Meno 20 – Enigmatic End of the Meno

At the end of the Meno, just before leaving, Socrates presents the results of the discussion:

‘If through all this discussion (ei0 de\ nu=n h9mei=j e0n panti\ tw~| lo/gw| tou/tw|) our queries and statements have been correct (kalw~j e0zhth/same/n te kai\ e0le/gomen), virtue is found to be neither natural (a0reth\ a2n ei1h ou1te fu/sei) nor taught (ou1te didakto/n), but is imparted to us by a divine dispensation (a0lla\ qei/a| moi/ra| paragignome/nh) without understanding (a1neu nou=) in those who receive it (oi[j a2n paragi/gnhtai), unless there should be somebody among the statesmen (ei0 mh/ tij ei1h toiou=toj tw~n politikw~n a0ndrw~n) capable of making a statesman of another (oi[oj kai\ a1llon poih/sai politiko/n). And if there should be any such (ei0 de\ ei1h), he might fairly be said to be among the living (sxedo\n a1n ti ou[toj le/goito toiou=toj e0n toi=j zw~sin) what Homer says Teiresias was among the dead (oi[on e1fh O#mhroj e0n toi=j teqnew~si to\n Teiresi/an ei]nai, le/gwn peri\ au0tou= o3ti) – “He alone has comprehension (oi]oj pe/pnutai tw~n e0n A#idou); the rest are fleeting shades (ai9 de\ skiai\ a0i5ssousi),” In the same way he on earth, in respect of virtue, will be a real substance among shadows (tau0to\n a2n kai\ e0nqa/de o9 toiou=toj w#sper para\ skia\j a0lhqe\j a2n pra=gma ei1h pro\j a0reth/n).’

Meno: ‘I think you put it excellently (Ka/llista dokei=j moi le/gein), Socrates (w} Sw&kratej).’

***

The question is: what entitled Socrates to the Homeric accolade of the statesman capable of making a statesman of another, and what entitled Meno to his praise of Socrates on account of it?

My answer to this question? Philosophic mysteries, to which Socrates alludes at 76e: ‘But it is not [the better definition] (A0ll’ ou0k e1stin), son of Alexidemus (w} pai= A0lecidh/mou), as I am persuading myself (w(j e0gw_ e0mauto\n pei/qw), but the other definition is better (a0ll’ e0kei/nh belti/wn) and I think it would seem so to you as well (oi]mai de\ ou0d’ a2n soi\ do/cai), if you would not have to leave, as you said yesterday, before the mysteries (ei0 mh/, w#sper xqe\j e1legej, a0nagkai=o/n soi a0pie/nai pro\ tw~n musthri/wn), but if you stayed and got initiated (a0ll’ ei0 perimei/naij kai\ muhqei/hj).’

Meno replies: ‘But I should stay (A0lla\ perime/noim’ a1n), Socrates (w} Sw&kratej), if you would tell me many such things (ei1 moi po/lla toiau=ta le/goij).’

Socrates responds by assuring Meno that he is ready and willing to do everything in his power to make him stay and be initiated: ‘Well then, I will spare no endeavour (A0lla\ mh\n proqumi/aj ge ou0de\n a0polei/yw), both for your sake and for my own (kai\ sou= e3neka kai\ e0mautou=), to continue saying such things (le/gwn toiau=ta).’

Let me now give the two definitions. At 76a Socrates defines sxh=ma (figure): ‘In every instance of figure (kata\ panto\j sxh/matoj tou=to le/gw) I call that figure in which the solid ends (ei0j o4 to\ stereo\n perai/nei, tou=t’ ei]nai sxh=ma); and I may put that more succinctly by saying that figure is “limit of solid” (o3per a2n sullabw_n ei1poimi stereou= pe/raj sxh=ma ei]nai).’

Meno is not enamoured with this definition; instead of expressing his opinion about it, he asks Socrates to define colour. Socrates complies with his request: ‘Then would you like me to answer you in the manner of Gorgias (Bou/lei ou]n soi kata\ Gorgi/an a0pokri/nwmai), which you would find easiest to follow (h[| a2n su\ ma/lista a0kolouqh/saij;)?’

Meno: ‘I should like that (Bou/lomai), of course (pw~j ga\r ou1;).’   

Socrates: ‘Do not both of you say there are certain effluences of existent things (Ou0kou=n le/gete a0porroa/j tinaj tw}n o1ntwn), as Empedocles held (kata\ E)mpedokle/a;)?’

Memo: ‘Certainly’ (Sfo/dra ge).

Socrates: ‘And passages (Kai\ po/rouj) into which (ei0j ou43j) and through which (kai\ di’ w{n) the effluences pass (ai9 a0porroai\ poreu/ontai;)?’

Meno: ‘To be sure (Pa/nu ge).’

Socrates: ‘And some of the effluences fit into various passages (Kai\ tw~n a0porrow~n ta\j me\n a9rmo/ttein e0ni/oij tw~n po/rwn), while some are too small or too large (ta\j de\ e0la/ttouj h2 mei/zouj ei]nai;)?’

Meno: ‘That is so (E1sti tau=ta).’

Socrates: ‘And further, there is what you call sight (Ou0kou=n kai\ o1yin kalei=j ti;)?’

Meno: ‘Yes (E!gwge).’

Socrates: So now “conceive my meaning,” as Pindar says: colour is an effluence of figures, commensurate with sight and sensible (E)k tou/twn dh\ cu/nej o3 toi le/gw, e1fh Pi/ndaroj. e1sti ga\r xro/a a0porroh\ sxhma/twn o1yei su/mmetroj kai\ ai0sqhto/j).’

Meno: ‘Your answer, Socrates, seems to me excellently put (A1rista/ moi dokei=j, w} Sw&kratej, tau/thn th\n a0po/krisin ei0rhke/nai).’

***

We may now ask, and I believe that Plato wants us to ask, on what grounds Socrates prefers his definition of sxh=ma (figure) to the definition of colour according to Gorgias and Empedocles? Let us visualise the definition of sxh=ma: ‘In every instance of figure (kata\ panto\j sxh/matoj tou=to le/gw) I call that figure in which the solid ends (ei0j o4 to\ stereo\n perai/nei, tou=t’ ei]nai sxh=ma); and I may put that more succinctly by saying that figure is “limit of solid” (o3per a2n sullabw_n ei1poimi stereou= pe/raj sxh=ma ei]nai).’ If we succeed in doing so, we have succeeded in visualising the Platonic Form (i0de/a) of sxh=ma.

Now we can properly understand Socrates’ message, with which the dialogue ends: ‘It is now time for me to go my way (nu=n d’ e0moi\ me\n w#ra poi i0e/nai), but do you persuade our friend Anytus of that whereof you are now yourself persuaded (su\ de\ tau=ta a3per au0to\j pe/peisai pei=qe kai\ to\n ce/non to/nde A1nuton), so as to put him in a gentler mood (i3na pra|o/teroj h]|); for if you can persuade him (w(j e0a\n pei/sh|j tou=ton), you will do a good turn to the people of Athens also (e1stin o3 ti kai\ A0qhnai/ouj o0nh/seij).’

What is now Meno himself persuaded of? He is persuaded that Plato, a statesman, is capable of making a statesman of another.

That Meno in the end proved not to be up to the task – the task of becoming, or trying to become, a philosopher statesman in Thessaly – that he betrayed Plato and himself, that was Meno’s tragedy.

In the Anabasis, Xenophon ends his account of Meno with ‘the facts which everybody knows’ (a4 de\ pa/ntej i1sasi ta/d’ e0sti/): ‘From Aristippus he secured, while still in the bloom of his youth, an appointment as general of his mercenaries’ (para\ A0risti/ppou me\n e1ti w(rai=oj w@n strathgei=n diepra/cato tw~n ce/nwn, II. 28); incidentally, in the opening speech in the Meno, Socrates alludes to Aristippus as Meno’s lover (o9 so\j e0rasth\j A0ri/stippoj, 70b4-5, e9tai=roj 70b2).

It seems that securing the leadership of Aristippus’ mercenaries was not an easy task; Xenophon mentions that Cyrus was already several days on his march ‘when Menon the Thessalian arrived, with a thousand hoplites and five hundred peltasts’ (kai\ h[ke Me/nwn o9 Qettalo\j o9pli/taj e1xwn xili/ouj kai\ peltasta\j pentakosi/ouj, I. ii. 6).

Of Meno’s betrayal of the Greek mercenaries Xenophon spoke just after the capture of the Greek generals in the tent of Tissaphernes, and the slaughter of the Greek captains in front of his tent. Persian messengers said that “Clearchus (Kle/arxoj me/n), men of Greece (w} a1ndrej E!llhnej), inasmuch as he was shown to be perjuring himself (e0pei\ e0piorkw~n te e0fa/nh) and violating the truce (kai\ ta\j sponda\j lu/wn), has received his deserts (e1xei th\n di/khn) and is dead (kai\ te/qnhke), but Proxenus and Menon (Pro/cenoj de\ kai\ Me/nwn), because they gave information about his plotting, are held in high honour’ (o3ti kath/ggeilan au0tou= th\n e0piboulh/n, e0n mega/lh| timh=| ei0sin) (II. v. 38). In fact, Clearchus was not dead, but held captive; it is not difficult to guess why the Persian messengers declared him to be dead. I have not emphasized Proxenus in bold, for there are good reasons for exculpating him from the betrayal of the Greeks; unlike Meno, Proxenus was beheaded like Clearchus and the other captured generals.

But let me return to Xenophon’s narrative of ‘the facts which everybody knows’ about Meno: ‘Now when Menon’s fellow-generals were put to death (a0poqnh|sko/ntwn de\ tw~n sustrath/gwn) for joining Cyrus for his expedition against the King (o3ti e0stra/teusan e0pi\ basile/a su\n Ku/rw|), he, who had done the same thing, was not so treated (tau0ta\ pepoihkw_j ou0k a0pe/qane), but it was after the execution of the other generals (meta\ de\ tw~n a1llwn qa/naton tw~n strathgw~n) that the King visited the punishment of death upon him (timwrhqei\j u9po\ basile/wj a0pe/qanen); and he was not, like Clearchus and the rest of the generals, beheaded (ou0x w#sper Kle/arxoj kai\ oi9 a1lloi strathgoi\ a0potmhqe/ntej ta\j kefala/j) – a manner of death which is counted speediest (o3sper ta/xistoj qa/natoj dokei= ei]nai) – but, report says, was tortured alive for a year and so met the death of a scoundrel (a0lla\ zw~n ai0kisqei\j e0niauto\n w(j ponhro\j le/getai th=j teleuth=j tuxei=n).’