0266 Menexenus 236a

Excessive praise is now heaped upon the first generatoin of humans, to the detriment of the gods, Attica, and especially narrative consistency.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

You can have too much of a good encomium. Socrates' praise of Attica is out of control.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

As the funeral speech casts its net ever wider for praise and praisers, so the justifications for the praise become increasinglky absurd.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

Praise is such an important element in Socrates' funeral speech that it is not enough to praise the fallen soldiers, but their parents, ancestors, Athens, and mother Attica. Furthermore, it is claimed that because Attica is god-loved, all people should praise Attica as well. Socrates' forensic evidence for all this is preposterous. One might almost suspect that Socrates is making a point about the nature of rhetoric.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

Pericles had decided to begin his eulogy of the dead by beginning with their ancestors, a prelude to his exposition of the history of Athens as a great state reflected in the greatness of the dead. Socrates also decides to begin with the ancestors or parents, as the good cause of good men, but he then dwells on the cause of the ancestors, the father/motherland itself, which effectively puts him back on track to parallel Perciles' talk about the greatness of Athens too.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

Socrates asks in his speech, "As what would such a speech appear to us?" This is a question we need to address.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

We finally arrive at Socrates' funeral oration. Pericles had referred to the deeds of the dead soldiers; Socrates refers to the deeds of the city and family members in honouring the dead. Pericles suggests that a speech might detract from the memory of the soldiers whose deeds speak for themselves; Socrates treats the speech as an automatic addition to the practical honouring of the dead already accomplished.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

Socrates goads Menexenus into wanting to hear Socrates' speech, which Menexenus knows may not be by Aspasia. Why he is so interested in hearing the speech is still a matter of speculation.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

Despite what Socrates has told Menexenus about the training orators have in learning how to put together a funeral speech appropriate to the occasion, he now claims that Aspasia beat into him verbaitm the funeral speech she would expect to be delivered by whoever the council finally chooses.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)

Menexenus might have been expected to ask about the principles of composing a speech, yet he is still interested in a particular speech and the author of that speech. I continue my musings on Aspasia and her significance in this dialogue.Here I read through Platonic dialogues, translating and commenting on the Greek text as I go.The resulting analyses may be found at:https://theplatoparadigm.comThe full analyses include Euthyphro, Io, Hippias Minor, and Lysis, with extract/summaries from my books on Hippias Major, Meno, and Politeia (Republic)