60. And among other things Plato says that Chærephon asked the Pythian priestess whether any one was wiser than Socrates? and that she replied, No one. But Xenophon does not agree with all this; but says—"For when Chærephon once asked at Delphi about me, Apollo replied, in the presence of many witnesses, that no man was either more just or more temperate than I was." And how can it be either reasonable or probable that Socrates, who confessed that he knew nothing, should allege that he had been called the wisest of all men by God who knows everything? For if knowing

[[348]]nothing be wisdom, then to know everything must be folly. And what was the need of Chærephon bothering the god, and asking him about Socrates? for he himself might have been believed in his own case, saying that he was not wise. For he must be a stupid man who would put such a question to the god, as if he were to ask him such a question as this, Whether any wool is softer than the Attic wool; or, Whether there are any more powerful nations than the Bactrians and the Medes; or, Whether any one has a more complete pug-nose than Socrates. For people who ask such questions as these have a very neat slap in the face given them by the god, as when a man asked him (whether it is a fable of Æsop's or of some one else),

O mighty son of Leto and of Jove,
Tell me by what means I may rich become:

he, ridiculing him, answered—

If you acquire all the land that lies
Between the tow'rs of Sicyon and Corinth.

61. But indeed, no one even of the comic poets has said such things as Plato has said about Socrates, neither that he was the son of a very fierce-looking nurse, nor that Xantippe was an ill-tempered woman, who even poured slops over his head; nor that Alcibiades slept with him under the same cloak; and yet this must have been divulged with boisterous laughter by Aristophanes, as he was present at the banquet according to Plato's account; for Aristophanes would never have suppressed such a circumstance as that, which would have given such a colour to the charge that he corrupted the youth.

Aspasia, indeed, who was the clever preceptress of Socrates in rhetoric, in these verses which are attributed to her, which Herodicus the Cratetian has quoted, speaks thus—

As.O Socrates, most clearly do I see
How greatly you're inflamed by tender love
For the young son of Clinias and Dinomache;
But if you wish to prosper list to me,
And do not scoff at my advice, but follow it,
And it shall be the better for your suit.
Soc.I when I heard your speech was so o'erjoy'd
That straightway sweat did overflow each limb;
And tears unbidden pour'd forth from my eyes.
As.Restrain yourself, and fill your mind with strains
[[349]] Such as the Muse who conquers men will teach you,
And you will charm him by your dulcet songs.
They the foundation lay of mutual love.
And thus will you o'ercome him, fettering
His mind with gifts with which his ears are charm'd.

The admirable Socrates then goes a hunting, having the Milesian woman for his tutor in love. But he himself is not hunted, as Plato says, having nets spread for him by Alcibiades. And indeed, he laments without ceasing, being, as I suppose, unsuccessful in his love. For Aspasia, seeing in what a condition he was, says—

Why weep you, my dear Socrates? does love
For that impracticable boy which dwells
Within thy breast, and shoots from out his eyes,
So far thy heart subdue? Did I in vain
Engage to make him docile to thy suit?