# Ctesippus — Dialogues character guide

> Ctesippus in Dialogues by Plato.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** The sceptical Ctesippus, O Ctesippus

**First appearance:** 0018-euthydemus

## Snapshot

A sharp-tongued young friend of Socrates who punctures Hippothales' lovesick verses with glee and later takes on the sophists at their own game.

## Who they are

Ctesippus is the friend who says out loud what everyone else is thinking, mocking Hippothales for composing hymns to a boy he has not yet won and reciting the family's horses and victories instead of anything a lover might actually say. His irreverence is not idle: it exposes how much of courtship, like argument, is performance. He matters because his willingness to answer the sophists rudely, and to keep answering, keeps the conversation honest when everyone else is laughing.

## In the story

### [Euthydemus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/euthydemus)

A skeptical onlooker who reacts to the sophists' arguments.

### [Euthydemus](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/chapters/euthydemus)

Ctesippus interjects with a pointed question about the sophists' own fathers, challenging their logic.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters/ctesippus
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/dialogues_se/characters