ANNE-MARIE BOWERYSocrates. He creates a character named Socrates and a narrator named
Socrates. “Socrates the narrator” narrates events in which “Socrates the
character” takes part.^16 In an enacted dialogue like the Gorgias or the
Euthyphro, the audience only sees Socrates as a character in the dialogue.
As a result, we primarily see Socrates in action and not in refl ection. We
must infer his thoughts from his actions. At times, this may be easy to
do. For example, it is clear that Socrates thinks Euthyphro is wrong-
headed in his understanding of piety. At other times, Socrates’ opinions
and motivations are less clear. Why does he allow Chaerephon to detain
them in the agora and arrive late to the feast of speeches in the Gorgias
(447a)? Why does Socrates seem so eager to leave at the end of the
Philebus (67b)? While these enacted dialogues contain many dramatic
clues that help the audience infer this information about Socrates, when
Socrates the narrator refl ects on situations such as these, the audience’s
ability to understand Socrates’ views increases dramatically. This ex-
amination will suggest that a richer, deeper portrait of Socrates’ com-
mitment to the philosophical life emerges when we attend to this dual
aspect of Plato’s presentation of Socrates. By attending to how Plato
presents Socrates both as a narrator and as a character, we see Socratic
self-examination as an ongoing interplay of ethos, pathos, and logos.
The Dialogues Socrates Narrates:
Lysis, Republic, Charmides,
Protagoras, and Euthydemus
Working in order of narrative complexity, I summarize the content of
these fi ve dialogues. I also describe their narrative structure, the narra-
tive setting, Socrates’ narrative presence, and his relationship with his
narrative audience.
The Lysis begins with Socrates speaking to an unknown audience
at an unknown place and an unknown time. Socrates tells his unnamed
audience, “I was on my way from the Academy straight to the Lyceum,
following the road just outside and beneath the wall; and when I got
to the little gate by Panops spring, I happened to meet Hippothales,
Hieronymus’ son, and with them some other young men standing to-
gether in a group” (203a). Hippothales asks if Socrates will join them at
“this new wrestling school” (204a).^17 Initially Socrates hesitates, but after
some conversation, he follows them. He seems particularly interested
in meeting Lysis, the object of Hippothales’ intense erotic fascination