Tragedy and anti-tragedy in the Apology of Socrates: a rhetorical analysis

Abstract

One of the dearest subjects to any interpreter of Plato's Apology of Socrates is the issue of the relationship between Socrates and rhetorical art, which the character both employs and censors. Nearly all the discursive strategies contained in Socrates' speech can be analyzed from this perspective. In this article, I examine one of those strategies, which plays an important role in the construction of the Socratic discourse: the example of Achilles, who, in the Iliad section quoted in the work, deliberately goes towards death to avenge Patroclus. Comparing his own situation to that of the hero and focusing on the death penalty proposed by his accusers, the philosopher reflects on the risk to which he is exposed at that time; justifying himself, he recalls the situation of the epic hero who preferred avoiding dishonor to avoiding death. From a detailed analysis of the passage in question, as well as a confrontation with the Homeric text there cited, I intend to draw the consequences that this example can have for the reading of the dialogue as a whole.