Plato's "Menexenus" presents a satirical funeral oration supposedly delivered by Socrates, offering a philosophical critique of Athenian rhetoric and politics in ancient Greece. Benjamin Jowett's translation captures this unique dialogue that blends philosophy with pointed social commentary on democratic society.
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.Continue reading →
This is the Benjamin Jowett translation, a public-domain English text. Marginalia presents it unabridged, with chapter navigation, your reading position saved, and optional AI commentary on any passage.
Ancient Greece's most influential philosopher, this student of Socrates founded the Academy in Athens around 387 BCE and taught Aristotle. Through dialogues like "The Republic," he explored justice, truth, and ideal government, introducing concepts like the Theory of Forms that shaped Western thought for over two millennia. All works by Plato →
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