While Socrates lived a simple and even austere life, he was not averse to enjoying pleasures. It appears that Socrates had one hobby: in his old age he took lessons in playing the lyre from the music teacher Connus. This was an accomplishment a gentleman would typically have learned as a boy. The boys who were Socrates’ fellow students made fun of him, but he recruited some other elderly men to accompany him.[44] The play Ameipsias staged at the same time as Aristophanes’ Clouds was named after Socrates’ music teacher, though we don’t know what role the musician played in the story (see ch. 14*).[45]
Both Xenophon and Plato portray Socrates at drinking parties, where he enjoys the camaraderie of his fellows. He keeps his head no matter how much he drinks, but he is never dour or sanctimonious. To the contrary, he seems to be the life of every party he attends.
Xenophon depicts Socrates at a party at the house of Callias, the host in Plato’s Protagoras. The occasion is a celebration after the horse races in the greater Panathenaic Games.[46] During the party, the handsome young Critobulus enters into a beauty contest with Socrates.[47]
Socrates asks Critobulus if only humans are beautiful, or if other things are as well. Critobulus accepts the broad view of beauty. For instance, a horse, an ox, even a shield, sword, or spear can be beautiful. But how then can we judge the beauty of things that are so disparate in character? “They are beautiful if, by heaven, they are well designed for the ends for the sake of which we acquire them, or well adapted to the ends we need them for.”
“Do you know what we need eyes for?” asks Socrates.
“Obviously for seeing.”
“So then my eyes must be more beautiful than yours.”
“How so?”
“Because yours only see straight ahead, while mine, since they are bulge out, see to the sides as well.”
As for noses, “I think mine is better, given that the gods created noses for smelling. For your nostrils points straight down at the ground, while mine flare wide so that they can take in odors from all directions.” Also, Socrates’ snub nose does not block the vision of his eyes, while Critobulus’ aquiline nose does.
Socrates’ big mouth is better for biting food, and his thick lips are more tender than the boy’s. Socrates also takes pride in looking like a mythical Silenus, such as the Naiads, the river nymphs, bear.
When the conversation is over, ballots are passed out. A lamp is held up to the faces of the contestants so their visages may be seen clearly. The winner will be showered with kisses. Votes are cast and Critobulus, alas, wins hands down. Socrates feigns shock and protests that the boy has cheated with his good looks.
Clearly Socrates is comfortable in his own skin and doesn’t feel at a disadvantage among the beautiful people he often associates with. He doesn’t mind being the butt of jokes, and he gives as well as he gets in the banter of a drinking party. Later in the party he launches into a speech in praise of Eros, the god of love. When Antisthenes playfully declares his passion for Socrates, the latter tells him to keep it a secret, since Antisthenes only wants Socrates’ body. Meanwhile Socrates goes on to argue the superiority of the love of soul to that of body.[48] “If I seem to you to speak more seriously than is fit for a drinking party, don’t be surprised. I spend my whole life sharing with the city a love for those who are good by nature and devoted to pursuing virtue.”[49]
[44]. Plato Euthydemus 272c-d, 295d; Menexenus 235e-236a.
[45]. See Dover 1968: li.
[46].Xenophon Symposium 1.2.
[47].Xenophon Symposium 5.
[48].Xenophon Symposium 8.1-12.
[49].Xenophon Symposium 8.41.