Theages

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Plato from The School of Athens by Raphael, 1509
Part of the series on:
The dialogues of Plato
Early dialogues:
ApologyCharmidesCrito
EuthyphroFirst Alcibiades
Hippias MajorHippias Minor
IonLachesLysis
Transitional & middle dialogues:
CratylusEuthydemusGorgias
MenexenusMenoPhaedo
ProtagorasSymposium
Later middle dialogues:
RepublicPhaedrus
ParmenidesTheaetetus
Late dialogues:
ClitophonTimaeusCritias
SophistStatesman
PhilebusLaws
Of doubtful authenticity:
AxiochusDemodocus
EpinomisEpistlesEryxias
HalcyonHipparchusMinos
On JusticeOn Virtue
Rival LoversSecond Alcibiades
SisyphusTheages

Theages is a dialogue attributed to Plato, featuring Demodocus, Socrates and Theages. There is debate over its authenticity;[1] W. R. M. Lamb draws this conclusion from his opinion that the work is inferior and un-Socratic, but acknowledges that it was universally regarded as authentic in antiquity.[2]

In the dialogue, Demodocus introduces his son Theages to Socrates for the first time, and they discuss Socrates' divine inner voice.[3] Four separate cases are described in which Socrates received a premonition from the gods, but in each case the advice was ignored with disastrous consequences.[3] Socrates is also presented as having a divine power which has a magical effect on his pupils, but which disappears when they abandon him to pursue other interests.[3]

Theages 125e8-126a4 is quoted by Nietzsche in Will to Power §958: "In Plato's Theages it is written: 'Each one of us would like to be master over all men, if possible, and best of all God.' This attitude must exist again" (trans. Walter Kaufmann).

References [edit]

  1. ^ Richard Kraut, in The Cambridge Companion to Plato (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 35.
  2. ^ Lamb, Introduction to the Theages, in Plato XII (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1927).
  3. ^ a b c John Madison Cooper, D. S. Hutchinson, (1997), Plato, Complete works, page 1734. Hackett Publishing.

External links [edit]