A grumpy wife or who made a philosopher out of Socrates.
“Xanthippe mocks the philosopher Socrates in the presence of Alcibiades”, Reijer van Bloemmendaal 1665
“At one time, Socrates told me: “Be sure to get married. If you get a good wife, you will become happy. If it’s bad, you’ll become a philosopher.” I don't know which is better."
phrase from the movie “That Baron Munchausen”
Socrates (470/469 - 399 BC) knew what he was talking about. As Diogenes Laertius (II - III centuries AD) writes from the words of Aristotle, he was married twice. The first time to Xanthippe and the second time to Myrto, the daughter of Aristides the Just, whom he took without a dowry (perhaps she was his first wife ).
It is not known for sure about Mirto whether she really existed, and Xanthippe went down in history as an example of a grumpy wife. At a feast given by one of the richest people of those times, Calius, on the occasion of the victory of Autolycus in a gymnastic competition (422 BC), the philosopher Antisthenes (444 - 370 BC) asks Socrates :
“If this is your opinion, Socrates, then how come you don’t raise Xanthippe, but live with a woman more grumpy than whom there is no one in the world, and, I think, there never was and never will be?
“Because,” answered Socrates, “even people who want to become good riders, as I see, take for themselves not the most tame horses, but the hottest ones: they think that if they manage to tame such horses, they can easily cope with everyone.” So I, wanting to be in communication with people, took it for myself in the conviction that if I endure it, then it will be easy for me to deal with all people.”
Xenophon (430 - 356 BC) “Feast.”
In fairness, it should be noted that, apparently, living with Socrates was not easy for the poor woman either. One day he invited rich guests to dinner, and Xanthippe was ashamed of his dinner.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said, “if they are decent people, they will be happy, but if they are empty, then we don’t care about them.”
Diogenes Laertius "Life, teachings and sayings of famous philosophers."
Now imagine for a moment what your undoubtedly sweet, non-grumpy wife will say to you if you respond to her complaint that she has nothing to feed the guests. In addition, apparently, Socrates repeatedly cheated on her with young men. Therefore, it is not known whether Xanthippe was grumpy by nature or whether life with Socrates made her that way, but in her own way she also became famous and went down in history. The truth is now unrecognizable; there is an idealized image of the philosopher Socrates against the backdrop of his grumpy wife.
"Socrates, who found Alcibiades in the house of Aspasia." Jean-Leon Gerome. 1861.
Diogenes Laertius in his book “The Lives, Teachings and Sayings of Famous Philosophers” describes Socrates’ relationship with his wife as follows:
One day Xanthippe first scolded him and then doused him with water. “That’s what I said,” he said, “at Xanthippe there is first thunder, and then rain.”
Alcibiades told him that Xanthippe’s abuse was intolerable;
he replied:
“But I’m used to it, like the eternal squeak of a wheel.” Can you stand goose cackling?
“But from geese I get eggs and chicks for the table,” said Alcibiades.
“And Xanthippe gives birth to children for me,” answered Socrates.
One day, in the middle of the market, she began to tear his cloak; his friends advised him to defend himself with his fists, but he replied: “Why? so that we beat each other, and you shout: “That's it, Socrates! so him, Xanthippe!
To the man who asked whether he should marry or not, he replied: “Do what you want, you will repent anyway.”
As the hero of the film “Virgin Soil Upturned” based on the novel by Mikhail Sholokhov, grandfather Shchukar, used to say:
“I had cruel love with the old woman”
“History does not tolerate the subjunctive mood” (Karl Hampe, Joseph Stalin), so let’s not imagine whether Socrates would become a philosopher, being happily married. It should be noted that there are many married people, but there are much fewer philosophers. Probably most people are still happily married.
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How Socrates married a girl 40 years younger and what came of it
“At one time, Socrates told me: “Be sure to get married. If you get a good wife, you will become happy. If it’s bad, you’ll become a philosopher.” I don't know which is better."
(c) the film “That Munchausen”
Socrates knew what he was talking about - it is believed that his wife Xanthippe forced her famous husband to seek not family comfort, but the company of friends and students. The generally accepted version of the story of their marriage is as follows. Socrates was once walking through the market of Athens, and his attention was attracted by a lively woman selling pots. She was young and beautiful, Socrates began to flirt with her, for which he immediately received a slap in the face. Impressed, he asked her to marry him.
Ancient Athens. Modern illustration
After another war, there were few free men in the city, so the offer looked tempting. Moreover, Socrates made friends with a variety of people, including rich and influential people, like his young student Alcibiades. Famous sophists and teachers of philosophy in antiquity charged high fees from their students. Having married Socrates, Xanthippe could consider her future secure.
Statue of Socrates by a modern sculptor
But it soon became clear that Socrates was not at all interested in money and other worldly goods. But Xanthippe was very interested in them. She did not miss the opportunity to go to the next city holiday in a beautiful outfit, blaming her husband if he could not buy her this outfit. She couldn’t stand his students, believing that Socrates was wasting his precious time on them. When Alcibiades, knowing that Socrates on principle would not take money from him for his conversations, sent his family a basket of pies, the enraged Xanthippe dumped these pies in the mud and trampled them under her feet.
"Socrates and Xanthippe". Luca Penni, 1550
Xanthippe did not miss an opportunity to humiliate her husband not only privately, but also publicly. Her husband usually did not react to her antics, which infuriated her. One day, outraged that Socrates left her scolding unanswered, she poured a bucket of water on him right on the street. Socrates said calmly: “First there was thunder, and now there is rain.” The philosopher’s friends were surprised at his patience, to which he replied that having learned to tolerate Xanthippe, he felt at ease and at ease with other people.
Socrates' farewell to his wife and children. Contemporary theater production
Xanthippe could also be understood - she gave birth to Socrates three children, and he never even thought about the family budget and ways to replenish it. Still, she loved him in her own way, and when Socrates was sentenced to death by the court, she came to him on death row, bitterly complaining that her husband was being executed undeservedly. To which Socrates, as always calmly, inquired - would she really want him to be executed for a real crime?
Fragment of Raphael's fresco "The School of Athens", 1511
Was it really like that? Alas, there is no reliable information about Socrates’ family life. It is not even known how many times he was married. There is information that in addition to Xanthippe, his wife was Mirto, a relative of the politician and commander Aristides. The last of the above tales, about Socrates’ answer regarding an unjust sentence, is the result of ordinary confusion - according to Xenophon, the philosopher said this remark not to Xanthippe, but to his student Apollodorus.
This is what Xanthippe might have looked like
Other interesting incidents from the family life of Socrates and Xanthippe were invented in subsequent centuries by different people. The legend itself about the philosopher’s grumpy wife arose from the text of the same Xenophon “The Symposium”. But none of the other students of Socrates, including Plato, wrote anything similar about Xanthippus. Which is not surprising, since Athenian women were not present at symposia (friendly gatherings with wine and food) and did not take part in men’s conversations.
Xenophon. Bust of the 4th century BC.
Is Xanthippe's terrible attitude towards her husband really an invention of Xenophon? Quite possible. It must be said that he spoke no better about his other friends and students. For example, in the Symposium, one of Socrates’ interlocutors is the rich man Callias. In Greek History, Xenophon writes about Callias that “this man experienced no less pleasure in praising himself than in being praised by others.”
"The Death of Socrates." Jacques Philippe Joseph de Saint-Quentin, 1762
In the Symposium, another interlocutor of Socrates, named Nikeratus, is proud of the fact that he knows Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey by heart. To this, Socrates replies that these works are known by heart by any of the rhapsodists - “the stupidest kind of people.” At the same time, he points out that it is one thing to know a work by heart, and another to penetrate into its innermost meaning, and Nikeratus failed to do this. In general, in the “Feast” there are many examples of boasting by the philosopher’s interlocutors, which he consistently exposes. It seems that Xenophon's main task was to show what insignificant people (including Xanthippe) the sage Socrates had to deal with.
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© Bulat Mamliev
Source:Go
Collection of aphorisms, authors: Socrates - Somali proverbs
SocratesGet married no matter what. If you get a good wife, you will become an exception; if you get a bad wife, you will become a philosopher.
Marriage, to tell the truth, is evil, but a necessary evil.
Once, even after receiving a kick, Socrates endured it, and when someone was surprised, he replied: “If a donkey kicked me, would I sue him?”
It is better to work without a specific goal than to do nothing.
This is amazing: every person can easily say how many sheep he has, but not everyone can say how many friends he has - they are so not valuable.
Whether you marry or not, you will still repent.
Socrates was asked for advice: to marry or not to marry? Socrates replied: you will repent anyway...
I eat to live, and other people live to eat.
Evil people live in order to eat and drink, virtuous people eat and drink in order to live.
We do not live to eat, but we eat to live.
I know that I don't know anything.
Speak so I can see you.
Is it strange that traveling doesn’t do you any good if you drag yourself around everywhere?
The less a person needs, the closer he is to the gods.
The only thing that every honest person should be guided in his actions is whether what he does is fair or unfair, and whether it is the act of a good or evil person.
Whoever wants to move the world, let him move himself!
Speak so I can see you.
People who are naturally weak in body become stronger through exercise.
...Power is something beautiful, and weakness is ugly.
Get married no matter what: if you get a good wife, you will be an exception, and if she gets a bad wife, you will become a philosopher.
An inspired soul gives a person a higher state and makes him deified.
Love for the soul is much higher than love for the body.
Drunkenness does not give birth to vices: it reveals them.
Modern children are tyrants. They argue with their parents, eat their food and tyrannize their teachers.
In your clothes, try to be elegant, but not dandy; the sign of grace is decency, and the sign of panache is excess. Simon Soloveitchik
Thought is the path from question to answer. V.S. Soloviev
Even a sincerely believing Slavophile still remains internally alien and not involved in the people's faith. He believes in the people and their faith; but the people do not believe in themselves and not in their faith.
The Slavophiles worshiped the Russian people not because they really were the embodiment of the Christian ideal, but on the contrary, they tried to present it to themselves and others in such an ideal light because they already worshiped it, no matter what it turned out to be: it was not good for them , but it’s good for a mile.
People are compared to a plant, they talk about the strength of the roots and the depth of the soil. They forget that a plant, in order to bear flowers and fruits, must not only be rooted in the soil, but also rise above the soil, must be open to external foreign influences, to dew and rain, to free wind and sunlight.
A person must be freely moral, which means that he must also be given some freedom to be immoral.
The idea of a nation is not what it thinks of itself in time, but what God thinks of it in eternity.
In our country (as someone noted) honest people are rarer than saints.
Man could be defined as a shameful animal.
All the charm of children for us, their special, human charm is inextricably linked with the hope that they will not be like us, they will be better than us. King Solomon
From many dreams there are many vain words.
He who gives to the poor will not become poor.
The wise are silent, so fools can pass for wise if they remain silent.
God made man straight. People are looking for many tricks.
Who's howling? who's moaning? who has quarrels? Who's in grief? who has wounds for no reason? who has purple eyes? Those who sit for a long time drinking wine... And you say: “They beat me, it didn’t hurt me; They pushed me, I didn’t feel it. When I wake up, I’ll look for the same thing again.”
A wrong scale is an abomination to the Lord, but a right weight is acceptable to Him.
Others pour generously, and more is added to him; and the other is extremely thrifty, and yet becomes poor.
May he kiss me with the kiss of his lips! For your caresses are better than wine.
Three things are incomprehensible to me, and four I do not understand: the way of the eagle in the sky, the way of the serpent on the rock, the way of the ship in the middle of the sea, and the way of the man to the maiden.
For the mouth of another man's wife drips honey, and her speech is sweeter than oil.
...And you will say: “They beat me, it didn’t hurt me; They pushed me, I didn’t feel it. When I wake up, I’ll look for the same thing again.”
The crown of old men is the sons of sons. Solon
Before you command, learn to obey.
Everything needs moderation.
Silence seals speech, and timing seals silence.
No one can be called happy before his death.
I recognize happy lovers by their eyes: A languid flame shines in them - An immodest sign of pleasure.
Intoxication is true madness; it deprives us of our abilities.
Honor to the gods, honor to parents.
Parents are always right. Vladimir Soloukhin
One fact is an accident. Two is intentionality. Three is a trend. Harrison Salisbury
In Russia, history should be published in the form of a notebook, in which it is easy to remove any page and replace it with a new one. John of Salisbury
There is nothing more absurd than publicly exposing yourself to ridicule, with enviable tenacity, indulging in an activity in which you know nothing; It's like trying to joke in a language you don't know at all. Edgar Soltus
Men get irritated when they are misunderstood, and when they are understood correctly, they become furious. Somali proverb
If you leave where you are loved, you will come to where you are hated.
