Barefoot in the Meadows

By J. L. Speranza
--- for the Grice Club.

If there is one experience I enjoy is barefooting in the Meadows -- while 'meadows' is generic, intramurally Oxford it refers to THE Meadows. As D. F. Pears wrote in the passaged cited in his obituary: "Oxford can be pretty peripatetic", 'especially as you go barefoot in the meadows'.

--- Grice wrote, (words to the effect), 'you should introject into the other's shoes'. He meant this metaphorically, since it is a well known political fact that Socrates REFUSED to wear sandals (He died of poisoning).

I read from Movie Bank:

"In [1951] [the play by] Maxwell Anderson BAREFOOT IN ATHENS [was staged]. "(Socrates walked without sandals). A late play, it has less of Anderson self-indulgence in it than most of his works and can be revived. This is probably because all he has to do is turn to the ancient writers to get his story and structure of the dialog."

"His only innovations is the development of the character of Socrates' wife Xanthippe (historically a shrew), and his relationship with the Spartan King. Socrates befriends the King of Sparta, who has slowly found that defeating Athens just unloads a huge number of problems into his lap. He has little trust of the small men who would run Athens now (the generation of leaders personified by Pericles is long gone). But Socrates keeps arguing for the restoration of the city's democracy. Of course this will guarantee his own doom, but he is a patriot."

"Ustinov was perfect casting as Socrates, physically looking like the fat, slightly homely, and bearded Greek. His high points (that I recall) were when he begs the King of Sparta to restore Athenian democracy, when he defends himself at his trial, and when he tries to comfort the difficult Xanthippe (Geraldine Page) who does, for all her sharp tongue, love him dearly. It was a worthy production, and until a full movie is made of it this is the only dramatization of this historical tragedy."

And then he died.