The Prayers of Socrates

Author(s): B. Darrell Jackson

Source: Phronesis, Vol. 16, No. 1 (1971), pp. 14-37
Published by: BRILL
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ThePrayersof Socrates*
B. DARRELL

JACKSON

FIRST I mustsay whomI meanby "Socrates."I shalluse that name

to refer to the main protagonist of Plato's authentic dialogues.
Hence the prayers examined in this article are literary phenomena. They belong to the second of Friedrich Heiler's two classes
of prayers - "prayed" prayers and literary prayers.' In a sense they
are also prayed prayers, for the Socrates of the dialogues is not just a
product of Plato's poetic genius. Plato had known Socrates well. and
it seems reasonable to assume that he would not have written prayers
incongruous with Socrates' character. Still these prayers are more
the product of art than of spontaneouspiety.3
I have located twelve prayers of Socrates in the dialogues.4These
* I wish to thank those whose comments have aided me, Elizabeth Wright,

Douglas Gunn, and critics who have asked good questions at two readings of
this paper, one before the Hellenistic Religions section of the American Academy
of Religion (October 1968), the other before a meeting of the North Carolina
Teachers of Religion.
1 Friedrich Heiler, Prayer: a study in the history and psychology of religion,
trans. by Samuel McComb (New York: Oxford University Press, 1932), pp.
xvii-xxiv.
2 Cf. Ap. 34 a, 38 b, Ep. VII 324 d-325 c, and A. E. Taylor, Plato: the Man and
His Work (New York: Meridian Books, 6th edn. 1952), pp. 3 f.
3 I call Socrates' prayers "literary" without intending to agree with Heiler,
p. xviii, that ". . formal, literary prayers are merely the weak reflection
of the original, simple prayer of the heart." This evaluation is based on a view
of literary art foreign to Greeks of the classical period. For them art and religion
were not necessarily separate provinces. The best example of the close connection of art and religion is tragic poetry, which originated and flourished as part
of the festivals of Dionysus. Cf. R. C. Flickinger, The Greek Theater and Its
Drama (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 4th edn., 1936), pp. 119-132.
In any case, Heiler does not hold to his view; he admits that poets may write
prayers which reflect the simple piety of naive people (p. xxiv).
' Most of the prayers and references to prayer in Plato have been located by
use of Ast's Lexicon Platonicum

entries

for ekt,

6XoAx=,

and 7poaeuxo?-L.

Others, including prayers in other Greek authors, have been discovered by search
or through the references of secondary sources. Of the latter, two are most
important: Heinrich Greeven's article on $Xo,tLXL,
esX, in Kittel's Theological
Dictionary of the New Testament, Vol. II (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964),
pp. 775 ff., and H. Schmidt's Veteresphilosophi quomodoiudicaverint de precibus
(Religionsgeschichtliche Versuche und Vorarbeiten, vol. IV, no. 1, Giessen, 1906).

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twelve can be classified into three groups - biographical prayers,

literary prayers, and philosophical prayers. A fourth group of prayers
is made up of those which Plato puts in the mouths of other characters.
I shall consider the four groups, inquiring into the occasion of each
prayer, its addressee(s), content, and function in the dialogue. Cultic
background will be noted, as will similarities and contrasts with
prayers in other Greek authors. In addition, the relation of Socrates'
prayers to what is said in the dialogues about prayer will receive
attention.
For ease of reference I now list and summarize the prayers which
I know of in Plato. They are in approximate chronological order of
composition.5
1. Euthyd. 275 d - Socrates, to the Muses and Memory, for aid in remembering
a conversation.
2. Phaedo 117 c - Socrates, to the gods, as he takes the hemlock, for a happy
rnigration.
3. Symp. 220 d - Socrates, to the sun, after the twenty-four hour "trance"
at Potidaia.
4. Phaedr. 237 a-b - Socrates, to the Muses, for aid in his first speech on love.
5. Ibid. 257 a-b - Socrates, to Eros, at the close of his second speech on
love, for forgiveness, success in love, and intercession.
6. Ibid. 278 b - Socrates prays to be a philosopher.
7. Ibid. 279 b-c - Socrates, to Pan and others, for inner beauty, wisdom,
temperance, and harmony.
8. Rep. I 327 a-b - Socrates tells of having prayed at the festival of Bendis.
9. Ibid. IV 432 c - Socrates prays for success in discovering the nature of
justice.
10. Ibid. VIII 545 d-e - Socrates, to the Muses, for information on the origin
of political dissension.
11. Tim. 27 b-d - Timaeus, to gods and goddesses, for a discourse pleasing
to gods and men.
12. Ibid. 48 d-e - Timaeus, to a god, for success in the second part of the
discourse.
13. Critias 106 a-b - Timaeus, to the cosmos, as he ends his discourse, for
truth and knowledge.
14. Ibid. 108 c-d - Critias, to Paean, the Muses, the gods. and especially
Memory, as he begins his discourse.
15. Phil. 25 b - Socrates, to a god, for aid in the argument.

6 I follow the order given by Robert S. Brumbaugh, Plato for the Modern Age

(New York: Corier Books, 1964), p. 225. The order of dramatic dates is quite
different. The prayers will sometimes be referred to by number later in the
article.

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16.
17.
18,
20.
21.

Ibid. 61 b-c - Socrates, to Dionysus and Hephaestus, for success in the

argument.
Laws IV 712 b - the Athenian, to a god, for aid in the discourse.
19. Ibid. VII 823 d, X 887 c - the Athenian speaks as though praying.
Ibid. X 893 b - the Athenian, to a god and the gods, for assistance in
proving the existence of the gods.
Epin. 980 b-c - the Athenian, to the gods and the god, for a beautiful
and excellent discourse.

1. Biographical prayers
The two prayers having the earliest and latest dramatic dates of
the twelve of Socrates occur in biographical contexts. Whatever
the historical accuracy of the dialogues in which they occur,6both are
explicitly presented as actual datable events in Socrates' life.
a. Symposium220 d
The first such prayer occurs in Alcibiades' Symposium speech in
praise of Socrates. He tells how during the Potidaian campaign of
431-4307 Socrates stood one day thinking from sunrise to sunrise
(220 c-d). And then, at the end of twenty-four hours, Socrates

"...

offered a prayer to the sun and walked away."8 There seems no other
reason for Socrates having prayed to the sun than that it happened
to be sunrise when his thinking was completed. Worship of Helios
was not an important part of the state cults at this time and Plato

6 Plato indicates plainly that he does not guarantee the accuracy of the Symposium. Although it is narrated by Apollodorus, a friend of Socrates who even
checked some of the details with Socrates (172 c 4-6, 173 b 2-3 - references to
Plato are to Burnet's Oxford edn.), it is a secondhand account of an event
several years past (172 b 8-c 4). In contrast, we may conclude that Plato
intends the Phaedo to be a true account of Socrates' last day. It is narrated
by Phaedo, who was present and takes pleasure in recalling the memory of
Socrates (57 a 1-4, 58 d 4-6). There is evidence, moreover, that Plato spent
time after Socrates' death with Euclides and Terpsion of Megara, who were
also present. Taylor, p. 176.
7 Taylor, p. 233.
i
xeT a7Ls
8,,
xaxl fiLoq vaxccev &7?tX
rpOanD&X?cvo5
,Eca. Trans. by
W. H. D. Rouse, GreatDialogues of Plato (New York: The New American Library,
1956), p. 114.

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was innovating when he made it so in the Laws,9 but prayers to him

at his rising and setting were not unusual.'0 That Socrates thought
the sun to be divine is clear,"Lalthough unlike the ordinary Greek he
also had a scientific interest in the sun and moon.12
Alcibiades says nothing of what Socrates prayed on this occasion.
There are grounds for assuming that it was not an ordinary prayer.
Burnet and Taylor have suggested that these twenty-four hours
may have been the outstanding ecstasy of Socrates' life.'3 Indeed
he may at this time have had the vision of Beauty itself praised so
highly in his Symposium speech (211 d). If so, this prayer to the sun
occurs at a crucial point in Socrates' career. This, of course, is conjecture. But there need be no doubt concerning the biographical
importance of the occasion of the Phaedo prayer.
b. Phaedo 117 c
After receiving the cup of poison and instructions on how to take it,
Socrates asked if he could pour a libation from the drink. When
the jailor told him that there was no poison to spare for such an
offering Socrates said,
(2)

I understand, but at least, I suppose, it is allowed to offer a prayer to

the gods and that must be done, for good luck in the migration from here
to there. Then that is my prayer, and so may it be!14

* Glenn R. Morrow, Plato's Cretan City (Princeton: Princeton University Press,

1960), pp. 446-448.
10 For evidence on the cult of Helios cf. Lewis Richard Farnell, The Cults of
the GreekStates, Vol. V, pp. 417-420, 449-453, and especially 450 n. 18. Throughout this study I have relied heavily on Farnell's great five volume study (Oxford, 1896-1909) for information on Greek cults. - For a literary prayer addressed to Helios cf. Soph. Ajax 823 ff. esp. 846 and 857.
" Ap. 26 d 1-3, Rep. VI 508 a 4 and 9.
1 Phaedo 98 a. In Laws VII 821 a-d Plato connects astronomy with piety.
Knowledge of the sun, moon, and planets will insure pious language in sacrifices
and prayers (eUxat&)to these gods.
1aTaylor, p. 233. Kurt von Fritz, "Greek Prayers," Review of Religion X
(1945), pp. 7 and 35, says that the prayer to Helios is in no way part of the
meditation. I do not see that there are grounds in the text for saying whether
it was.
&?Xe15XeaGody1tiou
1MMavA&veo,
ff 8'
1?arL -r xa XPTh
qV 0LeOtwnaLV
n otorolgt
.v
LV-V8e kxe:Ta e0TuXn yev&T4av & 80 xacl 6yx eo[ocE -re xct ykvoLro rct&rn.
Trans. by Rouse, pp. 520 f. For another, far more elaborate, prayer at death
cf. the prayer in Sophocles cited in n. 9.

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Socrates addresses his prayer simply to the gods. This is not characteristic of him, although he does it one other time.'5 I shall reserve
comment on prayers to unnamed gods until later (section 4).
The important thing about the prayer is its content. Socrates prays
for a lucky migration (rrv EtvrotzaLv'-~v ... evruTx-) from this world
to the next. This migration has been the subject under discussion
in the dialogue.'6 Now that it is upon him, Socrates prays for good
luck, a frequent subject in Greek prayers, for example, in the Homeric
Hymn to Athena.17 By praying for luck Socrates implies that there
were things about the migration of his soul which were outside of
his control and in the control of the gods. To use a scheme later
expressed by Plato in the Laws (IV 709 b-d), we can say that Socrates
had developed the requisite skill for his journey, namely, philosophy'8;
now as death comes he prays for good fortune in the conjunction of
circumstances with his skill, just as a skilled navigator prays for good
weather before setting sail.'9 There may be a touch of irony in this
prayer, as in Socrates' last words about offering a cock to Aesculapius
(118 a), but this seems to me a moment of great seriousness even, or
perhaps I should say most of all, for Socrates. For he is about to be
freed from all that distracts a man from love of wisdom.
2. Prayers with a literary function

I have termed a second group of six prayers "literary prayers."

All of the Platonic prayers of Socrates are literary in origin, but
these six are literary in function as well. They are of two types.

At Philebus 25 b, no, 15.

Cf. esp. Phaedo 107 c-d and 114 d-115 a. In these passages Plato uses
migration. Cf. also Rep. X 621 d 1-3:
TropEocz, joumey, instead of * CvoExat,

15

14

...
7TOpcEqC

E5

7tp"r(cteV.

Hymn. Hom. 11,5: the goddess is asked for srxnv C u8LLOVtjv 're. Cf. Cratylus
397 b 4-5 where the proper name ETuXE8Nsis said to be the expression of a
prayer, and Eth. Nic. V 1129 b 1-7 where Aristotle says that men pray concerning ?onTX[m xxt &-ruExo.
18 Phaedo 62 a-69 e.
"Laws 709 d 1-3. In light of the later development of a cult of Tyche (Farnell,
V 447 and 481-3), it is worth emphasizing that Socrates prays to the gods, not
to the personification of luck. This, too, is in accordance with the Laws IV
scheme, where skill, chance, and circumstance are all under god (erc &eo5,
709 b 7).
17

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One prayer provides the dramatic opening for a dialogue; the other
five are stylistic devices to signal points of transition and to provide
dramatic relief. First I shall take up the single example of a dramatic
opening.

a. RepublicI 327 a-b

The Republicopens with Socrates as the narrator.
(8)

I went down yesterday to the Piraeus with Glaucon, the son of Ariston,
to pay my devotions to the goddess (7poaeu06[Leoq 'rt TX ?,
a 1), and also
I wished to see how they would conduct the festival since this was its
inauguration. I thought the procession of the citizens very fine, but it
was no better than the show made by the marching of the Thracian contingent.
After we had said our prayers (npoaeut&Levot,

b 1) and seen the spectacle

we were starting for town when Polemarchus, the son of Cephalus, caught
sight of us ... (I 327 a 1-b

3)20

Polemarchus hailed Socrates and Glaucon and persuaded them to

stay in the Piraeus to see the remainder of the festival, a torch race
on horseback at night (328 a). In the meantime they went to Polemarchus' house and the discussion which constitutes the Republic
took place there.
Towards the end of Book I we learn that the festival attended by
Socrates was in honor of Bendis.2' She was a Thraciangoddess received
into Greek religion chiefly as the Thracian form of Artemis.22Her
festival was observed in the Piraeus, where foreign cults were often
introduced into Attica.23 If Plato's information is accurate, this
festival was begun around 420, the dramatic date of the Republic.24
Socrates. attendance at the festival indicates that he had some
interest in new cults. He apparently did not visit the Piraeus often
(328 c 6-7). In fact he rarely left Athens, preferring the market20 Trans. by Paul Shorey in The Collected Dialogues of Plato, ed. by Edith Ha-

milton and Huntington Cairns (New York: Pantheon Books, 1961), p. 576.
21 354 a 10 f.: &vsrots Bcv8L8(oto.
'n Farnell, II 474.
n Ibid., p. 475.
"4Taylor, pp. 263 f. In his Commentary on Plato's Timaeus (Oxford, 1928),
p. 46, Taylor notes that Proclus dated the Bendidea on the 19th of Thargelion,
i.e., in May or June.

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place to the countryside.25Although he may have left the city this

time out of curiosity (327 a 2-3), this was not his only motive, for
he not only observedbut also prayed.
There is no indication of what Socrates prayed for on this occasion.
In the absence of such information and of any obvious relevance of
Artemis-Bendis to the subject of the dialogue (justice), there seems
to be no particular reason for Plato's having opened the Republic
with Socrates praying at a festival.26 It is noteworthy, however,
that both of Plato's longest works, the Republic and the Laws,27
have their dramatic setting in a religious context.
b. Euthydemus275 d, Republic IV 432 c, VIII 545 d-e, Philebus 25 b,
61 b-c.
The other literary prayers occur at points of lesser importance than
the opening of a dialogue. The most significant places are given to
the Euthydemusprayer and the second Philebus prayer. The former
stands at the beginning of the body of the dialogue, after the introduction is out of the way. The latter occurs just as the dialogue begins
to draw to its conclusion. The other three are found at points of lesser
importance where subtopics are taken up.
The content of all five prayers is the same. In each place Socrates
prays for some sort of aid in the argument, either for memory or
for dialectical skill. But the tone suggests that Plato includes the
prayersmore for variety of expressionthan as indications that Socrates
yearned for divine aid. This seems especially clear in the Philebus.
About a quarter way into the dialogue the following exchange takes
place:
(15)

Socrates: AU right. Now what description are we going to give of number

three, the mixture of these two [viz. the classes of the finite and the
infinite]?
Protarchus: That, I think, will be for you to tell me.
Socrates: Or rather for a god to tell us, if one comes to listen to my
prayers.
Protarchus: Then offer your prayer, and look to see if he does.

25 Phaedr.

230 c-d.

2 Artemis (= Bendis), as a goddess of the hills and forests, seems most inappropriate for a dialogue on the ideal polis. But cf. Crat. 406 b where one of
the etymologies of "Artemis" is that it comes from &pe', virtue.
37 Laws I 625 b 1-2.

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Socrates: I am looking, and I fancy, Protarchus, that one of them has

befriended us for some little time. (25 b 5-12)28

This lighthearted banter occurs in the midst of nrgorousargument.

By its contrast with the rigor of that argument it provides momentary
relief from the tension. It is a brief interlude and as is usually the case
with interludes in Plato it indicates that a new point is being taken up.
A prayer towards the end of the dialogue has the same function.
The mixed life has been determined to be the good for man.
(16)

Socrates: Then let us mingle our ingredients, Protarchus, with a prayer

to the gods, to Dionysus or Hephaestus or whichever god has been assigned
this function of mingling. (61 b 11-c 2)29

The brief prayer in Republic IV plays the same role as the Philebus
prayers, although not so conspicuously.
Offer up a prayer with me, I [Socrates] said, and follow.
That I will do, only lead on, he said. (432 c 5-6)30

(9)

The use of prayers as interludes in philosophical contexts may be

Plato's invention, but in two other prayers he acknowledges dependence on the poets. Both are prayers to the Muses. In the Euthydemus Socrates must recall a complicated sophistical conversation of
the day before.
(1)

What followed, Crito, how could I describe properly? It is not a small

business to recall and repeat wisdom ineffably great! So I must begin
my description as the poets do, by invoking the Muses and Memory herself I
(275 c 5-d 2)81

E. l 06;

8t& xOccGx6c.

.Liv o5v, &V7Ep ye k{Lotlt euXaL4 k

^xoo4
ED. Zxonr7- xOCLt.OL 8O0XC TL; ...

n; ft&v. fIPl.

yEy"mi

E6Xou

aUC@v 9(DO4 ~tiV VUVt yeyovkvOCL.

Trans. by R. Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, pp. 1101 f.

29 Tolc 80 tcotl.
er'

( llp&rxpXe,
v
TrV
a'rtg &e&iv 'rm'v
-n[LV

uX6evot
v f),)X

x?pavv
s-7

e,

efte

auyxpIacrg.

etTextror
A(ovuaoq `Hc
Trans. by Hackforth

in

Hamilton and Cairns, p. 1143.

30 tE7roU,

^V8' Iy6,

Cu'0Xpr5o

TXC59T, &Xo

lie-r 4LO5. I-ot,aco

tl6vov, ff 8' 6q, hYO5.

The trans. is a composite of Shorey's and Jowett's.

I" ...

8ios.aLL

&.pX6fLevOqrq

kLqy~ae&

Mo5aoc;

re xod Mv

oa6vnv

&Inxe!aXL.

Trans. by Rouse in Hamilton and Cairns, p. 389.

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Then again in Republic VIII.

(10)

Shall we, like Homer, invoke the Muses to tell 'how faction first fell
upon them,' and say that these goddesses playing with us and teasing
us as if we were children address us in lofty, mock-senrous tragic style?
(545 d 5-e 3)82

This last prayer introduces a section in which the Muses are supposedly the speakers.It gives Plato an opportunityto write in a different
style from that used in the dialogue so far (546 a ff.). Thus in this
instance he combines poetic convention (invocation of the Muses)
with the provision of relief (by variety of expression).
So far I have commented on the content and function of these
prayers. It remains to comment on their addressees. The two just
quoted are addressed to the Muses, who are invoked more often in
the dialogues (four times) than any other named deity.33 As noted
already, prayers to the Muses are a poetic convention. Socrates says
he is imitating Homer, who does indeed frequently invoke the Muses.3
Two of the prayers to the Muses are conjoined with another poetic
convention, the invocation of Memory, who is their mother according
to Hesiod.35 In each case what is needed is recall of a great deal of
material - a complex conversation and the history of Atlantis and
Athens.
Socrates prays to the Muses because it is conventional to do so
when one needs information or the recall of information. His Philebus
prayer to Dionysus and Hephaestus appears to have a similar close

rcbrtv tL!v 67rcoq80 7rpov

r&tLMot5aau
in Hamilton and Cairns, p. 775.
The other two prayers to the Muses are at Phaedrus 237 a-b (no. 4) and Crilias
p3ou')m, &a7rep 'O0mnpoq, CeUX Lcf

at5 aL; 4pae.

3

. . ;Trans. by Shorey

108c-d (no. 13).

II. I 1, I 484, X 218, XIV 508, XVI 112, Od. I 1. The Homeric formula is
usually lanreTr v5v [Lot, Mouat'x, "tell me now Muses" (II. II 484). Cf. also Solon,
fr. 1 (on wealth) and Sappho, frs. 101 and 129 (in the Loeb Lyra Graeca I).
At Phaedrus 245 a and 265 b Plato says that the Muses are the source of the
divine Fxovtowhich produces poetry.
36 Theog. 50 ff. Plato agrees(Theaet. 191 d). For an invocation of Memory cf.
Pindar, Fragment of a Paean VII B, in Farnell, The Works of Pindar (London:
Macmillan, 1930), pp. 313 f.
8'

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relation to what is prayed for. These gods, he says, are in charge of

mingling or mixing (atUyxpUaLq, xZpvvu4li) and his argument is moving
toward a conclusion by mixing components defined thus far. Socrates
expresses some uncertainty about which god is in charge of mixing.
This may indicate that he is innovating in making a specific assignment
of this function. Dionysus and Hephaestus are, however, easily associated with mixing, namely, the mixing of wine and the combining
of metals.36 Of the other two prayers, one is addressed to "a god"
(Phil. 25 b) and the other has no addressee (Rep. IV).
3. Philosophicalprayers - the Phaedrus
In the Phaedrus are found four prayers which may be distinguished
from those considered so far because of their content. I call them
"philosophical prayers." They occur in a dialogue with the latest
dramatic date (as late as 40437) of all others containing Socratic

prayers except the Phaedo. Whether Plato intended to, therefore,

he has placed the richest prayers of the dialogues on the lips of Socrates
as a man of seasoned maturity.
a. Phaedrus 237 a-b
Because of the many issues presented by each prayer, I shall consider
them individually. The first one occurs at the beginning of Socrates'
first speech on love (237 b-241 d).38
(4)

Come then, ye clear-voiced Muses, whether it be from the nature of your

song, or from the musical people of Liguria that ye came to be so styled,
'assist the tale I tell' under compulsion by my good friend here, to the
end that he may think yet more highly of one dear to him, whom he already accounts a man of wisdom. (237 a 7-b 1)89

I have located specific evidence for Dionysus and the mixing of wine. Farnell,
V 282 n. 17, quotes a passage from Athenaeus in which Dionysus is said to have
taught the Athenians about 'hv 'ro5 otvou xp&mLV.
Cf. also Walter F. Otto,
Dionysus: Myth and Cult, pp. 86 and 100. I know of nothing comparable for
Hephaestus, but the smith-god would naturally be associated with making
bronze by combining copper and tin, etc.
87Taylor, p. 301.
88 A prayer at the beginning of an oration was apparently not unusual. Cf.

86

Demosthenes, On the Crown 1.

. 'AyeT? 84, X Mo5aot, teVe 84&
J6
el8oq Xtyeto0t, &cr 8t& ykvo5 ,LOUaLx6V?r6
d ? coe" 'roi5
Aty65ov ro'rNv laXeX' kneavilwV, "!,.p ot )&3
tou, 6v ,ue 0VayXKcet
'' 6o
6 PwAXtnsroq
ouroal 'Xyv,
ctZpos ac&ro5, xml np6repov 8oxc7v aOor pO6k

3a

cva;, v4v1.'t ,ux0ov 86oEn.

Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, pp. 484 f.

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This prayer to the Muses, like those in the Euthydemusand the Republic, asks for aid in the discourse to follow. It differs from them,
however, in two important respects.
In the first place, there is a more complex invocation of the Muses.
In fact this prayer contains the longest invocation of any in the
dialogues. The deities addressed in all the other prayers are merely
named. Here the Muses are not only named, their name is dwelt on.
The comparative infrequency of this in Plato's prayers contrasts with
normal literary and cultic practice. For example, the prayer of
Achilles for Patroclus begins:
High Zeus, lord of Dodona, Pelasgian, living afar off, brooding over
wintry Dodona, your prophets about you living, the Selloi who sleep on
the ground with feet unwashed. Hear me.'0

But in this one case Socrates does offer a prayer with a longer invocation. His concern here is for the origin of the epithet "clear-voiced."41
The second difference between this prayer and the others to the
Muses is that here Socrates prays for more than aid in the discourse.
The real object of his prayer is that he may through the eloquence of
his speech be even more highly regarded by one who already thinks
him wise. Although this is a prayer for increased reputation, it is
for reputation in virtue.
b. Phaedrus 257 a-b
Socrates was temporarily unhappy with the speech on love which
follows his prayer to the Muses (242 b-243 d). But he later views
it in connection with his second speech and finds that it had its
appropriateness (264e-266b). In effect, the two speeches are two
parts of one speech (266 a). Thus a prayer to the Muses opens that
II. XVI 233 ff. Trans. by Richmond Lattimore, The Iliad of Homer (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1951), p. 336. For other long invocations cf. the
Prayer to the Fates in C. M. Bowra, GreekLyric Poetry (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 2nd edn., 1961), p. 404 (found in Stob. Ecl. 5.10-12), Sappho's famed
Prayer to Aphrodite (fr. 1), and Aesch. Choeph. 123 ff. Farnell, I 26, notes the
importance of cult-titles in public prayer and sacrifice. Cf. also von Fritz, pp.
16f.
4"Hackforth, Plato's Phaedrus (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1952), p. 36, n. 1,
(clear-voiced) is connected with the Liregards Plato's suggestion that ),EyeLmL
gurian people as an etymological jest. Farnell, V 469-471 on the Muses, notes
no such connection. Perhaps Socrates is thinking of the northern origin of the
Muses (Liguria is on the Italian Riviera). Another puzzle about this prayer is
the source of the quotation ivA ,uoL)X:&caf. In Liddell and Scott, Greek-English
Lexicon, p. 1691, it is referred to merely as"a poetical passage ap. P1.Phdr. 237 a."
40

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one speech and a prayer to Eros closes it.42The latter is a remarkable

prayer in many respects. For one thing it is the longest prayer in
Plato's dialogues.
(5)

Thus then, dear Eros, I havy offered the fairest recantation and fullest
atonement that my powers co-ild compass; some of its language, in particular, was perforce poetical, to please Phaedrus. Grant me thy pardon
for what went before, and thy favor for what ensued; be merciful and
gracious, and take not from me the lover's talent wherewith thou hast
blessed me; neither let it wither by reason of thy displeasure, but grant
me still to increase in the esteem of the fair. And if anything that Phaedrus
and I said earlier sounded discordant to thy ear, set it down to Lysias,
the only begetter of that discourse, and staying him from discourses
after this fashion turn him toward the love of wisdom, even as his brother
Polemarchus has been turned. Then will his loving disciple here present
no longer halt between two opinions, as now he does, but live for love in
singleness of purpose with the aid of philosophical discourse. (257 a 3-b 6)4

This is the only prayer to Eros in Plato. Eros was the subject of
much poetry44but fewer prayers.45In Plato his status is ambiguous.
According to the Phaedrus46Eros is a god; according to the Symposium47

he is not a god but a great daimon,mediatingbetweengods

and mortals. As a daimon Eros would carry prayers to the gods and
return with answers for men.4"But even daimons should be prayed to,
according to Plato, so that they will transmit our prayers to the gods
This notion is at least as old as the Iliad, where prayer itself
well.49
is personified as the AlroL, who entreat Zeus in behalf of or against
42 The
'

A5rq

second speech or part contains the famous myth of the charioteer.

6*tL XWaTxad &p'at7 8 8o'o(
OOL, J) cp? "EpCa4, et(; 0hLvpOmV 8 Svoc4Ltv

'c xod LX'ir-7LaaL 7MXLvC8(C, 'x 're &;

XM
x rxl
Ivxyxaas&iv)
6Ov6[aCaLv
M&X T&V 7rpOTipCiV TC CKyp
X
)vOCL

TLCSLV8L& 4bOaL8pOVetpTa,ML.

irOL7qTLXOt5
)v8e XXPLV

X
IX LCV,
o Lc F iOc9i)
Lr'-r
eU'[Lv+XaL DxCq AV kpcIwXmV [LOL'xv)V fV 98Oxaq
7TT pci)a
8L' 6pymV, M8OUT' I?Lt LDX?OV % V5V 7racp& roLq X00o,0 'r(LLOV e1VXL. kV 'rp 7tp6aov 8'
et rt X6yw aot &.rw-xkq
ef7roiev
ODt8p6q -re xod &y6, Auatav -r6v 105 XO6youMX7pa
7rmUC -v
OCt=?Vo0
'rLou'Gv
)o6ycv, &iri qtXoaocp(mv 8k, 6anep
&8eX,?6q a9u'ou
r&XpX7r-0, Tpk4GV, tVM cxal6 IpaMaAq 688e cUrTo5 p?-Xk'rL kapoTCp(Zn
flo\)4apxoq

xOt&x7rp v5v, dcX' &7Tr)X&7rp6q 'Epvro

pX

cpL0oa6qv

X6ywv -69v rEov 7r%LVl.

Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, p. 502.

4" Cf. Bowra, pp. 70, 235, 263, 283-6, 292 f. and 305 for Eros in poetry by Alcman, Sappho, Ibycus, and Anacreon.
' Cf. Eur. Hipp. 525 ff.
"242 d 8, 242 e 2-3.
47 202 d 13: 8odat.Lv
4kyo;.
48 Symp. 202 e 3-7.
49 Laws 801 e: 8cx(ov&q-rexoc tpc5...
eXact; Epin. 984 e 1-3.

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a man depending on his veneration of them.50 Since Eros is viewed

as a god in the Phaedrus, Socrates is probably praying to him as a
deity and not as a mediator. A daimon does, however, function as a
messenger in the dialogue, namely, Socrates' own famed daimonic
voice. It forbids him to leave before making atonement for his offence
against Eros.51 That the voice brings a communication from Eros or
another god is not stated in the Phaedrus, but in other dialogues
Plato makes this role of Socrates' daimon explicit.52 On the other
hand, he does not, so far as I know, ever have Socrates pray to his
own daimon or address it in any way.53It brings messages to him from
the gods but is never said to carry prayers to the gods.
The most remarkable feature of the prayer to Eros is its rich
content. It contains three petitions. Socrates asks for pardon, for
success in love, and for the conversion of Lysias and Phaedrus to
philosophy. As to the first, there are prayers for pardon (aUyv(uvn)
in the Greek literary tradition,54but such seems out of place in Plato.
In both the Republic and the Laws he argues against those who say
that the gods may be made to ignore sin by prayer and sacrifice.55
His view is that prayer is profitable only to a good man.5s Hence
one should not pray unless he is already good. This rule leaves little
room for a petition to be forgiven. Socrates' prayer to Eros does
not, however, violate this rule. In relation to Eros Socrates had become
good before he prayed. He had purified himself by a new speech,
praising love instead of blaming him. Socrates' prayer conforms to
another Platonic notion, namely, that the goal of prayer and of all
worship is to become like god.57 His petition to Eros for success in
love is a prayer to be like that god. The third petition of the prayer

II. IX 500 ff.

61 Phaedr. 242 b 8-c 3.
52 Apol. 31 c 8-d 1 and 40 a 2-c 3, esp. 40 b 1: 'r6 -ro5 coi3 a- cLov.
" Cf. Paul Friedlander, Plato: An Introduction (New York: Harper & Row,
1958), pp. 32-36, for a brief but informative account of Socrates' daimonic voice.
4 Eur. Hipp. 113 ff.: auyyvca.ov; Xen. Mem. II.ii.14: auyyvs,ovaCq.
6' In the Rep. (364-366 a) this view is attributed to the poets. In Laws X 885 b
and 905 d-907 b it is the third form of impiety and is attributed to no special
60

group.
I' Laws IV 716 d. Morrow, p. 400, comments on the reinterpretation of tradi-

tional practices which Plato makes in this passage. At Phaedrus 244 e Plato
gives a non-critical account of these practices.
'7 Laws IV 716 c-d and Theaet. 176 b.

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is intercessory. Prayers on behalf of others are not hard to find.

They are in Homer, in later poets, and are mentioned by Plato himself.58But Plato certainly does not accept the Pythagorean injunction
against praying for oneself.59Only in the prayer to Eros does Socrates
pray for someone else.60 He prays for Lysias, who is not present,
and for Phaedrus, who is. He intercedes for them that they might
turn to philosophy and thereby avoid such speecheson love as Lysias'
(read by Phaedrus earlier, 230 e-234 c) or Socrates' first speech.
c. Phaedrus 278 b
Shortly after the prayer to Eros Socrates begins discussion of the
nature of good and bad writing and speaking (258 d ff.). This is the
main topic of the dialogue, the speeches on love being illustrations of
good and bad discourse. Socrates concludes that good speech is
spoken not written, that it uses the methods of collection and division
to gain knowledge of its subject matter, and that it presupposes
knowledge of the soul.61He then observes,
(6)

... the man ... who believes this, and disdains all manner of discourse
other than this, is, I would venture to affirm, the man whose example
you and I would pray that we might follow. (278 b 2-4)82

Phaedrus replies, "My own wishes and prayers are most certainly
to that effect." A moment later such a man as they pray to be is named
a "lover of wisdom," a philosopher (278 d 4). Socrates had prayed
earlier that Lysias and Phaedrus might be philosophers; he now
prays the same thing for himself and Phaedrus.
d. Phaedrus 279 b-c
The final prayer in the Phaedrusand the most famous prayer in Plato63
Hom. II. VI 476 ff., XVI 233 ff.; Sappho, Fragment 5 (Lobel and Page);
Plato, Phaedr. 233 e, Laws 887 d-e.
69 Diog. Laert. VIII 9.
60 Of course he often prays together with another person. Cf. below p. 36 n. 109.
"Summarized at 277 b-c.
* o&ro; ai 6 'oLo 04o (v?p xAUVeUL, X1 048pC, etvxL otoV Iy6 T'exexLa,Z xEm[Ltc
clv
&exa
yeviaoc. Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, p. 523.
0 Some sample comments: Farnell, V 434, calls it a "strange and spiritual
prayer"; Heiler, p. 79, says it is "the ripest prayer of the Greek spirit"; Greeven,
p. 781, sees it as the supreme culmination of Greek prayer in moral depth and
inwardness.
68

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comes at the close of the dialogue. The conversation has taken place
under a tree outside the city during the heat of the day (227 a, 229 a-b).
It has cooled off and Phaedrus suggests that they be going.
(7)

Socrates: Oughtn't we first to offer a prayer to the divinities here?

Phaedrus: To be sure.
Socrates: Dear Pan, and all ye other gods that dwell in this place,
grant that I may become fair within, and that such outward things as I
have may not war against the spirit within me. May I count him rich
who is wise, and as for gold, may I possess so much of it as only a temperate man might bear and carry with him.
Is there anything more we can ask for, Phaedrus? The prayer contents
me. (279 b 6-c 5)64

This prayer is addressed to Pan because Socrates is praying to gods

"in this place." He and Phaedrus are in the countryside, the haunt
of Pan the rustic pasture-god.65There appears to be nothing more
special about the location which would make a prayer to Pan appropriate. The Athenian cult of Pan was centered, according to
Farnell, on the acropolis and included a torch race which originated
at the Academia, north-west of the city.66 But the Phaedrus takes
place south of the city on the River Illissus (229 c). There may be
another reasonwhy a prayerto Pan is fitting at the end of the Phaedrus.
According to the Cratylus Pan's name signifies an association with
speech (X6yoq).He is the son of Hermes, the inventor of language,
and his name comes about because language signifies all things (7rzv),

DAI. Tot&3'

64

ELI.

OiJXoi)V

C'YOCv &XX& tLV,

CDAI.Tl ILtv;
27Q. Qf9LXcEII&V-g xoal
I(COO?V 8i

IX W

T6 8i XPUG0V waOq
r
ToU

"E'-'

&ou

OAI.

Kati &[oi 'roc

"Icol,ev.

Er.

TOL4

LrCepov yiyovev.

&i7CLS xMI T6 7CVtyoq

TGIaC8

7rpi7r

EU'ka0AW

7rOPC6T&OaL;

LOLXOC),CyCVkOa&Or&v8oO&cV

OL &70L Tt& -&cOt, 8OWnTt

&Vt6a

L;

Ctn~LOL6GOV11T?
t pe;
e T&%,Ja

IOL cPDLM. 70)o

LOV

Vo%.doL;LL

F9?LV0mTC
&tol

&yCLV 86VO'TO &XX0o i

v yip
7ix7TXL.
pt.ept(g

yxp nO
'Erv
auvcuXounxoLv&

r6v

ao96v

O @ap&v.

(pDwv.

Trans. by Hackforth in Hamilton and Cairns, p. 525.

" Farnell, V 432. For a literary presentation of Pan's rustic character cf.

Hymn. Hom. 19 (to Pan).

66 Farnell, V 379 and 381 f.

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both the true and the false.67 Hence a prayer to him is particularly
apt in a dialogue on good and bad speech (XOyos).68
The prayer's fame rests no doubt on its content.69Briefly put, it is a
petition for virtue. First, Socrates asks for inner beauty (xMOX).
If granted this he would be worthy of the esteem of the fair (xocXo!q,
257 a 9) which he asked from Eros earlier. Second, he prays for
harmony of his outer life with his inner, clearly indicating the Socratic
subordination of the former to the latter. Third, he asks not to seem
wise or to be wise but to value the wise man. Earlier he had rejected
the title a64po;for the man he wished to be; he preferred 9L?6aocpoo
(278 d 3-6). Thus the prayer to Pan states in another way the prayer
to be a philosopher. Finally, Socrates entreats Pan for as much gold
as a temperate man (ac'ppov)may have. He has already prayed that
he may regard wisdom as wealth,70 but Socrates is not an ascetic.
Extemal possessions are fine if possessed temperately. Concern with
temperance places the prayer to Pan in the very center of Greek
piety. 7'Plato values this virtue highly in his statements on religion
and prayer. In the Laws he lists temperance first when he specifies
how men can become like god, who is the measure (0trpov) of all
things.72And in Republic III the Phrygian mode of music is retained

Crat. 408 b 8-c 3: ... 6 ?,6yo5 'r6 n&v

was
xEdveL... This etymology is of course
wrong. According to Farnell, V 431, IL&vis a contraction of llov, "the feeder,"
"the grazier."
68 A6yoq for speech or discourse occurs throughout the Phaedrus, e.g., at 257 d
2, 262 c 5, 270 e 3, 271 d 4, 274 b 3, 277 d 1-2 and e 5.
I' The prayer nearest it in content which I have found is a portion of Pindar's
Eight Nemean Ode, lines 35 ff. (in Farnell, Works of Pindar, pp. 212 f.):
Oh! Father Zeus, may my nature be never such as this but may I cleave to
the guileless paths of life!
So that after death I may attach to my children a reputation untouched by
evil word.
Men pray for gold, others for boundless land;
My prayer is that I may give pleasure to my fellowcitizens,
Praising what menteth praise, and on sinners strewing blame,
Until I wrap my limbs in earth.
70 The most famous prayer concerning wealth (n)Xo6rog)is Solon's prayer to
the Muses. (Fr. 1; no. 15 in IIANOEION: Religi6se Texte des Griechentums,
ed. by H. Kleinknecht (Tubingen, 1965), pp. 11 f.)
71 Heiler, p. 76. Temperance is a frequent theme of Greek prayers. Cf. Aesch.
Suppl. 1059 ff., Choeph. 123 ff., Eur. Med. 635 ff., Xen. Mem. II. ii. 14.
7" IV 716 c 4-d 2. He must also be just, etc.

*7

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for the ideal state because it enables one to pray modestly and in a
measured fashion (awcpp6vw4-re xoL [?ep[w4, 399 a-c). Socrates' closing

words in the Phaedrus indicate that the prayer to Pan is itself temperate, measured. He says that he can ask no more than he has asked.
For him the prayer suffices (,uepCowq).
One thing more should be noted about the prayer to Pan. It is
beautifully structured and not by accident, for its structure conforms
to one of the main rules of good speech - the rule to divide one's
subject matter into its proper parts (277 b 7-8). The prayer divides
into a petition concerning the inner man, for beauty, and three
petitions concerning the outer man, first in relation to his inward
self, for harmony, second in relation to other persons, for veneration
of the wise, and third in relation to possessions, for temperance.
The speeches earlier in the dialogue are meant to illustrate good
speaking. We may infer that the prayer to Pan illustrates good praying,
in form as well as content.
At the beginning of this section I labelled the Phaedrus prayers
of Socrates "philosophical."It should now be clear why. These four
prayers have literary functions - opening and closing speeches and
giving the dramatic ending - but in content they differ from the
prayers which are merely literary. All contain references to wisdom
or love of wisdom (philosophy). This makes their content literally
philosophical. In addition, their petitions for beauty, success in love,
and temperanceclearly refer to that inner beauty of soul and harmony
of life which is the mark of the philosopher.73
4. Prayers by others: Timaeus, Critias, Laws, Epinomis

Plato puts prayers in the mouths of three other characters- Timaeus,

Critias, and the anonymous Athenian. These non-Socratic prayers
occur at the opening and closing of discourses (the Tim.-Crit.sequence,
no. 11-14) or at crucial points in the argument (Laws X, Epin.,
no. 17 and

20).7

All are petitions for success in the discourse to

7a Phaedo 61 e-69 e gives this picture of the philosopher, as does Symp. 210 d211 d. Von Fritz, p. 35, regards the prayer to Pan as "almost the only example
of its kind" and explains this uniqueness by reference to the Greek view that
a man has to work out his own salvation. But it seems to me that the prayer
to Pan is not unique. It stands in unity with at least three other prayers, namely,
the three which precede it in the Phaedrus.
74 The exceptions are not so much prayers as indications of the religious tone
of certain parts of the Laws, notably of Book Ten (no. 18 and 19).

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follow or have some reference to the discourse or argument. They

function more as markers of transition than as dramatic interludes.
Two prayers will suffice to illustrate their nature. Just before Timaeus
begins his discourse,Socrates speaks.75
(11)

Socrates: ... And now, Timaeus, you, I suppose, should speak next,
after duly calling upon the gods.
Timaeus: All men, Socrates, who have any degree of right feeling, at
the beginning of every enterprise, whether small or great, always call
upon a god. And we, too, who are going to discourse of the nature of
the universe, how created or how existing without creation, if we be not
altogether out of our wits, must invoke gods and goddesses with a prayer
that our words may be above all acceptable to them and in consequence
to ourselves. Let this, then, be our invocation of the gods, to which I
add an exhortation of myself to speak in such manner as will be more
intelligible to you, and will most accord with my own intent. (Tim.
27 b 8-d 4)76

And in Laws X, immediately preceding the proof of the existence of

the gods (893 c-899 d), the Athenian prays.
(20)

To the work, then, and if we are ever to beseech a god's help, let it be
done now. Let us take it as understood that the gods have, of course,
been invoked in all earnest to assist our proof of their own being, and
plunge into the waters of the argument before us with the prayer as a
sure guiding rope for our support. (893 b 1-4)77

76 Socrates is present mainly as an auditor in the Tim. and the Crit. These two
dialogues take place on the day after Socrates has narrated the Rep. (Tim.
17 a-c).
76 EQ. TeX&.a re xal
'riv '&v
6ycov &at(tcav.
L7vpwq goLxaxtdcaxoXJCeaL
6v o5v lpyov X&yc6v&v, (I T(pUXLe,'r6 ,Lrr& DroSo, 45 lOwev, E?n xamXaxv'rM xKO'M
VOSLOV
ftO64.

TI. Axx,, (

F@XPOtTc,

To5T ye
8yc

r&"V?ECOLXMX
XaTr&
APPaMXy
aWPPOa6VY;

xal pey&Xou 7Tp&ypao,o; ?e6v &eEnou

xCX asLLxpo05
8g
TOU
7TrPl
X)-n
tOk
7rCV'r6q
[A,U&
),6yOUq 7=oLela &St
FAOVTOtq, f ykyovev e
&aTLV, ?l L 1raVrdC7raaL xO(pa
T e &v&iyxW?) ftou5 te xXI ?&a6 inwXX-

k7dI 7XV-6q 6pJ

FLtiXOUOLV,
XMoc?O5aLV

xacl iyev

XCo'U4VOU4 e5xeCtt

VTaKxOr&

XOXIT& ,UV 7repl OV

(IV U4Leq *

T'-n

Vo5V &Xg(VOLq .LkV ,LdtX,LaTCX, ro,LgVcGv 8i

7rapOMex)da4-

[FL&kovL', ky& a&t 8LaVOOU;.UXL

*or

8' i'

.L&Lar' &IV =Pt

Lpov

.LTLVd7rcTV.

r&xpmx?xynrkov, f xar'

'r&V 7CpOXeL,Lk&VcWV
&VMELU,XC4V.

Trans. by Jowett in Hamilton and Cairns, p. 1161, altered by reference to

Cornford's trans.
"7

AE.

'Ayc

ye
7iN68?Y1

8,

t6v

CiV

et

7ro're

mpox?qrjov

v
daea
6
aTX'r6v

t4jv,

vi;v

lTom

'roZo

7r&afn Tpxxexxa\v
7MteaCLaO4 k7resdLaodM)FEV etl 'r6v v5v X6yov. Trans.
MTout

&' TLVOq&MP0,ois
Hamilton and Cairns, p. 1448.

o'UT

yeV6IJvOV

- &X6?eVOL8&
by Taylor in

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I have two observations to make about the non-Socratic prayers.

The first concerns the background for beginning discourse with
prayer. Taylor, commenting on the prayer with which Timaeus begins
his discourse, says that this is recognized Pythagorean practice.778
The evidence he cites for this is, however, weak, and I have been
unable to locate any Pythagorean teaching on when to pray.79 Of

course, Pythagoras, even if he did not lay down specific rules on prayer,
could still be in the background of Plato's thinking about prayer.
Pythagoras is a primeprecedentfor the union of philosophicaldiscourse
with religious sentiment.80 But we need not refer to an esoteric
tradition to explain the beginning of a discourse with prayer. In the
Timaeus passage which Taylor thinks Pythagorean, Socrates says
vo,uv). According
that a prayer before speaking is customary (xocrr&
to Xenophon Socrates advised men to worship in conformity with
the custom of the city (v6[cy -6o?Xe).8" This included prayer at the
beginning of an endeavor.82Hence when Socrates and others begin
discourses with prayer we need think of them only as doing what
any Greek would do, that which it was customary to do.
The second observation concerns the addresseesof the non-Socratic
prayers. One of them, a prayer by Critias (no. 14), is addressed to
Commentary on Plato's Timaeus, p. 59. Although Plato does not say so, there
is little doubt that he intends Timaeus to be a Pythagorean. Taylor,Plato,
p. 436, and John Bumnet, Early Greek Philosophy (London: A. & C. Black,
4th edn., 1930), p. 85.
79 Taylor cites only lamblichus, Vita Pyth. 137, which may be based on a fourth
century B. C. life of Pythagoras by Aristoxenus. But in late sources it is difficult
to know what to assign to the various periods of Pythagoreanism. Cf. Burnet,
84 if., 276 ff., and G. S. Kirk and J. E. Raven, The Presocratic Philosophers
(Cambridge University Press, 1957), pp. 217 ff. Moreover, Iamblichus does not
even mention prayer in the passage quoted. The only references to prayer in
connection with Pythagoras which I have located are also in late sources.
According to Diogenes Laertius, Vit. VIII 9, Pythagoras "... forbids us to pray
for ourselves, because we do not know what will help us." (Trans. by R. D.
Hicks in Loeb edn., Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925, p. 329.)
By Diodorus Siculus Pythagoras is represented as teaching that men should
xw 'iya&, X 9, 8), and only wise men
pray simply for good things (a'tnX
&q
they know what is good (X 9, 7).
because
only
can
so
pray
(ro6q ypovt?ouq)
80 Cf. Kirk and Raven, p. 227.
81 ,Mem.I. iii. 1 and IV. iii. 16.
8' Xen. Oec. V 19-20 and Anab. III. ii. 4-7. Plato himself, if the eighth epistle
is genuine, says that we should always offer prayer (e6X%)to the gods when we
&Clt?iyCLV Tr xmdvoctv, Ep. VIII 353 a 1-2).
begin to speak or think (&pX6j1.vov
Cf. also Heiler, p. 77, and Greeven, p. 781.
78

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H L&v,a cult-title for Apollo.83It is the only cult-title in the prayers,

an indication of their literary character.84A more arresting fact about
the prayer of Critias is that it is the only prayer to Apollo in the dialogues. Knowing the importance of Apollo to Socrates and Plato, we
would expect more prayers to this god.85 Even more surprising,
however, is the apparent absence of any prayers to Zeus. Instead of
Zeus or Apollo, the prayers in Plato are most often addressed to unnamed gods and goddesses.868Prayers to unnamed gods are unheard
of in cultic practice at this time,87 and I find no such prayers even in
literature before Plato.88 Although most of Socrates' prayers are to
named deities, he may be the inspiration for these prayers to unnamed gods. He expressed scepticism concerning human knowledge of divine names and a disinterest in such matters.89 Another
explanation may be possible for the prayers by the Athenian addressed
to "a god" or "the god."90These are probably addressed to Zeus.9'
The dramatic setting of the Laws supports this interpretation. It
is to the cave and shrine of Zeus on Mount Ida that the three old
men are walking.92
5. Conclusions
I wish now to make some general observations about (a) the notion
of prayer in the dialogues and (b) the place of this notion in the
Platonic portrait of Socrates.
Farnell, IV 234 and 408 n. 208 a.
"Paean" occurs also at Laws 664 c 7 but not in a prayer.
8 The oracle at Delphi apparently played some role in Socrates' career. (Ap.
21 a) While in prison awaiting execution he composed a Prelude to Apollo
npooowv, Phaedo 60 d-61 b) and describes himself as dedi(,r 'rsr6v 'A7T6XXw
cated to Apollo (tep6qbo
'oi -uro5ok& [sc. 'Anr6Xwc],85 b 5). On Socrates 'composition cf. Hackforth, Plato's Phaedo (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1955), p. 33 n.
4, and C. S. Stanford, Plato's Apology of Socrates, Crito, and Phaedo (Dublin:
At the University Press, 1834), p. 126. Cf. also Rep. IV 427 b and, on Apollo
in the Laws, Morrow, pp. 438-440.
84

Prayers 12, 15, and 17 are to &c6q or 6

e6q; 2 and 14 are to

so(; and 11, 20,

and 21 contain both the singular and plural of ft6q.

87 FarneU, I 26.
88 My search has not been exhaustive.
89 Crat. 400 e-401 a, Phaedr. 229 c-230 a.
" Laws IV 712 b 4-5: O6e, 6[l&6q; X 893 b 1: ft6v; Epin. 980 c 4: 6o &e6q.
91 Farnell, I 85.
" Laws I 625 b 1-2. Cf. Morrow, pp. 27 f., for evidence that the pilgrimage is
to the Idaean Cave of Zeus. Cf. also Farnell, I 153 n. 73 and 140 n. 3.

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a. The notionof prayer

Plato apparently regards the content of prayers as more important
than to whom they are addressed. Although he follows literary tradition in writing several prayers to the Muses,he departs from literary
as well as cultic practice in writing brief invocations to often unspecified or minor deities. In addition to an emphasis on content, this
may also indicate a strong element of non-traditionalism in Socratic
and Platonic spirituality. Socrates is pious but not always in the
customary way.93 Of course Plato was not anti-Olympian. There
are prayers by Socrates to Hephaestus, Dionysus, and Artemis (as
Bendis) and by others to Apollo (Paean) and Zeus (as the god).
The absence of long invocations from Platonic prayers is paralleled
by the absence of what C. M. Bowra calls the Sanction.94 In a sanction
reference is made to services rendered the god which qualify one to
receive what he is praying for. A good example is found in Agamemnon's prayer to Zeus:
For I say that never did I pass by your fairwrought altar in my benched ships
when I came here on this desperate journey;
but on all altars I burned the fat and the thighs of oxen in my desire to sack the
strong-walled city o- the Trojans.95

The only thing even remotely like this is Socrates' reference to his
second speech in the prayer to Eros and there he does not refer
to a sacrifice, the most common form of serving the gods,96 but to
a speech. In fact Plato never has a character pray in connection
with a sacrifice,97 even though he retains sacrifice in his model
" This contrasts sharply with Xenophon, who views Socrates as traditional in
every way.
Bowra, p. 200.
95 Hom. II. VIII 237 ff. Trans. by Lattimore, p. 188. For other examples cf.
14

Aesch. Choeph. 247 ff., 479 ff., and Soph. El. 1376 ff.
Cf. Jane Harrison, Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (New York:
Meridian Books, 3rd edn., 1955, first pub. in 1922), pp. 1-7, 10, and 55-78 on
this notion of sacrifice and its contrast with the more primitive notion of chthonian ritual. Cf. also Greeven, p. 779, and Schmidt, p. 2. Von Fritz, pp. 18 f,
notes that this was not the only view of sacrifice even in Homer.
97 It should be noted that shortly after his Phaedo prayer Socrates instructs
Crito to offer a cock to Aesculapius (118 a 7-8). It is possible that Socrates
sacrificed at the Bendidea (Rep. I), but only prayer is mentioned. Xenophon,
in contrast to Plato, says that Socrates sacrificed often. Mem. I. i. 2. Cf. also
96

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states'8 and often discusses prayer and sacrifice together.99I would

argue that this separation of prayers from sacrifice and the related
absence of sanctions results from Plato's wishing to avoid even the
suggestion that in prayer one asks for payment on a service rendered.
For him worship is not, in the words of Morrow, "...

an exchange

of services between gods and men, but (a) fellowship in which the
human worshipper models himself after the divinity he worships."'00
As to content, most of the Platonic prayer are for divine aid in
discourse. In this Plato follows a venerable literary tradition. But he
writes prayers of consistently higher moral quality than do many
members of that tradition. Homer's characters pray for victory in
war or physical safety.101 The tragic poets move toward greater
moral concern102but prayers for vengeance, safety, and material
prosperity also are common in their works.'03This does not mean that
the tragedians were less interested than Plato in moral values. It
means that they portrayed prayers by all sorts of characters, both
the just and the unjust. Plato, in contrast, chose to portray Socrates,
who was, among his contemporaries, judged "the wisest, and justest
and best."'04 Yet he did not go to the extreme of contemporary and
later philosopherswho said that men should merely pray for unspecified
good things.'05 Although Plato spoke of praying for rayociya,016he
wrote prayers with specific content, for wisdom, temperance, beauty,
I. iii. 1 and 3. - Heiler, p. 105, says that a separation of prayer from sacrifice
is a characteristic which distinguishes personal prayer from primitive prayer,
but he does not say why this separation arises.
98 Rep. V 461 a, Laws VII 809 d, XII 949 d, and others.
99 Euth. 14 c, Menex. 244 a, Rep. V 461 a-b, Statesman 290 c-d, Laws IV 716 d,
VII 801 a, 821 c-d, X 885 b, 887 d-e, 909 e, XII 955 e, 956 b.
100Morrow, p. 469. This 6[LoicoaSt
IkCpdoctrine is most clearly stated at Laws IV
716 c-e.
101 Cf. Greeven, pp. 778 f. on Homer.
109 Ibid. p. 780.
109 Cf. Aesch. Choeph.

123 ff., Suppl. 625 ff., Soph. El. 110 ff., 635 ff., 1376 ff.,
Eur. Cycl. 353 ff.
1" Phaedo 118 a 16-17, Jowett trans. If Plato had wished to write prayers
of less virtue, he could have found personae in his dialogues to pray them, e.g.,
Euthyphro.
105 Xen. Mem. I. iii. 2 on Socrates (!), Aristotle Eth. Nic. V 1129 b 1-7, PseudoPlato, Alc. II 143 a 1-3, Diog. L. VI 42 on Diogenes the Cynic, and Diod.
Sicul. X 9, 7-8 on Pythagoras (quoted in n. 79 above).
106Phaedr. 233 e 5, Statesman 290 d 1-2, Laws VII 801 b 1, XI 931 c 6, d 2, Ep.
VII 331 d 5.

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and knowledge. Knowing Plato's view of these things, we can say

that for him the primary motive of prayer is not gratitude, awe, or
praise, but need.107Platonic prayers do not, however, express need in
the languageof struggle and uncertainty as, for example, do the prayers
of Jeremiah.108Instead they have a tone of confidence, even serenity,
modified perhapsonly by Socratic irony.
Further characteristics of Platonic prayers can be noted. Plato
obviously finds prayer appropriate in a variety of places (city or
countryside, at home or on foreign soil, in a house or outside) and on a
variety of occasions (conversations, festivals, rising of the sun, at
death). Normally prayers are said when one is in a group.109The only
solitary prayer is the one recorded in the Symposium. This social
emphasisis just what we would expect in someone for whom philosophy
consists in shared inquiry. Although the typical posture in prayer was
to stand with hands uplifted,'10 we may infer that Socrates prayed
while standing, lying down, or sitting.11'
Plato doubtless thought of prayer in these ways at least in part
because Socrates himself so prayed. It remains to draw some conclusions concerningthe place of prayer in Plato's portrait of that man.
b. Socrates andprayer

First, some observations about development in the Socratic prayers.

Most of them (nine) occur in the so-called middle dialogues, those
expressing Plato's whole speculative vision. This may weaken their
claim to any historical accuracy,"12but it places them at the very
heart of Plato's mature philosophy. In his later dialogues Plato wrote
prayers for other characters. These later prayers are, in my opinion,
inferior both in literary and philosophical qualities. They lack the
charn and dramatic traits of Socrates' prayers. They are mechanical
(especially the Timaeus-Critiassequence) and monotonous. It could
be argued that Plato relaxed his literary efforts in his later works
107 Heiler, pp. 3-8, lists these as the various motives for prayer.
108Cf. Jeremiah 15 :10-21. The contrast may be one that holds in general
between classical Greek and Hebrew prayers.
109 Euv
o6X.act,"to pray with," is used frequently. e.g. at Phaedr. 279 c 6, 257 b 7,
Laws X 909 e 1-2, XI 931 e 2-3, Epin. 980 c 5.

110 Heiler, p. 84; Harrison, p. 63.

111 Symp. 220 d 3, Phaedr. 230 e

3, Phaedo 116 b 7 for these three positions.

Most interpreters would regard the early dialogues as giving a more accurate
portrait of the historical Socrates. Cf. Laszlo Vers6nyi, Socratic Humanism
(New Haven: Yale University Press, 1963), pp. 177-184.
112

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and that this is reflected in the prayers. I would suggest that a better
explanation is that Plato is no longerportrayingSocrates. Plato's memory of Socrates inspires the Socratic prayers. Without that inspiration
it would seem that Plato wrote prayers of less beauty and interest.
In regard to the dramatic dates of Socrates' prayers, I have already
called attention to the late dramatic date of the Phaedrus, where
the prayers richest in content occur. Those prayers earlier than this
are literary prayers, neither as serious nor as complex as the Phaedrus
prayers. At the beginning and end of the dramatic sequence stand
the two biographicalprayers, a prayer at sunrise after a great vision (?)
and a prayer near sunset before the final journey. Only Plato could
tell us if this sequence was intended. In an artist of his stature, however, we would do well not to attribute such things purely to chance.
There is one final question. What was Plato's strategy in writing
the prayers of Socrates? He had, I believe, at least three things in
mind. First, as a skilled writer he intended to make the dialogues
lively and hence interesting to read. He used prayers as one of many
techniques to do this. In addition, and this is a second motive, he
wrote Socrates' prayers to exemplify in dramatic form views which
he held important. This applies especially to the Phaedrus prayers
which assuredly portray a man asking for what he needs, as prayer is
defined in the Euthyphro (14d), and asking in a temperate manner,
the ideal in prayer and all worship according to the Republic (III
399 b). They show us a man whose wishes conform to wisdom and
who is becoming like the divine, the goals of prayer which Plato
stressed in his last work.113
Beyond the literary and philosophical uses of Socrates' prayers
there may be a further motive. Plato's career as a philosopher received its original impetus and direction from his desire to defend
Socrates. Not only in the Apology but in all of his early dialogues this
was his strategy.114He wrote to demonstrate that Socrates was not,
as charged, a corrupter of youth, a sophist, or guilty of impiety.
Could not the prayers of Socrates be a part of this defence? Socrates
praying to the sun at sunrise, to Artemis at her festival, to Eros when
he had offended him, to the gods as his death came, this Socrates
cannot be judged guilty of impiety.
Wesleyan University.
I'

Laws III 687 d-688 b and IV 716 c-d.

114 Here I follow Brumbaugh, pp. 34-74.

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