1. At any rate, the two men are represented in Plato’s Symposium (e.g. 212c, 223c) as having been on convivial terms in the year 416.

2. For an excellent account of Aristophanes’ portrayal of Socrates, see Dover.

3. For discussions of the religious side of Socrates, in particular his ‘divine sign’ (dmmonion), his attitude to the Delphic oracle’s statement that no man was wiser than he, and his views on life after death, see Guthrie, III, pp. 402–9, 473–84.

4. Controversy about Socrates continued after his execution in 399, and ‘socratic’ literature(some of it favourable to him, some critical) became a minor industry. For a few fragments of such literature, see the appendix to this volume.

5. Memories of conversations with Socrates were at least sometimes verified by reference to notes taken on the occasion, which could themselves be referred to Socrates for correction and supplementation (Theaetetus 142d, cf. Symposium 173b).