memorabilia

Memorabilia (original title in Ancient Greek: Ἀπομνημονεύματα/Apomnemoneumata) is a collection of Socratic dialogues by Xenophon, a student of Socrates. The lengthiest and most famous of Xenophon's Socratic writings, the Memorabilia is essentially an apologia (defense) of Socrates, differing from both Xenophon's Apology of Socrates to the Jury and Plato's Apology mainly in that the Apologies present Socrates as defending himself before the jury, whereas the former presents Xenophon's own defense of Socrates, offering edifying examples of Socrates' conversations and activities along with occasional commentary from Xenophon.

Book Title

It is also known by the Latin title Commentarii and a variety of English translations (Recollections, Memoirs, Conversations of Socrates, etc.).

Date of Composition

The Memorabilia was probably completed after 371, as one passage (III.5) appears to assume the military situation after the Spartan defeat at the battle of Leuctra in that year.

Structure

The “Memorabilia” contains 39 chapters broken into four books; Book I contains 7 chapters, Book II contains 10 chapters, Book III contains 14 chapters, and Book IV contains 8 chapters. Each book has an overarching theme which joins each of the chapters within in some manner.

Book I begins with an introduction of sorts by Xenophon as himself in chapters 1 and 2 where he discusses the indictment of Socrates, in particular actions which were deemed “unjust.” Though the charges were most generally regarding impiety they also extended into the political arena. The political charges, in their most basic form, are regarding Socrates’ corruption of the youth who included future statesmen Alcibiades and Critias. One of the charges regarding the youth’s corruption is that he led the youth to despise democracy as a regime. These charges are not directly addressed in the Apology of Plato (or Xenophon's own Apology). It has often been argued that Xenophon is here responding not to charges in the air at time of the trial of Socrates in 399, but to charges made some years later by the Athenian sophist Polycrates in his Accusation of Socrates. But Polycrates' work is lost, and our sources for reconstructing it are late and unreliable. The assumption that Xenophon was responding to Polycrates point by point may be driven as much by the traditional low esteem for Xenophon's literary powers as to any historical influence from Polycrates. The role of Polycrates is one item in the debate over whether Xenophon's treatment of Socrates reflects the historical Socrates, or is a largely fictional contribution to the literary debate about Socrates. Regardless, Xenophon ends chapter two, which began as wondering why the Athenians convicted Socrates, to asking if Socrates deserved honor.

The recollections begin in chapter 3 of Book I with particular stress from Xenophon on using the following accounts to show how Socrates benefited his companions. The rest of the work consists of short episodes of Socrates engaging with a variety of persons: both named and unnamed companions, rival teachers, and notable Greeks. A few of the interlocutors appear numerous times. Typically Xenophon introduces the reason why he is writing about a particular recollection, he will also occasionally interject a remark into the narrative.

Topics

An early example (possibly the earliest) of the Argument from Design (a.k.a. the Telelogical Argument) is presented in I.4 and IV.3. Meanwhile, IV.4 presents an account of Natural Law in connection to the previous chapter. It is clear that the Stoics made considerable use of Xenophon's version of the argument from design, and their account of natural law also owed something to Socrates, if not necessarily to Xenophon's Socrates.

Comparison to Plato's dialogues

Readers of Plato often find this work dull, considering it lacking both philosophical substance and the literary charm they have come to expect from Plato. Nevertheless, how Xenophon depicts Socrates in this work and his three more traditional dialogues requires great attention to the question: Who is Socrates?

Translations

• Xenophon, Memorabilia, trans. Amy L. Bonnette, introd. by Christopher Bruell, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, The Agora Editions, 1994.
• Xenophon, Conversations of Socrates, translated by Hugh Tredennick and Robin Waterfield, edited with new material by Robin Waterfield. Penguin, 1990. [Contains all the Socratic works. Less painstakingly literal than the Bonette/Bruell combo; includes full introductions sympathetic to Xenophon.]
• Xenophon, Xenophon IV: Memorabilia, Oeconomicus, Symposium, Apology, trans. by E.C. Marchant, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, Loeb Classical Library, 1923. [Includes ancient Greek text and English translation on facing pages.]

External links

• The Dakyns translation at Project Gutenberg.

References

• DeFilippo, J. and P. Mitsis. "Socrates and Stoic Natural Law." 252-271 in Vander Waerdt 1994 (see below).
• Gray, Vivienne J. The Framing of Socrates: The Literary Interpretation of Xenophon's Memorabilia. Hermes Einzelschriften 79. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner, 1998.
• Johnson, David. "Xenophon's Socrates on Justice and the Law." Ancient Philosophy 23 (2003) 255-281. [Counters Morrison, below.]
• Livingstone, Niall. A Commentary on Isocrates' Busiris. Brill, 2001. [Rejects the view that Polycrates was Xenophon's source.]
• McPherran, Mark. The Religion of Socrates. The Penn State University Press, 1996. [Includes a defense of Xenophon's account of Socratic religion.]
• Morrison, Donald. "Xenophon's Socrates on the Just and the Lawful." Ancient Philosophy 15 (1995) 329-347. [Argues that Xenophon's Socrates is a legal positivist.]
• Strauss, Leo, Xenophon's Socrates, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1972.
• Vander-Waerdt, Paul, ed. The Socratic Movement, Cornell University Press, 1994. [Fine collection of essays from a variety of perspectives, many on Xenophon's Socrates.]