The Stoic Socrates of Xenophon

Today we will learn and reflect on the Stoic Socrates of Xenophon. Although it is true that the Greek philosopher Zena, who studied under Crates, the last Greek Cynic philosopher, is seen by both ancient and modern scholars as the founder of Stoicism, in a larger sense the Stoic emphasis of moral philosophy was always present in Greek philosophy, starting with Homer and Hesiod. Socrates and Plato had such a great influence over Greek that most scholars forget that they were just innovators. We also see in the famous Sistine Chapel painting by Raphael of the Greek philosophers, some of the famous students of Socrates. His students included Antisthenes, the first Greek Cynic philosopher, whose ideas were adapted and advanced some generations later by Zeno, the first Stoic philosopher, and Aristotle, one of his most famous students, who like the Stoics was fond of discussing lists of virtues and vices. And, of course, his most famous student of all, Plato, whose Socratic theory of the forms can be seen as a mystical representation of Stoic moral philosophy. In this video we will examine the portrait of Socrates painted by Xenophon, and his Socrates appears more Stoic than the Platonic Socrates. For example, Xenophon's Socrates is much fonder of moral maxims. Another of Socrates' students was Aristippus of Cyrene, who formed the Cyrenaic school of philosophy, which was later absorbed by the Epicureans. At the end of our talk, we will discuss the sources used for this video, and you can follow along in our PowerPoint script posted on SlideShare. Please, we welcome interesting questions in the comments. Let us learn and reflect together. Historians usually dismiss Xenophon's Socratic dialogues out of hand, and rarely will Xenophon's Socrates even be mentioned in Greek philosophy courses. And there's no doubt that Plato was a far better writer than Xenophon, and that Xenophon composed only a handful of Socratic dialogues, compared to the dozens of dialogues Plato and his followers composed. But what's also true is Xenophon also composed many more adventure stories than did Plato. Most of Plato's and most of Xenophon's works have survived up to the current day, whereas most other ancient works have disappeared into the sands of history. In fact, St. Justin Martyr refers extensively to Xenophon's Socrates in his Apology to the Roman Senate. Since Xenophon's Socrates is more of a moral philosopher than Plato's Socrates, you could argue that Xenophon's Socrates is closer to Stoicism, which may tell us more about Xenophon and Plato than Socrates. When we converted our blogs on the trial of execution of Socrates to YouTube videos, our thinking evolved, and we compared the Socrates of Plato with the Stoic Socrates of Xenophon. Xenophon had no doubt read Plato's account of the trial and execution of Socrates, but he wanted to provide his own perspective. His Socrates is more of a moral teacher than Plato's Socrates. Xenophon has a short work on Socrates' defense, followed by his memoirs, which tell us how Socrates led a virtuous life unworthy of his execution. Many readers, when reading Plato's Apology of Socrates, are struck by his arrogant manner when he's called upon to speak in his defense in his trial at Athens. The ever direct Xenophon, in his first paragraph, mentions Socrates' arrogant tone, which is how Socrates actually spoke. And the translator's footnote says that the Greek word for arrogance does not have quite the negative connotation that it does in English, that it could simply imply talking from a high standpoint. Perhaps it means something like supremely overconfident, or morally superior, or morally condescending, or maybe just plain uppity, or maybe, as the Greeks would put it, hubristic. Socrates does not spend much time preparing his defense. When asked why he is not preparing a defense, he responds, since I have consistently done no wrong, this is the finest preparation for a defense. Plato's Socrates tells us that he is ready to die because he is morally obligated to follow the laws of the state, whereas Xenophon's Socrates is more stoic. He accepts the punishment of death because he prefers to die with dignity before his dementia sets in, since he's already quite elderly, possibly in his 70s, which was quite old in the ancient world. Xenophon's Socrates definitely sounds stoic. He sought to die the good stoic death. And Xenophon tells us Socrates was so arrogant in court that he invited the jurors ill will, and more or less forced them to condemn him. His fate was proper to one loved by the gods, because he both avoided the most difficult part of life, and gained the easiest of deaths. His fortitude was obvious, since he decided death was the better option, and he showed no weakness in the face of death, but awaited it cheerfully. In his defense of Socrates, Xenophon opens with the charges against him, that Socrates does not recognize the gods recognized by the states, but introduces new deities, and that Socrates corrupts the youth. To answer these charges, Xenophon first points out that Socrates encouraged those who wish to run a state or country efficiently, should seek the advice of diviners, such as the Oracle of Delphi. He reasoned that many things are under men's control, but there are many events men can never totally predict, regardless of their preparation, like the success of a harvest, or the digging of a well, success in love and war, and the vagaries of political fortunes. Xenophon thought that those who supposed that such matters were totally dependent on human efforts, with no divine intervention, were actually superstitious. It was also superstitious to consult diviners on questions which the gods enabled us to decide by the use of our wits. He said that where the gods have given us power to act using our intelligence, we ought to use it, but where the outcome is concealed from humans, we should try to discover it from the gods by divination, for the gods communicate to those whom they favor. Since Greek philosophy paved the way in the hearts of the Greeks for Christianity, what is the takeaway message for us today? The message is this, we should certainly ask for God's blessings and intervention as we face the difficult decisions and undertakings in our lives, but this should not prevent us from assuming responsibility for the success of our endeavors, and that we should certainly not blame God for any difficulties that we may encounter. When the twists and turns of life turn out well, perhaps it was due to divine intervention, or perhaps God gave us the confidence to make the right decisions and follow through. Xenophon Socrates was more the Stoic philosopher. Socrates always discussed human matters, trying to find out the nature of piety and impiety, honor and dishonor, right and wrong, sanity and lunacy, courage and cowardice, state and statesmen, and all other knowledge that truly good men would seek. Xenophon Socrates' belief in the gods comes close to the implicit monotheism of the Stoics. Most Greeks believe that the gods knew some things but not others, but Socrates believed that the gods know everything, both words and actions, and unspoken intentions, that they are present everywhere and communicate to people about all kinds of human affairs. Socrates prayed to the gods simply to give him what was good, recognizing that the gods know best what is good for us. Xenophon Socrates displayed the Stoic virtues of self-discipline and controlling the passions. Socrates was the most self-disciplined of men in his sexual and other appetites, and he was most tolerant of cold and heat and hardships of all kinds, and he trained himself to be moderate, so he needed few possessions. Socrates preferred to teach the moderate virtues, mostly by his own example. He neither neglected the body nor commended others for doing so. He was not ostentatious in his clothing or in his footwear or in the rest of his daily life. He did not make his associates money lovers. He rid them of all other desires except for his company, and he refused to charge fees. He was surprised that a man who taught goodness would demand a fee for it. Xenophon Socrates quotes Hesiod's works and days, which reminds us of Jesus' teaching of the wide and narrow path. Evil can be easily found freely, smooth as the road and very near she dwells. But sweat the gods have set upon the way to goodness. Long and steep is the path to it, and rough at first, but if you reach the summit, thereafter it is easy, hard though it was. The most memorable passages in Xenophon is where Hercules meets the lady's virtue and vice. The lady virtue of Xenophon Socrates is elegant, with a genuine noble character, whereas the lady vice is plump with a pretension of nobility, who masquerades herself as a cheaper and less secure virtue. Lady vice is an Epicurean. She thinks that pleasure is the primary virtue of life. Xenophon Socrates has the lady vice eager to rush ahead of virtue, rushing up to Hercules and saying, Hercules, I see that you can't make up your mind about which way of life to adapt. If you take me, vice, as your friend, I will lead you by the easiest and most pleasant road. You shall not miss the taste of any pleasure, and you shall live out your life without any experience of hardship. Xenophon Socrates also has a dialogue with an ungrateful teenager, and some things never change. And we will encourage you to read the dialogue for yourself, so we will provide the concluding lecture. So Xenophon's narrator tells this ungrateful teenager, So if you are sensible, my boy, you will beseech the gods to pardon any disregard that you have shown toward your mother, in case they count you as ungrateful and refuse to do you any good. And at the same time, you will take care that your fellow men don't observe you neglecting your parents and lose respect for you, so that you stand reveal as destitute of friends. For if they get the notion that you are ungrateful to your parents, nobody will expect gratitude in return for doing you a kindness. Xenophon Socrates engages two quarreling brothers, and perhaps in jest the translator suggests that he compares the effort to getting along with your brother with training your horse. Horses respond best to kindness, as do brothers. Although the elder brother should take the lead, Socrates suggests that maybe the younger brother should try breaking the cycle of animosity by showing some common courtesy. And the younger brother objects. What if his older brother does not improve? In that case, said Socrates, you will simply run the risk of showing that you are a good and affectionate brother, and that he is a bad brother who doesn't deserve to be treated kindly. But I don't imagine that anything of the sort will happen. Perhaps when he realizes you are challenging him to this kind of contest, he will be very keen to outdo you in kindness, both spoken and practical. Now we'll discuss the sources we used for this video. Although the works of Xenophon are often deprecated by modern scholars, in the ancient world and in the Renaissance years, they were highly valued, and they were so treasured by copious monks over the century, that most of them have survived to the current day. Although he wrote far fewer dialogues of Socrates than did Plato, some of these were in response to Plato's works to give his perspective their beloved teacher, Socrates. The YouTube description links to the video script and our blog. Please support our channel by sharing this video with your friends, and by clicking on the like and subscribe buttons, and by clicking on the Amazon links to purchase any of the books we discussed, which will earn us a small affiliate commission, and please consider becoming a patron of our channel, and please click on the links for interesting videos on other topics that will broaden your knowledge and improve your soul. Thank you.