[Footnote 144: Numenius ap. Euseb. Præp. Evang. xiv. 5.]
Along with Antisthenes, among the hearers and companions of Sokrates, stood another Greek of very opposite dispositions, yet equally marked and original--Aristippus of Kyrênê. The stimulus of the Sokratic method, and the novelty of the topics on which it was brought to bear, operated forcibly upon both, prompting each of them to theorise in his own way on the best plan of life.
[Side-note: Aristippus--life, character, and doctrine.]
Aristippus, a Kyrenean of easy circumstances, having heard of the powerful ascendancy exercised by Sokrates over youth, came to Athens for the express purpose of seeing him, and took warm interest in his conversation.[145] He set great value upon mental cultivation and accomplishments; but his habits of life were inactive, easy, and luxurious. Upon this last count, one of the most interesting chapters in the Xenophontic Memorabilia reports an interrogative lecture addressed to him by Sokrates, in the form of dialogue.[146]
[Footnote 145: Plutarch (De Curiositate, p. 516 A) says that Aristippus informed himself, at the Olympic games, from Ischomachus respecting the influence of Sokrates.]
[Footnote 146: See the first chapter of the Second Book of the Memorabilia.
I give an abstract of the principal points in the dialogue, not a literal translation.]
[Side-note: Discourse of Sokrates with Aristippus.]