FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH OF XENOPHON’SMEMORABLE THINGS OF SOCRATES, 1712, OF KEY INFLUENCE ON THE FOUNDING FATHERS, WITH FRANKLIN CITING, IN HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY, ITS POWERFUL IMPACT IN INTRODUCING THE SOCRATIC METHOD: ”I WAS CHARM’D WITH IT… PRACTIS’D IT CONTINUALLY”

(SOCRATES) XENOPHON. The Memorable Things of Socrates, written by Xenophon, in Five Books. Translated into English. To which are prefix'd the Life of Socrates, From the French of Monsieur Charpentier… And the Life of Xenophon. London: T. Ilive for Geo. Sawbridge, 1712. Small octavo, contemporary full paneled brown calf rebacked, red morocco spine label, raised bands. $12,500.

First edition in English of Xenophon’s “extensive and valuable” Memorabilia of Socrates, a work of seminal impact on philosophy and America’s Founding Fathers, with Jefferson praising it as absolutely “genuine” in its view of Socrates, and Franklin emphasizing its influence in his Autobiography where he writes, at about age 16, of discovering the Socratic Method when he “procur’d Xenophon’s Memorable Things of Socrates.”

"The most original, influential and controversial figure in the history of Greek thought… Socrates was the 'hinge' or the orientation point, for most subsequent thinkers" (Encyclopedia of Philosophy VIII: 480). To Cicero, "Socrates was the first to call philosophy down from the heavens" (Tusculan Disputations V:4, 10). Xenophon, an admirer of Socrates, was away on a military expedition when, in 399 B.C., Socrates died by drinking hemlock after being condemned to death. Written on his return, Xenophon's "extensive and valuable Memorabilia" is a work of great consequence to post-Socratic philosophers, as well as America's Founding Fathers, in particular Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Both were "enamored of Socrates, the great philosopher and critic of Athenian democracy" and each spoke highly of Xenophon's Memorabilia—Jefferson in correspondence and Franklin in his Autobiography (Richard, Greeks and Romans, 80).

Xenophon's eloquent defense of Socrates in the Memorabilia is enhanced by detailed records of "many conversations in which Socrates' views or methods were displayed… Xenophon does not quote in so many words the Socratic paradox 'no one errs voluntarily,' but he does state that Socrates did not distinguish knowledge from self-control and identified justice and all other virtues with knowledge… Xenophon occasionally reproduces a Socratic elenchus, or interrogation demonstrating the interlocutor's ignorance, and comments that Socrates used this method to stimulate moral improvement in his pupils by inducing them to acquire knowledge… He tells us that Socrates regarded agreement in discussion as the best guarantee against error" (Encyclopedia of Philosophy VIII:354-55). To classical scholar J.P. Potter, "The Memorabilia of Xenophon is a possession for all time" (Characteristics of the Greek Philosophers, 7).

That assessment was well shared by Jefferson, who owned a later translation of the Memorabilia, and preferred Xenophon's view of Socrates over Plato's, writing: "of Socrates we have nothing genuine but in the Memorabilia of Xenophon" (Sowerby 1307). This work's influence on Franklin is perhaps even more profound. As a young apprentice in his brother' print shop, Franklin often borrowed "books from the apprentices who worked for booksellers, as long as he returned the volumes clean" (Isaacson, 25), and in his Autobiography singles out the importance of this work to his life and thought. He writes that about age 16, "I procur'd Xenophon's Memorable Things of Socrates… I was charm'd with it, adopted it, dropt my abrupt contradiction and positive argumentation, and put on the humble inquirer and doubter… I took a delight in it, practis'd it continually, and grew very artful and expert in drawing people, even of superior knowledge, into concessions… This habit, I believe, has been of great advantage to me when I have had occasion to inculcate my opinions, and persuade men into measures that I have been from time to time engag'd in promoting; and, as the chief ends of conversation are to inform or to be informed, to please or to persuade" (Autobiography). Franklin, who would have read either a copy of this 1712 first edition or the 1722 edition, "promptly modified his habitual mode of conversation in imitation of Socrates, and wrote several 'Socratic' dialogues as a young man. He shows a remarkable affinity for the earthy practicality of Xenophon's Socrates and resembles him in his constant readiness to make his companions more sober, moderate and useful members of their community. As Franklin explains in the Autobiography, he adopted a Socratic method of discourse when he realized that his habitually aggressive mode of arguing was more apt to give offense and less apt to persuade his hearers than a more modest, questioning approach… Franklin stands in broad agreement with Socrates and other classical thinkers on the importance of virtue for happiness" (Pangle, Political Philosophy of Benjamin Franklin, 12-15). Later, on setting up his own print shop in Philadelphia and forming the Junto, a club with fellow tradesmen, Franklin encouraged his friends "to pursue topics through soft, Socratic queries… It was a style he would urge on the Constitutional Convention 60 years later" (Isaacson, 56). First edition: with general title page, separate title pages for separately paginated English translation of Charpentier's Life of Socrates (1650) and Life of Xenophon Collected from several Authours. Containing two copper-engraved plates, including frontispiece; woodcut-engraved initials, head- and tailpieces throughout. With rear errata and publisher's advertisement.

Scattered light foxing to text; contemporary calf boards with expected wear. A very handsome copy.