Menexenus

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Menexenus was one of three sons of Socrates and Xanthippe. His two brothers were Lamprocles and Sophroniscus. Both Plato and Aristotle named dialogues after Menexenus.

This article is part of the series: The Dialogues of Plato

Early dialogues:

Apology - Charmides - Crito

Euthyphro - First Alcibiades

Hippias Major - Hippias Minor

Ion - Laches - Lysis

Transitional & middle dialogues:

Cratylus - Euthydemus - Gorgias

Menexenus - Meno - Phaedo

Protagoras - Symposium

Later middle dialogues:

The Republic - Phaedrus

Parmenides - Theaetetus

Late dialogues:

Timaeus - Critias

The Sophist – The Statesman

Philebus - Laws

Of doubtful authenticity:

Clitophon – Epinomis

Epistles - Hipparchus

Minos - Rival Lovers

Second Alcibiades - Theages

The Menexenus is a Socratic dialogue of Plato, traditionally included in the seventh tetralogy along with the Greater and Lesser Hippias and the Ion. The characters are Socrates and Menexenus.

The Menexenus consists mainly of a lengthy funeral oration, satirizing the one given by Pericles in Thucydides' account of the Peloponnesian War. In this way the Menexenus is unique among the Platonic dialogues, in that the actual 'dialogue' serves primarily as exposition for the oration. For this reason, perhaps, the Menexenus has come under some suspicion of illegitimacy.

Perhaps the most interest in the Menexenus stems from the fact that it is one of the few extant sources on the practice of Athenian funeral oratory, even though it is a parody thereof.