🪶📜💭Greek Athenian philosopher Socrates (ancient Greek: Σωκράτης; 469/470-399 BC)

💭 "Patience is never funny..."

he famous ancient Greek Athenian philosopher Socrates (ancient Greek: Σωκράτης; 469/470-399 BC) - the son of the stonemason Sophroniscus and the midwife Finareta (Phenareta) from the suburbs of Athens (dema Alopeca), devoted his time mainly to the intellectual education of young people, engaging in long dialogues with them, but did not take money for his services, not wanting to be known as a professional teacher.
He sincerely believed that he was chosen from above to study philosophy and assigned to the people of Athens, “like a gadfly to a horse,” so that they would not fall into “spiritual hibernation,” but would take care of their moral self-improvement and intellectual development: “God sent me to this city so that I could wake up each of you, running around all day long, persuading, reproaching incessantly.”
But one day, at the Athenian bazaar, he entered into an everyday dialogue with a young girl named Xanthippe. She stood, hands on hips, among clay pots and in a ringing voice called out to customers, praising her goods. Socrates often walked near money changers, market sellers and knew almost all of them by sight, but he saw this loud-voiced beauty for the first time. He was well known to the Athenians as a wise man, a skilled master of conversation and an excellent advisor.
Popular fame came to the Athenian philosopher during the first half of the Peloponnesian War. He fought valiantly, striking everyone with his courage, physical strength and endurance. Socrates refused awards, giving them to others. The philosopher's endurance, patience and introspection were already legendary, and the girl selling clay pots was probably flattered by his attention, having learned which famous Athenian had lifted her up in his arms, but she still slapped him.
Socrates, having decided to take her as his wife, would have to endure slaps, a scandalous temper and various hysterical antics for the rest of his life, showing humility. But why did he choose this young girl as his life partner? Was it only Xanthippe's beauty that attracted Socrates so much that he decided to immediately link his fate with her, or was her razor-sharp tongue reminiscent of women's eloquence lessons?
Socrates married late, at about the age of forty-eight, having missed the fifth seven years – the best time for a man to marry, according to the Athenian sage Solon.
Socrates married a girl named Xanthippe immediately after the conclusion of the Peace of Nicias in the Peloponnesian War. This conclusion can be made based on the fact that at the time of Socrates' death in 399 BC, his eldest son Lamproclus was twenty years old.
In his youth, the philosopher was hopelessly in love with a young beauty from Miletus named Aspasia, who had opened a school of eloquence in Athens. Having come to her class for the first time out of curiosity, the young stonemason was struck by her charm and intelligent, bold speeches. She boldly entered into discussions with men with her melodious, gentle voice, making fun of stupidity and ignorance. From that day on, he abandoned sculpture, devoting all his time to philosophy and oratory, but the young and noble beauty did not distinguish the homely stonemason from the crowd of other admirers. Socrates must have suffered from unrequited feelings and expressed his pain in words of despair: "Love for a woman is poison."
Socrates tried not to miss Aspasia's lessons and later told everyone that thanks to these lessons he became a philosopher. He entered the "circle" of the ruler of Athens, the leader of the democrats Pericles (Pericles) and often met with him in his house. From the enamored Socrates, the great strategist learned about the beautiful, intelligent teacher of eloquence from Miletus. Together with him, he came to the performances of the foreigner and was enchanted by her at first sight. Aspasia reciprocated the strategist's feelings, and they, despite all the difficulties, tied their destinies in marriage.
Pericles often gathered friends in his house, and Aspasia, the philosopher Anaxagoras, invited by the strategist at her request from Clazomenae, and other great Greeks took part in the discussions of his "circle".
The young Socrates learned various wisdoms from them:
from Aspasia - the art of rhetoric and debate, subtle irony, a heartfelt and respectful attitude towards women,
from Anaxagoras - the concept of the thesis "all in all", the unity of the big and the small,
from Pericles - amazing endurance and patience.
The philosopher sought consolation from the poison of female love and with all his heart became attached to the nephew of the ruler of Athens, Alcibiades, a handsome and wayward young man. Together with him, he participated in the campaigns when the Peloponnesian War began, carried him from the battlefield after being wounded, saving his life more than once.
Alcibiades was very rich, surrounded by young idlers and often showed disrespect to people. He could, out of boasting, hit any respectable citizen, and although under the influence of Socrates he apologized later and even asked to be punished with whips, vanity and the desire to be first everywhere interfered with the education of morality. After the conclusion of the Peace of Nikias, Alcibiades became the ruler of Athens, heading the war group. He married a girl from a wealthy family, but this did not stop him from visiting the salon of Ionian hetaera, which was maintained by Aspasia. 

Around the same time, Socrates met a girl named Xanthippe at the market, whose sharp tongue and beauty so captivated him that he married her.

His young wife quickly became convinced that, despite the fact that the philosopher was friends with strategists and many noble Athenians came to him for advice, she would not see wealth. And she trampled in rage on the pies that Alcibiades sent, knowing that his mentor would not accept financial assistance. Her name became a byword for quarrelsome hysterical wives at all times: her sharp tongue came in handy for choice abuse, and she used it from morning until late at night.
Socrates was advised to drive away an obstinate woman who disgraced him in public places, but he smiled and said: "I wanted to learn the art of getting along with people and married Xanthippe, confident that if I could endure her character, I could withstand any character."
Many condemned the philosopher for his marital patience and suggested that he beat Xanthippe, but Socrates only laughed: "You want the city to witness our quarrels, so that I could fight with my wife in front of everyone, and you would egg me on as if at a cockfight... Believe me, patience is never funny."
Deep down, the philosopher must have understood the reason for Xanthippe's angry fury: "She apparently never loved him." He himself remained forever true to the feeling of his youth and sought in women the incomparable beauty and intelligence of Aspasia, who said in her conversations about equality: "Marriage should be a union of two loving hearts." The sharp mind of Xanthippe, disappointed in her marriage with a wise "chatterbox" and "slacker," fell upon him with harsh reproaches, and he humbly endured her "storms and rains," never having guessed to improve the education of his wife. If Socrates was asked to advise how to raise or find a good life partner, he admitted that Aspasia, wise with life experience, could do it better.

The philosopher used another chance for family well-being - in Athens, devastated by plague and war, a decree was issued allowing every Athenian to have two wives, and all children were recognized as legitimate. Socrates married a second time to the widowed granddaughter of the famous strategist Aristides, known for his justice. He said that he wanted to set an example of law-abidingness and service to his homeland, but perhaps secretly hoped that this marriage would make his family life bearable.
His new chosen one was called Myrto, she was very poor and, probably, was happy with the philosopher's offer to become his second wife (or servant).
How Xanthippe accepted her is unknown, but this quarrelsome, embittered by adversity woman, who, according to rumors, cheated on Socrates and did not hesitate to secretly collect money from his students, even quarreled with her son Lamproclus.
The further fate of Myrto is unknown to history. Perhaps she died before Socrates' trial, and therefore did not come to him in prison to say goodbye. Xanthippe carried the philosopher's youngest son in her arms and sobbed as she said goodbye to her husband, indignant at the injustice: "You are dying innocent!" And he remarked to her with irony: "And did you want it to be deserved?"
The students promised Socrates to support his family, and Xanthippe and her children did not know want, receiving help from various cities of Ancient Greece.
When the philosopher was asked about his behavior in marriage, he evaded and sent Aspasia for advice.
Each of them went their own way in life, but they were immortalized together on one bronze bas-relief: she, in a scarf thrown over her wavy hair, speaks of love, Socrates is nearby and listens attentively, and Eros writes down her thoughts from behind. The Vatican houses a gem with a portrait of Aspasia, and the same theme is repeated on it.
The teachings of Socrates divided ancient Greek philosophy into the "pre-Socratic" and "Socratic" periods. Unlike his predecessors, who were interested in the questions of the creation of the cosmos and all that exists, Socrates was the first to study the inner world of man.

🪶Quotes from the ancient Greek sage Socrates:
📜 "Speak so that I can see you."
📜 "How many things, however, exist that I do not need."
📜 "Health is not everything, but everything without health is nothing."
📜 "Ordinary logic says: if you are unhappy, then you do not have happiness. And if you do not have it, then go and look for it.
Paradoxical logic says: if you go looking for happiness, then you will lose it! Just sit down and understand that you have it."
📜 "It is better to work without a specific goal than to do nothing.“
📜 "Be content with the present, but strive for the best.“
📜 "Love for a woman is poison."
📜 "Marriage should be a union of two loving hearts."
📜 "Patience is never funny."
Sources: art900.com; grecomap.com.