S. Sara Monoson

Aristotle's Theramenes at Athens: A Poetic History

In the Constitution of Athens (AthPol), Aristotle interrupts his narrative of Athenian political development to comment on the memory of Theramenes, a controversial Athenian politician prominent during periods of political upheaval at Athens in the later years of the Peloponnesian War. Opinion regarding Theramenes is divided, Aristotle observes. Most sources remember him as a scandalous opportunist who betrayed both oligarchs and democrats. Aristotle, by contrast, proposes that, ‘if one tries not to judge lightly’, it will become apparent that Theramenes was a ‘good citizen’ (agathos polites) and among the best Athenian statesmen (beltistoi ton Athenesi politeusamen) of the post-Periclean period (AthPol 28.5). What might explain this discrepancy in sources?2 Aristotle omits evidence of Theramenes’ involvement in activities that would cast him in an unfavorable light and presents Theramenes as a preserver of Athens’ lawfulness. For this reason, scholars have tended to treat Aristotle as a poor historian. We argue, by contrast, that Aristotle’s commentary on Theramenes is an example of what we call ‘poetic history’, the remembering of exemplary actions and the forgetting of missteps in patterns of lived experiences to create a well-structured plot. This mode of writing is not history, at least in the usual sense, for it looks not only to the past but also to the future. Neither is it fiction. Nor does it aim at an ideal or purely theoretical future. Instead, we argue, Aristotle writes poetic history as neither history nor philosophy, and both, in order to open possible and plausible futures for Athens’ constitutional development.

Socrates in Combat: Trauma and Resilience in Plato’s Political Theory

Socrates was a combat soldier during the Peloponnesian War. This aspect of his biography is rarely placed at the center of an account of the enduring interest of the life of this celebrated philosopher. When it is the effect is striking. This is especially clear in the interpretation of Socrates by the Italian master of neoclassical sculpture Antonio Canova. In a series of four large bas-reliefs completed between 1789 and 1796 and now in the collection of the Museo Canoviano in Passagno, Canova addresses Socrates’ trial and death.1 In the first panel he depicts Socrates raising his arm and addressing the jurors while Meletus and Anytus, the historical accusers, hover in the background. Standing by Socrates is the boundary-crossing god Hermes ready to see him through dangerous circumstances and to the underworld (visually modeled on Alcibiades wearing a helmet2). The next three panels continue the story and bring out its psychological complexity. Canova shows us Socrates sending his family away and draws attention to his parting from his eldest child. The scene suggests Socrates’ capacity for tenderness. It also presents Socrates’ seated philosophical friends composed and unshaken. Following that Canova displays Socrates’ calm and constancy under extreme stress. In this scene Socrates holds the cup of hemlock nearly to his lips with his left hand and, recalling the composition of the first relief, gestures upward with his right arm as he speaks to his friends.