Socrates, both polite and not so
In this paper, I compare the depictions of Socrates in Xenophon and in Plato with respect to his politeness. In the works of Xenophon, he more than once goes beyond the threshold of decency. As an example, he rebukes Critias for his attempts to seduce Euthydemus, dismissing his passion as swinish and comparing it to that of shoats overcome by their sexual drive ( Mem . 1, 2, 30). Socrates’s crudeness in this episode shocked Olof Gigon, one of the commentators of the Memorabilia . He also breaks the rules of decency in his reply to Antiphon during their second meeting when he likens the sophists to πόρνοι, using this expletive twice ( Mem . 1, 6, 13). Since at the beginning of the sixth chapter, Xenophon calls Antiphon a sophist, this comparison must pertain above all to him. The word πόρνη is also found in the Memorabilia , and it likewise comes out of Socrates’s mouth (1,5,4). There is reason to believe that in these cases we have before us the genuine Socrates. At the same time, there are those who feel that Plato, in contrast to Xenophon, portrays Socrates as invariablypolite. For instance, Emile de Strycker and Simon Slings note: “In Plato, Socrates is always a model of charm and good manners (τὸ ἀστεῖον).” I suggest that this is not quite the case. In Gorgias , while arguing with Callicles, Socrates admits that he is forced to cast aside his shame and almost crosses the line of decency (494c-е). There is a lexical proximity between this passage and Mem . 1, 2, 30. And in Theaetetus, mocking the homo mensura thesis advanced by Protagoras, Socrates plainly transgresses the rules of politeness (161c3-d1, 166c7-9). It is clear that Plato had every intention of portraying Socrates as polite, so if he deviates from that, it must have been because Socrates, in reality, did not always adhere to the rules of politeness. Aristoxenus also reports that Socrates was known to break the rules of propriety.