贝壳电子书 > 英文原著电子书 > menexenus >

第3章

menexenus-第3章

小说: menexenus 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!






Such discourses; if we may form a judgment from the three which are extant

(for the so…called Funeral Oration of Demosthenes is a bad and spurious

imitation of Thucydides and Lysias); conformed to a regular type。  They

began with Gods and ancestors; and the legendary history of Athens; to

which succeeded an almost equally fictitious account of later times。  The

Persian war usually formed the centre of the narrative; in the age of

Isocrates and Demosthenes the Athenians were still living on the glories of

Marathon and Salamis。  The Menexenus veils in panegyric the weak places of

Athenian history。  The war of Athens and Boeotia is a war of liberation;

the Athenians gave back the Spartans taken at Sphacteria out of kindness

indeed; the only fault of the city was too great kindness to their enemies;

who were more honoured than the friends of others (compare Thucyd。; which

seems to contain the germ of the idea); we democrats are the aristocracy of

virtue; and the like。  These are the platitudes and falsehoods in which

history is disguised。  The taking of Athens is hardly mentioned。



The author of the Menexenus; whether Plato or not; is evidently intending

to ridicule the practice; and at the same time to show that he can beat the

rhetoricians in their own line; as in the Phaedrus he may be supposed to

offer an example of what Lysias might have said; and of how much better he

might have written in his own style。  The orators had recourse to their

favourite loci communes; one of which; as we find in Lysias; was the

shortness of the time allowed them for preparation。  But Socrates points

out that they had them always ready for delivery; and that there was no

difficulty in improvising any number of such orations。  To praise the

Athenians among the Athenians was easy;to praise them among the

Lacedaemonians would have been a much more difficult task。  Socrates

himself has turned rhetorician; having learned of a woman; Aspasia; the

mistress of Pericles; and any one whose teachers had been far inferior to

his ownsay; one who had learned from Antiphon the Rhamnusianwould be

quite equal to the task of praising men to themselves。  When we remember

that Antiphon is described by Thucydides as the best pleader of his day;

the satire on him and on the whole tribe of rhetoricians is transparent。



The ironical assumption of Socrates; that he must be a good orator because

he had learnt of Aspasia; is not coarse; as Schleiermacher supposes; but is

rather to be regarded as fanciful。  Nor can we say that the offer of

Socrates to dance naked out of love for Menexenus; is any more un…Platonic

than the threat of physical force which Phaedrus uses towards Socrates。 

Nor is there any real vulgarity in the fear which Socrates expresses that

he will get a beating from his mistress; Aspasia:  this is the natural

exaggeration of what might be expected from an imperious woman。  Socrates

is not to be taken seriously in all that he says; and Plato; both in the

Symposium and elsewhere; is not slow to admit a sort of Aristophanic

humour。  How a great original genius like Plato might or might not have

written; what was his conception of humour; or what limits he would have

prescribed to himself; if any; in drawing the picture of the Silenus

Socrates; are problems which no critical instinct can determine。



On the other hand; the dialogue has several Platonic traits; whether

original or imitated may be uncertain。  Socrates; when he departs from his

character of a 'know nothing' and delivers a speech; generally pretends

that what he is speaking is not his own composition。  Thus in the Cratylus

he is run away with; in the Phaedrus he has heard somebody say something

is inspired by the genius loci; in the Symposium he derives his wisdom from

Diotima of Mantinea; and the like。  But he does not impose on Menexenus by

his dissimulation。  Without violating the character of Socrates; Plato; who

knows so well how to give a hint; or some one writing in his name;

intimates clearly enough that the speech in the Menexenus like that in the

Phaedrus is to be attributed to Socrates。  The address of the dead to the

living at the end of the oration may also be compared to the numerous

addresses of the same kind which occur in Plato; in whom the dramatic

element is always tending to prevail over the rhetorical。  The remark has

been often made; that in the Funeral Oration of Thucydides there is no

allusion to the existence of the dead。  But in the Menexenus a future state

is clearly; although not strongly; asserted。



Whether the Menexenus is a genuine writing of Plato; or an imitation only;

remains uncertain。  In either case; the thoughts are partly borrowed from

the Funeral Oration of Thucydides; and the fact that they are so; is not in

favour of the genuineness of the work。  Internal evidence seems to leave

the question of authorship in doubt。  There are merits and there are

defects which might lead to either conclusion。  The form of the greater

part of the work makes the enquiry difficult; the introduction and the

finale certainly wear the look either of Plato or of an extremely skilful

imitator。  The excellence of the forgery may be fairly adduced as an

argument that it is not a forgery at all。  In this uncertainty the express

testimony of Aristotle; who quotes; in the Rhetoric; the well…known words;

'It is easy to praise the Athenians among the Athenians;' from the Funeral

Oration; may perhaps turn the balance in its favour。  It must be remembered

also that the work was famous in antiquity; and is included in the

Alexandrian catalogues of Platonic writings。





MENEXENUS



by



Plato (see Appendix I above)



Translated by Benjamin Jowett





PERSONS OF THE DIALOGUE:  Socrates and Menexenus。





SOCRATES:  Whence come you; Menexenus?  Are you from the Agora?



MENEXENUS:  Yes; Socrates; I have been at the Council。



SOCRATES:  And what might you be doing at the Council?  And yet I need

hardly ask; for I see that you; believing yourself to have arrived at the

end of education and of philosophy; and to have had enough of them; are

mounting upwards to things higher still; and; though rather young for the

post; are intending to govern us elder men; like the rest of your family;

which has always provided some one who kindly took care of us。



MENEXENUS:  Yes; Socrates; I shall be ready to hold office; if you allow

and advise that I should; but not if you think otherwise。  I went to the

council chamber because I heard that the Council was about to choose some

one who was to speak over the dead。  For you know that there is to be a

public funeral?



SOCRATES:  Yes; I know。  And whom did they choose?



MENEXENUS:  No one; they delayed the election until tomorrow; but I believe

that either Archinus or Dion will be chosen。



SOCRATES:  O Menexenus!  Death in battle is certainly in many respects a

noble thing。  The dead man gets a fine and costly funeral; although he may

have been poor; and an elaborate speech is made over him by a wise man who

has long ago prepared what he has to say; although he who is praised may

not have been good for much。  The speakers praise him for what he has done

and for what he has not donethat is the beauty of themand they steal

away our souls with their embellished words; in every conceivable form they

praise the city; and they praise those who died in war; and all our

ancestors who went before us; and they praise ourselves also who are still

alive; until I feel quite elevated by their laudations; and I stand

listening to their words; Menexenus; and become enchanted by them; and all

in a moment I imagine myself to have become a greater and nobler and finer

man than I was before。  And if; as often happens; there are any foreigners

who accompany me to the speech; I become suddenly conscious of having a

sort of triumph over them; and they seem to experience a corresponding

feeling of admiration 

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的