chariot myth
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DANCING WITH THE GODS: THE MYTH OF THE
CHARIOT
IN
PLATO'S
PHAEDRUS
ELIZABETH BELFIORE
Abstract. In
Plato's
Phaedrus,
Socrates
compares
the
soul
to a
team
of two
horses,
one
obedient
and one
unruly,
driven
by
a human charioteer.
This article
argues
that
essential clues to the psychological ideas expressed in this myth are provided
by
the
imagery
of the
dance and
that of the
unruly
horse,
which resembles
not
only
a
satyr
but also
Socrates himself.
Satyrs
are
daimonic
beings
with
the
ability
to
mediate
between mortals and
gods.
They
can
thus
represent
qualities
that are
essential to
the
psychic equilibrium
of
a soul
moving
in what Socrates character-
izes as
choral dances
led
by
the
gods.
1. INTRODUCTION
Socrates'
second
speech
in
the Phaedrus
contains
a
powerful
image
in
which the
soul
is
compared
to a
winged
team
and
charioteer
(246a7).x
Both
horses of the
gods'
souls are
good
and
obedient,
but
mortals
have one horse that is
beautiful,
good,
and
white,
and
one that
is
ugly,
unruly,
and
black. The
charioteers
of the
gods
drive around
the
vault of
heaven and see
divine
sights,
and,
in a
previous
existence,
mortals
followed
them as
initiates
in
the
rites of
the
gods.
After a
time,
however,
the charioteers of mortals were unable to control their horses, and in the
confusion,
mortal
souls lost their
wings
and
fell
to earth.
According
to
Socrates,
they
can
become
winged
once more
and
return to the
rites of
the
gods
if
their
charioteers
succeed
in the difficult
task
of
controlling
their
ill-matched teams while the
soul is under
the influence
of erotic
madness
(246a-257b).
The
myth
of the chariot
raises
many questions
about
such
impor?
tant
issues
as
immortality
and
recollection,
the nature
of
the
gods,
eros,
rhetoric
and
myth,
and the
persona
of Plato's Socrates.
This article does
1
Unless
otherwise
noted,
I
follow the text of Burnet's
OCTs,
and
all translations
are
my
own.
American
ournal
f
Philology
27
2006)
85-217 2006
y
The ohns
Hopkins niversity
ress
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186
ELIZABETH BELFIORE
not
attempt
to address these
larger
issues
but instead
focuses
on
the
psychological
views
expressed
in a
single passage
in Socrates' second
speech?the
description
of the
struggle
among
the charioteer
and horses
(253c7-255al).
This
passage
has been
the
subject
of much
controversy,
especially
concerning
the role of the
black horse.
According
to
some
scholars,
this
horse
represents
an ineradicable
evil
in
the
soul,
being
the
cause of
the
original
fall to earth as well
as
impeding
progress
as the
soul
attempts
to return to the
gods.2
This
interpretation,
I
will
argue
below
in
section
2,
fails to account for the fact that
it is
always
the black
horse
who
initiates
movement
(254a5-6,
254d4-7).
Other
scholars
attribute some
good
qualities
to the black horse but do not
give
a sufficiently clear and
detailed
analysis
of
the nature of these
qualities
and
of the
ways
in
which
they
are
represented
as
functioning
within
the soul.3
In
attempting
to
provide
such an
account,
Martha Nussbaum
argues
that the
black horse
represents
the
independent
motivational
and
cognitive
role
of
emotion
and
appetite:
The role
of emotion and
appetite
as
guides
is
motivational:
they
move
the
whole
person
towards the
good.
But
it is also
cognitive:
for
they
give
the whole
person
information
as to
where
goodness
and
beauty
are,
searching
out
and
selecting,
themselves,
the beautiful
objects. 4
Against
her
interpretation,
however, it should be noted that information about
beauty
does
not
come
from the horses
but from the
charioteer,
who first
sees
the
beloved
object
(253e5)
and who
alone
is reminded
by
it of the
beauty
he has seen before
(254b5-7).5
Moreover,
the black
horse does
not
move the soul
towards the
good.
His
desire,
before
being
tamed,
is for
physical
pleasure (254a5-7,
d5-6),
and
he has
no
conception
of
any good
apart
from this. The
most
illuminating analysis
of
this
difficult
passage
is
given by
John
Ferrari,
who
argues
that
the charioteer's
task
is
not
to
repress
or
eradicate the desires
represented
by
the black horse
but to learn from them and to
integrate
the whole soul
by allowing
these
desires
to find their
proper
place
within
it.6
This article builds on Ferrari's
interpretation
to
argue
that two as?
pects
of
Socrates' second
speech?the
imagery
of
the dance and
the
satyr-
like
characteristics
given
to the black
horse?can
help
to elucidate
both
2For
example,
Hackforth
1952,107-8;
Lebeck
1972,277-78;
McGibbon
1964,60-61;
Robinson
1970,117,122;
Rowe
1990, 234, 241;
White
1993,104-5,160-61.
3Bluck 1958, 157-58; Burger 1980, 65-66; Griswold 1986, 121, 136; Stoeber 1992,
277;
Thompson
1868,73.
4Nussbaum
1986,
215.
5
Rowe
1990, 236-37,
makes similar
objections
to Nussbaum's
views.
6Ferrari, 1987,185-203,
esp.
194. On
integration,
cf. Griswold
1986,135.
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DANCING
WITH
THE
GODS
187
the kind
of
integration
of the soul toward
which
the
charioteer strives
and the roles of the two horses in this
process.
When Socrates describes
the black horse as
having
a number of
satyr-like
characteristics
(253el-4),
he does not
merely
characterize it
as
bestial
and
ugly
but also
suggests
that this
horse
shares
in
the
superhuman,
daimonic
qualities
of
satyrs.This
horse is not
purely
evil
but resembles
a
satyr
in
being
a mixture
of the
bestial and
the
divine,
with an
important
role
in
helping
the soul return
to the rites of
the
gods.
The dance
imagery
in
Socrates'
speech supports
this view.
When he
characterizes the rites
of the
gods
as
initiatory
dances
(Geiou
xopou,
247a7,
xeXex&v,
250b8),
Socrates
suggests
that the task of
the
charioteer is to
guide
both horses in the
orderly
movements of a dance
inspired by
the
gods.
In
so
doing,
the charioteer
produces
in
the
soul
an
equilibrium
between
the
opposing
tendencies
of
restraint,
represented
by
the
white
horse,
and bold
movement,
represented
by
the black
horse.
Each of
these
tendencies is harmful when excessive
and
lacking
proper
guidance
but
necessary
and useful to the soul
when
properly
trained
and
balanced
by
the
opposing
extreme. The
myth
of
the charioteer
learning
to
guide
the two
horses so that
they
move
in
orderly
fashion
represents
the
psychic
education,
mediated
by
eros,
of
the entire
soul,
an
education
that
produces
within the soul a
rhythm
and
harmony
derived from the
gods.7
Similar
concepts
of
psychic equilibrium
appear
throughout
Plato's
dialogues
and are
explained
in
helpful
detail
in the account
given
in the
Laws of
education
by
means of the dance.
After an
analysis
of the
psychology
expressed
in
allegorical
form
in
the chariot
myth
(section 2),
I
discuss
the
satyr-like
characteristics
of
the
black horse
(section
3)
and
examine the
imagery
of the dance
in the
Phaedrus,
arguing
that it is based on
psychological
principles
similar to
those
explained
in
more
detail
in the Laws
(section
4).
2.
CHARIOTEER
AND HORSES
The
charioteer and
both of the
horses
in the
souls
of mortals are
char-
acterized in
Socrates'
speech
as
having
a combination
of
good
and evil
qualities.
When
Socrates introduces the
myth,
he
says
that
the soul
is
a
compound
of
three different
capacities
(aupxpuTG)
8uvdji8i,
246a6-7),
represented
respectively by
the charioteer
and the
two horses. Socrates
7
For the
Neoplatonic
view that the horses
represent
movement,
irregular
in
itself,
that
can be
regulated by
intellect so as to become
movement
around
a
center,
see Robin
1908,163-64.
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188
ELIZABETH BELFIORE
does not
explain
what these
three
capacities
are
in
this
passage,
but he
returns to them at 253c7-255al
(discussed
below).
He goes on to recount
the
fall from
heaven of mortal
souls,
without
giving
many
details about
how
these
capacities
differ from one another.
He
does,
however,
char-
acterize the
entire
soul
as
a mixture of
good
and
evil,
in which
all
three
capacities
have
some share
in
a
divine,
winged
element,
and
all three are
to
blame for
the loss of this element and for
the
evil that
subsequently
fills
the
entire
soul.
Of
all
bodily
things,
Socrates
says,
the
wing
is that
which
most
shares in
what is divine:
that
is,
what
is
beautiful,
wise
and
good
(246d6-el).
Now the entire soul
was once
winged
(251b7),
and,
after it has fallen and lost its
wings
(248c8),
eros causes feathers to
grow
again
under
the form
of
the whole soul
(251b6-7).
Socrates'
statements
imply
that
all
three
capacities
of
the
soul,
including
that
represented
by
the black
horse,
originally
shared,
and are
capable
of
coming
to share
again,
in
the
divine
qualities?beauty,
wisdom
and the
good?associ?
ated with
the
wing.
All mortal
souls,
Socrates
says,
are
also
deficient
(jraoai... dxe^eiq,
248b4),
and
in
all
of them the
disparity
of the horses
makes
driving
difficult
(246bl-4).
In
even
the best
soul,
the
charioteer
has
difficulty
seeing
the
things
that are because
he
is disturbed
by
both
of the horses
(248al-5).8
The
fall, however,
is caused not
only by
the
disturbance
of the
horses
but also
by
the bad
driving
of
the
charioteers
(icaidqc
f|vi6%ot)v,
248b2).
The soul fails when
these defects
in
horses and
drivers
are
combined with
some misfortune
(tivi
crovTuxioc
xp'ncrajievri)
that
weighs
the soul
down
with
forgetfulness,
fills it with
evil,
and causes
it
to lose
its
wings
(248c5-8).
When
Socrates returns to the chariot
myth
at
253c7-255al,
all three
capacities
in
the soul
continue to be
represented
as
having
both
positive
and
negative
characteristics. The charioteer
is,
at
first,
unable
to
drive the
horses so that
they pull
the chariot toward the beloved in
orderly
fashion.
Instead
of
providing proper guidance,
he sometimes
yields
to
the black
horse
(ei^avxe,
254b3)
and at other times
punishes
it
severely (254d7-e5).
Indeed,
the
charioteer,
as Ferrari has
shown,
not
only
uses the violence
of
whip
and
goad
(253e4,254a3^)
on the
horses;
he is also
characterized
in
equine
terms,
as
feeling
the
goad
of
desire
(254al)
and
rearing
back
(254b8)
like
a
horse.9
Moreover,
although
the charioteer
has
the
ability
to
remember
the
beauty
seen in a
previous
existence
(254b5-7),
he can-
not,
without
the
help
of
the
horses,
approach
the
object
that
reminds him
of it. The horses were
previously
said to
represent
capacities
in the soul
8The
plural
at
248a4-6
is noted
by
Price
1989, 83,
and
1995,
77-79.
9Ferrari
1987,186-90.
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DANCING
WITH
THE
GODS
189
that are
opposed
to
each other
(246b3),
and the
black horse
was
simply
characterized as
opposite
(evocvuoq)
to the white horse, who was said
to be
beautiful and
good
(246b2-3).
Socrates
now
provides
a more
de-
tailed
characterization. Before
being
tamed,
the
black horse
is
licentious,
or
unpunished
(aKoXaoxoq,
255e5)
and a
companion
of
hybris (253e3),
having
a
tendency
to move
forward and
cry
out
without order.
He
pulls
the chariot
toward the beloved
(254a4-6,
254d4-7),
leaping
(gkiptcov,
254a4)
and
neighing (xpejaexi^cov, 254d4).
Even
before
being
tamed,
however,
as
Ferrari
points
out,
the black horse
uses
and
is
amenable
to
reason and
is
capable
of
coming
to an
agreement
with
the
white
horse
and charioteer
(6jnoA,oyr|aavT8,
254b3;
b^ioXoyiav,
254dl;
crove%cbpr|a?v,
254d2).10
Moreover,
his
tendencies to
leap
about
have
positive
aspects,
for it is
always
the black horse
who
pulls
the chariot
toward
the
beloved,
allowing
the soul to
approach
beauty.11
The black
horse
is
said to be
licen?
tious not
because he is
ineradicably
vicious
but because
he is shameless
and
unpunished,
like a child.
The
punishment
he receives
is severe
and
bloody
but
a
necessary part
of
his
education.12
The
white
horse is also
given
a mixture
of
positive
and
negative
qualities.
He is
characterized
in
apparently positive
terms,
as obedient
and
as a lover of honor when
joined
with
sophrosyne
and aidos
(moderation
and
reverence,
253d6-el).
There
are, however,
clear indications
that
he
also has
significant
defects,
caused,
in
particular,
by
the
fact
that he is
a
lover of
honor
(xijifjq
epaaxri^,
253d6).
In even
the best
souls,
both horses
cause
trouble to
the driver before
the fall.13
The other souls
are
in even
worse
condition.
They
trample
on
and run
into
one
another,
wanting
to
be
first and
engaging
in
competition
and
struggle (248a6-b2),
all of
which
activities
would
appear
to be
due to excessive love
of honor. Love
of honor
is also
characterized
negatively
when it is attributed
to
the second-best
10Ferrari
1987,186-89;
see also
Nightingale
1995,142-43.
nNoted
by
Ferrari, 1987, 192;
Burger
1980, 65-66;
Stoeber
1992,
277. Rowe
1990,
241,
objects
that it is the
wings,
not the
horses,
that
carry
the chariot forward
and that
the
black
horse
contributes
nothing
but
trouble.
This
interpretation
does
not
take
into
account the
clear indications in
253e-254e that the black
horse initiates movement:
see
below,
this
section.
12Punishment s
described,
for
example,
at 254e2-5.The
charioteer
presumably
uses
a
bit
hardened
by spikes
or wheels: Xen.
On
Horsemanship
10.6-11;
Vigneron
1968,
vol.
1,
62-76; Delebecque 1950,173-77. According to Plato's Gorgias, akolasia, the state of being
unpunished,
is the
greatest
of
evils
(477e)
and
just punishment
is beneficial
(476a-477a,
505b,
507d-e).
On this idea in
the
Gorgias
and
other
dialogues,
see Mackenzie
1981,
esp.
179-206.
13
See
above,
n. 8.
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190
ELIZABETH
BELFIORE
lovers,
those
who
are
less
philosophical
and more
honor-loving ((piAmijico
8e xpf|GcovToti, 256cl) than are the ideal lovers.14 The white horse, who
also resembles
these
honor-lovers
in
many
other
ways,
has
hubristic
de-
sires but restrains
them
by
force
(254a2-3).
Another
potentially
negative
characteristic of
the
white horse is
excessive
restraint.15
The white
horse
holds itself back
(254a2-3),
pulls
against
the
black
horse
(254a7),
and
only
moves forward
when
compelled
by
the
black
horse
(254a5,
254d5).
The
fact
that the
white
horse,
as
well as
the
black,
has
defects
means
that the
driver
must
work
to
control
both horses
and not
only
the
black.16
This
characterization
of all three
capacities
as mixtures
of
good
and evil
suggests
that the chariot
myth
is based on a more holistic view
of
the soul than
is the
Phaedo,
for
example.17
All three
capacities,
and
not
only
a rational
part
of the
soul,
are
given
an
essential
and
positive
role
in
striving
toward
the
good
and the
beautiful,
and each
capacity
is
represented
as
having
certain
defects.
Although
the
three
capacities
have
some
similarity
to
the three
parts
of the soul
in
Republic
4?reason,
ap-
petite,
and
spirit?they
should
not
simply
be
equated
with these
parts,
for
all three
capacities
share
to some
extent
in reason
and
all three
have
desires.18
The
charioteer
represents
a
guiding
principle
in
the
soul,
with
desires of its own. The black horse
represents
an
impulse
to move in
bold
and
disorderly
fashion
toward
erotic
objects,
while
the
white
horse
represents
the
impulse
to stand
still and
to
resist
these
objects.
Both
horses
are
able
to use
and
to follow
reason and
are
therefore
capable
of
being
trained
by
the
charioteer,
who
must
also train himself
to
guide
14
In the
Republic
also,
honor-lovers
are said
to be
less than
fully
virtuous.
They
are
educated
by
force
rather than
persuasion
and
philosophy,
take
pleasures
in
secret
(548b4-c2),
love
honor, victory and war,
are obedient
to
rulers
(548d8-549b7),
and are
influenced
by
both
reason and
desire
(550bl-3).
Rowe,
1986,189,
on 256b7-e2
notes the
connection between
the
second-best
lovers and the honor-lover
of
the
Republic.
Sheffield
2001,10,
notes that
the lovers in
the
lower
mysteries
section
of Plato's
Symposium
(208c3)
are also
honor-lovers. On
the connection
between love
of
honor and
injustice
in
Plato's
dialogues,
see Pakaluk
2004,111.
15
As
Statesman
310dl0-e3
makes
clear,
there
can
be too much aidos
in the soul.
16The
charioteer
and white horse
are not one
in
purpose
and
function
(Hackforth
1952,107)
nor is
the white
horse a mere
foil to the other
two who
learns
nothing
from his
experience (Ferrari
1987,192,194).
17
See
esp.
Phd.
64c-68b,
where
the
body
and its desires
are said
to
hinder
the soul
from attaining wisdom and virtue.
18Ferrari
987,185-203.
It has often been
claimed that
the charioteer and
horses cor-
respond
to the
three
parts
of the soul
in
Republic
4,
reason,
appetite,
and
spirit:
Hackforth
1952, 72;
Robin
1994,
cxxxix;
Rowe
1986,
on
246bl-3;
Thompson,
1868,
45.
White
1993,
89-93,
argues
against
too exact
a
correspondence.
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DANCING
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191
them
without
imposing
excessive restraint
or
yielding
to the
impulse
to
move forward without any restraint. In this myth, all three capacities of
the
human soul share in
a
divine,
winged
element,
and all three
also have
bestial characteristics.
The black
horse,
then,
is
not
innately
evil
but can
be a
force for
good
if
he is
properly
trained.
Without
the
guidance
of
the
charioteer,
the
black
horse
moves
in shameless and
disorderly
fashion,
bending
his
head,
stretching
out his
tail,
taking
the
bit in his
teeth,
and
dragging
the chariot
shamelessly
forward
in
pursuit
of
an erotic
object
(254d6-7).
After he is
tamed, however,
the black
horse
helps
to move
the
chariot in
an
orderly way
toward the
beloved,
that
is,
with
reverence
and fear
(ai8ouji8vr|v
xe Kai SeSvoiav,
254e9J.
In
Socrates'
narrative,
eros sets the
chariot in motion
by
activating
all
three
capacities
of
the soul.
Under
the influence
of
eros,
the black
horse at
first moves in
disorderly
fashion
toward
the
object
of
desire,
unrestrained
by
fear or
the law
(254a3-bl),
while
the white horse
forcibly
restrains
himself
from
leaping
upon
the
object
of desire
(254al-2).
The
charioteer,
seeing
the
beloved,
remembers
true
beauty
and
experiences
fear
and
reverence
(254b5-8),
and as a result
the soul of
the lover
becomes
mad
and
enthusiastic
(249d4-e4).
The
lover then
attempts
to
rejoin
the
gods
by imitating
the
god
he used to follow as a dancer
(252dl)
and
by
training
the beloved to
follow the
rhythm
of the
same dance
(253b5-7).
In
order to
succeed
in
these
endeavors,
the
charioteer,
guided
by
the
rhythm
and
harmony
of the
god
he
imitates,
must
temper
the
tendency
of
the
black horse to
make
disordered
movements
with the
restraint
of
the
white
horse so that the
whole soul follows
the beloved
with
fear and
aidos
(254e8-255al).19
This state of soul is
one of
equilibrium,
in
which
the
impulse
to
move in
disorderly
fashion
is
opposed
by
an
impulse
toward
restraint.
My
interpretation
of the
psychology
of the chariot
myth
in the
Phaedrus
finds
support
from
the fact
that similar
ideas are
expressed
in
other
dialogues
as well.
According
to
Republic
3.410c-412a,
a correct
mixture of
music with
gymnastics
in
education
softens
the
spirited
part
of
our
nature and
hardens the
philosophical
nature
in order to
produce
a
soul that
is both
moderate and
courageous
(410elCMllal).The
Statesman
also
stresses
the need for
correct education
of different
dispositions
so as
to
counteract
any
tendencies toward
harmful
extremes.
If
the
courageous
19
Price
1995,78-79,
incorrectly
attributes
the fear to the black
horse and
the shame
to
the
white horse. Socrates'
point
is that
all three
capacities
in the soul learn
to
experi?
ence
these
emotions.
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192
ELIZABETH BELFIORE
soul
receives a
good
education,
it is made
gentle;
if
not,
it
inclines
toward
the bestial nature. Good education makes the orderly nature moderate
and
wise,
but
lack of
education renders
it
simple (309dl0-e8).
Accord?
ing
to
the
Statesman,
the
right
kinds of
marriages
also
help
to
produce
a
correct
mixture in
the
dispositions
of children.
Over
many generations,
intermarriage
among
people
who
have
dispositions
that
are
courageous
without
any
admixture of the moderate nature
produces
madness.
On the
other
hand,
the
race
that is too filled
with shame
{aidos)
becomes
dull
and is
crippled
(310d6-e3).
Similar
views about
marriage
are
expressed
in
Laws
6.
In
a
well-ordered
state,
people
who
are too
eager
and
hasty
should
marry
those who are slower
(773a7-c8).This
mixture of different
dispositions
is
compared
to the
krasis
of
wine with water: a
city
should
be
mixed like a
wine
bowl,
in
which mad
wine boils
when
poured
in,
but
when it is
punished
by
another sober
god
[sc.
water]
and
joins
in a
good
combination
makes
a fine and measured
drink
(773c8-d4).
As will be
shown in
section
4,
the idea of
psychic equilibrium
is
especially
prominent
in Plato's
Laws.20
The
preceding analysis
makes it easier
to understand what
happens
in
the
different
stages
of
the
process by
means
of
which
the soul-chariot
achieves
equilibrium.
A schema at the end of the article
represents
these
stages
in
outline form.
1. The
process
begins
when
the
charioteer,
seeing
the
beloved,
warms
the
whole
soul,
causing
it to be filled with
tickling
and desire
(253e5-
254al).
Although
the
stimulus comes
first
to the
charioteer,
all
three
parts
of
the
soul have the same emotional
response,
characterized
earlier
as a
boiling
and
tickling
(251c4-5),
resulting
from the
growth
of the
feathers,
that affects the entire
soul
(251b6-7).
2. The three
parts
of the soul act
differently
in
response
to the same
emotional
stimulus. The white horse
compelled
then and
always by
aidos,
restrains
himself from
leaping
upon
the
beloved
(254al-3).
The
black
horse, however,
is
himself
carried
away by
force and
in
turn
compels
(254a5, bl)
the white horse
and the
charioteer
to
ap?
proach
the
beloved and to mention
the
pleasures
of
sex
(254a3-7).
They
at first
resist
(254a7-bl). Finally,
however,
the white
horse and
charioteer
yield
and
agree
to do what
the
black
horse
orders,
and
they
approach
the beloved
(254M-4).
20
Similar
ideas about
psychic equilibrium
are
expressed
in
Laws 5.731b3-d5
and
in
the
passages
cited
by
des
Places 1951 on Laws
5.728e:
Rep.
6.503c-d,
Tht
144a-b,
Pol.
306c-308b,
Epin.
989b-c.
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DANCING WITH THE GODS
193
3. When
they
are
forced to draw near to the
beloved,
the
charioteer
sees his beauty and remembers the true beauty he saw in a previous
existence
(254b4-7).That
is,
he has the
experience
that was
said ear?
lier
(249d4-e4)
to be the
madness and
enthusiasm
of
the
lover, who,
seeing beauty
here,
is
reminded of
beauty
there.
As a
result
of
this
vision,
the
charioteer
experiences
reverence and
fear
(254b7-8).21
4.
Approach
is
followed
by
retreat. The
charioteer
is now
compelled
to
pull
back
strongly
on the reins so that both horses
sit back
on their
haunches. The
white horse
obeys willingly
and
without
resisting;
the
black horse
obeys
but much
against
his will.
The two horses
then
retreat
(254b8-c4).
5.
The two
horses
react
differently
after the
retreat. The white
horse
experiences
shame and
terror,
and he
waters the whole
soul
with
sweat
(254c4-5).
This
horse
experiences
not
aidos,
the
good
kind
of
shame that
restrains him from
leaping
upon
the
beloved,
but
aischyne,
shame at
having
done
wrong
in
yielding
to the
black
horse.22
When
the
black
horse
recovers from
pain,
he becomes
angry
and
abusive
and
tries,
without
success,
to force the others to
approach
the
beloved
again. Finally,
the
black horse
grudgingly agrees
with
the
others
to
postpone
a second
approach (254c5-d2).
This
stage
of the conflict
ends
in a
temporary
truce.
6.
The whole
process
of
approach
and retreat
is
repeated
a second
time
(254d2-e5)
and
many
times
(noXXaKic,, 254e6)
thereafter.
The
black
horse
again
compels
the others to
approach,
pulling
shamelessly
to?
ward the
beloved,
and the charioteer
again pulls
back
on
the
reins.
On these
subsequent
occasions,
however,
the charioteer's
experience
is more
powerful
(exi
\mXXov,
254el),
and
he
pulls
more
strongly
on
the
reins
of the
hubristic horse
(exi
jaaMtov,
254e2).
The
white
horse
is not mentioned.
7.
At
last the
black
horse is tamed
(xa7C8ivo>0?i
-
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194
ELIZABETH BELFIORE
horse but also in
a
permanent?or
at least
semi-permanent?agree?
ment of all three parts of the soul. The charioteer is in command,
and the two
horses
obey
willingly.
The whole soul
now
experiences
both the aidos
that
was at
first a characteristic
of the
white horse
alone and the fear
(8e8u)iocv, 254e9)
that the charioteer
originally
experienced
when
he remembered true
beauty
at the
sight
of the
beloved
(?8eiae,
254b7)
and
that the
black horse
experienced
while
being
tamed
(254e8).
The motion
toward
the
beloved
that
the black
horse once
forced
upon
the others
has now been
imparted
to the
whole soul so
that
it follows
the beloved
in
orderly
fashion.
In
this
way,
the lover,
having
transformed disorder into order in his soul,
begins
to follow his
god.
3.
HORSES, SATYRS,
AND
SOCRATES
In
creating
this
story
of
the
horses and
charioteer,
Socrates
draws
on
themes
and
images
in
erotic
poetry,
drama,
and the visual
arts. Because
the
addressee is
Phaedrus
(257a5-6;
cf.
243e),
a lover of
speeches
who
responds
to them with
the
enthusiasm
of the
Corybantes
or the
Bacchantes
(228b6-c2,234dl-6),
Socrates uses
the
emotionally charged
language
of
poetry
to
appeal
to
him
(257a5-6).23
Socrates'
myth
also
has emotional
appeal
because
it
tells
a
story
in which the
personification
of the
parts
of the
soul and
conflict
among
them
provide
dramatic
interest.
It is an
example
of
the kind
of
rhetoric Socrates
later calls
psychagogia,
which
is
addressed
to
a
certain kind of soul and
uses such
techniques
as the
arousal of
pity
and
fear
(271cl0-272b4).24
The
imagery
in the
speech
is
an
essential
part
of
these rhetorical
appeals
to emotion.
The horse is an
erotic
symbol
in
Greek
literature, representing
both
lover
and beloved. For
example,
in a
poem
of
Ibycus,
paraphrased
in
Plato's
Parmenides,
the lover
compares
himself
to an
aged
racehorse
forced to
compete against
his
will.25
Greek
literature,
as
Jacqueline
de
Romilly
has
23
Rowe 1986 on
257a5-6 notes that
poetry
is the
language
of
emotion,
citing
Rep.
603bff,
Aristotle,
Rhet.
1408bl0ff.
Nightingale
1995,159-62,
notes the extensive
influence
of
lyric
love
poetry
on
Socrates' second
speech.
24
Asmis
1986;
Gill
2001,317-20.
25Ibycus287 Page, paraphrased in Plato, Parm. 136e-137a. The beloved is compared
to a
horse
in
Theognis
1249-52 and
1267-70,
and
in
Anacreon
fr.
360.
Fortenbaugh
1966
calls
attention to the
striking parallels
between
the Phaedrus and Anacreon
fr. 417.
Young
girls
about to be
married
are
often
compared
to horses that need to be tamed:
Calame
1997, 238-44;
O'Brien
1993,184-88;
Seaford
1988b.
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DANCING
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GODS
195
shown,
also contains
many
images
of a combat
between
charioteer
and
horses.26 She calls attention to some
striking
verbal parallels between
the
description
of the
runaway
horses
that
cause their
master's
death
in
Euripides' Hippolytus
and the
account of the
taming
of the black horse
in
the
Phaedrus.21 Socrates'
myth
uses the
language
and
imagery
of
poetry
and
alludes to
poetic
precedents,
but it describes
a
process
in which eros
is
not
destructive but
beneficial.
The
myth
of
the
chariot contains allusions to
comic,
as well as
tragic,
precedents.
Scholars
have not
noticed,
as
far as I
know,
that
the black
horse resembles
a
satyr
or
silenus,
a
hybrid
creature
with human form
and horse's tail, ears, and sometimes hooves.28 This allusion is
apparent
from
Socrates'
description:
The
other
[horse]
is
crooked,
big,
with limbs
put
together
at
random,
strong-necked,
short-necked,
snub-nosed, black,
with
gray
and
bloodshot
eyes,
companion
of
hybris
and
boastfulness,
shaggy
around the
ears,
deaf,
barely
yielding
to
the
whip
together
with
the
goad
(253el-5).
Descriptions
of
satyrs
are
rare
in
literature,
but
images
abound in
the visual
arts.29
They
are
typically
represented,
for
example
on the Attic
black-figure
amphora
in
figure
1,
as
big,
misshapen
creatures
with snub
noses,
high
foreheads,
shaggy
hair,
thick,
short
necks,
large eyes,
and
large,
erect
phalluses.30The
black horse not
only
looks but
also
acts
like
a
satyr,
being
characterized
by
hybris
and
lack of
restraint,
especially
in
sex,
and
failing
to
achieve its sexual
goals.31
Just
as
satyrs
are
usually
represented
in
motion,
so the black
horse
leaps
about
and
pulls
the chariot
forward.32 The
chariot
pulled by
the
satyr-like
black
horse
also has
parallels
in
vase-paintings,
a number
of which
represent
two
satyrs
harnessed to
chariots
(fig. 2).33
Of
particular
interest is a
cup
26
de
Romilly
1982,108-12,
citing
//.
23,
Soph.
EI
680-763,
Aes.
Ch.
1021ff;
Isocrates,
To Demonicus 32.
27
de
Romilly
1982;
verbal
parallels
noted 109.
28
On
the
satyr/silenus
see Brommer
1937;
Lissarrague
1990
and
1993;
Kuhnert
1909-1915;
Seaford 1988a.
Because little
distinction
is made between
satyr
and silenus at
this
period
(Seaford
1988a,
6),
I
use the
term
satyr
generically
to refer
to horse-human
hybrids.
29
Kuhnert
1909-1915,444-45.
30That
horse-ears,
high
foreheads,
and snub noses were sufficient
to
designate
a
satyr
is
apparent
from the fact that
the Pronomos
vase
(ARV21336)
represents
these features
on
the masks worn
by
actors in
a
satyr play.
See
Lissarrague
1990,
228-29.
31Hybris:
Phdr.
253e3, 254c3,
254e2, 6;
failure to achieve
sexual
goals:
254b8-c3,
254e2-5. On satyrs' lack of restraint and frustration in sexual matters,see Lissarrague 1993,
214;
Seaford
1988a,
38-39.
32
Black
horse:
Phdr.
254a3-6,254d6-7;
satyrs
in
motion:
Lissarrague
1993,
212.
33
Satyr
chariots:
Lissarrague
1987,
115;
Carpenter
1997,
25-28,
with
illustration,
plate
6B.
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196
ELIZABETH
BELFIORE
Figure
1.
Satyrs making
wine. Attic
black-figure
amphora,
ABV
151,
22.
Amasis Painter. Martin von
Wagner
Museum der
Universitat
Wurzburg.
Photograph:
K. Oehrlein.
discussed
by
Thomas
Carpenter
that
represents,
on
the
inside,
Zeus
mounting
a chariot
(fig.
3A),
while a
chariot
pulled
by satyrs
is
depicted
on the outside
(fig. 3B). According
to
Carpenter,
the
satyr
chariot
is
a
parody
of the
god's
chariot.34
Similarly,
in
the
Phaedrus,
the chariot with
the
satyr-like
horse can be seen as a comic
counterpart
of the
winged
chariots of
the
gods (246e-247e).
Satyrs
are
not
merely
comic
hybrids
of human and
animal,
however;
they
also,
like the daimones in Plato's
Symposium,
have a status
inter?
mediate
between mortals and
gods.35
The idea that
satyrs
are
superior
to
34Carpenter
1997,
25-26.
35Seaford
1988a,
32 and
197,
on Eur.
Cyc.
495-502.
In
Plato's
Symposium
the
daimonion
is a
being
between
god
and
mortal
{%av
xo
5ouuoviov
jiera^o
eoxi Oeoi)
xe Kai
Ovtitoo):
02dl3-el).
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DANCING WITH
THE
GODS
197
Figure
2.
Satyr
chariot.
Red-figure
Athenian
stamnos,
c. 460 B.C.E. Blenheim
Painter.
Museum of Fine
Arts,
Boston.
Henry
Lillie Pierce
Fund,
00.342.
Photograph
?
2006,
Museum of Fine
Arts,
Boston.
humans
is illustrated
by
the
story
of Midas's
capture
of
a
satyr
in
order to
acquire
his more than human
wisdom.36 Yet
satyrs
are not
fully equal
to
the
gods.
They accompany
Dionysus
as subordinates rather
than
equals37
and are
frequently separated
from him. In the
only
extant
satyr play,
Euripides'
Cyclops,
the chorus
of
satyrs,
after
being captured
and
sepa?
rated
from their
god
and
made to serve a harsh
master,
are liberated
and
reunited
with
Dionysus.
This theme of
captivity,
servitude,
and
temporary
separation
from
Dionysus,
followed
by
liberation,
is
characteristic of
satyr
plays.38
In another
story illustrating
the
ambiguous
status of
satyrs,
the
36
Seaford
1988a,
7,
citing
Herod.
8.138,
Arist.
fr. 44
Rose. On this
story
and
satyric
imagery
in Plato's
Symposium,
see Usher
2002.
37
Lissarrague
1993,214.
38
Seaford
1988a, 33-36;
Ussher
1977,
291-94.
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198
ELIZABETH BELFIORE
Figures
3A,
3B. Chariots with
gods
and
satyrs. Red-figure cup
attributed to
Onesimos.
Athens,
from Marathon
St.,
inv. 0.70
(A5349),
in the collection of
the Third Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities of Athens. Photo
after
Carpenter, pl.
4A and
4B.
satyr Marsyas,
to whom Socrates is
compared
in
Plato's
Symposium,
chal-
lenges
Apollo
to a
pipe
contest,
as no mortal would
dare,
and is
punished
in
a
way
no
god
could
be,
by being flayed.39
Like the daimones in the
Symposium, satyrs
mediate between humans and
gods.40
One
important
39Thestory is alluded to in Solon, fr. 33.7 West;Herodotus 7.26; Plato, Euthydemus
285c9-d2,
and
Symp.
215b-c,
221e3-4. On Socrates and the
flaying
of
Marsyas,
see North
1994,89-98.
40In
Symp.
202e-203a the
daimonion is said to make
possible
many
kinds of interac?
tions
between
gods
and
mortals,
including prophecy
and initiation
(xetaxou;: 02e8).
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DANCING WITH
THE
GODS
199
way
in
which
they
do
so
is,
as Richard
Seaford
has
shown,
through
their
role in initiation.41 Seaford cites Laws 815c, where Plato discusses Bac-
chic
dances and the
like,
which
(the
dancers
allege)
are
an imitation
of
drunken
persons they
call
Nymphs
and Pans and Sileni
and
Satyrs,
and
which are
performed
during
purifications
and
initiations
[leXexaq
xivocq
dc7coTeX,ouvTcov]. 42
Although
other
literary
evidence
is
relatively
late,
support
for an
early
association
of
satyrs
with
initiation
is
provided
by
representations
on
black-figure
vases
of
satyrs
in ritual
contexts.43
The
association of
the
satyr
with
initiation
rites
makes the
image
of
the
satyr-like
black
horse
especially appropriate
in the
myth
of the
Phaedrus. This
passage,
in which the soul-chariots of mortals
attempt
to
return to
the choruses
of the
gods
in
which
they
danced
as
initiates
(250b6-cl)
before
falling
to
earth,
recounts a
story
similar
to
the
motif
in
satyr
plays
of
separation
from
Dionysus
followed
by
reunion.
The
chariot
myth,
moreover,
makes extensive
use
of
mystery
terminology.44
The
combination of
mystery
and
satyric
imagery
in this
passage
supports
the
view
that the black
horse,
who resembles a
satyr physically
and acts
like
a
lustful
satyr,
also
has the daimonic
characteristics
of a
satyr.
This
horse is
ugly
and
bestial,
like a
satyr,
but he
also
has
the
divine,
winged
element shared
by
all three
capacities
of the soul.
Moreover,
it is his
impulse
to
move
toward
erotic
objects
that
forces
(dvayKa^ei,
254a5;
cf.
bl)
the charioteer to
approach
near
enough
to the
beloved
to be
reminded
of
divine
beauty
seated on the
throne
together
with modera-
tion
(254b3-7).
Like a
satyr,
then,
the black horse
mediates between
the
human
and the divine.
Not
only
is the
black
horse
satyr-like,
he also
resembles
Socrates.45
As
noted
above,
satyrs
are
big, misshapen
creatures
with snub
noses,
high
foreheads,
shaggy
hair,
thick,
short
necks,
large
eyes,
and
large,
erect
phal-
luses.
Except
for this last
feature,
they
look like visual
representations
of
Socrates.
Paul
Zanker,
comparing
a bust
of
Socrates
(fig.
4)
and
an
image
of a
satyr
on
a coin
(fig. 5),
writes that
portraits
of Socrates
all follow
the
41Seaford 1976 and
1988a,
8-9.
42Laws
815c2-5,
cited
by
Seaford
1988a,
8. Trans.:Saunders
1970,
adapted.
The text
presents
major
difficulties,
but
the
general
sense
is
clear.
43Hedreen
1992,168-70.
44
Initiation
terminology
occurs at
Phaedrus
250b6-c4,
quoted
below,
section
4,
and
throughout Socrates' second speech: see Riedweg 1987, 30-69.
45
Scholars
sometimes
note that the black horse looks
like Socrates
(e.g.,
Arieti
1991,192;
Dorter
1971, 284;
Burger
1980,
65),
but no
one,
to
my
knowledge,
has
analyzed
the
broader
implications
of this
resemblance for an
interpretation
of the chariot
myth.
On
Socrates as
satyr
in
the
Symposium,
see
Clay
2000,
69-76.
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200
ELIZABETH
BELFIORE
Figure
4. Bust
of
Socrates.
380 B.C.E.
Museo
Archeo-
logico
Nazio-
nale
di
Napoli,
inv. 6129. After
Richter
1984,
pl.
160.
basic
analogy
with
Silenus
iconography,
especially
in
the
flat,
strangely
constricted
face,
the
very
broad, short,
and
deep-set
nose,
the
high-set
ears and
bald
head,
and the
long
hair
descending
from the
temples
over
the ears and the
nape
of the neck. 46 In
these
images,
Socrates
appears
big-bellied and ungainly, with a short, thick neck, a snub nose, and long
46Zanker
1995,
34.
Richter
1965, 109-19,
provides
a
comprehensive
survey
of the
visual
representations
of Socrates.
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DANCING WITH
THE
GODS
201
Figure
5. Silenus. Greek silver
coin, obverse, Katane,
c. 410
B.C.E.,
inv.
3,52.
Muenzkabinett,
Staatliche
Museen zu Berlin.
Photograph:
Reinhard
Saczewski.
Photo
courtesy
of Bildarchiv
Preussicher
Kulturbesitz / Art
Resource,
N.Y.
hair
falling
about
his ears
(fig. 6). Similarly,
the black horse is
big (noXvq)
and
ungainly (aKo^ioq,
eiKfj
oufiTtecpopripivoq),
with a
strong
and short
neck
(Kpax?pau%r|v,
(3pa%i)xpd%r|A,0(;);
e has a snub nose
(aijao7ip6oco7i0(;)
and is
shaggy
about the ears
(mpi
cbxa
Xaoxoq,
253el-4). Literary
descrip?
tions of Socrates
also
give
him
satyr-like
characteristics,
many
of which
correspond
to
the features
of the black horse in the Phaedrus.
Socrates
looks like a satyr (Plato, Symp. 215a6-b6, 216d4; Xen. Symp. 4.19, 5.7).
He has a
big belly (Xen.
Symp.
2.19)
and is so
ungainly
that
everyone
laughs
at him when he
says
that he will dance
(Xen.
Symp.
2.17).
He
is thick-necked
(Cicero,
De
fato
10)
and has a snub nose
(Plato,
Tht.
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202
ELIZABETH
BELFIORE
Figure
6.
Socrates.
Marble
statuette
from
Alexandria.
British
Museum,
inv.
1925.
Photograph
? The Trustees of
the
British
Museum.
Photo
after
Schefold,
p.84.
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DANCING
WITH THE GODS
203
143e8-9,209cl;
Meno
80a5-6;
Xen.
Symp.
5.6;
scholiast
on
Aristophanes
Clouds
223).47
According
to Alcibiades in Plato's
Symposium,
Socrates,
in
addition to
looking
like a
satyr,
resembles the
satyr Marsyas
in
being
hubristic
(215b7,221e3-4).
Hybris
is also characteristic
of
the
black
horse
(uPpecoq
. . .
8Taipo
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204
ELIZABETH
BELFIORE
that the
god
will
not take
away
the erotic
skill
he
has
given
him,
beseeching
Eros to accept his palinode and to forgive him for what he said in his
first
speech (257a3-8).
Clay argues
that Socrates
is also associated
with
Pan,
whose
presence
is
felt
throughout
the
dialogue.
Pan,
like Eros in the
Symposium,
is
a daimonic
and erotic
figure,
a
divinity
who is
satyr-like
in
having
both
human
and animal characteristics.51
He
is mentioned at
263d5-6,
in
connection
with the
nymphs,
and
he was
thought
to
produce
a
panic
fear at the
noon
hour
(e.g.,
Theocritus,
Idyll
1.15-18),
the
very
time
at which Socrates'
daimonion
and his
fear
of
Eros
prevent
him from
leaving
before
giving
his
palinode.
Moreover,
Socrates'
address to
Pan at
the end of the
dialogue (co
y\Xz
ndv,
279b8)
echoes his earlier
prayer
to
Eros.
Just
as he
prayed
to
Eros to make him still
more
honored
by
the
beautiful
(257a9),
so
Socrates,
who
is not
physically
beautiful,
prays
to
Pan,
the
god
he
resembles,
for
inner
beauty.52
Socrates, then,
is
associated
with
all three
figures?Eros,
Pan,
and
the
satyr-like
black
horse?because
the
philosopher
shares
their
daimonic
qualities.
The
image
of
the chariot
indicates,
moreover,
that
these same daimonic
qualities
are
present
to
some
extent
in
every
human soul and are
necessary
to the
psychic
har?
mony
that
allows us
to
return to the
region
of
the
gods.
Socrates has a serious
purpose,
then, in
characterizing
the black
horse
as
satyr-like.
The
complex ambiguity
of
the
satyr,
a
creature
that
shares in
bestiality,
humanity,
and
divinity,
makes
it an
appropriate
image
of one
part
of the
soul.
The
satyr-like aspects
of the
human
soul,
if
they
are not
tamed and
trained,
can
drag
us down to
bestiality, wrecking
the
chariot of
the
soul,
just
as the horses
destroy Hippolytus
in
Euripides'
tragedy.
When
yoked
to
the
sophrosyne
and
aidos of the
white
horse,
however,
and
given
proper
guidance,
these
same
elements
in the soul
can
help
us
to
rejoin
the
chorus of the
gods.
This essential role
of the
black horse is clearer within the context of the
imagery
of the dance in
Socrates'
myth
in
the
Phaedrus.
4.
DANCING
WITH THE GODS
Choral
imagery
and
terminology figure prominently
in the
myth
of the
chariot.
With the
exception
of
Hestia,
who
stays
home,
Zeus
and
each of
the
Olympian gods
lead
the
soul-chariots
of
the other
gods
and
daimones
51
Clay
1979,347,
quotes
Cratylus
408dl,
where Pan is called
5i(p\)r|
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DANCING
WITH
THE
GODS
205
in
one
of
eleven
companies
(246e4-247a4).53
Each
of the
gods
is a leader
in the divine chorus
(Geiou
xopou,
247a7), moving
through
the heavens
in
an
orderly
choral
arrangement (koctoc
xa^iv,
247a3).54
Before it fell
to
earth,
the
soul-chariot of
every
human was a dancer
(xopeuxric;,
252dl)
in
the
chorus
(xopco,
250b6)
led
by
one of the
gods.
The
mortal lover
attempts
to
rejoin
this
chorus
in
which he used to
dance,
imitating
his own
god
and
educating
his
beloved to
follow the
rhythm (puB^i^ovxeq)
of the same
god
(253b5-6).
Socrates'
statement that Hestia
remains
home
(247al-2)
while
the
other
gods
move around her
in
a circle
(247d4-5)
reflects
the
common
idea
that the
stars are
gods moving
in a
circular cosmic
dance
around a center.55 Indeed,
many
of the words used
by
Socrates in this
passage
have astral
connotations.56
More
specifically,
the
dances
performed by
the
soul-chariots
are
similar
in
many respects
to the
dithyramb.57
Socrates'
playful
remarks
in his
first
speech,
that he
is
speaking
in
dithyrambic
language
(238d3,
241e2),
prepare
the
reader for the serious use made
of this
poetic genre
in
Socrates'
second
speech.
From the archaic
period
to
the mid fifth-
century
B.C.E.,
dithyrambs
were circular
dances,
led
by
an exarchos and
danced
and
sung by
a
chorus of
fifty
men or
boys
to
orgiastic, Phrygian
flute music.58
They
had a
Dionysiac
character,
as evidenced, for
example,
by
the
invocation of
Dionysus
as
Dithyrambos
in
Euripides'
Bacchae
526.
There is
also some
evidence
that
the
dithyramb
was
performed
in
satyr
53247al:
kcctoc v8?Ka
uipn.
Eleven,
not
twelve,
gods
lead
the
companies,
while Hestia
stays
home:
Robin, 1994,
Notice,
c;
Guthrie
1975,
403.
54xd^i
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206
ELIZABETH
BELFIORE
costume on
some
occasions.59
Moreover,
it is
possible
that
the
poet
who
won a dithyrambic victory was escorted home in a chariot.60 There may
also
be a
dithyrambic
parallel
to the twelve
gods
who lead
companies
in
Phaedrus
247a2-3. In
what
may
well be a reference
to the altar
of the
twelve
gods
in
the
Athenian
agora,
a
fragment
of a
dithyramb
by
Pindar
invites the
gods
to
attend the
chorus,
addressing
them as the
gods
who
come
to the
Athenian
agora.61
Choral
imagery
is
not mere
poetic
ornamentation
in this
passage
but
has
important
implications
for the
religious
and
psychological
views
expressed
in
the
myth.
The dance in ancient Greece
was
an
important
part
of
religious
initiation rites. In Plato's
Euthydemus
277d6-9, initiation
into the
Corybantic
rites is
said
to involve
choreia,
and
in
the
Laws the
rites of the
Corybantes
involve
dancing (790d-791a).
In
fact,
according
to
Lucian,
all
ancient
initiations included
dancing.62
In the chariot
myth,
initiation and
the dance
are
closely
linked.
In
their
previous
existence,
the human
followers
of the choruses of the
gods experienced
initiation
(hzXovvxo
xcov
xe^excov,
cbpyid^ojaev, udoujllevoi)
and saw a
blessed
sight
(iiaKapmv
6\|/iv,
87io7tx?uovxe
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DANCING
WITH THE
GODS
207
control.64
This
enthusiasm
allows the lover himself
to
imitate
the
god
and to educate his beloved,
persuading
him to follow the rhythm of the
lover's
own
god
(253b5-6).
The dances in the
chariot
myth,
then,
are
characterized so as to
evoke initiation rites.
To drive
one's chariot
skill-
fully
is
represented
as
an
attempt
to return to
the
choruses
of the
gods,
remembering,
in
a renewed
initiation
here,
the
initiation one
received in
a
former
existence.
Not
only
does the
dance
imagery
in the
Phaedrus
have
important
religious
connotations,
it also
has
significant
implications
for
an
under?
standing
of the
psychology
of
the
chariot
myth.
I
argued
in section
2
that the charioteer strives to
produce
an
equilibrium
in the soul between
opposing
tendencies.
This
principle
of
psychic
balance,
evident
in other
passages
throughout
the
dialogues,
is
explained
in detail
in the account
of
the
dance
given
in
Plato's Laws. The use of
the
Laws to elucidate
the
psychology
of the dance
in the Phaedrus is also
justified
because
the later
dialogue
reflects
the Greek
idea,
generally
accepted
from
archaic
times
on,
that
the dance
plays
an essential role
in
education
and
acculturation.
Claude
Calame cites the
Laws in
arguing
that chorus
members
were
given
a
true
education,
with
the aim
of
making
the chorus
participants
not
only
good
dancers and
singers,
but also
accomplished
men and women. The
Laws
also
reflects
the
view,
held
by
the Greek tradition
generally,
that the
chorus
of the
gods
is
the model for human choruses.
The ideas
expressed
in
the
Laws
about the
role of the dance
in
education,
Calame
notes,
are
especially
valuable
because
they
are
based on Cretan
and Lacedaimonian
realities.65
There are
good
reasons, then,
for
believing
that the
choruses
in
the
Phaedrus
are
intended to
have an educational
role similar
to that
found
in actual
Greek
society
and reflected
in
the Laws.
According
to the
Laws,
the dance
provides
training
for the
soul
as well as the
body.
Choreia,
which includes both
singing
and
dancing
(2.664e8-665a3),
involves the
imposition
of
ordered
movements,
de-
rived
from the
gods, upon
disordered movement
in
body
and
soul.
This
principle
is
evident
in
Plato's account
of three
very
different
kinds of
choreia:
Corybantic
dances,
the musical education
of
children,
and the
64
Rowe
1990,238,
comments:
[I]f
madness means
loss
of rational
control,
then the
philosophical
life
is
conditional
on
being
cured of madness.
(On
the
other
hand,
inspiration,
being possessed from outside, is itself a form of madness.... The philosopher will then in
some sense
still
be
mad....)
65
Calame
1997,222-23;
quotation:
222.
On choral
training
as a form of
acculturation,
see
also
Ford
2002,197-98.
Armstrong
2004,178-79,
discusses
the close connection
between
cosmology
and
the Muses
in
the
Laws.
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208
ELIZABETH
BELFIORE
reeducation
of older
adults at
symposia.66
Plato's account
of
all
three
kinds of choreia depends on
psychological
principles similar to those in
the
chariot
myth.
The
orderly
movements
of the dance
require,
and
help
to
produce,
a
psychic equilibrium
between
excessive
movement,
like that
of the black
horse,
and
excessive
restraint,
like that of the
white horse.
They
also
require
a
sense
of
order,
derived,
like the charioteer's
recol-
lection of
beauty,
from the
gods.
Those
officiating
in
the rites
of
the
Corybantes
are said
to
perform
actions
like
the cures of
the mad
Bacchantes,
that make use
of this mo?
tion,
together
with
dance
and music
(7.790e2-4).67
In the
Corybantic
rites, internal, mad movement
(jiocviicnv
Kwrjaw,
791a3)
is calmed
by
the
application
of
ordered
movement:
When
someone
applies
a
shaking
from outside
to these
kinds of
emotions,
the motion
applied
from
outside
masters
the internal fearful and
mad
mo?
tion.
When
it
has
mastered
it,
it makes
a
peaceful
calm
appear
in the
hard
pounding
of the heart
of each
person
...
The motion then makes
people
dance
and
play
the
pipe
with the
gods
to whom
each
sacrifices
with
good
omens,
giving
them
sane
dispositions
instead
of
mad.
(790e8-791bl)
In
these
rites,
an
evil
disposition
of
the
soul
(e^iv
(pauXnv
xfj
-
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DANCING WITH THE
GODS
209
Choreia
not
only
cures
diseased
souls,
it
is
also essential to
the
emotional and ethical education of normal children. In the Laws, the
Athenian
defines first
education
(paideia)
as
the
production
of that
part
of
arete,
correct
training concerning
pleasures
and
pains,
of
which
children
are
capable
before
they
are
able to reason
(2.653a5-c4).
Choreia
is the
whole of
education
(672e5-6,
cf.
654a9-bl)
because
it leads
children to
take
pleasure
in
what is
good
and to hate
what is
not
good
(654c-d).71
According
to
the
psychology
of the
Laws,
choreia
has the
power
to
im-
pose
upon
disordered
movements
rhythm
and
harmony
derived
from
the
gods:
Every
young thing...
is unable to
keep
calm in
body
or in
voice,
but
always
seeks to
move
and
cry
out,
some
springing
and
leaping,
as
though dancing
with
pleasure
and
playing together,
others
crying
out
with
every
kind of
sound. The
other animals
do not have
perception
of
order
(xd^eoov)
or dis-
order
(axa^tcov)
in
movement,
the
name of which is
rhythm
and
harmony.
But the
gods
whom we said
were
given
to
us as
fellow-dancers are
the
ones
who have
given
us
perception
with
pleasure
of
rhythm
and
harmony. By
means of
this,
they
move
us and lead us
in
dances
(xopnyeTv).
(653d7-654a3)72
The mad
dispositions
and
fiery
natures
(jiaivexai,
672c4,
ejujiavfj... efyv,
666a7,
dwnvpoq,
664e4)
of
children lead them to desire
to move about
and
cry
out.
Children,
that
is,
have
shameless
tendencies,
like those of
the
black horse.73
Just as the
black horse of the Phaedrus
leaps (oKipxcov,
254a4),
neighs
(xpe^iexi^cov,
254d4),
and
shamelessly pulls
the
chariot
forward
(254d7),
so
the
children
in
the Laws
leap
about
(aMuSjuevoc
Kai
GKipxcovTa,
653el-2)
and make
disordered
movements
and cries
^Geyyoixo
8'
ocel
axdncxcex;
Kai
nr\b(b,
664e6).
In the
Laws,
these tendencies
of
young
children to
move and
cry
out are
far
from
being
an ineradicable
evil.
71
Good
discussions
are
given
in
Moutsopoulos
1959, 97-156;
Morrow
1960,
302-18.
Socrates has
a
similar
concept
of
musical education in
Republic
3:
The
best
education is
given
by
music,
for
rhythm
and
harmony
sink most
deeply
into
the
interior
of
the soul
and
most
strongly
attach