Chaerephon’s question probably did not elicit great interest among the bystanders—who were numerous, according to Xenophon—or the priesthood of the oracle. But it would turn out to be one of the oracle’s most famous and portentous pronouncements. The answer came back, No. No one was wiser than Socrates. Xenophon reports that “Apollo answered that no man was more honest than [Socrates], nor more just nor prudent.” But Xenophon seems to be embellishing.[19] A simple no was enough. Chaerephon was overjoyed. It was just the answer he knew he should receive, for it confirmed his experience and intuition. Socrates was the greatest sage on earth.
The story of the oracle is found only in Plato’s Apology and Xenophon’s Apology in early sources. This leads some scholars to doubt its authenticity.[20] Yet Plato’s representation of the trial speech is found to be historically reliable wherever we can check it. [21] And it is consistent with Socrates’ modesty that he should not advertise an endorsement by the god at Delphi, and not mention it except when he is providing a justification for his life choices. Against those who complain that there is no verification, we may note that in Plato’s version of Socrates’ defense speech he calls on Chaerephon’s brother as a witness, since at that time Chaerephon has passed away.[22] The brother in question was presumably Chaerecrates, who was well known among the democratic party of Athens and had himself been a member of the Socratic circle. To call him up was to acknowledge him as a formal witness, one who presented an affidavit under oath to the court authorities prior to the trial. This counted as strong forensic evidence in an Athenian court of law.[23] While we cannot consult Chaerecrates today, he was probably available at the time Plato’s dialogue was published, and his affidavit would have been on file in the government archives in the Metroön.[24]
Chaerephon skipped back to Athens impatient to announce his oracle to all the world. It would vindicate Socrates and serve notice that Chaerephon’s friend was everything he believed him to be. The news would surely win Socrates more supporters and a deserved fame among the people of Athens and perhaps even abroad.
[19].Parke & Wormell 1956:1.403; Strycker and Slings 1994:76; Vander Waerdt 1993.
[20].Recently, Dorion 2012: 425-426.
[21].Plato Apology 20e-21a; Xenophon Apology 14; cf. Parke & Wormell 1956, oracle 134; Fontenrose 1978, oracle H3. Contrast the later version, declared spurious by Apollonius Molon (1st century BC): “Wise is Sophocles, wiser still Euripides/ but of all men Socrates is wisest,” Parke and Wormell 420, scholium to Aristophanes Clouds 144. On this, see Parke & Wormell 1956:1.403-404, though they say, incorrectly, that Euripides may not have produced a single play by then (he had one victory to his name, in 441, though he was not yet highly successful). On the reliability of Plato’s version, see Vlastos 1991:288-289; de Strycker 1994:76; Taylor 1998:16-17.
Most ancient sources accept Socrates’ story about the oracle from the Apology. The Epicurean Colotes, however, rejected it, apparently without argument (Plutarch Against Colotes = Moralia 1116e-f) while the sophist Athenaeus (5.60, 218e-f) rejected it on the basis of probabilities (see Dorion 2012:421). But Plutarch is quick to defend the story.
Most modern scholars accept the historicity of the oracle implicitly or explicitly, usually preferring Plato’s to Xenophon’s version, e.g. Burnet 1924:90-92; Amandry 1950:159 and n.1; Brickhouse and Smith 1983; Kraut 1984; Vlastos 1991, 288-89; Strycker and Slings 1994:74; C. C. W. Taylor 1998:16-17; among recent authors, Stokes 1992, Bowden 2005:82, and Waterfield 2009:10-11 are skeptical of the oracle, as is Vander Waerdt 1993 and Dorion 2012.
[22].Plato Apology 21e-22a; on Chaerecrates, see Xenophon Memorabilia 2.3, 1.2.48, with Nails 2002: 85.
[23].Thür 2005: 163-164. See Graham and Barney 2016: 286.
[24].See Diogenes Laertius 2.40.