without that, not one particle of good will you get, for all your 

 horses and troopers so brave and so stout." "That is a true say- 

 ing," the youth replies, "but how, Socrates, should a man best 

 bring them to this virtue?" Socrates answers, "I presume you 

 know that in any business whatever, people are more apt to follow 

 the lead of those whom they look upon as adepts; thus in case of 

 sickness they are readiest to obey him whom they regard as the 

 cleverest physician; and so, on a voyage the most skilful pilot; in 

 matters agricultural, the best farmer and so forth. Then in the 

 matter of the cavalry also we may reasonably suppose that he who 

 is looked upon as knowing his business best will command the read- 

 iest obedience." In this case Socrates does not prolong unneces- 

 sarily the dialogue. It is a clear case of a fellow-citizen needing 

 help, and it is given without circumlocution. He reveals in a 

 sentence or two the necessary characteristics of a good cavalry 

 leader, and, when the leader is nonplused to know how best to 

 obtain the obedience of his men, Socrates proceeds to answer his 

 difficulty by bringing forward various examples of obedience. In 

 these concrete cases he is able to place his finger upon the common 

 quality which belongs to all, obedience is given to those who are 

 most adept; and then he allows the leader to apply the conclusion 

 to his own particular case, fitting into his own avocation the con- 

 stituents of adeptness. Examples such as these might be multi- 

 plied from the Memorabilia. It is noteworthy, too, that, as is 

 generally agreed, Xenophon's lack of a thorough-going philosophic 

 training serves to make his reports of the conversations of Socrates 

 all the more authentic. 



In the works of Plato, on the other hand, there is certainly 

 more danger of the argument being coloured by the particular phil- 

 osophic views of the brilliant pupil. To discover how much is 

 Platonic and how much is Socratic will always be a problem for the 

 higher criticism of the Platonic writings. But it is reasonable 

 to assume that the conversations put into the mouth of Socrates by 

 Plato are, at least in their general outlines, true to the method 

 which Socrates followed. Probably two of the best known works 

 of Plato are the Republic and the Theaetetus. Both of these 

 exhibit the great figure, which is likewise introduced to us in the 

 Memorabilia, pursuing the same task. True, the poetic instincts 



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