SCS-8: The Afterlife of Plato

Halcyon takes place on the desolate shores of Phaleron mid-winter where Socrates and Chaerephon hear the call of the kingfisher. Socrates narrates the myth of Aeolus’ daughter’s mourning after the death of her husband for which the gods honour her through her metamorphosis. I describe the dialogue as an inversion of Plato’s Phaedrus and its sojourn outside the city in mid-summer. The cicadas transformed for their love of singing are exchanged with the lone halcyon’s lament, instead of an ideal philosophical love the dialogue tells of the tragic end of a marriage.

In this paper, I will demonstrate that Cassius Dio made numerous references to Plato throughout his Roman History. I will focus my examination on books 52-56 in which Dio offers his summary and evaluation of Augustus’ words and deeds as a statesman. Perhaps it was because of Millar’s insistence that Dio “believed all philosophers to be fraudulent” modern scholarship on the philosophical underpinnings of Dio’s monumental work is comparatively underdeveloped.

Dio Chrysostom may write his own jokes, but his routine is not entirely original. This paper demonstrates the influence of Plato's discourses on laughter – in particular, those which appear in the Philebus and the Symposium – on the works of this Second Century CE orator.