There Socrates tells Hippias that he—Socrates—needs help in responding to interrogation by an unnamed questioner. It gradually becomes clear (to the reader, but not to Hippias) that the unnamed questioner is an alter ego within Socrates: a part that questions himself. The internalized questioner is a rough customer, full of ridicule and disrespect.3 Hippias is surprised and wonders who could be treating Socrates so mercilessly. hippias. Who is the man, Socrates? What a boor he is to dare in an august proceeding to speak such vulgar speech that way! socrates. He’s like that, Hippias. Not
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