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Full Idea
Niceratus said that his father, because he was concerned to make him a good man, made him learn the whole works of Homer, and he could still repeat by heart the entire 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey'.
Gist of Idea
Niceratus learnt the whole of Homer by heart, as a guide to goodness
Source
Xenophon (Symposium [c.391 BCE], 3.5)
Book Ref
Xenophon: 'Conversations of Socrates', ed/tr. Waterfield,R/Tredennick,H. [Penguin 1990], p.236
A Reaction
This clearly shows the status which Homer had in the teaching of morality in the time of Socrates, and it is precisely this acceptance of authority which he was challenging, in his attempts to analyse the true basis of virtue
| 5837 | Things are both good and fine by the same standard [Socrates, by Xenophon] |
| 5845 | Niceratus learnt the whole of Homer by heart, as a guide to goodness [Xenophon] |
| 139 | A good person is bound to act well, and this brings happiness [Plato] |
| 5142 | Oxen, horses and children cannot be happy, because they cannot perform fine deeds [Aristotle] |
| 2689 | Good people enjoy virtuous action, just as musicians enjoy beautiful melodies [Aristotle] |
| 101 | Slaves can't be happy, because they lack freedom [Aristotle] |
| 3562 | Fine things are worthless if they give no pleasure [Epicurus] |
| 7499 | Stoicism was an elitist option to lead a beautiful life [Stoic school, by Foucault] |
| 14815 | We get enormous pleasure from tales of noble actions [Nietzsche] |
| 7501 | Why couldn't a person's life become a work of art? [Foucault] |