[160] Maximus Tyrius remarks this difference (between the erotic dialogues of Plato and many of the others) in one of his discourses about the ἐρωτικὴ of Sokrates. Οὐδὲν γὰρ αὐτὸς αὑτῷ ὅμοιος ὁ Σωκράτης ἐρῶν τῷ σωφρονοῦντι, καὶ ὁ ἐκπληττόμενος τοὺς καλοὺς τῷ ἐλέγχοντι τοὺς ἄφρονας, &c. (Diss. xxiv. 5, p. 466 ed. Reiske).
CHAPTER XXXIII.
MENEXENUS.
Persons and situation of the dialogue.
In this dialogue the only personages are, Sokrates as an elderly man, and Menexenus, a young Athenian of noble family, whom we have already seen as the intimate friend of Lysis, in the dialogue known under the name of Lysis.
Funeral harangue at Athens — Choice of a public orator — Sokrates declares the task of the public orator to be easy — Comic exaggeration of the effects of the harangue.
Sokr. — What have you been doing at the Senate-house, Menexenus? You probably think that your course of education and philosophy is finished, and that you are qualified for high political functions. Young as you are, you aim at exercising command over us elders, as your family have always done before you.[1] Menex. — I shall do so, if you advise and allow me, Sokrates: but not otherwise. Now, however, I came to learn who was the person chosen by the Senate to deliver the customary oration at the approaching public funeral of the citizens who have fallen in battle. The Senate, however, have adjourned the election until to-morrow: but I think either Archinus or Dion will be chosen. Sokr. — To die in battle is a fine thing in many ways.[2] He who dies thus may be poor, but he receives a splendid funeral: he may be of little worth, yet he is still praised in prepared speeches by able orators, who decorate his name with brilliant encomiums, whether deserved or not, fascinating all the hearers: extolling us all — not merely the slain warrior, but the city collectively, our ancestors, and us the living — so admirably that I stand bewitched when I hear them, and fancy myself a greater, nobler, and finer man than I was before. I am usually accompanied by some strangers, who admire as much as I do, and who conceive a lofty estimation both of me and of the city. The voice of the orator resounds in my ear, and the feeling of pride dwells in my mind, for more than three days; during which interval I fancy myself almost in the islands of the blest. I hardly come to myself or recollect where I am, until the fourth or fifth day. Such is the force of these orators.
[1] Plat. Menex. p. 234 B-C.
[2] Plat. Menex. p. 235 A-B.