Dramatis personae
MENEXENUS With his cousin Ctesippus became a member of Socrates' intimate circle, to judge from their presence in the prison on the day the hemlock was administered (Phaedo 59b). In the Lysis Menexenus (again in Ctesippus's company) and his friend Lysis are boys of twelve or thirteen. In the Menexenus he is evidently a few years older. Socrates suggests that he came from a prominent political family – but history has left no clues enabling us to identify the public figures Plato might have had in mind.
SOCRATES (469–399) Sustains throughout the dialogue the teasing pretence that he is currently a student of rhetoric, with Pericles' mistress Aspasia for his teacher. What purpose Plato had in representing him in this alien and improbable guise is discussed in the Introduction.
Analysis
234a–236d – Introductory conversation
236d–249c – Speech of Aspasia
236b–237b Introduction
237b–238b Good birth and upbringing: Athenian autochthony and how it shapes the life of the population
238b–239a Good upbringing: the Athenian political system
239a–246b Noble exploits: Athenian history
239b–c: Athens' very earliest military exploits – the subject of poetry
239c–240e: The rise of Persian imperialism; the Athenian victory at Marathon, and what it taught the Greeks
240e–241c: The Athenian naval victories at Salamis and Artemisium – further lessons for the Greeks
241c–e: Further victories over the Persians instil fear in the Great King
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