sures were no less than theirs who take such trouble to
procure them, and his pains far fewer.

(15) Cf. "Symp." iv. 38.

(16) L. Dindorf (brackets) this passage as spurious.

(17) On the principle "enough is as good as a feast," {arkountos}.

IV

A belief is current, in accordance with views maintained concerning
Socrates in speech and writing, and in either case conjecturally, that,
however powerful he may have been in stimulating men to virtue as a
theorist, he was incapable of acting as their guide himself. (1) It
would be well for those who adopt this view to weigh carefully not only
what Socrates effected "by way of castigation" in cross-questioning
whose who conceived themselves to be possessed of all knowledge, but
also his everyday conversation with those who spent their time in close
intercourse with himself. Having done this, let them decide whether he
was incapable of making his companions better.

(1) Al. "If any one believes that Socrates, as represented in certain
dialogues (e.g. of Plato, Antisthenes, etc.) of an imaginary
character, was an adept ({protrepsasthai}) in the art of
stimulating people to virtue negatively but scarcely the man to
guide ({proagein}) his hearers on the true path himself." Cf.
(Plat.) "Clitophon," 410 B; Cic. "de Or." I. xlvii. 204; Plut.
"Mor." 798 B. See Grote, "Plato," iii. 21; K. Joel, op. cit. p. 51
foll.; Cf. below, IV. iii. 2.

I will first state what I once heard fall from his lips in a discussion
with Aristodemus, (2) "the little," as he was called, on the topic of
divinity. (3) Socrates had observed that Aristodemus neither sacrificed
nor gave heed to divination, but on the contrary was disposed to
ridicule those who did.

(2) See Plat. "Symp." 173 B: "He was a little fellow who never wore
any shoes, Aristodemus, of the deme of Cydathenaeum."--Jowett.

(3) Or, "the divine element."

So tell me, Aristodemus (he began), are there any human beings who have
won your admiration for their wisdom?

Ar. There are.

Soc. Would you mention to us their names?

Ar. In the writings of epic poetry I have the greatest admiration for
Homer.... And as a dithyrambic poet for Melanippides. (4) I admire also
Sophocles as a tragedian, Polycleitus as a sculptor, and Zeuxis as a
painter.

(4) Melanippides, 430 B.C. See Cobet, "Pros. Xen." s.n.

Soc. Which would you consider the more worthy of admiration, a fashioner
of senseless i