For Cato, as for many later writers under the Roman Empire, Socrates' actual philosophical beliefs were relatively unimportant. The real issue was not whether Socrates was right - about, say, the nature of human wisdom, virtue or the soul - but whether he represented a good or a bad image of how to live and, above all, how to die. Socratic 'philosophy' and Socratic life become indistinguishable. For that reason, the scene of Socrates' death matters even for writers who are not particularly interested in the arcana of academic phi- losophy. The death of Socrates, by his own hand but on the orders of the state, seemed to foreshadow the Roman inter- est in political suicide.
On the other hand, philosophical pursuits became increasingly marginalised in Roman society. Rhetoric and military training took over from philosophy and athletics as the primary means by which young men were educated. Philosophy was no longer a central part of 'real life'. The marketplaces, baths and exercise grounds of Rome were haunted more by orators and politicians than by intellectu- als discussing the good life. The dying Socrates, then, often seemed irrelevant to the issues facing real people.
Those Romans who admired Socrates had to reinvent him. Since the ironic humour of Plato's Socrates seemed so suspect, Socrates' Roman followers emphasised his courage in the face of death rather than his clever talk. They concen- trated on his integrity and his opposition to the 'tyranny' of the Thirty Tyrants - passing over his complex and ambiva- lent relationship to the democratic government that passed the death sentence upon him. Only on these terms could the Socratic death be seen as an admirable alternative to the machinations of imperial power and military violence.
Imperial Romans used the figure of the dying Socrates to think through the place of the life of the mind in an increas- ingly violent world, one where political and military loy- alties seemed more and more important. Many writers of this period suggest that the death of Socrates might be less inspiring than a more violent and gory death, such as the death of the younger Cato.
the ideal roman death: cato the younger
Romans often compared the dying Socrates with a native Roman non-philosopher: Cato the Younger, also known as Cato of Utica.
Cato was a fierce opponent of Julius Caesar's bid for one- man rule in Rome. He fought with the Republicans (Pompey the Great and Metellus Scipio) against Caesar. But Caesar won a decisive victory at the Battle of Thapsus (46 bc) and slaughtered the entire army of his enemies. There could be no more hope for a free, Republican Rome.
Cato responded with apparent equanimity to the news of the defeat. He took a bath, then sat down to supper with a large group of friends. They discussed Stoic philosophy. Cato argued that the good man alone is free - speaking with such vehemence that everyone guessed his intentions. Philosophical talk already had an association, for the Romans, with philosophical death. His son had his sword confiscated from his room.
Late in the evening, Cato retired to his room and began to read the Phaedo. Noticing the absence of his sword, he called his servants. When the weapon was not produced, he hit them so hard that he injured his own fist. We might notice the contrast with Socrates, who always behaved kindly to slaves and servants, and who was particularly friendly with his own executioner. Finally, Cato's son appeared. The father demanded, 'Am I a madman, that nobody talks to me about my decisions, good or bad?' The boy went out, weeping. Cato persuaded his friends that it was absurd to keep him alive by force. 'When I have come to a decision, I must be master of the course which I decide to take.' It was already too late to sit around talking, as Socrates had done. The times called for more violent measures.
The friends of Cato, unlike the friends of Socrates, were unable to restrain their tears long enough for more talk about the soul. They burst into tears and left the room. Cato got his sword back and declared, 'Now I am my own master.' At
6. To the horror of his family and friends, Cato of Utica killed himself by ripping out his own bowels, after his republican army lost to Julius Caesar. He was inspired to his courageous suicide by Socrates'death, as described in Plato's Phaedo. In this painting by Pierre Narcisse Guerin (1797), the scroll of the Phaedo is visible in the foreground.
dawn, once he was alone, he stabbed himself. But because of his injured hand, he was unable to strike hard enough. His innards came out of his body, but he failed to die. A doctor was summoned, who sewed up the protruding bowels. As soon as Cato recovered, he pushed the doctor away, tore out the bowels with his own hands and so died.
Cato is like Socrates only in so far as he kills himself - inspired by Socrates' death in the Phaedo. In all other respects, his death is not merely un-Socratic but anti-Socratic. It is, for one thing, shockingly violent - in stark contrast to the pain- less, almost incorporeal death of Socrates in the Phaedo.
Moreover, Cato's death is explicitly politicaclass="underline" he dies for his city's freedom - while Socrates was condemned by his own newly-liberated city. For many people in the time of the Roman Empire, Cato's violent, political, ultra-macho death seemed far more admirable than that of the foreign gadfly and show-off, Socrates.
bringing philosophy down to earth: cicero
An epigram by the learned poet and Alexandrian librar- ian Callimachus (third century bc) presents the imitation of Socrates' death as a whimsical, frivolous activity.
Saying, 'Goodbye, Sun!' Cleombrotus of Ambracia leaped off a high wall to the Land of the Dead. Why? Nothing was wrong. It was only because he had read
that single text by Plato, on the soul.
This character has no reason for killing himself, other than the inspiration provided by Plato's Phaedo. The poem is a tribute to Plato's magnificent artistry; but it is also a comic gibe against taking Socrates' example too seriously.
The great Roman statesman, orator and prolific writer Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 bc) struggled with these issues as he confronted the example of the dying Socrates. Cicero himself wrote philosophy and admired Socrates as a philosophical model. He recognised that 'all philosophers think of themselves, and want others to think of them, as fol- lowers of Socrates' (De Oratore 3.16.60).
But Cicero was concerned about the extent to which non-philosophers should also follow Socrates. On one level,
Socrates provided a model for how philosophy could inter- act with the real world. He was supposedly the first philo- sopher to study ethics, rather than cosmology or theology: Cicero noted that Socrates 'brought down philosophy from heaven to earth' (Tusculanian Disputations 5.4.10). On the other hand, Socrates seemed still too distant from the reali- ties of life in that he died for an abstraction (truth), not for a concrete political cause.
Cicero speaks against the model of Socrates' defence speech (Plato's Apology) for an orator. A Roman defendant called Rutilius Rufus unwisely followed Socrates' example and refused to use appeals to the emotions in his defence speech. He was innocent but, thanks to his foolish insistence on Socratic integrity, he was condemned to exile. Clearly, as an orator, Socrates was a pretty bad example. He did not get himself off (De Oratore 1.231).
In his philosophical work, Cicero uses Socrates' willing- ness to die, and even joy at his own death, to provide the ultimate proof that there is nothing to be feared after life. But Cicero withdraws from Socrates as soon as he seems to get close to him. He comments, 'However, all this is ancient history, and Greek at that. But Cato departed from life with a feeling of joy at having found a cause for dying' (Tusculanian Disputations 1.87). Cato's example seems to trump that of Socrates because he was a contemporary of Cicero's - not just a dead Greek. Moreover, Cato died for the Republic. Socrates' motives are far less easy to define. Socrates' life seemed a dangerous model, in so far as he challenged the ways of his city. Cicero warns, 'Let nobody make the mistake of thinking that because Socrates ... did or said anything contrary to the ways and traditions of his city, therefore he too has the right to do the same' (De Officiis 1.41.148).