Chapter 9. PHAEDO
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Phaedo was a native of Elis, of noble family, who
on the fall of that city was taken captive and forcibly
consigned to a house of ill-fame. But he would
close the door and so contrive to join Socrates'
circle, and in the end Socrates induced Alcibiades
or Crito with their friends to ransom him; from that
time onwards he studied philosophy as became a
free man. Hieronymus in his work
On Suspense of
Judgement attacks him and calls him a slave. Of the
dialogues which bear his name the
Zopyrus and
Simon
are genuine; the
Nicias is doubtful; the
Medius is
said by some to be the work of Aeschines, while
others ascribe it to Polyaenus; the
Antimachus
or
The Elders is also doubted; the
Cobblers' Tales are
also by some attributed to Aeschines.
He was succeeded by Plistanus of Elis, and a
generation later by Menedemus of Eretria and
Asclepiades of Phlius, who came over from Stilpo's
school. Till then the school was known as that of
Elis, but from Menedemus onward it was called the
Eretrian school. Of Menedemus we shall have to
speak hereafter, because he too started a new school.