( a Greek philosopher of some celebrity. He was a
native of Elis, and of high birth. He was taken prisoner in his youth, and passed into the
hands of an Athenian slave dealer; and being of considerable personal beauty (Plat. Phaed. 100.38) was compelled to prostitute himself. (s. v.
N. A. 2.18.)
The occasion on which he was taken prisoner ws no doubt the war between Sparta and Elis, in
which the Lacedaemonians were joined by the Athenians, which was carried on in the years s.a) The reading Fasti Hellen. vol. ii. p. 220, ed. 3.) So that it would be in the summer of i. c.) he ran away from his master to Socrates, and was
ransomed by one of the friends of the latter. Suidas says, that he was accidentally present at
a conversation with Socrates, and besought him to effect his liberation. Various accounts
mentioned Alcibiades, Criton, or Ccbes, as the person who ransomed him. (Diog. Laert.; Suid.;
A. Gell. l.c.) Alcibiades, however, was not at Athens at the time. Cebes
is stated to have been on terms of intimate friendship with Phaedon, and to have instructed
him in philosophy. Phaedon was present at the death of Socrates, while he was still quite a
youth. From the mention of his long hair (Plat. l.c.) it would seem that
he was not eighteen years of age at the time, as at that age it was customary to cease wearing
the hair long. (Becker, Charikles, ii. p. 382.) That Phaedon was on terms
of friendship with Plato appears likely from the mode in. which he is introduced in the
dialogue which takes its name from him. Other stories that were current in the schools spoke
of their relation as being that of enmity rather than friendship. (Athen. xi. pp. 505, 507,
c.) In the former passage Athenaeus says, that neither Gorgias nor Phaedon would acknowledge
the least of what Plato attributed to them in the dialogues that bore their names.) Several
philosophers were ungenerous enough to reproach Phaedon with his previous condition, as
Hieronymus (Diog. Laert. l.c.), and Epicurus (Cic. de
Nat. Deor. 1.33.93). Besides Plato Aeschines named one of his dialogues after Phaedon.
(Suid. s. v.
Phaedon appears to have lived in Athens some time after the death of Socrates. He then
returned to Elis, where he became the founder of a school of philosophy. Anclhipylus and
Moschus are mentioned among his disciples. (MENEDEMUS.] Of the doctrines of
Phaedon nothing is known, except as they made their appearance in the philosophy of Menedemus.
Nothing can safely be inferred respecting them from the Phaedon of Plato. None of Phaedonm's
writings have come down to us, They were in the form of dialogues. There was some doubt in
antiquity as to which were genuine, and which were not. Panaetius attempted a critical
separation of the two classes (de. Fato, 5, Tusc.
Disp. 4.37.80), Maximus Tyr. (31.3), and others, was derived. Seneca (Ep. 94. 41) has a translation of a short passage from one of his pieces. (Fabric. Bibl. Gr. vol. ii. p. 717; Schöll, Gesch. der Griech.
Lit. vol. i. p. 475; Preller in Ersch and Gruber's Encycl.)