Abstract
The chorus is frequently used as an analogue for the dynamics between a leader and those who follow. Chapter 7 focuses on two early ‘political theorists’, Xenophon and Plato, and the way they often reach for the image of a chorus as a means to illustrate and elucidate their arguments about leadership and the ideal society. While Xenophon tends towards a practical application of the dynamics between leader and led, found in choral training and performance, Plato is shown to go much further in his delineation of these dynamics, and their proposed practical use in his construction of the ‘second-best city’ in his Laws. Plato’s peculiar picture of the chorus, as a place where individuals lose their rationality and give themselves over to a child-like, ductile state, suits his overall aims in his construction of the city of Magnesia, but, the chapter argues, necessitates a profoundly distorted picture of ancient choreia.
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