Banquet

Xenophon

Xenophon, creator; , Xenophon Memorabilia, Oeconomicus Symposium, Apology; Todd, O. J. (Otis Johnson), translator; Marchant, E. C. (Edgar Cardew), 1864-1960, editor; Todd, O. J. (Otis Johnson), editor, translator

Syr. And yet that is not the basis of my pride.Soc. What is, then?Syr. Fools, in faith. They give me a livelihood by coming to view my marionettes.Ah! ejaculated Philip; that explains the prayer I heard you uttering the other day, that wherever you were the gods would grant you an abundant harvest of grain but a crop-failure of wits!

Good! said Callias. And now, Socrates, what can you advance in support of your pride in that disreputable profession that you mentioned? Let us first, said he, come to an understanding on the functions that belong to the procurer. Do not hesitate to answer all the questions I ask you, so that we may know our points of agreement. Is that your pleasure? he asked. Certainly, was their reply; and when they had once started with certainly, that was the regular answer they all made to his questions thereafter.

Soc. Well, then, you consider it the function of a good procurer to render the man or the woman whom he is serving attractive to his or her associates?All. Certainly.Soc. Now, one thing that contributes to rendering a person attractive is a comely arrangement of hair and clothing, is it not?All. Certainly.

This, also, we know, do we not, that it is in a man’s power to use the one pair of eyes to express both friendship and hostility?Certainly.And again, it is possible to speak both modestly and boldly with the same voice?Certainly.Moreover, are there not words that create ill feeling and others that conduce to friendliness?Certainly.

Now the good procurer would teach only the words that tend to make one attractive, would he not?Certainly.Which one would be the better? he continued, the one who could make people attractive to a single person or the one who could make them attractive to many? This question brought a division; some said, Clearly the one who could make them attractive to a great many; the others merely repeated, Certainly.

Remarking that they were all of one mind on this point as on the others, he went on: If a person could render people attractive to the entire community, would he not satisfy the requirements of the ideal procurer?Indubitably, they all said. And so, if one could produce men of this type out of his clients, he would be entitled to feel proud of his profession and to receive a high remuneration, would he not?

All agreeing on this point, too, he added, Antisthenes here seems to me to be a man of just that sort.Antisthenes asked, Are you resigning your profession to me, Socrates?Assuredly, was the answer. For I see that you have brought to a high state of perfection the complementary trade. What is that? The profession of go-between, he said.

Antisthenes was much incensed and asked, What knowledge can you possibly have of my being guilty of such a thing as that?I know several instances, he replied. I know that you acted the part between Callias here and the scholar Prodicus, when you saw that Callias was in love with philosophy and that Prodicus wanted money. I know also that you did the same for Hippias, the Elean, from whom Callias got his memory system; and as a result, Callias has become more amorous than ever, because he finds it impossible to forget any beauty he sees.

And just recently, you remember, you introduced the stranger from Heraclea[*](Zeuxippus, the painter. Cf. Plato, Protag. 318 B, C.) to me, after arousing my keen interest in him by your commendations. For this I am indeed grateful to you; for I look upon him as endowed with a truly noble nature. And did you not laud Aeschylus the Phleiasian[*](Nothing further seems to be known of this man.) to me and me to him until you brought us to such a pass that in mutual yearning, excited by your words, we went coursing like hounds to find each other?

It is the witnessing of your talent at achieving such a result that makes me judge you an excellent go-between. For the man who can recognize those who are fitted to be mutually helpful and can make them desire one another’s acquaintance, that man, in my opinion, could also create friendship between cities and arrange suitable marriages, and would be a very valuable acquisition as friend or ally for both states and individuals. But you got indignant, as if you had received an affront, when I said that you were a good go-between.But, indeed, that is all over now, he replied; for with this power mine I shall find my soul chock-full of riches. And so this round of discourse was brought to a close.