De Gruyter

The Double "Daimōn" in Euclides the Socratic

Author(s): Aldo Brancacci
Source: Apeiron: A Journal for Ancient Philosophy and Science, Vol. 38, No. 2, Socrates'
Divine Sign: Religion, Practice, and Value in Socratic Philosophy (June 2005), pp. 143-154
Published by: De Gruyter
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TheDoubleDaimonin
EuclidestheSocratic
Aldo Brancacci

EuclidesofMegarawrotesixdialogues:
toDiogenesLaertius,
According
Lamprias,Aeschines,Phoenix,Criton,Alcibiades,and Erotikos.1
That they
wereSocraticdialoguesas can clearlybe seen fromthetitles,2 is con-
firmed in a
byPanaetius, passage worth quotingatthe outset:'Panaetius
thinksthatof all the Socraticdialogues,thoseby Plato,Xenophon,
Antisthenes and Aeschines, he is in doubtabout
are genuine(aïëtheis);
thoseascribedtoPhaedoand Euclides;buthe rejectstheothersoneand
all'.3
Itmaybe worthwhile startingoutfromthispassage,overwhoseexact
meaning there has been much discussion,notinghow Euclidesis sepa-
with
rated,together Phaedo, from the groupofmajorSocratics, whose
dialogues Panaetius considered genuine, andtherefore authentic, which
I believeis thecorrect of his
interpretation opinion. may It wellbe that
theinvestigation undertaken inthispapercouldcontribute toshedding
lighton someofthepossiblereasonsfortheStoicphilosopher's doubts.
An important fragment fromone of Euclides'dialoguesis quotedby
StobaeusinChapter6 (Periakolasias) ofBookIII oftheAnthologium. Itis

1 Cf.DL II 108 (= SSR II A 10). The ancientsourcesconcerning

Euclidesand the
arequotedinthispaperfromtheeditionSSRbyGiannantoni
Socratics 1990.
2 Cf.Hirzell895,I110n3.
3 DL II 64 (= Panaetiusfr126vanStraaten)

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144 AldoBrancacci

a literalquotationfromEuclideswhichdeservesclosereading:'Sleepis
a dairriõn
witha youthful,childlikelook (néõteros
kaimeirakwdes
dairriõn),
easilyconvinced andfleeting;
theother{hoheteros houtos) iswhite-haired
andold,dwellingespeciallyamongoldpeople,difficult toconvinceand
avoid.Oncethisdairriõnhas appeared,itis difficultlo escapefromhim.
He takesno noticeofwords,[neither can he generally hearanything]
becausehe is deaf,andyoucannotclarify anything forhim,byshowing
ittohim,becausehe is blind/4
Attribution
ofthefragment totheErotikos proposedbyMeinekeand
acceptedbyNestle,5 canonlybe based on therepresentation ofSleepas
néõteros kaimeirakwdes whichcould referto the contextof a
dairriõn,
discussionon eros;butthebasisforthisattribution is tooweak,and the
hypothesis mustbe for
rejected, otherreasons too, as we shallsee.6It
shouldhoweverbe notedthatthewhole textrefersto the themeof
persuasion,listeningand receptionofwhatis expressedin thelogos,
whichis a particularly
Socratictheme.Delightinimageelaboration and
use ofmythsormythical figuresfortheillustration
of ethicalthemes are
also typically
Socratic.7
The connection betweenSleep and Deathgoes
rightbacktotheoriginsofGreekliterature. ItappearstwiceintheIliad,
whereSleep and Death are describedas brothers(XIV 231),actually
twins(XVI682;cf.672).Theirfunction also comesoutas thatof'swift
conveyers' (XVI672,682).But,perhapsmore important forourpurpose,
inHesiod,whichappearstohavebeenthemodel
is theirrepresentation
forthesweeter, morehumanoneinEuclides.See thefollowing passage
fromtheTheogony:

4 StobIII 6 63s. lemEukleidou(= SSRII A 11)

5 Cf.Meineke1867,IV 260,whoarguedthatthefirst
daimon with
was tobe identified
Erosandhe was followedbyNestle 171.
1922,
6 Thisis rejected
without further byHirzel(1895),1110n 3; Döring1972,
discussion
80;Montoneri 1984,45 n 12.
7 Cf.vonFritz1931,col 708.Müller1985,101acceptsthisopinion,thoughwithout
comingtotheautomatic conclusion thatEuclideshadnothingtodo withtheEleatic
School;Giannantoni1990,IV 39 (cf.55-60)acceptsitwithout
reservations,
coming
tothisconclusion.

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 TheDoubleDaimon in EuclidestheSocratic 145

Andtherethechildren ofdarkNighthavetheirdwellings, Sleepand

Death, awfulgods. The glowing Sun never looks upon themwithhis
beams, neitheras he goesup intoheaven,nor as he comesdown from
heaven.And theformer ofthemroamspeacefully overtheearthand
thesea's broadbackand is kindlytomen;buttheotherhas a heartof
iron,andhisspiritwithinhimis pitilessas bronze:Whomever ofmen
hehasonceseizedheholdsfast,andhe is hateful eventothedeathless
gods.(Theog758-66)

In his representation of Sleep Euclidesappearsto have takenover

fromHesiod thesweet,light,almostenchanting featuresin a blandly
eroticsense,and tohavetransfigured thedepressing, negativeconnota-
tionofDeathintoa visionaimingat makingitacceptableandbearable,
boththankstoitsphysicalrepresentation oldman,and
as a white-haired
to its moralcharacterisation, replacing the cruel
hateful, and terrible
image of the childof theNight with thatof an old,blindand deafman,
who,only for thisreason,cannot listento explanations or take special
casesintoaccount.Considering thefactthatthefragment comesfroma
Socraticdialogue,Natorp'sremarkthatthereis no confirmation of a
question-answer structure8onlyimpliesthatwe havethefragment ofa
logos,inconformity witha literary modelofwhichnumerousexamples
aretobe foundintheSocraticworksofXenophonand Plato,andwhich
we knowwas also particularly favouredbyAntisthenes.9 Buta logoson
death,whose aim was to sweetenits face,can onlyhave been pro-
nouncedbySocrateswhenhehimself was abouttodie;andifitishardly
necessary to recallthatwe have a greatdeal on thisinPlato'sApology of
Socratesand Phaedo,itis worthnotingthattherewas also a dialogueof
Antisthenes (now lost)on thesubject,ofwhichonlya fewfragments
survive.10 thisleadstotheconclusionthatthepassagepreserved
All by
Stobaeusprovidesa fewcrumbsof a speechof consolationmade by
Euclides'dyingSocrates, veryprobablyinhisdialogueentitled Crito.It

8 Cf.Natorp1907col 1001.
9 WhenDL VI 1 (= SSRVAII) statedthatAntisthenes introduced 'rhetorical
style'
dialogues,takenoverfromGorgias,he also meant,inmyview,
intophilosophical
inthedialogues)
speechesbySocrates(andpossiblyotherparticipants
thatlengthy
werefrequentinAntisthenes' dialogues.
10 Cf.Brancacci
2003,259-78.

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146 AldoBrancacci

is highlylikelythatSocrates'closestfriendwas hisinterlocutor,bothin
thePlatonicdialogueofthesamename,and in a dialogueofEuclides'
situatedin thesamecontext. The expression'thisotherone' {hoheleros
houtos),
introducing thedescriptionofthedaimõn ofDeath- whoas has
alreadybeenpointedout,is notactuallynamedas such11 - showsthat
thisdaimõn was indicated
byoneofthetwospeakerstotheotherone:i.e.,
bySocratestoCrito.Thiscouldmeanthatthedescription ofthedaimõn
was sparkedoffby pictorialrepresentation. An entirely similarcase is
the description of Achillesand theCentaurChironin a fragment of
Antisthenes' Heracles.12
Thisconcordance betweenEuclidesand Antis-
thenesissignificantbecauseitcouldprovideevidenceforfurther affinity
intheliteraryexpression oftheSocratics'dialogues.WeknowthatSleep
and Nightwerefrequently associatedinbothliterature and inpainting
and sculpture.13
Takingintoaccounttheexistence ofthisdialoguebyEuclides,andthe
termsinwhichtheassociationbetweenthedaimones Sleepand Deathis
developed, the conclusionof theApology ofSocratescan be betterunder-
stoodas canthewayinwhichPlatoconstructed it.I am referringtothe
well-known sectiondealingwithSocrates'twohypotheses ondeath.The
first- whichI believeis veryclosetothehistorical Socrates- is based

11 Regardingtheexpression heteros
houïos,Wilamowitz-Moellendorff1919,23 n 2,
pointsoutthatitrecallsthewayinwhich,ina trial,
theadversary atthetrial
present
was usuallyreferredto.IntheviewofMüller1985,188n 69,thisVoudraitdireque
la Mortest bienprésenteaux côtésde chacunde nous,commele dit le fr.20
(adpositum)du couplede démons'.ButMüllerdoes notexplainhow Deathand
Sleepcanbe considered forthetwospeakers.See thedifferent
present explanation
I offer
inthispaper.
12 Cf.GnomVat743n° 11 (= SSR v A 95),and,on thisfragment,
see Brancacci1997,
115-17.
13 Forsomepointscf.Dübner1902,2111-12;Guerrini 1961;Paribeni1966;Mainoldi
1987.Amongthebestknownrepresentations ofSleepand Deathare:Neckblack
figureamphora(500- 490BC),Collection
Piot,1876.Département des Antiquités
grecques,
étrusques Muséedu Louvre(Paris);Etruscan
etromaines, (4th
sculpture
centuryBC),Sleepand Deathcarryawaythedead Sarpedon,ClevelandMuseum
ofArt,USA; Amphora(c 500BC),attributedto a DiosphosPainter, Metropolitan
MuseumofArt,NewYork(Judy andMichaelH. Steinhardt Lekythos
Gallery); with
redfigures
ona whitebackground BC),attributed
(450-425 totheThanatosPainter,
BritishMuseum,London(J.D.Beazley;AtticRed-Figure Oxford
Vase-Painters,
122812;BeazleyArchiveDatabaseNumber:216353).
19632,

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 TheDoubleDaimon in EuclidestheSocratic 147

ontheassumption thatdying'islikebeingnothing anymore'(Ap40c5-6),

whilethesecond- wherePlatoletshis own pointofview creepin,
whichwas tobe further developedin thePhaedo- startsoutfromthe
assumption ofOrphic-Pythagorean originthatdyingis,'as peoplesay,
a kindofchangeand migration ofthesoulfromthisplacedownhereto
anotherplace'(Ap40c7-9).Itshouldbe notedthat,inthefirst hypothesis,
thecloseparallelismbetweenSleep and Deathreturns and itsorigins
maywellhave lainin Euclides'dialogue,and that,in anycase,on the
basisoftheEuclidesfragment, we havea further reasonforconsidering
itcloseto thepositionofthehistoricalSocrates,orat least'Socratic'(in
thesenseofbeingadvancedby Socraticphilosophers). At thispointI
shouldliketoquotea partofthiswellknownpassage:

Now,ifdying ishaving anditislikea sleepinwhichthe

nosensation,
sleeperdoes noteven death
dream, would be a wonderful gain.[ ... ]
So ifsuchis thenature I countita gain;forinthatcase,all
ofdeath,
timeseemstobenolonger thanonenight. (Ap40c9-d2,40e2-4)

It is now worthexaminingan important passage in Censorinus:

'EuclidestheSocraticsaysthateach ofus withoutdistinction
has been
assigneda doublegenius,whichcanbe learntfromLuciliusinBookXVI
of the Satires'.™
Thereis no doubtthattheLatinword geniuscorresponded to the
Greekdaimon. ThusEuclides'statement becomessurprising,notonly
becauseinXenophonand Platothedemonordivinesignmentioned by
Socrates,actuallyin a different
way in thetwo Socratics,is called to
daimonion,notdaimon}5 but especiallybecausetodaimonionis,bothin
XenophonandPlato,single,whileitis doubleinEuclides.Actually, itis

14 Censorinde die natali3,3 (= SSR II A 11): EuclidesautemSocraticusduplicemomnibus

omninonobisgeniumdicitadpositum, quantremapud Luciliumin libroXVI satyrarum
[= fr518 Marx] licetcognoscere.
15 Theneutertodaimoniondenotesa moreabstract,conceptualisedsphereinrespect
ofthenoundaimõn,whichhasa widerangeofmeanings. InXenophon todaimonion
meansSocrates'demon,givinghimadvice (heautõsemainein): but theuse of to
insteadofthetraditional
daimonion, termdaimõn,confersa moregeneral,wider
character
thanthelattertermwouldhaveallowed.In Platothisconceptualisation
and thusintériorisation
processis even moreelevatedsinceto daimonion is an
indication
ofthedaimonicsignor voicemademanifest to Socratesratherthana
personaldaimõn.

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148 AldoBrancacci

in theApology thatPlato'sSocratesalso speaksofdaimones in theplural

and declaresthathe believesin daimones.16 Thispassage is especially
important,becauseSocratesis discussingthechargeswithMeletus,i.e.,
thathe does notrecognisethegods recognisedby thecity.Now, he
argues,therecognition oftheexistence ofdaimones impliestherecogni-
tionoftheexistenceofthegods,becauseeitherthedaimones are gods
themselves or theoffspring ofthegods.The lineofargument is based
on thefactthatSocratesbelievesin daimones; otherwise, in one way or
other,he would be basing himself on a playon words.Theconnection
betweenthe 'new divinities'(kainadaimonia)Socrateswas allegedto
have introduced in theplace ofthegods recognisedby thepolis,and
Socrates'daimonion, occurs,in a structuralposition,at thebeginning of
BookI ofXenophon'sMemorabilia, and is particularlyimportant, both
initselfand owingtotheparallelwhichitallowstobe
setup withPlato'sApology (cf.XenMem1 1-2).Justbecausethepassage
fromtheApology is notperfectly inline(and thisis theleastthatcanbe
said) with those where Plato speaks of the insidedivinevoice that
Socratesheard,itappearstoshowthatPlato,whenpositinghisportrait
ofSocrates,tookintoaccounttheone elaboratedby theotherSocratics
incorporatingitintohisown,albeit(andthiswas obviouslya deliberate
decision)marginally, in a subordinate background. To thisshouldbe
added thatbeliefin daimones was quitenormalin fifth-century Greek
cultureand couldwellhavebeena traitofthehistorical Socrates,who
wouldthushavefolloweda lineofthought comingdownfromHomer
and Hesiod,bywayoftragedyand presentinPlatohimself.17 Itshould

16 Cf.PI Ap27 b-c.Socrates'argumentrunsas follows:accordingtotheprosecution

Socratesteachespeoplenotto recognisetheacknowledged gods ofthecitybut
believein new ones.Now,ifSocratesbelievesin dairrwnrelatedthings(daimonia
pragmata), mustbelievethatdaimones
he absolutely exist.Daimonesareeithergods
or theiroffspring.But what man can believethereare childrenof gods and
non-gods?
17 InPlatothetermdaimon is usedbothinthesingular
andpluralforlower-rank gods
intheGreekpantheon. Itoccursinmythicalnarrations
(themyth oftheotherworld
inPhaedo,themythofEr,thatofthewingedchariot, thatofTheuth, thatofCronus
in thePoliticus as an imageor in rhetorical
and Leges)or is used metaphorically,
Theattitude
contexts. ofsincererespectemerging fromPlatonicusageofdaimõn is
wellrepresented in Ti 40d,wherethedaimones arepresented in
as divineentities
whomitis impossible nottobelieve,notowingtothesolidity ofthearguments in
favourof theirexistenceas muchas forrespectdue to tradition (cf.Lg 738b).

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 TheDoubleDaimon in EuclidestheSocratic 149

also be notedthatwhileXenophonand Platoreferred to thedaimonion

onlyinconnection withSocrates,whowas theonlyonetohearthevoice
ofthatpersonalgod or divinesignhe addressed,18 Euclidesstatedthat
twodaimones had been assignedto all menwithoutdistinction. These
twoextraordinary statements concerning one ofthemostcharacteristic
and significantthemesintherepresentation ofSocratescould,perhaps,
offeran exampleofthereasonsbehindPanaetius'doubtsontheauthen-
ticityofEuclides'pictureofSocrates,and, seeingthattheStoic'sphi-
lologicalinterestscannotbe doubted,onthatofEuclides'verydialogues.
TheproblemposedbytheCensorinus passageis whetherthedouble
geniusassigned to each ofus should be with
identified the Sleep-Death
pairmentioned in thefragment preservedbyStobaeusorwhetherthis
statement is ofa moregeneralnature.In short:areSleepand Deaththe
twodaimones assignedto eachofus, or,as Censorinusrestrictshimself
tosaying,arewe all,withoutdistinction, protectedbya double daitriõn?
Thefirst answeris undoubtedly thesimplerand lessproblematic, per-

Reference shouldbe madeto Smp202dl3,whereDiotimaproclaims thatErosis a

greatdaimõn (cf.XenSmpVIII 1),adding:'Everythingdaimonic(pantodaimonion)
fallsbetweengod and human7. Todaimonionappearshereto constitute a general
spherealso including thedaimõn;and theintermediaterankbetweenthehuman
and divineofthedaimõn appearsto qualifyhimforthisreasonas an accessible
dimension formenofvalue(forthelinkbetweendaimonion anddaimõn onthebasis
ofthevalueofmancf.thewholepassagefromtheSymposium, as faras 204;cf.also
R 469al-bl).ThepassageinCratylus concerningtheetymology ofthetermdaimõn
confirms theconnection inPlatobetweendaimõn anda manofvalue(thereasonable
manis correctly calleddaimõn,
whenaliveas wellas dead,inasmuch as hebearsthe
originary value of Hesiod's "goldengeneration":cf.397e-8c).Proximity to the
Socraticdaimonion canbe notedinthepassageswherePlatoforegrounds thefigure
ofthedaimõn escortandprotector,
theindividual's notonlyintheotherworld(cf.
Phd107d6;R 617el-19c5and 620d8;Ti 90a3;Lg 732c4-5;877a3).Thisconception
certainlyhad ancientroots(cf.Lg 804a2,where,in a quotationfromHomer,
referenceis madetothedaimõn Telemachus).
escorting
18 Itshouldbe recalledthatinthepseudo-Platonic thereis a situation
Theages thatis
onlypartially different:
heretheinfluence
ofthesignofthedaimõn extendsnotonly
tothepersonofSocratesbutalso to thatofhisfriends, whosebehaviourSocrates
himself triestodirect.Cf.[PI]Thg128d5-7.XenMem11,4 is evenmoreexplicit in
thissense:"he[i.e.,Socrates]
wasabletopredict
whatmanyofthosewhofrequented
himwereto do and notto do in accordance withthewarningofthedaimõn. And
thosewhoobeyedhimreceivedadvantages, whilethosewhodidnothadreasonto
regretit/

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150 AldoBrancacci

haps eventhemostlikelyone,butis notas obviousas itmightseemat

firstsight;besides,we shallsee thatitimpliesa generalconsequenceof
someimportance, which,up tonow,has passed totallyunnoticed. The
firstpointis thatCensorinuswritesofa doublegeniusin general:Why
shouldhenothavementioned the'brothers' HypnosandThanatos, who
belonged to a long tradition, if he was referringonly to them? This
omission,ifitis thecase ofan omission,wouldbe especiallyunusual,
sincehewas following Lucilius,an ancientsource,towhomhewas able
torefer back, whether he had readhimdirectly orhad indirectinforma-
tion.19If he offersno details,thismightonlymeanthathe foundthe
information inhissourcethatEuclideswrotein generalabouta double
daimõn assignedtoeveryman.Ifthefragment preserved byStobaeusis
comparedwiththeDe dienatali,certaindiscrepancies shouldbe noted,
whichalsodo notconsidertheresolution ofthedoublegeniusinthetwo
daimones, Sleep and Death.The fragment actuallystatesthatthelatter
daimõn'dwellsespeciallyamongold people' and thatonceit 'has ap-
peared' it is difficultto avoid it. These expressionsappear to be in
contrastwithCensorinus''adpositum! , whichleads one to thinkof a
permanent assignment ratherthan an appearanceata particular time.If
theseconsiderations areright, Zeller'sthesiscomesagaintothefore;he
believedthatthetwodaimones inCensorinus weretobe identified with
Discernment and Stupidity {Einsicht,Torheit)™ which would reproduce
theoppositionphronesis and aphrosune so characteristic
oftheSocratics;
thisis also thecase withthatof Boyancé,who believedthatthetwo
daimones mentioned byCensorinusweretobe identified withthegood
and bad daimõn, in accordancewithPythagorean Neverthe-
teaching.21
less,one could also makethefurther objectionthat,evenifSleep and
Death'appear',theformer oncertain occasions,thelatterononeparticu-
laroccasion,inlife,bothcanbe said tobe 'adscriptï withoutdistinction,
sincetheyare constituted foreveryman.Besides,thesmalllinguistic
discrepancies mentioned coulddependon slightlinguistic inexactitude
inCensorinus, ordisappearinthefaceofmoredetaileddocumentation.

19 Boyancé1935,200n 1, arguesthatthedirectsourceofCensorinus was 'Granius

il estmentionné
Flaccusetsonlivresurles Indigitamenta: deuxlignesplushaut;et
quelqueslignesplusloin/
il estencorequestiond'indigitamenta
20 Cf.Zellerl9225,260n2.
On thePythagorean
21 Cf.Boyancé1935,189-202. cf.Détienne1963.
conception

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 TheDoubleDaimon in Eudides theSocratic 151

Thusnoabsolutely certainconclusion canbe reached.Theonlycertain

thingis thatEuclidesarguedfortwo theses:(1) everyman,without
distinction, is assigneda doubledaimõn;(2) Sleep and Death are two
daitnonesthatappear(we mustadd,unavoidably)tomen.Ifthedouble
geniusis to be identified withthetwodaimones, then(1) is resolvedin
(2);ifthedouble genius is notto be identified with thetwodaimones, then
Sleep and Death must be understood as an extension ofEuclides' general
thesis,and,presumably, have somekindofrelationship withit.This,
togetherwithour previousinterpretation of the situationin which
Euclides'Socratescouldhave used thewordspreservedby Stobaeus,
and oftheirsoothing meaning, wouldlead us torejectbothZeller'sand
Boyancé's theses. Actually cannotacceptZeller'sview of Einsicht
one
andTorheit as constitutive features ofeachindividual, becausethisthesis
clearly clashes with the fundamental principle of Euclides' ethics.He
argued that 'good is one' to and
{hen agathon), 'rejectedeverything that
was contrary tothegood,sayingthatitwas withoutreality'.22 Itshould
be added thatAntisthenes, who was the Socraticwho mostcharac-
teristicallyforegrounded theoppositionbetweenphronésis and aphro-
suriè,was carefulnotto consideritconstitutive ofman,i.e.,ofthevery
individual- withwhichSocraticphilosophywould explodeand dis-
solve - but projectsthisdistinction on thatbetweenspoudaioiand
phauloi,consideringphronésis properto the virtuousand aphrosuné
proper to the senseless.23 IfEuclides hadadmitted thatthedoublegenius
containsa doublenature,referable tothephronésis Iaphrosuné antithesis,
he thenwouldhavehad tosupportthisinitialassumption withexplicit
arguments, some tracesof whichwould have had to remainin the
tradition,and withgreatdifficulty. Fortheseveryreasonstheidea that
thedoubledaimõn istobe identified withthegoodandbad daimõn cannot
be accepted,becausethisthesistoowouldhaveintroduced an irresolv-
able conflict intoEuclides'ethics- even though,withreference to
Boyancé's thesis, it would stillbe true, on the basis of the fragment
preserved byStobaeus,thatthePythagorean teachingconstitutes a real
precedent for Euclides' thesis on the double personaldaimõn) just one
as

22 DL II 106(= SSRII A 30).On thesepassagescf.vonFritz1931,col709;Guthrie

1971,
180-5;Döring1972,82-9;Müller1985,101-3;Giannantoni 1990,IV 55-7.
23 Fordocumentation
cf.Brancacci
1990,89-97and114-17(cf.Brancacci
2005,80-7and
101-4).

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152 AldoBrancacci

cannotdoubtSocrates'knowledgeofPythagorean philosophy, and his

firsthandknowledgeofPythagorean circles.
Havingmadetheseconsiderations anddetailedcomments, letus now
returnto Euclides'twothesesexaminedup to now,so as to see ifitis
possibleto further develop our interpretation and reachsome more
weighty results.With regard to (1), we have said thatit is eitheran
or
elliptical autonomous If
thesis. it is elliptical, itis reducedto (2):
then
but thismeans- and thispointhas notbeen notedso farby those
scholarswho identify thedoublegeniuswiththedaimones, Sleep and
Death- thatthenotionofdairriõn in Euclidesdoes nothave thesame
meaningas todaimonion intheotherSocratics. If,on theotherhand,itis
an autonomousthesis,and if,thus,thenotionofdairriõn has thesame
basicmeaningas thedaimonion inthemajorSocratics, thentheproblem
is to posit an interpretationthatis not contradictory in the face of
Euclides'ethicalteaching.Now, we knowthatthecharacter properto
thedaimonion in Xenophonis thatit turnsSocratespositively towards
actionand choice.Plato,on theotherhand,positsa morerefined inter-
pretation, forwhich thedivine signprevents Socrates from actingand
does notturnhimto action.24 Thecontrast betweenthetwointerpreta-
tionscouldnotbe moreobvious,and itcannotbe dismissedsimplyby
sayingthatXenophonwas stupidand Platointelligent (thelatteris,of
course,truewhereastheformer is surelyfalse).Could thiscontrast be
originary? And couldnotEuclides,who is theonlySocraticforwhom
thereisevidenceoftheconceptof'doubledaimõn', havearguedinfavour
ofa doublefunction ofthedaimõn, whichon occasionpreventsaction,
whenit is a questionofdoingsomething evilor an actioncontrary to
reason, or evenan incongruous, defective or disadventageous one, and
on otheroccasionsturnsmento actionpositively, whenthisactionis
good,right, opportune orevenadvantageous? Itshouldalsobe noticed
in
that, Xenophon and Plato the daimonion, daimonicsign,does not
or
a for
represent concept(wisdom, example,or good),but a function,
wheretheinterpretation is expressedthatSocratesoffered ofthevision

24 Cf.forexampleAp31c7-d5, whereitisstatedthatthevoice(phone)
heardbySocrates,
thatdivineordaimonicsignaddressing him,alwaysdistractshimfromaction,and
nevermakeshimact.Cf.also Tht151a3-5, wherethedaimonion preventsSocrates
fromsubjectingsomeofthosewishingto frequent himto his maieuticart;Phdr
242cl,wherethedaimonicsignalwaysholdsSocrates backwhenhe is abouttodo
something.Cf.also R 496c.
Cf.McPherran 1996,175-208.

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 TheDoubleDaimoninEudidestheSocratic153

ofthedaimon as a minorgod,a friend ofman,alreadypropertotragedy.

IfinEuclidestoothetermdaimõn expressesa requirement orimperative,
orcommand, ofthistype,thedoubledaimõn canbe,logically, noneother
thana doublerequirement orfunction inthesensemeantabove.Thisis
onlya hypothesis, obviously, andwillprobably remainso.Itis,however,
a hypothesis thatis coherent, and outsidethecontradictions surround-
ingthethesesofZellerand Boyancé,and itagreeswiththeexpression
used by Censorinus, 'dwplicem genium', whichmakesone thinkless of
twoseparatedaimones {duosgenios','geniosgeminos' , would havebeen
moreappropriatein thiscase) thanthe same daimõn, i.e., the same
requirement expressed in two forms: once pushingpeopletoactand on
otheroccasionspreventing themfromdoingso.25Itis also coherent with
theconception ofSocrates'daimõn commonto theotherSocratics. Ad-
mittedly,this does notmean much, since,from a more rigorouspointof
view,thiscoherenceis whatneedsto be demonstrated. Nevertheless,
assigning a double function to the daimõn could have been, forEuclides,
a coherent of
way reconciling the traditionof thetwo personaldaimones
withthemoreadvancedconceptofthedaimõn, ordaimonicsign,main-
tainedby Socratesand revived,in theSocraticsphere,by Antisthenes,
Xenophon, and Plato.
Withregardto thedaimonicpairSleep-Death, to which,it is worth
repeating,the whole of Euclides' position on thedouble daimõn couldbe
in
reduced, my view the essential term in thepair is the second one,and
itrefersbackto theeffect, philosophically speaking, of Socrates' death
on hiscircle.Thiswas a highlytraumatic event,as can be not
seen, only
fromthefamousinitialwordsofthePhaedoand therestofthePhaedo
itself,but fromthe growth,in the Socraticsphere,of a consolatory,
eschatological literature,of whichthetwo worksby Antisthenes, On
Dying and On all theThings of Hades an
are expression26; thePhaedo(and
itseschatological conclusion), as wellas thelastpartofPlato'sApology
ofSocrates; Euclides'dialoguefromwhichthefragment preservedby

25 Itshouldbe notedthatin thealreadyquotedpassagefromtheMemorabilia Xeno-

phonstatesthatSocrateswas abletopredictformanyofhisfollowers 'whatthey
shouldandshouldnotdo,according tothewarning ofthedaimõn' (Mem11,4).Here
thedaimõn has twofunctions,
certainly a persuasiveanddissuasiveone,whichare
thenputintopractice
bySocrates. On Plato'sApology40a-c,seeJoyal1997,53-5.
26 Forthesewritings
cf.DL VI 17and,above,note9.

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154 AldoBrancacci

Stobaeuscomes,mostprobablytheCrito;and,as faras we know,how

manyotherlostlogoiSokratikoi. Conferring thestatusand imageof a
dairnõnon death,nota childlike,sweetone likethatrepresenting sleep,
intowhosearmswe surrender ourselves, butstillnota fearful, terrible
one liketheold white-haired deaf,blindman who 'dwellsespecially
amongold people',and assigningthisdairnõn, like sleep,to all men,
Euclides'Socratesmeantto affirm thatdeathbelongsto a body of
necessary,naturalthings, whichare,thus,notterrible, and,inthisway,
underline thefactthatitis notevil,whichPlato'sSocratesintheApology
nevertiredof repeating.Even thestatement thatthisdairnõn 'dwells
old
especiallyamong people' draws our attention: It is further
evidence
oftheimportance Socratesattributed to old age as motivation forhis
behaviourat histrialand,as a consequence, oftheneedforhimnotto
avoid beingsentenced.Again the motifalreadyprobablypresentin
Euclideswouldbe returned tobyPlatoand Xenophon- verysubtlyin
theformer and muchmoremarkedly and explicitly inthelatter.27

27 Cf. PI Ap 41d and Xen Mem IV 8, 6-8;Ap 1 and passim.

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