Clitophon, son of

Aristonymus Aristonymus of Athens ( el, Ἀριστώνυμος) was sent by Plato to reform the constitution of the Arcadians. Aristonymus was the father of Clitophon. Sources *Plato, '' Republic,'' 328b *Plutarch Plutarch (; grc-gre, Πλούταρ ...

( grc-gre, Κλειτόφων Ἀριστωνύμου, ''Kleitóphōn Aristōnúmou'', also transliterated as Cleitophon; mid-5th century – late 5th or early 4th century BCE) was an ancient Athenian

oligarchic Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

statesman and intellectual. His involvement in Athenian politics helped pave the way for the rule of the Four Hundred following the Athenian coup of 411 BCE.

Debra Nails Debra Nails (born November 15, 1950) is an American philosophy professor who taught at Michigan State University. Nails earned her M.A. in philosophy and classical Greek from Louisiana State University before going on to earn a Ph.D. in philosophy ...

, ''The People of Plato'', Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2002; pp. 102–103 Clitophon also appears in the writing of

Plato Plato ( ; grc-gre, Πλάτων ; 428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 BC) was a Greek philosopher born in Athens during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. He founded the Platonist school of thought and the Academy, the first institution ...

, and presents a philosophy of "thoroughgoing normative relativism" in a brief role in the '' Republic''.

Life

Little is known of Clitophon's early life. His participation in Athenian government reform following the calamitous

Sicilian Expedition The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a devas ...

of 413 BCE dates his birth to 452 or earlier, as the council assembled to do so of which he was a part was composed of men aged over forty. The '' Constitution of Athens'' attributed to

Aristotle Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of ph ...

names Clitophon as an early proponent of a return to the ancestral constitution (''patrios politeia''), a decisive move towards the oligarchy of the Four Hundred. The work also records his later serving as an ambassador to

Lysander Lysander (; grc-gre, Λύσανδρος ; died 395 BC) was a Spartan military and political leader. He destroyed the Athenian fleet at the Battle of Aegospotami in 405 BC, forcing Athens to capitulate and bringing the Peloponnesian War to an en ...

in 404, representing a brand of moderate oligarchy associated with figures like

Theramenes Theramenes (; grc-gre, Θηραμένης; died 404 BC) was an Classical Athens, Athenian statesman, prominent in the final decade of the Peloponnesian War. He was particularly active during the two periods of Oligarchy, oligarchic government at ...

In literature

Plato depicts Clitophon as a close associate with the sophistic rhetorician

Thrasymachus Thrasymachus (; el, Θρασύμαχος ''Thrasýmachos''; c. 459 – c. 400 BC) was a sophist of ancient Greece best known as a character in Plato's ''Republic''. Life, date, and career Thrasymachus was a citizen of Chalcedon, on the Bosphoru ...

and the

orator An orator, or oratist, is a public speaker, especially one who is eloquent or skilled. Etymology Recorded in English c. 1374, with a meaning of "one who pleads or argues for a cause", from Anglo-French ''oratour'', Old French ''orateur'' (14th ...

Lysias Lysias (; el, Λυσίας; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a logographer (speech writer) in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace i ...

. Clitophon assists the former in Book 1 of Plato's ''Republic'', positing a brief but significant relativistic argument that the advantage of the stronger is identical to whatever the stronger believes it to be. In the potentially apocryphal Platonic dialogue that bears his name he appears as a disgruntled student of

Socrates Socrates (; ; –399 BC) was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. An enigmatic figure, Socrates authored no te ...

, whom he attacks for the impracticality of, and lack of positive knowledge found in, the

Socratic method The Socratic method (also known as method of Elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate) is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw ou ...

. The comedic playwright

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; grc, Ἀριστοφάνης, ; c. 446 – c. 386 BC), son of Philippus, of the deme Kydathenaion ( la, Cydathenaeum), was a comic playwright or comedy-writer of ancient Athens and a poet of Old Attic Comedy. Eleven of his for ...

also paired Clitophon alongside Theramenes and parodied the two for their political fickleness in the ''

Frogs A frog is any member of a diverse and largely carnivorous group of short-bodied, tailless amphibians composing the order Anura (ανοὐρά, literally ''without tail'' in Ancient Greek). The oldest fossil "proto-frog" '' Triadobatrachus'' is ...

''.Aristophanes, ''Frogs'', 965-7

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clitophon 5th-century BC Athenians Athenians of the Peloponnesian War Pupils of Socrates

Life

In literature

See also

References