Chaerephon

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Kevin Johnson.

Persons of the Dialogue, Callicles, Socrates, Chaerephon, Gorgias, Paulus.

Scene, The House of Callicles.

Callicles, the wise man, as the proverb says, is late for a fray but not for a feast.

Socrates, and are we late for a feast? Callicles, yes, and a delightful feast, for Gorgias has just been exhibiting to us many fine things.

Socrates, it is not my fault, Callicles.

Our friend Chaerephon is to blame, for he would keep us loitering in the agora.

Chaerephon, never mind, Socrates.

Socrates approaches his antagonist warily from a distance, with a sort of irony which touches with a light hand both his personal vices, probably in allusion to some scandal of the day, and his servility to the populace.

At the same time, he is in most profound earnest, as Chaerephon remarks.

Callicles soon loses his temper, but the more he is irritated, the more provoking and matter-of-fact does Socrates become.

A repartee of his, which appears to have been really made to the omniscient Hippias, according to the testimony of Xenophon, Memorabilia, is introduced.

Socrates would like to know before he replies whether Gorgias will quarrel with him if he points out a slight inconsistency into which he has fallen, or whether he, like himself, is one who loves to be refuted.

Gorgias declares that he is quite one of his sort, but fears that the argument may be tedious to the company.

The company cheer, and Chaerephon and Callicles exhort them to proceed.

Socrates gently points out the supposed inconsistency into which Gorgias appears to have fallen, and which he is inclined to think may arise out of a misapprehension of his own.

It's actually quite a self-glorifying text.

And you know, I, I read the, the story, the Chaerephon story, right?

Mm-hmm.

So we can put it like this.

He's like, "You know, I'm gonna avoid this fate.

I'm gonna get away from Polybus and Merope." Um, and, um, so there's, um...

Like, I think Socrates, when, you know, Chaerephon comes back to him and says, "The oracle said there was no one wiser than you," uh, and Socrates is like, "But I was just very aware that I wasn't wise." I mean, first of all, there's something really remarkable in that moment.

Like, that's like the Harry Potter moment that we've all been waiting for our whole lives, which is that, like, some divine source tells you that you're special.

These are at least conceivable uses of the art, and no others have been discovered by us.

Here Callicles, who has been listening in silent amazement, asks Chaerephon whether Socrates is in earnest; and on receiving the assurance that he is, proceeds to ask the same question of Socrates himself.

For if such doctrines are true, life must have been turned upside down, and all of us are doing the opposite of what we ought to be doing.

Socrates replies in a style of playful irony, that before men can understand one another they must have some common feeling; and such a community of feeling exists between himself and Callicles, for both of them are lovers, and they have both a pair of loves.

For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Kevin Johnson.

Persons of the Dialogue.

Callicles, Socrates, Chaerephon, Gorgias, Paulus.

Scene.

He will tell you about my wisdom, if I have any, and of what sort it is.

You must have known Chaerephon.

He was early a friend of mine, and also a friend of yours, for he shared in the recent exile of the people and returned with you.

Well, Chaerephon, as you know, was very impetuous in all his doings, and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to tell him whether...

As I was saying, I must beg you not to interrupt.

He asked the oracle to tell him whether anyone was wiser than I was, and the Pythian prophetess answered that there was no man wiser.

Chaerephon is dead himself, but his brother who is in court will confirm the truth of what I am saying.

Why do I mention this? Because I am going to explain to you why I have such an evil name.

Or he may have been regardless of the historical truth of the characters of his dialogue, as in the case of Meno and Critias.

Like Chaerephon, Apol, the real Anytus was a democrat and had joined Thrasybulus in the conflict with the Thirty.

The Protagonist arrived at a sort of hypothetical conclusion that if virtue is knowledge, it can be taught.

In the Euthydemus, Socrates himself offered an example of the manner in which the true teacher may draw out the mind of youth.

Charmides.

Chaerephon.

Critias.

Scene.

Yesterday evening I returned from the army at Potidaea, and having been a good while away, I thought that I would go and look at my old haunts.

So I went into the Palaestra of Taureas, which is over against the temple adjoining the porch of the King Archon, and there I found a number of persons, most of whom I knew, but not all.

My visit was unexpected, and no sooner did they see me entering than they saluted me from afar on all sides, and Chaerephon, who is a kind of madman, started up and ran to me, seizing my hand and saying, How did you escape, Socrates? I should explain that an engagement had taken place at Potidaea not long before we came away, the news of which had only just reached Athens.

You see, I replied, that here I am.