him, so he gradually and gracefully backed out of the interview. Socrates was of far too catholic a spirit to consider any class or phase of society excluded from the scope of his mission. But he was not a man to throw pearls before swine; he adapted himself to the atmosphere in which he found himself, but always endeavoured indirectly to purify and improve it, and if much could not be done in this way, to do a little.
A somewhat fuller picture of Socrates discharging this last-named function is given by Xenophon in the 'Banquet,' an imaginary dialogue,[1] which represents the philosopher at a gay Athenian supper-party. The incidents related are as follows:—A beautiful youth, named Autolycus, had gained the victory in the pancratium, or contest of wrestling and boxing at the public games. Callias, a wealthy Athenian, a friend of the boy's father, and having a great regard for him-
- ↑ We call this dialogue imaginary, from internal evidence. The event which was supposed to have given rise to the supper took place B.C. 420. Antisthenes would have been a very young man in 420, but he is represented in the dialogue as a man of mature opinions and decided cynical mode of life. Socrates, also, is described as quite an old man. Thus chronology is confused. The introduction, which is abrupt, speaks of "occurrences at which I was present." But Xenophon, when intending to mention himself, always does so in the third person—"Xenophon did this or that." He would have been about 11 years old in 420 B.C. On the whole, the 'Banquet' must be taken as a fancy sketch, based on something which really occurred. It was perhaps the first attempt at a dramatic picture, with Socrates for chief figure, and may have suggested to Plato the form of his inimitable dialogues, to which, though clever in its way, it is far inferior.
