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The Prayers of SocratesAuthor(s): B. Darrell JacksonSource:
Phronesis, Vol. 16, No. 1 (1971), pp. 14-37Published by:
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The Prayers of Socrates* B. DARRELL JACKSON
FIRST I must say whom I mean by "Socrates." I shall use that
name to refer to the main protagonist of Plato's authentic
dialogues. Hence the prayers examined in this article are literary
pheno-
mena. They belong to the second of Friedrich Heiler's two
classes of prayers - "prayed" prayers and literary prayers.' In a
sense they are also prayed prayers, for the Socrates of the
dialogues is not just a product of Plato's poetic genius. Plato had
known Socrates well. and it seems reasonable to assume that he
would not have written prayers incongruous with Socrates'
character. Still these prayers are more the product of art than of
spontaneous piety.3
I have located twelve prayers of Socrates in the dialogues.4
These
* I wish to thank those whose comments have aided me, Elizabeth
Wright, Douglas Gunn, and critics who have asked good questions at
two readings of this paper, one before the Hellenistic Religions
section of the American Academy of Religion (October 1968), the
other before a meeting of the North Carolina Teachers of Religion.
1 Friedrich Heiler, Prayer: a study in the history and psychology
of religion, trans. by Samuel McComb (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1932), pp. xvii-xxiv. 2 Cf. Ap. 34 a, 38 b, Ep. VII 324
d-325 c, and A. E. Taylor, Plato: the Man and His Work (New York:
Meridian Books, 6th edn. 1952), pp. 3 f. 3 I call Socrates' prayers
"literary" without intending to agree with Heiler, p. xviii, that
". . formal, literary prayers are merely the weak reflection of the
original, simple prayer of the heart." This evaluation is based on
a view of literary art foreign to Greeks of the classical period.
For them art and religion were not necessarily separate provinces.
The best example of the close connec- tion of art and religion is
tragic poetry, which originated and flourished as part of the
festivals of Dionysus. Cf. R. C. Flickinger, The Greek Theater and
Its Drama (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 4th edn., 1936),
pp. 119-132. In any case, Heiler does not hold to his view; he
admits that poets may write prayers which reflect the simple piety
of naive people (p. xxiv). ' Most of the prayers and references to
prayer in Plato have been located by use of Ast's Lexicon
Platonicum entries for ekt, 6XoAx=, and 7poaeuxo?-L. Others,
including prayers in other Greek authors, have been discovered by
search or through the references of secondary sources. Of the
latter, two are most important: Heinrich Greeven's article on
$Xo,tLXL, esX, in Kittel's Theological Dictionary of the New
Testament, Vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), pp. 775 ff., and
H. Schmidt's Veteres philosophi quomodo iudicaverint de precibus
(Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, vol. IV, no. 1,
Giessen, 1906).
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twelve can be classified into three groups - biographical
prayers, literary prayers, and philosophical prayers. A fourth
group of prayers is made up of those which Plato puts in the mouths
of other characters. I shall consider the four groups, inquiring
into the occasion of each prayer, its addressee(s), content, and
function in the dialogue. Cultic background will be noted, as will
similarities and contrasts with prayers in other Greek authors. In
addition, the relation of Socrates' prayers to what is said in the
dialogues about prayer will receive attention.
For ease of reference I now list and summarize the prayers which
I know of in Plato. They are in approximate chronological order of
composition. 5
1. Euthyd. 275 d - Socrates, to the Muses and Memory, for aid in
remembering a conversation.
2. Phaedo 117 c - Socrates, to the gods, as he takes the
hemlock, for a happy rnigration.
3. Symp. 220 d - Socrates, to the sun, after the twenty-four
hour "trance" at Potidaia.
4. Phaedr. 237 a-b - Socrates, to the Muses, for aid in his
first speech on love. 5. Ibid. 257 a-b - Socrates, to Eros, at the
close of his second speech on
love, for forgiveness, success in love, and intercession. 6.
Ibid. 278 b - Socrates prays to be a philosopher. 7. Ibid. 279 b-c
- Socrates, to Pan and others, for inner beauty, wisdom,
temperance, and harmony. 8. Rep. I 327 a-b - Socrates tells of
having prayed at the festival of Bendis. 9. Ibid. IV 432 c -
Socrates prays for success in discovering the nature of
justice. 10. Ibid. VIII 545 d-e - Socrates, to the Muses, for
information on the origin
of political dissension. 11. Tim. 27 b-d - Timaeus, to gods and
goddesses, for a discourse pleasing
to gods and men. 12. Ibid. 48 d-e - Timaeus, to a god, for
success in the second part of the
discourse. 13. Critias 106 a-b - Timaeus, to the cosmos, as he
ends his discourse, for
truth and knowledge. 14. Ibid. 108 c-d - Critias, to Paean, the
Muses, the gods. and especially
Memory, as he begins his discourse. 15. Phil. 25 b - Socrates,
to a god, for aid in the argument.
6 I follow the order given by Robert S. Brumbaugh, Plato for the
Modern Age (New York: Corier Books, 1964), p. 225. The order of
dramatic dates is quite different. The prayers will sometimes be
referred to by number later in the article.
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16. Ibid. 61 b-c - Socrates, to Dionysus and Hephaestus, for
success in the argument.
17. Laws IV 712 b - the Athenian, to a god, for aid in the
discourse. 18, 19. Ibid. VII 823 d, X 887 c - the Athenian speaks
as though praying. 20. Ibid. X 893 b - the Athenian, to a god and
the gods, for assistance in
proving the existence of the gods. 21. Epin. 980 b-c - the
Athenian, to the gods and the god, for a beautiful
and excellent discourse.
1. Biographical prayers
The two prayers having the earliest and latest dramatic dates of
the twelve of Socrates occur in biographical contexts. Whatever the
historical accuracy of the dialogues in which they occur,6 both are
explicitly presented as actual datable events in Socrates'
life.
a. Symposium 220 d The first such prayer occurs in Alcibiades'
Symposium speech in praise of Socrates. He tells how during the
Potidaian campaign of 431-4307 Socrates stood one day thinking from
sunrise to sunrise (220 c-d). And then, at the end of twenty-four
hours, Socrates "... offered a prayer to the sun and walked away."8
There seems no other reason for Socrates having prayed to the sun
than that it happened to be sunrise when his thinking was
completed. Worship of Helios was not an important part of the state
cults at this time and Plato
6 Plato indicates plainly that he does not guarantee the
accuracy of the Sym- posium. Although it is narrated by
Apollodorus, a friend of Socrates who even checked some of the
details with Socrates (172 c 4-6, 173 b 2-3 - references to Plato
are to Burnet's Oxford edn.), it is a secondhand account of an
event several years past (172 b 8-c 4). In contrast, we may
conclude that Plato intends the Phaedo to be a true account of
Socrates' last day. It is narrated by Phaedo, who was present and
takes pleasure in recalling the memory of Socrates (57 a 1-4, 58 d
4-6). There is evidence, moreover, that Plato spent time after
Socrates' death with Euclides and Terpsion of Megara, who were also
present. Taylor, p. 176. 7 Taylor, p. 233. 8,, xaxl fiLoq vaxccev
&7?tX xeT a7Ls rpOanD&X?cvo5 i ,Eca. Trans. by W. H. D.
Rouse, Great Dialogues of Plato (New York: The New American
Library, 1956), p. 114.
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was innovating when he made it so in the Laws,9 but prayers to
him at his rising and setting were not unusual.'0 That Socrates
thought the sun to be divine is clear,"L although unlike the
ordinary Greek he also had a scientific interest in the sun and
moon.12
Alcibiades says nothing of what Socrates prayed on this
occasion. There are grounds for assuming that it was not an
ordinary prayer. Burnet and Taylor have suggested that these
twenty-four hours may have been the outstanding ecstasy of
Socrates' life.'3 Indeed he may at this time have had the vision of
Beauty itself praised so highly in his Symposium speech (211 d). If
so, this prayer to the sun occurs at a crucial point in Socrates'
career. This, of course, is con- jecture. But there need be no
doubt concerning the biographical importance of the occasion of the
Phaedo prayer.
b. Phaedo 117 c After receiving the cup of poison and
instructions on how to take it, Socrates asked if he could pour a
libation from the drink. When the jailor told him that there was no
poison to spare for such an offering Socrates said,
(2) I understand, but at least, I suppose, it is allowed to
offer a prayer to the gods and that must be done, for good luck in
the migration from here to there. Then that is my prayer, and so
may it be!14
* Glenn R. Morrow, Plato's Cretan City (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1960), pp. 446-448. 10 For evidence on the cult
of Helios cf. Lewis Richard Farnell, The Cults of the Greek States,
Vol. V, pp. 417-420, 449-453, and especially 450 n. 18. Through-
out this study I have relied heavily on Farnell's great five volume
study (Ox- ford, 1896-1909) for information on Greek cults. - For a
literary prayer ad- dressed to Helios cf. Soph. Ajax 823 ff. esp.
846 and 857. " Ap. 26 d 1-3, Rep. VI 508 a 4 and 9. 1 Phaedo 98 a.
In Laws VII 821 a-d Plato connects astronomy with piety. Knowledge
of the sun, moon, and planets will insure pious language in
sacrifices and prayers (eUxat&) to these gods. 1a Taylor, p.
233. Kurt von Fritz, "Greek Prayers," Review of Religion X (1945),
pp. 7 and 35, says that the prayer to Helios is in no way part of
the meditation. I do not see that there are grounds in the text for
saying whether it was. 1M MavA&veo, ff 8' &?X e15XeaGod y1
tiou n oto rolgt 1?arL -r xa XPTh qV 0LeOtwnaLV .v LV-V8e kxe:Ta
e0TuXn yev&T4av & 80 xacl 6yx eo[ocE -re xct ykvoLro
rct&rn. Trans. by Rouse, pp. 520 f. For another, far more
elaborate, prayer at death cf. the prayer in Sophocles cited in n.
9.
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Socrates addresses his prayer simply to the gods. This is not
charac- teristic of him, although he does it one other time.'5 I
shall reserve comment on prayers to unnamed gods until later
(section 4).
The important thing about the prayer is its content. Socrates
prays for a lucky migration (rrv EtvrotzaLv '-~v ... evruTx-) from
this world to the next. This migration has been the subject under
discussion in the dialogue.'6 Now that it is upon him, Socrates
prays for good luck, a frequent subject in Greek prayers, for
example, in the Homeric Hymn to Athena.17 By praying for luck
Socrates implies that there were things about the migration of his
soul which were outside of his control and in the control of the
gods. To use a scheme later expressed by Plato in the Laws (IV 709
b-d), we can say that Socrates had developed the requisite skill
for his journey, namely, philosophy'8; now as death comes he prays
for good fortune in the conjunction of circumstances with his
skill, just as a skilled navigator prays for good weather before
setting sail.'9 There may be a touch of irony in this prayer, as in
Socrates' last words about offering a cock to Aesculapius (118 a),
but this seems to me a moment of great seriousness even, or perhaps
I should say most of all, for Socrates. For he is about to be freed
from all that distracts a man from love of wisdom.
2. Prayers with a literary function
I have termed a second group of six prayers "literary prayers."
All of the Platonic prayers of Socrates are literary in origin, but
these six are literary in function as well. They are of two
types.
15 At Philebus 25 b, no, 15. 14 Cf. esp. Phaedo 107 c-d and 114
d-115 a. In these passages Plato uses TropEocz, joumey, instead of
* CvoExat, migration. Cf. also Rep. X 621 d 1-3: 7TOpcEqC ... E5
7tp"r(cteV. 17 Hymn. Hom. 11,5: the goddess is asked for srxnv C
u8LLOVtjv 're. Cf. Cratylus 397 b 4-5 where the proper name
ETuXE8Ns is said to be the expression of a prayer, and Eth. Nic. V
1129 b 1-7 where Aristotle says that men pray con- cerning ?onTX[m
xxt &-ruExo. 18 Phaedo 62 a-69 e. "Laws 709 d 1-3. In light of
the later development of a cult of Tyche (Farnell, V 447 and
481-3), it is worth emphasizing that Socrates prays to the gods,
not to the personification of luck. This, too, is in accordance
with the Laws IV scheme, where skill, chance, and circumstance are
all under god (erc &eo5, 709 b 7).
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One prayer provides the dramatic opening for a dialogue; the
other five are stylistic devices to signal points of transition and
to provide dramatic relief. First I shall take up the single
example of a dramatic opening.
a. Republic I 327 a-b
The Republic opens with Socrates as the narrator.
(8) I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon, the son
of Ariston, to pay my devotions to the goddess (7poaeu06[Leoq 'rt
TX ?, a 1), and also I wished to see how they would conduct the
festival since this was its inauguration. I thought the procession
of the citizens very fine, but it was no better than the show made
by the marching of the Thracian con- tingent.
After we had said our prayers (npoaeut&Levot, b 1) and seen
the spectacle we were starting for town when Polemarchus, the son
of Cephalus, caught sight of us ... (I 327 a 1-b 3)20
Polemarchus hailed Socrates and Glaucon and persuaded them to
stay in the Piraeus to see the remainder of the festival, a torch
race on horseback at night (328 a). In the meantime they went to
Pole- marchus' house and the discussion which constitutes the
Republic took place there.
Towards the end of Book I we learn that the festival attended by
Socrates was in honor of Bendis.2' She was a Thracian goddess
received into Greek religion chiefly as the Thracian form of
Artemis.22 Her festival was observed in the Piraeus, where foreign
cults were often introduced into Attica.23 If Plato's information
is accurate, this festival was begun around 420, the dramatic date
of the Republic.24 Socrates. attendance at the festival indicates
that he had some interest in new cults. He apparently did not visit
the Piraeus often (328 c 6-7). In fact he rarely left Athens,
preferring the market-
20 Trans. by Paul Shorey in The Collected Dialogues of Plato,
ed. by Edith Ha- milton and Huntington Cairns (New York: Pantheon
Books, 1961), p. 576. 21 354 a 10 f.: &v srots Bcv8L8(oto. 'n
Farnell, II 474. n Ibid., p. 475. "4 Taylor, pp. 263 f. In his
Commentary on Plato's Timaeus (Oxford, 1928), p. 46, Taylor notes
that Proclus dated the Bendidea on the 19th of Thargelion, i.e., in
May or June.
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place to the countryside.25 Although he may have left the city
this time out of curiosity (327 a 2-3), this was not his only
motive, for he not only observed but also prayed.
There is no indication of what Socrates prayed for on this
occasion. In the absence of such information and of any obvious
relevance of Artemis-Bendis to the subject of the dialogue
(justice), there seems to be no particular reason for Plato's
having opened the Republic with Socrates praying at a festival.26
It is noteworthy, however, that both of Plato's longest works, the
Republic and the Laws,27 have their dramatic setting in a religious
context.
b. Euthydemus 275 d, Republic IV 432 c, VIII 545 d-e, Philebus
25 b, 61 b-c.
The other literary prayers occur at points of lesser importance
than the opening of a dialogue. The most significant places are
given to the Euthydemus prayer and the second Philebus prayer. The
former stands at the beginning of the body of the dialogue, after
the intro- duction is out of the way. The latter occurs just as the
dialogue begins to draw to its conclusion. The other three are
found at points of lesser importance where subtopics are taken
up.
The content of all five prayers is the same. In each place
Socrates prays for some sort of aid in the argument, either for
memory or for dialectical skill. But the tone suggests that Plato
includes the prayers more for variety of expression than as
indications that Socrates yearned for divine aid. This seems
especially clear in the Philebus. About a quarter way into the
dialogue the following exchange takes place:
(15) Socrates: AU right. Now what description are we going to
give of number three, the mixture of these two [viz. the classes of
the finite and the infinite]?
Protarchus: That, I think, will be for you to tell me. Socrates:
Or rather for a god to tell us, if one comes to listen to my
prayers. Protarchus: Then offer your prayer, and look to see if
he does.
25 Phaedr. 230 c-d. 2 Artemis (= Bendis), as a goddess of the
hills and forests, seems most in- appropriate for a dialogue on the
ideal polis. But cf. Crat. 406 b where one of the etymologies of
"Artemis" is that it comes from &pe ', virtue. 37 Laws I 625 b
1-2.
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Socrates: I am looking, and I fancy, Protarchus, that one of
them has befriended us for some little time. (25 b 5-12)28
This lighthearted banter occurs in the midst of nrgorous
argument. By its contrast with the rigor of that argument it
provides momentary relief from the tension. It is a brief interlude
and as is usually the case with interludes in Plato it indicates
that a new point is being taken up. A prayer towards the end of the
dialogue has the same function. The mixed life has been determined
to be the good for man.
(16) Socrates: Then let us mingle our ingredients, Protarchus,
with a prayer to the gods, to Dionysus or Hephaestus or whichever
god has been assigned this function of mingling. (61 b 11-c
2)29
The brief prayer in Republic IV plays the same role as the
Philebus prayers, although not so conspicuously.
(9) Offer up a prayer with me, I [Socrates] said, and follow.
That I will do, only lead on, he said. (432 c 5-6)30
The use of prayers as interludes in philosophical contexts may
be Plato's invention, but in two other prayers he acknowledges de-
pendence on the poets. Both are prayers to the Muses. In the Euthy-
demus Socrates must recall a complicated sophistical conversation
of the day before.
(1) What followed, Crito, how could I describe properly? It is
not a small business to recall and repeat wisdom ineffably great!
So I must begin my description as the poets do, by invoking the
Muses and Memory herself I (275 c 5-d 2)81
2 l E. 06; .Liv o5v, &V7Ep ye k{Lotlt euXaL4 k ^xoo4 yEy"mi
n; ft&v. fIPl. E6Xou 8t& xOcc Gx6c. ED. Zxonr7- xOCL t.OL
8O0XC TL; ... aUC@v 9(DO4 ~tiV VUVt yeyovkvOCL. Trans. by R.
Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, pp. 1101 f. 29 Tolc 80 tcotl. (
llp&rxpXe, uX6evot x?pavv e, efte A(ovuaoq etTe `Hc xtror er'
a'rtg &e&iv 'rm'v TrV v
-n[LV v f),)X s-7 auyxpIacrg. Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton
and Cairns, p. 1143. 30 tE7roU, ^V 8' Iy6, Cu'0Xpr5o lie-r 4LO5.
I-ot,aco TXC59T, &Xo tl6vov, ff 8' 6q, hYO5. The trans. is a
composite of Shorey's and Jowett's. I"
... 8ios.aLL &.pX6fLevOq rq kLqy~ae& Mo5aoc; re xod Mv
oa6vnv &Inxe!aXL. Trans. by Rouse in Hamilton and Cairns, p.
389.
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Then again in Republic VIII.
(10) Shall we, like Homer, invoke the Muses to tell 'how faction
first fell upon them,' and say that these goddesses playing with us
and teasing us as if we were children address us in lofty,
mock-senrous tragic style? (545 d 5-e 3)82
This last prayer introduces a section in which the Muses are
sup- posedly the speakers. It gives Plato an opportunity to write
in a different style from that used in the dialogue so far (546 a
ff.). Thus in this instance he combines poetic convention
(invocation of the Muses) with the provision of relief (by variety
of expression).
So far I have commented on the content and function of these
prayers. It remains to comment on their addressees. The two just
quoted are addressed to the Muses, who are invoked more often in
the dialogues (four times) than any other named deity.33 As noted
already, prayers to the Muses are a poetic convention. Socrates
says he is imitating Homer, who does indeed frequently invoke the
Muses.3 Two of the prayers to the Muses are conjoined with another
poetic convention, the invocation of Memory, who is their mother
according to Hesiod.35 In each case what is needed is recall of a
great deal of material - a complex conversation and the history of
Atlantis and Athens.
Socrates prays to the Muses because it is conventional to do so
when one needs information or the recall of information. His
Philebus prayer to Dionysus and Hephaestus appears to have a
similar close
p3ou')m, &a7rep 'O0mnpoq, CeUX Lcf r&tL Mot5aau rcbrtv
tL!v 67rcoq 80 7rpov at5 aL; 4pae. . . ;Trans. by Shorey in
Hamilton and Cairns, p. 775. 3 The other two prayers to the Muses
are at Phaedrus 237 a-b (no. 4) and Crilias 108c-d (no. 13). 8' II.
I 1, I 484, X 218, XIV 508, XVI 112, Od. I 1. The Homeric formula
is usually lanreTr v5v [Lot, Mouat'x, "tell me now Muses" (II. II
484). Cf. also Solon, fr. 1 (on wealth) and Sappho, frs. 101 and
129 (in the Loeb Lyra Graeca I). At Phaedrus 245 a and 265 b Plato
says that the Muses are the source of the divine Fxovto which
produces poetry. 36 Theog. 50 ff. Plato agrees(Theaet. 191 d). For
an invocation of Memory cf. Pindar, Fragment of a Paean VII B, in
Farnell, The Works of Pindar (London: Macmillan, 1930), pp. 313
f.
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relation to what is prayed for. These gods, he says, are in
charge of mingling or mixing (atUyxpUaLq, xZpvvu4li) and his
argument is moving toward a conclusion by mixing components defined
thus far. Socrates expresses some uncertainty about which god is in
charge of mixing. This may indicate that he is innovating in making
a specific assignment of this function. Dionysus and Hephaestus
are, however, easily as- sociated with mixing, namely, the mixing
of wine and the combining of metals.36 Of the other two prayers,
one is addressed to "a god" (Phil. 25 b) and the other has no
addressee (Rep. IV).
3. Philosophical prayers - the Phaedrus
In the Phaedrus are found four prayers which may be
distinguished from those considered so far because of their
content. I call them "philosophical prayers." They occur in a
dialogue with the latest dramatic date (as late as 40437) of all
others containing Socratic prayers except the Phaedo. Whether Plato
intended to, therefore, he has placed the richest prayers of the
dialogues on the lips of Socrates as a man of seasoned
maturity.
a. Phaedrus 237 a-b Because of the many issues presented by each
prayer, I shall consider them individually. The first one occurs at
the beginning of Socrates' first speech on love (237 b-241 d).38
(4) Come then, ye clear-voiced Muses, whether it be from the nature
of your
song, or from the musical people of Liguria that ye came to be
so styled, 'assist the tale I tell' under compulsion by my good
friend here, to the end that he may think yet more highly of one
dear to him, whom he al- ready accounts a man of wisdom. (237 a 7-b
1)89
86 I have located specific evidence for Dionysus and the mixing
of wine. Farnell, V 282 n. 17, quotes a passage from Athenaeus in
which Dionysus is said to have taught the Athenians about 'hv 'ro5
otvou xp&mLV. Cf. also Walter F. Otto, Dionysus: Myth and Cult,
pp. 86 and 100. I know of nothing comparable for Hephaestus, but
the smith-god would naturally be associated with making bronze by
combining copper and tin, etc. 87 Taylor, p. 301. 88 A prayer at
the beginning of an oration was apparently not unusual. Cf.
Demosthenes, On the Crown 1. 3a . 'AyeT? 84, X Mo5aot, teVe 84&
J6 el8oq Xtyeto0t, &cr 8t& ykvo5 ,LOUaLx6V ?r6 Aty65ov
ro'rNv laXeX' kneavilwV, "!,. p ot )&3 d ? coe" 'roi 5 tou, 6v
,ue 0VayXKcet 6 PwAXtnsroq ouroal 'Xyv, '' o 6 ctZpos ac&ro5,
xml np6repov 8oxc7v aOor pO6k cva;, v4v 1.'t ,ux0ov 86oEn. Trans.
by Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, pp. 484 f.
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This prayer to the Muses, like those in the Euthydemus and the
Re- public, asks for aid in the discourse to follow. It differs
from them, however, in two important respects.
In the first place, there is a more complex invocation of the
Muses. In fact this prayer contains the longest invocation of any
in the dialogues. The deities addressed in all the other prayers
are merely named. Here the Muses are not only named, their name is
dwelt on. The comparative infrequency of this in Plato's prayers
contrasts with normal literary and cultic practice. For example,
the prayer of Achilles for Patroclus begins:
High Zeus, lord of Dodona, Pelasgian, living afar off, brooding
over wintry Dodona, your prophets about you living, the Selloi who
sleep on the ground with feet unwashed. Hear me.'0
But in this one case Socrates does offer a prayer with a longer
invo- cation. His concern here is for the origin of the epithet
"clear-voiced."41
The second difference between this prayer and the others to the
Muses is that here Socrates prays for more than aid in the
discourse. The real object of his prayer is that he may through the
eloquence of his speech be even more highly regarded by one who
already thinks him wise. Although this is a prayer for increased
reputation, it is for reputation in virtue.
b. Phaedrus 257 a-b Socrates was temporarily unhappy with the
speech on love which follows his prayer to the Muses (242 b-243 d).
But he later views it in connection with his second speech and
finds that it had its appropriateness (264e-266 b). In effect, the
two speeches are two parts of one speech (266 a). Thus a prayer to
the Muses opens that 40 II. XVI 233 ff. Trans. by Richmond
Lattimore, The Iliad of Homer (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1951), p. 336. For other long invocations cf. the Prayer to
the Fates in C. M. Bowra, Greek Lyric Poetry (Oxford: At the
Claren- don Press, 2nd edn., 1961), p. 404 (found in Stob. Ecl.
5.10-12), Sappho's famed Prayer to Aphrodite (fr. 1), and Aesch.
Choeph. 123 ff. Farnell, I 26, notes the importance of cult-titles
in public prayer and sacrifice. Cf. also von Fritz, pp. 16f. 4"
Hackforth, Plato's Phaedrus (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1952), p.
36, n. 1, regards Plato's suggestion that ),EyeLmL (clear-voiced)
is connected with the Li- gurian people as an etymological jest.
Farnell, V 469-471 on the Muses, notes no such connection. Perhaps
Socrates is thinking of the northern origin of the Muses (Liguria
is on the Italian Riviera). Another puzzle about this prayer is the
source of the quotation ivA ,uoL )X:&caf. In Liddell and Scott,
Greek-English Lexicon, p. 1691, it is referred to merely as"a
poetical passage ap. P1. Phdr. 237 a."
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one speech and a prayer to Eros closes it.42 The latter is a
remarkable prayer in many respects. For one thing it is the longest
prayer in Plato's dialogues. (5) Thus then, dear Eros, I havy
offered the fairest recantation and fullest
atonement that my powers co-ild compass; some of its language,
in partic- ular, was perforce poetical, to please Phaedrus. Grant
me thy pardon for what went before, and thy favor for what ensued;
be merciful and gracious, and take not from me the lover's talent
wherewith thou hast blessed me; neither let it wither by reason of
thy displeasure, but grant me still to increase in the esteem of
the fair. And if anything that Phaedrus and I said earlier sounded
discordant to thy ear, set it down to Lysias, the only begetter of
that discourse, and staying him from discourses after this fashion
turn him toward the love of wisdom, even as his brother Polemarchus
has been turned. Then will his loving disciple here present no
longer halt between two opinions, as now he does, but live for love
in singleness of purpose with the aid of philosophical discourse.
(257 a 3-b 6)4
This is the only prayer to Eros in Plato. Eros was the subject
of much poetry44 but fewer prayers.45 In Plato his status is
ambiguous. According to the Phaedrus46 Eros is a god; according to
the Sympo- sium47 he is not a god but a great daimon, mediating
between gods and mortals. As a daimon Eros would carry prayers to
the gods and return with answers for men.4" But even daimons should
be prayed to, according to Plato, so that they will transmit our
prayers to the gods well.49 This notion is at least as old as the
Iliad, where prayer itself is personified as the AlroL, who entreat
Zeus in behalf of or against
42 The second speech or part contains the famous myth of the
charioteer. ' A5rq OOL, J) cp? "EpCa4, et(; 0hLvpOmV 8 Svoc4Ltv
6*tL XWaT- xad &p'at7 8 8o'o( 'c xod LX'ir-7LaaL 7MXLvC8(C, 'x
're &; XM x rxl 6Ov6[aCaLv Ivxyxaas&iv) irOL7qTLXOt5 TLCSLV
8L& 4bOaL8pOV etpTa,ML. M&X T&V 7rpOTipCiV TC CKyp
)vOCL X )v8e XXPLV IX LCV, eU'[Lv+ XaL DxCq AV kpcIwXmV [LOL 'xv)V
fV 98Oxaq o Lc F iOc9i) X Lr'-r 7TT pc i)a 8L' 6pymV, M8OU T' I?Lt
LDX?OV % V5V 7racp& roLq X00o,0 'r(LLOV e1VXL. kV 'rp 7tp6aov
8' et rt X6yw aot &.rw-xkq ef7roiev ODt8p6q -re xod &y6,
Auatav -r6v 105 XO6you MX7 pa OCt=?Vo0 7rmUC -v 'rLou'Gv )o6ycv,
&iri qtXoaocp(mv 8k, 6anep &8eX,?6q a9u'ou flo\)4apxoq
r&XpX7r-0, Tpk4GV, tVM cxal 6 IpaMaAq 688e cUrTo5 p?-Xk'rL
kapoTCp(Zn xOt&x7rp v5v, dcX' &7Tr)X& 7rp6q 'Epvro pX
cpL0oa6qv X6ywv -69v rEov 7r%LVl. Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton
and Cairns, p. 502. 4" Cf. Bowra, pp. 70, 235, 263, 283-6, 292 f.
and 305 for Eros in poetry by Alc- man, Sappho, Ibycus, and
Anacreon. ' Cf. Eur. Hipp. 525 ff. "242 d 8, 242 e 2-3. 47 202 d
13: 8odat.Lv 4kyo;. 48 Symp. 202 e 3-7. 49 Laws 801 e: 8cx(ov&q
-re xoc tpc5... eXact; Epin. 984 e 1-3.
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a man depending on his veneration of them.50 Since Eros is
viewed as a god in the Phaedrus, Socrates is probably praying to
him as a deity and not as a mediator. A daimon does, however,
function as a messenger in the dialogue, namely, Socrates' own
famed daimonic voice. It forbids him to leave before making
atonement for his offence against Eros.51 That the voice brings a
communication from Eros or another god is not stated in the
Phaedrus, but in other dialogues Plato makes this role of Socrates'
daimon explicit.52 On the other hand, he does not, so far as I
know, ever have Socrates pray to his own daimon or address it in
any way.53 It brings messages to him from the gods but is never
said to carry prayers to the gods.
The most remarkable feature of the prayer to Eros is its rich
content. It contains three petitions. Socrates asks for pardon, for
success in love, and for the conversion of Lysias and Phaedrus to
philosophy. As to the first, there are prayers for pardon
(aUyv(uvn) in the Greek literary tradition,54 but such seems out of
place in Plato. In both the Republic and the Laws he argues against
those who say that the gods may be made to ignore sin by prayer and
sacrifice.55 His view is that prayer is profitable only to a good
man.5s Hence one should not pray unless he is already good. This
rule leaves little room for a petition to be forgiven. Socrates'
prayer to Eros does not, however, violate this rule. In relation to
Eros Socrates had become good before he prayed. He had purified
himself by a new speech, praising love instead of blaming him.
Socrates' prayer conforms to another Platonic notion, namely, that
the goal of prayer and of all worship is to become like god.57 His
petition to Eros for success in love is a prayer to be like that
god. The third petition of the prayer
60 II. IX 500 ff. 61 Phaedr. 242 b 8-c 3. 52 Apol. 31 c 8-d 1
and 40 a 2-c 3, esp. 40 b 1: 'r6 -ro5 coi3 a- cLov. " Cf. Paul
Friedlander, Plato: An Introduction (New York: Harper & Row,
1958), pp. 32-36, for a brief but informative account of Socrates'
daimonic voice. 4 Eur. Hipp. 113 ff.: auyyvca.ov; Xen. Mem.
II.ii.14: auyyvs,ovaCq.
6' In the Rep. (364-366 a) this view is attributed to the poets.
In Laws X 885 b and 905 d-907 b it is the third form of impiety and
is attributed to no special group. I' Laws IV 716 d. Morrow, p.
400, comments on the reinterpretation of tradi- tional practices
which Plato makes in this passage. At Phaedrus 244 e Plato gives a
non-critical account of these practices. '7 Laws IV 716 c-d and
Theaet. 176 b.
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is intercessory. Prayers on behalf of others are not hard to
find. They are in Homer, in later poets, and are mentioned by Plato
him- self.58 But Plato certainly does not accept the Pythagorean
injunction against praying for oneself.59 Only in the prayer to
Eros does Socrates pray for someone else.60 He prays for Lysias,
who is not present, and for Phaedrus, who is. He intercedes for
them that they might turn to philosophy and thereby avoid such
speeches on love as Lysias' (read by Phaedrus earlier, 230 e-234 c)
or Socrates' first speech. c. Phaedrus 278 b Shortly after the
prayer to Eros Socrates begins discussion of the nature of good and
bad writing and speaking (258 d ff.). This is the main topic of the
dialogue, the speeches on love being illustrations of good and bad
discourse. Socrates concludes that good speech is spoken not
written, that it uses the methods of collection and division to
gain knowledge of its subject matter, and that it presupposes
knowledge of the soul.61 He then observes,
(6) ... the man ... who believes this, and disdains all manner
of discourse other than this, is, I would venture to affirm, the
man whose example you and I would pray that we might follow. (278 b
2-4)82
Phaedrus replies, "My own wishes and prayers are most certainly
to that effect." A moment later such a man as they pray to be is
named a "lover of wisdom," a philosopher (278 d 4). Socrates had
prayed earlier that Lysias and Phaedrus might be philosophers; he
now prays the same thing for himself and Phaedrus.
d. Phaedrus 279 b-c The final prayer in the Phaedrus and the
most famous prayer in Plato63
68 Hom. II. VI 476 ff., XVI 233 ff.; Sappho, Fragment 5 (Lobel
and Page); Plato, Phaedr. 233 e, Laws 887 d-e. 69 Diog. Laert. VIII
9. 60 Of course he often prays together with another person. Cf.
below p. 36 n. 109. "Summarized at 277 b-c. * o&ro; ai 6 'oLo
04o (v?p xAUVeUL, X1 048pC, etvxL otoV Iy6 T'e xexL a,Z xEm[Ltc clv
&exa yeviaoc. Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, p.
523. 0 Some sample comments: Farnell, V 434, calls it a "strange
and spiritual prayer"; Heiler, p. 79, says it is "the ripest prayer
of the Greek spirit"; Greeven, p. 781, sees it as the supreme
culmination of Greek prayer in moral depth and inwardness.
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comes at the close of the dialogue. The conversation has taken
place under a tree outside the city during the heat of the day (227
a, 229 a-b). It has cooled off and Phaedrus suggests that they be
going.
(7) Socrates: Oughtn't we first to offer a prayer to the
divinities here? Phaedrus: To be sure. Socrates: Dear Pan, and all
ye other gods that dwell in this place,
grant that I may become fair within, and that such outward
things as I have may not war against the spirit within me. May I
count him rich who is wise, and as for gold, may I possess so much
of it as only a temper- ate man might bear and carry with him.
Is there anything more we can ask for, Phaedrus? The prayer
contents me. (279 b 6-c 5)64
This prayer is addressed to Pan because Socrates is praying to
gods "in this place." He and Phaedrus are in the countryside, the
haunt of Pan the rustic pasture-god.65 There appears to be nothing
more special about the location which would make a prayer to Pan
ap- propriate. The Athenian cult of Pan was centered, according to
Farnell, on the acropolis and included a torch race which
originated at the Academia, north-west of the city.66 But the
Phaedrus takes place south of the city on the River Illissus (229
c). There may be another reason why a prayer to Pan is fitting at
the end of the Phaedrus. According to the Cratylus Pan's name
signifies an association with speech (X6yoq). He is the son of
Hermes, the inventor of language, and his name comes about because
language signifies all things (7rzv),
64 DAI. Tot&3' C'YOCv &XX& tLV, &i7CLS xMI T6
7CVtyoq LrCepov yiyovev. ELI. OiJXoi)V EU'ka0AW 7rpi7r TGIaC8
7rOPC6T&OaL; CDAI. Tl ILtv; 27Q. Qf 9LXcE II&V -g xoa l OL
&70L Tt& -&cOt, 8OWnTt LOL XOC),C yCVkOa&O
r&v8oO&cV
I(COO?V 8i 6 IX W TOL4 &Vt6a I L; IOL cPDLM. 70)o LOV 8
Vo%.doL;LL r6v ao96v T6 8i XPUG0V waOq Ctn ~LOL 6GOV 11T? F9?LV
0mTC &yCLV 86VO'TO &XX0o i O @ap&v.
"E'-' &ou r ToU e T&%, Ja t pe; &tol v yip pt.ept(g
7ix7TXL. OAI. Kati &[oi 'roc auvcuXou nxoLv& yxp nO 'Erv
(pDwv. Er. "Icol,ev.
Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, p. 525. " Farnell, V
432. For a literary presentation of Pan's rustic character cf.
Hymn. Hom. 19 (to Pan). 66 Farnell, V 379 and 381 f.
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both the true and the false.67 Hence a prayer to him is
particularly apt in a dialogue on good and bad speech
(XOyos).68
The prayer's fame rests no doubt on its content.69 Briefly put,
it is a petition for virtue. First, Socrates asks for inner beauty
(xMOX). If granted this he would be worthy of the esteem of the
fair (xocXo!q, 257 a 9) which he asked from Eros earlier. Second,
he prays for harmony of his outer life with his inner, clearly
indicating the Socratic subordination of the former to the latter.
Third, he asks not to seem wise or to be wise but to value the wise
man. Earlier he had rejected the title a64po; for the man he wished
to be; he preferred 9L?6aocpoo (278 d 3-6). Thus the prayer to Pan
states in another way the prayer to be a philosopher. Finally,
Socrates entreats Pan for as much gold as a temperate man (ac'ppov)
may have. He has already prayed that he may regard wisdom as
wealth,70 but Socrates is not an ascetic. Extemal possessions are
fine if possessed temperately. Concern with temperance places the
prayer to Pan in the very center of Greek piety. 7'Plato values
this virtue highly in his statements on religion and prayer. In the
Laws he lists temperance first when he specifies how men can become
like god, who is the measure (0trpov) of all things.72 And in
Republic III the Phrygian mode of music is retained
*7 Crat. 408 b 8-c 3: ... 6 ?,6yo5 'r6 n&v was xEdveL...
This etymology is of course wrong. According to Farnell, V 431,
IL&v is a contraction of llov, "the feeder," "the grazier." 68
A6yoq for speech or discourse occurs throughout the Phaedrus, e.g.,
at 257 d 2, 262 c 5, 270 e 3, 271 d 4, 274 b 3, 277 d 1-2 and e 5.
I' The prayer nearest it in content which I have found is a portion
of Pindar's Eight Nemean Ode, lines 35 ff. (in Farnell, Works of
Pindar, pp. 212 f.):
Oh! Father Zeus, may my nature be never such as this but may I
cleave to the guileless paths of life!
So that after death I may attach to my children a reputation
untouched by evil word.
Men pray for gold, others for boundless land; My prayer is that
I may give pleasure to my fellowcitizens, Praising what menteth
praise, and on sinners strewing blame, Until I wrap my limbs in
earth.
70 The most famous prayer concerning wealth (n)Xo6rog) is
Solon's prayer to the Muses. (Fr. 1; no. 15 in IIANOEION: Religi6se
Texte des Griechentums, ed. by H. Kleinknecht (Tubingen, 1965), pp.
11 f.) 71 Heiler, p. 76. Temperance is a frequent theme of Greek
prayers. Cf. Aesch. Suppl. 1059 ff., Choeph. 123 ff., Eur. Med. 635
ff., Xen. Mem. II. ii. 14. 7" IV 716 c 4-d 2. He must also be just,
etc.
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for the ideal state because it enables one to pray modestly and
in a measured fashion (awcpp6vw4 -re xoL [?ep[w4, 399 a-c).
Socrates' closing words in the Phaedrus indicate that the prayer to
Pan is itself tem- perate, measured. He says that he can ask no
more than he has asked. For him the prayer suffices (,uepCowq).
One thing more should be noted about the prayer to Pan. It is
beautifully structured and not by accident, for its structure
conforms to one of the main rules of good speech - the rule to
divide one's subject matter into its proper parts (277 b 7-8). The
prayer divides into a petition concerning the inner man, for
beauty, and three petitions concerning the outer man, first in
relation to his inward self, for harmony, second in relation to
other persons, for veneration of the wise, and third in relation to
possessions, for temperance. The speeches earlier in the dialogue
are meant to illustrate good speaking. We may infer that the prayer
to Pan illustrates good praying, in form as well as content.
At the beginning of this section I labelled the Phaedrus prayers
of Socrates "philosophical." It should now be clear why. These four
prayers have literary functions - opening and closing speeches and
giving the dramatic ending - but in content they differ from the
prayers which are merely literary. All contain references to wisdom
or love of wisdom (philosophy). This makes their content literally
philosophical. In addition, their petitions for beauty, success in
love, and temperance clearly refer to that inner beauty of soul and
harmony of life which is the mark of the philosopher.73
4. Prayers by others: Timaeus, Critias, Laws, Epinomis
Plato puts prayers in the mouths of three other characters -
Timaeus, Critias, and the anonymous Athenian. These non-Socratic
prayers occur at the opening and closing of discourses (the
Tim.-Crit. sequence, no. 11-14) or at crucial points in the
argument (Laws X, Epin., no. 17 and 20).7 All are petitions for
success in the discourse to
7a Phaedo 61 e-69 e gives this picture of the philosopher, as
does Symp. 210 d- 211 d. Von Fritz, p. 35, regards the prayer to
Pan as "almost the only example of its kind" and explains this
uniqueness by reference to the Greek view that a man has to work
out his own salvation. But it seems to me that the prayer to Pan is
not unique. It stands in unity with at least three other prayers,
namely, the three which precede it in the Phaedrus. 74 The
exceptions are not so much prayers as indications of the religious
tone of certain parts of the Laws, notably of Book Ten (no. 18 and
19).
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follow or have some reference to the discourse or argument. They
function more as markers of transition than as dramatic interludes.
Two prayers will suffice to illustrate their nature. Just before
Timaeus begins his discourse, Socrates speaks. 75
(11) Socrates: ... And now, Timaeus, you, I suppose, should
speak next, after duly calling upon the gods.
Timaeus: All men, Socrates, who have any degree of right
feeling, at the beginning of every enterprise, whether small or
great, always call upon a god. And we, too, who are going to
discourse of the nature of the universe, how created or how
existing without creation, if we be not altogether out of our wits,
must invoke gods and goddesses with a prayer that our words may be
above all acceptable to them and in consequence to ourselves. Let
this, then, be our invocation of the gods, to which I add an
exhortation of myself to speak in such manner as will be more
intelligible to you, and will most accord with my own intent. (Tim.
27 b 8-d 4)76
And in Laws X, immediately preceding the proof of the existence
of the gods (893 c-899 d), the Athenian prays. (20) To the work,
then, and if we are ever to beseech a god's help, let it be
done now. Let us take it as understood that the gods have, of
course, been invoked in all earnest to assist our proof of their
own being, and plunge into the waters of the argument before us
with the prayer as a sure guiding rope for our support. (893 b
1-4)77
76 Socrates is present mainly as an auditor in the Tim. and the
Crit. These two dialogues take place on the day after Socrates has
narrated the Rep. (Tim. 17 a-c). 76 EQ. TeX&.a re xal L7vpwq
goLxaxt dcaxoXJCeaL 'riv '&v 6ycov &at(tcav. 6v o5v lpyov
X&yc6v &v, (I T(pUXLe, 'r6 ,Lrr& DroSo, 45 lOwev, E?n
xamXaxv'rM xKO'M
VOSLOV ftO64. TI. Axx,, ( F@XPOtTc, To5T ye 8yc r&"V?E COL
XMX XaTr& APPaMXy aWPPOa6VY;
FLtiXOUOLV, k7dI 7XV-6q 6pJ xCX asLLxpo05 xal pey&Xou
7Tp&ypao,o; ?e6v &eE nou XMoc?O5aLV [A,U& 8g tOk 7TrPl
TOU 7rCV'r6q ),6yOUq 7=oLela &St X)-n FAOVTOtq, f ykyovev e
xacl iyev &aTLV, ?l L 1raVrdC7raaL xO(pa T e &v&iyxW?)
ftou5 te xXI ?&a6 inwXX- XCo'U4VOU4 e5xeCtt VTa KxOr& Vo5V
&Xg(VOLq .LkV ,LdtX,LaTCX, ro,LgVcGv 8i .LTLV d7rcTV. XOXI
T& ,UV 7repl OV T'-n 7rapOMex)da4- *or 8' i' Lpov
r&xpmx?xynrkov, f xar' (IV U4Leq * [FL&kovL', ky&
a& t 8LaVOOU;.UXL .L&Lar' &IV =Pt 'r&V
7CpOXeL,Lk&VcWV &VMELU,XC4V. Trans. by Jowett in Hamilton
and Cairns, p. 1161, altered by reference to Cornford's trans. "7
AE. 'Ayc 8, t6v et 7ro're mpox?qrjov t4jv, vi;v lTom 'roZo o'UT
yeV6IJvOV - ye 7 iN68?Y1 CiV 6 daea v aTX'r6v MTout 7r&afn
Tpxxexxa\v - &X6?eVOL 8& &' TLVOq &MP0,ois
7MteaCLaO4 k7resdLaodM)FEV etl 'r6v v5v X6yov. Trans. by Taylor in
Hamilton and Cairns, p. 1448.
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I have two observations to make about the non-Socratic prayers.
The first concerns the background for beginning discourse with
prayer. Taylor, commenting on the prayer with which Timaeus begins
his discourse, says that this is recognized Pythagorean
practice.778 The evidence he cites for this is, however, weak, and
I have been unable to locate any Pythagorean teaching on when to
pray.79 Of course, Pythagoras, even if he did not lay down specific
rules on prayer, could still be in the background of Plato's
thinking about prayer. Pythagoras is a prime precedent for the
union of philosophical discourse with religious sentiment. 80 But
we need not refer to an esoteric tradition to explain the beginning
of a discourse with prayer. In the Timaeus passage which Taylor
thinks Pythagorean, Socrates says that a prayer before speaking is
customary (xocrr& vo,uv). According to Xenophon Socrates
advised men to worship in conformity with the custom of the city
(v6[cy -6o?Xe).8" This included prayer at the beginning of an
endeavor.82 Hence when Socrates and others begin discourses with
prayer we need think of them only as doing what any Greek would do,
that which it was customary to do.
The second observation concerns the addressees of the
non-Socratic prayers. One of them, a prayer by Critias (no. 14), is
addressed to 78 Commentary on Plato's Timaeus, p. 59. Although
Plato does not say so, there is little doubt that he intends
Timaeus to be a Pythagorean. Taylor,Plato, p. 436, and John Bumnet,
Early Greek Philosophy (London: A. & C. Black, 4th edn., 1930),
p. 85. 79 Taylor cites only lamblichus, Vita Pyth. 137, which may
be based on a fourth century B. C. life of Pythagoras by
Aristoxenus. But in late sources it is difficult to know what to
assign to the various periods of Pythagoreanism. Cf. Burnet, 84
if., 276 ff., and G. S. Kirk and J. E. Raven, The Presocratic
Philosophers (Cambridge University Press, 1957), pp. 217 ff.
Moreover, Iamblichus does not even mention prayer in the passage
quoted. The only references to prayer in connection with Pythagoras
which I have located are also in late sources. According to
Diogenes Laertius, Vit. VIII 9, Pythagoras "... forbids us to pray
for ourselves, because we do not know what will help us." (Trans.
by R. D. Hicks in Loeb edn., Cambridge: Harvard University Press,
1925, p. 329.) By Diodorus Siculus Pythagoras is represented as
teaching that men should pray simply for good things (a'tnX &q
xw 'iya&, X 9, 8), and only wise men (ro6q ypovt?ouq) can so
pray because only they know what is good (X 9, 7). 80 Cf. Kirk and
Raven, p. 227. 81 ,Mem. I. iii. 1 and IV. iii. 16. 8' Xen. Oec. V
19-20 and Anab. III. ii. 4-7. Plato himself, if the eighth epistle
is genuine, says that we should always offer prayer (e6X%) to the
gods when we begin to speak or think (&pX6j1.vov &Clt
?iyCLV Tr xmd voctv, Ep. VIII 353 a 1-2). Cf. also Heiler, p. 77,
and Greeven, p. 781.
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H L&v, a cult-title for Apollo.83 It is the only cult-title
in the prayers, an indication of their literary character.84 A more
arresting fact about the prayer of Critias is that it is the only
prayer to Apollo in the dia- logues. Knowing the importance of
Apollo to Socrates and Plato, we would expect more prayers to this
god.85 Even more surprising, however, is the apparent absence of
any prayers to Zeus. Instead of Zeus or Apollo, the prayers in
Plato are most often addressed to un- named gods and goddesses.868
Prayers to unnamed gods are unheard of in cultic practice at this
time,87 and I find no such prayers even in literature before
Plato.88 Although most of Socrates' prayers are to named deities,
he may be the inspiration for these prayers to un- named gods. He
expressed scepticism concerning human know- ledge of divine names
and a disinterest in such matters.89 Another explanation may be
possible for the prayers by the Athenian addressed to "a god" or
"the god."90 These are probably addressed to Zeus.9' The dramatic
setting of the Laws supports this interpretation. It is to the cave
and shrine of Zeus on Mount Ida that the three old men are
walking.92
5. Conclusions I wish now to make some general observations
about (a) the notion of prayer in the dialogues and (b) the place
of this notion in the Platonic portrait of Socrates.
Farnell, IV 234 and 408 n. 208 a. 84 "Paean" occurs also at Laws
664 c 7 but not in a prayer. 8 The oracle at Delphi apparently
played some role in Socrates' career. (Ap. 21 a) While in prison
awaiting execution he composed a Prelude to Apollo (,r 'rs r6v
'A7T6XXw npooowv, Phaedo 60 d-61 b) and describes himself as dedi-
cated to Apollo (tep6qbo 'oi -uro5 ok& [sc. 'Anr6Xwc], 85 b 5).
On Socrates 'composi- tion cf. Hackforth, Plato's Phaedo
(Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1955), p. 33 n. 4, and C. S.
Stanford, Plato's Apology of Socrates, Crito, and Phaedo (Dublin:
At the University Press, 1834), p. 126. Cf. also Rep. IV 427 b and,
on Apollo in the Laws, Morrow, pp. 438-440. M Prayers 12, 15, and
17 are to &c6q or 6 e6q; 2 and 14 are to so(; and 11, 20, and
21 contain both the singular and plural of ft6q. 87 FarneU, I 26.
88 My search has not been exhaustive. 89 Crat. 400 e-401 a, Phaedr.
229 c-230 a. " Laws IV 712 b 4-5: O6e, 6[l&6q; X 893 b 1: ft6v;
Epin. 980 c 4: 6o &e6q. 91 Farnell, I 85. " Laws I 625 b 1-2.
Cf. Morrow, pp. 27 f., for evidence that the pilgrimage is to the
Idaean Cave of Zeus. Cf. also Farnell, I 153 n. 73 and 140 n.
3.
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a. The notion of prayer Plato apparently regards the content of
prayers as more important than to whom they are addressed. Although
he follows literary tra- dition in writing several prayers to the
Muses, he departs from literary as well as cultic practice in
writing brief invocations to often un- specified or minor deities.
In addition to an emphasis on content, this may also indicate a
strong element of non-traditionalism in Socratic and Platonic
spirituality. Socrates is pious but not always in the customary
way. 93 Of course Plato was not anti-Olympian. There are prayers by
Socrates to Hephaestus, Dionysus, and Artemis (as Bendis) and by
others to Apollo (Paean) and Zeus (as the god).
The absence of long invocations from Platonic prayers is
paralleled by the absence of what C. M. Bowra calls the Sanction.
94 In a sanction reference is made to services rendered the god
which qualify one to receive what he is praying for. A good example
is found in Agamem- non's prayer to Zeus:
For I say that never did I pass by your fairwrought altar in my
benched ships when I came here on this desperate journey; but on
all altars I burned the fat and the thighs of oxen in my desire to
sack the strong-walled city o- the Trojans.95
The only thing even remotely like this is Socrates' reference to
his second speech in the prayer to Eros and there he does not refer
to a sacrifice, the most common form of serving the gods,96 but to
a speech. In fact Plato never has a character pray in connection
with a sacrifice,97 even though he retains sacrifice in his
model
" This contrasts sharply with Xenophon, who views Socrates as
traditional in every way. 14 Bowra, p. 200. 95 Hom. II. VIII 237
ff. Trans. by Lattimore, p. 188. For other examples cf. Aesch.
Choeph. 247 ff., 479 ff., and Soph. El. 1376 ff. 96 Cf. Jane
Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (New York:
Meridian Books, 3rd edn., 1955, first pub. in 1922), pp. 1-7, 10,
and 55-78 on this notion of sacrifice and its contrast with the
more primitive notion of chthon- ian ritual. Cf. also Greeven, p.
779, and Schmidt, p. 2. Von Fritz, pp. 18 f, notes that this was
not the only view of sacrifice even in Homer. 97 It should be noted
that shortly after his Phaedo prayer Socrates instructs Crito to
offer a cock to Aesculapius (118 a 7-8). It is possible that
Socrates sacrificed at the Bendidea (Rep. I), but only prayer is
mentioned. Xenophon, in contrast to Plato, says that Socrates
sacrificed often. Mem. I. i. 2. Cf. also
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states'8 and often discusses prayer and sacrifice together.99 I
would argue that this separation of prayers from sacrifice and the
related absence of sanctions results from Plato's wishing to avoid
even the suggestion that in prayer one asks for payment on a
service rendered. For him worship is not, in the words of Morrow,
"... an exchange of services between gods and men, but (a)
fellowship in which the human worshipper models himself after the
divinity he worships."'00
As to content, most of the Platonic prayer are for divine aid in
discourse. In this Plato follows a venerable literary tradition.
But he writes prayers of consistently higher moral quality than do
many members of that tradition. Homer's characters pray for victory
in war or physical safety.101 The tragic poets move toward greater
moral concern102 but prayers for vengeance, safety, and material
prosperity also are common in their works.'03 This does not mean
that the tragedians were less interested than Plato in moral
values. It means that they portrayed prayers by all sorts of
characters, both the just and the unjust. Plato, in contrast, chose
to portray Socrates, who was, among his contemporaries, judged "the
wisest, and justest and best."'04 Yet he did not go to the extreme
of contemporary and later philosophers who said that men should
merely pray for unspecified good things.'05 Although Plato spoke of
praying for rayociya,016 he wrote prayers with specific content,
for wisdom, temperance, beauty,
I. iii. 1 and 3. - Heiler, p. 105, says that a separation of
prayer from sacrifice is a characteristic which distinguishes
personal prayer from primitive prayer, but he does not say why this
separation arises. 98 Rep. V 461 a, Laws VII 809 d, XII 949 d, and
others. 99 Euth. 14 c, Menex. 244 a, Rep. V 461 a-b, Statesman 290
c-d, Laws IV 716 d, VII 801 a, 821 c-d, X 885 b, 887 d-e, 909 e,
XII 955 e, 956 b. 100 Morrow, p. 469. This 6[LoicoaSt IkCp doctrine
is most clearly stated at Laws IV 716 c-e. 101 Cf. Greeven, pp. 778
f. on Homer. 109 Ibid. p. 780. 109 Cf. Aesch. Choeph. 123 ff.,
Suppl. 625 ff., Soph. El. 110 ff., 635 ff., 1376 ff., Eur. Cycl.
353 ff. 1" Phaedo 118 a 16-17, Jowett trans. If Plato had wished to
write prayers of less virtue, he could have found personae in his
dialogues to pray them, e.g., Euthyphro. 105 Xen. Mem. I. iii. 2 on
Socrates (!), Aristotle Eth. Nic. V 1129 b 1-7, Pseudo- Plato, Alc.
II 143 a 1-3, Diog. L. VI 42 on Diogenes the Cynic, and Diod.
Sicul. X 9, 7-8 on Pythagoras (quoted in n. 79 above). 106 Phaedr.
233 e 5, Statesman 290 d 1-2, Laws VII 801 b 1, XI 931 c 6, d 2,
Ep. VII 331 d 5.
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and knowledge. Knowing Plato's view of these things, we can say
that for him the primary motive of prayer is not gratitude, awe, or
praise, but need.107 Platonic prayers do not, however, express need
in the language of struggle and uncertainty as, for example, do the
prayers of Jeremiah.108 Instead they have a tone of confidence,
even serenity, modified perhaps only by Socratic irony.
Further characteristics of Platonic prayers can be noted. Plato
obviously finds prayer appropriate in a variety of places (city or
countryside, at home or on foreign soil, in a house or outside) and
on a variety of occasions (conversations, festivals, rising of the
sun, at death). Normally prayers are said when one is in a
group.109 The only solitary prayer is the one recorded in the
Symposium. This social emphasis is just what we would expect in
someone for whom philosophy consists in shared inquiry. Although
the typical posture in prayer was to stand with hands uplifted,'10
we may infer that Socrates prayed while standing, lying down, or
sitting.11'
Plato doubtless thought of prayer in these ways at least in part
because Socrates himself so prayed. It remains to draw some con-
clusions concerning the place of prayer in Plato's portrait of that
man.
b. Socrates andprayer First, some observations about development
in the Socratic prayers. Most of them (nine) occur in the so-called
middle dialogues, those expressing Plato's whole speculative
vision. This may weaken their claim to any historical accuracy,"12
but it places them at the very heart of Plato's mature philosophy.
In his later dialogues Plato wrote prayers for other characters.
These later prayers are, in my opinion, inferior both in literary
and philosophical qualities. They lack the charn and dramatic
traits of Socrates' prayers. They are mechanical (especially the
Timaeus-Critias sequence) and monotonous. It could be argued that
Plato relaxed his literary efforts in his later works 107 Heiler,
pp. 3-8, lists these as the various motives for prayer. 108 Cf.
Jeremiah 15 :10-21. The contrast may be one that holds in general
between classical Greek and Hebrew prayers. 109 Euv o6X.act, "to
pray with," is used frequently. e.g. at Phaedr. 279 c 6, 257 b 7,
Laws X 909 e 1-2, XI 931 e 2-3, Epin. 980 c 5. 110 Heiler, p. 84;
Harrison, p. 63. 111 Symp. 220 d 3, Phaedr. 230 e 3, Phaedo 116 b 7
for these three positions. 112 Most interpreters would regard the
early dialogues as giving a more accurate portrait of the
historical Socrates. Cf. Laszlo Vers6nyi, Socratic Humanism (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), pp. 177-184.
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and that this is reflected in the prayers. I would suggest that
a better explanation is that Plato is no longer portraying
Socrates. Plato's memo- ry of Socrates inspires the Socratic
prayers. Without that inspiration it would seem that Plato wrote
prayers of less beauty and interest.
In regard to the dramatic dates of Socrates' prayers, I have
already called attention to the late dramatic date of the Phaedrus,
where the prayers richest in content occur. Those prayers earlier
than this are literary prayers, neither as serious nor as complex
as the Phaedrus prayers. At the beginning and end of the dramatic
sequence stand the two biographical prayers, a prayer at sunrise
after a great vision (?) and a prayer near sunset before the final
journey. Only Plato could tell us if this sequence was intended. In
an artist of his stature, how- ever, we would do well not to
attribute such things purely to chance.
There is one final question. What was Plato's strategy in
writing the prayers of Socrates? He had, I believe, at least three
things in mind. First, as a skilled writer he intended to make the
dialogues lively and hence interesting to read. He used prayers as
one of many techniques to do this. In addition, and this is a
second motive, he wrote Socrates' prayers to exemplify in dramatic
form views which he held important. This applies especially to the
Phaedrus prayers which assuredly portray a man asking for what he
needs, as prayer is defined in the Euthyphro (14d), and asking in a
temperate manner, the ideal in prayer and all worship according to
the Republic (III 399 b). They show us a man whose wishes conform
to wisdom and who is becoming like the divine, the goals of prayer
which Plato stressed in his last work.113
Beyond the literary and philosophical uses of Socrates' prayers
there may be a further motive. Plato's career as a philosopher re-
ceived its original impetus and direction from his desire to defend
Socrates. Not only in the Apology but in all of his early dialogues
this was his strategy.114 He wrote to demonstrate that Socrates was
not, as charged, a corrupter of youth, a sophist, or guilty of
impiety. Could not the prayers of Socrates be a part of this
defence? Socrates praying to the sun at sunrise, to Artemis at her
festival, to Eros when he had offended him, to the gods as his
death came, this Socrates cannot be judged guilty of impiety.
Wesleyan University.
I' Laws III 687 d-688 b and IV 716 c-d. 114 Here I follow
Brumbaugh, pp. 34-74.
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Article Contentsp. 14p. 15p. 16p. 17p. 18p. 19p. 20p. 21p. 22p.
23p. 24p. 25p. 26p. 27p. 28p. 29p. 30p. 31p. 32p. 33p. 34p. 35p.
36p. 37
Issue Table of ContentsPhronesis, Vol. 16, No. 1 (1971), pp.
1-96Front MatterThe Ideas as Aitiai in the "Phaedo" [pp. 1-13]The
Prayers of Socrates [pp. 14-37]Plato's Separation of Reason from
Desire [pp. 38-48]Thophraste, "Metaphysica" 6 a 23 ss. [pp.
49-64]Theophrasts Kritik am unbewegten Beweger des Aristoteles [pp.
65-79]Epicurus' Doctrine of the Soul [pp. 80-96]Back Matter