Plato’s and Aristophanes’ Very Different Perspectives of Socrates

Socrates is arguably the most well known individual among ancient Greece’s philosophers. However, not a single teaching or work of Socrates remains today. The legend of Socrates only survives through the works of other classical writers. Most writers, such as Plato and Xenophon, portray Socrates as a wandering philosopher, questioning every aspect of life, and not claiming to know anything for certain. A small minority of writers, however, such as Aristophanes, depict Socrates as a scruffy, hot-tempered teacher who charges fees for his lectures and claims to have an indispensable amount of knowledge on a broad array of subjects. The differences between these two depictions are somewhat obvious, especially when reading Plato’s Protagoras and Aristophanes’ Clouds. A more intriguing question is why each respective writer depicts Socrates as he does, and thus will be looked at closely.

Plato has written numerous works concerning Socrates, with one of these works being Protagoras. The plot of Protagoras revolves around Socrates and a colorful philosophical debate that he engages in with the world-renowned sophist named Protagoras. Sophists are known as being history’s first professors; they initiated the now widespread practice of lecturing to students in exchange for monetary fees. Additionally, sophists were known for challenging traditional values of Greek society, especially religious traditions. These traits of sophists led many traditional citizens to resent these philosophers.

With just these facts regarding sophists, one can already see the manner in which Plato is trying to portray Socrates. Socrates was well known throughout Greece, and especially Athens, as a wise philosopher, but many may have believed him to be a sophist as well. This, however, is not true, at least in Plato’s opinion, and Plato highlights this point by depicting a debate between Socrates and Protagoras.

Protagoras seems to be just as famous as Socrates, perhaps even more so. Socrates’ young friend Hippocrates is shown at the outset of Protagoras to be very excited to visit Protagoras and pay for his tutorship. Hippocrates also appears, however, to be intimidated by the prospect of approaching Protagoras alone, and thus goes to his friend Socrates, hoping that he will talk to Protagoras on behalf of Hippocrates. This request by Hippocrates portrays a certain quality that Socrates attains. Hippocrates, though very admiring of Protagoras, knows that Socrates must at least be close to matching Protagoras’ intellect, for why else would Hippocrates be so intimidated by Protagoras, yet assume that Socrates would not be? For Hippocrates to assume this, Socrates must be known not only for his high intellect, but also for his outgoing and amicable nature. This is proven by the fact that Socrates ultimately agrees to joining Hippocrates to visit Protagoras.

Plato further distinguishes Socrates from the sophists when Socrates questions Hippocrates about why he wants to study under Protagoras. When Hippocrates finally concludes that he does not know what he will come to understand by studying under Protagoras, Socrates replies with: “And watch, or the sophist might deceive us in advertising what he sells, the way merchants who market food for the body do” (Plato 313d). He goes on to state that merchants sell everything they have, without regards to whether the goods are nourishing or detrimental to one’s health. In the same way, sophists may offer large amounts of knowledge and teachings, but not all of the teachings these men provide are beneficial to the soul. This criticism of the sophists displays Socrates’ general distaste for their method of teaching.

After this comment, Socrates and Hippocrates go to see Protagoras, and the two philosophers have their numerous debates that are central to Plato’s work. Socrates seemingly bests Protagoras in each debate the two engage in. Ultimately, Protagoras concedes to Socrates, stating:

Socrates, I commend your enthusiasm and the way you find your way through an argument…Indeed, I have told many people that I admire you more than anyone I have met, certainly more than anyone in your generation. And I say that I would not be surprised if you gain among men high repute for wisdom. (Plato 361d-e)

Protagoras, the world-renowned sophist whom Socrates proclaims as “old and wise” (Plato 318b), concedes that Socrates was the superior debater in their discussions. In addition to this, valuable information about Socrates’ character is revealed in Protagoras’ last remarks of the work. At the time of this event, Socrates is presumably much younger than Protagoras, perhaps in his twenties. With this being the case, Socrates can be comprehended as being very wise beyond his years. Protagoras views him as among the best philosophers of his generation. Socrates is also commended for being an exceptional debater who is unrelenting is his attempts to reveal the absolute truths of the world.

Plato has portrayed Socrates in a very positive manner in Protagoras. He is sharply contrasted with Protagoras, who is himself a sophist. Since sophists were despised by many individuals belonging with conservative values, Socrates, opposing the most popular sophist, would presumably be perceived very positively by these same individuals. Socrates is also portrayed as a good friend, joining his young companion Hippocrates on his undertaking to visit Protagoras, despite the fact that Hippocrates woke him in the early hours of the morning. Why does Plato choose to depict Socrates in this entirely positive way? To answer this question, the life of Plato himself needs to be evaluated.

Plato was born in an aristocratic family in Athens in approximately 427 B.C., a few years after the onset of the Peloponnesian War. Both sides of his family seem to have been well respected in Athens. Many of his family members were distinguished politicians in Athens, including his uncle, Charmides, and great uncle, Critias, who were very important figures in the Athenian government following the Peloponnesian War (Taylor 2). The famed philosopher, Socrates, seems to have been a close acquaintance of Charmides, consequently making the famed philosopher and Plato acquainted with one another for most of Plato’s life. During his teenage and early adult life, Plato became a devout follower of Socrates, though it is believed that Socrates never had official students (Taylor 3). Instead of becoming a philosopher, though, Plato grew up aspiring to become a successful politician in Athens. This goal was destroyed, however, in approximately 399 B.C., when Socrates was put to trail and then executed by an Athenian jury.

Plato felt that Socrates’ execution at the hands of the Athenian state was a great injustice, for Socrates was unfairly charged with corrupting the youth of Athens, and denying the existence of the numerous state gods, such as Zeus and Athena. Though Socrates is later remembered as a martyr for administering the poisonous hemlock to himself after being sentenced to death, Plato remembers his mentor’s death for very different reasons. With Socrates’ death, Plato gave up his aspirations of being a prestigious Athenian politician. He attended Socrates’ trial, and consequently saw firsthand how injustice can often be too prevalent in politics.

After turning down a life in politics, Plato devoted his life to the Academy, an institution of higher learning and education. Plato was expanding on Socrates’ relentless pursuits of attaining the truth. He would now be able to teach the Socratic method to the numerous students of the Academy. The Academy, however, was not the only outlet in which Plato would be able to emulate the efforts of Socrates. Plato would recreate the life of Socrates in his numerous written works concerning his mentor. A selection of the works includes Gorgias, Symposium, the Apology, and Protagoras. In all of Plato’s works concerning Socrates, Plato portrayed his mentor as a wise man who never meant to harm anyone, but rather was amiable and generous. His relentless pursuits of knowledge were to be admired instead of looked down upon, as the jurors who found Socrates guilty did. Plato hoped to portray to all of his readers Socrates as an innocent man who was unjustly and undeservingly put to death at the hands of the Athenian government. For this reason, the Socrates of Plato’s works are generally seen in a very positive manner.

This very amiable view of Socrates is not the only viewpoint that exists. While Plato may give a very positive account of his mentor, the 5^th century playwright, Aristophanes, portrays Socrates in a very different manner. His play, Clouds, tells of a poor, rural Athenian named Strepsiades who attempts to evade paying his numerous debts by attending Socrates’ institution to learn how to argue the “Inferior Argument.” By learning this argument, Strepsiades would supposedly be able to convince any juror that he is not responsible for paying back his debts, despite what the truth may really be.

Throughout Clouds, Socrates is described much like how a sophist would be described. For example, Strepsiades tell his son, Pheidippides, that “for a small fee, (Socrates and his companions) will teach you how to successfully argue any case, right or wrong” (Aristophanes 98-99). Paying a fee for an intellectual lesson was a trait mainly attributed to sophists. Thus, Aristophanes seems to be grouping Socrates into the same group of all other sophists.

Additionally, Socrates is portrayed as a sort of recluse who spends all of his time in his academy (called a Pondertorium by Aristophanes), and thus does not engage in any of the arts or other traditional Athenian activities. Pheidippides calls him a “pasty looking fraud, going around barefoot” (Aristophanes 103). This verbal thrashing of Socrates makes it seem obvious that Aristophanes does not hold much respect for the philosopher, who would have been at the height of his popularity at the time Clouds was performed in the Lenaea festival in the late 5^th century B.C.

Aristophanes goes even further in portraying his general disdain for Socrates. In the following passage, Socrates can be interpreted as saying that he is intellectually superior to all else:

Thus, my mind is suspended to create only elevated notions.

The grains of these thoughts then merge with the similar

atmosphere of this air! If I had remained earthbound

and attempted to scrutinize the heights, I would have found

nothing; for the earth forces the creative juices to be drawn

to its core, depriving one of the all important “water on the brain!” (Aristophanes 229-234)

Although in the context of the play, Socrates is floating above the stage floor in this scene, this short passage may also depict his belief to have a superior intellect compared to all other men. His mind is in such a state that it can “create only elevated notions.” Aristophanes’ depiction of Socrates in this manner may stem from the rumor that the Delphic oracle proclaimed that no one is wiser than Socrates. Socrates was then only able to confirm this notion when he found that every man he questioned in his travels around Greece knew nothing but claimed to know many things, thus making them unwise. Socrates himself was the only man to not only know nothing, but also realize this truth.

Socrates is further portrayed as being offensive and impertinent, very different from how he was presented in Plato’s Protagoras. When Strepsiades gives a very uneducated response to a question posed by Socrates, Socrates bitterly replies, “Oh damn you! You illiterate uneducated peasant” (Aristophanes 646)! This is a stark contrast to the man who fulfilled his friend’s request in Protagoras, despite being woken in the immensely early hours of the morning.

The contrast between the two Socrates’ is therefore fairly obvious. Plato’s version is very pleasant and easily distinguishable from sophists. Aristophanes’ version, however, is very critical and harsh in its portrayal of the renowned philosopher. Why does the playwright Aristophanes depict Socrates in such a negative light? In fact, Clouds depicted Socrates in such a negative manner, the play was used as evidence against Socrates in the trial that resulted in his execution. The reasoning behind Aristophanes motivation is not as clear as it was with Plato. Aristophanes may just be presenting Socrates in this way for comedic purposes. The depiction of Socrates conducting useless experiments to reveal whether the buzz of a gnat comes from its anus or mouth can seem fairly extreme, so there is probably a certain degree of truth to that claim. The main purpose of a comedy was to make the audience laugh at the audacity of the play’s turn of events.

Even if certain aspects of Socrates, such as his inquisitive nature, were exaggerated for comedic purposes, this does not answer the question of why Aristophanes depicts Socrates as a mean-spirited sophist. Peter Meineck, in his introduction to Aristophanes’ Clouds, gives a convincing theory explaining this question (xxxix-xl). He suggests that Aristophanes is probably too intelligent to mistake Socrates as a sophist, and was merely depicting the philosopher as a sophist for mere comedic reasons. Portraying Socrates in such a way could also be seen as a backhanded compliment. In parodying Socrates as he did in Clouds, Aristophanes may be emphasizing merely what he is not, which would be a cranky, fee-charging sophist. If Aristophanes had actually felt resentment toward Socrates, he may have candidly expressed this disdain in the parabasis of the play, where the chorus is able to confront the audience directly. Since this is not the case, Meineck’s theory may be true, but it is impossible to say for sure. For several generations, scholars have accepted the notion that Aristophanes was a strict traditionalist who despised new philosophies and movements, including Socrates’ new method of questioning every facet of human existence. Many scholars may have accepted this notion, however, without fully analyzing the character of Aristophanes. Whatever may be Aristophanes’ true motivation for portraying Socrates as such a scornful man, it can be said with quite certainty that Clouds may have contributed to the death of Socrates. If Aristophanes’ had merely meant for his parody of Socrates to be used as comedy, then the play’s true meaning was clearly misunderstood by the jurors of Socrates’ trial.

Bibliography

Aristophanes. Clouds. Trans. Meineck, P. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000.

Gagarin, M. “The Purpose of Plato’s Protagoras.” Transactions and Proceedings of the
American Philological Association 100 (1969): 133-164.

Plato. Protagoras. Trans. Lombardo, S. & Bell, K. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1992.

Taylor, A. E. Plato: The Man and his Work. London: Methuen, 1926.