Commentary #1 (Phaedrus)

Socrates in the Phaedrus: A Subtle Suitor?

From the beginning of Plato’s Phaedrus, the teacher Socrates seems to attempt – ever so gently – to win at least the intellectual affection of a student, the young man Phaedrus, who is in possession of a speech by the orator Lysias.

First, Socrates selects a lovely bucolic spot, near a cool stream and under a fragrant flowering plane tree – a pleasant background for listening to a speech and an ideal location for an intimate rendezvous. Then Socrates, a self-professed urbanite, insists he was lured to the country because Phaedrus had “found the charm” to get him there. Ostensibly, that “charm” is Lysias’ speech, but the teacher might also be drawn by the student’s personal charm. Socrates lies down in the lush grass to listen and invites Phaedrus to get comfortable, too.

Although Socrates makes no overt advances toward the young man, he frequently addresses him affectionately as “my dear,” “dear Phaedrus,” “my dear Phaedrus,” “fair youth,” “my good friend,” and “my friend” and refers to him as “the fair young Phaedrus.” Socrates’ use of these terms of endearment might reveal a fondness for – and perhaps an attraction to – the good-looking young man.

Furthermore, while Socrates’ glib criticisms of Lysias’ speech smartly address the topics of love and rhetoric, they might also serve to elevate this teacher’s stature in the eyes of an impressionable student. After Socrates complains that Lysias’ speech lacks an introduction and is arranged in a “helter-skelter” fashion, he submits his own well formulated ideas of how rhetoric should be practiced. The spirit of one-upmanship may not be blatant, but it is present.

While Socrates would seemingly like to win Phaedrus’ intellectual attention, he may be considering a physical relationship with the handsome young man as well. After all, loving bonds between adult mentors and attractive students (all males) were not only acceptable, but expected, in ancient Greek society.