ABSTRACT
How does Socrates’s involvement with vulgar eros fit with the higher eros he extols? By depicting Socrates in compromising situations, Plato invokes (in order to refute) the charge of “corrupting youth.” Plato’s rhetorical defence – and embellishment – of Socrates raises the question whether eros is a true stepping stone in the philosophic ascent or whether it is part of Plato’s project to forge a new cultural hero. Making him erotic makes philosophy more relatable (it is a version of a very popular desire), while at the same time explaining why Socrates spent so much time with the beautiful and the underage.
