KNOW THYSELF(206d). Hippothales suggests that Socrates converse with Ctesippus and
“his closest companions [Lysis or Menexenus] will be sure to join them”
(206d).
With this goal in mind, Socrates enters the wrestling room. He
describes the physical setting (206e– 207b). Socrates then tells his audi-
ence that Menexenus “came to take a seat beside us” (207b). Menexenus
soon leaves (207b). Socrates and Lysis discuss the nature of love and
friendship. They focus on familial love and obligation and its relation-
ship with self-improvement. (207c– 210a). After Socrates reduces Lysis
to aporia (210d), Socrates almost reveals his real purpose. But he real-
izes Hippothales wishes to keep his interest in Lysis secret (210e). Lysis
now asks Socrates to repeat the conversation with Menexenus, who has
returned to them (211a). Socrates encourages Lysis to do so instead.
Eventually Socrates, Lysis, and Menexenus all converse. Lysis’ aptitude
for philosophy impresses Socrates (213e). They explore the nature of
friendship but reach no fi nal conclusion. The dialogue ends aporeti-
cally. Socrates tells his audience about the guardians and older brothers
of Menexenus and Lysis breaking up the conversation, but “they still
have been unable to fi nd out what a friend is” (223a).
Socrates narrates this dialogue in a straightforward manner. The
level of his narrative description is consistent throughout. He does not
comment on the narrative process itself anywhere in the dialogue. He
does not interrupt the story with any direct conversation with his audi-
ence and his audience asks no questions of him. As a result, the dia-
logue remains entirely within the temporality of the narrated events.
As a narrator, Socrates appears trustworthy.^18 He does not qualify his
narrative with any claims about not remembering clearly.^19 There are
no obvious lacunae in his account and he does not simply summarize
the events. Socrates provides useful background information for his
audience (203a, 206e– 207b, 207d, 223a). He describes the emotional
responses of his interlocutors (204b, 204c, 213d, 222b) and assesses
their philosophical ability (213d– e, 218c, 222b). He offers insight into
the motivations of the other characters (207b, 211a, 213d). Socrates also
describes his state of mind and emotional responses to these narrated
events (203a, 210e, 218c, 223a). By providing insight into his state of
mind, Socrates’ reliability as a narrator increases. For example, when
Socrates admits to his audience that he almost revealed Hippothales’
interest in Lysis to Lysis himself (210e), the audience’s ability to trust
Socrates the narrator increases. Socrates the narrator did not have to
include that aspect of his behavior in the narrative. That Socrates tells
his present audience about his social duplicity and offers an explanation