Sileni

Himself has given us the reasons in the prologue to the first book, where he tells of the likeness between Socrates and the boxes called Sileni, and discourses of the manifest resemblance of his own work with Socrates.

Views and Reviews Essays in appreciation William Ernest Henley 1876

'Sileni' of the old French apothecaries, as described by Rabelais, so decorated with wondrous figures, harpies, satyrs, horned geese and bridled hares, that men were incredulous, and doubted that precious ambergris, musk and gems were to be found within.

The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 1, January 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various

An even more telling example of Erasmus 'desire to link any praise of Socrates with a Christian theme is Erasmus' adage Sileni Alcibiadis (“The Sileni of Alcibiades”), first published in the expanded Adagia of 1515.

Desiderius Erasmus Nauert, Charles 2008

Erasmus 'essay explains this meaning and cites a passage from Xenophon where a youth makes fun of the ugly old Socrates as “far more hideous than the Sileni”; he then cites a speech in praise of Socrates in the

Desiderius Erasmus Nauert, Charles 2008

Similar Sileni would be John the Baptist and the Apostles.

Desiderius Erasmus Nauert, Charles 2008

The naiads, nymphs, divine, have as their progeny Sileni, who are much more like myself, I take it, than like you.

Symposium 2007

Not surprisingly, she invokes one of her author's most im - portant adages, “The Sileni of Alcibiades” (Adagiorum chiliades III.iii. 1), in which it is argued that the inner essence of any matter is often the opposite of its outer appearance, to explain that the apparently foolish may actually be wise, the apparently wise, foolish.

WISDOM OF THE FOOL WALTER KAISER 1968

Alcibiades _gave to_ Socrates, _when he compar'd him to the Statues of the_ Sileni, _which to look upon, had nothing beautiful and ornamental; but open them, and there you might discover the Images of all the Gods and Goddesses.

Discourse on Criticism and of Poetry (1707) From Poems On Several Occasions (1707) Samuel Cobb

Most noble and illustrious drinkers, and you thrice precious pockified blades (for to you, and none else, do I dedicate my writings), Alcibiades, in that dialogue of Plato's which is entitled, "The Banquet," whilst he was setting forth the praises of his schoolmaster Socrates (without all question the prince of philosophers), amongst other discourses to that purpose said that he resembled the Sileni.

Classic French Course in English William Cleaver Wilkinson

They rank neither with mortals nor with immortals: long indeed do they live, eating heavenly food and treading the lovely dance among the immortals, and with them the Sileni and the sharp-eyed

Hesiod, the Homeric Hymns, and Homerica Hesiod