Publication Details
Socrates and Telauges – Aeschinesʼ Socratica between Platonism and Cynicism
Abstract
Following paper offers a new interpretation of the fragments from Aeschinesʼ dialogue Telauges. The introduction briefly evaluates the literary sources of Aeschinesʼ fragments and problems related to their authorship and authenticity. In the first part we scrutinize ancient testimonies about general philosophical and rhetorical features of Aeschinesʼ dialogues. In the next parts we inter-pret all extant fragments from the dialogue Telauges and identify its putative pythagorean background. We propose that the main theme of the dialogue was the question of the care of the self, articulated on the background of philosopherʼs material welfare and philanthropy. We conclude that Telauges probably reflected the consequences that chanced upon the first generation of Socratics immediately after Socratesʼ trial and that Aeschinesʼ Socratica stands in the middle between Platonism and Cynicism.
Aeschines, Philanthropy Therapy, Pythagoreanism, Socrates, Telauges