A commentary on Xenophon's 'Àpologia Sokratous'

Abstract

This thesis is a commentary on Xenophon the Athenian's (Apology of Socrates), a work written in the first half of the 4th century B.C. with the express purpose of explaining Socrates' self-aggrandizing behaviour during his trial in 399. The commentary is prefaced by three essays which treat the issues of authenticity, dating, and possible non-Platonic influences on the work, while the four appendices contain comparisons with Xenophon's Memorabilia and Plato's Apology as well as treatments of Socrates' daimonic sign and his arrogant behaviour during the trial as described by Xenophon. Based on the 1919 Oxford Classical Text edited by E. C. Marchant, the commentary itself is a line-by-line analysis concerned primarily with providing a social, historical, and literary context for each passage under consideration.