
Socrates in the Agora. (Image source: kriserdmann at Freepik.)
2,354 words
Part 2 of 14 (Part 1 here, Part 3 here)
The first word of the Gorgias is polemos, war, and it is spoken by Callicles:
War and battle, this, they say, is how you should do your part in them, Socrates.
To this, Socrates replies:
Oh? Did we “arrive when the feast was over,” as the saying goes? Are we late?
What is being said here?
Socrates has arrived late, after an event is over. As we will soon learn, the event is one of Gorgias’ display speeches, followed by a Q&A session. Callicles apparently greets Socrates with a saying to the effect that arriving after the battle is the best way to go to war. As we shall see, Callicles is a shameless advocate of “might makes right.” But here he is sharing a coward’s counsel, perhaps merely to mock Socrates, but he may also believe it. After all, we will learn that Callicles is a hedonist, which may mean that he has little taste for actual fighting and risk.
Plato could have started the Gorgias with any other word. So the fact that he chose “war” must be significant. First, it alludes to the setting of the dialogue, which spans almost the whole of the Peloponnesian War, but it is still set within the war. Second, it foreshadows the theme of the dialogue, which is power politics. Third, it foreshadows the mode of the dialogue, which is a battle of words and wits.

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As we shall see, Socrates is not shirking battle. In fact, he is game for a fight. But merely listening to one of Gorgias’ stunt speeches is not Socrates’ idea of a real battle. Nor is watching him answer random questions from the audience. The real battle is yet to come.
This is why Socrates likens what he has missed not to a battle, which would be the vice of cowardice to shirk, but to a feast, which it would be the virtue of moderation to skip. (Even though if you are invited to a feast, the polite time to arrive is early, not late. Virtue is not always consistent with etiquette.) As we shall see, moderation is one of the central virtues that Socrates defends in his discussion with Callicles. As we have seen in the Alcibiades I, it is the primary virtue violated by tyrants.
Olympiodorus the Neoplatonist claims that the Athenians referred to Gorgias’ stunt speeches as “feasts.”[1] Donald Zeyl suggests that the two proverbs, about the right times to arrive at a battle and a speech, namely late and early, were perhaps conjoined, as in the English phrase “first at a feast, last at a fray,” which does not describe a virtuous man, either.[2]
Callicles responds by revealing what Socrates has missed: “Yes, and a very urbane one it was. Gorgias gave us an admirable, varied presentation just a short while ago.”
To this, Socrates says something odd: “But that’s Chaerephon’s fault, Callicles. He kept us loitering about in the marketplace (agora).”
Socrates, of course, is the one who was accused of always frittering his time away in the agora talking. Talking about what? Philosophy, of course! But here, he’s blaming his friend Chaerephon for making him late to see a long speech by a sophist by frittering their time away in the agora, presumably conversing about philosophy.
But, as becomes clear, Socrates doesn’t think philosophical conversation is a waste of time. Moreover, he has no patience for sophistical speechifying.
Now, if Socrates wanted to see Gorgias, surely he would not have let Chaerephon stop him. Thus he didn’t want to. So why does Socrates blame Chaerephon for his absence? I think he’s telling a lie to be polite. He’s saying that he didn’t miss Gorgias’ speech on purpose. He was detained by Chaerephon, whom he is making a scapegoat.
Chaerephon takes this accusation in stride and promises to make it up to Socrates: “That’s no problem, Socrates. I’ll make up for it, too. Gorgias is a friend of mine, so he’ll give us a presentation — now if you see fit, or else some other time, if you like.” Then Callicles chimes in: “What’s this Chaerephon? Is Socrates eager to hear Gorgias?” Chaerephon says yes, at which point Callias invites Socrates to his house, where Gorgias is staying, promising him a presentation any time he wants.
At this point, I imagine poor Socrates’ heart is sinking. He may not have wriggled out of listening to a speech by Gorgias after all. So Socrates finally just states his preference: “Very good, Callicles. But would he [Gorgias] be willing to have a dialogue with us? I’d like to find out from the man the power [dunamis] of his art [techne], and what he both makes claims about and teaches. As for the other thing, the presentation, let him put that on another time, as you suggest.”
Callicles responds, “There is nothing like asking him, Socrates.” Apparently after his speech, Gorgias invited the audience to ask him any questions they liked, so it seems likely he would entertain Socrates’ questions, too.
At this point, Gorgias himself seems to have come out of the building. Thus Socrates replies, “An excellent idea.” Then he turns to Chaerephon and says, “Ask him [Gorgias], Chaerephon.” This is a very odd gesture. Why does Socrates not ask Gorgias directly? We have already seen Socrates use his friend as a shield. Now he is using him as a proxy to ask a question.

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This brings to mind Plato’s Apology, where Socrates tells the story of Chaerephon’s question to the oracle of Delphi: “Is anyone wiser than Socrates?” There is every reason to think this event actually occurred, because even though Chaerephon was dead at the time of the trial, Socrates mentions that Chaerephon’s brother could testify to its truth. Did Socrates send Chaerephon to ask the oracle, as he sends him to ask Gorgias? I doubt that, for Socrates had his own art of divination, based on knowledge of human nature. So I don’t think he took oracles seriously. Moreover, as I have argued, there is no reason to think that the Delphic oracle’s response is why Socrates became a philosopher. Instead, it is a fiction by which Socrates seeks to present philosophy as a pious activity. So again, we have Socrates using his friend Chaerephon as a shield to deflect public disapproval.
Chaerephon: Ask him [Gorgias] what?
Socrates: Who he is.
Chaerephon: What do you mean?
Socrates: Well, if he were a maker of shoes, he’d answer that he was a cobbler, wouldn’t he? Or don’t you see what I mean?
Chaerephon: I do. I’ll ask him. [Turning to Gorgias:] Tell me, Gorgias, is Callicles right that you say that you will answer any question anyone might ask you?
Gorgias: He is, Chaerephon. In fact, I just now made that very claim, and I say that no one has asked me anything new in many a year. [Gorgias, as we will see, is a boastful fellow. But with good right.]
Chaerephon: In that case I’m sure you’ll answer this one quite easily, Gorgias.
Gorgias: Here’s your chance to ask me, Chaerephon.
Clearly, Socrates has taught Chaerephon the art of “Socratic” questioning. When Socrates says that the question is “who he is,” Chaerephon is correct to ask for clarification, since there are many categories in which Gorgias could place himself: nationality, species, sex, profession, etc. As in the Alcibiades I, here philosophy is deeply connected with self-knowledge. To be wise, we must be able to answer the question: “Who are you?” Here, however, Socrates specifically wants to know Gorgias’ art and its power.
But before Chaerephon can actually ask the question, Polus — with his coltish enthusiasm — interrupts:
Polus: By Zeus, Chaerephon! Ask me, if you like! For I think that Gorgias, who has been talking a long time, is quite tired.
Chaerephon: Really, Polus? Do you think that you can answer better than Gorgias?
Polus: What does that matter, as long as it is good enough for you? [This is a prickly and arrogant answer. The colt nips and kicks.]
Chaerephon: Not at all! Answer us then, if you like. [Chaerephon simply ignores the implied insult.]
Polus: Ask.
Chaerephon: My question is this: If Gorgias had the art of his brother Herodicus, what should we call him? Isn’t it by the same name as his brother?
Polus: Certainly.
Chaerephon: Then we would be right to call him a doctor?
Polus: Yes.
Chaerephon: And if he had the art of Aristophon, the son of Aglaophon, or of his brother Polygnotus, what should we call him?
Polus: Clearly, a painter.
Chaerephon: But now what shall we call him [Gorgias] — what is the art in which he is skilled?
Polus: O Chaerephon, there are many arts among mankind which are experimental, and have their origin in experience, for experience makes the days of men to proceed according to art, and inexperience according to chance, and different persons in different ways are proficient in different arts, and the best persons in the best arts. And our friend Gorgias is one of the best, and the art in which he is a proficient is the finest [fine is kalon, also translatable as beautiful and noble].
Chaerephon is clearly well-versed in the art of Socratic questioning. But there’s still something clumsy about his performance here. It brings to mind the painstaking and frankly tedious exchanges between Socrates and Alcibiades in Alcibiades I. But Polus is not a beginner such as Alcibiades. Thus, Chaerephon should not deploy such elementary and finely-minced questions, which would just annoy Polus. He should get to the point.
When Chaerephon finally asks what Gorgias’ art is, Polus begins speechifying. You can’t really blame him. Classicists speculate that Plato is actually parodying Polus’ known oratory. This is certainly possible. I like Benjamin Jowett’s translation here, because of its pretentious and bloviating style. Socrates, however, has no tolerance for sophistical speech-making. Thus as soon as he realizes that a filibuster is about to spring forth, he cuts Polus off, and for the first time speaks directly to Gorgias:
Socrates: Polus has been taught how to make a fine speech, Gorgias; but he is not keeping the promise that he made to Chaerephon.
Gorgias: What do you mean, Socrates?
Socrates: I mean that he has not exactly answered the question he was asked.
Gorgias: Then why not ask him yourself?
Socrates: But I would much rather ask you, if you are willing to answer: for I see, from the few words that Polus has uttered, that he has attended more to the art which is called rhetoric than to dialectic.
Polus: What makes you say so, Socrates?
Socrates: Because, Polus, when Chaerephon asked you which art Gorgias knows, you praised it as if you were answering someone who found fault with it, but you never said what the art was.
Polus: Why, did I not say that it was the finest of arts?
Socrates: Yes, indeed, but that was no answer to the question: nobody asked what was the quality, but what was the nature, of the art, and by what name we were to describe Gorgias.
Socrates makes a good point here. Polus was asked what Gorgias’ art is. Instead of naming the art itself, he simply describes one of its qualities, namely that it is the finest. But Socrates wants to know the art itself, not one of its qualities. He continues:
And I would still beg you briefly and finely, as you answered Chaerephon when he asked you at first, to say what this art is, and what we should call Gorgias.
But then Socrates turns to Gorgias himself and poses the question:
Or rather, Gorgias, why don’t you tell us the art you practice and what we should call you?
At this point, Socrates’ conversation with Gorgias begins. This is the topic of the next installment.
Why doesn’t Socrates immediately begin speaking with Gorgias? Why does he send Chaerephon, a relative piker, instead? Why does he send a boy to do a man’s job? And why does Polus chime in, treating us to a dialogue between two students, two epigones, rather than the masters who taught them? Plato obviously did this for a reason.
Here are some possible explanations.
First, Chaerephon is literally an intermediary, a middleman. Mediation is an alternative to a direct relationship, and it is an opportunity for errors to creep in.
Second, Socrates is the original Socratic, and Chaerephon is a copy. Gorgias is the original, Polus a copy. For Plato, copying always involves falling away from the original. Hence Chaerephon’s inept questions and Polus’ inept answers.
The problems of mediation and copying illustrate the nature — and the dangers — of the teacher-student relationship. Students seldom excel their teachers, and when they do, it is not by imitating them. Rather, it is because they were always-already more than their teachers. Usually, there’s a decline in quality from teacher to student. We see this decline in the series of conversations to follow, first with Gorgias, then with his student Polus, then with Callicles, who is not a sophist but a wealthy consumer of the sophists’ art.
This brings us to a moral and political question. If students do not represent their teachers well, then it is unjust to judge teachers by their students. But Socrates was not just judged by his students. He was tried, condemned, and executed because of such students as Alcibiades, the would-be tyrant, and Charmides and Critias, two actual tyrants. Thus the Gorgias, like most of Plato’s dialogues, has an apologetic aspect. It seeks to acquit Socrates in the eyes of posterity by depicting the sophists as the true teachers of tyranny and Socrates as their greatest foe, who attacks tyranny at its roots.
Notes
[1] Olympiodorus, Commentary on Plato’s Gorgias, trans. Robin Jackson, Kimon Lycos, and Harold Tarrant (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998), Proem, p. 56.
[2] Plato, Gorgias, trans. Donald J. Zeyl (Indianapolis: Hackett, 1987), p. 1, note 1.
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