Xenophon’s Funeral Oration

Abstract

Memorabilia 3.5, a conversation between Socrates and Pericles the Younger, not only engages with the topoi of the epitaphios logos, but even alludes to Thucydides’ version, attributed to Pericles, and to Plato’s version in the Menexenus, attributed to Aspasia. The allusions range from verbal echoes to Xenophon’s choice of Pericles the Younger, son of Pericles and Aspasia, as Socrates’ interlocutor. This chapter of the Memorabilia, which is central to the structure of the work as a whole, represents Xenophon’s contribution to and correction of the epitaphios as a genre. Memorabilia 3.5, a conversation between Socrates and Pericles the Younger, not only engages with the topoi of the epitaphios logos, but even alludes to Thucydides’ version, attributed to Pericles, and to Plato’s version in the Menexenus, attributed to Aspasia. The allusions range from verbal echoes to Xenophon’s choice of Pericles the Younger, son of Pericles and Aspasia, as Socrates’ interlocutor. This chapter of the Memorabilia, which is central to the structure of the work as a whole, represents Xenophon’s contribution to and correction of the epitaphios as a genre.