264 HEIDEL. 



mention the thing on which they severally pride themselves, and 

 Niceratus makes it his boast that his father had compelled him to 

 commit to memory all the verses of Homer and that he could still 

 repeat the entire Iliad and Odyssey. Antisthenes with the tactless jeer 

 of the Cynic retorts that all the rhapsodes can do as much and that, 

 as every one will acknowledge, there are no greater simpletons in the 

 world than they. To keep Niceratus in countenance and prevent a 

 possible scene, Socrates with fine urbanity suggests that the stupidity 

 of the rhapsodes is due to their failure to learn the hidden meaning of 

 the poet which is given in allegorical or symbolical* interpretation; 

 " But you, Niceratus," he adds, " have paid large tuition fees both to 

 Stesimbrotus and Anaximander and to many others, so that nothing 

 of great value has escaped you." Here then we meet an Anaximander 

 who interprets texts in a manner to bring out their hidden meaning. 

 Nothing more is said about him. Can we with probability identify 

 him with either the elder or the younger Anaximander of our inquiry? 

 In confronting this question it is necessary to recall the context. 

 As Niceratus does not assert that he has sat at the feet of Stesimbrotus 

 and Anaximander, and does not even assent to the statement of Soc- 

 rates, which was obviously prompted by a desire to preserve the good 

 feeling of the feast, we are under no obligation to credit Niceratus even 

 with a knowledge of the methods of interpretation practised by Stesim- 

 brotus and x^naximander, much less with having actually studied in the 

 schools of these masters. If Socrates under the circumstances in his 

 ironical manner told a white lie, his well-bred table companions would 

 appreciate and acquiesce in his suggestion. Indeed it is not impossible 

 that with his characteristic plain speaking Antisthenes meant to imply 

 that Niceratus was of a feather with the rhapsodes with whom he 

 flocked. Be that as it may, we are not warranted in pressing the 

 passage to prove either that Stesimbrotus and Anaximander conducted 

 schools in which they gave instruction and received tuition fees, nor 

 that Niceratus attended them. If we assume that Niceratus owed 

 them any instruction, he might equally well have derived it from their 

 books. With regard to the date also we may take a similar view. 

 As the scene of the Xenophontic Symposium is laid in the year 421 

 B.C., strict consistency would require that the supposed masters of 

 Niceratus had taught or had at least published their works before that 

 year. This would be true of Stesimbrotus, but would hardly hold of 

 Anaximander the Younger, if his floruit was properly given at 405 B.C.; 

 for in 421 he would have been about 23 years of age. However, an 

 anachronism of this sort on Xenophon's part should not rule the latter 



