in which Callicles speaks of “the truth”, are indicative of Callicles’ dialect. The rest of the speech, although opinionated, is somewhat like those of Socrates, in that it poses questions to be answered by another. Socrates is aware of the strength of this speech, and in fact, praises Callicles attempt to “set out plainly in the light of day opinions which other people entertain but are loth to express.” (492) Callicles does not make another speech in the dialogue, but then again, those of Socrates do not sway him either.Obviously, Socrates is not a fan of oratory or rhetoric language. In an early confrontation with Polus, Socrates is not satisfied with his interlocutor’s attempt at proving him wrong through the use of oratory. Polus used, as proof of his point, the fact his theory on what made happy and content men was commonly accepted. Despite popular knowledge, however, Polus can “produce no compelling reason why [Socrates] should” believe him. (472) Socrates knows that his beliefs are not accepted in society, so an argument attempting to prove him wrong simply because his opinions are not the consensus will achieve nothing. Socrates later tells Polus, that while you “have everybody in agreement with you except for me, I am content if I can obtain you single agreement and testimony.” (475)Socrates understands that the majority of the world will never understand his theories or beliefs. He does not attempt to pressure everyone he can into sharing his beliefs, rather, his “method is to call in support of my statements the evidence of a single witness, the man I am arguing with, and to take his vote alone; the rest of the world are nothing to me; I am not talking to them.” (474)Despite all of his efforts, Socrates cannot convince Callicles that it is better to be wronged than to do wrong. He is forced to conceding that he and Callicles are “in ...
