The Neoplatonic Socrates

Appendix: The Reception of Socrates in Late Antiquity: Authors, Texts, and Notable References

appendIx The Reception of Socrates in Late Antiquity: Authors, Texts, and Notable References The following is a list of primary texts and authors in later antiquity who are relevant for understanding the history of Socrates’ reception. This list is meant to be a guide for those interested in research on the subject and does not seek to be exhaustive . For a more complete reference guide to the Neoplatonic Socrates please consult D. Layne, “Socrates Neoplatonicus,” in Dictionnaire des philosophes antiques , ed. Richard Goulet, Paris: C.N.R.S.-Éditions, forthcoming. Anote on the terms Middle Platonism and Neoplatonism: These terms have traditionally been used to cover Platonism in the Roman Empire before Plotinus (Middle Platonism ) and Platonism after Plotinus, respectively (Neoplatonism). Both terms should be employed with caution, since it is by no means clear that Plotinus is making a new beginning, and did not suppose himself to be doing so. Moreover, Middle Platonism is not obviously “middle,” has no founding figure aside from Plato, and did not constitute a single coherent movement. In what follows, brief consideration will be given to the Platonism of this first period, partly because attitudes to Socrates are better documented than in Plotinus and his early followers, before turning to detailed outlines of Socrates’reception in the later “Neoplatonists” like Proclus and Olympiodorus. Plutarch (c. 46–120 CE) Moralia. Loeb Classical Library, various editors. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. Man of letters, biographer, Delphic priest, and philosopher, from Chaeronea. Among the many essays of the Moralia, the De Genio Socratis (vol. vii), which 168 Appendix includes an extensive discussion of Socrates’ divine sign, is of special relevance. One might also single out the Amatorius (vol. ix), an extensive discussion of the merits and demerits of a proposed marriage in the light of broadly Socratic views on love; the first of the Platonic Questions (vol. xiii.1), on Socratic midwifery; Against Colotes (vol. xii.2), in which he defends various thinkers, including Socrates, against the charges of an Epicurean. The historical Socrates, though not himself the subject of a biography, features prominently in the Life of Alcibiades. Apuleius (floruit c. 155 CE) De Deo Socratis and De Platone. Apulée: Opuscules philosophiques et fragments, ed. T. Beaujeu. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1973. North African man of letters, whether “sophist” or philosopher is a question that remains in debate. His own Apologia de Magia owes something to Plato’s Apology, thereby placing Apuleius in the position of Socrates. A “Socrates” is rescued temporarily from the clutches of a witch in book I of his Golden Ass (or Metamorphoses), though one can only guess what the author intends thereby. Book II of that work also suggests a connection with Plutarch. The De Deo Socrates is another account of the divine sign, placed in the context of traditional Roman beliefs. Numenius (floruit c. 155 CE) Fragments. Numénius: Fragments, ed. E. des Places. English translation with unchanged text by R. Petty, Fragments of Numenius of Apamea. Warminster: Prometheus Trust, 2012. Owing his principal loyalty to Pythagoras, Numenius was nevertheless occupied with the exegesis of Platonic dialogues. In his work On the Secession of the Academics from Plato (Frr. 24–28) he depicts Socrates as a misunderstood follower of Pythagoras whose followers left the true path. Lucian (c. 120–185 CE) Luciani Opera, ed. M. D. McLeod. 5 vols. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1972– 1987. Translation with Greek text in A. M. Harmon, K. Kilburn, and M. D. McLeod, Lucian, 8 vols., Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1913–1967. Appendix 169 Not a Platonist and difficult to classify, like many products of the “second sophistic,” Lucian is known for his satirical sketches in which he treats many things irreverently, especially philosophers. Socrates appears in the Auction of Lives and Fisherman, and though not immune from Lucian’s barbs, he is treated more gently than most intellectuals, since Lucian’s primary venom, he claims, is reserved for the sham philosophers of his own era. Maximus of Tyre (c. 125–190 CE) Dissertationes, ed. M. B. Trapp. Stuttgart: de Gruyter, 1994. Philosophical Orations, tr. M. B. Trapp. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Maximus, though a philosopher with convictions with both Platonist and Cynic leanings, resembles the sophists of his age in communicating through short speeches on mostly traditional topics. A very positive but complex picture of Socrates emerges in his works, since besides Plato and Xenophon...