" .
As can be seen, Socrates is portrayed as a rather shrewd Character within the world of Aristophanes Comedies, teaching those he deems of less intelligence the ways of arguing. Aristophanes makes a joke of Socrates Arguments, saying "good debating points which don't actually mean anything". It can be seen that Aristophanes view of Socrates was one of pretension, or even contempt, and Socrates often becomes the butt of Aristophanes attack on intellectualism in his plays . Aristophanes Socrates is of course a comic character, so exaggeration and distortion is to be expected. and therefore, Aristophanes as a source is less than credible for piecing together the true thoughts of The Historical Character. .
The Second Socrates, which emerges from the sources, is the Xenophonteon Socrates. From these four accounts, he is depicted as an unexciting didactician who was quick to give advice, and was a paragon of common morality and religious practice. IN the Symposium, he is defined as a man who can influence others. For instance, of Callias, the tyrant, only Socrates influence is said to have tamed him. The main example is taken from xenophons Symposion. However, this Socrates is not the historic Socrates nor Xenophon's picture of the historic Socrates is but a fictional figure, which incorporates all the qualities Xenophon's heroes generally have. Thus he is comparable to Cyrus or Agesilaus and similar figures. He should not be burdened with speculations on who Socrates really was. Several of the Socratic conversations he records are on subjects we know Xenophon was specially interested in, and the views he offers in them are just those he elsewhere expresses in his own name or through the mouth of Cyrus in the Cyropadia. Accordingly, no one appeals to such works as Oeconomicus for evidence regarding the historical Socrates. "His Apology and Symposium are similarly disregarded as sources of information on Socrates.
