''De genio Socratis'' (
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
: Περί του Σωκράτους δαιμονίου ''Perí tou Sōkrátous daimoníou'') is a work by
Plutarch
Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρχος, ''Ploútarchos''; ; – after AD 119) was a Greek Middle Platonist philosopher, historian, biographer, essayist, and priest at the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. He is known primarily for hi ...
, part of his collection of works entitled ''
Moralia
The ''Moralia'' ( grc, Ἠθικά ''Ethika''; loosely translated as "Morals" or "Matters relating to customs and mores") is a group of manuscripts dating from the 10th–13th centuries, traditionally ascribed to the 1st-century Greek scholar Pl ...
''.
Title
The title refers to the
daimon
Daimon or Daemon ( Ancient Greek: , "god", "godlike", "power", "fate") originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit such as the daimons of ancient Greek religion and mythology and of later Hellenistic religion and philosophy.
The wor ...
of
Socrates
Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no t ...
; as the Latin equivalent of this term is ''genius'', it is often rendered as ''On the Genius of Socrates''. The word ''genius'' in this usage pertains to a ''vital energy'' (c.f. -
élan vital
''Élan vital'' () is a term coined by French philosopher Henri Bergson in his 1907 book '' Creative Evolution'', in which he addresses the question of self-organisation and spontaneous morphogenesis of things in an increasingly complex manner. ...
) or spirit (''spiritus'') or nature of something.
Contents
The progress of discussion specifically on the subject of Socrates-daimon is instigated by the description of an occurrence pertaining subjectively to this (i.e. the daimon vis-a-vis Socrates). The text begins with the words ''an Italian Pythagorean is waiting at a grave for'' ''a divine sign'', by which the reader understands this to have the meaning; an individual waiting at a grave for a daimonion.
According to Plutarch,
Sophroniscus was cautioned by someone, and thus perhaps imbued to stem his influence on Socrates as to his work (''
ergon
Ergon may refer to:
* Ergon, alien from the ''Doctor Who'' serial ''Arc of Infinity''
* Ergon, concept from Aristotle's ''Nicomachean Ethics'' that is most often translated as function, task, or work
* Ergon, Inc., petroleum company based in Jack ...
''), because he had been told of his son (Socrates) having a ''guardian spirit'' who would lead him in the best way (''the right way'').
Responses
The ''myth of Timarchus of Chaeronea'' within the piece is thought to be an imitation of Plato's ''Myth of Er'' (a part of the larger work, known as ''
the Republic'').
It is noted (see ref.) that ''De genio Socratis'' is similar to ''
Phaedo
''Phædo'' or ''Phaedo'' (; el, Φαίδων, ''Phaidōn'' ), also known to ancient readers as ''On The Soul'', is one of the best-known dialogues of Plato's middle period, along with the '' Republic'' and the ''Symposium.'' The philosophica ...
'' by Plato, in at least due to the fact that both works are concerned especially with the divine sign, that is
the daimon, of Socrates.
Plutarch identified the daimon with the conscience.
[Henry Chadwick ]
Studies on Ancient Christianity (p.15)
Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2006 etrieved 2015-04-24/ref>
References
{{Authority control
Works by Plutarch
Cultural depictions of Socrates