"Not born of an oak or a rock" (Apol. 34d3-4)
Vol.62,No.1(2015)
Abstract
Keywords:
Socrates; Homer; Odysseus; Apology of Socrates
Pages:
17–24
In the final speech before the vote on his guilt or innocence Plato's Socrates reminds the judge that he has a family including a teenage son and two small boys. In this case he refers to the verse of Homer's Odyssey to point out that he was not born "of an oak or a rock" (34d). The aim of the article is to analyze and interpret the meaning of that quote. The first part will focus on the comparison of Homer's verse with its form in Plato's Apology. In the second section I will examine what strategy Socrates followed when he made reference to that line. The final section will focus on the question why Plato´s Socrates quotes Homer despite his previous statement that poets do not have wisdom.
Socrates; Homer; Odysseus; Apology of Socrates
17–24