible, but that hosts of men and the multitude of riches alike +yield to valour. And I assert that those men are the fathers not only of +ourselves, but of our liberties and of the liberties of all who are on +the continent, for that was the action to which the Hellenes looked back +when they ventured to fight for their own safety in the battles +which ensued: they became disciples of the men of Marathon. To them, +therefore, I assign in my speech the first place, and the second +to those who fought and conquered in the sea fights at Salamis and +Artemisium; for of them, too, one might have many things to say--of the +assaults which they endured by sea and land, and how they repelled them. +I will mention only that act of theirs which appears to me to be the +noblest, and which followed that of Marathon and came nearest to it; +for the men of Marathon only showed the Hellenes that it was possible to +ward off the barbarians by land, the many by the few; but there was +no proof that they could be defeated by ships, and at sea the Persians +retained the reputation of being invincible in numbers and wealth and +skill and strength. This is the glory of the men who fought at sea, +that they dispelled the second terror which had hitherto possessed the +Hellenes, and so made the fear of numbers, whether of ships or men, to +cease among them. And so the soldiers of Marathon and the sailors +of Salamis became the schoolmasters of Hellas; the one teaching and +habituating the Hellenes not to fear the barbarians at sea, and the +others not to fear them by land. Third in order, for the number and +valour of the combatants, and third in the salvation of Hellas, I +place the battle of Plataea. And now the Lacedaemonians as well as +the Athenians took part in the struggle; they were all united in this +greatest and most terrible conflict of all; wherefore their virtues will +be celebrated in times to come, as they are now celebrated by us. But +at a later period many Hellenic tribes were still on the side of the +barbarians, and there was a report that the great king was going to make +a new attempt upon the Hellenes, and therefore justice requires that we +should also make mention of those who crowned the previous work of our +salvation, and drove and purged away all barbarians from the sea. These +were the men who fought by sea at the river Eurymedon, and who went +on the expedition to Cyprus, and who sailed to Egypt and divers other +places; and they should be gratefully remembered by us, because they +compelled the king in fear for himself to look to his own safety instead +of plotting the destruction of Hellas. + +And so the war against the barbarians was fought out to the end by the +whole city on their own behalf, and on behalf of their countrymen. There +was peace, and our city was held in honour; and then, as prosperity +makes men jealous, there succeeded a jealousy of her, and jealousy +begat envy, and so she became engaged against her will in a war with +the Hellenes. On the breaking out of war, our citizens met the +Lacedaemonians at Tanagra, and fought for the freedom of the Boeotians; +the issue was doubtful, and was decided by the engagement which +followed. For when the Lacedaemonians had gone on their way, leaving the +Boeotians, whom they were aiding, on the third day after the battle of +Tanagra, our countrymen conquered at Oenophyta, and righteously restored +those who had been unrighteously exiled. And they were the first after +the Persian war who fought on behalf of liberty in aid of Hellenes +against Hellenes; they were brave men, and freed those whom they aided, +and were the first too who were honourably interred in this sepulchre by +the state. Afterwards there was a mighty war, in which all the Hellenes +joined, and devastated our country, which was very ungrateful of them; +and our countrymen, after defeating them in a naval engagement and +taking their leaders, the Spartans, at Sphagia, when they might have +destroyed them, spared their lives, and gave them back, and made peace, +considering that they should war with the fellow-countrymen only until +they gained a victory over them, and not because of the private anger +of the state destroy the common interest of Hellas; but that with +barbarians they should war to the death. Worthy of praise are they also +who waged this war, and are here interred; for they proved, if any one +doubted the superior prowess of the Athenians in the former war with +the barbarians, that their doubts had no foundation--showing by their +victory in the civil war with Hellas, in which they subdued the other +chief state of the Hellenes, that they could conquer single-handed those +with whom they had been allied in the war against the barbarians. +After the peace there followed a third war, which was of a terrible and +desperate nature, and in this many brave men who are here interred lost +their lives--many of them had won victories in Sicily, whither they had +gone over the seas to fight for the liberties of the Leontines, to +whom they were bound by oaths; but, owing to the distance, the city was +unable to help them, and they lost heart and came to misfortune, their +very enemies and opponents winning more renown for valour and temperance +than the friends of others. Many also fell in naval engagements at the +Hellespont, after having in one day taken all the ships of the enemy, +and defeated them in other naval engagements. And what I call the +terrible and desperate nature of the war, is that the other Hellenes, +in their extreme animosity towards the city, should have entered into +negotiations with their bitterest enemy, the king of Persia, whom they, +together with us, had expelled;--him, without us, they again brought +back, barbarian against Hellenes, and all the hosts, both of Hellenes +and barbarians, were united against Athens. And then shone forth the +power and valour of our city. Her enemies had supposed that she was +exhausted by the war, and our ships were blockaded at Mitylene. But the +citizens themselves embarked, and came to the rescue with sixty other +ships, and their valour was confessed of all men, for they conquered +their enemies and delivered their friends. And yet by some evil fortune +they were left to perish at sea, and therefore are not interred here. +Ever to be remembered and honoured are they, for by their valour not +only that sea-fight was won for us, but the entire war was decided +by them, and through them the city gained the reputation of being +invincible, even though attacked by all mankind. And that reputation was +a true one, for the defeat which came upon us was our own doing. We were +never conquered by others, and to this day we are still unconquered by +them; but we were our own conquerors, and received defeat at our own +hands. Afterwards there was quiet and peace abroad, but there sprang up +war at home; and, if men are destined to have civil war, no one could +have desired that his city should take the disorder in a milder form. +How joyful and natural was the reconciliation of those who came from the +Piraeus and those who came from the city; with what moderation did they +order the war against the tyrants in Eleusis, and in a manner how unlike +what the other Hellenes expected! And the reason of this gentleness was +the veritable tie of blood, which created among them a friendship as of +kinsmen, faithful not in word only, but in deed. And we ought also +to remember those who then fell by one another's hands, and on such +occasions as these to reconcile them with sacrifices and prayers, +praying to those who have power over them, that they may be reconciled +even as we are reconciled. For they did not attack one another out of +malice or enmity, but they were unfortunate. And that such was the fact +we ourselves are witnesses, who are of the same race with them, and +have mutually received and granted forgiveness of what we have done and +suffered. After this there was perfect peace, and the city had rest; +and her feeling was that she forgave the barbarians, who had severely +suffered at her hands and severely retaliated, but that she was +indignant at the ingratitude of the Hellenes, when she remembered how +they had received good from her and returned evil, having made common +cause with the barbarians, depriving her of the ships which had once +been their salvation, and dismantling our walls, which had preserved +their own from falling. She thought that she would no longer defend the +Hellenes, when enslaved either by one another or by the barbarians, and +did accordingly. This was our feeling, while the Lacedaemonians were +thinking that we who were the champions of liberty had fallen, and that +their business was to subject the remaining Hellenes. And why should I +say more? for the events of which I am speaking happened not long ago +and we can all of us remember how the chief peoples of Hellas, Argives +and Boeotians and Corinthians, came to feel the need of us, and, what is +the greatest miracle of all, the Persian king himself was driven to such +extremity as to come round to the opinion, that from this city, of which +he was the destroyer, and from no other, his salvation would proceed. + +And if a person desired to bring a deserved accusation against our city, +he would find only one charge which he could justly urge--that she was +too compassionate and too favourable to the weaker side. And in this +instance she was not able to hold out or keep her resolution of refusing +aid to her injurers when they were being enslaved, but she was softened, +and did in fact send out aid, and delivered the Hellenes from slavery, +and they were free until they afterwards enslaved themselves. Whereas, +to the great king she refused to give the assistance of the state, for +she could not forget the trophies of Marathon and Salamis and Plataea; +but she allowed exiles and volunteers to assist him, and they were his +salvation. And she herself, when she was compelled, entered into the +war, and built walls and ships, and fought with the Lacedaemonians on +behalf of the Parians. Now the king fearing this city and wanting to +stand aloof, when he saw the Lacedaemonians growing weary of the war +at sea, asked of us, as the price of his alliance with us and the other +allies, to give up the Hellenes in Asia, whom the Lacedaemonians had +previously handed over to him, he thinking that we should refuse, and +that then he might have a pretence for withdrawing from us. About +the other allies he was mistaken, for the Corinthians and Argives and +Boeotians, and the other states, were quite willing to let them go, and +swore and covenanted, that, if he would pay them money, they would make +over to him the Hellenes of the continent, and we alone refused to give +them up and swear. Such was the natural nobility of this city, so sound +and healthy was the spirit of freedom among us, and the instinctive +dislike of the barbarian, because we are pure Hellenes, having +no admixture of barbarism in us. For we are not like many others, +descendants of Pelops or Cadmus or Egyptus or Danaus, who are by nature +barbarians, and yet pass for Hellenes, and dwell in the midst of us; +but we are pure Hellenes, uncontaminated by any foreign element, and +therefore the hatred of the foreigner has passed unadulterated into the +life-blood of the city. And so, notwithstanding our noble sentiments, we +were again isolated, because we were unwilling to be guilty of the base +and unholy act of giving up Hellenes to barbarians. And we were in the +same case as when we were subdued before; but, by the favour of Heaven, +we managed better, for we ended the war without the loss of our ships or +walls or colonies; the enemy was only too glad to be quit of us. Yet in +this war we lost many brave men, such as were those who fell owing to +the ruggedness of the ground at the battle of Corinth, or by treason at +Lechaeum. Brave men, too, were those who delivered the Persian king, +and drove the Lacedaemonians from the sea. I remind you of them, and you +must celebrate them together with me, and do honour to their memories. + +Such were the actions of the men who are here interred, and of others +who have died on behalf of their country; many and glorious things +I have spoken of them, and there are yet many more and more glorious +things remaining to be told--many days and nights would not suffice to +tell of them. Let them not be forgotten, and let every man remind their +descendants that they also are soldiers who must not desert the ranks +of their ancestors, or from cowardice fall behind. Even as I exhort you +this day, and in all future time, whenever I meet with any of you, shall +continue to remind and exhort you, O ye sons of heroes, that you strive +to be the bravest of men. And I think that I ought now to repeat what +your fathers desired to have said to you who are their survivors, when +they went out to battle, in case anything happened to them. I will tell +you what I heard them say, and what, if they had only speech, they would +fain be saying, judging from what they then said. And you must imagine +that you hear them saying what I now repeat to you:-- + +'Sons, the event proves that your fathers were brave men; for we might +have lived dishonourably, but have preferred to die honourably rather +than bring you and your children into disgrace, and rather than +dishonour our own fathers and forefathers; considering that life is +not life to one who is a dishonour to his race, and that to such a one +neither men nor Gods are friendly, either while he is on the earth or +after death in the world below. Remember our words, then, and whatever +is your aim let virtue be the condition of the attainment of your +aim, and know that without this all possessions and pursuits are +dishonourable and evil. For neither does wealth bring honour to the +owner, if he be a coward; of such a one the wealth belongs to another, +and not to himself. Nor does beauty and strength of body, when dwelling +in a base and cowardly man, appear comely, but the reverse of comely, +making the possessor more conspicuous, and manifesting forth his +cowardice. And all knowledge, when separated from justice and virtue, +is seen to be cunning and not wisdom; wherefore make this your first +and last and constant and all-absorbing aim, to exceed, if possible, not +only us but all your ancestors in virtue; and know that to excel you in +virtue only brings us shame, but that to be excelled by you is a source +of happiness to us. And we shall most likely be defeated, and you will +most likely be victors in the contest, if you learn so to order your +lives as not to abuse or waste the reputation of your ancestors, knowing +that to a man who has any self-respect, nothing is more dishonourable +than to be honoured, not for his own sake, but on account of the +reputation of his ancestors. The honour of parents is a fair and noble +treasure to their posterity, but to have the use of a treasure of wealth +and honour, and to leave none to your successors, because you +have neither money nor reputation of your own, is alike base and +dishonourable. And if you follow our precepts you will be received by +us as friends, when the hour of destiny brings you hither; but if you +neglect our words and are disgraced in your lives, no one will welcome +or receive you. This is the message which is to be delivered to our +children. + +'Some of us have fathers and mothers still living, and we would urge +them, if, as is likely, we shall die, to bear the calamity as lightly +as possible, and not to condole with one another; for they have sorrows +enough, and will not need any one to stir them up. While we gently heal +their wounds, let us remind them that the Gods have heard the chief part +of their prayers; for they prayed, not that their children might live +for ever, but that they might be brave and renowned. And this, which +is the greatest good, they have attained. A mortal man cannot expect to +have everything in his own life turning out according to his will; and +they, if they bear their misfortunes bravely, will be truly deemed brave +fathers of the brave. But if they give way to their sorrows, either they +will be suspected of not being our parents, or we of not being such as +our panegyrists declare. Let not either of the two alternatives happen, +but rather let them be our chief and true panegyrists, who show in their +lives that they are true men, and had men for their sons. Of old the +saying, "Nothing too much," appeared to be, and really was, well said. +For he whose happiness rests with himself, if possible, wholly, and if +not, as far as is possible,--who is not hanging in suspense on other +men, or changing with the vicissitude of their fortune,--has his life +ordered for the best. He is the temperate and valiant and wise; and when +his riches come and go, when his children are given and taken away, +he will remember the proverb--"Neither rejoicing overmuch nor grieving +overmuch," for he relies upon himself. And such we would have our +parents to be--that is our word and wish, and as such we now offer +ourselves, neither lamenting overmuch, nor fearing overmuch, if we are +to die at this time. And we entreat our fathers and mothers to retain +these feelings throughout their future life, and to be assured that they +will not please us by sorrowing and lamenting over us. But, if the dead +have any knowledge of the living, they will displease us most by making +themselves miserable and by taking their misfortunes too much to +heart, and they will please us best if they bear their loss lightly and +temperately. For our life will have the noblest end which is vouchsafed +to man, and should be glorified rather than lamented. And if they will +direct their minds to the care and nurture of our wives and children, +they will soonest forget their misfortunes, and live in a better and +nobler way, and be dearer to us. + +'This is all that we have to say to our families: and to the state we +would say--Take care of our parents and of our sons: let her worthily +cherish the old age of our parents, and bring up our sons in the right +way. But we know that she will of her own accord take care of them, and +does not need any exhortation of ours.' + +This, O ye children and parents of the dead, is the message which +they bid us deliver to you, and which I do deliver with the utmost +seriousness. And in their name I beseech you, the children, to imitate +your fathers, and you, parents, to be of good cheer about yourselves; +for we will nourish your age, and take care of you both publicly and +privately in any place in which one of us may meet one of you who are +the parents of the dead. And the care of you which the city shows, +you know yourselves; for she has made provision by law concerning the +parents and children of those who die in war; the highest authority is +specially entrusted with the duty of watching over them above all other +citizens, and they will see that your fathers and mothers have no wrong +done to them. The city herself shares in the education of the children, +desiring as far as it is possible that their orphanhood may not be felt +by them; while they are children she is a parent to them, and when they +have arrived at man's estate she sends them to their several duties, in +full armour clad; and bringing freshly to their minds the ways of their +fathers, she places in their hands the instruments of their fathers' +virtues; for the sake of the omen, she would have them from the first +begin to rule over their own houses arrayed in the strength and arms +of their fathers. And as for the dead, she never ceases honouring them, +celebrating in common for all rites which become the property of each; +and in addition to this, holding gymnastic and equestrian contests, and +musical festivals of every sort. She is to the dead in the place of a +son and heir, and to their sons in the place of a father, and to their +parents and elder kindred in the place of a guardian--ever and always +caring for them. Considering this, you ought to bear your calamity the +more gently; for thus you will be most endeared to the dead and to the +living, and your sorrows will heal and be healed. And now do you and +all, having lamented the dead in common according to the law, go your +ways. + +You have heard, Menexenus, the oration of Aspasia the Milesian. + +MENEXENUS: Truly, Socrates, I marvel that Aspasia, who is only a woman, +should be able to compose such a speech; she must be a rare one. + +SOCRATES: Well, if you are incredulous, you may come with me and hear +her. + +MENEXENUS: I have often met Aspasia, Socrates, and know what she is +like. + +SOCRATES: Well, and do you not admire her, and are you not grateful for +her speech? + +MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates, I am very grateful to her or to him who told +you, and still more to you who have told me. + +SOCRATES: Very good. But you must take care not to tell of me, and then +at some future time I will repeat to you many other excellent political +speeches of hers. + +MENEXENUS: Fear not, only let me hear them, and I will keep the secret. + +SOCRATES: Then I will keep my promise. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Menexenus, by Plato + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MENEXENUS *** + +***** This file should be named 1682.txt or 1682.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/8/1682/ + +Produced by Sue Asscher + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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The only external evidence to them which is of +much value is that of Aristotle; for the Alexandrian catalogues of a +century later include manifest forgeries. Even the value of the +Aristotelian authority is a good deal impaired by the uncertainty +concerning the date and authorship of the writings which are ascribed to +him. And several of the citations of Aristotle omit the name of Plato, and +some of them omit the name of the dialogue from which they are taken. +Prior, however, to the enquiry about the writings of a particular author, +general considerations which equally affect all evidence to the genuineness +of ancient writings are the following: Shorter works are more likely to +have been forged, or to have received an erroneous designation, than longer +ones; and some kinds of composition, such as epistles or panegyrical +orations, are more liable to suspicion than others; those, again, which +have a taste of sophistry in them, or the ring of a later age, or the +slighter character of a rhetorical exercise, or in which a motive or some +affinity to spurious writings can be detected, or which seem to have +originated in a name or statement really occurring in some classical +author, are also of doubtful credit; while there is no instance of any +ancient writing proved to be a forgery, which combines excellence with +length. A really great and original writer would have no object in +fathering his works on Plato; and to the forger or imitator, the 'literary +hack' of Alexandria and Athens, the Gods did not grant originality or +genius. Further, in attempting to balance the evidence for and against a +Platonic dialogue, we must not forget that the form of the Platonic writing +was common to several of his contemporaries. Aeschines, Euclid, Phaedo, +Antisthenes, and in the next generation Aristotle, are all said to have +composed dialogues; and mistakes of names are very likely to have occurred. +Greek literature in the third century before Christ was almost as +voluminous as our own, and without the safeguards of regular publication, +or printing, or binding, or even of distinct titles. An unknown writing +was naturally attributed to a known writer whose works bore the same +character; and the name once appended easily obtained authority. A +tendency may also be observed to blend the works and opinions of the master +with those of his scholars. To a later Platonist, the difference between +Plato and his imitators was not so perceptible as to ourselves. The +Memorabilia of Xenophon and the Dialogues of Plato are but a part of a +considerable Socratic literature which has passed away. And we must +consider how we should regard the question of the genuineness of a +particular writing, if this lost literature had been preserved to us. + +These considerations lead us to adopt the following criteria of +genuineness: (1) That is most certainly Plato's which Aristotle attributes +to him by name, which (2) is of considerable length, of (3) great +excellence, and also (4) in harmony with the general spirit of the Platonic +writings. But the testimony of Aristotle cannot always be distinguished +from that of a later age (see above); and has various degrees of +importance. Those writings which he cites without mentioning Plato, under +their own names, e.g. the Hippias, the Funeral Oration, the Phaedo, etc., +have an inferior degree of evidence in their favour. They may have been +supposed by him to be the writings of another, although in the case of +really great works, e.g. the Phaedo, this is not credible; those again +which are quoted but not named, are still more defective in their external +credentials. There may be also a possibility that Aristotle was mistaken, +or may have confused the master and his scholars in the case of a short +writing; but this is inconceivable about a more important work, e.g. the +Laws, especially when we remember that he was living at Athens, and a +frequenter of the groves of the Academy, during the last twenty years of +Plato's life. Nor must we forget that in all his numerous citations from +the Platonic writings he never attributes any passage found in the extant +dialogues to any one but Plato. And lastly, we may remark that one or two +great writings, such as the Parmenides and the Politicus, which are wholly +devoid of Aristotelian (1) credentials may be fairly attributed to Plato, +on the ground of (2) length, (3) excellence, and (4) accordance with the +general spirit of his writings. Indeed the greater part of the evidence +for the genuineness of ancient Greek authors may be summed up under two +heads only: (1) excellence; and (2) uniformity of tradition--a kind of +evidence, which though in many cases sufficient, is of inferior value. + +Proceeding upon these principles we appear to arrive at the conclusion that +nineteen-twentieths of all the writings which have ever been ascribed to +Plato, are undoubtedly genuine. There is another portion of them, +including the Epistles, the Epinomis, the dialogues rejected by the +ancients themselves, namely, the Axiochus, De justo, De virtute, Demodocus, +Sisyphus, Eryxias, which on grounds, both of internal and external +evidence, we are able with equal certainty to reject. But there still +remains a small portion of which we are unable to affirm either that they +are genuine or spurious. They may have been written in youth, or possibly +like the works of some painters, may be partly or wholly the compositions +of pupils; or they may have been the writings of some contemporary +transferred by accident to the more celebrated name of Plato, or of some +Platonist in the next generation who aspired to imitate his master. Not +that on grounds either of language or philosophy we should lightly reject +them. Some difference of style, or inferiority of execution, or +inconsistency of thought, can hardly be considered decisive of their +spurious character. For who always does justice to himself, or who writes +with equal care at all times? Certainly not Plato, who exhibits the +greatest differences in dramatic power, in the formation of sentences, and +in the use of words, if his earlier writings are compared with his later +ones, say the Protagoras or Phaedrus with the Laws. Or who can be expected +to think in the same manner during a period of authorship extending over +above fifty years, in an age of great intellectual activity, as well as of +political and literary transition? Certainly not Plato, whose earlier +writings are separated from his later ones by as wide an interval of +philosophical speculation as that which separates his later writings from +Aristotle. + +The dialogues which have been translated in the first Appendix, and which +appear to have the next claim to genuineness among the Platonic writings, +are the Lesser Hippias, the Menexenus or Funeral Oration, the First +Alcibiades. Of these, the Lesser Hippias and the Funeral Oration are cited +by Aristotle; the first in the Metaphysics, the latter in the Rhetoric. +Neither of them are expressly attributed to Plato, but in his citation of +both of them he seems to be referring to passages in the extant dialogues. +From the mention of 'Hippias' in the singular by Aristotle, we may perhaps +infer that he was unacquainted with a second dialogue bearing the same +name. Moreover, the mere existence of a Greater and Lesser Hippias, and of +a First and Second Alcibiades, does to a certain extent throw a doubt upon +both of them. Though a very clever and ingenious work, the Lesser Hippias +does not appear to contain anything beyond the power of an imitator, who +was also a careful student of the earlier Platonic writings, to invent. +The motive or leading thought of the dialogue may be detected in Xen. Mem., +and there is no similar instance of a 'motive' which is taken from Xenophon +in an undoubted dialogue of Plato. On the other hand, the upholders of the +genuineness of the dialogue will find in the Hippias a true Socratic +spirit; they will compare the Ion as being akin both in subject and +treatment; they will urge the authority of Aristotle; and they will detect +in the treatment of the Sophist, in the satirical reasoning upon Homer, in +the reductio ad absurdum of the doctrine that vice is ignorance, traces of +a Platonic authorship. In reference to the last point we are doubtful, as +in some of the other dialogues, whether the author is asserting or +overthrowing the paradox of Socrates, or merely following the argument +'whither the wind blows.' That no conclusion is arrived at is also in +accordance with the character of the earlier dialogues. The resemblances +or imitations of the Gorgias, Protagoras, and Euthydemus, which have been +observed in the Hippias, cannot with certainty be adduced on either side of +the argument. On the whole, more may be said in favour of the genuineness +of the Hippias than against it. + +The Menexenus or Funeral Oration is cited by Aristotle, and is interesting +as supplying an example of the manner in which the orators praised 'the +Athenians among the Athenians,' falsifying persons and dates, and casting a +veil over the gloomier events of Athenian history. It exhibits an +acquaintance with the funeral oration of Thucydides, and was, perhaps, +intended to rival that great work. If genuine, the proper place of the +Menexenus would be at the end of the Phaedrus. The satirical opening and +the concluding words bear a great resemblance to the earlier dialogues; the +oration itself is professedly a mimetic work, like the speeches in the +Phaedrus, and cannot therefore be tested by a comparison of the other +writings of Plato. The funeral oration of Pericles is expressly mentioned +in the Phaedrus, and this may have suggested the subject, in the same +manner that the Cleitophon appears to be suggested by the slight mention of +Cleitophon and his attachment to Thrasymachus in the Republic; and the +Theages by the mention of Theages in the Apology and Republic; or as the +Second Alcibiades seems to be founded upon the text of Xenophon, Mem. A +similar taste for parody appears not only in the Phaedrus, but in the +Protagoras, in the Symposium, and to a certain extent in the Parmenides. + +To these two doubtful writings of Plato I have added the First Alcibiades, +which, of all the disputed dialogues of Plato, has the greatest merit, and +is somewhat longer than any of them, though not verified by the testimony +of Aristotle, and in many respects at variance with the Symposium in the +description of the relations of Socrates and Alcibiades. Like the Lesser +Hippias and the Menexenus, it is to be compared to the earlier writings of +Plato. The motive of the piece may, perhaps, be found in that passage of +the Symposium in which Alcibiades describes himself as self-convicted by +the words of Socrates. For the disparaging manner in which Schleiermacher +has spoken of this dialogue there seems to be no sufficient foundation. At +the same time, the lesson imparted is simple, and the irony more +transparent than in the undoubted dialogues of Plato. We know, too, that +Alcibiades was a favourite thesis, and that at least five or six dialogues +bearing this name passed current in antiquity, and are attributed to +contemporaries of Socrates and Plato. (1) In the entire absence of real +external evidence (for the catalogues of the Alexandrian librarians cannot +be regarded as trustworthy); and (2) in the absence of the highest marks +either of poetical or philosophical excellence; and (3) considering that we +have express testimony to the existence of contemporary writings bearing +the name of Alcibiades, we are compelled to suspend our judgment on the +genuineness of the extant dialogue. + +Neither at this point, nor at any other, do we propose to draw an absolute +line of demarcation between genuine and spurious writings of Plato. They +fade off imperceptibly from one class to another. There may have been +degrees of genuineness in the dialogues themselves, as there are certainly +degrees of evidence by which they are supported. The traditions of the +oral discourses both of Socrates and Plato may have formed the basis of +semi-Platonic writings; some of them may be of the same mixed character +which is apparent in Aristotle and Hippocrates, although the form of them +is different. But the writings of Plato, unlike the writings of Aristotle, +seem never to have been confused with the writings of his disciples: this +was probably due to their definite form, and to their inimitable +excellence. The three dialogues which we have offered in the Appendix to +the criticism of the reader may be partly spurious and partly genuine; they +may be altogether spurious;--that is an alternative which must be frankly +admitted. Nor can we maintain of some other dialogues, such as the +Parmenides, and the Sophist, and Politicus, that no considerable objection +can be urged against them, though greatly overbalanced by the weight +(chiefly) of internal evidence in their favour. Nor, on the other hand, +can we exclude a bare possibility that some dialogues which are usually +rejected, such as the Greater Hippias and the Cleitophon, may be genuine. +The nature and object of these semi-Platonic writings require more careful +study and more comparison of them with one another, and with forged +writings in general, than they have yet received, before we can finally +decide on their character. We do not consider them all as genuine until +they can be proved to be spurious, as is often maintained and still more +often implied in this and similar discussions; but should say of some of +them, that their genuineness is neither proven nor disproven until further +evidence about them can be adduced. And we are as confident that the +Epistles are spurious, as that the Republic, the Timaeus, and the Laws are +genuine. + +On the whole, not a twentieth part of the writings which pass under the +name of Plato, if we exclude the works rejected by the ancients themselves +and two or three other plausible inventions, can be fairly doubted by those +who are willing to allow that a considerable change and growth may have +taken place in his philosophy (see above). That twentieth debatable +portion scarcely in any degree affects our judgment of Plato, either as a +thinker or a writer, and though suggesting some interesting questions to +the scholar and critic, is of little importance to the general reader. + + +MENEXENUS + +by + +Plato (see Appendix I above) + +Translated by Benjamin Jowett + + +INTRODUCTION. + +The Menexenus has more the character of a rhetorical exercise than any +other of the Platonic works. The writer seems to have wished to emulate +Thucydides, and the far slighter work of Lysias. In his rivalry with the +latter, to whom in the Phaedrus Plato shows a strong antipathy, he is +entirely successful, but he is not equal to Thucydides. The Menexenus, +though not without real Hellenic interest, falls very far short of the +rugged grandeur and political insight of the great historian. The fiction +of the speech having been invented by Aspasia is well sustained, and is in +the manner of Plato, notwithstanding the anachronism which puts into her +mouth an allusion to the peace of Antalcidas, an event occurring forty +years after the date of the supposed oration. But Plato, like Shakespeare, +is careless of such anachronisms, which are not supposed to strike the mind +of the reader. The effect produced by these grandiloquent orations on +Socrates, who does not recover after having heard one of them for three +days and more, is truly Platonic. + +Such discourses, if we may form a judgment from the three which are extant +(for the so-called Funeral Oration of Demosthenes is a bad and spurious +imitation of Thucydides and Lysias), conformed to a regular type. They +began with Gods and ancestors, and the legendary history of Athens, to +which succeeded an almost equally fictitious account of later times. The +Persian war usually formed the centre of the narrative; in the age of +Isocrates and Demosthenes the Athenians were still living on the glories of +Marathon and Salamis. The Menexenus veils in panegyric the weak places of +Athenian history. The war of Athens and Boeotia is a war of liberation; +the Athenians gave back the Spartans taken at Sphacteria out of kindness-- +indeed, the only fault of the city was too great kindness to their enemies, +who were more honoured than the friends of others (compare Thucyd., which +seems to contain the germ of the idea); we democrats are the aristocracy of +virtue, and the like. These are the platitudes and falsehoods in which +history is disguised. The taking of Athens is hardly mentioned. + +The author of the Menexenus, whether Plato or not, is evidently intending +to ridicule the practice, and at the same time to show that he can beat the +rhetoricians in their own line, as in the Phaedrus he may be supposed to +offer an example of what Lysias might have said, and of how much better he +might have written in his own style. The orators had recourse to their +favourite loci communes, one of which, as we find in Lysias, was the +shortness of the time allowed them for preparation. But Socrates points +out that they had them always ready for delivery, and that there was no +difficulty in improvising any number of such orations. To praise the +Athenians among the Athenians was easy,--to praise them among the +Lacedaemonians would have been a much more difficult task. Socrates +himself has turned rhetorician, having learned of a woman, Aspasia, the +mistress of Pericles; and any one whose teachers had been far inferior to +his own--say, one who had learned from Antiphon the Rhamnusian--would be +quite equal to the task of praising men to themselves. When we remember +that Antiphon is described by Thucydides as the best pleader of his day, +the satire on him and on the whole tribe of rhetoricians is transparent. + +The ironical assumption of Socrates, that he must be a good orator because +he had learnt of Aspasia, is not coarse, as Schleiermacher supposes, but is +rather to be regarded as fanciful. Nor can we say that the offer of +Socrates to dance naked out of love for Menexenus, is any more un-Platonic +than the threat of physical force which Phaedrus uses towards Socrates. +Nor is there any real vulgarity in the fear which Socrates expresses that +he will get a beating from his mistress, Aspasia: this is the natural +exaggeration of what might be expected from an imperious woman. Socrates +is not to be taken seriously in all that he says, and Plato, both in the +Symposium and elsewhere, is not slow to admit a sort of Aristophanic +humour. How a great original genius like Plato might or might not have +written, what was his conception of humour, or what limits he would have +prescribed to himself, if any, in drawing the picture of the Silenus +Socrates, are problems which no critical instinct can determine. + +On the other hand, the dialogue has several Platonic traits, whether +original or imitated may be uncertain. Socrates, when he departs from his +character of a 'know nothing' and delivers a speech, generally pretends +that what he is speaking is not his own composition. Thus in the Cratylus +he is run away with; in the Phaedrus he has heard somebody say something-- +is inspired by the genius loci; in the Symposium he derives his wisdom from +Diotima of Mantinea, and the like. But he does not impose on Menexenus by +his dissimulation. Without violating the character of Socrates, Plato, who +knows so well how to give a hint, or some one writing in his name, +intimates clearly enough that the speech in the Menexenus like that in the +Phaedrus is to be attributed to Socrates. The address of the dead to the +living at the end of the oration may also be compared to the numerous +addresses of the same kind which occur in Plato, in whom the dramatic +element is always tending to prevail over the rhetorical. The remark has +been often made, that in the Funeral Oration of Thucydides there is no +allusion to the existence of the dead. But in the Menexenus a future state +is clearly, although not strongly, asserted. + +Whether the Menexenus is a genuine writing of Plato, or an imitation only, +remains uncertain. In either case, the thoughts are partly borrowed from +the Funeral Oration of Thucydides; and the fact that they are so, is not in +favour of the genuineness of the work. Internal evidence seems to leave +the question of authorship in doubt. There are merits and there are +defects which might lead to either conclusion. The form of the greater +part of the work makes the enquiry difficult; the introduction and the +finale certainly wear the look either of Plato or of an extremely skilful +imitator. The excellence of the forgery may be fairly adduced as an +argument that it is not a forgery at all. In this uncertainty the express +testimony of Aristotle, who quotes, in the Rhetoric, the well-known words, +'It is easy to praise the Athenians among the Athenians,' from the Funeral +Oration, may perhaps turn the balance in its favour. It must be remembered +also that the work was famous in antiquity, and is included in the +Alexandrian catalogues of Platonic writings. + + +MENEXENUS + +by + +Plato (see Appendix I above) + +Translated by Benjamin Jowett + + +PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE: Socrates and Menexenus. + + +SOCRATES: Whence come you, Menexenus? Are you from the Agora? + +MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates; I have been at the Council. + +SOCRATES: And what might you be doing at the Council? And yet I need +hardly ask, for I see that you, believing yourself to have arrived at the +end of education and of philosophy, and to have had enough of them, are +mounting upwards to things higher still, and, though rather young for the +post, are intending to govern us elder men, like the rest of your family, +which has always provided some one who kindly took care of us. + +MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates, I shall be ready to hold office, if you allow +and advise that I should, but not if you think otherwise. I went to the +council chamber because I heard that the Council was about to choose some +one who was to speak over the dead. For you know that there is to be a +public funeral? + +SOCRATES: Yes, I know. And whom did they choose? + +MENEXENUS: No one; they delayed the election until tomorrow, but I believe +that either Archinus or Dion will be chosen. + +SOCRATES: O Menexenus! Death in battle is certainly in many respects a +noble thing. The dead man gets a fine and costly funeral, although he may +have been poor, and an elaborate speech is made over him by a wise man who +has long ago prepared what he has to say, although he who is praised may +not have been good for much. The speakers praise him for what he has done +and for what he has not done--that is the beauty of them--and they steal +away our souls with their embellished words; in every conceivable form they +praise the city; and they praise those who died in war, and all our +ancestors who went before us; and they praise ourselves also who are still +alive, until I feel quite elevated by their laudations, and I stand +listening to their words, Menexenus, and become enchanted by them, and all +in a moment I imagine myself to have become a greater and nobler and finer +man than I was before. And if, as often happens, there are any foreigners +who accompany me to the speech, I become suddenly conscious of having a +sort of triumph over them, and they seem to experience a corresponding +feeling of admiration at me, and at the greatness of the city, which +appears to them, when they are under the influence of the speaker, more +wonderful than ever. This consciousness of dignity lasts me more than +three days, and not until the fourth or fifth day do I come to my senses +and know where I am; in the meantime I have been living in the Islands of +the Blest. Such is the art of our rhetoricians, and in such manner does +the sound of their words keep ringing in my ears. + +MENEXENUS: You are always making fun of the rhetoricians, Socrates; this +time, however, I am inclined to think that the speaker who is chosen will +not have much to say, for he has been called upon to speak at a moment's +notice, and he will be compelled almost to improvise. + +SOCRATES: But why, my friend, should he not have plenty to say? Every +rhetorician has speeches ready made; nor is there any difficulty in +improvising that sort of stuff. Had the orator to praise Athenians among +Peloponnesians, or Peloponnesians among Athenians, he must be a good +rhetorician who could succeed and gain credit. But there is no difficulty +in a man's winning applause when he is contending for fame among the +persons whom he is praising. + +MENEXENUS: Do you think not, Socrates? + +SOCRATES: Certainly 'not.' + +MENEXENUS: Do you think that you could speak yourself if there should be a +necessity, and if the Council were to choose you? + +SOCRATES: That I should be able to speak is no great wonder, Menexenus, +considering that I have an excellent mistress in the art of rhetoric,--she +who has made so many good speakers, and one who was the best among all the +Hellenes--Pericles, the son of Xanthippus. + +MENEXENUS: And who is she? I suppose that you mean Aspasia. + +SOCRATES: Yes, I do; and besides her I had Connus, the son of Metrobius, +as a master, and he was my master in music, as she was in rhetoric. No +wonder that a man who has received such an education should be a finished +speaker; even the pupil of very inferior masters, say, for example, one who +had learned music of Lamprus, and rhetoric of Antiphon the Rhamnusian, +might make a figure if he were to praise the Athenians among the Athenians. + +MENEXENUS: And what would you be able to say if you had to speak? + +SOCRATES: Of my own wit, most likely nothing; but yesterday I heard +Aspasia composing a funeral oration about these very dead. For she had +been told, as you were saying, that the Athenians were going to choose a +speaker, and she repeated to me the sort of speech which he should deliver, +partly improvising and partly from previous thought, putting together +fragments of the funeral oration which Pericles spoke, but which, as I +believe, she composed. + +MENEXENUS: And can you remember what Aspasia said? + +SOCRATES: I ought to be able, for she taught me, and she was ready to +strike me because I was always forgetting. + +MENEXENUS: Then why will you not rehearse what she said? + +SOCRATES: Because I am afraid that my mistress may be angry with me if I +publish her speech. + +MENEXENUS: Nay, Socrates, let us have the speech, whether Aspasia's or any +one else's, no matter. I hope that you will oblige me. + +SOCRATES: But I am afraid that you will laugh at me if I continue the +games of youth in old age. + +MENEXENUS: Far otherwise, Socrates; let us by all means have the speech. + +SOCRATES: Truly I have such a disposition to oblige you, that if you bid +me dance naked I should not like to refuse, since we are alone. Listen +then: If I remember rightly, she began as follows, with the mention of the +dead:-- (Thucyd.) + +There is a tribute of deeds and of words. The departed have already had +the first, when going forth on their destined journey they were attended on +their way by the state and by their friends; the tribute of words remains +to be given to them, as is meet and by law ordained. For noble words are a +memorial and a crown of noble actions, which are given to the doers of them +by the hearers. A word is needed which will duly praise the dead and +gently admonish the living, exhorting the brethren and descendants of the +departed to imitate their virtue, and consoling their fathers and mothers +and the survivors, if any, who may chance to be alive of the previous +generation. What sort of a word will this be, and how shall we rightly +begin the praises of these brave men? In their life they rejoiced their +own friends with their valour, and their death they gave in exchange for +the salvation of the living. And I think that we should praise them in the +order in which nature made them good, for they were good because they were +sprung from good fathers. Wherefore let us first of all praise the +goodness of their birth; secondly, their nurture and education; and then +let us set forth how noble their actions were, and how worthy of the +education which they had received. + +And first as to their birth. Their ancestors were not strangers, nor are +these their descendants sojourners only, whose fathers have come from +another country; but they are the children of the soil, dwelling and living +in their own land. And the country which brought them up is not like other +countries, a stepmother to her children, but their own true mother; she +bore them and nourished them and received them, and in her bosom they now +repose. It is meet and right, therefore, that we should begin by praising +the land which is their mother, and that will be a way of praising their +noble birth. + +The country is worthy to be praised, not only by us, but by all mankind; +first, and above all, as being dear to the Gods. This is proved by the +strife and contention of the Gods respecting her. And ought not the +country which the Gods praise to be praised by all mankind? The second +praise which may be fairly claimed by her, is that at the time when the +whole earth was sending forth and creating diverse animals, tame and wild, +she our mother was free and pure from savage monsters, and out of all +animals selected and brought forth man, who is superior to the rest in +understanding, and alone has justice and religion. And a great proof that +she brought forth the common ancestors of us and of the departed, is that +she provided the means of support for her offspring. For as a woman proves +her motherhood by giving milk to her young ones (and she who has no +fountain of milk is not a mother), so did this our land prove that she was +the mother of men, for in those days she alone and first of all brought +forth wheat and barley for human food, which is the best and noblest +sustenance for man, whom she regarded as her true offspring. And these are +truer proofs of motherhood in a country than in a woman, for the woman in +her conception and generation is but the imitation of the earth, and not +the earth of the woman. And of the fruit of the earth she gave a plenteous +supply, not only to her own, but to others also; and afterwards she made +the olive to spring up to be a boon to her children, and to help them in +their toils. And when she had herself nursed them and brought them up to +manhood, she gave them Gods to be their rulers and teachers, whose names +are well known, and need not now be repeated. They are the Gods who first +ordered our lives, and instructed us in the arts for the supply of our +daily needs, and taught us the acquisition and use of arms for the defence +of the country. + +Thus born into the world and thus educated, the ancestors of the departed +lived and made themselves a government, which I ought briefly to +commemorate. For government is the nurture of man, and the government of +good men is good, and of bad men bad. And I must show that our ancestors +were trained under a good government, and for this reason they were good, +and our contemporaries are also good, among whom our departed friends are +to be reckoned. Then as now, and indeed always, from that time to this, +speaking generally, our government was an aristocracy--a form of government +which receives various names, according to the fancies of men, and is +sometimes called democracy, but is really an aristocracy or government of +the best which has the approval of the many. For kings we have always had, +first hereditary and then elected, and authority is mostly in the hands of +the people, who dispense offices and power to those who appear to be most +deserving of them. Neither is a man rejected from weakness or poverty or +obscurity of origin, nor honoured by reason of the opposite, as in other +states, but there is one principle--he who appears to be wise and good is a +governor and ruler. The basis of this our government is equality of birth; +for other states are made up of all sorts and unequal conditions of men, +and therefore their governments are unequal; there are tyrannies and there +are oligarchies, in which the one party are slaves and the others masters. +But we and our citizens are brethren, the children all of one mother, and +we do not think it right to be one another's masters or servants; but the +natural equality of birth compels us to seek for legal equality, and to +recognize no superiority except in the reputation of virtue and wisdom. + +And so their and our fathers, and these, too, our brethren, being nobly +born and having been brought up in all freedom, did both in their public +and private capacity many noble deeds famous over the whole world. They +were the deeds of men who thought that they ought to fight both against +Hellenes for the sake of Hellenes on behalf of freedom, and against +barbarians in the common interest of Hellas. Time would fail me to tell of +their defence of their country against the invasion of Eumolpus and the +Amazons, or of their defence of the Argives against the Cadmeians, or of +the Heracleids against the Argives; besides, the poets have already +declared in song to all mankind their glory, and therefore any +commemoration of their deeds in prose which we might attempt would hold a +second place. They already have their reward, and I say no more of them; +but there are other worthy deeds of which no poet has worthily sung, and +which are still wooing the poet's muse. Of these I am bound to make +honourable mention, and shall invoke others to sing of them also in lyric +and other strains, in a manner becoming the actors. And first I will tell +how the Persians, lords of Asia, were enslaving Europe, and how the +children of this land, who were our fathers, held them back. Of these I +will speak first, and praise their valour, as is meet and fitting. He who +would rightly estimate them should place himself in thought at that time, +when the whole of Asia was subject to the third king of Persia. The first +king, Cyrus, by his valour freed the Persians, who were his countrymen, and +subjected the Medes, who were their lords, and he ruled over the rest of +Asia, as far as Egypt; and after him came his son, who ruled all the +accessible part of Egypt and Libya; the third king was Darius, who extended +the land boundaries of the empire to Scythia, and with his fleet held the +sea and the islands. None presumed to be his equal; the minds of all men +were enthralled by him--so many and mighty and warlike nations had the +power of Persia subdued. Now Darius had a quarrel against us and the +Eretrians, because, as he said, we had conspired against Sardis, and he +sent 500,000 men in transports and vessels of war, and 300 ships, and Datis +as commander, telling him to bring the Eretrians and Athenians to the king, +if he wished to keep his head on his shoulders. He sailed against the +Eretrians, who were reputed to be amongst the noblest and most warlike of +the Hellenes of that day, and they were numerous, but he conquered them all +in three days; and when he had conquered them, in order that no one might +escape, he searched the whole country after this manner: his soldiers, +coming to the borders of Eretria and spreading from sea to sea, joined +hands and passed through the whole country, in order that they might be +able to tell the king that no one had escaped them. And from Eretria they +went to Marathon with a like intention, expecting to bind the Athenians in +the same yoke of necessity in which they had bound the Eretrians. Having +effected one-half of their purpose, they were in the act of attempting the +other, and none of the Hellenes dared to assist either the Eretrians or the +Athenians, except the Lacedaemonians, and they arrived a day too late for +the battle; but the rest were panic-stricken and kept quiet, too happy in +having escaped for a time. He who has present to his mind that conflict +will know what manner of men they were who received the onset of the +barbarians at Marathon, and chastened the pride of the whole of Asia, and +by the victory which they gained over the barbarians first taught other men +that the power of the Persians was not invincible, but that hosts of men +and the multitude of riches alike yield to valour. And I assert that those +men are the fathers not only of ourselves, but of our liberties and of the +liberties of all who are on the continent, for that was the action to which +the Hellenes looked back when they ventured to fight for their own safety +in the battles which ensued: they became disciples of the men of Marathon. +To them, therefore, I assign in my speech the first place, and the second +to those who fought and conquered in the sea fights at Salamis and +Artemisium; for of them, too, one might have many things to say--of the +assaults which they endured by sea and land, and how they repelled them. I +will mention only that act of theirs which appears to me to be the noblest, +and which followed that of Marathon and came nearest to it; for the men of +Marathon only showed the Hellenes that it was possible to ward off the +barbarians by land, the many by the few; but there was no proof that they +could be defeated by ships, and at sea the Persians retained the reputation +of being invincible in numbers and wealth and skill and strength. This is +the glory of the men who fought at sea, that they dispelled the second +terror which had hitherto possessed the Hellenes, and so made the fear of +numbers, whether of ships or men, to cease among them. And so the soldiers +of Marathon and the sailors of Salamis became the schoolmasters of Hellas; +the one teaching and habituating the Hellenes not to fear the barbarians at +sea, and the others not to fear them by land. Third in order, for the +number and valour of the combatants, and third in the salvation of Hellas, +I place the battle of Plataea. And now the Lacedaemonians as well as the +Athenians took part in the struggle; they were all united in this greatest +and most terrible conflict of all; wherefore their virtues will be +celebrated in times to come, as they are now celebrated by us. But at a +later period many Hellenic tribes were still on the side of the barbarians, +and there was a report that the great king was going to make a new attempt +upon the Hellenes, and therefore justice requires that we should also make +mention of those who crowned the previous work of our salvation, and drove +and purged away all barbarians from the sea. These were the men who fought +by sea at the river Eurymedon, and who went on the expedition to Cyprus, +and who sailed to Egypt and divers other places; and they should be +gratefully remembered by us, because they compelled the king in fear for +himself to look to his own safety instead of plotting the destruction of +Hellas. + +And so the war against the barbarians was fought out to the end by the +whole city on their own behalf, and on behalf of their countrymen. There +was peace, and our city was held in honour; and then, as prosperity makes +men jealous, there succeeded a jealousy of her, and jealousy begat envy, +and so she became engaged against her will in a war with the Hellenes. On +the breaking out of war, our citizens met the Lacedaemonians at Tanagra, +and fought for the freedom of the Boeotians; the issue was doubtful, and +was decided by the engagement which followed. For when the Lacedaemonians +had gone on their way, leaving the Boeotians, whom they were aiding, on the +third day after the battle of Tanagra, our countrymen conquered at +Oenophyta, and righteously restored those who had been unrighteously +exiled. And they were the first after the Persian war who fought on behalf +of liberty in aid of Hellenes against Hellenes; they were brave men, and +freed those whom they aided, and were the first too who were honourably +interred in this sepulchre by the state. Afterwards there was a mighty +war, in which all the Hellenes joined, and devastated our country, which +was very ungrateful of them; and our countrymen, after defeating them in a +naval engagement and taking their leaders, the Spartans, at Sphagia, when +they might have destroyed them, spared their lives, and gave them back, and +made peace, considering that they should war with the fellow-countrymen +only until they gained a victory over them, and not because of the private +anger of the state destroy the common interest of Hellas; but that with +barbarians they should war to the death. Worthy of praise are they also +who waged this war, and are here interred; for they proved, if any one +doubted the superior prowess of the Athenians in the former war with the +barbarians, that their doubts had no foundation--showing by their victory +in the civil war with Hellas, in which they subdued the other chief state +of the Hellenes, that they could conquer single-handed those with whom they +had been allied in the war against the barbarians. After the peace there +followed a third war, which was of a terrible and desperate nature, and in +this many brave men who are here interred lost their lives--many of them +had won victories in Sicily, whither they had gone over the seas to fight +for the liberties of the Leontines, to whom they were bound by oaths; but, +owing to the distance, the city was unable to help them, and they lost +heart and came to misfortune, their very enemies and opponents winning more +renown for valour and temperance than the friends of others. Many also +fell in naval engagements at the Hellespont, after having in one day taken +all the ships of the enemy, and defeated them in other naval engagements. +And what I call the terrible and desperate nature of the war, is that the +other Hellenes, in their extreme animosity towards the city, should have +entered into negotiations with their bitterest enemy, the king of Persia, +whom they, together with us, had expelled;--him, without us, they again +brought back, barbarian against Hellenes, and all the hosts, both of +Hellenes and barbarians, were united against Athens. And then shone forth +the power and valour of our city. Her enemies had supposed that she was +exhausted by the war, and our ships were blockaded at Mitylene. But the +citizens themselves embarked, and came to the rescue with sixty other +ships, and their valour was confessed of all men, for they conquered their +enemies and delivered their friends. And yet by some evil fortune they +were left to perish at sea, and therefore are not interred here. Ever to +be remembered and honoured are they, for by their valour not only that sea- +fight was won for us, but the entire war was decided by them, and through +them the city gained the reputation of being invincible, even though +attacked by all mankind. And that reputation was a true one, for the +defeat which came upon us was our own doing. We were never conquered by +others, and to this day we are still unconquered by them; but we were our +own conquerors, and received defeat at our own hands. Afterwards there was +quiet and peace abroad, but there sprang up war at home; and, if men are +destined to have civil war, no one could have desired that his city should +take the disorder in a milder form. How joyful and natural was the +reconciliation of those who came from the Piraeus and those who came from +the city; with what moderation did they order the war against the tyrants +in Eleusis, and in a manner how unlike what the other Hellenes expected! +And the reason of this gentleness was the veritable tie of blood, which +created among them a friendship as of kinsmen, faithful not in word only, +but in deed. And we ought also to remember those who then fell by one +another's hands, and on such occasions as these to reconcile them with +sacrifices and prayers, praying to those who have power over them, that +they may be reconciled even as we are reconciled. For they did not attack +one another out of malice or enmity, but they were unfortunate. And that +such was the fact we ourselves are witnesses, who are of the same race with +them, and have mutually received and granted forgiveness of what we have +done and suffered. After this there was perfect peace, and the city had +rest; and her feeling was that she forgave the barbarians, who had severely +suffered at her hands and severely retaliated, but that she was indignant +at the ingratitude of the Hellenes, when she remembered how they had +received good from her and returned evil, having made common cause with the +barbarians, depriving her of the ships which had once been their salvation, +and dismantling our walls, which had preserved their own from falling. She +thought that she would no longer defend the Hellenes, when enslaved either +by one another or by the barbarians, and did accordingly. This was our +feeling, while the Lacedaemonians were thinking that we who were the +champions of liberty had fallen, and that their business was to subject the +remaining Hellenes. And why should I say more? for the events of which I +am speaking happened not long ago and we can all of us remember how the +chief peoples of Hellas, Argives and Boeotians and Corinthians, came to +feel the need of us, and, what is the greatest miracle of all, the Persian +king himself was driven to such extremity as to come round to the opinion, +that from this city, of which he was the destroyer, and from no other, his +salvation would proceed. + +And if a person desired to bring a deserved accusation against our city, he +would find only one charge which he could justly urge--that she was too +compassionate and too favourable to the weaker side. And in this instance +she was not able to hold out or keep her resolution of refusing aid to her +injurers when they were being enslaved, but she was softened, and did in +fact send out aid, and delivered the Hellenes from slavery, and they were +free until they afterwards enslaved themselves. Whereas, to the great king +she refused to give the assistance of the state, for she could not forget +the trophies of Marathon and Salamis and Plataea; but she allowed exiles +and volunteers to assist him, and they were his salvation. And she +herself, when she was compelled, entered into the war, and built walls and +ships, and fought with the Lacedaemonians on behalf of the Parians. Now +the king fearing this city and wanting to stand aloof, when he saw the +Lacedaemonians growing weary of the war at sea, asked of us, as the price +of his alliance with us and the other allies, to give up the Hellenes in +Asia, whom the Lacedaemonians had previously handed over to him, he +thinking that we should refuse, and that then he might have a pretence for +withdrawing from us. About the other allies he was mistaken, for the +Corinthians and Argives and Boeotians, and the other states, were quite +willing to let them go, and swore and covenanted, that, if he would pay +them money, they would make over to him the Hellenes of the continent, and +we alone refused to give them up and swear. Such was the natural nobility +of this city, so sound and healthy was the spirit of freedom among us, and +the instinctive dislike of the barbarian, because we are pure Hellenes, +having no admixture of barbarism in us. For we are not like many others, +descendants of Pelops or Cadmus or Egyptus or Danaus, who are by nature +barbarians, and yet pass for Hellenes, and dwell in the midst of us; but we +are pure Hellenes, uncontaminated by any foreign element, and therefore the +hatred of the foreigner has passed unadulterated into the life-blood of the +city. And so, notwithstanding our noble sentiments, we were again +isolated, because we were unwilling to be guilty of the base and unholy act +of giving up Hellenes to barbarians. And we were in the same case as when +we were subdued before; but, by the favour of Heaven, we managed better, +for we ended the war without the loss of our ships or walls or colonies; +the enemy was only too glad to be quit of us. Yet in this war we lost many +brave men, such as were those who fell owing to the ruggedness of the +ground at the battle of Corinth, or by treason at Lechaeum. Brave men, +too, were those who delivered the Persian king, and drove the +Lacedaemonians from the sea. I remind you of them, and you must celebrate +them together with me, and do honour to their memories. + +Such were the actions of the men who are here interred, and of others who +have died on behalf of their country; many and glorious things I have +spoken of them, and there are yet many more and more glorious things +remaining to be told--many days and nights would not suffice to tell of +them. Let them not be forgotten, and let every man remind their +descendants that they also are soldiers who must not desert the ranks of +their ancestors, or from cowardice fall behind. Even as I exhort you this +day, and in all future time, whenever I meet with any of you, shall +continue to remind and exhort you, O ye sons of heroes, that you strive to +be the bravest of men. And I think that I ought now to repeat what your +fathers desired to have said to you who are their survivors, when they went +out to battle, in case anything happened to them. I will tell you what I +heard them say, and what, if they had only speech, they would fain be +saying, judging from what they then said. And you must imagine that you +hear them saying what I now repeat to you:-- + +'Sons, the event proves that your fathers were brave men; for we might have +lived dishonourably, but have preferred to die honourably rather than bring +you and your children into disgrace, and rather than dishonour our own +fathers and forefathers; considering that life is not life to one who is a +dishonour to his race, and that to such a one neither men nor Gods are +friendly, either while he is on the earth or after death in the world +below. Remember our words, then, and whatever is your aim let virtue be +the condition of the attainment of your aim, and know that without this all +possessions and pursuits are dishonourable and evil. For neither does +wealth bring honour to the owner, if he be a coward; of such a one the +wealth belongs to another, and not to himself. Nor does beauty and +strength of body, when dwelling in a base and cowardly man, appear comely, +but the reverse of comely, making the possessor more conspicuous, and +manifesting forth his cowardice. And all knowledge, when separated from +justice and virtue, is seen to be cunning and not wisdom; wherefore make +this your first and last and constant and all-absorbing aim, to exceed, if +possible, not only us but all your ancestors in virtue; and know that to +excel you in virtue only brings us shame, but that to be excelled by you is +a source of happiness to us. And we shall most likely be defeated, and you +will most likely be victors in the contest, if you learn so to order your +lives as not to abuse or waste the reputation of your ancestors, knowing +that to a man who has any self-respect, nothing is more dishonourable than +to be honoured, not for his own sake, but on account of the reputation of +his ancestors. The honour of parents is a fair and noble treasure to their +posterity, but to have the use of a treasure of wealth and honour, and to +leave none to your successors, because you have neither money nor +reputation of your own, is alike base and dishonourable. And if you follow +our precepts you will be received by us as friends, when the hour of +destiny brings you hither; but if you neglect our words and are disgraced +in your lives, no one will welcome or receive you. This is the message +which is to be delivered to our children. + +'Some of us have fathers and mothers still living, and we would urge them, +if, as is likely, we shall die, to bear the calamity as lightly as +possible, and not to condole with one another; for they have sorrows +enough, and will not need any one to stir them up. While we gently heal +their wounds, let us remind them that the Gods have heard the chief part of +their prayers; for they prayed, not that their children might live for +ever, but that they might be brave and renowned. And this, which is the +greatest good, they have attained. A mortal man cannot expect to have +everything in his own life turning out according to his will; and they, if +they bear their misfortunes bravely, will be truly deemed brave fathers of +the brave. But if they give way to their sorrows, either they will be +suspected of not being our parents, or we of not being such as our +panegyrists declare. Let not either of the two alternatives happen, but +rather let them be our chief and true panegyrists, who show in their lives +that they are true men, and had men for their sons. Of old the saying, +"Nothing too much," appeared to be, and really was, well said. For he +whose happiness rests with himself, if possible, wholly, and if not, as far +as is possible,--who is not hanging in suspense on other men, or changing +with the vicissitude of their fortune,--has his life ordered for the best. +He is the temperate and valiant and wise; and when his riches come and go, +when his children are given and taken away, he will remember the proverb-- +"Neither rejoicing overmuch nor grieving overmuch," for he relies upon +himself. And such we would have our parents to be--that is our word and +wish, and as such we now offer ourselves, neither lamenting overmuch, nor +fearing overmuch, if we are to die at this time. And we entreat our +fathers and mothers to retain these feelings throughout their future life, +and to be assured that they will not please us by sorrowing and lamenting +over us. But, if the dead have any knowledge of the living, they will +displease us most by making themselves miserable and by taking their +misfortunes too much to heart, and they will please us best if they bear +their loss lightly and temperately. For our life will have the noblest end +which is vouchsafed to man, and should be glorified rather than lamented. +And if they will direct their minds to the care and nurture of our wives +and children, they will soonest forget their misfortunes, and live in a +better and nobler way, and be dearer to us. + +'This is all that we have to say to our families: and to the state we +would say--Take care of our parents and of our sons: let her worthily +cherish the old age of our parents, and bring up our sons in the right way. +But we know that she will of her own accord take care of them, and does not +need any exhortation of ours.' + +This, O ye children and parents of the dead, is the message which they bid +us deliver to you, and which I do deliver with the utmost seriousness. And +in their name I beseech you, the children, to imitate your fathers, and +you, parents, to be of good cheer about yourselves; for we will nourish +your age, and take care of you both publicly and privately in any place in +which one of us may meet one of you who are the parents of the dead. And +the care of you which the city shows, you know yourselves; for she has made +provision by law concerning the parents and children of those who die in +war; the highest authority is specially entrusted with the duty of watching +over them above all other citizens, and they will see that your fathers and +mothers have no wrong done to them. The city herself shares in the +education of the children, desiring as far as it is possible that their +orphanhood may not be felt by them; while they are children she is a parent +to them, and when they have arrived at man's estate she sends them to their +several duties, in full armour clad; and bringing freshly to their minds +the ways of their fathers, she places in their hands the instruments of +their fathers' virtues; for the sake of the omen, she would have them from +the first begin to rule over their own houses arrayed in the strength and +arms of their fathers. And as for the dead, she never ceases honouring +them, celebrating in common for all rites which become the property of +each; and in addition to this, holding gymnastic and equestrian contests, +and musical festivals of every sort. She is to the dead in the place of a +son and heir, and to their sons in the place of a father, and to their +parents and elder kindred in the place of a guardian--ever and always +caring for them. Considering this, you ought to bear your calamity the +more gently; for thus you will be most endeared to the dead and to the +living, and your sorrows will heal and be healed. And now do you and all, +having lamented the dead in common according to the law, go your ways. + +You have heard, Menexenus, the oration of Aspasia the Milesian. + +MENEXENUS: Truly, Socrates, I marvel that Aspasia, who is only a woman, +should be able to compose such a speech; she must be a rare one. + +SOCRATES: Well, if you are incredulous, you may come with me and hear her. + +MENEXENUS: I have often met Aspasia, Socrates, and know what she is like. + +SOCRATES: Well, and do you not admire her, and are you not grateful for +her speech? + +MENEXENUS: Yes, Socrates, I am very grateful to her or to him who told +you, and still more to you who have told me. + +SOCRATES: Very good. But you must take care not to tell of me, and then +at some future time I will repeat to you many other excellent political +speeches of hers. + +MENEXENUS: Fear not, only let me hear them, and I will keep the secret. + +SOCRATES: Then I will keep my promise. + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of Menexus, by Plato + diff --git a/old/mnxns10.zip b/old/mnxns10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..11a0b17 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/mnxns10.zip |