Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments

Use in the book

Demodocus thinks his son's peers and fellow demesmen, coming down to town, have unsettled him by repeating certain arguments from memory (121d). He says Theages has come to envy them and consequently demands a paid teacher. This is the father's explanation of how the desire took hold. His prefatory expression marks it as his assessment, rather than an omniscient account supplied by a narrator.

The report identifies a social mechanism distinct from direct instruction. Theages has apparently encountered performances of learned speech among equals before obtaining access to the proposed source of expertise. He wants an accomplishment that others can display. Yet the content of the repeated arguments is never stated, and the dialogue does not say that those peers learned them from a particular sophist. Their association with the desire for sophistic instruction is plausible within the father's report, not a documented chain of transmission.

The later conversation confirms that Theages knows arguments by report. At 126d he has heard those attributed to Socrates about statesmen's sons, and he uses them against Socrates' proposal. Heard arguments therefore need not be mere empty recitation: in that case they give him a relevant objection. The opening's anxiety about repeated discourse should not be generalized into a condemnation of all learning from what others say.

Peers reappear with a different evidential role at 128c. Theages knows contemporaries and somewhat older young men who seemed poor before associating with Socrates and rapidly appeared better afterward. His educational desire now points to observed persons, not only to reproduced arguments. But observation of comparative improvement does not establish that Socrates can produce the same result whenever he wishes. Socrates' reply concerns the missing explanation of that effect.

The dialogue thus moves between two kinds of socially mediated expectation: aspiring to the verbal accomplishments of peers and judging a companion by changes visible in peers. Both can initiate a serious inquiry; neither, by itself, establishes the content of wisdom or the conditions for acquiring it. The father's fears and the son's confidence are each grounded in partial access to others' experience.

Places to read

1. 121dτῶν ἡλικιωτῶν … καὶ δημοτῶν — Same-age companions from the same local community
2. 121dλόγους τινὰς ἀπομνημονεύοντες — They repeat unspecified arguments from memory
3. 121dδιαταράττουσιν αὐτόν; οὓς ἐζήλωκεν — The father's account of disturbance and emulation
4. 126dοὕς σέ φασιν λέγειν τοὺς λόγους — Theages uses arguments reported as Socrates' own
5. 128cτῶν ἐμῶν ἡλικιωτῶν καὶ ὀλίγῳ πρεσβυτέρων — Peers and somewhat older companions supply comparative evidence

Translation in this edition

“Repeating … from memory” preserves the active verbal performance in apomnēmoneuein, while “envy” emphasizes Theages' response. Note 3 explains the deme and cautiously infers a country setting from coming down to town. The apparatus questions the difficult δοκῶ γάρ μοι at 121d; Burnet's printed reading is translated as “I think,” not converted into an impersonal fact.

Arguments — λόγος (logos)

λόγος (logos)

Arguments. Unspecified pieces of discourse repeated by the peers; their truth and original source are not given. Attested: λόγους (121d). Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments.

Coming down — καταβαίνειν (katabainein)

καταβαίνειν (katabainein)

Coming down. The peers' movement toward town, supporting but not proving a rural-home inference. Attested: καταβαίνοντες (121d). Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments.

Fellow demesmen — δημότης (dēmotēs)

δημότης (dēmotēs)

Fellow demesmen. Companions from the same local Athenian community. Attested: δημοτῶν (121d). Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments.

Has come to envy — ζηλοῦν (zēloun)

ζηλοῦν (zēloun)

Has come to envy. The son's admiring or competitive response to the peers. Attested: ἐζήλωκεν (121d). Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments.

Peers — ἡλικιώτης (hēlikiōtēs)

ἡλικιώτης (hēlikiōtēs)

Peers. Same-age companions implicated by the father in arousing the ambition. Attested: ἡλικιωτῶν (121d). Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments.

Repeating from memory — ἀπομνημονεύειν (apomnēmoneuein)

ἀπομνημονεύειν (apomnēmoneuein)

Repeating from memory. The peers' learned verbal performances as reported by Demodocus. Attested: ἀπομνημονεύοντες (121d). Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments.

Unsettle — διαταράττειν (diatarattein)

διαταράττειν (diatarattein)

Unsettle. The effect the father attributes to those performances upon his son. Attested: διαταράττουσιν (121d). Peers, emulation, and remembered arguments.