1. Xenophon, Symposium, 4.15-4.16, 4.19, 4.23-4.26, 4.29-4.35 (5th cent. BCE - 4th cent. BCE)
| 4.15. And so, Callias, if you are proud of your ability to make people more righteous, I have a better right than you to claim that I can influence men toward every sort of virtue. For since we handsome men exert a certain inspiration upon the amorous, we make them more generous in money matters, more strenuous and heroic amid dangers, yes, and more modest and self-controlled also; for they feel abashed about the very things that they want most. 4.16. Madness is in those people, too, who do not elect the handsome men as generals; I certainly would go through fire with Cleinias, and I know that you would, also, with me. Therefore, Socrates , do not puzzle any more over the question whether or not my beauty will be of any benefit to men. 4.19. How now? exclaimed Socrates . You boast as though you actually thought yourself a handsomer man than me. of course, was Critobulus’s reply; otherwise I should be the ugliest of all the Satyrs ever on the stage. Now Socrates , as fortune would have it, really resembled these creatures. This is regarded by some as a comment interpolated in the text, though doubtless true enough. Plato ( Symp. 215 A, B, E; 216 C, D; 221 D, E; cf. 222 D) represents Alcibiades as likening Socrates to the Sileni and particularly to the Satyr Marsyas. Vase paintings and statues give an idea of the Greek conception of their coarse features. They regularly formed the chorus in the Satyr-plays that were given in connection with tragedies. 4.23. For my part, Socrates , said Hermogenes, I do not regard it as at all like you to countece such a mad passion of love in Critobulus. What? Do you suppose, asked Socrates , that this condition has arisen since he began associating with me? If not, when did it? Do you not notice that the soft down is just beginning to grow down in front of his ears, while that of Cleinias is already creeping up the nape of his neck? Well, then, this hot flame of his was kindled in the days when they used to go to school together. 4.24. It was the discovery of this that caused his father to put him into my hands, in the hope that I might do him some good. And without question he is already much improved. For awhile ago he was like those who look at the Gorgons—he would gaze at Cleinias with a fixed and stony stare and would never leave his presence; but now I have seen him actually close his eyes in a wink. 4.25. But to tell you the truth, gentlemen, he continued, by Heaven! it does look to me—to speak confidentially—as if he had also kissed Cleinias; and there is nothing more terribly potent than this at kindling the fires of passion. For it is insatiable and holds out seductive hopes. 4.26. For this reason I maintain that one who intends to possess the power of self-control must refrain from kissing those in the bloom of beauty. 4.29. But Callias now remarked, It is your turn, Charmides, to tell us why poverty makes you feel proud. Very well, said he. So much, at least, every one admits, that assurance is preferable to fear, freedom to slavery, being the recipient of attention to being the giver of it, the confidence of one’s country to its distrust. 4.30. Now, as for my situation in our commonwealth, when I was rich, I was, to begin with, in dread of some one’s digging through the wall of my house and not only getting my money but also doing me a mischief personally; in the next place, I knuckled down to the blackmailers, knowing well enough that my abilities lay more in the direction of suffering injury than of inflicting it on them. Then, too, I was for ever being ordered by the government to undergo some expenditure or other, and I never had the opportunity for foreign travel. 4.31. Now, however, since I am stripped of my property over the border and get no income from the property in Attica , and my household effects have been sold, I stretch out and enjoy a sound sleep, I have gained the confidence of the state, I am no longer subjected to threats but do the threatening now myself; and I have the free man’s privilege of going abroad or staying here at home as I please. People now actually rise from their seats in deference to me, and rich men obsequiously give me the right of way on the street. Charmides is apparently drawing the picture of the independent voter or member of a jury. 4.32. Now I am like a despot; then I was clearly a slave. Then I paid a revenue to the body politic; now I live on the tribute The poor relief. that the state pays to me. Moreover, people used to vilify me, when I was wealthy, for consorting with Socrates ; but now that I have got poor, no one bothers his head about it any longer. Again, when my property was large, either the government or fate was continually making me throw some of it to the winds; but now, far from throwing anything away (for I possess nothing), I am always in expectation of acquiring something. 4.33. Your prayers, also, said Callias, are doubtless to the effect that you may never be rich; and if you ever have a fine dream you sacrifice, do you not, to the deities who avert disasters? Oh, no! was the reply; I don’t go so far as that; I hazard the danger with great heroism if I have any expectation of getting something from some one. 4.34. Come, now, Antisthenes, said Socrates , take your turn and tell us how it is that with such slender means you base your pride on wealth. Because, sirs, I conceive that people’s wealth and poverty are to be found not in their real estate but in their hearts. 4.35. For I see many persons, not in office, who though possessors of large resources, yet look upon themselves as so poor that they bend their backs to any toil, any risk, if only they may increase their holdings; and again I know of brothers, with equal shares in their inheritance, where one of them has plenty, and more than enough to meet expenses, while the other is in utter want. |
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