# Socrates — Representative Men character guide

> Socrates in Representative Men by Ralph Waldo Emerson.

**Role:** supporting

**First appearance:** 0001-ii-plato-or-the-philospher

## Snapshot

The barefoot Athenian whose questions turned Plato from a soldier's life to philosophy, and whose death sent his student wandering for a decade.

## Who they are

Emerson treats Socrates as the hinge on which Plato's whole biography turns: a young patrician with a taste for war meets this teacher in his twentieth year, is dissuaded from the sword, and stays ten years as his scholar until Socrates dies. That relationship matters less for what Socrates taught than for what he made possible — the interior life Emerson insists is the only biography worth having. When Socrates is gone, Plato leaves Athens, and the book's real subject, how a mind becomes Europe, begins.

## Relationships

### [Plato](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/characters/plato)

_professional_

Plato was Socrates' student and chronicler, recording his teacher's dialogues and philosophy.

## In the story

### [Plato; or, the Philosopher](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/chapters/ii-plato-or-the-philospher)

Mentioned as Plato's master; his profession of obstetric art and his dialogues with Theages are referenced.

### [Plato: New Readings](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/chapters/plato-new-readings)

Referenced in the context of Plato's doctrines, including Socrates' belief that the laws below are sisters of the laws above.

### [IV: Montaigne; or, the Skeptic](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/chapters/iv-montaigne-or-the-skeptic)

Montaigne's only exception to his usual plain style; his love for Socrates causes his writing to rise to passion.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/characters/socrates
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/representative_men_se/characters