emus, the sons of
Cephalus and brothers of Polemarchus, an unknown Charmantides--these are
mute auditors; also there is Cleitophon, who once interrupts, where, as
in the Dialogue which bears his name, he appears as the friend and ally
of Thrasymachus.

Cephalus, the patriarch of the house, has been appropriately engaged
in offering a sacrifice. He is the pattern of an old man who has almost
done with life, and is at peace with himself and with all mankind. He
feels that he is drawing nearer to the world below, and seems to linger
around the memory of the past. He is eager that Socrates should come
to visit him, fond of the poetry of the last generation, happy in the
consciousness of a well-spent life, glad at having escaped from the
tyranny of youthful lusts. His love of conversation, his affection, his
indifference to riches, even his garrulity, are interesting traits of
character. He is not one of those who have nothing to say, because their
whole mind has been absorbed in making money. Yet he acknowledges
that riches have the advantage of placing men above the temptation
to dishonesty or falsehood. The respectful attention shown to him by
Socrates, whose love of conversation, no less than the mission imposed
upon him by the Oracle, leads him to ask questions of all men, young and
old alike, should also be noted. Who better suited to raise the question
of justice than Cephalus, whose life might seem to be the expression of
it? The moderation with which old age is pictured by Cephalus as a very
tolerable portion of existence is characteristic, not only of him,
but of Greek feeling generally, and contrasts with the exaggeration of
Cicero in the De Senectute. The evening of life is described by Plato
in the most expressive manner, yet with the fewest possible touches. As
Cicero remarks (Ep. ad Attic.), the aged Cephalus would have been out of
place in the discussion which follows, and which he could neither have
understood nor taken part in without a violation of dramatic propriety
(cp. Lysimachus in the Laches).

His 'son and heir' Polemarchus has the frankness and impetuousness of
youth; he is for detaining Socrates by force in the opening scene,
and will not 'let him off' on the subject of women and children.
Like Cephalus, he is limited in his point of view, and represents
the proverbial stage of morality which has rules of life rather than
principles; and he quotes Simonides (cp. Aristoph. Clouds) as his father
ha